I quote from Ryrie, “It is Christ’s work through the agency of the Spirit in joining those who believe to the church, the body of Christ. . . . Crucifixion involves death, but death is not extinction; rather it is separation. So our co-crucifixion with Christ does not mean that our old nature becomes extinct; rather, we are separated from its domain and dominion so that we can live in a new way of life.”

Ryrie shares that “the permanent and universal-among-all-believers indwelling ministry of the Spirit is at the heart of the distinctiveness of the Spirit’s work in this church age. Although he did live within some people in the Old Testament, that indwelling was neither permanently guaranteed nor universally experienced even by all believers. It was also the focus of our Lord’s promise to His disciples concerning the ministry of the Spirit after His (Christ’s) departure from earth (John 14:17). . . . Today the Holy Spirit lives in the beings of Christians only, and He does so in all Christians. . . . Paul had to remind believers in the early days that this was a fact (1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19), just as it is necessary to instruct believers today of its truth. Too often, some of God’s people seem to think that the Spirit comes and goes and that this erratic and usually unpredictable behavior of the Spirit is often based on the individual’s feelings. . . . the truth of the Spirit’s indwelling does not depend on our feeling or knowing that it is true. . . . The Holy Spirit is the One who reveals to the Christian the indwelling of our Lord Jesus in him. . . . ‘The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us’ (1 John 3:24). Thus the knowledge of the indwelling of Christ is dependent on the ministry of the Spirit, which is not restricted but which operates in all believers.”

Ryrie discussed the role of the Holy Spirit in inspiration, especially as it applied to the Bible. He said, “Spiration (breathing out) rather than inspiration (breathing into) would be a better word to use in that reference. The verse [2 Timothy 3:16] simply says that the Scripture is God-produced without mentioning any of the means God may have used in producing it or the result of its production.”

I have endeavored in my research to identify possible means by which Scripture was produced and how we hear from the Holy Spirit in our time by the process of dualist interaction, the neural synapse being the model for my investigations. Perhaps we are getting a little more understanding of this process thanks to advances being made in the neurosciences. Ryrie continues:

“. . . behind the human was the divine author of revelation, the Holy Spirit. Peter, referring to Old Testament prophecy, declared that ‘men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God; (2 Peter 1:21). The agents were men; the source was God; and the single author moving the human instruments was the Holy Spirit. The word moved indicates that the Spirit bore the human writers along as He directed their writings. . . . man’s will (including his will to make mistakes) did not bring us the Scriptures; rather, the Holy Spirit, who cannot err, did.”

Ryrie relates that the Bible ascribes many attributes to the Holy Spirit. He goes on to say, “If these are the attributes of Deity, then one can only conclude that the Spirit is divine." The following are those attributes:

The Spirit is said to possess omniscience, omnipresence, omnipotence and is said to be truth. He is called the Holy Spirit and is said to be a giver of resurrection life. He is said to possess creative wisdom. “Thus the Holy Spirit is said to possess attributes that belong to God, something possible only if He is Deity.”

The prime example of the indwelling by the Holy Spirit is the life of Jesus Christ. I am posting a blog I recently wrote addressing this reality.

INDWELLING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE INDWELLED, OR ANOINTED, BY THE HOLY SPIRIT? IN THE BOUNDLESS LOVE OF GOD: A HOLY SPIRIT STORY, I ADDRESS THIS ACTION. IN THE NEXT BLOGS I WILL SHARE MY COMMENTS FROM THIS BOOK, BEGINNING WITH THE INDWELLING OF JESUS CHRIST, THE GOD-MAN, BY THE HOLY SPIRIT OF HIS FATHER. RECALL THAT I REFER TO THE SOUL AS CONSISTING OF MIND, WILL, EMOTION AND CONSCIENCE AND HEART AS THE SOUL.

THROUGHOUT HIS LIFE JESUS LIVED AND SPOKE IN COMPLETE OBEDIENCE TO GOD’S COUNSEL THROUGH HIS INDWELLING HOLY SPIRIT. IN JOHN 15:9-15 JESUS TEACHES THAT HE HAS OBEYED HIS FATHER’S COMMANDS AND THAT EVERYTHING HE HAS LEARNED FROM HIS FATHER HE HAS MADE KNOWN TO HIS DISCIPLES. IN THE SYNAGOGUE IN NAZARETH JESUS OPENED THE SCROLL OF ISAIAH AND READ, “THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS ON ME BECAUSE HE HAS ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOOD NEWS…,” CONFIRMING HIS IDENTITY WITH GOD THE FATHER AND FULFILLING SCRIPTURE THAT IDENTIFIED HIM AS THE PROMISED MESSIAH. TO THOMAS HE SAID, “IF YOU REALLY KNEW ME, YOU WOULD KNOW MY FATHER AS WELL. FROM NOW ON, YOU DO KNOW HIM AND HAVE SEEN HIM.” RESPONDING TO A QUESTION FROM PHILLIP JESUS STATED, “ANYONE WHO HAS SEEN ME HAS SEEN THE FATHER. HOW CAN YOU SAY, ‘SHOW US THE FATHER? DON’T YOU BELIEVE THAT I AM IN THE FATHER, AND THAT THE FATHER IS IN ME? THE WORDS I SAY TO YOU ARE NOT JUST MY OWN. RATHER, IT IS THE FATHER, LIVING IN ME, WHO IS DOING HIS WORK. BELIEVE ME WHEN I SAY THAT I AM IN THE FATHER AND THE FATHER IS IN ME.” THESE PASSAGES CONFIRM JESUS’ INDWELLING BY HIS FATHER THROUGH HIS HOLY SPIRIT WHO DESCENDED TO DWELL IN THE HUMAN SPIRIT OF JESUS JUST AFTER HE WAS BAPTIZED BY JOHN THE BAPTIST. HE WILLFULLY LIVED IN COMPLETE OBEDIENCE TO THE FATHER ALL HIS LIFE, EVEN TO HIS DEATH. AS JESUS WAS DYING ON THE CROSS HE CRIED OUT, “FATHER, INTO YOUR HANDS I COMMIT MY SPIRIT.” THAT JESUS POSSESSED A HUMAN SPIRIT IS INDICATED BY THESE WORDS HE SPOKE ON THE CROSS. HIS VERY LAST WORDS WERE, “‘IT IS FINISHED.’ WITH THAT HE BOWED HIS HEAD AND GAVE UP HIS SPIRIT.” THESE VERSES CONFIRM THAT JESUS THE MAN POSSESSED A SPIRIT AND SUBMITTED IT IN FULL OBEDIENCE TO THE SPIRIT OF THE FATHER.

MARCH 18, 2021

Ryrie posed the question to his readers whether the Holy Spirit is a person or “a mere thing or influence or personification or power or emanation.” Actions of the Holy Spirit are those of a personality, or person, because He has intelligence, emotions and a will. For the apostles John and Paul “the Holy Spirit was more than a mere influence - He was [is] a person. . . . Since He is a person, then my dealings with Him are on a person-to-person basis.”

In my writings I have endeavored to present in compelling fashion that in our time we have a restored, personal, intimate relationship with God by His grace through His Holy Spirit made possible by the atoning death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ. It is a two-way communion when we are in repentance and seek to live by His Counsel.

When we manifest in our everyday lives the fruit of the indwelling, or filling, of the Holy Spirit, we become Christlike, a process that takes time and reflects sanctification. What ARE the fruits of the Spirit? They are:

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Spiritual power is the “consistent exhibition of the characteristics of the Lord Jesus in the believer’s life. And this is the activity of the Holy Spirit, of whom the Lord Jesus said, ‘He shall glorify me’. . . . The way to spiritual power is to be filled with the Spirit, which simply means to be controlled by the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18).” [Ryrie]

In Chapter Four of my second book, The Boundless Love of God: A Holy Spirit Story, pages 31-32, I include discussions of the baptism, filling and indwelling of the Holy Spirit. It is helpful to understand the distinguishing features of these three terms.

Ryrie addressed spiritual power in the Christian as follows: “A Christian is one who has received Jesus Christ; a spiritual Christian is one who displays Christ living through his life, and this is accomplished by the work of the indwelling [italics added] Holy Spirit. Spirituality, then, is Christlikeness that is produced by the fruit of the Spirit.”

MOST OF MY BLOGS TO DATE HAVE EXPANDED ON WHAT I SHARED IN THE CHAPTERS OF MY BOOKS THAT DEALT WITH NEUROSCIENCE AND INFORMATION THEORY AND THE APPLICATION TO DUALIST INTERACTION. MY RESEARCH GOES ON, THOUGH FINDING APPLICABLE ARTICLES TO MY HYPOTHESIS AND PERSPECTIVES WILL CONTINUE TO BE DIFFICULT BECAUSE OF THE STILL DOMINANT PERSPECTIVE OF REDUCTIVE MATERIALISM IN NEUROSCIENCE.

A HOLY SPIRIT STORY WAS SHARED IN MY SECOND BOOK, THE BOUNDLESS LOVE OF GOD: A HOLY SPIRIT STORY. THERE REMAINS MUCH IGNORANCE IN THE CHURCH ABOUT THE HOLY SPIRIT, AND SOME DENY THAT WE HEAR FROM THE HOLY SPIRIT IN OUR TIME, THOUGH WE CAN PRAY TO HIM. IN THE NEXT BLOGS I WILL FOCUS ON THE HOLY SPIRIT AND DERIVE MUCH OF WHAT I SHARE FROM TWO BOOKS: GORDON D. FEE, PAUL, THE SPIRIT, AND THE PEOPLE OF GOD, 1996, HENDRICKSON PUBLISHERS, INC, PEABODY, MASS., AND CHARLES C. RYRIE, THE HOLY SPIRIT, REVISED AND EXPANDED, 1997, MOODY PRESS, CHICAGO, ILL.

IT IS MY HOPE THAT I HAVE PRESENTED COMPELLING EVIDENCE IN MY BOOKS AND BLOGS FOR DUALIST INTERACTION BETWEEN THE IMMATERIAL MIND OF GOD AND THE MIND OF MAN VIA THE SYNAPTIC NETWORKS OF THE MATERIAL HUMAN BRAIN. KEEP IN MIND THAT THIS INTERACTION IS A REALITY AS WE CONSIDER THE HOLY SPIRIT, THE DOCTRINE AND THE TRUE PERSONALITY AND PLAN OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. MAN’S INDWELLING BY HIM HAS BEEN RESTORED IN OUR REPENTANCE BY THE DEATH AND RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST WHO SENT THE HOLY SPIRIT AS HE PROMISED WHEN HE AROSE TO SIT AT THE RIGHT HAND OF THE FATHER. THE INDWELLING AND FILLING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT WILL BE ADDRESSED.

I am posting verses from Romans 11: 33-36 that were included at the end of my book, The Boundless Love of God: A Holy Spirit Story. Yes, we are learning much from advances in the neurosciences, providing confirmation of dualist interaction between the Mind of God and the mind of Man and perhaps how that works with wave forms at the level of pyramidal modules of the cerebral cortex and the consequent transmission of encoded spike trains through neural synaptic networks. But our God is so much more majestic and powerful, and we are humbled as we seek His Truth.

Oh, the depths of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how fathomless his ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor? Or who has first given to God, that God needs to repay him? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever! Amen.

Thank you for your attention to my blogs that expand on the contents of my books. I will continue my research through the available neuroscience literature, though my posts will be less frequent. I pray that I have provided to date and in future posts a means to increase your faith in the fact that our Creator God, by his grace through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, desires to have an intimate, two-way personal communion with us as members of his Kingdom, now and forever more.