Gordon Fee discusses life in the Spirit, that it “is not passive; nor is obedience automatic. We continue to live in the real world; we are, after all, both already and not yet. Therefore, the imperative for the already is walk in/by the Spirit. That assumes that we live in a world very much controlled by the flesh; but it also assumes that we now live in that world as different people, led by the Spirit and empowered by the Spirit to produce the fruit of righteousness, rather than to continue in the works of the flesh.”

Fee defines “the new model [as] the cross: the power lies not in externals but in the Spirit, who indwells believers and by grace is renewing the ‘inner person’ (2 Cor 4:16), transforming us into God’s own likeness (ultimately portrayed in Christ through the cross.”

Fee points out that “righteousness as behavior is the product of the Spirit’s empowering. . . . The kingdom of God has [everything to do] with the righteousness, joy, and peace that the Holy Spirit empowers.”

Fee continues: “In saving us through Christ and the Spirit, God has created an eschatological people, who live the life of the future in the present, a life reflecting the character of the God who became present first in Christ and then by his Spirit. As the renewed [indwelling] presence of God, the Spirit, having given life to his people, now leads them in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.” [the process of dualist interaction addressed in my books and blogs]

Gordon Fee states that “there is no such thing as Christian conversion that does not have the coming of the Spirit into the believer’s life as the critical ingredient.”

Fee addresses what it means to receive the Holy Spirit:

“Believers have received the Spirit (1 Cor 2:12; 2 Cor 11:4), been saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit (2 Thess 2:13; Rom 15:16), been circumcised in their hearts by the Spirit [their minds renewed] (Rom 2:29), and been joined to Christ so as to become one S/spirit with him (1 Cor 6:17).”

Fee summarizes what it means to be “saved” by the Holy Spirit:

“In sum: ‘to be saved’ in the Pauline view means to become part of the people of God, who by the Spirit are born into God’s family and therefore joined to one another as one body, whose gatherings in the Spirit form them into God’s temple. God is not simply saving diverse individuals and preparing them for heaven; rather he is creating a people for his name, among whom God can dwell and who in the life together will reproduce God’s life and character in all its unity and diversity.”

Fee goes on to state that “By the Spirit’s presence believers have tasted of the life to come and are now oriented toward its consummation. ‘We are saved in hope,’ Paul tells the Romans (8:24); by the power of the Spirit we ‘abound in hope.’ (Romans 15:13)”

Fee shares that “Paul’s point is simply that we can be certain that our bodies, though destined for death, will be given life, precisely because of the Spirit who indwells us. . . . the Spirit guarantees our future, including our bodily resurrection. . . . the future body is supernaturally fitted for the final life of the Spirit, totally unhindered by any of its present weaknesses.”

Fee writes, “In Paul, as Ephesians 1:13 and 4:30 make certain, the seal is a metaphor for the Spirit, by whom God has marked believers and claimed them as his own.”