Ryrie discusses the “distinctive and foundational ministry” of the Holy Spirit:

“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). Also, the doctrine of the indwelling is foundational to the other ministries the Spirit performs today.

“Today the Holy Spirit lives in the beings of Christians only, and He does so in all Christians. This was apparently not always well known by the church, for 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. Nevertheless, the truth of the Spirit’s indwelling does not depend on our feeling or knowing that it is true. . . . He is a gift to us, not a reward we earn for good behavior. . . . His presence is evidence of being saved. . . . 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 discusses the fruits of regeneration:

“The new birth brings a new nature (2 Corinthians 5:17). It does not eradicate the old (better texts do not say ‘all things are become new,’ but ‘new things have come’), nor does it split the personality. Natures are capacities, and whereas the unregenerate person has only the capacity to serve sin (Romans 6:20), the regenerate person has a new nature with its capacity to serve righteousness (Romans 6:18). The Holy Spirit is also involved in the life and activity of the new creation, controlling and filling (Romans 8:4, 14; Galatians 5:16; Ephesians 5:18). The believer is not made perfect, but he does have the new capacity to please God and to grow into the image of Christ because of the new birth and the subsequent ministries of the Spirit in his life.”

I offer in clarification that the “new nature” that is mentioned by Ryrie refers to the human soul, consisting of mind, will and emotion. When regenerated a person has a new mind that wills to please God (Ezekiel 36:26), bringing joy to the believer. It is a process that occurs through sanctification so that the person becomes over time more Christlike. The Holy Spirit serves as Counselor and Helper.

Ryrie addresses the means of regeneration:

“The Scriptures clearly teach that regeneration is the act of God. Direct statements show this (John 1:13) as well as statements that link regeneration to spiritual resurrection - an act which God alone can accomplish (John 5:21-24; Romans 6:14; 2 Corinthians 5:17). . . . it is the work of the Holy Spirit of God (John 3:3-7; Titus 3:5). . . . the means of regeneration is the Spirit’s effecting the new birth in those who believe in Christ.”

As I have shared in my books and blogs the sin sacrifice of Jesus Christ provided for the restoration of a permanent indwelling of the human spirit by the Holy Spirit whom Jesus sent upon His resurrection. Recipients of this blessing are repentant believers. I have addressed the dualist interaction that characterizes this two-way communion through God’s created synaptic networks in our time. In this connection the Bible and neuroscience, properly interpreted, are in concordance. Ryrie states further, “. . . the actual event of being born again happens instantaneously. . . . people do not birth themselves, but that they are birthed by Someone Else, the Holy Spirit.”

Ryrie defines regeneration, referred to in Titus 3:5:

“[Regeneration] is connected with the accomplishing of our salvation by the ‘washing of regeneration’ that brings new life to the one who believes. . . . the term literally means to be born again. . . . Theologically, regeneration of individuals precisely means that act of God which imparts eternal life to them. . . . Regeneration is that which begins the new life; it is the new birth.”

The Holy Spirit indwells the repentant believer whose human spirit and soul (mind, will, emotion) are guided by the Spirit into a life of righteousness patterned after the person and life of Jesus Christ.

Ryrie offers comments about conviction by the Holy Spirit leading to a life of righteousness patterned after the person and life of Jesus Christ:

“. . . the Spirit is able to convince men that Jesus is the righteous Savior who will justify those who put their trust in Him. . . . The Holy Spirit persuades men that the same judgment that overtook Satan will come upon them if they persist in rejecting Christ. . . . How does the Spirit convict? Several means may be involved. The Spirit may speak directly to people’s consciences [the main focus of my research into dualist interaction between the Mind of God and the mind of Man through the created neural synaptic networks of the human brain]. He may use the Bible, or someones’s testimony, or the Word preached. But even though people and things may be involved in conviction, it is ultimately the Holy Spirit who convicts. . . . If sin has affected people so that they are slaves to sin and unable to do that which is pleasing to God for eternal salvation (Romans 6:20-23), then salvation requires the intervention of the work of the Spirit in the effectual calling of sinners. People cannot respond to the point of being saved without it.”

Ryrie cites Romans 8:11:

“Romans 8:11 reads: ‘But if the Spirit of Him [God] who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.’ . . . The Holy Spirit’s indwelling of the believer is a guarantee of the believer’s future resurrection.”

Ryrie shares some important points about how Jesus Christ depended on the power of the Spirit:

'‘The fact that Christ depended on the power of the Spirit emphasizes the depth of His condescension. That the God-man should have to be dependent on the ministry of the Spirit to Him shows something of the limitations of humanity. All this is a vivid reminder of the believer’s need of depending on the Holy Spirit in his life. If the Lord of glory did not do without the ministry of the Spirit, how can sinners, though redeemed, live independently of His power? Although our Lord possessed a sinless humanity, He relied on the Holy Spirit. We are far from sinless. So how much more do we need to depend on the ministries of the Holy Spirit in our lives? He depended; so must we.”

By the grace and love of God the Father the risen Jesus Christ sent as He promised the Holy Spirit to indwell repentant believers so that we can strive to become righteous by the power and guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Ryrie commented on the birth of Jesus Christ. I quote:

“The result of the Virgin Birth was the Incarnation. A human nature was conceived, not a person, for the second person of the Trinity existed always. With the conception of the human nature the God-man came into existence, although His humanity was a perfect one. This means that although the components of humanity were present (except a sin nature), it was a sinless human nature, not merely a sanctified human nature. Our Lord in His humanity possessed a body (Luke 2:52), a soul (Matthew 26:38), and a spirit (Mark 2:8). But the incarnation also brought limitation - not any limitation of a moral nature but only those amoral limitations of humanity, such as the need to sleep and eat. In other words, nothing was missing from His humanity that is essential to perfect humanity and nothing was added that was nonhuman.”

Ryrie states:

“. . . although the Spirit did indwell men in Old Testament times, it was a selective ministry, both in regard to whom He indwelt and for how long. Can this relationship be summarized in any simple way? Yes, for the Lord summarized it by telling His disciples that up to that time the Spirit had been abiding with them, though on and after the day of Pentecost He would be in [Italics added] them (John 14:17).”

Lest it be confusing, the Holy Spirit did fill various people in the OT times, a transient interaction in contrast to the permanent indwelling of repentant believers when they are saved and experience the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Later blogs will elaborate on this point, acknowledging that the infilling continues to this day.

Ryrie comments on the activity of the Holy Spirit in Old Testament and in New Testament times:

“The ministries of the Spirit in relation to people in Old Testament times were not always the same as that which He does today for people. Pentecost marked the beginning of certain distinctive and significant differences, although we should not conclude that His ministries were rare or sparse in Old Testament times. When we speak of the Spirit ‘coming’ at Pentecost we do not mean that He was absent from the earth before then. We mean that He took up His residence in believers [Italics added] at Pentecost although He was present always before (obviously, since He is God).”

That the Holy Spirit indwells repentant believers in our time accounts for His dualist interaction with us, that the immaterial Holy Spirit interacts with the immaterial human spirit and soul through His created neural synaptic networks discussed in my books and blogs. Yes, we can pray to God/His Holy Spirit, but we are blessed to hear from God/Holy Spirit, a bidirectional interaction. The Holy Spirit dwells within us, within our minds giving counsel and help to our souls so that we become more Christlike, manifesting the fruits of His Spirit.