Doctrine of Indwelling of Trinity

July 18, 2010

Doctrine of the Indwelling of the Trinity

Thesis:  Every born-again Christian is indwelt by God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

1.    The indwelling of each person of the Trinity.

A.    The indwelling of the Father:

John 14:23  Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and make Our abode with him. (NAS)

Ephesians 4:6  one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. (NAS)

2 John 9  Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son. (NAS)

B.    The indwelling of the Son:

John 14:20  “In that day you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. (NAS)

John 17:22-23
22    ”And the glory which Thou hast given Me I have given to them; that they may be one, just as We are one;
23    I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, that the world may know that Thou didst send Me, and didst love them, even as Thou didst love Me. (NAS)

Romans 8:10  And if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. (NAS)

2 Corinthians 13:5  Test yourselves {to see} if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you– unless indeed you fail the test? (NAS)

Galatians 2:20  “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the {life} which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me. (NAS)

Colossians 1:27  to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. (NAS)

1 John 3:24  And the one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And we know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.  (NAS)

C.    The indwelling of the Holy Spirit:

Romans 8:11  But if the Spirit of Him 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 indwells you. (NAS)

1 Corinthians 3:16  Do you not know that you are a temple of God, and {that} the Spirit of God dwells in you? (NAS)

1 Corinthians 6:19-20
19    Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?
20    For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body. (NAS)

2 Corinthians 6:16  Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, “I will dwell in them and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. (NAS)

2.    God the Father has capitalized us with unique assets.

A.    The fact that each member of the Trinity, though infinite, eternal, and omnipresent, indwells the body of every believer is a fantastic phenomenon.

B.    This never occurs in any other dispensation in history.

3.    The purpose for the indwelling of God the Father.

A.    For the glorification of His plan for the Church Age, that is, the protocol plan of God for the Church Age which has replaced the ritual plan of God for the dispensation of Israel.

B.    It provides the assurance of His work in eternity past on behalf of each Church Age believer.

C.    That assurance includes the fact that He is the author of our portfolio of invisible assets, the grantor of our escrow blessings, the mastermind of the protocol plan of God, and the designer of our palace, the operational divine dynasphere, by which we execute His plan, purpose, and will for our lives.

4.    The purpose for the indwelling of Christ.

A.    It is a badge of the royal family of God.

B.    It is a guarantee of our portfolio of invisible assets.

C.    It is a guarantee of life after death in the presence of God forever and ever.  (At physical death, the Lord departs our physical body with us and escorts our soul and spirit into the third heaven.)

D.    It is a guarantee of our escrow blessings since Jesus Christ is the depositary and escrow officer.

E.    The indwelling of Jesus Christ is motivation for continued momentum in spiritual adulthood.

1)    There are three categories of undeserved suffering to challenge the three stages of spiritual adulthood.

2)    The indwelling of our Lord provides the strongest possible motivation as we face these areas of undeserved suffering.

F.    The indwelling of Jesus Christ is the basis for assigning #1 priority to relationship with God over relationship with mankind.

1)    Therefore, God emphasis comes before people emphasis.

2)    This relationship is tested by your attitude toward Bible doctrine.

5.    The purpose for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

A.    To provide the temple for the indwelling of Jesus Christ in our bodies.

1)    Our body, being inhabited by the old sin nature, is no place for the indwelling of the Trinity.

2)    But God the Holy Spirit provides a temple for the residence of Jesus Christ, the Shekinah Glory.

3)    Just as the Shekinah Glory dwelt in the Jewish Tabernacle or Temple as a sign of blessing to the Jews, so our Lord dwells in our bodies, in a Spirit-provided temple.

B.    As a base of operations for both the execution of the protocol plan of God and the glorification of Christ in our bodies.

6.    Three important distinctions must be made.

A.    The difference between the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in our bodies and the indwelling of Christ in our bodies.

B.    The difference between the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in our bodies and the filling by the Spirit.

1)    The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is status quo since salvation and is non-experiential.

2)    The filling by the Spirit is experiential whereby through yieldedness to the Holy Spirit, He fills us with the fullness of God which is the character of Christ.

C.    The distinction between the indwelling of Jesus Christ in our bodies and the glorification of Christ in our bodies.

1)    His indwelling is status quo since salvation and non-experiential.

2)    But the glorification of Christ in our bodies is the ultimate spiritual experience related to spiritual maturity.

3).    In fact, each stage of spiritual adulthood is characterized by a relationship and experience with Christ.

a.    Galatians 4:19, “Christ formed in our bodies” refers to the believer who has attained spiritual self-esteem.  (This means the believer in Christ has the motivation and attitude of the humanity of Christ in Hypostatic Union who resided in the prototype divine dynasphere.)

b.    Ephesians 3:17, “Christ being at home in your right lobes” is the experience of spiritual autonomy.

c.    Philippians 1:20, “Christ being glorified in our bodies” refers to the experience of spiritual maturity.

7.    The indwelling of Christ provides a new emphasis, a new motivation, a new priority for the new spiritual species, the body of Christ and the royal family of God.

8.    The availability of divine power to execute the protocol plan of God.

A.    The same power that raised Christ from the dead is available to every Church Age believer for the execution of God’s will, plan, and purpose for the Church Age.

B.    The power of God guarantees the availability of the problem solving devices.