1 Corinthians 6:19 - Indwelling Holy Spirit
Indwelling Holy Spirit person or human spirit made holy?: What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 1 Corinthians 6:19Nothing so reveals a total disregard for the Spiritual or figurative nature of much of the Bible as to believe and teach a fleshly or carnal indwelling of the Holy Spirit as one/third of the God "family" who leads in a direct and immediate way. Jesus said that these parables were to fool those who do not know and do not care what the Spirit of Christ revealed in His Own Words (Matthew 13). The danger is that this allows the Words of God to be ignored or slashed to bits in the belief that Christ has "designated agents" who must rechew and predigest inspiration to keep you away from a potentially-dangerous god. And so it goes in all paganism in which evil men have learned how to use evil to control people for their own benefit. To remove that danger inherent in paganism and a perverted Mosaic system Jesus came to be the One Shepherd and One teacher of His flock.
The spirit which literally dwells in our "innermost being" is the spirit God puts into all humans. Because anything God puts into us is Holy or "uncontaminated with anything not Spirit," it is a Holy Spirit. However, our body controls that Spirit and we can make unholy that which God gives just as surely as we can destroy the body.
This "spirit" is not the Holy Spirit as a person who literally lives in the human body. David knew that when God takes that spirit we die. Walter Scott wrote:
"Again--Some will say, What does the expression Holy Spirit mean?
Well, in scripture it stands
first for God the Holy Spirit,
and secondly for the holy mind or spirit of a believer--
for illustration, take Peter's words to Ananias, "Why has Satan tempted you to lie to the Holy Spirit; you have not lied to men, but to God," (the Holy Spirit.)
And the Saviour says, How much more will your heavenly Father give a holy spirit (as it should be translated) to those that ask him. Again--Praying in a holy spirit. Again--Paul says he approved himself God's servant "by knowledge, by long sufferings, by kindness, by a holy spirit'" by a mind innocent of the love of gain, or commerce, or sensuality.
"Now then the expression stands for both God the Holy Spirit, and for a believer's spirit made holy by him.
This was a common way of defining the nature of the spirit or mental disposition of a man.
Aeschylus Agamemnon 765
But an old Hubris tends to bring forth [765] in evil men, sooner or later, at the fated hour of birth, a young Hubris and that irresistible, unconquerable, unholy spirit, Recklessness, [770] and for the household black Curses, which resemble their parents.
their own sin and the sin of their fathers. And after this they will turn to Me in all uprightness and with all (their) heart and with all (their) soul, and
I will circumcise the foreskin of their heart and the foreskin of the heart of their seed,
and I will create in them a holy spirit,
and I will cleanse them
so that they shall not turn away from Me from that day unto eternity. Jubilees 1: 23
And their souls will cleave to Me and to all My commandments, and they will fulfil My Jubilees 1: 24
commandments, Jubilees 1: 25
Acts 2:38 promises that at Baptism God washes away our sins and GIVES us A holy spirit. The same Peter in 1 Peter 3:21 says that at baptism our bodies are washed in order to REQUEST A good conscience or consiousness. Our bodies are washed at baptism but God creates A holy spirit within. The purpose is that people can grasp and obey God's commandments.
The New Testament clearly shows that God's Spirit dwells within each of us. The Gnostics believed that it was acceptable to sin with the body as long as the separated spirit was not involved. However, Paul makes it clear that the same Holy God Who created our flesh out of "clay" also put His Holy Spirit into every single human being:
And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed (blew) into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. Ge 2:7
Zechariah showed that this is God's holy Spirit:
THE burden of the word of the Lord for Israel, saith the Lord, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit (same Greek as holy spirit) of man within him. Zechariah 12:1
Man's breath from God is:
Neshamah (h5397) nesh-aw-maw'; fr. 5395; a puff, i. e. wind, angry or vital breath, divine inspiration, intellect. or (concr.) an animal: - blast, (that) breath (-eth), inspiration, soul, spirit.
Therefore, God put a spirit into all humans so that they can understand spiritual truth. Much of God's "Spiritual" message is hidden within parables (Matthew 13) or other symbolic language; Paul said that Spiritual things are spiritually or figuratively discerned; therefore, unless our personal spirit listens to God's Spirit Words, our belief and religious practices will be directed to the body rather than to the mind.
Isaiah restates this by saying:
BEHOLD my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. Isaiah 42:1
He shall not cry (call an assembly), nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. Isaiah 42:2
A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth (trust and quietness). Isaiah 42:3
Lift up is:
Nasa (h5375) naw-saw'; ..accept, advance, arise, (able to, [armour], suffer to) bear (-er, up), bring (forth), burn, carry (away), cast, contain, desire, ease, exact, exalt (self), extol, ... lift (self) up, lofty, marry, magnify, .. stir up, / swear, take (away, up), * utterly, wear, yield
You do know that Jesus died to eleminate "spiritual anxiety created by religious ritual" and that ANXIETY is AEIRO for the purposes of kleptô as in kleptomaniac by the use of secular HYMNING and ODING and playing the KITHERA which made them PARASITES and CYNICS or DOGS--always.
Nasa or Lifting Up in the Greek is:
Aeirô to lift for the purpose of carrying, to bear away, carry, to raise, to bear away to undertake a long war, to be lifted up, excited. Similar word: PASSION to exalt, excite, exaggerate, to take up for ONESELF, receive a charge of cowardice.
Aeidô is the musical METHOD and Aeirô or heresy is the REASON to lift people up with excitement like WIND IN THE SAILS to carry them away captive or to kill them. By letting yourself be LIFTED UP with PLEASURING you are doing what Paul said that Christ WOULD NOT DO because it carried the concept of the dogs or Cynics getting virtual or literal PLEASURE out of abusing one another.
Aeido also means: I. to sing, Il., etc.:--then of any sound, to twang, of the bowstring, Od.; to whistle, of the wind, Mosch.; to ring, of a stone struck, Theocr.
Anaireô (v. haireô): --take up, anelontes apo chthonos having raised the victim from the ground, so as to cut its throat.. This had some connection to Amos 5 and 6 where the musical, perverted festivals were "feasts WITH and FOR dead ancestors."
2. take up and carry off, bear away, esp. prizes
"Singing served as a means of inducing ecstatic prophecy (speaking in tongues).
Thus the essential relationship between music and prophecy can be clearly seen.
This relationship also explains why the expression for "making music" and "prophesying" was often identical in the ancient tongues. origen contra celsum 8.67.
The Hebrew word Naba signifies not only "to prophesy" but also "to make music." (Quasten, Johannes, Music and Worship in Pagan and Christian Antiquity, p. 39)
Haireô or heresy has as its A meaning A take with the hand, grasp, seize, having taken up [the song],
II. take, get into one's power, hupnos passions. As in the ZOE MOVEMENT:
2. catch, take, zôon (Zoe), take in hunting, get into one's power, entrap, In a legal sense: kleptonta to convict of theft,
Truth is the Hebrew emeth which means stability, trust. It comes from
Aman (h539) aw-man'; a prim. root; prop. to build up or support; to foster as a parent or nurse; fig. to render (or be) firm or faithful, to trust or believe, to be permanent or quiet; mor. to be true or certain; once (Isa. 30:21) to go to the right hand: - hence assurance, believe, bring up, establish, / fail, be faithful (of long continuance, stedfast, sure, surely, trusty, verified), nurse, (-ing father), (put), trust, turn to the right.
He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law. Isaiah 42:4
Thus saith God the Lord, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that
- giveth breath unto the people upon it,
- and spirit to them that walk therein: Isaiah 42:5
Quiet confidence was the mark of Messiah; it is the mark of one whose own spirit is connected to God's Spirit revealed and empowered through the Words of Christ (John 6:63).
The Spirit offered at Mount Sinai to restore the Torah under which Abraham lived. This law under which God's presence would be known was:
And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; Genesis 26:4
Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws. Genesis 26:5
Isaiah used a word identical to that used in "the Holy Spirit." This was not a "little man in the big man." This spirit which every living human has is the made-in-the-image of God. It is a God-like power of the intellect to think and express itself. The Hebrew equivalent of the Greek Spirit does not speak of a person but the expression of that person:
Ruwach (h7307) roo'-akh, roo'-akh; from 7306; wind; by resemblance breath, i. e. a sensible (or even violent exhalation; fig. life, anger, unsubstantiality; by extens. a region of the sky; by resemblance spirit, but only of a rational being (including its expression and functions):
Now, this does not mean that they all had "a holy spirit." That is, they did not have the mental disposition of God which He made us able to receive.
Job showed that God puts His Spirit in us so that we can "blow" that wind or spirit out of our mouth or nostril in holy imitation of Him:
All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils; Job 27:3
But there is a spirit in man: and
the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding. Job 32:8Job also makes it clear that when God gathers His Spirit back from us we will perish back into the dust out of which He created us as flesh:
If he set his heart upon man, if he gather unto himself his spirit and his breath; Job 34:14
All flesh shall perish together, and man shall turn again unto dust. Job 34:15
All humans have God's Spirit within them or they would be dead. However, only those who use this god-given power of understanding to agree with God Who is pure or Holy Spirt are said to have a holy spirit.
When we speak, we exhale breath, wind or spirit. However, our breath which expresses the thoughts of our intellect are not another little person living within. The Holy Spirit is that breath breathed into the purely-human Adam who would be like a beast without that God-Breathed capacity to communicate with God who is PURE or holy Spirit.
What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh. 1Co 6:16
But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. 1Co 6:17
Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. 1Co 6:18
What? know ye not that
your body is the temple
of the Holy Ghostwhich is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 1 Corinthians 6:19
For ye are bought with a price: therefore
glorify God in your body,
and in your spirit,
which are Gods. 1 Corinthians 6:20The term "Holy Ghost" is not a person with a first name "Holy" and a last name "Ghost." Rather, holy means
Hagios (g40) hag'-ee-os; (an awful thing) [comp. 53 = clean, 2282 = fostered]; sacred (physsically pure, morally blameless or religious, cer. consecrated): - (most) holy (one, thing), saint
Pneuma (g4151) pnyoo'-mah; from 4154; a current of air, i.e. breath (blast) or a breeze; by anal. or fig. a spirit, i.e. (human) the rational soul, (by impl.) vital principle, mental disposition, etc., or (superhuman) an angel, doemon, or (divine) God, Christ's spirit, the Holy Spirit: - ghost, life, spirit (-ual, -ually), mind. Comp. 5590.
The next verse shows that the "holy spirit" is that personal spirit which is given by God and made Holy by Him.
For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are Gods. 1 Corinthians 6:20
By looking at verses 19 and 20 together we will no draw a wrong conclusion. It is easy to see that Paul is speaking of OUR body which is the temple of OUR SPIRIT which is holy because God breathed an ability to understand His will into us which He did not breath into the PURELY FLESH chretures:
What? know ye not that
For ye are bought with a price:
your body
therefore glorify God in your body,
is the temple of the Holy Spirit
and in your spirit,
which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 1 Corinthians 6:19
which are Gods. 1 Corinthians 6:20
Paul often states things in the form of parallelism. In one case he says THE HOLY SPIRIT and immediately parallels that to say that it is YOUR SPIRIT.Where did we get the Holy Spirit which is YOUR spirit?
> All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils; Job 27:3
But there is a spirit in man: and
the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding. Job 32:8> he that
- giveth breath unto the people upon it,
and spirit to them that walk therein: Isaiah 42:5This is what Jesus meant when He pronounced woes upon the Pharisees (and anyone else guilty):
And the Lord said unto him, Now do ye Pharisees make clean
the outside of the cup and the platter;
but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness Luke 11:39You foolish people! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? Luke 11:40
But give what is inside the dish to the poor, and everything will be clean for you. Luke 11:41
Peter noted that Paul's writings are difficult to understand. Paul explained this by showing that the Corinthians were ignorant of the Old Testament as "chapter one of a two chapter book" (1Co 10:1; 12:1; 14:38).
Because we are no longer ignorant of the meaning of God's spirit within us we are prepared to read the "proof passage" which does not say that a one-third God lives in our literal body:
Again, Paul's first, and usually misunderstood, statement:
What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 1 Corinthians 6:19
First, we should not that God is pure Spirit but He is not a Ghost or the "demon of a dead person."
Much of what Paul said in the first letter was perhaps deliberately misunderstood and not obeyed. Because of the Gnostic belief about body and spirit it was easy for them to believe that they had the literal God in them. This is why they could "all" speak or sing in tongues when, as far as we can determine, not a single one of them had a supernatural gift.
Therefore, he explained this in his second letter by telling them what this meant in God's eternal Mind:
And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols?
for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said,I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 2Co 6:16
Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, 2Co 6:17
And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. 2Co 6:18
The spirit or "mental disposition" of a father lives in and controls a child. However, a father never literally lives in the body of a child. Jesus said that He and the Father would come and live in and walk with the believer. However, only Jesus Christ has ever been Incarnate God Himself.
Paul was quoting several facts of which they were ignorant. He was not speaking of a literal "little man" living in our body of flesh. He quoted what was God's intention even during the Old Covenant:
And I will set my tabernacle among you: and my soul shall not abhor you. Leviticus 26:11
And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people Leviticus 26:12
This was repeated each time Israel was, like Corinth, ignorant of His Word and moved away from the place He met with them:
My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Ezekiel 37:27
Jesus said that He would send a fuller Comforter and then said:
Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. Jn 14:17
I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. Jn 14:18
He repeated the Old Testament promise which defines that in means to live with and walk among the believer and live as the Spirit of Truth in the heart or mind:
Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. John 14:23
This conflict is between mankind's human flesh and mankind's human spirit which God put in him to give life and understanding. If the contest is between the flesh and the Holy Spirit or God Himself then God deliberately does battle with the flesh.
It would be blasphemy to charge that God deliberately tries to defeat us.
Paul defined the meaning of the flesh versus spirit conflict to the Galatians:
This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil
the lust of the flesh. Galatians 5:16
For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit,
My flesh lusteth against MY spirit.and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other; so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. Galatians 5:17
But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Galatians 5:18
If my flesh leads me then I will do things in a legal sense. However, if MY own spirit "does the walking" then I will focus on mental or spiritual things.
Paul is not discussing a conflict between his flesh and the Holy Spirit. Rather, the conflict is between his body and his spirit as Romans 7 and 8 clearly shows. In James, the same idea is that of God dwelling through the human spirit which He has give to us:
Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. James 4:4
Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth (crave) to envy? James 4:5
That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, Ephesians 3:17
But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. James 4:6
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. James 4:7
Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and
purify your hearts, ye doubleminded. James 4:8
The spirit which dwells in us was given by God and is Holy. However, we have to draw near to God with our hearts with a single mind or spirit. This will allow God to draw near to us.
The Holy Spirit is Christ as pure or Holy Spirit. The Divine Spirit cannot be polluted by fornication. However, the man's own spirit given to him by God can be changed from a holy spirit to an unholy spirit. Unholy simply means that it is no longer set aside for the service of Christ. The Spirit or mental disposition of Christ does not live in us in a literal, physical way; it dwells in us by faith as we absorb His Spirit through the Word (John 6:63). To think in these literal, physical ways is motivated by an urge for literal, physical signs of power, but it is not a spiritual (i.e. figurative or symbolic) way of thinking. This clearly means that we do not have the Spirit of Christ in our heart.
Rest and quietness with the Shepherd beside still waters is the proof of a holy Spirit; religious rituals as a shouting match with God and the "audience" guarantees that we do not love the Words of God:
Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel, Because ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon: Isaiah 30:12
Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant. Isaiah 30:13
And he shall break it as the breaking of the potters vessel that is broken in pieces; he shall not spare: so that there shall not be found in the bursting of it a sherd to take fire from the hearth, or to take water withal out of the pit. Isaiah 30:14
For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not. Isaiah 30:15
But ye said, No; for we will flee upon horses; therefore shall ye flee: and, We will ride upon the swift; therefore shall they that pursue you be swift. Isaiah 30:16
One thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one; at the rebuke of five shall ye flee: till ye be left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain, and as an ensign on an hill. Isaiah 30:17
Kenneth Sublett
E-Mail Comments or Questions