Let me share with you what I think is a rather compelling set of facts from the Scriptures in favor of the Spirit’s indwelling being through the Word and the Word alone. Look in Galatians, chapter 3, verse 2. We see here that Paul is going to ask a rhetorical question of these Galatians, the members of the churches of Christ in the region of Galatia, as he writes to them. He says, “This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?” It’s apparent that Paul is asking a rhetorical question and is not expecting an answer. He knows the answer to the question. He’s asking it in this way to get them to think about the answer. The implication of this verse is this: He’s saying, in effect, that they did not receive the Holy Spirit by works of the law; rather they received the Holy Spirit by the hearing of faith. Now that phrase, “hearing of faith” literally means “by the message of faith.” In fact, there are several translations that translate it in that way—the message of faith. And in his writing, Paul frequently uses faith as a figure of speech referring to the Gospel. In the book of Galatians, Galatians 2:16 [“Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.”], Galatians 3:23 [“But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed.”], and others Scriptures, he uses this term “faith” to represent the Gospel. Our understanding of that is that it involves the entire system of salvation. Thus, through the Christian system, and forgive me for using technical terminology like that, but through the Christian system, meaning the Gospel or the faith, the Spirit came to the Galatians. That’s how they received the Spirit, according to what Paul is inferring here in Galatians 3, verse 2.

But how was this system—the Gospel, the faith—made available to the Galatians? It was made available to them in the same way that it was made available to the Ephesians, and to the Romans, and to all the others to whom Paul wrote, to all the others to whom the Gospel was preached in the First Century, and as it’s available to us in the same way today. It is through preaching and studying of the Word! That is how the faith is made available. That’s what Paul says in Romans 10:17, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.”

So how is the faith received? It is received through the preaching, the presentation, the studying, and the deliberating upon the Word of God. It follows, therefore, that as the Galatians received the Word of Christ into their hearts, they were influenced by that Word, and they were thus led and influenced by the Holy Spirit Who gave them that Word. Remember, we said “the Word of God” and the Spirit guided those who spoke and wrote “the Word of God.” So in effect, it IS the Word of the Spirit.

Well, this is precisely the way Christ dwells in Christians today. In Ephesians 3, verse 17, Paul says, “That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.” [verses 17-19: “That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”] As His Word enters the heart and influences the life of the Christian, Christ dwells there. Not “bodily,” not in a literal way, but in a representative way. In the same way, when the Holy Spirit is allowed to control the thoughts, to direct the life of a person who has been influenced by the Word of God, by the Word revealed by the Spirit, then the Spirit dwells there by means of the Word which motivates the life.

So, I am saying that, based upon what we have seen in this very brief exploration, the Holy Spirit dwells in Christians today through the Word He inspired. We can’t feel the Spirit; we can’t touch the Spirit. As a matter of fact, I read of one who made the observation, which I thought was quite good, that since we can’t feel the Spirit, and since we can’t see the Spirit or make a visual acquiring of the Spirit, and since we can’t touch the Spirit, how do we know about the Holy Spirit and His dwelling in us? Right here—in the Word of God! This is how we know Who He is, how we know about Him, how we know His work, how we KNOW that he dwells in us.

Let me make one more point, as we’re thinking about the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, to give us at least one reason why He indwells in the Christian. In Romans, chapter 8, beginning with verse 8, Paul says, “So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him Who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He Who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit Who dwells in you.” Let me read it from another translation that I like. This is Dr. Hugo McCord’s translation beginning with verse 8: “Those who live according to the flesh cannot please God. You are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed God’s Spirit is living in you. If anyone does not have Christ’s Spirit, he does not belong to Him. If Christ is in you, the body is indeed dead to sin, and the Spirit is alive to righteousness. If the Spirit of the One Who raised Christ from the dead is living in you, then He Who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit Who lives in you.”