Journal: Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal

Volume: DBSJ 09:1 (Fall 2004)

Article: Were Old Testament Believers Indwelt By The Spirit?
Author: Robert V. McCabe
DBSJ 9 (2004) p. 215

Were Old Testament Believers

Indwelt By The Spirit?
Robert V. McCabe 1
Did Old Testament believers, as a necessary part of their sanctication, experience the Spirits
permanent indwelling ministry? 2 This has been answered in two antithetical ways: the Spirit
either indwelt Old Testament believers or he did not. 3 In 1988 Gary Fredricks argued that any
believers growth in holiness, irrespective of whether he lived before or after the cross, was
impossible apart from the indwelling ministry of the Spirit. Fredricks summarizes his position on
indwelling: If holiness is a requirement for all believers, whether before or after the cross, and
Romans and Galatians inform us that this can only be accomplished by the power of the
indwelling Spirit,these OT saints were enabled to live their lives through the power of the
Spirit.4 More recently, James Hamilton has defended the antithetical position that the Spirit did
not indwell Old Testament saints. Hamilton has suggested that Old Testament saints did not
need to be indwelt. God
DBSJ 9 (2004) p. 216

dwelled in the temple. He was thereby with them. How did old covenant believers remain
faithful? They remained faithful not by the Spirit dwelling in them, but by the Spirit dwelling in
the temple.5
A survey of literature dealing with the Spirits indwelling ministry reects that the current
division over whether Old Testament believers experienced this work of the Spirit or did not is
coordinate with the theological development of dispensationalism.6 Those who see a consistent
continuity between the Old Testament and New Testament, most covenant theologians, arm
that Old Testament believers were indwelt, 7 while those who see a fundamental discontinuity
between the testaments, many dispensational theologians, affirm that they were not indwelt.8

The Meaning Of Indwelling

Before we are in a position to answer the question about the Spirits indwelling ministry in the
Old Testament, we must initially dene indwelling. We should initially note that the issues
associated with the term indwelling primarily involve theological usage, rather than explicit
Scriptural usage. In fact, the word indwelling is never found in Scripture. However, this does not
invalidate its use as a theological concept. Other common theological terms such as Trinity and
premillennialism are never used in Scripture, yet each word functions as
DBSJ 9 (2004) p. 217

theological shorthand to encapsulate synthesized theological propositions. Likewise,indwelling is

a theological term that encapsulates biblical truth about the Spirits inuence whereby he
causes the believer to experience the blessings and operations of divine grace. In order to
determine if the Spirits indwelling ministry is restricted only to New Testament believers, the
New Testament data will be initially evaluated.

New Testament Data

Some dispensationalists argue that Old Testament believers were not universally and
permanently indwelt by the Spirit, but that, based primarily upon passages such as John 7:3739
and John 14:1617, only New Testament believers were permanently indwelt after Pentecost.9 In
restricting indwelling to New Testament saints, Walvoord states, While lled with the Spirit, Old
Testament saints could in one sense be considered also indwelt, but not in the permanent
unchanging way revealed in the New Testament.10 He further denes indwelling as the abiding
presence of the Spirit.11 Thus, the Holy Spirits permanent abiding ministry is conned to New
Testament saints, and precludes his permanent ministry with Old Testament saints. While other
passages may be used to justify that indwelling did not occur until Pentecost, John 7:3739 and
14:1617 are primary texts used since they highlight a contrast between the Spirits work before
and after Pentecost.12 Both texts need to be examined to see if they indicate that indwelling is a
post-Pentecost experience.

John 7:3739
37Now

on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying,

If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.

38He

who believes in Me, as the

Scripture said, From his innermost being will ow rivers of living water. 39But this
He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit
was not yet
DBSJ 9 (2004) p. 218

given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.13

On the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus appealed to those who were spiritually thirsty
to believe in him to satisfy their spiritual thirst. He further promised that those who believed in
him would have living water satisfy their spiritual thirst (v. 38). This living water is identied
as the Spirit in v. 39, who would reside in their innermost being and would not be given until
after the glorication of Jesus. A focus of the indwelling debate revolves around this clause in v.
39: for the Spirit was not yet given . The italicized word given is not in the Greek text:
(for the Spirit was not yet). However, given adequately completes the sense
of this clause since in the preceding clause Jesus teaches that his followers were yet to receive
the Spirit. 14 However, even if one does not agree with the insertion of given, it makes no
significant difference in the debate.
DBSJ 9 (2004) p. 219

In what sense had the followers of Christ not been given the Spirit? Based upon the
hermeneutical principle analogia scriptura,15 orthodox interpreters agree this text cannot mean
either that the Spirit did not exist prior to Jesus glorication or that the Spirit did not work
salvically in the Old Testament. 16 But beyond an agreement about what the text cannot mean,
orthodox interpreters oer various explanations of this text.17 One of these explanations is that
the Spirit would only indwell the followers of Christ after his glorication. Blum supports this
understanding of v. 39 when he refers to the special baptizing, sealing, and indwelling work of
the Spirit in the Church Age, which would start on the day of Pentecost. The Spirit had not
[yet] been given to indwell believers permanently. 18 In a similar way, Hamilton contends that
the Spirits indwelling ministry did not start until after Jesus glorication: Since John 7:39 refers
to believers who are yet to receive the Spirit, it would seem that prior to the glorication of Jesus
people could be enabled, i.e., regenerated, though they were not indwelt.19
A problem for taking v. 39 as a reference to indwelling is that the term is not specically

mentioned in this text, nor is the concept necessarily implied. While v. 39 does not explicitly
mention indwelling, it specically indicates that there is some sense that the Spirit would be
uniquely given in a future time, which in light of Matthew 3:11, John 1:33, Acts 1:5, 10:37, and
11:16 aligns with Pentecost.20 Because of the Holy Spirits omnipresence and immensity, the
sense of Spirits coming upon the disciples at Pentecost cannot be a spatial coming. 21 Since
the Holy Spirit is the third person of the triune God, localized appearances of him, of theological
necessity, must be special manifestations of his presence to accomplish specific purposes. In this
regard, Buswell has suggested it is correct then to say that on he [ sic] Day of Pentecost the
Holy Spirit came from heaven, but it is erroneous to think of His coming as a moving from one
place to another. Rather His coming means a special manifestation of His presence. 22
Therefore, v. 39 does not explicitly state that the Spirits indwelling ministry would be
inaugurated after Christs glorication and thus does not necessarily support the present age as
a period of the indwelling Spirit.23 Rather, v. 39 should be understood to mean that there would
be something unique in the Spirits relationship to believers after Christs glorication, a fuller
manifestation of the Spirits presence.
DBSJ 9 (2004) p. 220

Though this paper primarily focuses on the Spirits indwelling of Old Testament believers, I will
briey address the issue of this fuller New Testament manifestation of the Spirit by explaining
how this would includes at least one ministry that was inaugurated after Christs glorication and
a second that involved and expansion of the Spirits functioning in the Old Testament. First, a
fundamental distinction between this dispensation and previous dispensations is baptism by the
Holy Spirit. There is no hint in Scripture that Spirit baptism was operative prior to Pentecost, but
only after Pentecost. Spirit baptism has two aspects: judicial and experiential. 1 Corinthians
12:13 reects both of these aspects. The judicial aspect involves an identication with the body
of Christ: For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether
slaves or free. The experiential aspect primarily involves the Spirits work in granting gifts to
every member of his body for eective ministry: we were all made to drink of one Spirit. 24 The
giftedness of each member of the body of Christ is in contrast to the Old Testament, where only
select individuals were endowed with gifts for theocratic purposes. Second, though the Holy
Spirits role in illuminating the believer is the same in both testaments, the content of revelation
expanded after Christs glorication to focus on the message of the resurrected and gloried
Christ (cf. Acts 2:3233). Though the Spirits current illuminating ministry is in continuity with the
Spirits Old Testament work, the uniqueness of this ministry reects that the Holy Spirit could
not fulll his peculiar oce as Revealer of Christ until the atoning work of Christ should be
accomplished.25 This is not a new ministry of the Spirit, but an expansion of the content of
revelation with which the Spirit illuminates. Therefore, the fuller manifestation of the Spirits
presence to which John 7:3839
DBSJ 9 (2004) p. 221

has reference would include at least these two ministries; they are accomplished in every
believer who comprises the body of Christ from Pentecost to the Rapture.26

John 14:1617
16I

will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever;

17that

is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know

Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be27 in you.
In Jesus farewell discourse in John 1317, there are ve Paraclete passages: 14:1617, 14:26,

15:2627, 16:711, and 16:1215. The rst Paraclete passage, 14:1617, may be the passage
cited most often to demonstrate that the Spirit did not generally indwell Old Testament
believers. Support for this type of discontinuity is primarily drawn from a rigid semantic
distinction between with () and in () in the last two clauses of v. 17: He abides with
[] you, and will be in [] you. This distinction is supported by Patrick: We do well to
distinguish the words with

and in in the foregoing description of the Spirit of truth:with

characterizes the previous day and dispensation: and in the present age.28 Likewise, Ryrie
states: His ministry was dierent from that which began on Pentecost, for the Lord carefully
characterized the ministry as with in contrast to in, which began at Pentecost. Although in the
Old Testament there were clear instances when the Spirit indwelt men, His ministry could not be
described generally as a ministry of being in men but only with them. 29
Before looking at these two prepositions, two observations suggest that Christs focus is on the
Spirits exclusive relationship with the apostles. First, the overall context of the farewell discourse
in
DBSJ 9 (2004) p. 222

John 1317 is a private gathering of Jesus and his disciples,30 rather than with a general
audience,31 as was the case in John 7. In John 13 Jesus gathered his disciples to partake of the
Last Supper on the evening before his Crucixion. In 13:130 after washing his disciples feet as
well as identifying and dismissing the betrayer, Judas Iscariot, Jesus focused his instructions on
equipping the remaining eleven disciples for his impending death, burial, resurrection,
glorication, and the Spirits role in equipping the apostles to eectively minister after his
glorication. This suggests that the signicance of John 14:1617 relates more to the apostles
than to a general group of believers.32
Second, Christs identication of the Spirit as another Helper (v.16) and the Spirit of truth (v.
17) also implies that the Spirit would have a specialized ministry with Christs disciples. In
contrast to those who interpret vv. 1617 as a prediction of the Spirits indwelling ministry after
Christs ascension, a case can be made, in this context, that these expressions suggest Christs
focus is on an enablement from the Spirit to empower his disciples with apostolic authority. The
word translated Helper is the Greek word , one who appears in anothers
behalf.33 The nuances of this word not only include Helper, but also range from Comforter
(kjv) to a legal Counselor (niv) or Advocate ( NET Bible).34 This word is always used in John by
Jesus to speak of the Spirit who would take his place in strengthening and leading the disciples
after his departure.35 In

v. 16, the Holy Spirit is modied by the Greek adjective

another. Another Paraclete in the context of Jesus departure implies that the disciples
already have one, the one who is departing.36
DBSJ 9 (2004) p. 223

(Advocate) is also used of Jesus in 1 John 2:1. This implies that Jesus present advocacy is
discharged in the courts of heaven; John 14 implies that during his ministry his role as Paraclete,
strengthening and helping his disciples, was discharged on earth. Another Paraclete is given to
perform this latter task.37 The Spirit, in 14:2526 and 15:2627, also would reveal to Christs
chosen group of disciples what he had taught them during his earthly ministry so that they could
give authoritative proclamation on Christs behalf after his ascension. Thus, another Helper,
the Spirit, would take Jesus place to strengthen and assist his disciples, rather than a collective
group of New Testament believers. The implication of another Helper is that this ministry of
the Spirit is terminated with the death of the last Apostle.38
The purpose in sending the Paraclete is indicated with the clause in v. 16: that He may be

[ ] with [ ] you forever. The preposition (with), when followed by a genitive and
used with a form of (to be), as here, denotes being with someone, in someones
company.39 It may be used literally as with Christs association with his disciples (John 15:27;
17:24). However, when used in reference to supportiveness, has a metaphorical sense of
being with someone, standing by one or assisting someone.40 Since, in this verse, Jesus has
requested another Helper to equip his disciples, it is probable that Christs use of
suggests that he has requested that the Paraclete enable his disciples to accomplish their
apostolic task.41 This purpose clause indicates that Christs request deals with permanent
enablement for his disciples: That he may be with you forever [emphasis mine].
In addition to the Spirit being called another Helper, the Spirit is also called the Spirit of truth
in v. 17. The genitive (truth) is also used of Jesus in 14:6. The Paraclete is again called
the Spirit of truth in 15:26 and 16:13. In 15:26, the Spirit testies about Christ, and in16:13 he
will guide the disciples into all truth. The apostles would be Christs authorized interpreters,
and the Spirit would operate within them and bring remembrance of Christs words and deeds
and the meaning of them.42 The apostles were divinely
DBSJ 9 (2004) p. 224

authorized and enabled to accurately communicate special revelation about Christ. When the
Spirit is described as another Helper and as the Spirit of truth in the immediate context, this
suggests that the Spirit would manifest his presence in a specialized way with the apostles that
would endow them with apostolic authority. These two observations reect that the focus of this
passage is not explicitly on indwelling, but rather on the Spirits new ministry with the disciples
after Christs crucifixion.
The primary way that indwelling is integrated into this context is by making a sharp distinction
between the prepositions with () and in () in v. 17. If this sharp distinction is
accepted, the last two clauses of v. 17 suggest that the disciples as old covenant believers
experienced the Spirits work with them (He abides with [] you) in an external way, but
when they became new covenant believers at Pentecost, the Spirit would take up residence
inside of them (and [He] will be in [] you).43 Pentecost has summarized this contrast in the
Spirits ministry: Christ said, he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you (John 14:17). Dwelleth

with you is a reference to the relationship of the Holy Spirit to men before He came to take up
His residence within all believers on the day of Pentecost. The phrase and shall be in you is the
post-Pentecost experience, for on the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit came to indwell every
believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.44 With this type of understanding, there is some sense that the
Spirit had been intermittently transforming a limited number of believers from a position of
outer-dwelling before Christs glorication, but after glorication he would permanently and
universally transform his people through his inner-dwelling ministry.45
Is this rigid distinction in the semantics between (with) and (in) valid? Or is this type
of distinction more inferential than explicit? If the meaning of is limited to a spatial sense
of with or beside,46 a n d to in, this might support a distinct meaning for each
preposition.47 However, the semantics of each preposition do not permit the exegete to focus
only on spatial nuances.
The preposition (with), used in the next-to-the-last clause in v. 17 (He [the Spirit] abides
with [ ] you), appears 194
DBSJ 9 (2004) p. 225

times48 in the New Testament and has a wide range of uses. When used with the genitive and
accusative, its nuances include: from the side of, during, more than, because of. 49 It is

used with the dative 50 times,50 including v. 17, and reects a range of uses such as: near, in
(someones) house, city, company, in the sight or judgment of someone, among.51 BDAG
cites John 14:17 as an example of being in someones company. When is used in this
sense, it emphasizes an inner relationship.52 This inner relationship is reected in the
relationship between the Father and the Son as well as between Jesus unbelieving audience and
Satan in John 8:38: I speak the things which I have seen with
[ ] My Father; therefore you
also do the things which you heard from [] your father. The internal relationship between
the Father and Son is again reected in Jesus prayer in 17:5: Now, Father, glorify Me together
with [ ] Yourself, with the glory which I had with [] You before the world was. From the
immediate context of John 14, v. 23 provides further justication for taking as focusing on
a permanent internal relationship:53 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. In this context, Jesus described how the Father and Son would take up
their abode [ ] with [] those who love Christ. This use of involves a permanent
association, rather than a temporary one. The noun translated as abode ( ), in v. 23, is
cognate with the verb translated as abides in v. 17: [the Spirit] abides with you. This has
some implications for our understanding of v. 17. When Jesus says in v. 17 that the Spirit abides
with you, he may have been referring to a permanent relationship that the eleven disciples
already had with the Spirit. To strengthen this implication, abode ( ) is only used one other
time in John 14. In v. 2 Jesus announced to the eleven disciples that he was returning to his
Father to prepare dwelling places for his people. Therefore, may suggest a permanent
residing place, rather than a temporary one. In correlating this with our discussion of , it is
safe to say that this preposition, rather than being restricted to a spatial sense, has
DBSJ 9 (2004) p. 226

something of a gurative sense signifying that the Spirit had been permanently abiding in a
spiritual relationship with the eleven disciples.54 Thus the point of this clause in 14:17 (He
abides with [] you) is that the Spirit was already intimately and permanently residing with
each of the eleven disciples.55 As such, this part of v. 17 reects the Spirits pre-Pentecost
inner-dwelling ministry with the disciples.
The preposition (in), found in the nal clause of v. 17 (He [the Spirit] will be in [] you), is
used approximately 2,700 times in the New Testament. 56 It is the most frequently used
preposition in the NT with nuances ranging from the spatial, such as in, to the temporal, as
when, to name a couple of its multitudinous uses.57 BDAG has categorized the uses of into
twelve subdivisions.58 The rst category reects various spatial uses. For example, a woman in
Luke 7:37 is in [] the city. In Luke 2:49, after remaining behind in Jerusalem without his
parents, the boy Jesus told his parents that he had to be in [] My Fathers house. These are a
couple of the many examples of the spatial use of . The spatial or locative use is the category
in which some dispensationalists59 place Jesus statement in John 14:17: [the Spirit] will be
spatially in you.
Looking beyond the theological diculties associated with the omnipresent Spirit moving from
outside of a person to the inside, there is evidence in John that suggests is better taken with a
relational nuance.60 With this type of use, falls within the parameters of BDAGs fourth
category: as a marker of close association within a limit.61 The fourth category is subdivided
into three subcategories. More precisely, is best correlated with their third subcategory where
the Pauline and Johannine uses designate a close personal relation in
DBSJ 9 (2004) p. 227

which the referent of the -term is viewed as the controlling inuence: under the control of,

under the inuence of, in close association with.62 A primary Pauline example is Pauls use of
the (in Christ) formula; for example, 2 Corinthians 5:17: Therefore if anyone is in
[] Christ, he is a new creature. This use of reects an intimate salvic association between
Christ and the believer. 63 This same type of close personal relation is reected in the Gospel of
John. In 10:38, Jesus states: the Father is in Me, and I in the Father. Rather than having a
spatial sense, Jesus use of reects a metaphorical use to denote an intimate relationship
between the Father and the Son. In 15:5, the one who abides in () Christ and Christ in () him
bears much fruit. Again, this metaphorical use of stresses the intimacy of a relationship, a
saving relationship, and not a locative use. Of some import for our interpretation of John 14:17 is
the fact that the preposition is used 16 times in John 14. The only use that is spatial is v. 2: In
[] My Fathers house are many dwelling places. There is also a temporal use of in 14:20:
in [] that day. This preposition is used three times in connection with in [] My Name,
hardly spatial (vv. 13, 14, 26). Seven times, describes the intra-trinitarian dynamics of Jesus
being in [] the Father, or the Father in [] Jesus (vv. 10 [thrice], 11 [twice], 20 [twice]). In
reference to the last cited verse, v. 20, there is another use of that refers to the events
associated with Pentecost. At Pentecost, Jesus promised his disciples that they would have an
understanding of the intra-trinitarian relationship between the Father and the Son, and
something of the personal relationship of you in [] Me, and I in [] you. In concluding v. 20,
based upon his disciples imminent understanding of the intra-trinitarian dynamics between the
Father and the Son, Christ encourages the disciples to pray in his name so that the Father may
be gloried [] in the Son. Unless, in this verse, we have the disciples spatially indwelling the
Son and the Son indwelling the disciples, again suggests a dynamic relationship shared
between Christ and his disciples, rather than a spatial one. In addition, this preposition is used
once, v. 30, of the devil who had nothing in [] Christ. This is to say, the devil had no saving
relationship with Christ. With the exceptions of v. 2 and v. 20, there are thirteen uses of that
correlate better with a nuance of personal relationship.64 Therefore, the contextual uses of
suggest that its use in 14:17, rather than emphasizing the location where the Spirit would reside,
emphasizes an intimate relationship the Spirit would have in the near future with Christs
disciples.
DBSJ 9 (2004) p. 228

Before examining the pertinent data for formulating a theological denition of indwelling, I will
briey note three new facets of the Spirits relationship with Christs disciples that began at
Pentecost. First, the Spirit enabled the disciples to accurately remember and understand the
signicance of Christs ministry in the new situation after the resurrection (John 14:2526;
16:1215).65 When Christ states in John 16:13 that the Spirit would disclose to the disciples
what was to come, this undoubtedly included the inscripturated revelation found in the New
Testament. John 15:2627 suggests that the revelation communicated by the apostles was the
Spirits revelation: When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the
Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me, and you will testify also,
because you have been with Me from the beginning. The juxtaposition of two clauses in vv. 26
27 imply a connection between the Spirits testimony about passion and glorication of Christ
and the testimony of the disciples: He [the Spirit of truth] will testify [] about Me
and

you will testify [] also.66 Theologically, the two clauses are not simply

unrelated parallel statements. Rather they reect continuity between the Spirits and the
disciples witness with the result that the disciples witness is actually special revelation produced
by the Spirit,67 as Peter recognizes in Acts 5:32. This apostolic continuity of witness is also

reected in Revelation 19:10: Then I [the apostle John] fell at his [the angels] feet to worship
him. But he said to me, Do not do that; I am a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who
hold the testimony of Jesus; worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
The witness of the Holy Spirit, the spirit of prophecy, is equated with the Christocentric witness
of John. In relationship to their revelatory ministry, the New Testament apostles are similar to Old
Testament prophets with their prophetic ability to communicate divine revelation ( Num 11:25; 1
Sam 19:23; 2 Sam 23:2; 2 Chr 15:1; 20:14; Ezek 11:5; Mic 3:8). As this prophetic ability placed
Old Testament prophets in a unique group designed to provide prophetic leadership in the
theocracy, likewise the prophetic ability of the apostles set them apart as a uniquely gifted group
designed to authoritatively communicate the message of Christ in the foundation period of the
church. As such, New Testament fellowships were formed around the authoritative teaching of
the apostles (Acts 2:42; 5:4142), and this same group of apostles wrote, through the Spirits
revelatory work, the inscripturated revelation of the New Testament. Though this revelatory work
DBSJ 9 (2004) p. 229

of the Spirit is not new, the apostolic emphasis on a Christocentric ecclesiology reects a
discontinuity with Old Testament revelation.
Second, the Spirit empowered a new group of witnesses who had been with Christ from the
beginning (John 15:27), the eleven disciples.68 Having been with Christ from the beginning
reects that Christ had taught this group of disciples during his earthly ministry. Christs
personal ministry with this group set them apart for a unique function in the early history of the
church, an apostolic function.69 Though John does not use the word apostle, it is clear from
Lukes description in Acts 12 that these eleven disciples actually began to function as a Spirit
endowed group of apostles at Pentecost.70 When the Spirit was poured out on the disciples, they
experienced a unique ministry of the Spirit, an apostolic anointing. This ministry to which the
apostles were being commissioned required special leadership skills, and the Holy Spirit
consequently endowed them with these capacities at Pentecost.71 This apostolic anointing is
similar to the theocratic anointing found in the Old Testament and even in the gospels with
DBSJ 9 (2004) p. 230

Christs theocratic anointing at his baptism (Matt 3:16). In the Old Testament, the theocratic
anointing was a special work of the Spirit whereby the leaders of the theocratic kingdom were
equipped with special abilities to eectively function in their leadership capacities.72 The Old
Testament describes this ministry of the Spirit as coming upon Moses, the Seventy Elders,
Joshua, some of the judges, Saul, David, Solomon, and nally Jesus Christ.73 As the Spirit had
endowed the leaders of Israel with a theocratic anointing, he also equipped the leaders of the
church with a similar type of anointing. The Spirits anointing of the apostles was similar to the
theocratic anointing in that he equipped them with unique capacities to accomplish their Godgiven role.74 However, the Spirits anointing of the apostles was also dissimilar. Because the
apostles established the foundation of a new ecclesiastical entity, the church ( Eph 2:20), their
apostolic ministry of necessity was distinct. Consequently, this new ministry of the Spirit involved
setting apart eyewitnesses of Christ and endowing them with an apostolic anointing in order to
establish the foundation of the church.
Third, the Spirit empowered the apostles for eective evangelistic witness and with miraculous
endowments to conrm the authority of the gospel and of his apostles. In reference to
evangelism, before Christs ascension, he promised the apostles that when the Spirit was poured
out at Pentecost, they would receive power and become his witnesses both in Jerusalem, and
in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth (Acts 1:8). Acts 2 reects

that Peter proclaimed the risen Christ at Pentecost and the Spirit eectively worked to bring
three thousand into a saving relationship with the resurrected Christ (v. 41). The Spirits
redemptive power was also displayed through Pauls witness to the Corinthians: My message
and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit
and of power, so that your faith would not rest on
DBSJ 9 (2004) p. 231

the wisdom of men, but on the power of God (1 Cor 2:45). As the apostles laid the foundation
for the church, the Spirit enabled them to perform miraculous signs and wonders. An example of
miraculous power is Acts 14:3: Paul and Barnabas spent a long time there speaking boldly with

reliance upon the Lord, who was testifying to the word of His grace, granting that signs and
wonders be done by their hands. In defending his ministry as an apostle, Paul reminds the
Corinthians the signs of a true apostle were performed among you with all perseverance, by
signs and wonders and miracles (2 Cor 12:12). In summarizing his eective evangelistic mission
to the Gentiles and his display of signs and wonders, Paul connects both works of the Spirit in
Romans 15:1819: For I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has
accomplished through me, resulting in the obedience of the Gentiles by word and deed, in the
power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Spirit; so that from Jerusalem and round about
as far as Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ.75 With the ministries of both
apostles, Peter and Paul, the Spirit, in a unique and eective way was in ( ) them, just as
Christ had promised them in John 14:17: the Spirit will be in () you.
In supporting the view that the Spirits permanent and universal indwelling of individual believers
began at Pentecost, some have used John 7:3739 and 14:1617. While reecting an agreement
with a fulllment of both passages at Pentecost, I have argued that these texts do not refer to
the Spirits permanent indwelling ministry in individual believers. Rather, I have suggested that
they refer primarily to two new ministries of the Spirit associated with Pentecost. John 7:3739
looked forward to a baptism of the Spirit that placed all believers into the body of Christ. Also
connected with this baptism at Pentecost, the Spirit anointed the apostles for their unique
ecclesiastical position in the establishment of the foundation for the church. John 14:1617
anticipated this apostolic anointing.

Theological Use
As we have previously noted, the term indwelling is neither explicitly used in any biblical text,
nor necessarily inferred from John 7:3839 and 14:17. Though this term is not used, it is,
nevertheless, a useful theological term to describe the Spirits ministry within a believer. But
what does within a believer mean? Is within a believer essentially the same as Walvoords
denition, The abiding presence of the Spirit?76 As previously noted about Walvoords
definition of
DBSJ 9 (2004) p. 232

indwelling, he qualies his denition by maintaining that indwelling does not always refer to the
permanent abiding presence of the Spirit. Furthermore, it does not mean the permanent abiding
presence of the Spirit within believers of all dispensations.77 Finally, he qualies the Spirits
indwelling ministry in the Old Testament by stating that it had no apparent relation to spiritual
qualities.78 Thus the only common denominator between Old Testament and New Testament
indwelling is that both are ministries of the Spirit, but only New Testament indwelling relates to
spiritual qualities within a believer and Old Testament indwelling does not. However, if spiritual
qualities are eliminated from the Spirits indwelling ministry in the Old Testament, why use the

term indwelling to describe any of the Spirits Old Testament works? Consequently, my use of
within a believer is not the equivalent of Walvoords permanent abiding presence of the
Spirit. To continue using indwelling as a descriptive term for some work of the Holy Spirit in the
Old Testament that has no connection with what the Spirit necessarily does within a believer
as a part of his sanctication promotes a level of theological ambiguity about the Spirits
indwelling work.
Unfortunately, the lack of a precise denition for indwelling allows for semantic confusion. In
order to reduce this confusion, a precise denition is advantageous. However, there is another
theological issue that must be addressed before a denition is oered. How do we integrate the
spatial nuances of indwelling with the Spirits omnipresence? This is to say, what does it mean to
have the Spirit within a believer? On the one hand, does indwelling suggest that the
omnipresent Spirit before a believers conversion did not internally permeate him? If before a
believers conversion the Spirit did not permeate him, how do we harmonize this spatially limited
view of the Spirit with his omnipresence? On the other hand, if a believer was permeated by the
Spirit before his conversion, how are we to interpret expressions such as the Spirit of God dwells
in you and if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him (Rom 8:9)?
Again, 2 Timothy 1:14 bears witness to a believer being indwelt: Guard, through the Holy Spirit
who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you. Any attempt to understand the
Holy Spirits indwelling ministry must integrate the localized manifestations of his presence with
his omnipresence.
The Holy Spirits omnipresence teaches that the Spirit with his entire being permeates all of
creation, yet at the same time he is
DBSJ 9 (2004) p. 233

completely distinct from creation.79 Gods, and thus also the Spirits, unlimited presence is
taught in Jeremiah 23:24: Can a man hide himself in hiding places so I do not see him?
declares the Lord. Do I not ll the heavens and the earth? declares the Lord. A similar
armation is made in Ephesians 1:2223: And He put all things in subjection under His feet,
and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who
lls all in all. According to these texts, God, and thus also the Holy Spirit, in his omnipresence
lls all in all. This certainly must include humanity, whether regenerate or unregenerate.
Charles Hodge summarizes the signicance of divine omnipresence as it relates to the created
order and more specifically to mankind.
Everywhere in the Old and in the New Testament, God is represented as a spiritual
Being, without form, invisible, whom no man hath seen or can see;as everywhere
present, and everywhere imparting life, and securing order; present in every blade of
grass, yet guiding Arcturus in his course, marshalling the stars as a host, calling them
by their names; present also in every human soul, giving it understanding, endowing
it with gifts, working in it both to will and to do. The human heart is in his hands.80
If the Spirit permeates all humanity without exception, how is this to be harmonized with those
passages that have the Spirit either abiding or dwelling in believers and those passages that
apparently exclude his abiding or dwelling in unbelievers? To broaden this issue from the
soteriological realm, there are dierent texts in Scripture that picture the Spirit as being
localized in some sense. For example, Genesis 1:2 portrays the Spirit as having a localized
presence as he hovers over the waters surrounding primeval earth. In Acts 1:8, the Spirit is again
localized descending like a dove. What then does Scripture mean when it presents the Spirit as
being in some sense spatially limited? While the Spirit is everywhere present, he is not equally
present in the same sense in all His creatures.81 The Holy Spirit may manifest his presence in

specialized ways. In commenting on Gods special presence, Shedd has maintained that God
is said to be in heaven, in believers, in hell, etc., because of a special manifestation of his
glory, or his grace, or his retribution. In this reference, sinners are said to be away
DBSJ 9 (2004) p. 234

from God, and God from them.82 In agreement with Shedd, Berkhof notes that Gods presence
is not equally manifested in the same way in all his creation:
Though God is distinct from the world and may not be identied with it, He is yet
present in every part of His creation, not only per potentiam, but also per essentiam.
This does not mean, however, that He is equally present and present in the same
sense in all His creatures. The nature of His indwelling is in harmony with that of His
creatures. He does not dwell on earth as He does in heaven, in animals as He does in
man, in the inorganic as He does in the organic creation, in the wicked as He does in
the pious, nor in the Church as He does in Christ. There is an endless variety in the
manner in which He is immanent in His creatures, and in the measure in which they
reveal God to those who have eyes to see.83
Thus, while the Holy Spirit in the fullness of his being is everywhere present, the Holy Spirit does
not dwell in the wicked in the same way as the godly. In reference to the realm of nite
humanity, the Spirit fully dwells inside the bodies of both regenerate and unregenerate. In
addition, this has always been true since the creation of man. Accordingly, it would be erroneous
to think of the Spirit as being outside of a persons body before conversion and then moving
inside of a persons body at conversion.84
What, then, is the dierence between the way the Spirit dwells in the godly and the way he
dwells in the wicked? As opposed to the unbeliever, the dierence with the Spirits presence in
an individual believer is more an issue of his salvic presence rather than an exclusive locative
presence. Two texts help clarify this difference.

1 Corinthians 6:1920
19Do

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? 20For you have been bought with
a price: therefore glorify God in your body.
These two verses are part of a larger context in1 Corinthians 6:1220. Apparently, a Hellenistic
dualism had inuenced some Christian men at Corinth with a result that they justied their
sexual involvement with prostitutes on the basis of a dichotomy between the
DBSJ 9 (2004) p. 235

body and the spirit. With this outlook, a persons spirit is redeemed but the body is not. Since the
body has no eternal value, a Christian could do whatever he desired with his body. In this
context, Paul argues strongly against such sinful thought and activity. His argument focuses on
believers avoiding sexual immorality because their bodies belong to God.85 He specically states
this in v. 13, the body is not for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body.
Pauls concludes his argument in v. 18 with his command to ee immorality. Paul supports his
command in vv. 18b20: sexual immorality is against a believers body, (v. 18b), which
rightfully belongs to God. Verses 1920 present two reasons why the believers body belongs to
God: the indwelling work of the Spirit (v. 19) and redemption purchased by Christ (v. 20). Pauls
position on the sanctity of the believers body stands in stark contrast to the pneumatics view
that the body is destined for destruction and therefore has no present or eternal significance.86

In v. 19 Paul indicates that a believers body () is a temple () of the Holy Spirit.

Because Pauls command, along with his explanation, in v. 18 explicitly focuses on eeing
immorality, body, , most naturally refers to the physical bodies of individual believers.
When the body is referred to as a temple, , Paul appears to adapt his use of from its
corporate use in 3:16 and applies it to individual Christians.87 In using this temple imagery, Paul
places an emphasis on believers bodies as the place where the Spirit indwells.88 Because of two
modifying clauses in v. 19 (who is in you and whom you have from God), this verse is a clear
reference to the Spirits indwelling work in a believer. Because of the Corinthian pneumatics
emphasis on the Spirits saving work in their inner man to the exclusion of the outer, Paul
appears to use the Spirits indwelling work against their dualism. At conversion, a believer is
spiritually united with the Lord, v. 17 (the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with

Him). With this spiritual union, the Spirit does not simply
DBSJ 9 (2004) p. 236

save a persons spirit to the exclusion of his body. Rather, with this spiritual union, the Spirit
indwells the entirety of a person, body and spirit, and this certainly includes a locative sense,
because the believer is a corporeal location comprising body and spirit. This suggests that the
Spirits salvic presence in a believer, which began at regeneration and continues through
indwelling, must even aect how a believer uses his body. 89 However, the Spirits indwelling, by
nature of his omnipresence and immensity, cannot be restricted to a strict locative sense, but
must inevitably include a fuller manifestation of the Spirits salvic interaction with a localized
believer. Therefore, based upon 1 Corinthians 6:19, the Spirits salvic interaction in a believer
affects the entirety of his being. This also implies that the Spirit does not permeate an unbeliever
in the same manner.

1 Corinthians 2:1415
14But

a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are
foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually
appraised.
by no one.

15But

he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised

90
In 2:1415 two groups of people are contrasted: those who are saved and those who are not.

This contrast is part of an argument that actually begins in 1:1017, where Paul deals with the
divisive groups that had developed at Corinth. The Hellenistic dualism that had apparently
inltrated the Corinthian church through itinerant sophist teachers produced disciples with a
superior philosophya supposed divine wisdom ( )that minimized or excluded the
cross (1:2021). This new wisdom exalted those who embraced it. To show the erroneous nature
of this new wisdom, Paul reminds the Corinthians about the nature of the gospel in 1:1825,
about their own response to the gospel in 1:2631, and about Pauls own preaching of the gospel
that was accompanied by the Spirits effectual power in 2:15.91
I n 2:616 Paul shifts his focus to explicitly assert that his gospel is Gods wisdom. Verse6a
summarizes this section: Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature. More
specically, three items in v. 6a reect Pauls emphases: wisdom, wespeak, among those
who are mature. Pauls summation from v. 6a is developed in
DBSJ 9 (2004) p. 237

the remainder of this passage. Verses 6b9 focuses on this message of wisdom, vv. 1013 on
wespeak, and vv. 1416 on among those who are mature.92 In the development of Pauls
argument in vv. 616, he highlights two antithetical responses to Gods wisdom. First, in contrast

to believers (those who are mature), the person without the Spirit does not welcome the
gospel; rather he evaluates it as foolishness. In describing one who responded negatively to
the gospel, Paul describes him as a natural man, (v. 14). This word is used to
represent the second group, those who are not saved. The Greek word has been defined
as pertaining to the life of the natural world and whatever belongs to it, in contrast to the realm
of experience whose central characteristic is .93 Because of its lexical use and its
contrast with , he who is spiritual (v. 15), is better translated like the niv,
the man without the Spirit.94 This same use of is also found in Jude 19: These are the
ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded, devoid of the Spirit (). The man without the
Spirit is hostile to and unable to accept Gods wisdom in the gospel. In short, the man without
the Spirit is spiritually dead. This condition is reected in three further ways in v. 14: he does
not accept the things of the Spirit of God, he evaluates the gospel as foolishness, and cannot
understand Gods wisdom. The terms used in these three clauses indicate that the person
without the Spirit has a cognitive understanding of the gospel; however, it is unappealing to him,
and he cannot accept its truth claims and embrace it as Gods wisdom.95 A positive assessment
of the gospel requires a spiritual appraisal that those who are spiritually dead are unable to
give. Not being indwelt by the Holy Spirit, the natural man has no ability to see the worth, or
value, of biblical teachings; and this is why he does not know them. Ones inability to welcome
spiritual things is supported more aptly by affirming that he cannot evaluate
DBSJ 9 (2004) p. 238

them than by arming that he cannot even have cognition of them.96 This type of appraisal
can only be generated by means of the Holy Spirit.97
Second, those who are mature, believers, are those who welcome the gospel. To describe this
group, Paul uses the Greek term , he who is spiritual, in v. 15. This term is
generally used of something related to the divine spirit.98 In this context Paul uses
as by means of the Spirit and not as some natural ability related to those who are

. For Paul, to be spiritual and to discern spiritually simply means to have the Spirit,
who so endows and enables.99 Whereas the man without the Spirit appraises the things of
the Spirit of God as foolishness in v. 14, the man with the Spirit welcomes and embraces
spiritual truth.100 Those having the Spirit reect the Spirits continual work in two further ways in
v. 15. First, the spiritual man appraises all things that are related to the salvic message of the
gospel. Second, when Paul says, Yet he himself is appraised by no one, he means, the person
who belongs to this age is not in a position to judge as foolish the person who belongs to the
age to come. Those whose lives are invaded by the Spirit of God can discern all things,
including those without the Spirit; but the inverse is not possible.101
I n 2:616 Paul presents two mutually exclusive categories of people that relate to the Spirits
salvic ministry, those without the Spirit and those with the Spirit. The soteriological
ramications are profound. Those without the Spirit are absolutely hostile to and unable to
accept the wisdom of the gospel. Because the Holy Spirit is incorporeal and omnipresent, one
who is deprived of the Spirit should not be understood as somehow denying that the Spirit
permeates his being, but rather that he is void of a gracious manifestation of the Spirits salvic
inuence. The Spirits exerting a gracious saving interaction with a fallen sinner is the only
means to overcome his hostility. This hostility does not allow for any hint of a synergistic
understanding of the Spirits work, but requires his monergistic, salvic inuence. This is to say;
a persons positive response is exclusively initiated and progressively sustained by means of
the Spirit. Initially, when the gospel is proclaimed, the Spirit begins his life-giving work through
DBSJ 9 (2004) p. 239

regeneration.102 In sustaining his work of regeneration, the Spirit of necessity functions to

maintain the new nature through his ministry of indwelling. Thus, when Paul depicts a believer as
a man with the Spirit, he does not mean that the Spirit moved from outside of the believer to
the inside of him in a strictly spatial sense, beginning at regeneration. Rather, Paul means that
the Spirit began to exert a salvic inuence, a personal saving relationship, on him at
regeneration and will continue that inuence in sanctication.103 However, this saving inuence
is absent from an unbeliever. As such, indwelling is the Spirits work in continuing his salvic
influence that he began with a believer at regeneration.
We are now in a position to compare the word indwelling with its usage in common parlance.
Indwelling, according to Webster, is defined as being an inner activating or guiding force.104 As
this dictionary denition suggests, indwelling focuses on an internal inuence, rather than an
external inuence. Theologically, indwelling has been dened by Erickson as the presence of
Christ or the Holy Spirit within the life of the believer.105 While Ericksons denition is consistent
with Websters in that he associates indwelling with an internal inuence, his denition also
reects a biblical perspective in that he identies the internal inuence as a derivative from
Christs inuence or the Holy Spirits within a believer. Thus these denitions integrate well with
my previous argument that the Spirits ministry is in some sense spatial (1 Cor 6:19); however,
its spatial nature is not because the Spirit is localized but because a believer is. The Spirits
incorporeal nature and omnipresence have not changed; his indwelling ministry more specifically
relates to a gracious saving operation within the believer that is not true for the unbeliever. As
opposed to the unbeliever, the dierence with the Spirits presence in a believer, according to
Storms, is not simply a spatial but also a spiritual presence, such that distinctive divine
blessings and operations are dispensed only in the believer. 106 At the most basic level, the
Spirits spiritual presence
DBSJ 9 (2004) p. 240

is a qualitative change in relationship whereby the Spirit is savingly related to the believer, but
is not savingly related to the non-believer. 107 Based upon this, indwelling, when used to
describe this saving relationship with the Spirit, is something of a metaphor to describe the
Spirits permanently sustaining the saving relationship that was begun at regeneration.108 In any
regenerated believer, indwelling is that necessary and progressive work of the Spirit that
internally transforms a believer into the renewed image of God. Underscoring the need for the
Spirits life-sustaining ministry of indwelling is the incontrovertible soteriological reality that ever
since the Fall man has been in a state of pervasive sinfulness.
A criticism against the Spirits indwelling old covenant believers is that this understanding reads
the New Testament back into the Old. A related criticism is that, since the Old Testament does
not specically mention that average old covenant believers were individually indwelt, the
position that I am defending is an argument from silence.109
DBSJ 9 (2004) p. 241

However, if the dynamics of mans internal constitution have not changed since the Fall, then it
was theologically mandatory for depraved sinners living in the Old Testament to experience the
Spirits life-renewing work to change his constitution. To fully understand this theological
demand, we must understand the nature of total depravity and how this requires that the Spirits
indwelling ministry with a believer be a continuous internal work that extends to the core of his
being. 110

Total Depravity And Indwelling

The doctrine of total depravity teaches that every person since the Fall is conceived with an
inborn moral and spiritual corruption that permeates his entire being. According to this doctrine,
a person is so pervasively polluted with his internal corruption that every aspect of his being
and personality is aected by it. 111 Unless God does something to change the mind, will, and
aections of sinful man, he is helplessly lost and eternally condemned. My argument is that it is
only through the life-giving ministry of the Spirit, regeneration, and his life-sustaining ministry,
indwelling, that mans internal disposition is eectively changed so that he initially and
continuously seeks after God.112 In order to demonstrate that total depravity extends to the core
of a persons being, a brief synopsis of depravity will highlight this substantive condition.
When Adam ate from the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good
DBSJ 9 (2004) p. 242

and evil, Adam and Eve were eternally condemned and were internally changed into a state of
total depravity, including the loss of their original state of unconrmed creature holiness. In
keeping with the Pauline analogy in Romans 5:1221, comparing the representative roles of
Adam and Christ (1 Cor 15:2122), God imputed to those whom Adam represented, the human
race, both Adams guilt and his corruption.113 According to v. 12, sin entered the world through
Adam: Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin,
and so death spread to all men, because all sinned. The all who sinned were connected with
Adam as their representative when he initiated sin into the world through his act of disobedience
and this connection resulted in death for all men.114 The comparative conjunction, just as
(), that introduces verse 12 indicates that this verse is a protasis; however, its apodosis is
not found until vv. 1819, with vv. 1317 functioning as a theological parenthesis.115 The
apodosis in vv. 1819 summarizes Pauls argument in this section and stresses that the
imputation of Adams guilt resulted in eternal condemnation, in an analogous way to Christs
triumphant act of righteousness being imputed to us: So then as through one transgression
there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted
justication of life to all men. For as through the one mans disobedience the many were made
sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous. The
expression made sinners, like made righteous, 116 reects a forensic aspect of Adams
transgression. This act of disobedience also had the result of making his posterity totally
depraved.117
The word depravity refers to moral and spiritual corruption, the disposition towards evil and
against good. All the descendants of Adam inherit a totally depraved nature at conception and
are alienated from
DBSJ 9 (2004) p. 243

God. David stated it like this in Psalm 51:5: Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my
mother conceived me (niv). Romans 5:1221 provides a theological basis for Pauls discussion
of hamartiology in Romans 1:183:23. Because of humanitys connection with Adam, sin has
been transmitted to all people. And the sin transmitted from Adam is so pervasive in mans being
that he has no desire to seek after God. Paul makes this very point in Romans 3:1012: There is
none righteous, not even one; there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God;
all have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is none who does good, there is
not even one. He further describes, in vv. 1318, how sin permeates a persons being: body
and spirit.118 Mans problem is systemic: by nature children of wrath (Eph 2:3). Mans nature is
so hopelessly corrupt that Paul describes it as being dead in trespasses and sin ( 2:1). As
such, mans inner being by nature is enslaved to his pervasive corruption and this corruption

goes back to his conception and birth.

The adjective total is used to qualify depravity in order to communicate that this corruption
pervades the whole of a persons being, extending to the core of his being.119 Depravity
pervades mans mind, emotions and desires, heart, will, and conscience.120 In Scripture, the evil
intentions of mans heart are pictured in Genesis 6:5 as continuously evil: Then the Lord saw
that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his
heart was only evil continually. The perversity of mans heart extends back to his youth,
according to Genesis 8:21: The Lord smelled the soothing aroma; and the Lord said to Himself, I
will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of mans heart is evil from
his youth. The author of Ecclesiastes armed in 9:3 that the hearts of men are full of evil and
insanitythroughout their lives.
DBSJ 9 (2004) p. 244

According to Jeremiah 17:9, mans heart is more deceitful than all else, and is desperately sick;
who can understand it? The answer to Jeremiahs question is that no man can understand the
depth of mans depravity. In Mark 7:2123 Jesus described mans radical corruption as the
source that produces all types of evil activities: For from within, out of the heart of men,
proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and
wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. All these evil
things proceed from within and defile the man.
Mans mind is also presented in Romans 8:78 as being hostile to God: The mind set on the
esh [sinful nature] is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is
not even able to do so, and those who are in the esh [sinful nature] cannot please God. Paul
further describes mans mind as being darkened in understanding, excluded from the life of
God, having a hardness of heart and being callous; and this results in man giving himself
over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness (Eph 4:1719).
Further, Paul describes the man outside of Christ as having a deled mind and conscience: To
the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are deled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but
both their mind and their conscience are deled (Tit 1:5). Paul personally testied about the
extent of his depravity with this: I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my esh
[sinful nature] (Rom 7:18). In light of these passages, the explicit teaching of Scripture about
depravity is that it pervades mans mind, emotions and desires, will, and conscience. In these
passages, the term heart is used to reect various internal processes, such as thinking, desiring,
resolving. In these passages, mans heart, as well as his other inner faculties are described as
being evil, deceitful, sick, hardened, excluded from the life of God, callous,
darkened, deled, and even as hostile to God. The various writers of Scripture describe
depravity in the most hideous terms. In the nal analysis, the focus of all these passages is that
total depravity pervades mans inner being and that this condition is described as being hostilely
antithetical to God. In short, depravity is total because it pervades man, extending to the very
core of his being.121
DBSJ 9 (2004) p. 245

While the writers of Scripture present mans total depravity with horrendous expressions, there
is one item that Paul includes in Romans 8:8 that is crucially decisive in picturing man in the
bleakest condition: Those who are in the esh [sinful nature] cannot please God. To be in the
esh is to be controlled by sinful nature, as the niv renders it: Those controlled by the sinful
nature cannot please God. In other words, there is nothing within mans internal framework that
makes him capable of pleasing God. In light of Pauls assertion, the biblical picture of total
depravity must be further qualied as including the concept of mans total inability. Total

inability means that man is incapable of changing his sinful character or acting in a way that is
inconsistent with his pervasive depravity. 122 As Jeremiah said in 13:23: Can the Ethiopian
change his skin or the leopard its spots? Neither can you do good who are accustomed to doing
evil (niv). Total inability argues that man does not desire to please God and that he is incapable
of pleasing God. In Ephesians 2:1, Paul described fallen humanity as being dead in trespasses
and sin. Paul further describes total depravity as a condition of slavery in Titus 3:3: For we also
once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures,
spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. Sinful man is so enslaved to
sin he has no internal capability to turn his life over to God. In short, total depravity means that
man is dead in trespasses and sin, enslaved to his sinful character, and unable to please
God.
If total depravity means that all people are dead in trespasses and sin and if this death renders
them entirely unable and unwilling from the very core of their being to positively respond to God,
then fallen man is left with a pervasive internal problem that he cannot correct in any
conceivable way. In this theological scenario, the inescapable conclusion is that only through the
Spirits work in fallen man is he enabled to come to God. Because mans total depravity is
antagonistically antithetical to Gods nature, the doctrine of total depravity helps dene what the
Spirit is renewing in his life-giving and life-sustaining ministry: the core of ones being, ones
direction and outlook in life. As such, the nature of mans depravity demands the Spirits
indwelling ministry to sustain the new disposition quickened by the Spirit at
DBSJ 9 (2004) p. 246

regeneration. In his discussion of sanctication, Packer, though not using the termindwelling,
nevertheless, summarizes the concept of indwelling that this paper is defending: Believers nd
within themselves contrary urgings. The Spirit sustains their regenerate desires and purposes;
their fallen, Adamic instincts (the esh) which, though dethroned, are not yet destroyed,
constantly distract them from doing Gods will and allure them along the paths that lead to
death.123 In essence, indwelling, as dened in this paper, is the Spirits work of sustaining
regenerate desires and purposes. The Spirits work of renewal unavoidably must include two
aspects: an initial work of regeneration and the continuance of this initial work through his
permanent indwelling ministry. Without the Spirits continued work of permanently renewing the
core of a mans being, a regenerate man would undoubtedly fall back into his unregenerate
condition.124

Regeneration And Indwelling

There is only one way to overcome spiritual death, whether one lived in the Old Testament
period or the New Testament era, and this is by God giving a dead sinner spiritual life. Thus, it
would seem that it was theologically necessary for the Spirit to regenerate people in the Old
Testament economy. However, many dispensationalists have some reservations with
regeneration taking place in the Old Testament. Those claiming that regeneration did not take
place in the Old Testament maintain this position because the Old Testament had no clear
doctrinal teaching about regeneration. As Chafer has stated the case, With respect to
regeneration, the Old Testament saints were evidently renewed; but as there is no denite
doctrinal teaching relative to the extent and character of that renewal, no positive declaration
can be made.125 Chafer claimed that his reason for this position was that he did not want to be
guilty of reading New Testament blessings back into the Old Testament.

126

If Chafer and

others are correct that there is some type of renewal, evidently renewed, and it is not
regeneration as revealed in the New Testament, one wonders what type of renewal a person

living in the Old Testament experienced? Was it some sort of intermediate state between being
spiritually dead and spiritually alive, some sort of half-life category? The only way this halflife can
DBSJ 9 (2004) p. 247

work is if Old Testament sinners were only partially depraved, rather than totally depraved.127
By the very nature of total depravity, no one has the desire or capability to come to God. Jesus
recognized the ramications of mans total depravity when he said to Nicodemus in John 3:3, 5
that unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. Unless one is born of water
and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. He again recognized the necessity of
God enabling man to believe in John 6:44, 65: No one can come to Me unless the Father who
sent Me draws him. No one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father. In
both passages, Jesus recognizes the absolute impossibility of man creating in his own being any
type of spiritual life so that he could come to God, and he armed that it is only through divine
enablement that anyone can come to God. Of necessity, Jesus remarks in both passages arm
that if anyone is to faithfully follow Him, a person will only come because the Divine Progenitor
has given him spiritual life. Just as it is impossible for any person to cause his own physical birth,
so it is impossible for any depraved person to bring about his own spiritual birth. The term that
theologically describes this monergistic work of God in the soul of a radically corrupt sinner is
regeneration. In both contexts, Jesus emphatically rules out any type of synergistic activity with
God and man cooperatively working together to produce new life.128 Since total depravity has
been the true state of man since the Fall, Jesus remarks strongly suggest that fallen man in the
Old Testament also had to experience regeneration.129
Regeneration can be described as an implanting of spiritual life in the spiritually dead. Such a
denition is certainly related to the biblical description of man as being dead in trespasses and
sin. But it also appears that regeneration involves the impartation of a new disposition, a new
complex of attributes, including spiritual life, in a pervasively corrupt man. In keeping with this,
regeneration, according to Berkhof, is that act of God by which the principle of the new life is
implanted in man, and the governing disposition of the soul is made
DBSJ 9 (2004) p. 248

holy.130 If this governing disposition is correlated with the new nature,131 regeneration can be
dened as the decisive impartation of the new nature to a spiritually dead man.132 While the
Old Testament does not have a Hebrew term that precisely corresponds to the term
regeneration,133 it uses other concepts that overlap with regeneration, such as having a new
heart, new spirit, heart of esh (Ezek 36:26), and a circumcised heart (Deut 30:6; Jer
9:25; Ezek 44:7, 9).134 These various Old Testament synonyms for regeneration reect the initial
activity of the Spirit in his life-giving ministry as he implants a new nature in the hearts of men
who are spiritually dead. Regeneration is a soteriological inevitability in the Old Testament if
mans corruption permeated his being.
In addition to depravity, another support for regeneration occurring in the Old Testament is
drawn from the evidences that grow out of new spiritual life. The evidences of regeneration
reflect that the Spirit in some sense renewed the internal disposition imparted at regeneration. In
explaining to Nicodemus the unilateral nature of the new birth and how this is evidenced, Jesus
draws an analogy between the wind and the Spirit in John 3:8: The wind [ ] blows
where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it
is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit [ ]. Though man cannot direct or
comprehend the wind, this does not mean that we cannot detect the winds eects. We hear its

sound, watch the swaying grasses, see the clouds scudding by, hide in fear before the worst
wind storms. So it is with the Spirit. We can neither control him nor understand him. But that
does not mean we cannot witness his eects. Where the Spirit works, the eects are undeniable
and unmistakable.135 Jesus words are a theological truism: New life is always reected by its
fruits. The evidences in the Old Testament that the Spirit had circumcised a sinful Israelites
heart
DBSJ 9 (2004) p. 249

included eects such as saving faith (Heb 11),136 delighting in Gods Word (Ps 1:2), loving Gods
Law (Ps 119:97), loving God (Ps 116:1), praising God (Ps 34:1), being called a friend of God as
Abraham was 137 (Isa 41:8; Jas 2:23), and pleasing God (Prov 16:7).138 In the midst of severe
obstacles, Joseph remained constant in faith. If the Spirit had not regenerated Joseph along with
its entailment of indwelling, how is it possible to explain his constancy in faith? The only
conceivable way of explaining Josephs faithfulness is through the Spirits life-transforming
ministry. Wood has perceptively noted this:
Joseph experienced extreme cause for complaint, yet is never said to have become
bitter or lost his faith in God. Many others could be named as well. Their lives were
outstanding in faithfulness and dedication, and they are set forth in the Old
Testament as examples to follow. Did they achieve such commendable lives by their
own eorts? Did they have some resources in their own nature on which they could
draw that people of the New Testament time do not have? The answer of course is
that they did not. But if not, they must have experienced an impartation of new life
just as saints of the New Testament and this means regeneration.139
Based upon total depravity, the Spirit, of necessity, had been actively involved in the Old
Testament as he regenerated fallen sinners. As Grogan has precisely summarized, If faith is a
gift of God and evidence of the inner working of the Spirit, and if the men of the O.T. were
justied by faith, it is hard to resist the inference that they were regenerate.140 In addition, the
inevitable results from new life reect the Spirits ongoing indwelling work with Old Testament
saints. However, some would argue that indwelling does not necessarily follow from
regeneration.141 But from a theological perspective, it is
DBSJ 9 (2004) p. 250

dicult to conceive of the Spirit imparting a new disposition at regeneration, then withdrawing
his saving presence after regeneration and leaving the Old Testament believer to spiritually fend
for himself. If indwelling is a necessary entailment from regeneration, then it follows that the
Holy Spirit indwelt Old Testament saints.

Indwelling In The Old Testament

As has been previously suggested, the Holy Spirits indwelling of a believer is a metaphor to
describe the Spirits permanently sustaining a personal saving relationship he initiated with a
believer at regeneration. In addition, I have argued that since the Fall this relationship is an
incontrovertible soteriological truth. In keeping with this argument, it is necessary to
demonstrate that the Spirits indwelling is not incompatible with Old Testament theology and,
specically that the Spirits salvic presence in all believers forms an inseparable link between
regeneration and indwelling. At this juncture in the argument, attention needs to focus on three
biblical passages suggesting that the Spirits presence creates an inseparable bond between
regeneration and indwelling. If there is a necessary link, this suggests that the Spirit indwelt Old
Testament saints. After examining these three passages, we will examine two other Old
Testament passages that are coordinate with the Spirits indwelling in the Old Testament.

Texts Connecting Regeneration And Indwelling

In three biblical texts, the Spirits life-transforming ministry provides an unbreakable nexus
between regeneration and indwelling.

Ezekiel 36:2527
The first text suggesting this connection is Ezekiel 36:2527:
25Then

I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you

from all your lthiness and from all your idols. 26Moreover, I will give you a new heart
and put a new spirit [
]within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your
flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

27And

I will put My Spirit [142

]
DBSJ 9 (2004) p. 251

within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe
My ordinances.
Ezekiel 36:2527 is found in a context (Ezek 36:137:28) that emphasizes Israels future
restoration. More specically, Ezekiel 36:2527 is set in a new covenant context.143 To develop
how this future restoration will be fullled, Ezekiel focused on the Holy Spirits work of renewal.
Two aspects of the Spirits work of renewal are stressed in 36:2526, cleansing (I will cleanse
you) and transformation (I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you). Both of
these aspects focus on the Spirits work in regeneration.144 In addition, v. 27 connects the
Spirits work with indwelling (I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My
statutes). This is to say, the Spirits indwelling ministry in v. 27, within you, is inevitably
tethered to the Spirits regeneration in vv. 2526, and this indwelling work invariably results in
obedience.145 Thus, through his indwelling ministry, the Spirit continues his saving relationship
with a believer.
Most interpreters recognize that Ezekiel 36:2527 deals with the Spirits future work of
regeneration and indwelling under the terms of the new covenant. By viewing Ezekiel 36:2527
(and Jeremiah 31:3134) as an exclusively future ministry of the Spirit, some dispensationalists
have argued that neither regeneration nor indwelling occurred in the Old Testament, as we have
previously noticed. However, other dispensationalists would still argue for regeneration in the
Old Testament, while precluding any permanent indwelling of the Spirit.146 This
DBSJ 9 (2004) p. 252

dichotomy results from making a sharp distinction between regeneration and indwelling. Such a
distinction is unwarranted on two grounds.
First, this type of disjunction between regeneration and indwelling would have been
soteriological suicide for an Old Testament saint. If the nature of total depravity unavoidably
required the regenerating work of the Spirit to create new life, how could this new life be
sustained without the Spirit? Without some type of continuous renewal by the Spirit with an Old
Testament believer, he would have inevitably reverted back to his pre-regenerated state of
pervasive sinfulness.
Second, the emphasis of Ezekiel 36:2527 is not to make a sharp dichotomy between
regeneration and indwelling, rather its emphasis is on spiritual transformation, regeneration and
indwelling, on a national level for eschatological Israel. Ezekiel looks forward to the time when
the nation of Israel, comprised of spiritually transformed individual Israelites, is restored to their
geographical homeland under the terms of the new covenant.147 However, this link between

spiritual

transformation

and

future

Israel

does

not

preclude

individuals

in

preceding

dispensations undergoing the same spiritual transformation. This spiritual transformation is

reected in earlier revelation such as Deuteronomy 10:16 and 30:6. In addition, Jesus articulated
the absolute necessity of this same spiritual transformation in John 3:5: unless one is born of
water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. In this context, Jesus chided
Nicodemus, as a a ruler of the Jews (v. 1) and the teacher of Israel (v. 10), for not grasping
the connection between Jesus teaching about the monergistic nature of regeneration with its
Old Testament background in Ezekiel 36:2527. While Christs focus is on regeneration, he does
not rule out the connection between regeneration and indwelling. In fact, if the background for
Christs discussion is Ezekiel 36:2527, indwelling is a valid implication. In providing a further
explanation of v. 5, Jesus uses a proverb in v. 6: That which is born of the esh is esh, and that
which is born of the Spirit is spirit (v. 6). This comparative proverb reects a truism: as physical
life results from physical beings, so spiritual life results from the Spirit.148 While Christs focus is
on regeneration, the Old Testament background for v. 5 and the use of his proverb in v. 6 implies
a connection between regeneration and indwelling.149 Though
DBSJ 9 (2004) p. 253

regeneration and indwelling are distinguishable forms of life, the Spirits work of renewal
inextricably unites both. If the source of spiritual life is removed at any juncture, spiritual life is
necessarily aborted.

1 Corinthians 2:1415
The second passage reecting that the Holy Spirit forms an unbreakable link between
regeneration and indwelling is a passage previously examined, 1 Corinthians 2:1415. Paul
argued for two mutually exclusive categories of people: the man without the Spirit and the
man with the Spirit. Those without the Spirit in v. 14 did not have his salvific influence; however,
those with the Spirit in v. 15 had his salvic inuence. Pauls argument assumes that the man
with the Spirit is the man who experienced the Spirits initial saving inuence in regeneration
and his continuous salvic inuence through indwelling. If one was void of either aspects of the
Spirits ministry of renewal, he was a man without the Spirit. Since there are no other sources
for producing and maintaining spiritual life, the inevitable conclusion is that Old Testament
saints also experienced the indwelling presence of the Spirit.150

Romans 8:911
The nal passage indicating a tight connection between regeneration and indwelling isRomans
8:911, where Paul describes the controlling inuence that the Spirit has on believers. To grasp
the impact of the Spirits influence, vv. 911 must be set against the Pauline contrast reected in
the last half of v. 4: Who do not walk according to the esh but according to the Spirit. Pauls
use of the esh and the Spirit set up the contrast that he will develop in vv. 511. The
contrast is between the two antithetical controlling forces: the esh () and the Spirit
( ). All men are born into and controlled by the esh. However, by Gods ecacious
grace, his people are brought under the control of the Spirit. The contrast of v. 4 is continued
through v. 6. In vv. 78, Paul describes those who are controlled by the esh. In vv. 911, Paul
changes his focus to describe those who are controlled by the Spirit.
Paul develops this esh/Spirit contrast in v. 5: For those who are according to the esh []
set their minds on the things of the esh [], but those who are according to the Spirit, the
things of the Spirit. nasbs translation of as esh should not be confused with any form
of anthropological dualism suggesting that the body is

DBSJ 9 (2004) p. 254

evil.151 The contrast between and , which actually began at 7:5,

152

indicates that

has reference to man in his unregenerate (and sinful) state.153 This is to say, has
reference to unregenerate men as dominated by their sinful natures.154 The contrast indicated
in vv. 45 is between two mutually exclusive groups of people. One group is characterized as
walking according to the esh and who are according to the esh, and the other group as
walking according to the Spirit and who are according to the Spirit. Paul states the point of
his contrast in v. 6: For the mind set on the esh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life
and peace. The mind set on the esh/Spirit denotes the basic orientation of a persons
internal disposition as being either focused on things of the sinful nature or the things of the
Spirit, respectively. 155 According to v. 6, the mind controlled by the sinful nature brings death,
including spiritual death within the earthly realm that culminates in eternal condemnation.156
Verse 6 also indicates that the mind controlled by the Spirit brings life and peace. Life and
peace denote the state of freedom from the law of sin and death that begins for the believer in
this life, albeit in less than its nal and denitive form.157 In vv. 78, Paul provides the reason
why the one dominated by the sinful nature must die: Because the mind set on the esh []
is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do

so, and those who are in the esh [] cannot please God. Those who are controlled by the
sinful nature are hostile to God and will not submit to his law. Furthermore, Paul describes the
unregenerate man as not having the capacity to submit to God and to please him. As we noted
earlier, this text affirms that mans total depravity includes the concept of total inability. In vv. 7
8, Paul has described the in-the-esh group, those who are dominated by the sinful nature, as
wholeheartedly unable to please God.
Paul shifts his focus in vv. 911 to directly address the Roman believers:
DBSJ 9 (2004) p. 255
9However,

you [] are not in [] the esh but in [] the Spirit, if indeed the

Spirit of God dwells in [] you [ ]. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ,
he does not belong to Him. 10If Christ is in [] you [ ], though the body is dead
because of sin, yet through the Spirit is life because of righteousness.158 11But 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 dwells in [] you [ ].
Since Paul asserts in vv. 911 that the Roman Christians were in [] the Spirit and the Spirit,
as well as Christ, was in ( ) them, this means that cannot have a strictly locative sense;
rather, it is used metaphorically to describe a saving relationship that the Spirit, as well as Christ,
had with the Roman believers, as noted earlier in our discussion of in John 14.159 According to
v. 9, if any Roman Christian was in the esh, then he was not in the Spirit. To be in the
esh reects that the esh, the sinful nature, controls fallen man; and to be in the Spirit
indicates that the Spirit controls a believer. While Christian experience demonstrates that all
Christians at various times act eshly (Rom 7:1425; Gal 5:1617), this is not Pauls point in
Romans 8:9. His point is that if anyone does not have the Spirit, he does not belong to Christ and
is still in the esh. The full force of Pauls statement, according to Moo, is that every Christian
really is in the Spiritunder his domination and control. We may not always reect that
dominationbut it is a fundamental fact of our Christian existence and the basis for a life of
condence and obedience to the Lord.160 In this verse, Paul explicitly categorizes people as
either being in one group or the other, without any allowance for an in-between group. As a

result of this in-the-Spirit relationship, Paul sets forth in vv. 1011 that, though the bodies of
believers will physically die because of sin, their physical bodies will ultimately be resurrected
through the life-giving power of the Spirit based upon the imputed righteousness of Christ. The
connection between spiritual life and the eternal life that is associated with the believers
resurrection should not be a surprise since this passage is permeated with the Spirits power to
enable life. The presence of the Spirit demonstrates that believers will not be saddled with their
weak and corruptible bodies forever. The
DBSJ 9 (2004) p. 256

Spirit is a life-giving Spirit and will overcome death through the resurrection of the body.161 In
contrast to vv. 58, vv. 911 describe the in-the-Spirit group as those who are controlled by the
Spirit.
Therefore, vv. 411, in Pauline thought, focus on two mutually exclusive groups: those who are in
the esh and those who are in the Spirit. More specically, to be in the Spirit includes both
regeneration and indwelling. To have neither regeneration nor indwelling is to be in the esh.
In this passage, both ministries of the Spirit, though distinct, are inseparable. Thus in Pauline
thought, it is impossible to have regeneration without indwelling. Furthermore, because Paul
clearly affirms in 8:8 that total depravity includes total inability, these two ministries of the Spirit
must be inseparable or a believer would lose his in-the-Spirit inuence. This is a fact of life in
every dispensation. In commenting on indwelling in Romans 8:9 as a distinctly post-Pentecost
experience, Ryrie has stated this very point. The Spirit cannot leave a believer without throwing
that believer back into a lost, unsaved condition. Disindwelling has to mean loss of salvation, and
loss of salvation must include disindwelling.162 If Ryrie is correct about the Spirits inuence
with a New Testament believer, would it not also be a soteriological impossibility to have anyone
regenerated in the Old Testament without the Spirits same continuous salvic inuence with an
Old Testament saint? Romans 8:911 , like Ezekiel 36:2527 and 1 Corinthians 2:1415, cogently
avers that the Spirits salvic presence forms an indivisible nexus between regeneration and
indwelling. A loss of indwelling in any dispensation would result in the loss of salvation!

Objections To Permanent Indwelling In The Old Testament

Before presenting two texts that would argue for the Spirits indwelling ministry with Old
Testament saints, some theological objections to this papers thesis will be analyzed. An
objection to the argument of this paper may be that I have read the Spirits New Testament
ministry back into the Old. However, the nature of progressive revelation must allow the New
Testament to clarify some verities that permeate both testaments. For example, Christs active
role in the creation of the heavens and the earth is not explicitly armed in any Old Testament
text, yet John 1:5 and Colossians 1:16 specically arm his active role. Orthodox interpreters
arm that the Old Testament allows for and implies the Sons involvement in creation, and
recognize that the New Testament completes Gods revelatory accounting of
DBSJ 9 (2004) p. 257

creation.163 Without the New Testament would believers know about Christs active role in the
creation week? Another example is Adams role as representative head of mankind in the Garden
of Eden along with its implications for the imputation of Adams pervasive corruption and eternal
condemnation to his posterity and the world over which he reigned. While total depravity, its
consequential eternal judgment, and the curse on all of creation is taught in various Old
Testament texts, the full signicance of Adams headship is not fully crystallized until Pauls
epistles, such as in Romans 58 and 1 Corinthians 15. Orthodox interpreters would insist that
Adams headship was a theological reality in the early chapters of Genesis and that depravity

has aected the entirety of every persons being whether they lived in the Garden of Eden or in
Jerusalem at Pentecost. Pauls teaching in the New Testament provides a revelatory synthesis on
the subject of the Fall that is true for all dispensations.164
As this relates to the Spirits indwelling ministry in the Old Testament, it appears that Gods
emphasis in the Old Testament was on monotheism and, coordinate with this Old Testament
focus, the Holy Spirit is presented as Gods animating presence.165 This understanding suggests
that the Old Testament authors viewed the Holy Spirit not as the third person of the Godhead, 166
but as a manifest and localized work of God in mankinds activities. 167 However, this Old
Testament presentation does not undermine or in any way conict with the fuller revelation
about the Trinity developed in the New Testament, rather the Old Testament lays a foundation
for the fuller revelation to be synthesized in the New Testament. 168 Therefore, it should be no
surprise that the Old Testament does not speak with the same clarity and nality as the New
Testament on the subject of the Trinity and its impact on pneumatology. As such, there is a
genuine sense that New Testament believers interpret the Old Testament with a greater clarity
on
DBSJ 9 (2004) p. 258

pneumatology than Old Testament believers. If the nature of man is radically depraved and his
nature has not changed since the Fall and even if the Old Testament saint did not have a
complete understanding of pneumatology, mans total depravity and Gods redemptive work in
his people demand that the Spirits life-giving and life-sustaining work was a soteriological verity
that began with the Fall and not Pentecost.
Another objection to this papers thesis is that, since the Old Testament presents the Spirit as
temporarily coming upon and leaving individuals, Old Testament pneumatology seriously
undermines this thesis. A reputed example of this temporary ministry is Bezaleel in Exodus 31:3,
where Gods Spirit lled Bezaleel with wisdom and skills in craftsmanship to build the tabernacle
and the furniture associated with it. Chafer has used the example of Bezaleel to deny the Spirits
permanent indwelling of Old Testament saints.
Regarding the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in Old Testament saints, it has been stated
already that the Holy Spirit came and went, in accord with His sovereign relation to
men of old. His coming to them was for a specic purpose, as in the case of Bezaleel
merely to give skills in his work as an artisan and that restricted to the construction of
the tabernacle. The conception of an abiding indwelling of the Holy Spirit by which
every believer now becomes an unalterable temple of the Holy Spirit belongs only to
this age of the Church, and has no place in the provisions of Judaism.169
Another reputed example of temporary indwelling is reected in1 Samuel 16:1314 where the
Spirit came upon David and left Saul: Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the
midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward.
And Samuel arose and went to Ramah. Now the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil
spirit from the Lord terrorized him.170 In v. 13, the Spirit came upon David; however, in v. 14 the
Spirit departed from Saul and a spirit was sent to torment him. Contrary to the view of Chafer
and Ryrie, I would argue that the examples of Bezaleel, Saul, and David argue for a ministry of
the Spirit that focused on theocratic purposes, rather than soteriological. The Spirits ministry
reected in both passages is an example of what was referred to earlier as theocratic
anointing. 171 Though this
DBSJ 9 (2004) p. 259

ministry was concerned with the leadership of Israel,172 theocratic enablement may have been

extended to include prophets, such as Elijah (1 Kgs 18:46), and men like Bezaleel with special
skills and craftsmanship for the enhancement of worship in the theocracy (cf. with Hag 2:5 and
Zech 4:6).173
In further demonstrating the temporary nature of indwelling, Ryrie cites, as another example,
Davids request in Psalm 51:11 that God would not remove his Spirit from him: Do not cast me
away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. With this understanding,
Davids request reects that an Old Testament believer feared that the Spirit could leave him. 174
While commentators may disagree upon what ministry of the Spirit David was fearful of losing,
commentators agree that the synonymous parallelism found in v. 11 indicates a single ministry
of the Spirit.175 Do not cast me away
DBSJ 9 (2004) p. 260

from is parallel with do not takefrom me and Your presence (

] )] with Your Holy
Spirit (176.(


The parallelism is not precise in that do not cast me away from is not
identical with do not takefrom me. The rst request is for God to do something and the
second is for David not to lose something. However, the roughly synonymous nature of both
requests reects a singular focus on Davids maintaining Gods favorable presence.177 Your
presence and Your Holy Spirit are synonymous expressions. A similar parallelism of these two
items is found in Isaiah 63:911 where in v. 9 the angel of his presence (


) and in vv.
10, 11 his Holy Spirit (


)are correlated. What this suggests for Psalm 51:11 is that
David had a genuine fear of losing some manifestation of the Spirits blessing. However, does
this verse necessarily mean that David was fearful that he would lose the indwelling of the
Spirit? According to Ryrie and others, the answer to this question is armative. However, in
contrast to Ryrie, this verse, like Exodus 31:3 and 1 Samuel 16:1314, may preferably be taken
as a request for God not to remove his theocratic anointing from David, as he had from Saul. Two
items support this interpretation. First, in keeping with kingship in the ancient Near East, Davids
actions as king not only had a personal signicance for him, but also on the nation over which he
reigned. As such, Davids personal lament over his sin did not exclusively have a bearing on
Davids relationship with God, but also on the nation.178 In keeping with covenant solidarity
between king and nation, we should expect Davids personal lament to include a concern for
Jerusalem, as it does in vv. 1819.179 In addition to the nal verses of this psalm, Davids prayer
for renewal in vv. 1012 includes v. 11 where Davids heart for the nation is reected by his
request that God would not remove his theocratic anointing, as he had done with Saul in 1
Samuel 16:14. This suggests that David did not want to lose the work of the Spirit that enabled
him to effectively function as the king of the
DBSJ 9 (2004) p. 261

theocracy. Second, the concept of being cast away (

) from the Lords presence is only used
in four other contexts all of which focus on Israel experiencing national rejection (2 Kgs 13:23;
17:20; 24:20, and 2 Chr 7:20). Divine rejection would result in God enacting his covenant curses
on the nation.180 Not only did David need internal renewal for himself, but as head of the
theocracy, he also needed a theocratic renewal of his enablement so that the nation would not
be adversely aected. 181 Consequently, rather than interpreting Psalm 51:11 as a removal of
indwelling, a better contextual case may be made for David praying that God would not remove
his theocratic anointing.

Old Testament Texts Suggesting Indwelling

There are two Old Testament passages that speak of the Spirits role in the sanctification process

of Old Testament believers and thus imply the necessity of the Spirits indwelling presence with
individuals. 182

Numbers 27:18
The rst passage is Numbers 27:18: Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit,
and lay your hand on him. In the immediate context of Numbers, Moses has requested in vv.
1517 that God set apart his successor to be ready to replace him at death. What is of interest to
this paper is Gods description of Moses successor, Joshua, with the appositional phrase: A man
in whom is the Spirit [
]. Since the article is not attached to
, it could be translated as
spirit. Without the article, the clause describes Joshua as a man who has spiritual capacities of
leadership. Though the kjv, niv, and nrsv translate
as the spirit, their rendering of
in
lower case letters reects that they interpret this word as Joshuas spiritual capacity for
leadership. However, when
refers to the Holy Spirit, it is inherently denite and may
legitimately be translated as the Spirit, as does
DBSJ 9 (2004) p. 262

the nasb, esv, nlt, and nkjv. The semantic range of

allows for either interpretation.183 A
couple of parallel passages suggest that the use of
in Numbers 27:18 may be a reference to
the Holy Spirit. In order to assist Moses in leading Israel, the Spirits theocratic ministry is
extended, in Numbers 11:17, 25, to include the seventy elders, one of whom is Joshua. The use
of the article with
, the Spirit, indicates that this is a reference to the Spirit, and not a
spiritual capacity. In Deuteronomy 34:9, as Moses theocratic replacement, Joshua is described
as having the Spirit of wisdom ( 184.(


In this verse
is used without the article and
refers to the Holy Spirit. Numbers 11:17, 25 and Deuteronomy 34:9 focus on the work of the

in empowering leaders of Israel. Since Numbers 27:18 is a similar context to Numbers 11:17, 25
and Deuteronomy 34:9 in that it deals with Joshuas leadership in the theocracy, it is possible
that
again refers to the Holy Spirit.185 However, the chronological gap that separated the
ministry of the Spirit (
)in Deuteronomy 34:9 from his earlier one in Numbers 27:18 suggests
that these are distinct ministries of the Spirit. In distinction from his anointing, Numbers 27:18
provides an explanation for Gods selection of Joshua to succeed Moses: he was a man in whom
is the Spirit. Numbers 27:18 is a description of the Spirits continuous relationship with Joshua,
a permanent endowment for Joshua, rather than a temporary empowering for specic
action.186 With this understanding, the description of Joshua as a man in whom is the Spirit
correlates with his sanctication, and not theocratic anointing, which does not necessarily relate
to sanctification.

Psalm 143:10
The second passage that may suggest indwelling isPsalm 143:10: Teach me to do Your will, for
You are my God; Let Your good Spirit lead me on level ground. Psalm 143 is an individual
lament containing penitential elements. In this psalm, David says that he had prayed for
deliverance from his enemies. He poetically described his enemy as
DBSJ 9 (2004) p. 263

persecuting his soul and crushing his life (v. 3). His suering had been so great that he described
it as overwhelming and appalling to his inner man (v. 4). In a lamentable context, David
meditated on Gods earlier provisions for him (v. 5) and asked the Lord to teach and deliver him
from his perilous predicament (vv. 610). As an expression of his humble faith, David asked, in
vv. 8, 10, for Gods guidance out of the present and into the future so as to assure that he will

continually enjoy the benets of the covenant relationship.187 If God had instructed and
delivered David, he was condent that the Spirit, Your good Spirit [
],would restore
Gods covenant goodness (level ground).188 The description of the Holy Spirit as Your good
Spirit [
]is signicant for my point in that it reects some form of individualized
instruction from the Spirit. In Nehemiah 9:20, Nehemiah describes the Spirits instruction of the
nation during the 40 years in the wilderness: You gave Your good Spirit [
]to instruct
them. Like Psalm 143, the Spirit in Nehemiah is described as Your good Spirit [
]. While
the Spirits ministry is correlated with the nation in Nehemiah 9:20, the focus of the Spirits
ministry was on an individual in Psalm 143:10. Thus, the Spirit had some type of ministry with
individuals in the Old Testament era. Furthermore, Davids dependence on the Spirit to prevent
him from falling into his enemies traps and to restore his covenant blessings suggests that the
Spirit had an ongoing relationship with David. Thus, the Spirits work on behalf of an individual is
again best correlated with Davids process of sanctication and not his theocratic anointing.
While neither Numbers 27:18 nor Psalm 143:10 explicitly prove that the Spirit indwelt Old
Testament believers, both passages are consistent with the Spirits indwelling.189

Summary And Conclusion

The use of the term indwelling in theological discussions has promoted a certain level of
misunderstanding. Since indwelling is not explicitly used in either of the testaments, its
theological ambiguity may be expected. Based upon an integration of 1 Corinthians 6:1920 and
2:1415 with the Holy Spirits perfections of immensity and omnipresence, the thesis of this
paper is that the Spirits gracious indwelling ministry with a believer refers to his permanently
sustaining the saving
DBSJ 9 (2004) p. 264

relationship that he began at regeneration. Based upon an examination of biblical texts

explicating mans total depravity in such a way that man is described as being spiritually dead,
hostile to God, and lacking the capacity to please God, man has no hope of eternal salvation
unless the Spirit graciously, predicated upon the vicarious atonement of Christ, imparts spiritual
life to the spiritually dead (regeneration) and permanently sustains this new life (indwelling).
Because mans natural inclination is one of antipathy and hostility toward God, mans internal
inclination must be transformed from a natural orientation towards ones own idolatrous selfgratication to a spiritually produced orientation for Gods good pleasure. This transformation
can only be produced by the Spirits work in regeneration. Since the Spirit is the source of initial
life in the heart of a reprobate sinner, the Spirits ongoing ministry is a soteriological requirement
if one is to exhibit the fruits of new life. While regeneration and indwelling may be viewed as two
dierent ministries of the Spirit, the inevitable fruit from new life demands an indissoluble
connection between regeneration and indwelling. To demonstrate that indwelling took place in
the Old Testament, three texts, Ezekiel 36:2527, 1 Corinthians 2:1415, and Romans 8:911 ,
were examined. These texts suggest the Spirits life-transforming presence, in both testaments,
provides an inseparable link between regeneration and indwelling. This understanding of
indwelling is likely in view in Numbers 27:18 and Psalm 143:10.
In the nal analysis, if men have been totally depraved since the Fall and if God has chosen to
save any of Adams descendants, then the Spirit, in coordination with the proclamation of Gods
message of salvation, must impart new life at regeneration and sustain this saving relationship
through indwelling. If Old Testament saints were not indwelt, then they had not been
regenerated and they were still dead in trespasses and sin. As McCune has aptly summarized
the Spirits indwelling work in the Old Testament: Just as the evidence of spiritual fellowship and

communion with God cannot be accounted for without regeneration, neither can they be
accounted for without a continuous ministry of the Holy Spirit after the new birth.190 Therefore,
the Spirits indwelling ministry was a necessity for Old Testament saints, just as it is for New
Testament saints.
1

Dr. McCabe is Professor of Old Testament at Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary in Allen Park,
MI.
2 Dr.

Rolland McCune had a significant role in bringing me to Detroit Baptist Theological

Seminary in May of 1983. From the inceptive days of my ministry here, I have held him in the
highest esteem as seminary president, professor, and friend. He has had a profound influence on
my own theological development as well as my own personal life. While he helped refine and
stimulate my theological interests in many areas, one area of theology relates to the Spirits
indwelling ministry in the Old Testament (see his Systematic Theology II [class notes, Fall
1997], pp. 196-205). In light of our common interest on this aspect of pneumatology, I wish to
dedicate this article to him on the occasion of his 70th birthday.
3

So Gary Fredricks, Rethinking the Role of the Holy Spirit in the Lives of Old Testament
Believers, Trinity Journal 9 (Spring 1988): 82-83. Mike Stallard recognizes these same two
antithetical positions, while defending the view that Old Testament saints were not indwelt (The
Holy Spirit in the Old Testament, p. 16, available online at
http://faculty.bbc.edu/mstallard/Biblical_Studies/Pneumatology/
pneumatology_dr.htm).
4

Fredricks, Holy Spirit in the Lives of Old Testament Believers, p. 87.

James M. Hamilton, Jr., Were Old Covenant Believers Indwelt by the Holy Spirit? (paper
presented at the 55th annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society, Atlanta, GA, 22
November 2003), p. 15. Hamiltons argument opposing permanent indwelling for Old Testament
believers is also reflected in an earlier article, Old Covenant Believers and the Indwelling Spirit:
A Survey of the Spectrum of Opinion, Trinity Journal 24 (Spring 2003): 53. For a concise, yet
theologically incisive critique of this latter article, see Glenn R. Kreiders review, Bibliotheca
Sacra 161 (January-March 2004): 107-8.
6

Though this debate has developed with the rise of dispensationalism, its roots extend back to
Martin Luther, who saw a discontinuity between the Old and New Testaments, and John Calvin,
who saw continuity between the Testaments (see Hamilton, Old Covenant Believers and the
Indwelling Spirit, p. 37).
7

For example, see John Owen, The Spirit and the Church, abridged edition by R. K. Law (Carlisle,
PA: Banner of Truth, 2002), pp. 156-57; B. B. Warfield, The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit
(reprint ed., Amityville, NY: Calvary Press, 1997), pp. 134-41; and Sinclair B. Ferguson, The Holy
Spirit (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1996), pp. 67-68.
8

For example, see Lewis Sperry Chafer, Systematic Theology, 8 vols. (Dallas: Dallas Seminary
Press, 1948), 6:74; John F. Walvoord, Holy Spirit, 3rd ed. (Findlay, OH: Dunham Publishing,
1958), pp. 70-73; Charles C. Ryrie, The Holy Spirit (Chicago: Moody Press, 1965), p. 42; Ren
Pache, The Person and Work off the Holy Spirit (Chicago: Moody Press, 1954), p. 30; Larry
Pettegrew, The New Covenant Ministry of the Holy Spirit, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2001),
pp. 27-28.
9

A few examples are Walvoord, Holy Spirit, pp. 124-26; Chafer, Systematic Theology, 6:73; and
Robert G. Gromacki, The Holy Spirit (Nashville: Word, 1999), pp. 180-81.
10

Walvoord, Holy Spirit, p. 155.

11

Ibid.

12

Ibid., pp. 72-73; see also Edwin A. Blum, John, in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: New
Testament, ed. John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1983), p. 302.
Though not a dispensationalist, S. H. Hooke presents a similar understanding (The Spirit Was
Not Yet, New Testament Studies 9 [July 1963]: 372-80).
13

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, are taken from the 1995 edition of nasb.

14

See John M. King, An Exegetical Case for Spirit Indwelling in the Old Testament (Th.M. thesis,
Grace Theological Seminary, 1988), p. 32.
15

This hermeneutical axiom, the analogy of Scripture, affirms that Scripture interprets Scripture
(see Robert Reymond, A New Systematic Theology of the Christian Faith [Nashville: Nelson,
1998], p. 394). This hermeneutical principle is articulated in this manner in the Second London
Baptist Confession: The infallible rule of interpretation of Scripture is the Scripture itself; and
therefore when there is a question about the true and full sense of any Scripture (which is not
manifold, but one), it must be searched by other places that speak more clearly (chapter 1,
paragraph 9). This axiom is predicated upon the earlier Westminster Confession of Faith (chapter
1, paragraph 9). For a concise treatment of this hermeneutical subject, see Milton S. Terry,
Biblical Hermeneutics (reprint ed., Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1974), pp. 579-81; and Gerhard
Maier, Biblical Hermeneutics, trans. Robert W. Yarbrough (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 1994), pp.
181-83.
16

D. A. Carson, The Gospel According to John, Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids:
Eerdmans, 1991), p. 329; see also George Smeaton, The Doctrine of the Holy Spirit (reprint ed.,
Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1979), p. 49.
17

For a listing of some of these interpretive options, see Fredricks, Holy Spirit in the Lives of
Old Testament Believers, pp. 91-93.
18

Blum, John, p. 302.

19

James M. Hamilton, Jr., He Is with You and He Will Be in You: The Spirit, the Believer, and the
Glorification of Jesus (Ph.D. dissertation, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2003), p. 161.
20

George J. Zemek, Metaphorical Continuities: A Case for the Primacy of Corporate Indwelling
(paper presented at the 55th annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society, Atlanta, GA,
22 November 2003), p. 6; see also Pettegrew, New Covenant Ministry, pp. 66-67.
21

As omnipresent, the Holy Spirit is present everywhere. As immense, the Spirit, in the entirety
of his being, transcends all spatial reality, yet remains distinct from all spatial reality.
22

James Oliver Buswell, A Systematic Theology of the Christian Religion, 2 vols. in 1 (Grand
Rapids: Zondervan, 1962), 1:116.
23
24

Chafer, Systematic Theology, 6:123.

See Stallard, Holy Spirit in the Old Testament, p. 18; on 1 Cor 12:13, see James L. Boyer, For
a World Like Ours (Winona Lake, IN: BMH Books, 1971), p. 115. There is an apparent tension
between the Spirits baptism with its experiential emphasis in Matt 3:11, Acts 1:5, 10:37, 11:16
and its judicial emphasis in passages such as 1 Cor 12:13 and Eph 4:5. While I understand that
there is one Spirit baptism with two aspects, there may be at least two other options. First, there
is one Spirit baptism that is judicial in nature along with experiential results such as the
enablement of spiritual gifts (Mark E. Snoeberger, The Doctrine of the Holy Spirit [class notes,
First Baptist of Troy Family Bible Institute, Spring 2003], pp. 42-48); though not including

spiritual gifts, a similar view is presented by Rolland D. McCune, Systematic Theology III [class
notes, Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary, Spring 1998], pp. 54-56). Second, a case might be
made that the term baptism has two different nuances: an experiential Spirit baptism, as in
Matthew and Acts, and a judicial Spirit baptism, as in Ephesians and 1 Corinthians.
25

Augustus Hopkins Strong, Systematic Theology (Valley Forge, PA: Judson Press, 1907), p. 317;
see also J. I. Packer, Keep in Step with the Spirit (Grand Rapids: Revell, 1984), pp. 51-54.
26

For further support of this interpretation, see King, Spirit Indwelling in the Old Testament,
pp. 31-36; and Kevin Zuber, Indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament (Th.M. thesis,
Grace Theological Seminary, 1981), pp. 49-51.
27

While there has been some debate about the textual problem with the future tense verb

(he will be) as opposed to the present tense (he is), the overall evidence
supports the future tense verb (he will be) as the superior reading, which is followed by
the 4th edition of the United Bible Society text (see Bruce M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on
the Greek New Testament, 2nd ed. [Stuttgart; Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 1994], p. 208. For a
fuller discussion of this textual problem, see Hamilton, He Is with You and He Will Be in You,
pp. 213-20). This is the reading reflected by most modern translations (nasb, niv, esv, nrsv, kjv,
nkjv, nlt, NET Bible).
28

Johnstone G. Patrick, The Promise of the Paraclete, Bibliotheca Sacra 127 (OctoberDecember 1970): 335.
29

Ryrie, Holy Spirit, p. 42; J. Dwight Pentecost, The Divine Comforter (Chicago: Moody Press,
1970), p. 51; Pettegrew, New Covenant Ministry, p. 76.
30

Homer A. Kent, Jr., Light in the Darkness: Studies in the Gospel of John (Grand Rapids: Baker,
1974), p. 163.
31

Rather than viewing the recipients of Jesus promise as exclusively the apostles or all believers
in the church age, it is possible that the eleven disciples were representative of all church age
saints. Because the recipients of the promise will do greater works than Christ (v. 12), the
representative view seems unlikely (Steven Thomas, The Pneumatology of the Johannine
Account of Christs Farewell Discourse [Th.M. thesis, Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary,
1992], p. 70).
32

So ibid., p. 69.

33

Walter Bauer, Frederick W. Danker, William F. Arndt, and F. Wilbur Gingrich, A Greek-English
Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed. revised and edited
by Frederick W. Danker (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), p. 766 [hereafter cited as
BDAG].
34

See ibid.

35

Leon Morris, The Gospel According to John, New International Commentary on the New
Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1971), p. 663.
36

Carson, John, p. 500.

37

Ibid.

38

Thomas, The Pneumatology of the Johannine Account, p. 69.

39

BDAG, p. 636; for additional information, see New International Dictionary of New Testament
Theology, s.v. Prepositions and Theology in the Greek New Testament, by Murray J. Harris,

3:12061207 [hereafter cited as NIDNTT].

40

BDAG, p. 636.

41

Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament, s.v. , by W. Radl, 2:413 [hereafter cited
as EDNT ].
42

Kent, John, p. 186.

43

Blum, John, p. 323.

44

Pentecost, Divine Comforter, p. 51.

45

Leon J. Wood, The Holy Spirit in the Old Testament (reprint of 1976 ed., Eugene, OR: Wipf and
Stock Publishers, 1998), p. 86.
46

BDAG, p. 757.

47

So Kimberly S. Parcher, John 14:17 and the Indwelling/Enablement Debate (M.Div. thesis,
Grace Theological Seminary, 1984), pp. 27-31.
48

Statistics are taken from EDNT, s.v. , by W. Khler, 3:12.

49

BDAG, pp. 756-58.

50

NIDNTT, s.v. Prepositions and Theology in the Greek New Testament, by Murray J. Harris,
3:1201.
51

BDAG, p. 757.

52

King, Spirit Indwelling in the Old Testament, p. 54.

53

This is referred to as a sacred relationship by Basil C. F. Atkinson, The Theology of the

Prepositions (London: Tyndale Press, 1944), p. 11.
54

King, Spirit Indwelling in the Old Testament, p. 56; and Clifford Rapp, Jr., The Ministry of the
Holy Spirit in Old Testament Believers, Conservative Theological Seminary Journal 2 (Winter
1996): 1, available at http://www.chafer.edu/CTSjournal/
journals/96c01.htm.
55

For a similar understanding, see William Hendriksen, Exposition of the Gospel of John, vol. 2
(Grand Rapids: Baker, 1954), pp. 278-79.
56

EDNT, s.v. , by W. Elliger, 1:448.

57

Ibid., 1:44749.

58

BDAG, pp. 326-30.

59

An example of a dispensationalist who supports this locative use is Blum, who states the
Spirit would take up residence inside of them (John, p. 323).
60

The same type of use of in John may also be categorized as the of fellowship

(Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, s.v. , by Albrecht Oepke, 2:543).

61

BDAG, p. 327.

62

Ibid.

63

Atkinson, The Theology of the Prepositions, p. 21.

64

Fredricks, Holy Spirit in the Lives of Old Testament Believers, pp. 94-95.

65

Carson, John, p. 505.

66

Thomas, The Pneumatology of the Johannine Account, p. 91.

67

Ibid., p. 98; so also F. F. Bruce, The Gospel of John (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1983), p. 315.

68

Carson, John, pp. 529-30; so also Craig S. Keener, The Gospel of John, 2 vols. (Peabody, MA:
Hendrickson, 2003), 2:102425.
69

Rudolf Schnackenburg, The Gospel According to John, 3 vols., trans. Kevin Smyth, 2nd ed.
(New York: Crossroad, 1982), 3:120. Luke clearly connects the Spirits new ministry with the
apostles witness to the resurrected and glorified Christ (see Acts 1:2, 8; 2:3133; 4:2, 33; 5:32).
70

Based upon the criterion of being an eyewitness of the resurrected Christ (Acts 1:22), the
apostles chose Matthias to take the place of Judas Iscariot (1:26). Though Paul was not present
with those who initially saw the resurrected Christ, he did see the resurrected Christ at a later
time, as he recounts in Acts 9:56 and 26:1518. In a defense of his apostleship, he recounts that
he saw the resurrected Christ (1 Cor 9:1), as one born out of season (15:79). The apostles were
directly commissioned by Christ to spread the gospel to the ends of the earth (cf. Acts 1:8, 24
26). Paul also testified that Christ directly appointed him to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles
(see Acts 26:1617; 1 Tim 2:811; 2 Tim 1:11). The apostles are the foundation for the New
Testament church.
71

For a beneficial discussion of apostolic anointing, see Pettegrew, New Covenant Ministry, pp.
81-83. Pettegrew argues for two stages of the apostolic anointing. The first is in John 20:22,
when Christ breathed on his disciples and said, Receive the Holy Spirit. At this point, Christ
commissioned the disciples with apostolic authority (so also Bruce, John, p. 392). The second
stage is with the birth of the church at Pentecost. At this time, the apostles began to exercise
their rights as apostles, as reflected in Acts 2:43 when the apostles performed many wonders
and signs in confirmation of their apostolic commissioning in John 20:22. Pettegrew provides a
helpful overview of other interpretative options for John 20:22 (see pp. 74-81). While preserving
the same interpretation of John 20, this might also be called a Pre-Pentecost Anointing (Gary
M. Burge, The Anointed Community [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1987], pp. 119-31).
72

Rolland D. McCune, Systematic Theology II, p. 201; so also Kevin L. McCune, Theocratic
Anointing in the Old Testament (Th.M. thesis, Grace Theological Seminary, 1984), pp. 12-14.
Though not referring to this Old Testament ministry of the Spirit as a theocratic anointing, see
helpful discussions by Wood, Holy Spirit in Old Testament, pp. 39-63, 10112; Warfield, Holy
Spirit, pp. 128-33; Alva J. McClain, The Greatness of the Kingdom (Winona Lake, IN: BMH Books,
1959), pp. 93-95; W. J. Dumbrell, The Spirit and the Kingdom of God in the Old Testament,
Reformed Theological Review 33 (January-April 1974): 1-10; Wilf Hildebrandt, An Old Testament
Theology of the Spirit of God (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1995), pp. 104-37.
73

McCune, Systematic Theology II, pp. 202-4.

74

James D. G. Dunn, Baptism in the Holy Spirit (London: SCM Press, 1970), pp. 44-46.

75

Anthony A. Hoekema, Saved by Grace (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1989), pp. 33-34.

76

Walvoord, Holy Spirit, p. 155.

77

Ibid., p. 71.

78

Ibid., p. 72.

79

Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994), pp. 173-75; Millard J.
Erickson, Christian Theology, 3 vols. (Grand Rapids: Baker, 198385), 1:27274; and C. Samuel

Storms, The Grandeur of God (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1984), pp. 86-89.
80

Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, 3 vols. (reprint ed., Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1982),
1:38485.
81

Storms, The Grandeur of God, p. 91.

82

William G. T. Shedd, Dogmatic Theology, edited by Alan W. Gomes, 3rd ed., 3 vols. in 1
(Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian & Reformed, 2003), p. 278.
83

Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology, 2 vols. in 1 (reprint ed., Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1966),
2:61.
84

Robert J. Dunzweiler, Regeneration and Indwelling in the Old Testament Period, IBRI
Research Report 25 (1985): 11.
85

Gordon D. Fee, The First Epistle to the Corinthians, New International Commentary on the New
Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1987), pp. 250-51.
86

Ibid., p. 263.

87

Temple, , is used as a reference to the church as a whole in1 Cor 3:16, 2 Cor 6:16, Eph

2:20. In light of this corporate use of , Zemek has suggested that the indwelling metaphor in
1 Cor 6:19 may have reference to the body of Christ (Zemek, Metaphorical Continuities, pp.
25-28). While I agree that indwelling is used in 1 Cor 3:16 and other passages to refer to the
church as a collective entity, Pauls command and explanation in 6:18 about fleeing immorality is
contextually incompatible with corporate indwelling but is consistent with indwelling in individual
believers.
88

Fee, First Corinthians, p. 264.

89

See Snoeberger, Holy Spirit, p. 34a.

90

William W. Combs, The Disjunction between Justification and Sanctification in Contemporary

Evangelical Theology, Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal 6 (Fall 2001): 38-42.
91

Fee, First Corinthians, pp. 49-50.

92

Walter C. Kaiser, Jr., A Neglected Text in Bibliology Discussions: 1 Corinthians 2:616,

Westminster Theological Journal 43 (Spring 1981): 301-19. Kaiser specifically argues that in vv.
1013 Paul clearly affirms that he experienced the work of the Holy Spirit all the way up to the
point of verbalizing that message and these were not at all dictated words, but truth that
became part and parcel of his own person, style, vocabulary as a living assimilation of his style,
vocabulary, words, and Divine truth took placethey were taught words from the (Holy) Spirit
(p. 317). Hodge reflect this same type of understanding (Systematic Theology, 1:16163).
93

BDAG, p. 1100.

94

Fee, First Corinthians, pp. 97, 116.

95

Daniel P. Fuller, The Holy Spirits Role in Biblical Interpretation, in Scripture, Tradition, and
Interpretation, ed. W. Ward Gasque and William S. LaSor (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1978), p.
192.
96

Ibid.

97

Fee, First Corinthians, p. 117.

98

BDAG, p. 837.

99

Fee, First Corinthians, p. 117; see also Combs, Disjunction, p. 39.

100

Fuller, Holy Spirits Role in Biblical Interpretation, pp. 190-92.

101

Fee, First Corinthians, p. 118.

102

For further support of this interpretation, see Mark A. Snoeberger, The Logical Priority of
Regeneration to Saving Faith in a Theological Ordo Salutis, Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal 7
(Fall 2002): 84-88, 9092; see also my earlier article, The Meaning of Born of Water and the
Spirit in John 3:5, Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal 4 (Fall 1999): 85-107.
103

Grudem, Systematic Theology, p. 479; see also Klyne R. Snodgrass, That Which Is Born from
Pneuma Is Pneuma: Rebirth and Spirit in John 3:56, Covenant Quarterly 49 (February 1991):
21.
104

Merriam-Websters Collegiate Dictionary, 11th ed., s.v. indwelling, p. 638.

105

Millard J. Erickson, Concise Dictionary of Christian Theology (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1986), p.

83.
106

Storms, The Grandeur of God, p. 92.

107

Dunzweiler, Indwelling in the Old Testament, p. 12.

108

Storms, The Grandeur of God, pp. 92-93; see also King, Spirit Indwelling in the Old
Testament, p. 19.
109

So James M. Hamilton, Jr., God with Men in the Torah, Westminster Theological Journal 65
(Spring 2003): 125. Hamilton has argued that God regenerated individuals in the Old Testament
and as a result a believer was able to maintain an ongoing relationship with God (p. 120). He
further states that we may affirm that Gods presence was effecting their faithfulness and that
God was surely operating upon them inwardly, but there is no indication that God or his Spirit
dwelt in them. God was with them, but not in them (emphasis mine). But how can the Spirit
operate inwardly and not be in them? Hamilton raises the same question in his dissertation: If
regeneration enables Old Covenant saints to believe, how were they maintained in faith if they
were not indwelt? It seems that the Old Testaments answer to that question is the covenant
sustaining presence of God with the nation as he indwelled the tabernacle and later the temple.
At several points in the Old Testament it becomes clear that Gods presence with his people in
the temple has a sanctifying affect upon them (He Is with You and He Will Be in You, pp. 2056). This seems to imply that the Spirit worked on an Old Testament saints inner being only when
he or she was at the tabernacle or temple. But how then did Joseph maintain his spiritual life in
Egypt 300 years before the construction of the tabernacle? Does this mean that old covenant
saints had a spiritual shot in the heart only three times a year? What about godly Hannah who
prayed diligently for a son and God providentially worked so that she did conceive and give birth
to Samuel? However, once Samuel was born she was not able to worship at the tabernacle for a
number of years until her son was weaned (1 Sam 1). Did Hannah live in a backslidden state
during those years she was unable to worship at the tabernacle? Or, perhaps her regeneration
had been lost! What about other Old Testament believers who experienced various physical
difficulties that prohibited them from going to worship at the tabernacle or temple? What about
the spiritual relationship of Old Testament saints who had been forcefully deported from Israel?
Did the Spirit stop sustaining Daniels spiritual life when he had been deported to Babylon? From
my perspective, Hamilton merges two different manifestation of Gods presence among his
people. On the one hand, God did manifest his Shekinah presence at the tabernacle and temple;
this was a special manifestation of the Spirit that related to the theocratic nation. On the other
hand, the Spirit did maintain a saving relationship with individual Old Testament believers,

beginning with regeneration and sustaining that relationship through indwelling.

110

While rejecting the use of the term indwelling as a descriptive rubric for the Spirits internal
work within an Old Testament believer, some dispensationalists, nevertheless, agree with my
argumentation but prefer to refer to this ministry as abiding. For example, Pettegrew seems to
be in essential agreement with my position, but prefers to label this aspect of the Spirits ministry
as abiding: Theologically, it would seem that some ministry of the Spirit had to be constantly
applied to the old covenant believer. To distinguish it from the intimacy of new covenant
indwelling, perhaps this ministry is best designated abiding (New Covenant Ministry, p. 28). In
this case, the differences between Pettegrews position and mine may be somewhat an issue of
semantics. At least from a theological perspective, abiding and indwelling are used to reflect a
continuing work of the Spirit in the renewal of a believer. However, there is some semantic
difference. While abiding has the sense of continuing without change, indwelling focuses on an
internal influence. In this regard, indwelling reflects that the Spirit is renewing the core of a
person.
111

C. Samuel Storms, Chosen for Life (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1987), p. 4.

112

See Wood, Holy Spirit in Old Testament, pp. 67-68.

113

For a definitive defense of the immediate imputation view, see John Murray, The Imputation
of Adams Sin (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1959); also Reymond, Systematic Theology, pp. 434-39.
114

S. Lewis Johnson, Jr., Romans 5:12an Exercise in Exegesis and Theology, in New
Dimensions in New Testament Study, ed. Richard N. Longenecker and Merrill C. Tenney (Grand
Rapids: Zondervan, 1974), pp. 312-14.
115

For a discussion of the grammatical construction found in these verses, see Douglas J. Moo,
The Epistle to the Romans, New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand
Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996), pp. 318-29; and Thomas R. Schreiner, Romans, Baker Exegetical
Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1998), pp. 271-72.
116

Moo, Epistle to the Romans, pp. 344-46.

117

John Murray, The Epistle to the Romans, 2 vols. in 1, New International Commentary on the
New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1968), 1:2046.
118

For a discussion of Pauls citations in Rom 3:1018 drawn from various Old Testament
passages, see Douglas J. Moo, Romans, NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids: Zondervan,
2000), pp. 115-21.
119

R. C. Sproul, Grace Unknown (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1997), p. 118.

120

Total depravity does not mean that every man is as wicked as he possibly can be. To be sure,
there are a few extremes. Though few sinners reach the depths of sinful imperfection, every
sinner has the potential to commit the most heinous of crimes. Based upon common grace, God
uses conscience, a persons abilities and talents, family influence, government, and the like in
restraining the effects of sin and in enabling unbelievers to perform good activities that benefit
society. However, this type of good is relative goodness and not absolute goodness. Absolute
goodness is the good that is done and is pleasing in Gods sight. Relative goodness is that which
God, in common grace, has enabled unbelievers, though driven by their own evil motives, to do.
When it comes to evaluating the good that pleases God, Paul said in Romans 3:12 that there is
none who does good. There is not even one (see Storms, Chosen for Life, p. 35; and Grudem,
Systematic Theology, pp. 496-97).
121

Does man have a free and unrestrained will so that he can choose that which is pleasing or

displeasing in Gods sight? Based upon Scriptures teaching about total depravity, man will
choose that which is consistent with his disposition toward evil and away from God. When some
claim that man has a free will, what is generally meant is that man has equal capacity to
choose either for Christ or against him. If this is how free will is used, it is an unbiblical
concept. In keeping with Scripture, it is more accurate to ascribe to man free agency. By this,
we mean that man is free to choose what he desires. As Storms has described free agency, To
say that man has free agency is to say he is free to do what he wants. If he wants to reject
Christ, he will. If he wants to accept Christ, he will. However, apart from the interposition of
divine grace, no man wants or wills to have Christ in his thinking or in his life. All men freely and
willingly reject the gospel because it is their desire to do so. A mans freedom consists in his
ability to act according to his desires and inclinations without being compelled to do otherwise
by someone or something external to himself ( Chosen for Life, pp. 36-37).
122

Morton H. Smith, Systematic Theology, 2 vols. (Greenville, SC: Greenville Seminary Press,
1994), 1:3078.
123

J. I. Packer, Concise Theology (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale, 1993), p. 171.

124

See Edwin H. Palmer, The Person and Ministry of the Holy Spirit (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1974),
pp. 92-93.
125

Chafer, Systematic Theology, 6:73.

126

Ibid.; so also Pache, Holy Spirit, pp. 30-31; and Herman A. Hoyt, The New Birth (Findlay, OH:
Dunham Publishing Co., 1961), p. 4.
127

Rapp, The Ministry of the Holy Spirit, p. 1. One of the issues that Rapp correctly opposes in
this article is Chafers implication that people living after Pentecost reflect a nadir in depravity, in
Chafers own words: Evil attains a special character in the present time [the dispensation of the
church] (Systematic Theology, 6:83).
128

Hoekema, Saved by Grace, p. 101.

129

For helpful treatments of regeneration in the Old Testament, see John J. Davis, Regeneration
in the Old Testament (Th.D. dissertation, Grace Theological Seminary, 1964); and J. Barton
Payne, The Theology of the Older Testament (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1962), pp. 240-45.
130

Berkhof, Systematic Theology, 2:469.

131

For an elaboration on the use of new nature, see the informative discussion of nature by
William W. Combs, Does the Believer Have One Nature or Two? Detroit Baptist Seminary
Journal 2 (Fall 1997): 82-87.
132

Snoeberger, Priority of Regeneration to Saving Faith, p. 55; see also Hoekema, Saved by
Grace, pp. 101-4.
133

The only use in the New Testament of the Greek term for regeneration, , is in
Tit 3:5. Other parallels concepts for regeneration are used in the New Testament, such as made
alive, born, born from above, born again, a new heart, and new creation (Snoeberger,
Priority of Regeneration to Saving Faith, pp. 53-54).
134

Ibid., p. 54.

135

Carson, John, p. 197.

136

Snoeberger, Priority of Regeneration to Saving Faith, pp. 69-88.

137

Abraham Kuyper clearly recognizes indwelling in the Old Testament: But in the Old

Testament there was also an inward operation in believers. Believing Israelites were saved.
Hence they must have received saving grace. And since saving grace is out of the question
without an inward working of the Holy Spirit, it follows that He was the Worker of faith in
Abraham as well as in ourselves ( The Work of the Holy Spirit, trans. Henri De Vries [reprint of
1900 ed., Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2001], p. 228).
138

Dunzweiler, Indwelling in the Old Testament, p. 8; see also Zuber, Indwelling of the Holy
Spirit in the Old Testament, pp. 28-29.
139

Wood, Holy Spirit in Old Testament, pp. 65-66.

140

Geoffrey W. Grogan, The Experience of Salvation in the Old and New Testaments, Vox
Evangelica 9 (1976): 13.
141

Hamilton, He Is with You and He Will Be in You, pp. 65-66; so also Stallard, Holy Spirit in
the Old Testament, pp. 15-18.
The Hebrew word
is used twice in vv. 2627: [new] spirit (v. 26) and [My] Spirit (v.
27). This word is used in the Hebrew Old Testament 378 times and 11 times in the Aramaic
142

portions of the Old Testament (Theological Lexicon of the Old Testament, s.v.
, by R.
Albertz and C. Westermann, 3:1202). Its semantic domain ranges from breeze to disposition
to Yahwehs spirit (Ludwig Koehler and Walter Baumgartner, The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon
of the Old Testament, 2 vols., rev. W. Baumgartner and J. J. Stamm, study ed. [Leiden: Brill,
2001], 2:11971201 [hereafter cited as HALOT). Koehler and Baumgartners division of this word
into fifteen subdomains reflects the semantic complexities of
. According to Koehler and
Baumgartners classification, both uses of
in Ezek 36:2627 are classified with their twelfth
category: transferring the spirit from one person to another, and more specifically as God
giving a new spirit and placing his spirit within them (pp. 200-1201). While it is beyond the
scope of this study to develop the various uses of
, Hildebrandts discussion of its semantic
range is a helpful source to consult (Spirit of God, pp. 1-27). He classifies the use of Ezek 36:26
as God giving contrite man a [new] heart devoted to obedience. This use is part of a
miscellaneous subdomain connected to the use of
in reference to humankind (p. 17). He
classifies the use of Ezek 36:27 as a subdomain, the Spirit and the people of God, of
as
Gods Spirit. With this use Gods
is placed inside of man to accomplish a new response to God
(p. 21).
143

R. Bruce Compton, Dispensationalism, the Church, and the New Covenant, Detroit Baptist
Seminary Journal 8 (Fall 2003): 20-23.
144

I have argued elsewhere that Ezek 36:2527 is the primary background for understanding
born of water and the Spirit, see Born of Water and the Spirit, pp. 91-93.
145

For a discussion of the significance of Ezek 36:2627 as it relates to the Spirits indwelling of
Old Testament believers, see Daniel I. Block, The Prophet of the Spirit: The Use of rwh in the
Book of Ezekiel, Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 32 (March 1989): 41; also see
New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis, s.v.
, by Miles V. Van
Pelt, Walter C. Kaiser, Jr, and Daniel I. Block, 3:107677.
146

For example, see Stallard, Holy Spirit in the Old Testament, pp. 15-18; Hoyt, New Birth, p.
4; and Roy L. Aldrich, The Transition Problems in Acts, Bibliotheca Sacra 114 (July 1957): 238.
147

Block, The Use of rwh in the Book of Ezekiel, p. 41.

148

Morris, John, p. 219, and Block, The Use ofrwh in the Book of Ezekiel, p. 40.

149

My understanding that John 3:6 implies indwelling is in contrast with

Hamilton, who denies that John 3:6 has any implication for indwelling (Regeneration and
Indwelling in John, p. 2).
150

Snoeberger, Holy Spirit, p. 27.

151

Moo, Epistle to the Romans, p. 47, n. 36.

152

Ibid., pp. 418-20.

153

BDAG, p. 915.

154

Combs, One Nature or Two, pp. 90-92. This understanding of the sinful nature could also be
viewed as his human nature dominated by sin (Sinclair B. Ferguson, The Christian Life
[Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 2002], p. 157).
155

Moo, Romans, p. 250.

156

Moo, Epistle to the Romans, p. 487.

157

Ibid., pp. 487-88.

158

Since is consistently used in Rom 8 to refer to the Holy Spirit, I have modified nasbs
translation of this part of v. 10 (yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness). For a
justification of a pneumatological use of , rather than an anthropological use, see Murray
(Romans, 1:28891), Moo (Romans, pp. 251-52) and Schreiner (Romans, pp. 414-15).
159

So Moo, Romans, p. 256.

160

Ibid., p. 251.

161

Schreiner, Romans, p. 415; so also Murray, Romans, 1:28892.

162

Charles C. Ryrie, Basic Theology (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1986), p. 356.

163

Reymond, Systematic Theology, pp. 391-92, and John C. Whitcomb,The Early Earth (Grand
Rapids: Baker, 1972), p. 26.
164

Murray, Imputation, pp. 40-41; Reymond, Systematic Theology, pp. 437-38; and Berkhof,
Systematic Theology, 1:24243.

Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, s.v.

, by S. Tengstrm and H. -J. Fabry,
13:387; and Richard H. Killough, A Reexamnination of the Concept of Spirit in Christian
Theology, American Journal of Theology & Philosophy 6 (May-September 1985): 141-42.
165

166

McCune, Systematic Theology II, p. 194.

Mark A. Snoeberger, An Exegetical Contribution to the Identity of the

in Psalm
51:13b (Seminar in OT Hermeneutics/Exegetical Method, Baptist Bible Seminary, 26 March
2004), p. 21.
167

168

King, Spirit Indwelling in the Old Testament, pp. 13-14.

169

Chafer, Systematic Theology, 6:74.

170

Ryrie cites 1 Sam 16:14 to demonstrate that the Spirits indwelling ministry in the Old
Testament was temporary and not permanent. His permanent indwelling of believers is strictly a
post-Pentecost experience (Holy Spirit, pp. 70-71); so also Stallard, Holy Spirit in the Old
Testament, pp. 17-18.
171

Though not all theologians refer to the Spirits ministry of enabling special people in the Old
Testament who had a functional impact on the theocracy as Theocratic Anointing, many

recognize the necessity of the Spirits enabling ministry for theocratic purposes (for a list of
some key sources dealing with this subject, see above, footnote 72).
172

Those who experienced this ministry include Moses (Num 11:17 cf. Acts 7:35), the 70 Elders
(Num 11:17), Joshua (Deut 34:9; Josh 1:5), some of the judges (Othniel [Judg 3:10], Gideon
[6:34], Jephthah [11:29], Samson [13:25; 14:6, 19; 15:14]), Saul (1 Sam 10:610; 11:6), David (1
Sam 16:13), Solomon (his request for wisdom is consistent with theocratic anointing, cf.1 Kgs
1:39; 3:712; 4:2934). Though the Scripture is silent, it would seem that this anointing ministry
of the Spirit continued in some form after Solomon in the Davidic dynasty until the fall of the
theocracy in 586 b.c. This anointing, as McCune says, was probably being exercised in part in
contexts where the Davidic king would cry out to God and experience immediate deliverance,
such as in the cases of Abijah (2 Chr 13:1317), Asa (2 Chr 14:915), and Jehoshaphat (2 Chr
18:31; 20:1419). While the division of the kingdom in 931 b.c. was permitted by God 1( Kgs
11:913; 12:15, 2224), the northern kingdom of Samaria was illegitimate from several angles,
one of which was the absence of a Davidic king (Systematic Theology II, p. 203). After the
theocracys demise in 586 b.c., the Spirits theocratic anointing was discontinued until the Spirit
anointed Jesus Christ, the true king of the theocracy, at his baptism in Matthew 3:16 (see also
Matt 12:1821; Luke 4:1819; Acts 10:38).
173

In delivering a pronouncement of blessing on the theocracy, this type of anointing came

upon a clear unbeliever, Balaam, in Num 24:2, 1012 (2 Pet 2:15).
174

Ryrie, Holy Spirit, p. 71; so also Walvoord, Holy Spirit, pp. 152-53; and Stallard, Holy Spirit in
the Old Testament, pp. 17-18.
175

For example, see Willem A. VanGemeren, Psalms, in vol. 5 of The Expositors Bible
Commentary, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1991), p. 382; Edward R.
Dalglish, Psalm Fifty-One (Leiden: Brill, 1962), pp. 160-61; Charles A. Briggs, A Critical and
Exegetical Commentary on the Book of Psalms, 2 vols., International Critical Commentary (New
York: Scribners, 1907), 2:8; Derek Kidner, Psalms 172, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries
(Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1973), p. 192; Marvin E. Tate, Psalms 51100, Word
Biblical Commentary (Waco, TX: Word, 1990), p. 23; Robert G. Bratcher and William D. Reyburn,
A Translators Handbook on the Book of Psalms (New York: United Bible Societies, 1991), p. 473.
176

This suggestion that Psalm 51:11 (v. 13 in Hebrew text) is an example of synonymous
parallelism is in contrast to W. Creighton Marlowes suggestion that this verse reflects synthetic
parallelism (Spirit of Your Holiness [


]in Psalm 51:13, Trinity Journal 19 [Spring 1998]:
40-41). Marlowe further argues that David is praying that God would not remove Davids internal
disposition of holiness, rather than the Holy Spirit (p. 44).
177

Snoeberger, Psalm 51:13b, p. 14.

178

J. H. Eaton, Kingship and the Psalms, 2nd ed. (Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1986), pp. 71-72, 15668.

179

Jack Barentsen, Restoration and Its Blessing: A Theological Analysis of Psalms 51 and 32,
Grace Theological Journal 5 (Fall 1984): 258.
180

Snoeberger, Psalm 51:13b, p. 14.

181

Wood, Holy Spirit in Old Testament, pp. 39-63, 10112; Warfield, Holy Spirit, pp. 128-33;
Kuyper, Holy Spirit, p. 40; Hildebrandt, Spirit of God, p. 127; Zuber, Indwelling of the Holy Spirit
in the Old Testament, pp. 45-46.
182

The Spirits abiding presence is also used in reference to the nation in Neh 9:20, 30, Isa
63:1014, and Hag 2:5. These passages were excluded from this paper because of their focus on
the theocracy, rather than specific individuals (for a discussion of these, see King, Spirit

Indwelling in the Old Testament, pp. 95-104). There are perhaps two other passages that have
a bearing on the Spirits indwelling of individuals in the Old Testament: Gen 41:38 and Prov 1:23
(see McCune, Systematic Theology II, pp. 196-97).
183

HALOT, s.v.
, pp. 1199-1200, par. 7.

184

McCune, Systematic Theology II, p. 202; and McClain, The Greatness of the Kingdom, p. 93.

185

Wood, Holy Spirit in Old Testament, pp. 49-50; Ronald B. Allen, Numbers, in vol. 2 ofThe
Expositors Bible Commentary, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1990), p. 946;
R. Dennis Cole, Numbers, New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman, 2000), p. 469;
Philip J. Budd, Numbers, Word Biblical Commentary (Waco, TX: Word, 1984), pp. 306-7; Raymond
Brown, The Message of Numbers, The Bible Speaks Today (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press,
2002), p. 252.
186

Budd, Numbers, p. 307.

187

VanGemeren, Psalms, p. 855.

188

Leslie C. Allen, Psalms 101150, Word Biblical Commentary, rev. ed. (Waco, TX: Word, 2002),
pp. 356-57.
189

King, Spirit Indwelling in the Old Testament, p. 112; Payne, Theology of the Older
Testament, p. 174; Wood, Holy Spirit in Old Testament, p. 84.
190

McCune, Systematic Theology II, p. 197.

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