Living by the Indwelling of the Holy Spirit

“If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him.  John 14:15-17
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In the Gospel of John, the Greek verb παρακαλέω (parakaleó) is used five times, four of them referring to the Holy Spirit and once to Jesus. Parakaleó, in English "paraclete," is actually a verb not native to Koine Greek (the language of most of the New Testament), but a transliteration from the Latin word advocatus. Lochlan Shelfer, in an article titled, "The Legal Precision of the Term 'πάράkλητος'," explains it thus;

"παράκλητος [does not have] any independent meaning of its own, it is in fact a calque for the Latin term advocatus, meaning a person of high social standing who speaks on behalf of a defendant in a court of law before a judge. When Greeks came into contact with the Roman Empire [...] the word παράκλητος was developed as a precise equivalent to the Latin legal term advocatus. Thus, its significance must be found not only in its very few extant appearances, but also in the specific use of the Latin legal term."

The term "paraclete" has been translated several ways and may be found to be different in any two bibles in your home. The KJV uses “comforter” (as does Martin Luther); the ASV retains “comforter,” footnoting “advocate” or “helper.” The RSV uses “counselor”; the NEB, “advocate”; the NASB, “helper,” refencing “Intercessor.” The great preacher and theologian Phillips Brooks uses a sentence to provide a clear pastoral meaning: “someone else to stand by you,” and  Edward Klink, Evangelical writer and pastor, goes further, calling the Holy Spirit “the intimate presence of God with his people.” As Jesus used this term, he knew well that it would be expanded in the languages that followed in the attempt to grasp the whole, true meaning. Perhaps the best definition of paraclete is all of them, held in tension a community of description.

Jesus' intention during his discourse was to assure us that we were not alone, Jese was sending us an “other” to dwell with us—in us, and remind us and guide us in all truth. In our baptismal service, we complete the Rite by anointing the candidate with holy oil and saying, “You are sealed by the Holy Spirit in Baptism and marked as Christ’s own forever” (BCP 308.) The seal of the Holy Spirit is the sign of the indwelling presence of God and the presence of the Holy Spirit with us always.

St. Paul in his Letter to the Romans extols the real effect of Christ’s pronouncement, “the Spirit of God dwells in you.” (8:9) The Holy Spirit’s indwelling is said to be the sine qua non of being a Christian, that without which not one could not truly be in relationship with God. The Holy spirit is THE essential reality of our life in Christ.

St Paul tells us that “Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him” (Romans 8:9). This is a definitive statement. Either you have the Spirit or you don’t. And if you do not have the Spirit, you are not a Christian. Without the Holy Spirit, St. Jude tells us, in that case they are “ungodly” and encourages all true believers to , “…build yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love” (20b-21a).

To be Pentecost people is to be people in whom the Holy Spirit permanently resides,“For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body – Jews or Greeks, slaves or free – and all were made to drink of one Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:13).

This essential presence of God, the God who created all things—even you, dwells in you! This is an amazing and blessed assurance we are intended to cling to in times of pain, suffering, hurt of any kind, and through moments of doubt, indecision, confusion, and desperation. The Holy Spirit is the Comforter and the Counselor, the Advocate and the Intercessor who guides and directs us to godly living.

The Holy Spirit dwells in you to guide your growth and holiness though the awareness of God’s universal and constant presence. God dwelt in the Tabernacle of the Temple as witness to the Israelites, so now the Holy Spirit dwells in you, the new Temple of  God’s presence. Christian holiness is not obedience to the law (Galatians 5:22-23). It is submission to the indwelling Spirit. “Do you now know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16). “Or do you now know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). St. Paul solidifies this connection in Romans 8:11-14, when he says, “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” (v. 11).

Because of that future promise of new life to our bodies at the resurrection, St. Paul tells us that now “we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh . . . but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live” (vv. 12–13). To live a dedicated life to God is to live by the blessings of the Holy Spirit. Through the blessings of the Holy Spirit true life is achieved as all things are put into the divine perspective and this perspective is Holiness.

Living by the Indwelling Holy Spirit,

Fr. Bill+