Does the Spirit always remain in the born-again believer?

[ZacharyB]

These verses do not give any conditions for the indwelling Holy Spirit

 

“But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.

Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His … But if the Spirit of Him

who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead

will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

… you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, ‘Abba, Father’ ” (Romans 8:9-15)

 

“Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16)

 

“Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you,

whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” (1 Corinthians 6:19)

 

“And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts,

crying out, “Abba, Father!” (Galatians 4:6)

 

“That good thing which was committed to you, keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.” (2 Timothy 1:14)

 

“But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you

… the same anointing teaches you concerning all things” (1 John 2:27)

 

These verses give conditions for the indwelling Holy Spirit

 

“If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father,

and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever —

the Spirit of truth … you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. 

… you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. 

He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me.

And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and

manifest Myself 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 home with him.” (John 14:15-23)

Conditional indwelling: love Jesus and keep His commandments

 

“Every branch in Me (born-again believer!) that does not bear fruit He takes away

… Abide in Me, and I in you … He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit;

… If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered;

and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.” (John 15:2-6)

Conditional indwelling: bear fruit, abide in Jesus

 

“And we are His witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit

whom God has given to those who obey Him.” (Acts 5:32)

Conditional indwelling: obey God

 

“Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves,

that Jesus Christ is in you? — unless indeed you are disqualified.” (2 Corinthians 13:5)

Conditional indwelling: be “in the faith” (whatever that means exactly)

 

“Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him.

And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.” (1 John 3:24)

Conditional indwelling: keep Jesus’ commandments

 

“No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us,

and His love has been perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us,

because He has given us of His Spirit … Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God,

God abides in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God has for us.

God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.” (1 John 4:12-16)

Conditional indwelling: love one another, confess that Jesus is the Son of God, abide in love

 

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door,

I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.” (Revelation 3:20)

Conditional indwelling: respond to Jesus’ voice

Note: This is the Laodicean church where it is said by some Bible teachers

(such as Dr. C. S. Lovett of Personal Christianity) that everyone is unsaved.

And that would surely explain why the Spirit is NOT already inside.

IMO, this is Jesus’ invitation to salvation for those who are spiritually dead (unsaved)!

This agrees with verses which teach that people need to have a real and

personal relationship with Jesus to have eternal life (John 10:27, John 17:3).

 

Do all of these conditions have to be maintained for the Holy Spirit to remain in the born-again believer?

Does the Spirit leave when these conditions are not maintained?

If so, are there any verses which say the Holy Spirit will return?

And if so, upon what conditions? How about …

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins

and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)

.

Edited April 8, 2017 by ZacharyB

[Guest]

GOD said that the Holy Spirit is sealed within the believer (as in a Covenant) at the moment of Salvation. Why would GOD make a Covenant that HE knew HE would break in the future? It is not in HIS Character to do so. In the OT, the Holy Spirit would come and go, inhabiting whom He would based on their faith in the coming Redeemer, their keeping of the Commandments; and the Plan of GOD; with the New Covenant (the Church Age, the Holy Spirit is sealed within each believer as a guarantee of Salvation; after the Rapture of the Church, they Holy Spirit will again come and go and inhabit whom He will based on their faith in Christ, their keeping of the Commandments, and their assistance to Israel; and the Plan of GOD. There will not be a guarantee of Salvation, no sealing of the Holy Spirit during this time. Only the Church is guaranteed their salvation with the sealing of the Holy Spirit within them.

[missmuffet]

Yes Rick. The Holy Spirit is within a person who genuinely asks Jesus Christ into their life and heart. It is there to stay.

Question: "What is the seal of the Holy Spirit?"

Answer: The Holy Spirit is referred to as the “deposit,” “seal,” and “earnest” in the hearts of Christians (2 Corinthians 1:22; 5:5; Ephesians 1:13-14; 4:30). The Holy Spirit is God’s seal on His people, His claim on us as His very own. The Greek word translated “earnest” in these passages is arrhabōn which means “a pledge,” that is, part of the purchase money or property given in advance as security for the rest. The gift of the Spirit to believers is a down payment on our heavenly inheritance, which Christ has promised us and secured for us at the cross. It is because the Spirit has sealed us that we are assured of our salvation. No one can break the seal of God.

The Holy Spirit is given to believers as a “first installment” to assure us that our full inheritance as children of God will be delivered. The Holy Spirit is given to us to confirm to us that we belong to God who grants to us His Spirit as a gift, just as grace and faith are gifts (Ephesians 2:8-9). Through the gift of the Spirit, God renews and sanctifies us. He produces in our hearts those feelings, hopes, and desires which are evidence that we are accepted by God, that we are regarded as His adopted children, that our hope is genuine, and that our redemption and salvation are sure in the same way that a seal guarantees a will or an agreement. God grants to us His Holy Spirit as the certain pledge that we are His forever and shall be saved in the last day. The proof of the Spirit’s presence is His operations on the heart which produce repentance, the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23), conformity to God’s commands and will, a passion for prayer and praise, and love for His people. These things are the evidences that the Holy Spirit has renewed the heart and that the Christian is sealed for the day of redemption.

So it is through the Holy Spirit and His teachings and guiding power that we are sealed and confirmed until the day of redemption, complete and free from the corruption of sin and the grave. Because we have the seal of the Spirit in our hearts, we can live joyfully, confident of our sure place in a future that holds unimaginable glories.

https://www.gotquestions.org/Holy-Spirit-seal.html

[Guest BacKaran]

Ephesians 11:13-14

We are sealed, Amen!

[Sally by the seashore]

Hebrews 13:5 tells us God will never leave is nor forsake is.  The Holy Spirit is God, so no, it will never leave us

[Jeff2]

One could build an entire theology over one word, and many do. But words mean things in context.

No one knows the extent and permanency of the Seal (the Holy Spirit) upon a person through the use of a single word. We can assume all theories, and built a theological tower upon it, but lets be open to Scripture and look at the context a bit. Ephesians 1: 13, "In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation-having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise." The condition of receiving, listening and believing. Verse 14 continues, "who was given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's own possession..." A pledge, a down payment on that which is not yet complete. Till the time of final redemption.  

4:30, "And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God..." A stern warning. "by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption."

Note that no translation of the Bible says, "until", but "till, for," or as in context properly translated in Ephesians 1:13, "with a view to the redemption."  The earnest, the down payment of the Holy Spirit in in a view to the future redemption of the believer. Yet, in Ephesians 4:30 it is coupled with a warning not to grieve the Holy Spirit, who is the Seal. What happens to those that insult the spirit of grace? (Heb. 10:29-30.) It is clear in Scripture that the very same Spirit can be quenched. (1 Thes. 5:19). The warning in immediate connection with the promise indicates a conditional statement concerning the Seal.  

 

[ZacharyB]

On ‎4‎/‎8‎/‎2017 at 11:28 AM, Rick_Parker said:

Why would GOD make a Covenant that HE knew HE would break in the future? 

'Tis not God who breaks covenants ... 'tis man.

I'll send you a Bible, and then you can read about the covenants God made with His "chosen people"

... and what happened. It's interesting reading!

News Flash! - There are many parallels between God's chosen people in the OT and in the NT.

Edited April 10, 2017 by ZacharyB

[ZacharyB]

On ‎4‎/‎9‎/‎2017 at 7:54 AM, Jeff2 said:

One could build an entire theology over one word, and many do. But words mean things in context.

 

 

Excellent post, Jeff ...

Yes, every NT word's meaning ... depends on the context of the whole entire NT.

Especially these: believe, faith, faithful, overcomer ... they don't mean what you are taught in church.

If the truth be told, many people and their tithes would cease from coming through the doors!

[Guest Teditis]

Absolutely! The Holy Spirit is our Seal and Comforter throughout our Christian walk.

God will not take back what He has given to His heirs of promise.

I think that many of the verses given in the OP are grossly misinterpreted and taken out of context...

poor reading comprehension... no disrespect intended.

Edited April 10, 2017 by Teditis

[Jeff2]

Why would GOD make a Covenant that HE knew HE would break in the future?  

Why would God make man in His own image, place him in Paradise on Earth... if He knew that man would betray Him?

Oh, yes! We can go all day long with scenarios that would prove only one thing! What does it prove? It shows the World that a pile of suppositions do not make a single Biblical Doctrine!

I could ask all day long as to why, if all is decided before we ever existed, do we have to suffer in this World? What kind of God would make us endure this pain when He could just fast-forward to the inevitable end and be merciful? But I do not need to ask this, for Fatalism is heathenism, not Biblical doctrine.

Covenants are usually conditional. They are in force when both Parties are in cooperation with the conditions. This is obvious where the condition of not grieving the Holy Spirit, our Seal, exists with a view to our future redemption.