Q.
Where do we get the idea that the Holy Spirit comes to indwell us right at the moment of salvation? I’d like to see proof of this. So often we say things like this, but I don’t know of Scripture that definitely says this.
A.
If the Holy Spirit doesn’t come to indwell at the moment of salvation, I don’t know when He does come. The Scriptures make it plain that the new birth (salvation) is a work wrought by the Holy Spirit. There is no other way. Galatians 4:6 and 7 read, “God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a Son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.” First Corinthians 12:13, referring to all believers regardless of how long they have been born again, states, “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.” Romans 8:9 reminds us, “Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.”
Thus one is either saved or lost; either he has the Holy Spirit indwelling him or he doesn’t. When Jesus told Nicodemus that he needed to be born again, He explained it as being “born of the Spirit” (John 3:6). He also told His disciples, “It is the spirit that quickeneth [gives life]” (John 6:63). Ephesians 2:1 says, “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins.” A person is not made alive apart from the Holy Spirit’s coming to indwell him.
This article appeared in the “Q & A” column of the Baptist Bulletin (September 1991) by Norman A. Olson.
