The church is described with different names in the New Testament. It is the people of God (1 Peter 2:9-10), the body of Christ (Eph. 1:23); it is called the bride (Rev. 22:17) and the assembly (Acts 15:12); it is God’s field and building (1 Cor. 3:9) and his temple (2 Cor. 6:16). In this chapter, I want to highlight the description that we find in Ephesians 2:22, where the apostle Paul speaks of the church as a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. The church is the house of the Holy Spirit here on earth, and therefore also carries the impressive name the temple of God’s Spirit (1 Cor. 3:16).

The Old Dispensation⤒🔗

In order to appreciate the splendour of this name of the church, it is important to hold it against the background of the old dispensation. When John writes, “Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified” (John 7:39), it does not mean that Israel was deprived of the Holy Spirit and that the time before Pentecost was a Spiritless period. The Spirit was also at work among Israel. He was the one who renewed hearts and made people obedient. When in Lord’s Day 25 of the Heidelberg Catechism the question is asked, “Where does this faith come from?” the answer is given: “From the Holy Spirit, who works it in our hearts by the preaching of the gospel.” The same is true of the time of the Old Testament. It is no coincidence that in Psalm 51, David prays for a pure heart and a steadfast spirit, adding, “Do not...take your Holy Spirit from me.”

Israel also experienced the sanctifying and renewing work of the Holy Spirit. The writer of Psalm 143 says, “May your good Spirit lead me on level ground.” In Nehemiah 9 we hear that the LORD had warned his people through his Spirit, through the mouths of the prophets, and that he gave them his good Spirit. And in Isaiah 63 we read that the Spirit of the Lord gave Israel rest, led them, and inspired them.

Now the complaint in Isaiah 63:10 becomes understandable: “Yet they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit.” Israel’s disobedience was nothing but an insult against him who wanted to work faith and loyalty in them.

It is striking that we read nowhere in the Old Testament that the Holy Spirit dwelt in the hearts of God’s children. We do hear that he inspired Israel, but not that he made his home with God’s people or that Israel is called his temple. When the apostle Paul speaks in Romans 8 about the Spirit who “lives in you” and when in Ephesians 2 he calls the church the dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit, it is unmistakably something new in comparison to the old dispensation. We can speak of redemptive-historical progression. Thanks to the work of the Lord Jesus, the Holy Spirit has since Pentecost come to dwell in the church and in every believer.

God Wants to Live among His People←⤒🔗

We should not lose sight of the history of salvation. Paul teaches this in 2 Corinthians 7:1, where he points to “the promises” that we as New Testament believers may take hold of. Just before this he calls the church “a temple of the living God” and gives as proof of this a mosaic of texts from the Old Testament that speaks of God dwelling with his people.

God’s dwelling with his people receives considerable attention in the Old Testament. In fact, the entire liberation from Egypt should be seen in this light. We read in Exodus 29:46 that the Israelites “will know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of Egypt so that I might dwell among them.” God wants to come and live among his people. That is why they need to build a tabernacle: “Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them” (Ex. 25:8).

When the temple is later built by Solomon, the same motif returns. Solomon has to do this work because the LORD had promised to David, “And I will live among the Israelites and will not abandon my people Israel” (1 Kings 6:13). Jerusalem is also the city where the LORD lives forever (1 Chron. 23:25) and Zion is the mountain upon which he has established his dwelling place (Ps. 74:2).

With the tabernacle and the temple, the LORD fulfills his words to his people as they came out of Egypt: “I will put my dwelling place [Hebrew: “my tabernacle”] among you…. I will walk among you” (Lev. 26:11-12). But however blessed Israel might be with God’s dwelling in their midst, both tabernacle and temple proclaim at the same time the imperfection of that blessing. A formidable distance still remained. God was enthroned above the mercy seat behind a heavy curtain. These barriers continued to exist throughout the time of the Old Testament. Yes, God lived with his people, but on his own territory, which only the priests could enter.

Characteristic of the imperfection of the old dispensation was that only the high priest could approach God’s throne in the Most Holy Place—and this only once a year. Through this the Holy Spirit indicated, as Hebrews 9:8 tells us, that the way into the Most Holy Place did not yet lie open. The LORD’s dwelling among his people still had limitations. There was no mention of his dwelling in the hearts of his children and of Israel itself being his temple!

Greater Riches←⤒🔗

When Paul calls the church “the temple of the living God” in 2 Corinthians 6:16, and in 1 Corinthians even says that every believer is “God’s temple,” then we see the redemptive-historical progress of God’s dwelling among his people. The curtain has been torn apart by the sacrifice of Christ (Matt. 27:51). All distance has become something of the past.

The work of our Saviour has made it possible that “the promises” to which Paul refers to in 2 Corinthians 7:1 now receive an unprecedented fulfillment. The Lord now truly comes to dwell with and in his children. The Saviour’s promise, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him” (John 14:23), becomes a reality. The New Testament shows that it is particularly through the Holy Spirit that the Lord lives in us. Paul calls the believer God’s temple and then tellingly reminds his readers that “God’s Spirit lives in you” (1 Cor. 3:16). He proclaims that the believers are being built up in Christ into “a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit” (Eph. 2:22). The church is a holy dwelling place of God, because the Spirit has made her his home. This connection is also clear in Romans 8, when Paul refers twice to “the Spirit who lives in you” (Rom. 8:9, 11).

It is not simply a divine power that lives in us as New Testament believers; it is God himself who lives in us. None other than the Holy Spirit, who is of the same essence, majesty and glory with the Father and the Son (see Belgic Confession Art. 11)! We will be allowed to say with Jodocus van Lodensteyn (a Reformed theologian of the 17th century) that the entire Trinity dwells in us through and in the power of the Holy Spirit (see John 14:23).

In the Wake of the Reformation←⤒🔗

Prof. W. van ‘t Spijker has shown how the indwelling of the Spirit already received full attention in the theology of the Middle Ages. On the one hand, the Holy Spirit was seen as present in all of creation: God is omnipresent with his preserving power. It is his Spirit who renews the face of the earth (Psalm 104:30). This idea is strongly enforced in Calvin’s doctrine of the Spirit when he calls the Spirit “the hand of God” by which he exercises his power (Institutes III.1.3).

On the other hand, the special presence of the Spirit in believers was also distinguished. Furthermore, this presence was seen in a Trinitarian perspective: the Father and the Son are involved in this indwelling of the Spirit, and the saving work in and for believers is the work of the triune God.

Van ‘t Spijker shows how we also find this distinction in the Reformed exposition of Romans 8, where the Trinitarian aspect never disappears from sight. Van Lodensteyn’s view has old support!

For the Strasbourg Reformer Martin Bucer, for example, the secret of the Christian life lay in the special indwelling of the Spirit. When he comes to dwell in our hearts, he reigns there as Lord. This indwelling means firstly a real presence, but also and especially an effective dominion. The Holy Spirit grants us the mind of Christ, makes it to be: it is no longer I, but Christ who lives in me. The indwelling of the Spirit gives us comfort and strength in the struggle between flesh and spirit, and offers us assurance that the work of grace will one day be completed.

More than Calvin, Bucer recognizes in his exposition of Romans 8 that our glorification is inextricably linked to the indwelling of the Spirit, and that this contains a promise for the future. Calvin does not refer to the resurrection of our body and thus does not sufficiently take into account the consolation of the ongoing work of the Spirit until the day of Christ’s return. In this respect, Calvin did not follow reformational exegesis.

Van ‘t Spijker concludes, among other things, that in early reformational exegesis the indwelling of the Spirit coincides with the indwelling of Christ in his own and that it applies to all true believers. It has a Trinitarian character and is focused on our ultimate glorification. This exegesis was built on that of the Middle Ages and did justice to the exposition of the church fathers. In this way it contributed to the ecumenical and catholic character of Reformed theology.

W.J. Ouweneel←⤒🔗

Not so long ago Prof. W.J. Ouweneel published an extensive study of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. In it he presents us with a view on the indwelling of the Spirit that deserves our attention, now that our church members are coming under the sway of evangelical-charismatic influences. In reformational exegesis, the indwelling of the Spirit is not a special moment on the way of faith: it is the secret of communion with Christ and a privilege that belongs to everyone who comes to faith.

Ouweneel, on the other hand, sharply distinguishes between two activities of the Spirit. The first is the work of conversion or rebirth. The second is the work of dwelling in the born-again person. “The builder who renovates a house is not necessarily the same person as the new occupant of the house. The Spirit is both the one who “renovates” a person and the one who comes to live in the renovated person; yet this second aspect is not automatically included in the first.”

Ouweneel therefore makes a distinction between the Spirit as power and the Spirit as person. With our conversion, the Spirit is “only” active as a power, while the indwelling is about the coming of the Spirit as person. The latter is then identified by Ouweneel as “the baptism with the Spirit” or “the sealing with the Spirit.” A period of time may pass between conversion and the actual coming of the Spirit as person in our hearts. Ouweneel therefore sees the indwelling of the Spirit as a separate moment in the order of salvation: the way that the Spirit deals with us in applying salvation to us!

It is remarkable how close Ouweneel comes here to certain Dutch Reformed theologians who are strongly oriented toward the experimental theology of the Further Reformation. ¹

For I. Kievit and L. van Nieuwpoort, for example, the coming of the Spirit as person is also a unique “station” in the life of faith. They identify this with what Paul writes on being “sealed” with the Spirit. At this sealing our heart becomes “a dwelling place” of God in the Spirit and we receive the Spirit “as person.”

It is remarkable to see how the same separation is made from different viewpoints (evangelical and experiential-reformed): the separation between conversion and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit!

Scripture←⤒🔗

The distinction that Ouweneel makes between the Spirit as “power” and the Spirit as “person” is, in my opinion, an idea that lacks the support of Scripture. Certainly, the Spirit is called a power in the New Testament. The “power of the Most High” will overshadow Mary (Luke 1:35) and the apostles will be “clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:49). But that power cannot be separated from the coming of the Spirit as a person.

Gabriel therefore tells Mary that “the Holy Spirit” will come upon her (Luke 1:35) and the Lord Jesus says the same to his disciples (Acts 1:8). Paul speaks of “the power of the Spirit of God” (Rom.15:19) and thereby teaches us that the power which is received is inseparably bound to the person of the Spirit.

We also see this with our Saviour. He returns to Galilee “in the power of the Spirit” (Luke 4:14) to do his work there, but that power is present because the Spirit as a person came to him at his baptism in the Jordan (Matt. 3:16; John 1:33). Hebrews 9:14 briefly but beautifully states that Christ offered himself unblemished to God “through the eternal Spirit.” He was able to do his work as mediator without blemish, because the Spirit gave him the strength for it.

It is therefore untenable to disconnect the receiving of the Spirit as a person from coming to faith, as Ouweneel does. Paul reminds the Romans that the Spirit lives in them (Rom. 8:9, 11). There is for the apostle such a strong connection between believing in the Lord Jesus and possessing the Spirit that he even writes, “And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ” (Rom. 8:9). The Galatians have not only received the power of the Spirit, but the Holy Spirit himself by receiving the message in faith (Gal. 3:2). Also in Ephesians 1:13 Paul draws a clear connection between receiving the Spirit as seal and the coming to faith of the Ephesians, when he writes, “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit.”

L. Floor notes here that the apostle, if he had wanted to emphasize the separation between coming to faith and being marked by the Spirit, could have expressed this in the Greek. However, he does no more than to distinguish the two.

God’s Temple←⤒🔗

We may conclude that the early reformational exposition of Romans 8—as Van ‘t Spijker has pointed out—does justice to what the New Testament teaches. We share in the indwelling of the Spirit when we come to faith, not as a later moment on the path of faith. Anyone who has been engrafted into Christ by a true faith, may say with HC Lord’s Day 20 that the Spirit “is also given to me” and that the Holy Spirit has fulfilled what he promised at baptism: that he wants to dwell in us. The New Testament informs us of a great treasure when it speaks of the indwelling of the Spirit! God has come out from behind the curtain of the tabernacle and temple to dwell in our hearts. The church has become his temple through the Spirit, yes, every believer may now be temple of the Spirit!

The Holy Spirit is not busy somewhere on the edges of our humanity; rather, he has occupied the church and our heart. He lives in the centre of our personality. In that heart, which is the wellspring of life (Prov. 4:23), he is doing his work that will continue for our entire life, to change us into Christ’s image.

You may be struggling with your evil nature. You may feel powerless to resist an old and stubborn sin. You may be suffering on account of the imperfection of your faith and the weak moments that rise up time and again. What a comfort it is then to know: God himself has come to dwell in my heart! None other than the Holy Spirit is there to come to my aid, to hold me, to make it true: “And I will put my Spirit within you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws” (Ezek. 36:27).

At the same time, the indwelling of the Spirit may give us confidence: he also completes the work he has begun in us. For he is the Spirit “of glory and of God” (1 Peter 4:14) who will not rest until he has given us, perfectly pure in eternal life, a place in the midst of the church of the elect. Also, our moral bodies will one day be raised by the Spirit who “is living in you” (Rom. 8:11). Through the indwelling of the Spirit, God’s children already have that future in them! We receive the Spirit as “firstfruits” (Rom. 8:23): He is God’s first payment of all that awaits us. Through him we already experience “the powers of the coming age” (Heb. 6:5). He also lives with us as “deposit” (2 Cor. 5:5), as God’s guarantee of the glory that will be revealed in us.

Our Responsibility←⤒🔗

I hope it has become clear how precious it is that God’s Spirit dwells in us, in the church and in everyone who is a “living member” of that church. However, this rich treasure also puts a great responsibility upon us. Paul strongly reminds us of this responsibility. Shortly after saying that we are “the temple of the living God” (2 Cor. 6:16), he urges us, “Let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God” (2 Cor. 7:1). He who lives in us is the Holy Spirit, who wants to be respected and who demands our reverence. If he is the Holy One, it cannot be otherwise than that we do our utmost to live a holy life. This requires that we purify our body and spirit, as Paul says. His indwelling obliges us always to strive earnestly after purification from the contamination of sin. It involves our thoughts, our desires, our eyes, ears, feet and hands, yes, our total behaviour, both internal and external.

Paul, when he speaks of a holy walk of life, noticeably connects this to the Spirit who lives in us. He calls upon the Thessalonians to abstain from impurity, pointing to God “who gives you his Holy Spirit” (1 Thess. 4:8). When divisions and a party spirit take over in Corinth, the apostle reminds the fighting parties: “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you? (1 Cor. 3:16), to which he adds the warning, “If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred and you are that temple.”

We see this warning becoming reality when Ananias and Sapphira taint with their hypocrisy that which the Spirit had so wonderfully worked in the church of Jerusalem. They had forgotten that the church is a holy temple and that whoever disregards this holiness will not escape the judgment of the Spirit (Acts 5).

We must remember that he who lives in the church and in our hearts is also the Spirit of judgment (see Isa. 4:4), the Spirit whom John the Baptist connects with fire (Luke 3:16). This fire speaks of purification and judgment, reminding us that he who dwells within us is also “a consuming fire” (Heb. 12:29). We are therefore warned not to “grieve” the Holy Spirit (Eph. 4:30) or to “insult the Spirit of grace” (Heb. 10:29).

But if we let ourselves be led by the Spirit, we may look forward to the day when “the promises” that Paul speaks of in 2 Corinthians 7:1 will be completely fulfilled. Soon God will dwell among us in full glory. John heard a loud voice calling from the throne, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them” (Rev. 21:3). In the New Jerusalem, which will be called “The LORD is there” (Ezek. 48:35) and where he will be “all in all” (1 Cor. 15:28)!

For Discussion←⤒🔗

1. Discuss with each other the preciousness of the church being the dwelling place of the Spirit.

2. Then discuss with each other the preciousness of the indwelling of the triune God in believing people. Or is it perhaps distressing to you that he knows and understands the depths of your being?

3. What is your opinion of the view of W.J. Ouweneel?

4. What does it mean for you that you are a temple of the Holy Spirit?

5. Discuss with each other the indwelling of the Spirit as firstfruits and as deposit, or guarantee.

6. What does it tell you that in Revelation 21:3 it is literally said that God will “tabernacle” among the people? In this regard, read also Exodus 25:8.