Bible Questions and Answers
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1 Corinthians 6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
In context Paul is speaking about the believer’s relationship with God. He is not speaking of supernatural force dwelling within in them. He is explaining how they should behave.
1 Corinthians 6:15 Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid.
How we behave is governed by the way that we think. The teaching of Christ is that we must change the way that we think.
John 3:5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
Being born of water is referring to baptism where we symbolically put to death the old way of life and begin a new one.
Romans 6:4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Being born of the spirit is referring to a change in the way that we think. It is obvious that if we live after baptism in the same way that did before baptism then baptism will not save us. In conjunction with baptism we need to begin to change the way that we think and act. This is what Jesus means by being born of the spirit.
Paul describes it this way:
Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Ephesians 4:23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
Being born of the spirit is an ongoing process. The commandments of Christ must be imbibed from the pages of scripture and become the basis for living.
Philippians 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
1 Corinthians 2:16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.
Romans 8:9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
This is the equivalent of
Hebrews 10:16 This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;
Romans 2:15 Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)
The position is highlighted in the disciples’ reaction to the hostility of the Samaritans.
Luke 9:54 And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did? 55 But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.
The disciples were not thinking in the way that God required them to think. Their ‘spirit’ or ‘way of thinking’ was not attuned to that of Christ.
It is the word of God believed and acted upon which makes us holy in the sight of God.
John 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
John 15:3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
Romans 8:13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
1 Peter 1:22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:
The onus is upon the believer to be a doer of the word and not just a hearer.
James 1:22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
Matthew 7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
If we do the will of God then the Spirit of God dwells in us.
When we meet to break bread and drink wine in remembrance of the sacrifice of Christ we are exhorted to examine ourselves (that is: the way we are living) in the light of Christ’s example.
1 Corinthians 11:28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.
If we are expecting an emotional experience or an ‘inner voice’ indicating that the Holy Spirit is residing in us, then we will be disappointed. The work of the Spirit is seen in the fruit of our lives.
Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. 24 And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
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I hope you have found this helpful.
God bless,
Glenn
