The Indwelling Trinity
“To know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might
be filled with all the fulness of God.” (Ephesians
3:19) One of the great doctrines of Christianity
is the doctrine of the indwelling Holy Spirit of God, who lives in the
heart of each believer who trusts in Christ for salvation. “Know ye not
that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye
have of God?” (1 Corinthians 6:19).
At the same time, God is one God, so all three persons of
the Godhead must, through the Spirit, likewise indwell the believer.
Note Paul’s prayer for the believers in the Ephesian church (Ephesians 3:14-19).
“That he would grant you . . . to be strengthened with
might by his Spirit in the inner man” (Ephesians 3:16). This
request acknowledges the indwelling Spirit. Christ also prayed
for this: “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another
Comforter . . . the Spirit of truth . . . for he dwelleth with you, and
shall be in you” (John 14:16-17).
“That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith” (Ephesians
3:17), that we might “know the love of Christ, which passeth
knowledge” (v. 19). Here is the indwelling Son. This is also
revealed in Galatians 2:20 (“Christ liveth in me”) and Colossians 1:27
(“Christ in you, the hope of glory”). “That ye might be
filled with all the fulness of God” (Ephesians 3:19). This
can only refer to the indwelling Father, as well as the entire
tri-unity of the Godhead. Can this indwelling be ours? Note also that
the entire prayer was addressed in the first place to “the Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 3:14).
This, likewise, is a reflection of Christ’s promise: “If a man love me,
he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come
unto him, and make our abode with him” (John 14:23). “Filled
with all the fulness of God!” What a wonderful privilege—and
responsibility—is ours.




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