On the matter of God’s Spirit dwelling in a rebellious person, have you not read the Samson narratives? Did the Holy Spirit force Samson to “be good”?

The relationship that God desires with humanity precludes forcing us to act contrary to our own will.

The indwelling Spirit is never described as a sin-prophylactic, but as the seal of our Lord.

Brother Starling, it seems to me that we are in full agreement.
The question I ask of brother Guin was approximately the same as you ask here.
I asked, “If a Christian is actually “saved” how can they become “unsaved”. If the Holy Spirit actually dwells within a human body, to influence it to do good, how could it do otherwise? Is it possible that the Spirit dwells in a body with both “Good” and “evil” and is actually run out by evil?”

I believe we are both asking the same question, Is the Devil’s power such that he can control us from without, over the influence of God’s power (indwelling spirit) within (and snatch us away from God).

My view, no one has to agree. If we were truly indwelled by “The Holy Spirit” Which I understand as “God the Father” only spoken of in other terms, as Jesus spoke of him in Jn:4:24: God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
and in Mt:19:17: And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God:——.
No if we were truly indwelled by God, there would be no power that could turn us again unto evil.
Mt:7:18: A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.

No I believe the power of God trumps the power of Satan, if you have doubts read the book of Job, again.

Yet, did not Paul speak of the “law of sin at work in my members”? It is only in Christ that we find deliverance from the law of sin as the law of the Spirit of Life sets us free from the law of sin and death. He also said that if any man does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His! And, “You, however, are controlled not by the flesh but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you” (Rom 8:9).

In your comment you said: “Why do we assume more than a mere handful (at best) of our first century brethren ever read or heard, much less possessed, the 27 books which fully outline our new covenant? And without such, how could anyone then (or the vast majority for the next 1600+ years) piece together the plan of salvation complete with all the doctrinal requirements (including the silence issues) which are necessary to avoid apostasy?”

At least some of us believe we are saved by a person, not a plan. (Or a plan only in the sense that God planned to save me – but not by my doing all the right things to comply with the rules of the plan.) And some of us believe we are saved by grace (alone) through faith (alone); not by doing church the right way or contributing to the finished work of Christ.

OK, I apologize for keeping you from earning megapoints.

Peace,
Randall

I raised this question before and was soundly ignored, but I ask it again with the objective of being resoundingly ignored (extra points). Why do we assume more than a mere handful (at best) of our first century brethren ever read or heard, much less possessed, the 27 books which fully outline our new covenant? And without such, how could anyone then (or the vast majority for the next 1600+ years) piece together the plan of salvation complete with all the doctrinal requirements (including the silence issues) which are necessary to avoid apostasy?

When we insist on well over 7000 verses worth of conditions to salvation, we take the keys to the kingdom and fasten them to a boat anchor keychain. Peter began to sink, while walking on the water, when he took his eyes off Jesus. Is it possible that we, too, have become overwhelmingly distracted by our doctrinal quest to qualify ourselves as the few and the proud, and in doing so have taken our eyes off Him, too? Could that be the reason we are sinking?

I make no claim to be a scholar, Biblical, historical or otherwise. But my read of the multiple NT scriptures that talk about the Spirit dwelling in us simply does not sound like superlative reading comprehension, it sounds like Divine presence; not like accomplishment, but like relationship. And how might we fail to make perpetual good choices with such a presence? The same way our children make mistakes while still living under our roof … sometimes they just don’t listen.

No. The word does dwell within us as well. It’s not one or the other. But there are many passages in both testaments that demonstrate the personal indwelling. The earlier post here (linked above) on the indwelling gives some of the arguments.

I did not attempt a complete argument for a personal indwelling because Phil and Mac agree that there’s a personal indwelling. However, I’ve argued the case more extensively over at The Spirit Who Lives in Us, Part 1

The Spirit Who Lives in Us, Part 2