Quote:
Originally Posted by Sons to Glory!
I heard a radio message yesterday by Charles Stanley that hit on a lot of indwelling points. His main thrust was the Comforter was given to us, and at a couple points he said the HS resided in us. Then he mentioned that Christ was in us. It was one of the better things I'd heard on media for some time!
I've also read some good things about the indwelling in Piper books. (also Murray, Tozer, Hannah W. Smith, Sparks, et. al., but these are not alive)
So there is mention of the indwelling out there by some current mainstream ones, and not just obscure teachers. I mean this is a main tenet of the New Covenant, is it not?
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The notion of the indwelling of the HS has been posited, debated, and questioned, going back to at least the apostolic fathers ... and also condemned.
An early proponent of it, Montanus (2nd century CE), was condemned as a heretic because he and his two two female colleagues, Priscilla and Maximilla, who claimed the Paraclete to be indwelling and working thru them more than thru Montanus, in what was considered back then to be The New Prophecy.
The moral of my little screed here, I guess is, Montanus claimed the Paraclete spoke through him. But it looked to the orthodoxy as something tantamount to witchcraft, or demon possession, so I guess we can get carried away with the HS, to the point of being unpredictable ; a wild card to the orthodoxy, perhaps a loose cannon, or canon ... haha ... at any rate, the HS made troublesome to the order of that that had developed during the proto-orthodox, the precursor to the church in Rome becoming the state religion.
But then again, according the gospel we call John, Jesus said the HS is like the wind. We can hear it, but can't tell from where it comes, and to where it goes ... so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
So Montanus might have been right, but it would have removed the authority of what became institutional Christianity.
The Mother Church was against it. The charismatic movement within her these days is a hard pill for them to swallow.
Same for the local church. Lee killed the movement of the holy Spirit many times. Just try and follow the Holy Spirit in the local church, and see where that gets you.