The Indwelling Holy Spirit

A very distinctive mark of personality is the ability to speak. At Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descended from heaven, He spoke in “other tongues” (Acts 2:4) through the disciples. By this He signified that He had come, as a Person, to take up His dwelling on earth. He is now the permanent, personal representative of the Godhead residing on earth.

From Pentecost on, each time the Holy Spirit comes to take up His residence as a Person in the body of a believer, it is appropriate that He should manifest His presence by speaking out of that believer in a new language that is supernaturally imparted. In effect, He is saying, “Now you know that I am here as a Person to indwell your body.”

For this reason, in 1 Corinthians 6:19, Paul said:

“Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit?”

He emphasized that speaking in tongues is not merely a brief, supernatural experience; beyond that, it is a divinely given sign that the Holy Spirit, as a Person, has taken up His dwelling in the believer’s body, thereby making it a sacred temple. This truth places a solemn obligation upon each believer to keep his body in a condition of holiness that is appropriate for God’s temple.