The Indwelling of the Ruach
8: 9-11
The indwelling of the Ruach DIG: What is the difference between being baptized in, by, and with the Ruach Ha’Kodesh, and being continually filled with the Ruach? How do we see evidence of the Trinity here in these verses? Who was the Divine Agent of Messiah’s resurrection? Why, and how should that be an encouragement to you?
REFLECT: What kind of a grade will you give to your walk with the Ruach? When you are going through a spiritually dry time in your life, what do you do to get out of it? Do you pray, “Lord fill me with your Ruach?” When unhealthy thoughts enter your mind, what have you found most helpful in dealing with them? What is our rock-solid hope even in tough times?
Keep on being filled with the Ruach.
Paul now turns to address his readers directly. But you, as believers, you do not identify with your old nature but with the Ruach – provided the Ruach of God is living inside you (8:9a). In a marvelous and incomprehensible way, the Spirit is not only living inside the believer in the sense of position, but He lives in him as His home. The Ruach Ha’Kodesh has a ministry to perform in him, namely, to give him victory over his [sin nature] and produce His own fruit. Thus, the saved person is not in the grip of his [sin nature], but under the control of the Spirit as he yields himself to Him.208
For anyone who doesn’t have the Ruach of the Messiah doesn’t belong to Him (8:9b). The person who gives no evidence of the presence, power, and fruit of God’s Spirit in his life has no legitimate claim to Messiah as Savior and Lord. The person who demonstrates no desire for the things of God and has no inclination to avoid sin or passion to please ADONAI is not indwelt by the Ruach, and thus doesn’t belong to Yeshua. In light of that sobering truth, Paul warns those who claim to be believers: Examine yourselves to see whether you are living the life of trust. Test yourselves. Don’t you realize that Yeshua the Messiah is in you? – unless you fail to pass the test (Second Corinthians 13:5).209
Some are confused by the fact that there are people who come into their place of worship and for all intents and purposes appear to be saved. They dress the right way and say the right things. They serve on committees and might even be teaching a class or two. But they are wolves in sheep’s clothing (see the commentary on Jude, to see link click Ah – Godless People Have Secretly Slipped In Among You). Eventually, when their rotten fruit is revealed, some will ask if they were even saved to begin with? The answer would be, “No, you can’t lose your salvation” (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Ms – The Eternal Security of the Believer). Those wolves were never saved in the first place. John teaches that they went out from us, but they weren’t part of us; for had they been part of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, showing that they were never believers (First John 2:19).
There are two distinct ministries of the Ruach:
First, YHVH seals us with His Ruach (Ephesians 1:13-14; Second Corinthians 1:21-22), and baptized (in the Greek aorist tense, pointing to a past completed action) in, by, and with the Ruach ha-Kodesh (Matthew 3:11; Mark 1:8; Luke 3:16; John 1:33; Acts 1:5, 11:16), into the Body of Messiah (Galatians 3:27; First Corinthians 12:13) at the moment of salvation. Hence, there is only one baptism (Ephesians 4:5). It is something that we don’t cooperate in with God, it is His sovereign act.
Secondly, there is the filling of the Ruach. You are sanctified, this is something that you cooperate with God and is ongoing. This speaks of your daily walk with the Lord. Through filling, God pours out His love through your life to others and sets you apart for His holy use. In the Scriptures to be filled is used to mean “to be controlled by, or be under the influence of something or someone else.” To be filled with the Spirit, therefore, is to be controlled or strongly influenced by the Spirit. Don’t get drunk with wine, because it makes you lose control. Instead, keep on being filled (in the Greek imperfect tense, pointing to continuous action) with the Ruach (Ephesians 5:18). As drunkenness affects behavior for evil, being filled with the Ruach affects a person for good. As a drunken person is under the control of wine, so a Ruach filled person is under the control of the Ruach. This does not make you a robot, without your own will. Rather, you freely comply with the Ruach and His purposes and His Word. That is what it means to be “spiritual.”
The filling of the Ruach is commanded by God: keep on being filled with the Ruach, literally, stay filled (Ephesians 5:18). As imperfect humans, we are leaky vessels of clay, and we need to be constantly refilled. This was true even for the apostles (Acts 2:4, 4:8 and 31, 9:17, 13:9). This continuous condition of being filled with the Ruach is dependent on our submission to the Spirit. You may wonder, can a believer resist the Ruach and still be a believer? Yes, people can resist the filling of the Ruach. Therefore, the challenge we have as believers is to be controlled by the Ruach and not our flesh. This is why we have believers at so many different levels of relationship with Yeshua. Some have a closer walk with the Ruach than others. Some believers have love, joy, and peace while others are depressed and anxious.210
However, still addressing his readers, assuming that Messiah is in you, then, on the one hand, the body is dead because it’s [sin nature]. The body here is the believer’s human body. The word spirit (Greek: pneuma, meaning breath, spirit, wind) here does not refer to the Ruach, which is not a logical contrast to the human body, but to the human spirit, that part of the person which gives them God-consciousness and enables them when that spirit is made alive by the Ruach Ha’Kodesh, to worship ADONAI. The believer’s human body is dead in the sense because of its [sin nature], Adam’s sin which brought both spiritual and physical death to each member of the human race. But, on the other hand, [the spirit is alive] because God considers you righteous (8:10). The believer’s spirit is alive in that the Ruach Ha’Kodesh energizes it with divine life which results in his or her being declared righteous.211
The interchange of the titles Ruach of God and Ruach of Messiah in 8:9 argues strongly for the deity of Yeshua Messiah. This statement also makes it clear that the indwelling presence of the Ruach Ha’Kodesh is the identifying mark of a believer in Yeshua Messiah (First John 3:24 and 4:13). Another significant fact is that here 8:10 equates the indwelling presence of Messiah (Messiah is in you) with the indwelling presence of the Ruach Ha’Kodesh below in 8:11. All this adds further support to the biblical doctrine of the Trinity.
And if the Spirit of the One who raised Yeshua from the dead is living in you, then the One who raised the Messiah Yeshua from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Ruach living in you (8:11). It was again the Ruach Ha’Kodesh who was the Divine Agent of Messiah’s resurrection. And just as the Spirit lifted Yeshua out of physical death and gave Him life in His mortal body, so the Ruach, who lives in the believer, give to him life now and forever (John 6:63; Second Corinthians 3:6).212 Therefore, God’s powerful Ruach, living in us, guarantees that YHVH will fulfill His promises and give us rock-solid hope even when passing through times of distress and apparent despair.213
Dear Powerful and Living Heavenly Father, Praise You for not only giving us eternal life thru the righteousness of Yeshua (Second Corinthians 5:21); but You also give us life right now on earth by the Ruach Ha’Kodesh living within those who love you. After you heard the message of truth – the Good News of your salvation – and when you put your trust in Him, you were sealed with the promised Ruach Ha’Kodesh. He is the guarantee of our inheritance, until the redemption of His possession – to His glorious praise (Ephesians 1:13-14)!
Thank You for giving Your children a Helper Who lives within us and is there to help and to guide us when any temptation comes. No temptation has taken hold of you except what is common to mankind. But God is faithful – He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you can handle. But with the temptation He will also provide a way of escape, so you will be able to endure it (First Corinthians 10:13). What a joy it is to know You, to love You and to follow You. Even when hard times come and I am mocked and laughed at because of my love for You, I will keep my eyes on Your great love and the joy of living with You forever in heaven for all eternity. I will not give in to temptation to retaliate at those who hurt me, but I will choose to pray for them to come to open their hearts to love You as their Lord and Savior. In Yeshua’s holy name and power of His resurrection. Amen
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