The Indwelling Of The Holy Spirit
From John Gill’s commentary on the Gospel of John and the permanent indwelling of the Holy Spirit before the Day of Pentecost. So that, the fulfilling of the prophesy of Joel on Pentecost was NOT the origin of the permanent indwelling but a magnification of the Holy Spirit’s indwelling work in equipping these believers for Gospel ministry and its expansion Acts 1:8.
It was not that the Holy Spirit had not yet permanently indwelt believers since Luke and John both provide examples of His permanent indwelling. Luke in Chapter 1 whereby Elizabeth, Zacharias, and infant John the Baptist, while in his mothers womb, are “filled” with the Holy Spirit. And John in chapter 3:1-17 among plenty of OT examples. The prophets, declared: Thus says the LORD and those who were indwelt by the Holy Spirit were the instruments by which He wrote Holy Scripture, 1 Peter 1:10-12; the Spirit of Christ who was in them, that is, in the prophets who declared Thus says the LORD,
and 2 Peter 1:19-21, they were the human authors of Scripture.
Gill on John 14:17:
Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. v17
Even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive,…. These words explain who is meant by the Comforter, “even the Spirit of truth”; the true Spirit of God, the dictator of the Scriptures of truth, who leads men into the truths of the Gospel, confirms them in them, and gives boldness and freedom to own, and confess them before men:
whom the world cannot receive; the men of the world, who are as they came into the world, carnal and natural men, can neither receive the Spirit nor the things of the Spirit, the truths and doctrines of the Gospel; they can neither receive them into their understandings, nor into their affections; and indeed, because they cannot understand them, therefore they do not love them, but despise and hate them:
because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him; the world, and the men of it, can neither see him with their bodily eyes, because he is a “spirit”; nor know him with their understandings, because he is the “Spirit of truth”, which they are ignorant of, for want of a spiritual discerning.
But ye know him; as a spirit of illumination, regeneration, and conversion:
for he dwelleth with you; he is an inhabitant in your hearts, he has taken up his residence in you as his temples:
and shall be in you; as a Comforter, when I am gone from you; and as a spirit of truth to guide you into all truth, to stand by you, and assist you in preaching it, and to enable you to bear a faithful and glorious testimony for it.
Robert Gilmore is a Strict and Particular Baptist preacher. He resides in Blountville, Tennessee, serving the Lord in various capacities. He is widely read on historic and modern theology, engaging with believers on social platforms and other mediums.
