[s]indwelling or sin-indwelling

If we have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit….

Here is an interesting verse to look at because there is so much packed inside of it—and I would like to unpack some of it:

“Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.”
Romans 7:20 ESV

Paul wrote this letter to the Romans as a follower of Christ. Paul, like all Christ followers, has the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. So, the sin that dwells within each Christian must be sharing a dwelling with the Holy Spirit. That sounds like they could be roommates—except that they are most likely viciously at each other’s throats. Let’s think about this.

“There is no secret sinful place one can go that God cannot go to as well “

God can’t be in the presence of sin?

Some church traditions might say that God—which includes the Holy Spirit—cannot be in the presence of sin. This teaching is false. God is omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent. That means he is everywhere, he knows everything, and he can withstand anything. That also means he can even be present in hell (sheol), while knowing exactly why I deserve to be there—since he knows my sins, and withstood my sins while I committed them. He is present when I am sinning, watching me sin. He does not abandon me at the times that I need him the most. There is no secret sinful place one can go that God cannot go to as well (Psalm 139:7-12).

“God cannot sin.“

By the way, did you notice I did not say God can DO anything? It is impossible for God to do what is against his nature. God cannot sin. Why? Because sin is something done against the will of God. When you think of it like that, it almost sounds like we can do something that God can’t—because we can sin. That’s not something to brag about. What we can brag about—since we as believers receive the Holy Spirit—is that we can now resist our sin nature. Keep in mind that it is only by the power of the Holy Spirit we can resist the things of the flesh. So it is only through God that we resist our sin nature—and this helps us to be less apart from God and more connected to God—and be truer to his likeness as his image bearers. We do not need to be estranged family members anymore. Our separation is near its end—we can now walk together in fellowship with our Father once more.

Have you ever been given something you did not want?

When someone is imputed something, they are given something they did not ask for and might not want and can’t get rid of. So my question is this: Did Adam choose to impute to us the indwelling of sin? I think he did, even though he might not have known the full consequences of that choice. Jesus chose to impute salvation to us, with the caveat that we need to accept this gift in order to receive it. Salvation from what? Salvation from the condemnation of death—which is the price of sin. It was Adam who originally gifted this curse to us by sinning against God and sticking us with the bill.

“Adam’s curse to us is fighting Jesus’ gift to us.“

The salvation that Jesus imputes to us arrives through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit after we accept Jesus as our LORD, the Son of God. When we accept him as LORD, we are saying he is our Master and King and submit to his rule over our lives—which is different than just admitting he is the Son of God and walking away from him. Once we are drawn by God himself to submit, we receive the Spirit. It is through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that we are able to repent of our sins. I believe the indwelling of the Holy Spirit constantly battles the indwelling of sin. It is a war that rages within believers. That is the process of sanctification. That is WHY sanctification is a process. Adam’s curse to us is fighting Jesus’ gift to us.

Maybe the war is not won until the flesh has died—and once the flesh has died, we are regenerated as new creations—and when that happens we will be glorified and made holy without the indwelling of sin. The war would be over within us. Maybe that is why Jesus HAD to die—aside from His death being the necessary consummation of the covenant of salvation and eternal life through His blood—so that our new creation bodies will have no indwelling of sin. We would have only the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and sin will have perished just as death itself has perished through the resurrection of Christ. Yes, Jesus killed death—and we would be sinless like Jesus is sinless.

Why light up a candle if you’re going to put a basket over it?

Does that battle between the indwelling of sin and the indwelling of the Spirit seem like an adequate description of temptation? I think so. The indwelling of sin is not the same as having sinned—as long as the Spirit wins every time. Where does the spirit go when it is quenched or grieved? (1 Thessalonians 5:19). It goes nowhere. It is suppressed. When we follow selfish desires and do sinful acts—to the Holy Spirit it is like putting a basket over a candle.

Having the indwelling of sin is NOT THE SAME as having the ability to sin. This is in reference to Jesus’ impeccability. Jesus—who is God incarnate—is not able to sin. A sinful deed is a deed done against the will of God. We know Jesus was tempted (Matthew 4:1-11)—so HOW was he tempted? He knew what was right in his eyes—God’s eyes—and he knew what was wrong, yet he chose what was righteous every time. He had self-control. That is a gift of the Holy Spirit. It is the same as me knowing what I want and what I don’t want, and choosing every time to do what I want. In reality, this doesn’t always happen for me. Lots of times I choose what is easier or more convenient or more immediately satisfying—and it excludes what I actually want.

Having a sin-indwelling is NOT THE SAME as having a sin nature. I believe that is why it was necessary for Jesus to be conceived from the Holy Spirit and Mary. He needed the sin-indwelling from Mary in order to be our mediator (1 Timothy 2:5), our advocate (1 John 2:1), and our redeemer (Titus 2:14)—but Jesus did not have a sin nature. When we are presented with sin we are drawn to sin. When Jesus is presented with sin he is drawn to God. It is in our nature to sin, but it is in Jesus’ nature to do the will of God. I believe all sin is a result of knowing the desires of the flesh and seeking to satisfy them selfishly.

“He is the only man who is able to do what is righteous in his own eyes and in God’s eyes—since it is the same thing.“

Is it still a test if you know all the right answers?

When Jesus walked the earth just before his resurrection, he had experienced temptations just like we do. He was able to resist every temptation—because Jesus is God and God cannot sin. Is it really a temptation if God cannot sin? Yes. The meaning of the word temptation is fundamentally misunderstood. Temptation in Hebrew means to try or prove or put to the test. Is it possible to be put to the test if I know all the answers? Of course it is. Jesus knew all the right answers and was able to do what is righteous in God’s eyes because he is God. He is the only man who is able to do what is righteous in his own eyes and in God’s eyes—since it is the same thing.

It was because Jesus suffered that he also felt genuine temptation—because even though he knew the answers to the test, he experienced suffering that could have easily been eased or eliminated if he sought after Satan to quench his suffering. Genuine temptation is rooted in the flesh. It is the body’s suffering that increases one’s desire to satiate its pain by increasing its pleasure or simply meeting its basic needs—even if the means of doing so comes from someone other than God. God desires to be the provider of all. No one else should be able to provide for our needs except for God himself. If we start finding our needs met elsewhere, we will start to forget why we need God at all in our lives.

“If we truly desired what God desired, we would not be able to sin either.“

Make what you want the same as what God wants

Humanity tries to resist every temptation that our indwelling of sin causes us to desire, but we fall short of resisting all sin in this life. We are not able to be sinless yet like Jesus is—not because we don’t have the ability, since God gives us the ability to resist all temptations through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit—but because, unlike Jesus, we lack self-control when we are tested by the desires of the flesh. We need to want what God wants. Our own selfish desires cannot surpass our desire to do God’s will. We need to desire God with everything we have. Our desires need to be in alignment with God’s desires. The reason Jesus was not able to sin was because he desired what God desired—because he is God. If we truly desired what God desired, we would not be able to sin either.

Let me end this discussion by looking at the verse one last time:

Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
Romans 7:20 ESV