Not Just Up There: God Makes His Home in Us
When we put our faith in Jesus Christ, God doesn’t just forgive us and wait for us in heaven. He moves in. The Holy Spirit comes to live within us, and through the Spirit, Jesus and the Father make their home with us too. The God who made the universe now dwells inside ordinary people like you and me. That truth hit me while I was reading a devotional about the temple, and I still can’t get over it.
Under the old covenant, God’s people approached him through the temple, priests, and sacrifices. But Jesus changed everything. He fulfilled what those things pointed toward. Because of Christ, we don’t make a pilgrimage to a temple to encounter God or offer another sacrifice to obtain access to him.
Even more amazing, Scripture says that we are now God’s temple because his Spirit dwells in us.
I scribbled in the margin of my devotional:
“He’s not ‘up there’! He’s right IN ME!”
The heart of what I wrote was right, but as I thought about it more, I realized I needed to correct my wording. Jesus is “up there.” The risen, bodily Jesus is at the right hand of the Father.
But he isn’t only up there.
Through the Holy Spirit, God actually dwells within us.
That realization sent me into Scripture with several questions: What does it really mean that we are a new creation? What does it mean to be born again? Did our old self actually die? In what sense are we alive in Christ? And how can Jesus and the Father dwell in us while Jesus is simultaneously in heaven?
The answers are extraordinary.
What Does It Mean That We Are a New Creation?
Paul makes an astonishing statement:
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” — 2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV
Notice that Paul doesn’t merely say Christians receive some new beliefs or adopt a better lifestyle. Something has happened to the person himself.
Paul repeats the idea:
“For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.” — Galatians 6:15 ESV
And in Ephesians:
“put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” — Ephesians 4:22–24 ESV
Similarly:
“Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.” — Colossians 3:9–10 ESV
Christianity isn’t fundamentally about God taking our old selves and polishing us up.
In Christ, we have become something new.
Yet notice an important balance in Colossians: the new self “is being renewed.” Something decisive has already happened, yet God continues transforming us.
That is the Christian life: a new identity followed by an ongoing transformation.
What Does It Mean That We Have Been Born Again?
This wasn’t terminology invented by modern evangelical Christianity. Jesus said it.
Speaking to Nicodemus, Jesus declared:
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” — John 3:3 ESV
Nicodemus initially took Jesus literally and wondered how an adult could possibly experience another physical birth. Jesus explained:
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” — John 3:5–6 ESV
That last phrase is crucial.
Born of the Spirit.
Our first birth gave us physical life. The Holy Spirit gives us spiritual life.
Peter describes the same miracle:
“According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” — 1 Peter 1:3 ESV
And:
“since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God” — 1 Peter 1:23 ESV
Paul uses different terminology for the same supernatural work:
“he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit” — Titus 3:5 ESV
“Regeneration” is an important theological word, but the idea is beautifully simple:
God gives spiritual life to someone who was spiritually dead.
We didn’t merely turn over a new leaf.
God gave us new life.
What Do We Mean When We Say the Old Self Died?
This is where we need to be careful.
“The old self died” does not mean that we no longer experience temptation, sinful desires, selfishness, or the struggle with our flesh. Anyone who has followed Jesus for more than five minutes knows that isn’t true!
But Scripture really does use the language of death to describe what happened to us through our union with Christ.
Paul writes:
“We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.” — Romans 6:6 ESV
Notice the result: “no longer enslaved to sin.”
Sin hasn’t disappeared from our experience, but something fundamental about our relationship to sin has changed. It is no longer our master.
Paul makes the statement even more personal in Galatians:
“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” — Galatians 2:20 ESV
And Colossians says:
“For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” — Colossians 3:3 ESV
Romans says:
“How can we who died to sin still live in it?” — Romans 6:2 ESV
And then Paul tells us how this truth should affect the way we actually live:
“So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.” — Romans 6:11 ESV
This is much deeper than “We need to stop behaving badly.”
Paul’s argument begins with what God has already done.
Our old self was crucified with Christ. Sin’s dominion has been broken. Therefore, we are to increasingly live according to the new reality God has created.
The gospel isn’t “Behave better so you can become new.”
It’s “God has made you new in Christ; now live according to who you are.”
What Does It Mean That We Are Alive in Christ?
Before Christ, Scripture describes our condition in brutally direct terms: dead in sin.
But then come two of the greatest words in Scripture:
“But God…”
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved.” — Ephesians 2:4–5 ESV
Paul says essentially the same thing elsewhere:
“And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses” — Colossians 2:13 ESV
Our new life is inseparably connected to Christ’s resurrection:
“We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” — Romans 6:4 ESV
Paul goes even further:
“and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” — Ephesians 2:6 ESV
Look at Paul’s language.
Crucified with Christ. Died with Christ. Buried with Christ. Made alive with Christ. Raised with Christ.
This is what theologians call our union with Christ.
Christianity isn’t merely believing certain facts about Jesus. By faith, we have been united to him. His death and resurrection have fundamentally changed our relationship to sin, death, God, and eternal life.
Does God Really Dwell Within Us?
Yes. And Scripture could hardly say it more plainly.
Paul asks:
“Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” — 1 Corinthians 3:16 ESV
He makes the same point concerning the individual believer:
“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?” — 1 Corinthians 6:19 ESV
Paul tells the Romans:
“You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you.” — Romans 8:9 ESV
And:
“If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.” — Romans 8:11 ESV
Paul tells Timothy:
“By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.” — 2 Timothy 1:14 ESV
This makes the biblical story of God’s dwelling place breathtaking.
God manifested his presence with Israel in the tabernacle. Later, his glory filled the temple. Then something unprecedented happened.
God came to us in Jesus Christ.
John writes:
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” — John 1:14 ESV
The Greek verb translated “dwelt” is skēnoō, which carries the idea of dwelling in a tent or tabernacling.
God’s presence was no longer associated merely with a building.
God the Son had come in the flesh.
Jesus then said something astonishing about himself:
“Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’” — John 2:19 ESV
John explains:
“But he was speaking about the temple of his body.” — John 2:21 ESV
Jesus is the true meeting place between God and humanity.
And because of his once-for-all sacrifice, God’s people now have access to him:
“Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus…” — Hebrews 10:19 ESV
We don’t need another temple, another priestly sacrifice, or another animal’s blood.
Jesus has accomplished what those things anticipated.
And now God has done something astonishing: He has made his people his temple by giving us his Spirit.
Do Jesus and the Father Actually Live in Us, or Only the Holy Spirit?
This was the question that really fascinated me.
Scripture explicitly says that the Holy Spirit dwells in believers. But Jesus also says that he will be in us and that he and the Father will make their home with us.
John 14 ties all of this together beautifully.
Jesus first promises the Holy Spirit:
“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth… You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.” — John 14:16–17 ESV
Immediately afterward Jesus says:
“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” — John 14:18 ESV
Then:
“In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.” — John 14:20 ESV
And then Jesus says something even more remarkable:
“If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” — John 14:23 ESV
Don’t rush past that little word:
We.
Father and Son.
And yet the entire passage is surrounded by Jesus’ promise to send the Holy Spirit.
Paul uses remarkably similar language:
“Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.” — Romans 8:9–10 ESV
Notice Paul’s movement:
Spirit of God → Spirit of Christ → Christ in you.
Ephesians makes the connection even more explicit:
“that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith” — Ephesians 3:16–17 ESV
So I think the most biblically precise way for us to say it is:
The Holy Spirit personally indwells us, and through the indwelling Spirit, the Father and the Son truly make their home with us.
This doesn’t mean Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are the same Person. Christianity has always confessed one God eternally existing as three distinct Persons.
But neither should we reduce the indwelling of God to a vague metaphor for feeling close to him.
God really has given himself to his people.
But Aren’t Jesus and the Father Still Up There?
Absolutely.
This is where I needed to correct what I originally scribbled in my devotional.
Jesus didn’t cease being physically present somewhere when he sent the Holy Spirit. The resurrected Jesus bodily ascended into heaven.
Luke records:
“And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.” — Acts 1:9 ESV
Later Stephen actually sees him:
“But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.” — Acts 7:55 ESV
Stephen then says:
“Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” — Acts 7:56 ESV
Paul teaches the same thing:
“Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.” — Romans 8:34 ESV
Hebrews says:
“After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.” — Hebrews 1:3 ESV
And Jesus repeatedly spoke of the Father as being in heaven:
“So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven.” — Matthew 10:32 ESV
“but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.” — Matthew 10:33 ESV
“For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” — Matthew 12:50 ESV
“See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.” — Matthew 18:10 ESV
“Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.” — Matthew 18:19 ESV
So my original note—
“He’s not ‘up there’! He’s right IN ME!”
—needs one very important correction.
I would now write:
“He’s not ONLY ‘up there’—he is also IN US!”
That is much closer to the full biblical picture. God doesn’t make his home in me alone, but in all his people together. “You are God’s temple.”
The incarnate, crucified, resurrected Jesus has a genuine glorified human body. That body is not physically inside us. Jesus bodily ascended and is at the Father’s right hand.
Yet Jesus also genuinely says:
“I in you.” — John 14:20
How?
Through the Holy Spirit.
The Spirit isn’t a substitute for an absent Jesus, as though Jesus went away and sent somebody else to fill in for him. The Holy Spirit makes the presence and life of the risen Christ a present reality in his people.
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit remain distinct Persons, yet the one Triune God has made his dwelling with his people.
That is far more amazing than the thought I originally scribbled in the margin.
What Does All of This Mean for Our Daily Life?
This is where theology becomes intensely practical.
We are not trying to persuade a distant God to come near.
We don’t have to travel to Jerusalem. We don’t need access to a temple. We don’t need an earthly priest to enter God’s presence on our behalf. We don’t need another sacrifice.
Jesus has already offered the final sacrifice.
Jesus has reconciled us to God.
Jesus is presently at the Father’s right hand interceding for us.
The Holy Spirit lives within us.
Through the Spirit, Christ dwells in us.
Father and Son have made their home with us.
And this changes how we understand something else Jesus said:
“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.” — John 15:4 ESV
For a long time, language like “abide in Christ” can sound like something we have to somehow accomplish: How do we get closer to Jesus? How do we get ourselves into his presence? How do we get enough of him?
But Jesus begins from an entirely different reality:
“I in you.”
Abiding isn’t convincing a distant Jesus to come closer.
It is living consciously, dependently, relationally, and obediently in the union with Christ that God has already established.
That doesn’t make obedience less important. It makes obedience possible.
The branch doesn’t produce fruit by gritting its teeth.
It bears fruit because it remains connected to the vine.
These Aren’t Five Separate Truths
This may be what excites me most.
At first I was thinking about several different Christian ideas:
- New creation.
- Born again.
- The old self died.
- Alive in Christ.
- God dwelling within us.
But the more I look at Scripture, the more I see that these aren’t disconnected doctrines.
They’re different ways Scripture describes the enormous transformation God has accomplished through our union with Christ and the indwelling Holy Spirit.
- We were dead—God made us alive.
- We were spiritually dead—God caused us to be born again.
- We belonged to the old creation—in Christ we became a new creation.
- Our old self was enslaved to sin—it was crucified with Christ.
- Christ died—we died with him.
- Christ was raised—we have been raised with him to walk in newness of life.
- God once manifested his presence in the tabernacle and temple—now his Spirit dwells within us.
- Jesus ascended bodily into heaven and sits at the Father’s right hand—yet through his Spirit Christ lives in us, and Father and Son have made their home with us.
That changes the way we think about our entire Christian life.
Our starting point isn’t:
“We need to try harder to become somebody different.”
Our starting point is:
Look at what God has already done.
- We are a new creation.
- We have been born again.
- Our old self was crucified with Christ.
- We have been made alive with Christ.
- The Holy Spirit lives within us.
- Christ is in us.
- The Father and Son have made their home with us.
- And the risen Jesus is simultaneously at the Father’s right hand interceding for us.
So maybe the note I should write across that entire devotional page is simply this:
Thank you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. You have made us new. You have given us life. You have made us your dwelling place. Teach us now to live every day in the reality of what you have already done.
Reflection Questions
- Do we normally think of our Christian life as trying to become someone new, or learning to live from the reality that God has already made us new in Christ?
- What difference does it make today to know that the Holy Spirit isn’t merely with us but dwells within us?
- Are there areas where we still live as though sin were our master, even though Scripture says our old self was crucified with Christ?
- How does knowing that Jesus is at the Father’s right hand interceding for us change the way we pray?
- What would it look like today to abide in Christ rather than simply try harder to produce spiritual fruit?
- When Jesus says, “I in you,” do we actually live as though that is true?
Prayer
Abba Father, thank you for what you have done for us through your Son. Lord Jesus, thank you for dying for us, rising from the dead, reconciling us to the Father, and even now interceding for us at his right hand. Holy Spirit, thank you for dwelling within us.
Thank you that we have been born again. Thank you that we are a new creation. Thank you that our old self was crucified with Christ and that we have been made alive together with him. Thank you that we are no longer slaves to sin. Thank you that you have made us your temple.
Teach us to stop living as though everything depends upon our own effort. Teach us to abide in Christ—to depend upon him, listen to him, obey him, and walk by the Spirit. Make the reality of “Christ in us” more than a doctrine we understand. Let it shape the way we think, pray, love, serve, resist sin, and live every day.
Thank you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, that you have not remained distant from us. You have brought us near through the blood of Christ, and you have made your home with us. May our lives now bring glory to you.
In Jesus’ name, amen.
All for HIS Glory and Blessing.