Where is the Holy Spirit?

In theology, we break things apart into different fields of study. For example, Christology is the study of the nature and work of Christ, while Eschatology is the study of the end times. Within this complex network of studying, there is one field that is often overlooked, that of Pneumatology, or the study of the Holy Spirit.

Why is this such a neglected part of Christian education? I think one of the reasons for it is that it is so difficult to understand. We have an easier time understanding the Father, the transcendent creator of all things. We have an easier time still wrapping our minds around Jesus, our personal savior. But the Holy Spirit? That’s a hard one to get a grasp on. How exactly does he work? What does his work even entail? What does it mean to be “indwelt” by the Holy Spirit when we become Christians? Now, answering all of those could, and has, take up volumes of work on their own. But today, I want to address the last question: What does it mean to be indwelt by the Spirit? Is he physically inside us, or is it something else entirely?

The most comprehensive answer I have recieved to this question comes from St. Thomas Aquinas in the Summa Theologica I, 8, 3. He writes that God is Omnipresent to creation in three ways, through his power, knowledge, and essence. 

Power: God is present to all things through his power in such a way that all things are under his control and immediately available to him. 

Knowledge: All things in their entirety are known to God. There is no event or knowledge which is hidden from him. 

Essence: The essence of God comes about in several ways, his pure essence, in which he is completely revealed, his particular presence, in which he makes himself particularly known in times and places, and finally in his essence as God in so far as all things are contingent on his being in order to be at all. 

Aquinas also writes in Summa Contra Gentiles that human beings have a similar mode of existing, but to a diminished quantity, as we are corporeal or physical beings. We have a presence and power in small ways over which our influence extends. God, as an infinite, non-corporeal being, by necessity infuses everything, as all things are dependent upon him and subject to him. 

So, knowing this, how does it apply to the Holy Spirit? It applies to that third point, the essence of God. The Holy Spirit, as God, shares in all of God’s divine attributes and sovereignty. By "indwelling" a believer God is making his presence known in a unique way, which he does not do so for other people or in other places. God is more revealed and present in a believer than he would be in something like a keyboard. Though both the human being and the keyboard are physical things, he makes one a place where his essence is particularly revealed and acts through the human agent that has made a place for his presence to dwell. Our bodies are temples insofar as they are places in which the Holy Spirit can be known in a unique way. Temples are places for Gods to dwell, and making our "body a temple" means we make it a fitting dwelling place for the Holy Spirit to be present within us in ways he is not present in other places.

We can see this same dynamic working out for places rather than people. We intuitively know God is more present in a church during services, surrounded by others who are giving thanks and worship, rather than in a brothel. Though both places are contingent upon God to be, they are not equally suited for God to make himself known in a unique and powerful way, revealing more of himself in one place rather than in another. 

So, long answer short, is the Holy Spirit present in us physically or spiritually? The answer is yes to both simultaneously. As I said earlier, it is an immensely confusing topic, one we likely won’t understand on this side of eternity. Regardless, we can be certain in the knowledge that God is within us in a unique and powerful way.