I. When He was on Earth.
“Ye know Him for He dwelleth with you.”
The expression does not describe an internal union within the soul, but an external companionship. The meaning is the same as when St. John said, “There standeth one among you, whom ye know not.” [38] There they were, a little company of disciples, and amongst them in the midst of their society, in the room where they were assembled, was abiding, or dwelling, the Spirit of Truth.
Now what was the meaning of this declaration? Was it not this? That the Holy Spirit was at that time dwelling amongst them as embodied and manifested in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Of Him it was said by John the Baptist “God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto Him.” [39a] So it was said by St. Paul, “In Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” [39b] And by St. Peter we are taught that He was anointed with the Holy Ghost, and God was with Him. [39c]
Consider, then, the Lord Jesus Christ as God manifest in the flesh, as the human manifestation of the mind and power of the Holy Ghost, and you will see in a moment that while He was on earth the Spirit of Truth was dwelling amongst the disciples. Where the Lord Jesus was, there was the Spirit; where He dwelt, there the Spirit dwelt; and when He and those twelve disciples sat together at the Last Supper, He could say of the Spirit of Truth, “Ye know Him for He dwelleth with, or among, you.”