A Theology of the Holy Spirit

2014

The people of Israel had different notions of the Holy Spirit as their theology grew. This work delves into the trend and also the contemporary conception of the Spirit of God.

2014

The Holy Spirit, 2004

he role of the Spirit of God, more specifically the Holy Spirit, is essentially a NT doctrine. Until recently very few articles and monographs had been written in English on God's Spirit in the OT.I When included in biblical theologies on the Holy Spirit, the OT material is generally treated in these ways: • the OT references are mentioned in passing in order to reach the outpouring of the Spirit upon the church in the NT, the real experience of the Holy Spirit; • the OT verses specific to the phrase Holy Spirit are viewed as minimal (only three while the NT boasts over 500 occurrences); • assumptions regarding the work of the Spirit-while plentiful in each testament-are typically narrowly shaped as reverse analogy where the NT is the beginning point for a Christian understanding of the OT.2 Consequently, most expositions on the Holy Spirit rarely explore in depth OT passages where inexplicit references might suggest a more diverse description and broader activity of the Spirit of God. In this article, I examine several aspects of spiritual activity in the ministry of the OT prophets to expand and strengthen our perspectives. WAS THE HOLY SPIRIT ACTIVE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT? A common assumption for Christians is "that the Holy Spirit was present and active in OT times only in a transient, non-universal, indirect, and ultimately unsatisfying way."? In other words, only after Christ's incarnation, death, and resurrection is the Holy Spirit fully present and active. The OT itself, however, associates the activity of God's Spirit with God's work in the world and with the people of God from the very beginning of creation. Both Genesis and Isaiah of the exile testify that Yahweh's creative power is His Spirit hovering over the waters of chaos and measuring, marking, and weighing the earth and its ocean and mountains as they are made (Gen 1:2; Isa 40: 13). Every creature, including humans, breathe in only because Yahweh's Spirit (rua/:z) has been breathed out into them as the Spirit of life (Gen 6:3; Isa 42:5; Job 27:3; 33:4; 34:14-15; EcclI2:7). In this sense, the most common OT designation for "spirit" is ruah. Although it's semantic range covers breath, wind, direction, spirit, and mind, with almost 400 occurrences in the OT that are broadly distributed, rtiah. carries important theological weight." Moreover, the OT specifies particular historical contexts and consequences regarding the activity of God's Spirit with Israel. Israel's deliverance from Egyptian slavery at the Red Sea involved Yahweh's Holy Spirit> in the midst of the nation, dividing the waters, leading them through the depths, and giving them rest (lsa 63:11-14). In the wilderness, God's "good spirit" instructs, provides, and sustains the Israelites even as they grumble against him (Neh 9:20). Only as the Spirit of Yahweh abides among them, Haggai exhorts,

T&T Clark Handbook of Pneumatology , 2020

The OT does not express its theology in a topical and systematic fashion. Instead, its portrait of God emerges from narratives of God's activity, prophetic oracles, and the psalms. God creates the universe, makes promises to Abraham, delivers Israel from Egypt, makes covenant, defeats enemies, disciplines Israel, raises up kings, speaks through prophets, rules over the nations, exiles Israel, and brings them back again. Embedded within the stories, prophecies, and songs are metaphors and adjectives that further clarify the portrait of Yahweh, the God of Israel. Yahweh is savior, king, shepherd, rock, warrior, and spouse. Yahweh is holy, eternal, good, righteous, compassionate, just, great, mighty, wise, and faithful. Although the OT describes God in some detail, there remains an element of mystery and ambiguity, and the nature of the Spirit of God is certainly one aspect of that mystery. Identifying the activity of the Holy Spirit in the OT is not always easy because even the word "spirit" (Hebrew n) itself issometimesambiguous. It can signify "air in motion, a blowing, breeze, wind, nothingness, spirit, sense." Wilf Hildebrandt determines that of its 389 occurrences in the OT pm refers to the divine Spirit 107 times.3 Adding to the difficulty of identifying the Spirit in the text, the Hebrew term aua ("breath"), which is found twenty-four times in the OT, can also refer to the Spirit of God (e.g., Job 32:8, Isa.

2018

The purpose of this paper is to explore the corporate dimension of the NT presentation of the Spirit as a corrective to individualistic interpretations of the Spirit in the NT. The body of the paper consists of seven sections, covering the reception of the Spirit, being filled with the Spirit, the spiritual gifts, the presence and power of the Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit, the Spirit’s role in bringing Scriptural truth, and the Spirit in Christ and the Church. In each section, the individualistic theology of the Spirit is shown to be inadequate. The paper concludes with a call to modern interpreters to pursue a more corporate theology of the Spirit.

The Thomist: A Speculative Quarterly Review, 2015