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Course 9 · Lesson 6.1

The Spirit in the Old and New Testaments

12 minute read

Lessons in this course

Course 9 outline

Module 1: The Person of Christ in Scripture

  1. Jesus fully human in the Gospels and letters
  2. Jesus fully divine: names, works and worship
  3. The incarnation in John, Philippians and Hebrews
  4. The questions Scripture leaves for later theology

Module 2: The Christological Controversies

  1. Early errors: docetism and ebionitism
  2. Arius and Apollinarius: is the Son a creature, is the mind missing?
  3. Two schools: Antioch and Alexandria
  4. Nestorius and Cyril of Alexandria
  5. Eutyches and the Tome of Leo

Module 3: Ephesus and Chalcedon

  1. The Council of Ephesus in 431 and the title Theotokos
  2. The Chalcedonian Definition of 451, phrase by phrase
  3. Hypostatic union explained: one person in two natures
  4. Those who did not accept Chalcedon: Oriental Orthodox and the Church of the East

Module 4: Christology After Chalcedon

  1. The later councils: two wills and one person
  2. The communication of properties and the suffering of God the Son
  3. Kenosis and the knowledge of Christ
  4. Modern challenges to Chalcedon and replies

Module 5: The Work of Christ: Atonement, Resurrection, Ascension

  1. Atonement in Scripture: images and metaphors
  2. Ransom and victory: Christus Victor
  3. Satisfaction and penal substitution
  4. Moral influence, recapitulation and healing
  5. The resurrection and the ascension of Christ

Module 6: The Holy Spirit in Scripture and the Early Church

  1. The Spirit in the Old and New Testaments
  2. Early Christian views of the Spirit
  3. The deity of the Spirit: Basil, Athanasius and Constantinople
  4. Procession of the Spirit and the filioque

Module 7: Gifts of the Spirit and Sanctification

  1. Gifts in the New Testament: Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12 and Ephesians 4
  2. Gifts across the traditions: cessationist, continuationist and Pentecostal views
  3. Sanctification in Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant thought
  4. The fruit of the Spirit and the discernment of spirits

All courses

Program / Course 9: Christology and Pneumatology / Lesson 6.1

What you will learn

  • Explain the Hebrew and Greek words for spirit and their range of meaning.
  • Describe the main roles of the Spirit of God in the Old Testament.
  • Trace how the New Testament speaks of the Spirit in the life of Jesus and the life of the church.
  • Identify the New Testament texts that treat the Spirit as personal and as divine, and the questions they leave open.

The big idea

In the Old Testament the Spirit of God is God’s own power and presence at work: in creation, in giving life, in empowering leaders and prophets, and in the hope for a renewed people. In the New Testament the same Spirit rests on Jesus, is promised by him and is poured out at Pentecost. The Spirit is described in personal terms, as one who teaches, intercedes, grieves and can be lied to, and is named with the Father and Son. How these texts fit into a doctrine of the Spirit as a person of the Trinity was worked out in the fourth century.

Key terms

Ruach
The Hebrew word for wind, breath or spirit. In the Old Testament it is used of the wind, of the breath of life and of the Spirit of God.
Pneuma
The Greek word for wind, breath or spirit, used for the Holy Spirit in the New Testament.
Paraclete
From a Greek word, parakletos, used in John 14 to 16 for the Spirit. Translated Comforter, Helper, Advocate or Counselor. The root idea is one called alongside.
Pneumatology
The study of the Holy Spirit.
Pentecost
A Jewish harvest festival, fifty days after Passover, on which the Spirit came upon the disciples (Acts 2). Christians celebrate it as the coming of the Spirit.
Charismatic
From the Greek charisma, a gift of grace. Describing gifts or movements that stress the work of the Spirit in miraculous gifts.
Anointing
Pouring or smearing oil as a sign of appointment to office. Christ means the anointed one, and the New Testament links his anointing to the Spirit.

Background

Christian teaching about the Holy Spirit rests on the Bible’s language for the Spirit, which is not always easy to classify. The Hebrew and Greek words mean wind and breath as well as spirit, so a reader must decide from context which sense is in view. The New Testament authors, writing from within Judaism, often draw on the Old Testament pattern of the Spirit as God’s active presence.

The Old Testament does not describe the Spirit as a separate person. Christians read it in light of the New Testament and see a development, and this reading is itself a matter of faith. Jewish readers read the same texts differently. Here both the Old Testament usage and the Christian development are described.

Step-by-step explanation

Step 1: The Spirit in the Old Testament

The Spirit is present at creation. Genesis 1:2 says the Spirit of God moved on the face of the waters, and Psalm 104:30 says that when God sends forth his Spirit, creatures are created. Job 33:4 says “the Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.” The Spirit is God’s life-giving breath.

The Spirit also empowers. In Judges, the Spirit of the Lord comes upon leaders such as Othniel and Samson. Bezalel is filled with the Spirit to make the tabernacle (Exodus 31:3). The seventy elders and then others prophesy when the Spirit rests on them, and Moses wishes that all the Lord’s people were prophets (Numbers 11:29). The Spirit comes on kings and prophets, and in Psalm 51:11 David prays that God not take his Holy Spirit from him.

Step 2: The Spirit and the hope of renewal

The prophets promise an outpouring. Isaiah 11:2 says the Spirit of the Lord will rest on a coming king, and Isaiah 61:1 speaks of one anointed by the Spirit to bring good news. Ezekiel 36:26-27 promises a new heart and God’s Spirit within. Ezekiel 37 shows the Spirit breathing life into dry bones. Joel 2:28 promises that God will pour out his Spirit on all flesh.

These passages create the expectation that the Spirit will be given widely, not only to leaders, and that it will bring a new covenant. The New Testament claims that this has begun in Christ. Jewish tradition looks for the renewal in its own way, and does not read these texts as pointing to Jesus.

Step 3: The Spirit and Jesus

The Gospels present the life of Jesus as marked by the Spirit. Luke 1:35 says the Holy Spirit will come on Mary. At his baptism the Spirit descends like a dove (Mark 1:10), and the Spirit leads him into the wilderness. In Nazareth he reads Isaiah 61 and says it is fulfilled (Luke 4:18-21). He casts out demons by the Spirit of God (Matthew 12:28), and warns that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven (Mark 3:29).

In John 14 to 16 he promises the Paraclete, who will teach, remind, guide and convict the world. John 20:22 shows him breathing on the disciples and saying, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost.” The risen Christ commissions the disciples in Matthew 28:19 to baptize in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Step 4: The Spirit in the early church

Acts shows the Spirit poured out at Pentecost (Acts 2:4), at Samaria, at the house of Cornelius, and at Ephesus. The Spirit directs the mission and guides decisions (Acts 13:2; 15:28). Paul writes that believers are led by the Spirit and are sons of God (Romans 8:14), that the Spirit dwells in them (Romans 8:11), and that the Spirit cries Abba, Father (Galatians 4:6).

Paul speaks of the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ in the same passage (Romans 8:9). In 2 Corinthians 3:17 he says that “the Lord is that Spirit.” He also gives a closing benediction naming Christ, God and the Spirit together (2 Corinthians 13:14). These texts place the Spirit in a close relation with the Father and the Son.

Step 5: A person, and divine?

The New Testament uses personal language for the Spirit. The Spirit teaches (John 14:26), speaks (Acts 13:2), intercedes with groanings (Romans 8:26), can be grieved (Ephesians 4:30) and can be lied to. In Acts 5:3-4 Peter says Ananias lied to the Holy Spirit, and then adds, “thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.” Many Christians see these as signs that the Spirit is a divine person.

Others note that the Old Testament uses personal language for wisdom and for God’s presence without making them persons, and that the New Testament does not state the doctrine in a creed. Jewish, Muslim and Unitarian readers hold that the Spirit is God’s power or presence, not a person. The doctrine of the Spirit as a divine person was stated in the fourth century, as the next lessons describe.

  1. What difficulties arise from the fact that ruach and pneuma also mean wind and breath?
  2. What does the Spirit do in the Old Testament that continues in the New?
  3. Why is the promise of Joel 2:28 important for the story of Pentecost?
  4. In what ways does the Gospel of John describe the Spirit as personal?
  5. What do the three names in Matthew 28:19 and 2 Corinthians 13:14 suggest?
  6. How might a Jewish reader respond to the Christian claim that the Old Testament points to a divine Spirit?

Examples

The valley of dry bones

In Ezekiel 37 the prophet is told to prophesy to the breath, and the breath enters the bones and they live. The Hebrew word ruach is breath, wind and Spirit in the same chapter. The ambiguity is part of the meaning.

Baptism of Jesus

At the Jordan, the Gospels describe the Father’s voice, the Son in the water and the Spirit as a dove. Many Christians have seen here the first public sign of three who work together. The scene is used in Orthodox icons of Epiphany.

A constructed exercise

A student is asked to underline every verb of which the Spirit is the subject in John 14 to 16. The list includes teach, remind, testify, convict, guide and declare. The class notes that these are things persons do, but also that the author may be personifying. (A constructed example.)

Different perspectives

Catholic

Catholic teaching holds that the Spirit is the third person of the Trinity, revealed progressively, and that the Old Testament speaks of the Spirit in a way that the New Testament and the church make clear. The Catechism reads the Old Testament texts as preparing for the Spirit’s coming.

Orthodox

Orthodox theology sees the Spirit as present and active throughout the Scriptures, speaking through the prophets, and as the one who makes Christ present in the church. It stresses the Spirit’s role in every sacrament and in prayer.

Protestant and Pentecostal

Protestants confess the Spirit as the third person of the Trinity and emphasize the Spirit’s work in giving faith and understanding Scripture. Pentecostal and charismatic Christians give particular weight to Acts 2 as a pattern for continuing experience of the Spirit.

Jewish

Jewish tradition speaks of the Spirit of God, and in later literature of the Shekhinah, as God’s presence, but not as a separate person. Jewish readers read the prophetic promises as pointing to a future restoration of Israel.

Unitarian, Muslim and historical scholars

Unitarians and Muslims generally read the Spirit as God’s power or an angel, such as Gabriel in some Muslim interpretation. Historians trace a development from Old Testament ideas of the Spirit to the Christian doctrine, with debate over how far the New Testament already states it.

Why it matters

The Bible’s language about the Spirit is the starting point for everything the churches later said. Without it, creedal statements can sound arbitrary. A student who knows the texts can follow the fourth-century argument and see where each position finds support.

Common misunderstandings

Misunderstanding: The Holy Spirit appears only in the New Testament.

Correction: The Spirit of God is present from Genesis. What is new in the New Testament is the outpouring on all believers and the fuller revelation of who the Spirit is.

Misunderstanding: The Spirit is just a force.

Correction: Some Old Testament texts speak that way, and some groups hold it still. The creeds hold that the Spirit is a divine person, citing the New Testament’s personal language. This is a point on which traditions differ from Unitarians and others.

Misunderstanding: The New Testament plainly says the Spirit is God.

Correction: It says so by implication in texts like Acts 5:3-4 and 2 Corinthians 3:17, and in the threefold formulas. It never uses a statement such as the Spirit is God as a creed. The explicit doctrine was developed later.

Knowledge check

What do ruach and pneuma mean?

Both words mean wind, breath and spirit. Context decides which sense is meant. In Ezekiel 37 the single Hebrew word covers breath, wind and Spirit together, and in John 3 Jesus plays on the double meaning of pneuma. For this reason, careful reading of context is needed.

Name three roles of the Spirit in the Old Testament.

The Spirit is present in creation (Genesis 1:2, Psalm 104:30), gives life as breath (Job 33:4), and empowers leaders and prophets (Judges, Exodus 31, Numbers 11). The prophets promise a future outpouring and a new heart (Ezekiel 36, Joel 2). Any three with references is a good answer.

What does John 14 to 16 teach about the Paraclete?

Jesus promises another Helper, who will be with the disciples, teach them all things, remind them of what he said, testify about him, convict the world and guide into truth. The Spirit is sent by the Father and the Son, and speaks what he hears. The language is personal.

Which texts suggest the Spirit is divine?

Acts 5:3-4 treats lying to the Spirit as lying to God. Second Corinthians 3:17 says the Lord is that Spirit. The formulas in Matthew 28:19 and 2 Corinthians 13:14 name the Spirit with the Father and Son. Readers who do not accept the doctrine read these texts differently.

Think it through

  1. How does reading the Old Testament differ if it is read with the New Testament in mind?
  2. Why might the Bible use wind and breath as images for the Spirit?
  3. What would you want to know before deciding whether personal language proves personhood?
  4. How does the promise of an outpouring on all flesh change the idea of who may speak for God?

Independent assignment

The Spirit in the text

In your own notebook, write 500 to 700 words. Make two lists: ten Old Testament texts about the Spirit and ten New Testament texts, each with a few words on what the Spirit does. Then write a paragraph on what continues, what is new, and what questions remain about whether the Spirit is a person. Do not send this to anyone.

Further study