The Holy Spirit - God's Spirit
E-book & Audio series
PART 1 - The Being and Nature of the Holy Spirit
Chapter 1 - Introduction
Summary: Considering the greatness of God's being, and the Holy Spirit as "the intangible arm of God".
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Who or what the Holy Spirit is, is one of the least understood aspects of the Christian faith. Even less understood is the role the Holy Spirit plays in the lives of Christians today.
This series of messages is presented with a number of aims in view:
- to clarify what is meant by the term “the Holy Spirit”, or “God’s Spirit”, or some similar term;
- to gain a greater appreciation of the wonderful and mysterious nature of God;
- to consider some of the very diverse roles the Spirit has played through the ages;
- to better understand the important role of the Holy Spirit today.
How small a whisper we hear of Him
We shall start by reading together some profound words from the book of Job. Not everything that Job said was accurate, but his observations in chapter 26 are amongst his finest moments, I think. Speaking of God's mighty works, Job correctly observes:
He hangs the earth on nothing ... He binds up the water in the thick clouds ...
... the pillars of heaven tremble ... He stirs up the sea by His power ...
... By His Spirit He adorned the heavens; His hand pierced the fleeing serpent.
Indeed these [are] the mere edges of His ways, And how small a whisper we hear of Him!
But the thunder of His power who can understand?" (Job 26:7-14)
These are acts that no man is able to do, they are the domain of God alone. Each of those deeds requires a strength and greatness that is hard for us to comprehend. Science can explain some of the physics behind these wondrous things – but always comes up short of explaining them fully. Yes, some of the natural forces behind cloud formation (for example) can be explained, but WHY these forces act exactly as they do is not able to be fathomed. We can observe these features, stand in awe of the great power behind them, and learn something of the greatness of the Creator through what He has revealed in nature.
Yet such phenomena are, in the words of Job, the "mere edges" of God's dealings. As marvellous as they are, they do not tell the whole story of God's being. We are spared exposure to God's full force, and are allowed to witness just a "whisper". Considering that this "whisper" includes all of the visible creation, both on earth and in the observable universe around us, it should begin to give us an appreciation that we have been granted access to a very small fraction of God's might, and that the full "thunder of His power" remains hidden from us ... for, who would be able to "understand" it, let alone withstand it?
When we discuss the things of God and His being, we are not talking about a mere academic subject - we are talking about God Himself. Let us approach our God with boldness (Hebrews 10:19), but not become arrogant or over-confident in ourselves, thinking that we can learn all there is to know about God … or His Holy Spirit. As Moses was told to take off his shoes before the burning bush, because he was on holy ground, let us approach our study about the Holy Spirit with anticipation and eager curiosity, but, equally, with humility and reverence also.
In articles 2 to 8, we will discuss something of the Holy Spirit's being and nature. By way of introduction, however, we’ll briefly consider just a few of the different roles God’s Spirit played in both Old and New Testament times, as well as the Spirit’s operation today and in the future.
Diverse roles
This next portion of our study will not be an exhaustive examination of each of the Spirit's roles. Certainly, not every activity will be covered, but just enough for an introductory look, as we will cover more details in later studies.
The reader will find that I am going to emphasise, many times over, that God’s Spirit has interacted with mankind in different ways at different times through the ages. His work is quite diverse, and not always the same for each period of time. We should not assume that, just because we read of some extraordinary action of the Spirit in Acts 2 (for example), that the Spirit interacts with man in the same way today, or will do it the same way in the future. This is an important point, that we will examine in more detail during this series of talks.
Many Christians are under the impression that the Holy Spirit first makes an appearance on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2. As we shall see, God's Spirit was involved in the creation of the world, and was often quite active in carrying out God's purposes throughout the Old Testament and Gospel periods. Let’s now begin to look at just some of these diverse roles of the Holy Spirit, as seen in the Scriptures.
A role in creation:
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. (Genesis 1:2)
In the creative process, "the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters". The Hebrew word for “hovering” (KJV: "moved") is the same word used in Deuteronomy 32:11, as an eagle hovering over its young in the nest. Verses 10-12 of that same chapter present a picture of how God cared for His people Israel, and there is a hint in these words that God has cared for all of his human creation via His Holy Spirit right from the very beginning.
A revealer of truth:
... prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21)
... the words which the LORD of hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets. (Zechariah 7:12; cp. v.8 also – “the word of the Lord came to Zechariah”)
All of God's prophets, those who truly spoke on God's behalf, were moved to speak and write (cp. Acts 28:25) under the influence of His Spirit. This was true of the OT prophets referred to in the two verses above, but applied equally to the NT "prophets" as well, as evidenced by 2 Peter 1:18-21 (Peter and his co-workers), 2 Peter 3:15 and 1 Cor 2:10-13 (Paul and his co-workers).
A guide/helper/counsellor:
... the Helper ... the Spirit of Truth ... He will guide you into all truth ... (John 16:7,13)
Sometimes translated as "Advocate", "Comforter", "Paraclete", these words emphasise the aspect of God's Spirit being a helper, a guide and a comfort to those He indwells.
An enabler:
Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: "See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. And I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, to design artistic works, to work in gold, in silver, in bronze, in cutting jewels for setting, in carving wood, and to work in all manner of workmanship. (Exodus 31:1-5)
Then the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him [Samson]; and the ropes that were on his arms became like flax that is burned with fire, and his bonds broke loose from his hands. He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, reached out his hand and took it, and killed a thousand men with it. (Judges 15:14,15)
These two examples illustrate one of the Spirit's more overt roles - to enable a person to perform deeds, often of an extraordinary nature, that they would not be able to carry out within their normal human capabilities.
An ever-present guarantee of the believer’s redemption:
... having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession (Ephesians 1:13,14)
Though not always as obvious as the examples of Bezalel and Samson quoted above, the same Spirit of God is present in today's believer.
The Spirit amongst Israel in the future:
I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God. (Ezekiel 36:27,28)
When God shall resume His particular purposes with a regenerated Israel sometime again in the future, His Spirit will be at work amongst them. Thus we have seen that, from the creation at least until the future fulfilment of prophecies yet to come to pass, and many times in between, God's plans and purposes are worked out partly via His Spirit interacting with man.
"The Holy Spirit" or "holy spirit"?
It is proposed by some commentators that a distinction should be made between "The Holy Spirit" and "holy spirit". The proposal is based on the idea that “when there are two articles present in the Greek (to pneuma to hagion), [it] means “the Spirit the Holy [Spirit]”, and “pneuma hagion (without Articles) is never used of the Giver (the Holy Spirit), but only and always of His gift”. (The Companion Bible, Appendix 101. II. 14). In other words, the presence of the definite article (the Greek equivalent of the word "the") often indicates the Being, the absence indicates the gift.
In my opinion, there is a degree of merit to such an approach; however, there are far too many exceptions to this rule to make it one to rely heavily upon. That approach attempts to make a clear-cut distinction between Giver and gift, about which there is no such clear-cut distinction in the revelation of Scripture when comparing all the relevant passages. One thing we can be certain of: there is much more to God’s Holy Spirit than we can imagine, or than has been revealed. The attempt to “demystify” the Holy Spirit by clearly separating His Being from His power and work may be noble in intent, but the method is a bit flawed and may even actually detract from our appreciation of God’s Being, His greatness and mystique. For a more detailed discussion of this, please read the paper titled "Pneuma Hagion - with and without the definite article".
Concluding Thoughts
In this chapter, I have tried to emphasise that a knowledge of God's Holy Spirit will be, of necessity, somewhat limited to the little that God has seen fit to reveal of Himself. Then by way of introduction, we looked at just some of the Holy Spirit’s rather diverse roles. Though somewhat simplistic, I believe we can accurately define the Holy Spirit in this way:
The Holy Spirit is the intangible arm of God, interacting with mankind on God’s behalf.
Despite its shortcomings in trying to describe the indescribable, the above is a definition that I find helps me get some sort of handle on the diverse nature of the Holy Spirit, both His nature and His activity. His Spirit is one of the means by which God has dealt with man in the past, is dealing with man today, and will continue to deal with man in the future. In the course of these articles, we shall consider the being and nature of the Holy Spirit, before working our way through the Scriptures chronologically, and observing a "history" of the Spirit's dealings.
This series of messages is presented with a number of aims in view:
- to clarify what is meant by the term “the Holy Spirit”, or “God’s Spirit”, or some similar term;
- to gain a greater appreciation of the wonderful and mysterious nature of God;
- to consider some of the very diverse roles the Spirit has played through the ages;
- to better understand the important role of the Holy Spirit today.
How small a whisper we hear of Him
We shall start by reading together some profound words from the book of Job. Not everything that Job said was accurate, but his observations in chapter 26 are amongst his finest moments, I think. Speaking of God's mighty works, Job correctly observes:
He hangs the earth on nothing ... He binds up the water in the thick clouds ...
... the pillars of heaven tremble ... He stirs up the sea by His power ...
... By His Spirit He adorned the heavens; His hand pierced the fleeing serpent.
Indeed these [are] the mere edges of His ways, And how small a whisper we hear of Him!
But the thunder of His power who can understand?" (Job 26:7-14)
These are acts that no man is able to do, they are the domain of God alone. Each of those deeds requires a strength and greatness that is hard for us to comprehend. Science can explain some of the physics behind these wondrous things – but always comes up short of explaining them fully. Yes, some of the natural forces behind cloud formation (for example) can be explained, but WHY these forces act exactly as they do is not able to be fathomed. We can observe these features, stand in awe of the great power behind them, and learn something of the greatness of the Creator through what He has revealed in nature.
Yet such phenomena are, in the words of Job, the "mere edges" of God's dealings. As marvellous as they are, they do not tell the whole story of God's being. We are spared exposure to God's full force, and are allowed to witness just a "whisper". Considering that this "whisper" includes all of the visible creation, both on earth and in the observable universe around us, it should begin to give us an appreciation that we have been granted access to a very small fraction of God's might, and that the full "thunder of His power" remains hidden from us ... for, who would be able to "understand" it, let alone withstand it?
When we discuss the things of God and His being, we are not talking about a mere academic subject - we are talking about God Himself. Let us approach our God with boldness (Hebrews 10:19), but not become arrogant or over-confident in ourselves, thinking that we can learn all there is to know about God … or His Holy Spirit. As Moses was told to take off his shoes before the burning bush, because he was on holy ground, let us approach our study about the Holy Spirit with anticipation and eager curiosity, but, equally, with humility and reverence also.
In articles 2 to 8, we will discuss something of the Holy Spirit's being and nature. By way of introduction, however, we’ll briefly consider just a few of the different roles God’s Spirit played in both Old and New Testament times, as well as the Spirit’s operation today and in the future.
Diverse roles
This next portion of our study will not be an exhaustive examination of each of the Spirit's roles. Certainly, not every activity will be covered, but just enough for an introductory look, as we will cover more details in later studies.
The reader will find that I am going to emphasise, many times over, that God’s Spirit has interacted with mankind in different ways at different times through the ages. His work is quite diverse, and not always the same for each period of time. We should not assume that, just because we read of some extraordinary action of the Spirit in Acts 2 (for example), that the Spirit interacts with man in the same way today, or will do it the same way in the future. This is an important point, that we will examine in more detail during this series of talks.
Many Christians are under the impression that the Holy Spirit first makes an appearance on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2. As we shall see, God's Spirit was involved in the creation of the world, and was often quite active in carrying out God's purposes throughout the Old Testament and Gospel periods. Let’s now begin to look at just some of these diverse roles of the Holy Spirit, as seen in the Scriptures.
A role in creation:
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. (Genesis 1:2)
In the creative process, "the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters". The Hebrew word for “hovering” (KJV: "moved") is the same word used in Deuteronomy 32:11, as an eagle hovering over its young in the nest. Verses 10-12 of that same chapter present a picture of how God cared for His people Israel, and there is a hint in these words that God has cared for all of his human creation via His Holy Spirit right from the very beginning.
A revealer of truth:
... prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21)
... the words which the LORD of hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets. (Zechariah 7:12; cp. v.8 also – “the word of the Lord came to Zechariah”)
All of God's prophets, those who truly spoke on God's behalf, were moved to speak and write (cp. Acts 28:25) under the influence of His Spirit. This was true of the OT prophets referred to in the two verses above, but applied equally to the NT "prophets" as well, as evidenced by 2 Peter 1:18-21 (Peter and his co-workers), 2 Peter 3:15 and 1 Cor 2:10-13 (Paul and his co-workers).
A guide/helper/counsellor:
... the Helper ... the Spirit of Truth ... He will guide you into all truth ... (John 16:7,13)
Sometimes translated as "Advocate", "Comforter", "Paraclete", these words emphasise the aspect of God's Spirit being a helper, a guide and a comfort to those He indwells.
An enabler:
Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: "See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. And I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, to design artistic works, to work in gold, in silver, in bronze, in cutting jewels for setting, in carving wood, and to work in all manner of workmanship. (Exodus 31:1-5)
Then the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him [Samson]; and the ropes that were on his arms became like flax that is burned with fire, and his bonds broke loose from his hands. He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, reached out his hand and took it, and killed a thousand men with it. (Judges 15:14,15)
These two examples illustrate one of the Spirit's more overt roles - to enable a person to perform deeds, often of an extraordinary nature, that they would not be able to carry out within their normal human capabilities.
An ever-present guarantee of the believer’s redemption:
... having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession (Ephesians 1:13,14)
Though not always as obvious as the examples of Bezalel and Samson quoted above, the same Spirit of God is present in today's believer.
The Spirit amongst Israel in the future:
I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God. (Ezekiel 36:27,28)
When God shall resume His particular purposes with a regenerated Israel sometime again in the future, His Spirit will be at work amongst them. Thus we have seen that, from the creation at least until the future fulfilment of prophecies yet to come to pass, and many times in between, God's plans and purposes are worked out partly via His Spirit interacting with man.
"The Holy Spirit" or "holy spirit"?
It is proposed by some commentators that a distinction should be made between "The Holy Spirit" and "holy spirit". The proposal is based on the idea that “when there are two articles present in the Greek (to pneuma to hagion), [it] means “the Spirit the Holy [Spirit]”, and “pneuma hagion (without Articles) is never used of the Giver (the Holy Spirit), but only and always of His gift”. (The Companion Bible, Appendix 101. II. 14). In other words, the presence of the definite article (the Greek equivalent of the word "the") often indicates the Being, the absence indicates the gift.
In my opinion, there is a degree of merit to such an approach; however, there are far too many exceptions to this rule to make it one to rely heavily upon. That approach attempts to make a clear-cut distinction between Giver and gift, about which there is no such clear-cut distinction in the revelation of Scripture when comparing all the relevant passages. One thing we can be certain of: there is much more to God’s Holy Spirit than we can imagine, or than has been revealed. The attempt to “demystify” the Holy Spirit by clearly separating His Being from His power and work may be noble in intent, but the method is a bit flawed and may even actually detract from our appreciation of God’s Being, His greatness and mystique. For a more detailed discussion of this, please read the paper titled "Pneuma Hagion - with and without the definite article".
Concluding Thoughts
In this chapter, I have tried to emphasise that a knowledge of God's Holy Spirit will be, of necessity, somewhat limited to the little that God has seen fit to reveal of Himself. Then by way of introduction, we looked at just some of the Holy Spirit’s rather diverse roles. Though somewhat simplistic, I believe we can accurately define the Holy Spirit in this way:
The Holy Spirit is the intangible arm of God, interacting with mankind on God’s behalf.
Despite its shortcomings in trying to describe the indescribable, the above is a definition that I find helps me get some sort of handle on the diverse nature of the Holy Spirit, both His nature and His activity. His Spirit is one of the means by which God has dealt with man in the past, is dealing with man today, and will continue to deal with man in the future. In the course of these articles, we shall consider the being and nature of the Holy Spirit, before working our way through the Scriptures chronologically, and observing a "history" of the Spirit's dealings.
