The Holy Spirit - God's Spirit
E-book and Audio series
PART 2 - The Roles and Activities of the Holy Spirit
Chapter 10 - The Holy Spirit in Genesis
Summary: This chapter commences a chronological study of the work of the Holy Spirit, starting with the book of Genesis.
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Study notes for this audio:
(Note: This is just a summary of the points covered. There is greater detail in the audio message).
No.10 The Holy Spirit in Genesis
With this chapter, we're commencing a new section. The rest of our studies in this series will focus on the roles and activities of God's Holy Spirit.
There are two general points to note, and we will see these emphasised over and again in the coming studies –
In this chapter, we'll look at something of the Spirit’s roles and works in the earliest ages of creation - particularly focussing on Genesis.
Role in Creation
READ Genesis 1:2 - moving/hovering
the same Hebrew word is used in Deuteronomy 32:11
READ Deut 32:10-12 - caring, closely watching over - such is God's interaction with man - in Gen 1, it is via the Holy Spirit.
Note also Job 26:13 - By His Spirit He adorned the heavens
and something of the Spirit's role in creation is spoken of in Psalms 139:7
“Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence? ... (v.13)
For You formed my inward parts;
You covered me in my mother’s womb.”
Of course, it is not easy to understand all the ways that God created.
Christ is also said to have played a part.
Colossians 1:16 “For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.”
John 1:3 “All things were made through Him [the Word], and without Him nothing was made that was made.”
Note also Exodus 20:11 - “in six days the LORD [i.e. Jehovah] made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them."
It may be that God in totality created by means of limited forms of Himself, namely by His Spirit and by the pre-existent Christ - both of Whom would
continue to play a sort of mediatory role in God's dealings with man? However, we probably shouldn't speculate too much about these things that aren't really elaborated upon.
"My" Spirit
Another example of God's Spirit in the opening book is Genesis 6:3
"my spirit will not always strive with man"
This possibly should read "will not always abide in man", or "abide with man", and this makes more sense to me.
• Is this "spirit" what we would call "the Holy spirit", or is it more like God's "mind", or "attitude"? I'm not sure.
• Perhaps it is just another way of saying "I won't put up with man" - I'm not sure.
• Perhaps it could read "my spirit will not always abide with humans as it does currently. He is flesh [often contrasted with spirit in the NT] and this race only has 120 years before I send the flood and destroy the race" (except for Noah and his family). Again, I am not sure.
Let's not speculate too much.
Joseph
Having read about God's Spirit in Genesis 6, perhaps surprisingly, the next time we read of God's spirit in some way is in Genesis 41 - about
600-700 years later!
READ Genesis 41:8 Pharaoh's dream.
Joseph was in prison at this time. ... Pharaoh hears of a man who interprets dreams, calls for Joseph,
... READ v.14-17 .... 25 ... and declares v.38, 39
This passage gives us a glimpse of one of the main roles of the Spirit - that of an enabler. In other words, One who enables and empowers people to carry out tasks and perform deeds that they would not ordinarily be capable of. An important principle when it comes to considering our subject.
That's all that we are specifically about the work of the Spirit in Genesis...
- creation (Genesis 1)
- “my spirit" not abiding with man kind (Genesis 6)
- the Spirit of God working in Joseph (Genesis 41)
What about Abraham, Isaac and Jacob? These are foundational figures in the OT and in the story of Israel, yet there is no mention of God's spirit working amongst them. Why not? Probably because they were not given any extraordinary tasks requiring superhuman abilities. The Spirit enabled Joseph to interpret dreams accurately - he couldn't have done this by himself without God's interaction. On the other hand, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were not given any "superhuman" tasks to carry out which required the help of God's spirit .
Further to this point, Jehovah Himself actually appeared to each of these people - Abraham in Genesis 12:7,8; Isaac (in Genesis 26:2-6,24); and Jacob in Genesis 35:6,7 ...9-13. God didn't have to enable them to perform any particular tasks, but He communicated with them, when He needed to, via direct appearances.
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob each had roles to fulfil, and some commands to obey, but they were "merely" required to be faithful to God's words ... a bit like us today, in that respect.
In Summary...
• The Holy Spirit is the intangible arm of God
• The Spirit carries out different activities throughout different ages
• In this study we've looked at the work of the Spirit in Genesis, and observed:
o A role in creation
o God's spirit contrasted with human flesh, in connection with the Flood
o No other activity mentioned until Joseph (approx 600-700 years later)
(Note: This is just a summary of the points covered. There is greater detail in the audio message).
No.10 The Holy Spirit in Genesis
With this chapter, we're commencing a new section. The rest of our studies in this series will focus on the roles and activities of God's Holy Spirit.
There are two general points to note, and we will see these emphasised over and again in the coming studies –
- (1) The Spirit is the intangible arm of God, interacting with mankind.
- (2) The Spirit's activities differ greatly from age to age. We should not assume that just because we read of some particular work of the
Spirit in one period, that it is the case for all time.
In this chapter, we'll look at something of the Spirit’s roles and works in the earliest ages of creation - particularly focussing on Genesis.
Role in Creation
READ Genesis 1:2 - moving/hovering
the same Hebrew word is used in Deuteronomy 32:11
READ Deut 32:10-12 - caring, closely watching over - such is God's interaction with man - in Gen 1, it is via the Holy Spirit.
Note also Job 26:13 - By His Spirit He adorned the heavens
and something of the Spirit's role in creation is spoken of in Psalms 139:7
“Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence? ... (v.13)
For You formed my inward parts;
You covered me in my mother’s womb.”
Of course, it is not easy to understand all the ways that God created.
Christ is also said to have played a part.
Colossians 1:16 “For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.”
John 1:3 “All things were made through Him [the Word], and without Him nothing was made that was made.”
Note also Exodus 20:11 - “in six days the LORD [i.e. Jehovah] made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them."
It may be that God in totality created by means of limited forms of Himself, namely by His Spirit and by the pre-existent Christ - both of Whom would
continue to play a sort of mediatory role in God's dealings with man? However, we probably shouldn't speculate too much about these things that aren't really elaborated upon.
"My" Spirit
Another example of God's Spirit in the opening book is Genesis 6:3
"my spirit will not always strive with man"
This possibly should read "will not always abide in man", or "abide with man", and this makes more sense to me.
• Is this "spirit" what we would call "the Holy spirit", or is it more like God's "mind", or "attitude"? I'm not sure.
• Perhaps it is just another way of saying "I won't put up with man" - I'm not sure.
• Perhaps it could read "my spirit will not always abide with humans as it does currently. He is flesh [often contrasted with spirit in the NT] and this race only has 120 years before I send the flood and destroy the race" (except for Noah and his family). Again, I am not sure.
Let's not speculate too much.
Joseph
Having read about God's Spirit in Genesis 6, perhaps surprisingly, the next time we read of God's spirit in some way is in Genesis 41 - about
600-700 years later!
READ Genesis 41:8 Pharaoh's dream.
Joseph was in prison at this time. ... Pharaoh hears of a man who interprets dreams, calls for Joseph,
... READ v.14-17 .... 25 ... and declares v.38, 39
This passage gives us a glimpse of one of the main roles of the Spirit - that of an enabler. In other words, One who enables and empowers people to carry out tasks and perform deeds that they would not ordinarily be capable of. An important principle when it comes to considering our subject.
That's all that we are specifically about the work of the Spirit in Genesis...
- creation (Genesis 1)
- “my spirit" not abiding with man kind (Genesis 6)
- the Spirit of God working in Joseph (Genesis 41)
What about Abraham, Isaac and Jacob? These are foundational figures in the OT and in the story of Israel, yet there is no mention of God's spirit working amongst them. Why not? Probably because they were not given any extraordinary tasks requiring superhuman abilities. The Spirit enabled Joseph to interpret dreams accurately - he couldn't have done this by himself without God's interaction. On the other hand, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were not given any "superhuman" tasks to carry out which required the help of God's spirit .
Further to this point, Jehovah Himself actually appeared to each of these people - Abraham in Genesis 12:7,8; Isaac (in Genesis 26:2-6,24); and Jacob in Genesis 35:6,7 ...9-13. God didn't have to enable them to perform any particular tasks, but He communicated with them, when He needed to, via direct appearances.
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob each had roles to fulfil, and some commands to obey, but they were "merely" required to be faithful to God's words ... a bit like us today, in that respect.
In Summary...
• The Holy Spirit is the intangible arm of God
• The Spirit carries out different activities throughout different ages
• In this study we've looked at the work of the Spirit in Genesis, and observed:
o A role in creation
o God's spirit contrasted with human flesh, in connection with the Flood
o No other activity mentioned until Joseph (approx 600-700 years later)