Part 1, Chapter 01
CHAPTER 1. THE SPIRIT OF GOD IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. The name “spirit of God” is one that occurs very often in the Bible from its first page to its last, and in many different connections, so that it is not always easy to determine what is meant by it. The words in the original languages rendered “ spirit “ in English mean primarily “wind” or “breath;” and like similar words in most languages, are used in a figurative sense to denote the soul or mind of man. The breath that is in his nostrils, that never ceases to respire as long as there is life in the body, and that forms in articulate sounds the expression of his thoughts and feelings, is taken to represent the life itself or the thinking self-conscious “ I,” that he feels himself to be. In like manner, the phrase “ spirit of God” is sometimes used for the life that is in God, or God himself as a spiritual being. In Psalms 139:7, “Whither shall I go from thy spirit?” is parallel to “Whither shall I flee from thy presence?” and the next verse, “If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there,” shows that God’s spirit here means the same as God Himself. In Isaiah 40:13, “the spirit of the Lord “ is also parallel to “ him,” and is rendered by Paul (1 Corinthians 2:16) “ the mind of the Lord.” It has the same meaning in Zechariah 6:8; and the similar word “soul” is used of God in Isaiah 13:1; Matthew 12:18. But much more frequently the phrase Spirit of God is used after a more literal analogy, and denotes a power or influence coming forth from God, as the breath comes out of the mouth of man. As the thunder is called in Biblical poetry the voice of the Lord (Psalms 18:13; Psalms 23:3-9), so the stormy wind is sometimes called the breath of God, “ the blast of the breath of his nostrils” (Exodus 15:8; Psalms 18:15; Isaiah 30:33; and in the New Testament, 2 Thessalonians 2:8); and the notion of the breath of God is also connected with the milder and beneficent agencies of the wind in nature, as in Ps. c4:30; where the renewal of the face of the earth, and the reproduction of living things, are ascribed to the spirit or breath of God. So in the narrative of the Creation, at the very outset it is said, “the spirit of God moved on the face of the waters” (Genesis 1:2). This may be taken in close connection with what follows: “ And God said, Let there be light: and there was light” (Genesis 1:3); the spirit being, as it were, the breath of God that forms His word of creative power. So it seems to be meant in Psalms 33:6, “ By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.” Again, in Job 26:13; it is said in reference to creation, “By his spirit the heavens are furnished;” where it is not so much the idea of breath, as that of wisdom, that seems to be meant.
More particularly the breath of life in man is said to have been breathed into his nostrils by God (Genesis 2:7); and this is especially applied to the intellectual life of man, Job 32:8, “there is a spirit in man, and the breath of the Almighty giveth them understanding; “ Job 33:4, “ The spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty giveth me life.” So it is said, by a somewhat different figure, “ the spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord, searching all the innermost parts of the belly “ (Proverbs 20:27), where reference seems to be made to what we call the voice of conscience. Compare Romans 2:14-15. The same thing may also be meant in Genesis 6:3 : ’’The Lord said, My spirit shall not strive with (or rule in) man for ever, for that he also is flesh: yet shall his days be an hundred and twenty years.” The only previous reference to the spirit of God in man was in Genesis 2:7; where it is described as the source of his life. The meaning, however, cannot be that individual men should not live for ever; for that had been made abundantly plain before: it must refer to the race as a whole, and declare that after a respite of 120 years it should be swept away; as it was by the flood. If the rendering “ strive “ be correct, the passage would imply that man’s Godgiven soul is a moral witness against sin, as we see in the narratives of the remorse of Adam and Cain (Genesis 3:7-10; Genesis 4:14-15): if the translation should be “ rule, or abide, in man,” then it would simply denote the presence and power of that spirit of life that God breathed into man at the first. However this may be, it seems clear that the godly Israelites recognised the voice of God in the teachings of their own consciences. Of this we have a striking illustration in Psalms 16:7 — “ I will bless the Lord, who hath given me counsel; Yea, my reins instruct me in the night seasons.” The same thing is described in the two parallel clauses, first from the side of God and then from that of man. It is the Lord’s counsel that has moved the Psalmist to choose Him as his portion; but it has come to him by the voice of his own reins or heart. In like manner, an evil conscience was regarded as of God, and the evil spirit that troubled Saul after his sin and rejection by God is called “ an evil spirit from the Lord “ (1 Samuel 16:14), “ an evil spirit of God, of the Lord” (1 Samuel 18:10; 1 Samuel 19:9); and even absolutely “a spirit of God” (1 Samuel 16:23). These phrases can hardly mean a wicked spirit possessing the unfaithful king, like the demoniacs of whom we read in the New Testament, they rather denote his own guilty conscience stirred up by divine influence to accuse and torment him. But besides these general uses of the name spirit or breath of God, for the working of His power and wisdom in the world of nature and in the soul of man, we find it employed in a peculiarlydistinctive sense in the region of God’s special covenant relations with Israel as His people. There it appears as a gift bestowed upon selected persons, giving them power and capacity for various functions in the service of God and of His people. It is said of Abraham, that he was a prophet (Genesis 20:7), which according to the explanations given later would imply the possession of the spirit of God, though in the narrative in Genesis it was only said before that the word of the Lord came to Abraham (Genesis 16:1), and that the Lord appeared to him (Genesis 17:1; Genesis 18:1).
Pharaoh is represented as calling Joseph “ a man in whom the spirit of God is/’ forasmuch as God had showed him what was to come, and he was discreet and wise (Genesis 41:38-39). Then Moses is described as having the spirit of God upon him, though this is said only incidentally (Numbers 11:17, Numbers 11:25), and no express account is given of the bestowal of the spirit upon him, except that when he was called to be the deliverer of Israel God said, “ I will be with thy mouth and teach thee what thou shalt speak “(Exodus 4:12); and it is implied through all the narrative of his work that he was taught and guided by God. Bezaleel, the chief artificer of the tabernacle in the wilderness, is said to have been filled with the spirit of God in all wisdom for his work (Exodus 31:3); and when the work of Moses in governing the people was to be shared with seventy of the elders, we read that God took of the spirit that was upon him, and gave it unto them (Numbers 11:17, Numbers 11:25). From the context of these passages we may see, that while the spirit of God is spoken of in them, not as being in all men, as in the texts formerly adduced, but as a special gift to particular persons; still this gift is closely connected, on the one hand with what we should call natural endowments, and on the other hand with the presence of God Himself. The spirit, in these cases, is something more specific and individual than the rational soul or conscience common to all men, but it is not entirely separate from that, but simply high and special powers of intellect or moral sense, wisdom, unselfishness, godliness. These qualities, too, are not merely regarded as gifts of God in general, but the insight, guidance, and power that they give, are viewed as really the teaching and help of God Himself. As man’s intellectual nature in general is represented as due to God’s having breathed into him the breath of life; so special powers of mind or soul are considered to be due to a special communion with God on the part of those who have them. In the days of the Judges, the spirit of the Lord is spoken of in connection with deeds of courage and prowess, and even of physical strength, as it is said to have come on Othniel (Judges 3:10), Gideon (Judges 6:34), Jephthah (Judges 11:29), and Samson (Judges 13:25; Judges 14:6, Judges 14:19, Judges 15:14). In these cases there is no direct reference to moral qualities; but it is to be observed that they were all men who believed in Jehovah, and were fighting for His cause and His people. In many cases the special token and proof of the presence and working of the spirit of God was prophecy; and so in Hosea 9:7, “the prophet” is used as a parallel to “ the man that hath the spirit;” and in Joel 2:28; when God promises to pour out His spirit on all flesh, the effect is to be, “your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,” etc. But it would seem that in early times the notion of prophecy in Israel was similar to that entertained in other ancient nations, unpremeditated utterance of lofty, vehement, or mysterious language, often in a state of trance or ecstasy approaching that of madness. As in such utterances the deliberative judgment is not in exercise, they seemed more directly due to a divine impulse, and so were ascribed to the Spirit of God, whatever was their moral character and tendency, and without being regarded as conveying a message from God that ought to be observed and obeyed. It is only by some such idea as this that we can understand how Joshua could propose to forbid Eldad and Medad prophesying in the camp (Numbers 11:28). So, too, Saul is represented as prophesying, when under the power of the evil spirit of God, he tried to smite David with his javelin (1 Samuel 18:10; n), as well as when the spirit of God that was on the prophets came upon him (1 Samuel 19:23-24). This is probably the explanation of the strange pictorial vision of Micaiah (1 Kings 22:19-23), in which the spirit of prophecy is personified. The lying spirit is not an evil spirit in the New Testament sense; neither can it be absolutely identified with the Divine Spirit; it is rather a personification of the prophetic afflatus, the impulse to rapt enthusiastic utterance, considered as a gift of God, in itself neither morally good nor evil, but becoming evil in the mouths of evil men bent on flattering the king. The breath of the Almighty gave them the power of fervent impassioned language, and thus enabled them to persuade Ahab to his destruction. Such seems to be, expressed in modern language, the substantial meaning of that remarkable vision: and it rests on the general conception of the spirit of God as the author of all mental powers and manifestations, and more especially of those in which human deliberation falls into the background. The constraining power of the spiritual impulse to prophecy appears in the case of Elihu (Job 32:18-20), and Jeremiah (Jeremiah 20:9), as also in Psalms 45:1. As God’s training of His people advanced from stage to stage, He taught them, that the true test of prophecy as His word to them is not the enthusiastic and unusual mode of its utterance, but its moral power over the hearts and lives of the hearers (Jeremiah 23:22-29) and its fulfilment in the course of Providence (Deu. 17:21, 22). When this came to be known, there are no longer such ascriptions of evil powers and influences to the spirit of God as in earlier days. 1 The divine agency continues indeed to be recognised in the downward career that sinners are ever prone to run: but this is expressed in the way of God leaving them to themselves and to the natural consequences of their own
1 The latest instance that approaches this is in Acts 21:4; where the advice not to go up to Jerusalem is said to have been given to Paul “ through the Spirit,” but disregarded by him, unquestionably in accordance with the will of God. sin (Psa. 128:29-31; 131:12; Ezekiel 20:25-26; Hosea 4:17; and most distinctly Romans 1:24-32). In the later portions of the Old Testament we also find the spirit of God more and more associated with moral qualities. The epithet holy is given to the spirit of God in Psa. 11:11; where the psalmist is penetrated with a penitent sense of sin, and in Isa. 113:10-11, where reference is made to the history of the Exodus and wilderness journey. When the prophet says, “ they grieved his holy spirit,” that phrase may simply refer to God Himself as the Holy One; but when he says, “ He put his holy spirit in the midst of them,” it must mean the spirit given to Moses and the elders, here more especially described as holy.
Similarly in Nehemiah 9:20; in reference to the same histor)’, it is said, “ Thou gavest also thy good spirit to instruct them; “ and from the context it is plain that moral goodness must be meant, and in another of the penitential psalms (Nehemiah 2:10), God’s spirit is also called good in the same sense. It is clear, therefore, that latterly at least the spirit of God was recognised as the source not only of power, and wisdom, and prophecy, but of moral goodness as well; and that this aspect of it becomes gradually the most prominent. There are many places in which the spirit of God, though not expressly called holy, is described as giving the fear of the Lord (Isaiah 11:2-5), judgment and righteousness (Isaiah 32:15-17), devotion to the Lord (Isaiah 44:3-5), hearty obedience (Ezekiel 36:26-27), penitence and prayer (Zechariah 12:10). But the general bestowal of the spirit as the source of holiness is spoken of as a thing of the future, one of the blessings of the promised reign of God over His people. In the theocracy in Israel, the spirit of God had been given to certain chosen men as leaders and rulers of the nation, and doubtless wherever there was genuine godliness, that was due to the working of the spirit; but there is no indication that the mass of the nation, though the professed people of God, was filled with the spirit, in the sense in which the Christian Church after the Pentecostal gift was so.
What distinguished the chosen people as a nation from others, was the possession of the revelation and law of God. “ He showeth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel. He hath not dealt so with any nation, and as for his judgments, they have not known them’“’ (Psalms 147:19-20). This was done through Moses and the prophets: but the higher blessing of being all directly taught of God, having His law written in their hearts, and His spirit poured out upon them all, was longed for by Moses (Numbers 11:29), and foretold by the prophets as one of the good things of the latter days, to be bestowed in connection with the Messianic salvation (Isaiah 14:13; Jeremiah 31:33-34; Joel 2:28-29). It came to be perceived more and more in the course of Israel’s history, that the want of this was the great obstacle to the reformation and restoration of the nation as the people of God. The prophets gave solemn and awful warnings, which generally made an impression at the time, and when aided by the kings and civil authorities, produced an outward reformation in the order and conduct of the state: but new forms of evil were ever coming up, as old ones were banished: formalism and hypocrisy took the place of idolatry and debauchery; and the prophets after the exile, though they had not to denounce the same sins that their predecessors rebuked, still must address the people as ungodly and backsliding, and look forward to some more effective cure for their corruption in the time to come. Such a cure was to be found only in the outpouring of the spirit of God on the people, to change their hearts and turn them to the Lord. Jeremiah foretells that there is to be a new covenant, in which the law shall be written in the people’s hearts, and they shall not be dependent on the teaching of others, but all shall know the Lord (Jeremiah 31:31-34). Ezekiel speaks of the same blessing, and connects it expressly with the spirit of God (Ezekiel 36:25-27). In Isaiah, and especially in the later prophecies in that book, we find these promises connected with the coming of the Son of David, the Lord’s servant, who is anointed with His spirit (Isaiah 11:1-16, Isaiah 12:1-6, Isaiah 52:1-15, Isaiah 61:1-11.); and in Zechariah and Malachi there are similar representations.
It was in the line and in the spirit of these prophecies, that after a long term of silence in the divine oracles, John the son of the priest Zacharias came from the wilderness where he had dwelt alone with God, calling Israel to repentance, and baptizing in Jordan those who complied with his call. What he demanded was not mere sorrow for past sin, or outward reformation of conduct, but a change of mind, for that is the real meaning of the word rendered “repentance” in English. It is the same change that is spoken of in the Old Testament as circumcising the heart (Jeremiah 4:4), making a new heart and a new spirit (Eze. 18:35). John called for this from all, even from the Pharisees and the Sadducees, the most religious and influential of the people; and he symbolized their cleansing from sin, by plunging them in the water of Jordan to rise out of it again as it were new men. This was to be the preparation for the kingdom or reign of God, which the old prophets had foretold as future, and which he now announced as at hand. At the same time he declared that he was not the Messiah, that he only baptized with water, but that One greater than he was coming after him, who should baptize with the Holy Spirit, that is to say, who should fulfil these old prophecies, and really give the spirit of God as a renewing and sanctifying influence to the mass of men. In all these Old Testament representations, it is to be observed, the spirit of God is regarded not merely as a gift bestowed by God yet separate from Himself, but, according to the original meaning of the phrase, as the very breath of God, so that it is God Himself who is with men and teaches them inwardly, when His Spirit is bestowed on them. The same things are said to be done sometimes by God and sometimes by the spirit of God. For God to write His law in the heart of His people (Jeremiah 31:33), is the same as to put His spirit within them (Eze. 26:27); and in another place it is said, “ The LORD of hosts shall be... for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment “ (Isaiah 6:1). So also in the last words of David we read, “ The spirit of the Lord spake by me, and his word was upon my tongue. The God of Israel said, The Rock of Israel spake to me “ (2 Samuel 23:2-3). Thus the idea of the spirit of God is somewhat like that of the word of God, or the angel {i.e. messenger or message) of the Lord, both sent from God and yet Himself God. These peculiar representations led many of the Jewish teachers to recognise a certain distinction in the Divine Being, between God as He is in Himself, as the infinite, invisible, incomprehensible First Cause, and God as He made Himself known to men by that Wisdom and Power, that are truly divine, yet seen in the works of Creation, Providence, and Grace. More than this general idea of distinction in the Godhead, and of a spirit working in men that is both of God and also God Himself, cannot be said to have been revealed in Old Testament times, when the great fact of God reconciling the world to Himself was only dimly seen in the future: the distinction was apt to be refined away into a philosophical abstraction, and its full meaning as a religious truth was not yet seen. More particularly from the Old Testament alone the difference between the word and the spirit of God could not be clearly gathered; and there was a tendency to identify them and recognise only a twofold distinction in the Godhead. That which distinctly revealed the Trinity in the Godhead, which the older oracles but hinted at, and philosophy uncertainly groped after, was the manifestation -of Jesus Christ as the Word made flesh, and His teaching about Himself as truly God, and about the Spirit of God that He not only received, but promised to give.