THE HOLY SPIRIT
1.1. Ezekiel prophesies that, after the restoration to the land, God would give the Spirit to his people. 1.1.1. Ezek 36:22-27 (see also Ezek 11:18-20)
In this passage, Ezekiel connects the giving of the Spirit to the new possibility of obedience to the Law after the restoration to the land; the Spirit is the causal antecedent of this new possibility (see the new covenant in Jer 31:31-34). 1.1.2. Ezek 37:12-14
Ezekiel prophesies that, after the restoration, God will put his Spirit in the people, and they will live as a result. There is a causal connection made between the Spirit and life. 1.1.3. Ezek 39:29
Ezekiel foretells that God will no longer hide his face, but pour out his Spirit on the people. 1.2. Isaiah makes two references to the future giving of the Spirit to the people. 1.2.1. Isa 32:15
Isaiah alludes to the future, eschatological event of the pouring out of the Spirit from on high, resulting in “fruitfulness,” which is a metaphor for spiritual life. 1.2.2. Isa 44:3
God promises through the prophet Isaiah that he will pour out his Spirit on the Israelites, Jacob's descendents. This event will occur at the time of Israel's eschatological renewal. 1.3. Joel 2:28-32
The prophet
Joel foretells that in "the day of Yahwheh," at the time of
Israel's eschatological restoration, God will pour out his Spirit on
all flesh; as a result, people will prophesy, have visions and prophetic
dreams.
In the second-Temple period, in continuity with the Old Testament, the promise of the giving of the Holy Spirit (or better "spirit of holiness") is interpreted as God's giving to Israel an eschatological principle of obedience. In other words, at the end, the time of Israel's final and definitive salvation, God will so spiritually transform his people, that disobedience to the Torah will henceforth be impossible. To have a spirit of holiness is to have a God-given disposition to holiness; generally, in these texts, spirit of holiness refers not to God as Spirit placed in human beings but to a new human spirit or disposition created by God that leads to holiness. (See Book of Jubilees 1.12-26; 4Q504 [Words of the Luminaries] 5.15-16; 1QS [Rule of the Community] 3:6-8; 4.18-21; 9.3; 1QSb [Blessings] 1.2 1QH-a [Thanksgiving Hymns] 15.6-7; 8; Barkhi Nafshi.) (There are other ways to express the idea of Israel's spiritual transformation used in the Old Testament and in later texts.) In some of these texts, the spirit of holiness is a present reality, whereas in others it is a future reality.
The Holy Spirit is central to Paul's theology; he believes that the Old Testament promise of the giving of the Spirit has been fulfilled. Expressing himself in various ways, Paul asserts that the Spirit has been conferred upon all believers in Christ. In so doing Paul is attempting to describe a reality that is not fully describable but must, in the end, remain a mystery. In his view, to be a Christian is not simply to accept certain propositions as true, such as Jesus is Israel's Messiah, but rather but to be indwellt by the Holy Spirit. It seems that he can take it for granted that his readers already have an experiential understanding of this. 3.1.1. Rom 5:5
According to Paul, the reason that a believer’s hope does not disappoint is that, “the love of God is poured out (ekkechutai) in our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who is given to us (tou dothentos hêmin).” By the term “heart,” Paul is referring to what a human being truly is, his or her cognitional and volitional center. He uses the metaphor of “pouring out” in order to communicate the idea of abundance or overflowing surplus. The implication is that believers do not naturally possess the Spirit as some type of innate faculty; rather, the Spirit comes to a person from without. God has poured out his love into the heart, insofar as he has given the Holy Spirit to believers (The phrase “love of God” is a subjective genitive: God’s love.) In other words, the means by which this love of God is experientially present to believers is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a manifestation and proof of the love of God, in paritcular, God's saving intention. The hope of eschatological salvation that a believer has for the future is experientially confirmed by the present gift of the Holy Spirit. (See the parallel in Sir 18:11: “The Lord... pours out his mercy upon them.”) On this interpretation, the use of the preposition dia, + genitive describes the manner in which God has poured out his love, i.e., through the Holy Spirit. 3.1.2. Rom 8:9-11
In Rom 8, Paul contrasts two mutually-exclusive modes of being: “in the Spirit” (en pneumati) and “in the flesh” (en sarki). To be “in the Spirit” results from being indwelt by the Spirit: “You are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, so long as the Spirit of God dwells in you (oikei en humin)” (8:9a). To be indwelt by the Spirit of God appears to be synonymous with “to have [the] Spirit of Christ” (pneuma christou echein); this is evident from the fact that in the very next sentence, Paul says, “If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, this one does not belong to him” (8:9b). If so, then the phrase Spirit of Christ may be a subjective genitive: “Christ’s Spirit.” It is also possible to interpret it as a genitive of origin: the Spirit who comes from Christ. Regardless of his exact meaning, Paul’s intention is not only to distinguish Christ from the Spirit, but also to assert an inseparable connection between them. Paul then speaks about the fact that Christ is “in” a believer. The phrase “If Christ is in you” (ei de christos en humin) likewise seems to be another synonym for being indwelt by the Spirit and having the Spirit of Christ. So being indwelt by the Spirit of God, having the Spirit of Christ and Christ’s being in a believer all mean the same thing. Why Paul would use such variety of expression is not clear, except to indicate that the relationship between the Spirit and the believer is ultimately inscrutable. 3.1.3. 1 Cor 12:13
In explanation of the assertion that “the body is one” (1 Cor 12:12), Paul says, “we were all baptized in one Spirit to become one body” (en eni pneumati hêmeis pantes eis en sôma ebaptisthêmen). It seems that Paul is speaking about the reception of the one Spirit by believers, which results in there being one body, or organic spiritual unity of individuals. His point is that the oneness of the body, the church, is the result of the one Spirit. Paul conceives the Spirit as that into which believers have been baptized: just as they were literally baptized in water so metaphorically they were also baptized in the Spirit. In other words, sharing in the one Spirit unifies believers into one body, a plurality in a unity. (Paul is probably using of eis not with a local sense but with a consecutive meaning, to describe the result of receiving the one Spirit.) In the same verse, still speaking metaphorically, Paul says, “We were given one Spirit to drink” (pantes en pneuma epotisthêmen); this new image serves to supplement the previous idea of being baptized in the Spirit to become one body. To drink of the one Spirit is intended to communicate both that the Spirit is within a believer and that the Spirit, because he has entered from without, is not being natural or endemic to a human being. Believers are mortal beings unnaturally possessed by the immortal Spirit. 3.1.4. Gal 4:6
Paul says to the believers at Galatia that, “God sent the Spirit of his son into your hearts.” The reason that God has done this is because they are sons (see 3:26) (The conjunction hoti is causal: “because.”) The “place” where God sent the Spirit of his son is the “heart,” which is not really a place, but the cognitional and volitional “center” of a human being. The phrase “Spirit of his son” is undoubtedly synonymous with the Holy Spirit and other terms expressive of the same reality. The phrase could be a genitive of origin, so that Paul means the Spirit sent from God’s son, or even a genitive of apposition: Spirit, who is the son of God. Perhaps both senses are intended. The Spirit in the heart of a believer then calls out “Abba, Father.” (Abba is the Aramaic word for “father.") Paul means that the Spirit as a possession of believers residing in the heart testifies to them that they are indeed sons of God, causing them to address God as Father. 3.2. The Effects of the Indwelling Spirit Although he agrees with the post-biblical texts examined that the Holy Spirit is an eschatological principle of obedience, Paul's view is fuller and more complex. 3.2.1. The Spirit as an Eschatological Principle of Obedience With the eschatological events of the death and resurrection of Christ comes the eschatological Spirit. In Paul’s view, the indwelling Spirit is indispensable to being able to do the will of God. The believer is controlled and empowered by the Spirit (or other, synonymous designations), no longer being controlled by the "the flesh" (sinful nature). This is the norm for all believers in Paul's view, not an option. Unlike the texts from the second-Temple period, for Paul the Holy Spirit is not simply a new human disposition to holiness created by God—a human "spirit" or disposition—but is the Spirit of God or Christ in a believer, which results in the spiritual transformation of a person. The other difference between Paul and second-Temple Judaism is that, in Pauline theology, the Holy Spirit as the eschatological principle of obedience is given on an equal basis to Jews and gentiles alike. A. Rom 8:1-9
According to Paul, the purpose
of God’s sending his son was “to condemn sin in the flesh,”
(8:3b) in order that the requirement of the Law (to dikaiôma
tou nomou) might be fulfilled in “us” (8:4a). The phrase
“the requirement of the Law” is a genitive of content: the
requirement consisting of the Law. Paul’s use of the singular
to dikaiôma (“the requirement”) implies the
unity of the Law. In other words, the purpose of the work of Christ
is that the essence of the Law be truly obeyed by believers. In Rom
13:8-10 and Gal 5:14, Paul identifies the essence of the Law as “love”
(agapê). Earlier, in Rom 8:2, Paul writes that the principle
(literally “law” [nomos]) of the Spirit of life has
set “you” (a believer) free from the principle of sin and
death. He sees “sin” as a principle or causal agent operating
in human beings that results in death, not only physical but eternal
(8:2); this is nullified by another principle, the law of the Spirit
of life (ho nomos tou pneumatos tês zôês),
or the Spirit whose purpose it is to make eternal life possible (genitive
of direction or purpose). Paul then contrasts “those who are according to the flesh” (hoi kata sarka ontes) and who “think on the things of the flesh” (ta tês sarkos phronousin) with “those who are according to the Spirit” (hoi kata pneuma [ontes]) who “think on the things of the Spirit” (ta tou pneumatos [phronousin]) (8:5). Flesh and Spirit represent two mutually-exclusive principles, or causal agents, operative within human beings. Those for whom the flesh is the principle are designated as “those who are according to the flesh,” whereas those for whom the Spirit is the principle are called “those who are according to the Spirit.” “To think on” either “the things of the flesh” or “the things of the Spirit” describes the human being as under the influence of one or the other principle, resulting in two different modes of being, or basic existential orientations. The flesh and Spirit necessarily lead to their corresponding actions. Paul then says that the “mind of flesh” (to phronêma tês sarkos), or ‘fleshly’ basic existential orientation, is opposed to God (The phrase mind of flesh is a genitive of quality, so that the mind has the attribute of ‘fleshiness’.) B. Gal 5:16-24
As in Rom 8, in this passage, Paul contrasts the “flesh” (sarx) with the Spirit as two principles according to which a human being could live. In Gal 5:16, he speaks about walking in the Spirit (pneumati peripateite), in Gal 5:18 about being led by the Spirit (pneumati agesthe) and in Gal 5:25 about living by the Spirit (pneumati zômen). These are all synonyms, denoting coming under the principle, or causal agent, consisting of the Spirit. Paul says that “walking in the Spirit” will result in not fulfilling “the desire of the flesh” (epithumia sarkos) (5:16). The genitive phrase “the desire of the flesh” is a genitive of origin (“the desire originating in the flesh”) or a subjective genitive (“the flesh’s desire”). On either interpretation, flesh is conceived as almost a quasi-substantial entity, one that produces a fundamental, illicit desire in a human being; in other words, the flesh is an evil principle or causal agent directing human beings to be disobedient to God. Paul probably uses the singular “desire” to emphasize that all disobedience to God has its origin in this fundamental opposition to God. In Gal 5:17, Paul elaborates further on what he wrote in the previous verse. The Spirit desires what is contrary to the flesh and the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit. In other words, the flesh and Spirit have an intractable antipathy to each other and are mutually exclusive of each other: they do not and cannot co-exist. There follows a list of “the works of flesh” (ta erga tês sarkos): “sexual immorality, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing and similar things.” These works are the manifestations of the principle, or causal agent, of the flesh. To walk in, live by, be led by the Spirit leads to the production of “the fruit of the Spirit,” which Paul lists in 5:22-23: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness and self-control. The use of the metaphor of “fruit” lays stress on “divine empowerment,” the result of the influence of the Spirit on the human being. If he or she walks in the Spirit, a person does not carry out the “desire of the flesh” (epithumia sarkos), which is a way of describing the fundamental attitude of defiance to God (5:16). If the “desire of the flesh” is carried out, the result is “the works of the flesh,” as delineated in Gal 5:19-21. Another of Paul’s ways of expressing that this new principle of obedience is operative in the lives of believers is to say that they have “crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (tên sarka estaurôsan sun tois pathêmasin kai tais epithumiais) (5:24). This is a metaphorical way of describing how the Spirit has rendered the “flesh” ineffective: by killing it. The “passions” and “desires” of the flesh are probably synonyms; each denotes the experiential results of the flesh’s fundamental defiance of God, “the desire of the flesh.” 3.2.2. The Spirit as Providing Proof that Believers are Children of God
In Rom 8:16, the Spirit testifies to the believer's spirit to the fact that he or she is a son (child) of God in the soteriological (saving) sense. Paul also says that Spirit metaphorically functions to seal believers (sphragizein). To seal something is to set the stamp of one's ownership on it, so that metaphorically believers have the stamp of God's ownership on them insofar as they have the Spirit ( 2 Cor 1:22; Eph 1:13; 4:30) (see the parallel in Rev 7:3; see also Ezek 9:4; 44:5; Ps. Sol. 15:6, 9; 4 Ezra 6:5-6). Moreover, Paul refers to the Spirit metaphorically as a guarantee (arrabôn) (2 Cor 1:22; 5:5; Eph 1:14). The point is that the Spirit is the first installment of all the benefits of eschatological salvation, and so functions as a guarantee that the rest will come. It should be noted that in Rom 8:11, he writes that, if the Spirit dwells in "us," the Spirit will raise "us" from the dead in the same way that the Spirit raised Jesus from the dead. In this way, the present indwelling of the Spirit is the guarantee of future resurrection. What Paul describes in these passages is part of the experience of the believer, and by definition is not fully communicable. 3.2.3. The Spirit as the Means of Signs, Wonders, and Miracles
In Romans 15:18-19, 1 Corinthians 2:4 and Galatians 3:5, Paul claims that he and other believers performed signs and wonders by the power of the Holy Spirit; the signs and wonders were confirmations of the good news. He does not give any details about these signs and wonders, but from what Luke says in Acts these signs and wonders in part consist of healings (Acts 14:8-20; 19:11-12). 3.2.4. The Spirit as Dispenser of Spiritual Gifts According to Paul, the Spirit gives spiritual gifts to believers to be exercised for the benefit of the whole church. Paul compares the church to a body with different parts (i.e., different gifts), each working in harmony with the other parts for the good of the whole body (1 Cor 12:1-11; Rom 12:3-8); these gifts are not natural abilities but supernatural, Spirit-given abilities. There are two passages in his letters where Paul provides lists of spiritual gifts (charismata). With the exception of the charisma of prophecy, the two lists are different, which leads one to think that possibly there are other gifts of the Spirit not listed in either passage. A. 1 Cor 12:1-11
In 1 Cor 12:4-11, Paul explains the nature and purpose of spiritual gifts, and gives a list of some of these. He is perhaps responding to the Corinthians’ request for such a clarification. (Why they would need clarification is not clear.) Paul explains that there is a diversity of gifts (charismata), but only one Spirit, a diversity of ministries, but one Lord and a diversity of operations but one and the same God is at work (12:4-6). Paul’s purpose is to stress the unity that exists amidst the diversity of spiritual activities. He also points out the manifestation of the Spirit in each person is for the benefit of all, the common good (12:7). There is also an Trinitarian formula in 1 Cor 12:4-6 insofar as Paul implicitly identifies the Spirit (pneuma), the Lord (Jesus) (ho kurios) and God (ho theos). Paul then provides a partial list of spiritual gifts (charismata), the ways in which the Spirit may be operative in believers. He does not define these gifts, so that we must determine their nature simply from the names that he gives to them. In some cases this is simple, but in others it proves to be more difficult.
A word of wisdom is a communication with wisdom as its content. Wisdom, in Paul's understanding, is of divine origin, being given by revelation; it especially pertains to word of the cross (see 1 Cor 1-2). It seems that the spiritual gift of a word of wisdom is being enabled by the Spirit to understand in part the mind of God. To have a word of wisdom to have an insight into the nature of reality that is of some practical use to the church.
The gift of a word of knowledge must differ from a word of wisdom, since it is a distinct gift. It seems that this gift consists in receiving useful information from God that is otherwise unknowable. This information is useful in some manner.
A gift of faith is to be differentiated from the faith that all believers have; as a gift, faith is the ability to know God's will and then with certainty and confidence to believe that this will be realized.
Gifts of healing are the Spirit’s multiple grantings of the ability to heal human beings. Since Paul uses the plural (healings), it seems that he conceives of each healing is a distinct gift of healing; each instance of healing requires its own gift.
The gift of workings of miracles are giftings to do extraordinary things. Again, since the plural is used, each miracle is a separate gift of the working of a miracle.
A gift of prophecy is a Spirit-inspired message given to a specific person to be delivered to a group. Paul gives more information on prophecy in the (Corinthian) church in 1 Cor 14. It is clear from what he says that prophecy is for the purpose of the edification of believers (14:3-5): they hear what is given to the prophet by the Spirit and are built up in their spiritual lives. (Prophecy was a common phenomenon in the early church [e.g.’s Acts 2:17; 13:1; 21:10].)
The nature of a gift of discernment of spirits is difficult to determine, because the meaning of “spirits” is unclear. Either the gift consists in the ability to know the spiritual states of another (human spirit) or to recognize the activity of demonic spirits. It is probable that the gift consists in the ability to discern both types of spirits.
A gift of tongues is the ability to a speak divinely-inspired communication in another language not understandable by the speaker or the hearer.
A gift of interpretations of tongues is the ability to understand and translate for others a divinely inspired message given in another language. In 1 Cor 12:12-26, Paul stresses the spiritual co-dependency of the members of the church. Using a metaphor, he compares different people with different gifts within the church to the parts a body, each of which contributes to the well-being of the whole body. Paul’s reasons for saying this could be that the Corinthians are putting too much stress on the gift of tongues (see 1 Cor 14). He says that the church is an organic unity so that each part is affected by the others: when one suffers the others do also, and when one rejoices so likewise do the others (12:26). B. Rom 12:3-8
Paul explains that those "in Christ" are like the many parts of a single body; he stresses that each part does not have the same function (12:4-5). He then says that there are many spiritual gifts (charismata), but one grace, i.e., one source in God as gracious.
As in 1 Cor 12: this gift is the ability to speak a Spirit-inspired message to a specific person or persons at a specific time (This is the only item in common between 1 Cor 12 and Rom 12.)
The gift of service is the ability to meet some particular practical need in the church.
The gift of teaching is the ability to communicate spiritual truths to one or more people in such a way the teaching is effective.
The gift of encouragement is the ability to encourage one or more people to continue in obedience to God.
The gift of sharing is the inclination and ability to share materially with those in need in a much greater capacity than the non-gifted but still generous believer.
The gift of leadership is the capacity to provide leadership to the church in a particular situation.
The gift of mercy it
is the ability to show compassion in a practical way to the extremely
needy and genuine unlovely.
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1.
The Promise of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament
The inclusion of the adverbial phrase “in Christ Jesus,”
modifying the verb “set free,” denotes that it is because
of the work of Christ that any of this is possible: the “in”
(en) is causal.This
is the reason for Paul’s confident affirmation in Rom 8:1: “Therefore
there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
The use of the conjunction gar (“for”) in Rom 8:2
implies that what follows in this verse is the warrant for what is written
in Rom 8:1. So the reason that there is no condemnation is that “those
who are in Christ” have been so transformed that they are now
righteous in a practical sense as the result of being under the influence
of “the law of the Spirit of life.” In other words, they
will necessarily be found to be obedient to the “righteous requirement
of the Law” at the final judgment. The reason that the righteous
requirement of the Law is fulfilled is because of the Spirit’s
indwelling and functioning as a principle of obedience, which is what
Paul means by the term “law of the Spirit of life.” This
is also implied by Paul’s definition of those in whom the requirement
of the Law is fulfilled as those who walk according to the Spirit and
not the flesh (tois mê kata sarka peripatousin alla kata pneuma)
(8:4b).
