The Spirit and the Word: A Treatise on the Holy Spirit in the Light of a Rational Interpretation of the Word of TruthSweeney, Z. T. (Zachary Taylor)
Religion
The Spirit and the Word: A Treatise on the Holy Spirit in the Light of a Rational Interpretation of the Word of Truth
Sweeney, Z. T. (Zachary Taylor)
Holy Spirit
The Old Testament does not give the same prominence to the Holy Spirit
as does the New Testament. This is doubtless true because the Old
Testament deals largely with material things, while the New Testament is
primarily and essentially dealing with the spiritual nature and actions
of man. It is, however, referred to in more than half of the books of
the Old Testament, while in sixteen of them there is no specific mention
of the Spirit. It is, however, mentioned specifically eighty-eight times
in the Old Testament. It is generally spoken of as the Spirit of God.
The New Testament refers to these passages in such a way as to identify
the Holy Spirit of the New with the Spirit of God of the Old. In Luke
4:18 Jesus says:
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
Because he anointed me to preach good
tidings to the poor:
He hath sent me to proclaim release to
the captives,
And recovering of sight to the blind.
To set at liberty them that are bruised,
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord."
This is directly connected with the "Spirit of the Lord Jehovah" in Isa.
61: 1, 2.
In the second chapter of Acts we have a direct connection with Joel 2.
These are two of many such connections that bind together and identify
the Spirit of the Lord of the Old Testament with the Holy Spirit of the
New. In both Testaments we find God working by his Spirit. The Old
Testament gives three lines of work performed by the Spirit:
1. HIS RELATION TO THE MATERIAL UNIVERSE.
(1) In Gen. 1:2 we are told: "And the Spirit of God moved on the face of
the waters." The word "moved" carries the sense of "hovered" or
"brooded." The previous condition of the world was "waste and void," or
a "formless waste." In some way the Spirit of God fashioned this
formless waste into the multiplicity of contrasts that followed. It
bound together those elements that were homogeneous, and separated the
heterogeneous and so prepared the way for the dividing the light from
the darkness that followed. The mode of the operation we do not know,
but the fact of the operation is clearly revealed.
(2) "By his Spirit the heavens are garnished" (Job 26:13). The
expression could be better translated, "The heavens are made fair," or
beautiful. That is, he set the constellations in their order. He gives
one illustration when he says: "His hand hath pierced the swift
serpent." Reference is here made to the beautiful constellation of
"Serpens," or Draco, of graceful and striking appearance.
(3) God's Spirit made me man; 'twas the Almighty's breath that gave me
life. This higher life that was given to man by an inbreathing of the
Spirit distinguishes man (_homo_) from all other animal species.
2. THE RELATION OF THE SPIRIT TO CREATED MAN.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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