Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit, from the Christian viewpoint, while related to God's will, is not God's will personified. The Christian and Jewish views of the Holy Spirit vary greatly. In the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) the Hebrew term Ruach HaKodesh is used many times; it is translated literally as Holy Spirit (also known as the Holy Ghost). Within the Hebrew Bible its use refers to the presence of God as experienced by a human being. In most Christianity the Holy Spirit is considered to be God himself, part of the Trinity.

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Jewish views of the Holy Spirit

The midrash literature contains many statements about the Holy Spirit. It is written that the Holy Spirit, being of heavenly origin, is composed, like everything that comes from heaven, of light and fire. When it rested upon Phinehas his face burned like a torch (Midrash Lev. Rabbah 21). When the Temple was destroyed and the people Israel went into exile, the Holy Spirit returned to heaven; this is indicated in Eccl. 12:7: "the spirit shall return unto God" (Midrash Eccl. Rabbah 12:7). The spirit talks sometimes with a masculine and sometimes with a feminine voice (Eccl. 7:29); i.e., as the word "ruah" is both masculine and feminine, the Holy Spirit was conceived as being sometimes like a man and sometimes like a woman.

According to Jewish tradition, the Holy Spirit dwells only among a worthy generation, and the frequency of its manifestations is proportionate to the worthiness. There was no manifestation of it in the time of the Second Temple (Talmud, Yoma 21b), while there were many during the time of Elijah (Tosefta to the Talmud Sotah, 12:5). According to Job 28:25, the Holy Spirit rested upon the Prophets in varying degrees, some prophesying to the extent of one book only, and others filling two books (Midrash Lev. Rabbah 15:2). Nor did it rest upon them continually, but only for a time.

The stages of development, the highest of which is the Holy Spirit, are as follows: zeal, integrity, purity, holiness, humility, fear of sin, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit conducts Elijah, who brings the dead to life (Yer. Shab. 3c, above, and parallel passage). The pious act through the Holy Spirit (Midrash Tanhuma, Vayeki, 14); whoever teaches the Torah in public partakes of the Holy Spirit (Midrash Canticles Rabbah 1:9, end; comp. Midrash Lev. Rabbah 35:7). When Phinehas sinned the Holy Spirit departed from him (Midrash Lev. Rabbah 37:4)

Jewish tradition divides the books of the Hebrew Bible into three categories, based on the level of prophecy that their authors are said to have reached.

The visible results of the activity of the Holy Spirit, according to the Jewish conception, are the books of the Bible, all of which have been composed under its inspiration. All the Prophets spoke "in the Holy Spirit"; and the most characteristic sign of the presence of the Holy Spirit is the gift of prophecy, in the sense that the person upon whom it rests beholds the past and the future. According to the Talmud, with the death of the last three prophets, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, the Holy Spirit ceased to manifest itself in Israel; but the Bat Kol (heavenly voice) was still available.

• The Torah (five books of Moses) is said to be written by Moses from a direct verbal revelation of God.
• The Nevi'im (prophets) are books written by people who received a high level of prophecy.
• The Ketuvim (writings, hagiopgrapha) are written by authors with a lesser level of prophecy known as divine inspiration, Ruach HaKodesh.

According to one view in the Talmud, the Holy Spirit was among the ten things that were created by God on the first day (Talmud Bavli, Hag. 12a, b). Though the nature of the Holy Spirit is really nowhere described, the name indicates that it was conceived as a kind of wind that became manifest through noise and light.

Of special interest is a distinction made by ancient Jewish authorities between the "Spirit of the Lord" (which is the most common way of referring to the Holy Spirit in the Tanakh) and the Shekinah, the presence of God. This distinction is made in the Talmud, which gives a list of things found in the first Temple in Jerusalem, but missing in the second Temple. This list included the Holy Spirit and the Shekinah. The difference is not clearly understood, but it seems that the Shekinah glory was somehow more tangible than the Spirit. This may have referred to God's actual dwelling within the Holy of Holies, and God's presence emanating outward from it in a special way, as opposed to the presence of the Holy Spirit, which was in many locations throughout the world, and especially in individuals. In the Tanakh, however, this indwelling of the Spirit is reserved for kings, prophets, high priests, etc. and is not given to the common believer).

Classical Jewish texts teach that no new prophets were created after the destruction of the First Temple in Jerusalem in 586 BCE. However, various rabbinic Jewish works, including the midrash, state that other less direct forms of communication between man and God still exist, and have never ended. The Talmud affirms that minor forms of prophecy still occur. One example of this is the 'bat kol'. (e.g. Tosefta Sota 13:3, Yerushalmi Sota 24b, and Bavli Sota 48b). The Talmud notes that each time a Jew studies the Torah or its rabbinic commentaries, God is revealed anew; there is still a link between the God and the Jewish people. (Abraham Joshua Heschel's Prophetic Inspiration After the Prophets: Maimonides and Others)

In the Apocrypha

The Holy Spirit is less frequently referred to in the Apocrypha and by the Hellenistic Jewish writers; this may mean that the conception of the Holy Spirit was not prominent among the Jewish people at this time, especially in the Diaspora.

In I Maccabees 4:45, 14:41 prophecy is referred to as something long since passed. Wisdom 9:17 refers to the Holy Spirit which God sends down from heaven, whereby God's behests are recognized. The discipline of the Holy Spirit preserves from deceit (ib. i. 5). It is said in the Psalms of Solomon, 17:42, in reference to the Messiah, the son of David: "he is mighty in the Holy Spirit"; and in Susanna, 45, that "God raised up the Holy Spirit of a youth, whose name was Daniel."

Christian views of the Holy Spirit

In mainstream Christianity, the Holy Spirit is one person of the Trinity, co-equal with the Father and the Son (Jesus ), a part of the Godhead. In Unitarian churches, Jehovah's Witnesses and some other churches that do not accept the doctrine of the Trinity, the holy spirit is God's spirit or God's active force, and not a separate person. In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints the Holy Spirit is considered a third and individual member of the Godhead, distinct from the Father and the Son, having a body of spirit (whereas the Father and the Son are believed to be resurrected individuals having immortalized bodies of flesh and bone).

Christians believe it is the Holy Spirit who leads people to faith in Jesus and the one who gives them the ability to lead a Christian life. The Spirit dwells inside every true Christian. He is depicted as a 'counsellor' or 'helper' (paraclete in Greek), guiding them in the way of the truth. The 'Fruit of the Spirit' (i.e. the results of his work) should be "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control" (Galatians 5:22). The Spirit is also believed to give gifts (i.e. abilities) to Christians. These include the charismatic gifts such as prophecy, tongues, healing, and knowledge, which some Christians, whose view is known as cessationism, believe were given only in New Testament times. Christians agree almost universally that certain more mundane "spiritual gifts" are still in effect today. These include the gifts of ministry, teaching, giving, leadership, and mercy (see, e.g. Romans 12:6-8).

Most Trinitarian Christians believe that it was the Holy Spirit whom Jesus mentioned as the promised "comforter" in John 14:26. After his resurrection, Christ also told his disciples that they would be "baptized with the Holy Ghost", and would receive power from this event. (Acts 1:4-8) These Christians also believe that Christ's promise of the Holy Spirit was fulfilled in the events of the second chapter of Acts. On the first Pentecost, originally the Jewish festival of Shavuot, Jesus' disciples were gathered in Jerusalem, when a mighty wind was heard and tongues of fire appeared over their heads. A multilingual crowd heard the disciples speaking, and each of them heard them speaking in his or her native language. These events were also referred to a prophecy of the prophet Joel, who foretold that God would "pour out his spirit upon all flesh." The Christian movement called Pentecostalism derives its name from these events.

The Pentecostal movement places special emphasis on the work of the Holy Spirit, and especially on the gifts mentioned above, believing that they are still given today. Many Pentecostals believe in a 'Baptism of the Holy Spirit', in which the Spirit's power is received by the Christian in a new way. Some Pentecostal sects hold that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is the one sure sign of Christianity in a person, or conversely, that until a person has experienced this baptism of the Holy Spirit, they cannot be certain of their salvation.

The Holy Spirit is often depicted as a dove, based on the story of the Holy Spirit descending on Jesus in the form of a dove when he was baptized in the Jordan. The book of Acts describes the Holy Spirit descending on the apostles at Pentecost in the form of a wind and tongues of fire resting over the apostles' heads. Based on the imagery in that account, the Holy Spirit is sometimes symbolized by a flame of fire.

In John's Gospel of the New Testament, the emphasis is placed not upon what the Holy Spirit did for Jesus, but upon Jesus giving the spirit to his disciples. This "Higher" Christology, which was the most influential in the later development of Trinity doctrine, sees Jesus as a sacrificial lamb, and as coming among men in order to grant the Spirit of God to humanity.

Although the language used to describe Jesus' receiving of the Spirit in St. John's gospel is a parallel to accounts in other Gospels, nevertheless, John reports this with the aim in view of showing that Jesus is specially in possession of the Spirit for the purpose of granting the Spirit to his followers, uniting them with Himself, and in Himself also uniting them with the Father. (See Raymond Brown, "The Gospel According to John", chapter on Pneumatology). In John, the gift of the Spirit is equivalent to eternal life, knowledge of God, power to obey, and communion with one another and with the Father.

The Holy Spirit is sometimes referred to as the Holy Ghost (the name used in the King James Version of the Bible), particularly by conservative Pentecostal groups and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The usage was also common before 1901.

According to dispensationalism, we are now living in the Age of the Spirit. The Old Testament period, under this view, may be called the Age of the Father; the period covered by the Gospels, the Age of the Son; from Pentecost until the second advent of Christ.

"Holy Spirit" or "Holy Ghost"

Holy Ghost was the common name for the Holy Spirit in English prior to the twentieth century. It is the name used in the King James Version of the Bible, and is still the preferred name among conservative Pentecostal groups and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

In 1901 the American Standard Version of the Bible translated the name as Holy Spirit as had the English Revised Version of 1881-1885 upon which it was based. Almost all modern English translations have followed suit as the word ghost has lost its old meaning of the spirit or soul that is inside man and come to be identified almost exclusively with the concept of disembodied spirits, usually of the dead, which may "haunt" the living, an idea far from that intended by the King James translators.

The Gender of the Holy Spirit

The Biblical Hebrew word for spirit is ruwach (also transliterated as ruach), meaning wind, breath, inspiration; the noun is grammatically feminine. In the "Odes of Solomon'; the oldest surviving Christian hymnal, the Holy Spirit is grammatically female. The Greek word for spirit, 'pneuma', is of the neuter gender. The Holy Spirit is translated in masculine terms only in languages such as Latin and English.

See the article God and gender for a discussion of how to translate the names of God into English, male and female aspects of the Holy Spirit, and related issues.

See also

• God
• Revelation
• Pneumatology

External links

• Baptism of the Holy Spirit
• the Holy Spirit as a person
• a Lutheran's view of what the Holy Spirit does

Modified after wikipedias article on Holy Spirit licenced under GNU FDL.