Knowing the Holy Spirit through the Old Testament
Digital Logos Edition
Overview
We tend to think of the Holy Spirit as the straggler of the Trinity, a latecomer in God’s interaction with the world. But we first meet the Holy Spirit in the second verse of the Bible, hovering there, speaking the world into existence. Christopher J. H. Wright begins here and traces the Holy Spirit through the pages of the Old Testament. We see the third person of the Trinity in the decrees of prophets and psalmists, in the actions of judges and craftspeople, in the anointing of kings, and in the promise of a new creation. The witness of all Scripture, from its first pages to its last, directs us to a Holy Spirit empowering the people of God and sustaining and renewing the face of the earth.
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- Traces the Holy Spirit through the pages of the Old Testament
- Examines the biblical narratives, psalms, and prophetic texts of the Old Testament
- Describes the Holy Spirit as empowering the people of God
- The Creating Spirit
- The Empowering Spirit
- The Prophetic Spirit
- The Anointing Spirit
- The Coming Spirit
Top Highlights
“So the Creator Spirit is also the provider Spirit. Or, to put it more formally, in this psalm we have moved from the doctrine of creation to the doctrine of providence. God not only brings all things into existence, he also sustains all things by his power. Day by day, season by season, year by year, from age to age, the Spirit of God is there, sustaining and renewing the earth. God the Creator, God the provider—both are truths that the Bible links with the Holy Spirit.” (Page 21)
“For these are the first people in the Bible who are described as ‘filled with the Spirit of God.’” (Page 37)
“All of these great realities, then, are the effect of the divine word, the work of the same Creator Spirit of God, the product of the breath of his mouth. Our worldview must take this into account. We may (or we may not) like to have a strong emphasis on the Holy Spirit in our ministry or in our particular Christian tradition or in our own personal devotion. But have we included this dimension within our biblical understanding of who the Holy Spirit is and what he has done? The Spirit is the one through whom the living God spoke the universe into existence and brought light, order and fullness to the world we now inhabit. He is, as the Nicene Creed puts it, ‘the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life.’” (Pages 18–19)
“Flesh here, in contrast to spirit, means ‘mortal.’ The point is that human beings do not possess ‘natural immortality.’ We live as long as we are given life by God’s Spirit. So, yes, all human life is energized by the Spirit of God, in the sense that we are alive and breathing in God’s world. But all human life is also mortal. We live only as long as that Spirit remains. When God withdraws that Spirit, we revert to what we are—flesh; and we return to what we are made from—dust.” (Page 29)
This little volume does a great service in making the Third Person of the Trinity more known and glorious to our hearts and minds.
—Kent I. Compton, Haddington House Journal
Wright helps us reflect more deeply upon the work of the Holy Spirit from a biblical perspective and, thereby, encourages us to be more fully ‘people of the Spirit.’
—Kevin L. Spawn, Pneuma
- Title: Knowing the Holy Spirit through the Old Testament
- Author: Christopher J. H. Wright
- Publisher: IVP Academic
- Print Publication Date: 2006
- Logos Release Date: 2014
- Pages: 160
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subjects: Holy Spirit › Biblical teaching; Bible. O.T. › Theology
- ISBNs: 9780830889617, 0830825916, 9780830825912, 0830889612
- Resource ID: LLS:KNWNGHLYLTSTMNT
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-30T01:02:57Z
Christopher J. H. Wright is an Anglican clergyman and an Old Testament scholar. He is currently the director of Langham Partnership International. He was the principal of All Nations Christian College. He is an honorary member of the All Souls Church, Langham Place in London, UK. He has written many books, including The God I Don’t Understand: Reflections on Tough Questions of Faith.
