We have looked over the last few weeks in depth at Scriptures that point to Jesus as God. Naturally, we now come to the third person of the Trinity. So, what of the Spirit? It is the Holy Spirit which is the clearest sign of the new covenant that Jesus cut.

The Old Testament record is typified by the Holy Spirit, or the ‘Ruach HaKodesh’, falling upon individuals. The Spirit anointed people as required by God. We can see that with well-known characters such as Gideon (Jdg 6:34), for Israel’s liberation, and lesser-known characters such as Bezalel, who was given skills to make artistic designs for the Tent of Meeting and the ark.

However, in the New Testament the Holy Spirit becomes the mark of people in relationship with God. Whereas the covenant markers of the Mosaic covenant were physical signs: circumcision, shabbat, keeping kashrut – practices that Paul (as well as the Dead Sea Scrolls), typified as works of the law, essentially the covenantal badges – the covenant marker of the New Testament was the Holy Spirit.

In the Jewish Scriptures, it is the Book of Proverbs which aligns Wisdom to Spirit; and in this step we see a picture of the Trinity’s structure: YHWH (Father) - YHWH Visible (Son) - Spirit (Spirit).

In the New Testament, the Holy Spirit is specifically identified in passages including the following:

Acts 16:6 -7: “Having passed through the regions of Phrygia and Galatia and having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word”.
Romans 8:9: “You are not now in the flesh, but in The Spirit if indeed The Spirit of God dwells in you, for anyone who doesn’t have the Spirit of the Messiah doesn’t belong to Him.”
1 Peter 1:11: “They were trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of the Messiah in them was referring in predicting the Messiah’s sufferings and the glorious things to follow.”
Galatians 4:6-7: “Now because you are sons, God has sent forth into our hearts the Spirit of His Son, the Spirit who cries out, ‘Abba!’ (that is, ‘Dear Father!’). So through God you are no longer a slave but a son, and if you are a son you are also an heir.”

The mark of belonging

However, above and beyond these references the Holy Spirit became the mark of participation in the Jesus community. Indeed, it was the Holy Spirit who enabled Peter to overcome his reservations about gentiles being baptised. Visited by a vision in Joppa, and summoned by a God-fearing Roman centurion, Peter had scarcely begun speaking before the Holy Spirit fell upon a household and meeting of gentiles. In the face of the divine approval, Peter could only challenge the Jews present with him to deny water baptism. It was the Holy Spirit that demonstrated God’s favour to these gentiles which was the marker of covenant relationship.

It was the Holy Spirit that Simon Magus offered money for, recognising the power of His presence. It was the Holy Spirit who called Philip to witness to an Ethiopian eunuch then carried him away to his next mission. The Holy Spirit is the testimony of the early church and He should be our testimony today. In becoming a core element of the covenant community, the Holy Spirit came to be understood as the third part of our Holy Trinity, and it is when we recognise the two core elements of the Godhead then we come to see the literary linkage to the Holy Spirit, and the unequivocal alignment of the Spirit with Jesus. This is most overtly demonstrated when Jesus appears to the disciples at the end of John’s gospel:

“Again Jesus said, ‘Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.’ And with that He breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven’.” (Jn 20:21-23)

The Spirit of God, and of Jesus

This is mirrored in texts in Acts and Romans where we see The Spirit as both the ‘Spirit of God’ and ‘Spirit of Jesus’.

Acts 7:55 – “But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.”
Acts 10:38 – “…how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how He went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with Him.”
Acts 16:7 – “When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to.”
Acts 20:28 – “Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which He bought with His own blood.”
Romans 1:4 – “…and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by His resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Romans 8 is an active example of The Godhead in action with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit all interlinked and distinct within one brief verse:

“And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of His Spirit who lives in you” (Rom 8:4).

God prepares His people

What we see through this four-part in-depth study is that Jesus came into a society already alive and wrestling with the idea of a Godhead. The disciples’ revelation was the recognition that Jesus was YHWH in the flesh and that ‘The Word,’ ‘The Name,’ ‘The Angel of The Lord’ was tabernacling with them. This is why Jewish disciples completely committed to the idea of monotheism were able to come to terms with the idea that Jesus was God in the Flesh, the physical manifestation of God here on earth.

I believe that opening our eyes to see the signs of the Godhead that 2nd Temple Judaism was wrestling with is a clear sign that God spent time preparing His people for the coming of His unique son. In parallel with that, I believe that today God is again opening eyes to this understanding as He prepares His people for the return of Jesus.

Bibliography:

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