The Spirit is the immanent presence and power of God, conveyed through the biblical metaphors of Spirit as the “wind” and “breath” of God. The Spirit is God’s presence amongst us, and God’s power amongst us. To speak of the Spirit as God’s presence or as His power, has both general and specific meanings. In a very generalised way, God as Spirit is everywhere present, in creation, and particularly within the Church. However, this kind of logic by itself, offers us only a very limited idea of the presence and power of God; it certainly does not reflect the greater biblical narratives of the Spirit’s involvement within human life. Nor does it tally with Christian experience. The biblical metaphors do not really support the sometimes-said expression that the Spirit comes as a “gentleman.” What the Bible rather says, is that the Spirit is like the violent stormy wind in nature. The Spirit rushes, possesses, and comes upon people, causing them at times to be besides themselves. Modern first world believers struggle with the idea of the Spirit possessing people. Believers coming out of varied religious backgrounds also struggle because of the immediate referential connotation it carries concerning spirit-possession. However, this is the Scriptural portrayal of how the Holy Spirit immanently and vocationally empowers human beings. Christian life is to be thoroughly, ecstatic. When the Spirit encounters human beings, it is therefore natural that the experience would elicit at times, an emotional response from the human creature- a reaction from the human object. This is indeed a very primitive conception of Spirit as the power of God. Yet it nonetheless lies at the heart of understanding the Spirit as the presence and power of God.
Monte Lee Rice (© copyright February 2007) Bibliographical referencesWalther Eichrodt, Theology of the Old Testament, vol. 2, trans. by J.A. Baker (Philadelphia, PN: The Westminster Press, 1967); Horn, F.W. “Holy Spirit.” In The Anchor Bible Dictionary. Vol. 3. Ed. David Noel Freedman. NY: Doubleday, Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, 1992. 260-280; Edmond. Jacob. Theology of the Old Testament. Trans. by Arthur W. Heathcote and Philip J. Allcock. New York, NY: Harper and Row Publishers, 1958; Hildebrandt, Wilf. An Old Testament Theology of the Spirit of God. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1995
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