Cornerstone Curriculum, Official Certification Edition

LESSON 4 | GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT: THE PERSON OF THE HOLY SPIRIT / 245

the life-giving, energy-creating power of God. . . . . The ruach-adonai cannot be hindered (is not ‘straitened’), but is like His word, which shall not return unto Him void, but will accomplish that which He pleases.

~ N. H. Snaith. Chapter VII, “The Spirit of God.” The Distinctive Ideas of the Old Testament . pp. 143-158.

2. Old Testament Judaism understood the Holy Spirit to be “the power of God in action.” That power might be demonstrated as:

page 129 & 8

a. Strength in battle (as when the Wind of God parts the Red Sea or when the Judges are empowered in their fight against Israel’s enemies)

b. Various kinds of wisdom (as with the craftsmen at the Tabernacle or Joseph or Daniel having special gifts for the administration of Government).

c. Prophetic utterances (such as those given by Jeremiah or Ezekiel).

In the OT the spirit (rûah) of Yahweh is God’s power in action. . . . A term for both breath blown out and wind blowing . . . rûah has vivid and awesome association when used of God’s energy let loose. It is so used in nearly 100 of its nearly 400 OT appearances. ~“Holy Spirit.” New Dictionary of Theology.

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III. The Power that Gives Life

T heology and E th i c s

A. The Spirit is intimately involved in the creation of the world. Gen. 1.1-2 – In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

Downers Grove, IL/ Leicester, England: Inter-Varsity Press, 1988. p. 316.

1. The Spirit’s “hovering”

See Ray Pritchard, Names of the Holy Spirit . Chicago: Moody Press, 1995. pp. 11, 13, 34.