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Genesis, Chapter 1 verses 1 and 2:
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters.
Genesis, Chapter 2 verse 7:
Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
In Genesis chapter 1, the word used for Spirit in the phrase, “the Spirit of God”, is the Hebrew word “ruwach”, which can be translated as “wind”, “breath” or “life”.
The word “breath” used in Genesis Chapter 2, in the phrase “the breath of life”, is the Hebrew word “neshemah”, which can be translated as “wind, angry, vital breath…inspiration, soul, spirit”.
These words are so close in meaning that the Hebrew writings use them virtually interchangeably. So translators can use “wind”, “breath” or “Spirit” when translating either Hebrew word.
And of course, even in English, to inspire is to breath in, to inspire is to fill someone with thought and energy, and the spirit of Christmas inspires us all, even non-Christians.
The ‘personalization’ of the Spirit of God is, of course, a Trinitarian concept. In early Christianity there was a great deal of debate about Jesus and God, their relationship to one another, and how to understand certain of the writings in the New Testament. So, for example, in the Book of Mark, Chapter 3 verses 28 and 29, Jesus is reported to have said, “Truly I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”.
Acknowledging first that that is a nearly perfect Universalist claim—“all sins will be forgiven the sons of men”--how does one read that? Is Jesus using the phrase “Holy Spirit” as a separate being, or is he referring to the love and wisdom and good nature of God?
In the Jewish texts, whether the Torah, the Writings or the Prophets, the phrase ”the Spirit of God” is used quite often. But Jewish theology generally would not allow for a co-existent being with God. Isaiah, for example, speaks also of “the spirit of Wisdom”, “the spirit of knowledge”, and “the spirit of judgment”.
The last paragraph of the second book of Chronicles, and the first paragraph of the Book of Ezra, contain the phrase “the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia”.
Neither of these last two citations would indicate a separate person within Cyrus.
There are examples of personification in the Jewish writings, so the book of Proverbs speaks of Wisdom as if she were a person, and describes her as being with God at the creation. But no orthodox Jew reading that would assume that Wisdom really was a separate person. It was Christians who did so and identified Wisdom with Christ.
Given that Jesus in the quote from the Gospel of Mark was speaking out of a Jewish background, was he speaking of the Holy Spirit as a separate person or was he speaking metaphorically in the same manner as the Book of Proverbs speaks of Wisdom.
Your answer to that question will depend upon your own current theology, on whether you are Trinitarian, Unitarian, Jewish, Muslim, Humanist or none of the above.
Historically speaking, the Christians who decided upon the orthodox Trinitarian theology were no longer speaking from within the Jewish faith as the early Christians had been, and were both theologically and “ethnically” (that word in quotes) different. By the time the doctrine of the Trinity was established, the vast majority of Christians were Gentiles and had no sense of identity with the Jewish roots of Christianity, and Christianity had been separated from Judaism for centuries.
Modern Christians often emphasize one person of the Trinity over another. And so some liberal Christian denominations, such as Congregationalists, tend to focus on God the Father. Some more fundamentalist types focus on Jesus as the Christ, and will do healings or exorcisms in which they chase out evil “in the name of Jesus”. Then there are the groups like the Pentecostals who focus on the Spirit, who have worship services in which they wait for and encourage the Spirit to enter them. Pentecostals named themselves after the Pentecost, the Greek name for the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, which takes place fifty days after Passover. In the Book of Acts, it was then that the Holy Spirit entered into the apostles and they spoke in tongues.
Beginning at the time of the Reformation in Europe in the fifteen hundreds, people like Michael Servetus read the Bible and found there no explicit doctrine of the Trinity. They were the forerunners of later Unitarianism. To belabor the obvious, Unitarians were called Unitarians because they rejected the doctrine of the Trinity. And by the way, they saw no blasphemy in that. They believed in the Holy Spirit--that is, in the goodness and truth and inspiration of God--but not in the idea of God in three persons.
Universalists began as a Trinitarian movement, focusing on their belief in universal salvation, though in the United States Universalism soon changed its theology one that was unitarian.
Early Unitarianism, the Unitarianism of the late seventeen and early eighteen hundreds, also tended to be Deist. Deists believe that God created the world, Provided it with all that was needed for life and progress, established natural law, and then, essentially, retired. This was a popular theology at the time. George Washington, for example, though an Episcopalian, was a Deist. Most of the founders of this nation shared that theology.
So within Unitarianism there is a strong current of belief not only that there is no separate Holy Spirit, but also that God takes no day-to-day interest in the affairs of the world. Add to that the influence of the Humanist that there is no God, and one ends with a religion that seems to have little use for the concept of God at all.
I am going to propose a rather unusual and odd idea. I am going to suggest that even if we do not all believe that Jesus is the Christ, God the son, the second person of the Trinity; even if we do not all believe in God the Father, or if we believe in God do not believe in a God that takes an active interest in the world; even if some of us altogether reject the concept of God, there is still good reason to believe in the Holy Spirit.
Sometimes when I am preaching, something happens and I leave my text. Words come out of me from I know not where. They might be angry words, they might be loving words, they might be inspiring words (inspiring—filling with the spirit). Sometimes when I do that, when I leave my text, people stare at me blankly as if I am speaking emotional gibberish. But sometimes that leaving of the text, that opening of self to whatever it is that brings forth words, sometimes that is the highlight of my sermon. Sometimes that is the part that reaches people that touches them within, that breathes life into whatever it is that I am saying.
Sometimes I write my sermon and I leave it unfinished, knowing that the end will come to me as I preach. When I do that, I have made room for the spirit. I have made room for the spirit to enter into me or into my words or into this room, this event, this moment.
That is the Pentecostal moment.
The Pentecostal moment is not about being open to selfishness, to desire, to want; rather it is about being open to truth, to that deep place within the heart or soul where universal truth lives.
What if I could do that in every aspect of my life?
Believing in the Spirit means believing that there is a force for good that flows through the universe. It means believing that the force for good flows around and through us, and it means believing that we can be inspired by it to say and do goodness, whether God’s work or the work of humanity.
Allowing oneself to be open to and inspired by the spirit means that we rise above our selves, become one with the universe, become part of the pulse and flow of the universe, become part of the means of cosmic evolution.
Believing in the spirit and allowing the spirit to flow through us, surrendering to it, does not mean losing self, though it does. The great paradox: Lose yourself to find yourself.
Surrendering to the spirit only means letting go of that which keeps you from being your full self, which keeps you from saying and living the truth you have within.
May the spirit of truth fill me with words of truth. May it fill me with thoughts and acts of truth and well-being for all of the creatures of the world.
May the spirit of courage help me to rise above my fears.
May the spirit of healing help me to rise above my pains and sorrows and sufferings. May it bring me back into the circle of love and fullness.
May the spirit of life fill me now and forever with an appreciation for this moment that I may live it fully and joyfully; this moment now, and now, and now.
May the spirit lift me, and fill me with hope and happiness, bliss and love for all. Amen.
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