Holy Spirit’s Identity

The identity of the Holy Spirit remains somewhat of a mystery to many Bible readers.  This topic is a composite of material excerpted from my previous topics relating to the Godhead: “Tri-unity of God”, “Godhead in Prehistory”, “Holy Spirit Personification”, “Holy Spirit versus Mariolatry”, “Names/Titles of God in the Old Testament”.

In the English language, the word “God” is customarily used for Deity.  Only the true God is Divine.

The Bible indicates there are 3 “Persons” in the Godhead, the Godkind or God Family: Father, Holy Spirit, Jesus the Son/Word.  They are identical in essence, fully divine, a tri-unity of subsistences having self-awareness.  The God Family is uni-plural, as “one” (echad, Hebrew Strongs h259) in nature.

The tripartite Godhead is revealed to us by Jesus the Son’s coming in the flesh and His words in the New Testament (NT), by other scriptures, and by the Holy Spirit (HS) indwelling us as Christians.  It’s been said in analogy that the Father is the wall outlet, the HS is the cord, Jesus is the lamp (Re.21:23).

Father God is in heaven.  God has operated through the HS and Jesus.  Ac.2:34 Jesus ascended into heaven and now sits there at Father’s right hand (and Jesus lives mystically in Christians, Jn.17:21-23 & Col.1:27).  The human Jesus wasn’t omnipresent.  The HS is on earth…omnipresent.  David wrote in Ps.139:7-10, “Where can I go from Your Spirit, where can I flee from Your Presence?”  Not anywhere.

The Father sent Jesus.  Jn.12:49 Jesus said, “The Father who sent Me has given Me commandment.”  The two are distinct.  The Father also sends the HS. Jn.14:26 “The Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send.”  Jesus too sends the HS (Jn.16:7).  So all three are distinct!  But neither Jesus nor the HS sends the Father!  They differ in order and subordination.  The human Jesus wasn’t omniscient.  Mt.24:36 “Of that day and hour no one knows, not the Son, the Father only.” (see “Jesus Is God…Jesus Has A God”.)

The HS belongs to and was part of Father God, has personality, but isn’t the totality of God.  God is a triad: 2Co.13:14 “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the HS be with you all.”  2Co.1:21-22 “He who establishes us in Christ and anointed us is God, who also gave us the Spirit.”  Ep.4:4-6 “There is one Spirit, one Lord, one God and Father of all.”  (That’s three!)  Ac.7:55 “Being full of the HS, Stephen saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God.”  He.9:14 “Christ, who through the eternal Spirit, offered Himself without blemish to God.”  1Co.12:4-6 “The same Spirit…the same Lord…the same God.”  (Again, that’s three.)  1Pe.1:2 “Elect according to a foreknowledge of God the Father, sanctified by the Spirit, sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ.”

The triune God is thrice holy: One Spirit…one Lord…one Father (Ep.4:4-6).  Is.6:3 “Holy, Holy, Holy is YHVH of hosts.”  A three-in-one Godhead.  The heavenly worshipers in Re.4:8 “Do not cease to say, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God, the Almighty”.

The terms for God as “Father” and “Holy Spirit” rarely occur as such in the Old Testament (OT).

The Holy Spirit in the OT: Is.48:16 “The Lord God and His Spirit have sent Me.”  Job.33:4 “The Spirit of God has made me.”  Pr.1:20-23 “Wisdom lifts her voice, ‘I will pour out My Spirit on you.”

Every human has a spirit within.  Jb.32:8 “There is a spirit in man.”  Our human spirit gives biological life to our body of flesh (Ge.2:7).  Ja.2:26 “The body without the spirit is dead.”  Without our human spirit, we’re just a clod.  Our spirit in God’s image imparts self-awareness and intellect to our brain.  It’s a non-physical component which differentiates human mind from animal brain instinct.  Our spirit gives us a moral sense of conscience, based mostly upon the self and cultural customs & laws.  The HS will join with our human spirit (1Co.6:17); we become linked to God, able to obey God’s morality.

The Holy Spirit, ministering spirits (angels), our human spirits…aren’t an impersonal Star Wars type force!  Our human spirit is me, is you, within our flesh ‘suit’.  (see “Spirits – Made by God in Light”.)

Ontology is the study of being.  God, angels, humans are called personal beings.  But God’s Being isn’t finite or limited, as we are limited.  Scripture doesn’t define ‘person’ (the term we use in modern English), and doesn’t apply that term to the triune God.  The Latin persona was a ‘face’ worn by Greek/Roman dramatic actors.  Church fathers applied the Greek term hypostases (entities) to God.

The HS speaks in 1^st Person as “Me” and “I” in Ac.13:2. “The Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work which I have called them to.”  Also ref Ac.11:12, Jn.16:13, Mk.13:11, which indicate the HS is personal and speaks.  2Sm.23:2-3 “The Spirit of YHVH spoke by me. The God of Israel.”  The HS is God/YHVH.  But who was/is this Holy Spirit of God?

Theóphilus, the 6^th bishop of Antioch (born approximately 20 years after the apostle John died), was the first to use the term trinity/triad.  In 175 AD he wrote To Autolýcus, 2:10. “God, having His own Word internal within His own bowels, begat Him, emitting Him along with His own Wisdom before all things.”  Theophilus’ triad was “The Trinity of [Father] God, His Word, and His Wisdom.” (Autolycus 2:15)

Wikipedia: Theophilus of Antioch “Theophilus’s apology is most notable for being the earliest extant Christian work to use the word ‘Trinity’ (Greek: τριάς trias), although it does not use the common formula of ‘the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit’ to describe the Trinity. Rather, Theophilus himself puts it as ‘God, his Word (Logos) and his Wisdom (Sophía)’ [To Autolycus 2:15], perhaps following the early Christian practice of identifying the Holy Spirit as the Wisdom of God [Autolycus 1:7].”

“This is also expressed in the works of his contemporary, Irenáeus of Lyons, who writes [Ps.33:6], ‘By the word of the Lord were the heavens established, and by his spirit all their power. Since then the Word establishes, gives body and grants the reality of being, and the Spirit gives order and form to the diversity of the powers; rightly and fittingly is the Word called the Son, and the Spirit the Wisdom of God’. [Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching] ‘In like manner also the 3 days which were before the luminaries, are types of the Trinity, of God, and His Word, and His wisdom. And the 4^th is the type of man, who needs light, that so there may be God, the Word, wisdom, man.’ [To Autolycus 2:15]”

Irenaeus is called the most important theologian of his time.  He lived from 130–200 AD, having been taught by Polycarp (in Smyrna), who was a disciple of the apostle John.  

Residing in Lyons, France, Irenaeus wrote in Against Heresies. “The Son is rightly and properly called Word, while the Spirit is called the Wisdom [Sophia] of God”.  Ibid 4.7.4 “The Son and the Holy Spirit, the Word and Wisdom [Sophia], whom all the angels serve.”  4:20:3 “God tells us through the mouth of Solomon that Sophia is the Spirit.”  Sophia (Strongs g4678) is the Greek term for Wisdom.

Christian historian Robert Grant Greek Apologists of the 2^nd Century, p.169 “Theophilus and almost every early Christian theologian agreed the Logos (like Sophia/Wisdom) was originally in God”.

Jesus referred to the apocryphal Wisdom of Solomon (WSol).  cf. Mt.27:43 & WSol.2:13, 18; Lk.11:31 & WSol.8:1.  (The apostle Paul referred to WSol too.  cf. WSol.13:5, 8 & Ro.1:19-20 KJV “Godhead”.)

Jesus said the Queen of Sheba “Came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon” (Mt.12:42, 1Ki.10:1-4).  Jesus also referred to the apocryphal Wisdom of Sirach (WSir)/Ecclesiasticus.  cf. Mt.6:14 & WSir 28:2.  WSol was written ca 20 BC; WSir was written ca 180 BC in Hebrew.

WSol.7:22, 25 “In herself, wisdom is a spirit that is understanding, Holy. She is the breath of the power of God, and the emanation of the pure glory of the Almighty.”  Wisdom is the Holy Spirit, split-off or spirated or emanated through God’s breath/mouth.  WSol.8:3-4 “She glorifies her noble birth by living with God, and the Master of all loves her.”  Pr.8:30 “I [wisdom] was daily His delight.”

WSol and WSir reflect how Jews believed and interpreted Proverbs & Wisdom in latter BC times.  Wisdom is sophia (g4678) in Greek, and chokmáh (h2451) in Hebrew.  Orthodox Bible “The Holy Spirit receives eternal existence only from the Father.”  Wisdom says in Pr.8:25 LXX, “He begets [gennáo g1080] Me”.  Philo On Flight and Finding (p.325) “Wisdom, even if it be most ancient of all other things, still has only second place to that Omnipotent Being.”  Father God is the Most High God.

Solomon’s prayer of WSol.9:4, 10, 17, “Give me the wisdom that sits by Your throne…Send her forth from Your holy heavens…Send Your Holy Spirit from on high.”  Wisdom the HS sat beside God’s throne in the heavens, as a Queen beside the King’s throne.  The real ‘Queen of Heaven’ isn’t Ishtar, or other pagan goddesses (cf. Je.44:17)…rather, She’s the feminine HS.

In Lk.7:35, Jesus indicated His Mother is Wisdom, the HS.  Connecting in order the following seven verses will identify the (feminine) HS: Jl.2:28a, Pr.1:20, 23, De.34:9a, Nu.27:18, Mt.1:18b, Lk.7:35.

The Works of Philo, p.85, 331, 405 “The Word [Logos, Greek] has received wholly pure parents…God being the Father and husband of wisdom, the mother of the Word….the Divine Logos flows forth from Wisdom.”  Creation reflects/teaches that it’s impossible to have a father without having a mother!

In our various languages, we use terms which correspond to the ancient Hebrew & Greek terms chosen by the Bible writers to identify and describe the ‘Persons’ of the God Family.  Jewish and Christian theology usually refers to God in male language and images, yet agrees it doesn’t adequately express all that the Divine is.  The Godhead possesses all the masculine and feminine attributes.  God is so great!

Wisdom is a personified hypostasis (a Greek term used in early Christian writings) or entity of God’s divine essence.

God reflects masculine roles: Ps.103:13 Father.  Ho.2:16 husband.  Ps.98:6 king.  Ex.15:3 warrior.

God reflects feminine roles: Is.66:13 Mother.  Is.42:14 pregnant.  Ps.22:9 midwife.  Ps.123:2 mistress.

Again, Wisdom is the Holy Spirit.  WSol.1:4-5 “Wisdom won’t enter the soul that plots evil. For a holy spirit of discipline flees from deceit.”  Again, WSol.9:17 “Unless You have given him wisdom and sent Your Holy Spirit from on high.”  Nu.27:18 “Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit.”  De.34:9 “Joshua the son of Nun was filled with the Spirit of wisdom.”  Omnipresent, at God’s throne in heaven, and within Joshua, was the HS Wisdom.  And Wisdom is “Her”.

Jesus was conceived in the virgin Mary by the HS (Lk.1:35 the HS came upon Mary); and John the Baptizer was filled with the HS in his mother’s womb (Lk.1:15).  Speaking of Himself and John, Jesus said in Lk.7:33-35, “Wisdom is justified by her children”.  Jesus, the Child conceived by Wisdom the HS, speaks of Wisdom as “her”!  (As did Proverbs, etc.)  Jesus’ words are authoritative and truth!

The Hebrew grammatical gender of Bible nouns has significance.  But this doesn’t mean God the HS is literally a woman!  Yet the HS is grammatically and figuratively “she/her”.

In OT scripture, the ancient Hebrew (Heb) language attached gender to Spirit essence.  The Heb term for spirit (rúach h7307, and Aramaic rúach h7308) is feminine (fem).  The Heb term for wisdom (chokmah h2451) is fem.  In the OT Septúagint/LXX and NT both, the Greek (Gr) term for wisdom is sophia g4678.  Solomon wrote in Pr.7:4, “Call wisdom your sister”.  Sisters are of course feminine, not masculine (masc).  In Pr.9:1-3, wisdom is “she/her”.  WSir.4:11 “Wisdom exalts her children.”  WSir.24:18 of Wisdom, “I AM the mother of love that is beautiful. I therefore, being eternal, am given to all My children who are picked by Him.”  (Father God picks His elect: Ep.1:3-5, 17, Jn.6:44.)  And Jesus knew Himself to be a Child of Wisdom/Sophia/“her” in Lk.7:35.

Elóah h433 is a Heb term for God, occurring 55 times in the OT (mostly in Job and poetic passages).  Jb.27:3 “The spirit of God [Eloah h433] is in my nostrils.”  The –ah ending is indicative of fem singular.  The most common OT Heb term for God is Elohím h430.  Elohim is a masc plural ending –im (Father and Son), combined with the fem singular root Eloah (HS/Wisdom) or possibly El.  Three.

Also the modern Heb fem term ‘shekínah’ represents the Divine Presence, the OT fire-cloud of glory.

Heb grammar too uses masc pronouns for God.  Heb & Aramaic has no neuter (no “it”); all nouns are masc or fem.  Again, the Heb term for spirit (ruach) is fem.  But unlike Heb, the Greek term for spirit (pneúma) is neuter.  The Latin term for spirit (spirítus) is masc.  Noun gender varies in languages.  In translated languages, gender doesn’t have the significance as in the original inspired Hebrew scripture.

In English, translators render pronouns with the Gr pneuma/spirit (neuter) as he masc, e.g. Jn.14:26. (or it neuter, Ro.8:26 KJV.)  Some of this is revisionism.  This practice subconsciously makes men seem more like God than do women.  Yet in 2Co.6:18, Paul wrote that God said, “You shall be sons and daughters to Me”.  In Jn.14:26, the Gr masc term paráclete is translated Comforter/Helper, and refers to the Gr neuter term Spirit.  Here translators chose to use the pronoun He.  But since God has both masc and fem characteristics (Is.42:13-14, Ps.123:2), Heb personal noun gender is more meaningful.  Later languages such as Greek, Latin, English don’t maintain the original Heb gender in translation.

The most ancient of the rare Old Syriac copies, the Siniatic Palimpsest (300s–400s AD), was found in 1892 in the Covenant of St. Catherine by Syriac Professor R.L. Bensly (Cambridge Univ).  Jesus’ words in Jn.14:26 read: “But She—the Spirit-the Paraclete whom He will send to you-my Father in my name —She will teach you everything; She will remind you of that which I told you.”  The Spirit is feminine to the Syriac church (as the ancient Aramaic ruach/spirit was fem), unlike Greek and Latin grammar.

J.J. Hurtak: “The Spirit is not called ‘it’ despite the fact that pneuma [spirit] in Greek is a neuter noun. Church doctrine regards the Holy Spirit as a person, not a force like magnetism. In the Eastern Church, Spirit was always considered to have a feminine nature. She was the life-bearer of the faith.”

The Westminster Leningrad Codex (1008 AD) is the oldest complete Heb manuscript.  In its ultra-literal interlinear English translation online: Is.11:2 “And she rests on him, spirit of YHVH.”  Ps.143:10 “Good spirit of you Elohim, she shall guide me.”  Nu.11:26 “The spirit, she is resting on them.”  Ezk.37:1 “She becomes hand of YHVH on me in spirit of YHVH.”  Jb.33:4 “Spirit of El, she made me; breath of Who-Suffices, she is keeping me alive.”  (Ec.12:1 “Remember Ones creating you.”…“Us” in Ge.1:26.)

From our Is.11:2. “The Spirit of the Lord shall rest on Him [Messiah], the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.”  The LXX adds “godliness”.  Seven attributes!  And they’re all fem nouns!  Wisdom is primary (Pr.4:7).

In Pr.8:12-14, Wisdom speaks in 1^st Person. “I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, I find knowledge and discretion. The fear of the Lord. Counsel is mine. I AM understanding, strength is mine.”  These attributes are all fem!  Philo AI1 p.29…On Flight and Finding, p.325 “He called that Divine & heavenly Wisdom by many names….Indeed all the virtues bear the names of women.”  It’s not just coincidence.

Oswald Chambers’ Christian devotional, My Utmost For His Highest, is one of the most popular religious books ever written.  In it he wrote, “I am the Almighty God’ – El-Shaddaí, the Father-Mother God. The one thing for which we are all being disciplined is to know that God is real.”  God is both Father and Mother.  El Shaddai (h7706) has been described or defined as the ‘mighty breasted One’.

We may say the Father is the Source, Possessor, Director, Planner.  The Son is the Spokesman, the Executor, Mediator, Ruler.  The HS is Wisdom, the Omnipresence, the Comforter…and the Glory!

Father God is Jesus’ Father, and Jesus referred to Himself as the Child of Wisdom (Lk.7:35), His Mother.  In the NT, Jesus never called Mary, “mother”!  He referred to the surrogate Mary as “woman”.  Jn.2:4 “Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, what have I to do with you?”  Jn.19:26 “When Jesus saw His mother and the disciple He loved nearby, He said to His mother, ‘Woman, behold your son!”

Jesus was fully God in the flesh…both His Father and Mother are God!  The womb of Mary, the “woman” as Jesus lovingly called her, served to form Him in the flesh to become the God-Man.  The 300s AD Apostles Creed reads, “I believe in Jesus Christ, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary”.  Mary birthed Jesus.  Ga.4:4 “God sent forth His Son, born of a woman.”  Lk.1:35 “The angel said, ‘The Holy Spirit will come, and the power of The Highest will overshadow you [Mary]; therefore the Holy One to be born shall be called Son of God.”  Orthodox Study Bible Lk.1:35 “Note the revelation of the Holy Trinity: The Father (The Highest), the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”  The Father overshadowed the HS upon Mary, and God’s Son Jesus was conceived.

Chinese preacher Witness Lee was part of the Christian work started by Watchman Nee.  Lee’s Living With and In the Divine Trinity”, p.39 “Lk.1:35 shows the Holy Spirit coming upon Mary…the Most High, God the Father, overshadowing Mary…and the birth of the holy thing, the Son of God. Thus the entire Divine Trinity was involved in the conception.”  The Son was conceived into Mary by His divine Parents, who are both God.

Father God didn’t somehow have sexual relations with Mary, who was engaged to the man Joseph (Mt.1:18).  It was adultery to have sex with a woman married or betrothed to another.  De.22:23-27 God’s penalty for such adultery was death.  Surely, Father God wasn’t an (figurative) adulterer!

Furthermore, Mary was of a different kind…she was the human kind, not the Godkind.  God’s principle of biogenesis reflects each creation reproducing only according to its kind (ref Ge.1:11-12, 21, 24-25, 6:19-20, Mt.7:16, 1Co.15:38-39).  Father God is Spirit, not flesh, Jn.4:23-24.  The term incubus pertains to a spirit having sex with a human woman.  Heathen gods, such as Zeus/Jupiter, supposedly had sex with mortal women and produced offspring.

Philo Judaeus (25 BC–50 AD), The Works of Philo, AI2:14:49 “The mother of all things…the wisdom of God.”  Again, Jesus indicated He was the Child of her, Wisdom/Sophia, Mt.11:19 KJV.  Pr.1:20-23 “Wisdom lifts her voice, ‘I will pour out My Spirit upon you.” (cf. Jl.2:28a)  She is the Holy Spirit.

Early church writings in various countries attest to the feminine HS.  The fragmentary Gospel to the Hebrews was written in Greek (probably at Alexandria) in the early 100s AD, for Jewish Christians.  The HS is Jesus’ Divine Mother in its Christology.  In one quotation Jesus declared, “My mother, the Holy Spirit took Me, and conveyed Me to the great mount Tabor”.  (cf. Lk.7:35 regarding Jesus’ mother.)

Áphrahat (280–345 AD) wrote in Syriac in Persia. Demonstrations VI “The Spirit, She opens the heavens and descends, and hovers over the waters; and those who are baptized put Her on.”  From Aphrahat’s Demonstration X, “As long as a man hasn’t taken a wife, he loves and reveres God his Father and the Holy Spirit his Mother.”  (Re.19:7-9 is Jesus’ metaphorical marriage to Christians.)

Éphrem the Syrian (306–373 AD) was perhaps the most significant of all the Syriac language fathers, called ‘the greatest poet of the patristic age’.  His Hymnen de Ecclesia identifies the Spirit as feminine.

Robert Murray Symbols of Church and Kingdom, p.25 “The Syriac Fathers, as is well known, attributed female gender to the Holy Spirit in the first centuries after Christ; seeing the Holy Spirit especially as ‘Mother.”  The early Eastern Church originally believed the HS was She/Her.

But after some time, the Syriac church lost or suppressed the original OT & apocryphal Jewish concept of the fem HS or shekinah.  By the 500s AD, a masc HS was becoming more the norm.  Possibly this was due to Western influence, and because some heretical groups misused the feminine imagery.

Over the centuries, the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) has made Mary a counterfeit or substitute for the scriptural person of Wisdom/Sophia/Mother.  Yet a counterfeit presumes a prior genuine!  It was Wisdom who sat beside God’s throne as Queen (WSol.9:4).  She was beside YHVH at the beginning (Pr.8:22, 30).  The original Queen of Heaven (cf. Je.7:18) wasn’t a counterfeit Astarte or Isis…or Mary!

The surrogate Mary carried and birthed Jesus the Son of God.  She’s a godly woman.  But not a co-redemptrix or mediatrix; not due near-goddess status!  The RCC believes Mary was always sinless.  However, Mary herself indicated that she too needs a Savior!  Lk.1:46-47 Mary exulted, “My spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior”.  Mary knew she was a sinner needing a Savior, as does all of humanity.

The early Syriac writers didn’t present the HS as a literal woman.  But by the 500s AD she’d become masculine.  It seems the concept of a fem HS became dangerous to the structure of the church.  Even by the time the HS had become a confirmed member of the trinity (Council of Constantinople in 381 AD), the HS was described as masc, despite having nurturing fem qualities!  But Ge.1:2, 26-27 females too embody God’s image!  Male and female both are created in the image (masc) and likeness (fem) of God.  Martin Luther reportedly was ‘not ashamed of speaking of the HS in feminine terms’.

Count Zinzendorf (1700–1760) was leader of the Moravian church in Czechoslovakia and America.  To Zinzendorf, the HS was feminine, the Creator (Ge.1:2, 26 “Us”) and Mother.  He wrote, “She has created the world with the Savior and now is remaking every child until it is a new creation, and becomes one in the spirit with him; She nurses and watches until it is grown.”

Again, in the NT Jesus never referred to Mary as His mother (or to Joseph as His father).  By the early 300s AD, the church was embroiled in the Arian controversies.  Many didn’t want Jesus begotten before time began.  But in the 300s AD, many did want women suppressed.  A quandary existed.  So they hushed scriptures which related to Wisdom/Sophía the HS too having been “brought forth” in past eternity…though Wisdom herself says in Pr.8:25b LXX, “He begets [gennao g1080] Me”.

Over the centuries AD, Mother Wisdom/Sophia became assimilated into the cult of the virgin Mary.  It elevated Mary, the counterfeit or replacement for Wisdom the HS.  Mariolatry ensued in the RCC.

For more details relating to the divine God Family, see my other topics: “Tri-unity of God”, “Godhead in Prehistory”, “Holy Spirit Personification”, “Holy Spirit versus Mariolatry”, “Names/Titles of God in the Old Testament”, “Jesus is God…Jesus Has a God”, “Jesus Was the Old Testament God”, “Jesus Is the Messiah”, “Jesus’ Virgin Birth”, “Savior’s Name in Bible Languages”.

Spiritual Gifts and ‘Tongues’

The Lord gives gifts of the Spirit to New Testament (NT) Christians, which enable them to accomplish God’s will and purposes.  This topic surveys the various gifts of the Holy Spirit (HS).

In Christian conversion we’re introduced to godly life via the Bible, the HS, and the church.  Peter said in Ac.2:38, “Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit”.  Freely.  The HS will indwell the repentant Christian.

Christians are the allegorical branches which bear the fruit of the HS.  (Jesus is the vine, Jn.15:5.)  Jn.15:16 Jesus exhorted His disciples, “You should bear fruit, and your fruit should remain”.  Kinds of fruit of the Spirit are seen in Paul’s writings.  e.g. Ga.5:22-23 “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, [etc.].”  The topic “Living Water Produces Spiritual Fruit” identifies 12 fruit of the HS in the NT.

The HS reflects God’s character.  Attributes of the HS are seen in Is.11:2 LXX. “The Spirit of God…the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge [Strongs g1108 gnósis, Greek] and godliness…the spirit of the fear of God.”  These seven attributes of the indwelling (sevenfold) HS are imparted to Christians.  JFB Commentary Is.11:2 “Compare ‘the seven Spirits’ (Re.1:4, 4:5), the Holy Ghost in perfect fullness; seven being the sacred number.”

Attributes of the HS are also reflected in Pr.8:12-14. “I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, I find knowledge and discretion. The fear of the Lord. Counsel is Mine. I AM understanding, strength is mine.”  (The identity & characteristics of the HS are addressed in the topic “Holy Spirit Personification”.)

Holy Spirit indwelling imparts boldness, power, and gifts for Christians.  (see also “Holy Spirit-Filled”.)

1Co.12 is about gifts of the Spirit.  The HS distributes various gifts to the church according to God’s choosing.  Paul wrote in 1Co.12:1, “Concerning various spiritual gifts, I don’t want you to be unaware”.  v.4-7 “There are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit….for the common good.”  For mutual edification.

1Co.12:8-11 “To one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge [g1108] by the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts [g5486 chárisma] of healing, to another workings of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discerning of spirits, to another kinds of tongues [g1100], to another the interpretation of tongues. There is only one Spirit who does all these things by giving what God wants to give to each person.”  God, not man, determines which gifts and functions are given to whom.  We don’t prescribe our gift(s).

Bible teachers divide the above nine gifts into three groups.  Word of wisdom, word of knowledge, discerning of spirits are revelatory gifts.  Faith, healings, miracles are called power gifts.  Prophecy, tongues, interpretation of tongues are vocal gifts.  (Miracles and healings, e.g. Ja.5:14-16, are ongoing.)

In the Old Testament (OT), the patriarch Joseph was given a lengthy word of wisdom plan for the sustenance of Egypt during seven years of famine (Ge.41:33-ff).  Samuel was given the word of knowledge that Saul’s donkeys had been lost three days ago (1Sm.9:3, 20).

Paul lists and orders other giftings of the Spirit in 1Co.12:28-30. “God has appointed in the church: 1^st apostles, 2^nd prophets, 3^rd teachers, then miracles, gifts of healings, helps, administrations, various tongues. All are not apostles, are they? All are not prophets, are they?…not teachers, not workers of miracles? All don’t have gifts of healings…all don’t speak with tongues…all don’t interpret [tongues]? But earnestly desire the greater gifts.”  Paul asked rhetorical questions.

Ministry giftings of the HS are apostles, prophets, teachers…in that order.  Deacons/ministerial servants (g1249 diákonos) and others perform “helps”.  Shepherds, overseers, elders do “administrations” and counseling, and may prophesy.  Ep.4:11-13 “He gave some apostles, and prophets, evangelists, shepherds [poimén g4166], and teachers; for equipping the saints for service, to the building up of the body of Christ.”  Evangelists and missionaries spread the gospel.  Interestingly, Spiritual Gifts: Evangelist, Pastor and Teaching/Teacher notes, “The church office of ‘pastor’ wasn’t an official title during the 1^st century church”.  (Though shepherds ‘pasture’ the sheep.)  It is understood that the Lord Jesus is our ultimate Shepherd & Bishop/overseer (g1985 epískopos)…ref Jn.10:14, He.13:20, 1Pe.2:25.

Paul also wrote about gifts in Ro.12:4-8, 13. “Just as we have many members in one body and all the members don’t have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ. We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us.”  In this passage, Paul includes serving, exhorting, giving, contributing to the needs of others, hospitality, etc.  (also see “Church Structure and Member Functions”.)  The HS provides multi-faceted gifts to build up God’s church and disseminate the gospel.

What do “prophets” (g4396) do, or what constitutes the gift of prophecy in scripture (1Co.12:10, 28)?  Prophets “prophesy” (g4395) and may foretell the future.  Ac.11:27-28 “Some prophets [g4396] came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. Ágabus began to indicate by the Spirit that there would be a great famine throughout the Roman world. This took place during the reign of Claudius [41-54 AD].”

NT prophets may resemble the OT seer or ‘see-er’ who ‘saw’ God’s will and God’s acts into the future (1Sm.9:9-11, 2Sm.24:11-ff), sometimes via visions (Nu.12:6, 2Ch.9:29).  Lk.24:44 Jesus spoke of the tripartite division of the OT into “the Law and the Prophets” (g4396), and the Psalms/Writings.

But NT prophets may not foretell future events.  In Ac.15:32, two prophets exhorted and strengthened the church brethren with a lengthy message.  Paul wrote in 1Co.14:1-3, “Especially desire to prophesy. One who prophesies [g4395] speaks to people for edification, encouragement and consolation.”  Greek Bible scholar Dr. Spiros Zódiates: Prophesy “To declare truths through the inspiration of God’s Holy Spirit, whether by prediction or not.”  Paul stated concerning church meetings in 1Co.14:29, “Let two or three prophets speak”.  Merriam-Webster defines Prophecy (g4394) as “The inspired declaration of divine will and purpose”.  It may or may not involve predicting future events.

What are NT “tongues” and the glossolália (tongue-talking) phenomenon?  The Greek term for tongues is g1100 glossá singular, glossái plural; occurring 50 times in the NT.  The term can refer to the bodily organ of speech in the mouth, 18 times: Mk.7:33, 35; Lk.1:64, 16:24; Ac.2:3, 26; Ro.3:13, 14:11; 1Co.14:9; Php.2:11; Ja.1:26, 3:5-6 (3), 8; 1Pe.3:10; 1Jn.3:18; Re.16:10.  Also, it refers to a distinct language/dialect and ecstatic utterances, 32 times (the citations are below).

In the baptism of the HS, recipients of the gift of tongues were enabled to speak dialects/languages they hadn’t learned.  Ac.2:4 Jesus’ disciples in Jerusalem “were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues [glossai g1100] as the Spirit gave them utterance”.  These tongues were mostly unlearned ethnic dialects of other nations (not the Aramaic or Greek spoken locally).  The gift of ethnic tongues would help the apostles effectively communicate to the nations in spreading the gospel.

But not all tongues via the HS were ethnic dialects.  Some tongues were ecstatic utterances, not dialects spoken in nations.  In reading the NT “tongues” passages, how can we distinguish which was which?

Dr. Zodiates explains that the NT Greek grammar shows the distinction. “When the word glossai is used in the plural with a singular pronoun, reference is made to ethnic languages. When the word ‘tongue’ is used in the singular glossa with a singular personal pronoun, it refers to the Corinthian ecstatic utterance.”  The Greek g1100 noun form is the key!  Is it plural or singular?  Plural glossai = ethnic dialects.  Singular glossa = ecstatic utterances.  Following is the breakdown of verses:

Tongues as ethnic dialects (g1100 glossai plural) occur 24 times: Mk.16:17; Ac.2:4, 11, 10:46, 19:6; 1Co.12:10 (2), 28, 30, 13:1, 8, 1Co.14:5 (2), 6, 18, 22, 39; Re.5:9, 7:9, 10:11, 11:9, 13:7, 14:6, 17:15.

Tongues as ecstatic utterances (g1100 glossa singular) occur 7 times: 1Co.14:2, 4, 13-14, 19, 26-27.  These 7 occurrences are found only in 1Co.14…nowhere else in the NT.

To aid reader understanding, the KJV, Young’s Literal Translation, and others inserted the English word “unknown” in 6 of the 7 preceding 1Co.14 verses…to show that those tongues referred to ecstatic utterances.  (1Co.14:26 KJV “unknown” wasn’t added; yet v.26 CEV has “an unknown language”.)  Possibly the old KJV translators, Robert Young, and others understood the grammatical significance?!

Dr. Zodiates also says that the word tongue (g1100) refers to the ecstatic utterance when it’s used “in the plural with a plural pronoun [1Co.14:23]”.  1Co.14:23 CEV (the 8^th occurrence), “Suppose everyone in your worship service started speaking unknown languages [g1100], and some outsiders or unbelievers come in. Won’t they think you are crazy?”  cf. Ac.2:13 at Pentecost when the tongues miracle first occurred. “Others made fun of the Lord’s followers and said, ‘They are drunk.”  Perhaps Jesus’ disciples also uttered ecstatic syllables on that occasion?

In Ac.2, Jews and proselytes from all over the Roman world had come to Jerusalem.  Ac.2:6 they each heard Jesus’ disciples speaking in the “language” (diálektos g1258, occurs 6 times, all in Acts) of their own nation; actual languages heard & understood by the many pilgrims visiting Jerusalem at Pentecost.  Some varieties of dialektos and glossai: Aramaic was Eastern (Babylon) and Western (Judea); Greek was Attic, Doric, Aeólic, Ionic, Koiné.  (Linguists debate whether the root class is dialektos or glossai.)

Jewish meturganim were skilled language interpreters.  These would stand beside the reader of Hebrew (or Greek?) OT verses and interpret/render the teaching into the language of the listeners.  ref Ne.8:8.

Paul claimed in 1Co.14:18 KJV, “I speak with tongues [g1100] more than you all”.  Paul was well-educated and well-traveled; he could speak a variety of dialects.

1Co.13:1 “Though I speak with the tongues [g1100] of men and of angels.”  Paul also may have spoken non-human languages or ecstatic utterances.  Benson Commentary 1Co.13:1 “The apostle doubtless meant…a much more excellent language than any that is spoken by men.”  Bengel’s Gnomen “Angels excel men, and the tongue or tongues of the former excel those of the latter.”  JFB Commentary “Speaking a more exalted language.”  Expositor’s Greek Testament “Ecstatic and inarticulate forms of speech…‘tongues of angels’ describes this mystic utterance at its highest.”

Are tongues passé today?  Paul wrote in 1Co. 13:8, “Whether there are prophecies [g4394], they shall be done away; whether tongues [g1100], they shall cease; whether knowledge [g1108], it shall be done away”.  Some churchgoers think the gift of tongues is obsolete.  But McLaren Expositions 1Co.13:8 disagrees, “It is not what Paul means here”.  Benson Commentary “When God is ‘all in all’ [1Co.15:28] …tongues shall cease.”  God is not yet “all in all”; that time is still future.  Barnes Notes “In the light and glory of the world above….the future life.”  Matthew Poole Commentary “Another world…where there will be no prophesying, no speaking with diverse tongues.”

Paul wrote of the “word of knowledge” (g1108) as a spiritual gift in the prior chapter, 1Co.12:8.  Knowledge (g1108) is an attribute of the HS, Is.11:2 LXX.  (HS intuitive knowledge isn’t the arrogant carnal knowledge so-called in 1Co.8:1.)  The knowledge had by the HS isn’t done away!  For Paul to be consistent, the gifts of prophecy and tongues also aren’t obsolete in the present world.

How many dialects are there on earth?  Christian Lingua (2018) “According to Ethnologue, there are 7,097 known languages in the world. At least part of the Bible has been translated into 3,312 of the 7,097 languages.”  The Bible has been translated into only 47% of the world’s languages!  “Tongues” are still needed to spread God’s word into many remote little-known dialects.

Lastly, Paul recognized the spiritual gift of the “interpretation of tongues” (1Co.12:10, 1Co.14:26).  This gift is used in conjunction with the gift of tongues.

1Co.14:27-28 “If someone speaks in a tongue [g1100], let two, or at the most three speak in turn, and someone must interpret what was said. But if there’s no interpreter, let him keep silent in the church, and speak to himself and to God.”  Paul indicates that tongues may be spoken in church meetings only if there’s an interpretation present.

Else just speak ecstatically as a prayer language to God privately at home, and edify the self.  1Co.14:4 “One who speaks in a tongue edifies himself.”  Paul continues in 1Co.14:14-15, “For if I pray in a (unknown) tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful. What shall I do? I will pray/sing with the spirit and I will pray/sing with understanding also.”  Paul differentiated praying in the spirit from praying with one’s understanding mind.  Gill Exposition 1Co.14:15 “In an unknown language.”  Vincent Word Studies 1Co.14:15 “Songs improvised under the spiritual ecstasy.”

Compare Jude 1:20 “You, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit.”  Cambridge Bible Jude 1:20 “The ecstatic outpouring of prayer.”  (perhaps also Ro.8:26 & Ep.6:18?)  Although ecstatic tongues/groanings/intercessions were specifically addressed only in Corinth (1Co.14), it seems they were uttered in other NT church areas too.  And by Paul himself.

According to Paul, unknown tongues aren’t to be spoken in the church meeting unless they’re also interpreted into the vernacular or local language.  If there’s no interpreter, speaking in tongues could result in confusion not of God (cf. 1Co.14:33).  An interpretation isn’t necessarily a word-for-word translation.  The inspired interpretation of a tongue may itself resemble a prophecy.

Paul said in 1Co.14:5 ISV, referring to ethnic dialects, “I wish that all of you could speak in foreign languages [tongues g1100 glossai], but especially that you could prophesy”.  Assuredly Paul valued the gift of tongues…but he valued more the gift of prophecy, a greater gift (1Co.12:1, 28-31).

{Sidelight: Pastor Don Finto (b. 4/30/1930): “I got baptized in the HS by faith in December of 1969, when I was 39 years of age. I didn’t speak in tongues. You can be baptized in the HS and not speak in tongues.” [cf. 1Co.12:30] “Tongues may come; and if it does, praise God!” [His tongues-speaking began in 1971.] “In those two years when I didn’t have it, I didn’t feel like a 2^nd class citizen. I had words of knowledge, and words of wisdom, and I’d start praying for somebody and they’d fall out in the Spirit. I knew God was working in me, but I didn’t speak in tongues yet….1Co.14:1 desire gifts of the Spirit, ‘especially prophecy’.  It didn’t say, ‘especially tongues.”}

All real gifts of the Spirit are God-given, to accomplish God’s purposes.  1Co.14:1 “Pursue love, yet earnestly desire spiritual gifts.”  Paul said the church is to desire spiritual gifts…earnestly!  Christ’s church should reflect both love and spiritual gifts, not love without the others.

If we’re unsure of what our spiritual gift(s) is, we can ask God to reveal it to us.  Peter wrote in 1Pe.4:10, “As each one has received a special gift [g5486], employ it in serving one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God”.  And Paul in 1Co.7:7, “Each has his own gift from God”.

Every Christian has been given at least one spiritual gift.  May our gifts and talents be used to benefit the church and humanity as a whole…to God’s glory.

Holy Spirit-Filled (2) – Be Refilled

This topic was begun in “Holy Spirit-Filled (1) – Self-Will Submits”.  It discussed submission, the symbolic ‘death’ of the old self/old nature, using the life and writings of the apostle Paul as an example.  Part 1 should be read first.  In this Part 2, we’ll tie-in the life of the apostle Peter also.

Part 1 ended with the question…How much time do we live filled with, or aware of, the Holy Spirit?  Paul exhorted the church in Ep.5:18, “Be filled with the Spirit”.

In the Old Testament (OT), the Holy Spirit (HS) wasn’t universally available to all.  OT saints weren’t baptized into the Body of Christ.  He hadn’t yet incarnated as Jesus.  Some were (occasionally) Spirit-filled to do God’s purpose.  To name a few: Bezalel Ex.31:1-3, elders of Israel Nu.11:25, Caleb Nu.14:24, Gideón Jg.6:34, Samson Jg.15:14, David Ps.51:11, Micah Mic.3:8, other prophets.

Later, John the Baptizer was Spirit-filled; Lk.1:13-15 “He will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb”.

Christians are enjoined to be Spirit-filled…or refilled!  Pastor Don Finto “The Presence of God should differentiate us from all other people on earth.”  A personal awareness of the HS or God’s Presence.

Jesus was so aware!  Jn.3:34 “He [Jesus] whom God has sent speaks the words of God; for God gives Him the Spirit without limit.”  Jesus was continually Spirit-filled!  And the spiritual believer should be Spirit-filled.  HS infilling brings boldness (for testimony) and fellowship with God.

After Jesus’ resurrection, in Ac.1:5 He promised His disciples would soon be filled with the Spirit.  This infilling occurred in Ac.2:4. “They were all filled with the Holy Spirit.”  Their baptism in the HS and filling with the HS was simultaneous.  Peter was one of those (Ac.2:14).

Peter was emboldened by the HS to take his stand and speak with confidence (Ac.2:29, 36).  The now Spirit-filled Peter isn’t fearfully denying Jesus, as he’d done earlier 3 times (ref Jn.13:38, Jn.18:12-27)!  Throughout Ac.3, Peter continued to boldly proclaim Jesus the Christ publically, while exhorting Jews in Jerusalem to repent of their wicked ways.  He healed a lame man in the name of Jesus (Ac.3:6-10).

We read that Peter is still Spirit-filled the next day.  Ac.4:8 “Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit….”  Then v.31 “When they prayed, the place where they’d gathered was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak the word of God with boldness.”  Peter and other Jewish Christians in that meeting place were filled or refilled.  (Note: Ron Phillips Awakened by the Spirit, p.117 “This manifestation gave early American Quakers their name.”)

HS indwelling provides spiritual power and gifts for Christians.  But we can subsequently become unfilled or less filled by: sin in our life, not spending time with God, not yielding to God’s will.

Paul wrote Galatians c 50 AD.  Ga.2:11-14 “But when Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, for he was to be blamed. The Jewish Christians joined him in hypocrisy. Barnábas was swept along with them.”  This dispute (noted only by Paul, not Luke) indicates that the apostles Peter & Barnabas, or Paul himself, wasn’t then filled with the HS.  Being in error, someone(s) had become unfilled or less filled.

Later their falling out was mended.  cf. 2Pe.3:14-16.  Peter as an old man went on to write two epistles included in our Bibles.  And in Paul’s subsequent letters, Paul recognized Barnabas (1Co.9:6, Col.4:10).

The Spirit can be rekindled.  2Ti.1:6 “I remind you to rekindle the gift of God which is in you.”  Barnes Notes 2Ti.1:6 “What was the ‘gift of God’? Paul specifies in the next verse, 2Ti.1:7, ‘the Spirit of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”  Paul exhorted Timothy to stir up, or be refilled with, the HS.  When the fire gets low, stir the coals or add more coals.

If the sense of HS fullness has waned in us, we heed Paul’s exhortation to be (re)filled, Ep.5:18.

There were periods when Paul felt unfilled.  He admitted in Ro.7:19, “I don’t do the good I desire to do. Instead, I practice the very evil that I don’t want to do.”  v.24 “O wretched man that I am!”  It seems Paul wasn’t sufficiently filled at that time, to victoriously combat old wrong tendencies.  JFB Commentary Ro.7:19 “The conflict here…cannot be the conflict between passion and struggles in the unregenerate, because of this description given to ‘the desire to do good.”  Here he’s the regenerate, converted Paul.  Barnes Notes Ro.7:24 “This frequent subjection to sinful propensities.”  There were times when HS influence was neglected or unsought for Paul (and Peter) to obediently mind God.

An unfilled worldly Christian may feel wretched, miserable; he’s not yielded away from his self-will, and is controlled by his old self or ‘flesh’.  (ref Part 1.)  Having lost (close) contact with God, he may feel fruitless and defeated…depending on self-effort to try to live the Christian life, rather than living by the indwelling HS.  This can result in frustration or confusion, living by emotional feeling & self-desire, rather than by active faith and HS guidance.  We are to trust, obey, and follow the Lord via the Spirit.

Alfred H. Pohl said, “Every Christian has the HS in his life as Resident, but the Spirit-filled (controlled) Christian has Him as President!”  (The Godhead is one in essence.  Jesus is Lord!)  West Colonial Hills Baptist Church “Where the Baptism of the Spirit makes the Spirit resident of our lives, the Filling makes the Spirit president of our lives. The Filling of the Spirit happens to those who obey, submit and surrender to the Spirit.”  But we can become complacent or lackadaisical in submitting to the HS.

CBN The Filling of the Holy Spirit “D.L. Moody was asked why he continually needed to be filled with the Holy Spirit. He replied, ‘Because I leak’. Like Moody, we all run out of gas and need the power of the Holy Spirit to recharge our lives. Scripture says we must be continually filled, not just once or twice.”  Friends Review, vol.28 “Baptized once for all, there is need to be refilled for every service.”  The HS is likened to living water (Jn.7:38-39).  We too leak, become spiritually dry or empty.

If we feel spiritually weak or that our growth is stunted, or that the HS may have been grieved or quenched…we need refilling or renewal!  Ep.4:22-24 “Lay aside the old self…and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self.”  Refilling, renewal, rekindle, stir up the Spirit…these are comparable expressions.

What may we do to be refilled or rekindle the HS?  Php.2:5 “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.”  Again, Jesus was continually Spirit-filled (He was conceived by the HS, Mt.1:20)!

First, we should examine our lives.  Paul wrote in 2Co.13:5, “Examine yourselves to see whether you are still in the Christian faith”.  Then quit any (recurring) sin that becomes evident.  Is.59:2 “Your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear you.”  Sin separates us from the Lord’s Presence.  (So does neglect and self-absorption.)  We’re to confess any new sin and repent of it, and then God will forgive, 1Jn.1:9.

Ja.4:7-8 “Submit to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.”  He.4:16 “Let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace.”  How do we draw near?  There are spiritual tools we can implement that will bring us closer to God:

We can devote more time to God and the things of God.  Every day set aside some quiet time.  David wrote in Ps.63:1 KJV, “Thou art my God; early will I seek Thee”.  Seek His Presence in the morning to start the day right.  The HS of wisdom says in Pr.8:17, “I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently shall find me”.  God knows when we’re in earnest.  The Lord promised in Je.29:13, “You will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart”.  Heartfelt seeking.

Spend more time praying.  Paul said in1Th.5:17, “Pray without ceasing”.  As we pray, listen for God impressing or speaking to us in our spirit.  Ep.6:18 “Pray at all times in the Spirit.”  Throughout the day.

Do daily Bible reading or Bible study.  Following a program of reading the entire Bible-in-a-year will give us a broad overview of the scriptures.  Let the written words, inspired by the HS, soak in.  1Ti.4:13 Paul exhorted Timothy at Ephesus to “Give attention to the public reading of scripture”.  That was primarily the OT scriptures, the Law and the Prophets (and the Psalms/Writings).

Meditate on the Lord, on scriptures, and the wonders of God’s creation.  Ps.119:15 “I will meditate on Your precepts and regard Your ways.”  This will help us remain mindful of God.  Ps.111:2 “Great are the works of the Lord. They are studied by all who delight in them.”  Ps.77:12 “Muse on all Thy deeds.”

Occasional fasting too is beneficial.  Jesus said, Mt.6:16-18 “When you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your Father in secret. And your Father which sees in the hidden place will reward you openly.”  Fasting isn’t for religious show.  It’s for seeking God (and for health).  Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be blessed (Mt.5:6).

Worship/fellowship with other Christians.  We can edify each other.  Pr.27:17 “As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.”  Spend time praising the Lord (Ps.111:1), corporately and also privately as we go about our day.  David wrote in Ps.22:3, “You are holy, You who inhabits the praises of Israel”.  Offer-up the “sacrifice of praise” and give thanks (He.13:15)…God shows up.

Exercise your spiritual gift(s).  For example, if God has given you the gift of tongues, don’t let it lie dormant.  (also see the topic, “Spiritual Gifts and Tongues”.)  Speak in tongues privately to God in your prayer closet or secret place.  That will build you up spiritually.  Paul wrote in 1Co.14:4 KJV, “He that speaks in an unknown tongue edifies himself”.

Also, reading Christian books about communing with God can inspire and motivate us.  God’s Presence is our best environment (regardless of our church background)!  I recommend Brother Lawrence’s The Practice of the Presence of God.  Living in the 1600s, Brother Lawrence experienced God’s Presence as a way of life daily, hour by hour!  Other such Christian books you may find helpful are: The Joy of Full Surrender and The Sacrament of the Present Moment, both by Jean-Pierre de Caussade; Frank C. Laubach Letters by a Modern Mystic; Gregory A. Boyd Present Perfect – Finding God in the Now.  The desire of those writers was to sense God’s Presence habitually.

A HS refilling may seem like a brand new experience to us, especially if we’ve regressed away from God.  But we’re still in the Body of Christ.  It’s now about us getting right or staying right with God, surrendering the self, personal consecration, trusting and allowing His HS to guide us.  In daily situations we encounter, ask ourself…‘What would Jesus do (WWJD) if He were in my shoes today?’

We can still be living as if in the day of Pentecost (Ac.2:1-4)…living a Spirit-led life!  God wants us to present ourselves to Him as available empty vessels or jars of clay…to be filled by the HS.  cf. 2Ki.4:1-7 the Lord caused the widow’s empty jars of clay to be miraculously filled with oil in Elisha’s day.

We should seek to be Spirit-empowered, Spirit-influenced, Spirit-guided; Spirit-controlled in a sense.  Jesus said in Jn.4:24, “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth”.

Although we won’t achieve complete perfection in this life…life is much more satisfying walking in the Spirit!  (e.g. Enoch walked with God, Ge.5:22.)

Our bodies are the temple of God.  Paul wrote in 1Co.6:19 KJV, “Your body is a temple of the Holy Ghost [Spirit], which is in you”.  We host the Holy Ghost!  It’s a great privilege we’ve been given…God desires to actually indwell Christians!

Col.3:1 “If then you have been raised up [cf. Col.2:12] with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ sits at the right hand of God.”  Strive to keep our mind & intent fixed on right things of God.  Col.3:4 “And when Christ, who gives meaning to our life, appears, then you too will appear with Him in glory.”  The glorious goal of our converted Life will then be reality.  To God be the glory!

Holy Spirit-Filled (1) – Self-Will Submits

This topic discusses a type of non-physical death, and the new birth/new life in the Spirit for Christians.  The life of the apostle Paul, as recorded in the New Testament (NT), is used as an example.

Before Paul became converted, he was known as Saul (Ac.13:9).  Saul terrorized Jewish Christians.  Ac.8:1-3 “Saul was consenting to his death [Stephen’s, Ac.7:58-60]….Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house; and dragging off men and women, he put them in prison.”  House churches were springing up then, around 34 AD.  In Ac.22:4, Saul/Paul later said of his past, “I persecuted the Way [followers of Christ, Jn.14:6] to the death, binding and putting both men and women into prisons”.

But in Acts 9, Saul had a dramatic conversion experience!  Ac.9:1-2 “Saul was breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord [Jesus].”  Authorized by the high priest, he left for Damascus in search of Jewish Christians to bring them bound to Jerusalem.  v.3-9 as Saul neared Damascus, he was blinded (for 3 days) by a light from heaven…and the voice of Jesus spoke to him!  v.10-22 Ananias said, “Saul…you may be filled with the Holy Spirit”.  v.17 Saul was filled with the Holy Spirit (HS), his sight returned, all his past sins were ‘washed away’ via water baptism in Jesus’ Name (Ac.22:16).

Saul/Paul was never the same after that encounter!  Paul wrote in Ga.1:12-14, “I received it [the gospel] by revelation from Jesus Christ. You have heard of my former manner of life in Judaism, how I used to persecute the church and tried to destroy it. I was advancing in Judaism beyond my peers, being very zealous for my ancestral traditions.”  Religious Pharisaism highly valued Jewish oral law traditions.  Saul was a devoted Pharisee (Ac.23:6)…and then he saw the Light that day on the Damascus road.

We understand Paul received mercy & forgiveness from Father God.  And yet God is also just; we reap what we sow, as Paul wrote (Ga.6:7).  Ac.9:16 the Lord told Ananías that Paul would suffer (for His Name’s sake).  Saul had caused many to suffer.  2Co.11:24-27 Paul’s own sufferings.  A murderer sentenced to death, who becomes converted in prison, may still die physically in the electric chair.

Subsequently Paul wrote in 2Ti.1:3, “I thank God whom I serve with a pure conscience”.  Maybe it seems strange that a man who was party to the murder of Jewish Christians could claim a pure conscience?  Paul acknowledged in 1Ti.1:13, “I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief.”  He mistakenly had thought the Lord Jesus was just a dead man who was worshiped as a false god.  Saul had zealously sought to eradicate that which he viewed as idolatry (as per De.13:6-9, 17:2-7. also see “Stephen’s Stoning in Acts”.)  Yet murder was murder.  Saul/Paul repented, changed, was forgiven, his conscience was cleansed.

The NT reflects a connected level of meaning.  It has to do with submission, the symbolic death of Paul’s old man/old self (Saul), the old “body of sin” (Ro.6:6), begun through Christ’s work on the cross.

Paul wrote figuratively in Ga.2:20. “I have been crucified with Christ; and it’s no longer I who live; but Christ lives in me.”  Christ’s HS and word indwelt the new Paul.  This enabled Paul to subdue his self-will and live a life of submission and obedience to God, as Christ did.  Ellicott Commentary Ga.2:20 “It is through the power of the cross…that the Christian is enabled to mortify the promptings of sin within him. Death upon one side of my nature does not prevent me from having life on the other side.”  Benson Commentary Ga.2:20 “The apostle proceeds in describing how he was freed from the dominion as well as the guilt of sin.”  But it’s not a pain-free process.

Crucifixion by the Romans was usually a slow, lingering, painful death!  (see “Jesus’ Death – The Physical Cause”.)

Quitting old wrong practices and beliefs can involve mental turmoil/pain, and isn’t instantaneous.  Expositor’s Greek Testament Ga.2:20 “A real crucifixion of heart and will. By this figure he [Paul] describes the intense agony of spiritual conflict.”  Saul’s old self, ways, self-desires didn’t want to ‘die’.

The first verse where Saul is called Paul is Ac.13:9. “Saul, also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit….”  He wasn’t referred to as “Paul” prior to his becoming Spirit-filled in Acts 9.  Saul was a persecutor…but Paul is the Roman name of an apostle to the nations.  The Lord Jesus told Ananias in Ac.9:15, “He [Saul/Paul] is a chosen vessel of Mine, to bear My name before the gentiles”.

The old Saul ‘died’ with Christ, as he (Paul) later put it.  The man Saul who’d persecuted the Way…himself became a follower of the Way.  Paul later said of his new way of life in Ac.24:14, “I admit to you, that according to the Way which they call a sect do I serve the God of our fathers, believing everything written in the Law and the Prophets”.  The man Saul, regenerated, became the new Paul.

The Latin name Paul/Paulus (Strongs g3972, Greek) meant ‘small’ or ‘little’.  His physical appearance wasn’t impressive (2Co.10:10).  According to tradition, Paul stood only 5 feet tall.  John Chrýsostom (347-407 AD) Homily On Romans “The apostle Paul was short in stature, modest (?), bald on the head, bow-legged…pale colored, well-bearded, sensible…full of grace, inspired by the Holy Spirit.”  (For an exposition of Paul’s doctrine/ideology, see the series “Paul the Apostle”.)

Saul/Paul was from the Israelite tribe of Benjamin (Php.3:5).  Benjamites had assimilated with the tribe of Judah (the Jews) when God divided the united kingdom of Israel after Solomon died (1Ki.12:23-24).

Of note…ca 1050 BC Israel’s first king, Saul the son of Kish , was also from the tribe of Benjamin.  But King Saul was a very tall man (1Sm.9:1-2), who had initially been small/humble in his own eyes (1Sm.9:21, 15:17).  However, he changed for the worse.  This Old Testament Benjamite Saul became a persecutor, wanting to put David to death (1Sm.19)!  Whereas the NT Benjamite Saul/Paul the ‘little’ was a persecutor who changed for the better…the reverse of King Saul.

At his repentance and conversion, Paul became a new creature, born from above (Jn.3:3-ff).  2Co.5:17 “If any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; old things have passed away, they are become new.”  The NT Saul’s old deceitful heart (Je.17:9), his past self/old man, was figuratively crucified.

The Lord had foretold in Ezk.36:26, “I will give you a new heart and put a new Spirit within you; I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh”.  God gave the HS, and a metaphorical new heart (called “Paul”), to Saul’s physical body.  Again, Paul wrote in Ga.2:20, “It’s no longer I [Saul] who live….”

Paul’s persecutions (as Saul) became obsolete.  Saul had figuratively died!  The new, submissive Paul didn’t persecute Christians.  So Paul’s conscience was clear when he wrote to Timothy in the 60s AD – and the new changed Paul could make the claim of having a clear conscience (2Ti.1:3).

Paul wrote in Ro.6:6-7, “Knowing this, that our old man [self] was crucified with Christ, so that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin. For he who has died is freed from sin.”  Here Paul includes all Christians…our old nature to be rendered inactive.  This concept may be hard to comprehend or seem like Christian mysticism.  But Paul writes with absolute assurance – “Knowing”.

Cambridge Bible Ro.6:6 “This knowledge is to be a working motive in the new life.”  JFB Commentary Ro.6:6 “Our old selves’ – all that we were in our old unregenerate condition, before union with Christ.”

Paul to the church at Colossae in Col.3:3, “For you died, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God”.  Our own way of following our unsubmissive, selfish inclinations perishes.  Expositor’s Greek Testament Col.3:3 “For you died’, that is to their old life, at the time of their conversion.”

2Co.5:15 “He [Christ] died for all, that they who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died for their sakes and rose again.”  Cambridge Bible 2Co.5:15 “And thus made obedience possible for us…freeing us from our bondage to sin.”  Our attitude and service should now be, “Thy will be done” (Mt.6:10)…not…my will be done.  We’re to submit to the HS.

Paul wrote further in 2Ti.2:11, “If we died with Him [Christ], we shall also live with Him”.  For some believers the realization of this self-death may begin with intellectual agreement, after reading Paul’s letters.  Others may understand this operation of death to sin and regeneration to Life through revelation from the HS.  I feel no death within my body; we can’t explain this new birth miracle by the five senses.  But we can have faith in the operation of God; and believe the above verses were inspired.

We’re not aware of an exact time of death for a Christian’s old man or old self, as he/she/we undergo the waters of baptism.  But as Jesus was dead prior to His burial, the Christian was already dead, symbolically, before his baptismal burial.  (also see the topic “Baptisms and Washings”.)

This baptismal burial isn’t what killed us – in cultures of the world people are not customarily buried alive!  It is only after a person dies that he/she is buried.  The previous verses indicate that we died to sin (on a cross, metaphorically), being crucified as was Jesus.  And then only after this death were we buried (immersed in baptism) with Him.  This burial is also a public testimony of the (prior) death of our ‘old man’, according to the faith we had in Jesus when we first believed (before baptism).

Ro.6:3-5 “We have been buried with Him through baptism unto death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be in the likeness of His resurrection.”  Our baptism under water symbolizes this burial, and our surfacing the regeneration/rebirth to real Life via the Spirit.

Yet Christians still maintain in our souls most learning, abilities and muscle memory patterns that date from the years/decades of our ‘old man’.  Some sinful responses were also learned and internalized.  So we still have wrong desires, and will sin occasionally (or too often).  Paul sinned occasionally too (cf. Ro.7:23).  We have a (daily) battle against lapsing into sin.  He wrote, 1Co.15:31 “I die daily”.  Paul died daily…to keep his flesh crucified (and from enemy threats).  see “Repentance from Sin”.

Daily repentance and asking God that the blood of Jesus be applied to any recurring sins…will result in our being continually forgiven and our consciences cleansed.  He.9:14 “The blood of Christ…will cleanse our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.”  Jesus’ sacrifice is fully efficacious.

As we yield to the HS, our (old) self-will should become less and less operative or dominant.  Webster’s Dictionary: Self-Will “The persistent carrying out of one’s own will or wishes.”  Collins Dictionary: Self-Will “The stubborn adherence to one’s own will, desires, etc.”  Rather…God’s will be done.

We’ve been baptized in/by the HS.  The HS leads us into doing the will of God.  1Co.12:13 “By one Spirit we were all baptized into one body.”  There’s no baptism into another, ref Ep.4:5.  (Note: Humans cannot baptize one another into the HS, e.g. Mk.1:8…but Jesus can.)

Few Christians undergo a name change from their former life, as Saul became known as Paul.  Yet as Christians, we too should say (Ga.2:20), “It’s no longer I who live; but Christ lives in me”.  We ‘died’ in Christ, and He has become our life too, as we submit to God.

I keep one nail spike in my key tray on the bedroom dresser.  So in the morning when I dress and reach to the tray…I see the spike.  I’m reminded that the old me ‘died’, figuratively ‘crucified with Christ’; and that new day I am to let Jesus live inside via the HS.

But how much time do we live filled with, or aware of, the Holy Spirit?  Paul exhorted the church in Ep.5:18, “Be filled with the Spirit”.

This topic is continued and concluded in “Holy Spirit-Filled (2) – Be Refilled”.

Living Water Produces Spiritual Fruit

In the Bible there are several natural symbols for the Holy Spirit (HS).  e.g. dove, oil, fire, wind, cloud, (“living”) water.  Here we’ll focus on the water of the Spirit.  (Symbolism will build as we proceed.)

God wants to fellowship with humanity and His saints through the HS.  And God wants us to deeply desire or “thirst” for His ways and for fellowship in/with His Presence.  Jesus said in Mt.5:6, “Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied”.

Ge.2:15 at the beginning, God placed the first human Adám in the garden of Eden to cultivate it.  Ge.2:9-10 “A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden.”  This river watered the trees of Eden.  Ge.3:8 the Presence of the Lord God was there in the garden with Adam & Eve.

Ge.2:16-17, 3:6 but they sinned, and hid from God!  (see “Tree Symbolism in Scripture”.)  The Lord is holy and wouldn’t fellowship with sin.  Ge.3:24 so God cast mankind out of the garden, away from His Presence.  But He had a plan…humanity wouldn’t forever be separated from God!  Skipping ahead….

800s BC Joel prophesied that God’s Spirit would be poured out, eventually becoming available to all.  Jl.2:28-29 “I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind.”  Again, water is symbolic of the HS.  Also Is.44:2-5 “I will pour out water on him who is thirsty; I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring.”

Fulfillment began around 30 AD.  In Jn.16:7, Jesus said it was necessary for Him to depart, so the Helper, the HS, could be sent to His disciples.  Jn.19:34 “One of the soldiers pierced His [Jesus’] side and out came blood and water.”  Symbolic availability of the water of the Spirit.  Reappearing after His crucifixion death, Jesus is with His disciples in Jn.20:22. “He breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.”  The disciples inhaled Jesus’ breath into their lungs.  Jesus gave them a pledge or foretaste of the HS, soon to be sent. (cf. Ge.2:7, Job 32:8 the breath of life and human spirit were given.)

We read of the miracle sending approximately 50 days later in Ac.2:4. “They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak in other tongues.”  v.13-18 “But others mocked saying, ‘They’re full of new wine’. Peter declared, ‘These men aren’t drunk; this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel.”  Those newly full of the HS weren’t drunk with wine. (see the topic “Spiritual Gifts and ‘Tongues”.)

Prior to Ac.2, other of Jesus’ encounters prefigured this outpouring of the HS.  In Jn.7, Jesus was at the Jews’ annual Feast of Booths in Jerusalem.  A traditional water-pouring libation ceremony was part of this October festival.  Priests would draw a pitcher of water at the pool of Siloám, then in procession enter the Temple’s south Watergate, and pour the water at the base of the altar.  It reminded them of God’s promise in Jl.2:23. “Rejoice, sons of Zión, He has poured down for you the early [Nov-Dec] and the latter [Apr] rain. The threshing floors will be full of new grain and the vats of new wine.”

Jesus’ Hebrew name is Yeshúa (Strongs h3442 masc), shortened from Yehoshúa (h3091), meaning ‘YHVH saves/is salvation’.  (see “Savior’s Name in Bible Languages”.)  He figuratively linked their water libation to the soon-coming HS.  Jesus said there in Jn.7:37-39, “If any man thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water. This spoke He of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him would receive.”

The scripture to which Jesus/Yeshua referred is Is.55:1. “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters.”  Also Is.12:2-3 “Behold, God is my salvation [yeshúah h3444 fem]. Therefore you will joyously draw water from the springs of salvation [yeshuah h3444].”  Is.12:3 was sung annually at the Feast water-pouring ceremony!  Is.25:9 regarding Yeshua/Jesus, “Behold this is our God for whom we have waited that He might save us. Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation [yeshuah h3444].”  Amen…Jesus/Yeshua is God and Savior!  Believers receive the living water of the HS.

An earlier encounter was Jn.4:5-7. “He came to a city of Samaria called Sychár. Jesus sat by Jacob’s Well.”  A woman of Samaria came to draw water from it.  v.10-15 “Jesus said to her, ‘You would have asked [Me/Jesus], and He would have given you living water. The water that I shall give will become a well of water springing up to eternal life.”  Jesus is the giver of living water, the HS.  The name of that town, Sychar, meant ‘intoxicating drink’!  And when the HS was sent, in Ac.2:13 some wrongly said Jesus’ disciples were full of new wine!  (But the HS is the Spirit of a sound mind, 2Ti.1:7.)

1Co.12:13 the apostle Paul wrote, “We were all made to drink of one Spirit”.  And Ep.5:18 “Don’t get drunk wi th wine, which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit.”  The apóthegm ‘Holy Ghost wine’ (Ac.2:4, 13 KJV) is intoxicating drink, but in a spiritual sense only!  Ac.2:15 they weren’t inebriated!  Although Paul advised a little wine therapy for Timothy (1Ti.5:23), drunkenness is sin (Ro.13:13).

Jacob’s Well is thought to be at the site of ancient Shechém, where Jacob lived upon his return from N. Mesopotamia.  ref Ge.33:18-20.  To water their herds, Bible patriarchs’ servants laboriously dug wells, sometimes through limestone.  Ge.26:15-19 Isaac re-dug the wells of his father Abraham.  From this, there’s a lesson in perseverance.  If the flow of the HS has been hindered, we can ‘re-dig the ancient wells’ by worship and prayerfully pressing-in.  I’ve heard the admonition preached, “When you appear before God without worship, you’re like a well without water; you dry up”.

Jesus said living water would flow from believers (Jn.7:38).  Paul calls believers the temple of the HS.  1Co.3:16 “You are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you.”  Christians are the temple!

Ezk.47:1-7 was an inspiring allegory of the future ‘temple’ with water increasingly flowing from it.  v.12 “By the river on both sides will grow all kinds of trees. Their leaves won’t wither and their fruit won’t fail. They will bear every month because the water flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing.”  Trees with fruit and healing leaves on the banks of the “river”.

Je.17:7-8 “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord. He will be like a tree planted by the water. Its leaves will be green, and it won’t cease to yield fruit.”  Also Ps.1:1-3 “Blessed is the man who delights in the law of the Lord. He will be like a tree planted by streams of water which yields its fruit in its season.”  Men symbolically as a tree which bears fruit from the living water of the HS; it won’t wither.  (Interestingly, Mk.8:24 the blind man Jesus healed initially saw men who looked like trees walking.)

Jn.15:16 Jesus said, “You should bear fruit and your fruit should remain”.  Pr.8:19 the HS Wisdom said in 1^st Person, “My fruit is better than gold”.  Wisdom of Sirach 1:14-18 Orthodox Bible (ref KJV 1611 Edition) “The gratification of Wisdom is the fear of the Lord, and she intoxicates them with her fruits; sprouting peace and well-being for healing.”  (It’s not drunkenness.)  And in Ga.5:22 Paul writes of “the fruit of the Spirit”.  The fruit & attributes of the HS (within the saints) are better than gold!

Ezekiel’s river reappears in the final book of the Bible.  Re.22:1-2 “He showed me a river of the water of Life, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb. On either side of the river was the Tree of Life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the Tree were for the healing of the nations.”  From the beginning in Genesis, there was also a river and the Tree of Life (Ge.2:9-10).  In Revelation, twelve kinds of fruit are produced from the living water of the Spirit.  (And there’s twelve months in a year.)  Let’s look at the twelve kinds of fruit which heal the nations:

Ga.5:22-23 “The fruit [g2590, Greek] of the Spirit [g4151] is love [g26], joy [g5479], peace [g1515], patience [g3115], kindness [g5544], goodness [g19], faith [g4102], meekness [g4236], self-control [g1466]; against such there is no law.”  This one passage reflects nine kinds of fruit.  There’s more….

Ep.5:9 KJV “The fruit [g2590] of the Spirit [g4151 pneúma] is in all goodness [g19], righteousness [g1343] and truth [g225].”  Barnes Notes “The fruit of the Spirit; that is, since the Holy Spirit through the gospel produces goodness, righteousness, and truth, see that you exhibit these in your lives.”  Gill Exposition Ep.5:9 “Where the Spirit of God, and the work of grace are, there will be more or less an appearance of these fruits.”  Meyer NT Commentary “The fruit of the Spirit is also the fruit of the light.”  So two more here, righteousness and truth, bring to eleven the subtotal of healing kinds of fruit/co-product of the HS.  (Goodness [g19] was counted among the nine in Ga.5:22 previously.)

Ro.6:22 “Having been freed from sin…you have your fruit [g2590 karpós] unto holiness [g38 hagiasmós, sanctification], and the end everlasting life.”  Gill Exposition Ro.6:22 “Holiness is a fruit of freedom from the bondage of sin, begun in regeneration. It is a fruit of the Spirit.”  Holiness has been called the ‘ultimate fruit of the Spirit’.  (Others might say that “love” is.)  This brings the total seen in Paul’s epistles to twelve kinds of fruit, as Re.22:2 also indicates!  Praise the Lord!

For emphasis, here’s two more verses which associate some of the twelve fruit with the HS.  2Th.2:13 “God has from the beginning chosen you for salvation, through sanctification [g38] in the Spirit and faith [g4102] in the truth [g225].”  Ro.14:17 “The Kingdom of God is righteousness [g1343] and peace [g1515] and joy [g5479] in the Holy Spirit.”  Both of those verses reflect three (different) fruit.

Recounting…the twelve fruit/co-product that heal the nations are: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control, righteousness, truth, holiness (sanctification).  As we bear these positive attitudes/traits which the HS produces in our lives, we and others experience spiritual healing.  And the mustard seed grows (Mt.13:31-32)…and Ezekiel’s symbolic river becomes deeper, and deeper!

The Odes of Solomon, the earliest Christian hymnbook, was probably written in Aramaic Sýriac pre-125 AD.  The following is from Ode 6:7-13 (translated by James H. Charlesworth): “Our spirits praise His Holy Spirit. For there went forth a stream and it became a river great and broad; indeed it carried away everything, and it shattered, and brought it to the temple. And the restraints of men were not able to restrain it. For it spread over the face of all the earth, and filled everything. Then all the thirsty upon the earth drank, and thirst was relieved and quenched; for from the Most High the drink was given. Blessed therefore, are the ministers of that drink, who have been entrusted with His water. Because everyone recognized them as the Lord’s, and lived by the living water of eternity. Hallelujah.”  In this inspiring Ode, we see glimpses of Ezk.47, Jn.4:10-15 and Jn.7:37-38.

Also Re.7:17 “The Lamb in the center of the throne shall be their Shepherd and guide them to springs of the water of life; and God shall wipe every tear from their eyes.”  Re.21:6 “And He said to me, ‘It is done. I Am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost.”  This Giver is Jesus (Re.22:13, 16).

Conclusion: In Genesis, mankind began in the garden of Eden with a cosmic river and the Tree of Life.  They sinned, and humanity wasn’t allowed access to the Tree of Life.  Millennia later, after Jesus died and rose again, the symbolic Spirit of the water of Life was given in Acts 2.  Our Bible canon ends in the paradise of Re.22 with the river of the HS issuing from the throne (cf. Ezk.47), nourishing trees of life which bear twelve fruit of the Spirit month after month.

Re.22:17 “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come’. And let the one who hears say, ‘Come’. And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of Life without cost.”  Come to salvation’s living waters!  It’s a wonderful spiritual future, available for us…in eternal Life!  To God be the glory!

Holy Spirit versus Mariolatry

This topic further discusses the Holy Spirit (HS), and links & contrasts the HS to the virgin Mary who bore Jesus.  My other topics about the Godhead or God Family are: “Holy Spirit Personification”, Holy Spirit’s Identity”, “Godhead in Prehistory”, “Tri-unity of God”, “Jesus Was the Old Testament God”, “Jesus Is God…Jesus Has a God”.

Jesus said of Himself in Lk.7:35, “Wisdom is justified by her children”.  Jesus indicated He is the Child of Wisdom…“her”.  (Pr.7:4 wisdom is sister, not brother.)  The New Testament (NT) and the Old Testament (OT) Septúagint/LXX Greek term for Wisdom is sophía (Strongs g4678).  Nowhere in the NT did Jesus call Mary His ‘mother’ (or call Joseph His ‘father’)!

The gospel writers naturally refer to Mary & Joseph as Jesus’ mother & father, His parents.  Lk.2:27 “The parents brought in the child Jesus.”  Mt.13:55 “Is not this the carpenter’s son, and His mother called Mary?”  Jn.6:42 “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?”  Mary even refers to Joseph as Jesus’ father.  After finding Jesus at the temple, Lk.2:48 “His mother said to Him, ‘Son, Your father and I have been anxiously looking for you”.  But Jesus replied to her in v.49, “Didn’t you realize that I must be in My Father’s affairs?”  Jesus was Fathered by God.

Jesus said in Jn.16:28, “I came forth from the Father”.  Mary gave birth to Jesus, and her husband Joseph was Jesus’ legal father.  Lk.3:23 “Jesus, being supposedly the son of Joseph.”  Joseph wasn’t Jesus’ biological father.  Mt.1:18 “When His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with Child by the Holy Spirit.”  Jesus’ virgin birth!  Mary & Joseph knew that Joseph didn’t father Jesus/Yeshúa.  (also see the topic, “Jesus’ Virgin Birth”.)

Father God is Jesus’ Father, and Jesus referred to Himself as the Child of Wisdom (Lk.7:35), His Mother.  Rather than calling Mary, ‘mother’, Jesus referred to the surrogate Mary as “woman”.  Jn.2:4 “Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, what have I to do with you?”  Jn.19:26 “When Jesus saw His mother and the disciple He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, ‘Woman, behold your son!”

Jesus was completely God in the flesh…both His Father and Mother are God!  The womb of Mary, the “woman” as Jesus lovingly called her, served to form Him in the flesh to become the God-Man.  The 300s AD Apostles Creed, “I believe in Jesus Christ, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary”.  Mary birthed Jesus.  Ga.4:4 “God sent forth His Son, born of a woman.”

Lk.1:35 “The angel said, ‘The Holy Spirit will come, and the power of The Highest will overshadow you [Mary]; therefore the Holy One to be born shall be called Son of God.”  Orthodox Study Bible Lk.1:35 “Note the revelation of the Holy Trinity: The Father (The Highest), the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”  The Father overshadowed the HS upon Mary, and God’s Son Jesus was conceived.

Chinese preacher Witness Lee was part of the Christian work started by Watchman Nee.  Lee’s Living With and In the Divine Trinity”, p.39 “Lk.1:35 shows the Holy Spirit coming upon Mary…the Most High, God the Father, overshadowing Mary…and the birth of the holy thing, the Son of God. Thus the entire Divine Trinity was involved in the conception.”  The Son was conceived into Mary by His Parents, who are both God.

So Jesus is also God!  His blood factors, so to speak, were only Divine.  As Jesus grew in Mary’s womb, Mary’s own blood didn’t penetrate her fetal wall.  In 1Pe.1:19, Peter wrote of “The precious blood of Christ”.  God’s “own blood” (Ac.20:27-28)…formed from the Father and the HS!

Father God didn’t somehow have sex with Mary, who was engaged to the man Joseph (Mt.1:18).  It would’ve been adultery to have sex with a married or betrothed woman.  De.22:23-27 God’s penalty for such adultery was severe.  Surely, Father God wasn’t an adulterer!

Furthermore, Mary was of a different kind…she was the human kind, not the Godkind.  God’s principle of biogenesis reflects each creation reproducing only according to its kind (ref Ge.1:11-12, 21, 24-25, 6:19-21, Mt.7:16, 1Co.15:38-39).  Father God is Spirit, not flesh, Jn.4:23-24.  The term incubus pertains to a spirit having sex with a human woman.  Heathen gods, such as Zeus/Jupiter, supposedly had sex with mortal women and produced offspring.

Jesus wasn’t some Nephílim type of offspring (Ge.6:1-4, 1Enoch 6:1-4, Jude 6-7)!  see “Watchers and Gen. 6 ‘Sons of God”.  Father God didn’t go after strange flesh of another kind (Mary) and commit sin.  Ge.19:4-5, 24 God destroyed the Sodomites who desired perverse sex with the two angels who visited Lot.  Le.20:15-16 God’s penalty for beastiality (sex with a different kind) was severe!

Let’s look at the early church understanding of the feminine prototype in God…before the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) became dominant.

But first, Philo Judaeus (25 BC–50 AD), The Works of Philo, AI2:14:49 “The mother of all things…the wisdom of God”.  Again, Jesus indicated He was the Child of her, Wisdom/Sophia (Mt.11:19 KJV).  Pr.1:20-23 “Wisdom lifts her voice, ‘I will pour out My Spirit upon you.”  She is the Holy Spirit.

Early church writings in various countries attest to the feminine (fem) HS.  The fragmentary Gospel to the Hebrews was written in Greek (probably at Alexandria) in the early 100s AD for Jewish Christians.  The HS is Jesus’ Divine Mother in its Christology.  In one quotation Jesus declared, “My mother, the Holy Spirit took Me, and conveyed Me to the great mount Tabor”.

Odes of Solomon, the earliest Christian hymnbook (probably written in Aramaic Syriac, pre-125 AD), translated by James H. Charlesworth, p.33-34 Introduction “Among Christians who worshiped in Aramaic and Syriac, the Holy Spirit was perceived to be feminine. The Odist may serve us well in recovering the feminine in our lives and worship”.  Two sample Odes:  Ode 28 “And from that (Life) is the Spirit that is within Me. And it cannot die because She is life.”  Ode 36 “I rested on the Spirit of the Lord, and She raised me up to heaven. And She caused me to stand on my feet in the Lord’s high place. [Christ speaks now] For according to the greatness of the Most High, so She made Me.”

Hippólytus of Rome (170–235 AD), in a fragment written in Greek, depicted “Isaac as an image of God the Father, wife Rebecca an image of the Holy Spirit, son Jacob an image of the church and of Christ”.

Marius Victórinus of Rome (360 AD) Advérsus Áruim 1:58 (Latin) said the Spirit was Jesus’ Mother.

Robert Murray Symbols of Church and Kingdom, p.25 “The Syriac Fathers, as is well known, attributed female gender to the Holy Spirit in the first centuries after Christ; seeing the Holy Spirit especially as ‘Mother.”  Following are writings reflecting the fem HS from a few ‘fathers’ of the Eastern Church:

Áphrahat (280–345 AD) wrote in Syriac in Persia. Demonstrations VI “The Spirit, She opens the heavens and descends, and hovers over the waters; and those who are baptized put Her on.”

Éphrem the Syrian (306–373 AD) was perhaps the most significant of all the Syriac language fathers, called the “greatest poet of the patristic age”.  In Hymnén de Ecclésia, he identified the Spirit as feminine.

Macarían Homilies (late 300s) were written in Greek at Edessa in Turkey. “Instead of an earthly father you are seeking the heavenly Father, and instead of a mother who is subject to corruption, you have as Mother the excellent Spirit of God, and the heavenly Jerusalem.” (ref Ga.4:26)

Martyríus Sáhdona (630 AD) Book of Perfection 1:3:13.  This Syrian theologian writes of the person “Who has been held worthy of the hovering of the all-holy Spirit [Ge.1:2], who, like a mother, hovers over us as she gives sanctification; and through her hovering over us, we are made worthy of sonship”.

John of Dályatha (700s) wrote in east Syria, calling the Spirit the mother and begetter (Letters 51:11).

Moses bar Képha (813–903), celebrated bishop near the Tigris River, wrote in a Syriac homily, “The Holy Spirit hovered over John the Baptist, and brought him up like a compassionate mother”.

The early Eastern Church originally believed the HS was She/Her.  But after some time, the Syriac church lost or suppressed the original OT & apocryphal Jewish concept of the fem HS or shekínah.  By the 500s AD, a masculine (masc) HS was becoming more the norm.  Possibly this was due to Western influence, and because some heretical groups misused the feminine imagery.

Russian Orthodox author Sergei Búlgakov (1891–1944) Sophia The Wisdom of God, p.1. “The church of St. Sophia in Constantinople. The grace, lightness, wonderful symmetry of the structure; an ocean of light pours in from above and dominates the whole space below…is artistic proof of Her existence.”  p.5-6 “The time has come for us to sweep away the dust of the ages and to decipher the sacred script. The theme of Sophia never had any place in Western theology. Protestantism showed itself particularly barren in this sphere. Unfortunately, the sophialógical barrenness of Western theology influenced Eastern theology also in a negative direction…a divergence from the true wisdom of the church.”

Unlike the Eastern Church, the RCC claims, “At no time has the Church referred to the Holy Spirit as ‘She’ when speaking of the person of the Holy Spirit”. (The Catholic Exchange 2006)  The RCC insists the HS be referred to as ‘He’.

Instead of a fem HS…the RCC developed excessive veneration of the virgin Mary.  Their Mariology is quasi-idolatry/Mariolatry.  They greatly reverence Mary, say she never sinned, and some pray to her.

Official Mary veneration is seen from the 430 AD Council of Ephesus, when Mary was given the title Theotókos/“God-bearer”, or Mother of God.  (Yet nowhere in the NT did Jesus call Mary, ‘mother’.)

Earlier, Irenaeus (130–200 AD) of France had called Mary the new/second Eve.  In his analogy, the pregnant Mary and Jesus the 2^nd Adam (1Co.15:45) were of the same body…as Eve & Adam were of the same body, before Eve was separated (Advérsus Háereses 3).  But Irenaeus’ comparison doesn’t overly venerate Mary.  (Irenaeus also wrote, “The Son is rightly called Word, the Spirit is called the Wisdom”.)

Peter Damian (1007–1073) was an Italian cardinal.  He connected Mary with Wisdom/Sophia as the omnipotent Throne of Wisdom. “The blessed virgin can do whatever she pleases, both in heaven and on earth. All power is given to thee [Mary]…nothing is impossible to thee.” (Serm.1 de Nat. B. Virg.)

Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153) was a French abbot.  To Bernard, Mary is the mother of humankind!  “At the command of Mary, all obey, even God.” (De Excel Virg, cap 12)  “Mary is our Mediatrix.”  (Second Sermon for the Feast of the Assumption) “Let us cast ourselves at the feet of this good Mother.”

St. Bonaventure (1221–1274) was an Italian of the Franciscan order.  To him, Mary is Co-Redemptrix (Psalter of the Blessed Virgin Mary). “The Virgin Mary, the Queen of Heaven.”  “The Holy Spirit intends Solomon’s words about Wisdom [in Proverbs, Wisdom of Solomon] to be understood of the most excellent Virgin Mary.”  Bonaventure transposed Jesus’ real Mother, Wisdom (the HS)…to Mary!  Bonaventure also wrote, “That woman (namely Eve), drove us out of Paradise and sold us; but this one (Mary) brought us back again and bought us”. (de don. Sp. 6; 14 Bonaventure)

As a child, the Beatles’ Paul McCartney was baptized a Roman Catholic.  Later, in 1970 even he sang, “In my hour of darkness, mother Mary comes to me; speaking words of wisdom…Let It Be”.

Over the centuries, the RCC has made Mary/Mariolatry a counterfeit or substitute for the scriptural position of Wisdom/Sophia/Mother.  Yet a counterfeit presumes a prior genuine!  It was Wisdom who sat beside God’s throne as Queen. Wisdom of Solomon 9:4 “Wisdom that sits by Your throne.”  She was beside YHVH at the beginning. Pr.8:22, 30 “I [Wisdom] was beside Him, daily His delight.”  The real Queen of Heaven (Je.7:18) wasn’t a counterfeit Astárte…not Deméter…not Isis…not Mary!

The surrogate Mary carried and birthed Jesus the Son of God.  She’s a godly woman.  But not a co-redemptrix or mediatrix, not due near-goddess status!  The RCC believes Mary was always sinless.  However, Mary herself indicated that she too needs a Savior!  Lk.1:46-47 Mary exulted, “My spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior”.  Mary knew she was a sinner needing a Savior, just like all of humanity.

Christians believe we are born-again (“from above”).  But most today give little thought to the Mother such birth implies.  John saw in Re.12:1, 5, 14 “In heaven a Woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet. She gave birth to a Son to rule all nations. And two wings of a great eagle were given to the woman, that she might fly.”  (God said in Ps.2:7, “You are My Son, Today I have begotten Thee. I will give the nations as Your inheritance.”)  Re.12:17 “The dragon made war the with the rest of Her offspring.”  The Woman isn’t Mary.  Re.12 reflects the begetting HS and Spirit-filled church/offspring.

Is.66:7 “Before she travailed, she brought forth a man child.”  v.13 “As one who his Mother comforts, so I will comfort you.”  The HS is the Comforter/Helper.  Jesus said in Jn.14:26, “The Comforter, the Holy Spirit, who the Father will send in My name”.  In the Old Syriac Jn.14:26, the Comforter/HS is “She” (as YHVH is as Mother in Is.66:13).  Also Ac.9:31 “In the comfort of the Holy Spirit, the church multiplied.”

The early Syriac writers quoted above didn’t present the HS as a literal woman.  But by the 500s AD she became masculine.  It seems the concept of a fem HS became dangerous to the structure of the church.  By the time the HS became a confirmed member of the trinity (Council of Constantinople in 381 AD), the HS was described as masc, despite having nurturing fem qualities!  But Ge.1:2, 26-27 females too embody God’s image!  Male and female both are created in the image and likeness of God.

Martin Luther was reportedly “not ashamed of speaking of the Holy Spirit in feminine terms”.

Count Zínzendorf (1700–1760), leader of the Moravian church, wrote of himself: “I have during my lifetime not eaten of the foods which were formerly forbidden them; I have employed the Sabbath for rest many years already, and our Sunday for the proclamation of the gospel – that I have done without design, and in simplicity of heart.” (Budingsche Sammlung, Leipzig, 1742, sec. 8, 224, letter written in 1738.)  To Zinzendorf, the HS was Creator (Ge.1:2, 26 “Us”) and Mother. “She has created the world with the Savior and now is remaking every child until it is a new creation, and becomes one in the spirit with him; She nurses and watches until it is grown.”

God said of Jesus in Lk.3:22, “You are My beloved Son”.  The apostle Paul quoted Ge.2:24 regarding Adam & Eve in Ep.5:23-33.  Paul midrashed that Christ will marry the HS-filled church.  v.30-32 “For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to His wife. This mystery is great, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.”  The ascended and betrothed Jesus leaves His Father and Mother (HS/Wisdom) to marry the church/Bride!  And Adam had left God, with Eve (Ge.2:24-25, 3:23).

From Aphrahat’s Demonstration X, “As long as a man hasn’t taken a wife, he loves and reveres God his Father and the Holy Spirit his Mother”.  Re.19:7-9 is Jesus’ metaphorical marriage to Christians.

As part of the collective future “Bride” of Christ, male Christians may feel uncomfortable singing love songs of praise to Jesus.  Eventually we’ll be with Him, together forever.  Re.22:17 “The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come.”  We can be Jesus’ Bride because we’re all begotten by the fem (Mother) Spirit.  In Jn.3:3-8, Jesus said you must be born again of the Spirit.  The “offspring” of the HS (again Re.12:17).

Ro.8:29 Jesus the Son of God is the “firstborn of many brothers and sisters”.  Jesus is also the brother of all who are children of God via the HS.  v.11 “He who raised Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”  v.15 “You have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, we cry out ‘Abbá, Father.”  Christians are adopted children of Father God and Mother HS.  Jesus is our elder Brother.  2Co.6:18 “You shall be sons and daughters to Me’, says the Lord Almighty.”  (That’s not to say that Christians become God as the Creator God is God.)

Jesus said in Jn.5:19, “The Son can do nothing of Himself”.  Yet Jesus the Son personified the virtues & attributes of Father God and Mother HS/Wisdom.  (see “Holy Spirit Personification”.)  Paul saw the Spirit-filled Jesus too as wisdom.  Col.2:2-3 “Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”  Jesus is the Son and emissary of Wisdom the HS.  Paul wrote in 1Co.1:24, “Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God”.  Wisdom originally was “brought forth” a she in Proverbs (8:1, 24).  And in Lk.7:35, Jesus said He’s the Child of Wisdom/“her”.  Lk.4:14 “Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit.”  Jn.3:34 “God gives Him [Jesus] the Spirit without limit.”

Though Jesus could do nothing of Himself, His power & wisdom came from His Divine DNA, so to speak, from His Parents.  Mt.13:54 “Coming to His home town they were amazed and said, ‘Where did this man get this wisdom, and these wondrous powers?”  Jesus the Son as God inherited wisdom & power from God!  (Lk.13:34 Jesus isn’t effeminate, yet the HS in Him could even empathize as a mother hen.)

God is one/echád (De.6:4, Jn.10:30).  The Father, HS, Son are one…all three of the God kind & Family.

In the NT, Jesus never referred to Mary as His mother (or Joseph as His father).  By the early 300s AD, the church was embroiled in the Arian controversies.  Many didn’t want Jesus begotten before time began.  But in the 300s AD, many did want women suppressed.  A quandary existed.  So they hushed scriptures which related to Wisdom/sophia the HS having been “brought forth” in past eternity…though Wisdom herself says in Pr.8:25 LXX, “He begets [gennáo g1080] Me”. (see “Godhead in Prehistory”.)

Over the centuries AD, Mother Wisdom/Sophia became assimilated into the cult of the virgin Mary.  Mary, the counterfeit or replacement for Wisdom, was elevated.  Mariolatry ensued in the RCC.

 

Holy Spirit Personification

The Godhead tri-unity consists of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (HS)…the Godkind.  Before reading this, you might read “Godhead in Prehistory” and “Tri-unity of God”.  Much of the background material and scriptures referenced in those topics about the Godhead won’t be repeated or re-quoted here.

The Holy Spirit is God!  There are several verses in the Bible which attest to this.  e.g. 1Co.3:16, 2:10-11, Ac.5:3-4, 2Sm.23:2-3. (ref “Tri-unity of God”.)  Lk.3:21-22 reflects three ‘Persons’ or entities!

Male and female characteristics of humans embody the image and likeness of God (Ge.1:26-27).  Male and female are both necessary to represent God.  Humans are given God’s attributes in miniature.  Jesus said in Jn.14:9, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father”.

Jesus was a man, an image of His heavenly Father.  Ezk.1:26-28 “Above the expanse was a figure with the likeness of a man. Such was the appearance of…YHVH.”  The Lord Christ appeared in the likeness of a human to Ezekiel and others.  (also see the topic, “Jesus Was The Old Testament God”.)

Personification is giving something human characteristics, or anthropomórphism.  In divinity, there may not be gender as we know it.  But the three ‘Persons’ do have characteristic functions.  Within the God Family of Father, HS, and Son…exists both masculine and feminine characteristics.

God reflects masculine roles: Ps.103:13 Father.  Ho.2:16 husband.  Ps.98:6 king.  Ex.15:3 warrior.

God reflects feminine roles: Is.66:13 Mother.  Is.42:14 pregnant.  Ps.123:2 mistress.  Ps.22:9 midwife.     

Jesus the Son of God came as a man, and revealed His Father.  Fathers and sons are masculine.  We refer to God/Deity customarily or conveniently as ‘He’, using masculine (masc) pronouns.

Yet the Godhead has feminine traits too!  Ro.8:20-23, 26 “The whole creation groans and suffers pains of childbirth. We having the Spirit groan, waiting for the redemption of our body.”  The Jewish apostle Paul portrayed the HS as a midwife, helping creation and humanity towards re-creation.

Pastor Mahesh Chavda wrote in The Hidden Power of a Woman, “In Judaism, unlike Christianity, God has never been viewed as exclusively male or masculine”.  Many Jewish scholars think Adam was created with dual gender. (see “Godhead in Prehistory”.)

Our use of non-personal imagery for God doesn’t carry the risk of falling into polytheism as much as Father-Mother language does.  Non-personal imagery for the HS: wind, cloud, fire, living water, dove.

Yet personal imagery for the HS/Wisdom is seen too…in Proverbs, Ecclesiásticus or Wisdom of Sirach (WSir), Wisdom of Solomon (WSol).  Pr.1:20 “Wisdom lifts her voice.”  “Her” is a feminine pronoun.

Wisdom’s quotes in 1^st Person, where Wisdom speaks, are found in: Pr.1:22-33 “I will pour out My Spirit on you [v.23].”  Pr.8:4-36 “When there was no depths I was brought forth [v.24].”  “I was at His [YHVH’s] side forming all things; daily His delight [v.30].”  Also ref Pr.9:4-6, 16-17.  WSir.24:3-22 “I [Wisdom] came forth from the mouth of the Most High and covered the earth like a mist. My throne was in the pillar of cloud [v.3-4].”  cf. the HS in Ge.1:2b, 2:6, and Ex.13:21 the shekínah glory cloud.

Wisdom is the Holy Spirit.  WSol.1:4-5 “Wisdom won’t enter the soul that plots evil. For a holy spirit of discipline flees from deceit.”  WSol.9:4 “Give me the wisdom that sits by Your throne.”  v.10 “Send Her forth from Your holy heavens, from Your glorious throne.”  v.17 “Unless You have given him wisdom and sent Your Holy Spirit from on high.”  Nu.27:18 “Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit.”  De.34:9 “Joshua the son of Nun was filled with the Spirit of wisdom.”  Omnipresent at God’s throne in heaven, and within Joshua, is the HS Wisdom…“Her”.

Jesus was conceived in the virgin Mary by the HS (Lk.1:35 the HS came upon Mary).  And John the Baptizer was filled with the HS in his mother’s womb (Lk.1:15).  Speaking of Himself and John, Jesus said in Lk.7:33-35, “Wisdom is justified by her children”.  Jesus, the Child conceived by Wisdom the HS, speaks of Wisdom as “her”!  (As did Proverbs, etc.)  Jesus’ words are authoritative and truth!

Wisdom is a personified entity or hypostásis (a Greek term used in early Christian writings) of God’s divine essence.

The Hebrew grammatical gender of Bible nouns has significance.  But this doesn’t mean God the HS is literally a woman!  Yet the HS grammatically and figuratively is a ‘she/her’.

In Old Testament (OT) scripture, the ancient Hebrew (Heb) language attached gender to Spirit essence.  The Heb term for spirit (rúach Strongs h7307, and Aramaic rúach h7308) is feminine (fem).  The Heb term for wisdom (chokmáh h2451) is fem.  In the OT Septúagint/LXX and New Testament (NT), the Greek (Gr) term for wisdom is sophía g4678.  Pr.7:4 “Call wisdom your sister.”  Sisters are of course feminine, not masculine.  In Pr.9:1-3, wisdom is “she/her”.  WSir.4:11 “Wisdom exalts her children.”  WSir.24:18 of Wisdom, “I AM the mother of love that is beautiful. I therefore, being eternal, am given to all My children who are picked by Him”.  (Father God picks His elect; Ep.1:3-5, 17, Jn.6:44.)  And Jesus knew Himself to be a Child of Wisdom/Sophia/”her” in Lk.7:35.

The dove is the most frequent symbol for the HS in early Christian art.  The Heb term for dove (yonáw h3123) is fem (e.g. Ge.8:11, SS.6:9).  The Heb term for breath (neshamáh h5397) is fem.  (e.g. Ge.2:7; Jb.32:8 “The breath of the Almighty gives man understanding.”)  Ex.25:31-37 the seven–branched holy lampstand with its oil was a symbol of the HS and tree of life.  Wisdom is symbolically the central branch.  Pr.4:7 “Wisdom is supreme.”  The Heb term for lampstand (menoráh h4501) is also fem.  Pr.3:18 “She [Wisdom] is a tree of life.”  Pulpit Commentary “Wisdom becomes equally life giving.”

Elóah h433 is a Heb term for God, occurring 55 times in the OT (mostly in Job and poetic passages).  Jb.27:3 “The spirit of God [Eloah h433] is in my nostrils.”  The -ah ending is indicative of fem singular.  The most common OT Heb term for God is Elohím h430.  Elohim is a masc plural ending -im (Father and Son), combined with the fem singular root Eloah (HS/Wisdom) or possibly El.  Also the modern Heb fem term ‘shekinah’ represents the Divine Presence, the fire-cloud of glory in the OT.

Heb grammar too uses masc pronouns for God.  Heb & Aramaic has no neuter (no ‘it’); all nouns are masc or fem.  Again, the Heb term for spirit (ruach) is fem.  But unlike Heb, the Greek term for spirit (pneúma) is neuter.  The Latin term for spirit (spirítus) is masc.  Noun gender varies in languages.  In translated languages, gender doesn’t have the significance as in the earlier inspired Hebrew scripture.

In English, translators render pronouns with the Gr pneuma/spirit (neuter) as he masc, e.g. Jn.14:26. (or it neuter, Ro.8:26 KJV.)  Some of this is revisionism.  This practice subconsciously makes men seem more like God than do women.  Yet in 2Co.6:18, Paul wrote that God said, “You shall be sons and daughters to Me”.  In Jn.14:26, the Gr masc term páraclete is translated Comforter/Helper, and refers to the Gr neuter term Spirit.  Here translators chose to use the pronoun He.  But since God has both masc and fem characteristics (Is.42:13-14, Ps.123:2), Heb personal noun gender is more meaningful.  Later languages such as Greek, Latin, English didn’t maintain the earlier Heb gender in translations.

The most ancient of the rare Old Syriac copies, the Siniatic Pálimpsest (300s–400s AD), was found in the Covenant of St. Catherine and transcribed by Syriac Professor R.L. Bensly of Cambridge University in 1892.  Jesus’ words in Jn.14:26 read: “But She—the Spirit-the Paraclete whom He will send to you-my Father in my name—She will teach you everything; She will remind you of that which I told you.”  The Spirit is feminine to the Syriac church (as the ancient Aramaic ruach/spirit was fem), unlike Greek and Latin grammar.

J.J. Hurtak: “The Spirit is not called ‘it’ despite the fact that pneuma in Greek is a neuter noun. Church doctrine regards the Holy Spirit as a person, not a force like magnetism. In the Eastern Church, Spirit was always considered to have a feminine nature. She was the life-bearer of the faith.”

The Westminster Leningrad Codex (1008 AD) is the oldest complete Heb manuscript.  In its ultra-literal interlinear English translation online: Is.11:2 “And she rests on him, spirit of YHVH.”  Ps.143:10 “Good spirit of you Elohim, she shall guide me.”  Nu.11:26 “The spirit, she is resting on them.”  Ezk.37:1 “She becomes hand of YHVH on me in spirit of YHVH.”  Jb.33:4 “Spirit of El, she made me; breath of Who-Suffices, she is keeping me alive.”  (Ec.12:1 “Remember Ones creating you.”…“Us” in Ge.1:26.)

Pronouns in this ultra-literal translation do grammatically reflect the ancient Heb language gender.  The “she” pronoun agrees with our translations of Prov, WSol, WSir…where Wisdom is “she”.  Also, in this online Codex Jb.28:12-ff, Wisdom is “she”.  However, most of our translations attach the pronoun “it” to wisdom in Job 28.  This inconsistency may be a translational bias in Job 28…especially when we consider that wisdom is fem to Jesus in Lk.7:35 & Mt.11:19 (as well as “she” in Provs, WSol, WSir)!

From our Is.11:2, “The Spirit of the Lord shall rest on Him [Messiah], the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord”.  The LXX adds “godliness”.  Seven attributes!  And they’re all fem nouns!  Wisdom is primary (Pr.4:7).

In Pr.8:12-14, Wisdom speaks in 1^st Person. “I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, I find knowledge and discretion. The fear of the Lord. Counsel is Mine. I AM understanding, strength is mine.”  These attributes are all fem!  Philo AI1 p.29…On Flight and Finding, p.325 “He called that Divine and heavenly Wisdom by many names….Indeed all the virtues bear the names of women.”  It’s not just coincidence.

Pr.9:1-2 “Wisdom has built her house. She has hewn her seven pillars.”  As wisdom was the principal branch of the seven-branched menorah (fem) in God’s tabernacle Holy Place.  cf. Re.5:6 “The seven Spirits/sevenfold Spirit of God, sent into all the earth.”  Barnes Notes “The seven Spirits of God, the manifold operations of the one Divine Spirit.”  Pulpit Commentary Re.5:6 “The Holy Ghost, proceeding from the Father and the Son.”  The HS is sent, Jn.14:26 & 15:26.  Zec.4:10 “These seven are the eyes of the Lord which range throughout the earth.” (also the Zec.3:9 prophecy.)  Ps.139:7-10 rhetorically, “Where can I go from Your Spirit [ruach fem]”.  God’s (sevenfold) HS is omnipresent.

Following are the various Names/Titles of the HS in the OT.  The Spirit of: Wisdom/Understanding etc. (the seven in Is.11:2 & Pr.8:12-14), Life, Truth, YHVH, Elohim, Eloah, El.  (But not the Spirit of: adonaí/lord h136 or adówn/master h113.)  Also in the OT God calls the HS, “My Spirit”.  In the NT the HS is called the Spirit of God (Théos g2316), the Spirit of the Lord (Kúrios g2962), “The Spirit”, and the Comforter/Helper.

The Father is Lord, e.g. Mt.11:25.  Jesus is Lord, e.g. Jn.13:13.  But I don’t know of any Bible verse which specifically says the HS herself is Lord/master/ruler.  Jesus didn’t refer to the HS as “Father”.

In the NT the HS is submissive, subservient, faceless, humble…not worshiped or prayed to directly.  She’s identified by titles (e.g. “God”) from the Father, not of herself.  The HS testifies of and glorifies Jesus, not herself (Jn.15:26, 16:13-14).  HS Presence may arrive noticeably, but silently departs.

The dove is a symbol of the HS.  The dove is said to be a very affectionate bird, harmless, very gentle.  A dove doesn’t retaliate against enemies, but will retreat.  Solomon wrote of his beloved in SS.5:2, “My love, my dove, my undefiled”.  Ro.15:30 speaks of “the love of the Spirit”.  WSol.1:6-7 “Wisdom is a Spirit that loves mankind. The Spirit of the Lord fills the world.”  Philo Who is the Heir of Divine Things, 25:127 “Divine wisdom, God’s possession she is, symbolically called a turtledove.”

More verses together showing the HS Wisdom is God:  Jesus says in Jn.14:21, “He who loves Me shall be loved by My Father, and I will love him”.  Likewise the HS Wisdom says in Pr.8:17a, “I love those who love Me”.  Jesus and Wisdom (and the Father) love those who love Jesus and Wisdom.  Analogous.

The Lord says in Je.29:13, “You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart”.  Likewise the HS Wisdom says in Pr.8:17b, “Those who diligently seek Me will find Me”.  We humans will find the Lord and Wisdom when we wholeheartedly seek the Lord and Wisdom…again analogous.

Jesus says in Jn.15:16, “You should bear fruit and your fruit should remain”.  The HS Wisdom says in Pr.8:19, “My fruit is better than gold”.  And in Ga.5:22 Paul wrote of “the fruit of the Spirit”.  The fruit & attributes of the HS (within humans) are better than gold!

The Word Jesus says in Jn.14:6, “I AM the life [zoáy g2222]”.  1Jn.1:1-2 “Concerning the Word of Life [g2222]. The eternal life [g2222] that was with the Father.”  Likewise the HS Wisdom says in Pr.8:35 LXX, “Those who find Me find life [g2222]”.  The HS too is eternal life/zoay!  In Ga.6:8, Paul wrote of those who “from the Spirit reap eternal life [g2222]”.  Re.2:7 the Paradise “tree of life” (g2222).

In Ex.34, Moses’ face shined from being in the presence of God on the mountain.  Ex.34:30 “So when the Israelites saw Moses’ face, they were afraid to come near him.”  1Ki.3:28 “Israel feared the king [Solomon], for they saw the wisdom of God was in him to do justice.”  Solomon wrote in Ec.8:1, “A man’s wisdom makes his face to shine”.  The HS Wisdom enlightens the countenance of man.

Oswald Chambers’ Christian devotional, My Utmost For His Highest, is one of the most popular religious books ever written.  In it he wrote, “I am the Almighty God’ – El-Shaddái, the Father-Mother God. The one thing for which we are all being disciplined is to know that God is real.”  God is both Father and Mother.  El Shaddai (h7706) has been described or defined as the ‘mighty breasted One’.

Again, Jesus indicated His Mother is Wisdom, the HS.  Connecting in order the following seven verses will identify the feminine HS: Jl.2:28a, Pr.1:20, 23, De.34:9a, Nu.27:18, Mt.1:18b, Lk.7:35.

Yet the church in general for much of its history has wrongly suppressed females or considered them inferior.  (Having gone beyond the apostle Paul’s instructions regarding women in church assembly.)

Jewish physicist Albert Einstein said that “Israel wouldn’t experience salvation until it returned to feminine divinity”. (quoted in Patricia Taylor’s The Holy Spirit: The Feminine Nature of God.)  In Jewish thought, the fem Shekinah is the Divine Presence which can be sensed within human souls.  Jewish wisdom theology/sophiálogy in BC times (also in Philo) saw God’s Presence dwelling with Israel via the Shekinah.  ref Ex.40:34-35 the Shekinah glory cloud!

Wisdom/Sophía/Chokmáh wasn’t a fertility goddess, like Inánna in Mesopotamia or Deméter in Greece.  Mariólatry is a later Roman Catholic Church counterfeit as a substitute for Wisdom or Shekinah…the RCC’s Mary is near to goddess status, such as Ísis. (see “Holy Spirit versus Mariolatry”.)

The Jewish concept of Shekinah, along with Philo’s writings (re the Lógos/Word and Wisdom), pose continuing problems for strict Jewish monotheism!  There are three ‘Persons’ within the one Godkind.

We may say the Father is the Source, Possessor, Director or Planner.  The Son is the Spokesman, the Executor, Mediator, Ruler.  The HS is Wisdom, the Omnipresence, the Comforter…and the Glory!