The coming Messiah would inaugurate the age of salvation with the pouring out of of the Spirit on all flesh.

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Holy Spirit, Holy Ghost, Paraclete, Advocate, Comforter

 

The Old Testament

In the OT the spirit of the Lord (ruah yhwh; LXX, to pneuma kyriou)

is generally an expression for God's power, the extension of himself

whereby he carries out many of his mighty deeds (e.g., 1 Kings 8:12;

Judg. 14:6ff; 1 Sam. 11:6). As such, " spirit " sometimes finds

expression in ways similar to other modes of God's activity, such

as " the hand of God " (Ps. 19:1; 102:25); " the word of God " (Ps. 33:6;

147:15, 18); and the " wisdom of God " (Exod. 28:3; 1 Kings 3:28; Job

32:8). The origins of the word " spirit " in both Hebrew (ruah) and

Greek (pneuma) are similar, stemming from associations with " breath "

and " wind, " which were connected by ancient cultures to unseen

spiritual force, hence " spirit " (cf. John 3:8, note the association

with air in English; e.g., " pneumatic, " " respiration, " etc.). The AV

uses the term " Holy Ghost " for " Holy Spirit " based on an obsolete

usage of the word " ghost " (from Middle English and Anglo-Saxon,

originally meaning " breath, " " spirit " , cf. the German Geist). Thus it

is understandable that God's creative word (Gen. 1:3ff.) is closely

akin to God's creative breath (Gen. 2:7). Both ideas are identified

elsewhere with God's spirit. As an agent in creation, God's spirit is

the life principle of both men and animals (Job 33:4; Gen. 6:17;

7:15).

 

The primary function of the spirit of God in the OT is as the spirit

of prophecy. God's spirit is the motivating force in the inspiration

of the prophets, that power which moved sometimes to ecstasy but

always to the revelation of God's message, expressed by the prophets

with " thus saith the Lord. " Prophets are sometimes referred to

as " men of God " (1 Sam. 2:27; 1 Kings 12:22; etc.); in Hos. 9:7 they

are " men of the Spirit. " The general implication in the OT is that

the prophets were inspired by the spirit of God (Num. 11:17; 1 Sam.

16:15; Mic. 3:8; Ezek. 2:2; etc.).

 

The phrase " Holy Spirit " appears in two contexts in the OT, but is

qualified both times as God's holy Spirit (Ps. 51:11; Isa. 63:10-11,

14), such that it is clear that God himself is the referent, not the

Holy Spirit which is encountered in the NT. The OT does not contain

an idea of a semi-independent divine entity, the Holy Spirit. Rather,

we find special expressions of God's activity with and through men.

God's spirit is holy in the same way his word and his name are holy;

they are all forms of his revelation and, as such, are set in

antithesis to all things human or material. The OT, especially the

prophets, anticipates a time when God, who is holy (or " other

than/separate from " men; cf. Hos. 11:9) will pour out his spirit on

men (Joel 2:28ff.; Isa. 11:1ff.; Ezek. 36:14ff.). who will themselves

become holy. The Messiah/ Servant of God will be the one upon whom

the spirit rests (Isa. 11:1ff.; 42:1ff.; 63:1ff.), and will

inaugurate the time of salvation (Ezek. 36:14ff.; cf. Jer. 31:31ff.).

 

Intertestamental Judaism

Within intertestamental Judaism several significant developments

shaped the idea of " Holy Spirit " as it was understood in NT times.

After the OT prophets had proclaimed the coming of the Spirit in the

messianic age of salvation, Judaism had developed the idea that the

spirit of prophecy had ceased within Israel with the last of the

biblical prophets (Syriac Bar. 85:3; 1 Macc. 4:46; 14:41; etc.; cf.

Ps. 74:9). Consequently, there arose from time to time a hope of the

dawning of the new age, especially within the apocalyptic movement,

which generally pointed to a supposed messiah and/or prophetic

reawakening of some kind (cf. Acts 5:34ff.). The Qumran community is

illustrative of this, since it understood itself to be involved in

the fulfillment of Israel's messianic hope as the " preparers of the

way of the Lord " (Isa. 40:3; cf. 1QS 8. 14-16). The Qumran literature

also shows increased identification of the spirit of prophecy

with " God's Holy Spirit " (1QS 8. 16; Zadokite Documents II. 12). The

phrase, " the Holy Spirit, " occasionally occurs in Judaism (IV Ezra

14:22; Ascension of Isa. 5:14; etc.), but, as in the rabbis, it

generally meant " God's spirit of prophecy. " Thus, the messaianic

expectation of Judaism, which included the eschatological outpouring

of God's spirit (e.g., 1 Enoch 49:3, citing Isa. 11:2; cf. Sybilline

Oracle III, 582, based on Joel 2:28ff.), was bound up with the

conviction that the Spirit had ceased in Israel with the last of the

prophets; the Holy Spirit was understood as God's spirit of prophecy,

which would be given again in the new age to a purified Israel in

conjunction with the advent of a messiah.

 

The concept of the Holy Spirit was broadened through the Wisdom

Literature, especially in the personification of wisdom as that idea

came into contact with the idea of Spirit. As early as Prov. 8:22ff.

and Job 28:25ff. wisdom is presented as a more or less independent

aspect of God's power (here as agent in creation), and wisdom is

credited with functions and characteristics that are attributed to

the Holy Spirit in the NT. Wisdom proceeded from the mouth of God and

covered the earth as a mist at creation (Sir. 24:3); she is the

breath of the power of God (Wisd. Solomon 7:25); and by means of his

wisdom God formed man (Wisd. Sol. 9:2). The Lord poured out wisdom

upon all his works, and she dwells with all flesh (Sir. 1:9-10).

Moreover, wisdom is full of spirit, and indeed is identified with the

Spirit (Wisd. Sol. 7:22; 9:1; cf. 1:5). Thus the Jews of NT times

were familiar with the background of these ideas as they are

variously expressed in the NT, ideas which use these background

concepts but move beyond them to some unexpected conclusions. Indeed,

Jesus taught that his messiahship and the corresponding outpouring of

the Spirit were firmly rooted in OT understanding (Luke 4:18ff.,

citing Isa. 61:1-2), and, similar to intertestamental Judaism,

understood the messianic Spirit of the Lord to be the Holy Spirit

(Matt. 12:32), the spirit which had foretold through the prophets

that the coming Messiah would inaugurate the age of salvation with

the pouring out of the Spirit on all flesh....

 

Advocate, (Gr. parakletos), one who pleads another's cause, who helps

another by defending or comforting him. It is a name given by Christ

three times to the Holy Ghost (John 14:16; 15:26; 16:7, where the

Greek word is rendered " Comforter, " q.v.).

 

Comforter, the designation of the Holy Ghost (John 14:16, 26; 15:26;

16:7; R.V. marg., " or Advocate, or Helper; Gr. paracletos " ). The same

Greek word thus rendered is translated " Advocate " in 1 John 2:1 as

applicable to (the Comforter to be sent by) Christ. It means

properly " one who is summoned to the side of another " to help him in

a court of justice by defending him, " one who is summoned to plead a

cause. "

 

Spirit, Breath

Ruah: " breath; air; strength; wind; breeze; spirit; courage; temper;

Spirit. " This noun has cognates in Ugaritic, Aramaic, and Arabic. The

word occurs about 378 times and in all periods of biblical Hebrew...

 

ruah frequently represents the element of life in a man, his

natural " spirit " : " And all flesh died that moved upon the earth,...

All in whose nostrils was the breath of life ... " (Gen. 7:21-22). In

these verses the animals have a " spirit " (cf. Ps. 104:29). On the

other hand, in Prov. 16:2 the word appears to mean more than just the

element of life; it seems to mean " soul " : " All the ways of a man are

clean in his own eyes; but the Lord weigheth the spirits

[NASB, " motives " ]. " Thus, Isaiah can put nepes, " soul, " and ruah in

synonymous parallelism: " With my soul have I desired thee in the

night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early ... "

(26:9). It is the " spirit " of a man that returns to God (Eccl. 12:7).

 

.... the Bible often speaks of God's " Spirit, " the third person of the

Trinity. This is the use of the word in its first biblical

occurrence: " And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness

was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the

face of the waters " (Gen. 1:2). Isa. 63:10-11 and Ps. 51:12

specifically speak of the " holy or free Spirit. " "

 

Holy Spirit, Holy Ghost, Paraclete, Advocate, Comforter

www.mb-soft.com/believe/text/holyspir.htm

 

 

" If we follow Him (Jesus) then we cannot be conditioned by anything

because He talked of Spirit only. Spirit cannot be conditioned,

conditioned by anything. . . . I am here to tell you all these things

which Christ could not tell, and to fulfil what He wanted to say. All

those things I am saying to you. "

 

Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi

Christmas Puja, Delhi, India — December 24, 1995

 

 

" The Kundalini rises through a very thin line of Brahmanadi. In the

beginning only a hair like thing rises, it pierces through; in some

people ,of course, in a big way it rises also. And then it pierces

this fontanel bone area which is a real baptism, real. Today only

people felt the cool breeze coming out of their heads. Can you do

that by jumping, or by paying money? They felt the cool breeze in the

hand. It's written in the Bible, even in the Bible very clearly, that

it's the cool breeze, cool breeze is the sign of the Holy Ghost. You

start feeling the cool breeze in your hands and you start feeling the

cool breeze on your head. This is the actualization.

 

Of course, you people don't read other books which are very good,

like Adi Shankaracharya, People don't even like the mention of his

name who has really and clearly said that it is the cool breeze; the

chaitanya is to be felt like cool breeze in the hands. They do not

want that you should know the truth. And this is the truth that when

you get your realization, you have to feel the cool breeze in your

hands yourself. You have to judge yourself. I'm not going to tell

you. It is you who has to see, it is you who has to feel, and then

you have to grow and you have to know all and everything; all the

secrets of Divine Science. You become the master then, you are the

guru.

 

You are the Spirit, and you should get it. It's your own which is

given to you. I have nothing to do about it. I'm just a catalyst. "

 

Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi

Maccabean Hall, Australia on March 22, 1981