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The Holy Spirit

By W. H. Griffith Thomas

Part 1. - The Biblical Revelation

Chapter 6 THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS.

It is necessary, however, to go still further back. The experience recorded in Acts has itself to be accounted for. Did it not come from Christ Himself? To answer this we examine the Gospels.

It is now usual to distinguish in the Synoptic Gospels between the teaching of Christ and the narratives of the writers. This is only possible in a general way, and even so, it is not always a simple matter.1 Old Testament ideas are clearly presupposed as familiar, and there is no trace of novelty or hint of change. The very way in which the subject is mentioned in the earliest verses shows the importance of continuity in understanding the doctrine (Matt. i. i8; Mark i. 8; Luke i. 5).

The opening pages of the Gospels indicate a special Divine movement at the time of our Lord's birth. Swete says St. Luke's

" narrative reveals the fact that the birth of the Baptist was accompanied by a manifestation of the Spirit unparalleled in the life of the Jewish people since the days of the Maccabees.'2

' As we open the pages of the Gospels, we find ourselves at once in an atmosphere swept by spiritual currents.'3

' All the events of this period are transacted, so to speak, in an atmosphere agitated by the Spirit.'4

The references to the Holy Spirit are very full and definite in connection with the persons mentioned as associated with the period of our Lord's birth.

' The Gospel history opens with an outburst of prophecy. As the moment of the Incarnation drew near, men and women in Israel found themselves lifted up by the Spirit into new regions of thought and endowed with new powers of expression. The movement began in the family of a priest. A child was born of whom it was foretold that he should " be filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother's womb "; and the inspiration was shared by his parents. Others were touched by the same current of Divine energy.... Such a revival of prophetic gifts had not occurred since the days of Ezra and Nehemiah; even the Maccabeean age had looked for it in vain.'5

All this is in accord with the view of the Holy Spirit seen in the Old Testament.6 And the entire conception of the Spirit in these Christian records is a striking testimony to the truth of the Gospel story at the precise moment of our Lord's appearance when compared with the post-Pentecostal teaching, and particularly in view of the fact that the record is given by men who wrote after the unique event of Pentecost.

' It is among the evidences of the substantial truth of the Gospel records that the last of the prophets of Israel is represented as inspired by the Spirit of the Old Covenant, and not as he would have been depicted by the imagination of men who had tasted of the Pentecostal gift.'7

The special feature of the record at this point is the association of the Holy Spirit with the Incarnation. The answer of the Angel to Mary is stated in the language of the Old Testament,8 and Matthew's account is also couched in Old Testament language, though equally associated with the Holy Spirit. On the one hand, it is like the Old Testament manifestations of power, and yet, on the other, it has an element of uniqueness.9 The Birth itself is regarded as natural, but the Conception is associated with manifestations of the Holy Spirit. Both the Sonship and the Sinlessness of Christ are referred definitely to the Holy Spirit.

' The Angel's words base the sanctity and Divine sonship of Mary's child not on His pre-existence but on His conception by the Divine Spirit.'10

' The miraculous conception reminds us that the absolutely perfect life must not only be begun, continued, and consummated in the Spirit, but anticipated likewise. So richly was the Spirit given to Christ that His holy influences were pulsing in those rudimentary stages of life which precede all signs of consciousness and moral responsibihty.'11

All this is intended to teach the superhuman, supernatural, Divine origin of the Personality of the Son of Mary.

' This is the conviction which — not to speak of historical evidence — sustains the stories of the birth of Christ. He must always have been what Christians eventually knew Him in their own experience to be: He must always have been Son of God. If it is the Spirit which makes Him Son, then behind the baptism with the Spirit must he a birth in which the Spirit is equally important: not only the equipment of this personality, but its origination, must be traced directly to God. And it is the origination of the personality of Jesus with which both Matthew and Luke are concerned. Neither of them betrays any idea that the Son of God pre-existed, and that they are only narrating the mode in which He came from another order of being into this; and, difficult as it may be to understand how a companion and friend of St. Paul could ignore such an idea, we must abide by the facts as they are before us. No act of man, but only the power of God, lies behind and explains the existence of Jesus Christ in the world.'12

The next stage of the subject is the opening of our Lord's ministry. This was preceded by the preaching of John the Baptist.

' There is one section of the Gospel narrative which represents entirely Jewish thought, except as it may have been coloured by the Christian medium through which it has passed. This is the preaching of John the Baptist. The Jewish element is seen in all the concepts of John's teaching.'13

' The ministry of the Baptist was a link between the old order and the new, and when Jesus began to teach He took up the thread which John had been compelled to drop. In the Baptist the prophetic Spirit uttered its last testimony to Him that was to come, completing the witness of the Old Testament at the moment when the Christ was ready to enter upon His work.'14

There were three occasions in this period where the presence and work of the Holy Spirit were emphasised.

(a) At the Baptism.15 This may be called the Messiah's consecration. While it was ' official ' it was not public. It was the Divine recognition and acceptance of the Messiah's fulfilled righteousness, and at the same time there came new powers with a new consciousness of God's purpose and mission.

' Two things make that event a crisis in the life of Jesus, for it marked the realisation by Him of His Messianic vocation, and His reception of the Divine equipment for it. The conviction was mediated by a Divine communication to the soul of Jesus; the equipment consisted in His baptism by the Holy Spirit.'16

(b) At the Temptation. This may be termed the Messiah's testing, for having been anointed with power He was ' driven by the Spirit ' into the wilderness to be proved as to His fitness for the Divine work to which He had been called.

(c) The Preaching at Nazareth. This may be described as the Messiah's equipment, and although the incident may belong to a later stage in the ministry, its place in St. Luke's Gospel seems to strike a keynote in regard to the Messiah's work.

' The words spoken at Nazareth disclose the consciousness of a unique relation to the Spirit which is presupposed by all that Jesus taught about Him.'17

The course of the ministry has several references to the Holy Spirit that need attention.

(a) The ministry in general was marked by the two elements of teaching and miracles. The former does not seem to be associated anywhere with the Holy Spirit, although, as we have seen, it is found in the passage from Isaiah, applied by Christ to Himself at Nazareth. But the miracles are in one place associated with the power of the Spirit (Matt. xii. 28, ' Spirit of God ' =Luke xi. 20, ' finger of God '). And prophecy which anticipated the Spirit for the Messiah (Isa. xlii. i) is regarded as having been fulfilled in the Gospel (Matt. xii. 18).

(b) The blasphemy against the Holy Ghost was another point of great importance (Mark iii. 29). The context clearly shows the true meaning of this much-discussed expression.

' It consists in attributing to a malign power acts of beneficence which clearly had their source in the Spirit of God.'18

' In principle it is the everyday sin of finding bad motives for good actions; carried to its unpardonable height, it is the sin of confronting the Divine holy power which wrought so irresistibly and so intensely in Jesus, and saying anything — the maddest, most wanton, most malignant thing^ — rather than acknowledge it for what it is.... This was the depth which malignity in them had reached.... The Holy Spirit is specifically God's.... To withstand what is so unambiguously the redeeming power of God, and to do so deliberately and malignantly, in the spirit which will kill Jesus rather than acknowledge Him as what He is, is the unpardonable sin.'19

(c) Certain aspects of teaching about the Holy Spirit must be noted; e.g. Luke xi. 1-13, where the Holy Spirit (Matt. vii. II, ' good things') is promised to them that ask the Heavenly Father,

(d) The instructions to the Apostles include a reference to the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Inspiration (Matt. x. 20; Mark xiii. 11; Luke xii. 12). According to Wood,20 this is the most central point of the Synoptic teaching for Christ's view of the work of the Spirit,

(e) The association of the Holy Spirit with the inner personal life of Jesus Christ is very rarely noticed. Indeed, one writer goes as far as to say that

' there is no passage in the Gospels connecting the Holy Spirit with the inner and religious life of Jesus, nevertheless the existence of such a connexion may be assumed.'21

But Luke X. 21, R.V., clearly points to the presence and power in His ministry of that Spirit which had been associated with Him in the earlier parts of the Gospels.22

The period after the Resurrection must now be noticed.

(a) Among the parting instructions and counsels of the risen Lord is the promise of the Holy Spirit (Luke xxiv. 49), where

' the Risen Saviour describes it as " the promise of My Father," and as " power from on high." The last word, therefore, brings us back to the first. The fundamental idea to be associated with the Spirit is that of Divine power: how the Divine power is to be further characterised, what it is ethically, and to what issues or in what temper it works, we can see only in the life of Jesus. He is the key to the interpretation of a term which of itself is indefinite indeed.'23

(b) The baptismal formula also calls for special attention. As to the authenticity of the saying, many agree with Wood, who will not allow it to be regarded as one of the genuine words of Christ.24 But the balance is overwhelmingly on the side of those who accept it.

' The evidence has been examined at length by the present Bishop of Ely, and few who have read his investigation will disagree with his finding that the whole evidence " establishes without a shadow of doubt or uncertainty the genuineness of Matthew xxviii. 19." '25

In this last command Christ brings together the Father, the Son, and the Spirit into one, thus uniting all the lines of His earlier teaching, and associating the Three Persons in their unity with the work which His disciples were to do from that time forward.26 This seems to be the only possible interpretation of these words as they stand.

' They certainly carry the Synoptic doctrine of the Spirit far beyond the point hitherto reached. For the Spirit is now seen to be not merely God in action, but God in relation to God, and we approach a mystery which belongs to the Divine Life itself. Yet this great step is taken in the interests not of scientific but of practical theology.'27

When we endeavour to summarise the teaching of the Synoptic Gospels we are led along three lines:

(a) The Holy Spirit in relation to Christ Himself. At each stage of His earthly manifestation the Holy Spirit is associated with Him; at His Birth, Baptism, Temptation; in His Life, Work, and Teaching.28

(b) The Holy Spirit in relation to the life of others. The time had not come for much to be said on this.

' The teaching of Christ upon this subject, so far as it is reported by the Synoptists, goes but a little way beyond that of the Old Testament.'29

It is only, as we have seen, in connection with the baptismal formula that the teaching marks a distinct advance. Apart from this we may summarise the teaching in the Synoptists as follows:

' The Spirit is a manifest revelation of God, present in the work of the Messiah and guiding His action. It will also furnish needed Divine power to the members of the Messianic kingdom when Christ is absent and their own powers no longer suffice. It is not a new life or the basis of a new life, but a special gift, superadded to the ordinary life.'30

The general idea in the Synoptic Gospels is of the Holy Spirit as the Divine power at work on Christ, and promised to the disciples for the fulfilment of the Divine purpose of redemption. But the main stress is naturally laid upon the relation of the Spirit to Christ Himself as the Messiah. But even on this point opinions differ. On the one hand we read:

' We find then in the teaching and conversations of our Lord, as reported by the Synoptists, no direct assertion that is well established claiming the Holy Spirit as the inspirer of His message and work. There must be some reason for this silence.... May it be that the immediacy of His communion with the Father was such that He did not need to speak of His endowment with the Messianic Spirit, and that in His training of the Twelve He led them to treasure a direct access to the Father in prayer during the days of His flesh? Hints we possess, indeed, of allusions to the Holy Spirit when His bodily presence was to be removed, as teaching and inspiring the disciples in days of coming stress, as their unseen Pleader before men; in some such converse briefly reported, we find the link which binds events in the Acts and discourses in the Fourth Gospel to the teaching of our Lord Himself. The Holy Spirit would inspire His followers according to their need for the continuing of His work among men.'31

To the same effect another writer remarks:

' The small part which the Spirit plays in the teaching of Christ needs explanation. It certainly cannot be taken as indicating that Christ placed little value on the idea which that term represented. The intimate relation between God and man which this term had indicated in the Hebrew literature was exactly that which Jesus was most concerned to bring about. It may very possibly be His clear realisation of this relation that led to the rare use of the term " Spirit of God " to express it. Christ taught a perfect harmony with God. He Himself stood in such a relation. He desired it for His followers. He would have His disciples brought into direct and immediate connection with God Himself.... It is significant that in no case does Christ speak of the Spirit as acting upon His followers while He is present with them. He would keep the thought of the disciples fixed upon Himself as the revelation of the Father.'32

But a different view is taken:

' In their reports of Christ's work the Synoptists rarely mention the Spirit by name, even Luke isolating simply one incident in Christ's experience — a mood of rapturous emotion — by associating it with the Spirit. But this very silence has its significance. The meaning is that from the Baptism the presence of the Holy Spirit in Jesus, instead of being viewed as occasional or fitful, as was sometimes the inspiration of the prophets, was regarded as permanent, and as the power in which all His Messianic duties were discharged. And in taking this view the Evangelists were but expressing the mind of Jesus Himself.'33

We may perhaps sum up as follows:

' The general impression which this survey of Jesus should leave is that of the naturalness behind the supernatural. The Holy Spirit acted upon Jesus, not to the suppression, but to the intensification, of the human. Christ's humanity was not made one whit less real by the Divine presence within Him.'34

Nor need we be surprised at this comparative paucity of reference to the Holy Spirit in connection with Christ's earthly life and ministry. Indeed, this very fact is a testimony to the accuracy of the reports found in the Synoptic Gospels. The fuller teaching concerning the Spirit was yet to come.35

Literature. — Humphries, The Holy Spirit in Faith and Experience; Wood, The Spirit of God in Biblical Literature, p. 124; Welldon, The Revelation of the Holy Spirit, p. 57; Redford, Vox Dei, p. 189; Denney, Article ' Holy Spirit,' Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels; Swete, Article ' Holy Spirit,' Hastings' Bible Dictionary; The Holy Spirit in the New Testament, pp. 11-61, 113; E. H. Johnson, The Holy Spirit, p. 76; Joseph Parker, The Paraclete, p. 7.

1 Wood, The Spirit of God in Biblical Literature, p. 124.

2 Swete, The Holy Spirit in the New Testament, p. 12.

3 Humphries, The Holy Spirit in Faith and Experience, p. 124.

4 Denney, Article ' Holy Spirit,' Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels, p. 736.

5 Swete, Article ' Holy Spirit,' Hastings' Bible Dictionary, p. 405.

6 Swete, The Holy Spirit in the New Testament, p. 21.

7 Swete, ut supra, p. 22.

8 Swete, ut supra, p. 26.

9 Swete, ut supra, p. 27.

10 Swete, The Holy Spirit in the New Testament, p. 28.

11 Selby, The Holy Spirit and Christian Privilege, p. 28.

12 Denney, op. cit. pp. 735, 736.