Lesson 3: The Spirit as Word
Spirit is one of the most constant terms in the bible. It is used for God. It is used for humans. It is used to express the relationship between the two.
Yet like the air we breathe, it is so prevalent we seldom notice it. In fact, Scripture often portrays the spirit as the air we breathe. God bestows it as the life force energizing our bodies. Sometimes this is described as God sharing God’s Spirit with us, giving the human spirit, or life itself, a divine quality.
The spirit is especially associated with speech. In the first creation story, the Spirit speaks to create. Words bring order to chaos. God says, “Let there be light,” and there is light as the light is separated from the darkness. Words create by naming, assigning function, giving meaning, and describing purpose in the story.
Throughout the Old Testament, the Spirit of God speaks to special people when calling them to lead his people. This is described as God giving them the spirit needed to speak on God’s behalf. It enables judges and prophets to offer divine evaluations, commands, and promises.
This association is so central that “God’s Word” usually means “God’s self.” When we refer to the Bible as God’s Word, we mean that it records the ways the Spirit has spoken in the past. These moments express the intimate relationship between God and human persons. This is evident in the second creation story (Genesis 2), where God converses with Adam and Eve in the Garden. You see that when God and humans communicate in prayer.
This takes us far beyond the popular idea that being spiritual means being an emotional person, someone who values feelings as well as, if not more than, the mind. People are spiritual when they speak creatively, bringing order from chaos. Knowing the power of words, they think before they speak, seeking to tell the truth and refusing to mock.
This is so important that two of the Ten Commandments concern speech: “Do not take the name of God in vain” and “Do not bear false witness against your neighbor.”
It’s pretty easy to see that often the Spirit of God is a voice crying in the wilderness in our time. Significantly, the New Testament begins with the same observation. It creates a parallel with the first chapter of Genesis beginning with chaos. Next week, we’ll take a look at how Jesus responds.
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