Rūḥ al-Quddus
Today marks the feast of Pentecost in the Orthodox Church. This will be a brief post, but it is important to understand what the feast of Pentecost is and furthermore, what the Bible means by “the Holy Spirit”.
Pentecost was not an original Christian holiday, but like Pascha, was carried over from the Jewish calendar. In the Old Testament, Pentecost was the Feast of Weeks. This feast commemorated the giving of the Decalogue to Moses on Mount Sinai. That is the main thread of this holiday. Pentecost is about God instructing his people.
These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. — Jn 14:15–31
We see from that passage from John’s gospel that the main function of Jesus’ sending of the Holy Spirit to his disciples is principally to teach them. In scripture, “spirits” are often intertwined with teaching. In 1 John, the author speaks of testing different spirits to see whether or not they have correct teachings.
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. — 1 Jn 4:1
In 1 Corinthians, Paul similarly speaks of “spirit” in the same manner as “teaching”.
Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. — 1 Cor 2:12–13
While the word “spiritual” certainly conjures (pun intended) many images for us of mysticism and “feeling”, in scripture, “spiritual” refers to something leading an individual. A “teaching” prompts a response, and thus leads you in a certain direction. This is because the word “spirit” literally refers to “breath”. This is true in nearly every language I can think of (although, I’m sure there are exceptions). In Hebrew, the word for spirit is ruaḥ, related to the Arabic ruḥ. Both can mean “breath” or wind. Take, for instance, the story of Job.
And behold, a great wind (Heb. ruaḥ gedolah) came across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young people, and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell you. — Job 1:19
In Greek, the word is pnevma from the verb pneō meaning “I blow”. Thus, it can also refer to wind or breath. We see this connection clearly in the original Greek of John’s gospel.
The wind (pnevma) blows (pnei)where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit (pnevmatos). — Jn 3:8
We also have Jesus being “led” by the Spirit into the wilderness of Syria following his baptism. Why is he led? Because the Spirit is a “wind”. It is simply the same word, a connection that we miss out on in English. While it does have a more sinister connotation now, English does natively have the word ghost which comes from the Germanic ghast, meaning “breath” or “wind”. We inherited “spirit” from the Latin spiritus, also referring to breath. If we think about some of our English vocabulary, we can see it present in many words. “Inspire” comes from the Latin meaning breathed into. “Ex-spire” means that breath has left something. “Spiration” refers to breathing in general. We even have words derived from Greek, like “pneumatic”, referring to “breathing”. Interestingly, the Greek adjective pnevmatikos, translates to “spiritual”. In the gospels, Christ has to cleanse many individuals from impure spirits because those spirits are leading them astray.
So the question becomes, which spirit will you follow? There are many spirits out there, but only one is holy. How are we to effectively test spirits? John gives us the answer.
By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. — 1 Jn 4:2–3
What does it mean to confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh? It is to acknowledge that Christ has set us free from the “elemental” spirits of the world (Col. 2:20). As Paul thunders in 1 Corinthians 8, we are to proclaim one God and one Lord. This proclamation invalidates every other so-called “god” and “lord”. This includes literal pagan deities of course, but also political leaders and ideologies, religious traditions and teachers, national and tribal identity, ourselves generally, and the things we create and concoct with our own hands. We love to worship literally everything but the God who created us. To truly confess Christ in the flesh is to proclaim freedom from the wordly powers, but complete surrender (aslama) to God. In other words, لا إله إلا الله. There is no god, but God. This isn’t just a passive belief in monotheism. This is a proclamation that your one reference is God, and by extension, his teaching. Nothing else is to come between you and God. That is the freedom secured by Christ. That is the teaching of the Holy Spirit, and the recasting of the feast of Pentecost in light of Jeremiah 31:31 where the Holy Spirit would indwell the believer, writing the law on their hearts. As such, the Holy Spirit is called paraklētos, which literally means to “call alongside” in Greek. In other words, it is a helper, comforter, or a counselor.
Do not be fooled by anyone, or any organization, that seek to put you back into bondage. You are free, bought by the blood of Christ. There is only one God, and he has no partners and he calls you to show mercy to your needy neighbor. That is why, if you read the rest of 1 John 4, he speaks exclusively about God as love itself. This is the true teaching, the true Spirit from God. Other spirits call us to serve ourselves. God tells us to serve those who are needy and forgotten by the world. It is about love and mercy. Nothing else matters.
