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The Paraclete, the Spirit of the Lord, the Holy Ghost. There are a wide arrange of terms used to refer to the third person of the trinity, who we affectionately call the Holy Spirit. The fifth Covenant Affirmation, A conscious dependence on the Holy Spirit, seeks among other things to establish the essence that draws together the body of Christ, namely the Holy Spirit. If you have been paying attention to how these Affirmations are ordered and how they flow in and out of each other you will see that this Affirmation seeks to provide an explanation for how the church as a fellowship of believers is united, and how this reality of freedom in Christ is made possible. We are interested then, in how this Affirmation can be made clearer, how this Affirmation affects us as participating Covenanters, and what the implications of this Affirmation are for us as Canadian Covenanters.
When we first sought writers for this first endeavour of this new round table project, it was not terribly difficult to find people who were interested in reflecting on these Affirmations for the sake of the church and theological reflection. That was the case for all except for this fifth Affirmation. It is always an uncomfortable task for any to attempt an explanation of who the Spirit is and what the Spirit does, primarily because there are mysterious aspects of our faith which when explained never truly reflect the holistic realities of those mysteries, but also because Scripture itself is vague when it comes to identifying this Spirit who we call Holy.
I am sure that many are aware that the word which is often translated into English as Spirit is pneuma(noo-ma) in the Greek, or ruah(roo-ah) in the Hebrew. The difficulty in handling this word is that it can also be taken to mean wind or breath(when we say pneuma, think about a pneumatic drill that is powered by compressed air). There are a number of textual concerns that arise when scholars attempt to understand this word as either Spirit or wind in their contexts. And context is very important when determining whether a word should be translated one way or another. This becomes especially important in the Old Testament where in Genesis 1:2 for instance, the ruah of God hovered over the waters. So, determining when and where “The Spirit of God” is present throughout Scripture, and identifying what this Spirit of God is doing can be challenging to say the least. For example, the NIV translates this verse: “and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” Whereas the NRSV puts it like this: “while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.” The majority of Scriptural references that the Covenant Affirmations utilize in summarizing what we believe the Spirit to be doing in our lives as Christians come from the New Testament.
Among other things, we believe that the Spirit of God who descends upon Jesus at His baptism(Mark 1:10) is the same Spirit who opens our eyes to the wonders and truth of God(John 3), by whom we can participate in this family of faith(1 Cor 15:58), and through whom we are united together as the body of Christ(1 Cor 12:13), and is the same Spirit promised to be with us(John 14:16). But what does it mean to consciously depend on this Spirit? It is perhaps difficult for us as North American Christians to imagine the need to depend upon anything other than our own ability to bring about whatever we put our minds to and the number that the bank tells us represents our financial stature. Why and how could we depend on anything other than our own determination and money? I would make an argument that Exodus 33 can be utilized to understand how important it is for us as Christians to depend on God’s Spirit and what that dependency looks like.
In Exodus, we have the remarkable story of how God responded to the cries of His people by redeeming His people in bringing them out of Egypt. In chapter 19 the Israelites arrive at mount Sinai and Moses goes up to meet God on the mountain top. There Moses receives the Ten commandments, and instruction regarding the conduct that the Israelites are to live by. This goes on until chapter 32, when the Israelites begin to feel uneasy regarding the length of time Moses has been absent for. They create for themselves a golden calf and begin to worship it, similar to the way that we have established the financial institutions we call banks. God is responds to the decision of the Israelites to make for themselves an idol by removing them from His presence. Had He not just brought them out of Egypt? Had they forgotten the lengths He had gone to in order to ensure their safety and deliverance? In chapter 33 the Lord commands Moses to take the people and leave the mountain of His presence. He says,
“go to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your descendants I will give it.’ 2 I will send an angel before you… but I will not go up among you” 4 When the people heard these harsh words, they mourned. 15 And Moses said to him, “If your presence will not go, do not carry us up from here. 16 For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people, unless you go with us?
After sometime, Moses manages to convince the Lord to continue to be present with Israel, to go wih them as they leave for the promised land.
The point is this. Moses and the people of Israel knew that unless the Lord continued with them into the land which was promised to Abraham, there was no hope. the Lord might as well have killed them all at the foot of Sinai, for that would be more merciful. The people had come to depend on the presence of God already. Not only when God led them out of Egypt through plagues, not only across the sea, but even for basic things like food and water. Without God present in the lives of the Israelites, there was no hope for them to survive in the wilderness, let alone any hope to arrive in the promised land.
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