Knowing the Holy Spirit through the Old Testament

The role of the Holy Spirit in the economy of salvation is to take the benefits of Christ and apply them to the elect of God and the world that Christ has redeemed. If that be the case, one might be tempted to think that the biblical revelation about the Holy Spirit is nearly exclusively found in the New Testament. Christopher Wright very adequately dispels that notion in this excellent work on the activities of the Holy Spirit in the older covenant era. This book is thus a fine complement to Wright's earlier work, Knowing Jesus through the Old Testament. The two books read together highlight how Trinitarian the Bible is, including the books of the Old Testament.

Christopher Wright is the director of international ministries for the Langham Partnership International ("John Stott Ministries" in the USA). The five chapters in this book are an adaptation of five addresses that Wright gave in August 2004 to the New Horizon conference in Northern Ireland. Although the printed edition necessarily is edited and expanded from the original spoken addresses, gratefully the chapters of this book still breathe with the atmosphere of their original oral presentations. Wright is still "talking" with his readers, which format only serves to make this an eminently readable work. The five chapters are topically arranged, namely, 1) The Creating Spirit, 2) The Empowering Spirit, 3) The Prophetic Spirit, 4) The Anointing Spirit, and 5) The Coming Spirit.

Wright correctly draws the connection between the role of the Spirit in creation and that of his role in daily providence. Thus the world of human existence (the "environment") should be thought of in a larger category of "God's creation into which he has put us... The world we live in, then, is not only the product of the Spirit of God through his almighty word in creation, but it is also the arena of his constant presence, surveillance and sustenance" (p. 22). Therefore, it is wrong for Christians to trivialize the creation and disregard it as some entity that is simply waiting for some "cosmic demolition order" to be carried out while Christians get to relocate in heaven. The passages Wright examines include Genesis 2, Psalm 104, and Romans 8:19-27.

In his chapter entitled "The Empowering Spirit" Wright notes how it is the Person of the Holy Spirit who gives strength and ability to Bezalel and Oholiab, the several judges of Israel, and even King Saul, who is later deserted by God when Saul increasingly disobeys the commands of God. The Spirit enables the economy of redemption for God's people to proceed in ways that fully anticipate the role of the Spirit in the new covenant era.

One of the finest sections of the book is Wright's handling of how the Spirit was active in Moses's life and leadership. Moses was the humblest man on the earth, according to Numbers 12:3. Wright examines the biblical data under the following rubrics: power without pride (in which his humility is based upon his dependence upon the Spirit, coupled with Moses's acceptance of the Holy Spirit in others), power without jealousy ("Would that all God's people had God's Spirit," was Moses's wish), and power without ambition. Says Wright (p. 54), "The best leaders are often the most reluctant leaders, while those who hanker after all the power and status of leadership are usually the worst." He adds, "True humility... is the sign of a person at ease with him- or herself and God" (p. 55). Wright's discussion here is very practical: he draws out the conclusions from which any Christian leader could benefit upon further reflection.

His third chapter deals with the prophetic Spirit, and here Wright goes over familiar ground that other writers have covered before. He notes how false prophets fail the litmus test of what constitutes a true prophet of God: "Have they stood in my council?" asks the Lord (see Jeremiah 23). A true prophet is called by God, equipped by God, and brings the full counsel of God. Wright correctly sees the prophets of God as being concerned for the full range of Torah revelation. He writes, "Here... is another test of whether or not some if these great, so-called prophetic ministries are truly from the Spirit of this God. Are they concerned about justice for the poor and needy? Or do they avoid all such issues... 'staying out of politics'"? (p. 85).

Wright also addresses the role of the Holy Spirit with respect to the kings of the Old Testament. One of the points that comes to the fore in this fourth chapter concerns how the role of Israel in the on-going redemptive-historical plan of God is a replication of "the story of the fall of humanity. The story of Israel is a recapitulation of the story of Genesis 1-11. Blessing, promise and command, followed by sin and rebellion. Perhaps we should not be surprised" (p. 103). The kings raised up by God are to lead the way, but they so often failed. God's response is to raise up his servant (cf. Isaiah 42:1-7), the anointed one who will advance justice, compassion, enlightenment, and liberation. Wright then draws the appropriate lines very nicely to the Person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Wright leaves his discussion of Joel 2 ("I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh") to his last chapter ("The Coming Spirit"). One might have thought that this well-known passage, quoted by the Apostle Peter on Pentecost Sunday in Acts 2, might have been tackled at the beginning of the study (cf. pp. 136ff.). But in a discussion that is rich in exegetical insights and that includes brief consideration of other passages (e.g., Isaiah 32 and Ezekiel 36-37), Wright outlines how the promises that stand out before God's people at the close of the Old Testament era, are setting the stage precisely for what Jesus Christ would accomplish through his work and then apply by the gift of the Holy Spirit. Real repentance and restoration would be effected by Christ and his Spirit, in full accord with the messages proclaimed by the Old Testament prophets. That coming Spirit, says the prophet Joel, will bring effects that are "universal, cosmic and saving" (pp. 150ff.).

Chris Wright does not interact with Meredith Kline's Images of the Spirit or any of the other works that are devoted to the topic of the Holy Spirit and his revelation in the Old Testament. Such interaction would be appropriate to a more academically-orientated study. Furthermore, Wright does not appear to play ordo salutis concerns over against historia salutis interests. He writes as one literate in both areas, and his sketches on how we can know the Holy Spirit from the pages of the Old Testament will enrich the sympathetic reader with material concerned with both dimensions of revelation.

This book was immensely enjoyable to read, and it is accessible to anyone who is literate in the teachings of the Bible. Although Knowing the Holy Spirit through the Old Testament is not a scholarly work in the academic sense of the word, Wright has clearly done his homework in studying this topic. Pastors and laypeople alike will profit greatly from reading through this work. Highly recommended.

Christopher J.H. Wright / (Downers Grove: IVP, 2006)
Review by Mark Vander Hart - Mark Vander Hart is Associate Professor of Old Testament Studies, Mid-America Reformed Seminary