PAUL AND THE SPIRIT 

Introduction

At first sight Paul’s teaching about the Spirit presents no problems.  What he writes was not contentious then and is relatively uncontentious now.  But the Spirit was so central to Paul’s understanding of his faith that it is worth digging a little deeper.  And then we quickly come up against problems of language as well as of different meanings ranging from natural, even secular meanings to explicitly supernatural ones.  We also encounter Paul at his most personal and attractive. 

Language questions

There is no problem about the word for spirit in the New Testament.  There is in the Old Testament, because the same word ‘ruach’ means both wind and spirit.  So Genesis 1.3 could be translated, “the spirit of/from God was moving over the waters”, or “a wind from God was moving over the waters”.  But Greek had a perfectly good word for wind, ‘anemos’, from which we get the word anemometer, a scientific instrument to measure wind speed.    So when Paul uses the Greek word ‘pneuma’ it always means spirit.  (It is also the word we get ‘pneumatic tyre’ from).  (Note:  only in John 3.8 is ‘pneuma’ used for both wind and spirit).

Big or Little?  

But there are three other issues we need to be aware of.  As you read Paul you will see that sometimes the Spirit is given a capital ’S’, meaning God’s Spirit, and sometimes it is written with a small ’s’ meaning our spirit.  This is entirely the editors’ decision.  Up until the 6th century AD there were no lower case Greek letters.  Everything was written in capital letters with no punctuation, and indeed no spaces between words.  

So when Paul discusses the spirit in 1 Corinthians 2.13, the RSV translates the last phrase as “interpreting spiritual truths to those who possess the Spirit.”  In the NRSV it has become “interpreting spiritual things to those who are spiritual.”  It could make a difference.

The or A?   

In Greek there is no word of ‘a’.  “I saw a boat”  would come out as “I saw boat”.  There is a word for ‘the’, but that is sometimes used, sometimes not.  We then have to decide whether to include it or not.  Sometimes Paul uses the article, sometimes not.  For instance, 2 Corinthians 3:6 could be translated rather pedantically, as “who has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant, not of letter but of spirit (n.b. not ‘the’), for the letter kills but the spirit (does this mean Spirit?  Not necessarily.) makes alive.”  Is there a difference?  Probably not.

But there is one curiosity.  When Paul uses the expression ‘holy spirit’ he generally does not use an article.  So for example we could translate Romans 14.17 as “the kingdom of God (means) righteousness and peace and joy in holy spirit.”  Almost as if holy spirit is less of a person and more of an atmosphere.

He or It?  

One of the litmus tests vicars often make as to someone’s spiritual maturity is if they treat the Holy Spirit as a person, he, or as impersonal, it.  Rather embarrassingly, Paul always refers to spirit as it.  But this is primarily a matter of grammar because the Greek word ‘pneuma’ is neuter, so takes neuter pronouns.  However, Paul also frequently calls the spirit the spirit of God and of Christ.  We know that his favourite word linked to God was ‘grace’, which meant ‘loving-kindness’.  So ‘grace’ or ‘loving-kindness’ is the prime characteristic of God’s spirit, whatever the grammar may say.

Natural or Supernatural

Paul uses ‘spirit’ to indicate the inner nature of a person.  He closes the short letter to his friend Philemon with “the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.”  And it is a crucial word in his analysis of the human condition in Romans 8.5-6.  The NRSV translates it as “Those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.”

A more accurate translation is “Those who are fleshly have the fleshly mindset, but those who are spiritual have the spiritual mindset”.  There is a significant theological issue here.  Do people have innately a spiritual component, or are we purely dependent on God’s action?  If “the mindset of the flesh is death”, what follows?  Is “the spiritual mindset life and peace”, i.e. is there a continuum between our spirit and God’s spirit;   or is the mindset of Spirit (i.e. God’s Spirit) life and peace”, i.e. only an intervention by God can do anything?  Did Paul foreshadow Pelagius or Augustine?  I.e. in our natural humanity can we bring something to our salvation (Pelagius), or can we bring nothing but our sins (Augustine)?

See what a difference a capital letter makes!

I think that in Romans 8.16 Paul comes down on the side of continuity.  “The spirit itself witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God.”

If there is continuity that will also impact our reaction to other faiths, because spirit is a common inheritance of all humankind. So Paul could say in his speech at Athens:  “As even some of your own poets have said, ‘we are also his offspring.’”   (Acts 17.20)

Spirit and the kingdom of God 

Jesus was always talking about the kingdom of God.  “Repent, for the kingdom of God is near!”  (Mark 1.15) was his first announcement.  In Mark’s gospel the phrase occurs ??? times.  But he did not mean a kingdom like the United Kingdom, a geographical territory.  And I do not think he meant kingship in the sense of a generally recognised authority.  I believe that for Jesus the kingdom of God was a dynamic concept, like a seed growing (Mark 4.26-32).  In Luke 11.20 Jesus says, “If it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you” In other words, the kingdom of God means God in action pushing back the frontiers of evil.

There are several passages where Paul mentions in passing the Holy Spirit acting in just such a way.

He wrote quite an angry letter to Christians in Galatia (northern Turkey) because he felt that they were compromising with Jewish missionaries.  But he did not just use theological arguments.  He appealed to their actual experience:  “Does he who supplies the Spirit (or spirit) and works miracles among you do so by works of the Law or by hearing with faith?”  (Colossians 3.5)

Writing to his converts in Corinth he cites his own missionary approach.  “My speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom but in demonstration of spirit and power (or miracle)”  (1 Corinthians 2.4)  Here is how in Romans he summarises his missionary strategy:  “by word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God.” (Romans 15.18-19)  And in another letter to the Corinthian Christinas he says, “We have this treasure in earthen vessels to show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to us.” (2 Corinthians 4.7)

In a key passage in 1 Corinthians 12.2,4  he mentions among the spiritual things  (pneumatika) the grace-things (charismata) coming from God’s spirit such as wisdom, knowledge, faith, healings, miracles, prophecy and tongues.  He routinely used tongues in worship.  “I thank God that I pray in tongues more than you all…”  (1 Corinthians 14.18)  How that worked in practice was seen when enquirers came to a meeting.  “If all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all, the secrets of his heart are disclosed; and so, falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you.”  (1 Corinthians 14.24-25)   

So he tells the believers in Thessalonica “Do not quench the spirit (or Spirit).  Do not despise prophecies…”  (1 Thessalonians 5.19)

In other words, Paul was not a typical Anglican.  He was a typical Pentecostal!

Spirit of Transformation 

The most exciting aspect of the spirit in Paul is its/his role in personal transformation.  He talks of God “putting his seal on us and giving us his Spirit in our hearts as a first instalment.”  (2 Corinthians 1.22)

The first thing the Spirit does is to create  a new family relationship with God.  One of Paul’s favourite sentences comes in both Romans and Galatians: “Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts crying ‘Abba, Father’.  So you are no longer a slave but a son.”  (Galatians 4.6 cf. Romans 8.15,16)

God’s spirit produces in us a new capacity to love:  “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.”  (Romans 5.5.)

It is the spirit of unity:  “In the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.”  (1 Corinthians 12.13)

The result is a new and attractive lifestyle:  “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”  (Galatians 5.22).

Finally there comes this amazing result:  “All of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.”  (2 Corinthians 3.18)

How do we get there?

How do we enter into this experience of Spirit?  Paul does not give a clear answer.  For that we have to go back to the words of Jesus as recorded by Luke:

“If you, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!’  (Luke 11.13)