Holy Spirit & Humanity
Excerpt
The Bible
states, "In the beginning God created the heavens
and the earth"
(Gen. 1:1). When and
how God created the
universe is still
debated, but the key is "in the beginning
God."
So, Who is this God of
creation the Bible speaks about? The short answer—God is a pure infinite
Spirit in whom all things have
their beginning, are
sustained, and will have their end in Him. Let
us explore the spirit world of God and man.
The Scriptures were
spoken and written in the Hebrew and Greek
languages. In Hebrew,
ruwach (roo'-akh) is the term for the Holy
Spirit, and it can be translated "breath of God,"
"wind of God," and "Spirit of God." Genesis 1:2 reveals the presence of
God's Spirit during
creation: "...And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face
of the waters."
It is
likely that when God breathed His breath into Adam, a
"spirit" was formed inside him. When Adam's
spirit was produced, his soul
(personality, emotions, self-awareness) naturally switched on
like a light, and his body automatically
came into full function (Gen.
2:7). Man is often referred to as being spirit, soul, and body
(1 Thess.
5:23).
In modern transactions of the New
Testament, the word pneuma in
the Greek language can be translated "the spirit of man" when it is
lowercased; when Pneuma is capitalized, it is referring to "the
Spirit of God." Many respiratory phrases
come from this word (e.g., to draw
breath, the nostrils, inhaling, exhaling, etc.). However, in the
biblical sense Pneuma is defined as: the in-breathing of the Spirit
of God to give life, inspire, illuminate,
impart power, and anoint for
service. Simply put, (P)pneuma can refer to the Holy Spirit, the
human spirit, and even evil
spirits.
Believers in Christ have been created to live in the spiritual
world; therefore, they need spiritual
understanding and discernment to
fulfill their calling in Christ. One of the grace gifts of the Spirit that
is listed in First Corinthians
12:8-10 is the "discerning of
spirits.
"This grace gift enables a believer in
spiritual union with God to
identify the source of any manifestation or phenomena....
