Geoff Hudson

My ‘creative’ version of 2 Cor. 3. 6 is: ‘He has made us competent as ministers of a New Covenant -- not of the law but of the Spirit – for the law impurifies, but the Spirit purifies.’ To put the reader off the scent, a later editor changed: ‘law’ to ‘letter’ – a Freudian slip (‘our letter’ v2 .), ‘impurifies’ (the law made one aware of one’s impurity) to ‘kills’ and ‘purifies’ to ‘gives life’. I use this reference to introduce the idea that the source NT documents were all Jewish and centered on the Spirit of God who could cleanse or purify a believer who obeyed him. In the New Covenant of the Spirit, a person who believed in the Spirit could be purified by the Spirit and made acceptable to God. This was the message that was common to John the Prophet, Paul and James (the brother of the Spirit). The theme of the Spirit runs throughout the original NT documents. There was no necessity for particular rituals such as baptism, or animal atoning sacrifices. The High Priest of the New Covenant who could purify all and intercede for all was the Holy Spirit. There was no longer any requirement for a human High Priest. The message of the Spirit was used by its proponents to make Jewish monotheism inclusive of Gentiles. The coming of the Spirit is prophesied in the OT, and the development of the theology of the Spirit is illustrated in one particular anomalous document (1QH) of the DSS. The Spirit was the third characteristic of God, the other two being Lord (or master) and Father. Jesus was a later literary creation.

Geoff Hudson

Boro Nut

Geoff. You're supposed to be English for christ's sake. Have a word with yourself.

Boro Nut

Geoff Hudson

It seems that you have all ignored the explicit quotation regarding the New Covenant of the Spirit. In black and white, 2 Cor. 3. 6 says: ‘He has made us competent as ministers of a New Covenant -- not of the law but of the Spirit.’ The New Covenant of the Spirit was a new deal, or agreement between God and man. It represented a change from the old way of achieving purification by keeping the requirements of the Jewish law. Now the Holy Spirit could cleanse someone directly of their spirit of deceit (or falsehood or darkness) and make them acceptable to God.

The Spirit of God was there in the beginning involved in creation. ‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters’ (Gen. 1.1).

Thus it was through his Spirit that God brought about creation. So I read Hebrews 1, something like this: ‘In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Spirit, through whom he made the worlds. The Spirit is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his power. After he had provided purification for our spirits, he made us sit at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. So we became as much superior to the angels as the Spirit we have inherited is superior to theirs. For to which of the angels did God ever say, "You are my son; today I have become your Father"? Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who receive the Spirit?’
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It is easy to see how an editor could have changed the text of Hebrews, substituting Jesus for the Spirit in an original Jewish document. The Spirit as the ‘radiance’ of God’s glory makes perfect sense. Believers purified by the Spirit were accepted by God into his presence to ‘sit at His right hand’ as His ‘sons’ spiritually.

And I read the opening of John 1 something like this: ‘In the beginning was the Spirit, and the Spirit was God. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was the light of men. The Spirit overcomes the spirit of darkness, and the spirit of darkness has not overcome it.

There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning the Spirit, so that through the Spirit all men might be purified. The Spirit was in everyone, and though everything was made through him, everyone did not recognise him. He came to those who were his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those he gave the purification to become accepted of God.

The Spirit made his dwelling among us. We have seen the glory of the Spirit who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. From the fulness of his grace we have all received purification. For the law was given through Moses, but purification came through the Spirit. No-one has ever seen God, but the Spirit of God has made him known.’
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Again it is easy to see how a later editor could have substituted ‘Word’ for ‘Spirit’. In John 1 it should have been the Jewish Spirit that was in the beginning not the Hellenestic Word or Logos of the editor. It was the Spirit that was synonymous with God. A small part of the Spirit of God or spirit of truth or light was in every person, as was the spirit of deceit or falsehood or darkness. We are in the contemporary world of the two spirits to which there are one or two explicit remaining references left untouched by the editors of the NT. The two spirits in a person are explicitly referred to in the DSS. The Holy Spirit was sent to cleanse a person of his spirit of deceit. This was the new deal.

Geoff

Geoff Hudson

THE GREATEST GIFT (1 Cor. 13)

If I prophesy in visions of men and of angels, but have not the Spirit, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can interpret all mysteries, and fathom all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not the Spirit, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor, but have not the Spirit, I gain nothing. The Spirit is patient, the Spirit is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. The Spirit does not delight in falsehood but rejoices in the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. The Spirit never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are visions, they will fade away; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked with the spirit of a child. When I became a man, the Spirit took away the childish spirit, and I talked with the Spirit of God. Now we see but a poor reflection of the Spirit as in a mirror; then we shall see the Spirit face to face. Now I know the Spirit in part; then I shall know the Spirit fully, even as I am fully known. And now these gifts remain, but the greatest of these is the Spirit.

NOTE
Its ironic that the soppy Graecised "love"
passage, read so often in churches, once had a theological meaning. In this scheme, even the great theme of faith takes second place to the Spirit.

Geoff