Lesson 2: “In The Beginning…”

Getting started: what role did the Spirit have in Creation (Genesis 1)?

What role is ascribed to the Spirit in the wisdom literature (Psalm 104.30; Job 33.4)?

The trinitarian concept of God (Father, Son & Spirit) is not fully developed in the Old Testament, and certainly not in the opening chapters of Genesis. Consequently, most of us probably think of creation as the activity of the Father and the Son/Word (John 1.1-3). But, as the Psalmist declared, “When you send forth your Spirit, they are created…” (Psalm 104.30). The Spirit was also instrumental in creation.

Too many times when we discuss the Spirit we jump straight to more challenging passages like Romans 8. However, it’s important to go back to what happened “in the beginning” to lay a foundation of the Spirit’s activity throughout Scripture. And what we find is that from the beginning the Spirit has always been active in the following ways:

1. The Spirit forms the people of God.
2. The Spirit leads/guides the people of God.
3. The Spirit is how people experience the presence of God.

Our study of the Spirit will focus on how these three aspects of the Spirit were at work in the people of God historically, and in God’s people today.

Important note: the Hebrew word rûah is translated as “Spirit” in Genesis 1.2. However, the same word is translated as “breath” in Genesis 6.17 and as “wind” in Genesis 8.1. Our english translations use context to give the concept the translators think is intended, but it’s important to remember that when the Israelite people heard or read these accounts, the would hear/read rûah each time. I do not mean to imply that every time the word “wind” is found in the Old Testament that it was actually the Spirit, but it may not be as cut and dry as we assume from reading our English translations.

The Spirit forms the people of God.

“The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” (Genesis 1:2, ESV)

When we think of how God created the heavens and earth, we think of God speaking and whatever He spoke coming into existence: “And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light” (Genesis 1.3). However, before God even spoke, His Spirit (rûah) was hovering over the face of the waters. While nothing more is made of that fact in Genesis 1, other inspired writers attribute God’s creative acts to the Spirit:

• “By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and by the breath (rûah) of his mouth all their host.” (Psalm 33:6, ESV)
• “When you send forth your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the ground.” (Psalm 104:30, ESV)

Furthermore, consider this parallel with Gabriel’s announcement to Mary: “And the angel answered her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.’” (Luke 1:35, ESV) Just as the Spirit “hovered over” the face of the waters, God’s Spirit would also “overshadow” Mary. Creation, whether of the world or of the Son’s human body, occurred by the Spirit.

The Spirit would also seem to be instrumental in the creation of man. God declared in Genesis 1.26, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” and then in Genesis 2.7 we see that God “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.” It may be that all this verse intends to reveal is that man became animated. Note that the phrase “living creature” is used for other aspects of creation in Genesis 1.21,24. Furthermore, the word translated as “breath” in Genesis 2.7 is nišmǎt rather than rûah. However, other Old Testament passages associate the “breath of life” with the Spirit:

• “as long as my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils,” (Job 27:3, ESV)
• “But it is the spirit in man, the breath of the Almighty, that makes him understand.” (Job 32:8, ESV)

Finally, note Jesus’s actions in John 20.22: “And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’.” Just as God had breathed life into man, Jesus breathed new life, the Spirit, into His followers.

The Spirit leads/guides the people of God.

This point will be much more apparent when we turn our attention to the Spirit’s role in leading the people of Israel, but spiritual guidance is certainly of great import in the creation narratives. God gave man guidance with His command in Genesis 2.16-17: “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Following God’s guidance would have resulted in continued life with God in Eden; disobeying would result in death. However, Satan gave contradictory guidance in Genesis 3.1-5. Woman and man followed the wrong guidance and death resulted.

God’s inspired word is ascribed to the Spirit in various passages (2Samuel 23.2; 2Timothy 3.16; 2Peter 1.21; etc.). Also, note Jesus’ words in John 6.63: “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.” The point: to follow the word of God is to follow the Spirit, and to follow the Spirit is life!

The Spirit & The Presence of God.

After man and woman sinned by eating of the tree we read how they hid themselves “from the presence of the Lord God” while He was “walking in the garden in the cool of the day” (Genesis 3.8, ESV). I do not wish to have this passage say more than it does, but there are a couple of interesting points. First, the word translated as “cool” is again the term rûah, thus some commentators translate the phrase as “in the breeze of the day”. Second, God’s presence in the Tabernacle was described as “walking” in Leviticus 26.12; Deut. 23.14; etc. Thus, it may be that God’s presence in the garden was via the Spirit (understanding that distinctions between God and the Spirit are probably not as clear cut as we would like to have them).

Of greater significance are God’s words as He observed the wickedness and repented of making man; “And the LORD said, ‘My Spirit will not remain with mankind forever, because they are corrupt. Their days will be 120 years.’” (Genesis 6:3, CSB) Man’s destruction in the flood was because God’s Spirit would no longer remain with man. Furthermore, note that when “God remembered Noah” in Genesis 8.1, He made “a wind (rûah) blow over the earth, and the waters subsided.” Perhaps all we are to take from the passage is that a very strong wind caused the waters to subside, but the original audience could not help but make a parallel to “the Spirit (rûah) of God… hovering over the face of the waters” in Genesis 1.2. If the passages are parallel, then the point would be that Noah was rescued by the presence of God.