Holy Spirit in 1 and 2 Thessalonians

References to the work of the Holy Spirit in the Christian or in the church are rarely discussed in light of Old Testament revelation about the Holy Spirit. It seems that we take the words of the disciples of John in Acts 19 to mean that little to nothing about the Holy Spirit can be gleaned from the Old Testament, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit” (Acts 19:2).[2] However, their words do not accurately reflect what the Old Testament reveals about the Spirit.

A survey of the more than two dozen passages in written prophets of the Old Testament (Isaiah-Malachi) which refer to the Holy Spirit will show that those later prophets of Israel used the same language and their words carried the same meaning as did the words and meaning of those prophets contained in the earlier writings of the Old Testament.

The key to understanding Peter’s words is found in allowing the Bible to define its own “ages.” There are various interpretive systems among Bible students today that describe the stages of the biblical story. The dispensational pre-millennialist has at least seven dispensations or ages in which God has and will work. Another common division of the Bible ages has three main ages: the Patriarchal Age, Mosaic Age, and Christian Age. The problem for both of these approaches is that the Bible never uses any such structure or labels to describe its own ages.

Several verses from Isaiah – Malachi, which deserve some comment, were not included in the main body of Essay #2. These verses were excluded from the primary text because there exists in them some ambiguity about whether the “spirit” in the verse is actually the Holy Spirit, the Spirit’s function in the text may not involve man, or some similar consideration.

The work of the Holy Spirit with man is always prophetic in its nature when that work is done directly with man. Whenever He comes upon man, rushes upon him, falls upon him, fills him, dwells in him, anoints him, or at least a dozen other images expressed in the Bible, the Spirit provides man some kind of prophetic ability.