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The Spirit does what the Spirit wants
“We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life”
“The wind bloweth where it listeth…” thus King James’ men famously rendered John 3: 8: τὸ πνεῦμα ὅπου θέλειπνεῖ. “Wind”, “spirit”, “breath”, are words variously used to translate πνεῦμα, or in Hebrew, רֽוּחַ, ruah. Throughout the Scriptures, the Spirit acts as it “listeth” or wills. In the Hebrew Scriptures:
Ruah is dynamic, and is described in conjunction with many verbs, such as “hovering” (Gen. 1:2), “filling” (Exodus 31: 3), “pouring out” (Numbers 11: 25, Joel 3: 1–2), “enveloping” (Judges 6:33–34), “ringing” or “pounding” (Judges 13: 25), “bearing” (I Kings 18:12), “guiding” (Isaiah 63: 14), and even “tormenting” (I Samuel 16: 14).[1] Ruah as wind, breath, or spirit, is used some 250 times in the Tanakh in conjunction with divine activity. These references to Ruah as the Spirit of Elohim or the Spirit of Yhwh, are found in many books and are particularly prominent in Judges and the books of Samuel. Some use of the term ruah is found in all books of the Bible except for Leviticus in the Pentateuch; Obadiah, Nahum, Zephaniah in the Minor Prophets; and Ruth, Lamentations, and Esther in the Writings.[2]
As “Holy Spirit”, the term occurs three times in the Hebrew Scriptures: Psalm 51: 13, “take not your Holy Spirit (ruah…
