C. The New Testament.— i. The NT adopts the phrases used in reference to the Divine Simit by the Greek translators of the OT. Thus we find in the NT as in the OT the terms t4 Tveviia rb Hyiov {Tvfiipji ^7101'), ri trvivpia, rov 6eoO, or iri^eri/xa OcoO, ttv, Kvpiov, or sinijily t6 TrKvp-a., or in certain contexts the anarthrous irvevixa. Hut they are used in ([uite ditferent proportions : thus t4 irvdiJAi rb iil7io>' (irv. iy.), found in the Greek OT only in Ps 51 and Is 03, occurs in the NT between 80 and 90 times, while rb Trvtdpxi tov Otov [trv. OeoO, Kvpiov), the normal expression in the LXX, is comparatively rare in NT. Moreover, the writers of the NT employ phrases which are unknown to the LXX : the Spirit of God is further defined as the ' Spirit of the Father ' (Mt 10»'), ' the Spirit of his Son ' (Gal 4«), the ' Spirit of Jesus' or 'of Christ' (Ac IG', Ko 8", Ph 1'", 1 P 1"). In a few instances the i>luriil is used to denote the various gifts or /ifpiff/iui (He 2*) of theoneSpirit ; --.g. 1 Co 11", Rev 1M»5"22". New attributes are assigned to the Spirit, corresponding to new gifts bestowed upon men ; we read not only of the spirit of wisdom (.\c 6'- '"), but of the spirit of truth (Jn 14" 15*' IG'^), of life (Uo 8"), of grace (He 10^), of sonship (rij! vlo0«Tlas, Ro 8"). Above
all, the Spiiit receives a personal name, which it shares witli the Son of God in His historical mani testation (Ju 14'" dWoi/ wapaKXriToy ; 14-" lo-'' IG' 6 TrapdKX-rjTOi). These facts warn us that in passing from OT to NT we may expect a fuller theology of the Spirit.
ii. The new light which is thrown upon the sub- ject by the Christian revelation Ls largely historical. (rt) The gospel history opens with an outburst of prophecy. As the moment of the Incarnation drew near, men and women in Israel found them- selves lifted up by the Spirit into new regions of thought and endowed with new powers of expression. The movement began in the fainil}' of a priest. A child was born of whom it was foretold that he should ' be tilled with the Holy Spirit from his mother's womb' (Lk lii^- ™) ; and the inspiration was shared by his parents (Lk 1^'- "). Others were touched by the same current of divine energy — Simeon, to whom tliere c.ame an oracular warning from the Holy Spirit of the presence of the infant Christ (Lk 2-*'' TrvfVfia fjv dyiov ^tt' airriiv, Kal rjv ain-i^ Kt-x^p'O^aTLtjiJiivoi' vTrb rod wPivpLaro^, k.t.X.) ', Hannah, the daughter of Phanuel, who was accounted a prophetess (ifpotprp-ii, Lk 2^). Such a revival of prophetic gifts had not occurred since the daj-s of Ezra and Nehemiah ; even the Maccabajan age had looked for it in vain (1 Mac 4" 14").
(b) The new prophecy proclaimed the advent of the Messiah, partly preparing His way, partly wel- coming and announcing Him when He came. But the chief outpouring of the Spirit was on the Messiah Himself. It fulfilled itself in two mir- aculous events — the Conception and the I5iiptisni ; the first introductory to the human life of the Christ, the second to His ministry and Messianic work.
[a) Two Gospels relate in independent yet not inconsistent narratives the miracle of the Concep- tion and Virgin Birth (see Gore, Dissertotiuns, p. 36 f.). In both it is ascribed to the Holy Spirit (Lk 1'", Mt l"- •■"). Both contexts are conceived in tlie spirit of the OT and belon" to the earliest age of Christianity, when the fullest teaching of the gospel had not yet been assimilated. We shall there- fore probably De right in interjireting Tn-fD/za fiyioi' here in its O T sense, as the power of God in active exercise, although we may believe that the Church has rightly identified this power with the personal Holy i;host revealed by Christ. It is not without signifuance that in both Gospels the power which wrought the Conception is described as wfvfm 117101' ratlier than as TveOfMi deou or Kvpioj. The Holy Spirit sanctified the Flesh which it united with the Word (Lk l^ Stb Kal rb ytwut/jevov dyioy KX-ridriffrrai). Not only was ' the new departure in human life,' which began with the birth of the Second Adam (Gore, DiiS. p. Gy), fitly preceded by a directly creative act, but the new humanity was conse- crated at the moment of its conception by the overshadowing of the Divine Spirit. The Concep- tion was therefore truly ' immaculate' ; that which was conceived, although true llesh, was free from the taint of human corruptiim. It is worth while to notice, in jiassing, that the Gospels do not hint at an ininiaculate conception of the mother of the Lord ; the special illapse of the Spirit is limited, so far as we can learn, to the conception of her Son. (On the miraculous conception as an article of the Christian faith the reader may consult Pearson, On tin- Cneil, art. iii., and, on the early history of the doctrine, the jiresent writer's Apostles' Crcrd'.w.).
(8) The Holv Spirit did not leave the sacre«I humanity wliicli it had sanctified in the moment of conception ; the childho<id of Jesus was tilled with a strength and wisdom which were the marks of a special grace ( Lk 2" t4 it iraiJioi' , . iKparaiovrt