HOLY SPIRIT
HOLY SPIEIT
mark of historicity in Mt. that wu tind no mention of the Spirit where in a writrr ili)niiii;iluil liy the consciousness of a later fimr w^ imiiM n.ii'.iinly have expected it — that is, in ih'- |i:i ,:i;jrs which speak of wliat are sonu'timrs c iillrd ccilcsiasticul prerogatives or functions (16>8"- is'''--"). Contrast with these Jn 20-'-, Ac 15='. The Trinitarian bap- tismal formula, ho-\vever it be explained, throws no light on the Spirit as an e.xperience in the life of Jesus (Mt 2819).
(6) St. Luke's interest in the Spirit, as the most conspicuous phenomenon in primitive Christianity, is well known, and it is apparent in his Gospel. Thus he describes Jesus, as the result of His baptism, as irXripjis nDevfiaTos aylov (4'), where the adjective seems intended to describe a permanent condition, as opposed to tlie verb (used of sudden and transient accesses of the Spirit in 1""- "'). Simi- larly he says that in the wilderness ijyero in rif TTveiifiaTi (4^), which seems to signify an intense, rapt, and absorbed state of feeling, in whicli He was carried up and down the desert. The form of words is used elsewhere to descrilje cither pos- session by an evil spirit (Mk 1'-' HvSpuTTo^ tV irveviiaTi aKaeiprifi) or ecstasy in tlie Divine (Rev 1'" iyevbti-qv iv iri/eifiaTi). More instructive is the way in which St. Luke puts the whole ministry of Jesus under the heading of the Spirit. He returns from the Jordan to Galilee ev rf; So^d^ei rod Tn'ei/j.aTos, and it is this power wliicli is tlii^ kry to all the marvellous life which follows (4'-', cf. tlie summary account of Jesus' life by the same writer from tlie lijis of St. Peter in Ac I0»«). But thougli power— that is, the presence of God, who can do what men cannot do— IS the fundamental note of the Spirit, it is not power undelined. St. Luke has no sooner spoken of Jesus as entering on His work in the power of the Spirit, than he interprets this by the scene at Nazareth where Jesus applies to ' Himself the prophecy of Is 61"- 'The spirit of ilie Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach glad tidings to the poor,' etc. (Lk 4""-). ' The words of grace which proceeded out of his mouth ' on this occasion (v.=-), and the spiritual healings which He wrought, were as unmistakably tokens of the Spirit as the ' mighty works ' which the Nazarenes had heard of as wrought at Capernaum.
If the reading of the TR in 95S (sin oa«T£ a'.m tku/^ts; Iitti ilJius) has any authorit.v, it is to the same intent : the spirit in which Jesus came, to seek and save the lost, was the very opposite of that which wished to call down Are from heaven on the inhospitable Samaritans. There is an approach here to the sense of ' temper ' or ' disposition ' for spirit, but it is temper or disposition regarded in relation to the power which produces it ; the Divine power which works in Jesus makes Him a Saviour, i different from that other power, what- nients in James and John.
One of the most interesting singularities in Lk. is his reference to the Spirit in 10-' || Mt 11=^ 'In that hour Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father,' etc. Both Evan- gelists, in giving the one passage in the Synoptic tradition which has the Johannine ring, are con- scious of its peculiar elevation of thought and feeling, but only Lk. interprets it in this way. The authority on which he depended must have preserved for him the remembrance of a joyful excitement thrilling Jesus as He spoke. The con- text, too, favours this. The Seventy return to Jesus (10") exulting that even the demons are subject to them in His name. In a sudden flash Jesus reveals to them what He had seen in their absence, and through their little successes : ededpow rip ^aravdy cis aarpawriv (k toD oi'pa^'oO TrecrSpra (v.'*). It is in the consciousness of this final victory, and of His power to make even His feeble followers more than conquerors, that, after warning them net t.. trust in what they can do for God, but r.-Ulier in God's faithful love to them, He breaks into what