9. But it is not only the birth of Jesus which in i connected with the Spirit : all the period are transacted, so to speak, in ; agitated by the Spirit. The repre- mditiniifil partly by OT conceptions .-inJ |i:iilly, no doubt, by primitive liciir,^ 1.1 it. Thus in 1''^ the angel ai-o! ixyiov TrXTjo-ffijcreTat fri « ords in which we can uiink
Lk 1 and 2 events of th an atmosphi sentation is of the Spirit, Christian expi i says of John : Koi\ia$ /iTjTpos a\ only of a Divine energy or intensity of lifj which Avas to characterize the chUd from the fiist. Pos- sibly the juxtaposition of this with the prohibition of wine and strong drink (cf. Ac 2". Eph 5"^) sug- gests the excitement or stimulation of the nature by God as opposed to any natural 'atoxicant. Yet the work which John is to dr in consequence ('many of the children of Isroel shall he turn to the Lord their God,' P"), shows that the Divine power is conceived as working to ethical issues, and therefore as itself ethical. In the OT • the spirit is never used as a cause except of those things which have to do with the affairs of the people of Israel' (Wood, op. cit. p. 9); and this is the point of view mai<itained tliroughout these chapters in Luke. The Spirit is connected with the Messianic age (this is universally the case in the NT), and ^Wth the preparations for the coming of the Messiali. In John, who comes ' in the spirit and power of Elijah' (1"), it is a prophetic spirit, yet rather in the OT than in the NT sense : indeed, it is the outstanding feature in the consciousness of
John that he neither has nor can impart holy spirit. When it is said that Elisabeth ' was filled with holy spirit, and lifted up her voice with a loud cry' (l**), we must think of a sudden and over- powering access of feeling referred to God as its source. The same remark applies to Zacharias (1*') as he utters the Benedictus : in both cases the emotion is one of joy (see aViove, § 7). More significant are the references to the Sj^irit in con- nexion ivith Simeon (2^"-). He was a just and devout man, cherishing the Messianic hope, and it was probably conditioned by this character that TTvevixa Tfv &yioy iir' avTov. Yet this can hardly mean that he had an abiding possession of the Spirit. No such possession of the Spirit is con- templated anywhere in these chapters, and Simeon is presented to us only in relation to this one scene from the infancy of Jesus. All through his action here he is a Divinely impelled, Divinely illuminated man. This is what is meant by the words quoted. It is 'in the Spirit' — that is, under a Divine im- pulse— that he comes into the temple ; it has been revealed to him ' by the Holy Spirit ' — that is, he has had a Divine assurance granted him — that he will see the Christ before he dies. How this im- pulse or this revelation was imparted to Suneon the Evangelist does not tell, and it is vain to ask. But we need not say that it was not mediated at all, but blankly supernatural. The words in 23Jt. could not have been spoken by a young man ; here ' old experience doth attain to something of prophetic strain.' Perhaps we may say as much of the ancient prophetess Anna (v.'^'f). irpo^ifiTts im- plies the Spirit, yet apart from this one occasion, at the presentation of tlie Child Jesus in the temple, when she gave thanks to God— no doubt in such an outburst of inspired feeling as is seen in the Nunc dimittis — we have no means of knowing how the Spirit expressed itself through her. For this sud- den and eager outburst of thanksgiving (so much is implied in ain-y rj dp? einffTaa-a av8a/j.o\oyelTO Tifi 6e<}) we may perhaps compare St. Luke's account of the first Spirit-given utterances at Pentecost : ' We do hear them speak in our tongues the mighty works of God ' (Ac 2").
10. In the Synoptic Gospels, what is said of the Spirit no doubt bears the impress, here and there, of experiences which were familiar to the wTiters under that name, but these experiences do not come independently into view. It is otherwise when we pass beyond the Synoptics. Writers like St. Luke in Acts, and St. Paul in many of his Epistles, deal directly and formally with this sub- ject. In the Gospel of John there is reached even a stage of conscious reflexion upon it which may almost be called a doctrine of the Spirit. And everywhere in the NT there are casual lights thrown upon it in which we can see its place in Christian thought and life. It is not intended here to follow out these in detail, but to indicate in outline the main features of the past-Pentecostal experience and conception of the Spirit, keeping especially in viev.' their relation to Christ and the Gospels.
11. Although there might be reasons for be- ginning with St. Paul, it is more convenient to Follow up Lk.'s Gospel by Acts. The first reference of this book to the Spirit is one of the most sin- gular : Jesus is spoken of as having ' given com- mandment through the Holy Spirit unto the apostles whom he had chosen' (1-). Though Jesus in the Gospel speaks and acts from beginning to end as one anointed with Holy Spirit and power, there is no parallel to this expression. It seems to suggest that with the Resurrection the dispensation of the Holy Spirit began, and that the disciples were conscious, as they listened to the new and final charge of their Lord, that they were