The following "Question" was asked by a member of the congregation at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, and "Answered" by their pastor, John MacArthur Jr. It was transcribed by Anjela Paje of Spokane, WA, from the tape, GC 1301-Q, titled "Bible Questions and Answers Part 19." A copy of the tape can be obtained by writing, Word of Grace, P.O. Box 4000, Panorama City, CA 91412 or by dialing toll free 1-800-55-GRACE. ©1980. All Rights Reserved.
Question
I had a question about the Holy Spirit, the theology of it. I would like to
know, what exactly was the difference between the Holy Spirit in the New
Testament and the Old Testament? Why were only certain people given the Holy
Spirit, and why did God take the Holy Spirit back from them? I notice in Psalm
51, David says, “Take not the Holy Spirit away from me.” How did that affect
their ministry? How did that affect a believer if the Holy Spirit was taken from
them? And, since we cannot lose our Salvation. Apparently, their salvation was
not dependent upon the Holy Spirit at that time.
Answer
That is a large question. There is no difference, first of all, between the Holy
Spirit in the Old Testament and the Holy Spirit in the New Testament. He is the
same Holy Spirit. I am the Lord, I change not, right? He is the same. And, He is
always the express agent of the power of God. The Spirit brooded over the waters
and there was creation in Genesis 1. He is the express agent of the creation of
God. He is the express agent of the power of God. In the life of Christ, Jesus
said, He did what He did by the power of the Holy Spirit, and when they said He
did it by the power of Satan, He said, “You have blasphemed the Holy Spirit, not
me.” So, the Spirit has always been the agency of the power of God expressed.
Now, the distinction, I think, is probably best made by our Lord. In John 14:16. And, He is talking to the disciples, and He says, “When I go away, I will pray the Father, and He will give you another comforter, hetairos parakletos (sp?) (One just like myself), and He will abide with you forever,” which is better than having Christ around now and then. But, the very statement, “He will abide with you forever,” is a very interesting new dimension in terms of the words themselves. Because such a promise is not made in the Old Testament.
Then in verse 17, “The Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it sees him not, neither knows him: but you know him;..." and this is the key statement, "...for he dwells..." what? "...with you, but shall be in you."
Now, at best, that I can say is that there is then some distinction between the way in which the Spirit of God identifies with a believer in the New Testament. There is a uniqueness to the Spirit’s indwelling ministry. In Fact, it is a mystery in Colossians, "Christ..." where? "...in you." That is a mystery which means...what? What is a mystery? Something that was hidden in time past and is now made manifest. There is a newness, then, in the New Testament in which the Messiah is in you, in His spirit. "If any man have not the spirit of Christ..." Romans 8:9, "...he is none of His."
So, now the spirit of Christ is in us. The Holy Spirit is in us. He has dwelt with us. He is now in us. Now, all I can say is that that is the distinction. And, that grants to us both a fullness, and I want to be careful how I say this, because I don’t want to limit the Old Testament men and women. But, it grants to us a fullness of power and an accommodating fullness of responsibility that is something unique to the New Covenant.
Now, in the Old Testament, we know it will say that the Holy Spirit came upon so-and-so and He did this, and the Holy Spirit departed. And the Holy Spirit come unto so-and-so, and did this, and the Holy Spirit departed. All I can say to you is that the function of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament seems to be defined in different terms. But, that does not mean that people who were drawn to God were not drawn by the Holy Spirit. And, it does not mean that they were not kept by the Holy Spirit. It is simply some distinction that, if you really want to know the honest truth, is very difficult for me to understand. The Holy Spirit has been with you. He shall be in you. There is an indwelling. There is a newness.
We were talking about this today. I have been working on some stuff for a
divorce and remarriage seminar, that I have to give a paper back in Milwaukee,
and talking about the fact that as you go through the Old Testament, there is a
certain tolerance that you do not see in the New Testament, right? I mean, for
example, do you remember, last Wednesday night that Alistair spoke on “Caleb”?
He said that Caleb was a man who wholly followed the Lord. Remember that? And,
it says over and over and over and over that Caleb was a man who wholly followed
the Lord. Well, you go through all of that passage, and then you come to 1
Chronicles 2, and it lists all of Caleb’s concubines. But you say, "How could
the guy wholly follow the Lord and have a bunch of concubines?" And, the only
answer I can give you is, in that time, because of the fact that the spirit of
God did not have the unique ministry that He has today, there was a certain
tolerance. But, it is not to say that there was a loss of salvation. It is not
to say that the spirit of God did not empower His people. It is not to say that
they were not accountable, for God punished them if they did not obey Him. But,
there is a uniqueness, and, I think, that is really the best we can say about
the power and presence of the indwelling spirit. There is a sense in which those
people it says in Hebrews 11, it says, “Received not the promise...” There is a
sense in which we have in the indwelling spirit a greater resource or a greater
availability of resource than they had, which gives us even a greater
accountability.
Question continues
Maybe, I missed something, but, did they have as much love, joy, peace,
did they have the fruit...How could they function in their daily lives just as a
believer?
Answer
You have to believe that God dispensed to them the same blessedness that He dispenses to us. And, He did it through the Holy Spirit. All we are saying is that there is some uniqueness in the New Covenant. Take the concept of Ephesians, "be being kept..." what? "...filled with the spirit." Now, that is something that you don’t see in the Old Testament. In Ezekiel, it says, “Someday," God says, in the New Covenant, Ezekiel 36, “Someday, I will take out your stony heart. I will give you a heart of flesh, and I will plant my..." what? "...spirit within you.”
All I can say is that they possessed the spirit, but not the fullness as we
know it. Now, maybe, there is a sense in which there is a greater joy or a
greater peace, and you talk about Galatians 5, the fruit of the spirit, and so
forth. But, on the other hand, the Spirit was the same and the power was the
same, maybe, the continuity was different. I don't really know. But, there is a
uniqueness in the new...and, I don't really want to say any more than that. You
see, people who want to eliminate the Holy Spirit from the Old Testament were
really left with a terrible problem. In the first place, you have just done in
the Trinity. And, the Spirit of God is at work. You have the same problem going
in the other direction. There are people who will say in the Tribulation the
Holy Spirit will be removed. Don’t you believe that for a minute. The Holy
Spirit will not be removed in the Tribulation. The Holy Spirit couldn't be
removed or no one would be saved. Or, nothing could happen. In fact, the Spirit
gives life to the two witnesses that are murdered in the Tribulation. The Spirit
is the one who energizes the 144,000. The Spirit is the one who redeems the
innumerable host in Revelation 7, from every tongue and tribe and nation and so
forth, so the Spirit has always been at work. But, there is a uniqueness to His
identification with those in whom the living Christ dwells in the church age.
Added to Bible Bulletin Board's "MacArthur’s Questions and
Answers" by:
Tony Capoccia
Bible Bulletin Board
Box 119
Columbus, New Jersey, USA, 08022
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Email: tony@biblebb.com
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