In the Bible, both the Old and New Testaments, the words for Spirit can also mean breath or wind.  In Hebrew the word is ruah, while in Greek it is pneuma. These are translated differently in various contexts, for understandable reasons.  Yet, the fact that they are translated differently into English obscures possible connections that open the door to a deeper understanding of our story as humanity.

Our story begins “in the beginning” of Genesis 1.  We read:

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was a formless and desolate emptiness, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.  (Genesis 1:1-3)

Notice how God’s work in creation can be characterized.  First, God’s work brings shape to the shapeless.  The earth is described as a “formless and desolate emptiness,” but as the days unfold the words of God begin to bring shape to what had been shapeless.  God fills the emptiness.  We note that this was done through God’s Spirit, or ruah, as Genesis states, “the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the water.” 

 

As we continue reading Genesis, the story of creation culminates in the creation of humanity: 

26 Then God said, “Let Us make mankind in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the livestock and over all the earth, and over every crawling thing that crawls on the earth.” 27 So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Genesis 1:26-28)

To put it simply, the peak of God’s creative work was the overflowing of love out of the relationship that exists amongst Godself- between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit- which results in our existence. This is a different way than we typically think about God, creation, and ourselves, but it is why God creates humanity with a built-in diversity- male and female, and charges them with procreating and filling the earth.  God is one and yet three persons- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Humanity is one and yet two genders. It is the coming together of these two genders, with a shared humanity, that leads to more humans.  In short, just as the love that exists between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit overflows into the creation of humanity- “let us make mankind in our image”- so does the coming together in love of a man and a woman result in the furthering of what God made in the beginning.  To be made in God’s image, in part, means that we can create, or procreate, out of overflowing love.

 

So, humanity is given this beautiful two-fold mandate.  First, they are to reign over creation as a type of viceroy on God’s behalf, made in his image. Second, they are to continue filling the earth with humans, born out of the loving relationship that exists between the two original humans.  We know from Genesis 3 that the entire project goes off the rails with the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.  In fact, as we read further into Genesis, we see the situation going from bad to worse.  Rather than filling the earth with God’s image-bearers, humanity has succeeded only in filling the earth with violence.  “11 Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 And God looked on the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for humanity had corrupted its way upon the earth.” (Genesis 6:11-12)

Not only do we fail to do what God has tasked us with, but we do the exact opposite!

 

God’s response to humanity’s corruption and ultimate failure, is not much different than our response when our electronics begin to malfunction.  Most of us have probably heard those sage words from tech support, “have you tried turning it off and back on.”  Or “rebooting it might work.” The flood that we see in Genesis 6-8, while being an instrument of judgment, was also God’s way of wiping the slate clean. Notice how similar the flooded earth is to how earth was in the very beginning, an orb of dark, watery chaos. Notice also how God begins re-creating the same way he began creating in the very beginning: 

But God remembered Noah and all the animals and all the livestock that were with him in the ark; and God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the water subsided. Also the fountains of the deep and the floodgates of the sky were closed, and the rain from the sky was restrained; and the water receded steadily from the earth, and at the end of 150 days the water decreased. (Genesis 8:1-3)

We read “God caused a wind to pass over the earth,” but as mentioned before, the word “wind” is the same word for Spirit, ruah. Just as we had the Spirit of God hovering over the surface of the waters in the very beginning, in this new beginning there is a wind sent by God to push the chaotic waters for land to emerge.

 

Hopefully you see a theme emerging here.  God’s Spirit that was at work in the very beginning of creation, is also at work in re-creation.  While these instances deal with the material world, we see God’s Spirit, or “wind” showing up to achieve redemption for God’s people Israel as well.  As the Israelites are on their way out of Egypt and centuries of slavery, we find them standing on the shore of the Red Sea.  We read, Then Moses reached out with his hand over the sea; and the Lord swept the sea back by a strong east wind all night, and turned the sea into dry land, and the waters were divided.” (Exodus 14:21) When Israel is confronted with a watery chaos to their front, and a hostile army to their rear, God makes a way for them, God creates a way for them, dry ground, by sending a strong wind to push the waters back.  As you might have guessed, yet again the word is ruah, which can also be used of God’s Spirit.

Keeping in mind how we have seen God’s Spirit work in creation, re-creation, and redemption in Genesis and Exodus, we are prepared to better understand a conversation that takes place in the New Testament between Jesus and Nicodemus.  We read in the Gospel of John:   

Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; this man came to Jesus at night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” Jesus responded and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus *said to Him, “How can a person be born when he is old? He cannot enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born, can he?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which has been born of the flesh is flesh, and that which has been born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it is coming from and where it is going; so is everyone who has been born of the Spirit.” (John 3:1-8)

Jesus tells us we must be born again. The word used for again, anothen, can also mean “from above.” Jesus is not telling us to simply be reborn by our own effort, to make another go and living right according to our power.  We must be born again, but it must happen from above.  Injected into this conversation is the Spirit, which Jesus likens to the wind.  The comparison is an apt one, because as we have observed the same word, pneuma, is used for breath/wind/spirit in Greek.  Just as God creates us in the beginning by breathing His breath, his Spirit into us, we are re-created through the work of Christ which makes the Spirit of God available to us. In fact, when Jesus greets His disciples after the resurrection, one of the things he does is breathe the Holy Spirit onto them.  21 So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be to you; just as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” 22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” (John 20:21-22) 

As Jesus’ time with the disciples on earth post-resurrection was ending, he gave them very specific instructions. 

Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, “Which,” He said, “you heard of from Me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” (Acts 1:4-5)

God is about to fashion a new world, but it will be the Spirit that forms it, and the disciples must wait for its coming in power.  In many ways, the gathered disciples are like Noah and his family on the ark, waiting for the Spirit to show up and go to work re-creating the world.  The moment finally comes on Pentecost:

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly a noise like a violent rushing wind came from heaven, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And tongues that looked like fire appeared to them, distributing themselves, and a tongue rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with different tongues, as the Spirit was giving them the ability to speak out. (Acts 2:1-4)

By the time of Jesus, Pentecost had come to serve as a type of memorial, or celebration of the giving of the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai.  God’s will is revealed to Moses on Sinai, but the ability to do that will is given with the Spirit at Pentecost.  The coming of the Holy Spirit is described as a “noise like a violent rushing wind.” God’s Spirit is at work once again, re-creating, bringing forth order out of chaos, helping humanity to fulfill their divine mandate to fill the earth with men and women who bear God’s image. 

When we understand how God’s Spirit has been at work from the very beginning, it enables us to anticipate what the Spirit might be doing in our place and time. The Spirit brings shape to the shapeless, order out of chaos, and fills the emptiness with abundant life.  When we see a total transformation in a brother or sister, an unmistakable movement from death into life, we are witnessing the work of God’s Spirit in the life of that person. As we look around and see a world that is very much in chaos, very much contrary to God’s intention, we maintain faith that just as He created, re-created, and redeemed in the power of His Spirit in the past, He will do so once again in the present and future as He brings creation to its intended goal. 

-Justin Simmons lives in Glenmora, Louisiana and preaches for the Glenmora Church of Christ.