Forgotten Voices on What the Holy Spirit Really Is?

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The term “Holy Spirit” has, in Scripture, various significations. First, it means God himself, who is a spirit that is holy, and who is sometimes characterized as having a soul. Thus, Jer. 51:14. Amos 6:8, “God hath sworn by his soul”that is, by himself. In this sense is “Holy Spirit” used in Isa. 43:10 [“But they rebelled, and vexed his Holy Spirit; therefore he was turned to be their enemy, and he fought against them"]. – PHILIP LIMBORCH: Theologia Christiana, lib. vi. cap. 6, § 2.

As we perceive that God possesses, and that too in the highest perfection, those qualities of intelligence and will which constitute a spiritual existence, we justly conclude that he is a Spirit. Hence it follows, that all the attributes which he possesses as a Spirit are connected either with his understanding or his will. And, as he possesses these attributes in the highest perfection, he is the most perfect Spirit. ... The Hebrew word RUAH, which is translated “spirit,” signified, properly and originally, “wind,” “breath” (and so “speech”), and “life.”... The Hebrews gave the name RUAH to all the invisible powers, whether physical or moral, which they saw in operation in the universe, and consequently to God himself, who is possessed of all conceivable powers, in the highest possible degree. Thus "Spirit of Jehovah" came to signify (a) the nature of God in general; (b) his invisible power, as exercised both in the material world, in its creation (Gen. 1:2), &c., and in the soul of man, in promoting its moral improvement, in the act of inspiration, and in various other ways: vide 2 Sam. 23:1, 2. — G. C. KNAPP: Christian Theology, sect. xix.

To our minds, it [the phrase Spirit of God, or Holy Spirit] has a definite meaning. We understand it as the third person of the Holy Trinity. The usage in the Old Testament does not necessarily imply such a knowledge. It is sometimes a term convertible with God. Sometimes it means a divine influence. It is the exerted or manifested power of Jehovah. It is either God himself, or an agency assumed as the medium of the divine operation. There is no positive evidence that the Spirit spoken of in the Old Testament was recognized either as a mode of the divine existence, or as one of a Trinity of persons in the divine essence. It was either a name of God himself, not indicating any peculiarity in his nature, or the expression of the divine energy as it produced results in the material world, or enlightened and directed the human mind. —DR. SETH SWEETSER, in Bibliotheca Sacra for January, 1854; vol. xi. p. 99.

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