What is the role of the Holy Spirit in the Old and New Testaments?
Q418 · The Holy Spirit and Divine Salvation[792 ]
In the Old Testament, the Spirit of God would come upon a person for a specific purpose; and when that purpose was completed, the Spirit would depart. He did not dwell in the person as though he were a divine temple. But in the New Testament, the apostle Paul says, “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (1 Cor. 3:16).
The Old Testament often refers to the Holy Spirit or the Spirit of the Lord working in the people of God. For example, when Joshua asked the prophet Moses to prohibit Eldad and Medad from prophesying, Moses replied, “Are you zealous for my sake? Oh, that all the LORD’s people were prophets and that the LORD would put his Spirit on them!” (Num. 11:29).
In the New Testament, the work of the Holy Spirit as the giver of gifts beyond nature becomes clearer. For example, it was said of John the Baptist, “And from the womb of his mother he shall be filled with the Holy Spirit” (Luke 1:15); of Elizabeth, “Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit” (Luke 1:41); of Zacharias the Priest, “His father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied” (Luke 1:67); and of Simeon the Elder, “And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ” (Luke 2:26).
In the conversation between the Lord Christ and the Samaritan woman, He said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me to drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water” (John 4:10). On another occasion, “On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has
821 St. Cyril of Alexandria, Dialogues on the Trinity 3 (PG 75:837A).
822 St. Cyril of Alexandria, Dialogues on the Trinity 7 (PG 75:1089A).
823 St. Cyril of Alexandria, Dialogues on the Trinity 7 (PG 75:1089B).
824 St. Cyril of Alexandria, Dialogues on the Trinity 7 (PG 75:1113A).
said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified” (John 7:37–39). On the cross, Jesus was glorified when He gave His life for the salvation of the world; and His gift to those who believe in Him is that they may become the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God may dwell in them (1 Cor. 3:16).