Thursday, 1/10/13
In the Gospel Jesus read the passage from Isaiah 61 that
prophesied how God’s Spirit would descend on the Messiah to equip him to heal,
to bring truth and freedom to the needy. In cases such as that we can say it is
the “Empowering Spirit” descending on the chosen one.
It is interesting to compare this with Chapter 11 of Isaiah
where God’s Spirit descends on the Messiah, not to accomplish things for the
needy, but to make him interiorly complete through endowing him with Wisdom and Understanding. In cases like that
we can say it is the “Life-giving Spirit” who comes down.
The Bible’s nearly four hundred references to the spirit are roughly
divided between those referring to the empowering spirit, and those referring
to the life-giving spirit.
We saw the empowering spirit come on Saul, sending him to war
against the Amonites. We saw the empowering Spirit come on the Apostles, giving
them the gift of tongues. We see the life-giving Spirit descend on those who
abandon evil. That was the case in Roman’s 8:11 where Paul said, “If by the
Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live.”
The difference between the empowering and the life-giving spirit
could remind a scholar of difference that Aristotle commented on.
He had composed a manual for writing poetry, and another manual for successful
rhetorical writing. When he was asked why he had not combined them into one
manual, he said that their targets were totally opposed. While Rhetoric is
targeted at gaining profit from others, poetry is targeted at quieting the
inner man. It is like that among Charismatic’s. Some receive the empowering spirit
to prophesy and heal others, while others receive the life-giving spirit to become
inwardly blessed.
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