Die teologiese gebruik van [ruach Jahwe] in die Ou Testament

Abstract

The theological implications of the use of דזח in the Old Testament are indicated in this doctoral thesis. The Lord revealed Himself in the course of history. For this reason, the revelational-history approach is used in this thesis. In the Old Testament, the Hebrew noun דזח occurs three hundred and eighty-seven times.. The most basic meaning of דזח is variously defined as "blowing", "air in motion", and "wind". Thus, דזח is a term representing something unseen in order that the visible effect of this invisible force might be adequately apprehended. In approximately one hundred and seven places, דזח refers to the activity of God in the world of nature and in the life of humankind. In these passages, דזח is translated as "Spirit" and indicates the work and activity of the Spirit of God. The origin and development of the meaning of the term דזח remain shrouded in the haze of history. The subject of this study is דזח in the Old Testament. This means that the primary concern is not the whole of the word דזח and its meanings as used in the Old Testament but rather one aspect of דזח, דזח as used to refer to God and his activity, what is traditionally called 'the Spirit of God". The theological problem arising from the above is that דזח in the Old Testament is understood as direct equivalent to the Holy Spirit (αγιος πνευμα) in the New Testament. In this process, the Old Testament is being devaluated regarding its character, message and context. The Old Testament background to the New Testament pneumatology is often neglected or only briefly surveyed by scholars. Many popular approaches to Old Testament material referring to the work of rill are examples of spiritualizing and allegorizing - methods that diminish the authority of some passages. As modem Christian theology has increasingly come to recognize, the Old Testament becomes far more richly illuminating when it is not simply dismissed as an unimportant preface to the New, and when the temptation is resisted to read into it what is really only properly to be found in the New. It has its own light to throw on the theme 'The Holy Spirit". The conclusion of this thesis is that the theological term דזח in the Old Testament is not a direct equivalent of the third person of the Trinity as revealed to the Church in the New Testament. In the Old Testament, דזח must be understood as God Himself. דזח was Israel's way of describing God, not as He is in Himself, but as He communicates to the world his power, his life, his anger, his very own presence! To conclude: There is no personalization (The third person of the Trinity) of דזח within the limits of the Old Testament! Soli Deo Gloria!