It is not uncommon for Christians to claim that the saints of the Old Testament period experienced God’s Spirit in a fundamentally different manner from that of New Testament believers or modern Christians. Many have relied on specific idioms of the Old Testament to argue that the Holy Spirit only came upon people in the Old Testament but into people in the New Testament. Thus, the Holy Spirit was only bestowed temporarily, and then externally, to Old Testament believers as opposed to the permanent indwelling of the early church. Such preaching and teaching drives a wedge between the Testaments, placing too much emphasis on disunity rather than on mutual interdependence between the Old and New. This is an inadequate and incomplete understanding of the role of the Spirit in the Old Testament. Though the Spirit of God sometimes comes upon individuals in the Old Testament to empower for specific (and temporary) tasks, there can be no doubt that His role is also more extensive. He has an indwelling and transforming presence in the Old Testament believers as well and is described as the animating feature that effects spiritual renewal.
— Bill T. Arnold (b. 1955), Alttestamentler und Altorientalist
Topics: God, Jesus & the Holy Spirit, The Bible & the Word of God
Bill T. Arnold
Bill T. Arnold (* 1955) ist ein US-amerikanischer Alttestamentler, Altorientalist und methodistischer Theologe, der seit 1995 am Asbury Theological Seminary in Kentucky forscht und lehrt. Er steht für eine Verbindung von altorientalischer Sprach- und Kulturwissenschaft mit klassisch-evangelikaler Schriftauslegung und verfasste einflussreiche Lehrbücher sowie Bibelkommentare. Heutigen Bibellesern eröffnet er einen historisch wie sprachlich fundierten Zugang zum Alten Testament, der altorientalische Kontexte verständlich macht, ohne die theologische Verbindlichkeit der biblischen Texte aufzugeben.
All quotes by Bill T. Arnold (3)
You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.
Augustine of Hippo
Jesus calls us not to a new religion, but to life.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
I would not be able to seek you if you had not already found me.
Augustine of Hippo
When you see a child, you catch God in the act.
Martin Luther
God does not love us because we are lovable, but because his nature is love.
Oswald Chambers
God seeks you more than your offering.
Augustine of Hippo
God has his ear at your heart.
Augustine of Hippo
God is closer to us than we are to ourselves.
Augustine of Hippo