The Spirit of God and the Word of God

 

The Holy Spirit, like a dove, hovers over turbulent waters.

Dr. Alice C. Linsley

How the early Hebrew (4400-2000 BC) understood the Spirit of God is not clear. Genesis chapter 1 described the life-generating Spirit as a divine wind or breath (Hebrew: Ruach) that moved over or hovered above the chaotic deep. The text suggests that the Spirit generated organic life by natural processes initiated by God. There was a separation of dry land from the sea. The wind disperses seeds and pollen. A plant that is pushed by the wind releases an auxin hormone that stimulates the growth of supporting cells. Wind blowing against seedlings helps the plants to create stronger stems. 

The early Hebrew were acute observers of patterns in nature. They viewed God’s breath-wind-spirit as life generating and life strengthening. 

Among the Nilotic Hebrew, the Spirit also was associated with the divine Word. The life-generating Word is a common theme in African creation stories. The Bambara bards of Uganda recite this praise of the power of the divine Word:

The Word is total:
it cuts, excoriates
forms, modulates
perturbs, maddens
cures or directly kills
amplifies or reduces
According to intention
It excites or calms souls.

Consider also this song of the BaMbuti Pygmies:

In the beginning was God
Today is God,
Tomorrow will be God.
Who can make an image of God?
He has no body.
He is as a word which comes out from your mouth,
That word! It is no more,
It is past and still it lives!
So is God.

The Nilotic Luo have a saying: Wach en gi teko which means "a word has power."

In the Hebrew Bible, the Divine Word and Divine Spirit are intertwined, representing aspects of God's eternal presence and authority over all things. The Word of God is always effective, not like human utterings that are sometimes futile, empty, and often destructive. Basil the Great explains, "It must be well understood that when we speak of the voice, of the word, of the command of God, this divine language does not mean to us a sound which escapes from the organs of speech, a collision of air struck by the tongue; it is a simple sign of the will of God." (The Hexaemeron, Homily II)

Genesis 1:3 states that God spoke. This tells us that God expresses His will. His will is His Word. Further, that Word was given flesh and dwelt among us. As John attests, all things were brought into being through the Word of God, "and without Him nothing was made that was made" (Jn. 1:3).

Related reading: The Themes of Genesis 1-3; The Roots of the Gospel are in Africa; The Spirit of God in the Old Testament - The Whole Counsel Blog; The Oldest Known Religion