An Historical Survey of the Doctrine of the Holy Spirit in the Old and New Testaments and Intertestamental Periods

Since the Holy Spirit is only referred to explicitly three times in the Old Testament, the reader is amazed that such a jump can be made by John, or Christ for that matter, when speaking about the Holy Spirit, without having to explain just whom they mean. The Jews never take issue with the term in the New Testament. Apparently there must have been some doctrine or teaching prevalent in Christ\u27s day, upon which the fuller revelation is based. The problem of this thesis is to try and find a bridge for the gap between the periods. This demands a search of the intertestamental writings, especially the Pseudepigrapha and the Apocrypha for a solution. There may be evidence in these books that during the intertestamental period the doctrine of the Holy Spirit became somewhat solidified, and reached greater depths than appears in the Old Testament. Also, Jesus may have related some of His teachings to this intertestamental viewpoint