"Spirit of your Holiness" in Psalm 51:13

Trinity Journal, Spring 1998 by Marlowe, W Creighton

If "your holy spirit" in Ps 51:13 refers directly to a quality of God-produced holiness in David's life and not to God's Spirit (at least not directly), then the best rendering is "Your holy spirit"51 or, more interpretively: "Do not repel me from your presence / / Do not remove my desire for your holiness" (i.e., otherwise sin that will block access and fellowship will result). This understanding is consistent with the ancient Near Eastern court, where one who displeases the king is banished from his presence. Claus Westermann writes: "'Cast me not away from thy presence' is a reminiscence of the liturgical blessing 'The Lord make his face to shine upon you' [sic]. The shining face of God means His benevolent, shielding protection."52

According to Westermann53 the "right spirit" and "willing spirit" in the verses surrounding v. 13 are David's. Both result from divine renewal. Verse 13, where he employs "Spirit," explains the desire expressed in v. 10 for a clean heart and a right or "firmly fixed spirit." These are endangered when fellowship with God is broken (cf. 51:4); so apparently Westermann understands the "taking" of "thy holy Spirit" (his rendering) in v. 13b as equivalent to being "cast from thy presence" (v. 13a) and to signify the potential of violating (v. 13b) and thus damaging (v. 13a) the divine-human relationship. David fears not the loss of the person of the Holy Spirit but of interpersonal communication with God, who is Holy and Spirit. David "knows that only through uninterrupted communion with the gracious and holy God is true renewal possible. Verse 12 describes a life so renewed."54

The indwelling nature of the Holy Spirit, consequently, is not the direction of David's thoughts. His direct intention is related to the "spirit [inner quality] of holiness," which he desires to deepen, and to the fact that it is "your [i.e., God's] holiness"; that is, he recognizes and remarks that behind the attainment of holy attitudes and actions is the necessary inward work of God himself. But David is not here naming the One to whom he looks for help, i.e., the Holy Spirit.

IV. CONCLUSION

Psalm 51:13 does not deal with the issue of the Holy Spirit in the lives of OT saints. If "holy spirit" in v. 13 means God's Spirit, then David fears not that a "person" will leave him but that he might lose some things that this person can effect and enable, the spiritual life or inner renewal of godliness that David desires. Yet it is just as possible that this person is not named in v. 13 but that the "holy spirit"-better rendered "spirit of [i.e., characterized by] your holiness"-is a power, the spiritual quality of holiness, which is shown in other Scriptures to be a by-product of walking in the Spirit.55 The structure of the Hebrew text does not suggest that the "spirit" in any of these verses is a kind of spirit different from that in the adjoining verses or in v. 19-spiritual and sinless (cf. v. 11) attitudes or activities that David prays to attain out of gratitude for forgiveness and in order to maintain fellowship with God and minister (cf. v. 15) to other sinners. These desires require one to have a holy spirit (or inner holiness), which of course is only possibleand David assumes this-through the power of God's Holy Spirit.