God's Indwelling Presence: The Holy Spirit in the Old and New Testaments

Trinity Journal, Fall 2007 by Malone, Andrew

James M. Hamilton Jr. God's Indwelling Presence: The Holy Spirit in the Old and New Testaments. NACSBT1. Nashville: B & H Academic, 2006. xiv 233 pp. $19.99.

Hamilton's doctoral research (under Thomas Schreiner) is a stimulating study, aspects of which have earned publication in at least five prominent evangelical journals. His dissertation's original form and detail is now largely preserved as the first volume of the new NAC Studies in Bible and Theology series. Clearly written, Hamilton's point is repetitively clear. Presuming a coherent biblical theology, he seeks "to understand and articulate the role of the Holy Spirit in the faithfulness of believers who live both before and after the exaltation of Jesus" (p. 3). This pursuit yields a two-fold answer: OT believers were regenerated by the Spirit, but were not indwelt.

Hamilton's book is really a study of the latter phenomenon. He presumes, with little argument, the universal affliction of original sin and the need for divine regeneration. He also makes evangelical presumptions about the nature of God and the coherence of Scripture. His contribution is in inviting us to think more clearly about the Spirit's indwelling of believers.

After an introductory chapter, he offers a survey of how Christian thinkers have paired regeneration and indwelling, with representatives from the early church, the Reformation/Puritan period, and more recent decades. This survey (a revision of his 2003 TJ article) demonstrates the diversity of opinions on the matter. He shows that some scholars from every age-and especially since the Reformation-argue that OT believers are indwelt by the Spirit. Having originally set out to affirm this position, but finding it wanting, Hamilton now seeks to persuade us against it.

Chapter 3 offers a fairly standard study of the Spirit's activity in the OT: bestowing creative ability, empowering political leadership, and inspiring prophetic communication. This standard survey renders his book a useful introduction to the Spirit. Hamilton's distinctive agenda, however, is to show how the Spirit's OT work is both rare and temporary. Those enabled by the Spirit are differentiated from their peers, and cannot be taken as representative. Nor is there any indication that many (if any) of these leaders were so equipped permanently. Rather, argues Hamilton, the eschatological age the OT yearns for is one characterized by the reversal of this situation: days when all will receive and retain the Spirit.

The next three chapters seek to demonstrate from John's Gospel that this is precisely Jesus' own understanding. Hamilton emphasizes three key verses, while also incorporating major aspects of Johannine soteriology and pneumatology. (Again, the survey of such foundational material makes the book eligible as an introductory text. The detailed bibliography and author, subject, and Scripture indexes are also helpful in this regard.) John 14:17 promises the disciples that the Spirit of truth "is with you and will be in you." This difference between the disciples' current belief and future experience of the Spirit is amplified by the crux at 7:39: Jesus "spoke concerning the Spirit, which those who [already] believed in him were about to receive; for the Spirit was not yet [given], because Jesus was not yet glorified." Hamilton then argues that after Jesus' glorification (death), on Easter Sunday itself, 20:22 is no mere symbol when Jesus breathes and commands that the disciples "receive the Holy Spirit."

To persuade his readers, Hamilton proceeds to integrate the two halves of his study. He shows how John presents Jesus as the fulfilment of OT expectation: the Spirit-anointed Messiah who supersedes the temple and bestows the Spirit on the people of God. Through all this, Hamilton reinforces the distinction between regeneration and indwelling again primarily from John. The Spirit is the one who gives life, and yet is not received by believers until after Jesus' glorification.

Much of Hamilton's study is convincing. He has engaged wide swathes of the literature in a number of spheres and languages, presenting a helpful catalogue of various topics, especially concerning John. He also asks and answers a number of possible objections in a series of appendixes. Appendix 3 is a particularly helpful and detailed survey of what his findings entail for the early church as presented in Acts (also published separately). He concludes that Luke uses three groups of words, one each for the visible endowment of the Spirit as a sign of the arrival of the new age, for the regular experience of the indwelling of Christian believers, and for special occasions of empowerment.

Some will never concur with Hamilton's evangelical presuppositions. Others who accept his conservative stance on Scripture may be unwilling to relinquish their own views on the Spirit to accept his conclusions. Perhaps the most discomfort comes simply from the uneven transformation of dissertation into book. Hamilton's engagement with scholarship is commendable, though sometimes this engagement (usually in footnotes) has become detached from the focus of the text. Other claims cry out for further corroboration. There are also half a dozen typographical errors, and nearly another two dozen inconsistencies in formatting and bibliographical detail. But these rarely detract from the breadth and freshness of Hamilton's study. For those aligned with his scriptural and Trinitarian premises, Hamilton has presented a fine synthesis and demonstration of biblical theology. Many will be able to accept most, if not all, of his presentation of the Holy Spirit who directs and empowers God's people from creation through new creation.