This post addresses a question that came up during a Question and Answer period.
From 1 Peter 1:11:
seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow.
The question is what is the Spirit of Christ referring to? Is it the Holy Spirit or the Spirit within Christ?
I share my thoughts below:
I think this refers to the Holy Spirit. Here’s my three reasons
- If it is the Spirit of Christ within Himself that is indicating to believers through the Old Testament that Christ would suffer and glories would follow then I think the passage would have reflexive pronoun: It would say something like “as He Himself predicted” or “He predicted about Himself.”
- The paragraph itself in 1 Peter 1:10-12 mention about the prophets of the Old Testament. This is the Scripture. Who’s the author of the Scriptures? The Holy Spirit. So this makes it likely this is referring to the Holy Spirit.
- The verse after verse 11 is verse 12. In verse 12 it is explicitly said “by the Holy Spirit” that the Gospel was preached announced with the understanding contextually its through the Scriptures and Old Testament Prophets that the Holy Spirit speaks. This reinforces our interpretation.
Any other thoughts?
I like your explanation. I know it’s a paraphrase but the NLT was helpful in understanding 1 Peter 1:10-11.
Wow I’ll have to check it out! I should arrive tonight back home!,,,
Good to hear! I pray you have a safe journey!
I concur with your interpretation, of course. And it reinforces the doctrine of the Trinity in the OT!
I like the emphasis indicated by the syntax. The subject nominative follows the verb, which is normal, but the dative is placed within this subject nominative (between article and noun-genitive):
verb-article-dative PP-noun-genitive
was indicating-the-in them-Spirit-of Christ
the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating
Thanks for sharing more details from the Greek! How are you?
Doing well! I hope you will get some much-needed rest following your trip!
I agree that it refers to the Holy Spirit.
Amen I agree
I appreciate this interpretation. As I read Verse 12, your explanation makes the reference stand out more. Indeed, the Holy Spirit continues to travel from its heavenly home.
Thanks for reading this
I agree and I thank you for helping in explaining why. Made perfect sense. Thank you for this understanding.
Thanks for reading this
God Bless You today and Always.