Session 1

Water & Spirit

Genesis

Water is mentioned 682 times in the NRSVCE Bible. The first time is in the second verse of Genesis

1:2

• In the first creation narrative, immediately after the foundations of the universe were established, preceding the creation of organisms there was:

  • The heavens: it is undetermined whether this means the spiritual context of God which is not seen by eyes or simply the skies.

  • The earth

  • Water

    • the Prepositional Phrase "over the face of the waters" will be significant later

    • CCC 1218 Since the beginning of the world, water, so humble and wonderful a creature, has been the source of life and fruitfulness. Sacred Scripture sees it as "overshadowed" by the Spirit of God:

At the very dawn of creation

your Spirit breathed on the waters,

making them the wellspring of all holiness

• • "a wind from God" which "swept over the face of the waters"

    • Otherwise translated:

      • "While the spirit of God"

      • "while a mighty wind"

    • what is often translated as "hovering", "merahepet", does not usually mean "swept" for the traditional translate of "hovering" and "spirit of God" make the most sense (Expositor's 25). Here is where over the face of the water is found to be significant.

  • "Formless void and darkness"/"ṯōhū wā-ḇōhū": signals a non-existence, not conducive to the existence of man, and of something to be expected i.e. a potential state; this, in part, forms our literary understanding of the water. 

    • Darkness often precedes new creation seen as light (Expositor's 25).

8, 9:1-2, 8-14, 18-29 - Noah

The Earth is flooded and creation largely starts over as naturally as possible, to prune the corruption man was suffering. Where do we see the spirit and water again?

1. Noah had been in the ark 40 days & nights (this prefigures the fasting after the baptism of Christ).

2. Sent out a bird (symbol of the spirit) and it returns (over the water) with an olive branch (a symbol of the salvation).

3. In this narrative, Salvation came through water and spirit.

4. CCC 1219 The Church has seen in Noah's ark a prefiguring of salvation by Baptism, for by it "a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water":

The waters of the great flood

you made a sign of the waters of Baptism,

that make an end of sin and a new beginning of goodness

Exodus 13:21-22, 14:10-12, 21-25

• What might passing through the sea symbolize?

• A final deliverance from the slavery of sin

• Where do we see the spirit and water again?

  • Pillar of Fire

  • Walking through the sea

• How long was Israel in the desert?

  • Numbers 14:33-34 - 40 years to be saved from the Israel that was

• CCC 1220-1222 If water springing up from the earth symbolizes life, the water of the sea is a symbol of death and so can represent the mystery of the cross. By this symbolism Baptism signifies communion with Christ's death. But above all, the crossing of the Red Sea, literally the liberation of Israel from the slavery of Egypt, announces the liberation wrought by Baptism:

You freed the children of Abraham from the slavery of Pharaoh,

bringing them dry-shod through the waters of the Red Sea,

to be an image of the people set free in Baptism.

• Finally, Baptism is prefigured in the crossing of the Jordan River by which the People of God received the gift of the land promised to Abraham's descendants, an image of eternal life. The promise of this blessed inheritance is fulfilled in the New Covenant.

Child Birth

What do we know of the natal state of man? Philosophically, man cannot begin as something that is not him but still no substantial change takes place to make him different from inside the womb to outside, only the accidental (nonsubstantial) change of location, size, where nutrition comes from, and many others. So we know that every human soul, to exist at all, must be given by God at the moment of conception. This goes back to Aquinas. 

Biologically, we know that after the zygote is made from the gametes of the parents, we have a human. Soon the newly conceived human implants in the mother's uterus and as it grows the fetal human will be protected by amniotic fluid, largely water.

Psalm 29:3

Familiar image?

Numbers 20:1-12; 1-Isaiah 35:6-7; Isaiah 44:3–5; Ezekiel 47:6–12

In addition to the trend of Water and Spirit being used to preceded life, we can also find what happens when life "runs down", when water runs out. It is interesting, that God provides this water. Later we will see that this "water outta nowhere" is a symbol of something deeper. We can also see a certain cleansing taking place in Israel as previously discussed. By removing/being removed from all of the worldly providences of Egypt, Israel is opened up better to receive the gifts of God, like this water and also the manna you may remember from other verses.

Joshua 3

• How does the Ark leading the way through the water relate to the Water and Spirit imagry?

• Notice the mention of God walking among them and the need for sanctification.

• Notice the passing through the waters and waling on dry ground

Meaning and takeaways

• Water symbolizes potential for (new) life, but in itself is not capable of creating or sustaining it. No less, statements like, "man does not  live by bread alone" assume water is already present and immediately necessary for life.

• "Spirit" is that which actualizes the new life, extending forth existence.

• Even newborns have come into the world through/in water and spirit.

• We can also see a connection to the number of days Noah was in the ark and the years after Israel was delivered from Egypt and in the desert.

• We also looked at the significance of water being found in a place that water is not usually found and will study this further in our next session.