1 Samuel 18 Footnotes

18:12 Once God the Father gives the Holy Spirit to a person, does the Spirit remain with that person or can he depart? At least three other OT passages in addition to the present verse suggest that the Holy Spirit could be taken away from people who persisted in living in disobedience toward God (Jdg 16:20; 1Sm 28:15; Ps 51:11). On the other hand, Jn 14:16 indicates the Holy Spirit will abide forever with people who receive him.

The NT teaches that the death and resurrection of Jesus fundamentally changed certain aspects of humanity’s relationship with God. The old covenant at Sinai was replaced with the covenant of Christ’s body and blood (1Co 11:25; Heb 8:13), and with this change the Holy Spirit began operating differently in the lives of God’s people. The NT speaks of the Holy Spirit as a gift to believers in Jesus Christ (Ac 2:38; 10:45) and a seal on their hearts, a guarantee of eternal life (2Co 1:22; Eph 1:13). Besides being given to women and Gentiles (there are no examples of either of these receiving the Spirit in the OT), the Holy Spirit is a permanently indwelling presence in the lives of all Christians. The NT provides no instance of the Holy Spirit departing from a Christian; this suggests that what happened to Saul cannot happen to a believer in Christ.