Psalm 51:11–12

Context

According to its superscription, Psalm 51 is a penitential psalm that David composed after he lay with Bathsheba and was rebuked by the prophet Nathan (see 2 Samuel 12). The psalmist first confesses his sin and asks to be cleansed (vv. 1–9). In verse 10 he prays that God would create in him "a clean heart," and he continues that prayer in verses 11–12. In verse 11 he asks not to be cast away from God's presence; in verse 12 he asks that the lost "joy of thy salvation" be restored and that he be upheld by a "free spirit," that is, a heart that follows willingly. This prayer leads into the resolutions that follow: the pledge to teach transgressors God's ways in verse 13 and the reference to the sacrifice of a broken spirit in verse 17.

Interpretation

• Reading centered on the Old Testament context: In the Old Testament the Spirit frequently appears coming upon those who hold an office, such as kings or judges. After Saul sinned, the Spirit of the Lord departed from him (1 Samuel 16:14). In light of this example, the passage is read as a prayer expressing David's fear of losing both the anointing he had received as king and his relationship with God.
• Reformed reading (Presbyterian and others): This reading follows the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, which holds that true believers will never finally fall away from salvation. From this perspective, what David lost was not salvation itself but the "joy" of salvation and his sense of the fellowship he had enjoyed with God. The prayer is interpreted as a plea for the restoration of assurance of salvation and joy.
• Wesleyan and Arminian reading (Methodist, Holiness, Nazarene, and others): This tradition holds that deliberate sin can cause a person to fall from grace. The passage is read as a text that takes that possibility seriously while also showing that grace is restored to the one who repents.
• Pentecostal and charismatic reading: These churches often cite the passage as a prayer seeking anew the presence and fullness of the Holy Spirit. It is used as a text for seeking recovery from spiritual decline.

Debates and Issues

The most widely discussed question is whether the Holy Spirit can depart from a believer in the New Testament era. Calvinists, appealing to John 10:27–29 and other passages, hold that the Spirit who indwells the New Testament believer is never withdrawn. They therefore understand this prayer in terms of the Old Testament situation or as a prayer for the restoration of fellowship. Arminians read the passage as a text that retains its force as a warning.

Translations differ in the following respects:

• The term seongsin ("Holy Ghost") in the Korean Revised Version was changed to seongnyeong ("Holy Spirit") in the New Korean Revised Version.
• The Hebrew expression rendered "free spirit" in the KJV (Korean: "willing spirit") conveys the sense of both a "willing" and a "noble" heart, so translations render it somewhat differently.
• In the Hebrew Bible the psalm superscriptions are included in the verse numbering, so this passage corresponds to verses 13–14.

In the Korean Church

The passage is frequently read, along with the rest of Psalm 51, in sermons and prayer meetings on the theme of repentance, as well as in services during Lent and on Ash Wednesday. Gospel songs that take verses 10–12 as their lyrics are also sung in Korean.

Related Passages

• Psalm 51:10
• 1 Samuel 16:13–14
• Psalm 51:16–17
• John 10:27–29
• Ezekiel 36:25–27