Theology 15 — Challenging the Holy Spirit

Last time we worked through a ton of scripture, trying to get a multidimensional view of how the bible describes the holy spirit.  This time we’ll consider a few scriptures that have confused some into thinking the spirit is really an individual or person distinct from the Father and the Son.  This study is pretty technical, though I did my best to make the grammatical Greek points understandable. Even so, it will be difficult to follow along unless you download the handout we used in class.

Here is the handout I used in class:

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—— Notes ——

I didn’t follow these notes very closely, but instead mostly worked from this handout at least until later in the lecture.  Even so, I thought these additional notes may be useful for your study.

State the Doctrine Simply

The spirit is God/Christ in action

Reasons that Support Non-Personality of the Spirit

1. The Holy Spirit Does Not Have a Name
2. The Holy Spirit Never Sends Greetings (1 Cor 1.3; 1 Jn 1.3)
3. The Holy Spirit Is Owned by God (Spirit of God) (1 Cor 2.11)
4. The Holy Spirit Is Never Prayed To (Jn 16.23)
5. The Holy Spirit Is Left Out of Key Passages (Jn 10.30; Mt 11.27; Mk 13.32)
6. The Holy Spirit Not in Visions of Heaven (Rev 3.21; 4; 5)

What about All Those Personal Pronouns in John 14-16?

• the word “spirit” πνευμα in the NT is neuter not masculine or feminine
• use handout instead of what’s below unless we are short on time

Nearly all modern translations have adopted the standard of using personal pronouns (like “he” and “him”) in reference to the holy spirit.  This is unusual because the word “spirit” or pneuma is neuter in Greek, and the pronouns the Bible uses are likewise neuter (like it and which).  Although it is often the case that masculine and feminine Greek pronouns are translated in English as “it” or “which,” neuter words in Greek are virtually never translated into English using personal pronouns except when referring to the spirit.  Immediately, this double standard should grab our attention as a potential area of bias in translation.  Jason BeDuhn insightfully explains the matter as follows:

Jason BeDuhn on Translating Greek Gender into English Now it turns out that both “masculine” and “feminine” Greek nouns can be used for impersonal things as well as persons.  But “neuter” nouns are used only for impersonal things, such as objects, animals, forces, abstract principles, and so on.  The same holds true for “masculine,” “feminine,” and “neuter” pronouns…But even though the “personal” category is larger in Greek than in English, the “Holy Spirit” is referred to by a “neuter” noun in Greek.  Consequently, it is never spoken of with personal pronouns in Greek.  It is a “which,” not a “who.”  It is an “it,” not a “he.”  This is the case, then, where the importance of the principle of following primary, ordinary, generally recognized meaning of the Greek when translatin