Is the Holy Spirit a Really a Person?
INTRODUCTION
Since there is no formal declaration of faith by the Friends & Workers, making generalized statements about their beliefs is difficult. However, I've been exposed to enough current or former professing people to realize that there exists confusion with regard to the nature of the Blessed Trinity. An argument against the Holy Spirit being a person was presented to the 2x2 Email Discussion Board by an ex-professing person:Changing the gender of a word changes it's image because when a
noun is used and a pronoun or adjective is also used to refer to that noun, then the pronoun or adjective must agree in "gender." The Hebrew word for spirit (ruah) is feminine and therefore, any
pronoun or adjective that referred to that word would also be
feminine. The Greek word for spirit (pneuma) is neuter and
therefore, any pronoun or adjective that refers to that word must
also be neuter. John used the word ekeinos which means "that one"
and is derived from "that man, woman or thing." Ekeinos does not
mean "he." That is a mistranslation.
It is not a mistranslation, and there is no misunderstanding on the part of those who recognize who the Holy Spirit is, for the reasons given below:
1) Sharon's statement that: "Changing the gender of a word changes it's [sic] image...The Greek word for spirit (pneuma) is neuter and therefore, any pronoun or adjective that refers to that word must also be neuter." is false. For one thing, the Greek word for "heart" is kardia, which is feminine. By her logic, all hearts would be female when, of course, we know this is not necessarily true.
2) If pneuma is meant to be impersonal, then God the Father is also impersonal: "God is spirit (pneuma) and those who worship Him must worship....". Also, the angels sent forth in Heb 1:14 as "ministering spirits (pneumata) sent forth to serve...." are also impersonal.
3) Read John 14:26: "But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you." The Holy Spirit is called "the Counselor", which in Greek is ho paracleto, which is masculine. In other words, Sharon's argument contradicts itself.
4) ekeinos is certainly masculine - the ending "os" is the masculine nominative singular form, just like the man Simon was called Petros instead of petra (Mt 16:16-19). The inspired author could had written the neuter word ekeino, but he didn't, did he? No, he used ekeinos. It's the same word used again one chapter later, "But when the Counselor comes, Whom I shall send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of Truth, who proceeds from the Father, He (ekeinos) will bear witness to me..." See also Jn 16:7-13.
5) The Holy Spirit has attributes of a Person: He helps (Jn 14:16,26, 15:26, 16:7, Rom 8:26, 1 Jn 2:1), loves (Rom 15:30), teaches (Lk 12:12, Jn 14:26), guides (Jn 16:13), comforts (Jn 14:26, 15:26, 16:7, Acts 9:31), leads (Mt 4:1, Acts 8:39, Rom 8:14), thinks (Acts 15:25,28), speaks (Jn 16:13-15, Acts 8:29, 10:19, 11:12, 13:2), can be lied to (Acts 5:3-4), and so on.
The following exchange ensued...
A noun, be it masculine, feminine, or neuter is a grammatical point and says nothing about the actual gender of the referent.
[Clay] Then I'm not sure why the male gender of the Holy Spirit is being rejected on the basis of Greek word pneuma being neutral.
See above. Pneuma is a neutral word, not an impersonal word.
[Clay] I fail to see the distinction. The premise, as I understood it, was that since pneuma is neuter, therefore the Holy Spirit is not a person; however, as I demonstrated earlier, the Holy Spirit is given the attributes of a person multiple times in Scripture. Now, if the premise is merely that the Holy Spirit is indeed a person, but just not a "he", I've shown how elswhere in Scripture the Holy Spirit is described in masculine terms.
The KJV of John 14:26 reads "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things." It uses the feminine word paraclete for Comforter. The neuter word "which" precedes and references "Holy Ghost."
[Clay] The "ho" in ho parakletos is masculine nominative singular, which immediately precedes the "parakletos" which is defined by the Crosswalk new Testament KJV Greek Lexicon as "noun masculine" (click here)
The KJV uses parakletos this way in John 16:7 "Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter (parakletos) will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you."
The KJV John 15:26 reads: "But when the Comforter (parakletos) is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:"
The KJV in John 14:16 reads: "And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter (parakletos), that he may abide with you for ever;"
And "he" is a mistranslation of the neuter word ekeinos which means "that one" and is derived from "that man, woman or thing."...Words ending in "os" are not necessarily masculine in gender. For example; anthropos ("a person") is neuter, brephos ("infant") is neuter, hodos ("road") is feminine.
[Clay] The form of the word ekeinos is the masculine nominative singular. According to the LSJ, the neuter form of the word would be ekeino, and the feminine form of the word would be ekeine - neither of these are used here. For these reasons, in addition to the surrounding context I've provided, I don't think it is a mistranslation.
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