Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!uwm.edu!cs.utexas.edu!bcm!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: stevep@cadence.com (Steve Peterson) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Is the holy spirit a person? Message-ID: Date: 19 Mar 91 04:53:47 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Lines: 58 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu Many people believe that the "Holy Spirit" or "Holy Ghost" is a person, part of the Trinity. They believe this way, pointing to the fact that the Bible personifies the "Holy Spirit". Thus, they conclude it must be a person. It is true that Jesus spoke of the holy spirit as a "helper", and spoke of such helper as 'teaching,' 'bearing witness,' 'giving evidence,' 'guiding,' 'speaking,' 'hearing,' and 'receiving.' In so doing, the original Greek shows Jesus at times applying the personal pronoun "he" to that "helper" (paraclete). (Compare John 14:16, 17, 26; 15:26; 16:7-15) However, it is not unusual in the Scriptures for something that is not actually a person to be personalized or personified. Wisdom is personified in the book of Proverbs (1:20-33; 8:1-36); and feminine pronominal forms are used of it in the original Hebrew, as also in many English translations. (KJ, RS, JP, AT) Wisdom is also personified at Matthew 11:19 and Luke 7:35, where it is depicted as having both "works" and "children." The apostle Paul personalized sin and death and also undeserved kindness as "kings". (Rom 5:14, 17, 21; 6:12) He speaks of sin as "receiving an inducement," 'working out covetousness,' 'seducing,' and 'killing.' (Rom 7:8-11) Yet it is obvious that Paul did not mean that sin was actually a person. So, likewise with John's account of Jesus' words regarding the holy spirit, his remarks must be taken in context. Jesus personalized the holy spirit when speaking of that spirit as a "helper" (which in Greek is the masculine substantive parakletos). Properly, therefore, John presents Jesus' words as referring to that "helper" aspect of the spirit with masculine personal pronouns. On the other hand, in the same context, when the Greek "pnuema" is used, John employs a neuter pronound to refer to the holy spirit, pnuema itself being neuter. Hence, we have in John's use of the masculine personal pronoun in association with parakletos an example of conformity to grammatical rules, not an expression of doctrine (John 14:16, 17; 16:7, 8). Further evidence against the idea of personality as regards the holy spirit is the way it is used in association with other impersonal things, such as water and fire (Matt. 3:11; Mark 1:8); and Christians are spoken of as being baptized "in holy spirit." (Acts 1:5; 11:16) Persons are urged to become "filled with spirit" instead of with wine. (Eph. 5:18 So, too, persons are spoken of as being 'filled' with it along with such qualities as wisdom and faith (Acts 6:3, 5; 11:24) or joy (Acts 13:52); and holy spirit is inserted, or sandwiched in, with a number of such qualites at 2 Cor. 6:6. It is most unlikely that such expressions would be made if the holy spirit were a divine person. As to the spirits's 'bearing witness' (Acts 5:32; 20:23), it may be noted that the same thing is said of the water and the blood at 1 John 5:6-8. While some texts refer to the spirit as 'witnessing,' 'speaking,' or 'saying things, other texts make clear that it spoke through persons, having no personal voice of its own. (Compare Heb 3:7; 10:15-17; Psa. 95:7; Jer 31:33, 34; Acts 19:2-6; 21:4; 28:25.) It may thus be compared to radio waves that can transmit a message from a person speaking into a microphone and cause his voice to be heard by persons a distance away, in effect, 'speaking' the massage by a radio loudspeaker. God, by his spirit, transmits his messages and communicates his will to the minds and hearts of his servants on earth, who, in turn, may convey that message to yet others. Best Regards...... Steve Peterson ---- stevep@cadence.com or ...!uunet!cadence!stevep