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Personal pronouns and the Holy Spirit.
- Thread starter 37818
- Start date
37818
Well-Known Member
The Holy Spirit is a Person. In English, Him or He, I would think. As our Comforter always He or Him without exception. Even the KJV uses Him when the Greek is It, John 14:17.
It is a common misconception about the Greek language (and similar languages with grammatical gender) that the masculine, feminine and neuter always mean what we think of as gender in English: male, female, and "it."
However, Greek gender is simply a grammatical construction. For living creatures, Greek gender applies as literal. However, for everything else Greek gender means nothing.
David Alan Black quotes Mark Twain as having translated literally from a German Sunday school book in his essay, "The Awful German Language:
Gretchen: Wilhelm, where is the turnip?
Wilhelm: She has gone to the kitchen.
Gretchen: Where is the accomplished and beautiful English maiden?
Wilhelm: It has gone to the opera.
Black then notes, "The ending of a Greek noun is often a guide to its gender, but gender must usually be learned by observation" (It's Still Greek to Me, pp. 21-22).
Here is a linguistic definition of "grammatical gender": "The classification of a word or words as to gender regardless of logical considerations, such as the natural sex of the person or being designated" (Mario Pei and Frank Gaynor, Dictionary of Linguistics, p. 85).
In the case of the Greek for the Holy Spirit, the word "Spirit" is neuter in gender, pneuma (πνεῦμα). That is because its range of meaning includes non-living things. Besides "spirit" it can mean "breath" or "wind."
On the other hand, we know from many passages that the Holy Spirit is not just a non-living influence, but a real person. For example, He is called the "Comforter" or "Helper" (John 14-16), and that is clearly about a Person, not an influence (or a blanket as in English
). Therefore, every time the Holy Spirit is referred to, the translation should not be "it" as has been mentioned that the KJV does in , but "He," "Him," or "Himself." As 37818 points out, the KJV does get it right in John 14:17. So apparently the KJV committee that translated John knew more about Greek gender than the one that translated Romans!
A. T. Robertson wrote, "The Spirit himself (auto to pneuma). The grammatical gender of pneuma is neuter as here, but the Greek used also the natural gender as we do exclusively as in Joh 16:13 ekeinos (masculine he), to pneuma (neuter). See also Joh 16:26 (ho--ekeinos). It is a grave mistake to use the neuter 'it' or 'itself' when referring to the Holy Spirit" (Word Pictures in the New Testament, vol. IV, p. 374).
However, Greek gender is simply a grammatical construction. For living creatures, Greek gender applies as literal. However, for everything else Greek gender means nothing.
David Alan Black quotes Mark Twain as having translated literally from a German Sunday school book in his essay, "The Awful German Language:
Gretchen: Wilhelm, where is the turnip?
Wilhelm: She has gone to the kitchen.
Gretchen: Where is the accomplished and beautiful English maiden?
Wilhelm: It has gone to the opera.
Black then notes, "The ending of a Greek noun is often a guide to its gender, but gender must usually be learned by observation" (It's Still Greek to Me, pp. 21-22).
Here is a linguistic definition of "grammatical gender": "The classification of a word or words as to gender regardless of logical considerations, such as the natural sex of the person or being designated" (Mario Pei and Frank Gaynor, Dictionary of Linguistics, p. 85).
In the case of the Greek for the Holy Spirit, the word "Spirit" is neuter in gender, pneuma (πνεῦμα). That is because its range of meaning includes non-living things. Besides "spirit" it can mean "breath" or "wind."
On the other hand, we know from many passages that the Holy Spirit is not just a non-living influence, but a real person. For example, He is called the "Comforter" or "Helper" (John 14-16), and that is clearly about a Person, not an influence (or a blanket as in English
). Therefore, every time the Holy Spirit is referred to, the translation should not be "it" as has been mentioned that the KJV does in , but "He," "Him," or "Himself." As 37818 points out, the KJV does get it right in John 14:17. So apparently the KJV committee that translated John knew more about Greek gender than the one that translated Romans!A. T. Robertson wrote, "The Spirit himself (auto to pneuma). The grammatical gender of pneuma is neuter as here, but the Greek used also the natural gender as we do exclusively as in Joh 16:13 ekeinos (masculine he), to pneuma (neuter). See also Joh 16:26 (ho--ekeinos). It is a grave mistake to use the neuter 'it' or 'itself' when referring to the Holy Spirit" (Word Pictures in the New Testament, vol. IV, p. 374).
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