tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18654361.post7749521887327596108..comments2023-07-06T15:14:57.204+01:00Comments on JOHN'S BLOG: The Gender of the Holy SpiritJohnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02487495921222083129noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18654361.post-87721436675851178882012-07-29T16:31:44.544+01:002012-07-29T16:31:44.544+01:00Simply ain't true, Nick.
In the original text...Simply ain't true, Nick.<br /><br />In the original texts, pneuma (Gk) is always grammatically neutral, paracletos (Gk) is always grammatically masculine and ruach (Heb) is always grammatically feminine.<br /><br />Nowhere is the Spirit spoken of as either male or female.Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02487495921222083129noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18654361.post-1091258872090936022012-07-29T15:37:30.123+01:002012-07-29T15:37:30.123+01:00if you look at the original texts the spirit is al...if you look at the original texts the spirit is always female, not feminine, feminine implies an inanimate object.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03553654448811624638noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18654361.post-81997734189793542412010-09-02T12:32:13.865+01:002010-09-02T12:32:13.865+01:00Thank-you for this post. And the added comments ma...Thank-you for this post. And the added comments make it even more valuable. I know that some "modern" theologians refer to the Holy Spirit as our Mother, as did Count Zinzendorf (1700–1760), the famous founder of the Moravian Church. He referred to the Spirit as “our Mother.” I also understand that in some of the eastern churches, for example the Syriac Church, this idea was, and still Lennarthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06879236835896727544noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18654361.post-75147670027197757032010-08-13T16:40:20.341+01:002010-08-13T16:40:20.341+01:00little2u, thank you for doing just a little thinki...little2u, thank you for doing just a little thinking. the truth is coming forth and many men will have a hard time swallowing it while women will be empowered like never before.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11901438920231727871noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18654361.post-50222977742644506782009-06-08T07:49:04.053+01:002009-06-08T07:49:04.053+01:00I think from Genesis that it is quite clear that w...I think from Genesis that it is quite clear that women are just as much in the image of God as men are. It's interesting that the Holy Spirit gets masculine, feminine and neuter pronouns, so I don't think that we can strictly say that the Spirit is feminine.<br /><br />If you want a good example of how to treat women, the supreme Biblical one is how Christ treats the Church, as in Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02487495921222083129noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18654361.post-270097616292517472009-06-08T01:39:54.399+01:002009-06-08T01:39:54.399+01:00In Genesis, it is written, "Let US make man i...In Genesis, it is written, "Let US make man in OUR image" and then male and female were formed. To me, this implies that "feminity" was somewhere in the Godhead. The Bible says, "As above, so below". So if there is feminine below, there must be feminine above. More importantly, I look at the basis of the family. Mother, Father, Son. In Christianity today, the "little2uhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03916624032227931576noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18654361.post-88981547317464373342008-12-23T16:28:00.000+00:002008-12-23T16:28:00.000+00:00Agreed - the Spirit is clearly a person who can en...Agreed - the Spirit is clearly a person who can encourage / comfort, who can be grieved, etc.Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02487495921222083129noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18654361.post-14935415600769063212008-12-23T02:16:00.000+00:002008-12-23T02:16:00.000+00:00Fair enough.I was interested because I was reading...Fair enough.<BR/><BR/>I was interested because I was reading a book on the Trinity that mentioned in passing that masculine pronouns are used to refer to the Spirit despite spirit being neuter. This appears to be incorrect, but more importantly, not even pertinent to the question of the personhood of the Spirit (compared to, say, calling the Spirit a paraclete like the Son)<BR/><BR/>Thanks and ultraberthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12357115018484609601noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18654361.post-56733819402521574092008-12-12T15:33:00.000+00:002008-12-12T15:33:00.000+00:00Sorry - still doesn't work. v7 has "For if I do no...Sorry - still doesn't work. v7 has "For if I do not go away, the Paracletos (m) will not come to you... v8 and that one (ekeinos) coming, he will convict the world... (all one sentence until v11). In the next sentence, v12-13, ekeinos is used again to refer to the Spirit (as in v8 and 14), but the obvious way of reading it is that v7-8 sets up who ekeinos is (i.e. the Paraclete), and v13 and v14 Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02487495921222083129noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18654361.post-82423097188200030562008-12-12T13:51:00.000+00:002008-12-12T13:51:00.000+00:00This thread seems long dead, but for the record:"J...This thread seems long dead, but for the record:<BR/><BR/>"John uses the masculine personal pronoun ekeinos of the Holy Spirit in John 16:13, 14<BR/>without referring to the masculine noun, parakletos/Comforter. As such, John identifies the<BR/>Holy Spirit as a personal being."<BR/><BR/>Got this from <A HREF="http://thearmchairscholar.org/webdoc/Chapter2HolySpirit2F.pdf" REL="nofollow">here </A>,ultraberthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12357115018484609601noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18654361.post-72440216973708943742008-04-12T12:24:00.000+01:002008-04-12T12:24:00.000+01:00Grammatical gender in languages such as Greek (and...Grammatical gender in languages such as Greek (and many others apart from English) implies nothing of and by itself. These assignments certainly appear arbitrary.<BR/><BR/>However, a study of the translation of all such pronouns connected with the word spirit in Greek (pneuma)will reveal that they are mistranslated very often in nearly all translations of the NT. The only reason for this can bedamienjchttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05111052764294999069noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18654361.post-17414849340680755222007-01-22T21:38:00.000+00:002007-01-22T21:38:00.000+00:00Agreed. My issue was, of course, that I had long b...Agreed. My issue was, of course, that I had long been taught to use the masculine pronoun for the Holy Spirit....Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02487495921222083129noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18654361.post-2097741809569715332007-01-22T21:30:00.000+00:002007-01-22T21:30:00.000+00:00The fact that the Hebrew word for spirit is gramma...The fact that the Hebrew word for spirit is grammatically feminine and the Greek word is grammatically masculine illustrates the fact that many gender assignments in languages are arbitrary, that is, there is no biological connection to the grammatical gender of the words for spirit in Hebrew and Greek. If we translate purely by grammatical gender, we will not be translating anything of Wayne Lemanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18024771201561767893noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18654361.post-59162553394700068872007-01-22T17:51:00.000+00:002007-01-22T17:51:00.000+00:00Greek does have an equivalent to that, but none of...Greek does have an equivalent to that, but none of the words involved are the relevant ones and the pronouns are still all the same gender as the corresponding nouns are meant to be.Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02487495921222083129noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18654361.post-62786725146169113652007-01-22T17:32:00.000+00:002007-01-22T17:32:00.000+00:00In latin certain nouns which appear feminine, agri...In latin certain nouns which appear feminine, agricola (farmer) for example, are actually masculine. I'm wondering if this could apply here in any way. I don't know any Greek or Hebrew so I'm pretty much in the dark on that.<br /><br />ADAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18654361.post-85084488421946346532007-01-22T07:15:00.000+00:002007-01-22T07:15:00.000+00:00So I've heard, though based on experience I'd quit...So I've heard, though based on experience I'd quite like to check it myself (except my Hebrew isn't good enough yet).<br /><br />Rather neatly, if true, that means the Holy Spirit gets masculine, feminine and neuter pronouns.Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02487495921222083129noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18654361.post-83028400641259739822007-01-21T23:05:00.000+00:002007-01-21T23:05:00.000+00:00In the original Hebrew of the Old Testament, the H...In the original Hebrew of the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit is always feminine.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com