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Holy Spirit - whom or which?
daywalker:
--- Quote from: eggi on December 03, 2008, 04:26:43 PM ---Hi all,
Just noticed something today. In modern translations they tend to translate references to the Holy Spirit as if the Holy Spirit was a person. An example:
You know that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God, don't you? You do not belong to yourselves, (1st Corinthians 6:19 International Standard Version 2008)
Others have it this way:
Have ye not known that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit in you, which ye have from God? and ye are not your own, (Young's Literal Translation)
Interesting to see how a doctrine can "color" the wording. I would think that the Greek says "which" and not "whom", but I haven't had the opportunity to verify this. Did anyone of you take a closer look at this?
God bless you,
Eirik
--- End quote ---
Hey Eirik,
When looking up Hebrew/Greek words & meanings, I like to use this website which uses Strong's Concordance, along with alternative options:
http://www.blueletterbible.org/
I also use e-sword which you can google and download for FREE :)!! Just a little fyi I thought you might like...
The King James Version reads this verse (1 Cor 6:19) as:
"What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost [which is] in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?"
First thing, notice the "which is" in parenthesis, that obviously means that it as ADDED. Verse copied from website. Book will have it in italics. Not exactly wrong in this case, but not necessary either. "the Holy Ghost in you" would have been fine.
WHICH in this verse, comes from the Greek hos, and according to the website {using Strong's} can mean: who, which, what, that
In the KJV "hos" is translated:
"which" 418 times, "whom" 270 times, "that" 139 times, "who" 87 times, "whose" 52 times, "what" 40 times, etc...
So it would appear that yes it can also mean "whom". BUT, in each case, it requires honest interpreting to determine whether or not it should be. In regards to the Holy Spirit (Ghost), honest and accurate study of Scripture shows that the Holy Spirit is not a "person", but rather the spirit OF God (and Jesus) and therefore should not be referred to as a He or Who or Whom.
Hope that helps your study a little,
- Christopher
judith collier:
Yes, I see what you are saying but then the Holy Spirit would actually be an IT, rightly so? The Spirit is of God the Father and of Jesus. And then pray in Spirit and Truth? I can also see how Spirit takes on a life of it's own. The Spirit prays for us when we do not know what to pray, IT groans within us? very confusing still!
Kat:
Here is another excerpt from 'Is God a closed Trinity or an Open Family,' this should help in this discussion as this article has much about what the Holy Spirit is.
http://bible-truths.com/trinity.html ---------
The holy spirit is something that God the Father possesses--it is not a separate, third god or deity of some fabled trinity. The spirit "of" God is "God’s" spirit. And notice that God offers His spirit as a gift to those who ask:
"If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?" (Luke 11:13)
The holy spirit is not an entity of its own, but is rather a possession of God which He gives to us.
And notice that even the King James Version in this verse uses the word Spirit instead of Ghost as they normally do in translating the same identical Greek word pneuma.
We read in the latter chapters of John’s gospel just how intimate and loving and close Jesus is with His Father and His Father with Him. This is emphasized over and over again dozens of times in the Scriptures. However, there is NO SUCH INTIMACY mentioned between the holy ghost [spirit] and the Father or with Jesus Christ. The reason is clear. The holy spirit of God is not a deity or god with a personal relationship with the Father or Christ, but is rather THEIR spirit. We will show from Scripture that both the Father and His Son have, and posses "holy spirit," and that They BOTH impart that same spirit to US! And that is how they BOTH dwell with us and in us and make their abode with us (John 14:23).
-----------------------------------------------------------
mercy, peace and love
Kat
eggi:
Hi all, thank you for your responses,
I might be wrong on this one since I'm not a native English speaker, but doesn't WHO always refer to persons? WHICH refers to NON-PERSONS right?
I thought that this might be yet another way to disprove the idea that the Holy Spirit is a person. Perhaps I was wrong. ;D
God bless you,
Eirik
judith collier:
Yes, I see that the Holy Spirit is not a person in his own right and I always had trouble with this. I didn't consider myself a scholar and never took up a debate but rather told myself I will leave that to God. But we were taught to pray TO the Holy Spirit and that confused me. Now I can ask the Spirit of our Lord and Fatherto help me pray. Thanks
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