Study in Basic Greek #2

Fred R. Coulter—December 12, 1992

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Since there are so many people preaching different things concerning the Holy Spirit, trying to explain the Greek and trying to explain different things so that they can prove it is a person, we're taking the detail study to go through in the Scriptures and show that it never was a person. We're going to see why in the material that I've included—I gave you the four or five pages from the Englishman's Greek Concordance of the New Testament by George V. Wigram—you can look up every place where the Greek word for spirit—'pneuma'—is used. {handout for this series is no longer available}

In part 4 we went through the different words for 'pneuma,' which is:

  • 'pneuma'
  • 'tau pneuma'

—always neuter. Even without the definite article there it is neuter. Then you have:

  • 'pneuma hagios'—Spirit Holy or Holy Spirit
  • 'tau pneuma tau hagios'—the Spirit the Holy

All of those are neuter! Every one of the places that you go through, nearly 400 Scriptures, the word for spirit is never in the masculine tense; it is always in the neuter and every pronoun for Spirit should be translated it. It should not be translated He. We will look at some of those today.

III. The Holy Spirit is the power of God

We're going to cover some things in Greek today, which will be a little fun. It may be a little tedious in some ways, but it's going to be fun. I think if you can tell the difference between 'Os' and 'Ss' we should do quite well here. This is were John the Baptist was baptizing with water and he said:

Matthew 3:11: "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance; but the One Who is coming after me is mightier than I, of Whom I am not fit to carry His sandals; He shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit, and with fire."

Of course, that means that if you commit the unpardonable sin, you're going to be thrown into the Lake of Fire, wholly, completely immersed into it. You're being baptized "…with the Holy Spirit…" Again, this is neuter and is showing a power of God.

This is talking about when Jesus was baptized, v 16: "And after He was baptized, Jesus came up immediately out of the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he [John] saw the Spirit of God… ['tau pneuma tau theou'] …descending as a dove, and coming… [landing] …upon Him. And lo, a voice from heaven said, 'This is My Son, the Beloved, in Whom I have great delight'" (vs 16-17). No indication whatsoever that it is a person! It is something that comes from God and landed on Jesus.

Matthew 12:28: "But if I, by the Spirit of God, cast out demons…" Who is doing the casting out? Jesus was! He said:

  • "…if I by…" shows it's the power that's being used.
  • "…the Spirit of God, cast out demons…" It's not a person! Jesus is doing it by the power of the Spirit of God.

"…then the Kingdom of God has come upon you" (v 28).

Mark 1 is a parallel account of the baptism on Jesus; Mark 1:12: "And soon after, the Spirit… ['tau pneuma'] …compelled Him to go out into the wilderness." It says in another place that He was 'ledof the Spirit.' It drives Him. It's the power of God which was leading Him or driving Him.

Verse 13: "And He was there in the wilderness for forty days, tempted by Satan…"

After the temptation was over, Luke 4:14: "Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit…" Again, equating the Spirit with power, with force; not equating as a person, but "…in the power of the Spirit…" Let's see what this did for Him:

Verse 32: "And they were astonished at His teaching, for His Word was with authority." Obviously because He was full of the Holy Spirit.

I know that we're going through the Scriptures quite rapidly, but what we need to do is to just see each case where it is used in this particular sense. Again, talking about the Holy Spirit we see something very important concerning it. This is talking about how they were to pray and how they were to ask God.

Luke 11:13: "Therefore, if you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father Who is in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?"

  • it is something that is power
  • it is something that is given
  • it is something that is a gift

All of this is showing that it is the power of God!

It's interesting that in the Greek in Luke 11:13, it is not 'tau pneuma tau hagios.' It is 'pneuma hagios.' {the is inserted for clarity in the English} It is that God will give Holy Spirit, showing more that it is something that comes from God, not in the way of being a person, but God gives Holy Spirit.'

In all of these things, we're looking at the characteristics of the Spirit. Here is one that's really very hard to duplicate.

John 7:38: "'The one who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.' But this He spoke concerning the Spirit… ['tau pneuma'] …which…" (vs 38-39). It says 'which' in the King James. It doesn't say 'Who.' We'll see that that's very important.

"…which those who believed in Him would soon receive; for the Holy Spirit… ['pneuma hagios'] …was not yet given…" (v 39).

Acts 4:8: shows the Holy Spirit as a thing or a commodity, something as distinguishing from a person.

Acts 4:8: "Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them…"

Peter was delivered up, arrested; Matthew 10:19: "Now, when they deliver you up, do not be anxious about how or what you should speak; for in that hour… [at that time] …it shall be given to you what you shall speak. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit… ['tau pneuma'] …of your Father that speaks in you" (vs 19-20).

It is very interesting in the Greek because it is this way: the Spirit, of the Father which or that, the article for the neuter referring back to the Spirit.

After they were released and came back to their own; Acts 4:31: "And when they had prayed, the place in which they were assembled was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and they spoke the Word of God with boldness." Again this is the power that comes from God to do the work of God through that individual.

There are some other Scriptures that we can add to it. Please study the references in Acts 6, 7 & 8 concerning the Holy Spirit, except we'll jump clear over to Acts 8. We find something here that fits in with how the Holy Spirit is received.

Acts 8:15: "Who, after coming down to Samaria, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Spirit for as yet it had not fallen upon any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit" (vs 15-17)—'pneuma hagios,' which comes from God.

There it is! You receive it by the laying on of hands. Tie in Acts 2:38 where they repent, they believe the Gospel and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 9:17: "Then Ananias went away and came into the house; and after laying his hands on him… [Saul—the one who was to become Paul] …he said, 'Brother Saul, the Lord has sent me, even Jesus, Who appeared to you on the road in which you came, so that you might receive sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.'" We have:

  • the laying on of hands
  • being filled with the Holy Spirit
  • the Holy Spirit is something you receive

which becomes part of and unites with the spirit of your mind; that's how conversion takes place!

IV. The Holy Spirit is the earnest

Once you receive of the Holy Spirit it is only the earnest or begettal of God the Father

2-Corinthians 1:21: "But He Who establishes us with you in Christ, and Who has anointed us…" The Holy Spirit is like an anointing. Ever heard of a person being anointed over another person? No!

"…is God, Who has also sealed us and given us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts" (vs 21-22). That becomes very important; that shows:

  • the function
  • the begettal
  • we have a small portion of God's Spirit

When you're filled with God's Spirit, to do mighty works, as the apostles were… Of course, that had to be done to thoroughly establish the Church at Jerusalem because the religious authorities didn't believe Him at all, even with all the power that they did. When you go back and read some of the things that were done and the miracles that they did, they were absolutely amazing! All Jerusalem knew about it. Everyone knew about it. It wasn't just some little thing.

2-Corinthians 5:5: "Now, He Who is working out this very thing for us is God, Who has also given us the earnest of the Spirit"—a down payment, a small portion and is going to hold us until the day of redemption.

Ephesians 1:13: "In Whom you… [in Christ] …also trusted after hearing the Word of the Truth, the Gospel of your salvation; in Whom also, after believing, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise."

It's interesting in the Greek, 'With the Spirit, the promise of the Holy,' of course, that's the way the words flow in the Greek. It should be: 'The promise of the Holy Spirit.'

Verse 14: "Which is the earnest…" In my Interlinear Greek-English New Testament there is a little switch there, but it's got a footnote that the relative pronoun for Holy Spirit should be which.

Verse 14: "Which is the earnest …[partial down payment] …of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory."

We can add in several things, here: 1-Corinthians 6:19[transcriber's correction]: "…you are not your own? For you were bought with a price…" (vs 19-20). We are the purchased possession of God! Since God bought us and redeemed us, He gives us His Spirit and that signifies that we belong to Him. This is going to be until the day of redemption.

When is that going to be?1-Corinthians 15:23[transcriber's correction]: "…Christ the Firstfruit; then those who are Christ's at His coming."

Ephesians 2:18: "For through Him we both… [Jews and Gentiles] …have direct access by one Spirit to the Father." The Holy Spirit gives us that access directly to the Father! Without the Holy Spirit, you cannot communicate directly to the Father.

Verse 19: "So then, you are no longer aliens and foreigners…"—sojourners.

Verse 22: "In Whom you also are being built together…"

Here's something that we probably do more than we should; Ephesians 4:30: "And do not vex… [grieve] …the Holy Spirit of God… [it belongs to Him; it is a commodity, or a thing] …by which… [not who] …you have been sealed for the day of redemption."

Let's show how the spirit of man and the Spirit of God are warring against each other.

Galatians 5:16: "Now this I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh…" (vs 16-17).

This is the experience we all go thorough with temptations, because we have the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God is leading us to not do it. Our carnal nature is saying, 'Do it!' You're caught in this between the 'law of sin and death' and the Spirit of God warring, as Paul said, in your mind. This describes it. Again, it shows that it is a commodity, or it is the power from God.

Phil. 1 is a very interesting way of putting it, talking about the begettal and the use of the Holy Spirit.

Philippians 1:19: "For I know that this shall turn out for my salvation through your supplication and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ." I've never heard of a person being a supply unless you're a cannibal. A person is not a supply. The Spirit is a supply, again, something from God.

1-Thessalonians 4:8: "Accordingly, the one who rejects these commands is not rejecting man, but God, Who also gave His Holy Spirit to us"—from Him. It belongs to God. It is not a separate entity as a person. It is a supply and comes from God.

We're going to see how this gift of God—the earnest, the supply—is poured out to us. Where does it go? Rom. 5:5!

What this does is it shows the impossibility of the Holy Spirit being a person! Remember what we first read, 'God the Father is God. Jesus Christ is God, the Holy Spirit is God. They are all One and individual Gods, three in One.' (My Catholic Faith by Louis Morrow.) What we're covering now is that it's impossible for a person to have been used in this particular manner.

Romans 5:5: "And the hope of God never makes us ashamed because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, which… [even in the King James] …has been given to us." It has to be translated that way.

What I have here is some very simple English words, which we will cover some of them in the Greek. I have present tense and past tense. This is what you would call simple present and simple past.

  • First person:

I say—present tense
I said—past tense

  • Second person:

you say—present tense
you said—past tense

  • Third person:

he, she, it said—past tense

I noticed in my elementary Greek text it does not have he, she or it says. It just has, he says.' As we're going to see, that's part of the problem with the translation

Let's look at the Greek word that shows the present tense. Then we will look at the Greek word that shows the past tense. Again, it's no different than English. You have one form of spelling for present tense and you have one form of spelling for past tense.

Present Tense

  • First person: I say—'lego'

There's a funny looking 'w' at the end of 'lego' in the Greek? Every present tense verb has that symbol for the first person. That is an 'omega.' It actually is a double 'o.'

  • Second person: You say—'legees'
  • Third person: He, she, it says—'legee'

Past Tense

  • First person: I said, 'epon'
  • Second person: You said, 'epece'
  • Third person: He, she, it said, 'epen'

I want to show you something very interesting. We don't have this in English. We have absolutely, no comparable in English to this. I tried to keep it simple.

We are looking at the neuter word: 'tau pneuma'—the spirit. Now then, we have something in English when we have, 'the car,' we say it; the same way in Greek. The neuter for it in Greek is 'autou' from which we get the English word auto or self. It runs automatically, or it runs by itself. You have a car with an automatic transmission; it shifts itself. You see how this is carried over into the English. So, 'autou' reflects back to mean it or itself.

Right below that, I have the neuter relative, pronoun. This is as complicated as we get. If you can follow along with this, 'you're in like Flynn.' It is an 'o' and it's got two accent marks. In the Greek you have to watch the accent marks, because in this case it's very important. Do not confuse it with a singular accent mark.

What I did was, I combined the three things that we just covered: tau, pneuma, autou and o. So, I have:

  • Relative pronoun: When you have 'tau pneuma,' the spirit, the only thing you can use for the it is 'autou.' That is the pronoun.
  • The relative pronoun is the 'o' with the two accent marks, which should be translated which.

Right now you don't see the importance of this but you will in just a little bit.

Now, let's look at a masculine word 'doulos'—the 'o' here, is pronounced with a singular accent mark: 'ho doulos'—the servant or slave. When you have he it is always 'autos.' In Greek you always know that with the 'os' it is a masculine noun. Notice how the 'who' is listed. It follows right along—'os': 'ho, doulous, altos.' Therefore, you know it is in the masculine gender.

Let's see the word for woman. Feminine noun—long e. There should be a little accent make over the top of it—the woman—gune.

The pronoun for it is: 'autae.' The relative pronoun is: 'e.' So, it is: 'e gune autae e.' When you look at any of these words, you can identify what it is by the last letter or two, in the word. You automatically know that 'autou' has to have a neuter noun. You know that 'autos' has to have a masculine noun. You know that 'autae' has to have a feminine noun. Likewise, the which and who.

Here's where you come into some problems with the English for a literal translation. I have two words in English and in Greek, which denote the world and the earth.

Let's take the first one. You've heard this word before: 'ho cosmos,' the world, from which we have the word for cosmopolitan, cosmetics—'ho cosmos.'

What makes 'the world,' masculine? Nothing! In English it isn't, but in the Greek it is, just by a gender designation. So, you must have the pronoun 'autos.' You must have the relative pronoun 'who,' which is 'hos.'

Now let's look at the same thing again and it's pronounced: 'hee ge,' the earth. When you use that you have to use 'she,' 'autae.' You have to have the relative pronoun, who, 'e.' In the Greek, it must all follow through, one following the other.

Let's come along to the next one: comforter and comfort. This is a heart and core problem with trying to make the Holy Spirit be a male gendered person, which it is not.

The word for comforter in Greek is pronounced 'ho parakletos,' which means the comforter. Its pronoun is—because it's in the masculine tense—'autos'—he. The relative pronoun, who is 'hos.' You see how this follows along all masculine gendered words in Greek must follow this rule. There is absolutely no variation from it. That becomes important.

Let's go to the next one. Here is nearly the same word, which is 'comfort,' but it's female—'hee paraklesis,' the comfort. Notice the pronoun, 'autae'—she. If you're going to literally translate it, the comfort she—while in English it wouldn't make any sense at all. Then the relative pronoun is 'e.'

Here's what we can conclude: All of these words I gave you in English are neuter gender words: the earth, the world, the comforter, the comfort. To carry through and say: he, she, he, she, in English, is an artificial designation in English. How would we do it? We would do it this way:

  • the world: it, which
  • the earth: it, which
  • the comforter: it, which
  • the comfort: it, which

I know this may have your head spinning for a little bit, but hold on, we'll get there. You'll have the sermon to go back over it.

Let's look at one more word. The word, 'that' or 'that one.' The masculine noun for that one is 'ekeinos.' The relative pronoun for 'ekeinos' is 'hos,' because it's masculine. In English it would be which. The feminine version of it? Notice the 'os' for the masculine? Notice the long 'e,' the funny looking 'n' for the feminine? It's pronounced 'ekeine'—that one. Then neuter, it would be 'ekeino.' The relative pronoun would then be 'o'.

'Parakletos' is a descriptive noun in the masculine tense. It is an artificial gender in English, if you keep it masculine. It describes a function of the Spirit. The Spirit is neuter, not a person, and should be referred to as: it, itself and which, even though it is in the masculine tense in Greek, through 'parakletos,' because it is not a person of the male gender.

That's what's happened in the translation. They have made it male gender because the Greek word is masculine gender.

(go to the next track)

'ekeinos' refers back to 'parakletos' and should be translated: that or that one, or more correctly in English, it, because it is referring to 'the Spirit,' which is neuter.

I've got some more pages out of my elementary Greek book. I put these in here more for you to look at, to see the difference and to see the sameness:

  • brother—masculine sense—'adelphos'

notice all of the masculine words end in 'os'

  • 'ho adelphos'
  • 'ho anthrpos'
  • apostle—'ho apostolos'
  • slave, we already have that one or servant, 'ho doulos'
  • gift—this is neuter, notice the difference in the definite article—'tau doron'
  • death—'ho thanatos.'

In English, death is death. It doesn't carry any gender at all. It happens to everyone. In Greek it carries a gender. That's what confuses in trying to get some of these things done in English.

All of these words are present tense singular:

  • I see
  • I know
  • I write
  • I teach
  • I take
  • I say
  • I loose
  • I have

What is the common factor in every one of these words? They all end with that 'omega,' or that funny looking 'w,' which is really a double 'o'! These words are pronounced, beginning with:

  • I see, 'blepo'
  • to know, 'gnosis'
  • to write, 'graphe'
  • I teach, 'didasko'
  • I take, 'lambano'
  • I say, 'lego'
  • I loose, 'luo'
  • I have, 'echo'

We do not have this in English, but you have it in Greek. Whenever it changes from the first person, to the second person, to the third person—singular and plural—the ending of the word changes. The reason that I'm going through this is that we'll see in just a little bit. I'll show you. We have the present, active, indicative of the verb 'luo,' I loose, is as follows: Singular: luo, luace, luee. We won't deal with much more than just the singular as we go through here. Then we will lay that out so we can see it.

Let's go to the next page. We've already covered some of this, but I just wanted you to see it here. All these words are feminine in Greek. It makes no sense to us but it does in Greek:

  • truth
  • a kingdom
  • a writing
  • glory
  • peace
  • a church
  • a commandment
  • life

Isn't it interesting that death in Greek is masculine, life is feminine.

  • a day
  • a heart
  • a parable
  • a voice
  • a soul
  • an hour

All of these words you would have to have the pronoun literally be shethe life she. That's why it's difficult in translating in English.

What we have here are the relative pronouns. This is about a deep as we're going to get. You can follow along from here on. This is who and which. We have masculine, feminine, neuter. We've already covered some of that. Notice that the endings correspond with the word.

Pronouns: all together in one place; hopefully, this will make a little more sense.

The word under he, she, it—'autos,' 'autae,' 'auto.' Then it comes right along with the different spelling of those, depending on the case.

I want you to look where it's singular—the 'os,' the 'e,' and the 'o'; it follows right along with that word. It follows the ending of the formal word, the ending of the pronoun and the ending of the relative pronoun. They are all the same—'os,' 'e,' 'o.' That's just to show the distinction in the words.

Why did I go through all of this? What are we going to do? We're going to look at some Greek words and we will see if we can put this together and we will show that what I said is true!

We're going to show the action of the Holy Spirit. We're going to see some interesting things as we do that.

Luke 2:25: "And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; and this man was righteous and reverent, waiting for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Spirit… ['pneuma hagios'] …was upon him. Now, it had been Divinely communicated to him by the Holy Spirit…" (vs 25-26). It's this way to show that it wasn't communicated by any other thing than the Holy Spirit of God.

Verse 27: "And he came in the Spirit into the temple; and when the parents brought in the little Child Jesus…"

Verse 36: "Now, there was Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher; she was of a great age, having lived with a husband seven years from her virginity; and she…" (vs 36-37)—'autae' with the long 'e,' that looks like an 'n.' Whenever you're dealing with the feminine gender, you always have to have this kind of Greek word.

"…was a widow of about eighty-four years, who… (v 37). That follows right along 'autae': he, she who.

We're going to see these words: 'I say,' 'you say,' 'he, she, it says.' You'll see the Greek word for says or speaks is used for the neuter as well as the masculine and the feminine.

1-Timothy 4:1: "Now, the Spirit tells us explicitly…" I want you to look at the Greek word above tells and look at the Greek that I gave to you, 'legee,' proves that the neuter gender verb is the same in the first person, as the masculine and feminine first person verb—'legee.'

Let's go back to the first two Greek words. It says in the English, 'But the' (KJV). However, in Greek but can never be the first word in the sentence. It always must be the second word; that's just a rule in Greek. That's why Greek is Greek.. So, it is 'tau de pneuma,' the but Spirit, if you want a literal translation. That wouldn't make any sense. So, it's "Now, the Spirit…" You have, 'tau pneuma'—singular third person: 'it says,' or 'it speaks.'

Acts 13:1: "Now, there were certain prophets and teachers in the Church that was at Antioch, including Barnabas, and Simeon who was called Niger, and Lucius the Cyrenian, and Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch), and Saul. And as they were ministering and fasting to the Lord the Holy Spirit said…" (vs 1-2)—'eipen.'

Matthew 4:6: "And… [the devil] …said… ['legee'] …to Him [Jesus] 'If You are the Son of God, cast Yourself down; for it is written…'"

Verse 9: "And… [the devil] …said to Him [Jesus]…" The devil is 'ho diabolos.' We've conclusively shown that if it is a 'thing' that is speaking it uses the same verb. If it is a 'he' that is speaking it uses the same verb. Let's see Jesus' answer:

Verse 10: "Then Jesus said… ['legee'] …to him, 'Be gone, Satan!.…'" It is the present tense, third person, 'says Jesus to him.'

Matthew 20:20: "Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to Him with her sons, worshiping Him and asking a certain thing from Him. And He said… ['eipen,' said, past tense] …to her…" (vs 20-21)—'autae.' Notice how Greek follows through always on these things so you can know what's happening, here.

Verse 21: "And He said to her, 'What do you desire?' She said to Him…" 'lege.' What we have shown is:

  • a thing: 'tau pneuma legee'
  • a man: 'ho Iesous legee, Jesus said
  • 'hou diabolos legee,' the devil said
  • the mother said, feminine, 'legee.'

So, it shows that the word 'says' is used as the same word for masculine, feminine and neuter—he says, she says, it says.

Let's go to the next page. I'll let you look through this and study that yourself. Let's go to v 44. Jesus is speaking in the first person. It says:

You'll find all the way through here, when Jesus says something, He says, 'lego,' present tense, first person, I say. You can find that all the way through.

Everything I've done is leading us to this point, because we're going to analyze some of these Greek words. We can't analyze them unless you know what you're looking for. That's why I went through and I did the first pages.

Let's pick it up at John 14. Remember what we said about the 'paraklete.' It is a masculine noun that describes an action of the Holy Spirit. We're going to notice some very interesting things here.

John 14:16: "And I will ask the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter… [parakletos'] …that it may be with you throughout the age: Even the Spirit of the Truth…" (vs 16-17). What is spirit? 'tau pneuma' is neuter.

"…which…" (v 17). 'Whom' is an incorrect translation. Why? What is the relative pronoun for the neuter? It is the 'o' with the double accent mark!

In English it may not mean much to you, but in Greek it's profound. Now you know what there is confusion, because too many people don't take it upon themselves to teach the members and they say lay members are dumb sheep. I don't think you're dumb! You're smart enough to get this.

I'm trying to present it in such a way that it's going to be something you can follow. You may have to go back over it again. I know I've covered a lot of things.

You cannot translate 'tau' as whom, because it should be it. If the Spirit were a person in the masculine sense, it would be 'ho pneuma' If it were 'ho pneuma,' what should the relative pronoun be? '--------.' Since this is 'tau pneuma,'—the Spirit of Truth, 'ho,' which!

"…the world cannot receive because it…" (v 17). What did we learn about the word world?—'ho kosmos.' A masculine word—'ho kosmos,' the world. How did they translate the word 'it' for the world? They didn't translate it 'he.' If they were being perfectly honest in the Greek, they should have, but they didn't.

"…because it perceives it not…" (v 17). Notice the Greek above the English 'him.' What is the Greek word we learned for it or him? 'Autou' What is the 'o' refer back to? 'The Spirit'—'tou pneuma autou o'—that is neuter; it has to be. When we come here, notice what they did. I could stand up here and tell you that it's a mistranslation, whether deliberate or not, I can't judge their minds. Unless you can see it for yourself in the Greek, you don't know it for sure, except that 'the good' preachers say so.

Verse 17: "Even the Spirit of the Truth, which the world cannot receive because it perceives it not…"—it must be neuter and should be properly translated as neuter.

I know I've had to stretch your minds a little bit, but go along with it. I know there would be some ministers who would say, 'Fred you should never try and bring that. It is too hard.' I don't think following 'Ss' and 'Os' is too hard. I only know of one translator—which I'll get you a page out of another interlinear—who honestly says so and admits that.

How come this is not more commonly debated? It's simply because they don't do to the Bible to prove the trinity! It is what we covered in the very first sermon that we have on this series. It comes from Christology. It's just by tradition.

There are only four places in the New Testament were 'parakletos' is used. We covered one of them here. You can't take those four places, which is a masculine gender noun, to describe one of the functions of the Holy Spirit and try and say the Holy Spirit is a masculine person God. This very well could be deliberate to sustain the doctrine of the trinity.

Let's go on because we are going to see that that was probably correct. Now, we are going to see a conflict between the King James translation and the Faithful Version translation.

John 15:26 (FV): "But when the Comforter has come… ['ho parakletos'] …which I… ['ego'] …will send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of the Truth… ['tau pneuma tes aletheia'] …which…"

Let's read this in the King James to show that the King James people in this instance were honest, but not the translator of the Interlinear, because that should read 'which.' That is the neuter word. Okay. Let's read in the King James column:

John 15:26: (KJV): "But when the Comforter has come whom I will send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of Truth, which…"—correct translation.

Let's go on because we become to the next point that becomes very important here. We'll come back and we'll go over some of the other Scriptures.

(KJV): "…which goes forth… [proceeds] …from the Father, this One, He… ['ekeinos'] …will bear witness…" (vs 26)—which should be translated, that or that One. Not 'He.'

(KJV): "…will bear witness concerning Me." We'll have a little bit more to say about 'ekeinos' because it goes all the way through John 15.

We're not quite ready to go there. Since we're in this list, I want to finish it. There you have the whole package as to how this was mistranslated all the way through. It is proper to use 'ekeinos' in relationship to 'parakletos.' However, 'ho parakletos' is a masculine, descriptive noun of a function of the Holy Spirit and it would be proper to translate 'ekeinos' as it or that, because it's referring to the function of the Holy Spirit.

Now, let's come back to John 14 because there's a couple of other things, here, that we need to cover. You can be excited about it and not have to take my word because you know that you know and you can see it with your own eyes. What is the old saying? Seeing is believing!

John 14:17: "'Even the Spirit of the Truth, which the world cannot receive because it perceives it not, nor knows it…'" Notice the second 'autou'?

"…but you know it…" (v 17). See how the Greek goes all the way back? You can't miss it if you know it.

"…because it dwells with you…" (v 17). Here is a third person verb. Did we see that a third person verb is effective and used by 'it'? Yes!—'ho pneuma legee'—it abides with you."

"…and shall be within you" (v 17).

Verse 26: "But when the Comforter comes, even the Holy Spirit…"—'tau pneuma tau hagios,' the Spirit the Holy.

"…which…" (v 26). Why? Because the relative pronoun is the neuter relative pronoun and should be translated 'which' not 'whom'!

"…which the Father will send in My name, that One… ['ekeinos'] …shall teach you all things, and shall bring to your remembrance everything that…" (v 26). What are 'things'?—'tauta.' Look at 'all things' and 'which.' That's the way of checking.

All things in the Greek is 'tauta,' which is plural; 'things' is neuter.

"…I have told you. Peace I leave with you…" (vs 26-27).

John 15:26: "…the Spirit of the Truth, which… [not 'who'] …proceeds from the Father…"

John 16:7: "But I am telling you the truth. It is profitable for you that I go away because if I do not go away, the Comforter… ['ho parakletos'—masculine, descriptive noun of a function of the Holy Spirit] …will not come to you. However, if I go, I will send it to you." That is the proper translation when referring back to the masculine gender word.

Verse 8: "And when that One has come…" It's not incorrect to translate it 'he,' but it should be more properly translated in the context of and the relationship to the Holy Spirit as 'that One.'

"…it will convict the world concerning sin…" (v 8).

  • How will it convict the world?
  • Did the Holy Spirit manifest itself in the form of a person and say, 'I'm going to convict you?' No!

The 'Spirit of Truth' in those who are preaching, would preach and convict the world. That's how.

"…and righteousness, and judgment: Concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; concerning righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you no longer will see Me; and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged. I have yet many things to tell you, but you are not able to bear them now. However, when that One has come, even the Spirit of the Truth…" (vs 8-13—'ekeinos.'

Verse 13: "However, when that One has come, even the Spirit of the Truth, it will lead you into all Truth because it… [third person neuter] …shall not speak from itself… ['hee autou'] …but whatever it shall hear, it shall speak. And it shall disclose to you the things to come"

All of those are functions of 'tau pneuma tes aletheia'—the Spirit of the Truth

  • it will teach
  • it will lead
  • it will announce

Verse 14: "That One… ['ekeinos' ] …shall glorify Me because it shall disclose to you the things that it receives from Me… [in the Greek it literally means out from Me] …Everything that the Father has is Mine; for this reason, I said that it shall receive from Me and shall disclose these things to you" (vs 14-15).

All Scripture from The Holy Bible In Its Original Order, A Faithful Version (except where noted)

Scriptural References:

  • Mathew 3:11, 16-17
  • Matthew 12:28
  • Mark 1:12-13
  • Luke 4:14, 32
  • Luke 11:13
  • John 7:38-39
  • Acts 4:8
  • Matthew 10:19-20
  • Acts 4:31
  • Acts 8:15-17
  • Acts 9:17
  • 2-Corinthians 1:21-22
  • 2-Corinthians 5:5
  • Ephesians 1:13-14
  • 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
  • 1 Corinthians 15:23
  • Ephesians 2:18-19, 22
  • Ephesians 4:30
  • Galatians 5:16-17
  • Philippians 1:19
  • 1-Thessalonians 4:8
  • Romans 5:5
  • Luke 2:25-27, 36-37
  • 1-Timothy 4:1
  • Acts 13:1-2
  • Matthew 4:6, 9-10
  • Matthew 20:20-21
  • John 14:16-17
  • John 15:26
  • John 14:17, 26-27
  • John 15:26
  • John 16:8-15

Scripture referenced, not quoted:

Acts 6; 7; 2:38

Also referenced: Books:

  • Englishman's Greek Concordance of the New Testament by George V. Wigram
  • My Catholic Faith by Louis Morrow
  • Interlinear Greek-English New Testament by George Ricker Berry

FRC:nfs
Transcribed:08-29-17
Proofed: bo—9/3/17

Books