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Re: "gift of the Holy Spirit"
Jim,
This is my first Internet response, so if I do something wrong
please forgive me.
My, what excitement a genitive can bring about! However, I think I'd
like to respond to your question and not so much on what genitives are
"possible" grammatically. Some Greek grammars have as many as 17 "types"
of genitives. You specifically asked about Acts 2:38 and the usage of the
Greek phrase there. You further asked "Does it clearly mean ...".
I think that I agree with the Religious Center on this point. In my
estimation it does clearly mean in this context an "objective genitive",
the Holy Spirit is the promised "gift" here - IN THIS CONTEXT. (See verse
39) In Acts 2:17-21 Peter quotes from Joel 2:28 ff. That passage clearly
indicates that the Spirit is promised.
Because there are several grammatical possibilities does not mean
that the author's meaning is unsure for those who are 2,000 years after.
Students of the Scripture cannot "Live by grammatical analysis ALONE"!
I was tempted to anaylze Richard Wevers genitive phrase, "different
types OF genitives". It appears twice in his writing. English also has
many different meanings for the word "OF". Is it clear what this phrase
means? However, I will not delve further into this. (I'm just making a poor
attempt at humor here.)--
Also the use of the word lambano (receive) also would cause me to
prefer an objective genitive here. In other places in Acts lambano and the
pneuma are used without the word gift and refer to receiving the Spirit.
(All refering to the same spiritual experience with different individuals.)
If Holy Spirit in Acts 2:38 is subjective
If Holy Spirit in Acts 2:38 in subjective what is the gift and what
would the first hearers of this message "receive" if they are baptized?
I heard somewhere that the first three rules of interpretation were CONTEXT,
CONTEXT, CONTEXT. Are we missing the hermeneutical forest because of the
grammatical trees?
Ken Hammonds
References: