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Re: gender-specific references to Holy Spirit???
> As to the neuter gender of the word Pneuma; the word in Hebrew is Ruach
> which apparently is feminine. A lot of feminine theologians attempt to
> use this to apply feminine ,personal pronouns to God.
> I'm not absolutely sure but the word for testicle in the Hebrew is
> apparently a feminine noun.
> ralph
>
I will add my two cents worth to this discussion. First, it is a
fallicy to link the concept of GRAMMATICAL "gender" and the human
sexes. That a noun is a masculine, feminine or neuter is a
grammatical point and says nothing about the actual gender of the
referent. Ralph's example of the Hebrew word for testicle is one
example, and another is the Hebrew word for breast, which is
masculine. Similar examples can be multiplied.
More to the original question, two references (at the least) in John
16 will help. In Greek, when a noun is used and a pronoun or
adjective is also used to refer back or forward to that noun, then
the pronoun or adjective must agree in "gender". As the questioner
knows, the Greek word for "Spirit" is neuter and therefore, any
pronoun or adjective that refers to that word must also be neuter.
In John 16:13 and 14, a "masculine" demonstrative pronoun ("that
one") is used to refer to the neuter "Spirit". This is a logical,
not grammatical, agreement (See Smyth _Greek Grammar_, 1956, section
926)
Glenn Wooden
Acadia Divinity College
Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada
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