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Re: gender-specific references to Holy Spirit???
Glenn raises an interesting question: is the masculine pronoun used in
John 16:13 because of a logical agreement (logical with what?) or because its
antecedent is the masculine word _parakletos_ in 16:7? I have had some
Greek scholars insist that the latter is the case.
Cheers,
Al Kimel
Kyrie Eleison Alvin F. Kimel, Jr.
Christe Eleison 12701 Hall Shop Road
Kyrie Eleison Highland, Maryland 20777
On Tue, 8 Mar 1994, R. Glenn Wooden wrote:
> > 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
References: