From: Carlton Winbery (winberyc@popalex1.linknet.net)
Date: Sun Sep 20 1998 - 06:11:35 EDT
Craig wrote;
>On Sat, 19 Sep 1998 10:59:43 -0400 Dan Ebert <dellbert@buckeyenet.net>
>writes:
>>Is the Holy Spirit referred to 'grammatically' as a person? Does it
>>have
>>the proper 'grammatical' indicators for being a person?
>
>I am not sure how much this will help, but I am interested in this
>question also ;-)
>
>"The personalty of the Holy Spirit is emphasized at the expense of strict
>grammatical procedure in JN 14:26, 15:26, 16:8, 13, 14, where the
>empathic pronoun EKEINOS, "He", is used of Him in the masculine, whereas
>the noun PNEUMA is neuter in Greek..."
> Vine's complete expository dictionary of the Old & New Testament, pg
>594 under "Spirit".
>
>Also, what is meant by, "at the expense of strict grammatical procedure"
>
The verses cited above to "prove" the personhood of the Holy Spirit fall
short for in every case the masculine pronoun EKEINOS is used for concord
with the noun that is used for the Spirit, PARAKLHTOS. It does not prove
the argument nor does the fact that PNEUMA is neuter and all the pronouns
which have that word as antecedent prove that the Spirit is not person.
The final word on this subject has to be theological and the grounds for
the conclusion has to be on other than grammatical arguments. The reason
that I do not recommend Vine is because he mingles theology with grammar in
a way that can be pleasing only to one who holds the same theology. The
last statement is my opinion based on my study of both theology and
language. It is not a critique of the theology of Vine, only his method.
I personally think that the first three words in John 4:24 is a better
place for a thological discussion on this subject, but it would be a
theological discussion and ought to be conducted on another list.
Grace,
Carlton L. Winbery
Fogleman Professor of Religion
Louisiana College
Pineville, LA 71359
winberyc@popalex1.linknet.net
winbery@andria.lacollege.edu
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