18 Oct 2011

The Spirit

Submitted by Stephen Winters
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To see all the articles on the Spirit on one page, click here.

Once we've been taught and have believed something all of our lives, it is so difficult to accept or believe something else. It took me many years to begin to understand about the concept of the Spirit.

 It seems that most of traditional Christianity, which I grew up in, teaches that the "Holy Spirit" is a person, the third person of the Trinity1, 2 In recent years, through many trials, God has given me a different idea.

In some sense trying to understand what the "spirit" is may be difficult. In another sense, it is extremely simple. We just look at the words and see what they mean. To start with, let's examine the term "Holy Spirit" by looking up the individual words: "Holy" "Spirit". Since many the epistles of the New Testament were said to have been written in Greek, we'll look up the Greek definitions.

First,  the Greek definition of the word "Holy3" The part of the definition that fits our purpose here is "2.(physically) pure 3. (morally) blameless".

Then let's look up the Greek definition of the word "Spirit4" The part of the definition that fits our purpose here is, 3. (humanly) the rational soul 4. (by implication) vital principle, mental disposition, etc." To make it simple, we will just call it 'mental disposition.) 

Now, let's connect those two definitions: Holy (pure & blameless) Spirit (mental disposition). So, let us now put all this together. When God gives us a "Holy Spirit" He is actually give us a "pure and blameless mental disposition". To simplify it even more: "Holy Spirit" = "pure and blameless mental disposition." And to put it another way, "Holy Spirit = The strong ongoing desire to do what is right".

The Bible talks about us receiving power from on high. This makes so much sense, when God gives us [the desire to have] a pure and blameless mental disposition, we receive a power to be the kind of person that we've never been before, and we receive the ability to do things that we've never done before.

 

  • 1. The word Trinity is not found in the Bible. In addition, many Bible scholars question the validity of the concept the Trinity.
  • 2. G. Johnson, Is God really a MYSTERIOUS Trinity?, 2011. [Online]. Available: http://www.biblestudy.org/basicart/is-god-a-mysterious-trinity-no-one-can-understand.html.
  • 3. G40 (Mickelson's Enhanced Strong's Greek and Hebrew Dictionaries) G40 ἅγιος hagios (hag'-ee-os) adj. 1. sacred 2. (physically) pure 3. (morally) blameless 4. (religious, ceremonially) consecrated [from hagos "an awful thing"] KJV: (most) holy (one, thing), saint Compare: G53, G2282, G3741
  • 4. G4151 (Mickelson's Enhanced Strong's Greek and Hebrew Dictionaries) G4151 πνεῦμα pneuma (pnyoo`-mah) n. 1. a current of air, i.e. breath (blast) or a breeze 2. (by analogy or figuratively) a spirit 3. (humanly) the rational soul 4. (by implication) vital principle, mental disposition, etc. 5. (superhumanly) an angel, demon 6. (divinely) God, Christ's spirit, the Holy Spirit [from G4154] KJV: ghost, life, spirit(-ual, -ually), mind Root(s): G4154 Compare: G5590 [?]

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