tigger 2
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Noted Bible scholar Joseph H. Thayer gives these 5 meanings for the NT Greek word Pneuma (“spirit”):
“1. a movement of air, (gentle) blast.”.... “2. The spirit, i.e. the vital principal by which the body is animated.”.... “3. a spirit [person], i.e., a simple essence, devoid of all grosser matter, and possessed of the power of knowing, desiring, deciding, and acting....” [This definition includes] “c. a spirit[person] higher than man but lower than God, i.e. an angel.” “4. The Scriptures also ascribe a [pneuma] to GOD, i.e. God’s power and agency, - distinguishable in thought...from God’s essence [included in definition #3 above] in itself considered, - manifest in the course of affairs, and by its influence upon souls productive in the theocratic body (the church) of all the higher spiritual gifts and blessings.” [And] “5. Univ. the disposition or influence which fills and governs the soul of ANY ONE; the efficient source of any power, affection, emotion, desire, etc.” - pp. 520-523.
Obviously, Holy Spirit is placed by Thayer under definition #4 above: “God’s power” not “God’s essence”! On p. 522, Thayer further defines this Spirit:
“The Holy Spirit is a dunamis [Gr. - ‘power’], and is expressly so called in Lk. xxiv. 49, and ... Lk. I. 35.”
Thayer also explains the occasional personification of this POWER from God:
“In some pass[ages] the Holy Spirit is rhetorically [‘used without regard to some actual condition or negating the literal significance of the statement’ - p. 1946, Webster’s 3rd New International Dictionary, 1962 ed.] represented as a Person...Jn. xiv. 16 sq. 26; xv. 26; xvi. 13-15 (in which pass[age] fr[om] Jn. the personification was suggested by the fact that the Holy Spirit was about to assume with the apostles the place of a person, namely of Christ)” [In other words the HS was personified in these passages because it was taking the place of a person in some respects.] - p. 522, Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, Baker Book House, 1977 (10th printing, August 1984).
And Catholic Professor, John L. McKenzie, S.J., writes:
"It is the power which drives Jesus into the desert (Mk 1:12...) and the power by which Jesus expels demons (Mt 12:28; Lk 11:20 ...) ....
"In [Acts] the spirit is a divine, dynamic force;...."
In Paul's writings, "the spirit is basically the divine and heavenly dynamic force". - pp. 842, 843, Dictionary of the Bible, Macmillan Publ., 1979 ed.
“1. a movement of air, (gentle) blast.”.... “2. The spirit, i.e. the vital principal by which the body is animated.”.... “3. a spirit [person], i.e., a simple essence, devoid of all grosser matter, and possessed of the power of knowing, desiring, deciding, and acting....” [This definition includes] “c. a spirit[person] higher than man but lower than God, i.e. an angel.” “4. The Scriptures also ascribe a [pneuma] to GOD, i.e. God’s power and agency, - distinguishable in thought...from God’s essence [included in definition #3 above] in itself considered, - manifest in the course of affairs, and by its influence upon souls productive in the theocratic body (the church) of all the higher spiritual gifts and blessings.” [And] “5. Univ. the disposition or influence which fills and governs the soul of ANY ONE; the efficient source of any power, affection, emotion, desire, etc.” - pp. 520-523.
Obviously, Holy Spirit is placed by Thayer under definition #4 above: “God’s power” not “God’s essence”! On p. 522, Thayer further defines this Spirit:
“The Holy Spirit is a dunamis [Gr. - ‘power’], and is expressly so called in Lk. xxiv. 49, and ... Lk. I. 35.”
Thayer also explains the occasional personification of this POWER from God:
“In some pass[ages] the Holy Spirit is rhetorically [‘used without regard to some actual condition or negating the literal significance of the statement’ - p. 1946, Webster’s 3rd New International Dictionary, 1962 ed.] represented as a Person...Jn. xiv. 16 sq. 26; xv. 26; xvi. 13-15 (in which pass[age] fr[om] Jn. the personification was suggested by the fact that the Holy Spirit was about to assume with the apostles the place of a person, namely of Christ)” [In other words the HS was personified in these passages because it was taking the place of a person in some respects.] - p. 522, Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, Baker Book House, 1977 (10th printing, August 1984).
And Catholic Professor, John L. McKenzie, S.J., writes:
"It is the power which drives Jesus into the desert (Mk 1:12...) and the power by which Jesus expels demons (Mt 12:28; Lk 11:20 ...) ....
"In [Acts] the spirit is a divine, dynamic force;...."
In Paul's writings, "the spirit is basically the divine and heavenly dynamic force". - pp. 842, 843, Dictionary of the Bible, Macmillan Publ., 1979 ed.
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