Use of the Personal Pronoun

It is noted by some that there are abundant references in Scripture where the holy Spirit is referred to using the personal pronoun "he." Even our Lord Jesus, in alluding to the work of the holy Spirit, according to the King James Version, used these words: "I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever. . . . But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost [Spirit], whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things" (John 14:16, 26, italics supplied by us). Does this not prove that the holy Spirit is a person? A study of the Greek text in this and other instances shows this not to be the case. Here the word for Comforter is parakletos, which in the Greek language is masculine in gender and, therefore, needs to be placed with a masculine pronoun for grammatical purposes only.

John 16:13 is another text which properly engages masculine pronouns to describe the holy Spirit. It reads: "Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come" (italics supplied). Again, this gives the impression that the Spirit is a person, designated with "he" and "himself." But this is not the correct thought, for it is simply a follow-up of good Greek grammar matching a masculine subject with equivalent pronouns. In again referring to the "comforter" or "helper" aspect of the Spirit, there was a consistency in using the masculine pronoun "he" rather than the neuter "it." This usage shows adherence to the rules of Greek grammar and provides no proof that the holy Spirit is a person.

On the other hand, when the word "spirit" is from the Greek pneuma, the grammatical application changes, and the neuter pronoun "it" is appropriately used. Whereas this rule is generally hidden by the translators, the Catholic New American Bible says, regarding John 14:17: "The Greek word for ‘Spirit’ is neuter, and while we use personal pronouns in English (‘he,’ ‘his,’ ‘him’), most Greek MSS employ ‘it’" (bold supplied). Note the following Scriptural examples where the Greek pneuma is used and is referred to by the neuter pronoun "it": John 1:32—"John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him." In Rom. 8:26 (if this passage is applied to the holy Spirit)—"Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us."

Thus seen, the attempt to prove the "Spirit" is a person because masculine pronouns sometimes are used in referring to it is neither scholarly, consistent, nor honest.

Excerpted from "The Holy Spirit Misunderstood".