Sunday, October 30, 2022

For Jehovah Comes

One has presented us with the following: "Look!!! our God and Redeemer, Yahweh Himself has come."

No scripture citation is given, and we have not found any scripture that says the above. This may appear in some translation, but so far, we have not found it, so we are left to guess as to what scripture, if any, is being referred to. 

Evidently, this is presented with the assumption that if Jehovah "has come", that it must be referring to Jesus who came to earth. In other words, it is being imagined, assumed, added to and read into what is written that Jesus is Jehovah (Yahweh), since it was Jesus who came to the earth. The fact is that it was Jehovah, whom Jesus is depicted as referring to as "our God", who sent Jesus to the earth. -- Isaiah 61:1,2; Galatians 4:4; 1 John 4:9.

Nevertheless, Jehovah (Yahweh) came to deliver His people, the children of Israel from bondage in Egypt. (Exodus 3:8) He did this through Moses and Aaron. --- Exodus 3:10; Numbers 33:1; Psalm 77:20; Acts 7:35,36.

Jehovah (Yahweh) later came to examine and bless His people. -- Exodus 20:20,24.

The time is yet future when Jehovah (Yahweh) comes to judge the world. (Psalm 96:13; 98:9) Jehovah is depicted as only one person in Acts 17:22-30. Acts 17:31 reveals that Jehovah comes to judge by means of one who is not Himself, but the one whom He has appointed to judge. John 5:22,27,29,30 reveals that Jesus is the one who acts as Jehovah's agent in judging.

The person further stated: "Let the whole earth rejoice in our God and Redeemer." Again, no scripture citation is given, and we have not been able to ascertain what scripture (if any) is being referred to. The nearest we could find is:

Psalms 96:11 - Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof;
Psalms 96:12 - Let the field exult, and all that is therein; Then shall all the trees of the wood sing for joy
Psalms 96:13 - Before Jehovah; for he cometh, For he cometh to judge the earth: He will judge the world with righteousness, And the peoples with his truth. -- American Standard Version.

The earth today still is under the blinding deceptions of Satan. (2 Corinthians 4:3,4; Revelations 12:9; Romans 8:20) The world is still under the subjection to sun of vanity (Ecclesiastes 1:2,13,14; 2:11), groaning under its bondage of corruption (Romans 8:21,22). Today, only through Christ can one become a son of God who is not under this bondage. (Romans 8:14,15) These can rejoice in hope (Romans 5:2), but even with this rejoicing there is still a groaning, as these sons of God while in this age still need to be delivered from their present body which is yet to be dissolved. -- Romans 8:23-25; 2 Corinthians 5:1.

When God comes to judge the world by means of his Son, however, the veil now over the nations will be destroyed (Isaiah 26:7; 2 Corinthians 4:3,4; Revelation 20:3), and all nations will be able to learn the righteous ways of Jehovah and rejoice in the healing of that time. -- Isaiah 2:2-4; 11:9; 26:9; Revelation 22:2.

Nothing, however, in any of this calls for us to imagine, assume, add to, and read into the scriptures that Jesus is Jehovah, especially since Jehovah is shown to be the God of the Messiah. -- Micah 5:4; Ephesians 1:3.


Tuesday, October 18, 2022

John 16:13 - Gender of the Holy Spirit

John 16:7

all egw teen aleetheian legw humin sumpherei
BUT I THE TRUTH AM SAYING TO YOU, IT IS BEARING TOGETHER
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humin hina egw apelthw ean gar mee
TO YOU IN ORDER THAT I SHOULD GO OFF. IF EVER FOR NOT
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apelthw ho parakleetos ou mee elthee pros
I SHOULD GO OFF, THE PARACLETE NOT NOT WOULD COME TOWARD
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humas ean de poreuthw pempsw auton pros
YOU; IF EVER BUT I SHOULD GO, I SHALL SEND HIM TOWARD
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humas
YOU.
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John 16:13

hotan de elthee ekeinos to pneuma tees
WHENEVER BUT SHOULD COME THAT (ONE), THE SPIRIT OF THE
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aleetheias hodeegeesei humas eis teen aleetheian pasan
TRUTH, HE WILL GUIDE YOU INTO THE TRUTH ALL,
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ou gar laleesei aph heautou all hosa
NOT FOR HE WILL SPEAK FROM HIMSELF, BUT AS MANY (THINGS) AS
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akouei laleesei kai ta erchomena
HE IS HEARING HE WILL SPEAK, AND THE (THINGS) COMING
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anaggelei humin
HE WILL ANNOUNCE UP TO YOU.
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John 16:14

ekeinos eme doxasei hoti ek tou emou
THAT (ONE) ME WILL GLORIFY, BECAUSE OUT OF THE (THING) MINE
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leempsetai kai anaggelei humin
HE WILL RECEIVE AND HE WILL DECLARE TO YOU.
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-----Westcott & Hort Interlinear, as found on the Bible Students Libary DVD.

John 16:13 is one of the scriptures often cites as proof that God's Holy Spirit is a person, since John spoke of the Holy Spirit as "He" and "him", etc. In Biblical Greek, nouns are most often given some form of gender, either as masculine, feminine or neuter. Adjectives and pronouncs., related to those nouns are also usually given gender according to the gender attributed to the noun being used. Unlike in English, however, the gender does not actually express whether the noun is either a male, a female, or it, etc. An inanimate object may be given a masculine or feminine gender. The Greek word transliterated as pnuema is neuter in gender, which means that the adjectives and pronouns related to pnuema would be neuter in gender, that is, "it". Many translators, however, based on their belief that God's holy spirit is a person of God, have expressed God's Holy Spirit as "he", "him", "who", "whom" rather than "it" "that" or "which" in many verses throughout the New Testament, even though the Greek is neuter, not masculine.

The corresponding word for "spirit" in Hebrew, often transliterated as Ruach, is feminine in gender, and thus all words connected with its usage are also feminine in gender, that is, "she", "her", etc. Biblical Hebrew has no neuter form; everything -- even if it is a non-living object -- is spoken of as either masculine or feminine. In Latin, the corresponding word, "spiritus", is masculine gender, and therefore all words connected with its usage are also usually masculine in gender. One should notice that, unlike English, such usage of gender does not designate whether the spirit is either a male, female, or an inanimate object).

Nevertheless, in John 16:13, the usage is different, since pnuema is used as associated with another word, the word that is usually transliterated as "Parakletos" (John 16:7). Parakletos (https://biblehub.com/greek/3875.htm) is not neuter in gender, but is masculine, and thus it would, in Koine Greek, be accompanied by the masculine forms of adjectives, pronouns and verbs. As the Parakletos (Comforter), then, in Koine Greek, the spirit of truth is accompanied by masculine forms of adjectives, verbs, etc. The most logical reasoning should be that the spirit of truth in John 16:13 is being personified as the parakletos of verse 7. This does not designate the Parakletos as being a male person.

Nevertheless, in 1 John 4:6, the spirit of truth is contrasted with the spirit of error. If we should think of the spirit of truth (John 14:17; 15:26; 16:13) is a person, then, correspondingly, if we are consistent in our reasoning, we should also think that the "spirit of error" is also a person. In reality, "the spirit of truth", although it may be personified, it is not a person, just the same as the "spirit of error" is not a person.

Thus, the English words he, him, himself, used in referring to the spirit of truth as the parakletos, might with equal propriety be translated she, her, herself, or it, itself. In the King James Version, we find that Heautou is rendered "himself" in John 16:13, but it is rendered "itself" in Matthew 12:45; John 15:4; Romans 14:14; and Ephesians 4:16 in the King James Version. Ekienos, rendered "he" in many translations in John 16:3, is often rendered as "that" or "those" in the KJV.

Although the spirit of truth may be viewed as being personified in John 16, such usage does not designate the spirit of truth as being a person. And even if it did, it would not mean that God's Holy Spirit is a person of God, or that God's Holy Spirit is a member of a triune God consisting of three persons, all of whom are alleged individually to be wholly and fully the one true God. Actually, there is nothing in any of this that gives reason to imagine and assume that God's Holy Spirit is a person of God, as trinitarians have assumed. No such thought is ever presented in the Bible anywhere.

References:

Koine Greek: Gender as Classification

Your Guide to Gender in Greek Grammar

An Overview of Greek Grammar