 
According
to various Jewish/Christians scholars the
Holy Spirit in the Bible is regarded as:
1.
Some mysterious, creative power of God, possessing and
inspiring humans;
Know
ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit
of God dwelleth in you.
1
Corinthians 3:16
Now
the Lord is that Spirit: And where the Spirit of the Lord
is, there is liberty.
2
Corinthians 3:17
For
as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons
of God
Rom.
8: 14
Likewise
the Spirit also helps our infirmities: For we know not
what we should pray for as we ought:
But
the Spirit itself makes intercession for us, with
groanings which cannot be uttered.
And
he that searches the heart know, what is the mind of
the Spirit,
Because
She makes intercessions for the saints, according to the
will of God.
Rom.
8: 26-27
12.
A quasi-physical force in the form of wind;
But
knowest not whence it comes and where it goes; thus is
every one that is born of the Spirit.
John
3:8
3.
The personal activity of God Himself;
Cast
me not away from Thy presence, and take not Thy Holy
Spirit from me.
Psalms
51:11
4.
The Spirit of God;
And
the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was
upon the face of the deep.
And
the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
Genesis
1:2
Then
said Mary unto the angel, how shall this be, seeing I know
not a man?
And
the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost will
come unto thee:
Therefore
also that holy thing that shall be born of thee, shall be
called the Son of God."
Luke
1:34-35
For
what man knows the things of man, save the spirit of man
which is in him?
Even
so the things of God knows no man, but the Spirit of God.
Now
we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the
spirit which is of God;
That
we may know the things that are freely given to us of God.
Which
things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom
teaches,
But
which the Holy Ghost teaches, comparing spiritual things
with spiritual.
1
Corinthians 2: 13
5.
The inner principal in the 'new life' in Christ;
The
Spirit of the Lord is upon me because She hath anointed me
to preach the gospel to the poor;
She
hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach
deliverance to the captives,
And
recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them
that are bruised
Luke
4:18
6.
A supreme Spirit in prophecy;
For
the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man:
But
holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy
Ghost.
2
Peter 1:21
7.
The Spirit which baptizes;
For
John truly baptized with water;
But ye shall be baptized
with the Holy Ghost, not many days hence.
Acts1:
5
8.
The mode of God's activity in history;
But
when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from
the Father,
Even
the Spirit of Truth, which proceeds from the Father, She
shall testify of Me.
John
15:26
9.
The living energy of a personal God;
But
if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the
Kingdom of God is come unto you.
Mat.
12:28
10.
The breath of the Almighty;
By
the Word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the
host of them by the breath of his mouth.
Psalms
33: 6
The
Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty
has given me life.
Job
33: 4
Thou
sendest forth Thy Spirit, they are created: and Thou
renewest the face of the earth.
Psalms
104: 30
The
grass withers, the flowers fade: Because the Spirit of the
Lord blows upon it.
Isaiah
40:7
11.
The Spirit in supernatural endowments of ethical and
spiritual understanding;
I
have heard of thee that the Spirit of the Gods is in thee,
And
the Light and understanding and excellent wisdom is found
in thee.
Daniel
51:14
And
the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of
Wisdom and understanding,
The
Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of Knowledge and
of the fear of the Lord.
Isaiah
11: 2
But
the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man, to
profit withal.
For
to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; To
another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;
To
another faith by the same Spirit; To another the gifts of
healing by the same Spirit;
To
another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; To
another discerning of spirits;
To
another diverse kinds of tongues; To another the
interpretation of tongues;
But
all these worketh that one and selfsame Spirit.
1.
Corinthians 11: 7-11
12.
The Spirit of wisdom and judgement;
But
there is a Spirit in man: And the inspiration of Almighty
gives them understanding.
Great
men are not always wise: Neither do the aged understand
judgement
Job
32:8-9
Turn
you at My reproof: Behold, I will pour out My Spirit unto
you, I will make known My Words unto you.
Proverbs
1:23
13.
The mode of human communion with God;
And
it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out My
Spirit upon all flesh;
And
your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men
shall dream dreams,
Your
young men shall see visions, and also upon the servants
and upon the handmaidens,
In
those days will I pour out My Spirit.
Joel
2:28-29
14.
The mode of transmitting God's revelation to humans;
The
Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord has
anointed me,
To
peach good tidings unto the meek; He has sent me to bind
up the broken-hearted,
To
proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the
prison to them that are bound.
Isaiah
61:1
15.
The Spirit which
liberates;
Now
the Lord if that Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord
is, there is liberty.
2
Corinthians 3:17
16.
The Spirit which
brings renewal;
Not
by works of righteousness which we have done, but
according to His mercy He saved us,
By
the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy
Ghost.
Titus
3: 5
17.
The Spirit which
brings hope;
And
hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed
abroad in our hearts,
By
the Holy Spirit which is given unto us.
Rom.
5:5
Now
may the God of hope fill you with all the joy,
And
peace in believing, that you may abound in hope, by the
power of the Holy Spirit.
Romans
15:13
18.
The Spirit which comforts;
I
will pray the Father, and He shall give you another
Comforter,
That
may abide with you forever.
John
14: 16
But
when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from
the Father,
Even
the Spirit of Truth which preceedeth from the Father, She
shall testify of me.
And
ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me
from the beginning.
John
15: 26-27
|
|
![]() |
|
Divine
Feminine: |
|
The
Holy Spirit Of God
(Hinduism)
|
|
The
Holy Spirit Of God
(Islam)
|
|
The
Holy Spirit Of God
(Judaism) 
|
|
The
Holy
Spirit Of God (Buddhism)
|
|
|
|
External
Links: |
|
Kundalini
As Holy Spirit
|
|
Holy
Spirit And Grand Exodus
|
|
Hildegard
Of Bingen
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"Through
the Holy Spirit we are restored to paradise, led back
to the Kingdom of heaven, and adopted as children,
given confidence to call God "Father" and to
share in Christ's grace, called children of light and
given a share in eternal glory."
|
St.
Basil, De Spiritu Sancto
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"In contrast to the Christian view of the Holy
Spirit as one part of a unique trinity, some Bahá'ís
have suggested that all major religions include some
concept of a trinity, albeit often only symbolic ones.
In religion, three essential actors might be seen: a
giver, a gift, and a recipient. God is the giver. His
Messengers receive the Holy Spirit, His gift to them.
In this way, a trinity exists in each of the major
religions. For example, the Holy Spirit is variously
described in the Abrahamic religions and
Zoroastrianism as "the burning bush,"
"the sacred fire," "the dove,"
"the angel Gabriel," and "the Holy
Maiden." They are all the outward symbols of the
same truth. They represent the moment when the Holy
Spirit or the wisdom of God became directly associated
with His messenger.
. . .
Within Christian
tradition, the Holy Spirit has been perceived by
various people at various times as female or feminine.
Sebastian Brock in The Holy Spirit as feminine in
early Syriac literature, examines the use of the
feminine pronoun for the Holy Spirit in Syriac, and
how this purely grammatical feature might have
affected its role. He outlines the history of
different translations and notes how the feminine
usage changed.
From the fifth century onwards a revulsion against the
idea of the Holy Spirit as mother must have set in."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"The
Gender of the Holy Spirit
The question of the gender of the Holy Spirit is
rarely if ever discussed for the simple reason that
the Spirit's masculinity is naturally assumed from the
masculinity of God: God is masculine and is always
addressed as "he", so surely the same must
be true of the Holy Spirit, a member of the Trinity.
Like most theologians I had always assumed this to be
true. I don't know that anyone ever formally taught me
that "the Spirit is masculine"; it would
hardly seem necessary.
In my graduate Semitics program at UCLA, one of the
languages I had to study was Syriac, a dialect of
Aramaic written with rounded letters reminiscent of
modern Arabic. Syriac was the language of people
living in northern Mesopotamia, from at least 300 BC
until the time Arabic became dominant in the region,
around 1000 AD. . . . One striking puzzlement of the texts,
at least to me, was the constant reference to the Holy
Spirit as "she". I was aware, of course,
that in Aramaic (and hence in the dialect known as
Syriac) the natural gender of the word
"spirit" was feminine; however, I was
surprised to discover that this accident of grammar
had resulted in a whole theology constructed around
the femininity of the third person of the Godhead.
An
example of Syriac theology is found in the apocryphal
Acts of Thomas; it is usually assumed that this
particular work was influenced by speculative gnostic
Judaism because it contains the notion, that
associated with God was a wisdom, or creative power -
a spirit - which was feminine. In an invocation
accompanying baptism, Thomas calls for the Holy
Spirit:
Come, holy name of Christ that is above every
name;
Come, power of the Most High and perfect compassion;
Come, thou highest gift;
Come, compassionate mother;
Come, fellowship of the male;
Come, thou (f.) that dost reveal the hidden mysteries;
Come, mother of seven houses, that thy rest may be in
the eighth house.
(Acts of Thomas 2:27)
Come, silence that dost reveal the great deeds of the
whole greatness;
Come thou that dost show forth the hidden things
And make the ineffable manifest;
Holy Dove that bearest the twin young;
Come, hidden Mother;
Come, thou that art manifest in thy deeds
and dost furnish joy and rest for all that are joined
with thee;
Come and partake with us in this Eucharist
Which we celebrate in thy name,
and in the love-feast in which we are gathered
together at thy call.
(Acts of Thomas 5:50)
After
reading such materials I decided that Syrian Orthodox
Christianity was somewhat heretical (though perhaps
only through an accident of grammar), and so I wanted
nothing to do with Syriac literature. I would find
something else on which to do my dissertation.
Then came the Spring of 1986.
I was teaching advanced Hebrew, and I had decided to
take the class through the book of Judges. As we read
along, I noticed something odd about Judges 3:10:
The
Spirit of Yahweh came upon Caleb's younger brother...
In
English, this passage from Judges doesn't appear
startling, but in Hebrew something strange leapt out
at me: "came upon" was a third person
FEMININE verb, indicating it's subject
"Spirit" was being understood as a feminine
noun. Hebrew is not like Aramaic in its use of the
word "spirit". While the word is exclusively
feminine in Aramaic, in Hebrew it is sometimes
masculine. Therefore, the question that came to mind
was why had the author of Judges chosen here to make
the Spirit of Yahweh feminine, when he could just as
easily have made it masculine? Oh well.
I just shrugged my shoulders and went on, not overly
concerned. Occasionally, I thought, one finds
something inexplicable in the Bible: no big deal. But
then came Judges 6:34. Again, "Spirit of
Yahweh" was feminine.
At this point I decided to consult the concordance.
Much to my surprise, every occurrence of "Spirit
of Yahweh" in Judges is feminine. As I pondered
that, I recalled Genesis 1:2, the first occurrence of
"Spirit of God" in the Bible, and realized
to my shock that it too is feminine."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"Most
importantly, the Spirit serves as the organ for the
transmission of divine revelation. For example, in the
Old Testament the prophet Jeremiah declared that
"the word of the Lord came to him, saying..
." (1:11). Similarly in Acts, Peter receives a
vision showing him that Christians need not continue
the dietary rules of the Torah. In both cases, a
spiritual experience gave new revelation which
supplemented, clarified and corrected the sacred
writings of their day. Thus, the Fourth Gospel
describes the Holy Spirit as "the spirit of
truth" which will reveal things which the
original disciples either did not or could not
understand when Jesus was on earth. The Spirit
authorizes continuing revelation.
Finally, the apocalyptic tradition in both Judaism and
Christianity assumed that the arrival of the messianic
age would be accompanied by a marvelous outpouring of
the Holy Spirit. As the prophet Joel predicted, the
Day of the Lord will be ushered in when God's Spirit
is poured out on all mankind. Old men shall dream
revelatory dreams and young men shall see visions
(2:28,29).
Having seen how varied Biblical usage is concerning
the Holy Spirit, it is easy to understand why no
official doctrine has been generally agreed upon. Who
or what then is the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the
Lord, the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ? In
the early Church three questions were especially
perplexing. First, is the Holy Spirit a person, a
self-conscious entity different from God the Father or
Jesus Christ the Son? Second, if the Spirit is a
distinct being, is it masculine, feminine or neuter?
Third, as a separate entity, is the Spirit equal to or
subordinate to God the Father and Christ the Son?
Let us see how the discussion over the Spirit's gender
arose. The Hebrew word for spirit (ruach) is
feminine while the Greek word (pneuma) is
neuter. Furthermore, in the Old Testament the wisdom
of God (Sophia) is portrayed as a female spirit
(Proverbs, chaps. 8 and 9). Finally, in John's Gospel,
the Holy Spirit which Jesus promises his disciples
serves the feminine function of comforting and
reassuring Christians whose faith is threatened by the
continuing delay of the Parousia as well as by intense
persecution.
There is clear evidence that some early Christians
believed that the Holy Spirit was a female entity. The
Gospel of the Nazarenes, used by Jewish-Christians
in the post-apostolic age, contained a quotation of
Jesus in which he speaks of "my mother, the Holy
Spirit." The Acts of Thomas, a product of
either early Syriac or Egyptian Christianity, includes
hymns or liturgical prayers of invocation to the Holy
Spirit addressed to "the compassionate mother ...
the Feminine who reveals hidden mysteries ... and
darling of the Most High's compassion. In the Gospel
of Mani, we find a trinitarian doxology, derived
from some ancient Christian group, which praises the
power of the Father, the blessing of the Mother and
the goodness of the Son."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"We
might go so far, as to consider the Holy Spirit, God's
feminine presence in the world.
The primary attribute of the feminine principle
is receptivity. Therefore,
the Holy Spirit demonstrates itself through it
receptivity to others.
I have mentioned before, the Kabbalist look
upon Shekinah,
a Hebrew term which means God's
presence, as the feminine expression of the
Divine. Likewise,
in the Genesis
story, the Spirit of God is said to be
"hovering" over the void and formless world
just before creation.
In college, my Old Testament Professor
remarked, "It's the idea of a hen hovering over
her egg, waiting for it to hatch." In this sense,
the Holy Spirit, is mother God, who loves and shelters
all her children without condition.
"
|
www.cliftonunitarian.com/
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"The
Holy Spirit - the power of God
The Holy Spirit, rather than being a distinct person,
is spoken of in the Bible as being God's divine
power. The Anchor Bible Dictionary, in its
article on the Holy Spirit, describes it as "[t]he
manifestation of divine presence and power perceptible
especially in prophetic inspiration" (Vol. 3,
Doubleday, New York, 1992, p. 260).
Scripture refers to the Holy Spirit as the power of
God (Zechariah 4:6; Micah 3:8). Paul told Timothy that
it is the "spirit of ... power and of love
and of a sound mind" (2 Timothy 1:7, emphasis
added throughout).
Luke 4:14 records that Jesus Christ began His ministry
"in the power of the Spirit."
Speaking of the Holy Spirit, which would be given to
His followers after His death, Jesus told them,
"You shall receive power when the Holy
Spirit has come upon you ..." (Acts 1:8).
Peter relates how "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth
with the Holy Spirit and with power, [and
Jesus] went about doing good and healing all who were
oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him"
(Acts 10:38). The Holy Spirit is here associated with
the power by which God was with Him -
the power through which Jesus Christ performed mighty
miracles during His earthly, physical ministry. The
Holy Spirit is the very presence of God's power
actively working in His servants. . . .
The other word used most often of the Holy Spirit is
the Greek word pneuma. It is translated as
"breath" or "spirit" and means
breath, breeze, wind or spirit."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
