Thursday, February 25, 2021

HOLY SPIRIT OR HOLY GHOST

The reason many Christians will refer to the Spirit of God (the Holy Spirit) as the Holy Ghost is because the King James Version uses the words Spirit and Ghost interchangeably. In all the major events of the Spirit of God coming upon believers (John 14:26; Acts 2:4; Acts 2:38; Acts 10:44; and Acts 19:6) the KJV says "the Holy Ghost" came upon the believers. "Spirit" and "Ghost" are renderings of the same Greek word "Pneuma" which means breath or wind. The advantage of the rendering "Spirit" is that it can always be used, whereas "Ghost" always requires the word "Holy" prefixed (Vines Dictionary). 90 some times the KJV says "Holy Ghost". I have known Christians in certain denominations, where they are not acquainted with the KJV, that are totally creeped out by referring to the Spirit as the Holy Ghost. I think I have seen them shudder!!! But historically "Ghost" was used for "Spirit" because of theological reasons. The Person of the Holy Spirit (Ghost) comes into the world. The invisible Spirit is a Person. Anyway, in Old English "Ghost' was a synonym for "Spirit", and was actually the only meaning of it. I hope this may help.