Reference: Spirit
American
A word employed in various senses in Scripture.
1. For THE HOLY SPIRIT, the third person of the Holy Trinity, who inspired the prophets, animates good men, pours his unction into our hearts, imparts to us life and comfort; and in whose name we are baptized and blessed, as well as in that of the Father and the Son. When the adjective Holy is applied to the term Spirit, we should always understand it as here explained; but there are many places whether it must be taken in this sense, although the term Holy is omitted. See HOLY SPIRIT.
2. BREATH, respiration; or the principle of animal life, common to men and animal: this God has given, and this he recalls when he takes away life, Ec 3:21. See SOUL.
3. The RATIONAL SOUL which animates us, and preserves its being after the death of the body. That spiritual, reasoning, and choosing substance, which is capable of eternal happiness. See SOUL.
The "spirits in prison," 1Pe 3:19, it is generally thought, are the souls of antediluvian sinners now reserved unto the judgment-day, but unto whom the Spirit preached by the agency of Noah, etc., 2Pe 2:5, when they were in the flesh. Thus Christ "preached" to the Ephesians, whom he never visited in person, Eph 2:17.
4. An ANGEL, good or bad; a soul separate from the body, Mr 14:26. It is said, Ac 23:8, that the Sadducees denied the existence of angels and spirits. Christ, appearing to his disciples, said to them, Lu 24:39, "Handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have."
5. The DISPOSITION of the mind or intellect. Thus we read of a spirit of jealously, a spirit of fornication, a spirit of prayer, a spirit of infirmity, a spirit of wisdom and understanding, a spirit of fear of the Lord, Ho 4:12; Zec 12:10; Lu 13:11; Isa 11:2.
6. The RENEWED NATURE of true believers, which is produced by the Holy Spirit, and conforms the soul to his likeness. Spirit is thus the opposite of flesh, Joh 3:6. This spirit is virally united with, an in some passages can hardly be distinguished from the "Spirit of Christ," which animates true Christians, the children of God, and distinguishes them from the children of darkness, who are animated by the spirit of the world, Ro 8:1-16. This indwelling Spirit is the gift of grace, of adoption-the Holy Spirit poured into our hearts-which emboldens us to call God "Abba, my Father." Those who are influenced by this Spirit "have crucified the flesh, with its affections and lusts," Ga 5:16-25.
Distinguishing or discerning of spirits consisted in discerning whether a man were really inspired by the Spirit of God, or was a false prophet, an impostor, who only followed the impulse of his own spirit or of Satan. Paul speaks, 1Co 12:10 of the discerning of spirits as being among the miraculous gifts granted by God to the faithful at the first settlement of Christianity.
To "quench the Spirit," 1Th 5:19, is a metaphorical expression easily understood. The Spirit may be quenched by forcing, as it were, that divine Agent to withdraw from us, by irregularity of life, frivolity, avarice, negligence, or other sins contrary to charity, truth, peace, and his other gifts and qualifications.
We "grieve" the Spirit of God by withstanding his holy inspirations, the impulses of his grace; or by living in a lukewarm and incautious manner; by despising his gifts, or neglecting them; by abusing his favors, either out of vanity, curiosity, or indifference. In a contrary sense, 2Ti 1:6, we "stir up" the Spirit of God which is in us, by the practice of virtue, by compliance with his inspirations, by fervor in his service, by renewing our gratitude, and by diligently serving Christ and doing the works of the Spirit.
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And they having sung a hymn, went out into the Mount of Olives.
And behold, a woman having a spirit of infirmity eighteen years; and she was bowed together, and not at all able to straighten up.
See my hands and my feet, that I am He: feel me; and see, because a spirit has not flesh and bones, as you see me having.
That which has been born of the flesh is flesh; and that which has been born of the Spirit is spirit.
For the Sadducees indeed say that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit: but the Pharisees confess both.
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has made thee free from the law of sin and of death. read more. For there was an impotency of the law, in which it was weak through depravity, God having sent his own Son in the likeness of the sin of depravity and for sin, condemned sin in depravity: in order that the righteousness of the law may be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to depravity, but according to the spirit. For those being in harmony with depravity, do mind the things of depravity, and those in harmony with the Spirit, the things of the Spirit: for the mind of depravity is death: and the mind of the Spirit is life and peace. Therefore the mind of depravity is enmity toward God: for it is not subordinated to the law of God, for it is not able so to be. But those being in depravity are not able to please God. But ye are not in depravity, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if any one has not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. But if Christ is in you, the body is dead so far as sin is concerned; but the Spirit is life so far as righteousness is concerned. But if the Spirit of Him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the one having raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also create life in your mortal bodies through His Spirit, who dwells in you. Then therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to depravity, to live according to depravity. For if you live according to depravity, you are about to die: but if through the Spirit you kill the practices of the body, you shall live. For so many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again unto fear; but you received the Spirit of adoption, in which we cry; Father, Father. The Spirit Himself witnesses along with our spirit, that we are the children of God.
And I say, Walk about in the Spirit, and do not perfect the lust of carnality. For carnality wars against the Spirit, and the Spirit against carnality; for these are antagonistical to one another; so that you may not do the things which you may wish. read more. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law. But the works of carnality are manifest, which are fornication, uncleanness, debauchery, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, animosities, selfseekings, divisions, heresies, envyings, drunkenness, revellings, and things like unto these: which I tell you beforehand, as I did previously say to you, that those doing such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is divine love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, meekness, holiness; against such things there is no law. But those belonging to Christ Jesus have crucified carnality with the passions and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
And having come he preached the gospel of peace to you, who were far away, and peace to them who were nigh:
Quench not the Spirit;
On account of which cause I remind you to revive and refire the gift of God which is in you by the laying on of my hands.
by which also having gone he proclaimed to the spirits in prison;
and spared not the old world, but delivered Noah the eighth person, the preacher of righteousness, brings the flood upon the world of the ungodly;
Easton
(Heb ruah; Gr. pneuma), properly wind or breath. In 2Th 2:8 it means "breath," and in Ec 8:8 the vital principle in man. It also denotes the rational, immortal soul by which man is distinguished (Ac 7:59; 1Co 5:5; 6:20; 7:34), and the soul in its separate state (Heb 12:23), and hence also an apparition (Job 4:15; Lu 24:37,39), an angel (Heb 1:14), and a demon (Lu 4:36; 10:20). This word is used also metaphorically as denoting a tendency (Zec 12:10; Lu 13:11).
In Ro 1:4; 1Ti 3:16; 2Co 3:17; 1Pe 3:18, it designates the divine nature.
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And fear came upon them all, and they were talking together to one another, saying, What word is this? because with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out.
Moreover do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rejoice that your names are written in the heavens.
And behold, a woman having a spirit of infirmity eighteen years; and she was bowed together, and not at all able to straighten up.
and they being affrighted and filled with fear, thought they saw a spirit.
See my hands and my feet, that I am He: feel me; and see, because a spirit has not flesh and bones, as you see me having.
and continued to stone Stephen, calling upon the Lord, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
having been ordained the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, from the resurrection of the dead, of Jesus Christ our Lord:
and every thing whatsoever you may do, in word or in work, do all things in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
then indeed will the lawless one be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will remove by the spirit of his mouth, and will exterminate by the brightness of his coming;
Are not all these ministering spirits, having been sent forth unto ministration for the sake of those who are about to inherit salvation?
to the whole company, and to the church of the first-born, who have been written in the heavens, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of justified people who have been made perfect,
Fausets
Hebrew ruach, Greek pneuma. Man in his normal integrity ("whole," holokleeron, complete in all its parts, 1Th 5:23) consists of "spirit, soul, and body." The spirit links man with higher intelligences, and is that highest part receptive of the quickening Holy Spirit (1Co 15:47). The soul (Hebrew nephesh, Greek psuchee) is intermediate between body and spirit; it is the sphere of the will and affections.
In the unspiritual, the spirit is so sunk under the animal soul (which it ought to keep under) that such are "animal" ("seasonal," having merely the body of organized matter and the soul, the immaterial animating essence), "having not the spirit" (Jg 1:19; Jas 3:15; 1Co 2:14; 15:44-48; Joh 3:6). The unbeliever shall rise with an animal (soul-animated) body, but not, like the believer, with a spiritual (spirit-endued) body like Christ's (Ro 8:11).
The soul is the seat of the appetites, the desires, the will; hunger, thirst, sorrow, joy; love, hope, fear, etc.; so that nephesh is the man himself, and is used for person, self, creature, any: a virtual contradiction of materialism, implying that the unseen soul rather than the seen body is the man. "Man was made" not a living body but "a living soul." "The blood, the life," links together body and soul (Le 17:11).
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That which has been born of the flesh is flesh; and that which has been born of the Spirit is spirit.
But if the Spirit of Him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the one having raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also create life in your mortal bodies through His Spirit, who dwells in you.
The first man was from the earth, earthy: the second man from heaven.
having blotted out the handwriting which was against us in ordinances, which was antagonistical to us: and took it out from the midst, having nailed it to the cross;
And the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly; and may your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless, in the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but it is earthly, intellectual, and demoniacal.
Hastings
The term is applied to God as defining His nature generally (Joh 4:24), and also as describing one element in that nature, His self-consciousness (1Co 2:11). It expresses not only God's immateriality, but also His transcendence of limitations of time and space. In the phrases 'Spirit of God,' the 'Spirit of the Lord,' the 'Spirit of Jesus Christ,' the 'Holy Spirit,' the 'Spirit of Truth,' the third Person in the Godhead is described (see Holy Spirit). The term is applied to personal powers of evil other than man (Mt 10:1; 12:45; Lu 4:33; 7:21; 1Ti 4:1; cf. Eph 6:12), as well as personal powers of good (Heb 1:14), and to human beings after death, either damned (1Pe 3:19) or blessed (Heb 12:23). It is used also as personifying an influence (1Jo 4:6; Eph 2:2; Ro 8:15). Its most distinctive use is in the psychology of the Christian life. The contrast between 'soul' and 'spirit,' and between 'flesh' and 'spirit,' has already been noted in the articles on these terms. While soul and spirit are not to be regarded as separate faculties, yet 'spirit' expresses the direct dependence of the life in man on God, first in creation (Ge 2:7), but especially, according to the Pauline doctrine, in regeneration. The life in man, isolating itself from, and opposing itself to, God, is soul; that life, cleansed and renewed by the Spirit of God, is spirit; intimate as is the relation of God and man in the new life, the Spirit of God is distinguished from the spirit of man (Ro 8:16), although it is not always possible to make the distinction. In Acts the phrase 'holy spirit' sometimes means the subjective human state produced ('holy enthusiasm'), and sometimes the objective Divine cause producing (see 'Acts' in the Century Bible, p. 386). As the Spirit is the source of this new life, whatever belongs to it is 'spiritual' (pneumatikon), as house, sacrifices (1Pe 2:5), understanding (Col 1:9), songs (Col 3:16), food, drink, rock (1Co 10:3-4); and the 'spiritual' and 'soulish' (rendered 'carnal' or 'natural') are contrasted (1Co 2:14; 15:44,46). Spirit as an ecstatic state is also distinguished from mind (1Co 14:14,16), as inwardness from letter (Ro 2:29; 7:6; 2Co 3:6). The old creation
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And calling His twelve disciples, He gave them power over unclean spirits, so as to cast them out, and heal every disease, and every malady.
Then he goes, and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and having come in dwells there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. So it will also be with this wicked generation.
And in the synagogue there was a man having a spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried with a great voice,
And at that hour He healed many of their diseases and ailments and evil spirits; and He conferred on many blind people the power to see.
God is a Spirit, and it behooveth those who worship Him to worship in spirit and in truth.
But he is a Jew, who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.
But now we have been made free from the law, being dead in that in which we were held; so that we serve in the newness of the spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has made thee free from the law of sin and of death. read more. For there was an impotency of the law, in which it was weak through depravity, God having sent his own Son in the likeness of the sin of depravity and for sin, condemned sin in depravity: in order that the righteousness of the law may be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to depravity, but according to the spirit. For those being in harmony with depravity, do mind the things of depravity, and those in harmony with the Spirit, the things of the Spirit: for the mind of depravity is death: and the mind of the Spirit is life and peace. Therefore the mind of depravity is enmity toward God: for it is not subordinated to the law of God, for it is not able so to be. But those being in depravity are not able to please God. But ye are not in depravity, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if any one has not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. But if Christ is in you, the body is dead so far as sin is concerned; but the Spirit is life so far as righteousness is concerned. But if the Spirit of Him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the one having raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also create life in your mortal bodies through His Spirit, who dwells in you. Then therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to depravity, to live according to depravity. For if you live according to depravity, you are about to die: but if through the Spirit you kill the practices of the body, you shall live. For so many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again unto fear; but you received the Spirit of adoption, in which we cry; Father, Father.
For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again unto fear; but you received the Spirit of adoption, in which we cry; Father, Father. The Spirit Himself witnesses along with our spirit, that we are the children of God.
The Spirit Himself witnesses along with our spirit, that we are the children of God. And if children, indeed heirs; truly heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; if we suffer together, in order that we may also be glorified together.
For who of men knows the things of man, except the spirit of the man which is in him? so indeed no one knows the things of God, except the Spirit of God.
But the intellectual man receives not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him; and he is not able to know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
and they all did eat the same spiritual food; and all did drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.
For if I pray with a tongue, my spirit is praying, but my mind is not fruitful.
Since if you may bless with the spirit, how will one occupying the place of the unlearned say Amen to your blessing? since he does not know what you are saying.
It is sown a psychical body; it is raised a pneumatical body. If there is a psychical body, there is also a pneumatical (body).
But that which is spiritual was not first, but that which is animal; afterward that which is spiritual.
in which at one time you walked about according to the age of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit which is now working in the sons of disobedience;
because there is not to us fighting against blood and flesh, but against the governments, against the authorities, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the heavenlies.
Therefore we, from the day on which we heard, do not cease praying for you, and asking that you may be filled with the perfect knowledge of his will in all wisdom, and spiritual understanding,
in whom you are also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of depravity, in the circumcision of Christ; having been buried with him in baptism, in which you are also raised by the faith of the operation of God, who raised him from the dead:
through which the wrath of God comes.
Let the word of God dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another, in all wisdom, in psalms, hymns, spiritual songs, with grace making melody in your hearts to God;
Are not all these ministering spirits, having been sent forth unto ministration for the sake of those who are about to inherit salvation?
to the whole company, and to the church of the first-born, who have been written in the heavens, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of justified people who have been made perfect,
and you, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, into a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices, acceptable unto God through Jesus Christ.
by which also having gone he proclaimed to the spirits in prison;
We are of God: the one knowing God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. From this we know the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.
Morish
See SOUL.
Watsons
SPIRIT, in Hebrew, ??? in Greek, ??????, and in Latin, spiritus, is in the Scriptures sometimes taken for the Holy Ghost, the third person of the Holy Trinity. The word signifies also the reasonable soul which animates us, and continues in existence even after the death of the body; that spiritual, thinking and reasoning substance, which is capable of eternal happiness, Nu 16:22; Ac 7:59. The term spirit is also often used for an angel, a demon, and a ghost, or soul separate from the body. It is said, in Ac 23:8, that the Sadducees denied the existence of angels and spirits. Jesus Christ appearing to his disciples, said to them, Lu 24:39, "Handle me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have." And St. Paul calls the good angels "ministering spirits," Heb 1:14. In 1Sa 16:14; 18:10; 19:9, it is said that an evil spirit from the Lord troubled Saul: and we have also the expression unclean spirits. Add to this, spirit is sometimes put for the disposition of the heart or mind: see Nu 5:14; Zec 12:10; Lu 13:11; Isa 11:2. Discerning of spirits, or the secret character and thoughts of men, was a gift of God, and placed among the miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost, 1Co 12:10; 1Jo 4:1.
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And behold, a woman having a spirit of infirmity eighteen years; and she was bowed together, and not at all able to straighten up.
See my hands and my feet, that I am He: feel me; and see, because a spirit has not flesh and bones, as you see me having.
and continued to stone Stephen, calling upon the Lord, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
For the Sadducees indeed say that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit: but the Pharisees confess both.
Are not all these ministering spirits, having been sent forth unto ministration for the sake of those who are about to inherit salvation?