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.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
They then sang a hymn, and went out up the Mount of Olives,
And he saw before him a woman who for eighteen years had suffered from weakness owing to her having an evil spirit in her. She was bent double, and was wholly unable to raise herself.
Look at my hands and my feet, and you will know that it is I. Feel me, and look at me, for a spirit has not flesh and bones, as you see that I have."
All that owes its birth to human nature is human, and all that owes its birth to the Spirit is spiritual.
(For Sadducees say there is no such thing as a resurrection, and that there is neither angel nor spirit, while Pharisees believe in both.)
There is, therefore, now no condemnation for those who are in union with Christ Jesus; For through your union with Christ Jesus, the Law of the life- giving Spirit has set you free from the Law of Sin and Death. read more. What Law could not do, in so far as our earthly nature weakened its action, God did, by sending his own Son, with a nature resembling our sinful nature, to atone for sin. He condemned sin in that earthly nature, So that the requirements of the Law might be satisfied in us who live now in obedience, not to our earthly nature, but to the Spirit. They who follow their earthly nature are earthly-minded, while they who follow the Spirit are spiritually minded. To be earthly-minded means Death, to be spiritually minded means Life and Peace; Because to be earthly-minded is to be an enemy to God, for such a mind does not submit to the Law of God, nor indeed can it do so. They who are earthly cannot please God. You, however, are not earthly but spiritual, since the Spirit of God lives within you. Unless a man has the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ; But, if Christ is within you, then, though the body is dead as a consequence of sin, the spirit is Life as a consequence of righteousness. And, if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead lives within you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give Life even to your mortal bodies, through his Spirit living within you. So then, Brothers, we owe nothing to our earthly nature, that we should live in obedience to it. If you live in obedience to your earthly nature, you will inevitably die; but if, by the power of the Spirit, you put an end to the evil habits of the body, you will live. All who are guided by the Spirit of God are Sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of a slave, to fill you once more with fear, but the spirit of a son which leads us to cry 'Abba, Our Father.' The Spirit himself unites with our spirits in bearing witness to our being God's children,
To another the gift of preaching; to another the gift of distinguishing between true and false inspiration; to another varieties of the gift of 'tongues'; to another the power to interpret 'tongues.'
This is what I have to say--Let your steps be guided by the Spirit, and then you will never gratify the cravings of your earthly nature. For these cravings of our earthly nature conflict with the Spirit, and the Spirit with our earthly nature--they are two contrary principles--so that you cannot do what you wish. read more. But, if you follow the guidance of the Spirit, you are not subject to Law. The sins of our earthly nature are unmistakable. They are sins like these--unchastity, impurity, indecency, Idolatry, sorcery, quarrels, strife, jealousy, outbursts of passion, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, Feelings of envy, drunkenness, revelry, and the like. And I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who indulge in such things will have no place in the Kingdom of God. But the fruit produced by the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindliness, generosity, trustfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law! And those who belong to Jesus, the Christ, have already crucified their earthly nature, with its passions and its cravings. Since our Life is due to the Spirit, let us rule our conduct also by the Spirit.
He came with the Good News of peace for you who were 'far off,' and of peace for those who were 'near';
Do not quench the Spirit;
And that is my reason for reminding you to stir into flame that gift of God, which is yours through your ordination at my hands.
And it was then that he went and preached to the imprisoned spirits,
Nor did he spare the world of old; though he preserved Noah, the Preacher of Righteousness, and seven others, when he brought a flood upon the godless world.
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.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And they were all lost in amazement, and kept saying to one another: "What words are these? For he gives his commands to the foul spirits with a marvelous authority, and they come out."
Yet do not rejoice in the fact that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names have been enrolled in Heaven."
And he saw before him a woman who for eighteen years had suffered from weakness owing to her having an evil spirit in her. She was bent double, and was wholly unable to raise herself.
Look at my hands and my feet, and you will know that it is I. Feel me, and look at me, for a spirit has not flesh and bones, as you see that I have."
And they stoned Stephen, while he cried to the Lord: "Lord Jesus! receive my spirit!"
But, as to the spirit of holiness within him, was miraculously designated Son of God by his resurrection from the dead.
And, whatever you say or do, do everything in the Name of the Lord Jesus; and through him offer thanksgiving to God the father.
Then will 'Wickedness Incarnate' appear, but the Lord Jesus will destroy him with the breath of his lips, and annihilate him by the splendor of his Coming.
Are not all the angels spirits in the service of God, sent out to minister for the sake of those who are destined to obtain Salvation?
to the festal gathering and assemblage of God's Eldest Sons whose names are enrolled in Heaven, to God the Judge of all men, to the spirits of the righteous who have attained perfection,
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).
See Verses Found in Dictionary
All that owes its birth to human nature is human, and all that owes its birth to the Spirit is spiritual.
And, if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead lives within you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give Life even to your mortal bodies, through his Spirit living within you.
The first man was from the dust of the earth; the second man from Heaven.
He canceled the bond which stood against us--the bond that consisted of ordinances--and which was directly hostile to us! He has taken it out of our way by nailing it to the cross!
May God himself, the giver of peace, make you altogether holy; and may your spirits, souls, and bodies be kept altogether faultless until the Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
That is not the wisdom which comes from above; no, it is earthly, animal, devilish.
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
See Verses Found in Dictionary
Calling his twelve Disciples to him, Jesus gave them authority over foul spirits, so that they could drive them out, as well as the power of curing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.
Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in, and make their home there; and the last state of that man proves to be worse than the first. So, too, will it be with this wicked generation."
In the Synagogue there was a man with the spirit of a foul demon in him, who called out loudly:
At that very time Jesus had cured many people of diseases, afflictions, and wicked spirits, and had given many blind people their sight.
God is Spirit; and those who worship him must worship spiritually and truly."
And the real circumcision is the circumcision of the heart, a spiritual and not a literal thing. Such a man wins praise from God, though not from men.
But now we are set free from the Law, because we are dead to that which once kept us under restraint; and so we serve under new, spiritual conditions, and not under old, written regulations.
There is, therefore, now no condemnation for those who are in union with Christ Jesus; For through your union with Christ Jesus, the Law of the life- giving Spirit has set you free from the Law of Sin and Death. read more. What Law could not do, in so far as our earthly nature weakened its action, God did, by sending his own Son, with a nature resembling our sinful nature, to atone for sin. He condemned sin in that earthly nature, So that the requirements of the Law might be satisfied in us who live now in obedience, not to our earthly nature, but to the Spirit. They who follow their earthly nature are earthly-minded, while they who follow the Spirit are spiritually minded. To be earthly-minded means Death, to be spiritually minded means Life and Peace; Because to be earthly-minded is to be an enemy to God, for such a mind does not submit to the Law of God, nor indeed can it do so. They who are earthly cannot please God. You, however, are not earthly but spiritual, since the Spirit of God lives within you. Unless a man has the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ; But, if Christ is within you, then, though the body is dead as a consequence of sin, the spirit is Life as a consequence of righteousness. And, if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead lives within you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give Life even to your mortal bodies, through his Spirit living within you. So then, Brothers, we owe nothing to our earthly nature, that we should live in obedience to it. If you live in obedience to your earthly nature, you will inevitably die; but if, by the power of the Spirit, you put an end to the evil habits of the body, you will live. All who are guided by the Spirit of God are Sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of a slave, to fill you once more with fear, but the spirit of a son which leads us to cry 'Abba, Our Father.'
For you did not receive the spirit of a slave, to fill you once more with fear, but the spirit of a son which leads us to cry 'Abba, Our Father.' The Spirit himself unites with our spirits in bearing witness to our being God's children,
The Spirit himself unites with our spirits in bearing witness to our being God's children, And if children, then heirs-heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ, since we share Christ's sufferings in order that we may also share his Glory.
For what man is there who knows what a man is, except the man's own spirit within him? So, also, no one comprehends what God is, except the Spirit of God.
The merely intellectual man rejects the teaching of the Spirit of God; for to him it is mere folly; he cannot grasp it, because it is to be understood only by spiritual insight.
And that they all ate the same supernatural food, and all drank the same supernatural water, for they used to drink from a supernatural rock which followed them, and that rock was the Christ.
If, when praying, I use the gift of 'tongues,' my spirit indeed prays, but my mind is a blank.
If you bless God with your spirit only, how can the man in the congregation who is without your gift say 'Amen' to your thanksgiving? He does not know what you are saying!
As surely as there is a human body, there is also a spiritual body.
That which comes first is not the spiritual, but the human; afterwards comes the spiritual;
For at one time you lived in sin, following the ways of the world, in subjection to the Ruler of the Powers of the air--the Spirit who is still at work among the disobedient.
For ours is no struggle against enemies of flesh and blood, but against all the various Powers of Evil that hold sway in the Darkness around us, against the Spirits of Wickedness on high.
And therefore we, from the very day that we heard this, have never ceased praying for you, or asking that you may possess that deeper knowledge of the will of God, which comes through all true spiritual wisdom and insight.
By your union with him you received a circumcision that was not performed by human hands, when you threw off the tyranny of the earthly body, and received the circumcision of the Christ. For in baptism you were buried with Christ; and in baptism you were also raised to Life with him, through your faith in the omnipotence of God, who raised him from the dead.
These are the things on account of which the Wrath of God comes,
Let the Message of the Christ dwell in your minds in all its wealth, bringing all wisdom with it. Teach and admonish one another with psalms, and hymns, and sacred songs, full of the loving- kindness of God, lifting your hearts in song to him.
Are not all the angels spirits in the service of God, sent out to minister for the sake of those who are destined to obtain Salvation?
to the festal gathering and assemblage of God's Eldest Sons whose names are enrolled in Heaven, to God the Judge of all men, to the spirits of the righteous who have attained perfection,
and, as living stones, form yourselves into a spiritual House, to be a consecrated Priesthood, for the offering of spiritual sacrifices that will be acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
And it was then that he went and preached to the imprisoned spirits,
We come from God. He who knows God listens to us; the man who does not come from God does not listen to us. By that we may know the true inspiration from the false.
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.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And he saw before him a woman who for eighteen years had suffered from weakness owing to her having an evil spirit in her. She was bent double, and was wholly unable to raise herself.
Look at my hands and my feet, and you will know that it is I. Feel me, and look at me, for a spirit has not flesh and bones, as you see that I have."
And they stoned Stephen, while he cried to the Lord: "Lord Jesus! receive my spirit!"
(For Sadducees say there is no such thing as a resurrection, and that there is neither angel nor spirit, while Pharisees believe in both.)
To another the gift of preaching; to another the gift of distinguishing between true and false inspiration; to another varieties of the gift of 'tongues'; to another the power to interpret 'tongues.'
Are not all the angels spirits in the service of God, sent out to minister for the sake of those who are destined to obtain Salvation?