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 when they had sung an hymn, they went out to the mount of Olives.
there was a woman that had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and utterly unable to lift herself upright.
Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.
That, which is born of the flesh, is flesh; and that, which is born of the Spirit, is spirit.
For the sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit; but the pharisees acknowledge both.
There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath set me free from the law of sin and death. read more. For that which was impossible for the law to do, and in which it was weak through the corruption of the flesh, God by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sacrifice for sin, hath done; that is, hath condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law may be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. For they who are after the flesh, mind the things of the flesh; but they who are led by the Spirit, do mind spiritual things. Now to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace: because the carnal mind is an enemy to God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be: and they who are carnal, cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if the Spirit of God dwelleth in you: but if any one hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body indeed is dead because of sin, but the spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead, dwelleth in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead, will also restore your mortal bodies to life, by his Spirit that now dwelleth in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh, to live after the flesh: for if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die; but if by the Spirit ye mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. So that the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.
to another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another the discerning of spirits; to another various kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:
I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye will not fulfil the desire of the flesh: for the flesh desireth things contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit things contrary to the flesh: and these are opposite to each other; so that ye do not those things which ye would. read more. But if ye be led by the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, such as, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, enmities, strifes, emulations, animosities, contentions, divisions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and the like: of which I forewarn you, as I have also told you before, that they who practise such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, fidelity, meekness, temperance: against such things there is no law. And they, that are Christ's, have crucified the flesh with it's passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
and He came and preached peace to you that were afar off, and to them that were nigh.
Quench not the Spirit.
for which cause I remind thee to stir up the gift of God which is in thee through the imposition of my hands.
by which also He went and preached to the spirits now in prison;
(but preserved Noah an eighth person, a preacher of righteousness,) bringing a deluge 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 they were all amazed, and said one to another, What a speech is this? for with authority and power He commandeth the impure spirits, and they come out!
However rejoice not in this, that the spirits are subject to you; but rather rejoice that your names are written in heaven.
there was a woman that had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and utterly unable to lift herself upright.
But they being terrified and frighted, thought they saw a spirit.
Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.
And they stoned Stephen calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
but powerfully declared to be the Son of God, according to the spirit of holiness, by his resurrection from the dead, even Jesus Christ our Lord;
And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to our God and Father by Him.
And then the wicked one shall be detected, whom the Lord will destroy by the breath of his mouth, and abolish by the brightness of his coming:
Are they not all ministring spirits, sent forth to attend on those who shall be heirs of salvation?
to the general assembly and church of the first-born who are written in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of the just 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 is born of the flesh, is flesh; and that, which is born of the Spirit, is spirit.
And if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead, dwelleth in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead, will also restore your mortal bodies to life, by his Spirit that now dwelleth in you.
The first man being made out of the earth, was earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.
and cancelled the obligation we were under by ritual decrees, which was grievous to us, and hath taken it quite away, even nailing it to his cross.
And may the God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly: and grant that your whole frame, spirit, soul, and body may be kept blameless to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
this is not the wisdom, that cometh down from above, but is earthly, sensual, and diabolical:
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 He called unto Him his twelve disciples, and gave them power over impure spirits, even to cast them out; and to cure all diseases and every malady whatsoever.
then he goeth and taketh with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there; and so the last state of that man is worse than the first. And thus shall it be to this wicked generation.
And there was a man in the synagogue possessed by the spirit of an impure demon, and he cried out with a loud voice,
(Now at that very time He cured many of their diseases and plagues, and of evil spirits, and gave sight to many that were blind.)
God is a spirit, and they that worship Him, must worship in spirit and 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 from men, but from God.
But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead by which we were bound, that we might serve God in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.
There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath set me free from the law of sin and death. read more. For that which was impossible for the law to do, and in which it was weak through the corruption of the flesh, God by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sacrifice for sin, hath done; that is, hath condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law may be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. For they who are after the flesh, mind the things of the flesh; but they who are led by the Spirit, do mind spiritual things. Now to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace: because the carnal mind is an enemy to God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be: and they who are carnal, cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if the Spirit of God dwelleth in you: but if any one hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body indeed is dead because of sin, but the spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead, dwelleth in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead, will also restore your mortal bodies to life, by his Spirit that now dwelleth in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh, to live after the flesh: for if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die; but if by the Spirit ye mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. So that the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.
So that the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God. And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and co-heirs with Christ: if so be we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified with Him.
For who among men knoweth the things of a man, but the spirit of a man which is in him? so also the things of God no one knoweth, but the Spirit of God.
But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
and did all eat the same spiritual food; and did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them: and that rock was an emblem of Christ.
For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit indeed prayeth, but my meaning is fruitless.
For if thou bless in the spirit, how shall the unlearned say Amen to thy thanksgiving, when he knoweth not what thou sayst?
it is sown an animal body, it is raised a spiritual body: for there is an animal body, and there is a spiritual body.
However, the spiritual is not first, but the animal; and afterwards the spiritual.
in which ye formerly walked after the manner of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that still operates in the children of disobedience:
For our conflict is not with flesh and blood only, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the world and of the darkness of this age, against wicked spirits in heavenly places.
For this cause we also, from the day that we heard it, cease not to pray for you, and to request that ye may be filled with the knowledge of his will, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding:
In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision not performed by hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision which is of Christ: being buried with Him in baptism, wherein also ye are raised together with Him, through faith in the power of God, who raised Him from the dead.
for which things the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another by psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, with gratitude singing in your hearts to the Lord.
Are they not all ministring spirits, sent forth to attend on those who shall be heirs of salvation?
to the general assembly and church of the first-born who are written in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of the just made perfect,
and precious, ye also are built up as living stones, a spiritual house, an holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
by which also He went and preached to the spirits now in prison;
We are of God: he, that knoweth God, heareth us; but he, who is not of God, heareth not us. By 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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there was a woman that had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and utterly unable to lift herself upright.
Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.
And they stoned Stephen calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
For the sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit; but the pharisees acknowledge both.
to another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another the discerning of spirits; to another various kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:
Are they not all ministring spirits, sent forth to attend on those who shall be heirs of salvation?