Matthew 12:32 τοῦ πνεύματος τοῦ ἁγίου,

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Sarah Howell
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Matthew 12:32 τοῦ πνεύματος τοῦ ἁγίου,

Post by Sarah Howell »

Hello everyone. This is my first post (other than to introduce myself).
I am interested to hear thoughts about the use of the second τοῦ in this phrase given that other references in Matthew to the Holy Spirit (Matt 1:18, 1:20, 3:11, 28:19) omit it.
Could it be possible that the inclusion of the second τοῦ suggests that Jesus could have meant blasphemy of things that are holy or spiritual rather than, as it is translated, the Holy Spirit? Thanks.
Jason Hare
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Re: Matthew 12:32 τοῦ πνεύματος τοῦ ἁγίου,

Post by Jason Hare »

One thing that you'll learn on B-Greek is that we kindly request that you post the Greek text of a verb when you ask a question.

In this case:
Matt. 12:32
καὶ ὃς ἐὰν εἴπῃ λόγον κατὰ τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, ἀφεθήσεται αὐτῷ· ὃς δ’ ἂν εἴπῃ κατὰ τοῦ πνεύματος τοῦ ἁγίου, οὐκ ἀφεθήσεται αὐτῷ οὔτε ἐν [a]τούτῳ τῷ αἰῶνι οὔτε ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι.
I'll post here the other verses that you've listed:
Matt. 1:18
Τοῦ δὲ Ἰησοῦ χριστοῦ ἡ γένεσις οὕτως ἦν. μνηστευθείσης τῆς μητρὸς αὐτοῦ Μαρίας τῷ Ἰωσήφ, πρὶν ἢ συνελθεῖν αὐτοὺς εὑρέθη ἐν γαστρὶ ἔχουσα ἐκ πνεύματος ἁγίου.

Matt. 1:20
ταῦτα δὲ αὐτοῦ ἐνθυμηθέντος ἰδοὺ ἄγγελος κυρίου κατ’ ὄναρ ἐφάνη αὐτῷ λέγων· Ἰωσὴφ υἱὸς Δαυίδ, μὴ φοβηθῇς παραλαβεῖν Μαρίαν τὴν γυναῖκά σου, τὸ γὰρ ἐν αὐτῇ γεννηθὲν ἐκ πνεύματός ἐστιν ἁγίου·

Matt. 3:11
Ἐγὼ μὲν ὑμᾶς βαπτίζω ἐν ὕδατι εἰς μετάνοιαν· ὁ δὲ ὀπίσω μου ἐρχόμενος ἰσχυρότερός μού ἐστιν, οὗ οὐκ εἰμὶ ἱκανὸς τὰ ὑποδήματα βαστάσαι· αὐτὸς ὑμᾶς βαπτίσει ἐν πνεύματι ἁγίῳ καὶ πυρί·

Matt. 28:19
πορευθέντες οὖν μαθητεύσατε πάντα τὰ ἔθνη, βαπτίζοντες αὐτοὺς εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος,
Three of your examples have no article at all (πνεῦμα ἅγιον), while the last is articular (τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα). There are two variations of the articular form: τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα and τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον. There is nothing magical here that has hidden meaning. It is simply an alternative form.

Just as ἐκ θεοῦ or ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ can mean "from God," so either ἐκ πνεύματος ἁγίου or ἐκ τοῦ πνεύματος τοῦ ἁγίου can mean "from the holy spirit."

The article must be repeated if: (1) the head noun is paired with an article and (2) the adjective in attributive position appears after it.

If the adjective appears before it, then there is only one article (τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα). If it comes after the noun, though, then it appears with the article (τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον). If the noun is anarthrous (without an article), then the adjective may appear before or after the noun with the same meaning (ἅγιον πνεῦμα or πνεῦμα ἅγιον).
Jason A. Hare
The Hebrew Café
Tel Aviv, Israel
Sarah Howell
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Re: Matthew 12:32 τοῦ πνεύματος τοῦ ἁγίου,

Post by Sarah Howell »

Thanks for that Jason. I think I follow you. Apologies for not quoting the full text of the verse in question. I was going to do this initially and then decided to just post the section which I was querying. Thank you for looking up and posting the other verses which I mentioned. Appreciate that.
Jason Hare
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Re: Matthew 12:32 τοῦ πνεύματος τοῦ ἁγίου,

Post by Jason Hare »

In other words...

ἅγιον πνεῦμα = τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα
πνεῦμα ἅγιον = τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον
ἅγιον πνεῦμα = πνεῦμα ἄγιον

It's all the same. :)
Jason A. Hare
The Hebrew Café
Tel Aviv, Israel
David Lim
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Re: Matthew 12:32 τοῦ πνεύματος τοῦ ἁγίου,

Post by David Lim »

Sarah Howell wrote:Hello everyone. This is my first post (other than to introduce myself).
I am interested to hear thoughts about the use of the second τοῦ in this phrase given that other references in Matthew to the Holy Spirit (Matt 1:18, 1:20, 3:11, 28:19) omit it.
Could it be possible that the inclusion of the second τοῦ suggests that Jesus could have meant blasphemy of things that are holy or spiritual rather than, as it is translated, the Holy Spirit? Thanks.
What Jason said is correct regarding "το πνευμα το αγιον". However, I want to point out that the article does not make a difference here only because "πνευμα αγιον" has become a commonly known way to refer to "το πνευμα του θεου", since to them there is only one holy spirit. With typical noun phrases the article does make a difference.
δαυιδ λιμ
Sarah Howell
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Joined: June 13th, 2013, 3:56 am

Re: Matthew 12:32 τοῦ πνεύματος τοῦ ἁγίου,

Post by Sarah Howell »

Thanks for that David
Andrew Chapman
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Re: Matthew 12:32 τοῦ πνεύματος τοῦ ἁγίου,

Post by Andrew Chapman »

However, I want to point out that the article does not make a difference here only because "πνευμα αγιον" has become a commonly known way to refer to "το πνευμα του θεου", since to them there is only one holy spirit.
Winer (-Moulton) said something along the same lines:
'The article is omitted before words which denote objects of which there is but one in existence, and which are therefore nearly equivalent to proper names.' [p. 148, 3rd ed. rev., 1882]
But looking through occurrences in Acts, I formed an impression that the article was used of the Holy Spirit as a Person, whereas the article was absent when He was manifested in a more 'fluid' form if I may say that respectfully, for example of being filled with the Holy Spirit. I found something more developed along these lines in Swete (The Holy Spirit in the New Testament, pp 396-7) who observed a difference in meaning corresponding to the presence or absence of the article:
while τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον or τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα is the Holy Spirit considered as a Divine Person, πνεῦμα ἅγιον is a gift or manifestation of the Spirit in its relation to the life of man. Bishop Elliott indeed (on Galatians 5:5) proposes to treat πνεῦμα ἅγιον as a proper name, like the anarthrous Κύριος or θεός. But observation shews that the anarthrous form usually occurs just where a proper name would be inappropriate, i.e. in places where the Spirit is regarded in its operation rather than its essential life, eg in phrases such as πνεύματος ἁγίου πλησθῆναι, πνεῦμα ἅγιον διδόναι or λαμβάνειν; whereas when any personal action or relation is ascribed to the Spirit the article at once reappears, eg when the Spirit is said to speak (Mark 13:11, Acts 1:16, 10:10, 13:2) or to be spoken against (Mark 3:29), resisted (Acts 7:51) or grieved, or when it is coordinated with the Father and the Son (Matthew 28:19, 2 Corinthians 8:13), or described as fulfilling a personal office (John 14:26, 15:26), or performing personal work (Acts 13:4, 16:6, 15:28, 20:23). If there are cases where τὸ πνεῦμα ἅγιον is used of a gift of the Spirit (eg in Acts 10:44ff, 11:15), the article will be found to be due to the requirements of the construction, or to refer to the preceding context, or (or as Blass suggests, ᾽Greek of the New Testament᾽, English translation, p. 149) 'to the well-known fact of the [Pentecostal] outpouring'.
Likewise, Abbott-Smith's Lexicon, πνεῦμα:
5.Of the Holy Spirit, πνεῦμα ἅγιον, τὸ ἅ. πνεῦμα, τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅ. τὸ πνεῦμα, πνεῦμα (the article as a rule being used when the Spirit is regarded as a Person or a Divine Power, and omitted when the reference is to an operation, influence or gift of the Spirit;
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