Definiteness of Anarthrous Nouns in Prepositional Phrases

Jay Adkins JAdkins264 at aol.com
Fri Jul 28 06:29:24 EDT 2000


>> Also see Gordon Fee, God's Empowering Presence, (pages 21-24), 
>> where he discusses the usage of PNEUMA with the dative, 
>> quoting each passage in the Paul's corpus. He states; "Thus,
>> there are 37 occurrences where the Holy Spirit is either 
>> directly or indirectly in view: 32 are anarthrous and 5
>> arthrous:" He summarizes; "with the formula PNEUMATI/ 
>> EN PNEUMATI  there is a decided preference for what 
>> appears to be something of a conventional or stereotypical
>> anarthrous usage. The five instances with the article are 
>> easily explained:"

Paul wrote:
>This can be a little misleading. He found 37 occurrences where
>the Holy Spirit is either directly or indirectly in view. How many
>occurrences (of PNEUMA with the dative) did he find that did not
>refer to the Holy Spirit?

Fee's discussion of the term PNEUMA in Paul begins on page 14 and continues 
through page 28.  His comments in this section are preliminary observations 
on usage.  He does suggest that there are 9 instances of PNEUMA with the 
dative when the primary referent is to the human spirit.  Each of these are 
articular.
 
> Also, does he indicate how he ascertained the Holy Spirit 
> was directly or indirectly in view?

Not directly as far as I could see, at least not by means of any definable 
methodology other than common sense and context.  Fee does say that Paul's 
Greek indicates that ""spirit" and "Spirit" are understood as closely 
related in the actual expression of Spirit manifestations."  In discussing 
"Holy Spirit or Human Spirit" he says; "Although for the most part... 
Paul's usage can be determined with a high degree of confidence, there are 
two types of PNEUMA language in Paul where clarity is difficult to achieve, 
primarily because in both cases Pauline usage seems to be a bit 
fluid....[there are] several texts where Paul speaks of "my spirit," but it 
is clear in context that the Holy Spirit is very much in view as well.  The 
probable solution to theses passages lies in Paul's apparent conviction 
that the believer's spirit is the place where, by means of God's own 
Spirit, the human and the divine interface in the believer's life."

Regardless of your acceptance or denial of Fee's conclusions, I am finding 
this book worth my time and would recommend it to any.  Again the full 
title is, God's Empowering Presence, The Holy Spirit in the Letters of 
Paul.

Sola Gratia,
		Jay Adkins
Always Under Grace!



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