The Bible Pages, key-word index, section Spirit to Strong

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Section Spirit to Strong (the other sections → kind.htm)

Spirit, spirits (this post contains multiple entries – scroll down for more)

• Etymology of the word spirit: It comes from the old Latin noun spiritus which meant “a breathing”, “a breath” (related to the verb spiro which meant “to blow”, “to breath” and so on). – The earlier English word was ghost (Old English, gast), but in the 1200s that noun began to be replaced by the Latin-based word spirit.
  • The 1769 KJ version uses both “spirit” and “ghost”. It contains the phrase “Holy Ghost” in around 89 passages, and “Holy Spirit” in 7 verses of which 3 are in the Old Testament. – Its New Testament part renders the Greek word pneuma around 91 times as “ghost” and some 270 times as “spirit”.
• Relevant Hebrew and Greek words in the Old and New Testaments:
  • In KJV-1769 New Testament, ghost and spirit are translations of the Greek noun pneuma which meant “breath”, “wind” and so on (compare with pneô, “to breathe”, “to blow”, et cetera). (Exceptions: In Matthew 14:26 and Mark 6:49, KJV-1769 uses “spirit” as a translation of the Greek noun phantasma, “apparition”. In Mark 9:26, “spirit” is an added word, taken from the previous verse.)
    • Related words in the Greek text of the NT: Pneumatikos (adjective), “spiritual”, and pneumatikôs (adverb), “spiritually”.
  • Where the KJV-1769 Old Testament has the word ghost (only 11 times, and always in the context and meaning “giving up the ghost” = dying), it is a translation of the verb gava (“to die”) or the noun nephesh (“breath”, “person”, “being”, “mind”, “soul”, “life” and so on).
  • Where the KJV-1769 OT has the word spirit (around 242 times), that is mostly a translation of one of these words:
    • Neshamah (“breath”, “spirit”) – KJV-1769 renders neshamah 2 times as “spirit”, 17 times as “breath”, and 6 times in other ways. (Compare with nashaph, “to blow”.)
    • Owb – KJV-1769 renders owb 16 times as “[familiar] spirit”.
    • Ruwach, both Hebrew and Aramaic (“wind”, “breath”, “mind”, and so on). – KJV-1769 renders ruwach 232 (+8) times as “spirit”, and 156 (+3) times in other ways.
      • A note: KJV-1769 never translates the Hebrew noun nephesh as “spirit” or “ghost”, except for Job 11:20 and Jeremiah 15:9 where it is used in connection with death – “giving up the ghost”. (Nephesh occurs 753 times in the OT. It meant such things as “breath”, “life”, “mind”, “person”, “being”, et cetera. – Look also under the heading “Soul”.)
• The Holy Spirit, the Holy Ghost
  • In older English, the wording was “the Holy Ghost” which meant the same as the later “the Holy Spirit”. (Regarding the words “ghost” and “spirit”, see the notes above.)
    • The 1769 KJ version uses both phrases, “Holy Spirit” (7 times) and “Holy Ghost” (89 times).
  • Regarding “the fruit of the Spirit”, look under the heading “Fruit” – see also the article gh01.htm.
  • Moses was at one time assisted by 70 elders who had the Holy Spirit (Numbers 11). → go08.htm
  • The Holy Spirit is the New Covenant’s “sign” which shows who are God’s people. → fn07.htm
  • The Holy Spirit is the New Covenant’s “writing” which is mentioned in Jeremiah 31:33. → in06.htm
  • The New Covenant is written, “not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart” (2 Corinthians 3:3, NKJV). → in06.htm – fn11.htm – fn09.htm – gn05.htm – fn01.htm
  • The Holy Spirit is the New Covenant’s “circumcision”, “sign” and “seal”. → fn07.htm
  • The Holy Spirit is the “oil” of the wise virgins (Matthew 25), and also the “pledge” which was given to the saints. → gh06.htm
  • On the distribution of God’s Spirit. → gh01.htm
  • 2 Corinthians 3:6 and Romans 7:6, the letter versus the Spirit. → fn11.htm
  • Galatians 3:2, “This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?” → fn08.htm
  • Galatians 6:8, “For he who sows to his own flesh, shall reap corruption of the flesh. But he who sows to the Spirit, shall reap everlasting life through the Spirit”. → gm04.htm
  • For more, see the other parts of this multi-page index, or use the search function.
• “Spirit of the law”
  • This might surprise some, but the commonly used phrase “the spirit of the law” is in fact not biblical – it is not found in the Bible, nor is the phrase “the letter of the law” found there. This has to do with 2 Corinthians 3:6 and Romans 7:6. When Paul wrote “the letter”, he referred tot the Old Covenant and its rules, and when he wrote “the Spirit”, he referred to the Holy Spirit and the New Covenant. → fn11.htm
  • For more, see the other parts of this multi-page index, or use the search function.
• Spirits, spirit beings, spirit world, spirit realm
  • A note: Most English bible-translations do not use the phrases “a spirit being” or “spirit beings”; instead, the phrases are “a spirit” and “spirits”. Likewise, the phrases “spirit world” and “spirit realm” are not found in the Bible.
  • Regarding God the Father and his son Jesus, look under the headings “God” and “Jesus”.
  • The cherubs (keruwbim or cherubim) – were they spirits (or angels), and what did they look like? Also: Do angels have wings, and in what form do they appear? → gd01.htm
  • Are angels immortal, or can they die? → gd02.htm
  • On angels and archangels, including the origin and meaning of the words angel and archangel. → gd07.htm
  • What does the Bible say about Satan the Devil? → gd04.htm
  • Regarding the word “demon”, and the meaning of the old Greek words daimôn and daimonion. → gd08.htm
  • “The spirit that now works in the children of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:2). → fv10.htm
  • Look also under the heading “Angels”.
  • For more, see the other parts of this multi-page index, or use the search function.

Spiritual, spiritually

• Is righteousness the same as “piousness” and “spirituality”? → gg08.htm
• On the saints’ spiritual calling, election, sanctification and justification. → fh02.htm
• On the saints’ spiritual renewal. → fh05.htm
• The New Covenant’s spiritual “House of God” or “Temple”. → fa04.htm – ga05.htm
• “Spiritual circumcision” – the “circumcision of the heart”, Romans 2:29 and Jeremiah 31:33. → fn07.htm
• The apostle Peter wrote to certain saints, 1 Peter 2:5, “…you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ”. What did that mean and refer to, on the practical level? → ho03.htm
• Should believers look up to “spiritual leaders”, and follow them? Who has biblical, spiritual or religious authority? In other words: Who can speak for God? → fs06.htm – hm03.htm – ge03.htm
• On Jesus’ and Paul’s teachings regarding how those who proclaimed the Good Message could become spiritually unfruitful. → gm08.htm
• For more, see the other parts of this multi-page index, or use the search function.

Spoil, spoils, spoiled, spoiling

• How Jesus spoiled the “powers and principalities” (Colossians 2:15). → gd06.htm – go07.htm
• On the spoiling mentioned in Exodus 3:22 and 12:36, and its timing. → fz08.htm
• On the spoiling of Numbers 31 (in connection with certain claims regarding tithing). → im01.htm
• For more, see the other parts of this multi-page index, or use the search function.

Spoke, spoken – Look under the headings “Speak” and “Language”.

Spue (spit, vomit) – Revelation 3:16, “I am about to spue thee out of my mouth”, KJV-1769. → (ga03.htm)

Spurious

• The word “spurious” comes from the Latin spurius, “illegitimate”, “false” (literally, “of illegitimate birth”).
• Even the most commonly used bible-versions contain a number of spurious wordings – that is, words, phrases, verses or even longer passages, that are not original but have been added later. The so-called Comma Johanneum in 1 John 5:7-8 is an example of such things. (For more on the Comma Johanneum, look under the heading “Trinity”).
• For more, see the other parts of this multi-page index, or use the search function.

Stacte (Exodus 30:34) – Look under the heading “Incense” (sub-heading “Frankincense”).

Star, stars

• Acts 7:43, the star of Remphan (Rephan, Romphan). → fv05.htm
• Revelation 8:11, “And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.” → fr05.htm
• Some call the hexagram “the Star of David” and the pentagram “the Star of Solomon”, but the hexagram and the pentagram are not biblical symbols. In fact, they are used as occult signs with a sinister meaning. → (fv05.htm) – (fv04.htm)
• “Order of the Eastern Star” (a Freemason organisation). → (fv04.htm)
• Regarding certain Anglo-Israelist dogmas:
  • The “stars of heaven” of Genesis 22:17 and Deuteronomy 1:10 and 10:22. → fu03.htm
• For more, see the other parts of this multi-page index, or use the search function.

Statements of beliefs, statements of faith – Look under the heading “Doctrine, doctrines”.

Statute, statutes – The Old Testament: What was the difference between such concepts as charges, commandments, decrees, judgments, law, ordinances, precepts and statutes? → in03.htm

Stephanos (and stephanoô, Greek words in the NT)

• In the NT, many bible-translations have the word “crown”. However, the Greek word in question, stephanos, really referred to a “wreath” (from stephô, “to twine or wreathe”). The crown that “royal people” sometimes wear (originally a three-pointed thing), has nothing to do with the New Testament’s stephanos but is of an altogether different, sinister origin.
• For instance 1 Corinthians 9:25 refers to a wreath: “Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.” (ESV-01. Likewise, for instance NASB-77, NASB-95, NRSV, RSV, TCE, WEY and WIL have “wreath”. CT has “garland”.)
• 2 Timothy 4:8 mentions a ho tês dikaiosunês stephanos, “a wreath of righteousness”, which Paul looked forward to receiving from the Lord. The article gg08.htm contains a study on the matter of righteousness.
• See also the heading “Stephen”, below.
• For more, see the other parts of this multi-page index, or use the search function.

Stephen, Greek Stephanos (Acts 6, 7, 8, 11 and 22)

• Stephen was of the men whom the saints in Jerusalem put to serve at the aid distribution tables. → ie06.htm
• Regarding the meaning of the name Stephanos, look above, under the heading Stephanos.
• For more, see the other parts of this multi-page index, or use the search function.

Steward, stewards, stewardship

• The 1769 KJ version has the word “stewardship” only in the parable of the unfaithful steward, Luke 16:1-13.
  • In that passage, the Greek noun in question is oikonomia, “one who manages a household”, from the noun oikos, “house”, and the verb nemô, “to deal out”, “to distribute”, “to pay”. (Related: The noun oikonomia, “household management”, and the verb oikonomeô, “to manage a household”.)
    • The word oikonomia occurs even in 1 Corinthians 9:17, Ephesians 1:10 and 3:2, and Colossians 1:25. There, KJV-1769 “translates” it by copying the Catholic Vulgate version which had the Latin word dispensatio in those verses (and also in Ephesians 3:9 and Colossians 1:25). (In Luke 16, the Vulgate had vilicatio, “farm management”.)
• Paul to Titus: “An elder must be above reproach as God’s steward” [Greek, oikonomos] (Titus 1:7). → ge05.htm – ge01.htm
• Acts 20:17 and onward: When Paul’s time as a free man was about to come to its end, he in a way gave an account of his stewardship. → im02.htm – hm03.htm
• 1 Corinthians 9:17, “If this was my own enterprise, then I had a right to wages. But, since this is not my own enterprise, the mission that I have been entrusted with is only a stewardship given to a slave” (translation of the Swedish 1917 version). → mm05.htm
• For more, see the other parts of this multi-page index, or use the search function.

Stoic, Stoics, Greek stôikos, Acts 17:18

• The Stoics who are mentioned in Acts 17:18 were followers of a Greek sect of philosophy which had been introduced around 300 BCE by a man called Zeno (Zênôn).
• For more, see the other parts of this multi-page index, or use the search function.

Stone, stoned, stones

• Regarding the Old Covenant’s tablets of stone, look under the heading “Decalogue”.
• The stone and the rock (petra and petros) of Matthew 16:18. → ha01.htm
• Is Jesus a “capstone on top of a pyramid”, as some say, or is he the main corner-stone of the foundation of God’s spiritual house or dwelling, as the Bible says? → ga05.htm
  • The word “capstone” does not appear in the 1769 King James version. Some other bible-translations have put the word “capstone” or “top-stone” in Zechariah 4:7, but it is clear that that passage refers to the laying of the main foundation stone of a temple. → ga05.htm
• The stone from heaven in Ephesus (Acts 19:35). → (ga14.htm
• On the akrogoniaios or “corner-stone” of 1 Peter 2:6 and Ephesians 2:20. → ga05.htm
• Peter to certain saints: “…you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:5). What did that mean, on the practical level? → ho03.htm
• The symbolism of the missing or hovering pyramid capstone on the dollar bill. → ga05.htm – (fv04.htm)
• “Stones of fire” (Ezekiel 28:14 and 16) = flashy gems, jewel-stones in which the king of Tyre was arrayed. A note: There are many misleading translations of Ezekiel 28. For more, see this article. → gd05.htm
• The New Covenant is written, “not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart” (2 Corinthians 3:3, NKJV). → in06.htm – fn11.htm – fn09.htm – gn05.htm – fn01.htm
• Regarding the Old Covenant’s tablets of stone and the Decalogue, see the article gn05.htm.
• Stones in general, as religious symbols. → (fv04.htm) – (ga14.htm)
• Regarding certain Anglo-Israelist dogmas:
  • On the Knight-Templar and Freemason idol-stone which is called “Coronation Stone”, “Stone of Destiny”, “Lia Fail” and so on. → hu12.htm – fu10.htm
• For more, see the other parts of this multi-page index, or use the search function.

Stranger, strangers – Look under the heading “Foreign, foreigner, foreigners”.

Strangled – “Strangled things”, Acts 15. → fo04.htm

Strong

• “Strong drink” (Hebrew shekar)
  • The 1769 King James version translates in around 20 Old Testament passages the Hebrew word shekar as “strong drink”. In the New Testament, KJV-1769 likewise translates sikera as “strong drink” (Luke 1:15, a Greek transliteration of the Hebrew shekar). Some have thought that to refer to distilled alcohol (liquor), but most probably, the old Hebrew shekar referred to fermented products such as beer. Explanation: There is no evidence of use of distilled alcohol in ancient times. It seems that production of alcoholic beverages through distillation was not practiced until after New Testament times.
• Strong’s concordance and “lexicon”.
  • Some people study the Scriptures with the help of Strong’s concordance and its “lexicon”. It is important to understand that the Hebrew and Greek lexicons that are included in “Strong’s exhaustive concordance”, are biased and very limited and misleading. Also, using printed concordances is painstakingly slow and erratic. For better tools for bible-study, see the article gs02.htm. The articles hg02.htm and hs03.htm contain other helpful information in regard to study of the Scriptures.
• For more, see the other parts of this multi-page index, or use the search function.

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Some part of this multi-page key-word index was changed or modified 2013-05-18. ©