Quote:
Originally Posted by K-dog
So the Greek for Holy Ghost is neuter but Nephi said that it had the form of a man...interesting.
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We have a different conception of "spirit" than the ancients do. The word for "spirit" in both Greek (pneuma) and Latin (spiritus) could also have been translated as "breath," "air," or "wind." There is a great word play in John 3, when the Savior says that the wind bloweth wherever it wants-- the word he uses is the same as "spirit" the previous verse: pneuma. Inspiration is either the process of having the spirit of God stroke your intelligence, or breathing in; expire means either to breathe out or to have the breath of life leave you (i.e., to die).
The ancients regarded the spirit, the breath of life, or whatever else by which it may have been referred as as a vivifying force not necessarily specific to one being or entity. Greeks would have referred to the Holy Spirit in the neuter because as far as they knew, it was not a man, but, well, a spirit.