The Gender of the Holy Spirit - Steve Santini

[Guest guest]

The Gender of the Holy Spirit

 

On the Orthodox Revision of the Gender of the Holy Spirit

 

Jaroslav Siefert, one of the Nobel Prize winning poets, has said

that if you want to know truth look to the heretics. Jesus Christ

said that his words are truth. Jesus, himself, by most at the time

was considered the worst of heretics and even today in secrets of

some hearts he is considered the same and worthy of his humiliating

death. Paul, in his time, was, and to this day, is considered by

many as a chief heretic. He, too, was personally silenced by

execution. Marcion, a labeled second century heretic whose actions

insured that the Pauline letters would be preserved, was also

silenced in a differing and more enduring way.

 

When we look for truth along the bloody trail of the heretics what

they said needs to be harmonized with the words about and from the

chief heretic, Jesus Christ. In of itself, being labeled a heretic

does not guarantee the truth of the entire message or even any part

of it. If the message of the heretic does harmonize with scripture

then we have truth. Martin Luther was considered a heretic by the

then established church because he proclaimed that justification

came by faith rather than works. It became evident from scripture

that his words on the subject, in the end, were true. It was

fortunate that he was given the time to develop his message and the

means to make it known to a large number of hearers; otherwise, he

and his message, as others were, could have been swept under the rug

of personal destruction so that we all could still be paying the

church to justify our dead family members.

 

When we look to the heretics we have two problems. First, we have

the tactics used to destroy what is considered heretical. The

initial response to a heretic is silence so that a response does not

draw the attention of others. If the apparent heresy persists the

heretic is punished by character assassination or public humiliation

so that others tremble at the thought of adopting the heresy.

Finally, if possible the means of the state are used to silence the

heresy as it was with the Arian controversy of the fourth century.

The heretic's words are adulterated to obscure the so-called

heresy and to convict him. Tertullian, who was an educated Roman

attorney, used his skill to convict someone by selectively using

Marcion's words to counter his so-called heresy. Like

Tertullian's writings against Marcion, many times what we have

existent today of the heretics words were written by those who

detested them. It has been said that whether a leader is determined

to be good or bad is based on who writes the history books. In the

case of Marcion, since all of his own writings and writings in

support of him were destroyed, we have only had one side of the

story. The second problem we have is that in places the words of the

original scripture have been altered purposefully to eliminate what

the Orthodox Church considered as heresy and its possible

resurgence. This chapter concerns what I believe is one of the most

detrimental alterations of this kind from the texts.

 

To expose this alteration we ask from our understandings of the

nature of man what could have been the scenario that precipitated

this probable internment of truth. We search among the accumulated

historical debris of some considered church fathers for their

silence or fragmented relics of truth amongst their criticisms. We

also search the words of some who were people of conscience who left

us a record of the possible alternatives to what they were to record

for acceptance within the Orthodox Church. Next we look to the

minute detail of the text itself and then to the scope of all

scripture to synthesize our understandings of truth. Finally, we

consider, that if this is true, what are the implications for faith

today.

 

For this study we have begun by focusing on the heretic, Marcion,

who was noted disparagingly as a facilitator of the so-called

Gnostic heresy. What gem or gems of truth can we sift from the

historical remnants of the Gnostics' beliefs through the detail

of the texts and the scope of scripture to find this chapter's

pertinent heresy? According to Elaine Pagels' enlightening book, The

Gnostic Gospels, one of the established church's primary fears of

and primary accusations of the Gnostics was that they were

attracting large numbers of women and having women minister in

contrast to the Orthodox Church. Was there a basis in ancient

scripture for the fundamental belief in the value of women in their

churches or was this a " throw back " to the more proximate

pagan prophetesses and goddesses in Greek religion? From a variety

of sources in their writings it is apparent that they believed that

the Holy Spirit was the feminine spouse of God the Father. As we

move on, I believe that we will see that they had justification from

a basis in scripture for this belief.

 

G. Zuntz, the noted higher critic, from his lifetime of examining

the oldest Greek texts and textual fragments from the third century

forward, writes that there was no attempt in the West to maintain

the integrity of the original texts until Jerome produced the Latin

Vulgate at the request of the papacy in the fourth century. Zuntz,

by using the standard practice of textual comparison, in his

detailed analysis of the oldest Pauline manuscript, notes, in his

book, The Text of the Epistles, numerous places where the text has

been altered. Jerome, himself, in letters to his colleagues, bewails

the fact that he has so many variant texts to select from for the

compilation of a standardized version. At one point before him he

has the old Hieronymian text and its revision. He says, " The

differences throughout are clear and striking. " In his writings

he does leave us a clue to the subject at hand. At one point he has

before him the gospel of the Hebrews used by the Syrian Christians

which, as some now say, predated the four canonical gospels. In it,

Jerome says that the Holy Spirit is expressed in the feminine gender

and is considered the mother in law of the soul. (Library 11,

commentary in Isaiah, chapter 11: Library 2, commentary. in Micah

7.6:) So here is some additional external evidence from an unrelated

source that the Holy Spirit was originally considered feminine.

 

Next we go to the detail of the internal evidence from the Greek

texts existent today and then to the scope of scripture. As we

examine the Greek texts it seems at first that we are at a loss. At

all points in the accepted text the gender of the Holy Spirit and

its associated pronouns are rendered in the neuter, yet when we look

at the scope of scripture and consider that the Holy Spirit could be

feminine, it still seems that it may be so. Finally, as we scour the

accepted text and variant renderings used to translate it, we come

across one small Greek letter in the text as an unaccounted gem of

possible truth. It is in the tiniest of print in the variant texts

at the bottom of page 290 in George Ricker Berry's fifteenth

printing of The Interlinear Literal Translation of The Greek New

Testament. The more we turn this small gem in the light of the

repetitive historical attempts to silence Paul and his revelation of

the mystery, and in the light from the scope of scripture the more

importance it seems to have and the more brilliantly it seems to

shine. It is the Greek letter eta which is either the feminine

definite article to which a feminine noun must be attached or the

feminine third person singular pronoun which must also agree with

its associated noun. It is present with the corresponding accent,

which would make it the third person feminine pronoun, in the final

phrase in the gospel of John in chapter fourteen verse sixteen as

the majority of the Greek texts including Lachman, Tishendorph,

Tragelles, and Alford attest. It is also present in Knoch's

literal interlinear which is based on the three major uncials of

Alexandrius, Vatinicus and Sinaiticus. Accordingly this verse should

be translated as such:

 

 

And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter,

that she may dwell with you forever; John 14:16

 

 

Although it is obvious that this eta with its corresponding accent

mark should be translated she as it has been in other places in the

texts, here, the interlinear translators have either selected to go

with the minority of the texts where the eta is absent and insert he

into the translation or have chosen to render the verse with the

neuter, it, rather than she. Why is this so? The rule of thumb is

for the translators to give more weight to the majority of the Greek

renderings and the oldest texts such as the uncials. This rule of

thumb of selecting the majority of previous renderings for a revised

text is also used when comparing an antecedent pronoun to the gender

of the associated noun to determine the veracity of the pronoun. As

I have said, in the texts I have seen, the comforter or Holy Spirit

is at all times rendered in the neuter gender. Here we have an

unresolved dilemma produced by the principle of giving the weight of

credence to the oldest texts and the majority of usages in the texts

used for compilation of a revision. When looking to the majority of

and oldest texts the eta should be present and translated she but

when using this same rule to determine the proper gender of the

antecedent pronoun for Holy Spirit, the eta should be ignored and

the neuter pronoun it supplied. How is this dilemma resolved?

 

In both the Hebrew and Aramaic language the word spirit is in the

feminine gender but in the Greek language it is neuter. The authors

who wrote in Greek were limited in expressing the Holy Spirit in the

feminine by the constraints of the language. What if this eta was

among a number of original indicators used to overcome the

constraints of the Greek language? And, what if other indicators

suffered alteration at the hands of translators as has similarly

been done by the displacement of this eta? Bart Ehrman, writes in

his book, The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture, that from his

comparative analysis the Orthodox Church altered the texts to

counter various beliefs considered heresies, especially during the

time of Marcion, when they were compiling their own canon of the

four gospels. What if to sustain their developing male hierarchy and

to contain the growth of the Marcionite churches and their

attractiveness to women, the orthodox revisionists altered

additional signposts to this feminine aspect of the Holy Spirit and

emphasized a canon that focused only on the works of Jesus to

counter Marcion's canon of Luke and the Pauline letters? When we

add the evidence in the scope of scripture and the historical

evidence of conflict between the Orthodox Church and the Gnostics to

the evidence of this eta, I believe we can consider this likely.

 

(It is also interesting to note in the context of early church

history that the Gnostics' writings rarely refer to the orthodox

canon of the four gospels and over time refer less and less to it.

Could it have been that they were aware of the revisions concerning

the feminine gender of the Holy Spirit and had no desire to give

credence to the altered canon used by the Orthodox Church to stifle

them? This, I believe, eventually worked to their detriment, because

it seems that groups of Gnostics diverged widely from the scripture

as a whole. Could it be that they, in their portion of separation,

were eventually reversed and, in a different manner, twisted in

disarray?)

 

When we move forward and consider the witness of the stars where no

man's hand can make alterations, the feminine gender of the Holy

Spirit becomes more likely. Moses, in writing the book of Genesis,

proclaims that the luminous celestial bodies in the darkness of

night's heaven and the sun's brilliant light are for signs.

Signs are symbols that point to something beyond themselves. Half of

the major constellations are named with Hebrew words that are

feminine. In fact, within and in proximity to many of these major

constellations are signs that point to a male-female interrelation.

Bob Wadsworth's newsletter of January 2001 says that the two

figures in Gemini, according to the Zodiac of Dendra, are not

identical twins but those of a man and woman walking hand in hand.

He goes on to say, when quoting from Joseph Seiss' book The

Gospel of the Stars, that the word Gemini in the original Hebrew,

Arabic and Syriac does not carry so much the idea of two brought

forth at the same birth as it does the idea of a long betrothal

brought to its consummation in perfect marriage. The old Coptic name

of this sign signifies " the completely joined. " The

constellation of Virgo, which represents the woman about to bring

forth, has above it in the sky the constellation Bootes that is

named with a masculine noun. Peter, in his second epistle, calls

light in darkness and the dawning sun a " more sure word of

prophecy " than even the voice from heaven heard on the Mount of

Transfiguration. (II Peter 1:19)

 

Why could it be then that the second century theologians and

translators were blinded to the importance of the femininity of the

Holy Spirit? The power of Rome, in which Western culture is deeply

rooted, was built on the three disciplines of virtus, pietas, and

fides. Virtus conveys the idea of an individual's harmonious

integration. According to Pierre Grimal, a professor of Latin

literature at the Sorbonne, this harmonious integration may not be

what we first think. He writes, " When a Roman spoke of virtus he

was less likely to mean conformity to abstract values than

spontaneous assertion by action of the essential virile qualities of

self mastery – granting to the feminine weakness, with a certain

contempt, the characteristic of impotentia sui, an inability to

control its nature. " In the second century, in the West, the

educated Roman male who was trained in this discipline of male self-

mastery became the bishop or the theologian. Because of the prestige

and power of Rome these exerted pressure on the Eastern churches to

conform to their doctrines. In the third century the Roman bishop

actually excommunicated all the Eastern churches that would not

change the date of Easter from the Hebrew calendar's date that

corresponded to a day determined by each year's particular lunar

cycles to a consistently prescribed Sunday based on the Julian

calendar. In time even the power and influence of the Roman Emperor

began to be used by the West to settle doctrinal disputes with the

Eastern churches.

 

In the East the esteem of women was quite different from that

rendered by this Roman discipline of virtus. The Hindu culture,

which was built upon Eastern thought, yet was spared Roman influence

today retains many original ingredients of the East. Bishop K.C.

Pallia, a converted Hindu, when teaching from Solomon's proverbs

about the instruction of the father and the law of the mother

writes, " The children have been taught that the mother comes

first, the father second, the teacher third and God fourth. So in

India, if you don't love and obey your mother, father, and

teacher, there is a saying God will not sing. "

 

We can see that this case is not built on the singular lynchpin of

one eta but when we narrow the search to the extant text itself it

does provide one entry point. This feminine eta is also used in

combination with the Greek word men in one verse of the Biblical

texts. These two words are used in the accepted Greek text in

Hebrews chapter six, verse fourteen and are translated as surely as

they are in secular Greek literature. The first word, eta, has the

accent mark that should render it as the pronoun, she. The second

Greek word, men, has at its root a relation to the moon. During the

Bronze Age men was the name of an Anatolian moon goddess. At other

places, where it is used without the eta, it is translated month,

which in ancient eastern culture corresponded to the lunar cycle.

When this verse is read literally, it would read that she-lunar was

the one who blessed Abraham. From this we can say that feminine

divinity blessed Abraham.

 

If the Holy Spirit is feminine, which is most probable, then, it had

a presence in the Old Testament. Stephen, a follower of Peter, told

the religious leaders of Israel that they and their fathers had

always resisted the Holy Ghost. What then would be the name of

feminine divinity in the Old Testament? From this verse in Hebrews,

it would reasonably have a relation to Abraham. When God came to

Moses with his charge to lead these fathers from bondage, he said

that he had formerly been know to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob by the

name of El Shaddai. (Exodus 6:3) Shaddai, in the Aramaic, is in the

feminine gender. In the Hebrew is has closely associated words that

have feminine meanings. In both the Hebrew and Aramaic, it means

full breasted. Reasonably, in all this, although intentionally

closeted away from the mind's understanding in the second

century, feminine divinity has had an ongoing principle role in the

affairs of men.

 

What we are dealing with is the Gnostic belief that the Holy Spirit

is the feminine spouse of God the Father, the witness of an early

Syrian Hebrew manuscript that the Holy Spirit is feminine and, as

such, is the mother in law of the soul and two marginalized etas.

(In this context it is also revealing that the Greek word for soul

is rendered in the feminine gender.) We are now looking beyond the

minute detail of the texts to the light of the scope of scripture to

see if these supposed heretical beliefs have additional

substantiation and an application to further faith.

 

The eminent nineteenth century British Biblical scholar, E.W.

Bullinger, in his book, A Great Cloud of Witnesses has said that the

Greek word in Hebrews chapter eleven for the heavenly country that

Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac and Jacob sought is used

six times in scripture. He says in all of the five other places

" it is rendered his own country, referring to the earthly

parental home of Mary and Joseph. " These patriarchs sought a

homeland with both spiritual mother and father without fulfillment.

They looked for what Paul found when the mystery was revealed to him.

 

Paul also uses this word, country, though from its feminine root

when he speaks of the whole family in heaven and earth in Ephesians

chapter three verse fifteen. Natural observation requires that we

define a family as mother and father with their progeny. There is a

section of Pauline scripture that adds much light when considered in

its entirety. It is Romans chapter one. Romans and both Corinthian

letters were written at a time when Paul was taking the churches

onward to a more mature level of understanding of the family of God,

as later revealed in Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians. This was

the time for him to bring the church through the transition from

those things seen on this earth to those things unseen in heaven. He

understood that the original natural order of things was a pattern

for those things unseen in the heavenlies and that the

interrelationship of God's creation was a schoolhouse for

learning the heavenly plan of salvation. In Romans chapter one verse

twenty he says according to the King James Version:

 

For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are

clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his

eternal power and Godhead;

 

The book of Genesis is the fundamental Biblical record of those

things that are made from the creation of the world. Paul writes

that the unseen can be seen by the things that are made. In Genesis,

the book of things made, we see divinity's desire to make man in

their image.

 

And God said, Let us make man in our own image after our

likeness…. Gen1:26

 

The Hebrew word for God in this verse is elohiym. It is in the

plural so the pronouns us, and our are properly supplied. Any thing

more than one is plural. In the next verse the Hebrew word for God

is also elohiym. In this next verse, the pronoun translated as his

is also plural and should be translated their. The image of their

own, in which elohiym created man, was male and female. These Gods

or elohiym were two; male and female- the Father and the Holy

Spirit. They made mankind in the likeness of themselves.

 

In Genesis, before man is formed out of the dust of the ground and

is given the breath of life to become a living soul, he is created

first as male and female in the image of God. It is only after man

is formed out of the ground and after being made a unified living

soul that man is made into two distinct parts to fulfill God's

desire for a new family through procreation. The later context of

Romans chapter one deals ultimately with the behavior of the two

seen parts. It contains Paul's strong admonition against

homosexual and lesbian behavior. Paul's concern about this

behavior was not based on a desire to reveal the self-incriminating

judgment just upon those who engaged in the practice but was based

on a desire to bring all men up to understand the mystery that had

been hidden in God from before the foundations of this world. Here,

in Romans chapter one, Paul uses this obvious example of human

corruption for a warning to all humankind. All have endeavored, in

some form or fashion, outside of faith, in sincere ways, to

intemperately and impatiently attain the divine through

preconditioned self-satisfying means.

 

In all of Paul's writings there are, it seems, only two things

about which he was most concerned in the church - faithfulness in

the marriage relationship and faithfulness to his gospel. He knew

that the one flesh of the marriage relationship was a shadow of

things unseen in the realm of the soul and the realm of the Spirit.

In Ephesians when he speaks about the one flesh relationship between

husband and wife he concludes by saying, " This is a great

mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. " Without a

respect for the power brought forth by the union of male and female

and an appreciation for the corresponding sanctity of the sexual

relationship of husband and wife in this earthly realm, Paul knew

that one would limit one's self from having one's eyes opened

to understand the mystery of Godliness emanating from the heavenly

realm. He was dedicated to the revelation given him from Jesus

Christ and his commission to first bring forth the fulfillment of

salvation's plan attained through the knowledge of the masculine

wed with the wisdom of the feminine to bring forth the union in

Christ.

 

Now we speak more specifically to the Holy Spirit being the mother

in law of the soul according to the Hebrew Syrians in light of the

scope of scripture and from the light that the Greek word for soul

is also in the feminine gender. They, being from a Jewish

background, had always believed that they collectively as a bride

would become married to the Messiah at which time all their sin

would be forever cleansed. As ones betrothed to be married to the

Messiah they knew from the scripture that they were the property of

their mother in law to be prepared for entrance into a new family

upon the culmination of the marriage ceremony. In Genesis, the book

of things made, when Abraham's oldest servant brought Rebecca,

the betrothed of Isaac, back from his far off relatives she first

went to dwell in Sarah's tent until the actual wedding feast. Ruth

stayed with her mother in law Naomi even after her husband and the

husband of Naomi died rather than return to her original family for

support. She knew when she entered her husband's family that in

the event of his death that she would revert to being the property

of her mother in law until she married another son or male blood

line relative within the family or even waited for her mother in law

to bear another son as a future husband for her. From the Old

Testament record of things that were made and from their Hebrew

gospel they could see that the Holy Spirit was the mother of the one

to whom they were betrothed and as such the mother in law of their

souls. Still there was a completing portion of truth that was later

revealed to Paul that they did not yet know.

 

The gospel of Matthew, which, as some scholars say, was taken from

the earlier gospel of the Hebrews, attributes the conception of

Jesus singularly to the Holy Ghost. Luke, who wrote later and who

had spent considerable time with Paul, writes of the birth of Jesus

Christ as a result of the combination of two distinct entities when

he says of the angel's words to Mary concerning the coming

conception of Jesus, " the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and

the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee. " It was this

encompassing knowledge of the Highest, or Father, that the twelve

apostles and their followers were not given to know during the early

church. Philip, near the end of his time spent with Jesus, was still

asking Jesus to reveal the Father unto them. It is in Paul's

later transitional epistle of Romans that the term Abba Father was

first given as a term to be used by those who had separated

themselves from this world's methods and had entered the spirit

of sonship. The Aramaic word abba lends itself to the meaning of

" the way unto the hidden source. " This source is the daystar,

or the encompassing light of the day, that Peter, near the end of

his life, says is to arise in the hearts of his listeners in the

future. (II Peter 1:19)

 

So far we have seen that the original belief of the early church was

that the Holy Spirit was feminine according Gnostic writings and an

early Hebrew gospel. We have seen the importance of the retained

feminine pronoun, eta, in light of the record of purposeful

corruptions to the text. We have seen the substantial declaration

from Paul that the things unseen of the power of the eternal Godhead

are clearly understood by the things that are seen, referring

primarily to things made in Genesis and written within the context

of male-female sexual relations. Now let's touch on several

practical ramifications for growing faith.

 

As written in the previous chapter entitled " That Day " ,

according to Jewish culture the mother had sole responsibility and

authority for the care of the children in the family until they were

five years old and then primary responsibility until a daughter

married into a new family or a son passed the age of thirteen.

Recently in a national news magazine it was written, as if it were a

new discovery, that around five years old children matured to

understand their independence and uniqueness as either male or

female. It was at this time that the children began their formal

education within the local synagogue or through accomplished

household servants to be presented for maturation upon completion by

the hand of both mother and father. Child psychologists also

understand that the most formative years for a child's character

are those in the earliest years following birth and that the mother

of a child has the strongest influence on the development of the

child during this time. Sociologists have rightly said that the

future character of a society rests in the hearts of mothers.

Researchers at Princeton University have found that moral decisions

are made predominately within the emotional or feminine center of

the brain. (On the other hand, although wives whose husbands

perpetually lose car keys may not agree, men, or masculine portions

of the brain, are much more adept in the abstract ability of spatial

orientation and logic.) Yes, as Jesus said, the kingdom of God is

within you.

 

Why then have we so easily succumbed to the pressure to disassociate

children from the nurturing care and instruction of their mothers?

In the middle of the twentieth century breast-feeding was

discouraged among mothers. Now financial burdens, competitive

pressures to achieve, and some issues of gender equality have sent

mothers of young children into the work place. It is not surprising

that in a recent survey a large majority of working mothers said

that they would rather be at home with their young children. Have we

allowed the separation of and the ambiguities in members of a family

because the true nature and function of the Godhead has been hidden

since the first century? Could all this be another divisive

corruption of the family on this earth subtly designed to obscure

the family in heaven?

 

In the late nineteen sixties gender equality came to the forefront

of social issues. Understandably and reasonably so, since the model

for marriage was based on the hierarchical relationship of male

domination which was imposed upon mankind through the knowledge of

good and evil. In its essence this knowledge demands a hierarchical

structure among humankind in all things. In it, self becomes the

center from which all things are judged and in the final analysis it

demands that one be better than another or one be less than another.

After the entrance of good and evil Adam judged himself better than

Eve because he did not take the first bite and less than God because

he saw himself now as naked flesh. There is a new model for marriage

and the family that is based upon what was before the acceptance of

this reasoning process that contrasts all on the linear scale

between good at one terminal and evil at the opposite. The model

commences before the beginning when there were two harmonized in one

and then out of one and then back into one through reunion within

and among progeny.

 

This concept of the feminine gender of the Holy Spirit is not new or

original. The early church had this belief and within the last

several decades it has been considered at large with acceptance by

individuals of faith in all areas. It may be that this writing is a

unique synergism in understandings and that there are some new

considerations within what is written here to add to the

accumulating evidence. Whatever the case may be there is much more

that is written and to be written that patterns the feminine gender

of the Holy Spirit through the breadth of scripture. There is much

more to be understood about the male-female harmony in the entire

realm of those things seen. There is much more to be understood

about how the masculine and the feminine bring forth the brilliance

of Paul's revelation of the mystery and there is much more to be

understood about the wholeness that this belief will bring to an

individual and a society.

 

For now I close with these thoughts. When we become persuaded of the

union of the feminine and masculine, Paul's revelation opens

dramatically as the consummate epic work of the eternal union that

brings together sons and daughters as the one new man of Ephesians.

Scriptures can now open to a new light through Paul's revelation

of consummation within the cross of Christ and through its

implantation into the very core of man's being to bring forth

that one new man to dwell in the eternal light of the coming new

heaven and earth. Accordingly, I offer this presentation so that the

revelatory script of the knowing playwright and the intuitions of

the wise director may be more fully understood and, in the end, be

joined harmoniously together within our souls and within our family

to bring to pass the eternal plan of salvation for all humankind

through the cross of Christ.

 

The Gender of the Holy Spirit

(Excerpted from the manuscript, A Journey Unto Revelation's End,

by Steve Santini)

 

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Ithaca/3827/family.html

 

 

 

Select Bibliography

 

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