4. Is the human “spirit” the same as the “Holy Spirit”?

Linkage:  This is part of the study "Scriptural View of the Body, Soul and Spirit".  You should read that Introduction first.

 

Quick Answer:  No.

 

Key Scriptures:

             Rom 8:16 “The <pneuma> itself beareth witness with our <pneuma> that we are children of God.”  This is a clear scripture indicating that we have a spirit that is ours, and then there is the Holy Spirit.  Also, we don’t lose our spirit when the Holy Spirit indwells us.

             I Cor 6:20 "...and in your <pneuma>" - further indication that we have our own <pneuma> distinct from the Holy Spirit.

             Acts 7:55, 59  Stephen was “full of the <hagios pneuma>”.  As he was dying, he said “Lord Jesus, receive my <pneuma>”  I think  this clearly shows that we can be full of the Holy Spirit, but we still have a spirt of our own. 

             Acts 15:28 “For it seemed good to the <hagios pneuma>, and to us…”  Thus distinguishing the Holy Spirit from the human <psuche-pneuma>.  Even when the Holy Spirit indwells us, there is still "us" there as well.  It is not that the Holy Spirit kicks out our spirit and takes over.

 

Caveat:

             None.

 

Related Scriptures and Thoughts:

             Matt 5:3 “Blessed are the poor in <pneuma>…”  Obviously not referring to the Holy Spirit.  From this verse we can see that sometimes the word <pneuma> is not used to mean the Holy Spirit.  In fact, here it seems that the word <psuche> could have been used also.  That’s why I like the term <psuche-pneuma>. 

             Matt 8:16  he cast out the <pneuma> with his word.  There can be evil <pneuma>.

             Matt 26:41 …the <pneuma> is willing, but the <sarx> is weak.  I think this definitely shows that we have a “<pneuma>” that is not the Holy Spirit.

 

Discussion:

             As with Question #1, I just feel that it is sometimes useful to study what seems obvious to verify that it is, indeed, obvious.  Part of the importance of this question is that the word <pneuma> is sometimes used to refer to the Holy Spirit, but the word "Holy" (<hagios>) is not added.  Thus, in the New Testament, sometimes the word <pneuma> refers to God and other times it refers to man.  The difference is determined usually by context and it is not always obvious.  That's why sometimes one translation will translate the word <pneuma> as Spirit (with a capital "S") referring to the Holy Spirit and other translations will translate it as spirit (small "S") referring to the human spirit. 

             Also, we don't lose our souls when we gain the Holy Spirit and if you couple that point with the concept of "<psuche-pneuma>" [See Question #3], then it is pretty obvious that we can't lose our spirit when we gain the Holy Spirit.