p. 8 | Spirit and Wind

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Dec 2, 1897

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 23, No. 47.

Spirit and Wind

No. 670. Spirit and Wind.

PLEASE explain John 3:8: "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth; so is every one that is born of the Spirit."

Young's translation of John 3:8 is as follows: "The Spirit where he willeth doth blow, and his voice thou dost hear, but thou hast not known whence he cometh, and whither he goeth; thus is every one who hath been born of the Spirit." The margin of the Revised Version reads, "The Spirit breatheth where it listeth, and thou hearest the voice thereof," etc. The original word for "Spirit" is pneuma. The word "wind" in the New Testament comes from the word anemos, in every instance except John 3:8; Acts 2:2 and 27:40. In the first two texts it comes from pneuma, and in the latter from pneo, a primitive word. The word "Spirit" in every case in the New Testament, in both singular and plural, comes from pneuma, except Matt. 14:26; Mark 6:49, where it comes from phantasma, a phantom. In John 3:3 and onward our Lord is discussing the nature of things. He who is born of the Spirit is in nature like that Spirit, not dependent upon earthly birth or earthly things. He is born from above. The world hears the voice of that Spirit in prophet, teacher, apostle, and word; but it knows it not, nor its origin. Christ was born of that Spirit, was speaking by that Spirit, and yet Nicodemus knew him not because he did not know the Spirit. If his heart had been submitted to God, if he had been in harmony with God, he would have known the voice of the Spirit speaking through Jesus Christ. God's Law and Gospel and Spirit, are all in perfect harmony.