Arbitrary or Private Interpretation.
To say that a certain Scripture word or term means thus or so regardless of context or the use of the same term elsewhere is arbitrary interpretation. It makes the meaning of the text private to itself. It is vicious, likely to be misleading, and sooner or later leads to divisions. To illustrate, the Greek word pneuma is rendered "spirit," or that which means spirit, throughout the New Testament generally. It is rendered ninety times "Ghost," in the term "Holy Ghost," much better rendered "Spirit," as in the American Revised Version. It is rendered "ghost" twice (Matt. 27:50; John 19:30), meaning "spirit." Compare with Luke 23:46; Acts 7:59. It is rendered "life" in Rev. 13:15, meaning spirit, or given life. The other times of its occurrence in the New Testament it is rendered "spirit," in singular and plural, and "spiritual" and "spiritually." In all these cases the meaning is very similar. The one exception is "wind" in John 3:8, a rendering, it seems to us, which is purely arbitrary and almost meaningless. Better to render as in the margin of the American Revised Version, "The Spirit breatheth where it will;" or as Rotherham, "The Spirit where it pleases blows;" in his later version, "The Spirit where it pleaseth doth breathe;" or "The Spirit moveth . . . born of the Spirit." The passage is harmonious, clear, and beautiful. Let the Word be its own interpreter.