THE HORROR of the HOLY SPIRIT as an "IT?”

The Spirit ITSELF beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God . . . but the Spirit ITSELF maketh intercession for us . . . Rom. 8:16,26

My daughter was going to a Christian school, when a Bob Jones trained teacher told his class that the “Spirit itself” in Romans 8:16, 26 really should be rendered the "Spirit Himself," for the Greek was in the masculine gender. Well, I Xeroxed the page from my Berry's interlinear that showed what the underlying Greek was for the terms "Spirit" and "itself" in the passage. The man was a good man, and he told the class the next day that he was wrong about it. He is now a Bible believer. He wrote me two decades later to thank me for doing what I did. I did not get red-faced and storm the school, for I realized that it was their school and not mine. I just tried to show that this parroted teaching from Bob Jones was in error, and the teacher, who is a good man, received it well. Today that college has a campus street named “King James Street” in Chesterton, Indiana.

Well, years earlier (early seventies), Charlie Perkins, now the sponsoring pastor of the “Flaming Torch,” bailed me out in a hostile BBFI fellowship meeting in New York, where some pastors jumped me with this rule as I passed out my "Dear Doctor John, Where Is My Bible" booklets. Brother Perkins reminded the preachers that both the Greek for “Spirit” and for “self (AUTOS)” were in the neuter gender. Of course, Bible Correctors are quick to point out genders in order to lockstep the Greek, where they think the KJB is wrong but ignore the places, where the King James Bible follows the gender to a "T." You see, they made up a theological rule that the Holy Spirit can only be a "HE" and a "Him" and a "His" and a "Himself" and not an “It” nor an “Itself,” ignoring the fact that Greek and even English grammars were nonexistent in 1611. Still, Bible Correctors like to try to bind King James Bible believers with modern grammatical rules to force the KJB to be in error, rules that they have decided upon after the fact, long after the King James Bible was translated.

The King James Bible’s ITS a THAT and even a THING

And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also THAT HOLY THING which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. – Luke 1:35

And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and IT abode upon him. -- John 1:32

. . . the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying,ITis a spirit . . . straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer;IT is I; be not afraid. And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if IT be thou, bid me come unto thee . . . -- Matt. 14:26-28

. . . and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as ITwas born. -- Rev 12:4

Another passage, where the KJB is challenged about using "IT" in regard to the Holy Spirit, is found in John 1:32. Obviously, even the Lord Jesus Christ is called an "IT" three times in this Matthew 14:26-28 and also is applied to the Lord Jesus in Rev. 12:4. Oh, of course, the modern translations change the pronouns to “he” and “you” and such to make it seem like they are something worth buying and using, but we know better.

How terrible, but then, guess what? The NIV also calls Jesus an "IT" in Rev. 12:4. Not very consistent! Now, if you want to have some fun (and we received this from someone else), knock on a Bible Corrector's door, and when he responds, "Who is IT? say "IT is I." Then give him a horse laugh! Do this often enough and Bible Correctors might catch on. The moral of this story is that Bible Correctors cannot keep track of their own critical King James damning rules, and they often hit their pride and joy bibles, the NIV and the NKJB with such nonsensical, SELF-invented rules as they seek to discredit the KJB.

-- by Herb Evans