“Prooftexting the Personality of the Holy Spirit: An Analysis of the Masculine Demonstrative Pronouns in John 14:26, 15:26, and 16:13–14.(2011)
https://andynaselli.com/wp-content/uploads/2011_prooftexting.pdf
2 Some Trinitarian theologians include a fourth text, John 14:17, but we do not consider that here because it has weak textual support.
ADHERENTS OF THE ARGUMENT
An impressive number of Greek grammarians, exegetes, commentators, and theologians have made tnis argument from at least the 1500s to the present.3 They span all the main branches and denominations of the church (e.g., Reformed, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Baptist, Pentecostal, Roman Catholic), many languages (e.g., English, French, German, Dutch), and several continents (e.g., North America, Europe, Australia). Here is a chronological sampling of about 110 notable adherents—some more nuanced than others:4
4 We have abridged this essay by including only a sampling of direct quotations. If a work has multiple editions, we try to quote the most updated edition while ordering the quotation chronologically based on when the first edition was published.
ca. 1591—Martin Chemnitz (1522-86):
1610—John Gerhard (1582-1637):
1676—Leonard van Rijssen (ca. 1636-ca. 1700)7
1679—Francis Turretin (1623-87):
1693—John Owen (1616-83):
1782—John Brown of Haddington (1722-87)10
1814—Ethan Smith'11
1816—Reginald Heber (1783-1826)12
1863-1865—Frederic L. Godet (1812-1900)13
1867—Daniel Gans14
1870—R. L. Dabney (1820-98)'5
1871—A. R. Fausset (1821-191016
1871—Philip SchafF (1819-93)17
1882—William Hamilton18
1882—George Smearon (1814-89):
1882—B. F. Westcott (1825-1901)20
1886—Augustus H. Strong (1836-1921)
1887—James P. Boyce (1827-88)22
1887—Charles Hodge (1797-1878):
1888—94—William G. T. Shedd (1820-94)24
1889—J. E. Wolfe25
1890—H. C. G. Moule (1841-1920):
1894—George B. Stevens27
1895-99—Herman Bavinck (1854-1921)28
1898—E. W. Bullinger (1837-1913)29
1898—Henry B. Swete (1835-1917)30
1898—R. A. Torrey (1856-1928)31
1905—Alfred G. Mortimer (1848-1924)32
1906—Archibald E. Thomson33
1912—William Evans (1870-1950)34
1915—E. Y. Mullins (1860-1928)35
1919—A. T. Robertson (1863-1934):
1923-45—Arthur W. Pink (1886-1952)37
1926—Lewis Sperry Chafer (1871-1952)38
1929—J. H. Bernard (1860-1927)39
1938—Louis Berkhof (1873-1957)40
1940—John F. Walvoord (1910-2002):
1947—Geoffrey F. Nuttall (1911-2007)42
1947—Rene Pache (1904-79)43
1949—Walter T. Conner (1877-1952)44
1949—Henry C. Thiessen (1883-1947)45
1952—55—David Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981):
1952—W. H. Rigg 47
1953—William Hendriksen (1900-82)48
1955—W. H. Griffith Thomas (1861-1924)49
1963—Anthony A. Hoekema (1913—88)50
1963—-J. Dwight Pentecost (1915- )51
1965—Charles C. Ryrie (1925-):
1967—Hans Urs von Balthasar (1905-88)53
1970—Raymond E. Brown (1928-98)54
1971—Leon Morris (1914-2006)55
1972—C. Haas. M. de Jonge. and J. L. Swellengrebel56
1972—Gilles Quispel (1916-2006)57
1974—George E. Ladd (1911-82)58
1975—Gordon H. Clark (1902-85), Stanley N. Gundry, and R. Allan Killen (1941-)59
1975—Michael Green (1930- )60
1975—John Painter61
1977—Michael Ramsey (1904-1988)62
1978—C. K. Barrett (1917- )63
1978-80—Yves Congar (1904-95)64
1980—Barclay M. Newman and Eugene A. Nida (1914-)65
1980—John Williams66
1981—Donald Guthrie (1915-92):
1981—Robert L. Thomas (1928- )68
1983—Guy P. DufField (1909-2000) and Nathaniel M. Van Cleave (1907-2002)69
1983-85—Millard J. Erickson (1932-):
1983—Robert Hanna71
1983—Bruce Milne72
1987—David F. Wells (1939- )73
1987—J. I. Packer (1926- )74
1988—J. R. Michaels75
1988—92—J. Rodman Williams (1918-2008)76
1989—Paul Enns (1937- )77
1990—R. C. Sproul (1939-):
1991—D. A. Carson (1946-):
1992—Jerome H. Smith80
1993—Gordon H. Clark (1902-85)81
1993—Donald D. Hook and Alvin F. Kimeljr. (1952— )82
1994—Wayne Grudem (1948- )83
1994—Richard A. Young (1944- )84
1996—Sinclair B. Ferguson (1948- )85
1996—Robert A. Morey (1946- )86
1996—Peter Toon (1939- )87
1996—Thomas F. Torrance (1913-2007)88
1996—W. E. Vine (1873-1949)"
1997—S. Lewis Johnson (1915-2004)90
1998—James R. White (1962- )91
1999—David Coffey92
2000—Donald G. Bloesch (1928-2010)93
2000—Gary M. Burge (1952-)94
2000—Raoul Dederen95
2001—Harold F. Carl96
2001—Don Garlington97
2002—Gerald L. Borchert98
2002—Jack Cottrell99
2002—Larry Dixon100
2002—John M. Frame (1939-):
2002—John F. MacArthur (1939- )102
2002—Woodrow Whidden (1944- ), Jerry Moon, and John W. Reeve103
2003—Norman L. Geisler (1932- )104
2003—Colin G. Kruse105
2004—M. Eugene Boring and Fred B. Craddock106
2004—Mary A. Fatula107
2005—Andrew T. Lincoln108
2007—Chad O. Brand109
2007—Grant R. Osborne110
2009—John Piper (1946-)111
2009—Rolland D. McCune (1934- )112
ADD FROM WALLACE
It is often argued that the use of the Greek masculine pronoun
£K£ivo$ (iekeinos, he) for the Spirit in passages such as John 14:26; 15:26;
and 16:13-14 affirms the personality of the Holy Spirit (Barrett 1978:
482; Borchert 2002: 159; Morris 1995: 583 n. 73 [citing Westcott); 606
n. 64; 621 n. 27; and others cited in Wallace 1996: 331 n. 42).
,32Francis Turrctin: “For no reason can be given why such a change should be
made in Scripture except that thus the person of the Holy Spirit may be more clearly
designated.” Charles Hodge: “Here there is no possibility of accounting for the use of
the personal pronoun He (eKeivo§) on any other ground than the personality of the
Spirit.” R. C. Sproul: “Here there is no grammatical reason whatsoever to use the mas-
culine pronoun He unless Jesus intends in this didactic passage to declare that the
Holy Spirit is a person.”
one in this instance. If Wallace is right, then the pronominal argument
for the personhood of the Spirit is far less compelling than Packer and
many others seem to think.13
