Spirit
Ruach HaKodesh — the Holy Spirit
Ruach HaQodesh · Pneuma Hagion
רוּחַ הַקֹּדֶשׁ · πνεῦμα ἅγιον
- Meaning
- 'Spirit/breath/wind of holiness'. Ruach is grammatically feminine in Hebrew, neuter in Greek, feminine in Syriac.
- Occurrences
- Ruach ~378 times; pneuma ~379 times
- First occurrence
- Genesis 1:2
- Languages
- Biblical HebrewKoine GreekSyriac
Pronunciation
ROO-akh hah-KOH-desh
Origin
Ruach spans wind, breath, and spirit in a single word — the ambiguity is generative, not accidental, and translators must pick one English word where Hebrew held three senses together.
Usage & scribal practice
The gender shift across languages has fueled centuries of discussion, especially in Syriac Christianity.
Cross-references
Genesis 1:2
'the ruach of God was hovering over the waters' — wind, breath, or Spirit?
Psalm 51:11
'take not your Ruach HaKodesh from me.'
John 3:8
'The wind blows where it wishes' — pneuma puns on wind and Spirit.
1 John 5:7 (KJV)
The Johannine Comma — a Trinitarian addition absent from all early Greek manuscripts.
How translations render it
Theories, myths & conspiracy claims
Each claim is stated as its proponents state it, then assessed against the manuscript and linguistic evidence.
The Johannine Comma is not original
The claim: 1 John 5:7's Trinitarian formula in the KJV is absent from every Greek manuscript before the 14th century.
Assessment: Settled. It entered via the Latin tradition and was included by Erasmus under pressure in his 1522 third edition, from which it reached the Textus Receptus and the KJV. This is the single clearest example of a doctrinal addition in the printed tradition.
The Holy Spirit is female because ruach is feminine
The claim: Grammatical gender is used to argue for a feminine person of the Trinity.
Assessment: Grammatical gender is not biological or personal gender — Greek pneuma is neuter, and no one concludes the Spirit is an object. The Syriac feminine tradition is historically real and worth studying, but the argument from grammar alone does not hold.