The Spirit Of Holiness

[jerrybouey]

I have always thought of this verse a certain way:

Romans 1:4 (KJV) And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:

Though it is lower case, I have believed this is referring to the Holy Spirit (there are some places in the King James that I believe refer to the Holy Spirit but have a lower case "s", such as Psalm 51:11.

I have ever since a young believer believed that this verse was saying the Holy Spirit rose Jesus Christ from the dead (various passages attribute this to all three members of the Trinity), but now something has made me pause and wonder if I have a wrong understanding of this verse.

I don't make theology based on patterns, but the numbers in the Scripture (or things repeated so many times, etc. show that is is no doubt God's Book - man could not have written it with so many numerical patterns and still have it make sense. Referring to things such as the seven statements from the cross, Jesus' seven I AM's in John, seven public miracles in John, seven feasts in John, etc. I love sevens and when I read of one or see one myself, I make note of it. I found one the other day. In Romans 8, there are 14 verses about the Holy Spirit. This is the chapter after Paul describes the struggles believers have with the flesh, and wondering how we get the victory (Romans 7:24), then he goes on to show us in Romans 8 it is through the power and leading of the Holy Spirit. 14 times signifying complete victory. Ok, interesting pattern.

Then I looked up all other references to the Holy Spirit and Holy Ghost in Romans. Seven more in the whole book.

There are 14 verses in this chapter that mention the (Holy) Spirit:

Romans 8:1, 2, 4, 5, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 23, 26, 27

There are also seven other references to the (Holy) Ghost/Spirit in Romans:

Romans 5:5; 9:1; 14:17; 15:13, 16, 19, 30

Then I realized that Romans 1:4 is not one of these, even though I thought it referred to the Holy Spirit. If it is the Holy Spirit referred to here as well, the pattern is marred here. Regardless of what you think of words or phrases being repeated 7/14, etc. times, it is what led me to consider this passage further.

I looked up all the English translations that Blue Letter Bible had and saw that only the Webster's 1833 and the ASV (of 1901) had a lower case s here. (Tyndale does as well, plus the 1611 - verified through Swordsearcher). ALL modern versions had Spirit of Holiness or Holy Spirit. Seeing this made me realize that my initial understanding of this verse was from modern versions, as I had read and studied from the NIV, NASV, and the NKJV before becoming KJVonly. Learning that verse in the NASV caused me to always look at it that way.

Now I realize I could be wrong.

Don't worry about the patterns, but it was what got my attention and made me dig deeper - but I don't want to base theology on a pattern.

Do you think that Romans 1:4 is referring to the Holy Spirit or to Jesus' own spirit (which is holy and sinless)?

 

[jerrybouey]

There is only one other pattern that has caused me to lean a certain way in my understanding of a passage.

In the book of John we see many sevens - lists of seven public miracles, seven feasts, seven names of Jesus in John 1, seven people professing Jesus is the Son of God in the book. Some notable ones are:



The Apostle John refers to himself seven times in his Gospel without naming himself:

1. John 1:35-39 He was one of John the Baptist’s disciples, and became one of Jesus’ very first disciples.

2. John 13:23-26 At the last supper, Jesus tells John who will betray the Lord.

3. John 18:15-16 This disciple knew the high priest and was able to get both him and Peter into the palace of the high priest during Jesus’ trials.

4. John 19:26-27, 35 Jesus gives His mother into John’s care, and John witnesses Jesus on the cross.

5. John 20:2-9 John races with Peter to the empty tomb.

6. John 21:7-8 John realizes it is Jesus speaking to the fishermen from the shore.

7. John 21:20-24 Peter questions Jesus about John and what will happen to him in the future.



Other than the disciples, there are 7 specific men that interacted with Jesus in the Gospel of John - the first mentions are listed below:

1. John the Baptist – John 1:6

2. Nicodemus – John 3:1

3. Lazarus – John 11:1

4. Caiaphas - John 11:49

5. Annas – John 18:13

6. Pilate – John 18:29

7. Joseph of Arimathaea – John 19:38



The Gospel of John contains references to seven specific disciples of Jesus by name:

1. Andrew - John 1:40; 6:8-9; 12:22

2. Peter - John 1:42; 6:68-69; 13:6-9, 24, 36-38; 18:10-11, 15-18, 25-27; 20:2-6; 21:2-3, 7-11, 15-21

3. Philip - John 1:43-46; 6:5-7; 12:21-22; 14:8-9

4. Nathanael - John 1:45-51; 21:2

5. Thomas - John 11:16; 14:5-6; 20:24-29; 21:2

6. Judas (not Iscariot) - John 14:22

7. Judas Iscariot - John 6:64-65; 70-71; 12:4-6; 13:2, 26-30; 14:22; 18:2-5



7 specific women are mentioned in the Gospel of John:

1. Mary, the mother of Jesus - John 2:1-5; 19:25-27

2. Samaritan woman – John 4:7-30, 39-42

3. Adulterous woman - John 8:3-11

4. Mary of Bethany, the sister of Lazarus – John 11:1-5, 19-20, 28-33, 45; 12:1-7

5. Martha – John 11:1-5, 19-28, 30, 39-40; 12:1-2

6. Mary, wife of Cleophas – John 19:25

7. Mary Magdalene – John 19:25; 20:1-2, 11-18



Now the pattern that influences me in some degree is the last one. The following verse is debated, about whether there are three women or four listed here:

John 19:25 Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.

Commentators are divided on this verse - and I have seen various ones of them state it is three women - and Mary the wife of Cleophas being the name of Mary's sister - or four different women. I have believed it was three for a long time, and studying it out when studying through John as a group recently has reinforced it (but that is where I learned of the other opinions).

In light of many sevens found in the book of John (believe me, I have found or learned of literally dozens), this makes me lean even more to the viewpoint of three women listed here - as that keeps the pattern of sevens in the book; whereas another women listed would ruin it.

 

[Johnny NL]

It is an UPER CASE in KJV1611:
Romans 1:4 And declared to be the Sonne of God, with power, according to the Spirit of holinesse, by the resurrection from the dead.

 

[Johnny NL]

God said it,,,,,,, that settles it !