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Confusion With the Holy Ghost


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Author's Bias | Interpretation: conservative


Is the Holy Spirit the same as the Holy Ghost?

Holy Ghost?!

In the 1611 King James version of the Bible, the same Greek terms were translated as two different English words: Holy Spirit and Holy Ghost.

Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. (Matt 1:18)

If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? (Luke 11:13)

While the still widely read King James version is used as an example here, the use of "Holy Ghost" did not originate in the King James version. It can be found as early as the Wycliffe translation of 1380:

…she was found having of the Holy Ghost in the womb. (Matt 1:18)

Why the translation "Holy Ghost" was introduced is debated among scholars. Did early translators believe that the "spirit of God the Father" of the Old Testament and in the New Testament should be translated as the "Holy Spirit"; but, when in reference of the third person of the Trinity, translate as "Holy Ghost"?

Nevertheless, the Holy Ghost is the same and equivalent in meaning to the Holy Spirit, and today’s contemporary Bible translations do not use the phrase "Holy Ghost".



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Series: The Doctrine on the Holy Spirit
Distinctions


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