Man’s Nature and Destiny

PNEUMA DEFINED

Robinson, in his Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, defines this word to mean, primarily, “1. A breathing, breath, breath of air, air in motion. 2. The spirit of man, i.e., the vital spirit, life, soul, the principle of life residing in the breath breathed into men from God, and again returning to God.” Parkhurst, in his Greek Lexicon, says: “It may be worth remarking that the leading sense of the old English word ‘ghost’ [which in Matthew 27:50; John 19:30, and ninety other places is from this word pneuma] is breath; ... that ghost is evidently of the same root with gust of wind; and that both these words are plain derivatives from the Hebrew to move with violence; whence also, gush, etc.” MND 49.5