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Wednesday, August 21, 2013

John 7:39

Τοῦτο δὲ εἶπεν περὶ τοῦ πνεύματος οὗ ἔμελλον λαμβάνειν οἱ πιστεύσαντες εἰς αὐτόν· οὔπω γὰρ ἦν πνεῦμα, ὅτι Ἰησοῦς οὔπω ἐδοξάσθη.

Rough Word-by-word:
This and he said concerning the spirit which they were about to receive the ones believing into him, not yet for it was [the] spirit, because Jesus not yet he was glorified.

Smooth Translation:
And this he said concerning the Spirit which they were about to receive, the ones believing in him. For not yet was the Spirit, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

Notes:
When reading οὔπω γὰρ ἦν πνεῦμα - "not yet was the Spirit," it seems John is talking about the specific giving or sending of the Holy Spirit experienced by the church after Jesus' ascension into heaven. UBS footnotes with some versions that read, "the Spirit was not yet given."
 
We know this is the case because there is evidence of the Spirit's activity throughout the Old Testament and His using people to speak and act at various times - all of which John was keenly aware.
 
So John in his gospel later will speak about Jesus' predicting His sending of the Holy Spirit and the Spirit's work after His return to heaven in John 14, 15 and 16.

This is a powerful statement about the indwelling of the Holy Spirit by means of belief or faith. 1 Corinthians 2 speaks to the role of this faith and implanting of the Spirit for understanding.

Τοῦτο demonstrative pronoun accusative singular neuter "this"

δὲ post positive conjunction "and"

εἶπεν verb aorist active indicative 3rd singular from λέγω (I say) "he said"

περὶ preposition with genitive "concerning"

τοῦ definite article genitive singular neuter "the"

πνεύματος noun genitive singular neuter "spirit"

οὗ relative pronoun genitive singular neuter "which"

ἔμελλον verb imperfect active indicative 3rd plural from μέλλω (I am about) "they were about"

λαμβάνειν verb present active infinitive from λαμβάνω (I take, I receive) "to receive"

οἱ definite article nominative plural masculine "the"

πιστεύσαντες aorist active participle nominative plural  masculine from πιστεύω (I believe) "ones believing"

εἰς accusative preposition "into, unto"

αὐτόν pronoun accusative masculine singular "him"

οὔπω adverb "not yet"

γὰρ post positive conjunction "for"

ἦν verb imperfect active indicative 3rd singular from εἰμί (I am) "it was"

πνεῦμα noun nominative singular neuter "[the] spirit" (see notes)

ὅτι conjunction "that, because"

Ἰησοῦς proper noun nominative singular masculine "Jesus"

οὔπω adverb "not yet"

ἐδοξάσθη verb aorist passive indicative 3rd singular from δοξάζω (I glorify) "he was glorified"

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