The Holy Spirit is called: Spirit Wind Breath

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The Holy Spirit depicted as a dove, surrounded...
The Holy Spirit depicted as a dove, surrounded by angels, by Giaquinto, 1750s. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Most scholars take “spirit” in Isaiah 34:16 to mean breath, since it is parallel to “mouth.” Many today also find difficulty in rendering Genesis 1:2 as “Spirit.” The New English Bible, following some Jewish and most liberal scholars, reads, “The earth was without form and void, with darkness over the face of the abyss, and a mighty wind that swept over the surface of the waters,” possibly to keep the waters in check.

Actually, the Hebrew word for spirit (ruach) like the Greek word (pneuma) can mean wind, breath, or spirit. It is used to represent a wide range of expressions in relation to nature, the life of animals and man, and God. Someone has figured up that there are at least thirty-three different shades of meaning that the word may have in different contexts.1

In Exodus 14:21, the word ruach is used of the strong east wind that kept blowing until the Israelites could cross on dry land. “The cool of the day” (Genesis 3:8) is the “wind” of the day, referring to the cool breezes of the afternoon. In the wilderness “a wind went out from the LORD” and brought quail from the sea (Numbers 11:31). Poetically, the Psalmist speaks of “the wings of the wind” (Psalms 18:10; 104:3). The Lord also sent “a great wind” when Jonah fled toward Tarshish (Jonah 1:4).

Genesis 2:7 uses a different word for “the breath of life” (Hebrew, “lives”). But 6:17 uses ruach for breath, and 7:22 combines the two words for “the breath of life” (Hebrew, “the spirit of the breath of life”), showing the close relationship of the ideas of spirit and breath. Job also uses this word when he speaks of taking his breath (Job 9:18; see also 19:17).

Most writers take the original sense of the word for spirit (ruach) to be wind, breeze, moving air.2 Some insist that, in both Greek and Hebrew, it always keeps this basic meaning in the sense of either wind or breath, that is, air moving either inside or outside man.3 Others take it that whether translated spirit or breath, when related to living things, it is always God’s gift coming from Him and returning to Him (Genesis 6:3, 17; 7:15, 22; Job 33:4; 27:3; Psalm 104:29, 30; Ecclesiastes 12:7). In this sense “spirit” can be taken as a life energy or life-giving energy that God alone possesses permanently by His very nature (Isaiah 31:3; John 5:26).4 It is generally accepted, therefore, that in the Old Testament the separate personality of the Holy Spirit is not fully revealed. He is equated with God’s power or personal presence in action.5

In the light of this, the reading “a mighty wind” does not seem to be suitable in Genesis 1:2. Liberal commentators who think “the Spirit of God” is a wrong translation possibly are influenced too much by naturalistic and evolutionary presuppositions. Some try to compare it to Genesis 8:1 where God did cause a wind to pass over the earth so that the waters of the Flood began to subside.

Some liberals do admit that The New English Bible translation “mighty” is insufficient. They agree that if the word “God” is used adjectively “a god of a wind,” it must mean at least “divine, supernatural, awesome.”6


Horton, S. M. (2005). What the Bible Says about the Holy Spirit (pp. 18–19). Springfield, MO: Gospel Publishing House.

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