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Can the Holy Spirit, the Person, be a "medium" (be filled with) and an "agent" (gave the utterance) at the same time?

English translations added "the" and capitalized the first letter "S" arbitrarily, obscuring the distinctive meanings and references of the "two" phrases in the original Greek.

Acts 2:4 (ESV): And they were all filled with "the Holy Spirit (πνεύματος ἁγίου) and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit (τὸ πνεῦμα) gave them utterance.

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There are two questions here and I will only answer the one about the article.

The function of the article ("the" in English and "ho" in Greek) are quite different and thus we have the following differences:

  • Greek often has the article and good English does not
  • Greek often does not have the article and English requires it.

Thus, have every variation of this in the names of deities:

  • Greek often does not have the article before "The Father" but English requires it because "Father" is a title and not a name
  • Greek often has the article before "Jesus" but English would not have it because "Jesus" is a name and not a title
  • Greek often does not have the article before "Holy Spirit" but English requires it because "Holy Spirit" is a title and not a name.

In English, if we say, "Give this to the captain", "captain requires the article because it is a title and not a name. Greek does not have this requirement; hence the difference. The same is true of "the Son" which is a title and not a name so English needs it but Greek does not always have it.

Lastly, for a rigorous discussion about when the article is required and when not, see Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics by Wallace. Suffice to say here that the instances in Acts 2:4 about "Spirit" vs "the Spirit" is a perfect example of the first instance being in-articular and subsequent instances of a noun being articular because they are anaphoric - good Greek Grammar! This means that both are the same entity.

I will not comment on the interpretive practice of capitalizing the names of Father Son and Holy Spirit.

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