Proposition # 24: Masculine pronouns are used in reference to the Holy Spirit despite the fact that Spirit [Gk., pneuma] is neuter. This proves the Personality of the Holy Spirit. — John 14:26; 15:26; 16:8, 13
Response: Some foreign languages have what is called grammatical gender, which has nothing to do with personality or sexual gender.
For example, in Spanish the word mesa means table and is feminine. But this does not mean that Spanish-speaking people regard it as a person or as female.
The same is true for Bible Greek and Hebrew. These languages have three genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter. The Greek word parakletos (translated as helper, advocate, or comforter) is masculine. In the verses cited above the masculine pronoun refers back to this masculine noun. — John 14:26; John 15:26; John 16:7
In the KJV Romans 8:16 uses the neuter pronoun in reference to the holy spirit. It reads, “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit….”
Concerning verses such as this, one trinitarian document says,
“And in Greek a pronoun must agree with its antecedent in gender and number. So it is just a matter of Greek grammar not theology.”
If trinitarians can understand this argument when it is used in the KJV to refer to the Spirit, a neuter noun in Greek, why can they not understand it when the word he is used for parakletos, a masculine noun in Greek?