SPIRIT in Greek is “pneuma” and in Hebrew is “rua’ ch.” It means wind, breath, movement, Holy Ghost, air, inspiration, prophecy, divine force.
“The Bible says that God is a spirit; this passage, literally translated, would read Spirit is God, or Spirit is the God . . . .What then is Spirit? To us spirit may mean activity, power, energy. Pnuema, the word which we translate spirit, originally meant wind, air. . . .It is easy for us to see how, in the mind of the Greeks, the word came to mean God. Wind, or air, has much which would call to the mind of the thoughtful Greek, his idea of God . . . .Air could not be bottled up; nor confined, nor compressed into form, or shape. Neither could God. Air was their vital breath. They could not live without air. Thus wind became a reminder and expression of God, and at last, signified only God. God is Spirit, not materiality” (CSJ, November 1893, “God Incorporeal,” by Gen. Erastus N. Bates).
Glossary – “WIND. . . .The Greek word for wind (pneuma) is used also for spirit, as in the passage in John’s Gospel, the third chapter, where we read: ‘The wind [pneuma] bloweth where it listeth. . . . So is every one that is born of the Spirit [pneuma]’” (S & H, p. 598: 1-5). John 3:8 – “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and wither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.”
Spirit of God is the spirit of prophecy, especially in the Old Testament/Covenant. Where there are no prophets, there is no Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit departed from Israel after the last prophets – Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. There were 400 years between the Old Testament/Covenant and the New Testament/Covenant, when there were no prophets, no prophecy, no inspiration. Jesus’ baptism marked the dramatic return of the Spirit of God, in the form of a dove appearing and lighting on him, so the term was resurrected after 400 years of silence. (Source: Notes from Christian Science Bible Scholar, Kathy Merrill)
INSPIRATION (1828): “The infusion of ideas into the mind by the Holy Spirit; the conveying into the minds of men, ideas, notices, or monitions by extraordinary or supernatural influence; or the communication of the divine will to the understanding by suggestions or impressions on the mind, which leave no room to doubt the reality of their supernatural origin.”
John 20:22: “And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost.” Breathing/Inspiration is inhaling (breathing in the Word of God, divine Science) and exhaling (expressing love, sharing testimonies, impressing “humanity with the genuine recognition of practical, operative Christian Science” – Misc., p. 207: 4-6).
II Tim 3:16: “All scripture is given by the inspiration of God. . .”