When reading a novel or a devotional, I am truly impressed when the author capitalizes the “h” in “He” when referring to God, and am convicted that I must immediately change my practice and do the same. But then there are times when I see it as the common “he,” and I am newly convinced that it is okay to not go through the extra trouble.
What’s “right”?
My opinion
Two reasons for capitalizing the “h” is:
1) It’s God. He (with capitalized “H”) is a Person, a GREAT Person, three-Persons-in-One, the Creator of the universe and the One True God! It’s proper to capitalize “He,” just as I would capitalize the “g” in “God,” and every other word I use to replace the name of God.
2) He’s worth the extra trouble. It takes a little more forethought and effort to see that every “h” referring to God is capitalized, but He initiated and provided salvation for my sins through His Son after all.
Two reasons for NOT capitalizing the “h” is:
1) It takes considerable thought while writing.
2) What if I miss an “h”? I’d feel awful!!! (And I do miss “h’s.”)
Needless to say, I’m confused. So, I thought I’d look into it…
The experts’ opinions
GotQuestions.org
“Got Questions?” (gotquestions.org) website on this topic states: “It is neither right nor wrong to capitalize or not capitalize pronouns that refer to God. It is a matter of personal conviction, preference, and context. Some Bible translations capitalize pronouns referring to God, while others do not.”
“Got Questions?” also explains that in Hebrew there are no upper-case letters, and the New Testament portions that were written in Greek (a language that has lower- and upper-case letters) was written in all upper-case letters. And God doesn’t specify pronouns referring to him being capitalized.
(Interesting side-note: the article itself capitalized the “He” when referring to God. Hmm… And, yes, I intentionally left the “h” lower-case in that final sentence.)
https://www.gotquestions.org/capitalizing-pronouns-God.html
ZondervanAcademic.com/blog
Bill Mounce (founder and President of BiblicalTraining.org, part of the Committee for Bible Translation, and author of books on biblical Greek) gives the following conclusion, “For me the primary argument is that the original Hebrew and Greek did not distinguish pronouns referring to God from other words, and so it would be improper for us to add an additional layer of interpretation onto the text.”
In his blog, he gives four convincing points to keep the “h” lower-case. (I’m paraphrasing.) 1) The original Hebrew and Greek manuscripts didn’t mark a difference. 2) Capitalizing the pronoun for God has begun only recently, and only sometimes. (Mr. Mounce is referring to Bible translations.) 3) No manual on proper English instructs this practice. 4) Grammatically, capitalization is done to denote an “identity,” not to give the subject respect. Furthermore, if the “h” is capitalized out of respect, why not capitalize the entire word? And highlight and underline it?
Good point, actually.
https://zondervanacademic.com/blog/should-we-capitalize-divine-pronouns-mondays-with-mounce-305/
More helpful resources
https://byfaithweunderstand.com/2012/04/09/capitalizing-pronouns-referring-to-deity/
http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/qanda/data/faq/topics/Capitalization/faq0004.html
Other points
1) Most English Bible translations don’t capitalize the pronoun for God.
2) It depends on what the character believes (as opposed to the author). In the case of a novel, during a theological conversation the non-believer would be quoted with all pronouns as lower-case (because respect toward God is not relevant), whereas the believer would be quoted as capitalized pronouns for God. Here’s an example:
Teacher: God is the Creator of the universe, and He created all things.
Student: Oh, yeah? If he created all things, did he create me?
The same holds true during a conversion scene: lower-case before-hand and capitalization afterwards.
Of course, all pronouns for God can be capitalized regardless, depending on the author’s discretion.
3) The rule to capitalize can include other names for God, such as Person, Who, One… or can be left lower-case.
Other questions
1) Should I capitalize ONLY when I really feel that it’s necessary? And is that OKAY? Would it appear lazy? Or worse yet, does it look like I didn’t edit properly?!
In other words, can I capitalize the “h” when the pronoun emphasizes God or an attribute of his (which is the same reason I italicize only specific words) and leave the rest of the pronouns referring to God lower-case, as in this example:
“I was reading His word and he told me to love my neighbor.”
2) What about a sentence that has so many pronouns that capitalization seems redundant and cumbersome to read, as was the case in my explanation in the short story “His Beloved”:
“The church is Jesus’ bride, His beloved, for whom He died on the cross to make holy (Eph 5:25).”
3) How about when quoting scripture, which keeps the pronoun lower-case, but the author wants to capitalize every pronoun used for God? Does the author alter the text quoted or keep it as-is? As an example, when the NIV for 1John 4:10 reads, “This is love: not that we loved God but that he loved us…” it would then be altered to read, “This is love: not that we loved God but that He loved us…”
So… what’s the rule?
1) There isn’t one.
2) Is based on author’s conviction.
3) It depends on the pronoun in question.
4) All-in-all, the consensus is: “It’s okay to write the pronoun for God as lower-case.”
Am I going to capitalize the pronoun for God here-on-out… or not?
To be honest, I want to give up completely and write EVERY pronoun lower-case, for simplicity-sake!
But I know that as I write there are times when I feel compelled to write the pronoun capitalized. I’m thinking I should capitalize that one pronoun… and leave the previous pronouns (referring to God) in the manuscript lower-case.
One thing is for certain: Since there’s no rule, I can’t judge another’s writing or become legalistic. And I can give myself a break. And that is an awesome rule!
What’s your stand point… and what’s YOUR reasoning?
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