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Understanding the Spirit of God By: Jim Josephsen
The Greek hagios pneuma and Hebrew kodesh ruwach both mean the same. Hagios and kodesh translate into the English meaning; sanctified, set apart, consecrated, pure, holy. The words pneuma and ruwach both mean; wind, breath, blast, spirit, mind, vitality, courage, conscience, vital principle, mental disposition.
Hagios pneuma translated into the English, Holy Spirit, is used dozens of times in the New Testament. Kodesh ruwach translated into the English as Holy Spirit is used only three times in the Old Testament (Psalm 51:11, Isaiah 63:10, 11). Rather than using the phrase Holy Spirit, the Old Testament commonly uses Spirit of the Lord, Spirit of God or God’s Spirit.
The 1st Century Church of God was fully aware of just what the Spirit of God was because the church maintained the Old Testament perspective of God’s Spirit. The Old Testament was the only scriptures the 1st Century Church of God had (cf. Romans 15:4, II Timothy 3:16, II Peter 1:20-21), consequently what the Old Testament revealed, the Church of God understood. The Spirit of God and all that pertains to God is Holy because God is Holy (Leviticus 19:2, I Peter 1:15-16), consequently the term Holy Spirit was communicated; it was understood as a fact. God’s spirit is holy because God is Holy. After the Day of Pentecost and the establishment of the 1st Century Church of God, the phrase hagios pneuma, Holy Spirit (of God) was more commonly used to refer to the Spirit of God.
Still the New Testament retained the teaching of the Old when referring to God’s Spirit. Consider a few of the many examples as found in the New Testament - Acts 5:9 … Spirit of the Lord …, Romans 15:19 … Spirit of God …, I Corinthians 3:16 … Spirit of God …, I Corinthians 6:11 … Spirit of our God … II Corinthians 3:17, 18 … Spirit of the Lord ….
Compare I Thessalonians 4:7-8 … God, who has given unto us his holy spirit … with Isaiah 63:11. God put his holy spirit within Moses.
Notice Genesis 41:38; Joseph was a man in whom the Spirit of God is. Jesus Christ was given the Spirit, without measure (John 3:34).
God lives in us by virtue of the fact that He has given us His Spirit (I John 3:24 and 4:13). Paul taught that God gives an earnest (like a down payment – a portion of, like a promissory guarantee) of the spirit (II Corinthians 1:22, II Corinthians 5:5, Ephesians 1:13-14, 4:30).
The concept of the Holy Spirit being the third member of the godhead was never expressed in the Old Testament scriptures and was absolutely unheard of by the 1st Century Church of God. The Greek philosophic concept of hypostases, the Catholic Athanasian Creed and the revered Christian doctrine called the Trinity are all of pagan origins, pagan philosophic doctrines, which were carnally contrived by unconverted men, centuries after the death of the Apostles; never taught by the Apostles. The 1st Century Church of God would not have tolerated the pagan inspired concept of the Trinity.
What did the 1st Century Church of God understand of this hagios pneuma, of this holy Spirit of God and what can we understand today? For those baptized and imbued with the spirit, just what is the Spirit of God? Let us consider Paul’s teaching as found in I Corinthians 2:6-16. Paul explains an important reality by comparing the Spirit of God with the Spirit of man.
For what man knows the things of man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receives not the things of the spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. (I Corinthians 2:11-14).
Paul refers to the Spirit of God and to the Spirit of man. What is the spirit of man? How it is similar to the Spirit of God; how is it dissimilar?
There is a Physical Element and a Spiritual Element of Created Man
To understand the Spirit of God we need first to understand the spirit of man. To understand what the spirit of man is, we need to recognize that there is a physical element and a spiritual element of created man.
The Physical Element of Man
Consider Job 33:4 in explanation of physical man. The spirit of God hath made me ….
In Genesis 1:2 we read the Spirit of God, God Himself, moved across the face of the waters. God, who is a Spirit (John 4:24, II Corinthians 3:17) moved across the waters and God exercised His spirit power, His Power, when He created (Genesis 1:26-27) man (made man), when God created man out of the dust of the ground (Genesis 2:7). In the beginning God, who is spirit, occupied and entered Himself into a physical creation as He created man.
Continuing in Job 33:4… and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.
God breathed into man’s (the very first man – Adam’s) nostrils (Genesis 2:7,) and in so doing brought Adam to life. Man needs air to breathe (oxygen in the lungs) in order to live and sustain life. Notice Genesis 7:21-22. Clearly as a result of the flood, the turgid overwhelming waters, and the inability for all land dwelling creatures to keep breathing, all air breathing creatures (earth surface dwelling creatures) died; all in whose nostrils was the breath of life - died.
Life is in the blood (cf. Leviticus 17:11, 14) and blood carries oxygen (breath) to all the body’s cells. It is the oxygen carried by the life’s blood that sustains bodily life. This is the process God created in physical man, in all physical beings. Even aquatic life needs oxygen (though processed differently) to sustain their blood driven system. The breath of life gives life and the Almighty has given life.
By reading Job 33:4 we understand the created physical element of man (man’s flesh and blood, bone and sinew, organs, lungs, cells and tissue body) which God initiated (made) at creation. This same creative process God still sustains today. How does God sustain the creation process? How is it true that Elihu could correctly say God hath made me even though Elihu was not at the start of creation, not in the beginning?
God sustains and maintains the reproductive birth process (which He created to be the natural process at the time of creation, the reason why he created male and female) and through that process God continues to create man (notice Job 10:8-9 (as Job spoke), Psalm 119:73 (as David spoke), 139:13-16 (once again as David spoke)). God also sustains the breath of life process as witnessed when the baby leaves the mother’s water filled womb, coughs and takes its first breath (of life). God created man and each time a child is born, God’s creative process continues.
The Spiritual Element of Created Man
Now consider Job 32:8 - there is a spirit in man and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding. Here we read of the spiritual element necessary for physical man. Yet as we will learn, the spirit in (of) man is not the Spirit of God. The spirit in man is man’s source of intelligence, of human reason and behavior.
Zechariah 12:1 informs us that God formed the spirit of man within the man.
In Ecclesiastes 12:7, Solomon explained, when a man dies, the body, created from the dust of the earth (Genesis 2:7 and 3:19), composed of minerals and elements, materials common to the earth, decays and decomposes and the spirit goes back to God, who gave it.
God’s Word states the spirit in man returns to God upon death.
Once the spirit of man is gone from the body, the body is dead, no longer has life. For as the body without the spirit is dead … so wrote James (James 2:26).
When the physically created, mortal body dies, the spirit of man which was created by God as a part of physical man leaves the body going back to God and it is necessary for the spirit in man to come back into the man, from God, in order to allow for the man to be resurrected.
We can confirm this fact when reading Luke 8:55.
Notice Jarius’ daughter had died (Luke 8:49, 53). According to the Bible, her spirit then went to God, who gave it. When Jesus Christ commanded her to arise (to come back to life out of her death sleep (cf. John 11:11-14, Job 14:12-15, Psalm 13:3, I Thessalonians 4:14-16) notice what Luke writes - Luke 8:54-55. And her spirit came again and she arose.
Her spirit of man which left her at death went back to God, who gave it. Her spirit of man then came back into her at Christ’s command and she revived. The spirit of man and the human body must operate together in order to complete a living person. One cannot exist nor thrive without the other.
The spirit in man does not function when the body is dead and the body cannot (of its own natural power as opposed to medical interference i.e. respirators) thrive nor live without the spirit in man. Modern science understands this fact (although they don’t recognize the spirit in man concept) as is acknowledged by the medical term – brain dead. The spirit of man dwells within the mind (the gray matter) of man, called in the scriptures the spirit of your mind (Ephesians 4:23).
Man Only is Mortal
The spirit of man is the spiritual element necessary within every human being. Never to be compared to the metaphysical, philosophic, pagan, satanic concept of the immortal soul (a pagan doctrine which cannot be found in the Bible), the spirit of man provides man the power of human reason, of human intellect, of human understanding, of human experience, of human functionality. The spirit in (of) man is a spirit element of man; but the spirit in (or of) man is not immortal. It does not function nor live apart from the body.
Man, in whom is the spirit of man, is only mortal (Job 4:17, Romans 6:12, Romans 8:11, I Corinthians 15:53-54, II Corinthians 4:11, II Corinthians 5:4). Eternal Life (Romans 6:23, Matthew 19:29), which is the only hope for man (Titus 1:2), is a gift of immortality, of spirit existence, which God will give. Carnal man does not possess any aspect of immortality.
Man’s hope is to truly one day become immortal (Romans 2:7, I Corinthians 15:53-54, II Corinthians 5:4). Before Jesus Christ came, immortality was not possible; it was only a promise, a possibility. Since Jesus Christ came to be the Savior and Redeemer and was glorified by His Resurrection, eternal life and immortality have been made possible (II Timothy 1:10).
Only God the Father and Jesus Christ have immortality (I Timothy 1:17, 6:16); have Eternal Life inherent (immortality) within (John 5:26) themselves.
Mortal man, with the spirit of man in him as a part of him, will die, Mortal man cannot live forever. (Hebrews 9:27, Psalm 89:48, Ecclesiastes 3:3-5, I Corinthians 15:21-22). The spirit of man goes dormant, non-operational upon death; it does not function as man sleeps in death (Ecclesiastes 9:5-10).
As we have read, when a man dies, his spirit goes back to God who gave it. For an individual to be resurrected, that individual’s spirit must come back into that person (as we read in Luke 8:55).
God Can Destroy the Soul, the Spirit in Man
The Word of God tells us that God can destroy the physical man with the spirit of man in him; God can destroy the complete man.
In Ezekiel 18:4 and 20 we read the soul that sins, it shall die. The Hebrew word for soul is nephesh, which means a breathing creature, life, animal, vitality, body, breath. There is no meaning given nor understanding allowed in the word nephesh expressing that the soul is immortal. When we read Genesis 2:7, we learn that man (the complete man) became a living soul (nephesh); not man was given a soul.
Man is a soul (nephesh) and man (the living soul) can and will die. The soul dies, as we read in Ezekiel 18:4, 20. Man, who became a living soul, has the spirit of man within him. The spirit of man in the man makes the man a complete being, which can and does die. The complete created physical man who was made a living nephesh does die, as it is appointed for all men once to die (Hebrews 9:27). The soul dies; it is not immortal.
In Matthew 10:28, we read, that God can destroy the complete man, the body and the spirit, the spirit of man. Notice: And fear not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both body and soul in hell.
Here once again we read the English word soul. In the New Testament the English word soul is translated from the Greek psuche. You can easily see the English word psyche from which we get the English word psychology which is the study of the mind wherein resided the seat of intelligence and personality, mental power. So in every real sense to destroy the psuche (which God can do) is to kill or destroy the intelligent aspect, the mind of the human being, that which we know to be the operation of the spirit of man, wherein which the spirit of man dwells.
Psuche means soul, breath of life, seat of life, the source of the will and the emotions, that which of man transcends lower life existence, animal existence. The psuche (psyche) to the Greek mind is the seat of reason, making man distinguishable from animal. The psuche is what we can understand as the spirit of man, the spirit in the man.
The spirit of man goes back to God, for safe-keeping upon death and remains dormant until brought back to life to meet up again to the resurrected body (reconstructed body cf. Ezekiel 37:4-13) at the resurrection. It is this spirit of man, this psuche which God can destroy with the body in hell fire (Gehenna, the Lake of Fire (Revelation 21:8) which is the second and final death).
Whether one wants to understand the soul (in the traditional sense) or the spirit of man, the fact of the matter is, God can destroy it. Consequently, the soul/spirit in man is not immortal; it can be destroyed.
There is a spirit of the beast
In Ecclesiastes 3:21, Solomon reveals the spirit of the beast. What is that spirit of the beast?
The spirit of the beast is what we today call instinct or innate animal patterned behavior.
Notice what God teaches us through His written Word regarding the difference between the spirit of man and the spirit of the beast.
The spirit of man was created to complete the physical man and is located in the mind of man, giving man the power of intellect and free moral cognition and consciousness. God teaches man more than the beasts of the field and makes us wiser than the fowls of the earth (Job 35:11). God teaches man knowledge (Psalm 94:10, 12).
The inspiration of the Almighty gives man understanding (Job 32:8), wisdom and human reason whereas speaking of the ostrich (and all animals), God hath deprived her of wisdom, neither hath he imparted to her understanding (Job 39:17). Notice also Psalm 32:9; be not as the horse or as the mule which have no understanding, whose mouth must be held with bit and bridle. Animals can be trained and tamed and led about whereas man has to learn to control himself, to exercise character and to overcome his situation (James 3:2-3, 7).
Man is different from animal, insect, fowl and aquatic life. Man has a spirit which is human understanding, which allows for human reason, logic and independent thinking. These qualities the beast does not have. Man can think and reason and choose with purpose. The spirit of man allows man the ability to make conscious choices, to empathize, love, emote, to exercise character, volition and personality, to know and to choose right from wrong morally, humanly. Yet man’s spirit, if not properly controlled and exercised (James 1:14-15) is also capable of performing great evils.
God made man upright but man has sought out corruptions (Ecclesiastes 7:29). Man was given the capacity to exercise free moral choice, to choose and do right or wrong. Animals act instinctively.
Both man and animal, insect, fowl and aquatic life are composed of flesh and blood; all eventually die (Ecclesiastes 3:19-20). All go back to the earth, all decay and decompose.
The spirit in the beast will not be resurrected. It goes back to the ground with the dead body (Ecclesiastes 3:21). There is no continuance element to the spirit of the beast. The spirit of man however goes back to God to await the resurrection.
Mankind will be resurrected (Isaiah 26:19, Ezekiel 37, John 5:28-29, John 11:24, Acts 24:15, I Corinthians 15:22, Revelation 20:5, 12) and the spirit in man is necessary to facilitate the resurrection, when God brings human flesh back to life (Ezekiel 37:1-6) or transforms flesh to spirit (I Corinthians 15:49-53).
Paul explained, man knows all that pertains to human life and human will, to human reason and logic, to human experience because of the spirit of man which is in him (I Corinthians 2:11). The spirit in man allows man to function as a man, utilizing the characteristics and elements unique to man.
The spirit in man which resides in each individual retains the life experience of its existence and the physical features of the individual in which it resides. Each man’s spirit is uniquely only its own. Each person that ever lived is uniquely an individual, only one of a kind and each individual’s life existence is kept, retained (recorded and stored) in the spirit in man (the spiritual element) that is a part of the complete man.
Man does not naturally have the spirit of the beast
There are characteristics and elements of animals (beasts) which man cannot know (to do) because man does not have the spirit of the beast. As example, man does not have the instinctive, programmed friendship characteristics a dog has been created with. Man does not have the keen sense of hearing many animals possess. Man is not instinctive as the animals, the beast creatures are. Man is elevated above the animal world. The beast reacts instinctively, performs by command. Man acts by thought (at least has the ability to) and utilizes cognition. God has given man wisdom and understanding to function and operate as a free moral person, choosing to do right or wrong.
Likewise man does not naturally have the Spirit of God
There are elements, characteristics, thoughts, attributes and a behavior pattern of God which man cannot know (to do) naturally because man does not have the Spirit of God (in him).
A human baby is not born with the Spirit of God in him/her. Man is born only with the spirit of man in him/her. The Spirit of God is a gift given (II Timothy 1:6-7) conditionally, to those who are baptized, to those who choose to obey God (Acts 2:38, Acts 5:32). The Holy Spirit of God is not something that man can have naturally; it must be given to the individual by God.
The Spirit of God is (among so much else) the power, love, mind, quality, virtue, characteristics, vitality, persuasion, awareness, energy and disposition of God. God is who He is because of the characteristics that are uniquely Him. All these attributes are holy, sanctified, set apart from human qualities, because the possessor of these qualities (God Himself) is spirit and is holy.
Just as the spirit in man allows a human being to exercise and practice, to think and behave humanly, so the Spirit of God in man provides the attributes and abilities, the knowledge and energy for a human being to exercise and practice, to think and behave like God while in the flesh.
God’s spirit dwells in our inner man, our mind; God’s spirit dwells as a living witness with our spirit and strengthens us to live as God lives. (cf. Romans 7:22, 8:14-16, II Corinthians 4:16, Ephesians 3:16, Colossians 3:10).
Your ability to excel in human endeavors, in academics, as an artisan, composer, musician, engineer, scientist, statesman, humanitarian, in athletic endeavors and so much more; is all made possible by the spirit of man in you. This spirit in your mind, which is uniquely yours, provides the mental acumen and energizes your fleshly body, allowing you to function and behave in your flesh, the way you do. You are who you are because of your spirit of man in you.
Those Having Been Given God’s Spirit are Different
Now those who have repented and are baptized, now being obedient to God, have been given the gift of the Spirit of God. God’s Spirit, an actual part of God Himself is now infused with our spirit of man (Romans 8:14-16). Paul explains that the carnal mind is enmity against God. The carnal mind, which is the spirit of man mind (without the Spirit of God) cannot be, is not able to be, by nature, subject to, submissive to or obedient to God. They that are in the flesh, carnally minded, are those who do not have the Spirit of God in them (Romans 8:5-10).
Paul continues, but you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit if so be that the spirit of God dwells in you … for if you live after the flesh, you shall die: but if you through the Spirit do mortify (put to death, to subdue or deaden) the deeds of the body, you shall live (Romans 8:9, 13).
Just as the spirit in man provides man the characteristics and qualities of humanity, so the Spirit of God provides man the ability to practice Godliness and to exercise Godlike character (Ephesians 5:9-10, Galatians 5:22-25).
Christ stated: Be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect (Matthew 5:48). The Spirit of God that dwells in you gives you the ability to make this possible. God’s spirit provides the where withal, the ability, and the resources to manifest God-like character. The Spirit of God in you is a part of God in you which aids you in excelling beyond the ways of carnal flesh, beyond the banalities of human existence. God’s Spirit lifts you up and elevates you to a new frame of mind and a new way of living.
The Spirit of God provides you with the means to transform your mind, to convert your thinking and actions, to overcome the world and the ways of this world. The Spirit of God provides you with the knowledge to know what is acceptable to God, what is Godly behavior. The Spirit of God reveals the deep things of God. The spirit in man cannot know the deep things of God. To carnal man, the things of God are foolishness, mysteries and uncertainty, just as to the beast, the spirit of man (in an animal – even if that were possible) would be foolishness, uncertainty, confusion.
Just as the spirit in man allows man to excel at carnal things, so the Spirit of God allows His children to excel at Godly living, while in the world. The Spirit of God can mix with the spirit of man and in so doing can produce godliness within the human being.
Just as an individual with the spirit of man, man’s mind, man’s psyche, must develop and exercise and study and practice in order to “get better” at human pursuits, whatever they may be, so the Spirit of God, must be practiced and exercised, developed in order for one to grow Godly.
We are not to quench the spirit (I Thessalonians 5:19). We are to stir up the spirit (II Timothy 1:6-7). We must walk in the spirit, in order not to fulfill the lust of the flesh (Galatians 5:16). The fruit of the Spirit of God is in all goodness, righteousness and truth (Ephesians 5:9). The fruit of the Spirit of God is love, joy, peace, longsuffering (patience), goodness, gentleness, meekness, faith, temperance (Galatians 5:22-23).
Those who are baptized and have the gift of God’s Spirit in them are none the less still composed of flesh; still have human bodies that can get in the way of God’s Spirit. Just as Christ was able to, by the power, characteristics and attributes of the Spirit of God in Him, so we must strive to overcome our flesh and the daily battles that stand before us, in our way as we strive to overcome sin. Christ in us can conquer the flesh, if we allow Him to do so, to aid and help us, to provide the power for us to exercise. With the Spirit of God in you, you have the mind of Christ (I Corinthians 2:16) as Christ lives in you (Romans 8:10, II Corinthians 13:5, Galatians 2:20).
Christ told his disciples that the spirit is truly ready (willing and wants to) but the flesh is weak (Mark 14:38). How true this is! So often we desire to do in our flesh, but we find ourselves at a loss of energy, lacking the discipline, at a loss for effort. We get tired, depressed, empty of purpose, lethargic. We let sinful and base behaviors get in our way. We feel sorry for ourselves, we lose hope. Often the flesh is diseased, aging, sick, infirmed.
Now consider what Christ spoke, from a spiritual perspective, of God’s Spirit in you. God’s Spirit which is boundless energy, which is perfect execution, which is complete and thorough knowledge; which is truth, which cannot be contained nor limited in results, is always willing, ready and able to perform.
Yet how often do we allow our flesh to get in the way of God’s Spirit? Consider, when we reject His correction; when we continue in behavior that is sinful, carnal, that is opposed to the Laws of God (which are spiritual Romans 7:14); when we exhibit vanity, ego, selfishness, arrogance, we are fighting God’s Spirit, we are allowing our weak flesh to get in the way of God’s willing Spirit.
God’s spirit, the spirit of God, is the spiritual intellect, the thought processes, wisdom and power of God, which can be in you, which provides the ability for you to act and live godly. We grow in the spirit when we take in spiritual understanding, when we exercise the fruit of God’s Spirit in us, when we practice godly behavior, when we expose the fruit of the spirit in our daily life.
Jesus Christ said “it is the spirit that makes alive; the flesh profits nothing: the words that I speak to you, are spirit and are life” (John 6:63). The Word of God, the Bible, all of it is the words which proceeds from and is inspired by Jesus Christ.
Study the Bible often; always. Seek the truth diligently; exercise the fruit of the spirit and Watch and Pray always! Ask God to give you more of His character, His mind, His power, His Spirit, the attributes that will assist you in overcoming your flesh. Allow the Spirit of God; the gift God has given you, the greatest gift you will ever receive, to be the driving vitality which will accomplish His works through you. Be ye perfect as your Father is perfect. Practice living as your Father lives, as your Lord and Savior gave you examples to live (Luke 6:40, I Peter 2:21, I John 2:6) The Spirit of God in you will provide you every spiritual resource that will enable you to be as you have to be in the flesh, preparing you to have the character that will be required for eternal life, being born into the very family and Kingdom of God.
There is a spirit in man which God created that provides man the uniqueness of human understanding, logic, psyche, emotions, intelligence and wisdom. The spirit of man elevates man above animal. So too there is the Spirit in God, actually the Spirit of God (for God is spirit) and God gives His Spirit (His holy spirit), God gives an actual part of Himself to those who humble themselves before Him in repentance and a contrite heart.
The Spirit of God when existing in man provides man with the uniqueness of Godly understanding, logic, psyche, emotions, intelligence, knowledge and wisdom. The Spirit of God elevates man above base, carnal, fleshly, man-oriented, selfish behavior.
The Spirit of God elevates man to the level and life of God.
Just as the spirit of man allows man-orientated existence based on understanding which is relevant to human existence, so the Spirit of God allows godly, God-orientated existence based on understanding which is relevant to God, to His Spirit existence.
With God actually dwelling in His begotten, baptized Children, each can learn to be led by Him, to follow God and live godly, righteous lives in the flesh, as the Holy Spirit of God dwells in and mixes with each spirit in man.
When the spirit of man and the Spirit of God dwell together, the individual becomes complete, as one with God and is preparing for the ultimate actuality of becoming a spirit composed being, at the time when one is born again into the spirit Kingdom, the family of God, at the time of the First Resurrection.
But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken (make eternally alive) your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. (Romans 8: 11).
How foolish is it to believe that the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit as commonly called, is an entity separate unto itself, the third member of the Godhead. Such a concept is pagan foolishness, empty-headed ignorance, mystical, carnal flippancy which is nowhere supported by or taught in the unfeigned Word of God.
When God gives you the gift of the Holy Spirit, He gives you a part of Himself. And as it was true at creation, so it is still true, when the Spirit of God moves to interact with man, it is actually God Himself, as a Spirit that moves and interacts with man in the physical world. When the Spirit of God moves you, God moves you.
As the Spirit of God dwells in
you, God lives in you and you are then a new creature in Christ. When
the Spirit of God is in you, you now have the mind of Christ (I
Corinthians 2:16). |
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