What is the rule for using "he" or "HE" when it comes to Jesus and God?

Question

I know this is kind of obscure, but I need a Christian grammar nazi in the biggest way right now! Oh, and don't think I mean a Christian nazi. That's silly. I need someone who is slightly anal about grammar and loves Jesus for this question!!
Thanks!

OK, yes. I know that out of respect, it should be capitalized. However, when reading any standard version of the New Testament, you will see that sometimes when using a pronoun to refer to God/Jesus/Holy Spirit, it is "he" and sometimes it is "He" - I am doing some editing work and need to know the rule/difference!!!

Answer 1

When referring to Jesus and God the "He" needs to be capitalized--always. Also, when using the archaic form, "Thy."
So, to answer your question, it's "He" with the capital H, not capital H and capital E.

Answer 2

The "rule" is hardly as established, not as long-lived as many seem to think. And my preference --as a conservative Christian, mind you-- is NOT to capitalize.

There are certainly many people, and Christian publishers, who do capitalize divine pronouns. And if that is the practice you adopt, you should do so consistently, and capitalize ALL pronouns referring to God the Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit ('the Triune God'). That is, you should capitalize ALL singular subject, object and possessive pronouns referring to God (He/Him/His, Thou/Thee/Thy-Thine [You/Your(s)). But you do NOT need to capitalize relative particles/pronouns ("whom" or "which") or plural forms("we", "us") that may include others besides God.

______________________________

But again, you do not need to adopt this practice, and it is NOT the universally accepted practice among English-speaking Christians.

Rather, you may simply to follow "normal" rules of capitalizing, not adopting any special ones for certain 'divine pronouns' (though again, you should seek to be consistent).

In support of the idea that you don't need to capitalize ANY of them, except at the beginning of sentences --which is once again becoming the norm-- consider the following.

While it is true that many people through the years HAVE capitalized them, I'm not sure how old that practice is... certainly not as old as many think.

1) NONE of the early Modern English translations of the Bible (such as Tyndale [1520s], Geneva Bible and King James] capitalized divine pronouns other than at the beginning of sentences. Here are pictures from three pages of a first edition of the King James (1611) which illustrate the point:
http://www.greatsite.com/ancient-rare-bible-leaves/king-james-1611-picture.html
http://www.greatsite.com/ancient-rare-bible-leaves/king-james-1611-picture2.html
http://www.greatsite.com/ancient-rare-bible-leaves/king-james-1611-picture3.html

2) Some have even thought the practice somehow goes back to the original languages. Big problem here -- when the Bible was written 'lower case' letters had not even been invented yet (those did not come about till the 7th century AD), so EVERY letter was 'capitalized'!

3) Capitalization and non-capitalization in Christian literature of the past few centuries -- is very mixed.

So far as I can see, there was a no time a uniform custom agreed on by all. Scripture translations, commentaries, sermons, devotional literature. .. in all cases you will find some that DO, others that don't.

BUT there do seem to be tendencies -- special capitalization is especially common in DEVOTIONAL literature, and perhaps especially in poetry and HYMN texts. (Since poetry is not always as clear as prose, I wonder if the desire to make it clear to the reader that a particular "he", etc. referred to GOD, played a significant role in this. Another possible influence I would like to explore is the habit of capitalizing pronouns and other terms in TITLES... referring to HUMAN authorities, e.g., "His/Your Majesty", and whether perhaps the capitalizing of divine pronouns to refer to "the King of all" followed by analogy.)

As noted above, the early Scripture translations did not do this. In fact, this seems only to have become an issue in the 20th century, with a handful of translations that made the decision to capitalize. These were basically the more 'literal' translations, esp. from 1960 to 1980 (including the NASB, NKJV). Older versions (such as the ASV and RSV), and more recent versions --even of the most 'literal' and most conservative (such as the English Standard Version)-- do not do so, nor do many other 20th century translations, including for example, the conservative and popular New International Version (1978). And even those versions that do capitalize, when explaining the practice (e.g., in introductions) do not appeal to any special tradition of doing so, nor to it showing 'greater respect'

Answer 3

"His," "Him," and "He" are all capitalized for both Jesus and God's name. It depends on who you're referring to. For example, God said to His disciple: "Go jump off a cliff." (though He would never say such a thing; it's just an example) The disciple argued with Him, "Why should I do that? Won't I die?"
or for Jesus:
The Lord jumped over a pool of spikes without harming Himself.

Answer 4

Traditionally, pronouns (he, him, his) are always capitalised (just the initial "h", not the following letters) when referring to God, Jesus and the Holy Ghost (Spirit).

Answer 5

always use capital letters when referring to God or Jesus

Answer 6

Any reference to God or Jesus is always capitalized. Such as, 'He walked on water'.

Answer 7

As an atheist I capitalize Jesus because he was a man, I will only use lower case with respect to he or god.

Answer 8

They are both referred to as "He" or "Him"

Answer 9

Respect and reverence.