“The gift of the Holy Spirit” according to Franklin T. Puckett, evangelist, college professor, and my mentor said that Acts 2:38 in the Greek can either be “the Holy Spirit's gift” or the “gift from the Holy Spirit.” It is in the genitive case and either solution is possible in the original Greek.

There apparently is no special equivalent preposition in Greek for our word “of.” When a Greek noun's ending indicates the genitive case, it is generally translated as a prepositional phrase with our English preposition “of.”ⁱ

The genitive case has more uses than most other cases, but in general a noun in the genitive case helps to limit the scope of another noun by indicating its "kind" or "class".ⁱⁱ Generally, prepositions with a genitive case object functions adjectivally; e.g., “a big, fat, red hen of domestic variety.”    Each word, big, fat, red and “of domestic variety” are genitive and limit, i.e., modifies, the noun “hen.”

There are several types for genitive uses available online but the following list should suffice:

Inalienable possession ("Janet’s height", "Janet’s existence", "Janet’s long fingers"); Alienable possession ("Janet’s jacket", "Janet’s drink” ).     Relationship indicated by the noun being modified ("Janet’s husband").      Substance ("a wheel of cheese").     Elements ("a group of men").     Source ("a portion of the food").     Origin ("men of Rome").     Participation as an agent ("She benefited from her father's love") – this is called the subjective genitive (Compare "Her father loved her", where Her father is the subject.).     Participation as a patient ("the love of music") – this is called the objective genitive (Compare "She loves music", where music is the object).     Reference ("the capital of the Republic" or "the Republic's capital")         Description ("man of honour", "day of reckoning).     Compounds ("doomsday" ("doom's day"), Scottish Gaelic "ball coise" = "football", where "coise" = gen. of "cas", "foot").       Apposition, also called "identification": ("Mount Fuji"; "Garden of Eden"; "city of Rome")

We can readily see that identifying "of the Holy Spirit" as genitive case as some proudly would do, still leaves the relationship of the gift open for further scrutiny.

Let's look at some genitive uses that may be applicable to Acts 2:38.

1. Genitive of “Source or Origin.” Some genitive prepositional phrases imply a "source" or "origin." Our attention or focus moves from the genitive object of the preposition, "from" or "of" the "source." In Greek, the preposition ἐκ ("out of") always takes a genitive object. That is, ἐκ implies movement out of and away from its object.ⁱⁱⁱ A Biblical passage is Ephesians 2:8, “(και τουτο ουκ εξ υμων) this is not of yourselves.” Literally, “this is not from [ἐκ ] yourselves.”^iv This phrase indicates the source from which the modified noun is derived or depends. The word ‘of’ in this case could instead be translated ‘εξ -out of’, ‘derived from’, or ‘dependent on’. The same with the passage, “ With child of (ἐκ, ἐξ^G1537-from) the Holy Ghost” (Matthew 1:18, and 1:20). “God is able of these stones (εξ των λιθων τουτων) to raise up children to Abraham” (Matthew 3:9). However, in such cases as Romans 15:4, the εξ, although claimed to be understood in the context, is absent: "the comfort of (derived from) the Scriptures." This would be true with Ephesians 2:8's “this is not from (εξ) yourselves, this is the gift of God” where the contrast of the εξ phrase “this is not from yourselves” does not repeat the “εξ -from” preposition.

2. Genitive of “Relationship.” In more technical terms a noun in the genitive case helps to qualify another noun by showing its "class" or "kind". It is generally translated into English with a prepositional phrase starting with the word "of"; e.g., "the servant of the high priest" (Mark 14:47). The words "of the high priest" are in the genitive case in Greek and modify the word "servant". In Greek, the word "of" is not present, but it is supplied in the English translation.

3. Genitive of “Possession.” The genitive case is sometimes viewed as the genitive of possession although it does not necessarily indicate ownership. Hebrews 11:25 is an example of possession: “the people of (belonging to) God”; John 1:29 is alos an example: “the Lamb of God...sin of the world.” Another example is "But you have received a spirit of sonship" (Romans 8:15). ^v     “This is, perhaps, the most frequent, and is generally unmistakable... It may be said to answer the question 'Whose?' Luke 2:49, Greek 'The business of My Father' = My Father's business. Rev. 14:12, 'The patience of the saints' = the patience possessed by the saints. Eph. 6:16, 'The shield of faith' = faith's shield, which is the living Word, Christ, Gen. 15:1. ^vi

4. Genitive of “Identification,” also called Epexigetical Genitive and Genitive of Apposition^vii. It is similar to the “noun in apposition.” Two examples: 1. "And he received the sign of circumcision" (i.e., the sign which is circumcision, Romans 4:11); 2. “Temple of His body” (i.e., the temple which is His body, John 2:21); 3. “Sign of circumcision” (i.e., the sign which is circumcision, Romans 4:11). -- "can be translated with ‘namely’, ‘that is’, ‘which is’, ‘who is’ (if a personal noun)." ^viii