Post #36 1700 Years Of The Nicene Creed - "who spoke by the prophets" - What View Of Scripture Was Present At The Council Of Constantinople?

 

Introduction:

    We now come to that fourth and final clause of the Nicene Creed's confession of the Holy Spirit whereby it states: "who spoke by the prophets." Three important points need considered before we expound this phrase. 

1. First, what was going through the minds of those who attended the Council of Constantinople when they agreed upon this part of the Creed? Were they committed to a high view of Scripture? This first consideration will help us to grasp what all is included in the confession "who spoke by the prophets". 

2. The second point about the confession of the Spirit's role in the Divine revelation of the Scripture is did the Council of Constantinople, and thus their update to the original Creed of Nicaea in 325 reflect the prevailing view of the early church's stance on the Scripture? Did their position of the nature of Scripture match that of Jesus and the Apostles? This second consideration, when combined with the first, will aid us in the third point. 

3. The third point regarding the Holy Spirit "who spoke by the prophets" has to do then with what ought the church confess about the Scriptures today? Does the Nicene Creed's confession, as well as the early church's view match more closely with modern Biblical criticism's denial of Biblical inerrancy and infallibility? Or is the historic position of Christianity (rooted ultimately in Jesus and the Apostles and expressed in the Creeds) more aligned with conservative Bible believing Christianity's insistence on inerrancy and infallibility as necessary feature of the Holy Spirit's Divine inspiration of the Scriptures? 

What was the view of Scripture by those who attended the Council of Constantinople in 381 A.D?

    We will devote the rest of this post to this first consideration since it helps us to rightly interpret the intent of the Nicene Creed's confession of the Holy Spirit as the One "who spoke by the prophets". 

    In previous posts we noted that one of the leaders at the Council of Constantinople in 381 A.D. was Basil of Caesarea, known in church history as "Basil the Great" and often associated with two other theologians (Gregory of Nyssa and Gregory of Nazianzus) who all together were known as "The Cappadocian Church Fathers" and their defense of the doctrine of the Trinity. Basil wrote a treatise entitled "On The Holy Spirit" whereby he defended the orthodox doctrine of the Holy Spirit's personality and deity against a heretical group called "the spirit-fighters" or "pneumatomachoi". In that work, Basil refers to the Scriptures as "The Word of Truth". 

    In chapter six of his work "On The Holy Spirit", Basil wrote in response to the "spirit-fighters":

"We acknowledge that the word of truth has in many places made use of these expressions; yet we absolutely deny that the freedom of the Spirit is in bondage to the pettiness of Paganism. On the contrary, we maintain that Scripture varies its expressions as occasion requires, according to the circumstances of the case."

    That phrase "Word of Truth" is found several times in the Biblical text. Perhaps one of the more prominent passages of Scripture containing this phrase is 2 Timothy 2:15 "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth." Jesus said of the Scriptures in His High-priestly prayer in John 17:17 "Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth."

    At bare minimum we can say Basil the Great had a high view of Scripture that did not merely confess it as "containing truth" or "bearing witness to truth" as claimed by twentieth century theological liberalism or Neoorthodox theologians such as Emil Brunner or Karl Barth. Rather, Basil held to the Scripture being truth itself as revealed and inspired by the Holy Spirit. 

    Athanasius, who died less than ten years before the Council of Constantinople is worthy of mention, since he was chief architect behind the original Creed of Nicaea in 325 and arch defender of Christ's deity against the dreaded Arian heresy of that era. Athanasius was a close friend of Basil the Great and in many ways his theological mentor. In one of Athanasius' writings (Against the Heathen), he notes this of the Scriptures in his opening paragraph:

"For although the sacred and inspired Scriptures are sufficient to declare the truth..."

    Athanasius possessed a high view of Scripture just as much as Basil. In his famous Easter or Festal Letter of 367 A.D., Athanasius enumerates as a public statement the historically recognized books of the Old and New Testament canons. At one point he notes this of the Scriptures:  

"to set before you the books included in the Canon, and handed down, and accredited as Divine."

     In other words, the words of the Bible possessed the same attributes as God - incapable of lying (i.e. infallibility) and inerrancy or always being true. Basil and Athanasius are two prominent representatives of what would have been the view of the church fathers who attended the Council of Constantinople. Furthermore, Basil's work "On The Holy Spirit" has been shown to heavily influenced the section in the Nicene Creed's confession of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, we have at least answer to our first consideration as to what was the view of Scripture represented by the Council of Constantinople and its drafting of the Nicene Creed of 381. 

    In the next post we will further explore whether this high view of Scripture behind the Nicene Creed's confession of the Holy Spirit as the One who spoke by the prophets was the view of the early church at large. 

Post #35 1700 Years of the Nicene Creed: "who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified"

Above picture was a photo I took of a sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean down at Ocean City, NJ.

Introduction:

    As we continue on in our study of the Nicene Creed, we progress further in the Creed's section on the Holy Spirit. To review, four statements are found in the Nicene Creed's confession of the Holy Spirit. I'll give headings to ease our memory of past postings.

1. The Deity of the Holy Spirit.

"And in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of life. 

2. The Divine relation of the Holy Spirit with the Father and the Son.

" who proceeds from the Father and the Son".

3. The Divine equality of the Holy Spirit with the Father and the Son.

"who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified."1

4. The Divine Author of the Scriptures.

"who spoke by the prophets."

     Today we move on to consider the Divine equality of the Holy Spirit with the Father and the Son in how He is worthy of worship and glory with them.    

The Holy Spirit, who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified.

    Let's breakdown this clause phrase-by-phrase in the Nicene Creed. 

Proper arranging of our worship - "The Holy Spirit, who with the Father and the Son together". 

    First, we find a proper arranging of our worship of the Spirit as He is in eternal relation to the Father and the Son. Sometimes people wonder if it is appropriate to pray to the Holy Spirit. As we shall see in a moment, the short answer is "yes". I often pray for the Holy Spirit to strengthen me before I preach. The point of this first phrase is to remind us that when we pray to the Father, Son, or Spirit, we automatically include any of the other two Persons, since all three are One God. The "proper arranging of worship" aids our faith and mind in its trek to commune with God.

    Four New Testament texts help us to consider this proper arrangement of our worship of the Holy Spirit with the Father and the Son. When Jesus taught His disciples to pray in Matthew 6:9-12, He told them to aim their prayers to the Father in Matthew 6:9 “Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be Your name." The Person of the Father in the Trinity is the origin of the eternal relations He has with the Son and with the Holy Spirit through the Son, with the Divine essence unoriginated and common to all three. It makes sense to direct our prayers to the Father as that relational source - as one would trace a river to its source. 

    The second text is Ephesians 2:18 "for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father." The arrangement of all prayer, worship, and glorifying of God is directed to the Father and through our Mediator, the incarnate Son, Jesus Christ. He, after all, is the Mediator (1 Timothy 2:5) who perfectly is and does reveal the Father (Hebrews 1:2-3).2 The worship of the true and living God is directed to the Father, through the Son, and by the Spirit. 

    We come then to our third passage that directs us on the arranging of our worship of the Holy Spirit - namely 2 Corinthians 3:18 "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit." 

    As He did in creation, and as He does in salvation, the Holy Spirit brings to completion and to fullest expression the revelation of God's glory. The Spirit of God brings to us in worship what we seek from the Father through the Son - delight in and desire for God. This is why the Nicene Creed affirms the proper arranging of our worship of the Spirit as never separated from the Father and the Son, since His task is to draw our attention to the Father through the Son to make known the glory of God (John 16:14-15). 

Personal adoration of the Spirit - "is worshipped".

    Once we understand the proper arranging of our worship of the Spirit as He eternally relates to the Son and the Father, we can then grasp why it is appropriate to include Him in our adoration of God. Basil of Caesarea, whom I've mentioned before in prior posts, wrote a wonderful book "On The Holy Spirit" to defend the deity of the Holy Spirit and who also was the chief contributor to the article on the Holy Spirit in the Nicene Creed.3  Basil notes this of the Holy Spirit as worthy of worship as God in his "One The Holy Spirit", 9.22:

"On our hearing, then, of a spirit, it is impossible to form the idea of a nature circumscribed, subject to change and variation, or at all like the creature. We are compelled to advance in our conceptions to the highest, and to think of an intelligent essence, in power infinite, in magnitude unlimited, unmeasured by times or ages....".

Basil then later notes:

....."but as Supplier of life; not growing by additions; but straightway full, self-established, omnipresent, origin of sanctification, light perceptible to the mind, supplying, as it were, through Itself, illumination to every faculty in the search for truth; by nature unapproachable, apprehended by reason of goodness, filling all things with Its power."

      Basil reminds us that the Holy Spirit is by nature God, one with the Father and the Son, and thus just as much worthy of worship as they. Modern author Geoffrey Thomas wrote a book for Reformation Heritage Books in 2011 entitled "The Holy Spirit". What he writes captures our point and Basil's point of why the Holy Spirit is included in our worship:

"The Holy Spirit is a person, and the Holy Spirit is God. So when our Lord commissioned the church to go into all the world and make disciples of all nations, He stipulated that they should be baptized 'in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost' (Matt. 28:19). The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Spirit is God. These three are One God."

Pleasure of communing with the Holy Spirit - "and glorified".

   We've looked at the proper arranging of our adoration of the Holy Spirit and our personal adoration of Him. We arrive at one final heading - the pleasure of communing with the Holy Spirit as seen in that phrase "and glorified". 

    Notice with me the whole clause with our final phrase underlined: "who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified." John Piper years ago coined a statement that has helped me over the years in my worship of God: "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him". 

    The Holy Spirit makes complete and satisfying our worship of God by the appreciation of the glory of God. We had noted earlier 2 Corinthians 3:18. That text in Paul's second letter to the Corinthians anchors us in the proper arranging of our worship, our personal adoration of the Spirit, and our personal enjoyment of Him. If my worship of God does not lead to enjoyment of Him - my worship is incomplete. 

Closing thoughts for today's post.

    To illustrate, one of my children enjoys looking at sunsets (just as I enjoy sunrises). She will drive many miles to catch the sun setting over a harbor in our area. What if she drove all that way, found the perfect spot, and yet had just missed the sun's setting? The joy of seeing the sunset would make her trip incomplete. The Holy Spirit is necessary in our worship because He is the One who brings to us the inner life of God, since He Himself is God! He is the One who enables me to approach the Father through the Son. He is the One who makes possible such worship. As I participate in the Holy Spirit's working, I come to find myself delighting in God, just as driving many miles is worth it - if one gets to see a sunset over a lake. 

Endnotes:

1. We have so far studied the first two clauses that pertain to the deity of the Holy Spirit and His Divine relating to the Father and the Son. We have witnessed in the confession in those first two headings the identity of the Holy Spirit as "proceeding" from the Father and the Son, as well as His deity as "Lord and Giver of life". If one takes those two headings seriously, then it follows that the Holy Spirit is worthy of worship along with the Father and the Son.

2 The eternal Son is termed "the second Person of the Trinity" due to the ordering of the eternal relating within the Godhead. The Father eternally begets the Son as it pertains to His identity, with the Son and the Father spirating or breathing out the Holy Spirit as the eternal procession of who God is as the living God, as the "Lord and Giver of Life". The Son is of the same nature as the Father while in ordering of eternal relation He is begotten of Him as we've looked at earlier in other posts in this series.

3. As Basil writes on the Holy Spirit's deity, He keeps in mind the Spirit as being Personally God, even though He uses the pronoun "it" in referencing Him (the word for Spirit in the Greek is grammatically neuter, which explains Basil's way of talking of the Spirit, who himself wrote "On The Holy Spirit" in Greek).

Post #34 1700 Years of the Nicene Creed: "Who proceeds from the Father and the Son" - Applications Of The Filioque And The Spirit's Procession To The Christian Life

Introduction:

    The last two posts devoted time to unpacking the Nicene Creed's statement "who proceeds from the Father and the Son" here Growing Christian Resources: Post #32 1700 Years of the Nicene Creed: "Who proceeds from the Father and the Son" - Biblical Passages And Introduction To The Filioque Controversy and here Growing Christian Resources: Post #33 1700 Years of the Nicene Creed: "Who proceeds from the Father and the Son" - More About The Filioque, Comparing The Spirit's Procession To The Son's Begottenness. In these posts we laid out the Biblical data undergirding the Nicene Creed's confession of the Holy Spirit's procession from the Father and the Son. 

    We also explored the historical background behind the addition of the phrase "and the Son" ("filioque") to the Nicene Creed at the third council of Toledo in 589 A.D. What I want to do today is finish up this part of our study with final clarifications and summaries on the doctrine of the Spirit's procession, the filioque controversy, and why all this has bearing on Christians living in the 21st century. 

The procession of the Holy Spirit is the breathing forth of the living essence by the Father and the Son to the Holy Spirit, thus He as "the living God".

    The name "Spirit", as observed in our last post from reading an excerpt from J.P. Boyce's "Abrstracts of Systematic Theology", refers to "breath, wind". Thus, in the eternal act of the Spirit's procession we have expressed the notion of the Father and the Son "breathing out" or what theologians call "spiration" of the Holy Spirit. 

    The Holy Spirit's procession or spiration from the Father and the Son carries with it what the Creed has already confessed in its opening statement on the Holy Spirit: "who is the Lord and Giver of life". This eternal "breathing out" or "spiration" of the Spirit is a big part of the Biblical revelation of God as "the Living God". Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 3:3 "being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts." 

    As the Proceeding Person in the Trinity, we see this eternal identification of the Spirit expressed in the works He does in being sent by the Father and the Son - what theologians call "missions". 

    In His "mission" of creation, the Holy Spirit brings forth biological life to the created order, adorning and completing the work of creation structured by the Son and originated by the Father (Psalm 104:24-30). As it pertains to spiritual life or the new birth, the sending of the Spirit to draw and regenerate sinners' hearts in saving faith constitutes in part the totality of Who He is as the very life of God in the Trinity (John 3:5,6,8). 

    19th century theologian Charles Hodge noted in volume one of His Systematic Theology concerning the Holy Spirit as the source of life:

"He is the immediate source of all life. Even in the external world the Spirit is everywhere present and everywhere active." Hodge then noted: 

"but to the omnipresent Spirit of God. It was He who brooded over the waters and reduced chaos into order. It was He who garnished the heavens." 

    Hodge then went on to describe how the Holy Spirit's work as "Lord and Giver of Life" who "Proceeds from the Father and the Son" is the source of all physical, intellectual, and spiritual life as it pertains to salvation. The doctrine of the Holy Spirit's procession means He is eternal in His abundance to give life and He brings to us the inner life of God as He connects those whom He regenerates in saving faith to the Father, through the Son (John 6:63). 

    Today we will look more into what historically brought about the "filioque" controversy, its theological ramifications, and why it matters to 21st century Christians. 

Some final reflections on the Filioque controversy and the Spirit's procession.

    The Council of Constantinople greatly expanded the section on the Holy Spirit and dropped the anathemas concerning the denial of the Son's deity. It was that expansion on the church's confession of the Holy Spirit that was needed to stave off the heresy of a group called "the Spirit-fighters" that prompted the change in 381. 

    In 589 A.D. there was to be a third major and last change to the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed of 381 wherein the phrase "and the Son" was inserted to affirm the double procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father and the Son.

    Since the early church expressed its theological commitments in Latin, the inserted phrase "and the Son" would had been the Latin "filioque" (with "filio" meaning "Son", "que" meaning "and"). The so-called "filioque" controversy erupted after the third council of Toledo, Spain in 589 A.D. affirmed the "filioque" clause to be in the Nicene Creed. 

    Let me comment here that church history attests to theologians already affirming the double procession of the Spirit long before this council (compare for instance a well-documented history of such affirmations here The Holy Catholic Religion: The Insertion of the Filioque into the Nicene Creed and a Letter of Isidore of Seville.) If one takes for instance the Athanasian Creed, dated over a century before the Council of Toledo, there is a clear confession of the double procession of the Spirit from the Father and the Son:

"The Holy Spirit was neither made nor created nor begotten; he proceeds from the Father and the Son."

    Amazingly, we can go back even earlier to find this doctrinal commitment. Church historian and theologian Robert Letham notes of how the confession of the Spirit's double procession from the Father and the Son went back to within a year after the Council of Constantinople in an article at Ligonier Ministries here What Is the Procession of the Holy Spirit? :

"How important is this? The following year, the Synod of Rome pronounced on the matter in its synodical letter, leaving no doubt. The Spirit is, with the Father and the Son, “one being, uncreated and of the identical being and eternal trinity.” Its series of anathemas undergird the point. These are pronounced against any who deny, among other things, that the Spirit is from the Father. Such would be a heresy and a deviation from the gospel."

Letham then concludes in the same article:

"In short, the Synod—and the church ever since—considered the deity of the Spirit and His procession from the Father to be at the heart of the gospel and vital to the knowledge of God." 

The filioque clause was connected to the conversion of a king.

    In looping back to what unfolded at the Council of Toledo, and without going into all the political and ecclesiastical developments of that time, a certain Visigoth King by the name of Recared renounced his Arian commitment and converted to the full Trinitarian Roman Catholic faith of that time. When the third Council of Toldeo convened in 589, King Recared's confession of His new found faith was read. In that confession of faith, the King was aided by his spiritual mentor and presider of the Council who taught him the doctrine of the Holy Spirit's procession from the Father and the Son. 

    As they say, "the rest is history". Since that time, in versions of the Nicene Creed that we have in the Roman Catholic Church and Protestant churches coming out of the Reformation, the filioque clause is confessed. I find it interesting that the filioque clause emerged out of a king's conversion to Christianity, reinforcing that sound doctrine is never a dry, impersonal detail but undergirds living faith. It would be from this council that tensions would rise between the Western and Eastern branches of the Christian church.1

Why the filioque and the Spirit's procession matters today.

    As a pastor I find the doctrine of the filioque fascinating but also deeply applicable to the Christian life. Let me draw out four applications as we draw this portion of our study to a close on the Nicene Creed's clause "who proceeds from the Father and the Son".

1. First, the Holy Spirit unites the Christian to the Son from saving faith onward (1 Corinthians 12:1-3). He brings to sinners saving faith whereby they can confess Jesus as Lord. He also enables the Christian to confess God the Father as His Father (Romans 8:14-16; Galatians 4:4).

2. Second, the filioque reminds us that the Three Persons of the Trinity are inseparably united as one true God. In Romans 8:9; Acts 16:7 and several other New Testament passages, the Holy Spirit is called "Spirit of God" and "Spirit of Christ". Whenever we are dealing with the Holy Spirit we are at the same time dealing with the Father and the Son. At no time is the Christian ever not dealing with the entirety of the Godhead. In other words we have the undivided attention of the One True and Living God.

3. The third application of the phrase "who proceeds from the Father and the Son" is relevant to the prayer life. Paul reminds us in Romans 8:26-27 of the Holy Spirit's intercession for the Christian here on earth as He carries our requests straight to the Son, with the Son in turn interceding in Heaven to the Father for us (see Hebrews 7:24-25). The answer to prayer then comes back from the Father, through the Son, by the Spirit (Ephesians 2:18). The filioque or "double procession" of the Holy Spirit teaches me there is ongoing activity from Heaven to earth when it comes to prayer. We have an "open line" with the Father, through the Son, by the Spirit. 

4. Fourthly, Christian worship is made possible by the Holy Spirit's double procession from the Father and the Son. He illuminates or makes plain the Biblical text as the preacher preaches and as the congregation listens to the sermon. The Holy Spirit shows us the Son of God from whom He proceeds (John 16:8-12) and also enables us to perceive the Father drawing us closer to Himself from whom He (the Holy Spirit) also proceeds (John 15:26). The Holy Spirit is truly the ambassador of the Trinity, bringing to the church the inner life of God in its worship, its singing, and its mission in spreading the Gospel throughout the world.  

Endnotes:

1. Tensions between the Western and Greek branches of Christendom were rising by this point in the late sixth century, with the actions at the Council of Toledo only accelerating what would become an eventual split nearly 500 years later in 1054 A.D.  The Greek Orthodox to this day denounce Western Christendom for making this addition, noting it takes away from the unique relation that Father has in begetting the Son and from His unique relation with the Holy Spirit in the Spirit's procession from Him. The Western Church counter's that the addition of "and the Son" ("filioque") preserves the equality of the Son with the Father while reflecting the Biblical teaching of the Holy Spirit proceeding or coming forth from them both. 

Post #33 1700 Years of the Nicene Creed: "Who proceeds from the Father and the Son" - More About The Filioque, Comparing The Spirit's Procession To The Son's Begottenness

Introduction:

    As I continue writing this post series on the Nicene Creed, the last thing I want is to make these posts too academic and neglect how much the Nicene Creed leads us to consider God's grandeur. We are currently continuing in our attempts to expound the Nicene Creed's statement about the Holy Spirit: "who proceeds from the Father and the Son". 

    The procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father and the Son is a deeply practical as well as theologically rich truth to consider. Decades ago the late W.A. Criswell of the First Baptist Church of Dallas preached a series of sermons on the Holy Spirit wherein he focused on this particular part of the Nicene Creed here History of the Doctrine of the Holy Spirit – W. A. Criswell Sermon Library 

    What Criswell said near the beginning of that sermon captures well my aim in these posts: "It is a study that brings to my own soul an incomparable new understanding.  And it is my earnest and humble prayer that in these days God will give to us a new knowledge of the presence of the Spirit in our congregation and in our own souls."  

    In our last post we surveyed the key Scriptural texts for support of the Holy Spirit's procession from the Father and the Son. As we continue on noting the details of the filioque controversy and why it matters, it is important to understand what is meant by the term "Procession".

In one respect the doctrine of the procession of the Holy Spirit is hard to comprehend.

    As I began entering into this portion of the Nicene Creed, I knew that words were going to reach their limit. We must not forget that in confessing one's faith in the Triune God, the Nicene Creed is recited in the context of worship and awe of this God. Nineteenth century Baptist theologian J.P. Boice wrote this of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit's procession:

"This outbreathing of God is even more difficult to interpret, and the nature of the relation thus indicated even more incomprehensible than that of the generation of the Son. In this, therefore, as in that, we must be content to accept the statement, just as it is revealed, being only careful to separate from it all ideas inconsistent with acts of God."

    Boice then states:

"The procession of the Spirit, must, therefore, be regarded as eternal action, completed, only because perfect, and continuing, only in the sense of not ended."

The key doctrinal points were central to the filioque controversy between Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches

    The Holy Spirit was promised by Jesus to His disciples and to His church. This term "procession" as expressed in John 15:26 and in the Nicene Creed carries with it a reminder of how the Holy Spirit brings to the Christian the inner life of the Triune God. When I read in Romans 8:9 of the Holy Spirit being "the Spirit of God" and "The Spirit of Christ", the doctrine of His double procession brings home that He legitimately connects every Christian to God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 

    What is at stake in the filioque ("and the Son") controversy? Among other things, the whole issue of the filioque centers on whether the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father alone or whether we also include the Son. 

    Our Eastern Orthodox friends complain that inclusion of the filioque would make there to be two sources and a possible division within the life of God Himself, resulting in making the Father and the Son as different sources in the Godhead and the threat of modalism, a third century heresy denounced by the early church. 

    The Western Church has historically countered that by adding "and the Son" (or "filioque") in the church's confession of the Holy Spirit's procession, it preserved what had already been confessed by past theologians (such as Augustine in his "On the Trinity") and other creeds (such as the Athanasian Creed of 450 A.D) prior to the Council of Toledo in 589 A.D. 

    In the minds of the Roman Catholic Church at the Council of Toledo in 589 A.D., confession of the filioque enabled greater confession of the unity of the Son with the Father, as well as better preserving of the unity of the Godhead. The fear was that the Eastern Orthodox insistence on the Father alone being the source of the Holy Spirit's Person could drift toward seeing the Holy Spirit too separated from the Son, veering toward the ancient heresy of tritheism. 

    Whether such tendencies would have resulted in modalism or tritheism remained to be seen. Nevertheless, such theological argumentation and certain political movements in Spain at the time led to the convening of the sessions of Toledo at the end of the sixth century.  These two charges from either side summarized theologically why the Council of Toledo chose to include the filioque clause and why the Eastern and Western churches would severely split as they did in 1054 A.D.

How the Son being begotten can help us discuss the Holy Spirit's procession.

    One thing a Biblical understanding of the Holy Spirit does is to point us back to the Son. If we but for a moment reflect on what is true about the Son in His being begotten by the Father, we may be able to glean insight into the otherwise imponderable mystery of the Spirit's procession from the Father and the Son. We need to walk back to two posts where we looked at the meaning and nature of the Son's generation or "begetting" from the Father here Growing Christian Resources: Post #8 1700 Years of the Nicene Creed - "The only begotten Son of God" (P1 Arguments favorable to the doctrine of the eternal generation of the Son) and here Growing Christian Resources: Post #9 1700 Years of the Nicene Creed - "The only begotten Son of God" (P2 Why the doctrine of eternal generation holds despite opposing arguments to it)

    Within the Trinity the Persons of the Godhead relate to one another by what theologians call "relations of origin". These relations of origin refer to two terms relevant to our current discussion: The Son being "begotten" (Psalm 2:7; John 1:14,18; 3:16;3:8; Acts 13:33; Hebrews 1:5; 5:5; 1 John 4:9) and the Holy Spirit's "procession" (John 15:26). The Nicene Creed devotes several lines to expounding the first term, begotten:

1. "the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds"

2. "begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made."

    In the Nicene Creed's confession of the Son as "the only begotten", the culminating word "homoousios" (one substance) shows the heart of the Father's begetting or filiation of the Son, namely that He and the Son are identical in nature and distinct in their identities as "Father" and "Son".1

    What then can we say about that second term, procession? Much like the term "begotten", the Holy Spirit's procession attempts to convey the Holy Spirit as equal to the Father and Son in essence. 

    At the same time, the term "procession" communicates that the Holy Spirit is distinguished from the Son in that He "proceeds", rather than being "begotten".  Consequently, this leads us to consider why the Holy Spirit is called "The Spirit" in the Bible. 

    The name "Spirit" reveals the manner of this procession He enjoys from the Father and the Son.1 J.P. Boice's "Abstracts of Systematic Theology" explains what is entailed in this term "procession" and the Holy Spirit's designation as "Spirit": 

"When it is remembered, that these names describe persons subsisting in the same divine essence, this fact becomes very significant of some peculiar distinction between them in the mode of such subsistence." 

    Boyce's use of the term "subsisting" and the closely related term "mode of such subsistence" refers to each member of the Trinity as an "eternally abiding subject with distinct personal properties".2 The Son for instance has a "personal property" of being begotten that is not that of the Father nor the Spirit. As an "eternally abiding subject" or "subsistence", the Son has always been "the Son", which entails the Father always being "The Father". 

    When we apply this language to our discussion of the Holy Spirit in terms of His procession, we can say the Son is begotten but does not proceed from the Father, for example. The Father is not begotten, since He as the source of relations in the Trinity begets the Son and breaths out the Spirit with the Son. The Holy Spirit as a "subsistence" is as eternal as the Father and the Son, proceeding from the them both and thus not begotten (like the Son) nor unbegotten (as the Father). Such terms, though at first awkward, is how the early church carefully discussed the Trinity. 

    Boyce then continues in His exposition of the term "procession" with respect to the Holy Spirit:

"The word “pneuma,” which is the designation in the Greek original, means spirit, breath, or wind, and seems to indicate some influence, or power which proceeds from God, not impersonally, but with a personal relation in the Godhead."

          It is here where Boice points out how theologians describe the Spirit's procession as a "breathing out" or "spiration" by the Father and the Son from all eternity. The title or name "Spirit" entails the doctrine of the procession of the Spirit and helps us at least to see how the Spirit conveys the very life of God within the Trinity. 

Conclusion for now

    As we continue to slowly unpack the meaning of the Nicene Creed's confession about the Holy Spirit: "who proceeds from the Father and the Son", we can say that like the term "begotten" in regards to the Son, the Holy Spirit's procession refers to the equality of nature He shares with the Father, leading to the conclusion that He, the Son, and the Father are co-equal and co-eternal sharers of the one, undivided nature. Also too, the idea of "procession" is what distinguishes the Holy Spirit from the Son and the Father. 

    Although we may not comprehend all that is expressed by passages such as John 15:26 and Romans 8:9 relative to the Holy Spirit's procession from the Father and the Son, the Nicene Creed's choice to use this term expresses a staple in Trinitarian thought of the equality and distinctiveness of the Persons of the Triune God. In our next post we will go a little more further unfolding this term and the discussion about the filioque. Stay tuned!

Endnotes:

1. Theologians call the Son being begotten and the Spirit as Proceeding by the term "modes of subsistence". This ought not be confused with the heresy of "modalism", which confuses the Persons with being nothing more than different modes in the being of God. To say "modes of subsistence" is to describe why each "Person" in the Godhead is distinguished from the other two. To "subsist" in Trinitarian theology refers to an "abiding agent" or "abiding subject", meaning the Father, Son, and Spirit are each acting subjects who bear in equal measure the undivided essence of God. When we attach the term "mode", al we are saying is that what makes the Son the Son and not the Father or the Spirit is that He is "begotten". Also, what makes the Spirit the Spirit is that He "proceeds" from the Father and the Son and is not "begotten" by either of them. The Father's "mode of subsistence" then is that He is not begotten nor does He proceed from anyone or anything, since He is unoriginated. 

    It is these two terms "begotten" and "proceeds" in the language of mode of subsistence that keeps the distinction of the Triune Persons intact while preserving they are otherwise equal in all respects as it pertains to the Divine essence, glory, and worthy of worship.

2. When Boyce uses the term "subsistence" or "subsisting", He is describing how the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are abiding, acting subjects, which is the root meaning of the Greek term behind "subsistence", i.e. "hypostasis", or what the Latin church father would later translate with the Latin "persona", whence our term "Person". Put another way, Boyce's use of "subsisting" or "subsistence" describes the eternal relating of the Father begetting the Son and that of the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Father and the Son. 

Post #32 1700 Years of the Nicene Creed: "Who proceeds from the Father and the Son" - Biblical Passages And Introduction To The Filioque Controversy

Introduction:

     In our last post we noted the deity of the Holy Spirit as confessed by the Nicene Creed "I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life" here Growing Christian Resources: Post #31 1700 Years of the Nicene Creed: "Lord And Giver of Life" - The Deity of the Holy Spirit. Today we will look at the Nicene Creed's next clause in its section on the Holy Spirit, namely where it states: "who proceeds from the Father and the Son". 

    We will look today at the main New Testament passages that speak of the Holy Spirit's eternal relation that He has from the Father through the Son along with how the Nicene Creed itself was historically (and controversially) changed to reflect this teaching. Let me first introduce what is known as the "filioque controversy". 

    When I say "controversy", I'm talking about the insertion of the phrase "filioque" (and the Son") into the Latin translation of the Nicene Creed. during the third council of Toledo in 589 A.D. Stephen Nichols years ago wrote a great summary of this controversy in an article in Table Talk at Ligonier Ministries The Great Schism of 1054 by Stephen Nichols:

    "The single Latin word on the sign means 'and the Son.' And this single Latin word holds the dubious honor of being one of the main factors responsible for the largest church split to date: the Great Schism in 1054 between the Roman Catholic Church in the West, with its seat of power in Rome, and the Orthodox Church in the East, with its seat of power in Constantinople. That’s a lot for a single word to bear."

Nichols goes on:

    "Theologians in the West were drawn to filioque because it reflected their understanding of the Trinity. They believed the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. In AD 589, at the Council of Toledo, the Western church officially adopted the phrase and amended the Nicene Creed (from 325/381) accordingly. Since 589, the churches in the West have said the extra Latin word when reciting the creed. Christ’s teaching in John 16:7 offers biblical warrant for the phrase. Eastern churches, however, never appreciated that argument."

Nichols then concludes:

    "The Eastern churches, while affirming the Trinity as three persons in one substance, tend to emphasize the threeness of the Trinity, the individual persons. The West, again while affirming the orthodox definition of the Trinity, tends to emphasize the unity of the Godhead."

What the Scriptures teach of the Holy Spirit in relation to the Father and the Son. 

    I wanted to at least introduce the "filioque" or "and the Son" situation to readers, since it is highly relevant to this series of posts on the Nicene Creed. We will look further into this controversy as to its history, dispute, and theological importance. For now, I want to spend the rest of today's post exploring what the New Testament Scriptures have to say about the Holy Spirit's proceeding from the Father and the Son.

    Whenever we consider the Nicene Creed's confession of the Holy Spirit as "proceeding from the Father and the Son", we begin with the New Testament in three areas: direct teaching, indirect teaching, and titles of the Holy Spirit. 

Direct affirmations of the Holy Spirit's procession from the Father and the Son.

    As for the direct teaching about the Holy Spirit in this regard, Jesus' thorough instruction in John 14,15, and 16 is where we start. In John 14:16 Jesus teaches:  

"I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; 17 that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you."

    This blessed promise from Jesus affirms that the Holy Spirit comes from the Father per His request, giving us at least the Spirit's procession from the Father alone - an argument used by the Eastern Orthodox in their arguments against the Western version of the Nicene Creed's "and the Son". However, as we go further into Jesus' final instructions to His disciples on the eve of His crucifixion, we begin to see reference to the Holy Spirit's "double procession". 

    In John 14:26-27 we see Jesus once again reiterating the promised Holy Spirit:

"But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful." 

    No one in the Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, or Protestant branches of Christianity dispute the Holy Spirit coming forth or proceeding from the Father. What Jesus indicates in these verses is that the Father will send forth the Holy Spirit "in my Name", giving us a hint that the Holy Spirit's promised coming is associated with the Son. It is in John 15:26-27 that Jesus makes explicit not only the Holy Spirit's double procession, but we even see the language "proceed" in the passage:

“When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me, 27 and you will testify also, because you have been with Me from the beginning."

    As one goes forward in narrative of John's Gospel, we come to the sixteenth chapter where Jesus next teaches how this same promise is expressed by the Son Himself as source of the Holy Spirit's procession in John 16:7 "But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.'" Thus, the full picture of the Holy Spirit's double procession and the Nicene Creed's confession in its Western version of "who proceeds from the Father and the Son" seems to have strong Scriptural warrant. 

    Jesus makes one final mention of this promise of the Holy Spirit by issuing a statement that explains why the Spirit's procession from the Father and the Son is important in John 16:13-14 "But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. 14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. 15 All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you."

    The Holy Spirit's double procession would bring to the apostles what they needed to write what would be the New Testament documents. The whole 27 book canon was inspired by the Holy Spirit (2 Timothy 3:16-17) as much as the Old Testament (2 Peter 1:20-21). In light of Jesus' inaugurating of the New Covenant would be the promised sending forth of the Holy Spirit, predicted in the Old Testament (Ezekiel 36:25-27; Jeremiah 31:31-34; Hebrews 8). 

    The Holy Spirit's procession and then sending brings to Christians the ability to confess Jesus as Lord (1 Corinthians 12:1-3) and God as Father (Galatians 4:4). The Holy Spirit is the Person of the Trinity that unites us to the glorified incarnate Son in saving faith (1 Corinthians 12:12-13) and that affirms our adoption by the Father (Romans 8:14-16). 

Indirect examples of the Holy Spirit's procession from the Father and the Son.

    Those at least are examples of explicit Scriptures on the Holy Spirit's double procession from the Father and the Son. Some examples of more indirect examples include Jesus' breathing of the Holy Spirit onto His disciples in John 20:22 and of Peter's statement in Acts 2:33 -  "Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear." Peter in that same sermon attributes the promise of the Holy Spirit as associated with the Son in Acts 2:38. 

    What we notice sometimes is that the New Testament will alternate in some places between the Father and the Son as the source of the Spirit's procession, whether to remind readers and listeners of certain Old Testament predictions of the Spirit's outpouring (Acts 2:17-21 quoting Joel 2:28-31, drawing attention to God the Father) or explaining how Christians worship the Father through the Son by the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 2:18).

Titles and activities of the Holy Spirit that show His eternal relating from the Father and the Son. 

       As we begin to draw this post to a conclusion, one final set of New Testament texts that tend to support the teaching of the Holy Spirit's double procession from the Father and the Son (and thus the Nicene Creed's filioque clause "and the Son") has to do with various titles of the Holy Spirit. 

A. "Spirit of God", indicating on the one hand the Holy Spirit in His eternal relating to the Father. 9x. Romans 8:9,14; 1 Corinthians 2:14; 3:16; 7:40; 12:3; Ephesians 4:30; Philippians 3:3.

B. "Spirit of Christ", "Spirit of Jesus Christ", indicating on the other hand the Holy Spirit's eternal relation through and thus also from the Son. 2x. Romans 8:9; Philippians 1:19.

C. "Love" and "Gift", the Spirit's two main titles that show His eternal relation to the Father and the Son. 2x. Acts 2:38; 1 John 4:7-10. 

     I'm certain I've not given an exhaustive listing, nonetheless we have enough passages to lay forth Biblical warrant for the Nicene Creed's confession "who proceeds from the Father and the Son". 

       We can point out how the New Testament will often use certain effects produced by the Spirit in believer's lives to indicate His connection of them to the Father and the Son, thus giving us application of the importance of the Spirit's procession from the Father and the Son, whether in the realm of spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 12:4-6); daily living (Ephesians 5:18-19; Colossians 3:15-16); prayer (Romans 8:26-27); and endurance in the faith (Ephesians 1:3-14). In the next post we will look more into the historical and theological background of how the phrase "and the Son" ("filioque" in the Latin versions of the Nicene Creed in Western Christendom) came to be. Stay tuned!

Post #31 1700 Years of the Nicene Creed: "Lord And Giver of Life" - The Deity of the Holy Spirit

Introduction:

    In the last post we looked at the Nicene Creed's next major section on the Holy Spirit here Growing Christian Resources: Post #30 1700 Years of the Nicene Creed: "And we believe in the Holy Ghost" - Fighting For The Importance of the Holy Spirit. I reviewed the history between the Creed of Nicaea 325 and the expansion of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit in the Constantinopolitan Creed of 381. 

     The 381 Nicene Creed reads as follows on the Holy Spirit:

"And in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified, who spoke by the prophets."

    I then offered a brief outline of this statement:

1. The Deity of the Holy Spirit.

"And in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of life. 

2. The Divine relation of the Holy Spirit with the Father and the Son.

" who proceeds from the Father and the Son".

3. The Divine equality of the Holy Spirit with the Father and the Son.

"who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified."

4. The Divine Author of the Scriptures.

"who spoke by the prophets."

     What we will do in this post is discuss that first main point of the Holy Spirit's deity, co-equality with the Father and the Son, and why He as truly God by nature matters.

Lord and Giver of Life

    In the Greek text of the Nicene Creed of 381, the term "Lord" ["to kurion", τὸ Κύριον] uses the same Greek noun that the Greek New Testament assigned to define the deity of Jesus Christ. This same Greek noun in the Greek Old Testament translation, The Septuagint, is used to translated the underlying Hebrew noun for the Divine name of God, "Yahweh", which is found some 6,000x in the Hebrew Old Testament.1 As "LORD", the Holy Spirit is confessed as truly God in as much as the Father and the Son are truly God by nature. 

    Then we notice the second part of this opening line of the Nicene Creed's confession of the Holy Spirit, that He is "Giver of Life". This preserves what the Bible teaches about God's unique ability to bring to life what would otherwise be inanimate life (Genesis 2:7), as well as to raise to life that which was formerly dead (Romans 8:11). These two truths (creation from nothing and resurrection) provide the most basic definition of His deity.

    Theologian Fred Sanders wrote a post in his blogsite regarding "10 Things You Should Know About The Holy Spirit" here 10 Things You Should Know About the Holy Spirit · Fred Sanders. In that post, Sanders wrote these words in number two of his list:

"The most obvious truth that emerges from locating the Holy Spirit in the Trinity is that the Spirit is fully God. He is not a mere impersonal force emanating from God, or a poetic way of talking about God in action, or a creature commissioned by God to do his work for him. Nor is the Holy Spirit a slice of God, one third of God, or part of a team that adds up to be God. He is one of the persons who fully possesses the entirety of the divine essence. Sound Trinitarian theology is a constant, helpful guide that keeps us from thinking unworthy thoughts about the Holy Spirit."

    The Baptist Faith and Message 2000 notes in its first sentence under its confession of the Holy Spirit: "The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, fully divine." Numerous Scripture citations are given that provide proof for the deity of the Holy Spirit, which support also the confession of the Nicene Creed's "Lord and Giver of Life".2 

The battle to make clear the Biblical teaching on the deity of the Holy Spirit

    We saw in the last post that denial of the Holy Spirit's deity and Personhood stemmed from a heretical group called "the Spirit-fighters" or "Pneumatomachoi". As Basil of Caesarea fought their teachings, he noted in his "On the Holy Spirit" how they taught the Spirit having a different nature than the Son and the Father. As far as this heresy was concerned, the Holy Spirit was unworthy of mention or of worship with the Father and the Son. 

    In chapter 11 of "On the Holy Spirit", Basil offers this airtight Scriptural argument for why the Holy Spirit is worthy of worship, and thus of the same nature as the Father and the Son:

     "I testify to every man who is confessing Christ and denying God, that Christ will profit him nothing; to every man that calls upon God but rejects the Son, that his faith is vain; to every man that sets aside the Spirit, that his faith in the Father and the Son will be useless, for he cannot even hold it without the presence of the Spirit. 

     For he who does not believe the Spirit does not believe in the Son, and he who has not believed in the Son does not believe in the Father. For none can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost, 1 Corinthians 12:3 'and no man has seen God at any time, but the only begotten God which is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him."

Basil then offers this conclusion to his exposition:

"Such an one has neither part nor lot in the true worship; for it is impossible to worship the Son, save by the Holy Ghost; impossible to call upon the Father, save by the Spirit of adoption."

      Certainly in our day we have heretical teachers that deny the Holy Spirit's deity, not only by rejection of His equality of Divine nature with the Father and the Son but also of His Personality as a Triune member of the Godhead. This is why the Nicene Creed's confession of the Spirit as "Lord and Giver of Life" includes reference to His Divine Personhood. The term "Lord" is used to refer to the Holy Spirit in equal relation to the Father and the Spirit in two noteworthy places in Paul's letters. 

      Paul wrote in 2 Thessalonians 3:12-13 "and may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another, and for all people, just as we also do for you; 13 so that He may establish your hearts without blame in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints." 

    To summarize Basil of Caesarea's observation of this particular passage in his work "On The Holy Spirit", what other Lord would be in the text? We have God the Father and the Son clearly referenced in verse 13. The only "He" or "Lord" left is the Holy Spirit. We can make similar observations from 2 Thessalonians 3:5 of the Holy Spirit's Divine personality and nature being on par with the Father and the Son. 

     I've heard Christians throughout the years unintentionally refer to the Holy Spirit as an "it" rather than a "He". To do so is to unwittingly deny His deity. Jesus Himself reinforced the Spirit's Divine personality by utilizing the masculine pronoun "He" in His teachings about the Spirit (John 7:37-39; John 15:26-27; John 16:8-12). 

Closing thoughts:

    The battle for the Holy Spirit's deity ever wages as it did in the late fourth century. To remain faithful to the Bible's revelation of God we must assert His full deity and equality with the Father and the Son as One True and Living God. The Spirit of God is indeed "The Lord and Giver of Life". Why does this matter? 

    First, if the Holy Spirit is not truly God, He cannot deliver and apply salvation to sinners at the time of regeneration and saving faith, for "salvation is of the Lord" (Jonah 2:9). Second, if the Holy Spirit were not God, creation would never had been completed, nor would there be life (Genesis 1:2; Psalm 104:30). Lastly, were He not a Divine Person, no personal knowledge of God would be feasible. 

Endnotes:

1. Another interesting feature of the Nicene Creed's use of the definite article the ["to" in the Greek] to modify "kurion". This form of the article is a grammatical neuter, keeping in line with the grammatical gender of the proceeding Greek noun for "Spirit", "pneuma". The proper name and title "kurion" or "Lord" is grammatically masculine. Daniel Wallace in his "Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics" would refer to this use of the definite article as a pronoun, specifically, it used as a "relative pronoun" which points back to whichever word it is referring.  

     Hence, when we look at the Nicene Greek text of the confession of the Holy Spirit, we see the neuter article throughout its phrases. I've listed the Greek text of the relevant section below with my own English translation. I've also highlighted the relevant grammatical points. 

καὶ εἰς τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ Ἅγιον, τὸ Κύριον καὶ 

Ζωοποιόν, τὸ ἐκ τοῦ Πατρὸς ἐκπορευόμενον,

τὸ σὺν Πατρὶ καὶ Υἱῷ συμπροσκυνούμενον καὶ συνδοξαζόμενον, τὸ λαλῆσαν διὰ τῶν προφητῶν·

and unto the Holy Spirit, the (one who) is Lord and Giver of life; the (one who) proceeds from the Father; the (one who) is to be worshipped together  and glorified together with the Father and the Son; the (One who) spoke through the prophets.

       Why point this out? Because the article is keeping in gender with the word "pneuma" before it, while it directs our attention to the noun "kurios" or "Lord", which is a masculine noun and thus reminds us that the Holy Spirit is not an "it" but a "He", a Divine Person. 

2. Here are the cross references given by the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 Article on the Holy Spirit - Genesis 1:2; Judges 14:6; Job 26:13; Psalms 51:11; 139:7ff.; Isaiah 61:1-3; Joel 2:28-32; Matthew 1:18; 3:16; 4:1; 12:28-32; 28:19; Mark 1:10,12; Luke 1:35; 4:1,18-19; 11:13; 12:12; 24:49; John 4:24; 14:16-17,26; 15:26; 16:7-14; Acts 1:8; 2:1-4,38; 4:31; 5:3; 6:3; 7:55; 8:17,39; 10:44; 13:2; 15:28; 16:6; 19:1-6; Romans 8:9-11,14-16,26-27; 1 Corinthians 2:10-14; 3:16; 12:3-11,13; Galatians 4:6; Ephesians 1:13-14; 4:30; 5:18; 1 Thessalonians 5:19; 1 Timothy 3:16; 4:1; 2 Timothy 1:14; 3:16; Hebrews 9:8,14; 2 Peter 1:21; 1 John 4:13; 5:6-7; Revelation 1:10; 22:17.

Post #30 1700 Years of the Nicene Creed: "And we believe in the Holy Ghost" - Fighting For The Importance of the Holy Spirit

Introduction:

    As we return to our extended series on observing 1700 years of the Nicene Creed, we come to the section that treats confession about the Third Person of the Trinity - the Holy Spirit. As I have pointed out in previous posts in this series, the original Creed of Nicaea from 325 A.D. and the Nicene Creed of 381 A.D. do differ from one another in several respects. 

    Perhaps the two most notable features first involve the wording about the confession of the Son and anathemas for denial of His deity being removed from the 381 version. The second difference between the two versions of the creed involve an expanded section on the Person and work of the Holy Spirit. It is this latter difference that will occupy our time in this post and the next several ones.

Those that opposed the Holy Spirit and the need to fight for His importance.

    The Creed of Nicaea 325 A.D. stated the following about the Holy Spirit: 

"And in the Holy Ghost." 

    The Nicene Creed of 381 greatly expanded the confession of pneumatology, or the doctrine of the Holy Spirit as follows:

"And in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified, who spoke by the prophets."

    What transpired in the fifty or so years between the councils of Nicaea and Constantinople? This expansion on the doctrine of the Holy Spirit was precipitated by the doctrinal challenge leading up to the Council of Constantinople in 381. 

    The focus of the 325 council was not the canon of Scripture (as some try to allege) but rather dealing with the heresy of Arius who denied the co-equality and deity of the Son. I've dealt with this in more detail in previous posts (see part 15 of this series here for more details on the Arian heresy Growing Christian Resources: Post #15 1700 Years of the Nicene Creed - What Is Meant By The Son Being "One Substance With The Father" ). 

    Arianism's core teaching was that the Son was a lesser nature than the Father, making Him to be the highest created being according to the heresy. Arius' common tagline for his error was the statement "there was a time when the Son was not". 

     A side entailment of Arianism was that the Holy Spirit was even less than the Son, not so much a Person as a "force" emanating from the Father. Followers of Arius such as Eunomius would perpetuate this false teaching which was roundly condemned at Nicaea in 325. 

    As with all doctrinal heresies there is a tendency for them to rear their ugly heads. In 370's A.D., shortly after the main defender of Christ's deity at the Council of Nicaea, Athanasius, had died in 373, a theologian from Caesarea named Basil (later known as "Basil the Great" for his defense of orthodox Christianity) took up the responsibility of continuing to preach and defend what had been fought for at the Council of Nicaea. Author Michael A.G. Haykin [Southern Baptist Journal of Theology. Volume 07:3, Fall 2003, Page 75] notes of Basil's work in this time:

"Basil was not only a Christian activist, he was also a clear-headed theologian. When Athanasius (c.299–373), the great defender of Trinitarian Christianity, died, Basil inherited his mantle. Arianism, which Athanasius combated, was still widespread in the eastern Mediterranean. There is little doubt that Basil played a key role in this region of the Roman Empire in the victory of orthodox Trinitarianism over Arianism, which denied the deity of both the Son and the Holy Spirit."

   Suffice to say, there was a heretical group challenging the Personhood and Deity of the Holy Spirit that was a warmed-over error precipitated by the Arian controversy that sparked the need for expanding the original Creed of Nicaea's confession of the Holy Spirit 

How the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed of 381 fought for the importance of the Holy Spirit 

   What the 381 A.D. addition did was to assert the importance of the Holy Spirit in our overall confession of the Triune God. As mentioned already about Basil, he had to deal with a new wave of error perpetrated by a group known as "the Spirit-fighters". This movement taught that the Father and the Son were co-equal and co-eternal - good so far as it goes. However the "spirit-fighters" latched on to Arianism's denial of the Holy Spirit's deity. 

     For Basil, this was painful on two fronts. Not only did he have to engage an old heresy that refused to die, but he also found out that the "Spirit-fighters" was led by a former friend and mentor.  Author Michael Haykin notes of this in the same article I cited earlier:

"Leading these “fighters against the Spirit” (Pneumatomachi), as they came to be called, was one of his former friends, indeed the man who had been his mentor when he first became a Christian in 356, Eustathius of Sebaste (c.300–377). The dispute between Basil and Eustathius, from one perspective a part of the larger Arian Controversy, has become known as the Pneumatomachian Controversy."

     Basil grieved over his former friend's actions but knew the truth of God's Word had to be defended. In the mid-370s A.D. Basil wrote a book that is a precursor to the famous Council of Constantinople called "On the Holy Spirit". Far from being a dry treatise on theology, Basil wrote the book to a young protege by the name of "Amphilochius" who needed discipled on the right understanding of God and who needed wisdom for daily Christian living. 

     When I read "On the Holy Spirit", it reminded me of how Luke wrote his Gospel to Theophilus with the aim to present the historically accurate retelling of Jesus' life, death, resurrection, and ascension. Of interesting note too in Luke's Gospel and his second volume, "Acts of the Apostles", he mentions the Holy Spirit's work more than any other author in the New Testament. 

      In the first eight chapters of "On the Holy Spirit", Basil rehearsed the doctrine of the Trinity, particularly the equality of deity shared by the Father and the Son. It is then beginning at chapter nine all the way to chapter twenty-nine that Basil lays out the Biblical and theological reasons for the Holy Spirit being as much God and as much of a Divine Person as the Father and the Son. 

      It would be this work that would lay the ground for what would be the by-product of the Council of Constantinople in 381 - the Niceno-Constanipolitan Creed that is our focus in this series. To quote Haykin one last time: "The article on the Spirit is deeply indebted to Basil’s On the Holy Spirit." The church had to fight for the importance of the Holy Spirit as taught in the Bible - a battle thankfully won.

Summarizing the Nicene Creed of 381 in its teaching on the Holy Spirit

    I'll offer four headings to the 381 Nicene Creed's statement about the Holy Spirit.

1. The Deity of the Holy Spirit.

"And in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of life. 

2. The Divine relation of the Holy Spirit with the Father and the Son.

" who proceeds from the Father and the Son".

3. The Divine equality of the Holy Spirit with the Father and the Son.

"who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified."

4. The Divine Author of the Scriptures.

"who spoke by the prophets."

Closing thoughts:

      In the next few posts of this series we intend to unpack these four main areas of the Nicene Creed's confession of the Holy Spirit. My hope is readers will find the posts insightful and honoring to the Lord.