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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!
