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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.
