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 #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. 

Post #44 The Doctrine of God - Summarizing Jesus' teaching on the Holy Spirit's ministries and relationship to the Father and the Son

Introduction:

       As we move ahead in our study of the doctrine of the Trinity, I've labored these last several posts to set forth the Biblical theological understanding of the doctrine of God. Before we can consider the Systematic theological treatment of the Trinity (that is, theological conclusions we draw from the Biblical text in conversation with other disciplines), we must first have an understanding of how God progressively revealed Himself through the Bible. 

    The task of Biblical theology with respect to the doctrine of the Trinity it two-fold: God's unity of being and plurality of identity as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Once this foundational work is completed, only then can we move onto consideration of what Christians throughout church history understood reflected in the Biblical data (Historical theology). Consequently, once the work of Biblical theology and historical theology are considered, we can then reap the harvest of systematic theological reflection. 

    We surveyed the Old Testament's teaching and revelation of the Person and work of the Holy Spirit. In this post, we will observe how Jesus handled the revelation of the Spirit's identity and work. 

    Much the same way we observed in our studies of Jesus' teaching on the relationship between Himself and the Father, so too we shall see how Jesus' teaches the Personhood and true deity of the Holy Spirit. Such observations will reinforce to us the Trinitarian understanding of the doctrine of God found in the remainder of the New Testament. 

What Jesus taught on the Holy Spirit

    Throughout the four Gospels we find references to the Person and work of the Holy Spirit. Author John Walvoord's book "The Holy Spirit" summarizes these mentions of the Holy Spirit in the life of Jesus by way of five headings.

1. The Holy Spirit in Christ as a child.

    Isaiah 11:2-3; 42:1-4; 61:1-2 all refer to the anointing of the Messiah with the Holy Spirit. It is in passages such as Luke 1:35; 2:40,52 and John 3:34 that we find the Holy Spirit accompanying Jesus from His virginal conception and early life. Let readers be reminded that the incarnate Son of God has two natures or "two ways of expressing His Personality". There is the "Divine nature" which He shares eternally with the Father and Holy Spirit. Then, we have the "human nature" He received when the Holy Spirit united true humanity to the Person of the Son in the virginal conception in Mary (see Matthew 1:20-23; Luke 1:35). 

2. The Holy Spirit and the baptism of Jesus.

     It was the prediction of Old Testament prophecies (such as Isaiah 11; 61:1-2) that the Messiah, as a man, would be marked by the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, which was fullfilled by Jesus once He was publically baptized. The Spirit of God's working was with the incarnate Son from the beginning of His human life. The empowerment and Messianic anointing phase of the Spirit's working began at Jesus' baptism, thus initiating Him into public ministry. 

      Scriptures such as Matthew 3:17 record for us the descent of the Holy Spirit in the form of a Dove. This public anointing of Jesus was a public way of expressing that Jesus was indeed God's Messiah. Walvoord comments on the scene in Matthew 3:17 - "The Holy Spirit descended in the form of a dove, and Christ was coming up from the Jordon. No better instance of the revelation of the Trinity could be desired." 

    Readers may note that in Jesus' baptism, we have the voice of the Father from Heaven, coupled with the descent of the Spirit upon the Son of God incarnate.

3. The Holy Spirit in relationship to Christ's public ministry (Luke 4:18 compared to Isaiah 61:1-2; also see Matthew 12:28; Mark 5:30; Luke 5:17; 6:19; 8:46). 

4. The Holy Spirit in relationship to the sufferings of Christ.

    Walvoord reminds us here of how the Holy Spirit drove Christ into the wilderness to face Satan the Temper in Mark 1:12 and Luke 4:14. No doubt the writer of Hebrews references the Holy Spirit's work in enabling Jesus to endure suffering on the cross, thus presenting His once-for-all sacrifice to the Father (Hebrews 9:14). 

5. The Holy Spirit's relation to the resurrection and glorification of Christ. 

    Jesus had already indicated in John 11:25 that He was the resurrection and the life. In John 10:17-18, Jesus stated that He could lay down His life and take it up at will. As to the Holy Spirit's work in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, Paul calls Him the "Spirit of holiness" that exercised that resurrection power in Christ's lifeless body to raise Him in Romans 1:4. The Apostles commonly credited the Holy Spirit with the work of raising our Lord from the dead (see Acts 2:32-36; 1 Peter 3:18). 

    Coupled with Jesus' resurrection is the Holy Spirit's activity in His ascension, especially in how He works with the Son in the distribution of spiritual gifts to the church (Ephesians 4:12-16; 1 Corinthians 12:1-7). The coming of the Holy Spirit to empower the church at Pentecost was proof positive of Jesus' ascension (see Acts 2:22-36). 

    It is no wonder that Jesus taught so much on the Person and work of the Holy Spirit, since the Spirit Himself was resident in Christ's humanity, as well as active throughout His life, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension. We find the following two ideas summarizing what Jesus taught about the Holy Spirit.

1. The Holy Spirit as the Divine Person of the Comforter.

    The Deity and Personality of the Holy Spirit are evident in what Jesus taught about Him as "the Comforter", "Helper", or "Paraclete" in John 14:16; 15:26-27; and 16:7. This truth of the Holy Spirit as the Comforter calls to mind all of the references to Yahweh as the "Helper" or "Comforter" of Israel (Deuteronomy 33:26; Deuteronomy 33:29; Psalm 115:9; Isaiah 41:14, 44, 49:8;Hosea 13:9). No doubt the Holy Spirit's predicted ministry to believers would come as a consequence of Jesus' accomplished work and the sending forth of the Spirit by Himself and the Father (see John 14:26; John 15:26).

2. The mutual indwelling of the Holy Spirit with the Father and the Son.

    A couple of posts back I devoted time to showing how Jesus as the Son taught about He and the Father's mutual indwelling or unity with one another as the One True and Living God. 

    This "He in me" language is Jesus' theological short-hand for summarizing how He and the Father are distinct Persons yet truly God within the Godhead or Divine nature. In John 14:17 and 14:23, we see a prime example of how the Holy Spirit would mutually indwell somehow with the Father and the Son in the indwelling ministry He would come to have in the life of believers. 

    Jesus also used this same "Him in Me, I in Him" language to convey the Holy Spirit's work of uniting the Christian to Christ upon their profession of faith in Him. 

    Such a work is what theologians call the "believer's union with Christ". It is this union with Christ that the Spirit uses to bring to every Christian the Person and ministry of Jesus on their behalf in Heaven, so that they may sense their Savior at work within them (see Romans 6:4-12; 1 Corinthians 12:12-13; Galatians 2:20; Colossians 1:27 and roughly 100 other places in the New Testament that use the phrase "in Christ"). The Holy Spirit weds our humanity to His in a wondrous work that Peter describes as "participation in the Divine nature" (2 Peter 1:3-4). What this means is that all that Christ is and has done is mine to experience, enjoy, and to ground my identity.  

    This closeness of "mutual indwelling that the Holy Spirit shares with Christ is of such nature that seven New Testament passages refer to Him as "the Spirit of Christ" or some other variation (Acts 5:9; 8:39; Acts 16:7; Rom 8:9; Galatians 4:6; Phil 1:19; 1 Pet 1:11). 

    Much like what we saw in the mutual indwelling language of the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit's mutually indwelling work with the Father and the Son entails His "unity of essence" with the Father and Son, while preserving His distinct identity as the third member of the Trinity. 

Closing thoughts for the day.

    We have witnessed how much the Old Testament set the tone for the New Testament's teaching of the Holy Spirit as a distinct member in the Godhead, co-equal in power and glory with the Father and the Son. We also observed how Jesus carried on such a "Trinitarian consciousness" in His teaching about the Holy Spirit. In the next post we will lay out what the remainder of the New Testament teaches about the Godhead with respect to the Divine unity of the Godhead and the three distinct Persons. 

Post #43 The Doctrine of God: The Old Testament and Jesus' teaching on the Divine Person of the Holy Spirit

Introduction:

    In the last three posts, I've written about what the Old Testament and Jesus taught about God the Father, His relationship with the Son, and His works in creation and redemption. Interested readers may review those last two most here http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2024/04/post-40-doctrine-of-god-jesus-teaching.html here http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2024/04/post-41-doctrine-of-god-old-testament.html and here http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2024/04/post-42-doctrine-of-god-old-testament.html

    In those prior posts, we covered the following:

1. God the Father as truly God.

2. God the Father sharing the same equality of deity or Godhead with the Son.

3. God the Father being the Creator of the world.

4. God the Father being the Savior of His people.

    We discovered that Jesus was carrying forth the "Trinitarian consciousness" resident within the Old Testament Scriptures and in His own teaching. As the incarnate Son of God Himself, Jesus gave unique authority and personal experience in how He communicate the two truths that form the cornerstone of the doctrine of the Trinity:

1. The unity of the Godhead or Divine nature, revealing God as One True and Living God. 

2. The plurality of Persons within the Godhead, identified as "the Father", "the Son" (or "the Word" and "Angel of the Lord" in the Old Testament), and the Holy Spirit (or "Spirit of God", "Spirit of Holiness", "The Glory of Israel" in the Old Testament).

    We've seen thus far continuity from Old Testament implications about those two cornerstones of the doctrine of God to Jesus' explicit teachings about their meaning. In today's post we want to uncover what the Old Testament and Jesus had to teach about the Person and work of the Holy Spirit.

The Deity, Personhood, and work of the Holy Spirit and His relationship to the Father and Son in the Old Testament.

    As we've explored the Old Testament's teaching on the Godhead or Divine nature, we've discovered what it had to teach us about God's nature and attributes in regards to His unity of being, as well as His Personal identification thus far as the Father. Consideration of the Father gets us to the understanding of God as one true and living God, personally identified as "Father". 

    We've also seen too that mention is made of "the Son" (Psalm 110 and Proverbs 30:4), a.k.a. as "the Angel of the Lord" (Zechariah 3 for instance) and "the Word" (Psalm 33:6,9). Such pre-incarnate appearances of the Divine Son of God in the Old Testament are what we call "Christophanies", whether as one of the three mysterious visitors to Abraham in Genesis 21 or as the fire in the burning bush to Moses (Exodus 3). The Son is revealed as exhibiting the same Divine attributes, names, and actions as the Father, while distinct from Him in regards to identity. In future posts I plan to write about the useage of the term "begotten" to describe the Divine relationship between the Father and the Son, discussed in passages such as Psalm 2:7 and John 3:16).  

    As the student of the Bible explores the Biblical revelation of God, they find a consistency of presentation regarding Divine personhood and Divine nature or Godhead. We've already noticed these two trends in our studies thus far of how the Persons of the Father and Son progress from Old Testament implication to what Jesus Himself explicitly taught. So, do we see this same pattern of Divine Personhood and Godhead with respect to the Holy Spirit? 

    In Genesis 1:2 we see first mention of the Holy Spirit's activity as the Creator "hovering over the waters of the deep". The Spirit's work of infusing life into the otherwise inanimate creation demonstrates His creative capacity as we would expect of God (see Psalm 33:6; 104:29-30; Job 26:13; 33:4; 40:13). Author John Walvoord in his classic book "The Holy Spirit" noted the following about the Holy Spirit's creative activity,

"Creation is ordered by God in such a way as to be self-sustaining to some extent, the design of animal and plant life being such that species are self-perpetuating. Behind the outward phenomena, however, is the work of the Holy Spirit, sustaining, directing, renewing."

    As we understand the Holy Spirit's abilities in creation, we can also note His activity as the Redeemer. No doubt the Holy Spirit was at work in the Old Testament convicting people of their sin and working to change hearts and lives to turn to God in what the Old Testament called "the circumcision of the heart" (Deuteronomy 10:18; Psalm 51:11; Isaiah 63:10-11; Nehemiah 9:20; Psalm 143:10). 

    In as much as the Spirit's work of salvation was not as robust as we see in the New Testament, it nonetheless had the same principles - changing of the heart, saving faith, preservation of the believer in their salvation. Jesus makes note that the key differences of the Spirit's working of salvation in Old and New Testaments was in the former He worked "outward and upon", whereas in the latter He would come to work "inwardly and through" (see John 14:17; John 16:8-12). 

    By the Spirit's works of creation and redemption, we readily see proof of His deity. 

    Further, in those same works we see evidence that He indeed was a "He" and not an "it". The Spirit could be grieved (Isaiah 63:10-11); jealous for His glory (1 Samuel 15:25); exhibiting a will in terms of restraining sin or working forth holiness in the life of the Jewish people (see Genesis 6:1-9; Isaiah 32:15ff; 44:3-5; Ezekiel 36:26; Zech 12:10). The Spirit distributed gifts, another indication of His will or volition (Exodus 31:3; 35:30 for example). We know He spoke to the prophets in words (for instance Psalm 16:9-10; Acts 2:25-31; 2 Peter 1:10-12; 1:19-21). 

Closing out of today's post.

    In addition to the Holy Spirit's deity and personhood in the Old Testament, we finally see evidence of Him alongside the Father and the Son. Two prime examples of this is Isaiah 48:12-16, and even more explcitly, Isaiah 63. Isaiah 63:1-7 shows us God the Father, ever calling to His people. Then in Isaiah 63:8-9 we see the Angel of the Lord, corresponding to the Person of the Son. In Isaiah 63:10-14, we see mention of the Holy Spirit, performing the same acts of deity we mentioned above. Remarkably, the remainder of Isaiah 63 closes with focus upon God as the true and living God, giving us the two foundations necessary for the later New Testament's full revelation of the Trinity: Divine unity and plurality of Personhood. 

The Doctrine of Scripture Series - Jesus In All 66 Books of the Bible - Jesus Is Present With His People In The Book of Acts

Introduction: 

    In today's post, we continue to follow Jesus through the 66 Books of the Bible. We want to note how He is present with His people. The Book of Acts shows us how Jesus Christ, post-ascension, is still accessible to His people back then and to His people in the here-and-now. What follows below is an attempt to discover how the Book of Acts develops this idea. We will then theologically unpack how Jesus Christ as truly God and truly man can be still present with us, even though He has ascended to Heaven (a clue is found in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit). We will close with applications and examples of how Jesus is present with His people in key experiences of their lives.  

Quicknotes on the Book of Acts.

    The Book of Acts records the thirty year span of time that followed Jesus' life, death, burial, resurrection, post-resurrection appearances, and ascension. Acts is the sequel to Luke's Gospel, written by the same author. 

    

    In as much as Acts is called "The Acts of the Apostles", in reality, the Book could be more accurately termed "The Acts of the Holy Spirit". In my reading of the Book of Acts, I find some fifty-seven occasions where the Holy Spirit is referenced. 

    As I pondered on the amount of times one finds the Holy Spirit in the Book of Acts, I was curious as to how often Jesus is found. A search uncovered that Jesus, whether preached, appearing, or referenced, is found in some twenty places. Now why mention these statistics? The one thing we know about the Person and work of the Holy Spirit is that His main job is to point people to Jesus Christ (see John 14:26-27; 15:26-27; 16:8-12). 

    Furthermore, as I mention below, the Holy Spirit connects God's people to Jesus Christ, and He to them. Four times in the New Testament we find reference to this particular ministry of the Holy Spirit in the titles "Spirit of Christ" (Romans 8:9; 1 Peter 1:11) and "Spirit of Jesus" (Acts 16:7; Philippians 1:19). 

    In the Book of Acts, we find the outline for the book contained in Acts 1:8 

"but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” 

    The outline of course conveys the church's witnessing about Jesus in Jerusalem (Acts 1-8); Judea/Samaria (Acts 9-12); and the uttermost parts of the earth (Acts 13-28). Even though the promise spoken of by Jesus pertains to the sending of the Holy Spirit, we nonetheless see the result: the power to testify about Jesus Christ.

Distinguishing the states of Christ.

    Whenever we study the doctrine of Christ (known as Christology) in the Bible, we sometimes will focus attention upon what is called "the states of Christ". All we mean by the term "states of Christ" is in what way creation's relationship to Christ changes as He interracts with it. Also, this discussion pertains to what changes Christ undergoes in His human nature, from incarnation, through resurrection, through ascension, to exalation. It merits our attention to consider the "states of Christ", particularly in the realm of His incarnation in the Gospels (sometimes called "the pre-Pentecost Jesus") and His exalation or ascension in Acts (sometimes called "the post-Pentecost Jesus").

    Most oftentimes, theologians speak of the following "states":

1. Christ's pre-existent state, that is, He as the Second Person of the Trinity, existing co-eternally with the Father and Holy Spirit as the blessed Trinity from all eternity.

2. Christ's pre-incarnate state. When we come into the Old Testament, we find God making appearances to His people or traveling alongside with them. At times, we encounter a figure known as "The Angel of the Lord". This mysterious figure is referred to some fifteen times in the Old Testament. Most theologians refer to the "Angel of the Lord" as a "Christophany", that is, an appearance of the Son. 

    Other manifestations of the Son of God include the rock that somehow accomapnied the Jews in the wilderness (see 1 Corinthians 10:1-6), or the pillar of cloud we find oftentimes in the Book of Numbers. This visible manifestation of Yahweh, Jehovah, i.e. "The Son" (see for instances Psalm 2; Proverbs 30:4), is what we call "Christ's pre-incarnate state", meaning His activity in history before he took unto Himself a human nature.

3. The third state of Christ we often speak of is of course His incarnation. Christ's incarnation is where He, as a Divine Person, unites with truly human nature (comprising a rational human soul and physical body), whence was obtained from the virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit's work in the virginal conception. 

    Sometimes theologians will refer to this miracle of the incarnation as "the hypostatic union". The word "hypostatic" derives from the Greek term "hypostasis" meaning "Person". Hence, the Person of the Son, already having the Divine nature as God, with which He has union with the Father and Spirit, joins to His Personhood the human nature of which we mentioned. 

    The Father and Holy Spirit were not incarnated - only the Son. The incarnation, once begun, would remain a permanent feature of the Son of God's life and ministry as a man, whether on earth or now in Heaven.

4. The fourth state we speak of is the resurrected state of our Lord Jesus Christ. Resurrection refers to a physical body being raised to glory and immortality. It is important at this point to remind readers that when we talk of the "states of Christ", were not speaking of a change in the Divine nature of our Lord. 

    Passages such as Malachi 3:6 and Hebrews 13:8 underscore how the divine nature of deity never undergoes alteration, addition, subtraction, or diminishment (also known as "The Doctrine of Divine Immutability). As God, Christ retains all the perfections and their use. His relationship with our world represents change from our vantage point, being that, for instance, there is a difference between there not being a creation and there being one.

    Whenever Christ would enter our world in the Old Testament, it was not He who changed, but instead He was expressing Himself through the media of the changing creation (whether clouds, rocks, or even temporarily taking on human form (see Genesis 18; Joshua 5). As for Jesus' human nature, that certainly undergoes change. 

    

    Furthermore, in His experience as man, the Son of God learns and increases in knowledge and wisdom, since He has a human mind, along with a human body (see Luke 1:48-52). This applies in the realm of His resurrection of the dead. He ever remained truly God - unchanging and eternal, a Divine Person. As also man, He as the Divine Son of God experiences all that occurs in resurrection as the glorified man, Jesus Christ. One Person, two natures - this is Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh (John 1:14). He as God with us, Immanuel, still remains also "man for us", Jesus, our Savior (see Matthew 1:21-23).

5. The fifth state, which brings us to Acts, is what we call "Jesus' exalted state" or what I've heard referred to sometimes as "The post-Pentecost Jesus". Philippians 2:9-11 records this exaltation of Christ to the Father's right hand. As our exalted Lord, Jesus Christ is our Prophet, who speaks through the Scriptures (Acts 2:30-36; Hebrews 1:1-2). He is our Eternal High Priest, interceding and representing us (Acts 7; Hebrews 7:24-25). He is our Soon coming King, returning for His people and aiming to set up His Kingdom here on earth (Acts 1:11-14; Philippians 3:20). In this exalted state, Jesus Christ still retains His glorified, resurrected body. As man, He is locally in Heaven, seated at the Father's righthand. As God, He is everywhere present with the Father and Spirit.

6. The sixth state, which I'll mention briefly, is what we could call Christ in His "Messianic Kingdom State." Whatever one may believe about the nature of the Millennium in Revelation 20, we know that in the future, Christ's Kingdom in Heaven will become visible and earthly. Luke alluded to this in Acts 1:11-14. Pre-millennialists (like myself) are convinced this will entail a 1,000 year reign on earth before the ushering in of the New Heaven and Earth. Other believers who hold to an A-millennial or Post-Millennial viewpoint believe that Christ's return will usher in the New Heavens and Earth. I won't go into the distinctions between these views, only to point out they all agree that our Lord will return visibly and rule over the earth and the universe from the earth.  Our Lord will be visible to all. This "Messianic State" our our Lord will feature Him ruling on His throne, over the nations, with His saints alongside Him (see Ephesians 3; Revelation 20). 

7. For sake of completion, if we were to assign a possible seventh state concerning Christ in His humanity, it would be where He delivers up the Kingdom to the Father as recorded in 1 Corinthians 15:23-28. This final act, right before the whole creation is renewed (see 2 Peter 3:13 for example), represents Christ and His people together for eternity in a glorified New Heavens and Earth (see Revelation 21-22).

The activity of Jesus in the Book of Acts and today.

    The reason for working through the various states of Christ that we find in the Bible is to aid us in thinking of how we find Jesus in the Book of Acts. For example, we find Jesus encountering Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus in Acts 9:3-7

"Now as he was traveling, it happened that he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him; 4 and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” 5 And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” And He said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, 6 but get up and enter the city, and it will be told to you what you must do.” 7 The men who traveled with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one."

    Who was it that Saul encountered. In 1 Corinthians 15:8, Saul (renamed "Paul", see Acts 13), mentioned Jesus "appearing to Him": "and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also." 

    Whenever we study the other post-resurrection appearances of Jesus mentioned by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:1-8, they all feature Jesus appearing physically, bodily, as the post-resurrected Jesus. Paul classifies Jesus' appearance to Him in these same terms. This appearance of Jesus was not a vision, nor hallucination, nor a trance. There were physical phenomena (light, sound, physical interraction). How do we account for this?

    One of the things we note about Jesus' state of exaltation (i.e. "The post-Pentecost Jesus") is that by the ministry of the Holy Spirit, Who was sent from the Father and Himself to the church at Pentecost in Acts 2 and in subsequent outpourings in Acts 8, 10, and 19), the deity and humanity of our Lord is made accessible to His people. 

    As I stated earlier, Jesus' humanity remains localized in Heaven, whilst His Deity of course is unconstrained by the limits of time and space. His purpose for sending the Spirit was so that He could be connected to His followers here on earth. The New Testament believer in Jesus has a greater accessibility to the "Post-Pentecost Jesus" than the twelve disciples did to the "pre-Pentecost Christ".

    He as the Divine Son of God, united to the Spirit and the Father, is immediately accessible to His people. The humanity of our Lord, also attached to His Person, is made accessible because of the Holy Spirit's working. The whole Christ, as truly God and truly man, is that precious stone that is made accessible by faith to the Christian (1 Peter 2). 

    In the Book of Acts, we see the early church celebrate the Lord's Table (see Acts 2:37-42). The Lord's Supper, instituted by our Lord, depicts this reality of having access to Him by the Holy Spirit. When I eat the bread and drink the juice, I am not eating the body and blood of Christ in those elements. Instead, the bread and fruit of the vine signify or symbolize the reality of other Christians and myself mystically interracting with the Person of Christ by faith, through the Holy Spirit (see John 6; 1 Corinthians 11:23-28). Christ indwells every Christian by the Holy Spirit (John 14:23; Colossians 1:27). We cannot comprehend how this is so. Nonetheless, the Lord's Supper symbolizes and seals this truth of such an experience by faith to every Christian. 

    The introduction to great fifth century Calcedonian Creed expresses this point of Jesus Christ, as truly God and truly man, having the ability to be with His people today:

"We, then, following the holy Fathers, all with one consent, teach men to confess one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the same perfect in Godhead and also perfect in manhood; truly God and truly man, of a reasonable [rational] soul and body; consubstantial [co-essential] with the Father according to the Godhead, and consubstantial with us according to the Manhood. "

    He who was able to mysteriously, yet wondrously appear to Paul on the road to Damascus in Acts 9 is still available to every believer this day. He who stood to receive the soul of Stephen upon his stoning in Acts 7 prays for and feels the pain of every Christian, as their human representative, while exercising His omnipresence as God to meet their every need (see Hebrews 4:16; Hebrews 7:24-25; 1 Peter 4:16-17; 1 John 1:9-2:2). 

    What the Book of Acts establishes as fact about our Lord is expounded further in the New Testament letters. Consider a few New Testament texts that affirm what I just said.

We see how Christ, as truly God and truly man, is present with His people in suffering.

2 Corinthians 1:5-6 "For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ. 6 But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer."

We see also how Jesus is present with His people, by the Spirit, in their worship.

Hebrews 2:11-13 "For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for this reason He is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters, 12 saying, “I will proclaim Your name to My brothers, In the midst of the assembly I will sing Your praise.” 13 And again, “I will put My trust in Him.” And again, “Behold, I and the children whom God has given Me.”

Once more, we note how Jesus as God and man is present with Christians in temptation.

Hebrews 2:14-18 "Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, so that through death He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. 16 For clearly He does not give help to angels, but He gives help to the descendants of Abraham. 17 Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brothers so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. 18 For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted."