Maclear and Williams on Article V: Of the Holy Ghost

i. Connection. Having dealt with the first two Persons in the Blessed Trinity, the Article proceeds to complete the dogmatic statements respecting the Trinity, by treating of the Third Person, God the Holy Ghost.

ii. Source. The Fifth is the first Article that has no equivalent in the series of Edward VI., but was adopted in its entirety in 1562 from the Wiirtemberg Articles of

iii. Object. Besides completing the dogmatic state- ments respecting the Trinity, the Fifth Article has for its object to refute the erroneous opinions current amongst many of the Anabaptist school, who reproduced the errors of Arius2 and Macedonius3 respecting the Holy Spirit, and

• Arius, in denying the proper Deity

of the Son, by consequence denied that of the Holy Spirit also, speaking of Him as the “creature of a creature, ” ktIgixo. KTlcrfiaros.

3 Macedonius taught that the Holy Ghost was BidKovof Kal virTipir-qv of the Father, such in fact as all the Holy Angels. Sozom. iv. 27.

denied His Personality and Deity1, representing Him as ” the creature of a creature.”

iv. Analysis. The Article makes three statements respecting the third Person in the Trinity :

(i) ” That He proceedeth from the Father and the

Son ” ;

(ii) ” That He is of one substance, majesty, and glory

with the Father and the Son ” ;

(iii) ” That He is very and eternal God.”

v. The Characteristic of the Holy Ghost. The

First Person in the Blessed Trinity is, as we have seen2, the sole Fountain of all being, created and uncreated. The source of the Life of the Son is in the Father by virtue of His Eternal Generation from the Father. The source of the Life of the Holy Ghost is in the Father and the Son, and His characteristic is Procession. He is “neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding3.” The Greek verb etcTropeveaOai, which signifies ” procession,” occurs several times in the Gospels4, and is specially used by S. John of the Holy Ghost5.

vi. He proceedeth from the Father, for He is called the Spirit of the Father (Matt. x. 20) ; He is represented as sent by the Father (John xiv. 26) ; He is described as given by the Father (John xiv. 16); and in express words it is said that He proceedeth from the Father6 (John xv. 26).

1 ” Illorum etiam est execrabilis yiwijais, to the Holy Ghost 4kt6-

impudentia, qui cum Macedonio con- pevais.

tra Spiritum Sanctum conspiraverunt, 4 Comp. Matt. iii. 5 ; Mark x. 46 ;

Hum pro Deo non agnoscentes.” Re- Luke iv. 22, &c.

[…]

Compare also the First Article of the kXtjtos…to IIc«u/ua 1-7)5 d\7;0(rias, 5 irapa

Thirteen of 1538. tov irarpbs eKiropeverai. The verb is

3 Hence the three properties at- and several times in the Apocalypse tributed to the Three Persons are to (iv. 5 ; xi. 5 j xix. 21 ; xxii. 1).

the Father iytw-qala, to the Son 6 Wapa toC Uarpbs (Kiropeverai. The

This last declaration is made by our Lord Himself in that discourse in which He predicted the descent of the Com- forter upon the Apostles, and has accordingly been con- fessed in terms by every portion of the Universal Church.

vii. He proceedeth from the Son. Further, in the Western recension of the Nicene formula1, He is said to proceed from the Son, and so it is stated in this Article. For

(a) He is called the Spirit of Christ2 (Rom. viii. 9) ; ((3) He is described as sent by the Son from the

Father (John xv. 26) ; (7) He is actually bestowed by the Son upon the

Apostles (John xx. 22)3.

Thus while He is termed the Spirit of the Father, He is also termed the Spirit of Christ ; while He is described as sent by the Father, He is also described as sent by the Son ;

preposition irapa here used = from, from the side of, is that which is habitually used with the verb to come forth, to denote the Mission of the Son, as John xvi. 27, ‘Eyuj irapa tov irarpbs l^rjKBov ; xvii. 8, irapa gov i^f/\0ov. The reference, then, in this verse is to the Temporal Mission of the Holy Ghost, and not to the Eter- nal Procession. This is clear from the fact that in the Creeds, when the Eternal Procession is spoken of, the phrase isuniformly ” which proceedeth out of,” rb (K tov ilarpbs iiaropevbuevov, where e/c defines the source, and the Greek Fathers, who apply this passage to the Eternal Procession, instinctively substitute ex -out of, for irapa = from, in their application of it. See West- cott in loc.

Nicxa should be accepted by all orthodox churches throughout the world in the form in which it then stood (i.e. without the Filioque), and that no addition should be made thenceforward without the decision of a general Council. Now the Filioque clause never possessed such sanction. It is asserted dogmatically for the first time in a Spanish provincial Council (Toledo, a.d. 589), and seems to have been really admitted by mis- take. Comp. Professor Swete’s His- tory of the Doctrine of the Procession of the Holy Spirit, pp. 169, 170. “Both the King (Reccared) and his Bishops believed the words to be a true part of the original Faith.” Strong’s Man- ual of Theology, p. 176.

2 E£ 5^ tis \vivp.a Xptarov ovk ?xei> ovtos ovk io-riv clvtov. Rom. viii. 9.

3 Here it is the Son, Who on the day of His Resurrection says to the Apostles Advert llvev/ia “Ayiov, John XX. 22.

go GROUP I.

while He is represented as given by the Father, He is also represented as given by the Sou, and can be spoken of as the Spirit of Jesus1 (Acts xvi. 7). So also after the effusion of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost S. Peter traces it to the fact that Jesus being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received the Spirit from the Father, had poured forth that which his hearers saw and heard (Acts ii. 33). He thus regards the Holy Ghost as bestowed by the Father upon men, but as coming to them through Christ. Similarly S. Paul writes to the Galatians, Because ye are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father (Gal. iv. 6)2. These passages tend to establish a special relation between the Holy Spirit and the Son in His glorified Humanity.

viii. He proceedeth from the Father and the Son.

When, then, according to the Western recension of the Nicene Creed, we say that the Holy Spirit proceedeth from the Father, we mean that He proceeds from Him as the sole Fount of Deity3. When we say that He proceedeth from the Son, we do not mean that He proceeds from the Son as from a source independent of the Father, or that He issues forth from the Father with- out coming through the Son. We do not allow that there are two Principles or two Causes in the Godhead. We believe in one original Principle and one original Cause, and this is the Father, to Whom all things owe their

[…]

3 He proceedeth from the Father is eK iniyrjs riji OedrrjTOi, as the Begin- ning, the Cause, the Fountain of God- head. This S. Augustine expresses by the word principaHier, when he says that the Spirit proceedeth from the Father principaliter, as from the very source of Deity. See the Report of the Second Bonn Conference, 1S75.

existence. The Son, who is consubstantial with the Father, is eternally begotten of Him, and owes all that He is and has to Him. The Procession, therefore, of the Holy Spirit is not from the Son as from a second fountain independent of the first. He proceeds ” from the Father through the Son1,” and “owes ultimately to the Father whatever belongs to Him as being the Spirit of the Son2.” This phrase of St John Damascene the Greek theologians of the Council of Florence in 1439 admitted, with only five dissentients, to be equivalent to the Western Formula3.

ix. Consubstantial and Co-Eternal. The Article next proceeds to state that the Holy Spirit is ” of one substance, majesty, and glory with the Father and the

2 See Mason’s Faith of the Gospel, pp. 220, 221. ” A Catholic believer is free to confess that he cannot justify the way in which the Filioqite clause was inserted by the Western Church, with- out the consent of the Eastern, into a Creed which was the joint heritage of all. He is bound also to acknowledge that as the clause stands, it needs guarding and qualifying. Yet it would seem like receding from the truth, if the words which assert the Double Procession of the Spirit were now to be struck out from the Creed. West- ern theologians agree that the Spirit does not proceed from the Son as from a second fountain independent of the first. Eastern theologians agree that the Spirit does not issue out from the Father without coming through the Son.”

fluence of S. Augustine Western theo- logians have thought more of the in- dissoluble unity of will and operation in the Holy Trinity than of the precise constitution (to speak in human lan- guage) of each single Person. To them, therefore, the indifferent con- junction ’ and ’ is preferable to the definiteness of the Greek preposition ’ through.’ And the difficulty which the Greeks raised against their phrase- ology, that it slurred over the unity of the source of Godhead, can hardly have been before their minds. To say that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son could not suggest to them a twofold origin or principle of Deity; it would simply affirm, with the indefiniteness of inadequate language, the cooperation of the Son in that whichthe Fatherdoes.” Strong’sA/an- ual of Theology, p. 179. The phrase in the Athanasian Creed, ” Spiritus Sanctus a Patre et Filio, non factus, nec creatus, nec genitus est, sed pro- cedens,” is sufficiently general to in- dude the two senses in which the Holy Spirit proceeds (i) from the Father, and (ii) from, i.e. through, the Son.

Son.” For He is not only the Personal Power of God, but truly and essentially God. He is repeatedly indicated as such in Holy Scripture. Thus we find

(a) Divine works are ascribed to Him, such as Creation (Ps. xxxiii. 6), the new Birth (John iii. 3, 5), the inspiration of Holy Scripture (2 Pet. i. 21); (/3) Divine properties are declared to be His. He is eternal (Heb. ix. 14) ; He is omniscient (1 Cor. ii. 10); He is omnipotent (Luke i. 35); He is all-sovereign (1 Cor. xii. 11); (7) Divine homage is rendered to Him in the Baptismal Formula (Matt, xxviii. 19), and in the Apostolic Benediction (2 Cor. xiii. 14). Hence in the Nicene Creed He is truly termed “The Lord,” i.e. ” Jehovah,” and in the Athanasian Creed He is described as being equally with the Father and the Son ” uncreate, infinite, eternal, all-sovereign, God, and Lord1.”

x. Very and Eternal God. The same argument applies to the statement of the Article that He is very and eternal God. But to it may be added the fact that in Holy Scripture not only are Divine works ascribed to Him, but

(1) Failure to recognise Him is placed on a parallel with failure to recognise God Himself (1 Cor. iii. 16);

(2) To lie unto Him is to lie unto God (Acts v.

3,4);

(3) To tempt Him is to tempt God (Acts v. 9)”;

1 ” Increatus, immensns, seternus, Holy Ghost the words in the sixth omnipotens, Deus, Dominus.” Athan. chapter of Isaiah, which are there Creed. ascribed to the Lord of Hosts. Acts

2 Moreover S. Paul ascribes to the xxviii. 25 sqq.

(4) Our bodies, which are said by S. Paul to be the temples of God (1 Cor. iii. 16), are also the temples of the Holy Ghost (1 Cor. vi. 19) ;

(5) Sin against the Holy Ghost has a singular atrocity, it is the only irremissible sin (Matt, xii. 31, 32).

These passages all tend to confirm the doctrine of the Deity1 of the Holy Spirit, and we believe and confess that such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Ghost, very and eternal God2.

1 “That is, that He is as wholly and Spirit, as though there was no Father

entirely God in the Person of the and Son.” Newman’s Parochial Ser-

Father, as though there was no Son mom, vi., p. 358.

and Spirit ; as entirely in that of the 2 For the various Offices of the

Son, as though there was no Spirit Holy Ghost see Introd. to the Creeds,

and Father; as entirely in that of the pp. 211 — 216.

Articles 6—8.

The Articles included in this group treat of the Rule of Faith and the Authoritative Documents -which contain it.

They deal with (a) Holy Scripture,

(1) Its paramount authority as compared with Tradition (Art. vi.) ;

(2) The Canonical Books (Art. vi.) ;

(3) The relation of the Old Testament to the New (Art. vii.);

(4) The degree of Christian obligation to the Mosaic Law (Art. vii.).

(0) The Three Creeds (Art. viii.).

Notes

• “Credimusetconfitemur Spiritum Sanctum ab seterno procedere a Deo Patre et Filio, et esse ejusdem cum Patre et Filio essentia;, majestatis, et gloria;, venim ac aiternum Deum.” Hardwick, Hist. Art., p. 127, Ed.
• See above, p. 33. once used by S. Paul (Eph. iv. 19),
• For an account of this addition, see Introduction to the Creeds, p. 206, 11. ; Hagenbach’s History of Doctrines, i. 371 ; ii. 204. The Council of Chal- cedon had ordered that the Creed of
• Comp. S. John of Damascus De Hymno Trisag. Ep. 28, llvevfia […] tov Harp&s 5ta tov Tiou ko.1 A67011 irpoidv. Bp Forbes On the Articles, p. 81.
• See Canon Liddon’s Introduction to the Report of the Second Bonn Con- ference, p. xxxiv. ; Bp Forbes On the Articles, pp. 81 — 83. ” Under the in-