...and the Son
The First Council of Nicaea adopted the original Nicene Creed in 325. The filioque, added in 381 at the First Council of Constantinople, is a Latin term meaning “and the son.”
In the section on the Holy Spirit, the amended creed states: “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son…”
Proper Trinitarian theology is necessary because so many important doctrines (and oftentimes errors) flow from it. Here’s the fundamental rub.
The Son is eternally begotten of the Father. The Holy Spirit eternally proceeds from the Father. What is the Holy Spirit’s relationship to the Son?
The a priori understanding is that they are three persons, one God. Each possesses a full and equal status, function, and substance of God.
So, if the Father and Son possess an attribute – namely, the spiration of the Spirit – that the Holy Spirit does not also possess, this distorts the Trinity by diminishing the Spirit.
There are logical arguments that demonstrate the validity of the filioque, and others that refute it.
Here are two examples:
For: What differentiates the Father from Son and Spirit is that he has no pre-eternal cause; that is, he generates himself by himself. Whereas the Son is born of the Father, making him distinct from the Father. And whereas the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son, making him distinct from both of them.
Against: What the three persons share in common — omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, for example — make them one. Whereas what they do not share in common — primogenitor, word, and spirit — are unique to the person. But if the Son shares in the primogenitary nature of the Father, but the Holy Spirit does not, he is therefore diminished.
My reflections
As the Father begets the Son, by common understanding about birth, they would be of like kind, “consubstantial,” as the creed establishes – “God from God, Light from Light, True God from True God.”
The creative nature of the Father would inherit to the Son. The Son and Father are one, Scripture assures us. Thus, the spiration of the Holy Spirit would seem to be bilaterally from the Father and the Son.
Similarly, as the Father spirates the Spirit, what consequent attributes inherit to the Spirit? He, possessing full and equal status, function, and substance of the Father and Son, is like the Son but not another son.
It would seem, therefore, the necessity for some unrevealed function of the Holy Spirit in the Son’s begetting. (That’s the heresy, probably!)
Part of our conundrum – all three being equal in status, function, and substance, yet two spirating one without an equal counter-function of the one – may lie in perceived differences between begetting and proceeding as means of being.
Begetting implies complete and total inheritance, while proceeding, if not given its proper due, can seem like something less than begetting. But if proceeding is granted equal fullness of force and effect, then we may conclude that the Holy Spirit inherits some begetting characteristic from the Father relative to the Son. (Back to heresy!)
The conundrum might also lie in the difference between “of” and “from.” The Son is begotten of…whereas the Spirit proceed from…
There are qualities and truths about the Trinity that are not revealed to us. Perhaps that is because they are not for us to know; or because God in his wisdom revealed just enough of himself to keep us pondering, pursuing, and praying.
For all the hours we spend contemplating the Trinity, we are dwelling on the mystery of God with reverent awe and wonder. And the exercise requires such mental focus that everything else is pushed out and our minds are filled entirely with him. The mystery, then, serves a good purpose.
In the section on the Holy Spirit, the amended creed states: “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son…”
Proper Trinitarian theology is necessary because so many important doctrines (and oftentimes errors) flow from it. Here’s the fundamental rub.
The Son is eternally begotten of the Father. The Holy Spirit eternally proceeds from the Father. What is the Holy Spirit’s relationship to the Son?
The a priori understanding is that they are three persons, one God. Each possesses a full and equal status, function, and substance of God.
So, if the Father and Son possess an attribute – namely, the spiration of the Spirit – that the Holy Spirit does not also possess, this distorts the Trinity by diminishing the Spirit.
There are logical arguments that demonstrate the validity of the filioque, and others that refute it.
Here are two examples:
For: What differentiates the Father from Son and Spirit is that he has no pre-eternal cause; that is, he generates himself by himself. Whereas the Son is born of the Father, making him distinct from the Father. And whereas the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son, making him distinct from both of them.
Against: What the three persons share in common — omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, for example — make them one. Whereas what they do not share in common — primogenitor, word, and spirit — are unique to the person. But if the Son shares in the primogenitary nature of the Father, but the Holy Spirit does not, he is therefore diminished.
My reflections
As the Father begets the Son, by common understanding about birth, they would be of like kind, “consubstantial,” as the creed establishes – “God from God, Light from Light, True God from True God.”
The creative nature of the Father would inherit to the Son. The Son and Father are one, Scripture assures us. Thus, the spiration of the Holy Spirit would seem to be bilaterally from the Father and the Son.
Similarly, as the Father spirates the Spirit, what consequent attributes inherit to the Spirit? He, possessing full and equal status, function, and substance of the Father and Son, is like the Son but not another son.
It would seem, therefore, the necessity for some unrevealed function of the Holy Spirit in the Son’s begetting. (That’s the heresy, probably!)
Part of our conundrum – all three being equal in status, function, and substance, yet two spirating one without an equal counter-function of the one – may lie in perceived differences between begetting and proceeding as means of being.
Begetting implies complete and total inheritance, while proceeding, if not given its proper due, can seem like something less than begetting. But if proceeding is granted equal fullness of force and effect, then we may conclude that the Holy Spirit inherits some begetting characteristic from the Father relative to the Son. (Back to heresy!)
The conundrum might also lie in the difference between “of” and “from.” The Son is begotten of…whereas the Spirit proceed from…
There are qualities and truths about the Trinity that are not revealed to us. Perhaps that is because they are not for us to know; or because God in his wisdom revealed just enough of himself to keep us pondering, pursuing, and praying.
For all the hours we spend contemplating the Trinity, we are dwelling on the mystery of God with reverent awe and wonder. And the exercise requires such mental focus that everything else is pushed out and our minds are filled entirely with him. The mystery, then, serves a good purpose.