CHAPTER IX

OF THE EIGHTH ARTICLE

“I BELIEVE IN THE HOLY GHOST”

QUESTION I

How great is the Necessity and Profit of Faith in the Holy Spirit

Hitherto we have expounded, as far as the character of the subject proposed seemed to require, what things appertain to the first and second persons of the Holy Trinity. It now remains to explain, also, what the Creed contains with regard to the third person, that is, the Holy Ghost. In the exposition of this matter pastors will employ all study and diligence, for, in a Christian man, ignorance or error is as little excusable on this, as on the preceding articles. Wherefore the apostle suffered not some of the Ephesians to be ignorant of the person of the Holy Ghost: having asked of them if they had received the Holy Ghost, and they having answered, that they did not so much as know whether there was any, he immediately asked: In whom, therefore, were ye baptized? in which words he signified that to the faithful a distinct knowledge of this article is most necessary. From it they derive this especial fruit: considering, attentively, that whatever they possess, they obtained through the gift and benefice of the Holy Ghost, they learn to think more modestly and humbly of themselves, and begin to place their whole hopes in the protection of God, which, to a Christian man, should be the first step towards supreme wisdom and happiness.

QUESTION II

The Term “Holy Ghost” does not agree with the Third Person of the Trinity in such a manner as to be equally applicable to the others

The exposition of this article, therefore, should begin with the force and meaning which is here attached to the term, “Holy Ghost;” for, as this appellation is equally true when applied either to the Father or the Son (for both are spirit, both, holy, if indeed we confess of God to be a spirit), and also signifies angels and the souls of the pious, care must be taken that the faithful be not led into error by the ambiguity of the word. [The pastor] must therefore teach, that, in this article, by the word Holy Ghost is understood the third person of the Trinity, a sense in which it is oftentimes used in the Old, and frequently in the New Testament. Thus David prays: Take not thy Holy Spirit from me; and in the Book of Wisdom, we read: Who shall know thy counsel, except thou give wisdom, and send thy Holy Spirit from above; and in another place: He created her in the Holy Ghost. We are also commanded in the New Testament to be baptized, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: we read that the most holy Virgin conceived of the Holy Ghost; and we are sent by St. John to Christ, who baptizeth us with the Holy Ghost; and in a variety of other passages this word will occur to the notice of the reader.

QUESTION III

Why the Third Person of the Holy Trinity has no Proper Name, like the other Two

Nor should any one be surprised, that a proper name is not attributed to the third, as well as to the first and second persons; for the second person is designated by a proper name, and called Son, because, as has been explained in the preceding articles, his eternal origin from the Father is properly called generation. As, therefore, that origin is signified by the word generation; so the person who emanates is properly called Son, and the person from whom he emanates, Father. Now, as the production of the third person is characterized by no proper name, but is called spiration and procession, it follows that the person produced should also lack a proper name. But his emanation has no proper name, because we are obliged to borrow from created things the names which we give to God; and, as we know no other created means of communicating nature and essence but the force of generation, we therefore cannot express by a proper name the manner in which God communicates himself entire by the force of his love. Wherefore the third person is called by the common name of “Holy Ghost,” a name, however, which is peculiary appropriate to him, as we must acknowledge, seeing that he infuses into us spiritual life, and without his most holy inspiration we can do nothing deserving of eternal life.

QUESTION IV

The Holy Ghost is equally God, and of the same Power and Nature with the Father and the Son

But, the import of the name being explained, the people should first of all be taught, that the Holy Ghost is equally God with the Father and the Son, equal to them, equally omnipotent, eternal, and of infinite perfection, the supreme good, and infinitely wise, and of the same nature with the Father and the Son. And this is sufficiently intimated by the force of the word in, when we say: I believe in the Holy Ghost; which word in is prefixed to each person of the Trinity, to express fully the force of our faith. It is also confirmed by many clear testimonies of the sacred writings; for when, in the Acts of the Apostles, St. Peter had said, Ananias! why hath Satan tempted thine heart, that thou shouldst lie to the Holy Ghost? he soon after adds: Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God; calling Him, to whom he had before given the name of Holy Ghost, immediately after, God. The apostle, also, writing to the Corinthians, interprets Him, whom he had called God, to be the Holy Ghost: There are, says he, diversities of operations, but it is the same God, who worketh all in all; but, adds the apostle, all these things one and the same Spirit worketh, dividing to every man severally as he will. In the Acts of the Apostles, also, what the prophets attribute to the one God, St. Paul ascribes to the Holy Ghost; thus Isaiah had said: I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: Whom shall I send? And he said: Go, and tell this people: Blind the heart of this people, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears; and, when about to cite those words, the apostle says: Well spoke the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers. Again, when the Scripture annexes the person of the Holy Ghost to those of the Father and the Son, as when baptism is commanded to be administered in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, it leaves no room whatever for us to doubt the truth of this mystery. For if the Father is God, and the Son God, we must necessarily acknowledge that the Holy Ghost, who is united with them in the same degree of honour, is also God. Besides, he who receives baptism in the name of any creature, can derive no benefit therefrom: Were ye baptized in the name of Paul? says the apostle, to show that such baptism could have availed them nought unto salvation. As, then, we are baptized in the name of the Holy Ghost, we must acknowledge that he is God. But this same order of the three persons, by which the divinity of the Holy Ghost is proved, may be observed both in the Epistle of John: There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one; and also in that noble doxology, or form of praise to the Trinity; Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, which closes the divine praises and psalms. Finally, which appertains most forcibly to confirm this truth, the sacred letters testify, that whatever faith attributes to God, is equally suited to the Holy Ghost; wherefore to him is ascribed in Scripture the honour of temples, as when the apostle saith: Know ye not, that your members are the temple of the Holy Ghost; and also sanctification, and vivification, to search the deep things of God, to speak by the prophets, and to be present in all places; all of which are attributable to God alone.

QUESTION V

It must assuredly be believed that the term “Holy Ghost” signifies a distinct person from the Father and the Son, existing of himself

[The pastor] must also accurately explain to the faithful that the Holy Ghost is God, in such wise as to be confessedly the third person in the divine nature, distinct from the Father and the Son, and produced by their will. For, to omit other testimonies of Scripture, the form of baptism, taught by the Saviour, evidently proves that the Holy Ghost is the third person, subsisting by himself in the divine nature, and distinct from the others; as also the words of the apostle declare, when he says: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communication of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen. This same thing is still more explicitly announced in the words here added by the fathers of the first Council of Constantinople, to refute the impious madness of Macedonius: And in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and giver of life, who proceedeth from the Father and the Son; who, together with the Father and the Son, is adored and glorified; who spake by the prophets. Thus, by confessing the Holy Ghost to be Lord, they declare how far he excels the angels, who, however, are the noblest spirits created by God; for, Are they not all, says the apostle, ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall receive the inheritance of salvation? But the Holy Ghost they designate, The Giver of life, because the soul lives more by its union with God, than the body is nourished and sustained by its union with the soul. As, then, the sacred letters ascribe to the Holy Ghost this union of the soul with God, it is clear that, with the greatest propriety, he is denominated the Giver of life.

QUESTION VI

It declares that the Holy Ghost proceedeth from the Father and the Son, as from one beginning

With regard to what immediately follows: who proceedeth from the Father and the Son, the faithful are to be taught that the Holy Ghost proceeds, by eternal procession, from the Father and the Son, as from one beginning. For this truth is propounded to us by the Church’s rule [of faith], from which it is not lawful for a Christian to deviate, and which is confirmed by the authority of the Sacred Scriptures and Councils. For Christ the Lord, speaking of the Holy Ghost, says: He shall glorify me, because he shall receive of mine; and the same is to be inferred from the fact of the Holy Ghost being sometimes called in holy Scripture, the Spirit of Christ, sometimes, the Spirit of the Father; being one time said to have been sent by the Father, another time by the Son; it thus being not obscurely signified, that the Holy Ghost proceeds alike from the Father and the Son. If any man, says St. Paul, have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. In his Epistle to the Galatians, also, he calls the Holy Ghost the Spirit of Christ: God, says he, hath sent the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. In St. Matthew, he is called the Spirit of the Father: It is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you; and our Lord said, at his last supper; When the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me. In another place he affirms, that this same Holy Ghost is to be sent by the Father: Whom, says he, the Father will send in my name. Understanding from these words the procession of the Holy Ghost, it is obvious to us that the same proceedeth from both [Father and Son]. These particulars embrace the doctrine which is to be taught with regard to the person of the Holy Ghost.

QUESTION VII

Since the Works of the Trinity are indivisible, why are certain Effects and Gifts particularly assigned to the Holy Ghost?

He must also teach, that there are certain admirable effects, and certain most exalted gifts of the Holy Ghost, which are said to originate and emanate from him, as from a perennial fountain of goodness. For although the extrinsic works of the most Holy Trinity are common to the three persons, yet many of them are attributed especially to the Holy Ghost, to the end that we may understand that they proceed from the boundless love of God towards us; for seeing that the Holy Ghost proceeds from the divine will, inflamed as it were with love, it may be comprehended that these effects, which are referred particularly to the Holy Ghost, arise from extreme love of God towards us. Hence it is that the Holy Ghost is called a gift; for by the term gift we understand that which is kindly and gratuitously bestowed, no anticipation of remuneration being entertained. Whatever blessings and benefits therefore have been bestowed on us by God,—and, as the apostle says, what have we, that we have not received from God?—those we should with a pious and grateful mind acknowledge to be bestowed by the bounty and gift of the Holy Ghost.

QUESTION VIII

What, what kind, and how great are the effects of the Holy Spirit

But the effects [of the Spirit] are numerous; for, not to mention the creation of the world, the propagation and government of created things, of which we have made mention in the first article, it was shown a little before, that to the Holy Ghost is particularly attributed the giving of life; and this is further confirmed by the testimony of Ezekiel: I will give you spirit, and you shall live. The prophet, however, enumerates the principal effects, peculiarly attributed to the Holy Ghost: The spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and piety, and the spirit of the fear of the Lord; effects which are called the gifts of the Holy Ghost, and sometimes by the name of the Holy Ghost. Wisely therefore does St. Augustine admonish us, that, whenever we meet the word Holy Ghost in Scripture, we distinguish whether it means the third person of the Trinity, or his effects and operations; for they are equally as distinct from one another as is the Creator from things created. And these matters should the more diligently be explained, as from these gifts of the Holy Ghost we derive rules of a Christian life, and are enabled to perceive whether the Holy Ghost dwells within us. But that grace [of justification], which seals us with the holy Spirit of promise, who is the earnest of our inheritance, is to be proclaimed by us above his other most exalted gifts, for this it is that unites our hearts to God in the closest bonds of love; whence it comes to pass, that, inflamed with a supreme desire of piety, we begin a new life, and, made partakers of the divine nature, are called and really are sons of God.