I Believe in the Holy Ghost

Who Proceedeth from the Father and the Son

Tue second clause of these sentences is borrowed from the Nicene Creed, which is recited at the Communion Service of the English Church. But it is not the original Creed as adopted by the great Council held at Nica in A.D. 325. That ended with the words “in the Holy Ghost,” but other clauses were afterwards added to arrest the spread of Arianism, and amongst them the notable one which declares that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father “and the Son.”

This addition is one of the standing grounds for the separation between the East and the West. The Eastern Church has never accepted the insertion of these words in the Creed, and it was only in A.D. 1014, that Pope Benedict VIII, under the pressure of the Emperor, consented to use the addition in the service of the Mass, whence it passed into the English Prayer-Book.

But there is much to be said for the addition of the words, “and the Son,” for not only do they

set forth unmistakably the essential Unity and 178

Equality of the Father and the Son, but they affirm a very distinct Scripture truth. The River of Water of Life, which beyond question is an emblem of the Mission of the Spirit, proceeds from the Throne of God and of the Lamb (Rev. xxii. 1). Notice that it is one Throne, but jointly occupied (Rev. v. 6), for God is One. In addition to this there is a wealth of testimony, which all goes to show that both the Father and the Son are concerned in the communication of the Spirit to the Church and the Individual. “TI will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter”; and again, “It is expedient for you that I go away; for, if I go not away the Com- -forter will not come unto you, but if I depart, I will send Him unto you (John xiv.16, xvi. 7).

Probably the clearest definition of the province of the Father and the Son in the gift of the Holy Spirit is that given by the Apostle Peter on the Day of Pentecost “Having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He hath poured forth this, which ye see and hear” (Acts ii. 33). In the mystery of the Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Spirit are One, but in the order of their fellowship in the Redemption and Sanctification of Men, the Father is the Origin and Source, the Son is the Mediator and Channel, whilst the Spirit is the Gift of God to the heart of the believer. Of the Father, and through the Son. “Through Christ Jesus we both have our access in one Spirit unto the Father” (Eph. ii. 18).

It must never be forgotten that God’s one purpose and aim in Creation is to realize or reproduce Himself in the work of His Hands; and in order to effect this the Holy Spirit has come forth from the abysmal depths of the Deity. We find Him at work in the long physical transformations by which this earth was prepared to be the Home of Man, and the Theatre for the evolution of God’s plan. “The Spirit of God brooded on the face of the waters.” It was to His operation that the emergence of Kosmos from chaos was due, and the separation of the light from darkness, of land from water, of the day from night. He superintended the long climb of organic life from the tiny infusoria to the gigantic prehistoric animals. Throughout the patriarchal and other preparatory eras the same mighty Spirit was ever striving with the obtuseness and sin of men, until Jesus, through His creative energy, was born of the Virgin Mother, then the long process reached its culmination. The voice that sounded over the waters of Baptism proclaimed Him to be the Beloved Son in whom God was well pleased.

But this was not all. That life in which Deity and Humanity combined in perfect harmony passed through death and resurrection, each of which was superintended by the gracious operation of the Spirit (Heb. ix. 14; Rom. i. 14), and finally ascended to the right hand of power, that it might become reduplicated and reproduced in all who believe. This is what the Holy Spirit has come to secure. At first he proceeded forth to form and raise the Body of the Christ; now he proceeds from Father and Son to form Christ in our hearts, and repeat His beauty and strength in the Church, which is left on earth to carry out and accomplish His Redemptive purpose.

“Therefore to whom turn I but to Thee, the ineffable Name, Maker, and Builder, Thou of houses not made with hands? What! have fear of change from Thee who art ever the same? Doubt that Thy power can fill the heart that Thy power expands?”