, the Lord Jesus is eternally begotten (not created) from the Father, and the Holy Spirit is eternally proceeding from Him and from the Son.
. There is a lot here, just FYI, so take your time.
We are entering deep waters here of the mysteries of God, so let's approach the subject with much fear and trembling.
Think of the phrase, "
In the unity of the Godhead."
Western theology begins at this point. One God possessing full Godhead.
I think using the word "
source"
opens up too many distractions based upon modern notions that require much qualifications to prevent misunderstandings. The Father is
unbegotten. As such
God the Father is the ever-flowing fountain of the divine essence. He communicates this essence to the Son. He with the Son communicates this essence to the Spirit. The communication is eternal. It did not happen one time and then stop.
The first communication is called
begetting; the second communication is called
procession. Call the communication whatever one pleases, it is the communication itself which is important. So we say the Father
begets the Son, and the Holy Spirit
proceeds from Father and the Son. The
begetting is also often termed
generation. The
procession is also sometimes called
spiration.
Berkhof writes:
- This procession of the Holy Spirit, briefly called spiration, is his personal property. Much of what was said respecting the generation of the Son also applies to the spiration of the Holy Spirit, and need not be repeated. The following points of distinction between the two may be noted, however:
(1) Generation is the work of the Father only; spiration is the work of both the Father and the Son.
(2) By generation the Son is enabled to take part in the work of spiration, but the Holy Spirit acquires no such power.
(3) In logical order generation precedes spiration.
It should be remembered, however, that all this implies no essential subordination of the Holy Spirit to the Son.
In spiration as well as in generation there is a communication of the whole of the divine essence, so that the Holy Spirit is on an equality with the Father and the Son
The doctrine of the procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father and the Son is based on John 15:26, and on the fact that the Spirit is also called the Spirit of Christ and of the Son, Rom. 8:9; Gal. 4:6, and is sent by Christ into the world. Spiration may be defined as that eternal and necessary act of the first and second persons in the Trinity whereby they, within the divine Being, become the ground of the personal subsistence of the Holy Spirit, and put the third person in possession of the whole divine essence, without any division, alienation or change.
When one begins with the unity of God these personal properties are the means by which Godhead is understood to belong to a distinct mode of subsistence within the undivided substance.
Altering the personal properties so as to deny the
filioque (
fill-ee-oh-qwee) serves to create a new "stream" (using the above analogy of "
fountain").
Once the filioque is denied, there is now no longer one stream
--> Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
A second stream has been created
--> Father, Son; Father, Holy Spirit.
There is no longer an unity of three but two unities of two.
Accordingly, the unity of God is maintained in the western theological tradition by what is called the
communication of Godheadbegetting and procession. "Person" or "subsistence" depends on personal properties, i.e., properties which are unique to a person in relation to other persons. In the words of our Larger Catechism, there is something "proper" in these relations, that is, "divinely proper." To detract from any property of the Son in relation to the Holy Spirit is to make Him inferior to the Father.
The EO objection in relation to the Holy Spirit is removed by a simple acknowledgement that the unique person of the Holy Spirit also consists in a unique property, and that property is to proceed from the Father and the Son from all eternity.
If this were not accepted as the Holy Spirit's distinct property He would not be the third person of the Trinity but would be a second
second person. This means He would be a second Son. His very name, Spirit, is suggestive of an altogether unique relation in union with Father and Son which nullifies the objection. The Holy Spirit is the person upon whom the communication of Godhead finally terminates. In this capacity the Spirit is Himself the bond of union and communion between Father and Son. Likewise, in the
ad extra works (works
outside the Godhead) of the Trinity, this unique relation finds expression in His distinctive function in connection with the creation of, providence over, and redemption of, the world He is the Spirit of life and communion. ~AMR (aka Patrick)
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