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Dear Catholic Exchange:
Prior to the doctrine of the Trinity, was the Holy Spirit thought of as a Who or a What? Was it thought of as a person or a power?
Mr. Cunningham
Dear Mr. Cunningham,
Greetings in Christ. I hope this response will adequately address your question.
Below are selections from the Catholic Encyclopedia’s article on the Blessed Trinity.
[Jesus] revealed the doctrine in explicit terms, bidding them “go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” (Mt 28:18). The force of this passage is decisive. That “the Father” and “the Son” are distinct Persons follows from the terms themselves, which are mutually exclusive. The mention of the Holy Spirit in the same series, the names being connected one with the other by the conjunction “and” is evidence that we have here a Third Person co-ordinate with the Father and the Son, and excludes altogether the supposition that the Apostles understood the Holy Spirit not as a distinct Person, but as God viewed in His action on creatures.
The phrase “in the name” (eis to onoma) affirms alike the Godhead of the Persons and their unity of nature. Among the Jews and in the Apostolic Church the Divine name was representative of God. He who had a right to use it was invested with vast authority: for he wielded the supernatural powers of Him whose name he employed. It is incredible that the phrase “in the name” should be here employed, were not all the Persons mentioned equally Divine. Moreover, the use of the singular, “name,” and not the plural, shows that these Three Persons are that One Omnipotent God in whom the Apostles believed.
In regard to the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity, the passages which can be cited from the Synoptists as attesting His distinct personality are few. The words of Gabriel (Lk 1:35), having regard to the use of the term, “the Spirit,” in the Old Testament, to signify God as operative in His creatures, can hardly be said to contain a definite revelation of the doctrine. For the same reason it is dubious whether Christ's warning to the Pharisees as regards blasphemy against the Holy Spirit (Mt 12:31) can be brought forward as proof. But in Luke 12:12, “The Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what you must say” (Mt 10:20, and Lk 24:49), His personality is clearly implied. These passages, taken in connection with Matthew 28:19, postulate the existence of such teaching as we find in the discourses in the Cenacle reported by St. John (14-16). We have in these chapters the necessary preparation for the baptismal commission. In them the Apostles are instructed not only as the personality of the Spirit, but as to His office towards the Church. His work is to teach whatsoever He shall hear (16:13) to bring back their minds the teaching of Christ (14:26), to convince the world of sin (16:8). It is evident that, were the Spirit not a Person, Christ could not have spoken of His presence with the Apostles as comparable to His own presence with them (14:16). Again, were He not a Divine Person it could not have been expedient for the Apostles that Christ should leave them, and the Paraclete take His place (16:7). Moreover, notwithstanding the neuter form of the word (pneuma), the pronoun used in His regard is the masculine ekeinos. The distinction of the Holy Spirit from the Father and from the Son is involved in the express statements that He proceeds from the Father and is sent by the Son (15:26; cf. 14:16, 26). Nevertheless, He is one with Them: His presence with the Disciples is at the same time the presence of the Son (14:17, 18), while the presence of the Son is the presence of the Father (14:23).
In the remaining New Testament writings numerous passages attest how clear and definite was the belief of the Apostolic Church in the three Divine Persons. In certain texts the coordination of Father, Son, and Spirit leaves no possible doubt as to the meaning of the writer. Thus in II Corinthians 13:13, St. Paul writes: “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the charity of God, and the communication of the Holy Ghost be with you all.” Here the construction shows that the Apostle is speaking of three distinct Persons.
The doctrine as to the Holy Spirit is equally clear. That His distinct personality was fully recognized is shown by many passages. Thus He reveals His commands to the Church's ministers: “As they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Ghost said to them: Separate me Saul and Barnabas…” (Acts 13:2). He directs the missionary journey of the Apostles: “They attempted to go into Bithynia, and the Spirit of Jesus suffered them not” (Acts 16:7; cf. Acts 5:3; 15:28; Romans 15:30). Divine attributes are affirmed of Him.
• He possesses omniscience and reveals to the Church mysteries known only to God (1 Cor 2:10);
• It is He who distributes charismata (1 Cor 12:11);
• He is the giver of supernatural life (2 Cor 3:8);
• He dwells in the Church and in the souls of individual men, as in His temple (Rom 8:9-11; 1 Cor 3:16, 6:19); and
• The work of justification and sanctification is attributed to Him (1 Cor 6:11; Rom 15:16), just as in other passages the same operations are attributed to Christ (1 Cor 1:2; Gal 2:17).
This article demonstrates that the Holy Spirit has always been worshiped as a distinct Person of the Blessed Trinity, consubstantial with the Father and Son. From the teachings of Christ throughout the history of the Church, Christians believed and still believe that the Holy Spirit is an all-powerful Person.
For more information, please see the entire Catholic Encyclopedia article regarding the Holy Spirit. It traces the history and development of the doctrine from Scripture forward. In summary, the Holy Ghost is defined as the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity:
• “Though really distinct, as a Person, from the Father and the Son, He is consubstantial with Them; being God like Them, He possesses with Them one and the same Divine Essence or Nature; and
• He proceeds, not by way of generation, but by way of spiration, from the Father and the Son together, as from a single principle.”
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