Q. 36. Who is the Holy Spirit?

• AOR 5
• Nicene Creed
• Heidelberg Catechism 53
• Belgic Confession 11

Person. The Spirit is not an impersonal force or power. He is as much a person as the Father and the Son. The Spirit can be lied to (Acts 5:3), grieved (Ephesians 4:30), resisted (Acts 7:51), and insulted (Hebrews 10:29). He speaks directly (Acts 8:29; 10:19; 13:2; 21:11) and through the Scriptures (Q. 3). In times past, “he spoke by the prophets” (Nicene Creed). “The Spirit which speaks and sends is a living Spirit” (Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures 17.28).

Proceeds. The Spirit is not eternally begotten by the Father, or he would be a second Son (see Q. 27). Rather, the Spirit eternally proceeds from or is breathed by the Father and the Son. This is commonly called the eternal procession or spiration of the Spirit. “The Holy Spirit is of the Father and of the Son; neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding” (Athanasian Creed). “What is the procession of the Holy Spirit? Do you tell me first what is the Unbegottenness of the Father, and I will explain to you the physiology of the generation of the Son, and the procession of the Spirit, and we shall both of us be frenzy-stricken for prying into the mystery of God” (Gregory of Nazianzus, Oration 31.8, On the Holy Spirit).

And the Son. The phrase “and the Son” (filioque in Latin) was included in a later edition of the Nicene Creed and is known as the filioque clause. The Father’s sending of the Spirit in time reflects the Spirit’s eternal origin as one who proceeds from the Father (John 15:26). Jesus likewise sends the Spirit (John 15:26; 16:7) and breathes the Spirit (John 20:22), indicating that the Spirit has the same eternal relation to the Son. The Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son as the river of life proceeds from the throne of God and the Lamb (Revelation 22:1; John 7:38–39).

One substance … true and eternal God. The Spirit is truly God (Q. 6). He is “everlasting, without body or parts, of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness” (Q. 5). Therefore, he must be believed, obeyed, worshipped, and glorified. “He who does not believe the Spirit does not believe in the Son, and he who has not believed in the Son does not believe in the Father … for it is impossible to worship the Son save by the Holy Spirit; impossible to call upon the Father save by the Spirit of adoption” (Basil, On the Spirit 1.11).