power and with the spirit of truth. Paraclete may also "representative," from apaкaλeiv = aliquem in locum alterius accire." 159 mean From these verbal definitions it is clear that the "Paraclete " or " Holy Spirit " is not a mere personification but a real person. c) The correctness of this interpretation is borne out by the characteristic description which Christ Himself has given of the Paraclete, His operations, and His relation to the Father and the Son. He is an "other" (alius, aλos) than the Father who "sends" Him,160 and He is also distinct from the Son, who sends Him "from the Father." 161 Between Him who sends (mittens) and Him who is sent (missus) there is logically the same relative opposition as between Father and Son. This distinction furnishes a safeguard against the modalistic error which conceives the Holy Spirit as a mere mode of manifestation of the Godhead. It is also useful in refuting the Rationalist contention that the name Spiritus Sanctus merely shelters a poetical prosopopia or personification. An impersonal being could not "teach all truth," "give testimony," "bring all things to [the Apostles'] mind," remind them of what Christ had told them, and so forth. There are many other texts of Sacred Scripture in which the Holy Spirit is described as possessing all the marks of a real personality. Thus He has a free will, for St. Paul speaks of Him as 159 Cfr. Oswald, Trinitätslehre, pp. 73 sqq., Paderborn 1888. 160 John XIV, 16. 66 Dividens singulis, prout vult -(the Spirit worketh), dividing to every one according as he will." 162 He ap-. points the bishops: "Attendite vobis et universo gregi, in quo vos Spiritus sanctus posuit episcopos regere ecclesiam Dei, quam acquisivit sanguine suo - Take heed to yourselves and to the whole flock, wherein the Holy Ghost hath placed you bishops, to rule the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.” 163 He prays for us "with unspeakable groanings," 164 like as Christ "always lives to make intercession for us." 165 Nay, He formally ascribes to Himself subsistent personality by commanding: "Segregate mihi (po) Saulum et Barnabam in opus, ad quod assumpsi (πposкékλnμai) eos-(The Holy Ghost said to them): Separate me Saul and Barnabas, for the work whereunto I have taken them." 166 B. The Hypostatic Difference Between the Holy 1. ST. PAUL AND THE DISCIPLES OF JOHN THE BapTIST AT EPHESUS.- On one occasion, when St. Paul came to Ephesus, he found there about twelve disciples of John the Baptist, and thinking that they had already received Baptism, he asked them: "Have you received the Holy Ghost (veuμа ayiov) since ye believed?" They answered: We have not so much as heard that there be a Holy Ghost ἀλλ' οὐδέ, εἰ πνεῦμα ἅγιον ἔστιν ἠκούσαμεν).” And when the Apostle queried further: In what then were you baptized?” they replied: "In John's baptism." Having heard these 66 162 Cor. XII, 11. 163 Acts XX, 28. 164 Rom. VIII, 26. 165" Semper vivit ad interpellandum pro nobis." Heb. VII, 25. 166 Acts XIII, 2. "167 things, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus." And when St. Paul “had imposed his hands on them, the Holy Ghost (rò пVEчμа тò äyιov) came upon them." This account makes it certain beyond a peradventure that Jesus and the Holy Ghost are two distinct Persons. For the initial ignorance of the disciples of John the Baptist did not refer to the Godhead as such (concerning which they must have been sufficiently instructed), but to that particular Divine Person who, in contradistinction to Jesus, the Son of God, is called Holy Ghost. In accordance with this marked difference between the two Divine Persons, John's disciples at Ephesus received two distinct sacraments, viz., Baptism (i. e., the Baptism of Jesus) and Confirmation. 168 2. CHRIST'S LAST DISCOURSE.-In His discourse to His Disciples after the Last Supper, Christ clearly distinguishes between the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. "Ego rogabo Patrem et alium Paraclitum (äλλov тарáкληtov) dabit vobis, ut maneat vobiscum in aeternum — I will ask the Father, and he shall give you another Paraclete, that he may abide with you for ever. The "alius" so distinctly differentiates the Paraclete from both Christ Himself and the Father, that a blending of the Three Persons into one, or into two, is entirely out of question. The Father "gives"; the Paraclete "is given"; and Christ "asks the Father to give" the Paraclete. It is futile to object that God may give " 169 167 Acts XIX, 1-6. 168 John XIV-XVI. 169 John XIV, 16. Himself to His creatures; for the Father is asked by the Son to give to the Apostles, not Himself, nor His Son, but the Paraclete, or Holy Ghost. The hypostatic difference between the Three Persons of the Divine Trinity is still more clearly marked in John XIV, 26: "Paraclitus autem Spiritus sanctus, quem mittet Pater in nomine meo, ille vos docebit omnia ('O dè TарáκληTOS, TO πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, ὃ πέμψει ὁ πατὴρ ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί μου, ἐκεῖνος [not: ἐκεῖνο ] ὑμᾶς διδάξει πάντα) But the Paraclete, the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things." In this passage, too, it is impossible to confound the Paraclete with the Father, because it is the Father who sends Him; or with Christ, because it is in Christ's name that He is sent. Consequently the Paraclete is a different Person than either the Father or the Son. 3. THE IMMANENT ORIGIN OF THE HOLY GHOST.-The Holy Ghost is "of God," and, like the Logos, Himself a Divine Person, who owes His Personality to His eternal procession from the Father. Sacred Scripture calls the Holy Ghost "the Spirit that is of God," 170 and distinctly declares that He "proceedeth from the Father." 171 Consequently the Holy Ghost is a different Person from the Father. But is He 171 John XV, 26: πapà тoũ waтPÒS ἐκπορεύεται. 170 1 Cor. II, 12: τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ. , 172 likewise personally distinct from the Son? The context plainly shows that that is what St. John means to inculcate. "Cum autem venerit Paraclitus, quem ego mittam vobis a Patre, spiritum veritatis qui a Patre procedit (τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας, Ô Tаρà тоν TатρÒS EKTорEVEтα), ille testimonium perhibebit de me-But when the Paraclete cometh, whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceedeth from the Father, he shall give testimony of me. Here the Paraclete, or "Spirit of truth," who "proceedeth from the Father," and who cannot therefore be identical with the Father, is sharply distinguished from the Son, who sends Him; for no one can send Himself. Besides, St. John distinctly affirms that the Paraclete is sent to give testimony of Christ. From all of which it is as plain as the light of day that the Bible makes a sharp distinction between the Holy Ghost and the Father and the Son, and that each must therefore be a separate and distinct Hypostasis. C. The Divinity of the Holy Ghost Although the Divinity of the Holy Ghost is logically deducible from the texts already quoted, the Pneumatomachian and Socinian heresies demand a special refutation. In formulating the Scriptural argument for the Divinity of the 172 John XV, 26. |