God the Holy Spirit, Mentor's Guide, MG14

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G O D T H E H O L Y S P I R I T

It is important that Augustine’s designation of the Spirit as “Love itself” or “bond of Love” not be read in such as way as to obscure the personhood of the Holy Spirit. Our thoughts are frail indeed when it comes to the immanent Trinity. Even this image, “bond of love,” falls short of attributing personality to Spirit, leaving the possible impression of a binity–Father and Son plus a bond–rather than a trinity. It could reduce the Spirit to the fostering environment of love. Spirit is more than that, however, being a distinct person who besides bonding others in love, shares and participates in it. . . .Though we delight in the image of bond of love, we do not want to fail to do justice to the real reciprocity in the Trinity or leave the impression of an impersonal bond that would obscure the personhood of the Spirit.

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~ Clark H. Pinnock. Flame of Love: A Theology of the Holy Spirit . Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1996. p. 40.

For more on Augustine’s view of the Holy Spirit see, “On the Holy Trinity,” Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 3.

The inner-life of the Trinity is a profound mystery. The Clark Pinnock quote follows a time-honored tradition in theology by referring to God’s inner-life as a “dance of love.” The theological term for this is perichoresis ( peri —circle, choresis –dance). St. John of Damascus used this term to describe the relationship between the Father, Son, and Spirit. The doctrine of perichoresis asserts that each of the three Persons shares the life of the others and lives in the others, and yet remains distinguishable from the others. [ Jesus can say, for example, “I am in the Father and the Father is in me”(John 14.10, cf. John 10.38) and “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14.9) and yet at the same time be sent by the Father into the world, be submissive to the will of the Father, and return to be seated at the right hand of the Father]. The subsistences dwell and are established firmly in one another. For they are inseparable and cannot part from one another, but keep to their separate courses within one another, without coalescing or mingling, but cleaving to one another. For the Son is in the Father and the Spirit: and the Spirit in the Father and the Son: and

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