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

The union between the Father and the Son is such a live concrete thing that this union itself is also a Person. I know this is almost inconceivable, but look at it thus. You know that among human beings, when they get together in a family, or a club, or a trade union, people talk about the ‘spirit’ of that family, or club, or trade union. They talk about its ‘spirit’ because the individual members, when they are together, do really develop particular ways of talking and behaving which they real person: it is only rather like a person. But that is just one of the differences between God and us. What grows out of the joint life of the Father and Son is a real Person, is in fact the Third of the three Persons who are God. ~ C. S. Lewis. Mere Christianity . New York: Macmillian, 1952. p. 152. would not have if they were apart. It is as if a sort of communal personality came into existence. Of course, it is not a

(3) The Spirit is of the Father and of the Son, neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding (part of The Creed of Athanasius ).

B. The “Bond of Love”

1. St. Augustine, in reflecting on this distinguishing between the members of the Trinity theologically came up with an important description of the Holy Spirit. He called him the “bond of love” between the Father and the Son.

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2. The Spirit is closely identified in Scripture with the love of God.

a. God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, Rom. 5.5.

b. God is love, 1 John 4.8.

c. God is spirit, John 4.24.

d. If we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us . . . because he has given us of his Spirit, 1 John 4.12-13.

3. The Spirit of God is the Love which proceeds between the Father and the Son. This “Gift of Love” or “Bond of Love” is a conscious part of the Divine Being.