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

In a mysterious manner Spirit may be said to unite the Father and the Son in love and to proceed as the love between them. . . .Love unites persons who cherish one another, and in God’s case love reaches fullness in the third Person, who is loved by Father and Son. . . .The third Person, having no special name like “Father” or “Son” is content with God’s generic name of “spirit.” It is enough to be known as “bond of love.” . . .He delights in the loving relationships of the divine dance and exults in the self-emptying love that binds Father and Son. He delights to introduce creatures to union with God, the dance of the Trinity and the sabbath play of new creation.

~ Clark Pinnock. Flame of Love . pp. 38-39.

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IV. Who Together with the Father and the Son is Worshiped and Glorified

A. The Logic of the Trinity: The consistent conclusion of all the above arguments is that the Spirit deserves to be reverenced as God.

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1. The Scriptures portray an unbroken unity and equality between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Therefore, what is due one member of the Trinity is due to all the others.

The Apostles’ letters to the churches (like the Gospels themselves) portrayed God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and established a firm foundation for speaking about God in Trinitarian terms (e.g. 2 Cor. 13.13; Eph. 2.18; 1 Pet. 1.2; Jude 20-21). The early Church borrowed and reflected this language as it prayed and worshiped.

2. Isa. 6.1-3 (cf. Rev. 4.8)

3. “[In Isaiah 6] The Seraphim utter praise, the whole company of the blessed utter praise, inasmuch as they call God holy, the Son holy, the Spirit holy” (Ambrose, Of the Holy Spirit , Bk. III, NPNF, v. 10, p. 151).

B. The Spirit is worshiped in the Church with Trinitarian creeds, prayers, hymns, and benedictions.