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| Andrei Rublev's Trinity, representing the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in a similar manner. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
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| English: Orthodox Church of Holy Spirit in Medzilaborce, Slovakia Polski: Cerkiew Świętego Ducha w Medzilaborce, Słowacja Slovenčina: Pravoslávny chrám Svätého Ducha v Medzilaborcach (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
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| Icon depicting the First Council of Nicaea. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
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| wolf spirit (Photo credit: Whitewolf Photography) |
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| Spirit (Photo credit: Christian Angermann) |
A Protestant church
altar at Pentecost with an
altar cloth depicting the movement of the Holy Spirit
Christian
denominations have variations in their teachings regarding the Holy Spirit.
A well-known example
is the Filioque
controversy, the debates centering around whether the Nicene Creed should state
that the Spirit "proceeds from the Father" and then have a stop, as
the creed was initially adopted in Greek (and followed thereafter by the Eastern Church),
or should say "from the Father and the Son" as was later adopted in
Latin and followed by the Western Church,
"filioque" being "and the Son" in Latin.[1]
The majority of
mainstream Protestantism
hold similar views on the theology of the Holy Spirit as the Roman Catholic Church,
but there are significant differences in belief between Pentecostalism and the
rest of Protestantism.[2][3][4] The more recent Charismatic
movements have a focus on the "gifts of the Spirit",
but often differ from Pentecostal movements.[5]
Non-trinitarian
views about the Holy Spirit differ significantly from mainstream Christian
doctrine. Jehovah's
Witnesses view the Holy Spirit, not as an actual person separate from God the Father, but as
God's "energy" or "active force".[6]
According to Roman Catholic theology
the primary work of the Holy Spirit is through the church. According to the Catechism:
"The mission of Christ and the Holy Spirit
is brought to completion in the Church, which is the Body of Christ and the
Temple of the Holy Spirit. [...] Through the Church's sacraments, Christ
communicates his Holy and sanctifying Spirit to the members of his Body."
Around the 6th
century, the word Filioque was added to the Nicene Creed, defining as
a doctrinal teaching that the Holy Spirit "proceeds from the Father and
the Son." While the Eastern
Catholic churches are required to believe the doctrinal teaching contained
in the Filioque, they are not all
required to insert it in the Creed when it is recited during Masses.
Eastern Orthodoxy
proclaims that the Father is the eternal source of the Godhead, from whom the
Son is begotten eternally, and also from whom the Holy Spirit proceeds
eternally. Unlike the Roman Catholic Church and Western Christianity
in general, the Orthodox Church does not espouse the use of the Filioque ("and the Son") in describing the
procession of the Holy Spirit. Filioque
was mentioned for the first time at the Third Council of
Toledo in 589 and it was added by the Roman Catholic Church
to the Credo in the 11th
century. The Holy Spirit is believed to eternally proceed from the Father, as Christ says in John
15:26, and not from the Father and
the Son, as the Roman
Catholic and Protestant
churches claim. The Greek Orthodox Church teaches that the Holy Spirit proceeds
through the Son, but only from the Father. Orthodox doctrine regarding
the Holy Trinity is summarized in the Symbol of Faith
(Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed). Oriental Orthodox
usage coincides with Eastern Orthodox usage and teachings on the matter. The Assyrian Church
of the East also retains the original formula of the Creed without the
Filioque.
The majority of
mainstream Protestantism
hold similar views on the theology of the Holy Spirit as the Roman Catholic
Church, as described above. There are significant differences in belief between
Pentecostalism and
the rest of Protestantism.[2][3]
During the late 19th
century, the prevailing view in the Restoration Movement
was that the Holy Spirit currently acts only through the influence of inspired
scripture.[7] This rationalist view was
associated with Alexander
Campbell, who was "greatly affected by what he viewed as the excesses
of the emotional camp meetings and revivals of his day."[7] He believed that the Spirit draws
people towards salvation, but understood the Spirit to do this "in the
same way any person moves another—by persuasion with words and ideas."
This view came to prevail over that of Barton W. Stone, who
believed the Spirit had a more direct role in the life of the Christian.[7] Since the mid-late 20th century,
many among the Churches
of Christ have moved away from this "word-only" theory of the
operation of the Holy Spirit.[8] As one student of the movement puts
it, "[f]or better or worse, those who champion the so-called word-only
theory no longer have a hold on the minds of the constituency of Churches of
Christ. Though relatively few have adopted outright charismatic and third wave
views and remained in the body, apparently the spiritual waves have begun to
erode that rational rock."[7]
While the Holy
Spirit is acknowledged as God in all mainstream denominations, he is given
particular emphasis in Pentecostal
churches. In those churches he is seen as the giver of natural and supernatural
gifts, such as tongues and prophecy, to modern-day
Christians.
The Christian
movement called Pentecostalism derives its name from the event of Pentecost, the coming of the
Holy Spirit when Jesus' disciples were gathered in Jerusalem.[Acts 2] Pentecostals believe that when
a believer is "baptized in the Holy Spirit", the gifts of the Spirit
(also called the charismata) are
activated in the recipient to edify the body of Christ, the church. Some of
these gifts are listed in 1
Corinthians 12.
The Pentecostal
movement places special emphasis on the work of the Holy Spirit, and especially
on the gifts mentioned above, believing that they are still given today. Much
of Pentecostalism differentiates the "baptism with
the Holy Spirit" from the salvific born again
experience, considering it a usually distinct experience in which the Spirit's
power is received by the Christian in a new way, with the belief that the
Christian can be more readily used to perform signs, miracles, and wonders
for the sake of evangelism or for ministry within the
church (the body of Christ) and the community. There are also some Pentecostals
who believe that Spirit baptism is a necessary element in salvation, not a
"second blessing". These Pentecostals believe that in the baptism in
the Holy Spirit, the power of the Spirit is released in their lives.
Many Pentecostals
believe that the normative initial evidence of this infilling (baptism) of the
Holy Spirit is the ability to speak in other tongues (glossolalia), and that
tongues are one of several spiritual manifestations of the presence of the Holy
Spirit in an individual believer's life.
Non-trinitarian
views about the Holy Spirit differ significantly from mainstream Christian
doctrine and generally fall into several distinct categories
Groups with Unitarian theology such as
Polish Socinians, the
18th-19th Century Unitarian
Church, Christadelphians
conceive of the Holy Spirit not as a person but an aspect of God's power.[9] Christadelphians
believe that the phrase Holy Spirit
refers to God's power or mind/character, depending on the context.[10]
Though Arius himself believed that the
Holy Spirit is a person or high Angel, that had a beginning, modern Arian or Semi-Arian Christian groups
such as Dawn Bible
Students and Jehovah's
Witnesses believe, the same as Unitarian groups, that the Holy Spirit is
not an actual person but is God's "power in action", like God's
"breath" or "divine energy", which had no beginning, that
he uses to accomplish his will and purpose in creation, redemption,
sanctification, and divine guidance, and they do not typically capitalize the
term.[6] They define the Holy Spirit as
"God's active force", and they believe that it proceeds only from the
Father.[6] A Jehovah's Witness brochure quotes
Alvan Lamson: "...the Father, Son, and... Holy Spirit [are] not as
co-equal, not as one numerical essence, not as Three in One... The very reverse
is the fact."[11]
Armstrongites, such as the
Living Church of
God, believe that the Logos and God the Father are co-equal and co-eternal,
but they do not believe that the Holy Spirit is an actual person, like the
Father and the Son. They believe the Holy Spirit is the Power, Mind, or
Character of God, depending on the context. They teach, "The Holy Spirit
is the very essence, the mind, life and power of God. It is not a Being. The
Spirit is inherent in the Father and the Son, and emanates from Them
throughout the entire universe". Mainstream Christians characterise this
teaching as the heresy of Binitarianism, the teaching that God is a
"Duality", the Father and the Word, or "two-in-one", rather
than three.
Oneness
Pentecostalism, as with other modalist groups, teach
that the Holy Spirit is a mode of God,
rather than a distinct or separate person from the Father. They instead teach
that the Holy Spirit is just another name for the Father. According to Oneness
theology, the Holy Spirit essentially is
the Father. The United Pentecostal Church teaches that there is no personal
distinction between God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.[12]
These two titles
"Father" and "Holy Spirit" (as well as others) do not
reflect separate "persons" within the Godhead, but rather two
different ways in which the one God reveals himself to his creatures. Thus, the
Old Testament speaks of "The Lord God and his Spirit" in Isaiah
48:16, but this does not indicate two "persons" according to Oneness
theology. Rather, "The Lord" indicates God in all of His glory and
transcendence, while the words "His Spirit" refer to God's own Spirit
that moved upon and spoke to the prophet. The Oneness view is that this does
not imply two "persons" any more than the numerous scriptural
references to a man and his spirit or soul (such as in Luke 12:19) imply two
"persons" existing within one body.[13]
In the Latter Day Saint
movement, the Holy Ghost (usually synonymous with Holy Spirit).[14] is considered the third distinct
member of the Godhead (Father, Son and Holy Ghost),[15] and to have a body of
"spirit,"[16] which makes him unlike the Father
and the Son who are said to have bodies "as tangible as man's."[17] According to LDS doctrine, the
Holy Spirit is believed to be a person,[17][18] however having a body of spirit,
he is able to pervade all worlds.[19] Mormons believe that the Holy
Spirit is part of the "Divine Council" or
"Godhead", but that the Father is greater than both the Son and the
Holy Spirit.[19]
The Unity Church interprets
the religious terms Father, Son, and Holy Spirit metaphysically, as three
aspects of mind action: mind, idea, and expression. They believe this is the
process through which all manifestation takes place.[20]
As a movement that
developed out of Christianity, Rastafari has its
own unique interpretation of both the Holy Trinity and the Holy
Spirit. Although there are several slight variations, they generally state that
it is Haile Selassie
who embodies both God the Father and God the Son, while the Holy (or rather,
"Hola") Spirit is to be found
within Rasta believers (see 'I and
I'), and within every human being. Rastas also say that the true church is
the human body, and that it is this church (or "structure") that contains the Holy Spirit.
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