Let’s keep talking about the Holy Spirit, one of my favorite subjects. Today, we are going to demonstrate how it is that the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, is God as well. It’s like a Trinity proof, only that it deals with the Spirit only. How is it true to say that the Holy Spirit, the third person in the Trinity, is equal in eminence and substance to God the Father, and by extension God the Son? Holy Mother Church teaches in this regard that Father, Son and Holy Spirit are consubstantial and co-equal. I want to demonstrate in this post that it is true to say with Mother Church that the Holy Spirit is true God.
In a previous post we said that the Holy Spirit (pneuma) is the spirit of God. Now, if we say that the Holy Spirit is the spirit of God, don’t we imply that the Spirit is simply a part of God? And if something is simply a part of something else, is that thing not less than the whole? It’s like saying that a person’s hand is part of the person, or that the roof of a house is part of that house. The whole is always greater than the parts of which it is composed. And we know from Logic that we cannot necessarily predicate of the whole what we predicate of the parts, without falling into the fallacy of composition. And so, a whole is not the equal of the parts that compose it. This is logically sound.
For us human beings, we do have spirits, but we are not equal to our spirits. We are body and spirit composites, and so the spirit for us is just a part, and not all of us. There is the body as well, which influences how we live out the principle of spirit. Aristotle calls this situation of affairs, the composite of body and spirit, hylomorphism. In other words, we humans are hylomorphic composites. And so the spirit in us is just a part of us, and not us. Now that we have shown how the Spirit dwelling in us is only a part of us and not us, and how what can be predicated of the spirit within us cannot be predicated of us, can we not extrapolate and apply this situation to God and say that his spirit is just a part of him and not him? And if that be the case, can we not say that since the Holy Spirit, God’s spirit, is just a part of him it is therefore not equal to him? The answer is no. We cannot say that.
You see, God is not a composite being. He is not made of body and spirit, but only spirit. And so he is what is called a simple being – spirit only. And so his spirit is all of him there is. If he had matter (the principle of change, of potentiality, of non-being), then his spirit would simply be a part of him. But since all he is and has is spirit, then the spirit is all of him. That’s the first point. The second point is this: Spirit refers to principle or cause (recall in a previous post we likened it to substance). And a cause is greater than its effect. Aquinas in his proofs of the existence of God spoke of a hierarchy of efficient causes that leads ultimately to a first cause that is itself uncaused by anything else. He called this first cause God. Recall in any case in this regard that we called the first principle of life, of being, in a previous post the Holy Spirit, when we repeated Genesis 2:7: “Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.”
And so the first principle of life is the Spirit. This is the first cause, of all there is and all there will be. But this cause came from God, who breathed it into Adam. Could this spirit that causes all being cause God? Yes, because God too is being, and if the first cause causes all things, then it causes God also. But we have already said that this first cause, this spirit, is of God, and not just a part of God, but all of God, since God is not composite (has no separate matter), but is simply spirit. And so God causes himself. And since he causes himself, his cause is not greater than he is. But his cause is not less than he is because, according to Descartes in his Third Meditation, no true cause is less than its effect. It can either be greater than or equal to it. And we have already shown that God’s cause, his spirit, is not greater than he is, and so logically, God’s spirit is equal to him, and of the same substance.
Descartes talks about the pre-eminence of God in his third and fifth meditations, after having set the cognitive background in his second meditation, in which he asserts that he is a thinking thing, and (in the earlier part of his third meditation) that the only thing he can know are the things that are clearly and distinctly perceived by him; his mind, that is. One of these clear and distinct perceptions for Descartes is the existence of God, who sustains Descartes, for this humble philosopher realized that there was no way he could be the one sustaining himself. And so, not only does he exist because he is thinking and is consequently a thinking thing, but also God exists and sustains Descartes.
In other words, to the trained and rational soul, the existence of God is evident. We can know him, according to Descartes, by “the light of nature,” because we can easily admit that there must be something that informs our human and mortal existence; something far more eminent than we are; something of a superior form, and of a superior cause, that sustains and inspires us to keep alive; cut off from which we cannot exist. This entity is God, and his existence is so necessary that it is his essence. He is the existing thing, if Descartes is the thinking thing. This existing thing for Anselm is necessary in all possible worlds, and so (to borrow from Leibniz), since he is necessarily existent in all possible worlds, he is the necessary truth. He is, for Spinoza, the only Substance, the eternal spirit, the one and only God.
But he is a Trinitarian God. He exists in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This is what Holy Mother Church teaches us. And we have demonstrated today how it is that God’s spirit is co-equal and consubstantial with him. God’s Spirit, the Holy Spirit, the third person in the Trinity, is God, and in the same way that Jesus and his Father are. God the Holy Spirit, the First Principle of Life, is the One that “proceeds from the Father and the Son,” and is God, true and true. You see, Holy Mother Church doesn’t lie to us. She tells us the truth. There are some things she tells us that are very hard to understand and we have to take them on faith. But there are things she tells us that we can demonstrate, like the one we just have, concerning how it is true to say that the Spirit of God is definitely God himself.
In a previous post we said that the Holy Spirit (pneuma) is the spirit of God. Now, if we say that the Holy Spirit is the spirit of God, don’t we imply that the Spirit is simply a part of God? And if something is simply a part of something else, is that thing not less than the whole? It’s like saying that a person’s hand is part of the person, or that the roof of a house is part of that house. The whole is always greater than the parts of which it is composed. And we know from Logic that we cannot necessarily predicate of the whole what we predicate of the parts, without falling into the fallacy of composition. And so, a whole is not the equal of the parts that compose it. This is logically sound.
For us human beings, we do have spirits, but we are not equal to our spirits. We are body and spirit composites, and so the spirit for us is just a part, and not all of us. There is the body as well, which influences how we live out the principle of spirit. Aristotle calls this situation of affairs, the composite of body and spirit, hylomorphism. In other words, we humans are hylomorphic composites. And so the spirit in us is just a part of us, and not us. Now that we have shown how the Spirit dwelling in us is only a part of us and not us, and how what can be predicated of the spirit within us cannot be predicated of us, can we not extrapolate and apply this situation to God and say that his spirit is just a part of him and not him? And if that be the case, can we not say that since the Holy Spirit, God’s spirit, is just a part of him it is therefore not equal to him? The answer is no. We cannot say that.
You see, God is not a composite being. He is not made of body and spirit, but only spirit. And so he is what is called a simple being – spirit only. And so his spirit is all of him there is. If he had matter (the principle of change, of potentiality, of non-being), then his spirit would simply be a part of him. But since all he is and has is spirit, then the spirit is all of him. That’s the first point. The second point is this: Spirit refers to principle or cause (recall in a previous post we likened it to substance). And a cause is greater than its effect. Aquinas in his proofs of the existence of God spoke of a hierarchy of efficient causes that leads ultimately to a first cause that is itself uncaused by anything else. He called this first cause God. Recall in any case in this regard that we called the first principle of life, of being, in a previous post the Holy Spirit, when we repeated Genesis 2:7: “Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.”
And so the first principle of life is the Spirit. This is the first cause, of all there is and all there will be. But this cause came from God, who breathed it into Adam. Could this spirit that causes all being cause God? Yes, because God too is being, and if the first cause causes all things, then it causes God also. But we have already said that this first cause, this spirit, is of God, and not just a part of God, but all of God, since God is not composite (has no separate matter), but is simply spirit. And so God causes himself. And since he causes himself, his cause is not greater than he is. But his cause is not less than he is because, according to Descartes in his Third Meditation, no true cause is less than its effect. It can either be greater than or equal to it. And we have already shown that God’s cause, his spirit, is not greater than he is, and so logically, God’s spirit is equal to him, and of the same substance.
Descartes talks about the pre-eminence of God in his third and fifth meditations, after having set the cognitive background in his second meditation, in which he asserts that he is a thinking thing, and (in the earlier part of his third meditation) that the only thing he can know are the things that are clearly and distinctly perceived by him; his mind, that is. One of these clear and distinct perceptions for Descartes is the existence of God, who sustains Descartes, for this humble philosopher realized that there was no way he could be the one sustaining himself. And so, not only does he exist because he is thinking and is consequently a thinking thing, but also God exists and sustains Descartes.
In other words, to the trained and rational soul, the existence of God is evident. We can know him, according to Descartes, by “the light of nature,” because we can easily admit that there must be something that informs our human and mortal existence; something far more eminent than we are; something of a superior form, and of a superior cause, that sustains and inspires us to keep alive; cut off from which we cannot exist. This entity is God, and his existence is so necessary that it is his essence. He is the existing thing, if Descartes is the thinking thing. This existing thing for Anselm is necessary in all possible worlds, and so (to borrow from Leibniz), since he is necessarily existent in all possible worlds, he is the necessary truth. He is, for Spinoza, the only Substance, the eternal spirit, the one and only God.
But he is a Trinitarian God. He exists in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This is what Holy Mother Church teaches us. And we have demonstrated today how it is that God’s spirit is co-equal and consubstantial with him. God’s Spirit, the Holy Spirit, the third person in the Trinity, is God, and in the same way that Jesus and his Father are. God the Holy Spirit, the First Principle of Life, is the One that “proceeds from the Father and the Son,” and is God, true and true. You see, Holy Mother Church doesn’t lie to us. She tells us the truth. There are some things she tells us that are very hard to understand and we have to take them on faith. But there are things she tells us that we can demonstrate, like the one we just have, concerning how it is true to say that the Spirit of God is definitely God himself.
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