Augustine: the Holy Spirit as common to Father and Son

The Holy Spirit appropriates the words Holy and Spirit that are proper also to Father and Son to show his unique character.

Augustine’s view of the Trinity clarifies how the apostolic writings speak of the Holy Spirit.

In particular, Augustine argues that the Holy Spirit appropriates the words Holy and Spirit that are proper also to Father and Son to show his unique character, namely, that the Spirit is the bond of love between Father and Son—eternally as the Son is eternally begotten of the Father. Put another way, what the Spirit is by name is common to Father and Son.

Spirit as Common to Father and Son

In a lengthy paragraph found in City of God 11.24, Augustine explains his reasoning:

"I am not prepared to offer any premature opinion as to whether or not the Holy Spirit of the good Father and of the good Son should be called the goodness of both since He is common to both. However, I would more readily venture to say that He is the holiness of both, not in the sense that this Holy Spirit is an attribute (qualitas) of both but that He is a substance (substantia) and is the third Person in the Trinity (Persona in trinitate). I find a kind of proof for this view in the fact that, although the Father and the Son are both spirits and are both holy, yet, the third Person, in a special way, is called the Holy Spirit as if He were substantial holiness and consubstantial with the other two."

Importantly, the appropriation of titles (Holy, Spirit) shows how the Spirit is consubstantial with Father and Son. Since Scripture regularly presents the Son as co-creator, eternal with the Father, acting inseparably with the Father, and more besides, the Son is shown to be included in the one definition of God. While Scripture also says such things of the Spirit, it more regularly speaks of the Spirit as belonging both to Father and Son and, as Augustine points out here, being common to the Father and Son in other ways. Particularly, the name Holy Spirit implies that the Holy Spirit has holiness common to Father and Son as well as a common spiritual nature (e.g., John 4:24).

Lewis Ayres explains Augustine's view in this way: "Scripture appropriates terms common to each of the divine three in order to show the character of the Spirit's derivation from and consubstantiality with the Father" (Augustine, 255). Ayres has in mind the above cited passage from City of God (11.24).

Augustine's Argument

More formally stated, Augustine argues of the Spirit that:

First, the Spirit is common to both Father and Son. Hence, Scripture speaks of the Spirit of Christ (Rom 8:9; 1 Pet 1:11) or the Spirit of the Son (Gal 4:6) as well as the Spirit of the Father (Matt 10:20). And commonly the Spirit is called the Spirit of God even in contexts in which the Spirit is also said to be the Spirit of Christ (Rom 8:9, 11, 14).

Second, the Spirit is a common Gift of the Father and Son, because the Bible says that the Father and Son give the Spirit, the Spirit indwells us, is our down payment, and other like language (e.g., John 14:16–17; Acts 2:38; 5:32; Rom 5:5; 1 Thess 4:8; Gal 3:14; 2 Cor 1:22–23). In other words, when the apostles say things like "Repent and be baptized… and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:38) or when Jesus says, "he will give you another Helper" (John 14:16) that he himself also sends (John 15:26), we learn something important: the Spirit is the common Gift of God, common because he belongs to both God and Christ.

Third, while Father and Son have relative names (Father relates to Son), the Holy Spirit has a common name: both Father and Son are also holy and spirit (Isa 6:3; John 4:24). For this reason, the Spirit differs in naming patterns from the Father and Son because he is the common possession of both God and Christ.

Fourth, the Spirit is also associated with the love of God (e.g., Rom 5:5), yet God is called Love in the same way God is called spirit (John 4:24; 1 John 4:8, 16). Hence, the Spirit may by appropriation be called love, but God is love substantially. This maps onto his name as Holy Spirit. The only term that seems distinguishable at the level of relative predication is Gift, since the Father is Giver through and to the Son as recipient of the Gift.

Fifth, due to the Spirit being common to Father and Son, he is the common love therefore of the Father (Lover) and the Son (Beloved). The Spirit is that love of the lover to the beloved, we might say.

In a particularly concise piece of writing, Augustine ties these pieces together in De Trinitate 15, saying:

"Now we are to speak about the Holy Spirit, insofar as God the Giver shall permit. According to the Sacred Scriptures, this Holy Spirit is neither the Spirit of the Father alone, nor of the Son alone, but the Spirit of both, and, therefore, He insinuates to us the common love by which the Father and the Son mutually love each other" (Aug., De Trin. 15.17.27).

Conclusion

Augustine's view of the Spirit clarifies how Scripture names the Spirit as well as how it includes the Spirit as common to both Father and Son. This should make us aware of how differently we ought to argue for the Spirit's divinity as well as his particular property (i.e., his relation to Father and Son).

Too many have attempted to argue that the Spirit is divine by simply looking for Bible verses that claim or associate him with divinity. While nothing is wrong with doing so, the approach that the Bible regularly uses differs.

The Bible first shows that the Holy Spirit by name is common to Father and Son; and then the Spirit also receives titles or descriptions in the apostolic writings that reinforce this commonality.

By reading Scripture according to its sequence of words and ideas (akolouthia), Augustine has through the literal sense of Scripture shown us how to understand the Holy Spirit in accordance with Scripture.

Note:

While Augustine argues such things about the Spirit throughout his work, he does so especially clearly in De Trinitate 15.