Chapter 18 — That the Holy Spirit is a subsistent person

Some have denied that the Holy Spirit is a subsistent person. Of these some have contended that he is the divinity of Father and Son—an opinion ascribed to certain followers of Macedonius. Others maintained that he is merely some accidental perfection bestowed by God on our souls (for instance, wisdom, charity, or the like), in which we participate as in any other created accidents. Against this view we must show that the Holy Spirit is nothing of the kind.

For, properly speaking, accidental forms have no operation; it is their subject that operates, according as he will. Thus a wise man uses his wisdom when he chooses. Now, the Holy Spirit works according as he will, as we have shown. (Ch. 17.) Therefore, the Holy Spirit must not be reckoned an accidental perfection of the soul.

Again. The Scriptures teach us that the Holy Spirit is the cause of all the perfections of man’s soul. Thus the Apostle says: God’s charity has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us (Rom 5:5); and: To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit (1 Cor 12:8), and so on. Therefore, the Holy Spirit is not to be reckoned a mere accidental perfection of the human soul, since he is himself the cause of all such perfections.

The teaching of Sacred Scripture is also opposed to the contention that the name of the Holy Spirit signifies the essence of Father and Son, so that in consequence he would be personally distinct from neither. For it is stated that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father (John 15:26), and that he receives from the Son (John 16:14), neither of which can be referred to the divine essence, seeing that the divine essence does not proceed from the Father, nor does it receive from the Son. Therefore, we must infer that the Holy Spirit is a subsistent person.

Again. Sacred Scripture clearly speaks of the Holy Spirit as of a subsistent divine person. Thus it is said: While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said to them: ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them’ (Acts 13:2); and further on: So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went (Acts 13:4). Again, the Apostles said: It has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things (Acts 15:28). Now, these things would not be said of the Holy Spirit if he were not a subsistent person. Therefore, the Holy Spirit is a subsistent person.

Moreover. Seeing that the Father and the Son are subsistent divine persons, the Holy Spirit would not be numbered together with them, unless he also were a subsistent divine person. Now he is clearly numbered together with them, when our Lord says to his disciples: Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Matt 28:19). Again it is said: The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all (2 Cor 13:14); and: There are three who give testimony in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit (John 5:7). These texts show clearly that he is not only a subsistent person, even as the Father and the Son, but also that he has the one same essence with them.

Someone might endeavor to evade the foregoing arguments by drawing a distinction between the Spirit of God and the Holy Spirit, since some of the above quotations speak of the Spirit of God, and some, of the Holy Spirit. Nevertheless, the identity of the Spirit of God with the Holy Spirit is clearly indicated by the words of the Apostle. After saying: God has revealed to us through the Holy Spirit, (Vulgate: through his Spirit.) he adds in confirmation of this: for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God (1 Cor 2:10), and then concludes: So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God (1 Cor 2:11). Hence it clearly follows that the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of God are one and the same.

Again, this is clear from our Lord’s words: It is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you (Matt 10:20); in place of which Mark 13:11 has: It is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. Hence it is clear that the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of God are one and the same.

Accordingly, since it is evident in many ways from the foregoing passages that the Holy Spirit is not a creature, but is true God, it follows that we must not conclude that when we speak of the Holy Spirit filling the souls of holy persons and dwelling therein, the sense is the same as when we describe the devil as filling and inhabiting certain persons. Thus we read of Judas that after the morsel, Satan entered into him (John 13:27). Again, Peter, according to some versions, said: Ananias, why has Satan filled (The Greek followed by the reads ἐπλήρωσεν.) your heart? (Acts 5:3). For, since the devil is a creature, as we have seen above, (Bk. 3, ch. 10.) he cannot fill a man as though a man could participate of the devil; nor can he dwell in a man’s soul participatively or substantially. But he is said to fill some men by the effect of his wickedness. Hence Paul said to a certain man: You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy! (Acts 13:10). Whereas the Holy Spirit, being God, dwells in the soul by his substance, and makes us good by participation of him, for he is his own goodness, since he is God; this cannot be true of any creature. This, however, does not hinder him from filling the souls of holy men by the effect of his power.