Apostles and Nicene Creeds Part 5 : The Holy Spirit

Hey everyone. Thanks for visiting. I hope someone somewhere is learning something here – I know I am.

Apostles: “I believe in the Holy Spirit.”


Nicene: “We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets.”

      I cannot say enough about how important it is to understand the creeds. They have context, historical placement, and character that reflect the development of our faith. One of these days I will have to write a bit about that – the development of the Christian Faith. I have been mentioning it to you in the Creeds series if you have been following, but none is so evident as these passages from either creed.

       Any lay person can see there is a huge difference in the two. What does this suggest? Does it mean the people who wrote and recited the Apostles creed didn’t believe the Spirit proceeds from the Father? Why did they stop so soon in the confession of faith? One thing most might not think of is that statements of faith are not typically defined until they are challenged. It is not that the Bishops of the early fourth century made up the teaching or that Sts. Peter and Paul did not agree or understand the later profession (the Nicene). Rather, the Church developed an understanding about their beliefs and received better clarification after years of challenging heretics.

       This part of the creed is a continuation of the entire aim of the creeds themselves, which is our statement about our God as has been revealed to us. Will anyone argue that God has revealed himself to mankind over many occasions and periods of time? I doubt a reasonable person would. Then this part of the creed is no different. We find a pattern in the creed at this point that the person of deity is named and then reference is further clarified as to single that person out and then show a relationship. In the beginning we read “I believe in God, the Father… maker…” then read “and in Jesus Christ, His only Son,” and start to conclude with “We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord… who has spoken through the Prophets.” We observe that we don’t just believe in any old God, or any old Holy Spirit; we come 200 years later in the Nicene Creed to explain precisely who and what we are talking about. We do so with the Holy Spirit by first defining who the Father is, and then the Son, so that when we state “who proceeds from the Father and the Son” we know clearly who we refer to – there is no mistake – it is a definitization of our faith – a Dogma.     

       This understanding of Dogmatic Theology is incredibly important, and unfortunately unpopular among Catholicism’s critics. The opposing believer will argue that all Truth is only found in the Bible. We call this infallibility, or Sola Scriptura, that the Bible is the one rule of faith for a Christian and contains all the teaching necessary for salvation. A discussion will be held another day to persuade this otherwise in a charitable fashion. One cannot argue though the revelation God has given over the Holy Spirit. Would one in the time of King David have said that the Holy Spirit is of the same deity as God? No. Would one have said in the time before the Prophets that the Holy Spirit spoke though them? No. Would one who walked next to Jesus have been able to understand the fruits, gifts, and inspirations of the Holy Spirit? No.

       In the OT, the Holy Spirit was selectively poured out on Kings, Patriarchs, and then Prophets as a means of guidance. We believe now, that that very same Holy Spirit guides a willing Christian. Jesus said in reference to this in John 14:14, that the Holy Spirit would come and teach everything, and remind them of everything Jesus had said.

       The Holy Spirit is also the “giver of life.” Adam inhaled this from God in order to breath – before the fall. Jesus breathed the same on the Apostles in John 20:20 “He breathed on them and said “receive the Holy Spirit.”” This is the real life giver and so it makes its appearance in the Nicene Creed. In ancient times, the breath in ones body was a sign of life. According to Jesus, one is not saved but through being born of Water and Spirit (John 3:5). St. Paul tells us that “the Spirit brings life” (2 Cor 3:6).  Since it is the Holy Spirit who pours out charity in the hearts of the faithful (Gal 5:5), he is the source of all true life in God. Therefore in our creed we profess the Spirit is the “giver of life.”

Here’s a video from Jimmy Akin:

And one from thebomb.com (not really) Fr. Barron:

Done writing for now. Comment and start a discussion.