An Idiots Guide to Theology: Pneumatology

Divinity of the Holy Spirit
Scripture points to the idea that the Spirit was with God in the beginning in Genesis 1:1-2 it says “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” (English Standard Version Genesis 1:1-2) (The Holy Bible: English Standard Version) pointing to the idea that the Spirit has been around from at least the beginning Origen says “Up to the present time, we have been able to find no statement in Holy Scripture in which the Holy Spirit could be said to be made or created—not even in the way in which we have shown above that the Divine Wisdom is spoken of by Solomon.” (Origen) Origen is pointing to the idea that God the Father and God the son and God the spirit are all one entity but able to move independently but all remaining Divine. Origen goes on to say later in his writing, “Let no one indeed suppose that we . . . give a preference to the Holy Spirit over the Father and the Son, or assert that His dignity is greater, which certainly would be a very illogical conclusion.” (Origen)
Assuming that the Bible is the inspired word of God some logical questions are raised with how the words were inspired and what the catalyst was that spurred on the writing. I argue that the inspiration was carried to the prophets and the writers through the Spirit of the Lord or The Holy Spirit. Athenagoras writes, “The Holy Spirit Himself, who operates in the prophets, we assert to be an effluence of God, flowing from Him, and returning back again like a beam of the sun.”(Athenagoras) In his writing Athenagoras poses the idea that the Holy Spirit is a part of God that moves between God in the heavens and the creatures of the Earth. This pointing back to the idea that God in heaven in the beginning and then back to his Spirit hovering of the waters of the void. The Holy Spirit plays a major role in God blessing his son while Jesus is on Earth again moving between the two plains “Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, "You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”(Luke 3:21-22) This begins the connection that Christ has with the Holy Spirit. “The source of the entire Holy Spirit remains in Christ, so that from Him could be drawn streams of gifts and works, while the Holy Spirit dwelled richly in Christ.”(Novatian). Finally Augustine argues a point of dependence of the three parts. Augustine says, “If any bodes exist which cannot be severed or divided in any way, they must still consist of their parts or they would not be bodies. Part and whole are related terms, since every part belongs to some whole, and the whole is whole on account of its totality of parts. But since the body part and whole, these exist not only as mutually related terms but as substances.” (Alister) Since the Holy Spirit is part of the whole it is part of God it is safe to assume according to Augustine that the Holy Spirit is as divine, since God is fully divine the Holy Spirit is full divine.


Works Cited
Athenagoras (c. 175, E), 2.133.

Alister, E. McGrath. The Chrstian Theology Reader. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2007.

Origen (c. 225, E), 4.253.

Origen (c. 225, E), 4.254, 255.

Novatian (c. 235, W), 5.641.