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Quod Ubique The Common Confession of the Universal Church

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The Holy Spirit

The Common Confession

We confess the Holy Spirit as the third person of the Blessed Trinity — not a force, not an energy, not a mere mode of divine action, but the Lord and Giver of Life: true God, coequal and coeternal with the Father and the Son. The Spirit is He who spoke through the prophets, who overshadowed the Virgin, who descended upon the Son at His baptism, who was poured out at Pentecost, and who now indwells the Church as the sanctifier, the comforter, and the pledge of the age to come. He is worshipped and glorified together with the Father and the Son — one God, now and forever.

The Spirit is the divine author and inspirer of Holy Scripture, who moved the prophets and apostles to write, and who illuminates the faithful to receive what is written. He is the agent of regeneration and sanctification, who applies the saving work of Christ to the people of God, who distributes gifts for the building up of the Body, and who seals believers for the day of redemption.

This is the faith of Constantinople, of the undivided Church, and of every baptismal confession in which the candidate is immersed or sealed in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Scriptural Warrant

The deity of the Spirit:

  • “But Peter said, ‘Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit?… You have not lied to man but to God’” (Acts 5:3–4) — the Spirit is identified directly as God
  • “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Corinthians 3:17)
  • “How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience” (Hebrews 9:14) — the Spirit is eternal, a divine attribute

The personhood of the Spirit:

  • “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth” (John 14:16–17) — allon paraklēton, another person of the same kind
  • “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come” (John 16:13) — personal acts: hearing, speaking, declaring
  • “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption” (Ephesians 4:30) — grief is a personal response
  • “The Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words” (Romans 8:26) — personal intercession

The Spirit as Lord and Giver of Life:

  • “The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life” (Job 33:4)
  • “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you” (Romans 8:11)
  • “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all” (John 6:63)

The Spirit as inspirer of Scripture:

  • “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16) — theopneustos, God-breathed
  • “For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21)
  • “The Spirit of the LORD speaks by me; his word is on my tongue” (2 Samuel 23:2)

The Spirit as sanctifier:

  • “But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:11)
  • “God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth” (2 Thessalonians 2:13)
  • “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22–23)

Creedal and Conciliar Anchor

The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed (381)

And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life, who proceeds from the Father, who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified, who spoke through the prophets.

This expansion of the third article was the central achievement of the Council of Constantinople I (381), directed against the Pneumatomachians (also called Macedonians), who accepted the deity of the Son but denied it of the Spirit, calling the Spirit a creature or a ministering power subordinate to the Godhead. The council, without using the term homoousios of the Spirit (out of pastoral prudence), nevertheless secured the confession of the Spirit’s full deity by ascribing to Him the title “Lord” (Kyrios), the act of giving life, co-worship and co-glorification with Father and Son, and prophetic speech — all marks of true divinity.

The Council of Constantinople I (381)

Canon and creedal formulation confirmed: the Spirit is not a creature, not subordinate, but proceeds from the Father and shares in the single divine worship. The Cappadocian theology undergirding this council insisted that the Spirit is homoousios with the Father and the Son, even as the creed employed other language to express the same truth.

The Athanasian Creed (Quicunque Vult, c. 5th–6th century)

The Holy Spirit is of the Father and of the Son: neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding… And in this Trinity none is before or after another; none is greater or less than another; but the whole three persons are coeternal together, and coequal.

Patristic Witness

Athanasius of Alexandria (c. 296–373)

In his Letters to Serapion (c. 359–361), Athanasius mounted the first sustained theological defense of the Spirit’s full deity. Against those who called the Spirit a creature, he argued: “If the Spirit were a creature, He could not be joined to the Trinity, for the whole Trinity is one God… The Spirit is not among things created but belongs to the Godhead of the Father” (Letters to Serapion 1.2, 1.17, 1.25). The Spirit, for Athanasius, is the very image of the Son, as the Son is the image of the Father — sharing one and the same divine nature.

Basil of Caesarea (c. 329–379)

Basil’s On the Holy Spirit (De Spiritu Sancto, 375) is the definitive pre-Constantinopolitan treatise. He demonstrated that the Spirit receives the same liturgical worship as Father and Son — “with the Father and with the Son” (meta tou Patros kai meta tou Huiou) — and that this doxological practice is apostolic and universal. “He is called holy, as the Father is holy and the Son is holy… He is called good, as the Father is good and the Son is good… He is called Lord, as the Father is Lord and the Son is Lord” (De Spiritu Sancto 19.48). Basil’s prudential strategy of establishing the Spirit’s deity through shared divine attributes and worship paved the way for Constantinople I.

Gregory of Nazianzus (329–390)

Gregory, who presided over the Council of Constantinople, was bolder than Basil in stating the conclusion plainly: “Is the Spirit God? Most certainly. Well then, is He consubstantial (homoousios)? Yes, if He is God” (Oration 31.10, the Fifth Theological Oration, 380). Gregory articulated the distinctive property of the Spirit as ekporeusis (procession), distinguishing the Spirit from the Son (who is begotten) and from the Father (who is unbegotten), while insisting that all three share the one divine essence.

Cyril of Alexandria (c. 376–444)

Cyril affirmed the Spirit’s consubstantiality and His role in the economy of salvation: “The Spirit is not alien from the divine essence but proceeds essentially from it… He distributes to each of us the gifts of God, not as a servant but as Lord, dividing to each as He wills” (Commentary on John 10, on John 15:26). Cyril’s pneumatology deeply influenced both Chalcedonian and non-Chalcedonian traditions.

John of Damascus (c. 675–749)

In his Exposition of the Orthodox Faith (De Fide Orthodoxa 1.8), John summarized the mature patristic consensus: “The Holy Spirit is a substantial, self-existing, real power, divine, infinite, all-powerful, almighty, Lord of all creation, governing all and sanctifying, not subject but glorified together with the Father and the Son.” John’s synthesis became normative for Eastern theology and was widely received in the West through Latin translation.

Cross-Tradition Attestation

Roman Catholic

  • CCC §685: “The Holy Spirit is the Third Person of the Trinity. He is God, one and equal with the Father and the Son, of the same substance and also of the same nature.”
  • CCC §687: “The Spirit’s proper work in the Church’s liturgy is to prepare the assembly for encounter with Christ.”
  • CCC §703: “The Holy Spirit is the principal author of Sacred Scripture.”
  • CCC §733–736: The Spirit as the gift of the Father and the Son, poured out in the hearts of the faithful, the agent of sanctification and ecclesial communion.
  • CCC §243: “The eternal origin of the Holy Spirit is revealed in his mission in time.”

Eastern Orthodox

  • The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed as received without the Filioque is the foundational pneumatological confession of the Orthodox Church.
  • The Synodikon of Orthodoxy (843) reaffirms the faith of the seven ecumenical councils, including Constantinople I’s pneumatology.
  • The Epiklesis of the Divine Liturgy (both of St. John Chrysostom and St. Basil) invokes the Holy Spirit upon the gifts and upon the people — expressing the Spirit’s sanctifying lordship in the church’s central act of worship.
  • Gregory Palamas (1296–1359) affirmed the Spirit’s full deity and His role in the communication of divine grace, while distinguishing between the divine essence and the uncreated energies by which the Spirit sanctifies believers.
  • The Confession of Dositheus (1672), Decree 1: affirms the Spirit as “the Lord and Giver of Life… true God.”

Lutheran

  • Augsburg Confession, Art. I: “There is one divine essence… and yet there are three persons, of the same essence and power, who are also coeternal: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”
  • Small Catechism, Third Article: “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith.”
  • Large Catechism, Creed, Art. III: “The Holy Spirit effects our sanctification… He first leads us into His holy community, placing us in the Church’s lap, where He preaches to us and brings us to Christ.”
  • Formula of Concord, Epitome II.18: The Spirit works through the means of grace — Word and Sacrament.

Reformed

  • Westminster Confession of Faith 2.3: “In the unity of the Godhead there be three persons, of one substance, power, and eternity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost.”
  • WCF 34.1–3: “The Holy Spirit… is the third person in the Trinity… very and eternal God, equal with the Father and the Son… the same in substance, equal in power and glory.”
  • Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 53: “What do you believe concerning the Holy Spirit? First, that He is eternal God, equally with the Father and the Son. Second, that He is also given to me, to make me by true faith a sharer in Christ and all His benefits, to comfort me, and to remain with me forever.”
  • Belgic Confession, Art. 11: “We believe and confess also that the Holy Spirit from eternity proceeds from the Father and the Son; and is neither made, created, nor begotten, but only proceeds from both.”
  • WCF 1.4: “The authority of the Holy Scripture… dependeth… upon God (who is truth itself) the author thereof.”

Anglican

  • Thirty-Nine Articles, Art. V: “The Holy Ghost, proceeding from the Father and the Son, is of one substance, majesty, and glory, with the Father and the Son, very and eternal God.”
  • The Book of Common Prayer, Nicene Creed (as recited in the Holy Communion): confesses the Spirit as “the Lord and giver of life.”
  • BCP Baptismal Service: candidates are baptized “In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” — enacting the Trinitarian and pneumatological confession.
  • BCP Collect for Purity: “Almighty God, unto whom all hearts are open… cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit” — the Spirit as sanctifier and illuminator.
  • BCP Veni Creator Spiritus (Ordinal): “Come, Holy Ghost, our souls inspire, and lighten with celestial fire” — invocation of the Spirit as divine person in ordination.

Where the Accent Differs

The Filioque (Layer 4): The original Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed reads “who proceeds from the Father.” The Western Church, beginning in Visigothic Spain (Council of Toledo, 589) and eventually endorsed by Rome, added Filioque (“and the Son”), so that the creed reads “who proceeds from the Father and the Son.” The East has consistently rejected this addition as both canonically irregular (altering an ecumenical creed without ecumenical council) and theologically problematic (confusing the Father’s unique hypostatic property as sole source of divinity). The West argues the addition explicates what is already implicit in Scripture and the Fathers (e.g., John 15:26; 16:7; Augustine, De Trinitate 15.26). This is a genuine theological difference concerning the eternal relations of origin within the Godhead and belongs to Layer 4.

Charismatic gifts and their continuation (Layer 3/4): All branches confess the Spirit distributes gifts to the Church. Whether the extraordinary charismata (tongues, prophecy, healing) ceased with the apostolic age or continue is disputed both between and within traditions. This belongs to Layer 3.

The Spirit and the sacraments (Layer 3): All branches confess the Spirit works through the Church’s sacramental life. The precise mode — whether the epiclesis is the “moment” of consecration (East), whether the Spirit works through the words of institution (West), the Spirit’s relation to baptismal regeneration — differs across traditions and belongs to Layer 3.

The Spirit and ecclesial authority (Layer 3/4): How the Spirit guides the Church into truth — through councils, through the papal magisterium, through Scripture alone, through the sensus fidelium — is a question of ecclesiology with pneumatological dimensions and belongs to Layer 3/4.

For Further Study

  • Basil of Caesarea, On the Holy Spirit (De Spiritu Sancto), 375 — the foundational patristic treatise on the Spirit’s deity
  • Gregory of Nazianzus, Orations 31 (Fifth Theological Oration), 380 — the most explicit pre-conciliar statement of the Spirit’s consubstantiality
  • Athanasius of Alexandria, Letters to Serapion on the Holy Spirit, c. 359–361 — earliest systematic refutation of Spirit-denial
  • Yves Congar, I Believe in the Holy Spirit, 3 vols., 1979–1980 — magisterial Roman Catholic survey of pneumatology across traditions
  • Vladimir Lossky, The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church, 1944, ch. 8 — Orthodox theology of the Spirit and the Filioque controversy