See a local listing for it here
EARLY OPINIONS ABOUT THE HOLY GHOST
From: A History of the Corruptions of Christianity By Joseph Priestley, 1871 edition, pp. 326, 327
IT is remarkable, that, notwithstanding the doctrine concerning the person of Christ had been the great subject of controversy ever since the promulgation of Christianity, there is no mention made of any difference of opinion concerning the Holy Spirit, that attracted any notice, till after the commencement of the Arian controversy, and even till after the Council of Nice.
Justin Martyr, to whom we are indebted for the first rudiments of the doctrine of the divinity of Christ, says but little concerning the Holy Spirit; and from that little it is not easy to conclude what his real opinion was. But it is probable that he considered the Spirit as a created being, since he represents him as inferior to Christ.
Ireneaus seems to have considered the Holy Spirit as a divine influence, and no proper person. "By the name of Christ," he says, "we are given to understand one who anoints, one who is anointed, and the unction with which he is anointed. It is the Father who anoints, but the Son is anointed in the Spirit."
Valentinus thought the Holy Spirit to be of the same rank with the angels.
Origen considered it as doubtful whether, since all things are made by Christ, the Holy Spirit was not made by him. And after discussing the question a little, he says, "We who maintain three hypostases, the Father, Sen, and Spirit, and believe that the Father only is unbegotten, think it more agreeable to piety and truth, to maintain that the Holy Spirit is superior to all things that were made by Christ."
Tertullian seems to have thought that the Holy Spirit was derived from Christ, in the same manner as Christ was derived from God.
Novatian, who had as much orthodoxy with respect to the Trinity as any person of his age, certainly did not believe in the divinity of the Holy Spirit, whom he represents as inferior to the Son, whom also he makes greatly inferior to the Father. "Christ," says he, "is greater than the'Paraclete; for he would not receive of'Christ if he was not less than he."
Athenagoras considered the Holy Spirit as an efflux from the Deity, flowing out and drawn into him again at pleasure, as a beam from the sun.
Eusebius, who appears to have been, as orthodox as other writers of his age with respect to the Son, (if his writings may be allowed to testify for him), and who certainly was not bold in heresy, scrupled not to consider the Spirit as made by the Son. "The Holy Spirit," says he, "is neither God nor the Son, because he did not derive his birth from the Father, like the Son, but in one of the things that was made by the Son; because all things were made by him, and without him was nothing made."
Even Hilary, who wrote so largely concerning the divinity of the Son, seems not to have had the same persuasion concerning that of the Holy Spirit; but, in the little that he says on the subject, seems rather to have considered the Spirit as a divine influence.
The reasoning of the fathers concerning the divinity of the Holy Spirit lies in a much smaller compass than that concerning the divinity of the Son. One principal reason of this is, that so little mention is made of the Holy Spirit in the Scriptures, and still less that can possibly be construed into an evidence of his being a divine person. This is a circumstance that could not escape notice, and which required to be accounted for by the orthodox
Among others, Epiphanius has advanced a reason which is curious enough. It goes upon the idea of the Holy Spirit being that person of the three which immediately dictated the Scriptures. He says, that "the Holy Spirit says little concerning himself, that he might not commend himself, the Scriptures being written to give us examples."
It was Athanasius, the great advocate for the divinity of Christ, and his consubstantiality with the Father, who also exerted himself strenuously and effectually in behalf of that of the Holy Spirit, whose divinity was denied by Macedonius. He informs us, that he was in the deserts of Egypt when he heard of that heresy, and that he wrote from thence to prevent the spread of it. He had so much influence in, Egypt, that a Synod was immediately called there, which he attended, and where the Holy Spirit was for the first time decreed to be consubstantial with the Father and the Son.
Not long after this, the divinity of the Holy Spirit was more solemnly determined at a council held in Constantinople, and from that time it was deemed equally heretical to deny the divinity of the Spirit as that of the Son.
No comments:
Post a Comment