Section 6: The Holy Spirit Key Points

The booklet is split into two parts, data and theology. As a reminder, in studying we have dogma, the infallible unchanging teachings of the Church, and theology. This second category is where we take what we know from dogma and what we know from other sources, and attempt to extrapolate from them, to derive more understanding beyond what has been directly revealed. Thus theology is dependent on the accuracy of its source material. While dogma is inerrant, theology might also be partly based on the science of the day, which might be wrong. This point came up in the class discussion.

Data

• The Holy Spirit provides power/energy to our prayers and liturgy.
• The Holy Spirit is not a vague idea like "the spirit of the times" but rather a Person of the Trinity.
• The Holy Spirit provides us with sanctifying grace.
  • Sanctifying grace is a share of God's own life within us.
  • Protestants, particularly Baptists, will refer to this grace as being "born again."
• The name "Holy Spirit" comes from Greek and Hebrew words both of which mean "breath" as in "God's breath."
  • This is an indication of the intimate nature of the way the Holy Spirit interacts with us.
  • This is an indication of the less visible role the Holy Spirit takes in salvation history.
  • This is an indication of the importance of the role of the Holy Spirit to our spiritual lives.
• The word "agape" was literally redefined because the Greek speaking people of the Roman empire needed a new word to describe the Christians.
  • The way Christians behaved, the way they loved people, friends and enemies alike, needed a word that didn't exist.
  • agape, before Christianity, was a kinda useless word and is in fact rarely ever used.
  • The Greek speaking people literally redefined it to mean what they saw in the way the early Christians acted.
  • It is now used to refer to a selfless love directed at willing (intending/aiming for/striving for) the best (Heaven) for the loved one.
• We use a number of symbols for the Holy Spirit
  • fire - fire is both life giving and destructive. The book uses this symbol extensively, but only partly explained it. We did so more in our discussion.
    • Both meanings are in fact intended. The Holy Spirit destroys sin. The Holy Spirit gives supernatural life to us (grace).
    • Because not everyone freely chooses to cooperate with God's plan, this action of Holy Spirit is, and always has been, divisive. Jesus predicted this - that some would accept the Church and others would not, and that this would cause tension between people.
    • beyond these meanings of fire, we also describe someone deeply in love as burning with passion. This is also an apt description of the love that the Holy Spirit inspires in us.
  • Water
    • water is life giving.
    • water is cleansing, as in the waters of baptism.
  • Dove - symbolizes peace
    • When we cooperate with God, we are at peace.

Theology

• The Holy Spirit is revealed last because we experience God first through the Holy Spirit. "The first shall be last." The Holy Spirit is the first to awaken faith in us.
• The Trinity could not be revealed until God was first fully established as One God. Thus the Old Testament reveals God the Father clearly, but God the Son only very obscurely, and God the Spirit even more obscurely.
• It is better that Christ has ascended into Heaven and has sent us the Holy Spirit.
  • this is in fact directly revealed, but why is it so? the why has not been.
  • Jesus when physical here as incarnate man was physically present only in one place at a time.
  • The Holy Spirit gives life to the universal church as the Body of Christ, making Christ present through His priests and more through the sacraments all over the world all at once.
  • The Holy Spirit can unite more intimately with us (sanctifying grace) than God-as-Jesus. This is seen in the way the Apostles changed after encountering the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. We experience this with confirmation.
  • God the Father creates us, Jesus saves us, the Holy Spirit sanctifies us. While all are one God, this way of understanding their roles helps makes it clear that they are in fact three persons in one God.
• Protestants often focus on Justification. We are Justified by Christ's death and resurrection. They are not wrong on this. They ignore that we are then sanctified by the Holy Spirit acting in and through us to change us from sinners into saints. Christ's work on the cross must be applied not just once, but continually across our lives, transforming us.
• The Holy Spirit is the hardest Person of the Trinity to know because God demonstrates humility and obedience in His very nature. The book's explanation of this point isn't great, and I am not able to do a ton better myself. Re-read that section a couple of times if it doesn't make sense.
• The Holy Spirit acted through and with the human authors of the Bible, inspiring them to write infallible truth without removing their free will, and without erasing their distinct identities, backgrounds, personalities, and and writing styles. This makes reading the Bible both more rewarding but also more complicated.
  • For this reason we call the Holy Spirit the primary author of Holy Scripture
  • Because the human element was not fully removed, we credit the human authors as secondary authors.
  • Recall from our discussion that we believe the Bible because the Church has infallibly taught that it is inspired and inerrant.
• The book briefly talks about the Holy Spirit's role in the immaculate conception and in the Church's infallible teaching.