“The things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received… the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.”
1 Cor. 2:11,12
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Subsection
Names of
Filioque
Common Grace
Cessationism
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Order of Contents
Articles 18+
Books 5
May be Worshipped 1
Indwelling 1
Intercession 1
Historical 1
Latin 2
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Articles
See also ‘Commentaries on the Apostles’ Creed’ on ‘I believe in the Holy Ghost’.
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1500’s
Bullinger, Henry – 8th Sermon, ‘Of the Holy Ghost, the Third Person in Trinity to be Worshipped, and of his divine power’ in The Decades ed. Thomas Harding (1549; Cambridge: Parker Society, 1850), vol. 3, 4th Decade, pp. 297-326
Melanchthon, Philip – 18. ‘Of the Letter & the Spirit’ in Melanchthon on Christian Doctrine, Loci Communes, 1555 tr. Clyde L. Manschreck (1555; NY: Oxford Univ. Press, 1965), pp. 201-2
Vermigli, Peter Martyr – ‘That the Holy Ghost is One God with the Father & the Son’ in The Common Places… (d. 1562; London: Henrie Denham et al., 1583), pt. 1, pp. 103-9
Musculus, Wolfgang – ‘Godhead of the Holy Spirit, Scriptural Testimonies’ in Common Places of the Christian Religion (1560; London, 1563), folio 7.b ff.
Beza, Theodore – A Brief & Pithy Sum of the Christian Faith made in Form of a Confession (London, 1565), Ch. 4
1. Of the Person of the Holy Ghost
2. Of the effects properly considered in the Holy Ghost
3. The Holy Ghost makes us partakers of Jesus Christ by faith only
4. What means the Holy Ghost uses to create and maintain faith in us
5. Wherefore the Holy Ghost is called the Consolator or comforter and to what purpose and end the afflictions of the faithful serve
Viret, Pierre – A Christian Instruction… (d. 1571; London: Veale, 1573), A Familiar Exposition of the Principal Points of the Catechism, and of the Christian Doctrine, made in Form of Dialogue
10th Dialogue: Of the Person of the Holy Ghost
Of the Work of Vivification, and of the principal points to be considered concerning the Holy Ghost
Of the Divinity of the Holy Ghost, and of the proprieties ascribed to all the persons of the Trinity
If there be any Beginning in the divine essence, and how the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father and from the Son
How we Ought to Understand the order which is in the Persons of the Trinity
Of the Difference that must be put between the essence and the gifts of the Holy Ghost
11th Dialogue: Of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost Belonging Only to the Elect
Of the Number of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost, & of the distribution of them
Of the Diversity of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost, and of the difference of them
Of the Gifts of the holy Ghost necessary for every man to obtain salvation thereby
Whether Charity Justify with Faith, or else faith only, and what difference there is between faith and charity in such a case
In what Sort Charity is necessary to salvation
Of the Regeneration of a Christian man
Of the Life of the regenerate man
12th Dialogue: Of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost which are Common to the Elect & to the Reprobates
Of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost which men may have & not be chosen of God, and without the which the elect may be saved touching themselves
Of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost given to the wicked
For what Cause God sometime does communicate to the wicked of the gifts of the Holy Ghost, the which He does not communicate to the elect
Of the Gifts of God which are most excellent and most to be desired
How the Gift of prophecy may serve to the salvation of those which have it not, and not of them which have it
Of the True Knowledge of God proper only to his elect, and of the general which is common to all men
How that the Wicked which prophecy do understand or not understand their own very prophecies
How that the True Knowledge of God comprehends both the understanding and the will
Of the True & Full reformation of man, and of the parts thereof
How that Ignorance and malice are contrary to true regeneration and reformation, and how there is either more or less ignorance and malice in some than in other some
Of those which Offend more through malice than by ignorance
Of those which Sin more through ignorance than through malice
Of the Comparison between those which offend of malice, and those which offend through ignorance
Of the Difference which God uses in the dispensation of his gifts between the elect and the reprobates and how the wicked corrupt and abuse the gifts of God
What Cause men have to glory of the gifts of God, and of what quality, and which be those men that ought to be most esteemed
Bunny, Edmund – 3. ‘The Person of the Holy Ghost’ in The Whole Sum of Christian Religion… (London, 1576), pp. 19-29
Bunny (1540–1619) was an English Calvinistic divine who also published an abridgment of Calvin’s Institutes.
Olevian, Caspar
‘Of the Holy Ghost’ in A Catechism, or Brief Instruction in the Principles & Grounds of the True Christian Religion… (London, 1617), p. 16
Olevian (1536–1587) was a significant German reformed theologian, and has been said to be a co-author of the Heidelberg Catechism along with Zacharias Ursinus (though this has been questioned).
An Exposition of the Apostle’s Creed (London, 1581), pt. 1
Testimonies proving the Godhead of the Holy Ghost, that He is a person and the true and everlasting God, and not any motion or thought or any other thing that is created
What danger there is if we believe not in the Holy Ghost
’I believe in the Holy Ghost’
Testimonies out of the prophets and apostles
The meaning of this article
The applying of this doctrine to the Covenant of Grace
How the Holy Ghost is given and how we know whether we have it or no
Beza, Theodore, Anthony Faius & Students – Propositions & Principles of Divinity Propounded & Disputed in the University of Geneva by Certain Students of Divinity there, under Mr. Theodore Beza & Mr. Anthony Faius… (Edinburgh: Waldegrave, 1591)
4. ‘Of the Holy Ghost’ 9-10
49. ‘Of Faith in the Holy Ghost’ 136-39
Ursinus, Zachary – The Sum of Christian Religion: Delivered… in his Lectures upon the Catechism… tr. Henrie Parrie (d. 1583; Oxford, 1587)
3rd Part of the Creed, Of the Holy Ghost the Sanctifier
1. What the name ‘Spirit’ signifies
2. Who and what the Holy Ghost is
3. What is the office of the Holy Ghost
4. Of whom the Holy Ghost is given, and wherefore
5. Unto whom the Holy Ghost is given
6. How the Holy Ghost is given and received
7. How the Holy Ghost is retained
8. Whether and how the Holy Ghost may be lost
9. Wherefore the Holy Ghost is necessary
10. How we may know that the Holy Ghost dwells in us
Perkins, William – ‘Of the Holy Ghost’ in An Exposition of the Symbol, or Apostles’ Creed… (Cambridge, 1595), p. 397
Perkins (d. 1602) was an influential, puritan, Anglican clergyman and Cambridge theologian.
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1600’s
Bucanus, William – 3. ‘Of the Holy Ghost’ in Institutions of Christian Religion... (London: Snowdon, 1606), pp. 28-37
To what things in the Scriptures is this name ‘spirit’ attributed?
What does the ‘spirit’ signify then, when it is opposed to the flesh?
But what does the word ‘Spirit’ signify, when it is opposed to the letter?
But when it is attributed to the Creator Himself, how many ways is the word ‘Spirit’ taken?
But when is this word ‘Spirit’ used personally?
But why is the third Person called the ‘Spirit’?
Prove now that the Holy Ghost is God
Show me those sentences of Scripture whereby you can prove that the Holy Ghost is God
Show some testimonies wherein the proprieties which agree to God alone are attributed to the Holy Ghost?
Prove the divinity of the Holy Ghost by his works
How do you prove that He is God by that worship and honor which is given unto Him?
How do you prove by the punishment which is inflicted upon them that sin against the Holy Ghost that He is God?
Now prove that the Spirit of God is a person subsisting in God, really distinguished from the Father and the Son
What then is the Holy Ghost?
Prove that the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father
Prove that the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Son
What then be the proprieties whereby the Persons are really distinguished amongst themselves?
Is there then a difference between generation and proceeding?
These proprieties, by what other names are they called?
What call you the works of the divinity without?
What names are given to the Holy Ghost in the Scriptures?
What be the effects of the Holy Ghost?
What be the epithets which are ascribed to the same Holy Ghost in the Scriptures?
Does the Holy Ghost dwell in the hearts of the believers only by his gifts or also by his essence?
What doctrines are contrary to this?
Alsted, Johann H. – 5. ‘Holy Spirit’ in Polemical Theology, exhibiting the Principal Eternal Things of Religion in Navigating Controversies, pt. 2, 4-6 (Partial) tr. by AI by Onku (Hanau, 1620; 1627), pt. 2, 2. A Major catholic Symphony: Theological Common Places, pp. 22-23 Latin
Thysius, Anthony – 9. ‘On the Person of the Holy Spirit’ in Synopsis of a Purer Theology: Latin Text & English Translation Buy (1625; Brill, 2016), vol. 1, pp. 228-46
Turretin, Francis – 30. ‘Is the Holy Spirit a divine person, distinct from the Father and the Son? We affirm.’ in Institutes of Elenctic Theology, tr. George M. Giger, ed. James Dennison Jr. (1679–1685; P&R, 1992), vol. 1, 3rd Topic, pp. 302-8
van Mastricht, Peter – ch. 27, ‘God the Holy Spirit’ in Theoretical Practical Theology (2nd ed. 1698; RHB), vol. 2, pt. 1, bk. 2, pp. 567-92
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1700’s
De Moore, Bernardinus – Continuous Commentary, ch. 5, ‘On the Trinity’
11. Procession of the Holy Spirit & John 15:26, pt. 1, 2
11. Procession of the Spirit as Spiration
11. The Spirit as “Holy”
12. Controversy of the Greeks & Latin over the Procession of the Spirit
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23. Truth of the Spirit’s Person Defended, pt. 1, 2, 3, 4
24. Spirit as a Distinct Person
24. Spirit as a Single Person
25. [missing]
26-27. Defense of the Deity of the Holy Spirit, pt. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
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1800’s
Buchanan, James – The Office & Work of the Holy Spirit (1843)
‘The Spirit as the Comforter’, pp. 277-84
‘The Work of the Spirit as the Spirit of Holiness’, pp. 239-49
‘The Work of the Spirit as the Spirit of Prayer’, pp. 269-76
‘Cornelius – Acts 10’, pp. 174-85
‘The Holy Spirit Enlightening the Mind’
Hodge, Charles, ‘The Nature of Tongues’ in Commentary on 1 Corinthians, 12:10, five paragraphs
Hodge argues for the traditional interpretation that Biblical “tongues” were real, intelligible, foreign languages, not unintelligible babble, contra charismatics and pentecostals
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1900’s
Berkhof, Louis – ‘The Operation of the Holy Spirit in General’ in Systematic Theology (1950)
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Books
1600’s
Goodwin, Thomas – The Work of the Holy Ghost in our Salvation in Works, vol. 6 (d. 1680) ToC
Poole, Matthew – Blasphemer Slain with the Sword of the Spirit in The Literary Labors of the Reverend Matthew Poole, vol. 2 Buy (2013) 71 pp.
“John Bidle’s XII Arguments Drawn out of the Scripture; wherein the commonly Received Opinion, Touching the Deity of the Holy Spirit, Is clearly and fully Refuted (1647) was answered by several Reformed theologians and scholars, both continental and British. These responses were full, demonstrative, and clear; but they were written largely for academics.
It fell to a young parish minister, Matthew Poole, not yet thirty years of age, to provide a concise and popular response, for the edification of the common man. Poole’s Blasphemer Slaine with the Sword of the Spirit remains one of the best popular defenses of the Deity of the Holy Spirit in the English language.”
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1800’s
Buchanan, James – The Office & Work of the Holy Spirit (1843) 519 pp. ToC
A classic, book length exposition of the beloved third person of the Trinity. This as well as his book on Justification reflect his work as professor of Systematic Theology, following Dr. Thomas Chalmers in that chair in 1847 in the New College of the Free Church.
Kuyper, Abraham – On the Holy Spirit
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1900’s
Ferguson, Sinclair – The Holy Spirit (IVP, 1996) 280 pp. ToC
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The Holy Spirit may be Worshipped
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1600’s
Amandus Polanus
‘Analytical Theses on Colossians, containing the Exordium of the Epistle’, pt. 1 (on Col. 1:1-11) $3 Download tr. Jonathan Tomes (Basel: Johannes Schroeter, 1601)
“XVII… 1. All necessary good things should be sought not from any creature, but from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, without separating the Holy Spirit from them. If someone objects that the invocation of the Holy Spirit is not mentioned here [in Col. 1:2] by Paul, I respond: the religious invocation of the Holy Spirit should be equally due, as it is to the Father and the Son.
1. Because it is the commandment of God: “You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve.” And the Holy Spirit is God.
2. Because we have examples of the holy servants of God who invoked the Holy Spirit, such as John in Revelation 1:4, where he says, “Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne,” which refers to the Holy Spirit. For by these seven Spirits, we should not understand created spirits, for they are the eyes and horns of the Lamb (Revelation 5:6). Therefore, they are of the same essence as the Lamb and therefore uncreated. Since they are uncreated, they are the Holy Spirit. The holy prophets say that the one and the same Spirit is divided into seven spirits.
Therefore, it is clear that the Holy Spirit was invoked by the Apostle John, and the same practice was continued by the Apostolic Church, as Justin Martyr testifies in his Second Apology to Emperor Antoninus Pius. “We worship and adore the prophetic Spirit, honoring Him with reason and truth.” It is evident, therefore, that all good things we need should be sought from God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.”
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On the Indwelling of the Holy Spirit in Believers
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1600’s
Samuel Rutherford
Christ Dying & Drawing Sinners to Himself… (London, 1647), pp. 464-65
“Assertion 3. The Person of the Holy Ghost is not united to the soul of a believer, nor are there two persons here united or made one Spirit by union of person with person; but the person is said to come to the saints, and to dwell with them, and to be in them, Jn. 14:16-17, and God has sent the Spirit of his Son in our hearts, crying ‘Abba Father,’ not that the Holy Ghost, in propper Person, does in us formally and immediately believe, pray, love, repent, etc. we being mere patients in understanding, will, affections, memory, as Libertines teach. But the Holy Ghost comes to the saints and dwelles in them, in the spiritual gifts and saving graces, and supernatural qualities created in us by the Holy Spirit and acted, excited and moved as supernatural and heavenly habits to act with the vital influence of our understanding, will, and affections.
I prove the former part: 1. Because such a union of the Person of the Holy Ghost in us, believing, loving, joying, praying and immediately in us, were that blasphemous deifying and Goding of the saints, so as believing, loving, praying were not our works, but the immediate acts of the Holy Ghost, and either the faint manner of believing, or the cold slacked loving, and praying of saints, or their not believing, and sinfull omission of the acts of faith, love, praying rejoicing, could not be more imputed to saints, as their sinful defects and transgressions (but must be laid on the Holy Ghost’s score) than we can impute the splitting of a ship to the ship itself and not to the negligent and willfull pilot who of purpose dashed the vessell on a rock; but we must not in reason blame the ship, but the pilot; for the loss of the ship is the only and proper fault of the man that stirred the ship, and the ship is innocent and harmless timber: Now what sin can be in the saints in these supernaturall acts, if the Holy Ghost immediately in his own Person stir the helm, and only, without us, act these in us? We might with as good reason say the shop that a man works in does make the portrait, which is a great untruth, since the artificer in the shop does it▪ as say that the saints do pray, believe, rejoice, if the Holy Ghost immediately do all these in them, as in a shop.
2. Upon the same ground the Lord’s coming down and filling John Baptist from his mother’s womb, and the apostles and Steven full of the Holy Ghost, should be the Holy Ghost’s personal filling of them, and his immediate acting in them, without any action of them in preaching, praying, and their heavenly bold confessing of Christ before men; and there should be no difference between the ark and temple of Jerusalem, filled with the immediate presence of God, in the Lord’s manifestation of his glory there, and these saints filled with God, in these works of free grace. I shall not believe that the person of God can be said to be united to either ark, temple, apostle or martyr; all the union is in the effects and manifestations of graces, or tokens of divine presence, which are creatures rising and falling with time.
3. That excellent and living ark, the most glorious and admirable thing that heaven has, the Lord Jesus, is God and man, two naturee united in one person. But both the Word of God making that He▪ that same Holy thing, born of the virgin Mary, the Son of God, Lk. 1:5, and that same He, and Person who came of the Jews, according to the flesh, to be God blessed forever, Rom. 9:5; Heb. 7:3; Mt. 16:13, 16, and the third general council, called that of Ephesus, and after the council of Chalcedon, ver. 4 and 5, do evidence to us that Christ cannot be two persons as Nestorius dreamed, and one person. Paul spread the Gospel from Jerusalem to Iliricum, about ten hundred miles. I know not he, but the grace of God that was with him, 1 Cor. 15:9-10, not he, but the Lord: True, but the question now is whether Paul and the Holy Ghost in all these works of grace, were two persons become one Spirit by union, as some dreamers affirm; because both did the work; I believe not: God and cloud rained down manna to Israel; O but Christ’s Father, Jn. 6, gave the manna, but the question is if the person of God were united with the clouds or any second causes producing manna; so the Lord ‘makes rich and poor, kills and makes alive, makes snow, frost, fair weather,’ drought and rain, the sun to rise, and go down, and that in his own person, Father, Son, and Spirit; He, He only made heaven, earth, sea, and all creatures, and the world; [Greek] Acts 17:25 and [Hebrew] Ps. 33:9, do prove Him to be a person who does all these. But we cannot say that the person of God must be united with clouds, ship, sea, sun, heavens, men fighting and men saving and killing; and that God personally fills all creatures, only God in the immensity of his nature, is all these and everywhere, and is in them by his operation; so the Holy Ghost is with the saints and dwells in 〈◊〉, not by union of his Person to them or the immensity of his essence, which is, as David says, everywhere, Ps. 139:7… But He dwells in the saints, in regard of the works, operations, gifts and graces of the Holy Ghost.
1. Because the Holy Spirit is in them, in that they have in them the fruits of the Spirit, Gal. 5.22, such as love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith; now these are not the Holy Ghost, who is eternal and God uncreated, but are created in time, out of mere nothing, not out of the potency of the subject, but ere God produce grace, so knotty and so rocky are we, and so contrary to grace, that he must fall upon a new and second creation, Eph. 2:10; Col. 2:10; Ps. 51:10, the same word that is used for creating heaven and earth, Gen. 1.•. is here used; it is not like the repairing of a fallen house, where the same timber and stones may do the work, or the repairing of decayed nature, when a healthy body recovers out of a fever; Grace is a rare and curious workmanship.
2. We are said to grow in grace, 2 Pet. 3.18, and by grace to increase to the edifying of the body in love, Eph. 4:16, and to the measure of the stature of the fullnesse of Christ, 13, and to add grace to grace, 2 Pet. 1:5-7, and to go on to perfection, Heb. 6:1; Phil. 3:12. But the person of the Holy Ghost, is not capable of growing, or addition, nor like the morning light, or the new moone, that can grow and advance in perfection, being God blessed forever.
3. If there be a union of the Person of the Holy Ghost with the soul, and not an indwelling by graces, the believer as a believer must live by the uncreated and eternall life of the Holy Ghost, or a created life. Creatum vel increatum dividunt omne ens immediate, sicut finitum et infinitum: Not the former, neither any man, nor the man-Christ can in any capacity be elevated so above itself as to partake of the infinite life of God; how the manhood of Christ partakes of the personal subsistence of the Godhead is incomprehensible to me, except that it is not by such a union as my singular nature stands under personality created, and [it] is by assumption rather than union; however, if there be a union of the Person of the Holy Ghost to our souls, it cannot be conceived, nor does Scripture speak of it; if the saints live the life of God, it must be by created graces, and this is that [which] we conceive.
4. The person of the Holy Ghost immediately acting in the saints, without them or any active and vital influence of the natural faculties, cannot be guilty of sin, because David and Christ are absolved of sin in this: ‘They laid to my charge things that I knew not,’ that is, things I never acted, crimes in which I had no action or hand: but we are blamed in the Word for all the omissions of holy duties; and the Holy Ghost cannot be blamed, for He blows when and where He lists, and is under no Law in his motions of free grace; then he who cannot be blamed in not acting, cannot be united as one spirit, person with person, with him who is justly to be blamed in not acting.
Assertion 4: It must evidently follow that there is in the saints a grace created that is neither Christ, nor the Holy Ghost in person; for what reason any has to fancy an union of the person of Christ or the Holy Ghost in the saints [as one person], the same reason have they to say that all the three are united to the person of the believer in all supernatural actions, for the Father is said to draw men to the Son, John 6:44, and Christ to reveal the Father, and to draw men, John 1:18; John 12:32 and the Holy Ghost to reveal the deep things of God, 1 Cor. 2:10-11, now all the three in person do these, but all the three persons are not united to believers in person; this were a mystery greater then God manifested in the flesh, and unknown to Scripture.
2. If Christ be all the grace of believers, faith in Christ and the love of Christ should be Christ.
3. Then should a believer having a new heart, and a new Spirit, be Christed, or Godded; and God should be incarnate in every believer, and how many Christ’s should there be? and the new heart in one saint, and the grace given to Paul, should be the new heart given to Peter, whereas God has given grace to every man according to his measure, and there are diversity of gifts, but one Spirit, 2 Pet. 3:15; Phil. 1:9; Eph. 3:3-5; 1 Cor..12.3-6; Eph. 4:16.”
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On the Intercession of the Holy Spirit
Article
1600’s
Heidegger, Johann H. – ‘Commentary on Rom 8:26-27, on the Spirit’s Intercession’ tr. by AI by Chaznvo
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Historical
On the Reformation
Stephens, W. Peter – The Holy Spirit in the Theology of Martin Bucer (Cambridge University Press, 1970) 300 pp. ToC
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Latin Articles
1600’s
Voet, Gisbert
(3) Of the Person of the Holy Spirit in Syllabus of Theological Problems (Utrecht, 1643), pt. 1, section 1, tract 2 Abbr.
1. ‘Notes & Excercitations on Thomas, Summa, pt. 1, Questions 27-44, on the Divine Persons, pt. 1′ in Select Theological Disputations (1669), vol. 5, pp. 136-47
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