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Date:         Wed, 30 Dec 1992 16:48:07 -0600
Reply-To:     bradk@isdgsm.rtsg.mot.com
From:         Brad Kaiser <bradk%isdgsm@RTSG.MOT.COM>
Subject:      Re: CS LEWIS - UNAUTHORDOX?
              92 08:06:54 am

(I assume the Subject: line of this thread should read "UNORTHODOX",
rather than "UNAUTHORDOX", though since Lewis is a writer, I guess it
is possible for him to be "UNAUTHORDOX" ;-) ;-) ;-) )

Ian quotes C.S. Lewis:

> 'The union between the Father and the Son is such a live concrete thing that
> this union itself is also a person'
> ..
> 'What grows out of the joint life of the Father and Son is a real Person, it
 is
> in fact the Third of the three Persons who are God'..
>
> (Mere Christianity, Chapter - Good Infection)

and then says:

> I dont know about you, but that seems to be a pretty way off, far out and
> just about errornous view of the Holy Spirit. He is not just some wishy washy
> manifestation of the Love between the Father and the Son, He is GOD!
> CO-EQUAL with the Father and the Son, a person in his own right, not the
> result of something.

Well, I haven't read M.C., so I can only go by your quotes, but I
don't think either of you are breathtakingly heterodox (opposite of
orthodox) on this.

Here's a little background:

  The Council of Rome (382) in the famous "Tome of Damasus" (after the
  Pope of that name) asserted that the Holy Spirit was True God in every
  sense, and was co-equal and co-eternal with the Son and the Father.

  The 11th Council of Toledo (675) said that the Holy Spirit proceeds from
  both the Father and the Son (note the present tense "proceeds"); "he is
  not begotten nor created, but He proceeds from both and is the Spirit
  of both ... He is shown to have proceeded from both equally, because He
  is known as the love or the sanctity of both ... sent by the two together
  as the Son is sent by the Father, but He is not considered inferior to
  the Father and the Son in the way in which  the Son, by the human nature
  He assumed, testifies that He is inferior to the Father and the Holy
  Spirit."

  Finally, the 2nd Council of Lyons (1274) said that "the Holy Spirit proceeds
  eternally from the Father and the Son, not as from two principles, but as
  from one, not by two spirations but by one ... we condemn ... those who
  ... deny that the Holy Spirit proceeds eternally from the Father and the
  Son ...

So, it's probably wrong to think of the Holy Spirit as the "result" of
something ("result" as in "consequence of action in time") or as
"growing out of the joint life of the Father and Son" (if by "growing
out" you think of something that happens in time).  Nor is the Spirit
just a consequential manifestation of the love in the Blessed Trinity.
Instead, the Spirit *is* the eternal love of the Father for the Son
(and vice versa), a love which is itself eternal, utterly living, and
completely divine, consubstantial with the Father and the Son.

> Any comments??

Well, I think you're both right, as long as you're careful with the
words you use. ;-)

Gloria in excelsis Deo ...

Brad Kaiser
(bradk%isdgsm@rtsg.mot.com)

          Those who trust in Him shall understand truth,
          and the faithful shall abide with Him in love;
          Because grace and mercy are with His holy ones,
          and His care is with His elect.
                    -- Wis 3:9 [NAB]
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