Saturday, January 29, 2011

And we think that that expression also which occurs in the hymn of Habakkuk, In the midst either of the two living things, or of the two lives, You will be known, ought to be understood of Christ and of the Holy Spirit. For all knowledge of the Father is obtained by revelation of the Son through the Holy Spirit, so that both of these beings which, according to the prophet, are called either living things or lives, exist as the ground of the knowledge of God the Father. For as it is said of the Son, that no one knows the Father but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal Him, the same also is said by the apostle of the Holy Spirit, when He declares, God has revealed them to us by His Holy Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God; and again in the Gospel, when the Saviour, speaking of the divine and profounder parts of His teaching, which His disciples were not yet able to receive, thus addresses them: I have yet many things to say unto you, but you cannot bear them now; but when the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, has come, He will teach you all things, and will bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. (Book I, Chapter 3, Part 4)

I hear a tendency here -- if ever so slightly -- for the Spirit to depend on the Son.

In Plotinus The One emanates the Intellect and the Soul, while maintaining the essential simplicity of being One.

The Intellect (the Son) and the Soul (Spirit) are derivative of The One. There are echoes, at least, of this in Origen.

My meaning for the trinity is a bit different: God is One. God is known and recognized through many expressions. This variety of expression has much less to do with God and much more to do with our encountering God from different points in time, space, and experience.

Of these variety of expressions I am especially aware of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.

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