Does the Holy Ghost Really Need Another Job?
Short answer? No, He does not. The Holy Spirit already carries a LOT of water for the Trinity.
Think about it. We know a lot of disparate things about the Holy Spirit, but two really stand out for me:
- He is a shape shifter. We see the Holy Spirit throughout the Bible. He takes on many different forms. Sometimes He’s a dove. Sometimes He’s a tongue of flame, or a mighty wind, or a burning bush, a pillar of flame or cloud. Sometimes He’s an angel or a traveler with a basket of surprises. Sometimes He’s a formless mist moving on the face of the waters. He is always the Breath of Life and the Spirit of God.
- He’s got a lot of jobs. Aside from Spirit of God, Breath of Life, and Spirit of Truth, Paraclete springs immediately to mind. That one must take up a big chunk of time. Being the helper and advocate and fount of wisdom for an ignorant humanity trying desperately to grasp it’s place in the cosmic economy of salvation has got to be a daunting task, even for a Person of the Triune Godhead.
As Novation (presbyter of Rome 210-280) has it:
This is He who places prophets in the Church, instructs teachers, directs tongues, gives powers and healings, does wonderful works, offers discrimination of spirits, affords powers of government, suggests counsels, and orders and arranges whatever other gifts there are of charismata; and thus make the Lord’s Church everywhere, and in all, perfected and completed.
A Treatise of Novatian Concerning the Trinity. Chapter XXIX
These are all the things that keep the Holy Spirit busy in the affairs of men who are trying to be righteous. These are important, and they are in keeping with the promises of Christ, but what I’m trying to arrive at in this little project of mine is a more essential, fundamental, metaphysical role for the Spirit that I can find mirrored in the essential, fundamental, metaphysical laws of nature–the very stuff of creation. Origen points the way for me, and the way he points is in Scripture.
Origen (again) on the Wisdom of Solomon:
Let us see now what is the meaning of the expression which is found in the Wisdom of Solomon, where it is said of Wisdom that “it is a kind of breath of the power of God, and the purest efflux of the glory of the Omnipotent, and the splendor of eternal light, and the spotless mirror of the working or power of God, and the image of His goodness.” These, then, are the definitions which he gives of God, pointing out by each one of them certain attributes which belong to the Wisdom of God, calling wisdom the power, and the glory, and the everlasting light, and the working, and the goodness of God…but, with all propriety, he says that wisdom is the breath of the power of God.
Chapter II, “On Christ,” 9 (emphasis mine)
Which, of course, took me to the source of Origen’s thinking from the passages in the Book of Wisdom attributed to the tradition of Solomon. Where I should have started, it seems, because it is so stunning in its beauty, its clarity, and its inspiration.
Solomon himself on the glories of Wisdom
For she [Wisdom] is an unfailing treasure;
those who gain this treasure win the friendship of God,
being commended by the gifts that come from her discipline.
Now God grant I speak suitably
and value these endowments at their worth:
For he is the guide of Wisdom
and the director of the wise.
For both we and our words are in his hand,
as well as all prudence and knowledge of crafts.
For he gave me sound knowledge of what exists,
that I might know the structure of the universe and the force of its elements,
The beginning and the end and the midpoint of times,
the changes in the sun’s course and the variations of the seasons,
Cycles of years, positions of stars,
natures of living things, tempers of beasts,
Powers of the winds and thoughts of human beings,
uses of plants and virtues of roots—
Whatever is hidden or plain I learned,
for Wisdom, the artisan of all, taught me.
For in her is a spirit
intelligent, holy, unique,
Manifold, subtle, agile,
clear, unstained, certain,
Never harmful, loving the good, keen,
unhampered, beneficent, kindly,
Firm, secure, tranquil,
all-powerful, all-seeing,
And pervading all spirits,
though they be intelligent, pure and very subtle.
For Wisdom is mobile beyond all motion,
and she penetrates and pervades all things by reason of her purity.
For she is a breath of the might of God
and a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty;
therefore nothing defiled can enter into her.
For she is the reflection of eternal light,
the spotless mirror of the power of God,
the image of his goodness.
Wisdom 7: 14-26
This brings together everything I have been trying to say on a variety of topics:
- The power, the wisdom, the breath, the purity, the timelessness, and the manifestation of the image of God, which is Christ, are distinct to reason but inseparable from one another. Three separate Persons in one Unity. The one true Godhead.
- The Spirit of God is infused in and sustains everything.
- Science and religion cannot be in conflict because God is the Author of both. Therefore, whatever the science of theoretical physics can glean of the substance and workings of the universe can only help to inform us of the substance and workings of the Trinity that made it.
This last is the very kernel of my hypothesis that the structure and workings of the Trinity mirror the structure and workings of Creation. The stuff we all want to know, scientists, theologians, philosophers, kings, and even fools: the question of the meaning of Life, the Universe, and Everything. For Douglas Adams it’s 42. For me it’s my understanding of String Theory.
