JM
Puritan Board Doctor
4.4.2 Differences between the Eastern and the Western Churches
In the east, stress falls on the Father as the source of the personal subsistence of the Son and the Spirit. The Father is the guarantor of the unity in the Godhead, the source, and the cause of the Son and the Spirit. Thus, the Spirit proceeds from the Father. In the West, the Arian threat led to an emphasis on the oneness of the Father and the Son. The filioque is intended to undergird this; the dual procession serves to safeguard the Son’s status. Following Augustine, the Spirit is the bond of union between the Father and the Son.
Augustine broached the subject in De Trinitate:
It is not without meaning that in this Trinity only the Son is called the Word of God, only the Holy Spirit is called the gift of God, and God the Father is the only one by whom the Son is generated and from whom the Spirit principally proceeds. I added ‘principally’ because we discover that the Spirit proceeds also from the Son. This is also the Father gives to him [the Son], not that he exists at any point without having it, but whatever he gave to his only-begotten Word he gave in begetting him. Therefore, he begat him so that the common gift should proceed from him also, and the Holy Spirit should be the Spirit of both.
For Augustine, the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son as one principle of origination. The Father is the sole principle of deity, the Son is begotten by the Father, and from their common love proceeds, as a single principle, the Holy Spirit. The Spirit proceeds first from the Father and the by the Father’s gift at no interval from both in common.
Page 135/6 from Systematic Theology by Robert Letham
In the east, stress falls on the Father as the source of the personal subsistence of the Son and the Spirit. The Father is the guarantor of the unity in the Godhead, the source, and the cause of the Son and the Spirit. Thus, the Spirit proceeds from the Father. In the West, the Arian threat led to an emphasis on the oneness of the Father and the Son. The filioque is intended to undergird this; the dual procession serves to safeguard the Son’s status. Following Augustine, the Spirit is the bond of union between the Father and the Son.
Augustine broached the subject in De Trinitate:
It is not without meaning that in this Trinity only the Son is called the Word of God, only the Holy Spirit is called the gift of God, and God the Father is the only one by whom the Son is generated and from whom the Spirit principally proceeds. I added ‘principally’ because we discover that the Spirit proceeds also from the Son. This is also the Father gives to him [the Son], not that he exists at any point without having it, but whatever he gave to his only-begotten Word he gave in begetting him. Therefore, he begat him so that the common gift should proceed from him also, and the Holy Spirit should be the Spirit of both.
For Augustine, the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son as one principle of origination. The Father is the sole principle of deity, the Son is begotten by the Father, and from their common love proceeds, as a single principle, the Holy Spirit. The Spirit proceeds first from the Father and the by the Father’s gift at no interval from both in common.
Page 135/6 from Systematic Theology by Robert Letham