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I understand Father and Son because of begetting. Is there a reason why the third person is called "Ghost" or "Spirit"?
The theological term "spiration" comes from the Biblical term "Spirit," appropriated to the third person. It is applied to him technically, with reference to the manner in which he has the essence: spiritus, quia spiratus [spirit, because spirated]. He is no more spiritual in substance than the Father or Son. But the essence is communicated to him by spiration, or outbreathing (pneuma = spiritus = breath).
I understand Father and Son because of begetting. Is there a reason why the third person is called "Ghost" or "Spirit"?
Is the question asking whether the person of the "Spirit" is connected to the act of "spiration" in the same way that the person of the "Son" is connected to the act of "filiation?" If so, the answer is, Yes.
Consider the following from W. G. T. Shedd:
The theological term "spiration" comes from the Biblical term "Spirit," appropriated to the third person. It is applied to him technically, with reference to the manner in which he has the essence: spiritus, quia spiratus [spirit, because spirated]. He is no more spiritual in substance than the Father or Son. But the essence is communicated to him by spiration, or outbreathing (pneuma = spiritus = breath).
[Note, Shedd is very helpful in this and the preceding paragraph of his Dogmatics; but his use of the word "modified" with regard to the divine essence is questionable and easily misunderstood.]
But the essence is communicated to him by spiration, or outbreathing (pneuma = spiritus = breath).
I thought the essence was communicated by "proceeding." Is "spiration" another name for that?
I thought the essence was communicated by "proceeding." Is "spiration" another name for that?
As I understand it, generation (or begetting) is the Father's work, and filiation (or being begotten) is the Son's property. Likewise, spiration is the work of the Father and Son, and procession (being spirated) is His property. The Father begets the Son and the Son is begotten. The Father and Son spirate the Spirit and the Spirit proceeds.
Did the author use it with this "spiration" in mind and that's why he used "Spirit"?
Had we no other word of Scripture through which to think on this matter, the single title "THE SPIRIT OF GOD" shows the relation of two Persons, the one proceeding from the other, just as the title "the Son of God" proves the eternal Sonship. He is called (1) the Spirit of the Lord (Isa. 11:2); (2) the Spirit of God (Rom. 8:9); (3) the Spirit that proceedeth from the Father (John 15:26); (4) the Spirit of His Son (Gal. 4:6); and we should grievously err if we believed that these phrases have no significance. We ascribe no such procession to Him as is in any way associated with the idea of imperfection. We acknowledge, however, something fitly represented by the analogy of respiration, for it would be irreverence to imagine that there is no analogy in the terms employed.
Did the author use it with this "spiration" in mind and that's why he used "Spirit"?
Consider the following portion from George Smeaton's Doctrine of the Holy Spirit:
Had we no other word of Scripture through which to think on this matter, the single title "THE SPIRIT OF GOD" shows the relation of two Persons, the one proceeding from the other, just as the title "the Son of God" proves the eternal Sonship. He is called (1) the Spirit of the Lord (Isa. 11:2); (2) the Spirit of God (Rom. 8:9); (3) the Spirit that proceedeth from the Father (John 15:26); (4) the Spirit of His Son (Gal. 4:6); and we should grievously err if we believed that these phrases have no significance. We ascribe no such procession to Him as is in any way associated with the idea of imperfection. We acknowledge, however, something fitly represented by the analogy of respiration, for it would be irreverence to imagine that there is no analogy in the terms employed.