W. H. Griffith Thomas on the Filoque

In his exposition of Article 5 in The Principles of Theology: An Introduction to the Thirty-Nine Articles W. H. Griffith Thomas discusses the Western Church’s expression and insistence on the doctrine of the procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father and from the Son in the Nicene Creed. I reproduced this discussion for Anglicans Ablaze readers.

We have already seen something of the history of the doctrine of the Procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father and from the Son, and it is important to obtain a true idea of the meaning of the Western Church in expressing and insisting on this doctrine. On the one side the Spirit is associated with the Father as sent, given, and proceeding (Matt. 10:20; John 14:16, 26; 15:26). On the other hand, He is associated with the Son, being called the Spirit of Christ (Rom. 8:9); described as sent by the Son from the Father (John 15:26); bestowed by the Son on the Apostles (John 20:22, Acts 2:33); and called the Spirit of Jesus (Acts 16:7, R.V.). (See also Gal. 4:6, Phil. 1:19, 1 Pet. 1:11.) So that, in the statement of the Creed, the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son, there was no intention of denying the one principiumin the Father, but only a general assertion that the essence which the Father eternally communicates to the Spirit is also the essence of the Son, and that the Son shares and is involved in the act and process of communication

The Eastern Church regards the Procession from the Son as temporal only through the Mission, and suspects our Western view of a tendency towards Sabellianism. It would seem as though no reunion were possible without some change of doctrine; at any rate the Eastern Church does not regard the difference as merely verbal. On the other hand, if the West dropped the Filioque, it might be thought to deny or question the Consubstantiality of the Son with the Father….

One question of supreme importance has been raised during recent years: Is the doctrine of the Procession from the Son really justified, and does it represent a vital difference? Several authorities are of opinion that it is this addition which has given to the West its admitted spiritual superiority over the East. [The Holy Spirit of God, pp. 145, 146.] One writer goes so far as to say that the denial of the Procession from the Son has done much to fossilize the Greek Church. It is undoubtedly true that no Western theologian ever wished to do anything more than to associate in the closest possible way the Holy Spirit with the Son of God, and in so doing it would seem as though this was keeping quite close to the characteristic New Testament conception of the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of Jesus. And so we may say that “without the Holy Spirit we have practically no Christ,” and without Christ we have practically no Holy Spirit.

Thomas’ explication of Article 5 can be read in its entirety here.

'An Homily concerning the coming down of the holy Ghost, for Whitsunday,' which Article 35 commends as containing "a godly and wholesome Doctrine, and necessary for these times," supplements Article 5. It can be read here.