When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me. (John 15:26)
You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. (Romans 8:9)
Thoughts: The Holy Spirit is both the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ (Romans 8:9). Yet though the Spirit is sent (a sign of "proceeding from"), the Spirit is a separate person. The original Nicene Creed says, "We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life who proceeds from the Father." The Roman Catholic church added "and the Son" (filioque) in an effort to preserve the unity of the Spirit . While the Eastern Orthodox churches keep only "from the Father" in an effort to keep the Spirit as a separate person. There is truth in both emphases. So some writings of the creed have "(and the Son)" in parentheses.
There is danger in trying to figure out more of God than He reveals here. There have been deep, deep discussions on the eternal generation of the Son and the Monarchy (aitia/ arche) of the Father. There are dangers of being too rationalistic (like trying to find out how many angels fit on the head of a pin), and also being too traditionalist. There is a mystery of God in both His oneness and his separateness so that we should not give up our oneness as a church over what God has not so clearly revealed. There is a vagueness in scripture and even among the early fathers (like Cyril of Alexander and Augustine of Hippo who spoke of the Spirit "proceeding from the Father through the Son") beyond which we go at our own peril. Calvin was very clear about not going beyond what has been revealed by God- and that is good advice.
Practically speaking (and that is the purpose of this writing), the Son is eternally begotten and the Spirit is eternally proceeding (from). There is much more love within the person of the Trinity than in those who argue over how to define it. The love within the Trinity is a sign to us to overcome our differences in love. Holding the truth in pride is different from holding the truth in love, and not being able to bear with the weaker brother both quenches and grieves the Spirit.
Prayer: Holy Spirit, your unfathomable in your depths yet important in your work. Help me to rely on you even if I cannot fully understand you. Give me the grace I need to know enough of your faithful love to trust in you.
Mysteries
A. Trinity
The triune nature of God is the first great mystery of the Christian
faith. With Christians everywhere, we worship the only
true God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - who is both one
essence and three persons. God is infinite, eternal, immutable,
impassible, and ineffable. He cannot be divided against
Himself, nor is He becoming more than He has been, since
there is no potential or becoming in Him. He is the source
of all goodness, all truth and all beauty, of all love and all life,
omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. The three persons
are consubstantial with one another, being both coeternal,
and coequal, such that there are not three gods, nor are there
three parts of God, but rather three persons within the one
Godhead. The Son is eternally begotten from the Father, and
the Spirit proceeds eternally from the Father and the Son. All
three persons are worthy of worship and praise
(Council of Nicea 325)
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