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Questions & Answers 2

Question 21: “You claim that every person is born afflicted with original sin. Let us assume for now that that this is correct. In Jesus, reparation came about for the sins of all or Jesus paid the ransom fee for the sins of all people. By the way: What happens here to the responsibility of the individual? Be that as it may: if Jesus, by his death and resurrection, has paid for all sins, will all children who are born now still be born with original sin? If yes, then what use is Jesus [as redeemer] actually?” (TR)

Answer: The reader should first read once more Chapter 3, III and IV in the book carefully.

The question contains three main points, which I want to address here in three stages.

         a. Regarding reality and the term original sin

The Bible’s fundamental position in interpreting history in the light of faith in God is: God did not want the world to be, and did not create it, in the way that we encounter it in tangible form. He wanted and wants life and not death; he detests injustice, violence and lies. He does not want people to suffer; he wants peoples’ happiness in companionship with him. To emphasise God’s original will and original plan, the Bible tells the Story of Paradise (Gen 2:8.15-17).
The core of the paradise story, just as the teaching on the origins of humanity, is not a palaeontological but a statement made from the point of view of fiath and therefore a theological statement: God created humanity not only good but very good; moreover, he allowed humanity to share in his life.

The testimony regarding paradise and the origins of man are not important in themselves. They merely present the background so that we can now properly understand the current state of humanity: as a condition of estrangement which God did not want and did not create. Therefore, where does evil come from?
“Sin came into the world through one man, and death came through sin" (Rom 5:12). That is the succinct conclusion of the apostle Paul. It summarises what is graphically reported in the story of the fall of man in the first pages of the Bible (see Gen 3:1-24).

The Bible does not tell just this one story of the fall from grace. This one story starts an avalanche of further stories of sin, in which the social dimension of sin is made apparent. (Read, for example, the story of Cain’s murder of Abel and the resulting vicious circle of guilt and revenge between people (Gen 4). Likewise the story of chaos erupting in the Flood (Gen 6) and the story of the Tower of Babel (Gen 11).
In the New Testament Paul takes up the stories of sin in the Book of Genesis. Here he puts the first Adam in relation to the second, new Adam, Jesus Christ (see: Rom 5:12,14,15,17).

These texts go beyond the testimony in the Old Testament. Only through Jesus Christ is the universality and radicalness of sin opened up to us; it reveals our true situation in salvation as well as in calamity. Only now is the universality of the power of sin established that rules over humanity as the power of death. However, the perception of the universality of sin is only the negative side of the coin of the universality of salvation in Jesus Christ. Since we know that salvation is given to all in Jesus Christ, we can recognise that there is calamity outside of Jesus Christ. Thus, the testimony of sin has no independent significance. It exemplifies the universality and the ebullience of salvation that Jesus Christ has brought. The bedevilled and hopeless situation of humanity is encompassed by the greater hope and the certainty that we are granted salvation in Jesus Christ.

An initial problem for today’s generation to correctly understand this lesson is that many scientists today teach that, at the beginning of history, there was not only one couple (monogenism), but that human life formed in several places simultaneously in the process of evolution (polygenism or even polyphyletism). The meaning of Church teaching is preserved, however, when it is maintained that humanity, which forms one entity, rejected God’s offer of salvation already at its beginning and that the resulting calamity is a universal reality from which no one can free themselves by their own efforts. If this belief is maintained, then the question of monogenism or polygenism is a purely scientific one, which is to be resolved by scholars based on current scientific methods. It is not a question of faith, however.

A second problem concerns the approach towards understanding the teaching on original sin. For many, the term original sin is a contradiction since original sin is defined as the state of sin that characterises all human beings as a result of Adam’s fall. In other words, we inherit sin. Yet the word inheritance means to take over something that we have not earned for ourselves but gain from our ancestry. Sin, however, is a personal deed for which we are responsible. This seems to lead to a dilemma: either we have taken over sin as an inheritance, in which case it is not a sin; or it is sin in which case the word “original” has no place here.

The problems are solved when we relinquish this individualistic view of humanity that is behind this objection and focus on the solidarity of humanity: No one begins at the beginning, no one starts at point zero. Everyone, in their deepest self, is formed by his or her own life story, family history, and people, culture, yes, even the whole of humanity. In this way, everyone finds themselves in a situation that is defined by sin. We are born into a society that is dominated by egotism, prejudice, injustice and untruth. That influences us not only by external bad example, but determines our reality. For no one lives only for himself; everything that we are, we are together with others. Thus, universal sinfulness is in us all, we each have it. There is, therefore, a web of mutual entanglement and a universal solidarity in sin from which no individual can free himself. This is also true particularly for young children. They are personally blameless; however, their lives exist only in the form of sharing in the lives of adults, especially their parents. Therefore, they are even more interwoven into adult history than adults.

According to Catholic teaching, original sin thus exists in the universal calamity of people and of humanity (read: Rom 7:15, 17-19, 22-24).

The teaching concerning the universality of sin has a multiple practical significance. It says: everyone is a sinner. “If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us” (1 Jn 1:10). This teaching destroys the illusion that we create for ourselves and leads us to no longer evade our sin, to trivialise it and to always look for a scapegoat in others, in the environment, our common inheritance, our disposition. However, the teaching on original sin also tells us that we must be careful about whom we make directly responsible for personal sin and must not hastily determine sin and judge others. Ultimately, only God sees into the heart of each person. However, he does not want to judge but only to forgive. Only in the knowledge of forgiveness is it possible to confess sins. For this reason, we point out once more that reality out trumps the universality of sin, which is cast into the shadows through the light of faith, the universality of salvation, which was proclaimed through the entire long history of the Old Testament and was finally realised in Jesus Christ. The most important function of the teaching on original sin is to point to God’s forgiving and healing love, which is offered to us in Jesus Christ.

         b. God’s will for salvation and Jesus’s death for sin on our behalf

Jesus’s scandalous death on the cross was, to the Jews, God’s judgement, yes, a curse (see: Gal 3:13). The Romans regarded it as dishonour and, as not a few witnesses state, grounds for contempt and ridicule. Paul writes in 1 Cor 1:22-23: “For Jews demand signs and Greeks demand wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles”.

It was therefore a difficult task for the early Christians to properly understand this scandal of the cross. However, in remembering Jesus’s own words at the Last Supper and in the light of Jesus’s resurrection through God they came to fully realise that this so shocking death of Jesus was brought about, on the first historical level by peoples’ lack of faith and their enmity, but behind that stood God’s will, God’s plan for salvation, yes, God’s love. The early Christians recognised a divine “must” (see Mk 8:31; Lk 24:7, 26, 44) in Jesus’s suffering and death that is already prefigured in the Old Testament. Thus, it was already stated in the earliest traditions of the Old Testament that already existed in Paul’s community, when he converted, that Jesus Christ had died for us as Scripture said (see 1 Cor 15:3). In the light of the Suffering Servant’s fourth song in the Book of Isaiah (see Isa 52:13-53:12), Paul can recognise in Jesus ’s death God’s unfathomable love that does not spare even his own son but instead offered him for us (see Rom 8:32, 39; Jn 3:16), in order to reconcile the world with himself in Jesus Christ (see 2 Cor 5:18 -19): The cross is the ultimate expression of the self-emptying love of God. Thus it reveals to us the nature of God and the meaning of true love.

“Behold, My servant will prosper,
He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted.
Just as many were astonished at you, My people,
So His appearance was marred more than any man
And His form more than the sons of men.
Thus He will sprinkle many nations,
Kings will shut their mouths on account of Him;
For what had not been told them they will see,
And what they had not heard they will understand.

Who has believed our message?
And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot,
And like a root out of parched ground;
He has no stately form or majesty
That we should look upon Him,
Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.
He was despised and forsaken of men,
A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
And like one from whom men hide their face
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
Surely our grief He Himself bore,
And our sorrows He carried;
Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten of God, and afflicted.
But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,
And by His scourging we are healed.
All of us like sheep have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way;
But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all
To fall on Him.
He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter,
And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers,
So He did not open His mouth.
By oppression and judgment He was taken away;
And as for His generation, who considered
That He was cut off out of the land of the living
For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due?
His grave was assigned with wicked men,
Yet He was with a rich man in His death, Because He had done no violence,
Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.
But the LORD was pleased
To crush Him, putting Him to grief;
If He would render Himself as a guilt offering,
He will see His offspring,
He will prolong His days,
And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand.
As a result of the anguish of His soul,
He will see it and be satisfied;
By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many,
As He will bear their iniquities.
Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great,
And He will divide the booty with the strong;
Because He poured out Himself to death,
And was numbered with the transgressors;
Yet He Himself bore the sin of many,
And interceded for the transgressors.“
(Isaiah 52:13-53:12).

Jesus’s devotion through God is Jesus’s answer as his own obedient devotion (that is the original meaning of the word islām as a verbal noun) to the will of the father “for us”. This interpretation of Jesus’s death as devoting his life on behalf leads us into the innermost core of the witness of the New Testament.

The notion of representation seizes on a basic human reality, namely, the solidarity of all people. The Bible takes up this theme and in a new way makes it a fundamental law of the entire history of salvation. Adam acts as a representative of all humanity and establishes the solidarity of all humanity in sinfulness, Abraham is called as the blessing for all generations (see Gen 12:3), Israel as the light of all people (see Isaiah 42:6). Holy Scripture concretises this idea through the idea of vicarious suffering, which is already found in the fourth Song of the Suffering Servant (see Isaiah 53:4-5,12).

The notion of representation, which is so central to the Bible, is particularly suitable to make clear in our faith how Jesus’s death could signify salvation for us. The consequence of human solidarity in sinfulness was the solidarity of all in the fate of death. This demonstrates above all humanity’s lack of salvation and its hopeless situation. Now that Jesus Christ, the fullness of life, expresses solidarity with us in death, he makes his death as the foundation of the new solidarity. His death now becomes the source of new life for all those who were under the fate of death.

The interpretation of Jesus’s death as suffering and death on our behalf is the quintessence of Jesus himself. This is also shown in the very old word (I don’t understand what you mean by “old word”): Mk 10:45.

Another very difficult concept for many to understand today is the Biblical notion of Jesus’s death as sacrifice. If we want to understand the deeper meaning of the notion of sacrifice, then we must be clear that sacrifice does not primarily depend on external sacrifices. The sacrificial offerings brought are meaningful only as a sign of personal sacrifice; this inner bearing must express itself freely and in physical form. With Jesus the personal sacrifice of self is fully united with the sacrificial offering; he is the sacrificial offering and the sacrificial priest in one. Thus, his sacrifice was the perfect sacrifice, the fulfilment of all other sacrifices that were merely a shadow of this one sacrifice made for once and for all (Heb 9:11-28). For this reason the Letter to the Hebrews can state that this sacrifice does not concern external objects but the self-sacrifice of Jesus in obedience to the Father (see Heb 10:5-10). Through this complete sacrifice on our behalf, humanity that is alienated from God is now fully reconciled with God once more. Thus, through his unique sacrifice, Jesus is the mediator between God and humanity (see 1 Tim 2:5).
The imagery of “redemption”, “exoneration” and “deliverance” are tied to this idea.

 All these manifold images and statements are, in principle, about one and the same theme. They want to proclaim, in ever new ways, God’s obliging and saving love, which Jesus gained for us, once and for all, through his obedience and through his sacrifice, in order to bring peace between God and humanity, as well as between all people. Thus, the Letter to the Ephesians can say, “For he is our peace” (Eph 2:14). In him all alienation, which the sins between God and all humanity, between all people and in people themselves, have caused are once again healed and reconciled. Thus, the cross of the non-violent Prophet and Messiah Jesus of Nazareth ultimately is a sign of the triumph of God over all powers and forces hostile to humanity. It is the sign of hope.

         c. Personal responsibility for salvation

No one is redeemed against their will. The salvation that God ’s infinite love offers through his son in the Holy Spirit wants to be accepted in free will. The freely accepted gift of God’s healing and redeeming love, ultimately of God, the Holy Spirit himself, sets in motion a lifelong healing process. By the power of the Holy Spirit, that is, by God’s mercy, by performing good works, a person can achieve inner spiritual growth. However, grace can also be lost through sin and is always granted anew through true conversion. Thus, a Christian’s entire life is a battle with the temptation to forget God again, to disobey his will. In this sense, a Christian’s life is a constant turning towards and returning to God. This always requires renewal and deepening. However, even when we have done everything, we still remain “worthless slaves” (see. Lk 17:10).

         d. The good news of salvation applies fundamentally to all people

God wants all people to be saved and to attain knowledge of truth (1 Tim 2:4). He does not want the sinner to die but for the sinner to convert and remain alive (see Ez 33:11; 2 Pet 3:9). This universality of God’s will for salvation was emphasised once again at the Second Vatican Council:

“Those also can attain to salvation who through no fault of their own do not know the Gospel of Christ or His Church, yet sincerely seek God and moved by grace strive by their deeds to do His will as it is known to them through the dictates of conscience. Nor does Divine Providence deny the help necessary for salvation to those who, without blame on their part, have not yet arrived at an explicit knowledge of God and with His grace strive to live a good life. Whatever good or truth is found amongst them is looked upon by the Church as a preparation for the Gospel. She knows that it is given by Him who enlightens all men so that they may finally have life” (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church: Lumen Gentium = The Light of Nations, 16).

The choosing of, and granting vocation to, each and every person also confirms naturally that God accepts and takes seriously each person as a person. That is why he wants each person’s freely given response and acceptance. Yes, in his love, God makes the realisation of his will for salvation dependant on our freedom. That means that we can also fall short of salvation through our sin.

Question 22: “If Trinity is God’s nature, then the characteristics (or distinguishing features) of humanity, created in God’s likeness, must also resemble the Trinity of God. What are these characteristics (or distinguishing features)? In other words: What is it that makes humanity resemble God” (TR)

Answer: It is apparent that the Christian idea of man, particularly the understanding of the individual, is very much influenced by God’s triune revelation. It is an ancient insight that a person’s understanding of him or herself is intimately linked to religious faith and the resulting vision of God. A person discovers him or herself, effectively, “on a detour” via his or her own experience and knowledge of the divine. The theologian Emil Brunner writes: “For every culture, for every period in history the [following] words apply: ‘Tell me your God and I will tell you the state of your humanity’“

The image of God and the image of man are mutual reflections. Christian thinking thus soon discovered that also being a person in the image of the divine Trinity is not only and not primarily determined by a substantive I am or I am-within-myself, but rather is determined by relationship, as it is with God i.e. from others and to others. One becomes a person in the full meaning of the word through mutual recognition, in being with others and for others. The other is thus an important part of being one’s own person. In others and through others, I gain myself, my life then becomes rich, fulfilled and complete. The other person is thus an important part of being one’s own person. Yes, it can be seen from the triune God that being within oneself and for oneself are not contradictions and that these thoughts do not stand in inverse relationship to one another. One might say: The more I am me, the less dependent I am on others and the less I have to take account of others; and the more I am dependent on others the less I am me! No, looking at the triune God both are directly proportional: those who are in God are themselves because they are fully one with and through one another and thus form the inseparability of a divinity. From this one can “read” that relation, the being-in-relationship-with-others, is the highest form of unity. And we all yearn for this form of unity, not “being one with the entire world”, but a unity that is completed in a network of relationships and in connectedness through mutual relationships and in differences.

Question 23: “Throughout the Old Testament it is said that God was one, not a person, absolutely no one was at his side. The term Trinity is used for the first time by Tertullian [African Church Father (ca. 160 – ca. 225)] in the year 200 after Christ. Can you show any point in the Old Testament that contains, or even makes only a reference to, the term Trinity.” (TR)

Answer: How is the revelation of God as a triune reality, as a community of love, given in the faith of the Old Testament? The reader should read once more Chap.5 III of our book.

The Jew, the believer of the Old Testament, who awaited God, already knew God. Jesus also grew up in the faith of the Jewish people. In choosing him, God brought the Jewish people – and thus every devout Jew – to an awareness of this vocation: God had assumed responsibility for their existence through the covenant. Long ago God spoke to their ancestors in many and various ways through the prophets (Heb 1:1). God stood before the people as a living being, who challenged them (the people) to dialogue. However, how far this dialogue was to go, what effort God was prepared to make, what answer the people were to give, the Old Testament was not yet prepared to give an answer here. A distance remained between God and his most faithful servants. God is a “God merciful and gracious” (Ex 34:6), he has the passion of a bridegroom and the tenderness of a father (refer here to Hos 11 and Jer 2:1-9). However, what secrets did God hold back behind these images, which answered the deepest desire of the faithful and which was their sustenance, but still veiled reality itself?

This secret was revealed in Jesus Christ. As a result of his appearance in history, judgement takes place, a division of hearts. Those who refused to believe in Jesus may well say about his Father: “He is our God”; but they hardly know him and are saying, so to speak, only a lie (Jn 8:54 onwards; see 8:19). Those who believe in Jesus, however, are no longer withheld from the secret or, to put it better, they have been invited into the secret itself, into God’s impenetrable secret, they are at home in this secret, they are led into it by the Son: “I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father” (Jn 15:15). There are no more images, no more secrets. Jesus speaks openly of his father (Jn 16:25). There are no more questions that one could have asked him (Jn 16:23), no more uncertainty (Jn 14:1), the disciples “have seen the Father” (Jn 14:7).

”God is love”: that is the secret (1 Jn 4:8, 16) that we gain only through Jesus Christ, and we gain this in that we „acknowledge that Jesus is the Son of God” and that we thus “recognise for ourselves, and put our faith in, the love God has for us” (1 Jn 4:16).

From the meditative readings on the New Testament it arises that the God of Jesus Christ, that is, the God that Jesus encounters in the writings of the Old Testament, is his Father. When Jesus turns to him, then he does so with the familiarity and immediacy of the Son, “Abba”. But he is also his God because the Father, who possesses divinity without receiving this from anyone else, grants this in all its fullness to the Son, whom he begot before eternity, like the Holy Spirit with whom both are united. In this way, Jesus reveals the identity of the father and God, the divine secret and the triune secret. Saint Paul repeats three times the set phase that expresses this revelation: “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom 15:6; 2 Cor 11:31; Eph 1:3). Christ reveals to us the divine Trinity by means of the only way that we – if one may say so – are able to perceive; that is, the way that God predetermined for us by creating us in his likeness, namely, by means of a relationship as to a child.

However, because the Son is the ideal image, in his Father’s eyes, of the creature before God, Jesus reveals in God the ideal image of a God, who recognises true wisdom and who has revealed himself to Israel. The God of Jesus Christ has those traits which God revealed of himself in the Old Testament in an abundance and a nativeness which humanity could never have dared to imagine. God is for Jesus in a way that he is not for any of us “the first and the last“, the one from whom Christ emanates and to whom he returns. He is the one who explains all, and from whom everything originates, the one whose will must be fulfilled under all circumstances and who is always enough. He is the holy one, the only one that is good. The one Lord. He is the only one against whom nothing counts. However, Jesus sacrifices himself to show how majestic and how sublime the father is, in other words “so that the world may know that I love the Father” (Jn 14:31). Every radiance of creation counters Satan’s power and takes away the horror of suffering, of death, yes, the death of one unjustly condemned to die by crucifixion. The father is the living God, constantly watching out for his creation, full of love towards his children. It is his fervour that consumes Jesus until he hands over the kingdom to his father (Lk 12:50).

The encounter between the Father and the Son is consummated in the Holy Spirit. In the Holy Spirit Jesus hears the father say to him, “You are my son” and receives his father’s pleasure (Mk 1:10). In the Holy Spirit, he lets his joy at being the Son rise to the father (Lk 10:21 onwards). Just as Jesus Christ can only be united with the father in the Holy Spirit, so he cannot reveal the father without also simultaneously revealing the Holy Spirit. When the father and the son are one in spirit, then they are so in giving, in the gift. However, this means that their oneness is a gift and brings forth a gift. However, if the spirit, which is a gift, thus sets the seal on the unity between the father and the son, then this means that they are a gift in their very being, that their common essence exists in order that they may give to one another, to exist in the other and to love the other. This power of life, communication and freedom is the Holy Spirit.

Question 24: “Can you point out a baptism in the Gospel that was made in the name of the Trinity? All baptisms were made in the name of Jesus the Messiah (Christ).” (TR)

Answer: Baptism cleanses, makes sacred and makes right before God. It makes the one who receives God through the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit pleasing to God and right before God, so to say (in theological terminology, “justified” before God). The one baptised has thereby become “a member of Christ” and “temple of the Holy Spirit” (see 1 Cor 6:12-20, particularly verses 15 and 19). The one baptised has become an adopted child of the father (Gal 4:5-7), a brother and co-heir with Christ in inner unity with him (Rom 8:2, 9, 17; Gal 3:28). Baptism in the “name of Jesus“ (Acts 10:48: 19:5) signifies baptism insofar as it means to “be a member of”, or better still “belong to” Christ, and also to differentiate from the baptism of John (the Baptiser). To speak of this method of baptism does not mean that the precise wording of an earlier baptism would be repeated here in which solely Christ would be named. On the contrary, the apostolic tradition believed that the triune words (that is, the words, “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”), used in the baptism liturgy from the beginning correspond exactly to Jesus Christ’s ceremonial commandment, as given in Mt 28:19.

Question 25: “Can someone who has come to believe in Jesus Christ lose their salvation again?” (TR)

Answer: Faith in Jesus Christ as the son of God, the saviour and the healer of mankind, is at the same time both a gift of God’s generosity and, on the part of a person, the outcome of the freely accepted gift bound with conversion from sin and turning to God. God respects freedom of will. He expects full personal responsibility in giving. Thus he neither forces us to accept faith nor does he automatically grant it to us. It is the nature of true faith that it is freely given and freely accepted.

This is already really the answer to the question. A person can neglect or even reject faith, even after it has been freely accepted. Whoever, of their own free will, neglects or even consciously gives up faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, in doing so rejects also the gift of salvation that was offered to them and which was at first freely accepted. Such a person chooses distance from God or even consciously defies God. Hell means to close oneself off from God’s love for ever and thus to have put oneself in the absolute calamity of distance from God, yes, even enmity towards God, which is hell.

Neither in Holy Scripture nor in the Church’s teaching tradition is it categorically said of any particular person that they were truly in hell. Rather, hell is always kept in the forefront as a real possibility combined with the offer of conversion and life.

Question 26: “I have a question regarding the interpretation of the Holy Spirit. This was apparently understood differently by the Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church: The Roman Catholic Church apparently says that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the father and the son. The Orthodox Church apparently says that the Holy Spirit comes only from the father. This belief apparently played a major role in the conflicts regarding the true doctrine in AD 1054. The Orthodox Church said that the Gospel supported its point of view: “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from Father, he will testify on my behalf.” (John 15:26). How do you explain this statement from the Gospel?” (TR)

Answer: Originally, spirit in the biblical tradition meant wind, air, storm, and then breath as a sign of life. Thus, God’s spirit is the storm and the breath of life, it is that which creates, supports and sustains everything. It is above all that which intervenes in history and creates anew. In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit worked above all through the prophets. In the Creed, we acknowledge: “He has spoken through the prophets”. The Old Testament hopes from the Holy Spirit at the end of time that it will bring forth the big renewal through the general outpouring of the spirit (see Joel 3:1-2).

The New Testament prophesies this renewal at the end of time in the coming of Jesus Christ. His appearance and his impact were accompanied from the beginning by the power of the Holy Spirit: in his baptism by John (see Mark 1:10), in his annunciation (see Luke 4:18), in his battle against the demons (see Matthew 4:1; 12:28), in his sacrifice on the cross (see Hebrews 9:14) and in his resurrection (see Romans 1:4; 8:11). The name “Christ” (which is the Greek translation of the Hebrew Messiah) was originally a title. Jesus is the Messiah that is to say: the one anointed by the Spirit. Jesus Christ is not, however, a carrier of the Spirit like the prophets. He possesses the Spirit of God in immeasurable abundance. As the resurrected one, he is therefore the source of the divine Spirit, he bestows the Spirit as God’s gift to the apostles, he sends it to his Church at Pentecost (see Acts of the Apostles 2:32-33).

It is the mission of the Holy Spirit to be a reminder of all that Jesus Christ said and did. In this way, we can be led into the full truth (see John 14:26; 16:13-14). In it, Jesus Christ remains present in the Church and in the world (see 2 Corinthians 3:17). This is why the Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Jesus Christ (see Romans 8, 9; Philippians 1:19), and as the Spirit of the Son (see Galatians 4:6). It is also called the Spirit of faith (see 2 Corinthians 4:13). Through the Spirit we can acknowledge Jesus Christ as the Lord (see 1 Corinthians 12:3) and can pray, “Abba, Father” (see Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:6). The Holy Spirit is the gift of new life. Father and Son send it to us. In giving us his Spirit, God gives Himself. Through the gift of the Spirit, we receive companionship with God, we are part of his life, we become children of God (see Romans 8:14; Galatians 4:6). That is only possible because the Spirit is not a created gift but a divine gift, in which God shares Himself with us.

“God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” (Romans 5:5).

 “We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
  Who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
  With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified.”

The wording “and the Son”, the famous filioque (Latin for “and the Son”), was not yet included in the original Creed from Constantinople. It appeared as doctrine wording in Spain in the 5^{th –} 7^th century, but was included in the Roman Catholic profession of faith only in the 11^th century. This additional wording represents a difference to the Orthodox Church to this day. The Orthodox use the phrase “from the Father through the Son”. They want to emphasise more clearly in this way that all has its origin and source only in God the father. The Roman Catholic Church and the other Western Churches want to emphasise more strongly that the son is the same being as the father and is equal to him. East and West are united in this fundamental concern. However, they use different theological terms and models of thought. Thus, according to the Roman Catholic faith, there is a conviction regarding a legitimate unity in diversity, but no disagreement to split the Churches.

This connecting profession between East and West wants to state that the Holy Spirit is not just any gift of God but is God’s gift in person since life and its mystery find their fulfilment firstly in the participation of God’s life and mystery. However, the Holy Spirit is not only gift of God but is also the divine Giver of this gift, the Giver of life. Just as the father is the origin and source of the Son, and everything that he is he gives to the Son, so in this way Father and Son, that is, the Father through the Son, passes on his own fullness of divine life and being, and together they bring forth the Holy Spirit. Just as the Spirit is pure receiving from the Father and Son, so the Spirit is to us the effervescent source, the Giver of life. It is the evocative and creative energy of new life and the metamorphosis of humanity and the world at the end of time.

The well-known Latin hymn “Veni Creator Spiritus” from the 9th century expresses in a beautiful way what this life given by the Holy Spirit means

CREATOR SPIRIT, by whose aid
The world’s foundations first were laid,
Come, visit every pious mind;
Come, pour thy joys on human kind;
From sin and sorrow set us free,
And make thy temples worthy thee.

O source of uncreated light,
The Father’s promised Paraclete,
Thrice holy fount, thrice holy fire,
Our hearts with heavenly love inspire;
Come, and thy sacred unction bring
To sanctify us while we sing.

Plenteous of grace, descend from high,
Rich in thy sevenfold energy;
Thou strength of his almighty hand,
Whose power does heaven and earth command,
Proceeding Spirit, our defence,
Who dost the gift of tongues dispense,
And crown’st thy gift with eloquence.

Refine and purge our earthy parts,
But O, inflame and fire our hearts,
Our frailties help, our vice control;
Submit the senses to the soul,
And, when rebellious they are grown,
Then lay thy hand, and hold them down.

Chase from our minds the infernal foe,
And peace, the fruit of love, bestow;
And, lest our feet should step astray,
Protect and guide us in the way;

Make us eternal truths receive
And practise all that we believe
Give us thyself, that we may see
The Father and the Son by thee.

Immortal honour, endless fame,
Attend the Almighty Father’s name:
The Saviour Son be glorified,
Who for lost man’s redemption died;
And equal adoration be,
Eternal Paraclete, to thee.

No council, no catechism and no theology can express more beautifully than in these lines what we mean when we say, “We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life”.

This page was translated by Gisela Watts.