Question regarding the Holy Spirit

  • Thread starter Thread starter Francis_W28
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
F

Francis_W28

Guest
Just wanted some light shed on a thought that crossed my mind recently.

I understand that we Catholics believe in the truth of a Trinitarian God; one of those parts of course being the Holy Spirit.
It is also to my understanding that we believe the Holy Spirit is the manifestation of the Father’s love outpoured to the Son and like wise the other way around.

With that being said, how could the Holy Spirit have existed before the Incarnation? Does the answer to this question reside in our “glory be…” prayer?

I am by no means trying to claim that the Holy Spirit didn’t exist at that time. Clearly there is evidence that it did. A clear example being found in Genesis 1:2. I just am looking for further explanation regarding the Spirit’s existance.
 
Why would the Holy Spirit not exist before the Incarnation? The second person of the Trinity, God the Son, has always existed with the Father (John 1:1-2, John 17:5). The Son is true God, no beginning or end. As such the Holy Spirit has also always existed from the beginning as the love poured out between Father and Son.

God the Son took on humanity at the time of the Incarnation, but he was not created or brought into being at that time. He is a divine person from all eternity who also took on humanity at the time of the incarnation.
 
From reading Psalm 51:11, we know that King David knew about the Holy Spirit in Old Testament times

“Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me”
 
Genesis 1:1-2 tells that the Spirit existed before the world was created:
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
That is the King James version. In the New American Bible, it is “a mighty wind,” much like at Pentecost.
 
Francis_W28 said:
Just wanted some light shed on a thought that crossed my mind recently.

I understand that we Catholics believe in the truth of a Trinitarian God; one of those parts of course being the Holy Spirit.
It is also to my understanding that we believe the Holy Spirit is the manifestation of the Father’s love outpoured to the Son and like wise the other way around.

With that being said, how could the Holy Spirit have existed before the Incarnation? Does the answer to this question reside in our “glory be…” prayer?

I am by no means trying to claim that the Holy Spirit didn’t exist at that time. Clearly there is evidence that it did. A clear example being found in Genesis 1:2. I just am looking for further explanation regarding the Spirit’s existance.
Click to expand...
Christ existed before He took flesh.
 
Their were proohets and few people who were filled with the Holy Spirit in the the OT. However, with the advent of the descent of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost the Spirit now resides in each believer. Jesus said in John 17 unless he goes the Counsellor will not come. And that it wqs better for them if they did go so that the Holy Spirit would come.

The Incarnation is when the Second Person of the Trinity took on flesh. Yet, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are coeternal. The Father is the origin of all, while the Son is eternally begotren, and the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and through the Son. Each Person of the Trinity is coequal.
 
Don’t forget the Holy Spirit came down upon Mary to conceive Jesus. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are all persons of God, and God is eternal.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top