The Deity of the Holy Spirit in the Early Church

I have written before about the deity of Christ and the Trinity in the early church. But now I want to document the belief in the deity of the Holy Spirit from the writings of Christians who lived before 220 A.D. in contrast to the false beliefs of Arianism and binitarianism. The Holy Spirit in the early church is often spoken of as the “Divine Spirit” who is the creator of all things and worthy of worship:

“For the Scripture saith in a certain place, Whither shall I go, and where shall I be hid from Thy presence? If I ascend into heaven, Thou art there; if I go away even to the uttermost parts of the earth, there is Thy right hand; if I make my bed in the abyss, there is Thy Spirit. Whither, then, shall any one go, or where shall he escape from Him who comprehends all things?” (1 Clement 28:3-4).

“We wish you, brethren, all happiness, while you walk according to the doctrine of the Gospel of Jesus Christ; with whom be glory to God the Father and the Holy Spirit, for the salvation of His holy elect, after whose example the blessed Polycarp suffered, following in whose steps may we too be found in the kingdom of Jesus Christ!” (Martyrdom of Polycarp 22:1).

“And I again, Pionius, wrote them from the previously written copy, having carefully searched into them, and the blessed Polycarp having manifested them to me through a revelation, even as I shall show in what follows. I have collected these things, when they had almost faded away through the lapse of time, that the Lord Jesus Christ may also gather me along with His elect into His heavenly kingdom, to whom, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, be glory for ever and ever. Amen” (Martyrdom of Polycarp 22:3).

“These doubters then go to him as to a soothsayer, and inquire of him what will happen to them; and he, the false prophet, not having the power of a Divine Spirit in him, answers them according to their inquiries, and according to their wicked desires, and fills their souls with expectations, according to their own wishes” (Shepherd of Hermas, Mandate 11 1:2).

“Thus, then, will the Spirit of Divinity become manifest. Whatever power therefore comes from the Spirit of Divinity belongs to the Lord” (Shepherd of Hermas, Mandate 11 1:10).

“The holy, pre-existent Spirit, that created every creature, God made to dwell in flesh, which He chose. This flesh, accordingly, in which the Holy Spirit dwelt, was nobly subject to that Spirit, walking religiously and chastely, in no respect defiling the Spirit” (Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 5 6:5).

“But both Him, and the Son (who came forth from Him and taught us these things, and the host of the other good angels who follow and are made like to Him), and the prophetic Spirit, we worship and adore, knowing them in reason and truth, and declaring without grudging to every one who wishes to learn, as we have been taught” (Justin Martyr, First Apology, Chapter 6).

“For what is called by the Divine Spirit through the prophet ‘His robe,’ are those men who believe in Him in whom abideth the seed of God, the Word” (Justin Martyr, First Apology, Chapter 32).

“There existed, long before this time, certain men more ancient than all those who are esteemed philosophers, both righteous and beloved by God, who spoke by the Divine Spirit, and foretold events which would take place, and which are now taking place” (Justin Martyr, Address to the Greeks, Chapter 7).

“Lifted in ecstasy above the natural operations of their minds by the impulses of the Divine Spirit, uttered the things with which they were inspired, the Spirit making use of them as a flute-player breathes into a flute” (Athenagoras, A Plea for the Christians, Chapter 9).

“Who, then, would not be astonished to hear men who speak of God the Father, and of God the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and who declare both their power in union and their distinction in order, called atheists? . . . They know God and His Logos, what is the oneness of the Son with the Father, what the communion of the Father with the Son, what is the Spirit, what is the unity of these three, the Spirit, the Son, the Father, and their distinction in unity; and who know that the life for which we look is far better than can be described in words. . . . For, as we acknowledge a God, and a Son his Logos, and a Holy Spirit, united in essence, the Father, the Son, the Spirit” (Athenagoras, A Plea for the Christians, Chapters 10, 12, 24).

“So the whole creation is contained by the Spirit of God, and the containing Spirit is along with the creation contained by the hand of God” (Theophilus of Antioch, To Autolychus, Book 1, Chapter 5).

“In like manner also the three days which were before the luminaries, are types of the Trinity, of God, and His Word, and His wisdom” (Theophilus of Antioch, To Autolycus, Book 2, Chapter 15).

“Since by the one sovereign Spirit all things have been declared in all [the Gospels]: concerning the nativity, concerning the passion, concerning the resurrection, concerning life with his disciples, and concerning his twofold coming” (The Muratorian Fragment, verses 19-23).

“For with Him were always present the Word and Wisdom, the Son and the Spirit, by whom and in whom, freely and spontaneously, He made all things, to whom also He speaks, saying, ‘Let Us make man after Our image and likeness’” (Irenaeus, Against Heresies, Book 4, Chapter 20, Section 1).

“I have also largely demonstrated, that the Word, namely the Son, was always with the Father; and that Wisdom also, which is the Spirit, was present with Him, anterior to all creation” (Irenaeus, Against Heresies, Book 4, Chapter 20, Section 3).

“And has also poured out the Spirit of the Father for the union and communion of God and man, imparting indeed God to men by means of the Spirit, and, on the other hand, attaching man to God by His own incarnation” (Irenaeus, Against Heresies, Book 5, Chapter 1, Section 1).

“But those who do indeed reject the Spirit’s counsel, and are the slaves of fleshly lusts, and lead lives contrary to reason, and who, without restraint, plunge headlong into their own desires, having no longing after the Divine Spirit, do live after the manner of swine and of dogs” (Irenaeus, Against Heresies, Book 5, Chapter 8, Section 2).

“And then, when we have perfected the oblation, we invoke the Holy Spirit, that He may exhibit this sacrifice, both the bread the body of Christ, and the cup the blood of Christ” (Irenaeus, Fragments from the Lost Writings of Irenaeus, Fragment 37).

“That there are, however, two Gods or two Lords, is a statement which at no time proceeds out of our mouth: not as if it were untrue that the Father is God, and the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God, and each is God; but because in earlier times Two were actually spoken of as God, and two as Lord, that when Christ should come He might be both acknowledged as God and designated as Lord, being the Son of Him who is both God and Lord” (Tertullian, Against Praxeas, Chapter 13).

“And thus the Spirit is God, and the Word is God, because proceeding from God, but yet is not actually the very same as He from whom He proceeds” (Tertullian, Against Praxeas, Chapter 26).

“Discipline governs a man, power sets a seal upon him; apart from the fact that power is the Spirit, but the Spirit is God. . . . For the very Church itself is, properly and principally, the Spirit Himself, in whom is the Trinity of the One Divinity — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit” (Tertullian, On Modesty, Chapter 21).