Basil's On The Holy Spirit And Morality

Basil in On the Holy Spirit argues that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are essentially equal in nature. While heretics try to subvert the role of Holy Spirit in the trinity, Basil rightly argues that there is no distinction in authority between the three persons. He argues that from the beginning of time, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were one in the same, and even if someone were to “travel ever so far backward you cannot get beyond the was, and however you may strain and strive to see what is beyond the Son, you will find it impossible to get further than the beginning.” Basil argues that in the beginning, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit were still the triune God, and to subservient the Holy Spirit or call the Son “unoriginate” in blasphemy. …show more content…
Basil states that “the faith in the Spirit is the same as the faith in the Father and the Son; and in like manner, too, the baptism.” This is to say that Basil believes, based on scripture that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all equal, and in baptism this theology is clearly shown. It would be less than perfect to baptize someone into only the Father, as the triune Godhead cannot and should not be separated. His opponents countered this argument by suggesting that because Christians are baptized into water, people should “give it a share of the honour of the Father and of the Son.” This is absurd on a number of levels, but Basil argues that “if there is any grace in the water, it is not of the nature of the water, but of the presence of the Spirit” in the baptismal process. He argues that the water is not the substance that transforms the believers, but instead it is “the presence of the Spirit” that should be exalted. Just as Christians praise God the Father, “it is the same to say glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost,” because they are unified and triune in nature and in …show more content…
The word unbegotten “is nowhere to be found in Scripture,” but it implies that the Son has no origin, just like the Father. The meaning of unbegotten “is the having no origin from without,” because an all-powerful God could not at any point in nature have not existed. Eunomius, in trying to subservient the Son makes Jesus into less than God by “alienating the Only Begotten from the Father, and altogether cutting Him off from communion with Him. In doing this, Eunomius deprives people “of the ascent of knowledge which is made through the Son,” which is clearly heresy. Basil proves that the “essence of Begetter and Begotten is identical,” and by doing this He defends the deity and majesty of