What is Pneumatology?

Pneumatology is the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, from the Greek pneuma. It is the way Christians confess that the Holy Spirit, whom we see in Scripture breathed out by Christ and filling believers with tongues of fire, is himself God in his fullness. He is the third divine person, together with the Father and the Son.

When we speak of the doctrine of the Spirit, we may be quick to speak about the Spirit's missions, the things the Spirit does in the lives of believers and in the world. But before we speak of what the Spirit does, we need to understand how Scripture leads us to affirm who the Spirit is.

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"Before we speak of what the Spirit does, we need to understand how it is that Scripture leads us to affirm who the Spirit is."

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The Bible tells us that the works of the Spirit are God's works. They are divine. The Spirit brings creation into being (Genesis 1). The Spirit is breathed into man to bring life (Genesis 2).

The Spirit also bears the divine names. When the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 3:16 that Christians are the temple of God, it clarifies in the very same breath that this is the Spirit's temple. When Ananias lies about holding back money in Acts 5, Peter says that he has lied to the Spirit, and that he has lied to God. In the Great Commission, Christians baptize believers in the name, the one single name, of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. All this drives us to see that the Spirit himself is God.

The Spirit also possesses the attributes of God. The Spirit knows the mind of God, and whoever knows the mind of God knows all things; the Spirit is omniscient (1 Corinthians 2:10–11). The Spirit is everywhere, just as God is omnipresent (Psalm 139:7). The Spirit is eternal (Hebrews 9:14), and only God is eternal.

Ere by the spheres time was created thou
Wast in His mind, who is thy Son, and Brother;
Whom thou conceivest, conceived; yea thou art now
Thy Maker’s maker, and thy Father’s mother;
Thou hast light in dark, and shutt’st in little room,
Immensity cloister’d in thy dear womb.

— John Donne, “Annunciation”

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A Lofty Title

John Donne’s poem “The Annunciation” speaks directly to (and about) Mary, the mother of Jesus, demonstrating the majesty of the infinite God who is “cloistered” in her womb.¹ Today we sometimes balk at such stark antinomies of divine attributions of Jesus and his humanity. For example, contemporary churches sing “Amazing love! How can it be, That you, my king, should die for me”—even though the original lyrics of Charles Wesley’s hymn are, “that thou, my God, shouldst die for me.” Further, Protestants sometimes hear the title, “Mary the mother of God” and recoil at perceived Roman Catholic associations.

Yet, Donne and Wesley stand in a long line of thinkers who have affirmed these lofty titles for Mary, not fundamentally because of how great Mary is, but because of how great her son, Jesus, is. And we would do well to locate ourselves within this trajectory of Christians who (like Elizabeth) look upon Mary and “exclaim with a loud cry” the good news of the Son of God, who was born of “the mother of our Lord” (see Luke 1:42–43).

The church gave this trajectory specificity and focus in the early fifth century as she wrestled with the implications of the affirmation of the Council of Nicaea. In 325 the church affirmed that Jesus is the “true God from true God . . . [who] became man.”² So what does it mean to say that the Son who is homoousios with the infinite Father became man, and what does it have to say about Mary?

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Cyril and Nestorius

One historical figure who stands stalwart in this line is the theologian Cyril of Alexandria (ca. 374–444).³ While little is known about his early life, he served as a socially and politically active archbishop in Alexandria for over thirty years. Once called “the episcopal warrior” for his political zeal,⁴ Cyril has been viewed suspiciously for his use of power and influence. However, recent scholarship has reinterpreted his roles in many of these controversial events, such as the attacks on Jewish synagogues, oppression of the Novatians, and execution of Hypatia (a female Neoplatonic philosopher).⁵ Regardless, our interest in him here is much more in his theological benefit to the church.

Cyril’s lasting impact may especially be found in his contributions to the Council of Ephesus in 431. The council, itself fraught with political complexity, theologically pitted Cyril (patriarch of Alexandria) against Nestorius (patriarch of Constantinople). Both Cyril and Nestorius appealed explicitly to the Council of Nicaea and believed that their views each preserved the doctrine of the Nicene Creed.⁶

Nestorius was especially committed to preserving the impassibility of God—i.e., that the infinite God cannot be acted upon by another agent in such a way that he suffers or changes. He distinguished between the impassible Son of God and “Christ,” who suffers and dies. When Scripture mentions Jesus’ birth (Matt 1:16) and suffering death (Phil 2:5–8), it uses the title “Christ” to protect the divinity of the Son from being polluted by human suffering.⁷ So, since Jesus’ birth refers to his humanity rather than his divinity, Nestorius says that Mary is “more accurately termed mother of Christ than mother of God.”⁸

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EPHESUS, 431 · Theodosius II, Cyril, Nestorius and the Church of Mary

Biographical Sketch

From a young age, Athanasius of Alexandria (ca. 295–373) was close to his predecessor bishop, Alexander of Alexandria (312–328). While many details remain uncertain and disputed, he would have been familiar with the dispute between Alexander and the presbyter under his jurisdiction, Arius, whom Alexander condemned at the Council of Alexandria in ca. 321.¹ Athanasius accompanied Alexander to the Council of Nicaea convened by Emperor Constantine during June and July of 325. His role and access would have been limited as he was only a deacon at the time.

The record of Athanasius goes quiet until a couple of months after Bishop Alexander died on April 27, 328, when Athanasius was elevated from deacon to Bishop of Alexandria. Although Alexander nominated Athanasius before his death, Athanasius was forced to contend for his office. This was the setting in which he penned his most magisterial, two-part theological treatise, Against the Nations-On the Incarnation (Contra Gentes/De Incarnatione).²

Athanasius would serve as bishop for forty-six years, though his tenure was extremely turbulent. He died on May 2, 373, less than a decade before the Council of Constantinople carried forward the Nicene faith in a manner that would honor Athanasius’s legacy as a champion of the Nicene Creed. Both Basil of Caesarea and Gregory of Nazianzus celebrate Athanasius. Not even ten years after his death, Gregory celebrated his conformity to Christ, praising him because he “embraced virtue in its entirety”³ and calling him the “pillar of the Church”.⁴

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Exiles

In the wake of the Council of Nicaea, which was called to overcome a controversy associated most notably with the Church in Alexandria, the influential episcopal see of Alexandria was contested, facing great scrutiny and many challenges. Despite his forceful influence and positive reception by the likes of the Cappadocian Fathers, while Bishop of Alexandria, Athanasius was exiled five times (amounting to about 17 years of disruption).⁵  

(1) The Emperor Constantine first exiled Athanasius to Trier in the fall of 335 due to several factors, one of which was Athanasius’s refusal to observe the restoration of Arius at the 335 synod of Jerusalem. Two years later, a few months after Constantine’s death, Athanasius would return. At this time, Athanasius bound himself to the legacy of the Council of Nicaea in opposition to what he had described as the resurgence of “Arianism.”⁶  

(2) When Athanasius opposed cooperation between Melitians and Arians, eastern bishops (including Eusebius of Nicomedia) deposed Athanasius twice in two separate councils at Antioch and, with the help of eastern Augustus, Constantius, sought Athanasius’s removal. In the spring of 339, they appointed Gregory of Cappadocia as the Bishop of Alexandria in his place.⁷ Meanwhile, Athanasius evaded arrest and departed for Rome where he would compose his Discourses against the Arians. While there, Athanasius gained favor with western Augustus, Constans, who would convince his brother in the East, Constantius, to allow Athanasius’s return in 346 after Gregory died. Constantius would consolidate power after the death of Constans in 350, condemning Athanasius in Arles (353) and then exiling various western bishops.  

(3) In 356, Athanasius relinquished his jurisdiction to George of Cappadocia as he was forced into exile for a third time. In response to the rise of the Heterousians, Aëtius of Antioch and Eunomius of Cyzicus, Athanasius would write several treatises in defense of the Nicene Creed. After the deaths of Constantius and George in 361, Athanasius returned to Alexandria in February 362. Athanasius promoted unity within the Alexandrian Church and beyond, sending an overture of Nicene unity to Christian leaders in Antioch.  

(4) However, the year 362 was not yet complete when Emperor Julian the Apostate exiled Athanasius a fourth time. Fortunately, Emperor Jovian, who took Julian’s place in June 363, permitted his return in the fall of the next year.

(5) Athanasius’s final exile came at the hands of anti-Nicene emperor Valens. Athanasius was forced to hide within his own city from May 365 to February 366.

What is clear from Athanasius’s exiles is not only that he was displaced and his office under siege but also that he often redeemed the time by forging politically (e.g., Julius of Rome and Marcellus of Ancyra) and spiritually (e.g., Antony of Egypt) important relationships. He remained steadfast in his commitment to advancing the unity of the Church around the Nicene faith. It is not without reason that modern commentators have been critical of Athanasius and some of his antics, but John Behr rightly concludes that in many and various ways, “Nicene Christianity exists by virtue of his constancy and vision.”⁸  

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FOUR EMPERORS, FIVE EXILES · Gold coins of Constantine, Constantius II, Julian and Valens