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The Bible describes the Son as "the only begotten from the Father" (John 1:14). A child is begotten only once. Therefore, I understand "begotten" as a human analogy for how the pre-existent Son of God came into existence.

Similarly, the Spirit "proceeds from the Father." For example:

"When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me." (John 15:26)

On the assumption that the Holy Spirit is a divine Person, does "proceeds" also refer to how the Spirit came into existence or only to the sending forth of the Spirit for a specific mission? In other words, is "proceeds" for the Spirit equivalent to "begotten" for the Son?

I thought of this question while reading Chapter 8 (Basil of Caesarea and the Development of Pro-Nicene Theology) Section 7 (On the Holy Spirit and Pro-Nicene Pneumatology) of the book Nicaea and Its Legacy: An Approach to Fourth-Century Trinitarian Theology by Lewis Ayres (Oxford, 2004). Lewis Ayres is a Catholic theologian and Professor of Catholic and Historical Theology at Durham University in the United Kingdom.

Near the end of the chapter he says:

"The Spirit's mode of procession remains even more mysterious than that of the Son." (p217)

In that chapter, he describes various views.

Athanasius

Athanasius argued:

“The Spirit is closely linked to the Son.” He articulates “the Spirit's dependence on the Son.” (p212)

“The Spirit's dependence on Christ is the same as the Son's dependence on the Father.” (LA, 212)

Just as the Son’s “works are the Father's, so … the works of the Spirit are the works of Christ.” (LA, 213)

Ayres comments:

“Athanasius' account is … highly traditional in its conception of the Spirit's work.” (LA, 212)

“Just as his (Athanasius’) account of the Son can rely heavily on the picture of the Father as one person with his intrinsic word, so too he emphasizes the closeness of Spirit to Son by presenting the Spirit as the Son's ‘energy’.” (LA, 214)

“The language also shows Athanasius trying out formulations that will soon be problematic. … ‘The Cappadocians' will find the language of ἐνέργεια used of the Spirit … to be highly problematic, seeming to indicate a lack of real existence.” (LA, 214)

Cappadocians

“Against these uses of ἐνέργἐια language [energeia, working, activity] Basil deploys two tactics. The first is to argue that the Spirit participates in all the activities of Father and Son.” The second is that “common activity demonstrates a common essence.” This second tactic “undergirds” the first. (LA, 216)

Basil insists “that while the Spirit is third in order and dignity, the Spirit is not third in an order of essences. Basil insists that the Spirit is to be accorded equal worship and honour with the Father and the Son, even if he is not willing to say directly that the Spirit is God in the same terms as Father and Son.” (LA, 216)

“Perhaps the major contribution of pro-Nicene pneumatology is the insistence that the work of the Spirit is inseparable from Father and Son … but on the subject of the Spirit's place in the Godhead as such little progress is made.” (LA, 217)

Question

So, the chapter ends with "little progress" at the end of the 'Arian' Controversy. I am not asking for comments on all of the above but the commenters asked for the context of my question. My question only relates to one tiny aspect of this topic: Based on the Bible alone, does 'proceed' refer to how the Person of the Spirit came into existence, or does "proceed from the Father" mean that the Father sends the Spirit on a specific mission?

@PaulChernoch commented that Revelation 4:5; 5:6 is interesting in this context. I expand on his comment:

  • First, the seven Spirits are "before" the throne (Rev 4:5).
  • Then, after Jesus appears as a slain lamb (Rev 5:5-6), the Spirit is 'sent out into all the world' (Rev 5:6).

Could that be equivalent to 'proceeds from the Father'?

  • The seven Spirits are a symbol of the Holy Spirit. (See Rev 1:4)
  • This is the sending out of the Spirit after Christ's ascension and, therefore, Pentecost. See Enthronement.

So this is a sending out for one specific mission; but from 'before the throne', not from God's substance. –

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    Please supply some context for the question. It quotes words ("begotten" and 'proceeds') and makes other indirect references, but doesn't provide quotations of any specific scripture or doctrinal documents. (Not my downvote, but without more clarity this question deserves it.)
    – Ray Butterworth
    Commented Oct 16, 2023 at 14:20
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    "begotten" and "proceeds" is the language of Nicene creed and there are plenty of theology books / articles explaining what the church fathers meant by them. Is that what you are asking? Or you are asking for the Biblical basis of using those two theological terms to state in philosophical language the realities about God, Logos, and Holy Spirit that the Bible talked about? Much useless arguments I think happen simply because we fail to appreciate that Biblical language is NOT the same as philosophical language but both complement each other.
    – GratefulDisciple
    Commented Oct 16, 2023 at 15:19
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    A Father begets life of his own life ; and this results in independent life - of the same life as that of the Father. A father does not 'make' a son, or 'construct' a son or 'create' a son. The question is vague, lacks focus and needs to be scoped according to site requirements.
    – Nigel J
    Commented Oct 16, 2023 at 17:50
  • A key verse related to the procession of the Holy Spirit is in Revelation 5:6. "And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth." The study of this sending out of the seven spirits of God has been a major focus of my religious study for the last several years. I do not have answers, but am eager to hear what wiser minds have to say. Good question.
    – Paul Chernoch
    Commented Oct 17, 2023 at 15:29
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    Thanks for the edit, I retracted my close vote since it now has enough specificities. Trinitarians say that the generation and the proceedings have no origin and are forever "happening" within the single being of God; the language is necessarily analogies that cannot be pressed too far. I doubt you'll get "based on Bible alone" answer though, since the complete philosophical outworking is simply not the Bible's concern, yet it's consistent with the Bible's emphatic assertion that God is One. As for the Trinity's mission in the world the "proceed" is different: work of the Trinity ad extra.
    – GratefulDisciple
    Commented Oct 17, 2023 at 15:51

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