Credo 33: … the giver of life …
In the beginning of Genesis, the world is welter and waste. In the expressive Hebrew phrase, it is tohu wabohu, a kind of futile chaos. The Spirit of God ‘hovers’ over the surface of the waters, like an eagle fluttering over its young. This Spirit miraculously and incomprehensibly helps bring forth life from the sterile salt-waste (1.2). This creation happens not just once, but again and again, constantly. In his hymn to the glory of creation, the psalmist sings about the Spirit’s presence in the gift of new life and nurture
You take back your Spirit and living things die, returning to the dust from which they came. You send forth your Spirit, they are created and you renew the face of the earth (104. 30)
The continued existence, the passing away, and the origination of all beings are conditioned by God’s Spirit. The Spirit is like a hand, providing for all things and upholding them. Or it is like God’s breath, animating things and renewing them.
One of the main meanings of the doctrine of the Trinity is that it is the same God who makes the universe, who comes among us as a man, and who is continually present to the world. Creation and redemption are a single act, proceeding from a single God. Likewise, the same Spirit which is involved in making the world, is also involved in remaking it. The Spirit gives life in the first place, and also gives new life.
When St Paul calls the Spirit ‘the giver of life’ he means primarily this re-creation. The Spirit comes to those who are spiritually dead, through sin, and raises them to the new life of faith, hope and charity.
The coming to us of the Spirit is the deepest and most unanalysable meaning of conversion. We do not know what the Spirit is; we cannot grasp it. We do not know where he comes from or where he is going. But we know that we are sharing again in this new life of the Spirit when we have his gifts. The writers of the New Testament say that his face is seen especially in the readiness to love and to forgive.
