The Spirit "Proceeds from the Father," So Let Us Worship

The brevity, mystery, and church-splitting importance of the phrase "Who proceeds from the Father" make it among the most difficult in the Creed to unpack. Debates over the eternal relations within God--especially the procession of the Spirit from the Father--led in part to the split of the single Christian church into the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches in 1054 AD (the Protestant Reformation came later). But before we dismiss this debate as too obscure, we should fight to see the importance that the great Christian theologians of history have attached to it. It helps us understand the key distinctions within the trinity and ensures that we view the Holy Spirit, alongside the Father and the Son, as fully God and utterly worthy of our worship.