The Trinity in Relation: Adoption (On the Filioque)

In the last two posts, I have introduced the relationship between the Father and the Son and between the Father and the Spirit. It's fair to then ask the question, in what way can we understand the relationship between the Son and the Spirit? For we call Him both "the Spirit of the Father" (Matt 10:20) and "the Spirit of the Son" (Gal 4:6). If we consider the Spirit as sent from the Father by the Son, we can perceive Him in relation to Christ as the Spirit of adoption or the Spirit of sonship.

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St Paul refers to the "Spirit of Christ" in various places regarding our adoption as sons of God or as joint heirs with Christ. In His epistle to the Romans, he says it is the Spirit of Christ who "brought about your adoption into sonship;" as He is the Son of God by nature, so we are sons of God by adoption, receiving the same Spirit from the Father by our relation to the Lord Jesus Christ, the One Mediator between God and Man. We can draw this understanding from the text of John 14:16, as it is by the intercession of the Son that the Father sends us the Spirit.

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The Western doctrine of the double procession of the Spirit in contrast creates an issue in that the Spirit has cause in the unique relationship between the Son and the Father, the procession being from both Persons involved. Consider if the Spirit were merely a reciprocal bond between the Divine Father and Son, how could we, in our limited human capacity, participate in the Life of the Trinity? But rather, if we receive the Spirit from the Father by the Son, then becoming sons ourselves, we are drawn into the life of the Trinity as sons of God, receiving the same Spirit that lead Christ into the desert to glorify the Father yet now leading us toward union with Him. Perhaps it is with this in mind that St Seraphim of Sarov can say, "The grace of our Lord God the Holy Spirit, Who proceeds from the Father, rests in the Son and is sent into the world for the Son's sake." This is once again a Trinitarian movement in love, emboldening us to call God our Father, Christ our Brother and receive the gift of the Spirit as sons of God.