Meredith Sprunger's Synopsis of The Urantia Book
Synopsis of Paper 8
THE INFINITE SPIRIT
1. In the dawn of eternity both the Father and the Son become infinitely cognizant of their mutual interdependence, their eternal and absolute oneness; and therefore do they enter into an infinite and everlasting covenant of divine partnership...The very instant that God the Father and God the Son conjointly conceive an identical and infinite action—the execution of an absolute thought-plan—that very moment, the Infinite Spirit springs full-fledgedly into existence...In reality they are all three existent from eternity...They are without beginning or ending of days; they are co-ordinate, supreme, ultimate, absolute, and infinite.
2. The first act of the Infinite Spirit is the inspection and recognition of his divine parents, the Father-Father and the Mother-Son...Next, voluntarily, with transcendent willingness and inspiring spontaneity, the Third Person of Deity, notwithstanding his equality with the First and Second Persons, pledges eternal loyalty to God the Father and acknowledges everlasting dependence upon God the Son. Inherent in the nature of this transaction and in mutual recognition of the personality independence of each and the executive union of all three, the cycle of eternity is established.
3. The God of Action functions and the dead vaults of space are astir. One billion perfect spheres flash into existence...There now flashes through the creation of the Gods the second form of energy, and this outflowing spirit is instantly grasped by the spiritual gravity of the Eternal Son... These are the grand and awful times of the creative expansion of the Father and the Son by, and in, the action of their conjoint associate and exclusive executive, the Third Source and Center...And this is the traditional starting point of the history of the universe of universes...Beyond this event lie the unsearchable transactions of eternity and the depths of infinity—absolute mystery.
4. The Conjoint Creator is from eternity and is wholly and without qualification one with the Universal Father and the Eternal Son. The Infinite Spirit reflects in perfection not only the nature of the Paradise Father but also the nature of the Original Son...Of all aspects of the Father's nature, the Conjoint Creator most strikingly discloses his infinity...Ever and always—universally and eternally—the Spirit is a mercy minister, for, as the divine Sons reveal the love of God, so the divine Spirit depicts the mercy of God.
5. The Third Source and Center eternalizes concurrently with the central or fiat creation, and only this central creation is eternal in existence among universes. Since the personalization of the Third Source, the First Source no more personally participates in universe creation...The Eternal Son and the Conjoint Creator have, as partners and through their co-ordinate personalities, planned and fashioned every post-Havona universe which has been brought into existence ... A Creator Son of the Eternal Son and a Creative Spirit of the Infinite Spirit created you and your universe.
6. The Infinite Spirit is the effective agent of the all-loving Father and the all-merciful Son for the execution of their conjoint project of drawing to themselves all truth-loving souls on all the worlds of time and space ...The Eternal Son is the only avenue of approach to the Universal Father, and the Infinite Spirit is the only means of attaining the Eternal Son. Only by the patient ministry of the Spirit are the ascendant beings of time able to discover the Son.
7. Everlasting ministry to mind is the essence of the Spirit's divine character. And all the spirit offspring of the Conjoint Actor partake of this desire to minister, this divine urge to service. God is love, the Son is mercy, the Spirit is ministry—the ministry of divine love and endless mercy to all intelligent creation.
8. Especially in the persons of the Creative Daughters, the local universe Mother Spirits, do we find the Infinite Spirit devoted to the task of fostering the ascension of the material creatures to higher and higher levels of spiritual attainment...the Infinite Spirit and his co-ordinate Spirits do downstep themselves, do joyfully undergo an amazing series of divinity attenuations, until they appear as angels to stand by your side and guide you through the lowly paths of earthly existence.
9. The outstanding attribute of the Infinite Spirit is omnipresence...The Holy Spirit is a circuit indigenous to each local universe and is confined to the spiritual realm of that creation; but the Infinite Spirit is omnipresent. There are many spiritual influences, and they are all as one...Ever remember that the Infinite Spirit is the Conjoint Actor; both the Father and the Son are functioning in and through him.
10. The Infinite Spirit is a universe presence, an eternal action, a cosmic power, a holy influence, and a universal mind; he is all of these and infinitely more, but he is also a true and divine personality.
11. In the administration of universes the Father, Son, and Spirit are perfectly and eternally interassociated. Though each is engaged in a personal ministry to all creation, all three are divinely and absolutely interlocked in a service of creation and control which forever makes them one.
Discussion Questions
1. Do you think the sequential description of the origin of the persons of the Trinity has value even though there was no such origin?
2. Why have we traditionally been more aware of the Universal Father and the Eternal Son than the Infinite Spirit even though the guardian angels are the personalities who work more closely with us?
3. Why is the traditional starting point of history the appearance of the billion worlds of Havona rather than the creation of Paradise?
4. What is your concept of the kind of ministry performed by the angels who “stand by your side and guide you through the lowly paths of earthly existence?”
5. Why did Christianity develop a doctrine of the Trinity without confirmation from the Bible?
6. How do we distinguish the leading of the Spirit from purely human ideas?
7. Why do some human minds balance material and spiritual reality while others become materialists or spiritualists?
A Service of
The Urantia Book Fellowship