(Q240a. Why does the Creed call the Holy Spirit the “Giver of life?”)
God is the giver not only of biological life (bios) but of true, spiritual life (zoē). Even as breath gives life, so the Spirit, the same word as “breath”, gives life: “It is the spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life” (Joh 6:63; see Q307, Q390); “the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit” (Gal 6:8).
The Holy Spirit, together with God the Father and the Son, gives life to all creatures, “when you send forth your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the earth” (Psa 104:30; see Q239), and especially spiritual life to those who are joined to Christ Jesus: “Amen, amen, I tell you: unless one is born of water and Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God” (Joh 3:5; see Q055, Q542).
