On the Trinity 2.3

That the divine nature of the Holy Spirit is signified by various names.

What we said at the beginning, the oracles attest in the second place: that the Spirit of God has various names befitting God, names which carry much further exalted meaning, a relation superior to all things and continuous with the Father and the Son, and higher than the most fitting … and which further unfold, some his divine nature, others his sovereign power; which console our weakness in attaining worthily to him, whether by the interpretation of words or by the contemplation of the mind; and which give us the freedom to call him, without danger, consubstantial with God and to trust in his sanctification. And we find none of the other spirits counted worthy to be called by these names. But that which alone and by nature is these things is none of all the things that exist, but God. The names are these. Holy Spirit, as is written everywhere. Spirit of holiness, and sanctifying, as Paul writes to the Romans: “Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures concerning his Son, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, who was declared Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness”; and again: “So that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit”; and elsewhere: “But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as firstfruits for salvation, in sanctification of the Spirit and faith in the truth.” Spirit of power, and of love, and of self-discipline, as Paul wrote in the second Epistle to Timothy: “For God did not give you …” (for what is proper is not included in what is common), but each one, as one from the beginning, God the Word has made manifest. … [of lo]ve and of self-discipline”; and to the Romans: “I appeal to you, brothers, through our Lord Jesus Christ and through the love of the Spirit”; and elsewhere: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace”; which is like “God is love,” and “He transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of his love,” and, “As Christ loved the church,” and again, “of the Son of God who loved me”; and like “From now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the power of the Father,” and, “I know that power has gone out from me.” Spirit of wisdom and understanding; Spirit of counsel and strength; Spirit of knowledge and godliness; Spirit of fear … for Spirit of wisdom”; and as Moses relates in Exodus: “Behold, God has called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and has filled him with a divine Spirit of wisdom and understanding and knowledge”; and according to Baruch: “He has forsaken the fountain of wisdom”; and as Proverbs teaches: “God founded the earth by wisdom, and prepared the heavens by understanding”; just as Isaiah said of God the Father: “He in his wisdom brought evils upon them.” And of the Only-begotten Paul said: “Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God”; and another: “I will bless the Lord who gave me understanding.” Spirit of gentleness; [Spir]it of adoption, as Paul wrote first to the Romans: “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, Abba, Father; the Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” Spirit of promise, according to the same apostle, writing to the Ephesians: “In whom you also, having believed, were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the pledge of our inheritance”; and to the Galatians: “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us; for it is written, Cursed is everyone who hangs on a [tree] … so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” Spirit of faith and of revelation, according to the same apostle, declaring to the Corinthians in the second Epistle: “Having the same Spirit of faith”; and again: “But God revealed to us through his Spirit.” Similar to this is what he declared to the Romans: “God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son”; and what was said by Moses in Deuteronomy: “And you shall know today that the Lord your God, he is God, the faithful God”; and the Psalmist: “The Lord is faithful in all his words and holy in all his works.” Guiding Spirit, upright Spirit, according to David, making confession in Psalm 50; as the Psalmist says in Psalm 32: “For the word of the Lord is upright,” [a misplaced line from Rom 8:15 follows in the scan: “… you received a spirit of slavery again to fear, but you rece[ived]”] … Moses saying: “The Lord our God is upright, and there is no unrighteousness in him.” Spirit of grace, as the Apostle writes to the Hebrews: “He who has trampled underfoot the Son of God and insulted the Spirit of grace.” For the same apostle wrote, concerning the [a repeated line from Deut 32:4 follows in the scan: “and there is no unrighteousness in him; righteous and holy is the …”] Father: “By the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me”; and concerning the Son: “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Spirit of truth, as John announces from the Savior: “If you love me, keep my commandments; and I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Paraclete, to be with you forever, the Spirit of truth”; and again in his first Epistle: “And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth”; which is like the Son’s saying, “I am the truth.” Divine Spirit, and breath of the Almighty, and loving toward humankind, according to the words of Job, and the words a few lines earlier in the … [na]med also light: the Holy Spirit, in whom and by whom we are enlightened, as when the Apostle writes: “That he may give you a Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, the eyes of your heart having been enlightened”; and as David sings: “For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we shall see light”; that is, in your Son, the radiance of your glory, your Holy Spirit. And: “The light of your face has been signed upon us, O Lord.” For what else could the Spirit be, who [proceeds] from the Father, or from the … in the first Epistle: “God is light”; and in the Gospel concerning the Only-begotten: “He was the true light, which enlightens every man coming into the world”; and, “I am the light, I am the life.” Nor is it any wonder that, though he is one and always the same, … [since] his unspeakable Godhead is … to mortal words, we too use various names as we praise, as far as we can, the operations he performs toward us. “And I will ask … that he may remain with you.”

But those who champion the doctrine of Macedonius, belonging to their heresy rather than to the truth, see nothing that agrees with the words of the oracles. With quibbling words they spin tales, saying that one ought not to … “For in the case of God,” he says, “the name ‘good’ is joined with ‘one God’; but in the case of the Holy Spirit, ‘one God’ is not joined to the name ‘good.’” And again: “A man too,” he says, “is written to be good, as when it says, ‘Do good, O Lord, to the good,’ and, ‘The good man out of the good treasure brings forth good things.’ And likewise,” he says, “lifeless things are called good by the same name, as when he prophesies: ‘If you are willing and listen to me, you shall eat the good things of the land.’ And also … to give thanks to the Lord.’ Likewise,” he says, “a man too is called holy. And the worm too,” he says, “is called a power of God, where it is written, ‘The caterpillar, my great power’; and the Savior says, ‘The powers of the heavens will be shaken.’” Now this (I mean not attending to homonyms and similar expressions) has some reason in the case of things of different kind and different substance, but not in the case of the Holy Spirit and of him whose Spirit he is, and indeed of the Son as well. For Scripture adds its own safeguard to the homonyms, … or the word “holy” or “good”; that is, either it says, as from God, “my Spirit,” or, as from David and from us, “Your good Spirit” … God, and his only-begotten Son, who are praised with the same names, not toward creatures because of the homonymy sometimes found among them. For even if we grant that these share some name or word with God, still they do not share his substance or the operation of power and sanctification. For they do not have these by nature at all; rather, the good is so called by comparison with evil, and the holy by comparison with sin or passion; for what is not very evil and sinful, or subject to passion, is here called good and holy. For as evil and sin, or passion and weakness, are not found in the one Holy Spirit, since he is unoriginate, so in none of the things that have come into being is the good and holy and powerful found in perfection, but only by participation; and where these are nowhere in perfection, there the unoriginate is nowhere. For where there is darkness, there is no light at all; and where there is night, there is no day. Hence (as was said also by Hermes, surnamed Trismegistus) “it is impossible for the good to exist in what comes into being, but only in the unoriginate. And as participation in all things has been given to matter, so too in the good.” The Holy Spirit, therefore, is like and equal to the Godhead of the Father and of the Only-begotten; and from the judgment of such things it is shown that he is by nature holiness, goodness, and power, since he is one from the One. For by their wrangling not even the Son, who is most good and gracious by nature, will be good any longer, since he does not have “one God” joined to him; nor indeed will the Father, most loving toward humankind and wholly gracious, and the Son have the names of the Godhead mentioned above as distinctive; rather, through these names they will be brought down, so to speak, as the heretics are accustomed to talk, to us who share the name. Be gracious, holy Trinity! “But the Son,” he says, “having been begotten together [with the Father’s nature], has goodness implanted in him, and all the other things the Father has.” But the Holy Spirit too, having proceeded together with him, is good by nature, and has all that God the Father has. Now if their discussion concerned ordinary matters or the affairs of daily life, it might well sometimes be needful for them to fabricate some tales and, with Aristotelian cleverness, as they suppose, and skill in argument, as Eunomius does, to … the matter and to overshadow the truth; but now … “you shall not understand”; and, “The wisdom of men is foolishness with God.” And one must not use sophistries against the oracles concerning the glorious Spirit, which are greater than human reasonings. For blame does not harm the Holy Spirit; nor do the reproaches and jibes of the heretics, who have taken to thinking basely, go further than the ear; but those who … somewhat like those who try to mock this light, which has its strength from the unapproachable light, and to defile it with their words. One must believe that the teaching that comes from the saints can produce a greater opinion than that which comes from men. It is fitting, then, for us to rebuke them, so that they do not, by excess, bring the divine down to the level of the products of creatures by their sophistries, and through these beget a love of perdition in the simpler and less experienced, and lead them on to the desire of greater sins.

[ch. 4] On the heretics who say: “God is Spirit; and how is the Holy Spirit the Spirit of the Spirit?” and the rest.

But they reject what is simple, straightforward, and complete; and in ignorance of the sacred words, [rejecting] the purpose by which God the Father wills his Spirit to be ranked together with him, as he does his only-begotten Word, and which secures the Spirit’s being set apart from creation and above it, which is also why he is hymned with the thrice-holy, they say: “How is the Holy Spirit the Spirit of the Spirit?” That this is written has been shown; but the how lies beyond our mind and reason, and beyond the knowledge of angels too. For as God the Word was begotten from him who is Spirit, so the Holy Spirit came forth from him and with him; and his incomprehensibility is shown above all in this, that what appears, and is, impossible for creation is possible with him. For otherwise what difference is there between the uncaused and life-giving nature and the nature that was created and is given life? It cannot be that the Spirit is not consubstantial and equal in honor with him from whom he is; and therefore he is also holy by nature. “Are not the angels, then,” he says, “from God, and holy, and spirits of God?” They are from God in that they came into being at his command, as all things did; holy, after being sanctified, as men are; spirits, in that they are bodiless relative to us. They are not called spirits of God, or from God, or proceeding from the Father, or divine, or spirits of truth, or spirits of holiness; but ministering angels and heavenly bodies, because they are infinitely distant from and inferior to the uncreated Spirit of God, according to the experienced Apostle who writes: “Earthly bodies and heavenly bodies.” For as the spirits of the winds are not on the level of the angels, so the angels are not on the level of the Holy Spirit of God. For they were created; they did not proceed from the hypostasis of God the Father. They do not give us new birth, they do not deify, they do not forgive sins, they do not give life, they do not create, they do not sanctify, they do not judge, but are even judged (“For you,” he says, “will judge angels”). Nor are the powers of the heavens in them. They are not uncircumscribed by place, nor immeasurable in extent. For Gabriel, when speaking with Daniel, or announcing the good news to the Virgin Theotokos, was not also in heaven in his substance, as he was in his thought, but at that time was on earth only. Nor are they beyond the reach of the ages; for “he who makes his angels spirits,” it says, “and his ministers a flaming fire.” They do not do a single one of the things done by the Holy Spirit; rather, they even minister to him, as the archangel Gabriel showed when he served … [the Spirit] Holy will come upon you.” Nor, then, is man their temple, as he is the temple of God, and of his Spirit, and of the only-begotten Son. They are not included together with God. Theirs is not one angelic hypostasis, but one hard to number. But the Holy Spirit, shining beyond all, came forth timelessly, in unity of nature and of form, from the … and formless hypostasis of the Father, and is called divine; and he is one, existing uniquely; holy by nature, and the Spirit of God, and none of all the things that exist, but God, being both in heaven and with us, the cause for all of all good things … not departing from being seated together with the Father, and spreading out everywhere, and containing, and dwelling in all things without mingling; entering into our thoughts and those of beings invisible to us, and examining all things exactly, though he knows all things; sounding without voice, and hearing from within the souls that cry out in silence; pitying all souls in all things without delay, and strengthening them, and giving unspeakable joy to natures everywhere; embracing the structure of this universe and holding all things under himself; enlightening with a wondrous light, and doing good by his boundless operation and goodness; leading those of better disposition to a more perfect goal, and not depriving those that are worse and live amiss of his royal, harmonizing, and undivided protection, but setting them in longing for, and reflection upon, the consubstantial Trinity, the giver of all goods; and to all who cultivate … while being set apart from all things, thus: … to one in Spain, to another in another place, as far as the end of the earth, assigned by him, he imparted his unerring and genuine wisdom; not coming to this one now and to another later; not breathing more upon one and less upon another, but shining upon each, together and distinctly, always alike, as the Lord too said: “I am with you all the days until the end of the age.” Otherwise, since they transfer to God the Father the theology concerning the Spirit found in John, where he said, “God is Spirit,” saying that it is so written because he is Spirit; and further, since it is also written, “The Spirit of our face, Christ the Lord,” then … not so; nor is the Holy Spirit thought of together with the other spirits. For he is not an archangel. For Michael and Gabriel and those like them are archangels; and not even heretics would say that the Holy Spirit of God is ranked after them. Where, then, or with what kind of creatures do they think it right to rank him? For after God we have been taught by the Scriptures no other rational nature than the many spirits and our own bodies. Further, they sophistically infer from the passages cited: “The Father and the Son are written ‘true,’ but the Spirit ‘truth,’” as if this were out of tune with that. But it is the same, as was shown in the first book, and the one does not differ from the other.