On the Trinity 2.5

On those who say: “Since the Word of God is Only-begotten, what shall we call the Spirit?” and the rest.

To this the heretics, most intricate and most shifty in speech (I do not know whether in their purpose too, though certainly in this as well), strangers to the simpler and truer teaching, … [from Jeru]salem as far as Illyricum, having established for God churches of countless members … and likewise of the rest. “God the Word was called Only-begotten because the Holy Spirit is not from the hypostasis of the Father. Otherwise he would not have been called Only-begotten, and the Holy Spirit would have been called his brother.” So they say, unlike even themselves; but the truth answers them. He is written “Only-begotten” both because he alone was begotten from the hypostasis of the Father, and did not proceed as the Holy Spirit did; and to shut out the blasphemies of heretics who call him a creature and a son as we are. And the Holy Spirit too is written to be one and only, both because he alone proceeded, in a single way, from the hypostasis of God the Father, and was not begotten as the Son was; and because he is not a creature as the others are … the Spirit is of the substance of the Father, and is not separated from his union with the One; nor does he have any inferiority toward him, or any other more closely of one nature with him, or nearer to God, than himself; nor does he allow himself either to be called a number, since he is of the substance of the Unity, or to be ranked with the things brought into being, since he is among those who brought all things into being, together with the Father and the Son. The one Holy Spirit, then, cannot be unlike the one Father or the one Son, nor like the multitude of spirits. For just as, since there is one God and Father and one true Son, all of us who are in his image have been called, through his goodness and generosity, gods and sons, though we are not so in truth, according to the words, “I said, You are gods, and all of you sons of the Most High,” so, since there is one and only [Spirit of God, the others are] not by nature spirits of God.

Not looking or considering how they may appear to the theologians, while saying something that hangs together they do not hesitate to bring in other harmful things as well. And let no one blame me, before hearing the whole argument, if I call their statements harm. For he will find that what they utter is directly opposed to the mind of the God-inspired men, who had it as a gift from God to excel in this matter. For they say: “If the Holy Spirit is God, he is either Father or Son; but if he is neither of these, he is not God, as the other spirits are not.” They must be answered thus. Just as the Father is God, not because he is Father, but because he is of the divine nature; and the Son, not because he is the son of some chance person, but because he is of the divine nature; so the Holy Spirit too is God, not simply because he is Spirit, but because he is neither … because he is the one and only Holy Spirit of God. And [although it is written], “You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve,” we believe that the only-begotten Word is God equally with the Father, and we worship and serve him; and we are disposed in the same way toward the Holy Spirit. For by that very rule given concerning incorruptible baptism, on which hangs the order of our whole life and religion, by which we were commanded to rank him with the Father and the Son, we were also commanded to worship him together with them, to glorify him together with them, and to serve him. For this is the reasonable service of which Paul wrote thus: “That you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, well pleasing to God, your reasonable service.” And just as, when the Apostle declared in an oracle that God alone is wise and has immortality, we believe that the Son likewise has immortality and is wise, since he is without difference in substance from the Father and is his Word and eternal life, as Scripture writes, so too concerning the Holy Spirit. For he does not have immortality and wisdom by grace, or as a gift, as the ministering spirits do, but possesses them by nature; for he is the Spirit of wisdom. That is why it is written: “No one knows the things of the only wise except his Spirit.” For if they grant that these things are not so, they will either misrepresent God the Word or be seen to act contrary to the Scriptures. For nothing is ranked with the Trinity in one Godhead: neither the spirits, because they are called spirits, not to mention the unholy ones; nor men, because they are called gods, for we are not gods in truth. And if they do not suppose that “to the only wise God” and “who alone has immortality” tell against them, they will not be able to use sophistry against the Holy Spirit from anything to the contrary. For these words were spoken thus by Paul because the Son is the Word of God and the Holy Spirit his Spirit, and they belong to him inseparably by nature and are referred to one Godhead; as is said even by those outside: “One God, self-fathered, from whom all these things come.” As, then, Paul spoke of the Father to the Romans, so John said of the Son: “The only-begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father”; and of the Holy Spirit Paul taught the Corinthians: “To another gifts of healing by the one Spirit”; for oneness is proper to the divine nature that is not multiplied. And as it is written that the Son was begotten, and he testifies, saying, “I came forth from the Father,” so it is written, and the same one said, “The Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father,” or “proceeded.” And just as the Son, being God and Lord, is the Son of God and Lord, so the Holy Spirit, being God and Lord, is the Spirit of God and Lord. And just as the Son is written “Word” because he coexists with the Fa[ther] … [it is writ]ten “Utterance of God,” and “Spirit of his mouth,” and “Breath of the Almighty,” since he shone forth from him, subsisting together with him; so that no one should suppose that he is outside the Godhead of the Father or of his Word. For the utterance belongs to the word, and the word to the mind; and the saying is fulfilled: “The one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” And as the Son is shown to be without difference from the Father, where it is written, “He who has seen me has seen the Father,” so too the Holy Spirit, by the words: “By this we know that God is in us, by his Spirit whom he has given us.” Since the Father is true God, it is altogether necessary, then, that he who shows him by his own manifestation is also true God, equal to him. And just as all things came into being through the Son, so all things were sanctified and strengthened by the Spirit. For the apostles say: “Master, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, who spoke through the Holy Spirit by the mouth of David your servant.” And just as the Only-begotten is shown to be equal in power and like the Father, and having authority, according to the words, “Whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does likewise,” so too is the Spirit of God, according to the words, “All these are worked by one and the same Spirit.” And as Christ said of himself, “No one knows the Father except the Son,” so the like is said of the Holy Spirit too: “No one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.” And just as the Son was called, from his work of announcing, “Angel of great counsel,” so too with the Holy Spirit. For it says: “But we have received the Spirit of God, that we might see the things freely given to us by God.” And most like to “Christ the firstfruits” is the text that says, “And having the firstfruits of the Spirit.” And of equal weight with “And may the Lord sanctify you, so that you may be pure and blameless for the day of redemption” is “that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.” And equal in balance with “He who set me apart from my mother’s womb, through his grace, to reveal his Christ in me” is “God revealed it through his Spirit.” And of equal force with “Examine yourselves, whether Christ is in you” is the saying, “We have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit of God.” And “Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you?” is equal to what John wrote: “If we love one another, God abides in us. By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, by his Spirit whom he has given us”; and to “I and the Father will come and make our dwelling with him.” And just as the Holy Spirit is given through the Father and the Son, according to the words, “I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh,” and, “Receive the Holy Spirit,” so Christ is given through the Holy Spirit, according to Paul writing to the Ephesians: “That he may grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell.” And we may take as like and equal “The word of the Lord came to such-and-such a prophet,” and “The Lord said,” and “Thus says the Lord Almighty,” with what Peter said in the Acts, “The Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand,” and with what Paul said in Rome to the Jews, “The Holy Spirit spoke well.” And equal in honor with “the eternal God” is what Paul proclaimed: “who offered himself through the eternal Spirit.” And comparable with “No one can receive the Holy Spirit except from the Lord” and “Receive the Holy Spirit” is “No one can say ‘Lord Jesus Christ’ except in the Holy Spirit.” And “being guided by the Holy Spirit into the truth,” that is, being guided by the Holy Spirit into the true faith, is the same as being guided by Christ the Master, who decrees: “Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” And of equal strength with the text that says, “Are we provoking the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?” is the writing, “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” And like in wording to “You will send forth your Spirit, and they will be created” is “You will send forth your Word, and it will melt them.” And on a level with saying, “The Lord bears witness to my soul that I do not lie,” is the writing, “The Spirit of truth, [who] proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me,” and, “The Spirit testifies to me in every city, saying.” And likened to the Master’s word that says, “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves,” is “So these, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia.” And equal to the writing, “If you seek proof of Christ who speaks in me,” is the writing that “they told Paul through the Spirit not to go up to Jerusalem.” And akin to “The Son is eternal life” is what he himself said: “The water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up to eternal life. Now this he said about the Holy Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive”; and akin to “For we have become partakers of Christ” is “For it is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit.” And very like are what is said in the Acts thus, “There appeared to the apostles tongues as of fire, distributed, and they sat upon each one of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit,” and what was said by John, “He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire,” to what was declared by Moses, “God is a consuming fire,” and by Isaiah, “Behold, the Lord will come like fire.” And in harmony with the saying, “You were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of sins, in the circumcision of Christ,” is what is written: “Circumcision of the heart, in the Spirit.” And if it is fitting that Peter’s words should be said of God: “Let each repent of his wickedness and of his evil way, and be bap[tized]” … then his Spirit is without difference from God; and [this is shown] also from the Master’s saying to the disciples, in these very words: “Wait for the promise of the Father, which you heard, that John baptized with water for repentance, but you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit.” For this shows nothing other than what his other instruction about illumination shows: that the Holy Spirit works and is able to do the same things as the name of the Father and of his Son, since he is of the same Godhead. And the preaching of the Son and of the Holy Spirit is without difference and equally to be revered, as Paul writes to the Romans: “For if one who comes preaches another Jesus whom we did not preach, or you receive a different Spirit” … “For I will not dare to speak of anything except what Christ has worked through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience, by word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God,” [which is like] “The Father who abides in me does the works. Believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me.” For observe that, as the Father does, so too his Spirit abides with Christ, being inseparable in the divine nature; and that the divine works are done by the ineffable Trinity with one mind; and that, just as the Father, existing in his own hypostasis, is imaged in the Only-begotten because of the sameness of the Godhead, that is, of the substance, in the same way the Only-begotten is imaged in the one Holy Spirit. And how many other things are reported about the divine Spirit, [the Spirit] of the Father and of his only-begotten Son! Some of them are contained in various places of this book, through which the course of the argument has passed. Otherwise, when asked in turn, will they not say that Eve and the children born of her are from Adam? And how is it that the children are written to have been begotten, while she was called neither his child nor the sister of those born? Since, then, it is not possible to show, by comparison with creatures, the unique and incomparable … nature, which remains invisible to the mind and does not allow itself to be approached by hearing and words. For even if some small likeness is found, like a shadow, as it were, the greater part escapes, leaving the one who draws the comparison somewhere below. For an example can in no way be an identity; and it is safe to say only those things that the Scriptures have taught to our measure.

That the Spirit of God the Father is written to be one and only, because he is separated by nature from the other spirits but joined to the Father and his Son by reason of the substance, Paul explains, writing to the Corinthians in the first Epistle: “To another gifts of healing by the one Spirit”; and again: “All these are worked by one and the same Spirit, distributing to each one individually as he wills”; and again: “We were all made to drink of one Spirit”; and to the Ephesians: “For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father”; and again: “Being eager to keep the unity of the Spirit”; that is, to take great care not to separate him from the supreme and self-complete Unity and substance. And that he has also been named “Utterance” they testify thus. Paul, writing to the Ephesians: “Taking up the whole armor of God, and [the breastplate] of righteousness, and the shield of faith, and the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Utterance of God.” Matthew too mentioned this sword, saying in the person of Christ: “I did not come to bring peace, but a sword”; meaning not a blade, but the indescribable wisdom of the Holy Spirit, which goes beyond peace and cuts through hardened hearts. And to the Hebrews: “Upholding all things by the Utterance of his power.” By what Utterance? David prophesied: “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made firm, and by the Spirit of his mouth all their powers.” And again Paul: “For it is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good Utterance of God.” And Peter: “For all flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flower of grass; the grass has withered, and the flower has fallen, and its beauty has perished; but the Utterance of God remains forever”; just as he sings of the Son in Psalm 118: “Forever, O Lord, your Word abides in heaven.” … [of the hypo]stases he hands down most mystically.