On the Trinity 29

For the order of reason and the authority of the faith, the Lord's words and writings having been set out, admonish us after these things to believe also in the Holy Spirit, promised of old to the church but given at the appointed opportunities of the times. For he was promised through the prophet Joel, but given through Christ. “In the last days,” he says, “I will pour out of my Spirit upon my servants and my handmaids.” And the Lord says: “Receive the Holy Spirit: whose sins you forgive, they will be forgiven; and whose you retain, they will be retained.” This Holy Spirit the Lord Christ at one time calls the Paraclete, at another declares to be the Spirit of truth. He is not new in the Gospel, nor was he given in a new way; for this same Spirit both accused the people in the prophets and provided advocacy for the Gentiles in the apostles. For the former deserved to be accused because they had despised the Law; and those of the Gentiles who believe deserve to be helped by the patronage of the Spirit, because they are eager to come to the law of the Gospel. There is indeed a difference in him in the kinds of his offices, because in the times there is a different reason for things; yet he who acts thus is not on that account different, nor is he another when he acts thus; but he is one and the same, dividing his offices according to the times and the occasions and records of events.

Finally the apostle Paul says: “Having the same Spirit, as it is written, I believed, therefore I have spoken; we too believe, and therefore we speak.” It is one and the same Spirit, then, who is in the prophets and in the apostles; except that there he was for a moment, here always. For there he was not in them so as to be always in them; here, so as to remain in them always. There he was distributed in moderation, here poured out whole; there given sparingly, here lent generously; yet not shown forth before the Lord's resurrection, but bestowed after Christ's resurrection. For he said, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever, the Spirit of truth.” And: “When that Advocate comes whom I will send to you from my Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from my Father.” And: “If I do not go away, that Advocate will not come to you; but if I go away, I will send him to you.” And: “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth.” And since the Lord was about to go away into the heavens, he necessarily gave the Paraclete to the disciples, lest he should leave them as orphans in some way, which was not at all fitting, and abandon them without an advocate and a kind of guardian.

For he it is who strengthened their hearts and minds, who marked out the mysteries of the Gospel, who was in them the enlightener of divine things; strengthened by whom, they feared neither prisons nor chains for the name of the Lord, but even trod underfoot the powers and tortures of the world, armed now, that is, and strengthened by him, having in themselves the gifts which this same Spirit distributes and directs to the church, the bride of Christ, as her ornaments. For he it is who appoints prophets in the church, instructs teachers, directs tongues, works powers and healings, does wonderful works, grants discernment of spirits, bestows governments, suggests counsels, and orders and arranges whatever other gifts of grace there are; and so makes the Lord's church perfect and complete everywhere and in all things. He it is who in the form of a dove, after the Lord was baptized, came upon him and remained, dwelling in Christ alone full and whole, not cut short in any measure or portion, but distributed and sent in all his overflowing abundance; so that from him others might obtain a certain first taste of graces, the source of the whole Holy Spirit remaining in Christ, so that from him the veins of gifts and works might be drawn, the Holy Spirit dwelling abundantly in Christ. For this is what Isaiah, prophesying, already said: “And there will rest upon him,” he says, “the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and piety, and the Spirit of the fear of God will fill him.” And the very same he says in another place in the person of the Lord himself: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; because he has anointed me, he has sent me to preach the gospel to the poor.” Likewise David: “Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows.” Of him the apostle Paul says: “For whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ is not his.” And: “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”

He it is who works the second birth from the waters, a kind of seed of the divine race, and the consecrator of the heavenly birth, the pledge of the promised inheritance, and as it were a kind of bond of eternal salvation; who makes us God's temple and makes us his house; who intercedes before the divine ears for us with unutterable groanings, fulfilling the offices of an advocate and rendering the services of defense; given as an indweller in our bodies and the worker of holiness: who, doing this in us for eternity, leads our bodies forth to the resurrection of immortality, while he accustoms them to be mingled in him with heavenly power and to be joined with the divine eternity of the Holy Spirit. For our bodies are trained in him and through him to advance to immortality, while they learn to govern themselves with moderation according to his decrees. For he it is who desires against the flesh, because the flesh fights against him. He it is who restrains insatiable desires, breaks immoderate lusts, extinguishes unlawful passions, conquers burning impulses, rejects drunkenness, repels avarice, puts to flight luxurious revelings, binds together love, binds fast affections, repels sects, sets out the rule of truth, refutes heretics, drives the wicked out, and guards the Gospels. Of him the same Apostle says: “For we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God.” Of him he exults and says: “And I think that I too have the Spirit of God.” Of him he says: “And the Spirit of the prophets is subject to the prophets.” Of him he reports: “But the Spirit says plainly that in the last times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, doctrines of demons, of those speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared.” No one established in this Spirit ever says “Jesus is accursed”; no one has denied that Christ is the Son of God, or repudiated God the Creator; no one utters any words of his own against the Scriptures; no one lays down other and sacrilegious decrees; no one writes up different laws. Whoever blasphemes against him has no forgiveness, not only in this world but not even in the world to come. He it is who in the apostles bears witness to Christ, in the martyrs shows the steadfast faith of religion, in virgins encloses the admirable continence of sealed chastity, in the rest guards the laws of the Lord's teaching uncorrupted and undefiled; he destroys heretics, corrects the perverse, convicts unbelievers, exposes pretenders, corrects the wicked too, and guards the church uncorrupted and inviolate in the holiness of perpetual virginity and truth.