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 | Chapter III. The statement of the Apostle, that all things are of the Father by the Son, does not separate the Spirit from Their company, since what is referred to one Person is also attributed to each. So those baptized in the Name of Christ are held to be baptized in the Name of the Father and of the Holy Spirit, if, that is, there is belief in the Three Persons, otherwise the baptism will be null. This also applies to baptism in the Name of the Holy Spirit. If because of one passage the Holy Spirit is separated from the Father and the Son, it will necessarily follow from other passages that the Father will be subordinated to the Son. The Son is worshipped by angels, not by the Spirit, for the latter is His witness, not His servant. Where the Son is spoken of as being before all, it is to be understood of creatures. The great dignity of the Holy Spirit is proved by the absence of forgiveness for the sin against Him. How it is that such sin cannot be forgiven, and how the Spirit is one.
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Chapter III.
The statement of the Apostle, that all things are of the
Father by the Son, does not separate the Spirit from Their company,
since what is referred to one Person is also attributed to each.
So those baptized in the Name of Christ are held to be baptized in the
Name of the Father and of the Holy Spirit, if, that is, there is belief
in the Three Persons, otherwise the baptism will be null. This
also applies to baptism in the Name of the Holy Spirit. If
because of one passage the Holy Spirit is separated from the Father and
the Son, it will necessarily follow from other passages that the Father
will be subordinated to the Son. The Son is worshipped by angels,
not by the Spirit, for the latter is His witness, not His
servant. Where the Son is spoken of as being before all, it is to
be understood of creatures. The great dignity of the Holy Spirit
is proved by the absence of forgiveness for the sin against Him.
How it is that such sin cannot be forgiven, and how the Spirit is
one.
32. But perhaps
some one may say that there was a reason why the writer said that all
things were of the Father, and all things through the Son,829
but made no mention of the Holy Spirit,
and would obtain the foundation of an argument from this. But if
he persists in his perverse interpretation, in how many passages will
he find the power of the Holy Spirit asserted, in which Scripture has
stated nothing concerning either the Father or the Son, but has left it
to be understood?
40. Where, then, the grace of the Spirit is
asserted, is that of God the Father or of the Only-begotten Son
denied? By no means; for as the Father is in the Son, and the Son
in the Father, so, too, “the love of God is shed abroad in our
hearts by the Holy Spirit, Who hath been given us.”830
And as he who is blessed in Christ
is blessed in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Spirit, because the Name is one and the Power one; so, too, when any
divine operation, whether of the Father, or of the Son, or of the Holy
Spirit, is treated of, it is not referred only to the Holy Spirit, but
also to the Father and the Son, and not only to the Father, but also to
the Son and the Spirit.
41. Then, too, the Ethiopian eunuch of Queen
Candace, when baptized in Christ, obtained the fulness of the
sacrament. And they who said that they knew not of any Holy
Spirit, although they said that they had been baptized with
John’s baptism, were baptized afterwards, because John baptized
for the remission of sins in the Name of the coming Jesus, not in his
own. And so they knew not the Spirit, because in the form in
which John baptized they had not received baptism in the Name of
Christ. For John, though he did not baptize in the Spirit,
nevertheless preached Christ and the Spirit. And then, when he
was questioned whether he were perchance himself the Christ, he
answered: “I baptize you with water, but a stronger than I
shall come, Whose shoes I am not worthy to bear, He shall baptize you
with the Holy Spirit and with fire.”831
| 831 S. Matt. iii. 11; S. Luke iv. 16; S. John i. 26,
27. | They therefore, because they had
been baptized neither in the Name of Christ nor with faith in the Holy
Spirit, could not receive the sacrament of baptism.
42. So they were baptized in the Name of
Jesus Christ,832
| 832 This passage
has given rise to the question whether St. Ambrose taught, as some
others certainly did (probably on his authority), that baptism in the
Name of Christ alone, without mention of the other Persons, is
valid. But it is difficult to believe that St. Ambrose meant more
than to refer to the passage in the Acts as implying Christian
baptism. He says just below that baptism is not complete unless
one confess the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, which would seem to imply
the full formula, and he would hardly dissent from St. Basil, who
distinctly asserts [De Sp. Sanct. XII.] that baptism without
mention of the Three Persons is invalid; and St. Augustine [De
Bapt. lib. vi. c. xxv. 47] says that it is more easy to find
heretics who reject baptism altogether, than such as omit the right
form. Compare also St. Ambrose on St. Luke vi. 67; De
Mysteriis, IV. 20; De Sacramentis, II. 5 and 7, especially
the latter when he says: In uno nomine…hoc est in nomine
Patris et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. | and baptism was
not repeated in their case, but administered differently, for there is
but one baptism. But where there is not the complete sacrament of
baptism, there is not considered to be a commencement nor any kind of
baptism. But baptism is complete if one confess the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Spirit. If you deny One you overthrow the
whole. And just as if you mention in words One only, either the
Father, or the Son, or the Holy Spirit, and in your belief do not deny
either the Father, the Son, or the Holy Spirit, the mystery of the
faith is complete, so, too, although you name the Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit, and lessen the power of either the Father, the Son, or the Holy
Spirit, the whole mystery is made empty. And, lastly, they who
had said: “We have not heard if there be any Holy Spirit,
were baptized afterwards in the Name of the Lord Jesus
Christ.”833
And this
was an additional abundance of grace, for now through Paul’s
preaching they knew the Holy Spirit.
43. Nor ought it to seem opposed to this, that
although subsequently mention is not made of the Spirit, He is yet
believed in, and what had not been mentioned in words is expressed in
belief. For when it is said, “In the Name of our Lord Jesus
Christ,” the mystery is complete through the oneness of the Name,
and the Spirit is not separated
from the baptism of Christ, since John baptized
unto repentance, Christ in the Spirit.
44. Let us now consider whether as we read
that the sacrament of baptism in the Name of Christ was complete, so,
too, when the Holy Spirit alone is named, anything is wanting to the
completeness of the mystery. Let us follow out the argument that
he who has named One has signified the Trinity. If you name
Christ, you imply both God the Father by Whom the Son was anointed, and
the Son Himself Who was anointed, and the Holy Spirit with Whom He was
anointed. For it is written: “This Jesus of Nazareth,
Whom God anointed with the Holy Spirit.”834
And if you name the Father, you
denote equally His Son and the Spirit of His mouth, if, that is, you
apprehend it in your heart. And if you speak of the Spirit, you
name also God the Father, from Whom the Spirit proceeds, and the Son,
inasmuch as He is also the Spirit of the Son.
45. Wherefore that authority may also be
joined to reason Scripture indicates that we can also be rightly
baptized in the Spirit, when the Lord says: “But ye shall
be baptized in the Holy Spirit.”835
And in another place the Apostle
says: “For we were all baptized in the body itself into one
Spirit.”836
The work
is one, for the mystery is one; the baptism one, for there was one
death on behalf of the world; there is, then, a oneness of working, a
oneness of setting forth, which cannot be separated.
46. But if in this place the Spirit be
separated from the operation of the Father and the Son, because it is
said, All things are of God, and all things are through the
Son,837
then, too, when the Apostle says of
Christ, “Who is over all, God blessed for ever,”838
He set Christ not only above all
creatures, but (which it is impious to say) above the Father
also. But God forbid, for the Father is not amongst all things,
is not amongst a kind of crowd of His own creatures. The whole
creation is below, over all is the Godhead of the Father, the Son, and
the Holy Spirit. The former serves, the latter rules; the former
is subject, the latter reigns; the former is the work, the latter the
author of the work; the former, without exception, worships, the latter
is worshipped by all without exception.
47. Lastly, of the Son it is written:
“And let all the angels of God worship Him.”839
You do not find, Let the Holy
Spirit worship. And farther on: “To which of the
angels said He at any time, Sit thou on My right hand till I make thine
enemies the footstool of thy feet? Are they not all,” says
he, “ministering spirits who are sent to
minister?”840
When he says
All, does he include the Holy Spirit? Certainly not,
because Angels and the other Powers are destined to serve in
ministering and obedience to the Son of God.
48. But in truth the Holy Spirit is not a
minister but a witness of the Son, as the Son Himself said of
Him: “He shall bear witness of Me.”841
The Spirit, then, is a witness of
the Son. He who is a witness knows all things, as God the Father
is a witness. For so you read in later passages, for our
salvation was confirmed to us by God bearing witness by signs and
wonders and by manifold powers and by distributions of the Holy
Spirit.842
He who divides as he will is
certainly above all, not amongst all, for to divide is the gift of the
worker, not an innate part of the work itself.
49. If the Son is above all, through Whom
our salvation received its commencement, so that it might be preached,
certainly God the Father also, Who testifies and gives confirmation
concerning our salvation by signs and wonders, is excepted from
all. In like manner the Spirit, Who bears witness to our
salvation by His diversities of gifts, is not to be numbered with the
crowd of creatures, but to be reckoned with the Father and the Son;
Who, when He divides, is not Himself divided by cutting off Himself,
for being indivisible He loses nothing when He gives to all, as also
the Son, when the Father receives the kingdom,843
loses nothing, nor does the Father, when He gives that which is His to
the Son, suffer loss. We know, then, by the testimony of the Son
that there is no loss in the division of spiritual grace; for He Who
breathes where He wills844
is everywhere
free from loss. Concerning which power we shall speak more fully
farther on.
50. In the meanwhile, since our intention is
to prove in due order that the Spirit is not to be reckoned amongst all
things, let us take the Apostle, whose words they call in question, as
an authority for this position. For what “all things”
would be, whether visible or invisible, he himself declared when he
said: “For in Him were all things created in the heavens
and in earth.”845
You see
that “all things” is spoken of things in the heavens, and
of things in earth, for in
the heavens are also invisible things which
were made.
51. But that no one should be ignorant of
this he added those of whom he was speaking: “Whether
thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were
created by Him and in Him, and He is before all, and in Him all things
consist.”846
Does he,
then, include the Holy Spirit here amongst creatures? Or when he
says that the Son of God is before all things, is he to be supposed to
have said that He is before the Father? Certainly not; for as
here he says that all things were created by the Son, and that all
things in the heavens consist in Him, so, too, it cannot be doubted
that all things in the heavens have their strength in the Holy Spirit,
since we read: “By the word of the Lord were the heavens
established and all the strength of them by the Spirit of His
mouth.”847
He, then,
is above all, from Whom is all the strength of things in heaven and
things on earth. He, then, Who is above all things certainly does
not serve; He Who serves not is free; He Who is free has the
prerogative of lordship.
52. If I were to say this at first it would be
denied. But in the same manner as they deny the less that the
greater may not be believed, so let us set forth lesser matters first
that either they may show their perfidy in lesser matters, or, if they
grant the lesser matters, we may infer greater from the lesser.
53. I think, most merciful Emperor, that
they are most fully confuted who dare to reckon the Holy Spirit amongst
all things. But that they may know that they are pressed not only
by the testimony of the apostles, but also by that of our Lord; how can
they dare to reckon the Holy Spirit amongst all things, since the Lord
Himself said: “He who shall blaspheme against the Son of
Man, it shall be forgiven him; but he who shall blaspheme against the
Holy Ghost shall never be forgiven, either here or
hereafter.”848
How,
then, can any one dare to reckon the Holy Spirit amongst
creatures? Or who will so blind himself as to think that if he
have injured any creature he cannot be forgiven in any wise? For
if the Jews because they worshipped the host of heaven were deprived of
divine protection, whilst he who worships and confesses the Holy Spirit
is accepted of God, but he who confesses Him not is convicted of
sacrilege without forgiveness: certainly it follows from this
that the Holy Spirit cannot be reckoned amongst all things, but that He
is above all things, an offence against Whom is avenged by eternal
punishment.
54. But observe carefully why the Lord
said: “He who shall blaspheme against the Son of Man it
shall be forgiven him, but he who shall blaspheme against the Holy
Ghost shall never be forgiven, either here or
hereafter.”849
Is an
offence against the Son different from one against the Holy
Spirit? For as their dignity is one, and common to both, so too
is the offence. But if any one, led astray by the visible human
body, should think somewhat more remissly than is fitting concerning
the Body of Christ (for it ought not to appear of little worth to us,
seeing it is the palace of chastity, and the fruit of the Virgin), he
incurs guilt, but he is not shut out from pardon, which he may attain
to by faith. But if any one should deny the dignity, majesty, and
eternal power of the Holy Spirit, and should think that devils are cast
out not in the Spirit of God, but in Beelzebub, there can be no
attaining of pardon there where is the fulness of sacrilege; for he who
has denied the Spirit has denied also the Father and the Son, since the
same is the Spirit of God Who is the Spirit of
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