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| Chapter IV. The Holy Spirit is one and the same Who spake in the prophets and apostles, Who is the Spirit of God and of Christ; Whom, further, Scripture designates the Paraclete, and the Spirit of life and truth. PREVIOUS SECTION - NEXT SECTION - HELP
Chapter IV.
The Holy Spirit is one and the same Who spake in the
prophets and apostles, Who is the Spirit of God and of Christ; Whom,
further, Scripture designates the Paraclete, and the Spirit of life and
truth.
55. But no one will
doubt that the Spirit is one, although very many have doubted whether
God be one. For many heretics have said that the God of the Old
Testament is one, and the God of the New Testament is another.
But as the Father is one Who both spake of old, as we read, to the
fathers by the prophets, and to us in the last days by His
Son;850 “and as the Son is one, Who according
to the tenour of the Old Testament was offended by Adam,851 seen by Abraham,852
worshipped by Jacob;853 so, too, the
Holy Spirit is one, who energized in the prophets,854 was breathed upon the apostles,855 and was joined to the Father and the Son
in the sacrament of baptism.856 For David
says of Him: “And take not Thy Holy Spirit from
me.”857 And in
another place he said of Him: “Whither shall I go from Thy
Spirit?”858
56. That
you may know that the Spirit of God is the same as the Holy Spirit, as
we read also in the Apostle: “No one speaking in the Spirit
of God says Anathema to Jesus and no one can say, Lord Jesus, but in
the Holy Spirit,”859 the Apostle calls
Him the Spirit of God. He called Him also the Spirit of Christ,
as you read: “But ye are not in the flesh but in the
Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwelleth in
you.”860 And farther
on: “But if the Spirit of Him Who raised Jesus from the
dead dwelleth in you.”861 The same
is, then, the Spirit of God, Who is the Spirit of Christ.
57. The same is also the Spirit of Life, as
the Apostle says: “For the law of the Spirit of Life in
Christ Jesus hath delivered me from the law of sin and
death.”862
58. Him, then, Whom the Apostle called the
Spirit of Life, the Lord in the Gospel named the Paraclete, and the
Spirit of Truth, as you find: “And I will ask the Father,
and He will give you another Comforter [Paraclete], that He may be with
you for ever, even the Spirit of Truth, Whom this world cannot receive;
because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him.”863 You have, then, the Paraclete
Spirit, called also the Spirit of Truth, and the invisible
Spirit. How, then, do some think that the Son is visible in His
Divine Nature, when the world cannot see even the Spirit?
59. Receive now the saying of the Lord, that
the same is the Holy Spirit Who is the Spirit of Truth, for you read in
the end of this book: “Receive the Holy
Spirit.”864 And Peter
teaches that the same is the Holy Spirit Who is the Spirit of the Lord,
when he says: “Ananias, why has it seemed good to thee to
tempt and to lie to the Holy Spirit?”865 And immediately after he says again
to the wife of Ananias: “Why has it seemed good to you to
tempt the Spirit of the Lord?”866 When
he says “to you,” he shows that he is speaking of the same
Spirit of Whom he had spoken to Ananias. He Himself is, then, the
Spirit of the Lord Who is the Holy Spirit.
60. And the Lord Himself made clear that the
same Who is the Spirit of the Father is the Holy Spirit, when according
to Matthew He said that we ought not to take thought in persecution
what we should say: “For it is not ye that speak, but the
Spirit of your Father that speaketh in you.”867 Again He says according to St.
Luke: “Be not anxious how ye shall answer or speak, for the
Holy Spirit of God shall teach you in that hour what ye ought to
say.”868 So,
although many are called spirits, as it is said: “Who
maketh His Angels spirits,” yet the Spirit of God is but
one.
61. Both apostles and prophets received that
one Spirit, as the vessel of election, the Doctor of the Gentiles,
says: “For we have all drunk of one Spirit;”869 Him, as it were, Who cannot be divided,
but is poured into souls, and flows into the senses, that He may quench
the burning of this world’s thirst.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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