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| Chapter XII. After proof that the Spirit is the Giver of revelation equally with the Father and the Son, it is explained how the same Spirit does not speak of Himself; and it is shown that no bodily organs are to be thought of in Him, and that no inferiority is to be supposed from the fact of our reading that He hears, since the same would have to be attributed to the Son, and indeed even to the Father, since He hears the Son. The Spirit then hears and glorifies the Son in the sense that He revealed Him to the prophets and apostles, by which the Unity of operation of the Three Persons is inferred; and, since the Spirit does the same works as the Father, the substance of each is also declared to be the same.
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Chapter XII.
After proof that the Spirit is the Giver of revelation
equally with the Father and the Son, it is explained how the same
Spirit does not speak of Himself; and it is shown that no bodily organs
are to be thought of in Him, and that no inferiority is to be supposed
from the fact of our reading that He hears, since the same would have
to be attributed to the Son, and indeed even to the Father, since He
hears the Son. The Spirit then hears and glorifies the Son in the
sense that He revealed Him to the prophets and apostles, by which the
Unity of operation of the Three Persons is inferred; and, since the
Spirit does the same works as the Father, the substance of each is also
declared to be the same.
130. It has then
been proved that like as God has revealed to us the things which are
His, so too the Son, and so too the Spirit, has revealed the things of
God. For our knowledge proceeds from one Spirit, through one Son
to one Father; and from one Father through one Son to one Holy Spirit
is delivered goodness and sanctification and the sovereign right of
eternal power. Where, then, there is a manifestation of the
Spirit, there is the power of God, nor can there be any distinction
where the work is one. And therefore that which the Son says the
Father also says, and that which the Father says the Son also says, and
that which the Father and the Son say the Holy Spirit also
says.
131. Whence also the Son of God said
concerning the Holy Spirit: “He shall not speak from
Himself,”1191
that is, not
without the participation of the Father and Myself. For the
Spirit is not divided and separated, but speaks what He hears. He
hears, that is to say, by unity of substance and by the property of
knowledge. For He receives not hearing by any orifices of the
body, nor does the divine voice resound with any carnal measures, nor
does He hear what He knows not; since commonly in human matters hearing
produces knowledge, and yet not even in men themselves is there always
bodily speech or fleshly hearing. For “he that speaketh in
tongues,” it is said, “speaketh not to men but to God, for
no one heareth, but in the Spirit he speaketh
mysteries.”1192
132. Therefore if in men hearing is not always of
the body, do you require in God the voices of man’s weakness, and
certain organs of fleshly hearing, when He is said to hear in order
that we may believe that He knows? For we know that which we have
heard, and we hear beforehand that we may be able to know; but in God
Who knows all things knowledge goes before hearing. So in order
to state that the Son is not ignorant of what the Father wills, we say
that He has heard; but in God there is no sound nor syllable, such as
usually signify the indication of the will; but oneness of will is
comprehended in hidden ways in God, but in us is shown by signs.
133. What means, then, “He shall not speak
from Himself”? This is, He shall not speak without Me; for
He speaks the
truth, He breathes
wisdom. He speaks not without the Father, for He is the Spirit of
God; He hears not from Himself, for all things are of God.
134. The Son received all things from the
Father, for He Himself said: “All things have been
delivered unto Me from My Father.”1193
All that is the Father’s the
Son also has, for He says again: “All things which the
Father hath are Mine.”1194
And those
things which He Himself received by Unity of nature, the Spirit by the
same Unity of nature received also from Him, as the Lord Jesus Himself
declares, when speaking of His Spirit: “Therefore said I,
He shall receive of Mine and shall declare it unto you.”1195
Therefore what the Spirit says is the
Son’s, what the Son hath given is the Father’s. So
neither the Son nor the Spirit speaks anything of Himself. For
the Trinity speaks nothing external to Itself.
135. But if you contend that this is an
argument for the weakness of the Holy Spirit, and for a kind of
likeness to the lowliness of the body, you will also make it an
argument to the injury of the Son, because the Son said of
Himself: “As I hear I judge,”1196
and “The Son can do nothing else than what He seeth the Father
doing.”1197
For if
that be true, as it is, which the Son said: “All things
which the Father hath are Mine,”1198
and the Son according to the Godhead is
One with the Father, One by natural substance, not according to the
Sabellian1199
| 1199 Sabellianism
denied the doctrine of the Trinity, maintaining that God is One Person
only, manifesting Himself in three characters. See Dict. Chr.
Biog. art. “Sabellius,” and Blunt, Dict of Sects,
etc. | falsehood; that
which is one by the property of substance certainly cannot be
separated, and so the Son cannot do anything except what He has heard
of the Father, for the Word of God endures forever,1200
nor is the Father ever separated from the
operation of the Son; and that which the Son works He knows that the
Father wills, and what the Father wills the Son knows how to
work.
136. Lastly, that one may not think that
there is any difference of work either in time or in order between the
Father and the Son, but may believe the oneness of the same operation,
He says: “The works which I do He doeth.”1201
And again, that one may not think that
there is any difference in the distinction of the works, but may judge
that the will, the working, and the power of the Father and the Son are
the same, Wisdom says concerning the Father: “For
whatsoever things He doeth, the Son likewise doeth the
same.”1202
So that the
action of neither Person is before or after that of the Other, but the
same result of one operation. And for this reason the Son says
that He can do nothing of Himself, because His operation cannot be
separated from that of the Father. In like manner the operation
of the Holy Spirit is not separated. Whence also the things which
He speaks, He is said to hear from the Father.
137. What if I demonstrate that the Father
also hears the Son, as the Son too hears the Father? For you have
it written in the Gospel that the Son says: “Father, I
thank Thee that Thou heardest Me.”1203
How did the Father hear the Son,
since in the previous passage concerning Lazarus the Son spoke nothing
to the Father? And that we might not think that the Son was heard
once by the Father, He added: “And I knew that Thou hearest
Me always.”1204
Therefore
the hearing is not that of subject obedience, but of eternal
Unity.
138. In like manner, then, the Spirit is
said to hear from the Father, and to glorify the Son. To glorify,
because the Holy Spirit taught us that the Son is the Image of the
invisible God,1205
and the brightness
of His glory, and the impress of His substance.1206
The Spirit also spoke in the
patriarchs and the prophets, and, lastly, the apostles began then to be
more perfect after that they had received the Holy Spirit. There
is therefore no separation of the divine power and grace, for although
“there are diversities of gifts, yet it is the same Spirit; and
diversities of ministrations, yet the same Lord; and diversities of
operations, yet the same God Who worketh all in all.”1207
There are diversities of offices,
not severances of the Trinity.
139. Lastly, it is the same God Who worketh all in
all, that you may know that there is no diversity of operation between
God the Father and the Holy Spirit; since those things which the Spirit
works, God the Father also works, “Who worketh all in
all.” For while God the Father worketh all in all, yet
“to one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom; to
another the word of knowledge, according to the same Spirit; to another
faith, in the same Spirit; to another the gift of healings, in the one
Spirit; to another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to
another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of
tongues; to another the interpretation of
sayings; but all these worketh one and the same Spirit, dividing to
each one as He will.”1208
140. There is then no doubt but that those things
which the Father worketh, the Spirit worketh also. Nor does He
work in accordance with a command, as he who hears in bodily fashion,
but voluntarily, as being free in His own will, not the servant of the
power of another. For He does not obey as being bidden, but as
the giver He is the controller of His own gifts.
141. Consider meanwhile whether you can say that
the Spirit effects all things which the Father effects; for you cannot
deny that the Father effects those things which the Holy Spirit
effects; otherwise the Father does not effect all things, if He effects
not those things which the Spirit also effects. But if the Father
also effects those things which the Spirit effects, since the Spirit
divides His operations, according to His own will, you must of
necessity say, either that what the Spirit divides He divides according
to His own will, against the will of God the Father; or if you say that
the Father wills the same that the Holy Spirit wills, you must of
necessity confess the oneness of the divine will and operation, even if
you do it unwillingly, and, if not with the heart, at least with the
mouth.
142. But if the Holy Spirit is of one will
and operation with God the Father, He is also of one substance, since
the Creator is known by His works. So, then, it is the same
Spirit, he says, the same Lord, the same God.1209
And if you say Spirit, He is the
same; and if you say Lord, He is the same; and if you say God, He is
the same. Not the same, so that Himself is Father, Himself Son,
Himself Spirit [one and the selfsame Person]; but because both the
Father and the Son are the same Power. He is, then, the same in
substance and in power, for there is not in the Godhead either the
confusion of Sabellius nor the division of Arius, nor any earthly and
bodily change.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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