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| Chapter XIII. Prophecy was not only from the Father and the Son but also from the Spirit; the authority and operation of the latter on the apostles is signified to be the same as Theirs; and so we are to understand that there is unity in the three points of authority, rule, and bounty; yet need no disadvantage be feared from that participation, since such does not arise in human friendship. Lastly, it is established that this is the inheritance of the apostolic faith from the fact that the apostles are described as having obeyed the Holy Spirit.
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Chapter XIII.
Prophecy was not only from the Father and the Son but
also from the Spirit; the authority and operation of the latter on the
apostles is signified to be the same as Theirs; and so we are to
understand that there is unity in the three points of authority, rule,
and bounty; yet need no disadvantage be feared from that participation,
since such does not arise in human friendship. Lastly, it is
established that this is the inheritance of the apostolic faith from
the fact that the apostles are described as having obeyed the Holy
Spirit.
143. Take, O sacred
Emperor, another strong instance in this question, and one known to
you: “In many ways and in divers manners, God spake to the
fathers in the prophets.”1210
And the
Wisdom of God said: “I will send prophets and
apostles.”1211
And
“To one is given,” as it is written, “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.”1212
Therefore, according to the Apostle,
prophecy is not only through the Father and the Son, but also through
the Holy Spirit, and therefore the office is one, and the grace
one. So you find that the Spirit also is the author of
prophecies.
144. The apostles also said: “It
seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us.”1213
And when they say, “It seemed
good,” they point out not only the Worker of the grace, but also
the Author of the carrying out of that which was commanded. For
as we read of God: “It pleased God;” so, too, when it
is said that, “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit,” one who
is master of his own power is portrayed.
145. And how should He not be a master Who
speaks what He wills, and commands what He wills, as the Father
commands and the Son commands? For as Paul heard the voice saying
to him, “I am Jesus, Whom thou persecutest,”1214
so, too, the Spirit forbade Paul and Silas
to go into Bithynia. And as the Father spake through the
prophets, so, too, Agabus says concerning the Spirit: “Thus
saith the Holy Spirit, Thus shall the Jews in Jerusalem bind the man,
whose is this girdle.”1215
And as
Wisdom sent the apostles, saying, “Go ye into all the world and
preach the Gospel,”1216
so, too, the Holy
Spirit says: “Separate Me Barnabas and Saul for the work
whereunto I have called them.”1217
And
so being sent forth by the Holy Spirit, as the Scripture points out
farther on, they were distinguished in nothing from the other apostles,
as though they were sent in one way by God the Father, in another way
by Spirit.
146. Lastly, Paul having been sent by the Spirit,
was both a vessel of election on
Christ’s part, and himself relates
that God wrought in him, saying: “For He that wrought for
Peter unto the apostleship of the circumcision, wrought for me also
unto the Gentiles.”1218
Since,
then, the Same wrought in Paul Who wrought in Peter, it is certainly
evident that, since the Spirit wrought in Paul, the Holy Spirit wrought
also in Peter. But Peter himself testifies that God the Father
wrought in him, as it is stated in the Acts of the Apostles that Peter
rose up and said to them: “Men and brethren, ye know that a
good while ago God made choice amongst us that the Gentiles should hear
the word of the Gospel from my mouth.” See, then, in Peter
God wrought the grace of preaching. And who would dare to deny
the operation of Christ in him, since he was certainly elected and
chosen by Christ, when the Lord said: “Feed My
lambs.”1219
147. The operation, then, of the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Spirit is one, unless perchance you, who deny the oneness
of the same operation upon the Apostle, think this; that the Father and
the Spirit wrought in Peter, in whom the Son had wrought, as if the
operation of the Son by no means sufficed for him to the attainment of
the grace. And so the strength of the Father, of the Son, and of
the Holy Spirit being as it were joined and brought together, the work
was manifold, lest the operation of Christ alone should be too weak to
establish Peter.
148. And not only in Peter is there found to
be one operation of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, but also
in all the apostles the unity of the divine operation, and a certain
authority over the dispensations of heaven. For the divine
operation works by the power of a command, not in the execution of a
ministry; for God, when He works, does not fashion anything by toil or
art, but “He spake and they were made.”1220
He said, “Let there be light,
and there was light,”1221
for the effecting
of the work is comprised in the commandment of God.
149. We can, then, easily find, if we will
consider, that this royal power is by the witness of the Scriptures
attributed to the Holy Spirit; and it will be made clear that all the
apostles were not only disciples of Christ, but also ministers of the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. As also the teacher of the
Gentiles tells us, when he says: “God hath set some in the
Church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers; then
miracles, the gift of healings, helps, governments, divers kinds of
tongues.”1222
150. See, God set apostles, and set prophets
and teachers, gave the gift of healings, which you find above to be
given by the Holy Spirit; gave divers kinds of tongues. But yet
all are not apostles, all are not prophets, all are not teachers.
Not all, says he, have the gift of healings, nor do all, says he, speak
with tongues.1223
For the
whole of the divine gifts cannot exist in each several man; each,
according to his capacity, receives that which he either desires or
deserves. But the power of the Trinity, which is lavish of all
graces, is not like this weakness.
151. Lastly, God set apostles. Those
whom God set in the Church, Christ chose and ordained to be apostles,
and sent them into the world, saying: “Go ye into all the
world, and preach the Gospel to the whole creation. He that shall
believe and be baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall
be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe.
In My Name shall they cast out devils, they shall speak with new
tongues, they shall take up serpents, and if they shall drink any
deadly thing, it shall not hurt them, they shall lay hands on the sick,
and they shall recover.”1224
You see
the Father and Christ also set teachers in the Churches; and as the
Father gives the gift of healings, so, too, does the Son give; as the
Father gives the gift of tongues, so, too, has the Son also granted
it.
152. In like manner we have heard also above
concerning the Holy Spirit, that He too grants the same kinds of
graces. For it is said: “To one is given through the
Spirit the gift of healings, to another divers kinds of tongues, to
another prophecy.”1225
So, then,
the Spirit gives the same gifts as the Father, and the Son also gives
them. Let us now learn more expressly what we have touched upon
above, that the Holy Spirit entrusts the same office as the Father and
the Son, and appoints the same persons; since Paul said:
“Take heed to yourselves, and to all the flock in the which the
Holy Spirit has made you overseers to rule the Church of
God.”1226
153. There is, then, unity of authority, unity of
appointment, unity of giving. For if you separate appointment and
power, what cause was there [for maintaining] that those whom Christ
appointed as apostles, God the Father
appointed, and the Holy Spirit appointed?
unless, perhaps, as if sharing a possession or a right, They, like men,
were afraid of legal prejudice, and therefore the operation was
divided, and the authority distributed.
154. These things are narrow and paltry, even
between men, who for the most part, although they do not agree in
action, yet agree in will. So that a certain person being asked
what a friend is, answered, “A second self.” If,
then, a man so defined a friend as to say, he was a second self, that
is to say, through a oneness of love and good-will, how much more ought
we to esteem the oneness of Majesty, in the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Ghost, when by the same operation and divine power, either the
unity, or certainly that which is more, the ταυτότης, as it
is called in Greek, is expressed, for ταύτο signifies “the
same,” so that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit have the
same; so that to have the same will and the same power does not arise
from the affection of the will, but inheres in the substance of the
Trinity.
155. This is the inheritance of apostolic
faith and devotion, which one may observe also in the Acts of the
Apostles. Therefore Paul and Barnabas obeyed the commands of the
Holy Spirit. And all the apostles obeyed, and forthwith ordained
those whom the Spirit had ordered to be separated:
“Separate Me,” said He, “Barnabas and
Saul.”1227
Do you
see the authority of Him Who commands? Consider the merit of
those who obey.
156. Paul believed, and because he believed
he cast off the zeal of a persecutor, and gained a crown of
righteousness. He believed who used to make havoc of the
Churches; but being converted to the faith, he preached in the Spirit
that which the Spirit commanded.1228
The
Spirit anointed His champion, and having shaken off the dust of
unbelief, presented him as an insuperable conqueror of the unbelievers
to various assemblies of the ungodly, and trained him by many
sufferings for the prize of his high calling in Christ
Jesus.
157. Barnabas also believed, and obeyed because he
believed. Therefore, being chosen by the authority of the Holy
Spirit, Which came on him abundantly, as a special sign of his merits,
he was not unworthy of so great a fellowship. For one grace shone
in these whom one Spirit had chosen.
158. Nor was Paul inferior to Peter, though the
latter was the foundation of the Church, and the former a wise builder
knowing how to make firm the footsteps of the nations who believed;
Paul was not, I say, unworthy of the fellowship of the apostles, but is
easily comparable with the first, and second to none. For he who
knows not that he is inferior makes himself equal. E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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