ADMONITION CONCERNING THE LITTLE BOOK ON THE INCARNATION
A There has been a controversy of many centuries concerning this little work. For since it appears among the works of Cyril under the name of Athanasius and seems to patronize the heresy of the Eutychians, the Eutychians have accordingly borrowed arguments from it for the support of their own side; others, on the contrary, fought against it, holding that the book was not by Athanasius but by some heretic falsely assuming the name of Athanasius, and that it had been inserted into Cyril’s epistle to the Queens. These are the words of Cyril: "But that the expression 'Theotokos' has also been common for those holy fathers who were before us, who are also admired for their right faith, and down to this day for all those everywhere under heaven, so to speak, I have thought it truly necessary to declare. For that I might not seem to speak of what came into my mind simply and without examination, having brought together those things useful for this purpose from the books composed by them in the Church, and having adduced them for proof, I shall seal my own words with the truth. The thrice-blessed and renowned for piety Athanasius, who became bishop of the Church of the Alexandrians in his own times, therefore said in the discourse *On the Incarnation* concerning Christ these things." That is: "That the expression ‘Deipara’ (Theotokos) has been frequent among the holy Fathers who preceded us, and who are admired—not without wonder—for their right faith, and that even until this time it is in use throughout, so to speak, the whole world, I have thought must be proven. For lest I seem to utter rashly and inconsiderately what comes into my mind, I shall confirm my speech to the faith of the matter with suitable arguments borrowed from the books which they composed in the Church." B Therefore, the most blessed Athanasius, celebrated by the name of piety, formerly bishop of the Alexandrian Church, says in the book *De Incarnatione*, speaking of Christ, these things... And he brings forth from there the greater part of the little book. But because in the beginning of the little book it is said that in Christ there are not two natures but one incarnate nature, *μίαν φύσιν σεσαρκωμένην*, the Eutychians brought these things forward in the Synod of Chalcedon (p. 181), saying: "I truly have the authorities of the holy fathers, Athanasius, Gregory, Cyril, in many places, that one ought not to say after the union two natures, but one incarnate nature of the Word," *μίαν σεσαρκωμένην τοῦ Λόγου φύσιν*. That is: "I, indeed, by the usage of the holy Fathers Athanasius, Gregory, and Cyril, can prove in many places that after the union one should not speak of two natures, but of one incarnate nature of the Word." C Others contended against it that it was not a book of Athanasius, but supposititious, and that certain things from this book which are praised by Cyril were inserted by heretics into the works of Cyril under the name of Athanasius. Hear Leontius the Byzantine advocate in *De Sectis*, action eight. "Another," he says, "authority they bring forward of Saint Athanasius from the oration *De Incarnatione*, which is indeed of this kind: that the same is the Son of God by reason of Spirit, and the son of man by reason of the flesh: not two natures, but that one Son: of whom one should be worshipped, the other not worshipped: but one incarnate nature of God the Word." We respond first that this statement does not oppose us. For we do not hand down two natures in such a way that one is to be worshipped and the other not worshipped: but we establish that there is one incarnate nature of God the Word. Secondly, it is not even Athanasius's; for when they are questioned by us where this saying exists, and have no copy of it to show, pushed into a corner, they produce a certain tiny oration, as if of two leaves, in which this saying is read. But it is known to everyone that all the works of Saint Athanasius are very great. D What, however, shall we respond to this, that they produce blessed Cyril, citing this saying in the book *Against Theodorus*, as if it proceeded from Athanasius? We say, indeed, that it is actually read in the invectives of blessed Cyril *Against Theodorus*: but that it is an ancient error. For Dioscorus, having become the successor of blessed Cyril, when he had found his works, perhaps did not fear to insert some things which it pleased him to do. And that we do not rely on guesses alone, that blessed Cyril did not produce it against Theodorus, is evident also from this. For Theodoretus, who was defending Theodorus, refuting all the authorities which Saint Cyril had brought forward against Theodorus from the holy Fathers, nowhere makes mention of this saying. But, they reply, it was craftily omitted by Theodoretus; for because he could not look with his eyes upon that authority, as it was very plain and open, for that reason it was voluntarily passed over by him. We respond, so far is it from the case that Theodoretus wanted to pass over it placed there, that since that blessed Cyril had said elsewhere, "one incarnate nature of God the Word," if Theodoretus had known that the word which exists in Cyril was cited from Saint Athanasius, he would by no means have spoken so rashly: "Who among the Fathers told you 'one incarnate nature of God the Word'?" In turn they retort that it is so certain he knew Athanasius had spoken thus that he even said it; just as the Fathers have spoken. We, on the contrary, say that each one strives to show that those things which he himself hands down were brought forth by the Fathers, if not in the same words, at least by the force of the words, the same. These things, though rather long, were necessary to bring forward here, so that the learned reader might see where a question of this kind once lay. And truly there are things which might perhaps persuade us that those things which we brought forward above from Cyril were added as an oration following under the name of Athanasius to Cyril’s epistle. For as it is said above, those things which are brought forward from Athanasius’s *De Incarnatione* are brought into the middle to confirm the usage of the one word *θεοτόκος*; whence perhaps it might seem useless to have brought forward almost the whole little book, especially since at the beginning only that word *θεοτόκος*, about which the question is, appears.
I find, in the writings, that the bishop of blessed memory, Athanasius, very often called her Theotokos. For he sums up in one word those testimonies which are very numerous in the works of Athanasius. What reason is there, therefore, that in the letter to the queens, he brings forth almost the whole booklet De Incarnatione to confirm that word Theotokos? For, with the exception of those first lines (where the word Theotokos appears), the rest has nothing to do with the matter. Moreover, this booklet does not exist in the collections of Athanasius's works. And it seems alien to the holy doctor to speak of one incarnate nature in Christ. For Athanasius always rejects the confusion of natures; he always preserved the characteristics of the natures, and also assigns two distinct wills proper to each nature, thus in the book De Incarnatione, p. 709: "He shows two wills; the one human, which is of the flesh, and the divine, which is of God. For the human, because of the weakness of the flesh, shrinks from the passion; but his divine will is ready." If, indeed, one nature is spoken of after the incarnation, you would necessarily have to remove the distinction of the wills. To these things, against the Dimæritæ heretics of his time, he denies p. 741 that the body is consubstantial with the Divinity, and on the following page he says that by A an unconfused union the Word was united with his own flesh. By the name of body and flesh, as we showed in the general preface of the first volume, he very often understands humanity. But where he proves in his later books against the Dimæritæ that flesh or humanity is not consubstantial with the Word—what else, I ask, could he have indicated than that the substance or nature of the Word and of humanity is not one and the same? So that, even to indicate the difference of the natures, he calls him p. 747 perfect God and perfect man. On p. 756, however, he strikes down with one word both heresies, both the Nestorian and the Eutychian, when he says, speaking of the conjunction of the Word with the flesh, "Not in a division of persons, but in the existence of the divinity and the humanity." He declares that the person of Christ is one, and that there are two natures, p. 757. But where he contends that it is impious to say that the divine nature has suffered, does he not make it manifest that the nature which suffered in Christ is another? And thus he demonstrates B that there is not one incarnate nature in Christ, but two distinct from one another: the one that took [flesh], and the other that was taken. Even if, furthermore, before it was defined by the decrees of the Church that one person and two natures are to be proclaimed in Christ, Athanasius, or anyone else, could have said "one incarnate nature," understanding by the name of "nature" the "person," I do not believe, however, that Athanasius used that style of speaking; because for many years his struggle was with the Dimæritæ, whose heresy these things seem to favor, and it is very easy to twist that sentiment into an evil meaning. For that reason, with Leontius, I strongly suspect that this small work is a fabrication of the Eutychians or other heretics, published in the name of Athanasius. I would not dare, however, to say whether it was added to Cyril's writings after his death, or whether a booklet of this kind was finished and attributed to Athanasius before Cyril.
OF OUR HOLY FATHER ATHANASIUS ON THE INCARNATION OF THE WORD OF GOD.
C S. P. N. ATHANASII DE INCARNATIONE DEI VERBI.
We confess the Son of God, born of the Father from eternity before the ages, and in the last of D the ages born according to the flesh of Mary the Virgin for our salvation, just as the divine Apostle teaches, saying: "But when the fullness of time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman." We also confess the same to be the Son of God and God according to the spirit; but the son of man according to the flesh. Not two natures, but one Son, one
A nature of God the Word incarnate, together with His flesh, to be worshipped with one worship. Nor do we hold two sons, one the Son of God, true God and to be worshipped, and another man from Mary, not to be worshipped, who became B Son of God by grace, as men do; but, as I have said, the one Son of God and God who is from God. The selfsame, and no other, was born of Mary according to the flesh in the last days, as the angel said to the Theotokos Mary when she asked: "How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?" And he replied: "The Holy Spirit shall come upon you, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow you: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born shall be called the Son of God." Therefore, He who was born of the Virgin Mary is the Son of God by nature, and true God, and not by grace or participation; but according to the flesh only, which He has from Mary, He is man; yet according to the spirit, the same is the Son of God and true God B; having suffered our sufferings according to the flesh, as it is written: "Christ having suffered for us in the flesh;" and elsewhere: "He who spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all." But He remains impassible and immutable according to His divinity, as it is said by the prophet: "I am God, and I change not." He died indeed our death according to the flesh for our sins, that He might destroy death through His own death which He endured for us. As the Apostle says: "Death is swallowed up in victory: O death, where is thy sting?" And elsewhere: "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures;" but He remains immortal and free from the dominion of death because of His divinity, as being the impassible power of the C Father, as Peter says: "It was not possible," he says, "that He should be holden of death." Having ascended into heaven, and sitting at the right hand of the Father, with respect to the flesh of the Word, which was exalted from earth to heaven, as it was said by David: "The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand," which is confirmed by the Lord Himself and by the apostles. But according to His divinity, He is incomprehensible, containing every place with the eternal Father, as the paternal and ineffable power, as Paul teaches: "Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." The same Son of God and God is coming, as He promised, D to judge the living and the dead, as the Apostle says: "Who judges the hidden things of darkness, and makes manifest the hidden things of the hearts, and renders to each both praise and blame according to his desert." If, however, anyone teaches otherwise from the holy Scriptures, and says there is one Son of God, and another who was born of Mary, adopted by grace as we are, so that there are two sons, the one Son of God by nature, the other by grace from
man as though born of Mary: or if anyone says that the flesh of our Lord is from above and not from the Virgin Mary; or that the Godhead was changed into flesh, or confused, or altered; or that the Godhead of our Lord D is passible; or that the flesh of our Lord is not to be adored, as being of a man, and not to be adored as the flesh of our Lord and God; the Catholic Church condemns such a one with an anathema, obeying the Apostle who says: "If anyone preaches to you a gospel besides that which you have received, let him be anathema."
ADMONITION CONCERNING THE FOLLOWING BOOK
A1. There are indeed no light reasons for doubting whether this book is by Athanasius; since, besides the fact that it is not cited by any of the ancients known to us, it does not appear in the older manuscript collections of Athanasius. To this must be added that Origen, who is not once but often honorably mentioned by Athanasius, is attacked in this book. Yet, since that entire question, where Origen is concerned, also exists in the *Questions to Antiochus*, it seems to have been transferred from one book to the other, though from which it is impossible to conjecture. The style is certainly quite similar to the book *On the Incarnation* on page 696 of the first volume: for this writer strives to prove with various testimonies of the Scriptures that whatever is appropriate to the Father, the same is also appropriate to the Son and the Holy Spirit. Let the learned judge from these things whether this work should be ascribed to Athanasius; for us, the matter is highly doubtful. [K]2. Furthermore, although it is not sufficiently certain at what time it was written, we nevertheless opine that it is an ancient work, and published before the widely known heresy of Nestorius, because no question regarding the Incarnation is raised here, although the occasion offered itself more than once; but the writer seems to attack only the Anomoeans and the Pneumatomachi. Moreover, the five final questions—namely, what the Gospels are, what angels are, what man is, etc.—might be thought to be the work of another writer. For they do not seem to pertain to the scope of this work; some of them, as is noted there, exist in the *Questions to Antiochus*.OF OUR FATHER AMONG THE SAINTS ATHANASIUS
Testimonies from the Holy Scripture regarding the natural communion of like essence between the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, although the matter is most difficult to grasp by the intellect: and that they have one operation.1. On liberty. Concerning the Father, it is indubitable. Concerning the Son, it is the voice of the Son himself: "Unless the Son shall have set you free, you are slaves." Concerning the Holy Spirit, he speaks thus through Paul:
"When he shall have turned to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty."
2. Concerning vivification. The Savior says: "As the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he wills." And concerning the Holy Spirit, he says: "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing." And the Apostle says: "The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life."
3. Concerning ordination. Concerning the Father, Paul says: "God has set in the Church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers," etc. The same Apostle says concerning the Son: "He who descended is the same as he who ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things. And he gave some among them as apostles, others as prophets, others as pastors and teachers." Concerning the Spirit, the same Apostle, having summoned the presbyters from Miletus, addresses them thus: "Take heed to yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has set you as bishops to feed the Church of God."
4. Concerning legislation. Concerning the Father, David says: "I desired to do thy will, O my God, and thy law in the midst of my heart." Concerning the Son, however, Paul says: "Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ." Concerning the Spirit, the same says: "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free."
C 5. Concerning dominion. David says: "The Lord said to my Lord: Sit at my right hand." But if heretics speak against this, saying that this refers to David, they are refuted by these words of Christ: "What do you say about Christ? Whose son is he?" They say to him: "David's." The Savior answers: "How then does David in the Spirit call him Lord?" Again, concerning the Father: "Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is one." Concerning the Son, he says: "The Lord shall cry out from Sion, and shall give his voice from heaven, and the heaven and the earth shall be shaken. But the Lord will spare his people, and the Lord will strengthen the children of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who have made my tabernacle in Sion, in my holy mountain." And he who made his tabernacle, that is, the Son, says: "I, however, have been appointed king by him over Sion"
A and what follows. Concerning the Holy Spirit, furthermore, having said that "The Lord said to my Lord," he says below: "And the Lord from your right hand." The Spirit, therefore, is at the right hand of the Son.
6. That the Father calls the Son Lord, and the Apostle calls the Spirit both Lord and God, just as he does the Son.
For he speaks thus: "And it shall be after this: I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your elders shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. And even upon my servants, and upon my handmaids in those days, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh, and they shall prophesy; and I will give wonders in heaven above, and signs on the earth below: blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and illustrious day of the Lord comes. And it shall be, that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be B saved. How then shall they call upon him in whom they have not believed? Or how shall they hear without one preaching?" Concerning the Spirit, the same Apostle says: "But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away; and the Lord is the Spirit." And again the same: "As from the Lord the Spirit." And further: "And may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and the patience of Christ," so the Lord is the Spirit. And again: "But may the Lord make you abound and increase in love for one another and for all, just as we also do for you, to the strengthening of your hearts blameless in holiness before God and our Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his holy ones." And here, the C Lord who makes one abound and increase in love for one another and who strengthens the hearts in holiness before God at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, is the Spirit. Gathering, therefore, the three lordships into one lordship, he confirms it by writing to the Ephesians: "One Lord, one faith, one baptism." Again, the Spirit is clearly called the Lord in the Book of Judges, when Samson was performing his deeds of valor, the Scripture points it out and says: "And the Spirit of the Lord came upon Samson, and he took the jawbone of an ass and killed a thousand." And again: "The Spirit of the Lord came upon Samson, and he tore the lion asunder as if it were a kid." And again: "The Spirit of the Lord came upon Samson, and D he took the gate of Gaza and carried it up to the mountain."
A And the Spirit of the Lord proceeds in every way. But when he was shorn, having revealed the mysteries of God to Delilah, Scripture says: "And the Lord departed from Samson." Since, then, it has been made manifest that the Spirit is the Lord, and if He is the Lord, He is everywhere also God. "For know," he says, "that the Lord Himself is God." And when the sons of Gad built an altar by the Jordan, and the sons of Israel sent to them, saying: "Why have you become apostates from God?" the sons of Ruben answered in excuse to the commanders of Israel, saying: "God, God is Lord; and God Himself knows," and so forth. And elsewhere Paul again says: "God, who said that light should shine out of darkness, who shone in our hearts, for the illumination of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ." The God, therefore, who said that light should shine out of darkness, is the Spirit. And the same one again says: "Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be of the same mind towards one another according to Christ Jesus; that with one mind you may with one mouth glorify God, and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." Who, then, is the God of patience and consolation, who gives us to be of the same mind according to Christ Jesus, that we may with one mind glorify God, and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ? It is, certainly, the Holy Spirit. And again: "But if all prophesy, and any unbeliever or unlearned person enters, he is convinced by all; and thus the hidden things of his heart become manifest; and so, falling on his face, he will worship God, declaring that God is truly among you." Therefore, he called the Holy Spirit, who speaks in them, God. And again: "Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?" C He showed that we are God's temple; and where a temple is, there is God; and the Spirit dwells there as in His own temple. For he says: "Do you not know that your bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? Glorify therefore God dwelling in you." And if you do not glorify Him who dwells in you as God, you have become a temple of idols. For he says: "Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?" And elsewhere he says: "Today if you will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts, as in the provocation, according to the day of temptation in the desert, where your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works for forty years." But the Holy Spirit is said to speak these things, for the Apostle says: "Wherefore as the Holy Spirit says, Today if you will hear his voice," and so forth. D Therefore, Israel tempted and proved the Holy Spirit in the desert, and they saw His works, namely, the miracles. And in another psalm, he says: "They tempted God in the"
A desert. Therefore, God is the Holy Spirit. And elsewhere, when Elijah was being taken up, Elisha asked of him that the double Spirit might come upon him. Elijah promised this, if only he should see him being taken up. Having seen him, therefore, and having taken the mantle, he came to the Jordan; and when he had struck the river with the mantle, the water did not yield. Elisha says, therefore: "Where is the God of Elijah?" Which implies "both," or "the double Spirit." Where, therefore, is the God of both, instead of "the double Spirit." And again the Savior says: "He who believes in me, as the Scripture says, rivers of living water shall flow from his belly." And the evangelist, interpreting what this "living water" is, said: "But this He said concerning the Holy Spirit, whom those believing in Him were about to receive." B But if the living water is the Holy Spirit, then the Holy Spirit is God; for the prophet says: "They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living water, and have hewn for themselves broken cisterns, which will not be able to contain water." And David says: "For with Thee is the fountain of life; in Thy light we shall see light." You see that the Father is called a fountain, and the Son likewise, and the Holy Spirit, not that there are three gods; for there is one God, and one law, one legislator, and one Lord. For one God is preached in three persons. But how, you will say, can it be said that the Father is God, and the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, and yet they are not three gods? Where there is a common nature, there is also a common name of dignity. Just as God calls by one name those things which are divided from C one nature into a multitude; for when He is angry with men, He calls every man subject to His anger "one man"; and when He is reconciled to the world, He is reconciled as to one man. Wherefore, when He brings a flood because of sins, God says: "My Spirit shall not remain in these men, and I will blot out the man whom I created." And yet at that time there was not one man, but infinite myriads; yet by the name of the nature, He called all men "one man" on account of the communion of substance. David again says: "What is man, that Thou art mindful of him, or the son of man, that Thou visitest him?" Not that He visited one man; for He raised up the whole inhabited world. But let us use one brief D word spoken through Moses: "When Pharaoh went out against the sea, and was paying the penalties according to the divine law, falling with infinite chariots into the sea, at which time many men were submerged together with him, and many horses likewise; Moses nevertheless, seeing that in all who were submerged
A there is one nature, speaks concerning both the horses and the men: "Let us sing unto the Lord, for he has been gloriously magnified; the horse and his rider he has cast into the sea." He called the multitude of the horses "a horse" and the multitude of the men "a man" on account of the communion of nature; for he said "horse and rider" because of the fellowship of nature. If, therefore, among men, where the things of nature are confused, where there is a difference of form, of strength, and of counsel—for there is neither equal judgment, nor form, nor strength, and their tongues are diverse, whence also men are called *meropes* (articulate-voiced)—nevertheless on account of the common nature the whole world is called "one man," B where then the dignity is undivided, one kingdom, one power, and counsel, and operation, distinguishing the Trinity from the creature, there I affirm one God. But if, because I say God, and God, and God, I therefore constitute three gods; and when I say Lord, and Lord, and Lord, I say three Lords: if therefore the Father is Lord, and the Son is Lord, and the Holy Spirit is Lord, how do you, O Apostle, the legislator of truth, the advocate of piety, cry out to the Ephesians, saying: "One Lord, one faith, one baptism"? One Lord according to the sanctification of the seraphim; for those also cried out: "Holy, holy, holy Lord." C But if the heretics act contentiously and say that there is one lordship of the Father and another of the Son, I marvel how they endure serving two masters; for it is the voice of the Lord: "No one can serve two masters." If the lordship of the Father is one and that of the Son another, and you divide the power, how do you serve the kingdom? One cannot obey two powers unless they are of equal dignity. No one adores a king and a prefect at the same time; for where the dignity is equal, the adoration is also equal. In equal dignity there is no conflict. Inequality excites conflict, but equality preserves peace. Christ did not allow you to divide the honor, saying: "This is the will of my Father, that all might honor the Son, just as they honor the Father." Honor the Father so that you may honor the Son, or rather, honor the Son so that you may honor the Father. D God considers the insult against the Son as his own; for the Savior says: "He who hates me, hates my Father also." Let not the heretics think that they are doing a favor to God by pronouncing him greater than his Son. The Father does not accept honor for himself when his Son is insulted. And see an evident proof of these things from the Old Scripture. The friends of Job, who had come for his consolation, were rebuking him, as if he spoke rashly, and they were justifying God, but Job was saying to God: "Who will grant a judge between me and you, that I may see how many are my iniquities?"
since you have judged me in this way?" A Job’s friends justified God, although the matter was unknown to them, and they were actually condemning the righteous man as one who had sinned; but they praised God, as one who brought these things on justly. And they say to Job: "You have spoken greatly, you have been exceedingly daring, you have spoken against the Almighty." And, "God does not perturb the righteous." And his friend says again: "According to your sins he has brought this upon you. But if your sins were not many, he would not have scourged you." And they thought they were pleading for God, while condemning the righteous man. Did God, therefore, accept those who spoke for Him against justice? Did He accept the defense in His favor, and dishonor the righteous man? By no means. Consequently, He does not accept honor for Himself when the Son is being dishonored. Let us see what He says to the friends of Job: "Why have you not spoken what is right concerning my servant?" If, therefore, He rejects those who do not speak rightly concerning His servant, would He accept those who sharpen their tongues against the Only-begotten Son? By no means. Therefore, the punishment B for those who blaspheme the Holy Spirit is inexorable; for hear what the Savior says: "Every blasphemy shall be forgiven, but the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit shall not be forgiven."
7.
That the Trinity sends apostles.
Concerning the Father, He says: "For on Mount Sion there shall come he who brings good tidings, and those who bring good tidings, whom the Lord has called." Concerning the Son: "Behold, I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves." Concerning the Spirit, He says in the Acts: "So they, having been sent forth by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia." If, therefore, it belongs to God to call, why does the Spirit say through the prophets: "Thus says the Lord"? And again the Spirit says to the saints in Antioch: "Separate for me C Paul and Barnabas for the work to which I have called them?" Learn, therefore, the power of the Trinity. The Father makes the law; the Son commands; the Spirit acts with authority. Hear God saying these things: "Those who bring good tidings shall come, whom the Lord has called."
8.
It is proved that the holy Trinity sits on a high throne.
Isaiah says: "I saw the Lord Sabaoth sitting upon a throne high and lifted up, and the seraphim were standing in a circle around Him," and the rest. It is necessary that the Father D be understood before all. Then, after a little, he adds: "And I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: Whom shall I send, and who will go to this people?"
and I said: A Behold I, send me. And He said to me: Go, and tell this people; Hearing you shall hear, and shall not understand: and seeing you shall see, and shall not perceive: for the heart of this people is grown gross," and the rest. Now John refers these things to the Son; for he says: "And whereas He had done so many miracles before them, they believed not in Him, that the saying of Isaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he said: Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? These things said Isaias, when he saw His glory." But Paul, disputing with the Jews who were at Rome concerning the Spirit, said: "Well did the Holy Spirit speak by Isaias the prophet: Hearing you shall hear, and shall not understand: and seeing you shall see, and shall not perceive," and the rest.
9. That the Spirit sits.
From the book of Moses, it is demonstrated that the Holy Spirit does not only sit, but also sits together with the Father and the Son. But let us seek this from a suitable history: B for I hasten to Abraham: "God appeared to Abraham, and behold three men, whom he also received into hospitality under the oak; they arose and looked toward Sodom." Now that word, "they arose," indicates that a sitting had preceded it. Tell me, therefore, did those three sit at the table, or not? They sat, he says. Therefore, to sit is the same as to sit together. In Daniel, when Susanna was being led to death, the Scripture says: "God stirred up the Holy Spirit of a young boy, whose name was Daniel." Thus, that word, "stirred up," is not understood of one standing, but of one sitting or sleeping; just as it also says in the Psalm: "The Lord was awakened as one out of sleep, C as a mighty man that hath been surfeited with wine." And that: "The Lord was awakened out of His holy clouds." I shall also bring another history concerning the Father of the Lord, saying to John: "Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining upon Him." The Lord says: "But the Father, who abideth in Me, He doeth the works." Tell me, therefore, according to these testimonies, do the Father and the Spirit abide in the Son, or not? They abide, you will say. If, therefore, the Father and the Spirit abide in the Son, it is absolutely necessary that, the Son sitting, they also sit together who abide with Him; so, therefore, as He sits, so they sit together. If, therefore, this is the history concerning Abraham D and Lot, and it is written in the Acts of the Apostles: "And the Holy Spirit sat upon each of them," just as it is also said in the Psalm: "Who sittest upon the cherubim," we certainly know that for the Son
A we know a distinct dwelling place is assigned, specifically at the right hand of the Father. When the three were sitting with Abraham, it is clear that the Holy Spirit sat on the left; for this is the dwelling place assigned to Him. Just as therefore He said to His own Son, "Sit at my right hand," and from the fact that the Son sits at the right hand, it is possible to perceive that by concession He said to His own Spirit, "Sit at my left hand." Now the word "sitting" signifies dignity; for he who sits is circumscribed by the limits of the place in which he sits. But our God is by nature uncircumscribed; yet He seems to be circumscribed when things that are bodily are transferred to Him. For Scripture does not by any means make God a man, but it speaks of Him in our manner, so that it may manifest things that are above us in such a nature. And that in the one hundred and ninth Psalm it says: "The Lord said to my Lord: Sit at my right hand," and when they were sitting, Scripture says to Christ Himself: B "The Lord swore, and will not repent: You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek," and, "The Lord is at your right hand"—it is therefore clear that the Spirit is at the right hand.
10. That the Trinity raised Christ from the dead according to the flesh. Touching the Father, it speaks thus: "And God both raised the Lord and will raise us up through His power." Touching the Son: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. But He was speaking of the temple of His body." Touching the Spirit: "But if the Spirit, who raised Jesus from the dead, dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will give life also to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you."
11. That the Trinity glorifies Itself. The Son glorifies the Father; for He says: "I have glorified Your name on the earth." And the Father says to the Son in the Gospel: "And I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again." That the Son has been glorified by the Father, and the Father C by the Son, He says in the Gospel: "Father, glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You." The Spirit glorifies the Son; for He says concerning the Paraclete: "He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and will announce it to you." The Son glorifies the Spirit, saying: "Every sin will be forgiven; but the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven," on account of His communion with the Father and the Son; and in this, "That no one can say that Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit."
12. Of the glorification of the Holy Spirit. "Offer to God a sacrifice of praise, and pay to the Most High your vows, and call upon Me in the day of your trouble; and I will deliver you, and you will glorify Me."
The Spirit, therefore, is the one who says: "I will deliver you, and you will glorify Me." It is manifest, for He Himself said: "Offer to God a sacrifice."
13. That the Trinity is everywhere present. — Of the Father. "Do I not fill heaven and earth, saith the Lord?" B
14. Of the Son. "He that ascended is the same also that descended into the lower parts of the earth, that He might fill all things."
15. Of the Spirit. "Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from Thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, Thou art there; if I descend into hell, Thou art present." Another: "You know Him, for He abideth with you." And Isaiah: "Who hath established the heaven and the earth, and giveth breath to the people upon it, and spirit to them who walk therein"; and that: "The Spirit of the Lord hath filled the whole world"; and: "My Spirit remaineth in the midst of you." Do you see how the Spirit is placed before the Father?
16. That no one knows the Trinity. The Savior says: "O righteous Father, the world hath not known Thee, but I have known Thee." Of the Son in the Gospel: "He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not." Of the Spirit: "Whom the world cannot receive, because it knoweth Him not."
17. That in the Old Testament the Trinity showed its own peculiar operation. "Take," He says, "the blood of the initiation, and put it upon the priests, upon the tip of their right ear, and upon the tip of their right foot, and upon the tip of the right hand." And observe the head of the people marked three times, according to the pattern of the Seraphim saying: "Holy, holy, holy, Lord Sabaoth"; and according to the pattern of the sheet which appeared to Peter in Joppa, let down from heaven, in that it was let down three times. And when the Lord commanded Moses C to tell Aaron and his sons, saying: "Thus shall you bless the sons of Israel, saying to them: And they shall put My name upon the sons of Israel, and I, the Lord, will bless them. The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: the Lord make His face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: the Lord lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace." And in the New Testament likewise Paul speaks of the Father: "But it is God who worketh all in all." Of the Son, the same: "But all things and in all, Christ." Of the Spirit
A regarding the Holy Spirit: "But all these things worketh one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will."
18. That the Trinity consoles; for the Paraclete is so called because He consoles and saves, as God and Savior.
Concerning the Father, Paul says: "We are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did exhort by us." And Isaiah to Jerusalem: "He shall console thee, who named thee." The Son also consoles, as He said: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me; he hath sent me to preach the gospel to the poor, to console all that mourn." John in his Epistle: "If any man sin, we have a Paraclete with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and he is the propitiation for our sins." Regarding the Spirit, the Savior says to his disciples: "If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I ascend to my Father; and I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Paraclete, the Spirit of truth."
19.
Concerning the Trinity
"Great is our Lord, and great is his power" (by power he means the Son; for power is might: "For Christ is the power of God, and the wisdom of God") "and of his understanding there is no number," (that is, of the Spirit; as the Savior said: "Behold, I give unto you the spirit of wisdom and understanding.") And again: "By the Word of the Lord were the heavens established, and all the power of them by the Spirit of his mouth." And again: "God, even our God, shall bless you; God shall bless you."
20. That Scripture sometimes calls the Spirit by the name of the Father, sometimes of the Son, and sometimes names It absolutely; for It is not preached in confusion, but indivisibly.
Concerning the Father: "But we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit of God." And again: "But ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you." Concerning the Son: "God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." And again: "He that hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." Concerning the Spirit, the Son said: "Take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of my Father which speaketh in you." Concerning the Spirit: D "Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia. After they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia, and the Spirit suffered them not."
A Concerning the Spirit: "Grieve not the Holy Spirit, in whom ye were sealed." The heretics say that the Godhead is constituted according to order and enumeration. We will say that it is written: "The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven." And again: "He says the natural first, then the spiritual." If, therefore, the second is numbered after the first, and that which is numbered is inferior to that to which it is subordinate in the manner of numbering, then, according to your opinion, the spiritual is inferior to the natural, and the heavenly to the B earthy man. Another (argument): No one is ignorant that the Scripture calls Him the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Another: Against those who place the Holy Spirit in the third place. It opposes them in the Old Testament, where it speaks (when the people had been carried away into Babylon) in these words: "And I will remember my covenant with Jacob, and my covenant with Isaac, and my covenant with Abraham." Another: "There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord; and there are diversities of operations, but the same God, who worketh all in all." And another: "Whither shall I go from thy spirit, or whither shall I flee from thy face?"
21. That the Son is placed before the Father. The Saviour says: "I and the Father will come, and we will make our abode with him." Another: "I and the Father are one." And again C the Apostle: "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all."
22. Against those who make a distinction between "from whom" and "through whom," and attribute the former, "from whom," to the Father, and the latter, "through whom," to the Son as if it were less. We find from the Scriptures that even regarding the Father the term "through whom" is used, and regarding the Son "from whom," and likewise regarding the Spirit. Regarding the Father, the Apostle says: "God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son." Another: "Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God"; and again: "Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God." And that: "Like as Christ was raised through the glory of the Father." D And again, when Cain was born, Eve said: "I have gotten a man through God." And again, was not the manifestation given to Joseph in prison through God?
A [hΔΕ COMMUNI ESSENTIA PATRIS ET FILII ET SPIR. S./h]
Furthermore, regarding the Son, Paul said from the prophecy of Isaiah: "For from him, and through him, and to him are all things." But if the heretic contradicts this, stating that the expression "through whom" was spoken concerning God the Father, he must necessarily concede that equal dignity is to be attributed to the Son. Again, the Apostle says to the Ephesians: "Living the truth in love, we may grow up in all things into him, from whom the whole body, being joined together..." and what follows. And to the Colossians, it is said to those who do not have the knowledge of the Only-Begotten: "Holding the head," that is Christ, "from whom the whole body, by joints and bands..." and what follows; and that: "Of his fullness we all have received." And the Lord himself says: "For he shall receive of mine and shall declare it unto you." And again he says: "I felt power gone out of me." Concerning the Spirit: "He that soweth in the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting." And John says: "In this we know that God is in us, by his Spirit which he hath given us." And the angel says: "For that which is born in her is of the Holy Spirit." The Lord says: "That which is born of the Spirit is spirit." But if the "from whom" denotes one who commands, that is, the Father, where shall one place the saying: B "Man is not of woman, but woman of man"? Shall we for that reason call man God?
23. That the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit have certain common names, such as God, Lord, Holy, Good, Spirit, and other such things.
C To what extent, therefore, is one to be considered in thought and intelligence? He is named Spirit, as: "God is a Spirit, and they that worship him must worship in spirit and in truth." And again concerning the Son: "Christ the Lord is the Spirit of our presence." Holy is the Father, and holy is the Son, but the Spirit is not that which is sanctified, but that which sanctifies; good, as the Father is good, and the Son, who is born good from the Good; a right Spirit, as our Lord God is right, by being very truth and justice, because of the immutability of the substance; the Paraclete, as the Only-Begotten, according to the saying: "I will ask my Father, and he will give you another Paraclete." Thus, this name is common to the Spirit with the Father D and the Son, and by the communion of nature and property, the appellation of these is united. For whence else is he named, at one time the "principal" Spirit, at another the "Spirit of truth," at another the "Spirit of wisdom"?
24. Whatever Christ does, the Holy Spirit also does.
Operations of powers, gifts of healings. By the Holy Spirit, demons were expelled; in the Spi-
presence of the Spirit, the devil was subdued; by the presence of the Spirit, there is redemption of sins in the grace A of the Spirit: "For you were washed, and you were sanctified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Spirit." The resurrection from the dead is by the operation of the Spirit: "For you will send forth your Spirit, and they shall be created, and you will renew the face of the earth." And again he says: "But if the Spirit, who raised Jesus from the dead." If, therefore, anyone receives this creation as referring to the quickening of the dead, how is the efficacy of the Spirit not immense—the Spirit who dispenses to us that life of the resurrection, and adorns our souls for that spiritual life? But if that creation is understood as the transformation for the better from sins which occurs in this life (for it can be so received according to the custom of Scripture, since Paul says: "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation"; and this innovation, which transfers us from a terrestrial life, prone to passions, to a heavenly manner of living through the Spirit, B moves our souls in a way that is beyond measure and wondrous), shall we then fear, lest by excessive honors we exceed the glory of the Spirit? Or rather, on the contrary, lest we think too humbly of him? For the apostle Peter says to Ananias: "Why has Satan filled your heart, that you should lie to the Holy Spirit? You have not lied to men, but to God."
25. That the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit led Israel.
Therefore, the prophet Jeremiah speaks thus of the Father: "He himself was a leader to Israel in the desert." And: "You did not say," he says, "where is God, who led us out of the land of Egypt, who was a leader to us in the desert?" And David says: "You led your people like sheep." But Isaiah said that the Holy Spirit led Israel in the solitude. C It is possible, then, to hear him saying: "He led them through the abyss, as a horse in the wilderness, and they did not weary, and as cattle through the plain, the Spirit of the Lord descended and led them." But to the Corinthians, Paul says that Christ was the leader: "For they drank," he says, "from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ." If, then, anyone should say that the Spirit intercedes for us, and that therefore, as much as a petitioner is inferior to the benefactor, by so much is the Spirit inferior; we shall answer him thus: The Only-begotten Son is at the right hand of God, and he intercedes for us: "Do not, therefore, grieve the Holy Spirit," D according to Paul who says: "In whom you were sealed for the day of redemption." Moreover, Stephen also says: "You always resist the Holy Spirit, just as your fathers"
A did." And Isaiah says: "They provoked the Holy Spirit." And elsewhere: "The house of Jacob provoked the Spirit of the Lord." But you say that he is a servant; yet, "The servant does not know what his master is doing." But the Spirit knows the things of God just as the spirit of man, which is in him.
26. That the Son is true God. John writes in the Epistle: "We know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, that we may know the true God, and we are in his true Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life."
27. That the Son is called great God. The Apostle to Titus: "Waiting for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us." The same to the Romans: "Of whom is Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed B for ever. Amen."
28. Against those who take this saying for a reproach (to the Son), "I have not come to do my own will, but the will of the Father who sent me." If it brings reproach to the Son to fulfill the will of the Father, it brings reproach also to God and the Father to fulfill the will of the righteous man; for David says: "The Lord will do the will of those who fear him, and he will hear their prayer." If God is not ashamed to fulfill the will of mortal men, then the Son, because of the incarnate economy and his relationship to us and the servile condition C which he took on for our sake, saying: "I have not come to do my own will," that is, of the flesh, since the flesh is his own, "but that of the Father," that is, the divine will; may this not be taken as a debasement, even if their understanding of it is especially dissolved by these things: "A leper came to him, kneeling and saying, Lord, if you will, you can cleanse me." Did the Savior cast him off? Did he say, "Why do you blaspheme? If I will? If God wills?" Did he not rather accept the perfection of his faith? Did he not, answering with the same syllables, confer salvation upon him, saying: "I will; be cleansed"? By willing he cleanses the leper; by willing he makes the dead alive; he willed, and he raised Lazarus; and his voice is: "As the Father has life in himself, so he has given to the Son also to have life in himself"; and again: "As the Father raises D the dead, so also the Son gives life to whom he will"; and concerning this David says: "For there is wrath in his indignation, and life in his will."
29. Against those who say that to the mother of the sons of Zebedee, "What do you want?" is to pretend ignorance. We find in the Old Testament, God saying to Solomon: "Ask of me, and I will do for you." Does this imply that before he asked, he did not...
know what he had in his heart? But He wishes A us, along with the knowledge of God, to manifest our petitions, as Paul says: "And let your petitions be made known before God," that is, declare to Him what you wish B, not as to one who is ignorant, but as to one who approves of a good intention.
30. Against those who say that the Son is in the order of the ministers, because He offers human nature to the Father.
Scripture indicates that the Father brings [us] to the Son. For hear the Son Himself saying: "No one can come to me, unless my heavenly Father draw him."
31. Against those who serve the words and not the meanings of the sacred Scriptures, and who make the Father the God of the Son.
The Apostle says: "The God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory." Here he has defined the economy; for he calls the Only-Begotten "glory," but Jesus Christ is the preaching of the economy. For he is God of the economy, but Father of the glory. If this saying does not persuade you, but you think there is some other glory whose Father is God, then devise some other nature more sublime than the Son, so that He may be called the Father of that, and the C Father of glory may be called the God of this one. For the Only-Begotten is called Glory, for "We beheld," he says, "his glory, glory as of the Only-Begotten from the Father"; so that "the God of our Lord Jesus Christ" is equivalent to "the God of the flesh of Christ," and "the Father of glory" is the Father of the divinity. Indeed, Isaiah also calls our Savior glory, according to the dignity of His divinity; for when he recounted the miracles that had occurred in the desert, and announced good things to the wilderness, he says: "Let the deserts of the Jordan rejoice and blossom D as a lily; for the glory of Lebanon has been given to it, and the honor of Carmel. And my people shall see the glory of the Lord, and the height of God; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God." Glory, then, is from glory, whence also Paul says: "Who is the splendor of glory and the image of His substance." Therefore, He is the Father of the glory of the Only-Begotten, but the God of the flesh of Christ. I do not mean another Christ and another Only-Begotten; for I do not divide in my mind things which are not divided by their unity. For He is the Father of the Only-Begotten before the ages, but the God of the Only-Begotten according to the flesh at the end of the age; He is always His Father, but not always His God, but from the time He assumed flesh. The Father is the God of His divinity; for the Father is eternal, and the Son is co-eternal; and ...
has no part, nor division, for the glory of the truth A is coeternal: nor does it receive section or division, the glory of the truth. When, then, was the Father named God of the Son because of the flesh? From the time, specifically, when he came forth from the womb of his mother. Therefore, in the Prophet, wishing to show both his divinity and his flesh to be true, he said: “From my mother’s womb, you are my God.” And if you wish to know the rest, you shall be taught in the twenty-second Psalm.
32. Against those who say the Father is the great God, but the Son is not his equal.
Although we say most of all that the Trinity is one divinity, we find, nevertheless, in the holy writings, for the sake of stopping the mouths of adversaries, that the Son is called great apart from the Father: for David says: “God is known in Judaea; in Israel his name is great.” But Judaea was limited to a specific place. But concerning the Son: B “O Lord our Lord, how wonderful is your name in all the earth!” Because the name of Christ has filled all the earth; for into all the earth their sound has gone out, and their words to the ends of the world. With reason, therefore, the Psalm says, “How wonderful is your name in all the earth.” And what is that which follows, “Because your magnificence is raised above the heavens?” This is fulfilled when the disciples ascended the mountain with the Savior, who was about to be taken up, and he said to them: “Stay in Jerusalem, until you are clothed with power from on high”; because, specifically, he was to be taken up: “Because your magnificence is raised above the heavens.” Therefore, David addresses him, saying: “Because I will behold the heavens, the works of your fingers.”
33. That as the Father is Lord Sabaoth, so the Son is likewise.
Isaiah says: “And signs and wonders in the house of Israel from the Lord Sabaoth, who dwells on Mount Zion.” But in the Psalm it says: “But I was set up king by him upon Sion his holy mount.”
34. Against those who say the Holy Spirit is inferior to Christ, and claim, since he is called an earnest, that he is some part.
It is written in the Epistle to the Ephesians: “In whom you also, having believed, were sealed with the holy Spirit of promise, C which is the earnest of our inheritance, for the redemption of our acquisition, to the praise of his glory.” But we find the Father also called a part in the Scriptures; for it is said in the Psalm: “You are my portion in the land of the living.” And again in the sixteenth Psalm: “The Lord is the portion of my inheritance, and of my cup.”
35. Against those who say the Son is not of the essence of the Father, because one is the authority and power, and kingdom, and divinity of the Father and of the Son.
The prophet says: D “Suddenly he will come to his temple.”
A Therefore, the Lord says: “Take these things hence, and do not make the house of my Father a house of merchandise;” he himself says: “Take these things hence; for my house shall be called a house of prayer.” The house, he says, of my Father and my house.
36. That the Son has the name of the Father, as God and Lord.
The Father testifies in Exodus: “Behold I send my angel before thy face, that he may keep thee in the way, and that he may bring thee into the land which he hath prepared for thee; attend to thyself and hear him, and do not disobey him, for he will not let thee go; for my name is in him.” B Whence the Son also says in the Gospel: “I have come in the name of my Father, and you have not received me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive.” And in Psalm CXVII he says: “Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord.” The holy prophets therefore did not only call the Savior the Sun of Justice, and the true morning light, but also a lamp and an arm; as God testifies through Isaiah the prophet, saying: “My justice draws near speedily to be revealed; and my salvation shall burn as a lamp.” C Let no human reasoning interpret the things of God. No one can learn the truth unless they learn it from the Truth itself. When the only-begotten Lord our Jesus Christ was born of a maiden who knew no marriage, introducing into the world a new mode of birth and a new bringing forth into life, the mother carries him while he is still an infant and offers him to Simeon the priest. He, having received the Savior into his arms, speaks to him and says: “Now you dismiss thy servant, O Lord, according to thy word, in peace. Because my eyes have seen thy salvation,” that is, the presence of Christ. Rightly, therefore, did the prophet say under the person of God: “And my salvation shall burn as a lamp, and in my arm shall the nations hope.” D For he calls the Only-begotten the arm of the Father again. He does not call him an arm as a part of the divinity, but as conjoined in essence. For just as the arm is of the same essence as the one whose arm it is, for this reason it is called the arm of the Father, since he is a cooperator of the Father in creation. And of this argument the witness is the blessed John the evangelist, who reclined upon the breast of the Savior
and drew his theology as from an ever-flowing A spring. For what does he say, when he takes the "arm" to signify the dispensation and the deity of the Savior? "Though he had done so many miracles before them," he says, "the Jews believed not on him: that the saying of Isaiah might be fulfilled, Lord, who hath believed our report? and the arm of the Lord to whom is it revealed?"
37. That the Jews are called sons of darkness. The prophet says to the sons of Israel: "Thus saith the Lord: I have compared thy mother to the night." And in explaining what the night is, he added: "My people is become like one who has no knowledge." Therefore, where there is knowledge, there is light; where there is ignorance, there is darkness, according to David, who says: "They have not known, nor understood; they walk on in darkness." The B Apostle, therefore, does not insult them as enemies, but stands by the truth; on this account he said: "We are not the children of the night, nor of darkness, but the children of light and of the day."
38. That the light of the Jews was taken from them. The prophet Jeremiah says: "The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah." Then he proceeds, saying: "And I will take from them the scent of ointment, and the light of a lamp."
39. That heretics are accustomed to say that the things spoken by the prophets were spoken in the person of the Holy Spirit; whence they mistakenly think they can show the Holy Spirit to be less than God, because it is said in the Psalm: "Come, let us worship him," C as if the Spirit himself were worshipping together with men.
We answer them as follows. What then is indicated by the text: "Let us weep before the Lord"? Must you therefore affirm that the Spirit also weeps, as you claim? And elsewhere, to show the sovereignty of the Spirit, it says: "For I am the Lord God." And in another place it says: "Know that the Lord he is God." And again: "I will hear what the Lord God will speak in me." And when reproving in the Books of Kingdoms, he says: "The Spirit spoke in me, and not through me." And so that you may know by the testimony of Paul who it was that spoke through the prophets, read what he wrote in the Epistle to the Hebrews: "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the D fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son." It is evident, therefore, that the Holy Spirit is God. Let us see again how this oracle stands, which God spoke to Elijah. For at that time Elijah was complaining to God, saying: "They have thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away."
A Respondet ei oraculum: "Delegi mihi septies mille viros, qui non incurvaverunt genu Baali." Let us see, therefore, whether the Spirit also has the authority to deliver an oracle. To Simeon, who was a priest and an old man, an oracle was delivered by the Spirit: "You shall not die before you have seen the Christ." And when the child was brought into the temple, and Simeon carried him in his arms, then he answered: "Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word." Therefore, the Spirit is both Lord and Master.
17 40. That they say the Spirit has the power to sanctify.
If the office of sanctifying was granted to him by grace, he is indeed found to be performing the office of a priest. For one cannot be both Lord and minister at the same time. If, therefore, he is a minister, it is superfluous for us to be baptized in the name of the minister. For a priest does not sanctify the water, but fulfills the ministry that is required, B since he received that office from God by grace. If, therefore, the Spirit does the same thing as the priest, if the power to sanctify has been given to him, as you say, why does the Father sanctify? For a king, when he imposes a task upon someone, grants the performance of it to the one upon whom he imposes it, and does not do the work himself.
41. Again, the heretic, wishing to show that the Spirit calls the Word of God Lord, says:
"The Lord said to my Lord: Sit at my right hand." But the Savior, wishing to show that not only does the Spirit call Christ Lord, C but also that Christ himself is Lord and God, being questioned by a Jew who said: "Teacher, which is the first commandment?" says to him: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart; for it is written: The Lord your God is one. The second commandment: You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Then the Jew answered: "You have spoken rightly, teacher, that God is one." He said this in order to deny the divinity of the Son. But the Savior, wishing to join his lordship with that of the Father, questions him: "What do you say about Christ, whose son is he?" They say: "David's." The Savior answers: D "How then does David in the Holy Spirit call him Lord? If, therefore, he is his son, how does he call him Lord?" Again they said to him, when he was casting out demons: "This man casts out demons by Beelzebub, the prince of demons." To whom he answers thus: "If I cast out by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out?" Now, when he says "sons," he points to the apostles, who were born of them, and who cast out
A demons in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, as if to say: "If your children are sufficiently instructed in my name to cast out demons, I do not cast out demons in the name of Beelzebub."
42. *Against those who say the Son makes petition.*
The heretic argues and says that the one who petitions is inferior to the giver. But if we find the Father petitioning from men in the Old Testament, what, I ask, will you answer me here? "And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear him?"
43. *That the law was in like manner given by the Spirit at Pentecost, as it was on Mount Sinai.*
Moses bears witness, saying: "And the glory of the God of Israel was on Mount Sinai, as a burning fire," so that that saying might be fulfilled: "I came to cast fire upon the earth,"—a fire not that destroys, but that purifies. Therefore, it was given on the lips of Isaiah. And he says: "Behold, I have forgiven your sins." So, too, B the Holy Spirit appeared at Pentecost in the form of fire; for tongues as of fire were divided, and rested upon each one of them. And just as in the Old Testament, when God appeared, many terrors attended—cloud, and storm, and trumpet, and thunderings echoing around the mountain, which were preparing the people for the fear of the Lawgiver—so it also happened when the Holy Spirit was about to arrive, that the disciples might recognize the dignity of the Spirit coming with glory. As, I say, cloud and storm went before on the mountain, so did it happen at the advent of the Spirit: "When the day of Pentecost was being fulfilled, there occurred a sound as of a mighty rushing wind," C and then the Spirit appeared and shook the house.
44. *That the heretics say the Spirit is a gift from God.*
We say it is a gift of life (for it set us free; "for the law of the Spirit of life set us free") and a gift of power: "For you shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit comes upon you." We, however, show that the Spirit has granted both the Son and adoption to men; and a little later: "How shall he not with him also grant us all things?" And elsewhere: "That we may see the things that have been granted to us by God." Speaking of the mystery of the assumption of humanity in the Epistle to the Hebrews, having cited the word D that says: "Behold, I and the children whom God has given me," Paul elaborates on this regarding Christ, saying: "Forasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil." He calls the apostles his children in these words; through whom he was to perform signs and prodigies in the house of Israel.
He teaches that the Lord Sabaoth, he who dwells on Mount Zion, will be present. He says that these A themselves will be manifest, having their faces sealed with the seal of Christ, and being instructed no longer to learn the law of Moses, inasmuch as it no longer stands, and because the house which is called Jacob has been abandoned by God.
45. That the Word of God defends the concord of the Father and the Son. And do not think these to be words of insignificance, but of kindness; for while the form is one of insignificance, the message is one of kindness. For Christ, the Lord of all, is one and the same as he who says to the Jews: "Which of you convinces me of sin?" He is the Son of him who speaks through the prophet Micah: "My people, what have I done to you, or in what have I been troublesome to you? Answer me." And he who in the Gospels says: "If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil." He is also the Son of him who says to Jeremiah: "I said to the inhabitants of Israel, What wrong or injustice did your fathers find in me, that they went far from me?" O what kindness, in which goodness B surpasses nature—or rather, not so much nature as our own thoughts!
46. How the goodness of God is set forth. He says to Moses: "I am God, who recompense the sins of the fathers upon the children." And until when? "Unto the third and fourth generation." Attend to me, I pray, how he extends punishment as far as the fourth generation. But his kindness towards men, to what extent? "And showing mercy unto thousands to them that love me."
47. That all the prophets, gathered together, completed the memory of the things done by Christ in the flesh. Moses constituted the figure of the cross: which the Savior himself also makes witness, saying: "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of man be lifted up." Likewise Jonah also made a memory of C his death. For he descended into the whale, and after three days he was restored, and was made a type of the resurrection. The Savior, taking this up again, reconciles that type to the truth, saying: "And as Jonah was in the belly of the whale for three days and three nights, so must the Son of man be in the heart of the earth."
48. That the Trinity is consubstantial. What is God? The beginning of all things, according to the Apostle, who says: "One God the Father, from whom are all things." For indeed the Word is from him by generation, and the Spirit from D
A by procession exists. Then all the nature of things was constituted in creation by the Word in the Spirit.
49. That to blaspheme against the Son is to blaspheme against the holy Trinity.
To many of those who dwell on earth, the word of the Lord is terrible, which says: "Every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven to men; but whoever shall speak a word against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, neither in this age, nor in the one to come." For this reason, the divine Apostle exhorts all, indicating that the letter kills, but the spirit gives life. For many things in the divine Scriptures, if we understand them according to the letter, we fall into impious blasphemies; such is the statement of the Lord brought forward above; which indeed, if we understand it absolutely according to the words, we shall not only fall into impious opinions, but also will find the Lord himself contradicting himself. For if whoever says a word against the Son shall be forgiven, why did the Son himself say: "Whoever shall deny me before men, I also will deny him before the angels of God"? And again, if every sin and B blasphemy will be forgiven to men, and we shall give an account for an idle word, how shall he who calls his brother a fool be liable to the hell of fire? Or why does the apostle Paul say: "Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor adulterers, nor the effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor revilers, nor drunkards, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God"? But if these things be so, tell me, how then does he say, "Every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven to men"? And if again this is true, why then is that wretch Origen accused, who proclaims an end to punishment, and preaches that a remission of all sins is granted by God to men and demons alike? Again, if blasphemy against the Holy Spirit has no remission, why does the Church blame Novatus for rejecting repentance? But that which is most obscure and difficult of understanding is this, that to him who has spoken against the Son, it shall be forgiven, but to him who has spoken a word against the Spirit, it shall not be forgiven; so that the Son is less than the Holy Spirit and the Father. Why then does the Son say, "I and the Father are one," and, "He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father?" And again here he says, that "Whoever shall speak a word against the Son, it shall be forgiven him." Shall therefore, tell me, C blasphemy against the Son be forgiven to the Arians, and the Simonians, and the Sabellians, and the Photinians, D and all the others who against the
A incarnation of the Son have uttered blasphemies? Away with this absurdity! For if he who says to his brother, "Fool," is liable to the hell of fire, into what hell of hells, tell me, shall he be cast who says that his God is a creature, and not the Son of God, but a slave, and a minister, and a minor being? And if any one who speaks a word against the Son shall obtain forgiveness, how did the Son himself say, that "He who does not eat my flesh and drink my blood, has not eternal life?" And how, I ask, can anyone who treats the Son with ignominy fail to blaspheme against the Trinity? And he who blasphemes against it, evidently renounces holy baptism. And he who renounces holy baptism, it is clear that he strips off the Holy Spirit. For just as with regard to the perceptible sun, if you insult its heat or its ray, the insult rebounds upon its whole nature: so too is it in the case of the triple sun of the holy Trinity, of its light and mystery; the insult to one person is blasphemy against the entire fullness of the Godhead.
What then is meant by that which was said by the Lord to the Jews, that "Every sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven to men: but whoever speaks a word against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this age, nor in the future?" Let us listen prudently, and not be led astray. That Christ is twofold after the inexpressible union, I mean from Godhead and humanity, the sacred Scriptures proclaim to us: "For the Word became flesh." The Godhead of the Word, therefore, Christ himself names Holy Spirit; just as he also said to the Samaritan woman: "God is Spirit." But B his humanity he called the Son of man; as he also says elsewhere regarding his own flesh: "Now the Son of man is glorified."
The Jews, therefore, who always offend against God, are guilty of a double blasphemy against Christ. Some offend against his flesh, that is, against the Son of man, judging him to be a prophet and not God: to whom he even gave pardon; for it was the beginning of his preaching, and the world was not yet capable of believing that he who appeared as a man was God. Hence it is that Christ says, "Whoever speaks a word against the Son of man," that is, against his body, "it shall be forgiven him." For I dare to say that not even his blessed disciples themselves had a perfect understanding of his divinity until the Holy Spirit visited them on the day of Pentecost. Since even after the resurrection, seeing him, some worshipped, but others doubted; yet they were not condemned for that reason. But those who blaspheme against the Holy Spirit, that is, against the divinity of Christ, and say that "It is by Beelzebub, the prince of the demons, that he casts out C
demons, to these, he says, "it will not be forgiven, neither in this age, nor in the coming one." And again, it should be noted that Christ did not say: "It will not be forgiven to him who has blasphemed and repented," but "to the one blaspheming," that is to say, to the one persisting in blasphemy; A since there is no sin that is unforgivable before God for those who truly and worthily repent.
50. What are the Gospels? The presence of the Divine Word, our Lord Jesus Christ, for the salvation of the human race, incarnate from the Holy Spirit and Mary, the ever-virgin.
51. Concerning angels. What is the definition of the substance of an angel? An angel is a rational living being, immaterial, hymn-singing, immortal.
52. But what is the work of the heavenly powers? An unceasing hymn and tireless love for the majesty of God; and perhaps even a constant prayer for our salvation. But since they are also called orders and soldiers, it remains for us to conceive of a teaching order, an authoritative order, a punishing order, an order that bestows grace upon souls, and an order that resides among men. Just as we have known a difference of order in the powers above, so too regarding station and knowledge. For the thrones, and the seraphim, and the cherubim learn directly from God, as they are higher than B all things and draw near to God; these then teach the lower orders, and so in turn the higher teach the lower. The lowest order are the angels, who are also teachers of men.
53. What is man? Man is a rational living being, capable of the divine mind, and receptive of eternal life, and by the privation of this, mortal. Such, then, is the nature of man according to his earthly formation.
54. That man is composite and not simple, nor from uniform parts, but from an incorporeal mind and a concupiscible body, or an ensouled one. As Paul taught, having attributed to the soul the concupiscible power of the flesh—which he also called "flesh"—together with its own will, he said that the flesh of man C makes war against the Spirit; but that which possesses no motion and no will of its own cannot make war. But this flesh, he said, against the Spirit