Against Eunomius 5 part 3/3

but, conceiving something spiritual, you will say something higher — the very generative power of God being plainly revealed to you from himself.

So again, hearing of the hands of God, recognize plainly his creative power;

and "ear," his power of hearing;

and "eyes," his power of seeing.

And all the rest likewise: each preserves its own most correct meaning concerning God, especially for those who believe rightly.

Names, then, are a use for men toward the knowledge and distinction of substances, or also of things, and of the notions conceived concerning the substances.

Let not, therefore, a womb in the case of God astonish you;

since neither does a hand, nor the other things mentioned before.

Therefore neither let generation in the case of God astonish you, nor any of those who hear of it.

But if anyone fears passion in God when he begets, it is possible also to fear, in the one who creates, motion, and weariness, and the taking up of material, and the need of tools.

For these things belong to men when they create.

But if these things do not belong to God, neither is there passion in his begetting.

For it is impossible for the impassible nature to fall into passion.

Why then does anyone fear a fear where there is no fear? God, even in begetting from himself, does not suffer by nature;

nor does He grow weary in creating out of nothing some single thing, or the universe.

But if you shun the one, you also shun the whole;

if you grant the whole in like manner, you grant the one also;

if the one is done after a human fashion, so too the whole;

but if the whole is not done after a human fashion, neither is the one.

For if God makes things out of nothing by His will, He makes the whole without toil;

and this is not incredible to us.

But more credible to all would it be, that God has begotten of Himself, by the divine nature and in a manner befitting God, without passion, a true Son, equal in honour, equal in glory, sharing the throne, sharing in counsel and in work, of one essence with the

Father and God, and not of a different essence, nor alien to His sole Godhead.

But if not, then neither is He to be worshipped.

For it is written: You shall not worship an alien god;

nor are we bidden to receive any newcomer god.

Therefore do not speak of an addition to worship, nor say that the Son was kept silent among the ancients but has been revealed to us, if indeed you confess the Son to be the creative Word.

For the fathers knew the Word, they worshipped the Word of God, and together with the Word the Spirit.

Do not separate Him from Him who says: I am God alone, and there is none beside Me;

lest you be compelled to blaspheme the Son as though He were not God;

neither separate Him from Him who says:

I alone stretched out the heaven, lest you also fall away from calling the Son Creator;

because He who stretched out the heaven is not separated from the glory of the only God.

Therefore in the Son know the Father, in the Father glorify the Son.

Do not divide the undivided, do not split the unsplittable.

For even if you wish it, it is not split.

Even if the heretics burst asunder, the Trinity is not torn apart;

but it is what it is, even if it seems otherwise to some.

For the holy Trinity is a cord, and is venerable in one and eternal glory, carrying about everywhere the same and one sole Godhead, unbreakable, unsplittable, indivisible, filling all things, encompassing all things, present in all things, creating, governing, sanctifying, and giving life.

This divine and most wondrous interweaving is not torn apart, according to that which is written: A threefold cord is not quickly broken.

With this thought the blessed Paul also, writing somewhere to those who believe rightly, said:

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

For whenever all things are wrought by God through Jesus Christ in the Spirit, I see the working of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit to be inseparable.

And for this reason all the saints are temples of God and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, in whom dwells the one Godhead, and the one lordship, and the one holiness of Father and Son and Holy Spirit, because of the one sanctification of baptism.

Against those who say that it is often written concerning the Son and the Father, but concerning the Spirit only in baptism.

But if the Father says: In the last days I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh, what shall we say concerning the Son? For He is not written of here.

There the deer met, and they saw one another's faces;

they passed by in number, and not one of them was lacking, for the Lord commanded them, and His Spirit gathered them together.

A spirit shall go forth from Me, and every breath have I made;

where is the Son? But if David says:

And take not Your Holy Spirit from me;

where is the Son? If the same one says:

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within my inward parts;

where is the Son? But if the same one says again:

And Your good Spirit shall lead me in a straight land;

where is the Son? But if the same one says:

And uphold me with a guiding Spirit;

where is the Son? But if Job says:

The divine Spirit which made me;

where is the Son? But if the same Job says:

There is a spirit in mortals, and it is the breath of the Almighty that teaches me;

where is the Son? But if David says:

You shall send forth Your Spirit, and they shall be created, and You shall renew the face of the earth;

Whither shall I go from Your Spirit, and from Your presence whither shall I flee? where is the Son? But if He says:

Woe to you rebellious children, says the Lord;

You have taken counsel, but not by Me, and made covenants, but not by My Spirit;

And there shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a blossom shall come up from the root, and there shall rest upon Him the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and godliness, and the Spirit of the fear of God shall fill Him;

how shall I separate the Spirit? But if He says:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind;

the Spirit? And all that one can diligently find from the Scripture, both of the Old and of the New Testament, concerning the Spirit and the Son and the Father.

Hail, you who are highly favoured, the Lord is with you;

for behold, you shall conceive in your womb, and shall bear a son.

How shall I know this, since I know not a man? The angel says to her:

The Holy Spirit shall come upon you, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow you.

And again the same angel, speaking to Joseph:

Do not fear to take Mary your wife;

for that which is begotten in her is of the Holy Spirit.

And again the evangelist, interpreting the words in the prophet, says:

That it might be fulfilled which was written:

Behold My chosen Servant, My beloved, in whom My soul is well pleased; I will put My Spirit upon Him.

And in the Gospel it is written:

The Spirit blows where it wills, and you hear its voice, but you do not know whence it comes and whither it goes.

So is everyone that is born of the Spirit;

and likewise in the Gospel:

But if I cast out the demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

Every sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit has no forgiveness.

And at the baptism the Holy Spirit came down, and remained upon Him;

but the angels came down and ministered to Him.

So that you may know that the angels came down to minister, that they might show their servitude;

but the Spirit remained upon Him, that when you hear of His abiding, you may perceive the freedom of His nature.

And the Father, abiding in Me, does the works Himself.

And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted forty days by the devil;

If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven;

if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.

I tell you the truth, it is expedient for you that I go away;

for if I do not go away, the Comforter will not come to you, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father.

The Spirit speaks not of itself, but whatever it hears, that it shall speak;

Neither does the Son speak of Himself;

But the Father who sent Me, He, He says, told Me what to say and what to speak;

for all that the Spirit and the Son speak are the oracles of God.

And for this reason: All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable, having been spoken by the Spirit.

And indeed this truly shows that the Spirit is not a creature, since every rational creature sometimes speaks of itself, sometimes the things of God, as when Paul says:

Concerning virgins I have no commandment of the Lord, but I give my opinion as one who has obtained mercy of the Lord.

But to those who are married I command, not I, but the Lord;

O Lord, yet will I speak of judgments with You;

why is it that the ungodly prosper? And again:

Woe is me, my mother, why did you bear me as such a one? And at another time he says:

I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.

Let My people go, that they may serve Me.

For he sometimes speaks his own things, and sometimes the things of God;

But all the things of the Spirit of God are oracles;

For this reason neither does the Son speak of Himself.

For the Father who sent Me, He, He says, told Me what to say and what to speak;

not learning, for this would belong to one imperfect and unlearned;

but because whatever the Father is, He speaks through the Son in the Spirit.

No one knows the things of a man, except the spirit of the man that is in him;

so also no one has known the things of God except the Spirit of God;

For the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.

But if they say that what searches does not know, and for this reason searches;

we shall reply that God also searches the hearts of men.

And through the prophets He says:

I will search Jerusalem with a lamp.

Do you not know that your bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, which you have from

Do you not know that you are a temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? And again:

But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.

And such were some of you, but you were washed, you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God.

For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ has not wrought through me, in word and deed, to bring about the obedience of the Gentiles, in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Holy Spirit.

And at the beginning of the epistles the holy Paul makes mention of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, writing thus:

Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart unto the gospel of God, which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and was declared the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness;

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit;

Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit;

and there are diversities of ministries, but the same Lord;

and there are diversities of workings, but the same God, who works all things in all.

As the Lord lives, who has thus judged me, and the Almighty, who has embittered my soul, while the divine Spirit yet remains in my nostrils;

Send out Your light and Your truth;

calling the Spirit light, and the Son truth;

Show us, O Lord, Your mercy, and grant us Your salvation.

Let every soul that seeks concerning the more divine things be of good cheer, if it has such an eye as to seek and behold these things invisible to sense, and if, seeking thus, it can dwell with the very One whom it seeks, according to that which is written.

If you seek, seek, and dwell with Me.

And it dwells then, when it seeks with faith.

For even if it should happen not to find, it does not withdraw from dwelling in the faith of the One sought, but says, according to the blessed David:

Your knowledge is too wonderful for me;

I cannot attain to it;

and according to the father of the lunatic boy:

I believe, Lord; help my unbelief.

Having therefore this aim, let us seek with faith concerning the nature of the Holy Spirit, seeking the knowledge from the very One who is sought.

For it is itself that which is sought, and it is itself that which provides the knowledge concerning itself.

And as we have learned from Him through the divine Scriptures, it is that which made the saints, and provides the divine life to those who ask of it for God.

And it must be more honourable than those who receive;

these becoming holy when it comes upon them, and corrupted when it leaves them.

But it itself exists always, being the fountain of eternal life.

But what is the manner of its bestowing of being, that it is both in all things and in each individual, let the mind consider, having become worthy to consider, freed from deceit and heresy and from the women who bewitch others.

Let it approach in a quiet condition.

And let its quietness be not only that of the surrounding body, and the tumult of the body, but of all that encompasses it;

heaven, earth, sea, and the rational beings in them.

And let it consider all things being filled, and the Spirit standing into them from every side, as it were flowing in and poured in, and entering from every side, and shining in.

For the Spirit of the Lord has filled the world, and that which holds all things together has knowledge of God.

And it shines in all the worthy.

For just as the rays of the sun illumine a cloud and make it shine, giving it a golden appearance;

so also the Holy Spirit, coming upon a man's body, gave life, gave immortality, gave sanctification, and raised up that which lay prostrate.

And that which was moved with an eternal motion by the Holy Spirit became a holy living being.

And man, when the Spirit had taken up its dwelling, attained the dignity of prophet, apostle, angel of God, though before this he was earth and ashes.

And the power of the Spirit would become yet more manifest and more evident,

and its nature, whatever it is, if we should consider how it encompasses and leads the saints by its own will, and all rational nature.

For to all the multitude of the heavenly powers and to the multitude of the righteous it has given itself.

And every hypostasis of the righteous, both great and small, both of angels and of archangels, has been sanctified.

And though the bodies lie now here and now there, one in this place, another in that, and the other powers have some interval separating them from one another;

the Spirit is not so, nor does a part of it, parcelled out to each, make alive divinely, but all things live by its whole power.

And it is present everywhere, being made like to God who sends it forth, both in being, and in being everywhere and in all things alike.

And Gabriel bringing good tidings to Mary, and another in another place to some one of the saints;

and each of the prophets prophesying;

and Paul preaching the gospel in Rome;

and James in Jerusalem;

and Mark in Alexandria;

and another in another city, they were being filled with the Spirit, no distance hindering the same grace from being wrought in the same time.

And for this reason each of the saints is a god.

For it has been said to them by God:

I said, You are gods, and all of you sons of the Most High;

and, The God of gods, that is, of the saints, the Lord has spoken;

and, The God of gods shall be seen in Zion, that is, of the saints.

And it is necessary that the cause to the gods of their being gods be a divine Spirit and be from God.

For just as it is necessary that the cause to combustible things of their being combustible be itself combustible, and that the cause to holy things of their being holy be holy;

so also it is necessary that the cause to the gods of their being gods be God.

Since therefore the Spirit is such a good and divine possession, having now believed in such a One, do not be afraid to seek out Christ, the giver of this Spirit.

For no one can say Lord Jesus except in the Holy Spirit.

And the life which the Spirit sends forth into another's hypostasis, it is not separated from it, but just as of fire, part is the heat that is inherent in it, and part is the heat which it imparts to the water, or to some other such thing, so also it both has the life in itself;

and those who partake of it live in a manner befitting God, having obtained a divine and heavenly life.

For it contains in itself all the immortal things;

every mind, every angel, every soul, and it neither seeks change, being well, nor to pass over, having all things with itself.

But neither does it seek increase, being most perfect.

Wherefore in it all things are perfect: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, wisdom, understanding, counsel, security, godliness, knowledge, sanctification, redemption, faith, workings of powers, gifts of healings, and as many as are like to these;

having nothing in itself that is acquired;

but having all things eternally, as the Spirit of God, and having shone forth from Him, having Him as cause, as its own fountain, and welling up from there.

And it itself is also a fountain of the aforesaid good things.

But that which wells up from God is in its own hypostasis (subsistent);

while the things that well up from it are its workings.

This Holy Spirit God poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ;

He gave, He did not create.

I say the same things by way of parallel, since you ought to be firmly established on every side.

He who is taught by this Spirit what to say in the defence before those who examine him, hears that he is taught of God, from the prophet who said:

And they shall all be taught of God.

Much, therefore, is this divine thing present in a rational soul, unless through its own sloth it should wish to apostatize.

And having drawn near to Him and become as it were one, it hears:

But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.