Works 7 part 12/12

And Jesus says: 'The Spirit bloweth where it listeth.' But if he does what he wills, then he is not a servant, but free. But by what kind of death shall they perish who profess the Lord of the heavenly host to be a servant? For the Lord of Sabaoth is interpreted Lord of hosts; who surely would not bestow freedom upon the creature unless he were Lord of creation: for in the name of Jesus is the Holy Spirit also, as the Lord says: 'But the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things' (John XIV, 26) — the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, abiding in its own life and substance, since he himself is life. Otherwise, what will you do when you hear Solomon saying in the Song of Songs:

'Thy name is as ointment poured forth, therefore do the maidens love thee' (Song I, 2)? And Isaiah: 'And the Lord of Sabaoth shall make unto the nations in this mountain — they shall drink with gladness, they shall drink wine, they shall be anointed with ointment, all these things shall he deliver to the nations' (Isa. XXV, 6). Did not the prophet call the Holy Spirit, with whom we are anointed, the ointment? Whom David also calls the oil of gladness in the forty-fourth psalm, saying of the Saviour's converse among men: 'Therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows' (Ps. XLIV, 8). Which Peter takes up, saying: 'Jesus, who was of Nazareth, God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power' (Acts X, 38).

The Holy Spirit therefore, since he is called both oil and ointment, is the name of God and of the Son, abiding in its own life and substance: since he himself, as we said above according to the prophet, is 'thy name as ointment poured forth.' And it is manifest that the Lord poured out the Holy Spirit abundantly upon those who believed from among the nations, as Paul writes. And since we have both the anointing and the seal — and again the same Paul writes in the second Epistle to the Corinthians: 'Now he which establisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts' (2 Cor. I, 21) — and again to the Ephesians he says: 'In whom believing ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,

who is the earnest of our inheritance' (Eph. I, 13): the saints prepare us to think great things concerning the Holy Spirit. For when David said in the fifteenth psalm: 'The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup' (Ps. XV, 5); and Moses wrote: 'There shall be no portion nor inheritance for the Levites in the land; the Lord himself is their portion'; and Jeremiah cried out: 'For he who formed all things, he himself is the inheritance of this Jacob; the Lord is his name' — and when the Scriptures said that the Lord is the inheritance of the saints, Paul said that the earnest of the inheritance of the saints is the Holy Spirit: 'In whom,' he says, 'believing ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the earnest of our inheritance' (Eph. I, 13): teaching that he is inherited and does not inherit.

Consider the professions of the saints. For Isaiah says to those who have not the Holy Spirit, and therefore are ignorant that there is an inheritance for the saints after the departure from this age, instructing them at the same time and saying: 'There is an inheritance for those who worship God, and ye shall be righteous, saith the Lord' (Isa. LIV, 17). 'Ye that thirst, go to the water' (Isa. LV, 1) — calling the Holy Spirit water, as we shall show hereafter: since he is the earnest of the inheritance of the saints, this Holy Spirit whom David also had as both seal and earnest of inheritance. But those indeed who do not believe that there is an inheritance for the saints after the departure from this life, he calls wretched. But of himself and those like him, acting confidently, he says in the fourth psalm:

'Many say: Who will show us good things? The light of thy countenance is sealed upon us, O Lord' (Ps. IV, 6): calling the sealing a seal, which he professed to be the light of the Lord's countenance. Therefore let them believe Paul, who says that those who believe are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. And David, who had the same spirit of faith, singing: 'I believed, therefore have I spoken' (Ps. CXV, 10). Let them know that he calls the light of the Lord's countenance the seal which he received, that is, the Holy Spirit; so much so that, knowing the Son of God too to be the light of God, he sang of him in the thirty-fifth psalm, saying: 'In thy light shall we see light' (Ps. XXXV, 10); that is, in thy Son shall we see the Holy Spirit.

So Isaiah too knows to call the Spirit who sanctifies not only light, but also fire, saying: 'And the Light of this Israel shall be, and shall sanctify him with burning fire' (Isa. X, 17). And behold, in the light which is fire, God sanctifies this Israel, and our Lord is a consuming fire, as Moses says: 'Your God is a consuming fire' (Deut. IV, 24). But Paul also says: 'That the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Spirit' (Rom. XV, 16). And the Gentiles are not sanctified by God in one way, and Israel in another, but in the Holy Spirit, which is light and fire. And the Wisdom of Solomon also says in the Proverbs: 'The light of the Lord is the breath of men, which searcheth the inward parts of the belly' (Prov.

XX, 27). And it is manifest that the Spirit searcheth all things, as Paul writes, and that, when Adam was formed in the beginning, God breathed into his face the Holy Spirit, as Moses says: 'And God breathed into the face of Adam the breath of life, and man became a living soul' (Gen. II, 7). Nor is that which was breathed by the Lord a soul, according to the fable-mongering Jews. Otherwise, how does God condemn to eternal fire that which was breathed by himself? But it is the quickening Spirit, of whom Paul also says: 'But the Spirit quickeneth' (2 Cor. III, 6); and 'God breathed into his face the breath of life, and man became a living soul.'

Therefore the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of life, from whom some, falling away, though living are dead, as Paul writes: 'For she that liveth in pleasures is dead while she liveth' (1 Tim. V, 6). Otherwise, how is Solomon to be heard, saying: 'The light of the Lord is the breath of men, which searcheth the inward parts of the belly' (Prov. XX, 27), if ye say that the souls of men are the light of God, unless ye confess the Holy Spirit to be the light of God? But ye should believe it to be the inbreathing of the Son, since Moses says: 'God breathed into the face of Adam the breath of life' (Gen. II, 7). And the Son of God says: 'I am the life' (John XIV, 6). And the Wisdom of Solomon also, introducing the Saviour, says: 'Behold, I will bring forth unto you the profession of my inbreathing' (Prov. I, 23);

for thus it says in the Proverbs: 'Wisdom is sung at the outgoing, and in the streets she acts confidently. At the gates she stands in power, and on the walls of the city she confidently says: How long, while the simple hold to righteousness, will they not be ashamed? But the imprudent, since they are greedy for insolence and become ungodly, have hated understanding, and are made liable to rebukes. Behold, I will bring forth unto you the profession of my inbreathing, I will teach you my word' (Prov. I, 20-25). And Isaiah, proclaiming the promise of the Holy Spirit, thus says: 'Thus saith the Lord who made the heaven, and fixed it, who established the earth, and the things that are in it; who giveth breath to the people who are upon it, and spirit to them that tread upon it' (Isa. XLII, 5).

Tell me, who is the people that received the breath? Will ye here too say that the breath is a soul? Or will ye grant that a people stood upon the earth without a soul? But it is not so; for the prophet says these things proclaiming the profession of the Holy Spirit. Finally, Luke wrote of the fulfilled profession upon the faithful who were at that time: 'And when the days of Pentecost were fulfilled, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind; and it filled all the house where they were sitting; and there appeared unto them divided tongues, as it were of fire, and it sat upon each one of them; and they began to speak with divers tongues, as the Holy Spirit gave them to utter' (Acts II, 1).

In like manner the great Job, against his friends, when they were destitute of the Holy Spirit and said nothing true, nor considered that they were speaking before God, said: 'Do ye not speak before the Lord?' (Job XIII, 7). And again: 'To whom hast thou announced words? And whose is the inspiration that proceedeth from thee?' (Job XXVI, 4). From which words, speaking great things, he said: 'It is the Spirit that maketh intercession for mortals, and the inspiration of the Almighty is that which teacheth me' (Job XXXIII, 4). But the Son of God is Almighty, of whom Zechariah says: 'Therefore thus saith the Lord Almighty: After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you' (Zech. II, 8). We have also heard Solomon saying: 'The light of the Lord is the breath of men' (Prov. XX, 27).

And we have been taught by Moses that the Lord breathed into the face of Adam the inspiration of life, and man became a living soul (Gen. II, 7). We hear also the Saviour saying: 'I am the life' (John XIV, 6); and Paul writing: 'For the law of the Spirit of life' (Rom. VIII, 2); and again: 'God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts' (Gal. IV, 6). And we behold also the Only-begotten breathing upon the face of the apostles and saying: 'Receive the Holy Spirit' (John XX, 22). Let us therefore be taught that the inspiration of the Son, abiding in its own life and substance, is the Spirit; and let us believe that he is neither begotten nor created by the Son; let us by no means believe that the Only-begotten Son is the Spirit, or that he is the word of the Son;

but the Word, begotten of God, abides in its own life and substance, since it is itself life. For this reason the Spirit is not begotten by him, because he is not his Word. But to call the Holy Spirit created is impiety. Yet we have been taught by the holy Scriptures that he is the inspiration of the Son of God. And we say that the Fountain of the Holy Spirit is the Son of God, the Son himself saying in Jeremiah: 'For this people has done two evil things: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and have dug out for themselves broken cisterns, which could not hold water' (Jer. II, 13). And the living water is the Holy Spirit, as John taught that the Saviour said to the Samaritan woman:

'If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that says to you, Give me to drink, you would surely have asked of him, and he would have given you living water' (John IV, 10). And again: 'Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst forever' (ibid., 13). For also in the midst of the temple he cries out: 'If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the Scripture says, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water' (John VII, 37). And he interpreted it thus: 'But this he said of the Holy Spirit, whom those who were to believe in him were about to receive' (ibid., 39). So also Isaiah says that the Lord said:

'For I will give water in their thirst to those who have journeyed through the dry land, and I will put my Spirit upon your seed, and my blessings upon your sons: and they shall spring up as grass amid the water, like a willow among the streams of water' (Isa. XLIV, 3). Therefore, since the holy Scriptures plainly profess it, we have come to know that the living water is the Spirit. The Lord said that he himself is the fountain of the Spirit thus: 'They have forsaken me, the fountain of living water' (Jer. II, 13). So too David sings in the thirty-fifth psalm, saying to the Lord: 'For with you is the fountain of life' (Ps. XXXV, 10). Therefore, show that besides the Lord there is another fountain of life that is with him: for he did not say 'Since you are the fountain of life,' but 'Because with you is the fountain of life.'

But there is, with God, and there is, the Son, the Fountain being the Spirit, concerning which Paul writes to the Romans: 'But the Spirit is life because of righteousness' (Rom. VIII, 10). Thus he says that he is not foreign to the Father but his own: for when he had professed, 'For with you is the fountain of life,' he added: 'In your light we shall see light' (Ps. XXXV, 10); that is, in your Son we shall see the Spirit. Moreover, also under the name of the Power of God, the Spirit is called and shown to be both power and wisdom. For we have heard the Saviour in the Gospel promising to his disciples that he would send the Holy Spirit, who says: 'And behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you. But sit in the city until you are clothed with power from on high' (Luke

XXIV, 49). And in the Acts of the Apostles the same Lord says: 'But you shall receive power, the Holy Spirit coming upon you' (Acts I, 8). And we find that this also was fulfilled on the day when Pentecost was accomplished. Either, then, confess that the Holy Spirit is the Power of God, or, like Sabellius, proclaim that the Spirit the Paraclete, since he is the Power of God, is the same Son as himself. And hear Paul saying: 'The Spirit is life because of righteousness' (Rom. VIII, 10). Again we are instructed that the Son is the fountain of the Spirit. Hear Jeremiah crying out against the Jews: 'For they have forsaken me, the Lord, the fountain of life' (Jer. XVII, 13). But another, knowing the Spirit to be the Spirit of wisdom (according to Isaiah indeed, who says:

'And the Spirit of God shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding' (Isa. XI, 2); and according to Paul, who writes: 'I cease not giving thanks to God for you, that he may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation' [Eph. I, 16]) — he said above that the Spirit is the fountain, saying thus: 'You have forsaken the fountain of wisdom' (Baruch III, 12). And that he here called the Spirit 'wisdom' is plain from what he says. For when the people were in the land of the Chaldeans, and consorted with the Chaldeans, who had not the Holy Spirit but lived carnally in sin, and were dying to righteousness, and were cheated of the Holy Spirit, he lamented with tears, saying:

'What is this, O Israel, that you are in the land of your enemies, and have grown old in a strange land? You have been defiled with the dead, you are counted with those who are in the netherworld. You have forsaken the fountain of wisdom. If you had walked in the way of the Lord, you would surely have dwelt in peace forever' (Baruch III, 10). For let them consider the way which the children of Israel forsook — that it is God who says, 'I am the way' — the fountain of life called in the prophet, whom the Jews forsook, defiling themselves with the Babylonians, who were dead to righteousness: for while they have not within themselves the Spirit the Paraclete, the Spirit of truth, who is he that gives life, though living they are dead. Hence also Paul writes of such people:

'For the widow who lives in pleasures is, though living, dead' (1 Tim. V, 6). And Solomon cries out: 'He who lives delicately from childhood will become a slave; in the end he will grieve over himself' (Prov. XXIX, 21). For those who live in the pleasures of sin do not hear Paul writing: 'For you have not received the spirit of bondage again unto fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption of sons, in whom we cry, Abba, Father' (Rom. VIII, 15). But since they are sons of sin, they are dead to righteousness. But let those who have received the gift of the Holy Spirit say: 'For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death' (Rom. VIII, 2). Rightly, therefore, did Moses observe in saying:

'And so the Lord breathed into the face of Adam the inspiration of life, and man became a living soul' (Gen. II, 7). For those who do not have the Holy Spirit are, though living, dead. Hence also, to Israel having forsaken the Lord who is the life-giving fountain of life, he says: 'You have forsaken the fountain of wisdom. If you had walked in the way of the Lord, you would surely have dwelt in peace forever' (Baruch III, 12). Hearing therefore him who says, 'I am the way' (John XIV, 6), and being taught also from the holy Scriptures that the fountain, the Spirit, is God, who says: 'They have forsaken me, the fountain of living water' (Jer. II, 13);

let us by no means suppose the Holy Spirit to be a creature, but that he is of the same substance with the Father and the Son; and again we have proved this from another Scripture, as we taught above from the prophet Isaiah. Now that great John the Evangelist writes in the Apocalypse, saying thus: 'And he showed me a river of living water, bright as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb, flowing through the midst of the street' (Apoc. XXII, 1). But he speaks of the heavenly Jerusalem, of which it is written in the Psalms: 'The rushing of the river makes glad the city of God' (Ps. XLV, 5). But if they say, 'Why then is it written water?' let them hear: in the throne of God and of the Lamb there is water

of life; and when certain persons are made capable of his waters, they are also called rivers, and in each and every one the Holy Spirit is said to be filled up: just as the Son also is filled up in each, according to Paul who writes: 'His fullness, since he is filled with all in all' (Eph. I, 23). And there is indeed a time when those who are filled with this living water are called a river, as David says in the ninety-second psalm: 'The rivers have lifted up their voice, at the voice of many waters' (Ps. XCII, 3, 4). But there is a time when the word of doctrine, and each operation of the Spirit, are called rivers, according to the Lord who says: 'He who believes in me, as the Scripture said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water' (John VII, 38).

Therefore he did not say, 'It is filled with waters,' for the water of the Spirit is life, but 'The river of God is filled with waters.' And the Lord says: 'They have forsaken me, the fountain of living water' (Jer. II, 13). And so the water of life, that is, the Holy Spirit, is of the same throne as God and the Lamb, as John together with Isaiah said; and not a servant nor a minister, as you say. But if they persist in saying that the Spirit is created, and bring forward that which is written in the prophet Amos: 'Prepare yourself to call upon your God, O Israel; for behold, I who establish the thunder, and create the spirit, and announce his Christ among men' (Amos IV, 12) — let them hear that the Son of God said this not of the Holy Spirit, but of the spirit of the wind that follows the thunder.

For the thunder does not precede the Holy Spirit, but it precedes the spirit of the wind, which the Lord said that he creates after the thunder. Otherwise, let them say whether he created the thunder before the Holy Spirit. But if it is impious to say this, let those be utterly cast out who say that the Holy Spirit is created, since Scripture did not even pass over in silence the first creation, which was created by the Son of God: for as he says who speaks to Job: 'But behold, the beasts beside you eat hay like oxen, and his strength is in his loins, and his power in the navel of his belly. He sets his tail like a cypress, his sinews are entwined like ropes; his sides are like sides of bronze, and his backbone like cast iron.'

'This is the beginning of the work of the Lord, made to be mocked by the angels' (Job XL, 14). And so the devil was written of as the first creation, mocked by the angels: for thus it is written: 'This is the beginning of the work of the Lord, made to be mocked by the angels' (Job XL, 14). But we have learned from the holy Scriptures that the mind of Christ is the Holy Spirit, as Paul wrote: 'But taught by the Spirit, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not perceive the things that are of the Spirit of God: for it is foolishness to him, and he cannot know it, because it is spiritually discerned: but the spiritual man discerns all things, yet he himself is judged by no one: for who has known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him?'

'But we have the mind of Christ' (1 Cor. II, 13-16). This Holy Spirit, therefore, since he is the mind of the Lord, existing in the substance of his own life, as we have often said, knows all the things that are of God, just as our spirit knows the things that are ours. Finally Paul also says: 'But God has revealed them to us through his Spirit: for the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man, except the spirit of the man that is in him? So also the things of God no one knows, except the Spirit of God. But we have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we may know the things that are freely given to us by God; which things also we speak, not taught in the words of human wisdom, but taught by the Spirit' (1 Cor. II, 10).

The Lord taught that this Holy Spirit is also the finger of God, saying, according to Matthew: 'But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then surely the kingdom of God has come upon you' (Matt. XII, 28); and according to Luke: 'But if I cast out demons by the finger of God, then surely the kingdom of God has come upon you' (Luke XI, 20). 'Therefore I say to you, that every sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven to men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven to them. And whoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever shall speak against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this age nor in that which is to come' (Matt. XII, 31, 32).

Through this Holy Spirit, since he is the finger of God, were written the stone tablets which were given to Moses, written by the finger of God, as Moses himself set forth. Otherwise, if they say that the Holy Spirit is not the finger of God, they will profess that the stone tablets are altogether more glorious than the hearts of the saints, upon which the epistle of Christ is written by the Holy Spirit, as Paul says: 'You are an epistle of Christ, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not on tablets of stone, but on the fleshly tablets of the heart' (2 Cor. III, 3). We believe this Holy Spirit to be also the light of the countenance of God, according to David, who says in the fourth psalm: 'The light of your countenance is sealed upon us, O Lord' (Ps. IV, 7).

And in the thirty-fifth psalm: 'In your light we shall see light' (Ps. XXXV, 10). And according to Solomon, who writes in Proverbs: 'The light of the Lord is the inspiration of men, which searches the inward parts of the belly' (Prov. XX, 27). And Isaiah, who says: 'And there shall be a light for this Israel in fire, and it shall sanctify him with burning fire' (Isa. X, 17). And the divine Scriptures have taught us that this is also the inspiration of the Son of God; according to Solomon indeed, who says: 'The light of the Lord is the inspiration of men' (Prov. XX, 27); and according to Moses: 'And God breathed into the face of Adam the breath of life, and man became a living soul' (Gen. II, 7):

and just as afterward Adam was created, receiving the spirit of life and becoming a living soul, and having the Holy Spirit, he was spiritual, so much so that he prophesied that for this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall cleave to his wife, and the two shall be one flesh (ibid., 24). Moreover, the woman who was taken from his rib he called Eve, prophetically saying: 'This is the mother of all the living' (Gen. III, 20).

In like manner also all the saints, after they are baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, having obtained the Holy Spirit through the laying on of the hands of the priests of God, are restored to their former state — to that which they were before the transgression of Adam — this Spirit giving the law in the Churches of the Gentiles. We neither circumcise the flesh, nor keep the law of Moses carnally. For when Paul, and those who preached with him the word of God to the Gentiles, and certain who had been believers from the circumcision, said: 'It is necessary to circumcise them, and to charge them to keep the law of Moses' (Acts XV, 5), the Holy Spirit commanded that believers from the Gentiles should not be circumcised, nor follow carnally the rite which Moses handed down to the Jews.

The apostles therefore wrote to those who were from the Gentiles these things: 'The apostles and elders, brethren, to the brethren who are from the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia, greeting. Since we have heard that certain ones who went out from us have troubled you with words which we did not authorize, it has seemed good to us, gathered together with one accord, to send to you, with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men who have given over their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Judas and Silas, who by word also announce the same things. For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no further burden, beyond these things which are necessary: that you abstain from things offered to idols, and from blood, and from what is strangled, and from fornication:

'keeping yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell' (Acts XV, 23-29). And when the Holy Spirit had promulgated these things, all the Churches of Christ kept them. And let them consider that to no one of those who have erred has it been granted to give a law to the whole world. And so, seeing the Holy Spirit giving the law, let them not blaspheme by saying that he is created, since the Lord especially says against those who blaspheme against him: 'Every sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven to men; but whoever shall blaspheme against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him: and whoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this age nor in that which is to come' (Matt. XII, 31).

But the Lord would not say such things of him if he were a creature. Then also in the book of Kings it is written: 'If a man sins against a man, the priest shall pray for him; but if he sins against the Lord, who shall pray for him?' (1 Kings II, 25). And things similar to these concerning the Holy Spirit the Lord also said, as we proved above: 'Whoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this age nor in that which is to come.' Dreading therefore this sentence, and hearing how great things the Scriptures have said concerning the Holy Spirit, let us think such things concerning the Holy Spirit as we think concerning the Father and the Son.

For as we believe in God the Father, and in his only-begotten Son, so also we believe in the Holy Spirit: and as we have been baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son, so also we have been baptized in the Holy Spirit. In this name, in which, even as we believe, so also we have been baptized, thus holding right thoughts concerning the Trinity, and imitating the adoration of the seraphim, we shall be able to be made heirs of the kingdom of heaven. Amen.