For if you proclaim the power of God to consist in this — that the true is made out of the false — so that you may mock at that which is truly true, how much more ought you to embrace this, if you were of a sound mind, whereby that which is called true is proved to be true, and the testimony which God the Father gave concerning His Son is confirmed to be true! For the Lord says: 'But with God,' He says, 'all things are possible,' so that whatever seems impossible to men is possible to God. For if the reasoning of the flesh be regarded, neither did a virgin give birth, nor did Jonah live in the belly of the whale, nor will the dead rise, nor did God beget a Son — because a simple nature cannot beget, since nothing is generated in the world without commingling. All these things must either be believed together or refuted together. For if the reasoning of the world is to be held,
it ought to have authority in all these things; but if there is some reasoning of spiritual things, then he is to be called carnal who, infected with the reasoning of the world, denies that anything can come to be otherwise than he has known. Yet again they are wont to put forward another thing by their evasion. For they say: 'Did the Father beget the Son by will, or not?' — so that, when they hear: 'By will, of course,' at once, as enemies of the Son of God, they may reply: 'Then will is before the Son, so that from this He does not appear eternal, since He did not at all receive a beginning through birth, but came to exist.' And yet, if they think this, will shall be not only before the Son, but also before the Father, because the Father is the cause of generation, as well as the Son. Unbelief follows carnal senses in all things.
For he thus brings in the case of God as though it were that of a man, that He first deliberated and thought in order to beget, as though subject to weakness — whereas in God neither was there generation without will, nor will without generation. For the will itself is the generation. For indeed it is said in common: 'God made,' 'man made'; but God makes in one way, man in another. So too in the other cases; for of God it must be spoken in a manner worthy of Him. They are wont also to raise another question even about God the Father Himself, saying: 'Did it come to Him to beget, or is it of His nature that He always begets?' — which they bring forward for this reason: both to assert that God is a liar, who testifies that He begot Christ, and to make Christ not true, but adopted.
'For if He begot,' they say, 'He ought always to beget; so that, because He does not always beget, neither may He be believed to have begotten Christ' — as though it should be denied that He made the world, because He does not make others. What irreverence, what indiscipline it is, to lay down a law for God, that 'if He begot, either He begot many, or He could not beget one,' not even believing the Lord Himself, who declared Himself to be the only-begotten Son of God! After these things which have been shown above to be equal in the Father and the Son, let us see whether the things which are written concerning the Holy Spirit accord with these, so that the Trinity, which we retain in our saving profession, may not admit of a discrepancy of nature, just as it has no diversity of faith.
For since salvation does not exist without some one of these, the power of the three appears to be one, which gives salvation to those who believe in it. Since we have brought forward the words of the Father for the testimony of the Son, let us now, for the testimony of the Holy Spirit, use the words of the Son, by which He attests that the Holy Spirit does not differ from Himself; so that, when the Father is witness with the Son, and the Son with the Holy Spirit, the Trinity may be understood to be of one nature. The Lord therefore says among other things: 'I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Paraclete, that He may abide with you for ever, the Spirit of truth.' When He says that another Paraclete is to be sent, He surely proves Himself to be a Paraclete. For it is also read in the epistle of John; for he says:
'We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, who intercedes for our sins'; and again the Lord says: 'I am the truth.' Behold the open unity of the Holy Spirit and the Son of God; for the things that the Son says of Himself, the same He says also of the Holy Spirit. Now there must be added the things which Scripture arranges to this sense. It is read in Isaiah that he saw the Lord of Sabaoth sitting on the throne of majesty, whom John the Evangelist understood to be Christ, saying among other things: 'These things said Isaiah, when he saw His majesty and spoke of Him.' This One the Apostle says to be the Holy Spirit. For he says in the last part of the Acts of the Apostles: 'Well did the Holy Spirit speak to your fathers, saying:
you shall indeed hear with your ears and not understand,' and so forth. These words were spoken by the Lord of Sabaoth. This is the one God, who, whether He be understood as Father or Son or Holy Spirit, is not contrary, because their divinity and power is one. For if, in the edict of one prefect's office, the other prefects also are said to command, on account of the authority of the one power, how much more, in the empire of the one God, if one of the three has spoken, shall the three not incongruously be said to have spoken! For their nature and their will are one.
Again they are wont to prejudge against the Holy Spirit, that He is to be understood as degenerate for this reason, because He is placed third in order — whereas there is such simplicity in the divine Scriptures that sometimes you may find the third placed first. For as the matter has carried it, so they are placed; for it is the injury of none, because their divinity is one. Finally we read in Isaiah, the Lord saying: 'I am the first, and I am unto eternity, and My hand founded the earth, My right hand made firm the heaven'; and in what follows: 'I have spoken, I have called, I have brought him and made his way prosperous. Come unto Me and hear these things: I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; when they were made, there was I; and now the Lord has sent Me, and His Spirit.' Whom do you wish Him to be who founded the earth?
For He Himself says that He was sent. Was it the Father? Far be it. It is therefore the Son who says that He was sent by God and the Holy Spirit. Behold, these things are on a par between the Son and the Holy Spirit. For just as the Holy Spirit is read to be sent by the Father and the Son, so also Christ was sent by God and the Holy Spirit. For this is peculiar to the Father alone, that He is not said to be sent. Receive the words of the Apostle, who comprehends the Trinity in another order; for he says among other things in the second epistle to the Thessalonians: 'May the Lord direct your hearts in the love of God and the patience of Christ.' Whom, do you think, does he call Lord, except the Holy Spirit?
And what wonder, since the One whom Isaiah saw sitting on the throne of majesty, this same one he calls the Holy Spirit, the Lord of Sabaoth, as we have shown above? And John the Apostle signifies that God is to be understood in the Holy Spirit, saying among other things: 'By this we know that God abides in us, by the Spirit which He has given us.' If, then, by His own Spirit He Himself abides in us, there is no doubt that the Holy Spirit is of God. And there is no doubt that what is of God is God. Hence it is that the Apostle says: 'No one knows the things that are in God, except the Spirit of God.' How can He know the things that are in God, unless He be of the same divinity? For an inferior nature cannot know what is in a superior;
how much more could a creature not know what was in its Creator! And in the first epistle to the Corinthians, with the order reversed which is in the tradition of faith, he begins from the Holy Spirit to recount the operations of graces and ministries, and then subjoins the Lord Jesus, and places God third, whom he says to operate both in the Holy Spirit and in the Lord — just as the Lord also says: 'The Father abiding in Me, He Himself works.' For through the fact that both the Holy Spirit and Christ are of God the Father, their operation is the work of God. Finally, he calls the same one both Holy Spirit and Lord, and the same one both Lord and God — this on account of the unity of nature;
Since, then, in this passage he says that the same one is God, who is also Lord, working all things in all, he concludes below in this way, saying: 'But all these things one and the same Spirit works, distributing to each one as he wills.' What could be plainer than that the three are of one operation, since, when one works, the three are said to work? And why so, except that they are of one Godhead? For it is not in doubt that, properly speaking, it is the Holy Spirit who works the gift of graces. But in order to teach that God and Lord and Holy Spirit are one because of the indistinguishableness of their nature, he showed that the work of the Holy Spirit is the work of the Three. And in order to make plain that, as regards person, it is the work of the Holy Spirit alone, he says: 'But all these things.'
he says, 'one and the same Spirit works, distributing to each one as he wills.' Therefore 'as he wills,' because his will is the will of God. For he did not say 'as God wills,' but 'as the Spirit wills.' For a creature constrains itself to do the will of God; but the Holy Spirit wills this naturally. That it may shine forth plainly that the Holy Spirit works all things, the Lord says among other things: 'For if I cast out demons by the finger of God,' and so on. He calls the Holy Spirit the finger of God, to prove that he is of God. Finally, he testified that the Jews, who said that he cast out demons by Beelzebub, had blasphemed against the Holy Spirit. Moses too, because he wrought signs by the Holy Spirit, the magicians confess, saying: 'This is the finger of God.'
For we also read in the Acts of the Apostles: 'As they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said: Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.' Behold, service is rendered to the Lord, and this the Holy Spirit claims for himself — whence it manifestly appears that he is Lord just as God the Father is — ; and Christ called Saul from heaven and sent him to preach, and this in like manner the Holy Spirit claims for himself, saying: 'for the work to which I have called them.' For no one is unaware that the Savior appointed bishops for the churches; for he himself, before he ascended into heaven, laying his hand on the apostles, ordained them bishops. This the Apostle attributes to the Holy Spirit, when he says:
'Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has placed you as bishops to rule the church of the Lord Jesus.' And among other things Peter says to Ananias: 'Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart, that you should lie to the Holy Spirit?' And below: 'You have not,' he says, 'lied to men, but to God.' It is plain that the Holy Spirit was called God, since Ananias, who lied to him, is said to have lied to God. But if he had by no means wished the Holy Spirit to be understood as God, he would have said: 'You have not lied to men, but to the Holy Spirit,' so as to mark him out as neither God nor man. And what wonder? For the Apostle sometimes calls a man the temple of God, but sometimes the temple of the Holy Spirit, because they are one in nature.
For if the Holy Spirit were by no means understood to be God, with what boldness would he say below: 'For the temple of God is holy, which you are'? Since one God is proclaimed in all the Scriptures, but his mystery is adored in the Trinity, for this reason Scripture acts in such a way that, under the profession of one God, those things which are of him — that is, his Son and his Spirit — are understood to be in the same honor in which God himself is, because for this reason the sacrament of God has been revealed, that his glory might be signified to abide in the Trinity. Wherefore:
That which is of God is not called God with full authority, lest something other than him, who is one, should be believed to act apart from him; but he gives understanding, that we may believe that on this principle the salvation of the creature consists in the Trinity, because their Godhead is one. For neither could Creator and creature, Lord and servants, eternity and the things which are under a beginning, be at once joined together and set in one rank — since indeed without any one of them there is salvation for no one. For everything that is God — whether the Son or the Holy Spirit — is called to its own injury, if it be reckoned outside the honor and glory of the one God. The Scriptures therefore show Christ to be God, they show the Holy Spirit to be God, so that seeing it men may know what it is that is shown. It is as if someone should show a gem without crying out that it is a gem;
is it not still a gem that is seen, just because he does not cry out? So also the Scriptures show, through the things treated above, what we ought to believe, confining our understanding within the faith of one God by the mystery of the Trinity. XCVIII. ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN. You have heard what the most sacred Gospel testifies, the Lord saying to the Jews: 'You are born of your father the devil, and you wish to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and stood not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own, for he is a liar and the father of it.' Let no one of the faithful doubt that the devil has no author of his apostasy.
For he himself is the prince of all error, who, seeing that he had been made by God with no mean power, dared to lay claim to deity, so that, because he saw the rest to be inferior, he set himself before them as a god. Finally, the names by which the devil and Satan are called are composed from his deed, not from his nature. For all evil is proved by act, so that it is not a subsistence in the crime, but a will conceived from causes. For while he saw himself to be more powerful than the rest, he was puffed up to exercise domination. How then shall he be said to have a father, who is held to be the author of his own crime? Or whence is it proved that he was a murderer from the beginning?
But Scripture calls one who is his imitator by his name, so that, because he received the name from the deed, everyone who does an evil work is not undeservedly called a devil. The Savior therefore in this passage called Cain a devil, because he was a rival in his works. While he envied his brother, he committed murder, leaving behind an example of the cruelty of fratricide; just as the devil too, while he envied man made in the image of God, heaped up the malignity of his work, furnishing a pattern for error. Hence then Cain too proved a liar, when God said to him: 'Where is Abel your brother?' — he who, steeped in the malice of his father, breaking out into a lie:
'I do not know,' he said, so that, of him whose life he had wrenched away, he might feign that he knew not where he was — thus blinded by fury that he answered God as though to a man whom he supposed he could conceal it from. Therefore the Jews, having become his imitators, killed the Lord himself, willing rather to have Cain the fratricide as their father than God, that they might become guilty of all the blood that has been shed. For by slaying the author of life they stood forth as chiefs of all crime, so that they even bound their own sons to this evil, saying: 'His blood be upon us and upon our children.' For in order to persuade Pilate that there was no evil in what they were asking, they said it would recoil upon their own sons if it were unjust, because, to satisfy their fury, they were unwilling to spare even their own sons.
For because the devil is not evil by nature, it is the more easily learned from this, that punishment would not be threatened to one who had not done what he did not know. For it is unjust to punish one who does nothing other than what belongs to his nature; and this evil is the greater, if you demand of someone that which you know he cannot do. Wherefore he is justly to be punished who, when it is established that he both knows and is able to do good, does evil. This can also be observed from the words of the Savior; for he says, as was mentioned above: 'Your father was a murderer from the beginning and stood not in the truth.' Therefore, if he is a liar by nature, how is he said not to have stood in the truth? For he does not stand in the truth, who does not remain in the truth.
It is established, therefore, that the devil was in the truth, but did not persevere. Finally, we read the Lord saying through the prophet: 'If they had stood,' he says, 'in my substance' — that is, 'in my law' — and the Apostle to the Galatians: 'Stand fast,' he says, 'and be not again held under the yoke of bondage.' What could be plainer? For he commands this, that for the rest they should remain in his commandments. But if the devil had kept this, he would have stood in the substance and law of God. For the law is a foundation to those who keep it. How then does it seem to certain people that the devil, or evil, was either made by God, or has its own origin — that is, sprung from nothing — both of which seem contrary to God?
For he who says that the devil was made for this purpose, that he should be evil, thinks God to be of imperfect goodness, because one who is perfectly good does not make evil; but he who does not believe that God is the author of his origin denies God's dominion. For by this, since all things are God's, they suppose there is something which by no means pertains to God — and these people must suffer punishment, when they shall see all things judged by God through Christ. XCVIIII. WHAT 'LET NO TEMPTATION TAKE HOLD OF YOU BUT SUCH AS IS HUMAN' MEANS. Not without providence, as I think, does our master of the nations, the Apostle, long that temptation may take hold of us, but only human temptation, because divine temptation begets destruction. For by this the Jews, taken hold of, perished by serpents;
for living under the law of God, they doubted concerning his providence. And on this account he exhorts that not divine but human temptation may take hold of us. For he is said here to tempt God, who, acting under his name, hopes for salvation from idols, because he does not have God approved. For everything that is not approved is tempted, and what is tempted comes into doubt. And on this account divine temptation is deadly, but human temptation is salutary, because, just as to doubt concerning God is pernicious, so to despair of man because of the law of God is most wholesome. Wherefore the Apostle providently:
'Let no temptation,' he says, 'take hold of you but such as is human,' so that, being tempted by men for the sake of God's law, we may be found strong — while carnal men doubt concerning us, yet we are approved by God; for those who are not approved by God are tempted that they may be amended. There is therefore a twofold temptation; for we are sometimes tempted as faithful, sometimes as unbelieving, so that the temptation of the faithful is human. For we are afflicted by men on account of our faith — for they tempt us, to see if they can lead us away from the faith — but men are tempted on account of their unbelief, that, brought into straits, they may repent and return to the way, as happened also to the Jews. For when they doubted concerning God's providence, they were tempted by serpents, that, seized with pain, they might be amended.
For God tempts in this way, that he may correct men of this kind. There is also another temptation, by which Abraham was tempted, and Job, and also Tobias, the servants of God: that Abraham, through the tribulation of his only and most beloved son being offered up, might have a more abundant fruit of righteousness unto eternal glory; that Job, on the other hand, by the loss of all his substance, might be increased, being enriched with riches in heaven and on earth; while Tobias, having suffered blindness of his eyes, came forth so much the more advanced, that he both became glorious in the present, his eyes being restored, and for the future a perpetual brightness was reserved for him — because the righteous are tested for this purpose, that they may make progress.
And therefore in temptation we ought to be of a robust spirit, knowing that this avails not to our diminution, but to our increase, if only we endure with an even mind through Christ. C. ON THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW. You have heard, most beloved brethren, what the Gospel testifies, the Lord saying: 'I confess to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and revealed them to little ones. Yes, Father, for so it was well-pleasing before you.' Therefore, if we examine the sense of the words, we shall see that those things which were said by the Lord for the exhortation of believers were said of those who, because they spurn worldly wisdom, seem little ones to the wise of the world, who, commended by no testimony, wish to be called wise.
Therefore it seemed unworthy to God to show the truth to these; but to the humble, who, presuming nothing of themselves, incline themselves to the will of God, the things pertaining to salvation are to be revealed, equity compelling it. For he is prudent before God, and mindful of his own salvation, who sets the law of God before his own knowledge — which law he sees, to be sure, propped up not by the noise of words, but by the powers of realities. And without doubt that man is foolish and vain who commends himself to that thing which is fortified by no prerogative of signs. Whence God promised the kingdom not to the lettered of the world, but to the faithful; nor does he promise eternity to the searchers of the stars, but to those who act rightly;
nor does he give glory to the dialecticians, who strive by fraud and by certain subtle quibbles to shut out the truth, but to men of good will, who are more careful in life than in speech. For God reproves those who wish to use the speech of brilliant oratory rather than good deeds. For he also wishes to turn the glory of God to himself, who thinks to adorn the matter of God with words. For realities themselves ought to please of themselves, so that not the speech, but the meaning, may be praised. For if the meaning is the author of the letter, and words were invented for the sake of signifying realities, why should not the realities themselves rather be brought forth with pure meaning, that they may more easily stir the mind to salvation?
And therefore the Lord chose fishermen as our apostles, simple men and without letters, who, without any craftiness, by keeping the faith and living well, might show forth in themselves the truth of God. Whence the Apostle Paul also says: 'And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not in loftiness of speech or of wisdom,' and among other things: 'For the kingdom of God,' he says, 'is not in speech, but in power' — so that, because words are liable to contradiction, the power might stand as a witness to the law of God, to which all loftiness of words yields.
And so these things have been set forth beforehand for this reason, most beloved brethren, that provision might be made for the simpler ones, lest perchance they should think themselves unworthy of the grace of God because they are by no means learned in worldly letters — since rather their simplicity avails unto praise, when, that which the prudent of the world do not see through the pride of letters, these believe, being prudent not in words but in counsel. For they know that God rests in good works and seeks faith, not cultivated speech. For they read the Lord saying: 'On whom shall I rest, but on the humble and meek, and him who trembles at my words?' Wherefore, that we may be made worthy of the promised rewards, we ought to do those things which are commanded by the Lord, secure because the Lord loves those who keep his words.
For thus he said to his disciples: 'If you love me, keep my commandments,' so that, serving the Lord in these things, we may be able to be heirs of his kingdom, through the law of Christ our Lord. CI. ON THE BOASTING OF THE ROMAN LEVITES. While we wish to obey the commands of charity, we shall perhaps fall into censure, we who write about a matter which has never at any time come into doubt for anyone — because, while we do not wish to offend friendship, we entangle the zeal which ought to have availed for the revealing of some hidden matter; although, on account of the excessive folly of a certain person asserting this which we shall lay open in what follows, the aforesaid charity has enjoined this upon us also, lest, when no one for a long time replies to these things, he should make progress for the worse and, long exercised in vain, be unable to be amended.
For this is the zeal of charity, which seeks not the things that are its own. A certain person therefore, who bears the name of a false god, led by folly and by the boasting of the city of Rome, contends to make the Levites equal to the priests, and deacons to the presbyters — I will not say to set them before. For it is too foolish, and would perhaps seem incredible, and we might be held not amenders but slanderers. By what law, then, or by what custom, by what precedent he dares to undertake this, I think no one knows — that he should make equal to those, to whom a seat in the church has by no means been granted, these who, because they are God's prelates, sit with dignity in the house of God and in the honor of Christ. What boldness it is to make ministers equal to the presbyters who are their own!
What a vain presumption of rashness, to confer upon the priests the bearers of the tabernacle and of all its vessels, and the hewers of wood and the carriers of water! For this was the office of the Levites. It is just as if the officials should be made equal to their prefects, and slaves to their masters. For this is written, the Lord saying to Moses: 'Take the tribe of Levi from the midst of the children of Israel, and set them before Aaron the priest, and they shall minister to him.' What is plainer than this example, which even now is observed in the church? Although the deacons of the Roman church may seem a little more shameless, yet they do not presume the dignity of sitting in the church. But that they do not perform all the ministries of service in order, the multitude of clergy brings this about.
For indeed they would both carry the altar and its vessels, and pour water upon the hands of the priest, as we see throughout all the churches, and as was appointed by the Lord through Moses. Or are they perhaps better than Elisha, who poured water on the hands of Elijah? But thus he defends the deacons against the presbyters, as though deacons were ordained from presbyters and not presbyters from deacons. But because they are ministers of the Roman church, on that account they are thought more honorable than among the other churches, on account of the magnificence of the city of Rome, which seems to be the head of all cities.
If this is so, they ought to claim this also for their own priests; because, if those who are inferior grow great on account of the magnificence of the city, how much more ought those who are greater to be exalted! For whatever is bestowed on the officials becomes an increase to the power, just as the honor of a servant avails to the praise of the master — although before God the just judge this honor remains for each one, which was created for the several offices of the churches, so that he who is a deacon may have the honor of the diaconate throughout all the churches (for to serve God's prelate, in the church at least, is no ordinary honor), and the priest may be held worthy of the whole ecclesiastical honor. For the greater order has within itself and with itself also the lesser;
for the presbyter performs both the office of a deacon, and of an exorcist, and of a reader. But that a presbyter is to be understood as a bishop, the Apostle Paul proves, when, instructing Timothy — whom he had ordained presbyter — what kind of bishop he ought to appoint. For what is a bishop, except the first presbyter, that is, the highest priest? Finally, he calls these none other than fellow-presbyters and fellow-priests; does a bishop perhaps call his ministers fellow-deacons? By no means, because they are far inferior, and it is unseemly for a judge to call his chief clerk a colleague. For in Alexandria and throughout all Egypt, if a bishop is lacking, a presbyter consecrates. But how great the dignity of the priestly order is, the case of Caiaphas shows, who, though he was a most wicked man, prophesied. Why?