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1. What is this that the Lord said of the Holy Spirit, when
promising that He would come and teach His disciples all truth, or,
guide them into all truth: "For He shall not speak of Himself; but
whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak"? For this is
similar to what He said of Himself, "I can of mine own self do
nothing: as I hear, I judge." But when expounding that, we said
that it might be taken as referring to His human nature; so that He
seemed as the Son to announce beforehand that His own obedience,
whereby He became obedient even unto the death of the cross, would
have its place also in the judgment, when He shall judge the quick and
the dead; for He shall do so for the very reason that He is the Son
of man. Wherefore He said, "The Father judgeth no man, but hath
committed all judgment unto the Son;" for in the judgment He will
appear, not in the form of God, wherein He is equal to the Father,
and cannot be seen by the wicked, but in the form of man, in which He
was made even a little lower than the angels; although then He will
come in glory, and not in His original humility, yet in a way that
will be conspicuous both to the good and to the bad. Hence He says
further: "And He hath given Him authority to execute judgment
also, because He is the Son of man." In these words of His own it
is made clear that it is not that form that will be presented in the
judgment, wherein He was when He thought it not robbery to be equal
with God; but that which He assumed when He made Himself of no
reputation. For He emptied Himself in assuming the form of a
servant; in which, also, for the purpose of executing judgment, He
seems to have commended His obedience, when He said, "I can of
mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge." For Adam, by
whose disobedience, as that of one man, many were made sinners, did
not judge as he heard; for he prevaricated what he heard, and of his
own self did the evil that he did; for he did not the will of God,
but his own: while this latter, by whose obedience, as that also of
one man, many are made righteous, was not only obedient even unto the
death of the cross, in respect of which He was judged as alive from
the dead; but promised also that He would be showing obedience in the
very judgment itself, wherein He is yet to act as judge of the quick
and the dead, when He said, "I can of mine own self do nothing: as
I hear, I judge." But when it is said of the Holy Spirit,
"For He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear,
that shall He speak," shall we dare to harbor the notion that it was
so said in reference to any human nature of His, or the assumption of
any creature-form? For it was the Son alone in the Trinity who
assumed the form of a servant, a form which in His case was fitted
into the unity of His person, or, in other words, that the one
person, Jesus Christ, should be the Son of God and the Son of
man; and so that we should be kept from preaching a quaternity instead
of the Trinity, which God forbid that we should do. And it is on
account of this one personality as consisting of two substances, the
divine and the human, that He sometimes speaks in accordance with that
wherein He is God, as when He says, "I and my Father are one;"
and sometimes in accordance with His manhood, as in the words, "For
the Father is greater than I;" in accordance with which also we have
understood those words of His that are at present under discussion,
"I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge." But in
reference to the person of the Holy Spirit, a considerable difficulty
arises how we are to understand the words, "For He shall not speak
of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak;"
since in it there exists not one substance of Godhead and another of
humanity, or of any other creature whatsoever.
2. For the fact that the Holy Spirit appeared in bodily form, as a
dove, was a sight begun and ended at the time: just as also, when He
descended upon the disciples, there were seen upon them cloven tongues
as of fire, which also sat upon every one of them. Any one,
therefore, who says that the dove was connected with the Holy Spirit
in the unity of His person, as that it and Godhead (for the Holy
Spirit is God) should go to constitute the one person of the Holy
Spirit, is compelled also to affirm the same thing of that fire; and
so may understand that he ought to assert neither. For those things in
regard to the substance of God, which needed at any time to be
represented in some outward way, and so exhibited themselves to men's
bodily senses, and then passed away, were formed for the moment by
divine power from the subservient creation, and not from the dominant
nature itself; which, ever abiding the same, excites into action
whatever it pleases; and, itself unchangeable, changes all things
else at its pleasure. In the same way also did that voice from the
cloud actually strike upon the bodily ears, and on that bodily sense
which is called the hearing; and yet in no way are we to believe that
the Word of God, which is the only-begotten Son, is defined,
because He is called the Word, by syllables and sounds: for when a
sermon is in course of delivery, all the sounds cannot be pronounced
simultaneously; but the various individual sounds come, as it were,
in their own order to the birth, and succeed those which are dying
away, so that all that we have to say is completed only by the last
syllable. Very different from this, surely, is the way in which the
Father speaketh to the Son, that is to say, God to God, His
Word. But this, so far as it can be understood by man, is a matter
for the understanding of those who are fitted for the reception of solid
food, and not of milk. Since, therefore, the Holy Spirit became
not man by any assumption of humanity, and became not an angel by any
assumption of angelic nature, and as little entered into the
creature-state by the assumption of any creature-form whatever, how,
in regard to Him, are we to understand those words of our Lord,
"For He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear,
that shall He speak"? A difficult question; yea, too difficult.
May the Spirit Himself be present, that, at least up to the measure
of our power of thinking on such a subject, we may be able to express
our thoughts, and that these, according to the little measure of my
ability, may find entrance into your understanding.
3. You ought, then, to be informed in the first place, and, those
of you who can, to understand, and the others, who cannot as yet
understand, to believe, that in that substantial essence, which is
God, the senses are not, as if through some material structure of a
body, distributed in their appropriate places; as, in the mortal
flesh of all animals there is in one place sight, in another hearing,
in another taste, in another smelling, and over the whole the sense of
touch. Far be it from us to believe so in the case of that incorporeal
and immutable nature. In it, therefore, hearing and seeing are one
and the same thing. In this way smelling also is said to exist in
God; as the apostle says, "As Christ also hath loved us, and hath
given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a
sweet-smelling savor." And taste may be included, in accordance
with which God hateth the bitter in temper, and spueth out of His
mouth those who are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot: and Christ
our God saith, "My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me.."
There is also that divine sense of touch, in accordance with Which
the spouse saith of the bridegroom: "His left hand is under my head,
and his right hand shall embrace me." But these are not in God's
case in different parts of the body. For when He is said to know,
all are included: both seeing, and hearing, and smelling, and
tasting, and touching; without any alteration of His substance, and
without the existence of any material element which is greater in one
place and smaller in another: and when there are any such thoughts of
God in those even who are old in years, they are the thoughts only of
a childish mind.
4. Nor need you wonder that the ineffable knowledge of God, whereby
He is cognizant of all things, is, because of the various modes of
human speech designated by the names of all those bodily senses; since
even our own mind, in other words, the inner man, to which, while
itself exercising its knowing faculty in one uniform way, the different
subjects of its knowledge are communicated by those five messengers, as
it were, of the body, when it understands, chooses, and loves the
unchangeable truth, is said both to see the light, whereof it is
said, "That was the true light;" and to hear the word, whereof it
is said, "In the beginning was the Word;" and to be susceptible of
smell, of which it is said, "We will run after the smell of thy
ointments;" and to drink of the fountain, whereof it is said,
"With Thee is the fountain of life;" and to enjoy the sense of
touch, when it is said, "But it is good for me to cleave unto
God;" in all of which it is not different things, but the one
intelligence, that is expressed by the names of so many senses.
When, therefore, it is said of the Holy Spirit, "For He shall
not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He
speak," so much the more is a simple nature, which is simple
[uncompounded] in the truest sense, to be either understood or
believed, which in its extent and sublimity far surpasses the nature of
our minds. For there is mutability in our mind, which comes by
learning to the perception of what it was previously ignorant of, and
loses by unlearning what it formerly knew; and is deceived by what has
a similarity to truth, so as to approve of the false in place of the
true, and is hindered by its own obscurity as by a kind of darkness
from arriving at the truth. And so that substance is not in the truest
sense simple, to which being is not identical with knowing; for it can
exist without the possession of knowledge. But it cannot be so with
that divine substance, for it is what it has. And on this account it
has not knowledge in any such way as that the knowledge whereby it knows
should be to it one thing, and the essence whereby it exists another;
but both are one. Nor ought that to be called both, which is simply
one. "As the Father hath life in Himself," and He Himself is
not something different from the life that is in Him; "so hath He
given to the Son to have life in Himself," that is, hath begotten
the Son, that He also should Himself be the life. Accordingly we
ought to accept what is said of the Holy Spirit, "For he shall not
speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He
speak," in such a way as to understand thereby that He is not of
Himself. Because it is the Father only who is not of another. For
the Son is born of the Father, and the Holy Spirit proceedeth from
the Father; but the Father is neither born of, nor proceedeth from,
another. And yet surely there should not on that account occur to
human thought any idea of disparity in the supreme Trinity; for both
the Son is equal to Him of whom He is born, and the Holy Spirit to
Him from whom He proceedeth. But what difference there is in such a
case between proceeding and being born, would be too lengthy to make
the subject of inquiry and dissertation, and would make our definition
liable to the charge of rashness, even after we had discussed it; for
such a thing is of the utmost difficulty, both for the mind to
comprehend in any adequate way, and even were it so that the mind has
attained to any such comprehension, for the tongue to explain, however
able the one that presides as a teacher, or he that is present as a
hearer. Accordingly, "He shall not speak of Himself;" because
He is not of Himself.
"But whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak:" He shall
hear of Him from whom He proceedeth. To Him hearing is knowing;
but knowing is being, as has been discussed above. Because, then,
He is not of Himself, but of Him from whom He proceedeth, and of
whom He has essence, of Him He has knowledge; from Him,
therefore, He has hearing, which is nothing else than knowledge.
5. And be not disturbed by the fact that the verb is put in the
future tense. For it is not said, whatsoever He hath heard, or,
whatsoever He heareth; but, "whatsoever He shall hear, that shall
He speak." For such hearing is everlasting, because the knowing is
everlasting. But in the case of what is eternal, without beginning
and without end, in whatever tense the verb is put, whether in the
past, or present, or future, there is no falsehood thereby implied.
For although to that immutable and ineffable nature, there is no
proper application of Was and Will be, but only Is: for that nature
alone is in truth, because incapable of change; and to it therefore
was it exclusively suited to say, "I Am That I Am," and "Thou
shall say unto the children of Israel, He Who Is hath sent me unto
you:" yet on account of the changeableness of the times amid which our
mortal and changeable life is spent, there is nothing false in our
saying, both it was, and will be, and is. It was in past, it is in
present, it will be in future ages. It was, because it never was
wanting; it will be, because it will never be wanting; it is,
because it always is. For it has not, like one who no longer
survives, died with the past; nor, like one who abideth not, is it
gliding away with the present; nor, as one who had no previous
existence, will it rise up with the future. Accordingly, as our
human manner of speaking varies with the revolutions of time, He, who
through all times was not, is not, and will not by any possibility be
found wanting, may correctly be spoken of in any tense whatever of a
verb.t The Holy Spirit, therefore, is always hearing, t because
He always knows: ergo, He both knew, and knows, and will know;
and in the same way He both heard, and hears, and will hear; for,
as we have already said, to Him hearing is one with knowing, and
knowing with Him is one with being. From Him, therefore, He
heard, and hears, and will hear, of whom He is; and of Him He
is, from whom He proceeds.
6. Some one may here inquire whether the Holy Spirit proceedeth
also from the Son. For the Son is Son of the Father alone, and
the Father is Father of the Son alone; but the Holy Spirit is not
the Spirit of one of them, but of both. You have the Lord Himself
saying, "For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your
Father that speaketh in you;" and you have the apostle, "God hath
sent forth the spirit of His Son into your hearts." Are there,
then, two, the one of the Father, the other of the Son? Certainly
not. For there is "one body," he said, when referring to the
Church; and presently added, "and one Spirit." And mark how he
there makes up the Trinity. "As ye are called," he says, "in one
hope of your calling.'' "One Lord," where he certainly meant
Christ to be understood; but it remained that he should also name the
Father: and accordingly there follows, "One faith, one baptism,
one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and
in you all." And since, then, just as there is one Father, and
one Lord, namely, the Son, so also there is one Spirit; He is
doubtless of both: especially as Christ Jesus Himself saith, "The
Spirit of your Father that dwelleth in you;" and the apostle
declares, "God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your
hearts." You have the same apostle saying in another place, "But
if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in
you," where he certainly intended the Spirit of the Father to be
understood; of whom, however, he says in another place, "But if
any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His." And
many other testimonies there are, which plainly show that He, who in
the Trinity is styled the Holy Spirit, is the Spirit both of the
Father and of the Son.
7. And for no other reason, I suppose, is He called in a peculiar
way the Spirit; since though asked concerning each person in His
turn, we cannot but admit that the Father and the Son are each of
them a Spirit; for God is a Spirit, that is, God is not carnal,
but spiritual. By the name, therefore, which they each also hold in
common, it was requisite that He should be distinctly called, who is
not the one nor the other of them, but in whom what is common to both
becomes apparent. Why, then, should we not believe that the Holy
Spirit proceedeth also from the Son, seeing that He is likewise the
Spirit of the Son? For did He not so proceed, He could not, when
showing Himself to His disciples after the resurrection, have
breathed sport them, and said, "Receive ye the Holy Spirit."
For what else was signified by such a breathing upon them, but that
from Him also the Holy Spirit proceedeth? And of the same character
also are His words regarding the woman that suffered from the bloody
flux: "Some one hath touched me; for I perceive that virtue is gone
out of me." For that the Holy Spirit is also designated by the name
of virtue, is both clear from the passage where the angel, in reply to
Mary's question, "How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?"
said, "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power
[virtue] of the highest shall overshadow thee;" and our Lord
Himself when giving His disciples the promise of the Spirit, said,
"But tarry ye in the city, until ye be endued with power [virtue]
from on high;" and on another occasion, "Ye shall receive the power
[virtue] of the Holy Ghost coming upon you, and ye shall be
witnesses unto me." It is of this virtue that we are to believe,
that the evangelist says, "Virtue went out of Him, and healed them
all."
8. If, then, the Holy Spirit proceedeth both from the Father and
from the Son, why said the Son, "He proceedeth from the
Father"? Why, do you think, but just because it is to Him He is
wont to attribute even that which is His own, of whom He Himself
also is? Hence we have Him saying, "My doctrine is not mine, but
His that sent me." If, therefore, in such a passage we are to
understand that as His doctrine, which nevertheless He declared not
to be His own, but the Father's, how much more in that other
passage are we to understand the Holy Spirit as proceeding from
Himself, where His words, "He proceedeth from the Father," were
uttered so as not to imply, He proceedeth not from me? But from
Him, of whom the Son has it that He is God (for He is God of
God), He certainly has it that from Him also the Holy Spirit
proceedeth: and in this way the Holy Spirit has it of the Father
Himself, that He should also proceed from the Son, even as He
proceedeth from the Father.
9. In connection with this, we come also to some understanding of
the further point, that is, so far as it can be understood by such
beings as ourselves, why the Holy Spirit is not said to be born, but
to proceed: since, if He also were called by the name of Son, He
could not avoid being called the Son of both, which is utterly
absurd. For no one is a son of two, unless of a father and mother.
But it would be utterly abhorrent to entertain the suspicion of any
such intervention between God the Father and God the Son. For not
even a son of human parents proceedeth at the same time from father and
from mother: but at the time that he proceedeth from the father into
the mother, it is not then that he proceedeth from the mother; and
when he cometh forth from the mother into the light of day, it is not
then that he proceedeth from the father. But the Holy Spirit
proceedeth not from the Father into the Son, and then proceedeth from
the Son to the work of the creature's sanctification; but He
proceedeth at the same time from both: although this the Father hath
given unto the Son, that He should proceed from Him also, even as
He proceedeth from Himself. And as little can we say that the Holy
Spirit is not the life, seeing that the Father is the life, and the
Son is the life. And in the same way as the Father, who hath life
in Himself, hath given to the Son also to have life in Himself; so
hath He also given that life should proceed from Him, even as it also
proceedeth from Himself. But we come now to the words of our Lord
that follow, when He saith: "And He will show you things to come.
He shall glorify me; for He shall receive of mine, and shall show it
unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore, said
I, that He shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you." But
as the present discourse has already been protracted to some length,
they must be left over for another.
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