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17. Nor let it trouble us that the Holy Spirit, although He is
co-eternal with the Father and the Son, yet is called something
which exists in time; as, for instance, this very thing which we have
called Him, a thing that has been given. For the Spirit is a gift
eternally, but a thing that has been given in time. For if a lord
also is not so called unless when he begins to have a slave, that
appellation likewise is relative and in time to God; for the creature
is not from all eternity, of which He is the Lord. How then shall
we make it good that relative terms themselves are not accidental,
since nothing happens accidentally to God in time, because He is
incapable of change, as we have argued in the beginning of this
discussion? Behold! to be the Lord, is not eternal to God;
otherwise we should be compelled to say that the creature also is from
eternity, since He would not be a lord from all eternity unless the
creature also was a servant from all eternity. But as he cannot be a
slave who has not a lord, neither can he be a lord who has not a
slave. And if there be any one who says that God, indeed, is alone
eternal, and that times are not eternal on account of their variety and
changeableness, but that times nevertheless did not begin to be in time
(for there was no time before times began, and therefore it did not
happen to God in time that He should be Lord, since He was Lord of
the very times themselves, which assuredly did not begin in time):
what will he reply respecting man, who was made in time, and of whom
assuredly He was not the Lord before he was of whom He was to be
Lord? Certainly to be the Lord of man happened to God in time.
And that all dispute may seem to be taken away, certainly to be your
Lord, or mine, who have only lately begun to be, happened to God in
time. Or if this, too, seems uncertain on account of the obscure
question respecting the soul, what is to be said of His being the
Lord of the people of Israel? since, although the nature of the soul
already existed, which that people had (a matter into which we do not
now inquire), yet that people existed not as yet, and the time is
apparent when it began to exist. Lastly, that He should be Lord of
this or that tree, or of this or that corn crop, which only lately
began to be, happened in time; since, although the matter itself
already existed, yet it is on, thing to be Lord of the matter
(materiae), another to be Lord of the already created nature
(naturae). For man, too, is lord of the wood at one time, and at
another he is lord of the chest, although fabricated of that same
wood; which he certainly was not at the time when he was already the
lord of the wood. How then shall we make it good that nothing is said
of God according to accident, except because nothing happens to His
nature by which He may be changed, so that those things are relative
accidents which happen in, connection with some change of the things of
which they are spoken. As a friend is so called relatively: for he
does not begin to be one, unless when he has begun to love; therefore
some change of will takes place, in order that he may be called a
friend. And money, when it is called a price, is spoken of
relatively, and yet it was not changed when it began to be a price;
nor, again, when it is called a pledge, or any other thing of the
kind. If, therefore, money can so often be spoken of relatively with
no change of itself, so that neither when it begins, nor when it
ceases to be so spoken of, does any change take place in that nature or
form of it, whereby it is money; how much more easily ought we to
admit, concerning that unchangeable substance of God, that something
may be so predicated relatively in respect to the creature, that
although it begin to be so predicated in time, yet nothing shall be
understood to have happened to the substance itself of God, but only
to that creature in respect to which it is predicated? "Lord," it
is said, "Thou hast been made our refuge." God, therefore, is
said to be our refuge relatively, for He is referred to us, and He
then becomes our refuge when we flee to Him; pray does anything come
to pass then in His nature, which, before we fled to Him, was not?
In us therefore some change does take place; for we were worse before
we fled to Him, and we become better by fleeing to Him: but in Him
there is no change. So also He begins to be our Father, when we are
regenerated through His grace, since He gave us power to become the
sons of God. Our substance therefore is changed for the better, when
we become His sons; and He at the same time begins to be our
Father, but without any change of His own substance.
Therefore that which begins to be spoken of God in time, and which
was not spoken of Him before, is manifestly spoken of Him
relatively; yet not according to any accident of God, so that
anything should have happened to Him, but clearly according to some
accident of that, in respect to which God begins to be called
something relatively. When a righteous man begins to be a friend of
God, he himself is changed; but far be it from us to say, that God
loves any one in time with as it were a new love, which was not in Him
before, with whom things gone by have not passed away and things future
have been already done. Therefore He loved all His saints before the
foundation of the world, as He predestinated them; but when they are
converted and find them; then they are said to begin to be loved by
Him, that what is said may be said in that way in which it can be
comprehended by human affections. So also, when He is said to be
wroth with the unrighteous, and gentle with the good, they are
changed, not He: just as the light is troublesome to weak eyes,
pleasant to those that are strong; namely, by their change, not its
own.
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