CHAPTER 16: 13.
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."(1) But when expounding
that, we said that it might be taken as referring to His human nature;(2)
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,(3) 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."(4) 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.(5) For He
emptied Himself in assuming the form of a servant;(6) 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,(1) 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;"(2)
and sometimes in accordance with His manhood, as in the words, "For the
Father is greater than I;"(3) 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,(4)
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.(5) 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;(6)
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. 5ery 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."(1) 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:(2) and Christ our God(3) saith,
"My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me.."(4) 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."(5) 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;"(6)
and to be susceptible of smell, of which it is said, "We will run after
the smell of thy ointments;"(7) and to drink of the fountain, whereof it
is said, "With Thee is the fountain of life;"(8) and to enjoy the sense
of touch, when it is said, "But it is good for me to cleave unto God;"(9)
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,"(10) 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:"(1)
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;"(2) and
you have the apostle, "God hath sent forth the spirit of His Son into your
hearts."(3) 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."(4) 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."(5) 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,(6) 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."(7) 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."(1) 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;"(2)
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;"(3) and on another occasion, "Ye shall receive the power
[virtue] of the Holy Ghost coming upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto
me."(4) It is of this virtue that we are to believe, that the evangelist
says, "Virtue went out of Him, and healed them all."(5)
8. If, then, the Holy Spirit proceedeth both from the Father and from
the Son, why said the Son, "He proceedeth from the Father"?(6) 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."(7) 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.(8) 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.
