(59) Receive now the word of the same Lord, that He is the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of Truth; for you have it at the end of this book: 'Receive ye the Holy Ghost.' That the same is also the Holy Spirit who is the Spirit of the Lord, Peter teaches, saying: 'Ananias, why did you decide to tempt and to lie to the Holy Spirit?' And straightway he says to the wife of Ananias: 'Why have you [both] decided to tempt the Spirit of the Lord?" When he says 'you [both],' he shows that his words were spoken of that Spirit of whom he had spoken to Ananias. He Himself, then, is the Spirit of the Lord who is the Holy Spirit.

(60) The Lord declared Him also the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of the Father, saying, according to Matthew, that what we say in persecution should not be considered: 'For it, is not you that speak but the spirit of your Father, that speaketh in you.'10 Likewise He says, according to Luke: 'Be not solicitous how or what you shall answer, or what you shall say. For the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what you ought to say.'11 So, although many are called spirits, as it is said: 'Who makest thy Angels spirits,' yet the Spirit of God is one.

12

(61) Therefore, both the Apostles and the Prophets have followed the one Spirit. Just as the vessel of election, the doctor of the Gentiles, says: 'For in one Spirit we have all been made to drink,'13 Him, as it were, who cannot be divided, but is infused in our souls, and flows into our senses, that He may quench the ardor of worldly thirst.

8 John 20.22.

9 Cf. Acts 5.3,9.

10 Matt. 10.20.

11 Luke 12.11,12.

12 Ps. 103.4.

Chapter 5

(62) The Holy Spirit, then is not of the substance of corporeal things, for He infuses incorporeal grace into corporeal things, but neither is He of the substance of invisible creatures, for they, too, receive His sanctification, and through Him are superior to the other works of the universe. Whether you speak of Angels or Dominions or Powers, every creature waits for the grace of the Holy Spirit. For just as we are children through the Spirit, because ‘God hath sent the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying: Abba, Father. Therefore now he is no more a servant, but a son."1 Thus, too every creature awaits the revelation of the sons of God, whom he makes sons of God by the grace of the Holy Spirit. Thus, also, every creature itself shall be changed by the revelation of the grace of the Spirit, 'and shall be delivered from the servitude of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God.'2

(63) Every creature, then, is subject to change, not only that which already has been changed by some sin or condition of the elements, but also that which can be liable to corruption by the imperfection of nature, although it is not yet so because of the zeal of discipline. For as we have taught in earlier books,3 the nature of angels also could have been changed. Surely it is fitting to think that as is the nature of one, so is the nature of others. Then the nature of the rest also is capable of change, but the discipline is better.

(64) Then every creature is capable of change, but the Holy Spirit is good and not capable of change; for He cannot be changed by some imperfection of nature, who does away

1 Gal. 4.6,7.

2 Rom. 8.21.

with the imperfections of all, and pardons their sins. How, then, is He subject to change who by sanctifying changes others to grace and is not Himself changed?

(65) How is He subject to change who is always good? For the Holy Spirit is never evil, through Whom the things that are good are ministered to us. Thus the two Evangelists in one and the same place, in words differing from each other, yet designated the same things. For in Matthew you have: 'If you, then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children; how much more will your Father, who is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?" But according to Luke you will find it written thus: 'How much more will your Father from heaven give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?'5 We note then that the Holy Spirit is good in the judgment of the Lord, by the testimony of the evangelists, since the one has named good things for the Holy Spirit, the other the Holy Spirit for good things. If, then, the Holy Spirit is that which is good, how is He not good?

(66) Nor does it escape us that some manuscripts also have according to Luke: 'How much more will your Father from heaven give a good gift to them that ask Him?' This good gift is spiritual grace, which the Lord Jesus poured forth from heaven, after He had been transfixed to the gibbet of the cross and, bringing back the triumphal spoils of vanquished death, He arose from the dead as victor over death, as you have it written: 'Ascending on high, He hast led captivity captive; He hast given gifts to men." And well does he say 'gifts.' For as the Son was given, of Whom it is written: 'A child is born, a son is given to us," spiritual

4 Matt. 7.11.

5 Luke 11.13.

6 Cf. Ps. 67.19.

grace also is given. But why do I hesitate to say that the Holy Spirit also is given to us, when it is written: "The charity of God is poured out into our hearts by the Holy Ghost who is given to us."8 Surely, since captive breasts could not receive Him, the Lord Jesus first lead captivity captive, that He might pour forth the gift of divine grace into our free affections.

(67) Moreover, he said it beautifully: 'led captivity captive.' For Christ's victory is the victory of liberty, which delivered all to grace, bound none to injury. So in the absolving of all, no one is captive. And because at the time of the Lord's passion injury alone was on a holiday, which dismissed all as captives whom it was holding, captivity itself, turning back upon itself, was made captive, not now devoted to Belial, but to Christ, to serve Whom is liberty. 'For he that is called in the Lord, being a bondman, is the freeman of the Lord."

(68) But to return to our purpose, He says: "They are all gone aside, they are become unprofitable together; there is none that doeth good, no not one.'10 If they except the Holy Spirit, even they themselves confess that He is not among all; if they do not except Him, then they also confess that He has gone aside among all.

(69) But let us see whether He has goodness, since He is the source and the principle of goodness. For just as the Father and the Son have goodness, so also the Holy Spirit has goodness. This the Apostle also taught when he said: 'But the fruit of the Spirit is peace, charity, joy, patience, goodness. 11 But who doubts that He is good whose fruit is goodness? For 'a good tree yieldeth good fruit."

8 Rom. 5.5.

91 Cor. 7.22.

10 Ps. 13.3.

11 Cf. Gal. 5.22.

12

(70) And so if God is good, how is He not good who is the spirit of His mouth, who searches the deep things of God? Can the infection of evil enter into the deep things of God? From this it is understood how foolish they are who deny that the Son of God is good, when they cannot deny that the Spirit of Christ is good, of Whom the Son of God says: "Therefore I said that he shall receive of mine."13

(71) Or is the Spirit not good who makes the good of the worst, abolishes sin, destroys evil, shuts out crime, infuses the good gift, makes apostles of persecutors, priests of sinners? He says: 'You were heretofore darkness, but now light in the Lord."14

(72) But why do we put them off? For if they demand words, since they do not deny facts, let them accept the Spirit as described as good, for David said: "Thy good spirit shall lead me into the right way.'15 For what is the Spirit if not full of goodness? Although He is inaccessible by nature, yet He can be received by us on account of His goodness, fitting all things by His power, but He is partaken of by the just alone, simple in substance, rich in virtues, present to everyone, dividing of His own with each one, and everywhere whole.

(73) And worthily did the Son of God say: 'Go ye, and baptize the nations in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,'16 not disdaining association with the Holy Spirit. Why, then, do some now bear it ill that the Spirit, whom the Lord did not disdain in the sacrament of baptism, be joined in our devotion with the Father and the Son?

13 John 16.15. 14 Eph. 5.8.

15 Cf. Ps. 142.10.