Chapter II.

The words, “All things were made by Him,” are not a proof that the Holy Spirit is included amongst all things, since He was not made. For otherwise it could be proved by other passages that the Son, and even the Father Himself, must be numbered amongst all things, which would be similar irreverence.

27. This seems, gracious Emperor, to be a full account of our right feeling, but to the impious it does not seem so. Observe what they are striving after. For the heretics are wont to say that the Holy Spirit is to be reckoned amongst all things, because it is written of God the Son: “All things were made by Him.”41    S. John i. 3.    Judg. xiii. 25.

28. How utterly confused is a course of argument which does not hold to the truth, and is involved in an inverted order of statements. For this argument would be of value for the statement that the Holy Spirit is amongst all things, if they proved that He was made. For Scripture says that all things which were made were made by the Son; but since we are not taught that the Holy Spirit was made, He certainly cannot be proved to be amongst all things Who was neither made as all things are, nor created. To me this testimony is of use for establishing each point; firstly, that He is proved to be above all things, because He was not made; and secondly, that because He is above all things, He is seen not to have been made, and is not to be numbered amongst those things which were made.

29. But if any one, because the Evangelist stated that all things were made by the Word, making no exception of the Holy Spirit (although the Spirit of God speaking in John said: “All things were made by Him,” and said not we were all things which were made; whilst the Lord Himself distinctly showed that the Spirit of God spoke in the Evangelists, saying, “For it will not be you that speak, but the Spirit of your Father that speaketh in you”),42    S. Matt. x. 20.    Judg. xiv. 6. yet if any one, as I said, does not except the Holy Spirit in this place, but numbers Him amongst all, he consequently does not except the Son of God in that passage where the Apostle says: “Yet to us there is one God the Father, of Whom are all things, and we by Him.”43    1 Cor. viii. 6.    Judg. xvi. 17. But that he may know that the Son is not amongst all things, let him read what follows, for when he says: “And one Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom are all things,”44    1 Cor. viii. 6.    Judg. xvi. 20. he certainly excepts the Son of God from all, who also excepted the Father.

30. But it is equal irreverence to detract from the dignity of the Father, or the Son, or the Holy Spirit. For he believes not in the Father who does not believe in the Son, nor does he believe in the Son of God who does not believe in the Spirit, nor can faith stand without the rule of truth. For he who has begun to deny the oneness of power in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit certainly cannot prove his divided faith in points where there is no division. So, then, since complete piety is to believe rightly, so complete impiety is to believe wrongly.

31. Therefore they who think that the Holy Spirit ought to be numbered amongst all things, because they read that all things were made by the Son, must needs also think that the Son is to be numbered amongst all things, because they read: “All things are of God.”45    2 Cor. v. 18.    1 Cor. i. 24. But, consequently, they also do not separate the Father from all things, who do not separate the Son from all creatures, since, as all things are of the Father, so, too, all things are by the Son. And the Apostle, because of his foresight in the Spirit, used this very expression, lest he should seem to the impious who had heard that the Son had said, “That which My Father hath given Me is greater than all,”46    S. John x. 29.    S. Matt. xxvi. 64. to have included the Son amongst all.

CAPUT II.

Spiritum sanctum esse inter omnia non probari ex illis verbis: Omnia per ipsum facta sunt; cum factus non sit. Namque alias perinde probaretur Filius, immo etiam Pater numerandus inter omnia. Quod est ejusdem impietatis.

27. Videtur, sancte imperator, plena ratio esse 0711B pietatis, sed impiis non videtur. Denique quid moliantur adverte. Solent enim dicere haeretici ideo inter omnia Spiritum sanctum esse numerandum, quia scriptum est de Dei Filio: Omnia per ipsum facta sunt (Joan. I, 3).

28. Quam male confunditur actio, quae non tenet veritatem, et praepostero ordine assertionis involvitur! Hoc enim tunc valeret, ut inter omnia dicerent esse Spiritum sanctum, si factum probarent. Namque omnia per Filium Scriptura dicit esse, quae facta sunt: cum autem factus non doceatur Spiritus sanctus; utique nec inter omnia probari potest, qui neque factus est sicut omnia, nec creatus. Mihi igitur ad utrumque hoc proficit testimonium, ut et super omnia probetur esse, quia factus non est; et quia super 0711C omnia est, non videatur factus esse: nec inter ea quae sunt facta, numerandus.

29. Quod si quis, quia omnia facta per Verbum Evangelista posuit, non excipit Spiritum sanctum (quamquam in Joanne locutus Spiritus Dei, Omnia per ipsum facta sunt, dixerit, non omnia facti sumus; cum utique loqui in Evangelistis Spiritum Dei ipse Dominus ostenderit, dicens (Matth. XVI, 20): Non enim vos eritis loquentes, sed Spiritus Patris vestri, qui loquitur in vobis); tamen si quis, ut dixi, hoc loco non excipit Spiritum sanctum, sed inter omnia numerat; nec ibi ergo excipit Dei Filium, ubi Apostolus dixit: Nobis tamen unus Deus Pater ex quo omnia, et nos per illum (I Cor. VIII, 6). Sed ut sciat quia inter omnia non est Filius, legat sequentia; 0711D nam cum dicit: Et unus Dominus Jesus, per quem omnia (Ibid.); ab omnibus utique excipit Dei Filium, qui excepit et Patrem.

30. Ejusdem autem impietatis est vel Patri, vel Filio, vel Spiritui sancto derogare. Non enim credit in Patrem, qui non credit in Filium: nec credit in Dei Filium, qui non credit in Spiritum: nec potest 0712A sine regula veritatis fides stare. Nam qui negare coeperit unitatem potestatis in Patre et Filio et Spiritu sancto, non potest utique ibi, ubi nulla divisio sit, fidem probare divisam. Ergo quia pietatis unitas est bene credere, etiam unitas impietatis est male credere.

31. Itaque qui putant Spiritum sanctum inter 607 omnia debere numerari, quia omnia legunt facta per Filium, etiam Filium utique inter omnia annumerandum putant, quia legunt: Ex Deo omnia (II Cor. V, 18). Consequenter autem nec Patrem secernunt ab omnibus, qui a creaturis omnibus Filium non secernunt; quoniam sicut ex Patre omnia, ita etiam per Filium omnia. Hoc ipsum in Spiritu praevidens Apostolus, dixit: ne inter omnia posuisse 0712B Filium vel impiis videretur, qui audierant dixisse Filium: Pater quoddedit mihi, majus omnibus est (Joan. X, 29).