Chapter III.

The statement of the Apostle, that all things are of the Father by the Son, does not separate the Spirit from Their company, since what is referred to one Person is also attributed to each. So those baptized in the Name of Christ are held to be baptized in the Name of the Father and of the Holy Spirit, if, that is, there is belief in the Three Persons, otherwise the baptism will be null. This also applies to baptism in the Name of the Holy Spirit. If because of one passage the Holy Spirit is separated from the Father and the Son, it will necessarily follow from other passages that the Father will be subordinated to the Son. The Son is worshipped by angels, not by the Spirit, for the latter is His witness, not His servant. Where the Son is spoken of as being before all, it is to be understood of creatures. The great dignity of the Holy Spirit is proved by the absence of forgiveness for the sin against Him. How it is that such sin cannot be forgiven, and how the Spirit is one.

32. But perhaps some one may say that there was a reason why the writer said that all things were of the Father, and all things through the Son,47    1 Cor. viii. 6.    Ps. cxix. [cxviii.] 17. but made no mention of the Holy Spirit, and would obtain the foundation of an argument from this. But if he persists in his perverse interpretation, in how many passages will he find the power of the Holy Spirit asserted, in which Scripture has stated nothing concerning either the Father or the Son, but has left it to be understood?

40. Where, then, the grace of the Spirit is asserted, is that of God the Father or of the Only-begotten Son denied? By no means; for as the Father is in the Son, and the Son in the Father, so, too, “the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, Who hath been given us.”48    Rom. v. 5.    Rom. viii. 11. And as he who is blessed in Christ is blessed in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, because the Name is one and the Power one; so, too, when any divine operation, whether of the Father, or of the Son, or of the Holy Spirit, is treated of, it is not referred only to the Holy Spirit, but also to the Father and the Son, and not only to the Father, but also to the Son and the Spirit.

41. Then, too, the Ethiopian eunuch of Queen Candace, when baptized in Christ, obtained the fulness of the sacrament. And they who said that they knew not of any Holy Spirit, although they said that they had been baptized with John’s baptism, were baptized afterwards, because John baptized for the remission of sins in the Name of the coming Jesus, not in his own. And so they knew not the Spirit, because in the form in which John baptized they had not received baptism in the Name of Christ. For John, though he did not baptize in the Spirit, nevertheless preached Christ and the Spirit. And then, when he was questioned whether he were perchance himself the Christ, he answered: “I baptize you with water, but a stronger than I shall come, Whose shoes I am not worthy to bear, He shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.”49    S. Matt. iii. 11; S. Luke iv. 16; S. John i. 26, 27. They therefore, because they had been baptized neither in the Name of Christ nor with faith in the Holy Spirit, could not receive the sacrament of baptism.

42. So they were baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ,50    This passage has given rise to the question whether St. Ambrose taught, as some others certainly did (probably on his authority), that baptism in the Name of Christ alone, without mention of the other Persons, is valid. But it is difficult to believe that St. Ambrose meant more than to refer to the passage in the Acts as implying Christian baptism. He says just below that baptism is not complete unless one confess the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, which would seem to imply the full formula, and he would hardly dissent from St. Basil, who distinctly asserts [De Sp. Sanct. XII.] that baptism without mention of the Three Persons is invalid; and St. Augustine [De Bapt. lib. vi. c. xxv. 47] says that it is more easy to find heretics who reject baptism altogether, than such as omit the right form. Compare also St. Ambrose on St. Luke vi. 67; De Mysteriis, IV. 20; De Sacramentis, II. 5 and 7, especially the latter when he says: In uno nomine…hoc est in nomine Patris et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. and baptism was not repeated in their case, but administered differently, for there is but one baptism. But where there is not the complete sacrament of baptism, there is not considered to be a commencement nor any kind of baptism. But baptism is complete if one confess the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. If you deny One you overthrow the whole. And just as if you mention in words One only, either the Father, or the Son, or the Holy Spirit, and in your belief do not deny either the Father, the Son, or the Holy Spirit, the mystery of the faith is complete, so, too, although you name the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and lessen the power of either the Father, the Son, or the Holy Spirit, the whole mystery is made empty. And, lastly, they who had said: “We have not heard if there be any Holy Spirit, were baptized afterwards in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ.”51    Acts xix. 5 ff. And this was an additional abundance of grace, for now through Paul’s preaching they knew the Holy Spirit.

43. Nor ought it to seem opposed to this, that although subsequently mention is not made of the Spirit, He is yet believed in, and what had not been mentioned in words is expressed in belief. For when it is said, “In the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ,” the mystery is complete through the oneness of the Name, and the Spirit is not separated from the baptism of Christ, since John baptized unto repentance, Christ in the Spirit.

44. Let us now consider whether as we read that the sacrament of baptism in the Name of Christ was complete, so, too, when the Holy Spirit alone is named, anything is wanting to the completeness of the mystery. Let us follow out the argument that he who has named One has signified the Trinity. If you name Christ, you imply both God the Father by Whom the Son was anointed, and the Son Himself Who was anointed, and the Holy Spirit with Whom He was anointed. For it is written: “This Jesus of Nazareth, Whom God anointed with the Holy Spirit.”52    Acts x. 38. And if you name the Father, you denote equally His Son and the Spirit of His mouth, if, that is, you apprehend it in your heart. And if you speak of the Spirit, you name also God the Father, from Whom the Spirit proceeds, and the Son, inasmuch as He is also the Spirit of the Son.

45. Wherefore that authority may also be joined to reason Scripture indicates that we can also be rightly baptized in the Spirit, when the Lord says: “But ye shall be baptized in the Holy Spirit.”53    Acts i. 5. And in another place the Apostle says: “For we were all baptized in the body itself into one Spirit.”54    1 Cor. xii. 13. The work is one, for the mystery is one; the baptism one, for there was one death on behalf of the world; there is, then, a oneness of working, a oneness of setting forth, which cannot be separated.

46. But if in this place the Spirit be separated from the operation of the Father and the Son, because it is said, All things are of God, and all things are through the Son,55    1 Cor. viii. 6. then, too, when the Apostle says of Christ, “Who is over all, God blessed for ever,”56    Rom. ix. 5. He set Christ not only above all creatures, but (which it is impious to say) above the Father also. But God forbid, for the Father is not amongst all things, is not amongst a kind of crowd of His own creatures. The whole creation is below, over all is the Godhead of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The former serves, the latter rules; the former is subject, the latter reigns; the former is the work, the latter the author of the work; the former, without exception, worships, the latter is worshipped by all without exception.

47. Lastly, of the Son it is written: “And let all the angels of God worship Him.”57    Heb. i. 6. You do not find, Let the Holy Spirit worship. And farther on: “To which of the angels said He at any time, Sit thou on My right hand till I make thine enemies the footstool of thy feet? Are they not all,” says he, “ministering spirits who are sent to minister?”58    Heb. i. 14. When he says All, does he include the Holy Spirit? Certainly not, because Angels and the other Powers are destined to serve in ministering and obedience to the Son of God.

48. But in truth the Holy Spirit is not a minister but a witness of the Son, as the Son Himself said of Him: “He shall bear witness of Me.”59    S. John xv. 26. The Spirit, then, is a witness of the Son. He who is a witness knows all things, as God the Father is a witness. For so you read in later passages, for our salvation was confirmed to us by God bearing witness by signs and wonders and by manifold powers and by distributions of the Holy Spirit.60    Heb. ii. 3, 4. He who divides as he will is certainly above all, not amongst all, for to divide is the gift of the worker, not an innate part of the work itself.

49. If the Son is above all, through Whom our salvation received its commencement, so that it might be preached, certainly God the Father also, Who testifies and gives confirmation concerning our salvation by signs and wonders, is excepted from all. In like manner the Spirit, Who bears witness to our salvation by His diversities of gifts, is not to be numbered with the crowd of creatures, but to be reckoned with the Father and the Son; Who, when He divides, is not Himself divided by cutting off Himself, for being indivisible He loses nothing when He gives to all, as also the Son, when the Father receives the kingdom,61    1 Cor. xv. 24. loses nothing, nor does the Father, when He gives that which is His to the Son, suffer loss. We know, then, by the testimony of the Son that there is no loss in the division of spiritual grace; for He Who breathes where He wills62    S. John iii. 8. is everywhere free from loss. Concerning which power we shall speak more fully farther on.

50. In the meanwhile, since our intention is to prove in due order that the Spirit is not to be reckoned amongst all things, let us take the Apostle, whose words they call in question, as an authority for this position. For what “all things” would be, whether visible or invisible, he himself declared when he said: “For in Him were all things created in the heavens and in earth.”63    Col. i. 16. You see that “all things” is spoken of things in the heavens, and of things in earth, for in the heavens are also invisible things which were made.

51. But that no one should be ignorant of this he added those of whom he was speaking: “Whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created by Him and in Him, and He is before all, and in Him all things consist.”64    Col. i. 16, 17. Does he, then, include the Holy Spirit here amongst creatures? Or when he says that the Son of God is before all things, is he to be supposed to have said that He is before the Father? Certainly not; for as here he says that all things were created by the Son, and that all things in the heavens consist in Him, so, too, it cannot be doubted that all things in the heavens have their strength in the Holy Spirit, since we read: “By the word of the Lord were the heavens established and all the strength of them by the Spirit of His mouth.”65    Ps. xxxiii. [xxxii.] 6. He, then, is above all, from Whom is all the strength of things in heaven and things on earth. He, then, Who is above all things certainly does not serve; He Who serves not is free; He Who is free has the prerogative of lordship.

52. If I were to say this at first it would be denied. But in the same manner as they deny the less that the greater may not be believed, so let us set forth lesser matters first that either they may show their perfidy in lesser matters, or, if they grant the lesser matters, we may infer greater from the lesser.

53. I think, most merciful Emperor, that they are most fully confuted who dare to reckon the Holy Spirit amongst all things. But that they may know that they are pressed not only by the testimony of the apostles, but also by that of our Lord; how can they dare to reckon the Holy Spirit amongst all things, since the Lord Himself said: “He who shall blaspheme against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but he who shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost shall never be forgiven, either here or hereafter.”66    S. Matt. xii. 32. How, then, can any one dare to reckon the Holy Spirit amongst creatures? Or who will so blind himself as to think that if he have injured any creature he cannot be forgiven in any wise? For if the Jews because they worshipped the host of heaven were deprived of divine protection, whilst he who worships and confesses the Holy Spirit is accepted of God, but he who confesses Him not is convicted of sacrilege without forgiveness: certainly it follows from this that the Holy Spirit cannot be reckoned amongst all things, but that He is above all things, an offence against Whom is avenged by eternal punishment.

54. But observe carefully why the Lord said: “He who shall blaspheme against the Son of Man it shall be forgiven him, but he who shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost shall never be forgiven, either here or hereafter.”67    S. Matt. xii. 32. Is an offence against the Son different from one against the Holy Spirit? For as their dignity is one, and common to both, so too is the offence. But if any one, led astray by the visible human body, should think somewhat more remissly than is fitting concerning the Body of Christ (for it ought not to appear of little worth to us, seeing it is the palace of chastity, and the fruit of the Virgin), he incurs guilt, but he is not shut out from pardon, which he may attain to by faith. But if any one should deny the dignity, majesty, and eternal power of the Holy Spirit, and should think that devils are cast out not in the Spirit of God, but in Beelzebub, there can be no attaining of pardon there where is the fulness of sacrilege; for he who has denied the Spirit has denied also the Father and the Son, since the same is the Spirit of God Who is the Spirit of Christ.

CAPUT III.

Quod Apostolus dixerit ex Patre per Filium omnia esse, ab eorum consortio Spiritum non secludi; cum quae ad unam referuntur personam, aliis quoque attribuantur. Sic baptizati in nomine Christi simul in Patris ac Spiritus nomine censentur baptizati; si tamen simul in tres personas crediderint: secus autem, nullus erit baptismus. Haec etiam baptismo in Spiritus sancti nuncupatione convenire. Si autem ob eumdem locum Spiritus ab aliis personis separaretur, utique ob alios locos Pater Filio diceretur postponendus. Ab angelis Filium adorari, non a Spiritu; hunc enim testem ejus esse, non ministrum. Cum omnibus anteponitur Filius, intelligendum de creaturis. Dignitatem 0712C sancti Spiritus a peccati in eum admissi irremissibilitate probari. Unde sit illa irremissibilitas; et quomodo unus Spiritus.

32. Sed fortasse aliquis dicat, qua ratione cum dixerit hic ex Patre omnia, et per Filium omnia (I Cor. VIII, 6), de Spiritu sancto tacuerit; et hinc cupiat praejudicium comparare. Quod si pergit malitiose interpretari, quam multis inveniet locis praedicatam sancti Spiritus potestatem, in quibus vel de Patre vel de Filio nihil Scriptura expresserit, sed intelligendum reliquerit!

40 . Numquid ergo cum gratia Spiritus praedicatur, Dei Patris aut unigeniti Filii denegatur? Non ita, quia sicut Pater in Filio et Filius in Patre, ita etiam diffusa est, inquit, charitas Dei in cordibus 0712D nostris per Spiritum sanctum, qui datus est nobis (Rom. V, 5). Et sicut qui benedicitur in Christo, 608 benedicitur in nomine Patris, et Filii et Spiritus sancti; quia unum nomen, potestas una, ita etiam ubi operatio aliqua divina, aut Patris, aut Filii, aut Spiritus designatur, non solum ad sanctum Spiritum, sed etiam ad Patrem refertur et Filium, nec 0713A solum ad Patrem, sed etiam ad Filium refertur et Spiritum.

41. Denique Aethiops eunuchus Candacis reginae baptizatus in Christo (Act. VIII, 27), plenum mysterium consecutus est. Et illi qui negaverunt se scire Spiritum sanctum, quamvis baptizatos se dicerent in Joannis baptismo, baptizati sunt postea (Act. XIX, 2 et seq.); quia Joannes in remissionem peccatorum, in advenientis Jesu, non in suo baptizavit nomine. Et ideo Spiritum nesciebant, quia nec baptismum in Christi nomine, sicut Joannes baptizare solebat, acceperant. Joannes enim, licet non baptizaret in Spiritu, tamen et Christum praedicabat et Spiritum. Denique cum interrogaretur, ne forte ipse esset Christus, respondit: Ego vos 0713B aqua baptizo, veniet autem fortior me, cujus non sum dignus calceamenta portare: ipse vos baptizabit Spiritu sancto et igni (Joan. I, 26, 27). Ergo isti quia nec in Christi nomine, nec cum fide Spiritus sancti baptizati fuerant, non potuerunt accipere baptismatis sacramentum.

42. Baptizati sunt itaque in nomine Jesu Christi: nec iteratum est in his baptisma, sed novatum; unum enim baptisma (Ephes. IV, 5). Ubi autem non est plenum baptismatis sacramentum, nec principium, vel species aliqua baptismatis aestimatur. 0714A Plenum autem est, si Patrem et Filium Spiritumque sanctum fatearis. Si unum neges, totum subrues. Et quemadmodum si unum in sermone comprehendas, aut Patrem, aut Filium, aut Spiritum sanctum; fide autem nec Patrem, nec Filium, nec Spiritum sanctum abneges, plenum est fidei sacramentum: ita etiam quamvis et Patrem, et Filium, et Spiritum dicas, et aut Patris, aut Filii, aut Spiritus sancti minuas potestatem, vacuum est omne mysterium. Denique et illi ipsi qui dixerant: Nec si Spiritus sanctus 609 sit audivimus, baptizati sunt postea in nomine Domini Jesu Christi (Act. XIX, 5). Et hoc abundavit ad gratiam; quia jam Spiritum sanctum, Paulo praedicante, cognoverant.

43. Nec contrarium debet videri, quia quamvis 0714B etiam postea tacitum sit de Spiritu, tamen creditum est: et quod verbo tacitum fuerat, expressum est fide. Cum enim dicitur: In nomine Domini nostri Jesu Christi, per unitatem nominis impletum mysterium est: nec a Christi baptismate Spiritus separatur; quia Joannes in poenitentia baptizavit, Christus in Spiritu (Ibid., 4).

44. Nunc consideremus utrum quemadmodum in Christi nomine plenum esse legimus baptismatis sacramentum; ita etiam sancto tantum Spiritu nuncupato, nihil desit ad mysterii plenitudinem. Rationem 0715A sequamur; quia qui unum dixerit, Trinitatem signavit. Si Christum dicas, et Deum Patrem a quo unctus est Filius, et ipsum qui unctus est, Filium, et Spiritum sanctum quo unctus est, designasti. Scriptum est enim: Hunc Jesum a Nazareth, quem unxit Deus Spiritu sancto (Act. X, 38). Et si Patrem dicas, et Filium ejus et Spiritum oris ejus pariter indicasti; si tamen id etiam corde comprehendas. Et si Spiritum dicas, et Deum Patrem, a quo procedit Spiritus: et Filium, quia Filii quoque est Spiritus, nuncupasti.

45. Unde et rationi copuletur auctoritas, in Spiritu quoque recte nos baptizari posse Scriptura indicat, dicente Domino: Vos autem baptizabimini in Spiritu sancto (Act. I, 5). Et alibi Apostolus ait: Omnes 0715B enim in ipso corpore, in unum Spiritum bapti zati sumus (I Cor. XII, 13). Unum opus, quia unum mysterium: unum baptisma, quia mors una pro mundo: unitas praedicationis quae non potest separari.

46. Quod si hoc loco separatur Spiritus ab operatione Patris et Filii, quia dictum est: Ex Deo omnia, et per Filium omnia (I Cor. VIII, 6); ergo et ubi Apostolus de Christo dicit: Qui est super omnia Deus benedictus in saecula (Rom. IX, 5), non solum eum creaturis omnibus, sed etiam Patri (quod dictu nefas est) praetulit. Sed absit; non enim inter omnia Pater, non inter plebem quamdam creaturarum suarum. Subter creatura omnis, supra divinitas Patris et Filii et Spiritus sancti. Illa servit, haec regnat; illa subjacet, ista dominatur: illa opus, haec 0715C auctor est operis: illa adorat omnes, haec adoratur ab omnibus.

47. Denique de Filio scriptum est: Et adorent eum omnes angeli Dei (Hebr. I, 6). Non habes: Adoret Spiritus sanctus. Et infra: Ad quem autem angelorum dixit aliquando: Sede ad dexteram meam, donec ponam inimicos tuos scabellum pedum tuorum? Nonne omnes sunt, inquit, ministri spiritus in ministerium, qui mittuntur (Ibid., 13)? Cum dicit, omnes, numquid et Spiritum sanctum comprehendit? Non utique, quia Angeli et caeterae Potestates in ministerium et obsequium Dei Filio, ut serviant, destinantur.

48. At vero Spiritus sanctus non minister, 610 sed testis est Filii, quemadmodum de ipso Filius dixit: Ille testimonium perhibet de me (Joan. XV, 26). Testis 0715D est ergo Filii, Spiritus. Qui testis est, novit omnia, sicut Deus Pater testis est. Sic enim habes in posterioribus, quia confirmata est salus nostra, testificante Deo, signis quoque et prodigiis, et variis virtutibus, et Spiritus sancti divisionibus (Hebr. II, 4, 5). Qui dividit quod vult, utique supra omnia, non inter omnia est; dividere enim operatoris gratia, non operis est materies (I Cor. XII, 11).

49. Si supra omnia Filius, per quem initium salus 0716A nostra, ut praedicaretur, accepit: utique et Pater Deus, qui testificatur, et asseverat signis et prodigiis de salute nostra, exceptus a cunctis est. Similiter autem et Spiritus qui divisionibus suis nostrae testimonium fert saluti, non est in creaturarum plebe numerandus, sed cum Patre aestimandus et Filio, qui non per incisionem sui dividitur ipse, cum dividit; individuus enim cum sit, nihil amittit, cum omnibus largiatur: sicut et Filius, regnum Patre accipiente, nihil perdit: nec Pater Filio cum sua tradat, amittit. Nullum itaque damnum esse in divisione gratiae spiritalis, Domino attestante (I Cor. XV, 6), cognovimus; qui enim ubi vult spirat (Joan. III, 8), ubique sine damno est. De quo infra dicemus plenius.

0716B 50. Interim nunc quoniam propositum est ordine suo asserere, non esse inter omnia Spiritum compntandum, ipsum Apostolum, de cujus verbis faciunt quaestionem, assertionis hujus adhibeamus auctorem. Quae enim essent illa omnia, sive visibilia, sive invisibilia, ipse signavit dicens: Quoniam in ipso condita sunt omnia in coelis et in terra (Coloss. I, 16). Vides omnia de his dicta, quae vel in coelis sunt, vel in terra; sunt enim in coelis etiam invisibilia, quae facta sunt.

51. Tamen ne cui esset incognitum, addidit de quibus diceret: Sive Sedes, inquit, sive Dominationes, sive Principatus, sive Potestates, omnia per ipsum, et in ipso creata sunt, et ipse est ante omnes, et omnia in ipso constant (Ibid., 16, 17). Numquid ergo hic inter creaturas Spiritum sanctum comprehendit? Aut 0716C cum dicit ante omnes esse Dei Filium, numquid ante Patrem dixisse aestimandus est? Non utique; nam sicut hic per Filium dicit omnia creata esse, et in ipso omnia constare coelestia: ita etiam in Spiritu sancto vires habere universa coelestia dubitari non potest, quando lectum est: Verbo Domini coeli firmati sunt, et Spiritu oris ejus omnis virtus eorum (Psal. XXXII, 6). Super omnia est igitur, de quo est omnis coelestium et terrestrium virtus. Qui igitur super omnia est, utique non servit: qui non servit, liber est: qui liber est, habet jura dominatus.

52. Hoc si a principio dicerem, negaretur. Sed quemadmodum illi minora negant, ne majora credantur: ita et nos minora praemittamus, ut aut perfidiam suam etiam in minoribus prodant; aut si vel 0716D minoribus consentiunt, majora de minoribus colligamus.

53. Arbitror, clementissime imperator, plenissime confutatos eos, qui audent inter omnia 611 Spiritum sanctum computare. Sed tamen ut sciant se non tantum Apostolicis testimoniis, sed etiam Dominicis perurgeri; quomodo audent inter omnia numerare Spiritum sanctum, quando ipse Dominus dixit: Qui blasphemaverit in Filium hominis, remittetur 0717A ei: qui autem blasphemaverit in Spiritum sanctum, nec hic, nec in futurum remittetur ei (Luc. XII, 10)? Quomodo igitur inter creaturas audet quisquam Spiritum computare? Aut quis sic se obligat, ut si creaturae derogaverit, non putet sibi hoc aliqua venia relaxandum? Nam si Judaei, quia adoraverunt militiam coeli (IV Reg. XVII, 16), divino praesidio destituti sunt: qui autem adorat et confitetur Spiritum sanctum, acceptus est Deo; qui non confitetur, sacrilegii reus sine venia damnatur: utique hinc aestimari potest non inter omnia, sed super omnia esse Spiritum sanctum, cujus injuria aeternis suppliciis expiatur.

54. Cur autem dixerit Dominus: Qui blasphemaverit in Filium hominis, remittetur ei: qui autem blasphemaverit 0717B in Spiritum sanctum, nec hic, nec in futurum remittetur ei (Luc. XII, 10); diligenter adverte. Numquid alia est offensa Filii, alia Spiritus sancti? Sicut enim una dignitas, sic una injuria. Sed si quis corporis specie deceptus humani, remissius aliquid sentit de Christi carne, quam dignum est (neque enim vilis nobis debet videri, quae aula virtutis, fructus est Virginis), habet culpam; non est tamen exclusus a venia, quam fide possit adsciscere. Si quis vero sancti Spiritus dignitatem, majestatem et potestatem abneget sempiternam, et putet non in Spiritu Dei ejici daemonia, sed in Beelzebub: non potest ibi exoratio esse veniae, ubi sacrilegi plenitudo est; quia qui Spiritum negavit, et Deum Patrem negavit et Filium; quoniam idem est Spiritus Dei, qui Spiritus 0717C est Christi.