Chapter 9.—All are Sometimes Understood in One Person.

But this is said, not on account of any inequality of the Word of God and of the Holy Spirit, but as though the presence of the Son of man with them would be a hindrance to the coming of Him, who was not less, because He did not “empty Himself, taking upon Him the form of a servant,”94    Phil. ii. 7 as the Son did. It was necessary, then, that the form of a servant should be taken away from their eyes, because, through gazing upon it, they thought that alone which they saw to be Christ. Hence also is that which is said, “If ye loved me, ye would rejoice because I said, ‘I go unto the Father; for my Father is greater than I:’”95    John xiv. 28 that is, on that account it is necessary for me to go to the Father, because, whilst you see me thus, you hold me to be less than the Father through that which you see; and so, being taken up with the creature and the “fashion” which I have taken upon me, you do not perceive the equality which I have with the Father. Hence, too, is this: “Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father.”96    John xx. 17 For touch, as it were, puts a limit to their conception, and He therefore would not have the thought of the heart, directed towards Himself, to be so limited as that He should be held to be only that which He seemed to be. But the “ascension to the Father” meant, so to appear as He is equal to the Father, that the limit of the sight which sufficeth us might be attained there. Sometimes also it is said of the Son alone, that He himself sufficeth, and the whole reward of our love and longing is held forth as in the sight of Him. For so it is said, “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me; and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father; and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.”97    John xiv. 21 Pray, because He has not here said, And I will show the Father also to him, has He therefore excluded the Father? On the contrary, because it is true, “I and my Father are one,” when the Father is manifested, the Son also, who is in Him, is manifested; and when the Son is manifested, the Father also, who is in Him, is manifested. As, therefore, when it is said, “And I will manifest myself to him,” it is understood that He manifests also the Father; so likewise in that which is said, “When He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father,” it is understood that He does not take it away from Himself; since, when He shall bring believers to the contemplation of God, even the Father, doubtless He will bring them to the contemplation of Himself, who has said, “And I will manifest myself to him.” And so, consequently, when Judas had said to Him, “Lord, how is it that Thou wilt manifest Thyself unto us, and not unto the world?” Jesus answered and said to him, “If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.”98    John xiv. 22, 23 Behold, that He manifests not only Himself to him by whom He is loved, because He comes to him together with the Father, and abides with him.

19. Will it perhaps be thought, that when the Father and the Son make their abode with him who loves them, the Holy Spirit is excluded from that abode? What, then, is that which is said above of the Holy Spirit: “Whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not: but ye know Him; for He abideth with you, and is in you”? He, therefore, is not excluded from that abode, of whom it is said, “He abideth with you, and is in you;” unless, perhaps, any one be so senseless as to think, that when the Father and the Son have come that they may make their abode with him who loves them, the Holy Spirit will depart thence, and (as it were) give place to those who are greater. But the Scripture itself meets this carnal idea; for it says a little above: “I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever.”99    John xiv. 16–23 He will not therefore depart when the Father and the Son come, but will be in the same abode with them eternally; because neither will He come without them, nor they without Him. But in order to intimate the Trinity, some things are separately affirmed, the Persons being also each severally named; and yet are not to be understood as though the other Persons were excluded, on account of the unity of the same Trinity and the One substance and Godhead of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.100    [An act belonging eminently and officially to a particular trinitarian person is not performed to the total exclusion of the other persons, because of the numerical unity of essence. The whole undivided essence is in each person; consequently, what the essence in one of its personal modes, or forms, does officially and eminently, is participated in by the essence in its other modes or forms. Hence the interchange of persons in Scripture. Though creation is officially the Father’s work, yet the Son creates (Col. i. 16; Heb. i. 3). The name Saviour is given to the Father (1 Tim. i. 1). Judgment belongs officially to the Son (John v. 22; Matt xxv. 31); yet the Father judgeth (1 Pet. i. 17). The Father raises Christ (Acts xiii. 30); yet Christ raises himself (John x. 18; Acts x. 41; Rom. xiv. 9).—W.G.T.S.]

CAPUT IX.

0833

In una persona interdum intelliguntur omnes. Hoc autem dixit, non propter inaequalitatem Verbi Dei et Spiritus sancti, sed tanquam impedimento esset praesentia Filii hominis apud eos, quominus veniret ille qui minor non esset, quia semetipsum non exinanivit, formam servi accipiens, sicut Filius (Philipp. II, 7). Oportebat ergo ut auferretur ab oculis eorum forma servi, quam intuentes, hoc solum esse Christum putabant quod videbant. Inde est et illud quod ait, Si diligeretis me, gauderetis utique, quoniam eo ad Patrem; quia Pater major me est (Joan. XIV, 28): id est, propterea me oportet ire ad Patrem, quia dum me ita videtis, ex hoc quod videtis, aestimatis quia minor sum Patre, atque ita circa creaturam susceptumque habitum occupati, aequalitatem quam cum Patre habeo non intelligitis. Inde est et illud: Noli me tangere; nondum enim ascendi ad Patrem (Id. XX, 17). Tactus enim tanquam finem facit notionis. Ideoque nolebat in eo esse finem intenti cordis in se, ut hoc quod videbatur tantummodo putaretur. Ascensio autem ad Patrem erat ita videri, sicut aequalis est. Patri, ut ibi esset finis visionis, quae sufficit nobis. Aliquando item de Filio solo dicitur, quod ipse sufficiat, et in ejus visione merces tota promittitur dilectionis et desiderii nostri. Sic enim ait: Qui habet mandata mea et custodit ea, ille est qui diligit me. Qui autem me diligit, diligetur a Patre meo; et ego diligam eum, et ostendam me ipsum illi. Numquid hic, quia non dixit, Ostendam illi et Patrem, ideo separavit Patrem? Sed quia verum est, Ego et Pater unum sumus; cum Pater ostenditur, et Filius ostenditur qui in illo est; et cum Filius ostenditur, etiam Pater ostenditur qui in illo est. Sicut ergo cum ait, Et ostendam me ipsum illi, intelligitur quia ostendit et Patrem; ita et in eo quod dicitur, Cum tradiderit regnum Deo et Patri, intelligitur quia non adimit sibi. Quoniam cum perducet credentes ad contemplationem Dei et Patris, profecto perducet ad contemplationem suam, qui dixit, Et ostendam illi me ipsum. Et ideo consequenter, cum dixisset illi Judas, Domine, quid factum est, quia ostensurus es te nobis, et non huic mundo? respondit Jesus, et dixit illi: Si quis diligit me, sermonem meum servabit; et Pater meus diliget illum, et ad eum veniemus, et mansionem apud eum faciemus. Ecce quia non solum se ipsum ostendit ei a quo diligitur, quia simul cum Patre venit ad eum, et mansionem facit apud eum.

19. An forte putabitur mansionem in dilectore suo facientibus Patre et Filio exclusus esse ab hac mansione Spiritus sanctus? Quid est ergo quod superius ait de Spiritu sancto: Quem hic mundus accipere non potest, quoniam non videt illum: nostis illum vos, quia vobiscum manet, et in vobis est? Non itaque ab hac mansione separatus est, de quo dictum est, vobiscum manet, et in vobis est. Nisi forte quisquam sic absurdus est, ut arbitretur, cum Pater et Filius venerint ut mansionem apud dilectorem suum faciant, discessurum inde Spiritum sanctum, et tanquam locum daturum 0834 esse majoribus. Sed huic carnali cogitationi occurrit Scriptura: paulo quippe superius ait, Et ego rogabo Patrem, et alium advocatum dabit vobis ut, vobiscum sit in aeternum (Joan. XIV, 16-23). Non ergo discedet Patre et Filio venientibus, sed in eadem mansione cum ipsis erit in aeternum; quia nec ille sine ipsis venit, nec illi sine ipso. Sed propter insinuationem Trinitatis, personis etiam singulis nominatis dicuntur quaedam separatim ; non tamen aliis separatis intelliguntur, propter ejusdem Trinitatis unitatem unamque substantiam atque deitatem Patris et Filii et Spiritus sancti.