Chapter IX.

The Holy Spirit is rightly called the ointment of Christ, and the oil of gladness; and why Christ Himself is not the ointment, since He was anointed with the Holy Spirit. It is not strange that the Spirit should be called Ointment, since the Father and the Son are also called Spirit. And there is no confusion between them, since Christ alone suffered death, Whose saving cross is then spoken of.

100. Now many have thought that the Holy Spirit is the ointment of Christ. And well it is said ointment, because He is called the oil of gladness, the joining together of many graces giving a sweet fragrance. But God the Almighty Father anointed Him the Prince of priests, Who was, not like others anointed in a type under the Law, but was both according to the Law anointed in the body, and in truth was full with the virtue of the Holy Spirit from the Father above the Law.

101. This is the oil of gladness, of which the prophet says: “God, even Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows.”133    Ps. xlv. [xliv.] 8. Lastly, Peter says that Jesus was anointed with the Spirit, as you read: “Ye know that word which went through all Judea beginning from Galilee after the baptism which John preached, even Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit.”134    Acts x. 37, 38. The Holy Spirit is, then, the oil of gladness.

102. And well did he say oil of gladness, lest you should think Him a creature; for it is the nature of this sort of oil that it will by no means mingle with moisture of another kind. Gladness, too, does not anoint the body, but brightens the inmost heart, as the prophet said: “Thou hast put gladness in my heart.”135    Ps. iv. 7. So as he loses his pains who wishes to mix oil with moister matter, because since the nature of oil is lighter than others, when the others settle, it rises and is separated. How do those wretched pedlars think that the oil of gladness can by their tricks be mingled with other creatures, since of a truth corporeal things cannot be mingled with in corporeal, nor things created with uncreated?

102. And well is that called oil of gladness wherewith Christ was anointed; for neither was usual nor common oil to be sought for Him, wherewith either wounds are dressed or heat assuaged; since the salvation of the world did not seek alleviation for His wounds, nor the eternal might of His wearied Body demand refreshment.

103. Nor is it wonderful if He have the oil of gladness, Who made those about to die rejoice, put off sadness from the world, destroyed the odour of sorrowful death. And so the Apostle says: “For we are the good odour of Christ to God;”136    2 Cor. ii. 15. certainly showing that he is speaking of spiritual things. But when the Son of God Himself says: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me,”137    S. Luke iv. 18. He points out the ointment of the Spirit. Therefore the Spirit is the ointment of Christ.

104. Or since the Name of Jesus is as ointment poured out, if they wish to understand Christ Himself, and not the Spirit of Christ to be expressed under the name of ointment, certainly when the Apostle Peter says that the Lord Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit, it is without doubt plain that the Spirit also is called ointment.

105. But what wonder, since both the Father and the Son are said to be Spirit. Of which we shall speak more fully when we begin to speak of the Unity of the Name. Yet since most suitable place occurs here, that we may not seem to have passed on without a conclusion, let them read that both the Father is called Spirit, as the Lord said in the Gospel, “for God is Spirit;”138    S. John iv. 24. and Christ is called Spirit, for Jeremiah said: “The Spirit before our face, Christ the Lord.”139    Lam. iv. 20.

106. So, then, both the Father is Spirit and Christ is Spirit, for that which is not a created body is spirit, but the Holy Spirit is not commingled with the Father and the Son, but is distinct from the Father and from the Son. For the Holy Spirit did not die, Who could not die because He had not taken flesh upon Him, and the eternal Godhead was incapable of dying, but Christ died according to the flesh.

107. For of a truth He died in that which He took of the Virgin, not in that which He had of the Father, for Christ died in that nature in which He was crucified. But the Holy Spirit could not be crucified, Who had not flesh and bones, but the Son of God was crucified, Who took flesh and bones, that on that cross the temptations of our flesh might die. For He took on Him that which He was not that He might hide that which He was; He hid that which He was that He might be tempted in it, and that which He was not might be redeemed, in order that He might call us by means of that which He was not to that which He was.

108. O the divine mystery of that cross, on which weakness hangs, might is free, vices are nailed, and triumphal trophies raised. So that a certain saint said: “Pierce my flesh with nails for fear of Thee;”140    Ps. cxix. [cxviii.] 120. he says not with nails of iron, but of fear and faith. For the bonds of virtue are stronger than those of punishment. Lastly, his faith bound Peter, when he had followed the Lord as far as the hall of the high priest, whom no one had bound, and punishment loosened not him, whom faith bound. Again, when he was bound by the Jews, prayer loosed him, punishment did not hold him, because he had not gone back from Christ.

109. Therefore do you also crucify sin, that you may die to sin; he who dies to sin lives to God; do you live to Him Who spared not His own Son, that in His body He might crucify our passions. For Christ died for us, that we might live in His revived Body. Therefore not our life but our guilt died in Him, “Who,” it is said, “bare our sins in His own Body on the tree; that being set free from our sins we might live in righteousness, by the wound of Whose stripes we are healed.”141    1 Pet. ii. 24.

110. That wood of the cross is, then, as it were a kind of ship of our salvation, our passage, not a punishment, for there is no other salvation but the passage of eternal salvation. Whilst expecting death I do not feel it; whilst thinking little of punishment I do not suffer; whilst careless of fear I know it not.

111. Who, then, is He by the wound of Whose stripes we are healed but Christ the Lord? of Whom the same Isaiah prophesied His stripes were our healing,142    Is. liii. 5. of Whom Paul the Apostle wrote in his epistle: “Who knew no sin, but was made sin for us.”143    2 Cor. v. 21. This, indeed, was divine in Him, that His Flesh did no sin, nor did the creature of the body take in Him sin. For what wonder would it be if the Godhead alone sinned not, seeing It had no incentives to sin? But if God alone is free from sin, certainly every creature by its own nature can be, as we have said, liable to sin.

CAPUT IX.

Spiritum sanctum recte dici unguentum Christi, et oleum laetitiae, et quas ob causas? Christum ipsum non esse unguentum; cum unctus sit Spiritu sancto: mirum autem id non videri, si unguentum vocetur et Spiritus, cum Pater ac Filius etiam Spiritus appellentur. Nec ullam tamen in ipsis confusionem esse; cum solus Christus in corpore oppetierit mortem, cujus salutifera crux praedicatur.

100. Plerique autem arbitrati sunt unguentum Christi esse Spiritum sanctum. Et bene unguentum, quia oleum laetitiae nuncupatum est, plurimarum 0728D redolente copula gratiarum: verum illum Deus omnipotens Pater unxit principem sacerdotum, qui non ut alii in typo unctus ex lege, sed et secundum legem unctus in corpore, et in veritate supra legem virtute sancti Spiritus ex Patre plenus est.

101. Hoc est oleum laetitiae, de quo dicit propheta: Unxit te Deus, Deus tuus oleo laetitiae prae consortibus tuis (Psal. XLIV, 8). Denique Petrus unctum Spiritu dicit Jesum, sicut habes: Vos scitis quod factum est verbum per totam Judaeam, incipiens a Galilaea 0729A post baptismum, quod praedicavit Joannes, Jesum a Nazareth, quomodo unxit eum Deus Spiritu sancta (Act. X, 37, 38). Oleum igitur laetitiae Spiritus sanctus est.

102. Et pulchre oleum laetitiae dixit, ne creaturam putares; olei enim hujusmodi natura est, ut nequaquam naturae alterius humido misceatur. Laetitia quoque non corpus ungit, sed intima 622 cordis illuminat, sicut propheta dixit: Dedisti laetitiam in corde meo (Psalm. IV, 7). Ergo cum ludat operam, qui oleum velit cum creatura humidiore confundere: quia cum olei natura levior sit caeteris, residentibus aliis, elevata secernitur: quomodo putant isti deterrimi caupones oleum laetitiae cum caeteris creaturis sua posse fraude confundi; cum utique non 0729B queant incorporeis corporea, increatis creata misceri?

102*. Et bene oleum laetitiae dicitur, quo unctus est Christus; neque enim usitatum fuit, ei oleum et commune quaerendum, quo aut vulnera curantur, aut aestus levatur: cum fomentum vulnerum suorum salus mundana non quaereret, nec refectionem corporis fatigati virtus sempiterna deposceret.

103. Nec mirum si habet oleum laetitiae, qui fecit exsultare morituros, tristitia mundum exuit, moestae fetorem mortis abolevit. Et ideo Apostolus ait: Christi enim bonus odor sumus Deo (II Cor. II, 15); utique de spiritalibus significans se locutum. Sed et cum ipse Filius Dei dicat: Spiritus Domini super me, propter quod unxit me (Luc. IV, 18), spiritale 0729C signat unguentum. Ergo unguentum Christi est Spiritus.

104. Aut quia unguentum exinanitum est nomen Jesu, si ibi Christum ipsum intelligere volunt unguenti expressum nomine, non Spiritum Christi; utique cum unctum Spiritu sancto Dominum Jesum Petrus apostolus dixerit, liquet sine dubio quod unguentum dicatur et Spiritus.

105. Sed quid mirum, cum et Pater et Filius spiritus esse dicatur? De quo quidem dicemus plenius, cum de unitate nominis dicere coeperimus (Infra, cap. 14). Tamen quia hic quoque incidit pulcherrimus locus, ne sine corollario eum praeterire videamur, accipiant quia et Pater dicitur spiritus, sicut in Evangelio Dominus locutus est, quoniam Spiritus 0729D est Deus (Joan. IV, 24); et Christus spiritus dicitur; quia Jeremias dixit: Spiritus ante faciem nostram Christus Dominus (Thren. IV, 20).

106. Et Pater ergo spiritus, et Filius spiritus; quia quod non est creaturae corpus, hoc spiritus est: 0730A sed non confusus cum Patre et Filio Spiritus sanctus, verum et a Patre distinctus et a Filio. Non enim Spiritus sanctus est mortuus, qui mori non potuit; quia carnem non suscepit, nec mortis capax esse potuit sempiterna divinitas: sed mortuus est secundum carnem Christus.

107. In eo utique mortuus, quod suscepit ex Virgine: non in eo, quod habebat ex Patre; in eo enim mortuus, in quo crucifixus est Christus. Spiritus autem sanctus non potuit crucifigi, qui carnem et ossa non habuit: sed crucifixus est Dei Filius, qui carnem et ossa suscepit; ut in illa cruce nostrae carnis tentamenta morerentur. Suscepit enim quod non erat, ut celaret quod erat: celavit quod erat, ut tentaretur in eo, et redimeretur quod non erat; 0730B ut ad id quod erat, per id quod non erat, nos vocaret.

108. O divinum crucis illius sacramentum, 623 in qua haeret infirmitas, virtus libera est, affiguntur vitia, eriguntur tropaea! Unde quidam sanctus ait: Confige clavis a timore tuo carnes meas (Psal. CXVIII, 120); non ferreis clavis, ait, sed timoris et fidei: vehementior est enim virtutis strictura, quam poenae. Denique Petrum, cum usque in atrium principis sacerdotum Dominum sequeretur (Matth. XXVI, 58), quem nemo ligaverat, fides vinxerat: et quem fides vinxit, poena non solvit. Rursus cum ligaretur a Judaeis, devotio solvit, poena non tenuit; quia non recessit a Christo.

109. Ergo et tu crucifige peccatum, ut moriare 0730C peccato; qui enim peccato moritur, Deo vivit: vivas ei qui Filio proprio non pepercit; ut in illius corpore nostras crucifigeret passiones. Pro nobis enim mortuus est Christus, ut nos in illius redivivo corpore viveremus. Mortua est ergo in illo non vita nostra, sed culpa: Qui peccata, inquit, nostra pertulit in corpore suo super lignum; ut a peccatis nostris separati, cum justitia vivamus, cujus vulnere plagarum sanati sumus (I Petr. II, 24).

110. Lignum igitur illud crucis velut quaedam nostrae navis salutis vectura nostra est, non poena; alia enim salus non est, nisi vectura salutis aeternae. Dum mortem expetendo, non sentio: dum poenam contemnendo, non patior: dum metum nescio, negligendo.

0730D 111. Quis est igitur cujus vulnere plagarum sanati sumus, nisi Christus Dominus: de quo idem prophetavit Esaias quia plaga ejus nostra medicina est (Esai. LIII, 5): de quo Paulus apostolus in Epistolis suis scripsit: Qui peccatum non cognovit, sed pro 0731A nobis peccatum factus est (II Cor. V, 21)? Hoc quippe divinum in eo, quia caro peccatum non fecit, nec in eo suscepti corporis creatura peccavit. Nam quid mirum, si non peccavit sola divinitas, cum peccandi incentiva non habeat? Si autem solus exsors peccati Deus, omnis utique creatura per naturam sui, ut diximus, obnoxia potest esse peccato.