Chapter 3.—Some Things Concerning the Holy Spirit are to Be Understood According to the One Rule Only.

5. For even of the Holy Spirit, of whom it is not said, “He emptied Himself, and took upon Him the form of a servant;” yet the Lord Himself says, “Howbeit, when He the Spirit of Truth is come, He will guide you into all truth. For He shall not speak of Himself, but whatsoever He shall hear that shall He speak; and He will show you things to come. He shall glorify me; for He shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you.” And except He had immediately gone on to say after this, “All things that the Father hath are mine; therefore said I, that He shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you;”214    John xvi. 13–15 it might, perhaps, have been believed that the Holy Spirit was so born of Christ, as Christ is of the Father. Since He had said of Himself, “My doctrine is not mine, but His that sent me;” but of the Holy Spirit, “For He shall not speak of Himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall He speak;” and, “For He shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you.” But because He has rendered the reason why He said, “He shall receive of mine” (for He says, “All things that the Father hath are mine; therefore said I, that He shall take of mine”); it remains that the Holy Spirit be understood to have of that which is the Father’s, as the Son also hath. And how can this be, unless according to that which we have said above, “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth which proceedeth from the Father, He shall testify of me”?215    John xv. 26 He is said, therefore, not to speak of Himself, in that He proceedeth from the Father; and as it does not follow that the Son is less because He said, “The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He seeth the Father do” (for He has not said this according to the form of a servant, but according to the form of God, as we have already shown, and these words do not set Him forth as less than, but as of the Father), so it is not brought to pass that the Holy Spirit is less, because it is said of Him, “For He shall not speak of Himself, but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak;” for the words belong to Him as proceeding from the Father. But whereas both the Son is of the Father, and the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father, why both are not called sons, and both not said to be begotten, but the former is called the one only-begotten Son, and the latter, viz. the Holy Spirit, neither son nor begotten, because if begotten, then certainly a son, we will discuss in another place, if God shall grant, and so far as He shall grant.216    Below, Bk. XV. c. 25.

CAPUT III.

5. De Spiritu sancto quaedam ex altera tantum regula intelliguntur. Nam et de Spiritu sancto, de quo non dictum est, Semetipsum exinanivit, formam servi accipiens; ait tamen ipse Dominus: Cum autem venerit ille Spiritus veritatis, docebit vos omnem veritatem. Non enim loquetur a semetipso, sed quaecumque audiet loquetur, et quae ventura sunt annuntiabit vobis. Ille me clarificabit; quia de meo accipiet, et annuntiabit vobis. Post haec verba, nisi continuo secutus dixisset, Omnia quaecumque habet Pater, mea sunt: propterea dixi, Quia de meo accipiet, et annuntiabit vobis (Joan. XVI, 13-15); crederetur fortasse ita natus de Christo Spiritus sanctus, quemadmodum ille de 0848 Patre. De se quippe dixerat, Mea doctrina non est mea, sed ejus qui me misit: de Spiritu autem sancto, Non enim loquetur a semetipso, sed quaecumque audiet loquetur; et, Quia de meo accipiet, et annuntiabit vobis. Sed quia reddidit causam cur dixerit, de meo accipiet; ait enim, Omnia quaecumque habet Pater, mea sunt; propterea dixi, Quia de meo accipiet: resta ut intelligatur etiam Spiritus sanctus de Patris habere, sicut et Filius. Quomodo, nisi secundum id quod supra diximus: Cum autem venerit Paracletus quem ego mittam vobis a Patre, Spiritum veritatis qui a Patre procedit, ille testimonium perhibebit de me (Joan. XV, 26)? Procedendo itaque a Patre, dicitur non loqui a semetipso: et sicut non ex eo fit ut minor sit Filius quia dixit, Non potest Filius a se facere quidquam, nisi quod viderit Patrem facientem (non enim hoc ex forma servi dixit, sed ex forma Dei, sicut jam ostendimus: haec autem verba non indicant quod minor sit, sed quod de Patre sit); ita non hinc efficitur ut minor sit Spiritus sanctus, quia dictum est de illo, Non enim loquetur a semetipso, sed quaecumque audiet, loquetur: secundum hoc enim dictum est quod de Patre procedit. Cum vero et Filius de Patre sit, et Spiritus sanctus a Patre procedat, cur non ambo Filii dicantur, nec ambo geniti, sed ille unus Filius unigenitus, hic autem Spiritus sanctus nec filius nec genitus, quia si genitus utique Filius, alio loco, si Deus donaverit, et quantum donaverit, disseremus (Infra, lib. 15, cap. 25).