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Ambrose of Milan, On the Holy Spirit
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The Spirit is the Lord and Power; and in this is not inferior to the Father and the Son.
17. Above, you read that “the Lord blessed him, and the Spirit of the Lord began to go with him.”245 S. John i. 3. Judg. xiii. 25. Farther on it is said: “And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him.”246 S. Matt. x. 20. Judg. xiv. 6. Again he says: “If I be shaven, my strength will depart from me.”247 1 Cor. viii. 6. Judg. xvi. 17. After he was shaven, see what the Scripture says: “The Lord,” he says, “departed from him.”248 1 Cor. viii. 6. Judg. xvi. 20.
18. You see, then, that He Who went with him, Himself departed from him. The Same is, then, the Lord, Who is the Spirit of the Lord, that is, he called the Spirit of God, Lord, as also the Apostle says: “The Lord is the Spirit, now where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” You find, then, the Holy Spirit called the Lord; for the Holy Spirit and the Son are not one Person [unus] but one Substance [unum].
19. In this place he used the word Power, and implied the Spirit. For as the Father is Power, so, too, the Son is Power, and the Holy Spirit is Power. Of the Son you have read that Christ is “the Power of God and the Wisdom of God.”249 2 Cor. v. 18. 1 Cor. i. 24. We read, too, that the Father is Power, as it is written: “Ye shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power of God.”250 S. John x. 29. S. Matt. xxvi. 64. He certainly named the Father Power, at Whose right hand the Son sits, as you read: “The Lord said unto My Lord, Sit Thou on My right hand.”251 Ps. cx. [cix.] 1. And the Lord Himself named the Holy Spirit Power, when He said: “Ye shall receive Power when the Holy Spirit cometh upon you.”252 Acts i. 8.
CAPUT PRIMUM.
Spiritum Domini etiam Dominum ac virtutem esse, nec in hoc Patri vel Filio inferiorem.
17. Supra habes quia Benedixit ei Dominus, et coepit Spiritus Domini comitari cum eo (Judic. XIII, 24, 25). Infra ait: Et direxit super eum Spiritus Domini (Judic. XIV, 6). Item ait: Si tonsus fuero, discedet a me virtus mea (Judic. XVI, 17). Posteaquam tonsus est, vide Scriptura quid dicat: Dominus, inquit, discessit ab eo (Ibid., 20).
0747A 18. Vides ergo quia ille qui comitabatur, ipse discessit. Idem est ergo Dominus, qui Spiritus Domini, hoc est, ipsum Spiritum Dei, Dominum nuncupavit, sicut et Apostolus ait: Dominus autem Spiritus est: ubi autem Spiritus Domini, ibi libertas (II Cor. III, 17). Habes ergo Dominum dictum etiam Spiritum sanctum; non enim unus, sed unum sunt Spiritus sanctus et Filius.
19. Hoc quoque loco virtutem dixit, et Spiritum significavit. Sicut enim Pater virtus, ita et Filius virtus, et Spiritus sanctus est virtus (I Joan. V, 7). De Filio legisti, Christum Dei virtutem esse, et Dei sapientiam (I Cor. I, 24). Legimus etiam quia virtus est Pater, sicut scriptum est: Videbitis Filium hominis sedentem ad dexteram virtutis Dei (Matth. XXVI, 0747B 64). Hic utique virtutem Patrem dixit, cujus ad dexteram Filius sedet, sicut habes: Dixit Dominus 638 Domino meo: Sede ad dexteram meam (Psal. CIX, 1). Virtutem etiam Spiritum sanctum ipse Dominus nuncupavit dicens: Accipietis virtutem, adveniente in vos Spiritu sancto (Act. I, 8).