50. But, it is said that “He maketh intercession for us.”  29  Rom. viii. 26, 27. It follows then that, as the suppliant is inferior to the benefactor, so far is the Spirit inferior in dignity to God. But have you never heard concerning the Only-begotten that He “is at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us”?  30  Rom. viii. 34. Do not, then, because the Spirit is in you,—if indeed He is at all in you,—nor yet because He teaches us who were blinded, and guides us to the choice of what profits us,—do not for this reason allow yourself to be deprived of the right and holy opinion concerning Him. For to make the loving kindness of your benefactor a ground of ingratitude were indeed a very extravagance of unfairness. “Grieve not the Holy Spirit;”  31  Eph. iv. 30. hear the words of Stephen, the first fruits of the martyrs, when he reproaches the people for their rebellion and disobedience; “you do always,” he says, “resist the Holy Ghost;”  32  Acts vii. 51. and again Isaiah,—“They vexed His Holy Spirit, therefore He was turned to be their enemy;”  33  Is. lxiii. 10. and in another passage, “the house of Jacob angered the Spirit of the Lord.”  34  Ps. cvi. 32; Micah ii. 7. Are not these passages indicative of authoritative power? I leave it to the judgment of my readers to determine what opinions we ought to hold when we hear these passages; whether we are to regard the Spirit as an instrument, a subject, of equal rank with the creature, and a fellow servant of ourselves, or whether, on the contrary, to the ears of the pious the mere whisper of this blasphemy is not most grievous. Do you call the Spirit a servant? But, it is said, “the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth,”  35  John xv. 15. and yet the Spirit knoweth the things of God, as “the spirit of man that is in him.”  36  1 Cor. ii. 11.

[50] Ἀλλὰ «καὶ ἐντυγχάνει, φησίν, ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν». Ὥστε ὅσον ἱκέτης τοῦ εὐεργέτου λείπεται, τοσοῦτον τὸ Πνεῦμα κατὰ τὴν ἀξίαν ἀποπέπτωκε τοῦ Θεοῦ. Σὺ δὲ οὔπω ἤκουσας περὶ τοῦ Μονογενοῦς, ὅτι «ἐστὶν ἐν δεξιᾷ τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ ἐντυγχάνει ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν»; Μὴ οὖν ὅτι τὸ Πνεῦμα ἐν σοὶ_ εἴπερ δὴ ὅλως ἐν σοί_, μηδ' ὅτι ἀποτυφλωθέντας ἡμᾶς πρὸς τὴν ἐκλογὴν τοῦ συμφέροντος διδάσκει, καὶ ὁδηγεῖ, τούτου ἕνεκεν τὴν εὐσεβῆ καὶ ὁσίαν περὶ αὐτοῦ δόξαν ζημιωθῇς. Ὑπερβολὴ γὰρ ἀγνωμοσύνης τοῦτό γε, τὴν φιλανθρωπίαν τοῦ εὐεργέτου ἀφορμὴν ἀχαριστίας ποιεῖσθαι. «Μὴ οὖν λυπεῖτε τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον.» Ἀκούσατε τί φησιν ἡ ἀπαρχὴ τῶν μαρτύρων Στέφανος, τὸ δυσπειθὲς καὶ ἀνυπότακτον τῷ λαῷ ὀνειδίζων: «Ὑμεῖς, φησίν, ἀεὶ τῷ Πνεύματι τῷ ἁγίῳ ἀντιπίπτετε.» Καὶ πάλιν ὁ Ἡσαΐας: «Παρώξυναν τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, καὶ ἐστράφη αὐτοῖς εἰς ἔχθραν.» Καὶ ἑτέρωθι: «Ὁ οἶκος τοῦ Ἰακὼβ παρώργισε τὸ Πνεῦμα Κυρίου»: εἰ μὴ ἐξουσιαστικῆς δυνάμεως παραστατικὰ τὰ τοιαῦτα. Τῇ τῶν ἐντυγχανόντων κρίσει παρίημι, ταῦτα ἀκούοντας ὁποίας τινὰς χρὴ τὰς ὑπολήψεις ἔχειν: ὡς περὶ ὀργάνου, καὶ ὑπηκόου, καὶ ὁμοτίμου τῇ κτίσει καὶ ἡμῖν ὁμοδούλου; ἢ βαρύτατον καὶ ῥήματι μόνῳ τὴν βλασφημίαν ταύτην ὑποδῦναι τοῖς εὐσεβέσι; Δοῦλον λέγεις τὸ Πνεῦμα; Ἀλλ' «ὁ δοῦλος, φησίν, οὐκ οἶδε τί ποιεῖ ὁ κύριος αὐτοῦ», τὸ δὲ Πνεῦμα οὕτως οἶδε τὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὡς καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα τοῦ ἀνθρώπου τὰ ἐν αὐτῷ.