69. But let us see if we can bethink us of any defence of this usage of our fathers; for they who first originated the expression are more open to blame than we ourselves. Paul in his Letter to the Colossians says, “And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision…hath He quickened together with”  1  Col. ii. 13. Christ. Did then God give to a whole people and to the Church the boon of the life with Christ, and yet the life with Christ does not belong to the Holy Spirit? But if this is impious even to think of, is it not rightly reverent so to make our confession, as They are by nature in close conjunction? Furthermore what boundless lack of sensibility does it not shew in these men to confess that the Saints are with Christ, (if, as we know is the case, Paul, on becoming absent from the body, is present with the Lord,  2  cf. 2 Cor. v. 8. and, after departing, is with Christ  3  cf. Phil. i. 23. ) and, so far as lies in their power, to refuse to allow to the Spirit to be with Christ even to the same extent as men? And Paul calls himself a “labourer together with God”  4  1 Cor. iii. 9. in the dispensation of the Gospel; will they bring an indictment for impiety against us, if we apply the term “fellow-labourer” to the Holy Spirit, through whom in every creature under heaven the Gospel bringeth forth fruit?  5  cf. Col. i. 6. The life of them that have trusted in the Lord “is hidden,” it would seem, “with Christ in God, and when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall” they themselves also “appear with Him in glory;”  6  Col. iii. 3, 4. and is the Spirit of life Himself, “Who made us free from the law of sin,”  7  Rom. viii. 2. not with Christ, both in the secret and hidden life with Him, and in the manifestation of the glory which we expect to be manifested in the saints? We are “heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ,”  8  Rom. viii. 17. and is the Spirit without part or lot in the fellowship of God and of His Christ? “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God;”  9  Rom. viii. 16, 17. In this passage A.V. follows the neuter of the Greek original. R.V. has substituted “himself.” cf. note on p. 15. and are we not to allow to the Spirit even that testimony of His fellowship with God which we have learnt from the Lord? For the height of folly is reached if we through the faith in Christ which is in the Spirit  10  cf. Gal. v. 5. hope that we shall be raised together with Him and sit together in heavenly places,  11  cf. Eph. ii. 6. whenever He shall change our vile body from the natural to the spiritual,  12  cf. Phil. iii. 21, and 1 Cor. xv. 44. and yet refuse to assign to the Spirit any share in the sitting together, or in the glory, or anything else which we have received from Him. Of all the boons of which, in accordance with the indefeasible grant of Him who has promised them, we have believed ourselves worthy, are we to allow none to the Holy Spirit, as though they were all above His dignity? It is yours according to your merit to be “ever with the Lord,” and you expect to be caught up “in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and to be ever with the Lord.”  13  1 Thess. iv. 17. You declare the man who numbers and ranks the Spirit with the Father and the Son to be guilty of intolerable impiety. Can you really now deny that the Spirit is with Christ?

[69] Ἴδωμεν δὲ καὶ εἴ τινα ἀπολογίαν τοῖς πατράσιν ἡμῶν τῆς χρήσεως ταύτης ἐπινοήσομεν. Οἱ γὰρ τὴν ἀρχὴν παρασχόντες τῷ λόγῳ, μᾶλλον ἡμῶν ὑπόκεινται τοῖς ἐγκλήμασι. Παῦλος τοίνυν Κολοσσαεῦσι γράφων: «Καὶ ὑμᾶς, φησί, νεκροὺς ὄντας τοῖς παραπτώμασι καὶ τῇ ἀκροβυστίᾳ, συνεζωοποίησε τῷ Χριστῷ.» Ἆρα οὖν λαῷ μὲν ὅλῳ καὶ Ἐκκλησίᾳ ἐχαρίσατο ὁ Θεὸς τὴν σὺν Χριστῷ ζωήν: τῷ δὲ ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι οὐχὶ σὺν Χριστῷ ἡ ζωή; Εἰ δὲ τοῦτο καὶ διανοίᾳ λαβεῖν ἀσεβές, πῶς οὐχ ὅσιον ὡς ἔχει φύσεως, οὕτω καὶ τὴν ὁμολογίαν συνημμένως ἀποδιδόναι; Εἶτα, πῶς οὐ τῆς ἐσχάτης ἀναλγησίας, τοὺς μὲν ἁγίους ὁμολογεῖν σὺν Χριστῷ εἶναι_εἴπερ δὴ Παῦλος ἐκδημήσας ἀπὸ τοῦ σώματος ἐνδημεῖ πρὸς τὸν Κύριον, καὶ ἀναλύσας σὺν Χριστῷ ἐστιν ἤδη_, τῷ δὲ Πνεύματι τούτους, μηδὲ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἐξ ἴσου, μετὰ Χριστοῦ εἶναι, τόγε εἰς αὐτοὺς ἧκον, μεταδιδόναι; Καὶ Παῦλος Θεοῦ μὲν συνεργὸν ἑαυτὸν ἐν τῇ οἰκονομίᾳ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου καλεῖ: τὸ δὲ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, δι' οὗ ἐν πάσῃ κτίσει τῇ ὑπὸ τὸν οὐρανὸν καρποφορεῖται τὸ εὐαγγέλιον, ἐὰν συνεργὸν εἴπωμεν, κἂν ἀσεβείας γραφὴν καθ' ἡμῶν ἀπενέγκαιντο; Καὶ ὡς ἔοικεν, ἡ μὲν ζωὴ τῶν ἠλπικότων ἐπὶ Κύριον «κέκρυπται σὺν τῷ Χριστῷ ἐν τῷ Θεῷ», καὶ «ὅταν ὁ Χριστὸς φανερωθῇ, ἡ ζωὴ ἡμῶν, τότε καὶ αὐτοὶ σὺν αὐτῷ φανερωθήσονται ἐν δόξῃ»: αὐτὸ δὲ τὸ Πνεῦμα τῆς ζωῆς, τὸ ἐλευθερῶσαν ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ τοῦ νόμου τῆς ἁμαρτίας, οὐδαμῶς ἐστι σὺν Χριστῷ, οὔτε ἐν λανθανούσῃ καὶ κεκρυμμένῃ σὺν αὐτῷ ζωῇ, οὔτε ἐν τῇ φανερώσει τῆς δόξης, ἣν ἡμεῖς ἐπὶ τοῖς ἁγίοις ἐκφανήσεσθαι προσδοκῶμεν; «Κληρονόμοι Θεοῦ καὶ συγκληρονόμοι Χριστοῦ» ἡμεῖς: τὸ δὲ Πνεῦμα ἀπόκληρον καὶ ἄμοιρον τῆς κοινωνίας τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ τοῦ Χριστοῦ αὐτοῦ; Καὶ «αὐτὸ μὲν τὸ Πνεῦμα συμμαρτυρεῖ τῷ πνεύματι ἡμῶν, ὅτι ἐσμὲν τέκνα Θεοῦ», ἡμεῖς δὲ τῷ Πνεύματι οὐδὲ ἣν παρὰ τοῦ Κυρίου μεμαθήκαμεν τῆς πρὸς Θεὸν κοινωνίας τὴν μαρτυρίαν κατατιθέμεθα; Τὸ δὲ κεφάλαιον τῆς ἀνοίας, ἡμεῖς μὲν διὰ τῆς εἰς Χριστὸν πίστεως τῆς ἐν Πνεύματι συνεγερθήσεσθαι αὐτῷ καὶ συγκαθεδεῖσθαι ἐν τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις ἐλπίζομεν, ὅταν μετασχηματίσῃ τὸ σῶμα τῆς ταπεινώσεως ἡμῶν ἀπὸ τοῦ ψυχικοῦ πρὸς τὸ πνευματικόν: τῷ δὲ Πνεύματι οὐ συνεδρίας, οὐ δόξης, οὐκ ἄλλου τινός, ὧν ἔχομεν παρ' αὐτοῦ, μεταδίδομεν; ἀλλ' ὧν ἑαυτοὺς ἀξίους εἶναι, κατὰ τὴν ἀψευδῆ τοῦ ἐπαγγειλαμένου δωρεάν, πεπιστεύκαμεν, τούτων οὐδενὸς τῷ Πνεύματι τῷ ἁγίῳ ὡς ὑπερβαίνοντος αὐτοῦ τὴν ἀξίαν παραχωροῦμεν; Καὶ σοὶ μὲν κατὰ τὴν ἀξίαν ἐστί, πάντοτε εἶναι σὺν τῷ Κυρίῳ: καὶ προσδοκᾷς, ἁρπαγεὶς ἐν νεφέλαις εἰς ἀπάντησιν εἰς ἀέρα, πάντοτε συνέσεσθαι τῷ Κυρίῳ: τὸ δὲ Πνεῦμα νῦν ἀντιλέγεις εἶναι σὺν τῷ Χριστῷ; ὅς γε τὸν συναριθμοῦντα αὐτὸ καὶ συντάσσοντα Πατρὶ καὶ Υἱῷ ἐξόριστον τίθεσαι, ὡς ἀφόρητα δυσσεβοῦντα;