Chapter XV.

Though the Spirit be called Lord, three Lords are not thereby implied; inasmuch as two Lords are not implied by the fact that the Son in the same manner as the Father is called Lord in many passages of Scripture; for Lordship exists in the Godhead, and the Godhead in Lordship, and these coincide without division in the Three Persons.

104. But perhaps, again, you may say: If I call the Spirit Lord, I shall set forth three Lords. Do you then when you call the Son Lord either deny the Son or confess two Lords? God forbid, for the Son Himself said: “Do not serve two lords.”585    S. Matt. vi. 24. But certainly He denied not either Himself or the Father to be Lord; for He called the Father Lord, as you read: “I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth.”586    S. Matt. xi. 25. And the Lord spoke of Himself, as we read in the Gospel: “Ye call Me Master and Lord, and ye do well, for so I am.”587    S. John xiii. 13. But He spoke not of two Lords; indeed He shows that He did not speak of two Lords, when He warns them: “Do not serve two lords.” For there are not two Lords where the Lordship is but one, for the Father is in the Son and the Son in the Father, and so there is one Lord.

105. Such, too, was the teaching of the Law: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord thy God is one Lord,”588    Deut. vi. 4. that is, unchangeable, always abiding in unity of power, always the same, and not altered by any accession or diminution. Therefore Moses called Him One, and yet also relates that the Lord rained down fire from the Lord.589    Gen. xix. 24. The Apostle, too, says: “The Lord grant unto him to find mercy of the Lord.”590    2 Tim. i. 18. The Lord rains down from the Lord; the Lord grants mercy from the Lord. The Lord is neither divided when He rains from the Lord, nor is there a separation when He grants mercy from the Lord, but in each case the oneness of the Lordship is expressed.

106. In the Psalms, too, you find: “The Lord said unto my Lord.”591    Ps. cx. [cix.] 1. And he did not therefore deny that the Father was his Lord, because he spoke of the Son as his Lord; but therefore called the Son his Lord, that you might not think Him to be the Son, but the Lord of the prophet, as the Lord Himself showed in the Gospel, when He said: “If David in the Spirit called Him Lord, how is he his Son?”592    S. Matt. xxii. 43, 45. David, not the Spirit, calls Him Lord in the Spirit. Or if they falsely infer from this that the Spirit called Him Lord, they must necessarily by a like sacrilege seem to assert that the Son of God is also the Son of the Spirit.

107. So, as we do not say that there are two Lords, when we so style both the Father and the Son, so, too, we do not say that there are three Lords, when we confess the Spirit to be Lord. For as it is profane to say that there are three Lords or three Gods, so, too, is it utter profanity to speak of two Lords or two Gods; for there is one God, one Lord, one Holy Spirit; and He Who is God is Lord, and He Who is Lord is God, for the Godhead is in the Lordship, and the Lordship is in the Godhead.

108. Lastly, you have read that the Father is both Lord and God: “O Lord my God, I will call upon Thee, hear Thou me.”593    Ps. xxx. [xxix.] 2. You find the Son to be both Lord and God, as you have read in the Gospel, that, when Thomas had touched the side of Christ, he said, “My Lord and my God.”594    S. John xx. 28. So in like manner as the Father is God and the Son Lord, so too the Son is God and the Father Lord. The holy designation changes from one to the other, the divine nature changes not, but the dignity remains unchangeable. For they are not [as it were] contributions gathered from bounty, but free-will gifts of natural love; for both Unity has its special property, and the special properties are bound together in unity.

CAPUT XV.

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Etsi Spiritus Dominus appelletur, tres tamen Dominos hinc non induci; cum ex eo quod Filius non secus ac Pater in variis Scripturae locis Dominus appellatur, non inducantur duo Domini: dominationem enim in divinitate esse, et in dominatione divinitatem, quae tribus personis indivisim congruant.

104. [Alias cap. XVII.] Sed fortassis iterum dicas: Si Dominum Spiritum dixero, tres Dominos declarabo. Numquid cum Dominum Filium dicis, aut Filium negas, aut duos Dominos confiteris? Absit; ipse enim Filius dixit: Nolite duobus dominis servire (Matth. VI, 24). Sed non utique aut se aut Patrem Dominum denegavit; nam et Patrem Dominum dixit, sicut habes: Confiteor tibi, Pater, Domine coeli et 0801C terrae (Matth. XI, 25). Et se memoravit Dominum, sicut in Evangelio legimus: Vocatis me Dominum et magistrum, et bene facitis; sum etenim (Joan. XIII, 13). Sed non duos Dominos dixit; immo ostendit se non duos Dominos dixisse, cum praemonet: Nolite duobus dominis servire. Non sunt enim duo domini, ubi dominatus unus est; quia Pater in Filio, et Filius in Patre; et ideo Dominus unus.

105. Sic et Lex docuit: Audi, Israel, Dominus Deus tuus Dominus unus est (Deut. VI, 4): hoc est, immutabilis, 687 semper in unitate permanens potestatis, semper idem, nulla accessione, nulla diminutione mutatur. Ergo unum dixit Moyses, et idem tamen Dominum a Domino pluisse memoravit (Gen. XIX, 14). Apostolus quoque: Det, inquit, 0801D Dominus misericordiam invenire a Domino (II Tim. I, 18). Dominus pluit a Domino, Dominus dat a Domino misericordiam: Dominus nec ibi discernitur, ubi pluit a Domino; nec hic separatur, ubi miseretur 0802A a Domino, sed utroque in loco unitas dominationis exprimitur.

106. In psalmis quoque habes: Dixit Dominus Domino meo (Psal. CIX, 1). Nec ideo Patrem suum Dominum denegavit, quia Filium Dominum suum esse memoravit: sed ideo Filium Dominum suum dixit, ne crederes Filium prophetae fuisse, sed Dominum: quod in Evangelio ipse Dominus manifestavit dicens: Si enim David in spiritu vocat eum Dominum, quomodo Filius ejus est (Matth. XXII, 43)? In spiritu dicit David Dominum, non Spiritus dicit. Aut si hinc calumniantur, quia Dominum Spiritus dixit, necesse est pari sacrilegio Filium Dei etiam Spritus sancti Filium videantur asserere.

107. Ergo quemadmodum duos non dicimus Dominos, 0802B cum et Patrem et Filium designamus; ita nec tres Dominos dicimus, cum dominum Spiritum confitemur. Sicut enim sacrilegium est tres Dominos aut Deos dicere, ita etiam hoc plenum sacrilegii est duos Dominos aut Deos dicere; quia unus Deus, unus Dominus, unus est Spiritus sanctus: et qui Deus, Dominus: et qui Dominus, Deus: quia et in dominatione divinitas, et in divinitate dominatus est.

108. Denique et Dominum et Deum legisti Patrem: Domine Deus meus, clamabo ad te, exaudi me (Psal. CXL, 1). Et Dominum et Deum habes Filium, sicut in Evangelio legisti, quia cum tetigisset Thomas latus Christi, ait: Dominus meus et Deus meus (Joan. XX, 28). Ergo sicut Pater Deus, et Filius Dominus: ita et Filius Deus, et Pater Dominus. Alternatur pia 0802C significatio, non alternatur divina natura, sed immutabilis manet gratia. Non enim largitatis collativa, sed naturalis placita charitatis sunt, quia et unitas proprietatem habet, et proprietas unitatem.