63

as Lord and by nature free, where he is and upon whom he comes, he provides the freedom which he has. For only created things are subject to the yoke of slavery; but that which is not a slave is not a created thing; and that which is not a created thing is by nature God. And a faithful witness to these things is the Apostle, writing to the Corinthians in the second epistle: "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom," and to Timothy: "for God did not give us a spirit of slavery, but a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline," and to the Romans: "For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption, by which we cry, 'Abba, Father'," and to the Galatians: "God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba, Father.' So you are no longer a slave, but a son." Just as, therefore, we were set free by the Son, having heard: "You are no longer a slave, but free," and: "by the freedom with which the Son has set you free;" so, because of the identity of substance and lordship, we are set free by the Spirit through the aforementioned saying: "and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom." 6.11ν That he commands, he does not serve. Creation, both intellectual and sensible, serves; it does not command of itself. As it says concerning the angels: "mighty in strength, who do his word." But the Holy Spirit of God authoritatively commands prophets and apostles, as God and Lord, as would be demonstrated in the chapters below. 6.12ν That he strengthens. Creation is strengthened by the all-powerful and omnipotent divine strength, but it does not strengthen. For it received the power sufficient for itself, and it does not have the strength to impart it to its fellow slaves. But the Spirit of God strengthens with his own fertile, nourishing, and unfailing power, since he happens to be creator and not a creature. For the Savior says in the Acts: "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you." As without his coming upon us, there is for us no power or hope toward God. And in addition to this, it must be understood, first, that it signifies the presence of the Holy Spirit to have happened according to authority; and second, that he did not come self-announced, but was foretold by the great God and Savior himself. And again, therefore, he says: "But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high." And this was that of the Holy Spirit. And Paul writes to the Romans things which it is easy for no one to admire or interpret worthily, especially cursorily: "I have therefore a boast in Christ Jesus toward God. For I will not dare to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in word and deed for the obedience of the Gentiles, by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Holy Spirit." 6.13ν That he is without falsehood; which is proper to God alone. Creation does not always speak the truth, but from its own will has a share of change and of sometimes being false. As among the fleshless, the devil, and among the fleshly as it is written: "Every man is a liar," and: "you will destroy all who speak falsehood." For God the Father will not be a helper to falsehoods, as even the outsiders have written. And among the saints, as Paul said concerning the apostles: "But when I saw that they were not walking uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all" what he said. For truly, to be always without falsehood belongs to the divine nature alone. Therefore he wrote to the Hebrews: "so that," he says, "by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us." And the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, sharing by nature with the Father and the Son, shares in all things, and indeed also in being without falsehood. For he is the Spirit of truth of God, as was said before, speaking by the one will of the Father and of the Son and of himself, and not speaking from himself, as the Son testified of him, saying: "he will not speak on his own." 6.14ν That he is truth, because he does not disagree with the one Godhead. Creation has nothing that is called truth, because there is one divine truth, just as there is one holiness and one goodness, from which to each of us these things

63

ὡς δεσπότης καὶ φύσει ἐλεύθερον, ἔνθα ἐστὶν καὶ οἷς ἐπιφοιτᾷ, ἐλευθερίαν, ἣν ἔχει, παρέχει. τὰ γὰρ ποιήματα μόνα τῷ τῆς δουλείας ὑπάγεται ζυγῷ· τὸ δὲ μὴ δοῦλον, οὐδὲ ποίημα· τὸ δὲ μὴ ποίημα, φύσει θεός· μάρτυς δὲ τούτων πιστὸς ὁ ἀπόστολος, γράφων Κορινθίοις μὲν ἐν τῇ δευτέρα ἐπιστολῇ· «ὁ δὲ κύριος τὸ πνεῦμά ἐστιν· οὗ δὲ τὸ πνεῦμα κυρίου, ἐκεῖ ἐλευ θερία,» Τιμοθέῳ δέ· «οὐ γὰρ ἔδωκεν ἡμῖν ὁ θεὸς πνεῦμα δουλείας, ἀλλὰ πνεῦμα δυνάμεως καὶ ἀγάπης καὶ σωφρονισμοῦ,» Ῥωμαίοις δέ· «οὐ γὰρ ἐλάβετε πνεῦμα δουλείας πάλιν εἰς φόβον, ἀλλὰ πνεῦμα υἱο θεσίας, ἐν ᾧ κράζομεν· ἀββά, ὁ πατήρ,» Γαλάταις δέ· «ἐξαπέστειλεν ὁ θεὸς τὸ πνεῦμα τοῦ υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ εἰς τὰς καρδίας ὑμῶν κράζον· ἀββά, ὁ πατήρ. ὥστε οὐκέτι εἶ δοῦλος, ἀλλ' υἱός.» καθάπερ οὖν ἠλευθερώθημεν παρὰ τοῦ υἱοῦ ἀκούσαντες· «οὐκέτι εἶ δοῦλος, ἀλλ' ἐλεύθερος,» καί· «τῇ ἐλευθερίᾳ, ᾗ ὁ υἱὸς ὑμᾶς ἠλευθέρωσεν·» οὕτω διὰ τὸ ταὐτὸν τῆς οὐσίας καὶ δεσποτείας ὑπὸ τοῦ πνεύματος ἠλευθερούμεθα διὰ τοῦ μνημονευθέντος ῥήματος· «οὗ δὲ τὸ πνεῦμα κυρίου, ἐκεῖ ἐλευθερία.» 6.11ν ὅτι ἐπιτάσσει, οὐχ ὑπουργεῖ ἡ κτίσις, ἤ τε νοερὰ καὶ αἰσθητή, ὑπουργεῖ, οὐκ ἐπιτάττει ἀφ' ἑαυτῆς· ὡς περὶ τῶν ἀγγέλων λέγει· «δυνατοὶ ἰσχύι, ποιοῦντες τὸν λόγον αὐτοῦ.» τὸ δὲ ἅγιον πνεῦμα τοῦ θεοῦ αὐθεντικῶς προφήταις καὶ ἀποστόλοις προστάττει, ὡς θεὸς καὶ δεσπότης, καθὰ ἐν τοῖς ὑποκειμένοις κεφαλαίοις ἀποδειχθείη. 6.12ν ὅτι ἐνδυναμοῖ ἡ κτίσις ἐνδυναμοῦται ὑπὸ τῆς παναλκοῦς καὶ πανδυνάμου θεϊκῆς ἰσχύος, οὐκ ἐνδυναμοῖ δὲ αὐτή.τὴν γὰρ αὐτῇ διαρκοῦσαν ἐδέξατο δύναμιν, καὶ μεταδιδόναι τοῖς συνδούλοις οὐ σθένει. τὸ δέ γε πνεῦμα τοῦ θεοῦ τῇ γονίμῳ καὶ θρεπτικῇ καὶ ἀνεκλείπτῳ αὐτοῦ ἰσχύι ἐνδυναμοῖ, ἐπειδὴ κτίστης καὶ οὐ κτίσμα τυγχάνει. ὁ γὰρ σωτὴρ ἐν ταῖς πράξεσι φησίν· «ὑμεῖς δὲ λήψεσθε δύναμιν, ἐπελθόντος τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος ἐφ' ὑμᾶς.» ὡς δίχα τῆς αὐτοῦ ἐπιφοιτήσεως οὐδεμίας ἡμῖν πρὸς τὸν θεὸν δυνάμεως ἢ ἐλπίδος ὑπαρχούσης. κατανοητέον δὲ πρὸς τούτῳ, ἓν μὲν, ὅτι τὴν παρουσίαν τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος κατ' ἐξουσίαν σημαίνει γεγενῆσθαι· ἕτερον δέ, ὅτι οὐκ αὐτάγγελος ἦλθεν, ἀλλ' ὑπ' αὐτοῦ τοῦ μεγάλου θεοῦ καὶ σωτῆρος προεμηνύθη. καὶ αὖθις οὖν λέγει· «ὑμεῖς δὲ καθίσατε ἐν τῇ πόλει, ἕως οὗ ἐνδύσησθε δύναμιν ἐξ ὕψους.» αὕτη δὲ ἦν ἡ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος. καὶ Παῦλος γράφει Ῥωμαίοις, ἃ θαυμάσαι ἢ ἑρμηνεῦσαι ἀξίως, μάλιστα ἐξ ἐπιδρομῆς, οὐδενὶ εὐπετές· «ἔχω οὖν πεποίθησιν ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ πρὸς τὸν θεόν. οὐ γὰρ τολμῶ τι λαλεῖν, ὧν οὐ κατειργάσατο Χριστὸς δι' ἐμοῦ λόγῳ καὶ ἔργῳ εἰς ὑπακοὴν ἐθνῶν, ἐν δυνάμει σημείων καὶ τεράτων ἐν δυνάμει πνεύματος ἁγίου.» 6.13ν ὅτι ἀψευδές· ὅπερ ἴδιον μόνου θεοῦ ἡ κτίσις οὐκ ἀληθεύει ἀεί, ἀλλ' ἐξ οἰκείας γνώμης ἔχει τροπῆς μέρος καὶ τὸ ψεύδεσθαί ποτε. ὡς ἐν μὲν ἀσάρκοις ὁ διάβολος, ἐν δὲ σαρκίνοις καθὰ γράφει· «πᾶς ἄνθρωπος ψεύστης,» καί· «ἀπολεῖς πάντας τοὺς λαλοῦντας τὸ ψεῦδος.» οὐ γὰρ ἐπιψεύδεσσι πατὴρ θεὸς ἔσσετ' ἀρωγός, ἔγραψαν καὶ οἱ ἔξω. ἐν δὲ ἁγίοις, ὡς Παῦλος περὶ τῶν ἀποστόλων ἔφη· «ἀλλ' ὅτε εἶδον, ὅτι οὐκ ὀρθοποδοῦσιν πρὸς τὴν ἀλήθειαν τοῦ εὐαγ γελίου, εἶπον τῷ Κηφᾷ ἔμπροσθεν πάντων» ἃ εἶπεν. ὡς ἀληθῶς γὰρ μόνης θεϊκῆς φύσεως τὸ ἀεὶ ἀψευδεῖν. διὸ Ἑβραίοις ἐπέστειλεν· «ἵνα» φησίν, «διὰ δύο πραγμάτων ἀμεταθέτων, ἐν οἷς ἀδύνατον ψεύ σασθαι τὸν θεόν, ἰσχυρὰν παράκλησιν ἔχωμεν οἱ καταφυγόντες κρατῆ σαι τῆς προκειμένης ἐλπίδος.» ἡ δὲ κοινωνία τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος, κοινωνοῦσα τῇ φύσει τῷ πατρὶ καὶ τῷ υἱῷ, κοινωνεῖ εἰς ὅλα, ἔτι μὴν καὶ εἰς τὸ ἀψευδεῖν. πνεῦμα γὰρ ἀληθείας ἐστὶν τοῦ θεοῦ, ὡς προελέχθη, τῷ ἑνὶ θελήματι τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ καὶ ἑαυτοῦ λαλοῦν, καὶ ἀφ' ἑαυτοῦ οὐ λαλοῦν, ὡς ὁ υἱὸς αὐτῷ ἐμαρτύρησεν εἰπών· «ἀφ' ἑαυτοῦ οὐ λαλήσει.» 6.14ν ὅτι ἀλήθεια, διὰ τὸ μὴ διαφωνεῖν αὐτὸ πρὸς τὴν μίαν θεότητα. ἡ κτίσις οὐδὲν ἔχει προσαγορευθὲν ἀλήθεια, διὰ τὸ μίαν εἶναι θεϊκὴν ἀλήθειαν, ὡς μία ἐστὶν ἡ ἁγιότης καὶ ἡ ἀγαθότης, ἀφ' ἧς ἑκάστοις ἡμῖν ταῦτα