Chapter XIII.

St. Ambrose shows from the Scriptures that the Name of the Three Divine Persons is one, and first the unity of the Name of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, inasmuch as each is called Paraclete and Truth.

132. Who, then, would dare to deny the oneness of Name, when he sees the oneness of the working. But why should I maintain the unity of the Name by arguments, when there is the plain testimony of the Divine Voice that the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is one? For it is written: “Go, baptize all nations in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”174    S. Matt. xxviii. 19. He said, “in the Name,” not “in the Names.” So, then, the Name of the Father is not one, that of the Son another, and that of the Holy Spirit another, for God is one; the Names are not more than one, for there are not two Gods, or three Gods.

132. And that He might reveal that the Godhead is one and the Majesty one, because the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is one, and the Son did not come in one Name and the Holy Spirit in another, the Lord Himself said: “I am come in My Father’s Name, and ye did not receive Me, if another shall come in his own name ye will receive him.”175    S. John v. 43.

133. And Scripture makes clear that that which is the Father’s Name, the same is also that of the Son, for the Lord said in Exodus: “I will go before thee in My Name, and will call by My Name the Lord before thee.”176    Ex. xxxiii. 19. So, then, the Lord said that He would call the Lord by His Name. The Lord, then, is the Name of the Father and of the Son.

134. But since the Name of the Father and of the Son is one, learn that the same is the Name of the Holy Spirit also, since the Holy Spirit came in the Name of the Son, as it is written: “But the Paraclete, even the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My Name, He shall teach you all things.”177    S. John xiv. 26. But He Who came in the Name of the Son came also certainly in the Name of the Father, for the Name of the Father and of the Son is one. Thus it comes to pass that the Name of the Father and of the Son is also that of the Holy Spirit. For there is no other Name given under heaven wherein we must be saved.178    Acts iv. 12.

155. At the same time He showed that the oneness of the Divine Name must be taught, not the difference, since Christ came in the oneness of the Name, but Antichrist will come in his own name, as it is written: “I am come in My Father’s Name, and ye did not receive Me, if another shall come in his own name, ye will receive him.”179    S. John v. 43.

156. We are, then, clearly taught by these passages that there is no difference of Name in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; and that that which is the Name of the Father is also the Name of the Son, and likewise that which is the Name of the Son is also that of the Holy Spirit, when the Son also is called Paraclete, as is the Holy Spirit. And therefore does the Lord Jesus say in the Gospel: “I will ask My Father, and He shall give you another Paraclete, to be with you for ever, even the Spirit of Truth.”180    S. John xiv. 16. And He said well “another,” that you might not suppose that the Son is also the Spirit, for oneness is of the Name, not a Sabellian confusion of the Son and of the Spirit.181    The Sabellians, anxious to maintain the Unity of God, denied the distinction of Persons, identifying the Father and the Son. See D. Chr. B. III. 568, and Blunt, Dict. of Sects, etc., sub voc.

157. So, then, the Son is one Paraclete, the Holy Spirit another Paraclete; for John called the Son a Paraclete, as you find: “If any man sin, we have a Paraclete [Advocate] with the Father, Jesus Christ.”182    1 John ii. 1. So in like manner as there is a oneness of name, so, too, is there a oneness of power, for where the Paraclete Spirit is, there is also the Son.

158. For as the Lord says in this place that the Spirit will be forever with the faithful, so, too, does He elsewhere show that He will Himself be forever with the apostles, saying: “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world.”183    S. Matt. xxviii. 20. Therefore the Son and the Spirit are one, the Name of the Trinity is one, and the Presence one and indivisible.

159. But as we show that the Son is called the Paraclete, so, too, do we show that the Spirit is called the Truth. Christ is the Truth, the Spirit is the Truth, for you find in John’s epistle: “For the Spirit is Truth.”184    1 John v. 7. Not only, then, is the Spirit called the Spirit of Truth, but also the Truth, as the Son is also declared to be the Truth, Who says: “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”185    S. John xiv. 6.

CAPUT XIII.

Divinarum trium personarum unum esse nomen e Scripturis demonstrat Ambrosius: at in primis unitatem nominis Filii ac Spiritus sancti; cum uterque paraclitus dicatur et veritas.

132. [Alias cap. XIV.] Quis igitur unitatem negare audeat nominis, cum operationis videat unitatem? Sed quid ego unitatem nominis argumentis astruo; cum divinae vocis evidens testimonium sit unum nomen esse Patris et Filii et Spiritus sancti? Scriptum est enim: Ite, baptizate gentes in nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus sancti (Matth. XXVIII, 19). 0735C In nomine dixit, non in nominibus. Non ergo aliud nomen Patris, aliud nomen Filii, aliud nomen Spiritus sancti; quia unus Deus: non plura nomina; quia non duo Dii, non tres Dii (I Cor. VIII, 4).

133. Et ut aperiret quia una divinitas, una majestas est, quia unum nomen Patris et Filii et Spiritus sancti; nec in alio nomine venerit Filius, in alio nomine Spiritus sanctus, ait ipse Dominus: Ego veni in nomine Patris mei, et non accepistis me: si alius venerit in nomine suo, illum accipietis (Joan. V, 43).

133*. Quod autem nomen Patris est, hoc idem Filii Scriptura declarat; quia in Exodo dixit Dominus: Ego antecedam te in nomine meo et 628 vocabo in nomine meo Dominum in conspectu tuo (Exod. XXXIII, 19). Dominus ergo dixit quia in nomine suo vocabit 0735D Dominum: Dominus ergo et Patris est nomen et Filii.

134. Cum autem unum nomen sit Patris et Filii, accipe quia et Spiritus sancti idem nomen sit, quoniam et Spiritus sanctus in nomine Filii venit, sicut scriptum est: Paraclitus autem Spiritus sanctus quem 0736A mittet Pater in nomine meo, ille vos docebit omnia (Joan. XXIV, 26). Qui autem venit in nomine Filii, utique etiam in nomine Patris venit; quia unum nomen Patris et Filii est. Sic fit ut unum et Patris et Filii nomen sit et Spiritus sancti. Nec enim est aliud nomen sub coelo datum, in quo oporteat nos salvos fieri (Act. IV, 12).

135. Simul docuit unitatem divini nominis esse credendam, non disparilitatem; quoniam in unitate nominis venit Christus: in suo autem nomine venturus Antichristus est, sicut scriptum est: Ego veni in nomine Patris mei, et non accepistis me: si alius venerit in nomine suo, illum accipietis (Joan. V, 43).

136. Edoctum est igitur ex his non esse in Patre et Filio et Spiritu sancto paraclito nominis diversitatem: 0736B et quod nomen est Patris, id esse etiam Filii nomen: similiter quod nomen est Filii, esse id etiam Spiritus sancti; quando etiam paraclitus Filius dicitur, sicut et Spiritus sanctus. Et ideo ait in Evangelio Dominus Jesus: Rogabo Patrem meum, et alium paraclitum dabit vobis qui vobiscum sit in aeternum Spiritum veritatis (Joan. XIV, 16). Et bene dixit alium, ne ipsum Filium, ipsum Spiritum intelligeres; unitas enim nominis est, non Filii Spiritusque Sabelliana confusio.

137. Edit. Ben. [Alias cap. XV.] Itaque alius paraclitus est Filius, alius paraclitus Spiritus sanctus; Filium enim paraclitum dixit etiam Joannes, sicut habes: Si quis peccaverit, paraclitum habemus apud Patrem Jesum Christum (I Joan. II, 1). Itaque quemadmodum 0736C unitas nominis, ita etiam unitas potestatis est; ubi enim paraclitus Spiritus, ibi etiam Filius.

138. Nam sicut hic in aeternum Dominus futurum cum fidelibus Spiritum dicit, ita etiam de se alibi ostendit quod in aeternum cum apostolis sit futurus, dicens: Ecce ego vobiscum sum omnibus diebus usque ad consummationem mundi (Matth. XXVIII, 20). Unum sunt ergo Filius et Spiritus: unum nomen est Trinitatis, et una inseparabilisque praesentia.

139. Sicut autem ostendimus paraclitum Filium nominatum, ita etiam ostendimus veritatem Spiritum nuncupatum. Veritas Christus; veritas Spiritus; habes enim in epistola Joannis: Quoniam Spiritus est veritas (I Joan. V, 6). Non solum ergo Spiritus veritatis, sed etiam veritas dicitur Spiritus, sicut et Filius 0736D veritas praedicatur, qui ait: Ego sum via et veritas et vita (I Joan. XIV, 6).