25. Now I think that it ought to be clearly
understood that God the Father is denoted by the Spirit of God, because
our Lord Jesus Christ declared that the Spirit of the Lord was upon Him
since He anoints Him and sends Him to preach the Gospel. For in
Him is made manifest the excellence of the Father’s nature,
disclosing that the Son partakes of His nature even when born in the
flesh through the mystery of this spiritual unction, since after the
birth ratified in His baptism this intimation of His inherent Sonship
was heard as a voice bore witness from Heaven:—Thou art My
Son; this day have I begotten Thee Ps.
ii. 8, cf. St. Matt. iii. 17,
&c.. For not even He Himself can be
understood as resting upon Himself or coming to Himself from Heaven, or
as bestowing on Himself the title of Son: but all this
demonstration was for our faith, in order that under the mystery of a
complete and true birth we should recognise that the unity of the
nature dwells in the Son Who had begun to be also man. We have
thus found that in the Spirit of God the Father is designated; but we
understand that the Son is indicated in the same way, when He
says: But if I in the Spirit of God cast out devils, then has
the kingdom of God come upon you. That is, He shews clearly
that He, by the power of His nature, casts out devils, which cannot be
cast out save by the Spirit of God. The phrase ‘Spirit of
God’ denotes also the Paraclete Spirit, and that not only on the
testimony of prophets but also of apostles, when it is
said:—This is that which was spoken through the Prophet, It
shall come to pass on the last day, saith the Lord, I will pour out of
My Spirit upon all flesh, and their sons and their daughters shall
prophesy Acts ii. 16, 17.. And
we learn that all this prophecy was fulfilled in the case of the
Apostles, when, after the sending of the Holy Spirit, they all spoke
with the tongues of the Gentiles.