64. Another sense may however be given to
the phrase, that just as the Father is seen in the Son, so is the Son
in the Spirit. The “worship in the Spirit” suggests
the idea of the operation of our intelligence being carried on in the
light, as may be learned from the words spoken to the woman of
Samaria. Deceived as she was by the customs of her country into
the belief that worship was local, our Lord, with the object of giving
her better instruction, said that worship ought to be offered “in
Spirit and in Truth,”
John iv. 24. plainly meaning by
the Truth, Himself. As then we speak of the worship offered in
the Image of God the Father as worship in the Son, so too do we speak
of worship in the Spirit as shewing in Himself the Godhead of the
Lord. Wherefore even in our worship the Holy Spirit is
inseparable from the Father and the Son. If you remain outside
the Spirit you will not be able even to worship at all; and on your
becoming in Him you will in no wise be able to dissever Him from
God;—any more than you will divorce light from visible
objects. For it is impossible to behold the Image of the
invisible God except by the enlightenment of the Spirit, and
impracticable for him to fix his gaze on the Image to dissever the
light from the Image, because the cause of vision is of necessity seen
at the same time as the visible objects. Thus fitly and
consistently do we behold the “Brightness of the glory” of
God by means of the illumination of the Spirit, and by means of the
“Express Image” we are led up to Him of whom He is the
Express Image and Seal, graven to the like.
cf. note on § 15. So Athan. in Matt.
xi. 22. Σφραγὶς
γάρ ἐστιν
ἰσότυπος ἐν
ἑαυτῷ
δεικνὺς τὸν
πατέρα. cf.
Athan., De Dec. § 20, and note 9 in this
series, p. 163. cf. also Greg. Nyss., In Eunom.
ii. 12.