39. But when we speak of the dispensations
made for man by our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ,
Titus ii. 13, R.V. The A.V. favours
the view, opposed to that of the Greek Fathers, that “the
great God” means the Father. cf. Theodoret in
this edition, pp. 319 and 321 and notes. who will gainsay their having been
accomplished through the grace of the Spirit? Whether you wish to
examine ancient evidence;—the blessings of the patriarchs, the
succour given through the legislation, the types, the prophecies, the
valorous feats in war, the signs wrought through just men;—or on
the other hand the things done in the dispensation of the coming of our
Lord in the flesh;—all is through the Spirit. In the first
place He was made an unction, and being inseparably present was with
the very flesh of the Lord, according to that which is written,
“Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on
Him, the same is”
John i. 33. “my beloved
Son;”
Matt. iii.
17. and “Jesus of
Nazareth” whom “God anointed with the Holy
Ghost.”
Acts x. 38. After this
every operation was wrought with the co-operation of the Spirit.
He was present when the Lord was being tempted by the devil; for, it is
said, “Jesus was led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be
tempted.”
Matt. iv. 1. He was
inseparably with Him while working His wonderful works; δυνάμεις,
rendered “wonderful works” in Matt. vii. 22; “mighty works” in
Matt. xi. 20, Mark vi. 14, and Luke x.
13; and
“miracles” in Acts ii. 22, xix. 11,
and Gal. iii. 5. for, it is said, “If I by the Spirit
of God cast out devils.”
Matt. xii.
28. And
He did not leave Him when He had risen from the dead; for when
renewing man, and, by breathing on the face of the
disciples,
Gen. ii. 7, lxx. is ἐνεφύσησεν
εἰς τὸ
πρόσωπον
αὐτοῦ. “εἰς τὸ
πρόσωπον”
is thence imported into John xx. 22. Mr. C.F.H. Johnston notes,
“This addition…is found in the Prayer at the Little
Entrance in the Liturgy of St. Mark. Didymus, in his
treatise on the Holy Spirit, which we have only in St.
Jerome’s Latin Version, twice used ‘insufflans in
faciem corum,” §§6, 33. The text is
quoted in this form by Epiphanius Adv. Hær. lxxiv.
13, and by St. Aug. De Trin. iv. 20.” To
these instances may be added Athan. Ep. i. § 8, and
the versions of Upper and Lower Egypt, the Thebaic, known as the
Sahidic, and the Memphitic, or Coptic, both ascribed to the 3rd
century. restoring the
grace, that came of the inbreathing of God, which man had lost, what
did the Lord say? “Receive ye the Holy Ghost:
whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose
soever ye retain, they are retained.”
John xx. 22,
23. And is it not plain and
incontestable that the ordering of the Church is effected through
the Spirit? For He gave, it is said, “in the church,
first Apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that
miracles, then gifts of healing, helps, governments, diversities of
tongues,”
1 Cor. xii.
28. for this order
is ordained in accordance with the division of the gifts that are of
the Spirit. cf.
1 Cor. xii.
11.