Chapter IX.
That the Holy Spirit is provoked is proved by the words
of St. Peter, in which it is shown that the Spirit of God is one and
the same as the Spirit of the Lord, both by other passages and by
reference to the sentence of the same Apostle on Ananias and Sapphira,
whence it is argued that the union of the Holy Spirit with the Father
and the Son, as well as His own Godhead, is proved.
54.
Perhaps
,
however, some one might say that this passage cannot be specially
applied to the Holy Spirit, had not the same Apostle Peter taught us in
another place that the Holy Ghost can be tempted by our sins, for you
find that the wife of Ananias is thus addressed: “Why have
ye agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord?”
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For the Spirit of the Lord is the
very Spirit of God; for there is one Holy Spirit, as also the Apostle
Paul taught, saying: “But ye are not in the flesh, but in
the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you. But
if any man hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of
His.”
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He first
mentioned the Spirit of God and immediately adds that the Same is the
Spirit of Christ. And having spoken of the Spirit, that we might
understand that where the Holy Spirit is there is Christ, he
added: “But if Christ be in you.”
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55. Then, in the same way as we here
understand that where the Spirit is there also is Christ; so also,
elsewhere, he shows that where Christ is, there also is the Holy
Spirit. For having said: “Do ye seek a proof of
Christ Who speaketh in me?”
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he says
elsewhere: “For I think that I also
have the Spirit of God.”
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The Unity, then, is inseparable, for
by the testimony of Scripture where either the Father or the Son or the
Holy Spirit is designated, there is all the fulness of the
Trinity.
56. But Peter himself in the instance we
have brought forward spoke first of the Holy Spirit, and then called
Him the Spirit of the Lord, for you read as follows:
“Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy
Spirit, and to deal fraudulently concerning the price of the
field? While it remained did it not continue thine own, and when
sold was it not in thy power? Why hast thou conceived this
wickedness in thy heart? Thou hast not lied unto men but unto
God.”
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And below
he says to the wife: “Why have ye agreed together to tempt
the Spirit of the Lord?”
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57. First, we understand that he called the Holy
Spirit the Spirit of the Lord. Then, since he mentioned first the
Holy Spirit and added: “Thou hast not lied unto men but
unto God,” you must necessarily either understand the oneness of
the Godhead in the Holy Spirit, since when the Holy Spirit is tempted a
lie is told to God; or, if you endeavour to exclude the oneness of the
Godhead, you yourself according to the words of Scripture certainly
believe Him to be God.
58. For if we understand that these expressions
are used both of the Spirit and of the Father, we certainly observe the
unity of truth and knowledge in God the Father and the Holy Spirit, for
falsehood is discovered alike by the Holy Spirit and by God the
Father. But if we have received each truth concerning the Spirit,
why do you, faithless man, attempt to deny what you read?
Confess, then, either the oneness of the Godhead of the Father, of the
Son, and of the Holy Spirit, or the Godhead of the Holy Spirit.
Whichever you say, you will have said each in God, for both the Unity
upholds the Godhead and the Godhead the Unity
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Acts v. 9
.
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Rom. viii. 9
.
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Rom. viii. 10
.
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2 Cor. xiii. 3
.
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1 Cor. vii. 40
.
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Acts v. 3, 4
.
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Acts v. 5
.