Nevertheless, I have heard of some who have passed
in among you, holding the wicked doctrine of the strange
and evil spirit ; to whom ye did not allow entrance to
sow their tares, but stopped your ears that ye might
not receive that error which was proclaimed by them, as
being persuaded that that spirit which deceives the peo-
ple does not speak the things of Christ, but his own,
for he is a lying spirit. But the Holy Spirit does not
speak His own things, but those of Christ, and that not
from himself, but from the Lord ; even as the Lord also
announced to us the things that He received from the
Father. For, says He, " the word which ye hear is not
Mine, but the Father's, who sent Me." ^ And says He
of the Holy Spirit, " He shall not speak of Himself, but
whatsoever things He shall hear from Me." ■♦ And He
says of Himself to the Father, " I have," says He, " glori-
fied Thee upon the earth ; I have finished the work which.
Thou gavest Me ; I have manifested Thy name to men." s
And of the Holy Ghost, " He shall glorify Me, for He
receives of Mine." ^ But the spirit of deceit preaches
himself, and speaks his own things, for he seeks to please
himself. He glorifies himself, for he is full of arrogance.
He is lying, fraudulent, soothing, flattering, treacherous,
rhapsodical, trifling, inharmonious, verbose, sordid, and
timorous. From his power Jesus Christ will deliver you,
who has founded you upon the rock, as being chosen
stones, well fitted for the divine edifice of the Father, and
who are raised up on high by Christ, who was crucified
for you, making use of the Holy Spirit as a rope, and be-
ing borne up by faith, while exalted by love from earth to
heaven, walking in company with those that are undefiled.
For, says [the Scripture], " Blessed are the undefiled in
the way, who walk in the law of the Lord." ^ Now the
way is unerring, namely, Jesus Christ. For, says He, " I
am the way and the life." ^ And this way leads to the
Father. For " no man," says He, " cometh to the Father
but by Me." '° Blessed, then, are ye who are God-bearers,
spirit-bearers, temple-bearers, bearers of holiness, adorned
in all respects with the commandments of Jesus Christ,
being " a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar peo-
ple," " on whose account I rejoice exceedingly, and have
had the privilege, Ijy this Epistle, of conversing with " the
saints which are at Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus." '^
I rejoice, therefore, over you, that ye do not give heed
to vanity, and love nothing according to the flesh, but
accordinc: to God.