On the Holy Spirit

Contents

Reading pages: 1.1–5.12 · 6.13–8.21 · 9.22–14.33 · 15.34–17.43 · 18.44–23.54 · 24.55–26.64 · 27.65–29.75 · 30.76–30.79

1. 1.1Basil praises Amphilochius for asking questions to learn the truth, unlike those who ask in order to pick a quarrel.
2. 1.2Basil defends the careful study of small words in theology, since even single syllables can carry truth or falsehood.
3. 1.3Basil explains that the treatise began when some objected to his using two forms of the doxology.
4. 2.4The heretics use the prepositions "from whom," "through whom," and "in whom" to argue that Father, Son, and Spirit differ in nature.
5. 3.5The heretics borrowed a philosophers' classification of causes, in which each kind of cause has its own preposition, and applied it to God.
6. 4.6Scripture does not use "from which" only of matter, and the heretics' borrowed rules would make the Son and the Spirit alien in nature to the Father.
7. 5.7Paul uses "from him" and "through him" together of the same subject, so the prepositions do not mark different natures.
8. 5.8Whether Rom 11:36 speaks of the Son or of the Father, the opponents' rule for the prepositions fails.
9. 5.9Scripture uses "from whom" of the Son and of the Spirit, not only of the Father.
10. 5.10Scripture uses "through whom" of the Father and of the Spirit as well as of the Son.
11. 5.11Scripture uses "in" of the Father too, so by the opponents' own logic the same wording shows the same essence.
12. 5.12Scripture often exchanges "through" and "from"; Paul says Christ was born "from a woman" to show that his flesh was truly human.
13. 6.13The opponents say the Son is "after" the Father and the Spirit "under" both, and so object to the doxology "with the Son."
14. 6.14The Son cannot be "after" the Father in time, for his begetting is beyond all time, as John's "In the beginning was the Word" shows.
15. 6.15"Sitting at the right hand" shows the Son's equal honour with the Father, not a lower place.
16. 7.16The church uses both "with" and "through": "with" to glorify the Son, "through" to give thanks for his gifts, and "with" is the old usage of the fathers.
17. 8.17Scripture calls Christ by many names: some show his nature, others his benefits to us, and "through him" fits the latter.
18. 8.18Christ's names as bridegroom, physician, and way show his power and love; our ascent to the Father is through him.
19. 8.19All the Father's gifts come to us through the Son, who works with the Father's own power, not as a servant or tool.
20. 8.20The "commandment" the Son receives is not an order to a subordinate but the timeless sharing of one will between Father and Son.
21. 8.21Christ's obedience shows that his saving work comes from the Father, while his words of command show his own authority.
22. 9.22The Scriptures' names for the Spirit lead the mind to a divine, infinite, and life-giving nature, present to all yet shared by each as by one alone.
23. 9.23The Spirit draws near to a soul cleansed of passions, shows it the image of God, and makes it spiritual, even to the point of becoming god by grace.
24. 10.24The Lord himself joined the Spirit with the Father and the Son in the baptismal command, so the church may rightly do the same.
25. 10.25The attack on the church's doxology is really an attack on the faith and on the apostolic tradition.
26. 10.26We were saved and baptised into Father, Son, and Spirit, and must never abandon that baptismal confession.
27. 11.27Those who deny the Spirit break the confession they made at baptism, and without the Spirit there is no true faith in the Son or the Father.
28. 12.28Baptism must always be given in the names of Father, Son, and Spirit, since faith and baptism are joined and both rest on the same three names.
29. 13.29Paul names the angels in a charge only as witnesses; the Spirit, as Lord of life, is named with the Father and the Son for a different reason.
30. 13.30Preachers call heaven, earth, and even stones as witnesses, but the Spirit is ranked with God by nature, as the Lord himself ranked him.
31. 14.31Baptism "into Moses" in the cloud and sea was only a type of Christian baptism, which it foreshadowed.
32. 14.32A type does not make its fulfilment small; the baptism into Moses had none of the gifts of Christian baptism.
33. 14.33Moses was a type of Christ, not of the Spirit; God trained his people through shadows and types before showing them the full light.
34. 15.34The opponents object that baptism in water would, by Basil's logic, give honour to water.
35. 15.35Baptism imitates Christ's death and burial: the water gives the image of death, and the Spirit gives new life.
36. 15.36Through the Spirit come adoption and every blessing; martyrs baptised in their own blood show that the grace is the Spirit's, not the water's.
37. 16.37Scripture shows the Spirit working together with the Father and the Son; Paul names the Spirit first only because we meet the giver of gifts first.
38. 16.38In the creation of the angels the Father is the principal cause, the Son the creator, and the Spirit the one who perfects and sanctifies them.
39. 16.39The Spirit was present in all God's saving work, above all in Christ's anointing, ministry, and resurrection gift, and he orders the church.
40. 16.40At the judgment the Spirit will be the reward of the righteous, and to be cut off from him will be the punishment of sinners.
41. 17.41If "subnumeration" means dividing a common class into its members, it would make Father, Son, and Spirit of one essence, the opposite of what the opponents intend.
42. 17.42Basil mocks the idea that counting something second makes it inferior.
43. 17.43Counting does not change the nature of what is counted, and the baptismal formula ranks the Spirit with the Son as the Son is ranked with the Father.
44. 18.44The Lord handed down the names Father, Son, and Spirit without numbering them, and each is proclaimed as one without any idea of many gods.
45. 18.45Father, Son, and Spirit are each one, yet there are not three gods, just as a king and his image are not two kings.
46. 18.46The Spirit proceeds from God as the breath of his mouth, not by begetting, and glorifies the Son as one of his own nature.
47. 18.47The knowledge of God runs from the Spirit through the Son to the Father, and God's gifts from the Father through the Son to the Spirit; counting them "first, second, third" would make three gods.
48. 19.48The Spirit shares the names of Father and Son—holy, good, right, Paraclete—which shows that glory is due to him.
49. 19.49The Spirit's workings in creation, in Christ's coming, in redemption and resurrection, and his commanding speech in Scripture show his greatness.
50. 19.50That the Spirit intercedes for us does not make him lower, since the Son also intercedes; Scripture speaks of him as one who can be grieved and provoked, and who knows the things of God.
51. 20.51The claim that the Spirit is neither slave nor master but free fails: among men slavery is not by nature, but every creature serves God, so the Spirit is either a creature and a slave or above creation and a sharer in God's rule.
52. 21.52Scripture calls the Spirit "Lord": in Paul's prayers for the Thessalonians and in "the Lord is the Spirit," which Basil explains by the veil over the letter of the law.
53. 22.53Like the Father and the Son, the Spirit is beyond the world's sight and is seen only by the pure in heart.
54. 23.54Angels are in one place at a time, but the Spirit is everywhere at once; to recount his wonders is itself to glorify him.
55. 24.55Scripture gives glory to men, Israel, the heavenly bodies, and even the ministry of the law; the Spirit, joined with the Godhead in faith, baptism, and every gift, cannot be denied glory with the Father and the Son.
56. 24.56The Spirit is good by nature, knows the depths of God, and gives life with the Father and the Son, so he cannot be ranked with creation.
57. 24.57The Spirit is God's gift, but a gift of life and power, as the Son too was given; to belittle him for this is ingratitude.
58. 25.58Scripture often uses "in" where it means "with," and the opponents' own doxology ("through the Son in the Spirit") is not found in Scripture as a single formula.
59. 25.59"With" and "and" link the names equally, but "with" also shows the distinct hypostases and their inseparable fellowship, refuting both Sabellius and those who separate the persons in time.
60. 25.60"With" expresses conjunction and "in" the relation to a place or sphere; Basil offers peace on "and" as in the baptismal formula, but the opponents insist on "in the Spirit" as lowering him.
61. 26.61"In the Spirit" has many senses—as form in matter, sight in the eye, an art in the craftsman, reason in the soul, and parts in a whole—each showing the Spirit's work in believers.
62. 26.62The Spirit is called the "place" of the saints—the place of true worship and of the sacrifice of praise—and the saint in turn is a place for the Spirit.
63. 26.63In relation to the Father and the Son the Spirit is better said to be "with" them, since he coexists with them eternally; "in" fits his grace in us, and the doxology "in the Spirit" confesses our weakness.
64. 26.64Worship "in the Spirit" also means worship in his light: as the Father is seen in the Son, the Son is seen in the Spirit, so the Spirit is inseparable from them in worship.
65. 27.65Answering the charge that "with the Spirit" is a novelty, Basil turns to the origin, force, and scriptural basis of "with".
66. 27.66Much that the church holds comes from unwritten apostolic tradition—the sign of the cross, facing east, the words of the epiclesis, the blessings and threefold immersion of baptism, standing to pray on Sunday and at Pentecost—kept in silence to guard the mysteries.
67. 27.67Even the confession of faith in Father, Son, and Spirit is not written as such; if it follows from baptism, the doxology may follow from the faith, and one word handed down from the fathers should be allowed.
68. 27.68"In" expresses the Spirit's grace toward us and "with" his fellowship with God; as we are baptized, so we believe, and as we believe, so we glorify.
69. 28.69Scripture says believers live, reign, and are glorified "with Christ"; it is absurd to deny the Spirit the same "with".
70. 28.70Men expect to be glorified with Christ yet deny the Spirit that glory; the present confusion foreshadows a failure of faith, and blasphemy against the Spirit is unforgivable.
71. 29.71Unwritten apostolic traditions are to be kept, and the doxology "with the Spirit" is one of them, attested by many ancient witnesses; Basil received it from the man who baptized him.
72. 29.72Basil cites earlier writers for the Spirit's place in the doxology: Dionysius of Alexandria's closing "with the Holy Spirit," Clement of Rome, Irenaeus, and Eusebius.
73. 29.73Origen, Julius Africanus, the ancient lamp-lighting hymn, and the martyr Athenogenes also glorify the Spirit with the Father and the Son.
74. 29.74Gregory the Wonderworker, whose tradition his churches kept unchanged, handed down the disputed doxology; Firmilian, Meletius, the East, Mesopotamia, Cappadocia, and the West use it too.
75. 29.75Basil is no innovator, since his usage has the support of nations, custom, and great teachers; he will endure persecution rather than fear the Lord's threats against blasphemy of the Spirit.
76. 30.76Basil likens the present state of the churches to a naval battle fought in a storm, where friend and foe are confused and ambition persists as the ship sinks.
77. 30.77The Arian controversy has split the churches into warring factions: bishops exiled, doctrine twisted to both extremes, self-appointed men seizing office, and no one willing to obey.
78. 30.78In such a time silence seemed wiser, for love has grown cold and Christians rejoice in one another's falls.
79. 30.79Love for Amphilochius and the example of the three youths in Babylon moved Basil to speak; he entrusts the work to his friend's discretion and invites further questions.