{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/ecf/208/2080058.htm","path":"chr/ecf/208/2080058.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/208/2080058.htm","text":"That our opponents refuse to concede in the case of the Spirit the terms which Scripture uses in the case of men, as reigning together with Christ.\n69. But let us see if we can bethink us of any defence of this usage of our fathers; for they who first originated the expression are more open to blame than we ourselves. Paul in his Letter to the Colossians says, \u201cAnd you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision\u2026hath He quickened together with\u201d 1286 Christ. Did then God give to a whole people and to the Church the boon of the life with Christ, and yet the life with Christ does not belong to the Holy Spirit? But if this is impious even to think of, is it not rightly reverent so to make our confession, as They are by nature in close conjunction? Furthermore what boundless lack of sensibility does it not shew in these men to confess that the Saints are with Christ, (if, as we know is the case, Paul, on becoming absent from the body, is present with the p. 44 Lord, 1287 and, after departing, is with Christ 1288 ) and, so far as lies in their power, to refuse to allow to the Spirit to be with Christ even to the same extent as men? And Paul calls himself a \u201clabourer together with God\u201d 1289 in the dispensation of the Gospel; will they bring an indictment for impiety against us, if we apply the term \u201cfellow-labourer\u201d to the Holy Spirit, through whom in every creature under heaven the Gospel bringeth forth fruit? 1290 The life of them that have trusted in the Lord \u201cis hidden,\u201d it would seem, \u201cwith Christ in God, and when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall\u201d they themselves also \u201cappear with Him in glory;\u201d 1291 and is the Spirit of life Himself, \u201cWho made us free from the law of sin,\u201d 1292 not with Christ, both in the secret and hidden life with Him, and in the manifestation of the glory which we expect to be manifested in the saints? We are \u201cheirs of God and joint heirs with Christ,\u201d 1293 and is the Spirit without part or lot in the fellowship of God and of His Christ? \u201cThe Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God;\u201d 1294 and are we not to allow to the Spirit even that testimony of His fellowship with God which we have learnt from the Lord? For the height of folly is reached if we through the faith in Christ which is in the Spirit 1295 hope that we shall be raised together with Him and sit together in heavenly places, 1296 whenever He shall change our vile body from the natural to the spiritual, 1297 and yet refuse to assign to the Spirit any share in the sitting together, or in the glory, or anything else which we have received from Him. Of all the boons of which, in accordance with the indefeasible grant of Him who has promised them, we have believed ourselves worthy, are we to allow none to the Holy Spirit, as though they were all above His dignity? It is yours according to your merit to be \u201cever with the Lord,\u201d and you expect to be caught up \u201cin the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and to be ever with the Lord.\u201d 1298 You declare the man who numbers and ranks the Spirit with the Father and the Son to be guilty of intolerable impiety. Can you really now deny that the Spirit is with Christ?\n70. I am ashamed to add the rest. You expect to be glorified together with Christ; (\u201cif so be that we suffer with him that we may be also glorified together;\u201d 1299 ) but you do not glorify the \u201cSpirit of holiness\u201d 1300 together with Christ, as though He were not worthy to receive equal honour even with you. You hope to \u201creign with\u201d 1301 Christ; but you \u201cdo despite unto the Spirit of grace\u201d 1302 by assigning Him the rank of a slave and a subordinate. And I say this not to demonstrate that so much is due to the Spirit in the ascription of glory, but to prove the unfairness of those who will not ever give so much as this, and shrink from the fellowship of the Spirit with Son and Father as from impiety. Who could touch on these things without a sigh? 1303 Is it not so plain as to be within the perception even of a child that this present state of things preludes the threatened eclipse of the faith? The undeniable has become the uncertain. We profess belief in the Spirit, and then we quarrel with our own confessions. We are baptized, and begin to fight again. We call upon Him as the Prince of Life, and then despise Him as a slave like ourselves. We received Him with the Father and the Son, and we dishonour Him as a part of creation. Those who \u201cknow not what they ought to pray for,\u201d 1304 even though they be induced to utter a word of the Spirit with awe, as though coming near His dignity, yet prune down all that exceeds the exact proportion of their speech. They ought rather to bewail their weakness, in that we are powerless to express in words our gratitude for the benefits which we are actually receiving; for He \u201cpasses all understanding,\u201d 1305 and convicts speech of its natural inability even to approach His dignity in the least degree; as it is written in the Book of Wisdom, 1306 \u201cExalt Him as much as you can, for even yet will He far exceed; and when you exalt Him put forth all your strength, and be not weary, for you can never go far enough.\u201d Verily terrible is the account to be given for words of this kind by you who have heard from God who cannot lie that for blasphemy against the Holy Ghost there is no forgiveness. 1307\ncf. 2 Cor. v. 8.\n44:1288\ncf. Phil. i. 23.\n44:1289 44:1290\ncf. Col. i. 6.\n44:1291 44:1292 44:1293 44:1294\nRom. 8:16, 17. In this passage A.V. follows the neuter of the Greek original. R.V. has substituted \u201chimself.\u201d cf. note on p. 15.\n44:1295\ncf. Gal. v. 5.\n44:1296\ncf. Eph. ii. 6.\n44:1297\ncf. Phil. 3:21, 1 Cor. 15:44.\n44:1298 44:1299 44:1300 44:1301 44:1302 44:1303\ncf. Verg., \u00c6n. ii. Quis talia fando\u2026temperet a lacrymis?\n44:1304 44:1305 44:1306\ni.e. of Jesus the Son of Sirach, or Ecclesiasticus 43.30.\n44:1307","title":"Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Ser. II, Vol. VIII: De Spiritu Sancto.: That our opponents refuse to concede in the case of the Spirit the terms which Scripture uses in the case of men, as reigning together with Christ.","type":"page"}