Nicene and Post-Nicene Church Fathers Series 2 - The Still Small ...

Chapter XIX.
Against those who assert that the Spirit ought not to be glorified.
48. “Be it so,” it is rejoined, “but glory is by no means so absolutely due to the Spirit as
to require His exaltation by us in doxologies.” Whence then could we get demonstrations
of the dignity of the Spirit, “passing all understanding,” 1114 if His communion with the
Father and the Son were not reckoned by our opponents as good for testimony of His rank?
It is, at all events, possible for us to arrive to a certain extent at intelligent apprehension of
the sublimity of His nature and of His unapproachable power, by looking at the meaning
of His title, and at the magnitude of His operations, and by His good gifts bestowed on us
or rather on all creation. He is called Spirit, as “God is a Spirit,” 1115 and “the breath of our
nostrils, the anointed of the Lord.” 1116 He is called holy, 1117 as the Father is holy, and the
Son is holy, for to the creature holiness was brought in from without, but to the Spirit holiness
is the fulfilment of nature, and it is for this reason that He is described not as being sanctified,
but as sanctifying. He is called good, 1118 as the Father is good, and He who was begotten
of the Good is good, and to the Spirit His goodness is essence. He is called upright, 1119 as
“the Lord is upright,” 1120 in that He is Himself truth, 1121 and is Himself Righteousness, 1122
having no divergence nor leaning to one side or to the other, on account of the immutability
of His substance. He is called Paraclete, like the Only begotten, as He Himself says, “I will
ask the Father, and He will give you another comforter.” 1123 Thus names are borne by the
Spirit in common with the Father and the Son, and He gets these titles from His natural and
close relationship. From what other source could they be derived? Again He is called royal,
1124 Spirit of truth, 1125 and Spirit of wisdom. 1126 “The Spirit of God,” it is said “hath
1114 Phil. iv. 7.
1115 John iv. 24.
1116 Lam. iv. 20. Sic in A.V. and R.V., the reference being to Zedekiah. cf. Jer. xxxix. 5. The Vulgate reads,
“Spiritus oris nostri Christus Dominus,” from the Greek of the LXX. quoted by St. Basil, “Πνεῦμα προσώπου
ἡμῶν χριστὸς κύριος.”
1117 1 John i. 20.
1118 Ps. cxliii. 10.
1119 Ps. li. 10.
1120 Ps. xcii. 15.
1121 John xiv. 17; xv. 26; xvi. 13; 1 John v. 6.
1122 2 Cor. iii. 8, 9.
1123 John xiv. 16, παράκλητον. cf. Note on p. 29.
1124 Ps. li. 12, lxx. πνεῦμα ἡγεμονικόν. Vulg. spiritus principalis.
1125 John xv. 26, etc.
1126 Is. xi. 2.
Against those who assert that the Spirit ought not to be glorified.
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