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

Chapter XXVI.
That the word “in,” in as many senses as it bears, is understood of the Spirit.
61. Now, short and simple as this utterance is, it appears to me, as I consider it, that its
meanings are many and various. For of the senses in which “in” is used, we find that all
help our conceptions of the Spirit. Form is said to be in Matter; Power to be in what is capable
of it; Habit to be in him who is affected by it; and so on. 1229 Therefore, inasmuch as the
Holy Spirit perfects rational beings, completing their excellence, He is analogous to Form.
For he, who no longer “lives after the flesh,” 1230 but, being “led by the Spirit of God,” 1231
is called a Son of God, being “conformed to the image of the Son of God,” 1232 is described
as spiritual. And as is the power of seeing in the healthy eye, so is the operation of the
Spirit in the purified soul. Wherefore also Paul prays for the Ephesians that they may have
their “eyes enlightened” by “the Spirit of wisdom.” 1233 And as the art in him who has acquired
it, so is the grace of the Spirit in the recipient ever present, though not continuously
in operation. For as the art is potentially in the artist, but only in operation when he is
working in accordance with it, so also the Spirit is ever present with those that are worthy,
but works, as need requires, in prophecies, or in healings, or in some other actual carrying
into effect of His potential action. 1234 Furthermore as in our bodies is health, or heat, or,
generally, their variable conditions, so, very frequently is the Spirit in the soul; since He
does not abide with those who, on account of the instability of their will, easily reject the
grace which they have received. An instance of this is seen in Saul, 1235 and the seventy
elders of the children of Israel, except Eldad and Medad, with whom alone the Spirit appears
1229 cf. Note on Chapter iii. p. 4. In the Aristotelian philosophy, εἶδος, or Forma, is the τὸ τί ἦν εἶναι, the
essence or formal cause. cf. Ar., Met. vi. 7, 4. εἶδος δὲ λέγω τὸ τί ἦν εἶναι ἑκάστον καὶ τὴν πρώτην οὐσιαν.
Δύναμις, or Potentia, is potential action or existence, as opposed to ἐνέργεια, actus, actual action or existence,
or ἐντελέχεια. cf. Ar., Met., viii. 3, 9, and viii. 8, 11. Sir W. Hamilton, Metaph. i. 178–180.
1230 Rom. viii. 12.
1231 Rom. viii. 14.
1232 Rom. viii. 29.
1233 Eph. i. 17, 18.
1234 ἐν ἄλλοις τισι δυνάμεων ἐνεργήμασι. The Benedictine translation is in aliis miraculorum operationibus.”
It is of course quite true that δύναμις is one of the four words used in the New Testament for miracle, and often
has that sense, but here the context suggest the antithesis between potential and actual operation, and moreover
non-miraculous (in the ordinary sense) operations of the Spirit need not be excluded; in a deep sense all His
operations are miraculous. ἐνέργημα is an uncommon word, meaning the work wrought by ἐνέργεια or oper-
ation.
1235 1 Sam. xvi. 14.
That the word “in,” in as many senses as it bears, is understood of the…
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