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NPNF2-08. Basil: Letters and Select Works - Holy Bible Institute

NPNF2-08. Basil: Letters and Select Works - Holy Bible Institute

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Against those who assert that the Spirit ought not to be glorified.made me,” 1127 <strong>and</strong> God filled Bezaleel with “the divine Spirit of wisdom <strong>and</strong> underst<strong>and</strong>ing<strong>and</strong> knowledge.” 1128 Such names as these are super-eminent <strong>and</strong> mighty, but they do nottranscend His glory.49. And His operations, what are they? For majesty ineffable, <strong>and</strong> for numbers innumerable.How shall we form a conception of what extends beyond the ages? What wereHis operations before that creation whereof we can conceive? How great the grace whichHe conferred on creation? What the power exercised by Him over the ages to come? Heexisted; He pre-existed; He co-existed with the Father <strong>and</strong> the Son before the ages. It followsthat, even if you can conceive of anything beyond the ages, you will find the Spirit yet furtherabove <strong>and</strong> beyond. And if you think of the creation, the powers of the heavens were established by the Spirit, 1129 the establishment being understood to refer to disability to fall awayfrom good. For it is from the Spirit that the powers derive their close relationship to God,their inability to change to evil, <strong>and</strong> their continuance in blessedness. Is it Christ’s advent?The Spirit is forerunner. Is there the incarnate presence? The Spirit is inseparable. Workingof miracles, <strong>and</strong> gifts of healing are through the <strong>Holy</strong> Spirit. Demons were driven out bythe Spirit of God. The devil was brought to naught by the presence of the Spirit. Remissionof sins was by the gift of the Spirit, for “ye were washed, ye were sanctified,…in the nameof the Lord Jesus Christ, <strong>and</strong> in the holy Spirit of our God.” 1130 There is close relationshipwith God through the Spirit, for “God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts,crying Abba, Father.” 1131 The resurrection from the dead is effected by the operation ofthe Spirit, for “Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created; <strong>and</strong> Thou renewest the faceof the earth.” 1132 If here creation may be taken to mean the bringing of the departed to lifeagain, how mighty is not the operation of the Spirit, Who is to us the dispenser of the lifethat follows on the resurrection, <strong>and</strong> attunes our souls to the spiritual life beyond? Or ifhere by creation is meant the change to a better condition of those who in this life havefallen into sin, (for it is so understood according to the usage of Scripture, as in the wordsof Paul “if any man be in Christ he is a new creature” 1133 ), the renewal which takes placein this life, <strong>and</strong> the transmutation from our earthly <strong>and</strong> sensuous life to the heavenly conversationwhich takes place in us through the Spirit, then our souls are exalted to the highestpitch of admiration. With these thoughts before us are we to be afraid of going beyond due311127 Job xxxiii. 4.1128 Ex. xxxi. 3, LXX.1129 cf. Ps. xxxiii. 6.1130 1 Cor. vi. 11, R.V.1131 Gal. iv. 6.1132 Ps. civ. 30.1133 2 Cor. v. 17.206

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