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

That Scripture uses the words “in” or “by,” , cf. note on p. 3, in place of “with.” Whereinalso it is proved that the word “and” has the same force as “with.”Chapter XXV.That Scripture uses the words “in” or “by,” ἐν, cf. note on p. 3, in place of “with.” Whereinalso it is proved that the word “and” has the same force as “with.”58. It is, however, asked by our opponents, how it is that Scripture nowhere describesthe Spirit as glorified together with the Father and the Son, but carefully avoids the use ofthe expression “with the Spirit,” while it everywhere prefers to ascribe glory “in Him” asbeing the fitter phrase. I should, for my own part, deny that the word in [or by] implieslower dignity than the word “with;” I should maintain on the contrary that, rightly understood,it leads us up to the highest possible meaning. This is the case where, as we haveobserved, it often stands instead of with; as for instance, “I will go into thy house in burntofferings,” 1215 instead of with burnt offerings and “he brought them forth also by silver andgold,” 1216 that is to say with silver and gold and “thou goest not forth in our armies” 1217instead of with our armies, and innumerable similar passages. In short I should very muchlike to learn from this newfangled philosophy what kind of glory the Apostle ascribed bythe word in, according to the interpretation which our opponents proffer as derived fromScripture, for I have nowhere found the formula “To Thee, O Father, be honour and glory,through Thy only begotten Son, by [or in] the Holy Ghost,”—a form which to our opponentscomes, so to say, as naturally as the air they breathe. You may indeed find each of theseclauses separately, 1218 but they will nowhere be able to show them to us arranged in thisconjunction. If, then, they want exact conformity to what is written, let them give us exactreferences. If, on the other hand, they make concession to custom, they must not make usan exception to such a privilege.59. As we find both expressions in use among the faithful, we use both; in the beliefthat full glory is equally given to the Spirit by both. The mouths, however, of revilers of thetruth may best be stopped by the preposition which, while it has the same meaning as thatof the Scriptures, is not so wieldy a weapon for our opponents, (indeed it is now an objectof their attack) and is used instead of the conjunction and. For to say “Paul and Silvanusand Timothy” 1219 is precisely the same thing as to say Paul with Timothy and Silvanus; forthe connexion of the names is preserved by either mode of expression. The Lord says “TheFather, the Son and the Holy Ghost.” 1220 If I say the Father and the Son with the Holy371215 Ps. lxvi. 13, LXX.1216 Ps. cv. 37.1217 Ps. xliv. 9.1218 In Eph. ii. 18 they are combined, but no Scriptural doxology uses ἐν of the Spirit.1219 1 Thess. i. 1.1220 Matt. xxviii. 19.220