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TOPIC: Post-Nicene Fathers Vol 08 (Other Topics in this Collection)
SUBJECT: 28.01.03 St. Basil On the Spirit Pt 3
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20. When then He says, "I have not spoken of myself,"hyperlink and again, "As the Father said unto me, so I speak,"hyperlink and" The word which ye hear is not mine. but [the Father's] which sent me,"hyperlink and in another place, "As the Father gave me commandment, even so I do,"hyperlink it is not because He lacks deliberate purpose or power of initiation, nor yet because He has to wait for the preconcerted key-note, that he employs language of this kind. His object is to make it plain that His own will is connected in indissoluble union with the Father. Do not then let us understand by what is called a "commandment" a peremptory mandate delivered by organs of speech, and giving orders to the Son, as to a subordinate, concerning what He ought to do. Let us rather, in a sense befitting the Godhead, perceive a transmission of will, like the reflexion of an object in a mirror, passing without note of time from Father to Son. "For the Father loveth the Son and sheweth him all things,"hyperlink so that "all things that the Father hath" belong to the Son, not gradual accruing to Him little by little, but with Him all together and at once. Among men, the workman who has been thoroughly taught his craft, and, through long training, has sure and established experience in it, is able, in accordance with the scientific methods which now he has in store, to work for the future by himself. And are we to suppose that the wisdom of God, the Maker of all creation, He who is eternally perfect, who is wise, without a teacher, the Power of God, "in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,"hyperlink needs piecemeal instruction to mark out the manner and measure of His operations? I presume that in the vanity of your calculations, you mean to open a school; you will make the one take His seat in the teacher's place, and the other stand by in a scholars ignorance, gradually learning wisdom and advancing to perfection, by lessons given Him bit by bit. Hence, if you have sense to abide by what logically follows, you will find the Son being eternally taught, nor yet ever able to reach the end of perfection, inasmuch as the wisdom of the Father is infinite, and the end of the infinite is beyond apprehension. It results that whoever refuses to grant that the Son has all things from the beginning will never grant that He will reach perfection. But I am ashamed at the degraded conception to which, by the course of the argument, I have been brought down. Let us therefore revert to the loftier themes of our discussion.
21. "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father;hyperlink not the express image, nor yet the form, for the divine nature does not admit of combination; but the goodness of the will, which, being concurrent with the essence, is beheld as like and equal, or rather the same, in the Father as in the Son.hyperlink
What then is meant by "became subject"?hyperlink What by "delivered him up"?hyperlink It is meant that the Son has it of the Father that He works in goodness on behalf of men. But you must hear too the words, "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law;"hyperlink and "while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."hyperlink
Give careful heed, too, to the words of the Lord, and note how, whenever He instructs us about His Father, He is in the habit of using terms of personal authority, saying," I will; be thou clean;"hyperlink and "Peace, be still;"hyperlink and "But I say unto you;"hyperlink and "Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee;"hyperlink and all other expressions of the same kind, in order that by these we may recognise our Master and Maker, and by the former may be taught the Father of our Master and Creator.hyperlink Thus on all sides is demonstrated the true doctrine that the fact that the Father creates through the Son neither constitutes the creation of the Father imperfect nor exhibits the active energy of the Son as feeble, but indicates the unity of the will; so the expression "through whom" contains a confession of an antecedent Cause, and is not adopted in objection to the efficient Cause.
Chapter IX
Definitive conceptions about the Spirit which conform to the teaching of the Scriptures.
22. Let us now investigate what are our common conceptions concerning the Spirit, as well those which have been gathered by us from Holy Scripture concerning It as those which we have received from the unwritten tradition of t he Fathers. First of all we ask, who on hearing the titles of the Spirit is not lifted up in soul, who does not raise his conception to the supreme nature? It is called "Spirit of God,"hyperlink "Spirit of truth which proceedeth from the Father,"hyperlink "right Spirit,"hyperlink "a leading Spirit."hyperlink Itshyperlink proper and peculiar title is "Holy Spirit;" which is a name specially appropriate to everything that is incorporeal, purely immaterial, and indivisible. So our Lord, when teaching the woman who thought God to be an object of local worship that the incorporeal is incomprehensible, said "God is a spirit."hyperlink On our hearing, then, of a spirit, it is impossible to form the idea of a nature circumscribed, subject to change and variation, or at all like the creature. We are compelled to advance in our conceptions to the highest, and to think of an intelligent essence, in power infinite, in magnitudeunlimited, unmeasured by times or ages, generous of It's good gifts, to whom turn all things needing sanctification, after whom reach all things that live in virtue, as being watered by It's inspiration and helped on toward their natural and proper end; perfecting all other things, but Itself in nothing lacking; living not as needing restoration, but as Supplier of life; not growing by additions; but straightway full, self-established, omnipresent, origin of sanctification, light perceptible to the mind, supplying, as it were, through Itself, illumination to every faculty in the search for truth; by nature un-approachable, apprehended by reason of goodness, filling all things with Its power,hyperlink but communicated only to the worthy; not shared in one measure, but distributing Its energy according to "the proportion of faith;"hyperlink in essence simple, in powers various, wholly present in each and being wholly everywhere; impassively divided, shared without loss of ceasing to be entire, after the likeness of the sunbeam, whose kindly light falls on him who enjoys it as though it shone for him alone, yet illumines land and sea and mingles with the air. So, too, is the Spirit to every one who receives lt, as though given to him alone, and yet It sends forth grace sufficient and full for all mankind, and is enjoyed by all who share It, according to the capacity, not of Its power, but of their nature.
23. Now the Spirit is not brought into intimate association with the soul by local approximation. How indeed could there be a corporeal approach to the incorporeal? This association results from the withdrawal of the passions which, coming afterwards gradually on the soul from its friendship to the flesh, have alienated it from its close relationship with God. Only then after a man is purified from the shame whose stain he took through his wickedness, and has come back again to his natural beauty, and as it were cleaning the Royal Image and restoring its ancient form, only thus is it possible for him to draw near to the Paraclete.hyperlink And He, like the sun, will by the aid of thy purified eye show thee in Himself the image of the invisible, and in the blessed spectacle of the image thou shalt behold the unspeakable beauty of the archetype.hyperlink Through His aid hearts are lifted up, the weak are held by the hand, and they who are advancing are brought to perfection.hyperlink Shining upon those that are cleansed from every spot, He makes them spiritual by fellowship with Himself. Just as when a sunbeam falls on bright and transparent bodies, they themselves become brilliant too, and shed forth a fresh brightness from themselves, so souls wherein the Spirit dwells, illuminated by the Spirit, themselves become spiritual, and send forth their grace to others. Hence comes foreknowledge of the future, understanding of mysteries, apprehension of what is hidden, distribution of good gifts, the heavenly citizenship, a place in the chorus of angels, joy without end, abiding in God, the being made like to God, and, highest of all, the being made God.hyperlink Such, then, to instance a few out of many, are the conceptions concerning the Holy Spirit, which we have been taught to hold concerning His greatness, His dignity, and His operations, by the oracleshyperlink of the Spirit themselves.
Chapter X
Against those who say that it is not right to rank the Holy Spirit with the Father and the Son.
24. But we must proceed to attack our opponents, in the endeavour to confute those "oppositions" advanced against us which are derived from "knowledge falsely so-called."hyperlink )
It is not permissible, they assert, for the Holy Spirit to be ranked with the Father and Son, on account of the difference of His nature and the inferiority of His dignity. Against them it is right to reply in the words of the apostles, "We ought to obey God rather than men,"hyperlink
For if our Lord, when enjoining the baptism of salvation, charged His disciples to baptize all nations in the name "of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost,"hyperlink not disdaining fellowship with Him, and these men allege that we must not rank Him with the Father and the Son, is it not clear that they openly withstand the commandment of God? If they deny that coordination of this kind is declaratory of any fellowship and conjunction, let them tell us why it behoves us to hold this opinion, and what more intimate mode of conjunctionhyperlink they have.
If the Lord did not indeed conjoin the Spirit with the Father anti Himself in baptism, do nothyperlink let them lay the blame of conjunction upon us, for we neither hold nor say anything different. If on the contrary the Spirit is there conjoined with the Father and the Son, and no one is so shameless as to say anything else, then let them not lay blame on us for following the words of Scripture.
25. But all the apparatus of war has been got ready against us; every intellectual missile is aimed at us; and now blasphemers' tongues shoot and hit and hit again, yet harder than Stephen of old was smitten by the killers of the Christ.hyperlink And do not let them succeed in concealing the fact that, while an attack on us serves for a pretext for the war, the real aim of these proceedings is higher. It is against us, they say, that they are preparing their engines and their snares; against us that they are shouting to one another, according to each one's strength or cunning, to come on. But the object of attack is faith. The one aim of the whole band of opponents and enemies of "sound doctrine"hyperlink is to shake down the foundation of the faith of Christ by levelling apostolic tradition with the ground, and utterly destroying it. So like the debtors,-of course bona fide debtors.-they clamour for written proof, and reject as worthless the unwritten tradition of the Fathers.hyperlink But we will not slacken in our de fence of the truth. We will not cowardly abandon the cause. The Lord has delivered to us as a necessary and saving doctrine that the Holy Spirit is to be ranked with the Father. Our opponents think differently, and see fit to divide and rendhyperlink asunder, and relegate Him to the nature of a ministering spirit. Is it not then indisputable that they make their own blasphemy more authoritative than the law prescribed by the Lord? Come, then, set aside mere contention. Let us consider the points before us, as follows:
26. Whence is it that we are Christians? Through our faith, would be the universal answer. And in what way are we saved? Plainly because we were regenerate through the grace given in our baptism. How else could we be? And after recognising that this salvation is established through the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, shall we fling away "that form of doctrine"hyperlink which we received? Would it not rather be ground for great groaning if we are found now further off from our salvation "than when we first believed,"hyperlink and deny now what we then received? Whether a man have departed this life without baptism, or have received a baptism lacking in some of the requirements of the tradition, his loss is equal.hyperlink And whoever does not always and everywhere keep to and hold fast as a sure protection the confession which we recorded at our first admission, when, being delivered "from the idols," we came "to the living Gods"hyperlink constitutes himself a "stranger" from the "promises"hyperlink of God, fighting against his own handwriting,hyperlink which he put on record when he professed the faith. For if to me my baptism was the beginningof life, and that day of regeneration the first of days, it is plain that the utterance uttered in the grace of adoption was the most honourable of all. Can I then, perverted by these men's seductive words, abandon the tradition which guided me to the light, which bestowed on me the boon of the knowledge of God, whereby I, so long a foe by reason of sin, was made a child of God? But, for myself, I pray that with this confession I may depart hence to the Lord, and them I charge to preserve the faith secure until the day of Christ, and to keep the Spirit undivided from the Father and the Son, preserving, both in the confession of faith and in the doxology, the doctrine taught them at their baptism.
Chapter XI
That they who deny the Spirit are transgressors.
27. "Who hath woe? Who bath sorrow?"hyperlink For whom is distress and darkness? For whom eternal doom? Is it not for the trangressors? For them that deny the faith? And what is the proof of their denial? Is it not that they have set at naught their own confessions? And when and what did they confess? Belief in the Father and in the Son and in the Holy Ghost, when they renounced the devil and his angels, and uttered those saving words. What fit title then for them has been discovered, for the children of light to use? Are they not addressed as transgressors, as having violated the covenant of their salvation? What am I to call the denial of God? What the denial of Christ? What but transgressions? And to him who denies the Spirit, what title do you wish me to apply? Must it not be the same, inasmuch as he has broken his covenant with God? And when the confession of faith in Him secures the blessing of true religion. and its denial subjects men to the doom of godlessness, is it not a fearful thing for them to set the confession at naught, not through fear of fire, or sword, or cross, or scourge, or wheel, or rack, but merely led astray by the sophistry and seductions of the pneumatomachi? I testify to every man who is confessing Christ and denying God, that Christ will profit him nothing;hyperlink to every man that calls upon God but rejects the Son, that his faith is vain;hyperlink to every man that sets aside the Spirit, that his faith in the Father and the Son will be useless, for he cannot even hold it without the presence of the Spirit. For he who does not believe the Spirit does not believe in the Son, and he who has not believed in the Son does not believe in the Father. For none "can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost,"hyperlink and "No man hath seen God at any time, but the only begotten God which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him."hyperlink
Such an one hath neither part nor lot in the true worship; for it is impossible to worship the Son, save by the Holy Ghost; impossible to call upon the Father, save by the Spirit of adoption.
Chapter XII
Against those who assert that the baptism in the name of the Father alone is sufficient.28. Let no one be misled by the fact of the apostle's frequently omitting the name of the Father and of the Holy Spirit when making mention of baptism, or on this account imagine that the invocation of the names is not observed. "As many of you," he says, "as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ;"hyperlink and again, "As many of you as were baptized into Christ were baptized into his death."hyperlink For the naming of Christ is the confession of the whole,hyperlink shewing forth as it does the God who gave, the Son who received, and the Spirit who is, the unction.hyperlink So we have learned from Peter, in the Acts, of "Jesusof Nazareth whom God anointed with the Holy Ghost;hyperlink and in Isaiah, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me;"hyperlink and the Psalmist, "Therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows."hyperlink Scripture, however, in the case of baptism, sometimes plainly mentions the Spirit alone.hyperlink
"For into one Spirit,"hyperlink it says, "we were. all baptized inhyperlink one body." And in harmony with this are the passages: "You shaft be baptized with the Holy Ghost,"hyperlink and "He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost."hyperlink But no one on this account would be justified in calling that baptism a perfect baptism wherein only the name of the Spirit was invoked. For the tradition that has been given us by the quickening grace must remain for ever inviolate. He who redeemed our life from destructionhyperlink gave us power of renewal, whereof the cause is ineffable and hidden in mystery, but bringing great salvation to our souls, so that to add or to take away anythinghyperlink involves manifestly a falling away from the life everlasting. If then in baptism the separation of the Spirit from the Father and the Son is perilous to the baptizer, and of no advantage to the baptized, how can the rending asunder of the Spirit from Father and from Son be safe for us?hyperlink Faith and baptism are two kindred and inseparable ways of salvation: faith is perfected through baptism, baptism is established through faith, and both are completed by the same names. For as we believe in the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, so are we also baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost; first comes the confession, introducing us to salvation, and baptism follows, setting the seal upon our assent.
Chapter XIII
Statement of the reason why in the writings of Paul the angels are associated with the Father and the Son.
29. It is, however, objected that other beings which are enumerated with the Father and the Son are certainly not always glorified together with them. The apostle, for instance, in his charge to Timothy, associates the angels with them in the words, "I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the elect angels."hyperlink We are not for alienating the angels from the rest of creation, and yet, it is argued, we do not allow of their being reckoned with the Father and the Son. To this I reply, although the argument, so obviously absurd is it, does not really deserve a reply, that possibly before a mild and gentle judge, and especially before One who by His leniency to those arraigned before Him demonstrates the unimpeachable equity of His decisions, one might be willing to offer as witness even a fellow-slave; but for a slave to be made free and called a son of God and quickened from death can only be brought about by Him who has acquired natural kinship with us, and has been changed from the rank of a slave. For how can we be made kin with God by one who is an alien? How can we be freed by one who is himself under the yoke of slavery? It follows that the mention of the Spirit and that of angels are not made under like conditions. The Spirit is called on as Lord of life, and the angels as allies of their fellow-slaves and faithful witnesses of the truth. It is customary for the saints to deliver the commandments of God in the presence of witnesses, as also the apostle himself says to Timothy, "The things which thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men;"hyperlink and now he calls the angels to witness, for he knows that angels shall be present with the Lord when He shall come in the glory of His Father to judge the world in righteousness. For He says, "Whoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of Man also confess before the angels of God, but he that denieth Me before men shall be denied before the angels of God;"hyperlink and Paul in another place says," When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his angels."hyperlink Thus he already testifies before the angels, preparing good proofs for himself at the great tribunal.
30. And not only Paul, but generally all those to whom is committed any ministry of the word, never cease from testifying, but call heaven and earth to witness on the ground that now every deed that is done is done within them, and that in the examination of all the actions of life they will be present with the judged. So it is said, "He shall call to tile heavens above and to earth, that he may judge his people."hyperlink And so Moses when about to deliver his oracles to the people says, "I call heaven and earth to witness this day;"hyperlink and again in his song he says, "Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak, and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth;"hyperlink and Isaiah, "Hear, O heavens. and give ear, O earth;"hyperlink and Jeremiah describes astonishment in heaven at the tidings of the unholy deeds of the people: "The heaven was astonished at this, and was horribly afraid, because my people committed two evils."hyperlink And so the apostle, knowing the angels to be set over men astutors and guardians, calls them to witness. Moreover, Joshua, the son of Nun, even set up a stone as witness of his words (already a heap somewhere had been called a witness by Jacob),hyperlink for he says, "Behold this stone shall be a witness unto you this day to the end of days, when ye lie to tile Lord our God,"hyperlink perhaps believing that by God's power even the stones would speak to the conviction of the transgressors; or, if not, that at least each man's conscience would be wounded by the force of the reminder. In this manner they who have been entrusted with the stewardship of souls provide witnesses, whatever they may be, so as to produce them at some future day. But the Spirit is ranked together with God, not on account of the emergency of the moment, but on account of the natural fellowship; is not dragged in by us, but invited by the Lord.
Chapter XIV
Objection that some were baptized unto Moses and believed in him, and an answer to it; with remarks upon types.
31. But even if some are baptized unto the Spirit, it is not, it is urged, on this account right for the Spirit to be ranked with God. Some "were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea."hyperlink And it is admitted that faith even before now has been put in men; for "The people believed God and his servant Moses."hyperlink Why then, it is asked, do we, on account of faith and of baptism, exalt and magnify the Holy Spirit so far above creation, when there is evidence that the same things have before now been said of men? What, then, shall we reply? Our answer is that the faith in the Spirit is the same as the faith in the Father and the Son; and in like manner, too, the baptism. But the faith in Moses and in the cloud is, as it were, in a shadow and type. The nature of the divine is very frequently represented by the rough and shadowy outlineshyperlink of the types;but because divine things are prefigured by small and human things, it is obvious that we must not therefore conclude the divine nature to be small. The type is an exhibition of things expected, and gives an imitative anticipation of the future. So Adam was a type of"Him that was to come."hyperlink Typically, "That rock was Christ;"hyperlink and the water a type of the living power of the word; as He says, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink."hyperlink The manna is a type of the living bread that came down from heaven;hyperlink and the serpent on the standard,hyperlink of the passion of salvation accomplished by means of the cross, wherefore they who even looked thereon were preserved. So in like manner, the history of the exodus of Israel is recorded to shew forth those who are being saved through baptism. For the firstborn of the Israelites were preserved, like the bodies of the baptized, by the giving of grace to them that were marked with blood. For the blood of the sheep is a type of the blood of Christ; and the firstborn, a type of the first-formed. And inasmuch as the first-formed of necessity exists in us, and, in sequence of succession, is transmitted till the end, it follows that "in Adam" we "all die,"hyperlink and that "death reigned"hyperlink until the fulfilling of the law and the coming of Christ. And the firstborn were preserved by God from being touched by the destroyer, to show that we who were made alive in Christ no longer die in Adam. The sea and the cloud for the time being led on through amazement to faith, but for the time to come they typically prefigured the grace to be. "Who is wise and he shall understand these things?"hyperlink -how the sea is typically a baptism bringing about the departure of Pharaoh. in like manner as this washing causes the departure of the tyranny of the devil. The sea slew the enemy in itself: and in baptism too dies our enmity towards God. From the sea the people came out unharmed: we too, as it were, alive from the dead, step up from the water "saved" by the "grace" of Him who called us.hyperlink And the cloud is a shadow of the gift of the Spirit, who cools the flame of our passions by the "mortification" of our"members."hyperlink
32. What then? Because they were typically baptized unto Moses, is the grace of baptism therefore small? Were it so, and if we were in each ease to prejudice the dignity of our privileges by comparing them with their types, not even one of these privileges could be reckoned great; then not the love of God, who gave His only begotten Son for our sins, would be great and extraordinary, because Abraham did not spare his own son;hyperlink then even the passion of the Lord would not be glorious, because a sheep typified the offering instead of Isaac; then the descent into hell was not fearful, because Jonah had previously typified the death in three days and three nights. The same prejudicial comparison is made also in the case of baptism by all who judge of the reality by the shadow, and, comparing the typified with the type, attempt by means of Moses and the sea to disparage at once the whole dispensation of the Gospel. What remission of sins, what renewal of life, is there in the sea? What spiritual gift is there through Moses? What dyinghyperlink of sins is there? Those men did not die with Christ; wherefore they were not raised with Him.hyperlink They did not "bear the image of the heavenly;"hyperlink they did "bear about in the body the dying of Jesus;"hyperlink they did not "put off the old man;" they did not "put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him which created him."hyperlink Why then do you compare baptisms which have only the name in common, while the distinction between the things themselves is as great as might be that of dream and reality, that of shadow and figures with substantial existence?
Footnotes
188 John i. 3.
189 Col. i. 16.
190 John xii. 49.
191 John xii. 50.
192 John xiv. 24.
193 John xiv. 31.
194 John v. 20.
195 Col. ii. 3, A.V. cf. the amendment of R.V., "all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden," and Bp. Lightfoot on St. Paul's use of the gnostic term a'po/krufoj.
196 John xiv. 9.
197 The argument appears to be not that Christ is not the "express image," or impress of the Father, as He is described in Heb. i. 3, or form, as in Phil. ii. 6, but that this is not the sense in which or lord's words in St. John xiv. 9, must be understood to describe "seeing the Father." Xaraktho and moooofh\ are equivalent to h 9 qei/a fu/sij, and morfh/ is used by St. Basil as it is used by St. Paul, - coinciding with, if not following, the usage of the older Greek philosophy, - to mean essential attributes which the Divine Word had before the incarnation (cf. Eustathius in Theod. Dial. II. [Wace and Schaff Ed., p. 203];; "the express image made man, " - o 9 tw= p/eu/mati swmatopoihqei\j a!nqrwpoj xarakth/r.)
The divine nature does not admit of fcombination, in the sense of confusion (cf. the protests of Theodoret in his Dialogues against the confusion of the Godhead and manhood in the Christ), with the human nature in our Lord, and remains invisible. On the word xarakth/r vide Suicer, and on moofh/ Archbp. Trench's New Testament Synonyms and Bp. Lightfoot on Philippians ii. 6.
198 Phil. ii. i.
199 Rom. viii. 32.
200 Gal. iii. 13.
201 Rom. v. 8.
202 Matt. viii. 3.
203 Mark iv. 39.
204 Matt. v. 22. etc.
205 Mark iix. 25.
206 There is a difficulty in following the argument in the foregoing quotations. F. Combefis, the French Dominican editor of Basil, would boldly interpose a "not," and read 'whenever he does not instruct us concerning the Father.' But there is no ms. authority for this violent remedy. The Benedictine Editors say all is plain if we render "postquam nos de patre erudivit." But the Greek will not admit of this.
207 Matt. xii. 28, etc.
208 John xv. 26.
209 Ps. li. 10.
210 Ps. li. 12, lxx. R.V. and A.V., "free spirit."
211 It will be remembered that in the Nicene Creed "the Lord and Giver of life" is to\ ku/rion to\ zwopoio/n. In A.V. we have booth he (John xv. 26, e'kei=nooj) and it (Rom. viii. 16, au'to\\ to\ pneu=ma).
212 John iiv. 24.
213 cf. Wisdom i. 7.
214 Rom. xii. 6.
215 cf. Theodoret, Dial. i. p. 164, Schaff and Wace's ed. "Sine is not of nature, but of corrupt will." So the ninth article of the English Church describes it as not the nature, but the "fault and corruption of the nature, of every man." On the figure of the restored picture cf.. Ath. de Incar. § 14, and Theod. Dial. ii. p. 183.
216 cf. Ep. 236. "Our mind enlightened by the Spirit looks toward the Son, and in Him, as in an image, contemplates the Father." There seems at first sight some confusion in the text between the "royal Image" in us and Christ as the image of God; but it is in proportion as we are like Christ that we see God in Christ. It is the "pure in heart" who "'see God."
217 "Proficientes perficiuntur." Ben. Ed.
218 Qeo\n genesqai. The thought has its most famous expression in Ath. de Incar. § 54. He was made man that we might be mad God - Qeopoihqw=men. cf. De Decretis, § 14, and other passages of Ath. Irenaeus (Adv. Haer. iv. 38 [lxxv.]) writes "non ab initio dii facti sumus, sed primo quidem homines, tunc demum dii." "Secundum enim beniguitatem suam bene dedit bonum, et similes sibi suae potestatis homines fecit;" and Origen (contra Celsum, iii. 28), "That the human nature by fellowship with the more divine might be made divine, not in Jesus only, but also in all those who with faith take up the life which Jesus taught;" and Greg. Naz. Or. xxx. § 14, "Till by the power of the incarnation he make me God."
In Basil adv. Eunom. ii. 4. we have, "They who are perfect in virtue are deemed worthy of the title of God."
cf.. 2 Pet. i. 4: "That ye might be partakers of the divine nature."
219 u'p0 au'tw=n tw=n logi/wn tou= pneu/matoj. St. Basil is as unconscious as other early Fathers of the limitation of the word lo/gia to "discourses." Vide Salmon's Int. to the N.T. Ed. iv. p. 95.
220 1 Tim. vi. 20. The intellectual championship of Basil was chiefly asserted in the vindication of the consubstantiality of the Spirit, against the Arians and Semi-Arians, of whom Euonomius and Macedonius were leaders, the latter giving his name to the party who were unsound on the third Person of the Trinity, and were Macedonians as well as Pneumatomachi. But even among the maintainers of the Nicene confession there was much less clear apprehension of the nature and work of the Spirit than of the Son. Even so late as 380, the year after St. Basil's death, Gregory of Nazianzus, Orat.xxxi de Spiritu Sancto, Cap. 5, wrote "of the wise on our side some held it to be an energy, some a creature, some God. Others, from respect, they say, to Holy Scripture, which lays down no law on the subject, neither worship nor dishonour the Holy Spirit." cf. Schaff's Hist of Christian Ch. III. Period, Sec. 128. In letter cxxv. of St. Basil will be found a summary of the heresies with which he credited the Arians, submitted to Eusthathius of Sebaste in 373, shortly before the composition of the present treatise for Amphilochius.
221 Acts v. 29.
222 Matt. xxviii. 19.
223 The word used is suna/feia, a crucial word in the controversy concerning the union of the divine and human natures in our Lord, cf. the third Anathema of Cyril against Nestorius and the use of this word, and Theodoret's counter statement (Theod. pp. 25, 27). Theodore of Mopsuestia had preferred suna/feia too e!nwsij; Andrew of Samosata saw no difference between them. Athanasius (de Sent. Dionys. § 17) employs it for the mutual relationship of the Persons in the Holy Trinity: "pookatarktiko\n ga/r e'sti th=j sunafei/aj to\ o!noma."
224 mhde/. The note of the Ben. Eds. is, "this reading, followed by Erasmus, stirs the wrath of Combefis, who would read, as is found in four mss., too/te h 9mii=n, 'then let them lay the blame on us.' But he is quite unfair to Erasmus, who has more clearly apprehended the drift of the argument. Basil brings his opponents to the dilemma that the words 'In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost' either do or do not assert a conjunction with the Father and the Son. If not, Basil ought not to be found fault with on the score of 'conjunction,' for he abides by the words of Scripture, and conjunction no more follows from his words than from those of our Lord. If they do, he cannot be found fault with for following the words of Scripture. The attentive reader will see this to be the meaning of Basil, and received reading ought to be retained."
225 Xristofo/noi. The compound occurs in Ps. Ignat ad Philad. vi.
226 1 Tim. I. 10.
227 Mr. Johnston sees here a reference to the parable of th e unjust steward, and appositely quotes Greg. Naz. Orat. xxxi, § 3, on the heretics' use of Scripture, "They find a cloak for their impiety in their affection for Scripture." The Arians at Nicaea objected to the oo\moo/usion as unscriptural.
228 cf. Ep. cxx. 5.
229 Rom. vi. 17.
230 Rom. xiii. 11. R.V.
231 The question is whether the baptism has been solemnized, according to the divine command, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. St. Cyprian in his controversy with Stephen, Bp. of Rome, represented the sterner view that heretical baptism was invalid. But, with some exceptions in the East, the position ultimately prevailed that baptism with water, and in the prescribed words, by whomsoever administered, was valid. So St. Augustine, "Si evangelicus verbis in nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti Marcion baptismum consecrabat, integrum erat Sacramentum, fquamvis ejus fides sub eisdem verbis aliud opinantis quam catholica veritas docet noo esset integra." (Cont. Petil. de unico bapt. § 3.) So the VIII. Canon of Arles (314), "De Afris, quod propria lege sua utuntur ut rebaptizent, placuit, ut, si ad ecclesiam aliquis de haeresi venerit, interrogent eum symbolum; et si perviderint eum in Patre, et Filio et Spiritu Sancto, esse baptizatum, manus ei tantum imponantur, ut accipiat spiritum sanctum. Quod si interrogatus non responderit hanc Trinitatem, baptizetur." So the VII. Canon of Constantinople (381) by which the Eunomians who only baptized with one immersion, and the Montanists, here called Phrygians, and the Sabellians, who taught the doctrine of the Fatherhood of the Son, were counted as heathen. Vide Bright's notes on the Canons of the Councils, p. 106. Socrates, v. 24, describes how the Eunomi-Eutychians baptized not in the name of the Trinity, but into the death of Christ.
232 1 Thess. i. 9.
233 Eph. I. 12.
234 The word Xeiro/grafoon, more common in Latin than in Greek, is used generally for a bond. cf. Juv. Sat. xvi. 41, "Debitoor aut sumptos pergit non reddere nummos, vana supervacui dicens chirographa ligni." On the use of the word, vide Bp. Lightfoot on Col. ii. 14. The names of the catechumens were registered, and the Renunciation and Profession of Faith (Interrogationes et Responsa; e'perwth/seij kai/ a'pokriseij) may have been signed.
235 Prov. xxiii. 29.
236 cf. Gal. v. 2.
237 cf. 1 Cor. xv. 17.
238 1 Cor. xii. 3.
239 John i. 18. On the reading "only begotten God" cf. note on p. 9. In this passage in St. Basil "God" is the reading of three mss. at Paris, that at Moscow, that at the Bodleian, and that at Vienna. "Son" is read by Regius III., Regius I., Regius IV., and Regius V. in Paris, the three last being all of the 14th century, the one in the British Museum, and another in the Imperial Library at Vienna, which generally agrees with our own in the Museum.
240 Gal. iii. 27, R.V.
241 Rom. vi. 3, with change to 2d person.
242 cf. note on p. 17.
243 "h 9 tou= Cristou= proshgori/a . . . dhloi= to/n te Cri/sa/ta Qeo\n kai\ to\n Crisqe/nta &xxedil\i 9o\n kai\ to\ Cri/sma to\ Pneu=ma1.j
244 Acts x. 38.
245 Is. lx. 1.
246 Ps. xlv. 7.
247 No subject occurs in the original, but "Scripture" seems better than "the Apostle" of the Bened. Tr. "Videtur fecisse mentionmen," moreover, is not the Latin for fai/netai mnhuoneu/saj, but for fai/netai mnhmoneu=sai.
248 Sic.
249 1 Cor. xii. 13, loosely quoted.
250 Acts i. 5.
251 Luke iii. 16.
252 cf. Ps. ciii. 4.
253 cf. Deut. iv. 2, and Rev. xxi. 18, 19.
254 cf. note on p. 17.
255 1 Tim. v. 21.
256 2 Tim. ii. 2.
257 Luke xii. 8, 9.
258 2 Thes. i.7.
259 Ps. l. 4.
260 Deut. iv. 26.
261 Deut. xxxii. i.
262 Isa. i. 2.
263 Jer. ii. 12, 13, lxx.
264 Gen xxxi, 47.
265 Josh. xxiv. 27, lxx.
266 1 Cor. x. 2.
267 Ex. xiv. 31, lxx.
268 skiagrafi/a, or shade-painting, is illusory scene-painting. Plato (Crit.107 c.) calls it "indistinct and deceptive." cf. Ar. Eth. Nic. i. 3, 4, pacnlw=j kai\ e'n tu/pw." The tu/poj gives the general design, not an exact anticipation.
269 Rom. v. 14.
270 1 Cor. x. 4.
271 John vii. 37.
272 John vi. 49, 51.
273 shmei=on, as in the LXX.cf. Numb. xxi. 9 and John iii. 14.
274 1 Cor. xv. 22.
275 Rom. v. 17.
276 Hos. xiv. 9.
277 Eph. ii. 5.
278 Col. iii. 5.
279 cf. Rom. viii. 32.
280 ne/krwsij. A.V. in 2 Cor. iv. 10, "dying," Rom. iv. 19, "deadness."
281 cf. Rom. vi. 8.
282 1 Cor. xv. 49.
283 2 Cor. iv. 10.