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Chapter I.

The Spirit is the Lord and Power; and in this is not inferior to the Father and the Son.

17. Above, you read that “the Lord blessed him, and the Spirit of the Lord began to go with him.” 1027 Farther on it is said: “And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him.” 1028 Again he says: “If I be shaven, my strength will depart from me.” 1029 After he was shaven, see what the Scripture says: “The Lord,” he says, “departed from him.” 1030

18. You see, then, that He Who went with him, Himself departed from him. The Same is, then, the Lord, Who is the Spirit of the Lord, that is, he called the Spirit of God, Lord, as also the Apostle says: “The Lord is the Spirit, now where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” You find, then, the Holy Spirit called the Lord; for the Holy Spirit and the Son are not one Person [unus] but one Substance [unum].

19. In this place he used the word Power, and implied the Spirit. For as the Father is Power, so, too, the Son is Power, and the Holy Spirit is Power. Of the Son you have read that Christ is “the Power of God and the Wisdom of God.” 1031 We read, too, that the Father is Power, as it is written: “Ye shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power of God.” 1032 He certainly named the Father Power, at Whose right hand the Son sits, as you read: “The Lord said unto My Lord, Sit Thou on My right hand.” 1033 And the Lord Himself named the Holy Spirit Power, when He said: “Ye shall receive Power when the Holy Spirit cometh upon you.” 1034


Footnotes

117:1027

Judg. xiii. 25.

117:1028

Judg. xiv. 6.

117:1029

Judg. xvi. 17.

117:1030

Judg. xvi. 20.

117:1031

1 Cor. i. 24.

117:1032

S. Matt. xxvi. 64.

117:1033

Psa. 110.1.

117:1034

Acts i. 8.


Next: Chapter II. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are One in counsel.