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Translated by Bl. Jackson.
St Basil the Great Resources Online and in Print
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This Part: 128 Pages
Page 22
11. If we ought to advance our argument yet further, and turn our inspection to higher themes, let us contemplate the divine nature of the Holy Spirit specially from the following point of view. In Scripture we find mention of three creations. The first is the evolution from non-being into being. [1850] The second is change from the worse to the better. The third is the resurrection of the dead. In these you will find the Holy Ghost cooperating with the Father and the Son. There is a bringing into existence of the heavens; and what says David? "By the word of the Lord were the heavens made and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth." [1851] Again, man is created through baptism, for "if any man be in Christ he is a new creature." [1852] And why does the Saviour say to the disciples, "Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost"? Here too you see the Holy Ghost present with the Father and the Son. And what would you say also as to the resurrection of the dead when we shall have failed and returned to our dust? Dust we are and unto dust we shall return. [1853] And He will send the Holy Ghost and create us and renew the face of the earth. [1854] For what the holy Paul calls resurrection David describes as renewal. Let us hear, once more, him who was caught into the third heaven. What does he say? "You are the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you." [1855] Now every temple [1856] is a temple of God, and if we are a temple of the Holy Ghost, then the Holy Ghost is God. It is also called Solomon's temple, but this is in the sense of his being its builder. And if we are a temple of the Holy Ghost in this sense, then the Holy Ghost is God, for "He that built all things is God." [1857] If we are a temple of one who is worshipped, and who dwells in us, let us confess Him to be God, for thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve. [1858] Supposing them to object to the word "God," let them learn what this word means. God is called Theos either because He placed (tetheikenai) all things or because He beholds (Theasthai) all things. If He is called Theos because He "placed" or "beholds" all things, and the Spirit knoweth all the things of God, as the Spirit in us knoweth our things, then the Holy Ghost is God. [1859] Again, if the sword of the spirit is the word of God, [1860] then the Holy Ghost is God, inasmuch as the sword belongs to Him of whom it is also called the word. Is He named the right hand of the Father? For "the right hand of the Lord bringeth mighty things to pass;" [1861] and "thy right hand, O Lord, hath dashed in pieces the enemy." [1862] But the Holy Ghost is the finger of God, as it is said "if I by the finger of God cast out devils," [1863] of which the version in another Gospel is "if I by the Spirit of God cast out devils." [1864] So the Holy Ghost is of the same nature as the Father and the Son.
[1850] paragoge apo tou me ontos eis to einai. For paragoge it is not easy to give an equivalent; it is leading or bringing with a notion of change, sometimes a change into error, as when it means a quibble. It is not quite the Ben. Latin "productio." It is not used intransitively; if there is a paragoge, there must be ho paragon, and similarly if there is evolution or development, there must be an evolver or developer.
[1851] Ps. xxxiii. 6. to pneumati tou stomatos autou, LXX.
[1852] 2 Cor. v. 17.
[1853] cf. Gen. iii. 19.
[1854] cf. Ps. ciii. 30.
[1855] 1 Cor. vi. 19.
[1856] The Greek word naos (naio)=dwelling-place. The Hebrew probably indicates capacity. Our "temple," from the latin Templum (temenos--vTAM) is derivatively a place cut off.
[1857] Heb. iii. 4.
[1858] Matt. iv. 10. cf. note on p. .
[1859] 1 Cor. ii. 10, 11. On the derivation of Theos from theo (tithemi) or theaomai, cf. Greg. Naz. Skeat rejects the theory of connexion with the Latin Deus, and thinks that the root of tithemi may be the origin.
[1860] Eph. vi. 17.
[1861] Ps. cxviii. 16. P.B. "doeth valiantly," A.V. epoiese duna min, LXX.
[1862] Ex. xv. 6.
[1863] Luke xi. 20.
[1864] Matt. xii. 28.
Reference address : https://www.elpenor.org/basil/letters.asp?pg=22
