Note 248 — VIII. THE HOLY SPIRIT AND INSPIRATION.

Cyprian, ad Donatum 3. Trans. in Library of the Fathers, iii. p. 3.

[249] Athanasius, de Incarnatione, 31, 48-52.

[250] See S. Basil's fine definition of the term in his treatise on the Holy Spirit, ix. 22. This treatise has been translated by the Rev. G. Lewis for the 'Religious Tract Society.'

[251] See Basil, as above, xvi. 37: 'We must not suppose because the Apostle (1 Cor. xii. 4) mentions the Spirit first, and the Son second, and God the Father third, that the order at the present day has been quite reversed. For he made his beginning from our end of the relation: for it is by receiving the gifts, that we come in contact with the Distributor; then we come to consider the Sender; then we carry back our thought to the Fount and Cause of the good things.' Cf. xviii. 47: 'The way of the knowledge of God is from one Spirit, by the one Son, to the one Father: and reversely, the natural goodness of God, His holiness of nature, His royal rank taking their rise from the Father, reach the Spirit though the Only-begotten.'

[252] Ambrose, de Spiritu Sancto, i. 15, 172.

[253] So Irenaeus, Cyril of Jerusalem, Athanasius, Basil, Didymus, Victorinus, express the relation of the Divine Persons in Creation.

[254] Ps. xxxiii. 6; Gen. i. 2; Ps. civ. 29, 30.

[255] Huet. Origeniana, L. ii. Qu. 2. c. xxvii. Cf. Athan. Epp. ad Serapion. i. 23-31; iv. 9-12.

[256] Gen. ii. 7.

[257] Athan. de Incarn. xliii. 3.

[258] Athan. l.c. xii. 5, xliii. 4.

[259] Iren. c. Haer. iii. 17, 1.

[260] S. Mark i. 10, 12. S. Luke iv. 1, 18; x. 21. S. Matt. xii. 28. Heb. ix. 14. Rom. viii. 11. (These two last passages at least imply the action of the Holy Spirit in the Sacrifice and Resurrection of Christ.)

[261] Heb. v. 7-10. Phil. ii. 8.

[262] 1 Cor. xv. 45, 'The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.' S. John vi. 63, 'Spirit and Life.'

[263] Iren. iii. 18, 1, and frequently elsewhere.

[264] Iren. iii. 24, 1. Cf. H. C. G. Moule's Veni Creator, pp. 39-40.

[265] S. John iii. 4. The intention of this passage is to express not that the Spirit is lawless in His operations, but that He is beyond our control.

[266] Aug. de Spiritu et Littera, xxvii. 47, 'Grace is not the negation of nature, but its restoration.'

[267] Raymund of Sabunde, Theol. Nat. tit. 303.

[268] Basil, de Spiritu Sancto ix. 23 (Lewis' translation). Cf. Newman's Univ. Sermons, 'Personal Influence the means of propagating the truth.'

[269] Cyril, Catech. xvi. 12. The attention to the differences of individual character is very noticeable in S. Basil's monastic rule: see the Regulae fusius tractatae, resp. 19, and the Constit. Monast. 4. Also in the writings of Gregory of Nazianzus, Chrysostom, and Gregory the Great on the Pastoral Office.

[270] 1 Cor. ii. 15. 1 S. John ii. 20-27.

[271] Clement Alex. Strom. v. 13. 88.

[272] Republic, 401 D, 402 A.

[273] Caird's Hegel (Blackwood's Philosophical Classics), p. 72.

[274] Anselm, Proslog. 4; he adds, 'So that even if I were unwilling to believe that Thou art, I could not cease to understand it.' But the whole relation of authority and reason is most completely grasped and stated by S. Augustine: see Cunningham, S. Austin (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1886), pp. 9, 157 ff.

[275] Dr. Salmon, Infallibility, p. 115, has a clever comparison of the authority of the Church to that of the town clock. The value we assign to having such an authoritative standard of the right time does not prevent our recognising the importance of having it regulated. 'And if we desired to remove an error which had accumulated during a long season of neglect, it would be very unfair to represent us as wishing to silence the clock, or else as wishing to allow every townsman to get up and push the hands backwards and forwards as he pleased.'

[276] But cf. pp. 196-8, 229-232, 258-260.

[277] Manning, Temporal Mission of the Holy Ghost, third edit. pp. 9, 29, 238-240.

[278] See, for instance, c. Haer. v. 10, 2. 'The wild olive does not change its substance [when it is grafted in, see Rom. xi. 17], but only the quality of its fruit, and takes a new name, no longer being called an oleaster but an olive; so also man when he is by faith grafted in, and receives the Spirit of God, does not lose his fleshly substance, but changes the quality of the works which are his fruits, and takes another name indicating his improved condition, and is no longer described as flesh and blood, but as a spiritual man.' So also v. 6, 1, 'whom the apostle calls "spiritual" because they have the Spirit, not because they have been robbed of the flesh and become bare spirit.' It is the recognition of this principle that makes most of the language of the Fathers on fasting so healthy and sensible. The end of fasting is not to destroy the flesh, but to free the spirit.

[279] See especially Mozley's Lectures on the Old Testament, x.: 'The end the test of progressive revelation.'

[280] Greg. Naz. Orat. xxxi. 25. Many of the greatest of the ancient Christian writers depreciate the sacrificial law as a mere concession, made to avoid worse things, when the incident of the calf shewed that the first legislation of the Ten Commandments was too spiritual: so Jerome in Isai. 1, 12, In Jer. vii. 21. Cf. Justin, Trypho 19. Chrys. adv. Jud. iv. 6. Epiphan. Haer. lxvi. 71. Constt. ap. i. 6; vi. 20. This method of interpretation is perhaps derived from the Epistle of Barnabas, 2-4.

[281] Chrys. in Matth. Homil. xvii. 5-6 (slightly abbreviated). Cf. Libell. Faustin. et Marcellin. in Bibl. Vet. Patrum. tom. v. 657 d.

[282] On the Holy Spirit, xiv. 33 (Lewis' trans.).

[283] Aug. de Trin. i. 10, 21. This principle alone gives a basis for the doctrine of 'imputation' so far as it is true. God deals with us, e.g. in absolution, by anticipation of what is to come about in us, in Christ.

[284] Thom. Aq. Summa Theol. pars sec. sec. Qu. 1. Art. ix.

[285] The above paragraph is a summary of expressions constantly met with in the Fathers. It is S. Ambrose who protests against the idea that the priest can be spoken of as having power over the Divine Things which he ministers, see De Spiritu Sancto, praef. 18, lib. i. 11, 118: 'nostra sunt servitia sed tua sacramenta. Neque enim humanae opis est divina conferre.' S. Augustine, among others, draws the distinction between gifts from the Spirit and the gift of Himself. Ep. cxciv.: 'aliter adiuvat nondum inhabitans, aliter inhabitans: nam nondum inhabitans adiuvat ut sint fideles, inhabitans adiuvat iam fideles.' Didymus, de Spiritu Sancto 15, calls attention to the distinction in the New Testament between πνεῦμα (without the article) i.e. 'a spiritual gift,' and τὸ πνεῦμα, i.e. the Spirit Himself: cf. Westcott on S. John vii. 39.

[286] Greg. Naz. Orat. xxxi. 8.

[287] See Athan. Epp. ad Serapion. i. 17. Cyril Hieros. Cat. xvi. 24. Iren. v. 13, 2. Basil, de Spiritu Sancto, iii. 5.

[288] The Dict. of Chr. Biog., Art. Holy Ghost (by Dr. Swete), has an admirable summary of the theology of the subject.

[289] See Godet on S. John xv. 26, 27.

[290] Athan. Epp. ad Serap. i. 19. S. John xiv. 16, 18, 23.

[291] Plato's human trinity is made up of reason, spirit [θυμός], and desire: S. Augustine's of memory (i.e. personal identity), reason, and will; or mind, knowledge, and love. Nothing has been said in the text of Patristic and more recent attempts to express the function of the Holy Spirit in the inner relations of the Trinity. Some of the Fathers speak of the Holy Spirit as completing the circle of the Divine Life, or as 'the return of God upon Himself,' 'the bond of the Father and the Son.' This eternal function would interpret His temporal mission to bring all creatures back into union with God. Not very differently S. Augustine speaks of Him as the Love of the Father and the Son: 'Vides Trinitatem si caritatem vides. Ecce tria sunt; amans et quod amatur et amor.' And this Love is itself personal and coordinate: 'commune aliquid est Patris et Filii; at ipsa communio consubstantialis et coaeterna.' But in such speculation they allow themselves with much reserve and expression of unwillingness.

In fact it is easy to see that an eternally living God, knowing and loving, must be a God Whose Being involves eternal relationships. Knowledge involves a relation of subject and object: to make love possible there must be a lover and a loved. It is more difficult to see how a perfect relationship must be threefold; but there are true lines of thought which lead up to this, such, for instance, as make us see first in the family, the type of complete life. Love which is only a relation of two, is selfish or unsatisfied: it demands an object and a product of mutual love. See especially Richard of S. Victor, de Trin. Pars i. lib. iii. cc. 14, 15: 'Communio amoris non potest esse omnino minus quam in tribus personis. Nihil autem (ut dictum est) gloriosius, nihil magnificentius, quam quicquid habes utile et dulce in commune deducere: ... hujusmodi dulcedinis delicias solus non possidet qui in exhibita sibi dilectione socium et condilectum non habet; quamdiu condilectum non habet, praecipui gaudii communione caret.' See also Sartorius, Doctrine of Divine Love (Clark's Foreign Theol. Libr.), p. 16.

[292] Microcosmus, B. ix. C. iv. (E. T. vol. ii. p. 660.)

[293] See especially Gal. i. 8, 9.

[294] Heb. ii. 3.

[295] See further on the fatal results of separating the Spirit's work in Scripture, from His work in the Church, Coleridge, Remains iii. 93, iv. 118; or quoted by Hare, Mission of the Comforter, Note H. vol. ii. pp. 468, 474.

[296] This distinction was drawn by Bishop Clifford, Fortnightly Review, Jan. 1887, p. 145.

[297] Cf. the quotation in Eusebius, H. E. v. 28.

[298] Athan. de Incarn. 12. Cf. Ewald's preface to his History of Israel.

[299] See Gratry, Henri Perreyve, pp. 162, 163.

[300] Delitzsch, O.T. History of Redemption, p. 106. Cf. Prof. Robertson Smith, Prophets of Israel, p. 108.

[301] See Epiphan. Haer. xlviii. 4. Westcott, Introd. to the Study of the Gospels, App. B, sect. ii. 4, sect. iv. 4. Mason, Faith of the Gospel, p. 255.

[302] See Professor Driver's admirable article on 'the cosmogony of Genesis.' Expositor, Jan. 1886.

[303] Professor Cheyne, speaking of such narratives of Scriptures as the record of Elijah, protests against the supposition that they are 'true to fact.' 'True to fact! Who goes to the artist for hard dry facts? Why even the historians of antiquity thought it no part of their duty to give the mere prose of life. How much less can the unconscious artists of the imaginative East have described their heroes with relentless photographic accuracy!' (The Hallowing of Criticism, p. 5.) But it seems to me that such a passage, by treating the recorders of the Old Testament as 'artists,' ignores their obvious intention to lay stress on what God has actually done, the deliverances He has actually wrought. They, at least, like the Greek historical 'artist' of the defeat of Persia, would have laid great stress on the facts having happened.

[304] Church, Discipline of the Christian Character, p. 57. This work seems to me the best existing answer to the question, in what does the inspiration of the Old Testament consist.

[305] Cf. pp. 161-167. In view of criticisms it may be explained that in the account of the prophet given above only that view of his inspiration is taken into consideration which appeals first to the enquirer (cf. the words in the next paragraph 'in this general sense at least'). When once this primary assurance of inspiration is gained the evidence of detailed prophecies will be found cogent. As we compare the anticipations of the Messiah or of the 'Righteous Servant' in such passages as Ps. xxii., Is. liii., vii. 14, or ix. 6, 7, with their fulfilment in Jesus Christ, we recognise a special action of the Holy Ghost, marking even in details the continuity of His method. Cf. p. 167 referred to above.

[306] See for instance Micah v. 2-6. On the subject of the limitations of prophetic foresight, as on the whole subject of prophecy, let me refer to Dr. Ed. Riehm, Messianic Prophecy (Clark's trans.) pp. 79, 86 ff., 114, 157-162.

[307] Acts i. 8. S. John xiv. 25, 26; xvi. 12, 13.

[308] S. John xix. 35; xxi. 24. 1 S. John i. 1-3.

[309] See Prof. Sanday's What the first Christians thought about Christ. (Oxford House Papers: Rivington.)

[310] 2 Tim. iii. 16.

[311] Mr. Horton's book on Inspiration and the Bible is almost naively lacking in this quality of impartial regard to inspired books.

[312] Prof. Robertson Smith, Prophets of Israel, p. 6.

[313] Cf. Prof. Robertson Smith, The Old Testament in the Jewish Church, Lect. vii. p. 207: 'Another point in which criticism removes a serious difficulty is the interpretation of the imprecatory psalms.'

[314] See Nineteenth Century, Feb. 1884, p. 189.

[315] 'When from time to time,' says S. Bernard to his monks, 'anything that was hidden or obscure in the Scriptures has come out into the light to any one of you, at once the voice of exultation and thankfulness for the nourishment of spiritual food that has been received, must rise as from a banquet to delight the ears of God.'

[316] See the Annual Address (1889) delivered at the Victoria Institute by Prof. Sayce, on the cuneiform tablets of Tel el-amarna, pp. 4, 14 f.: 'We learn that in the fifteenth century before our era—a century before the Exodus—active literary intercourse was going on throughout the civilized world of Western Asia, between Babylonia and Egypt and the smaller states of Palestine.... This intercourse was carried on by means of the Babylonian language and the complicated Babylonian script. How educated the old world was, we are but just beginning to learn. But we have already learnt enough to discover how important a bearing it has on the criticism of the Old Testament.'

[317] See Driver, Crit. notes on Sunday-School lessons (Scribner: New York).

[318] Ex. xx. xxii-xxiii. xxxiii.

[319] The Books of Kings seem to be compiled from the point of view of the Deuteronomist.

[320] Origen, c. Cels. vii. 4.

[321] E.g. chs. vii. ix. The Roman Church admits that it is, to use Newman's phrase, 'a prosopopeia'; 'our Bibles say, "it is written in the person of Solomon" and "it is uncertain who was the writer,"' l.c. p. 197. It is important to bear in mind that the Western Church in general has, since S. Augustine's day, admitted into the canon a book the literary method of which is thus confessedly dramatic. Newman makes this the ground for saying that the same may be true of Ecclesiastes.

[322] On the evidence of O.T. miracles I may refer to Mr. Samuel Cox's Essay: Miracles, an Argument and a Challenge. (Kegan Paul, 1884.)

[323] Of course the distinction must be maintained in the case of the book of Daniel between a 'pious fraud' which cannot be inspired, and an idealizing personification which, as a normal type of literature, can. Further study will probably solve the special difficulty which on the critical hypothesis attaches to the book of Daniel from this point of view: see Stanton, Jewish and Christian Messiah, p. 109, note 1.

[324] This is certainly true of the Church as a whole. For the most that can be said in the same sense of the Roman Church, see Newman in the article above cited.

[325] De Principiis, iv. 15, 16, 17. His point is that incidents which could not have occurred in fact, or at least did not occur, are inserted in the narrative of the Old and New Testaments, that their very historical impossibility or improbability may drive us to the consideration of their spiritual significance. 'The attentive reader may notice ... innumerable other passages, like these, so that he will be convinced that in the histories that are literally recorded, circumstances are inserted that did not occur.' Cf. Bigg, Christian Platonists, pp. 137-8.

[326] Cf. Jerome, ad Nepotian. ep. lii. 2.

[327] S. Matt. xii. 40.

[328] S. Matt. xxiv. 37-39.

[329] S. Matt. xxii. 41-46.

[330] See especially S. Mark x. 17-18 (and parallel passages), where our Lord's question, if converted into a positive proposition, suggests a repudiation of personal goodness. Cf. also the question in S. John x. 34-36 where, though the argument is a fortiori, still the true character of our Lord's sonship is hardly suggested.

[331] This limitation of knowledge must not be confused with fallibility or liability to human delusion, because it was doubtless guarded by the Divine purpose which led Jesus Christ to take it upon Himself.

[332] Of course He gave prophetic indications of the coming judgment, but on the analogy of inspired prophecy. He did not reveal 'times and seasons,' and declared that it was not within the scope of His mission to do so. See esp. S. Mark xiii. 32. He exhibits supernatural insight into men's characters and lives. But He never exhibits the omniscience of bare Godhead in the realm of natural knowledge; such as would be required to anticipate the results of modern science or criticism. This 'self-emptying' of God in the Incarnation is, we must always remember, no failure of power, but a continuous act of Self-sacrifice: cf. 2 Cor. viii. 9 and Phil. ii. 7. Indeed God 'declares His almighty power most chiefly' in this condescension, whereby He 'beggared Himself' of Divine prerogatives, to put Himself in our place.