§243Before his Passover, Jesus announced the sending of "another Paraclete" (Advocate), the Holy Spirit. At work since creation, having previously "spoken through the prophets", the Spirit will now be with and in the disciples, to teach them and guide them "into all the truth".68 The Holy Spirit is thus revealed as another divine person with Jesus and the Father.

§292The Old Testament suggests and the New Covenant reveals the creative action of the Son and the Spirit,132 inseparably one with that of the Father. This creative co-operation is clearly affirmed in the Church's rule of faith: "There exists but one God. . . he is the Father, God, the Creator, the author, the giver of order. He made all things by himself, that is, by his Word and …

§703The Word of God and his Breath are at the origin of the being and life of every creature:63 It belongs to the Holy Spirit to rule, sanctify, and animate creation, for he is God, consubstantial with the Father and the Son.... Power over life pertains to the Spirit, for being God he preserves creation in the Father through the Son.64

Passages from Moses, which the heretics pervert to the support of their hypothesis. 1. And while they affirm such things as these concerning the creation, every one of them generates something new, day by day, according to his ability; for no one is deemed perfect, who does not develop among them some mighty fictions. It is thus necessary, first, to indicate what things they me…

1. On the subject of attention in hearkening it is superfluous to exhort you any more, so quickly have you shown by your actions the effects of my advice. For your manner of running together, your attentive postures, the thrusting one another in your eagerness to get the inner places, where my voice may more clearly be heard by you, your unwillingness to retire from the press u…

Chapter 11.—How Plato Has Been Able to Approach So Nearly to Christian Knowledge. Certain partakers with us in the grace of Christ, wonder when they hear and read that Plato had conceptions concerning God, in which they recognize considerable agreement with the truth of our religion. Some have concluded from this, that when he went to Egypt he had heard the prophet Jeremiah, or…

Analysis of the Biblical Account of Creation Last Wednesday we began this series of reflections on the reply Christ gave to his questioners on the subject of the unity and indissolubility of marriage. As we recall, the Pharisees who questioned him appealed to the Mosaic Law. However, Christ went back to the "beginning," quoting the words of Genesis. The "beginning" in this ca…

In the beginning God created. To expound the term "beginning" of Christ is altogether frivolous. For Moses simply intends to assert that the world was not perfected at its very commencement, in the manner in which it is now seen, but that it was created an empty chaos of heaven and earth. His authority as a prophet is so great that to overthrow it, we must first subvert the who…

He continues his explanation of the first Chapter of Genesis according to the Septuagint, and by its assistance he argues, especially, concerning the double heaven, and the formless matter out of which the whole world may have been created; afterwards of the interpretations of others not disallowed, and sets forth at great length the sense of the Holy Scripture. Chapter 1 .— Th…

Of the goodness of God explained in the creation of things, and of the Trinity as found in the first words of Genesis. The story concerning the origin of the world (Genesis 1) is allegorically explained, and he applies it to those things which God works for sanctified and blessed man. Finally, he makes an end of this work, having implored eternal rest from God. Chapter 1. He Ca…

Q. What do you believe when you say: I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth? A. That the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who out of nothing created heaven and earth and everything in them, who still upholds and rules them by his eternal counsel and providence, is my God and Father because of Christ his Son. I trust him so much that I do not …

Q. What do you believe concerning the Holy Spirit? A. First, he, as well as the Father and the Son, is eternal God. Second, he has been given to me personally, so that, by true faith, he makes me share in Christ and all his blessings, comforts me, and remains with me forever.

Air is the most subtle element, and is moist and warm: heavier, indeed, than fire: but lighter than earth and water: it is the cause of respiration and voice: it is colorless, that is, it has no color by nature: it is clear and transparent, for it is capable of receiving light: it ministers to three of our senses, for it is by its aid that we see, hear and smell: it has the pow…

Water also is one of the four elements, the most beautiful of God's creations. It is both wet and cold, heavy, and with a tendency to descend, and flows with great readiness. It is this the Holy Scripture has in view when it says, And darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. Genesis 1:2 For the deep is nothing else than a …

The earth is one of the four elements, dry, cold, heavy, motionless, brought into being by God, out of nothing on the first day. For in the beginning, he said, God created the heaven and the earth Genesis 1:1: but the seat and foundation of the earth no man has been able to declare. Some, indeed, hold that its seat is the waters: thus the divine David says, To Him Who establish…

Basil teaches that the Spirit was present at creation, moving over the waters, and continues to bring life through sanctification. The Spirit is the agent of new birth in baptism and the power of resurrection. The Psalmist declares that by the Word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the Breath of His mouth all their host.

Gregory argues that as the Word of God is not a mere utterance, so the Spirit of God is not mere breath. The Spirit who moved over the waters at creation and whom Christ breathed upon the disciples is a divine Person with will and power. As the Son is the living Word, the Spirit is the living Breath of God.

The water of baptism is not ordinary water — it is water over which the Spirit of God has moved, just as the Spirit moved over the waters at creation. Ambrose teaches that the waters were barren and lifeless until the Spirit descended, and so the baptismal font is barren until the Spirit is invoked. What the Spirit accomplished in creation, He now accomplishes in the new creati…