What is there to wonder at, what to disbelieve, if the Lord who gives the Spirit, is here said himself to be anointed with the Spirit, at a time when, necessity requiring it, he did not refuse in respect of his manhood to call himself inferior to the Spirit?

The Spirit of the Lord is on me because he has anointed me. Clearly this happened to those who thought that the Christ of God was neither a mere man nor an unfleshed and unembodied Word who did not take on a mortal nature. Instead they say he is both God and human, God in that he is the only-begotten God who was in the bosom of the Father, and man . . . from the seed of David according to the flesh.^[1] Thus, God the Word, who through the prophecy has been called Lord, speaks out this prophecy that is preeminent among other promises: I am the Lord, and in the right time I will draw them together. . . . Taking the chrism in the Holy Spirit, he, chosen from among all, appears as the only-begotten Christ of God. And the verse he has sent me to proclaim good news to the poor,^[2] he fulfilled in that time when he was preaching the kingdom of heaven and explaining the beatitudes to the disciples by saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God.^[3] . . . And for those nations then imprisoned in their souls by the invisible and spiritual powers he preached release to his newly encouraged disciples. . . . Therefore, he preached release to the prisoners and to those suffering from blindness who were those enslaved by the error of polytheism, and he creates a year that is acceptable, through which he made all time his own year. And from the passing years of humanity he provides days of created light for those close to him. He never kept hidden the age that is to come after the perfecting of the present. For that age will be a time much on the Lord’s mind, being an age and day of requiting. For he will grant a change of fortune or a year of favor to those struggling in the present life.

The Spirit of the Lord God is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good tidings to the afflicted, that is, God anointed him with the Holy Spirit. Therefore, after being incarnated and clothed with a human body, as is said, he has received the Spirit and has been anointed with the Spirit, because he has received the Spirit for us and has anointed us with it.

The Spirit of the Lord is on me. That Spirit, which proceeds from the Father and is his essence, is in me, who am the Word and the Son of the Father, and through my incarnation I received the anointment of the economy of salvation.

We have shown by the clear evidence of the Scripture that the apostles and prophets were appointed, the latter to prophesy, the former to preach the gospel, by the Holy Spirit in the same way as by the Father and the Son. Now we add what all will rightly wonder at and not be able to doubt, that the Spirit was on Christ; and that as he sent the Spirit, so the Spirit sent the Son of God. For the Son of God says, The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has appointed me, he has sent me to preach the gospel. And having read this from the book of Isaiah, he says in the Gospel, Today has this Scripture been fulfilled in your ears,^[1] that he might point out that it was said of himself. ^[2] ADDRESSED TO CHRIST. ISHO‘DAD OF MERV: The Spirit of the Lord is on me, etc. These words are manifestly said with regard to Zerubbabel but actually with regard to our Lord, as he has testified by himself. Today, he said, that Scripture has been fulfilled at your ears.^{[1] [2]}

For inasmuch as the Word of God was man from the root of Jesse and son of Abraham, in this respect did the Spirit of God rest on him and anoint him to preach the gospel to the lowly. But inasmuch as he was God, he did not judge according to glory or reprove after the manner of speech. For he needed not that any should testify to him of humanity, for he himself knew what was in humanity.^[1] For he called all people who mourn, and granting forgiveness to those who had been led into captivity by their sins, he loosed them from their chains, of whom Solomon says, Everyone shall be held with the cords of his own sins.^[2] Therefore, did the Spirit of God descend on him, [the Spirit] of him who had promised by the prophets that he would anoint him, so that we, receiving from the abundance of his unction, might be saved. Such then [is the witness] of Matthew.^[3] . . . In the name of Christ is implied he who anoints, he who is anointed and the unction itself with which he is anointed. And it is the Father who anoints but the Son who is anointed by the Spirit, who is the unction, as the Word declares by Isaiah: The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me—pointing out the anointing Father, the anointed Son and the unction, which is the Spirit.

But afterward [the Spirit] came on him as he was baptized . . . and Jesus returned to Galilee. Considering all those things, we remember and acknowledge the Holy Spirit, who is one like the Father and the Son, without measure, and one who fills every creature and does the works that only God does, since one such cannot be sent from place to place since he is one who, we are taught, is immeasurable by nature.

Here is the one who says, My teaching is not mine but his who sent me. If anyone wants to do his will, let him know about the teaching, whether it is from God or I am speaking by my own authority.^[1] For one is teaching from God, the other is human teaching. Thus, the Jews, when they asked whether his teaching was taken from people, saying, How has he known these writings without learning them? Jesus replied, My teaching is not mine.^[2]

Being God by nature, the Only Begotten is the holy of holies, and he sanctifies all creation and so originates from the holy Father with the Holy Spirit proceeding from him and sending in the power from above to those on earth who recognize him. How was he sanctified? For he is God and man equally; he gives the Spirit to creation but receives the Spirit on account of being human. . . .

Acceptable is that year in which we were received, when we took kinship with him, having our sins washed away through holy baptism and becoming partakers of the divine nature through the sharing of the Holy Spirit. Or acceptable is the year in which he revealed his glory through the divine miracle attesting the message. We received the time for salvation gladly . . . the day of reckoning is none other than the time of his dwelling among us in which the reckoning has been given by him to those believing in him through the promise in hope. . . . For the Savior himself said, Now is the judgment of this world, now is the prince of the world cast out.^[1] The time of reckoning, then, is in this manner, when Christ illuminated the world.

After completing these predictions, Isaiah now turns the prophecy to Christ the Master, who in the present life has given these things to the church and has promised the commonwealth to come. . . . We do not need many examples to explain the meaning of this prophecy. For the Master himself has made it clear to us. For, entering the synagogue he took the book, unrolled it^[1] . . . and he was anointed by the All-Holy Spirit, not as God but as man. For we have often made this manifest already in our other writings. . . .

Isaiah calls poor those who have lost heavenly riches, broken-hearted those who have corrupted their reason, blind those who do not know God and who worship creation, prisoner those brought into the enemy’s camp and who have lost their original freedom. . . . Christ did not only give to us the forgiveness of sins and free us from the tyranny of the devil and reveal to us the divine light, but he also announced the future existence and warned of the righteous judgment. For I think that the year of grace means his first coming and day of recompense the day of judgment. To console all who mourn with the hope of the resurrection, he has tempered the despair of death. . . .

Perfume of joy, which Theodotion and Symmachus translate by oil of gladness, refers to the mystical anointing through which those made worthy receive the cloak of glory; for cloak must be understood as spiritual clothing. . . .

As the blessed David says, This is the generation that seeks the Lord.^[2] The three interpreters, instead of the generations of justice, have the strong ones of justice, a plantation of the Lord for his glory. In this way, the finest generals of godliness, as they roam the globe, remove impiety, and they plant in the desert the first plantations of the Lord.

Do not fall into despair because of stumblings. I do not mean that you should not feel contrition for [your sins], but that you should not think them incurable. For it is more expedient to be bruised than dead. There is, indeed, a Healer for the person who has stumbled, even He Who on the Cross asked that mercy be shown to His crucifiers, He Who pardoned His murderers while He hung on the Cross.^[1] . . . For a brief moment of mourning He pardoned Simon, who had denied Him. . . . Christ came in behalf of sinners, to heal the broken of heart and to bandage their wounds. The Spirit of the Lord, He says, is upon Me, to preach good tidings to the poor. . . . And the Apostle says in his epistle, Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners.^[2]

For the Savior cultivates us through the holy people of faith. And these are called God’s coworkers. . . . And the gladness will be everlasting; for we do not expect the reward to be in things of this age but in exceeding hope and life without limit for those who are noble concerning thought and speech.

This is said to the holy apostles, Do not be distressed when you are persecuted, tortured and disgraced among all and endure death of a thousand vanities. For through your sufferings the nations will gain salvation, and they will have a portion among those rejoicing.

About this twin glory it is written, they will possess double in their own land. This is written concerning the souls of the saints, for single white cloaks are given to them, and it is said that they might have rest a short time until the number of their colleagues and brothers is filled up. So they take now single cloaks, but they will have double cloaks on the day of judgment; for the first is in the way of souls only, but later they will rejoice in the glory of souls and bodies together.

If you offer rightly, but do not reason rightly, have you not sinned?^[1] For those offerings of fasts, which we extort without thought by violently wrenching our stomachs and fancy that we rightly offer to the Lord, he who loves mercy and judgment^[2] denounces, saying: I the Lord love judgment, but I hate robbery in a burnt offering. Similarly, those also who take the main part of their offerings, that is, their offices and actions, to benefit the flesh for their own use, but leave the remains as a tiny portion for the Lord, are also condemned as fraudulent workers by the Divine Word, saying: Cursed is the one who does the work of the Lord fraudulently.^[3]

But it is one thing to show mercy for sins, another to sin for the sake of showing mercy, which cannot really be called mercy since it does not issue in sweet fruit, since it is embittered through the influence of a diseased root. For here the Lord rebukes such sacrifices through the prophet, saying, I, the Lord, love justice and hate robbery with whole burnt offerings. . . . Such people also often withdraw from the poor what they give to God. But the Lord shows how strongly he disowns and censures such conduct.

After these promises that the Son of God has made concerning his first advent, it is extremely fitting that the word here addresses the church of God as receiving good and blessed things in those in whom he labored. As if receiving the appropriate items to wear, she takes the fullness of those being saved and like a bride she is said to consist of one fine and fair body and to have clothed around her the beauty of her groom. She is a monument of light, flashing forth a body of divine resurrection that is called the body of the Savior. For it is no longer a body of death, as Paul confirms: Who will save me from this body of death?^[1] For this is salvation, to put a cloak of salvation on one’s soul and a tunic of righteousness. For each one by his deeds that are done according to righteousness puts on his own fine apparel. . . . For she who is the bride of the Word receives seeds from him and returns splendid and fresh fruit.

Here in the person of the church he cries to its benefactor, . . . May my soul rejoice. . . . He calls the grace of baptism the garment of salvation and the cloak of joy, for as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.^[1] For in the Hebrew language the garment of salvation is called the garment of Jeshua, that is, of Jesus, like a young groom.^[2] . . . She both calls herself a bride, because she has been yoked to the bridegroom, and a bridegroom, because she has put on the bridegroom [Christ]. As for the mitre, the three interpreters translate it as crown. Of this adornment the blessed David comments, The queen is here on your right, arrayed in a multicolored golden vestment.^[3] The text means the multicolored gifts of the All-Holy Spirit.

What is it that was said? The two will be one flesh. This is a great sacrament, but I am speaking of Christ and the church.^[1] . . . So that you may realize that these are in some sense two persons and yet again are one by the union of marriage, he speaks as one in Isaiah: He has bound a headband on me like a bridegroom and clothed me with an ornament like a bride.^[2] He called himself a bridegroom as the head, the bride as the body. So he speaks as one; let us hear him and let us also speak in him. May we be in his members, so that his voice can be ours also.

Generously he lays his hands on them and in order to crown with many fine gifts those petitioning he says, Everyone who sees them will recognize that they are a seed blessed by God and adds, And they will rejoice in the Lord. And he immediately gives them joy. Here the person of the church is introduced full of joy as it sounds forth, May my soul rejoice in the Lord, for he has clothed me in a cloak of salvation and a tunic of rejoicing. The tunic of rejoicing means our Lord Jesus Christ.^[1] . . . They who have him like a garment gain not only salvation but also happiness and many joys. The Savior says, The thief only comes to steal, but I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly.^[2] . . . Christ is, therefore, the tunic that is from heaven and from above, which if anyone takes he or she will be crowned with all beauty (spiritually understood) and with the distinction of good work—like a groom wearing a mitre or as a bride clothed in all beauty. For those in Christ, fortified for the spiritual mastering, are well-equipped and ready for every aspect of virtue. They are like brides on account of their fruitfulness, with the many-splendored beauty that comes from the brilliance of virtues. Thus spoke one of the holy prophets, highlighting those who made straight the well-led life, For the fear of you, Lord, we have conceived in the womb and labored and brought forth the spirit of salvation that you have given throughout the world.^[3] Thus, the saints are compared with a bridegroom and bride on account of their fortitude and their fertility. . . . It shows that Christ shines out justice and gladness among the nations, just like flowers garland the earth. . . . For as the small and growing seed becomes a flower, just so was our Lord Jesus Christ proclaimed before the nations when it says also in the Song of Songs, I am flower of the field, a lily of the valleys.^[4]

Therefore, those who had been scattered returned, preaching the word of God. Instead of the dispersed, the Greek text has disseminated, that is, scattered like seed, for they were those about whom Isaiah said, their offspring in the midst of the peoples and about whom the Lord in the parable of the Gospel said, the good seed is those sons of the kingdom.^[1] For this seed was disseminated throughout many regions, so that the harvest of faith that started in Jerusalem filled first Judea and Samaria and then the whole world. About these same ones, dispersed or rather disseminated through the next generations, it is said that they spoke the word not only to Jews but also to Greeks, and the noblest foundations of the new church in Antioch were planted through these.

Then Isaiah says, Raise a standard to the nations.^[1] For the Lord has made it to be heard to the end of the earth. Let no one think that this is said about the Jewish people. For he orders the standard to be raised to the ends of the earth.

The nature of this audible sign that he has raised is his making known the word of faith, which we proclaim, or perhaps it is the symbol of the suffering of the Savior. For this is contained in the confession of faith. For it should be said that the Lord Jesus believed that God raised him from the dead. Now he instructs the daughter of Zion, who is clearly the church as it awaits salvation. For it is the daughter of those among the Jews who of old were a godly community. Now he speaks of the second coming, reminding [the church] that he is the one who formerly saved it, on whose account he acted and suffered.

It is the custom of prophets to foresee the things to come, to mourn and lament the disasters and then from their visions of favor to tell the people the good news, even when those listening reject them, to rejoice and raise their spirits, since the prophets are those who possessed a fixed intention concerning the vision of things signified. Now the prophet looks toward Christ as he puts him on as a garment. For all who are clothed in Christ have put on the garment of salvation and beautify his holy church. And this is a fuller version of that disposition that a young man is filled with toward a virgin, rejoicing and dancing in spirit, as one united with Christ, having put him on and having him as a tunic of rejoicing.

The text signifies the seed-like words that are planted in the soul as in earth and as seeds grow in a garden. No seed from outside or of a different sort is let in, but it is like soil that has the word and yields to Christ. Just as the eyes in the body have a close connection with the light and when the sun rises we immediately see this link, so when the Savior will enlighten us, we will in turn illuminate that readiness for righteousness, which is mixed into us, putting aside the dark ways of our souls.

There are some who would explain the whole passage this way. It is prophetic custom to lament the bad things but to rejoice in the good. And this is what the prophet does here. For telling forth the good news of the coming of Christ and the salvation of all things, putting on Christ and being adorned and surrounded by him, he gives praise in the spirit, having the disposition of a young man with a virgin, as long as he is joined to Christ. And the as the earth shoots forth its flower represents those who receive in their souls the spermatic words that prepare the way for Christ. For their eyes have an affinity with the light. They see whenever light is present. So, too, when Christ arises we receive him through our preparedness for him and immediately turn away from darkness. It says that he appeared from the shoot of Israel as one openly rejoicing before the nations.

And lest Israel seemed abandoned, I will not abandon my plan, which was made from the beginning, nor its dignity. For first of all Christ sent his disciples to the lost sheep of Israel.