I predicted these things to you, he says, so that when sudden unexpected tribulations would occur, your resolve might not turn and fail but instead, through constant meditation, you might be trained through these difficulties.

The Savior warned his disciples ahead of time that they would not only be driven away from fellowship with their fellow citizens but also that they would suffer death at their hands. The Jews thought that they were doing a service to God in pursuing the ministers of the new covenant with hatred and death. The apostle says, For I bear witness to them that they have zeal for God, but not according to full knowledge.^[1] Here, it is as if he were saying, You are going to suffer battles and tribulations from your fellow citizens, but accept them the more steadfastly in the realization that you are afflicted with them not so much out of hatred toward yourselves as out of zeal for the divine law. Mindful of this advice, the blessed martyr Stephen prayed for his slayers. Those zealous for the Law thought that they were doing a service to God when they were murdering the heralds of grace.

On the whole, I do not think Jesus wanted to convey any further meaning than that they might understand and rejoice that they themselves would gain so many to Christ. When they were being driven out of the Jewish congregations, ultimately it would be found insufficient to expel them, and the Jews would not allow them to live, fearing that everyone would be converted by their preaching to the name of Christ and turned away from the observance of Judaism, as if what they were preaching were the very truth of God. This is how we should understand his reference to the Jews, when he said of them, They will put you out of the synagogues. For the witnesses, in other words, the martyrs of Christ, were similarly slain by the Gentiles. The Gentiles, however, did not think that it was to the true God but to their own false deities that they were doing service when they acted. But every Jew who killed the preachers of Christ considered that he was serving God, believing as he did that all who were converted to Christ were deserting the God of Israel.

What the Savior said in prophesying to the disciples . . . was originally fulfilled in his own case. For those who required that he should die thought they were offering a service to God and had gone up to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves.

But what harm was it for the apostles to be expelled from the Jewish synagogues, as if they were not going to separate themselves from it soon enough, although no one expelled them? No doubt he meant to announce that the Jews would refuse to receive Christ while the disciples . . . were not going to desert him. And so, the disciples, who could not exist without him, would also be thrown out along with him by those who would not have him as their dwelling place. For certainly there were no other people of God than the seed of Abraham. And if they would only acknowledge and receive Christ, they would have remained as the natural branches in the olive tree.^[1] The churches of Christ also would have been no different from the synagogues of the Jews. They would have been one and the same if they had also desired to remain in him. But since they refused, continuing to keep Christ outside, there was nothing left to do but put out of the synagogues those who would not abandon Christ.

No one should wonder that we are harassed with constant persecutions and continually tried with increasing afflictions when the Lord before predicted that these things would happen in the last times. He has instructed us for the warfare through his teaching and exhortation. Peter also, his apostle, has taught that persecutions occur to test us. We are to look to the example of the righteous who have gone before us and are to be joined to the love of God by death and sufferings. For he wrote in his epistle, Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that comes on you to prove you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice in so far as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are reproached for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the spirit of glory and of God rests on you.^[1] The name of Christ is indeed blasphemed by them but is glorified by us.

In these words the Lord Jesus Christ defends himself and also accuses the audacity of the Jews . . . censuring those who dishonor him by their cruelty toward the holy apostles. For the charge of transgression will not merely have reference to their treatment of the saints but also will bear on the one who laid on them the service of apostleship. Just as God said to the holy Samuel concerning the children of Israel, They have not rejected you, but they have rejected me.^[1]

He says to them, in effect: It is sufficient comfort that you endure these things for my sake and the Father’s. Here he reminds them of the blessedness of which he spoke at the beginning, Blessed are you when people shall revile you, and persecute you and shall say all kinds of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad. For great is your reward in heaven.^[1]

Let us also consider these things in our temptations when we suffer anything from wicked people, looking to the Beginner and Finisher of our faith.^[1] Let us consider that it is by wicked people and for virtue’s sake and for his sake [that we suffer]. For if we reflect on these things, everything will be easier and more tolerable. Since one is even proud when suffering for those he loves, what kind of feeling will such a person have who suffers for the sake of God? For if Jesus, for our sake, calls that shameful thing, the cross, glory,^[2] how much more should we think that way! And if we can so despise sufferings, much more shall we be able to despise riches and covetousness. We ought then, when about to endure anything unpleasant, to think not of the toils but of the crowns. For as merchants take into account not the seas only but also the profits, so should we count on heaven and confidence in God. If acquiring things seems pleasant, simply remember that this is not what Christ called us to, and it will immediately appear displeasing. And if it is hard for you to give to the poor, do not keep adding things up in your mind, but rather immediately transport your thoughts to the harvest that results from the sowing. And when it is hard to despise the love of a strange woman, think of the crown that comes after the struggle, and you shall easily bear the struggle. For if fear diverts a person from unseemly things, much more should the love of Christ. Virtue is difficult. But let us cast around its form the greatness of the promise of things to come. Indeed, those who are virtuous, even apart from these promises, see [virtue] beautiful in itself. This is why they go after it and work for it, because it seems good to God and not because it is a job they have to do.

In the other three Evangelists, these predictions occur before the supper.^[1] John implies the supper was over. . . . Still, if the other Evangelists relate them as given very near his passion, what John records here is strictly true as well when it says, And I said these things to you at the beginning. Matthew, however, relates these prophecies as given by the Lord not only on the evening of the Passover, when he sat with his disciples, but also at the beginning, when the twelve apostles are named and sent on their work from God.^[2] How do we reconcile this with our Lord’s words here? . . . We apply these words to the promise of the Holy Spirit and the testimony he would give amid their suffering. Jesus had not spoken of [the Comforter] at the beginning because he himself was with them. . . . And his presence was a sufficient consolation. But on the eve of his own departure, it was proper that he should tell them of the Spirit’s coming by whom the love of God would be shed abroad in their hearts to preach the word of God with all boldness.

And these things, says he, I did not tell you at the beginning. Why didn’t he tell them at the beginning? He did not tell them so that no one might say that he was guessing based on the ordinary course of events. And why did he enter into a matter of such unpleasantness? I knew these things, he says, from the beginning and did not speak of them—not because I did not know them but because I was with you. And this again was spoken after a human manner, as though he had said, I didn’t tell you because you were in safety, and it was in your power to question me when you wanted to, and all the storms blew on me [not you], and so it was superfluous to tell you these things at the beginning. But did he not tell them this? Did he not call the Twelve and say to them, You shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, and, they shall scourge you in the synagogues?^[1] How then can he say, I did not tell you these things at the beginning? He can say this because he had foretold their scourging and their being brought before princes, but not that their death should appear so desirable that the action should even be deemed a service to God. For this more than anything was enough to terrify them—that they were to be judged as impious and corrupters. We might also add that in that earlier place he spoke of what they should suffer from the Gentiles, but here he has added in a stronger way the acts of the Jews also, and told them that it was almost at their doors.

It is as if he were clearly saying, By my ascension I shall return to him who determined that I was to become incarnate. And so great and so evident will be the honor of this ascension that there will be no need for any of you to ask where I am going, since all of you will see that I am on my way to heaven. But it is good that when he had said regarding his ascension, I am going to him who sent me, he added, And none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ Earlier on, when he was testifying publicly about his passion and saying, You are not able to come where I am going,^[1] Peter questioned him saying, Lord, where are you going?^[2] He received the answer, Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but [you will follow me] later on. This was undoubtedly because they were not yet able to understand, not yet able to imitate the mystery of his passion and death. Yet they truly recognized the majesty of his ascension as soon as they saw it, and they wished with the entire capacity of their minds that they might deserve to follow [him].

Great is the tyranny of despondency. We need great courage in order to stand strong against it and, after gathering from it what is useful, to let go of what is superfluous. And so, it has a purpose at times. When we ourselves or others sin, that is a good time to grieve. But when we fall into human difficulties, then despondency is useless. And now when it has overthrown the disciples, who were not yet perfect, see how Christ raises them again by his rebuke. They who before this had asked him ten thousand questions^[1]. . . —these men, I say, now hearing, they will put you out of the synagogues and will hate you and whoever kills you will think that he does God’s service—were so cast down as to be struck dumb, so that they say nothing to him. And so he reproaches them and says, These things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you. But now I go to him that sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Immoderate sorrow is a horrible thing, dreadful and even deadly, as Paul said, Lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up by too much sorrow.^[2]

Or, whereas they had asked him before where he was going and he had replied that he was going where they would not come, now he promises that he will go in such a way that no one will ask him where he goes. For a cloud received him [in broad daylight]. When he ascended up to heaven, they questioned him not in words but followed with their eyes.^[1] . . . But our Lord saw what effect his words would produce on their minds. Not having yet that inward consolation that the Holy Spirit was to impart, they were afraid to lose the outward presence of Christ. And so, when they could no longer doubt from his own words that they were going to lose him, their human affections were saddened by the loss of their visible object. But he knew that it would be for their good because that inward sight that the Holy Spirit would use to console them was the better sight.

So since we could in no way enjoy this blessing of not seeing and yet believing, unless we had received it from the Holy Spirit, it was very properly said, It is to your advantage that I should go. For if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you. But if I do go away, I will send him to you.^[1] In his divinity, of course, he is always with us. But unless he went away from us in the body, we would always be able to see his body in the flesh and would never believe in a spiritual way. And that is the only kind of faith by which we can be justified and made blessed and earn the right to contemplate this very Word who is God with God, through whom all things were made and who became flesh in order to dwell among us.

This he says not because of any inequality between the Word of God and the Holy Spirit but because the presence of the Son of man among them would impede the coming of the [Spirit]. For the Holy Spirit did not humble himself, as the Son did, by taking on him the form of a servant.^[1] It was necessary therefore that the form of the servant should be removed from their eyes. For so long as they looked on that form, they thought that Christ was no more than what they saw him to be.

Jesus places us in the sight of the Father by departing into heaven as the firstfruits of humanity. . . . For he ascended to heaven as our forerunner, as the inspired Paul also says.^[1] There, as man, he is truly the high priest of our souls, our comforter and the propitiation for our sins. And as God and Lord by his nature, Jesus sits on his own Father’s throne, and this glory is reflected even on us.

If I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. This indeed is the order of things, so that when I am in glory but you are still anticipating participation in that glory, you may receive the grace of the Spirit. Therefore, if I go, you will also necessarily receive through the gift of the Spirit the participation in the gifts that I enjoy. But if I do not enjoy them first, you cannot expect them either. And since he, by leaving them, shows that he will invite them to receive those gifts, he proves in many ways that the gift of the grace of the Spirit is great. And this is only right, because the Spirit provides all the gifts given to people.

But why didn’t the Spirit come before he departed? He could not come because the curse had not yet been taken away, sin had not yet been forgiven, and everything was still subject to the penalty for it. It is necessary then, Jesus says, that the enmity be put away, that we be reconciled to God and then receive that gift. But why does he say, I will send him? It means, I will prepare you beforehand to receive him. For how can that which is everywhere be sent? In addition, he shows the distinction of the persons. Moreover, he speaks in this way for two reasons: first, because they were finding it hard to be separated from him, to persuade them to hold fast to the Spirit. And second, in order that they might cherish the Spirit. For Christ himself could have accomplished these things, but he concedes to the Spirit the working of miracles so that they might understand his dignity. For as the Father could have brought into being things that are, but it was the Son who did so in order that we might understand his power, so also is it in this case. For this reason he himself was made flesh by delegating the performing of this work to the Spirit, thus silencing those who take the argument of his ineffable love for an occasion of impiety.

It is evident, and there is no need of a lengthy explanation why he calls this Spirit the Paraclete, that is, the Consoler. [The Spirit’s] coming consoled and refreshed the hearts of the disciples when [Christ’s] departure had caused them to be sad. But also, when [the Spirit] inspires a hope of pardon and heavenly mercy in any individual believers who are saddened about the commission of sin or are laboring under the ordinary afflictions of this life, he unquestionably relieves them of the anguish of their sorrow by enlightening their minds.

After Christ had completed his mission on earth, it still remained necessary that we should become partakers and sharers of the divine nature of the Word. We had to give up our own life and be so transformed that we would begin to live an entirely new kind of life that would be pleasing to God. However, this was something we could do only by sharing in the Holy Spirit. And the most fitting and appropriate time for the mission and descent of the Holy Spirit to us was . . . the occasion of our Savior’s departure to heaven. As long as Christ was with them in the flesh, the believers would have thought that they possessed all the blessings he had to offer. But when the time came for him to ascend to his Father in heaven, it was necessary for him to be united through his Spirit to those who worshiped him and to dwell in our hearts through faith. Only by his presence within us in this way could he give us the confidence to cry out, Abba, Father, and enable us to grow in holiness and, through our possession of the all-powerful Spirit, strengthen us to become invincible against the traps of the devil and the assaults of our fellow human beings.^[1] . . .

You see that the Spirit changes those in whom he comes to dwell and alters the whole pattern of their lives. . . . With the Spirit within them it is quite natural for people who had been absorbed by the things of this world to become entirely other-worldly in their outlook and for cowards to become people of great courage. There is no question that this is what happened to the disciples. The strength they received from the Spirit enabled them to hold firmly to the love of Christ, facing the violence of the persecutors without fear. What our Savior said, then, was very true, that is, that it was to their advantage that he return to heaven. For that return was the occasion for the descent of the Spirit.

For what does this mean, If I do not go away, the Comforter will not come to you. But if I depart, I will send him to you? Was it that he could not send him while located here himself? Who would venture to say so? Neither was it that the other [i.e., the Spirit] had withdrawn from where he was or that he had come from the Father in such a way that he did not still remain with the Father. And still further, how could he, even when having his own dwelling on earth, be unable to send him, who we know came and remained upon him at his baptism?^[1] And even more so, how could this be the case when we know that the Son was never separable from [the Spirit]? What does it mean, then, If I do not go away, the Comforter will not come to you? It means that you cannot receive the Spirit so long as you continue to know Christ after the flesh. ^[2] BODILY ^[1]

The Holy Spirit the Comforter has brought us this blessing: that the form of the servant, received from the Virgin’s womb, being once removed from the sight of our bodily eyes, we might start to focus the attention of purified minds on the very form of God in which he remained equal to the Father even when he had graciously appeared in the flesh.

But with Christ’s bodily departure, both the Father and the Son, as well as the Holy Spirit, were spiritually present with them. For if Christ had left them so that the Holy Spirit replaced him rather than dwelling along with him, what would have become of his promise, Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world^[1] and, I and the Father will come to him and will make our dwelling with him?^[2] He had also promised that he would send the Holy Spirit in such a way that he would be with them forever. Jesus knew, however, that though they were presently in a carnal condition, they would undoubtedly possess in a more comprehensive way both the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit. But we should in no way think that the Father is present without the Son and the Holy Spirit or [vice versa]. . . . Wherever any one of them is, there also is the Trinity, one God.

This is the power of the descent of the Holy Spirit, that then the sin of those who have erred against me will be revealed. Whoever after the descent of the Holy Spirit did not believe in the Christ remained in their sins. Whoever did not believe in the sinless One will be condemned as a sinner.

When the Lord said of the Holy Spirit, He shall convict the world of sin, he meant unbelief. For this is what he meant when he said, Of sin because they believed not on me. And he means the same when he says, If I had not come and spoken to them, they should not have sin.^[1] He was not talking about [a time] before they had no sin. Rather, he wanted to indicate that very lack of faith by which they did not believe him even when he was present to them and speaking to them. These were the people who belonged to the prince of the power of the air, who now works in the children of unbelief.^[2] Therefore those in whom there is no faith are the children of the devil because they have nothing in their inner being that would cause them to be forgiven for whatever is committed either by human infirmity, ignorance or any evil will whatever. But the children of God are those who certainly, if they should say that they have no sin, deceive themselves, and the truth is not in them, but immediately (as it continues) when they confess their sins (which the children of the devil do not do, or do not do according to the faith which is peculiar to the children of God), he is faithful and just to forgive them their sins and to cleanse them from all unrighteousness.^[3]

Now there is a great difference between believing in Christ and in believing that Jesus is the Christ. For even the devils believe that he was the Christ. But the one who believes in Christ both loves Christ and puts his hope in him.

In this way too the Holy Spirit reproved the world of sin, that is, by the mighty works he did in the name of the Savior who was condemned by the world.

Jesus is saying here, My going to the Father will prove that I have led an irreproachable life. For since they continually accused him of not being from God because he was a sinner and transgressor, the Spirit will take away from them this accusation as well. . . . Again when he says that the Spirit will convict the world, of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged, he makes their argument concerning righteousness moot as well, inasmuch as he conquered the devil. If he had been a sinner, he could not have overthrown the devil. Not even a righteous person would have been strong enough to do that. But those who trample on him afterward shall know that he has been condemned through me. And my resurrection, which is the mark of [my Father] who condemned the devil, will clearly show that the devil was not able to detain me. And so they can no longer say that I had a devil or that I was a deceiver.

And therefore we ought not to think of ourselves as having no part in that justice that the Lord himself is referring to, when he speaks about justice, because I am going to the Father. After all, we too have risen again with Christ, and with our head we are Christ, for the time being in faith and hope. But our hope will be fulfilled in the final resurrection of the dead. But when our hope is fulfilled or completed, that is when our justification will be completed too.^[1] It is the Lord who is going to complete it, and he showed us what we should hope for in his own flesh (that is, in our head), in which he rose again and ascended to the Father. Because this is what Scripture says: He was handed over for our transgressions and rose again for our justification.^[2] So the world is challenged about sin, in those who do not believe in Christ, and about justice, in those who rise again among the members of Christ.

The righteousness of Christ’s disciples consisted in this, that they believed that the Lord, whom they discerned was a true human being, was also the true Son of God, and that they worshiped always with a definite love the one whom they knew had been taken away bodily from them. The righteousness of the believers, that is, of those who have not seen the Lord in his human body, consists in this, that with their hearts they believe and love him whom they have never seen with their bodily vision as true God and man. Unbelievers are convicted of this righteousness, [which arises from] faith because, when they hear the word of life in the same way [as believers], they are unwilling to believe [in a way that leads] to righteousness.

By what means, then, is the world to be reproved of righteousness, if not by the righteousness of believers? Accordingly, it is convinced of sin because it does not believe on Christ, and it is convinced of the righteousness of those who do believe. For the very comparison with believers is itself a reproving of unbelievers. . . . And since the cry of unbelievers usually is, How can we believe what we do not see? the righteousness of believers lies in this very definition [of faith]: Because I go to the Father you will see me no more. For blessed are those who do not see and yet believe.^[1] Those who saw Christ were not commended for what they saw, namely, the Son of man, but for believing what they did not see, namely, the Son of God. But after his servant form was itself also withdrawn from their view, then in every respect was the word truly fulfilled, The just shall live by faith.^[2]. . . This, then, he says, will be your righteousness by which the world shall be reproved . . . seeing that you shall believe in me as in one whom you shall not see. . . . In the future you will see me, not in my humility but in my exaltation; not in my mortality but in my eternity; not at the bar of justice but on the throne of judgment. And by this faith of yours, in other words, your righteousness, the Holy Spirit will reprove an unbelieving world.

Jesus came to free all those oppressed by the devil and said of him with some befitting depth, Now is the prince of this world judged.

So awesome is the descent of the Spirit—because it is so great and powerful—that through its coming down on men and women the sin appears of those who made attempts on my life. They planned to kill him who was worthy of such honor and greatness, as the gift of the Spirit among those who believe in me, will clearly show. Also my righteousness will be known, which I preached among them with works and words and with great righteousness and performed with equity. From all this, in addition, it will become evident that the divine plan concerning my passion was not useless and vain. Its purpose was to condemn Satan. Indeed, when through the power of the gift of the Spirit ill people are healed, dead people resurrected, demons exorcised, then through all these works the condemnation of Satan will appear. If I did evil actions or taught false doctrine, I would receive a just punishment according to my actions. And especially after my death I would be despised. And my disciples would also necessarily share with me the same contempt. But when the presence of the Spirit, with the accomplishment of miracles, shows the contrary, when it places my disciples also in great glory, then the condemnation of Satan will appear and the manifestation of my glory will be evident, whereas the sin of my enemies will be condemned. He referred all these actions to the Spirit in order to reveal its nature and power through the things that it does.

The devils, seeing souls go from hell to heaven, knew that the prince of this world was judged. They saw that once he was brought to trial in the Savior’s cause, he had lost all right to what he held. This was seen on our Savior’s ascension but was declared plainly and openly in the descent of the Holy Spirit on the disciples.

God has called the devil the ruler of this world not as though it was actually true, or as though this overruling power were a dignity inherent in his being, but rather because he obtained the glory of ruling through fraud and covetousness. The devil is still influencing and ruling over those who are astray by reason of the wicked purpose that is in them that binds their minds in error and inextricably entangles them in the noose of captivity, even though it is in their power to escape by being converted through faith in Christ to a recognition of the one who is truly God. Satan is merely a pretender to the title of ruler and has no natural right to it as opposed to God, and he maintains it only through the abominable wickedness of those who are astray.

He calls the devil the ruler of this world because he rules over those who, in a perverse way, love the world rather than the world’s Maker. He was judged by the Lord when he said, I saw Satan falling like lightning from heaven.^[1] He was judged by [the Lord] when he was casting out demons and when he gave his disciples the power of treading on all the power of the enemy.^[2] Accordingly, the world is convicted of the judgment by which the devil is judged when human beings are frightened by the example of the archangel who was condemned because of his pride, lest they presume to resist the will of God. The Holy Spirit convicts the world of the judgment by which the ruler of the world has been judged when the apostle Jude, speaking in the Holy Spirit, in order to correct the wickedness of evil human beings records the punishment of the proud angels, saying, The angels who did not preserve their place of leadership but left their dwelling place, he has kept in eternal chains in darkness for the judgment of the great day.^[3]

The Gospel shows him [the Paraclete] to be of such power and majesty that the apostles could not yet receive those things that the Savior wished to teach them until the advent of the Holy Spirit, who, pouring himself into their souls, might enlighten them regarding the nature and faith of the Trinity.

The Word himself intimated that there were things that could not now be borne but that should be borne and cleared up hereafter, and that John the forerunner of the Word and great voice of the truth declared even the whole world could not contain.^[1]

According to the apostle, Lord, your Holy Spirit fully understands and penetrates your inmost depths. He also intercedes on my behalf, saying to you things for which I cannot find the words. Nothing can penetrate your being but what is divine already. Nor can the depths of your immense majesty be measured by any power that itself is alien or extrinsic to you. So, whatever enters into you is yours already, nor can anything that has the power to search your very depths ever have been other than your own. . . .

Your Holy Spirit proceeds through your Son from you. Though I may fail to grasp the full meaning of that statement, I give it nonetheless the firm assent of my mind and heart.

I may indeed show dullness and stupidity in my understanding of these spiritual matters. It is as your only Son has said: Do not be surprised if I have said to you: ‘You must be born again.’ Just as the wind blows where it pleases and you hear the sound of it without knowing where it is coming from or going to, so will it be with everyone who is born again of water and the Holy Spirit.^[1] By my regeneration I have received the faith, but I am still ignorant. And yet I have a firm hold on something that I do not understand. I am born again, capable of rebirth but without conscious perception of it. The Spirit abides by no rules. He speaks when he pleases, what he pleases and where he pleases. We are conscious of his presence when he comes, but the reasons for his approach or his departure remain hidden from us.

John tells us that all things came into being through the Son who is God the Word abiding with you, Father, from the beginning. Paul in his turn enumerates the things created in the Son, both visible and invisible, in heaven and on earth. And while he is specific about all that was created in and through Christ, of the Holy Spirit he considers it enough simply to say that he is your Spirit.

Therefore I concur with those chosen men in thinking that just as it is not expedient for me to venture beyond my mental limitation and predicate anything of your only-begotten Son except that, as those witnesses have assured us, he was born of you, so it is not fitting for me to go beyond the power of human thought and the teaching of those same witnesses by declaring anything regarding the Holy Spirit other than that he is your Spirit. Rather than waste time in a fruitless war of words, I would prefer to spend it in the firm profession of an unhesitating faith.

I beg you therefore, Father, to preserve in me that pure and reverent faith and to grant that to my last breath I may testify to my conviction. May I always hold fast to what I publicly professed in the creed when I was baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. May I worship you, the Father of us all, and your Son together with you, and may I be counted worthy to receive your Holy Spirit who through your only Son proceeds from you. For me there is sufficient evidence for this faith in the words Father, all that I have is yours, and all that is yours is mine, spoken by Jesus Christ my Lord who remains, in and from and with you, the God who is blessed for endless ages. Amen.

So that is how we must take what the Lord says to the disciples, when he says, Everything I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.^[1] If this had already happened, why does he tell them somewhere else, I have still many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now? Certainly, everything I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. But when he says, You cannot bear them now, and says, I still have to say to you, he is putting things off, not cutting them off altogether. So because of the certainty of his hope, by which he knew without a doubt that he would do this, it was in his reckoning already as good as done. And that is why he could say, I have made known to you.

Our Savior had some things that, he said, could not be borne at that time by his disciples (though they were filled with many teachings) . . . and therefore they were hidden. And again he said that all things should be taught by the Spirit when he would come to dwell among us.^[1] Of these things, one, I take it, was the deity of the Spirit himself, made clear later on when such knowledge should be seasonable and capable of being received after our Savior’s restoration. . . . For what greater thing than this did either he promise, or the Spirit teach?

Now, however, you are perhaps wishing to know what those things were that the apostles were then unable to bear. But which of us would venture to assert his own present capacity for what they lacked in ability to receive? And this is why you are neither to expect me to tell you things that perhaps I could not comprehend myself were they told me by another; nor would you be able to bear them even if I were talented enough to let you hear of things that are above your comprehension. It may be, indeed, that some among you are fit enough already to comprehend things that are still beyond the grasp of others. . . But what they were that he himself thus omitted to tell, it would be rash to have even the wish to presume to say. . . . Therefore, one may say that Christian people, even when desiring to hear, ought not to be told what those things are of which the Lord said here. . . . If the apostles were still unable, much more so are you. . . . For surely if we had read any such thing in the books confirmed by canonical authority, which were written after our Lord’s ascension, it would not have been enough to have read such a statement, had we not also read in the same place that this was actually one of those things that the Lord was then unwilling to tell his disciples because they were unable to bear them.

Beloved, you should not expect to hear from us what the Lord refrained from telling his disciples because they were still unable to bear them. Rather, seek to grow in the love that is shed abroad in your hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given to you^[1] so that, fervent in spirit and loving spiritual things, you may be able—not by any sign apparent to your bodily eyes or any sound striking on your bodily ears but by the inward eyesight and hearing—to become acquainted with that spiritual light and that spiritual word that carnal people are unable to bear. For that cannot be loved that is altogether unknown. But when what is known, in however small a measure, is also loved, by the same love, one is led on to a better and fuller knowledge. If, then, you grow in the love that the Holy Spirit spreads abroad in your hearts, He will teach you all truth, or, as other codices have it, He will guide you in all truth; as it is said, Lead me in your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth.^[2] So shall the result be, that not from outward teachers will you learn those things that the Lord at that time declined to utter, but you will all be taught by God,^[3] so that the very things that you have learned and believed by means of lessons and sermons supplied from without . . . your minds themselves may have the power to perceive.

Accordingly, when he says, He will teach you all truth or will guide you into all truth, I do not think the fulfillment is possible in anyone’s mind in this present life. For who is there, while living in this corruptible and soul-oppressing body,^[1] that can know all truth when even the apostle says, We know in part? But it is effected by the Holy Spirit, of whom we have now received the promise,^[2] that we shall attain also to the actual fullness of knowledge that the same apostle references when he says, But then face to face and Now I know in part, but then shall I know even as also I am known.^[3] He is not talking about something he knows fully in this life but about something that would still be in the future when he would attain that perfection. This is what the Lord promised us through the love of the Spirit, when he said, He will teach you all truth or will guide you unto all truth.

He means that his hearers had not yet attained to all those things that for his name’s sake they were able to bear. And so, revealing more minor things, he puts off the greater for a future time. These were things they could not understand because the Spirit had not yet been given, as the Evangelist says, For the Spirit had not been given because Jesus had not yet been glorified,^[1] intimating the glory of Jesus was in his tasting death for all. And after the resurrection, when he appeared to his disciples, he breathed on them and said, Receive the Holy Spirit and again You will receive the power of the Holy Spirit when he comes on you. Where the Spirit entered into their believing hearts, they were filled with wisdom and knowledge and other effects of the Spirit that would lead them into all truth. But, as yet, they were slaves to the types, and shadows and images of the Law, and they could not bear the truth of which the Law was the shadow. But when the Holy Spirit came, he would lead them by his teaching and discipline into all truth, transferring them from the dead letter to the quickening Spirit in whom alone all scriptural truth resides.

The Lord sent the Paraclete because, since human weakness could not receive everything at once, it might gradually be directed and regulated and brought to perfection of discipline by the Lord’s vicar, the Holy Spirit. . . . And so, he declared the work of the Spirit. This, then, is the Paraclete’s guiding office: the direction of discipline, the revelation of the Scriptures, the reforming of the intellect and the progress in us toward better things.

He will not speak on his own, that is, not without me or without the Father’s and my will. This is because he is not of himself but is from the Father and me. The fact that he exists and that he speaks he has from the Father and me. I speak the truth, that is, I inspire as well as speak by him, since he is the Spirit of truth. To say and to speak in the Trinity must not be understood according to our usage but according to the usage of incorporeal natures, and especially the Trinity, which implants its will in the hearts of all of those believers who are worthy to hear it. . . . For the Father then to speak and the Son to hear, or vice versa, is a mode of expressing the identity of their nature and their agreement. Again, the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of truth and the Spirit of wisdom, cannot hear from the Son what he does not know, seeing he is the very thing that is produced from the Son, that is, truth proceeding from truth, Comforter from Comforter, God from God. And finally, in case anyone should separate him from the will and company of the Father and the Son, it is written, Whatever he shall hear, that shall he speak.

The Son of God says concerning the Holy Spirit that he will not speak from himself, that is, not without the participation of the Father and myself. For the Spirit is not divided and separated but speaks what he hears. . . . This means he shall not speak without me. For he speaks the truth, he breathes wisdom. He does not speak without the Father, for he is the Spirit of God. He does not hear from himself, for all things are of God. . . . Therefore what the Spirit says is the Son’s, what the Son has given is the Father’s. So neither the Son nor the Spirit speaks anything of himself. For the Trinity speaks nothing external to itself.

When it says that the Holy Spirit shall not speak of himself; but whatever he hears, that shall he speak," we should understand this as saying that he is not of himself. It is the Father only who is not of another. For the Son is born of the Father, and the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father. But the Father is neither born of, nor proceeds from, another. And yet this should not occasion in human thought any idea of disparity in the supreme Trinity. For the Son is equal to him of whom he is born just as the Holy Spirit is equal to him from whom he proceeds. But what difference there is in such a case between proceeding and being born would be too lengthy to make the subject of inquiry and dissertation. It would also make our definition liable to the charge of rashness, even after we had discussed it. For such a thing is of the utmost difficulty, both for the mind to comprehend in any adequate way—even if it had reached the level of such comprehension—and for the tongue to explain no matter how capable the one that presides as a teacher or he that is present as a hearer are. . . . Because, then, [the Spirit] is not of himself, but of him from whom he proceeds and of whom he has essence, it is of him [i.e. the Father] that he has knowledge. From the Father, therefore, the Spirit has hearing, which is nothing else than knowledge.

Here most of all Christ shows his dignity, for to foretell things to come is especially the property of God. Now if he also learned this from others, he will have nothing more than the prophets. But here Christ declares a knowledge brought into exact agreement with God so that it is impossible that he should speak anything else. But shall receive of mine means shall receive, either of the grace that came into my flesh or of the knowledge that I also have, not as needing it or as learning it from another, but because it is one and the same. And why did he speak this way and not otherwise? Because they do not yet understand the word concerning the Spirit, which is why he provides for one thing only, that the Spirit should be believed and received by them and that they should not be offended. For since he had said, One is your Teacher, even Christ^[1]—so that they might not think that they disobeyed him in obeying the Spirit—he says, his teaching and mine are one. Whatever I would have taught is what he also will speak. Do not suppose his words are other than mine, for those words are mine and confirm my opinion. For the will of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit is one. He also wants this for us, which is why he says, that they may be one, as you and I are one.^[2]

By the Spirit of truth too the knowledge of future events has been granted to holy people. Prophets filled with this Spirit foretold and saw things to come, as if they were present: And he will show you things to come.

It is true that a countless number of the faithful have foreknown and proclaimed coming events as a result of the gift of the Spirit. There are some who, filled with the grace of the Spirit, cure the sick raise, raise the dead, command demons and shine forth with many virtues. They lead an angelic life on earth. Nevertheless they do not know by a revelation of the Spirit the things that are to come about there. We can also take these words of the Lord to mean that when the Spirit comes, he may announce to us the things that are to come when he brings back to our memory the joys of the heavenly fatherland, when he makes known to us the feasts of the commonwealth on high through the gift of his breathing on [us]. He announces to us the things that are to come when he draws us away from the delights of present things and kindles within us the desire for the kingdom that has been promised us in heaven.

In this way, then, he raised their spirits. For there is nothing for which people so long as the knowledge of the future. . . . He relieves them from all anxiety by showing them that dangers would not fall on them unawares.

He will make me clearly known^[1] by pouring love into the hearts of believers and making them spiritual and thus able to see that the Son whom they had known before only according to the flesh—and who they thought was only a man like themselves—was equal to the Father. Or at least, when his love filled them with boldness and cast out fear, they would proclaim Christ to men and women, and in this way they would spread Christ’s fame throughout the whole world. . . . For what they were going to do in the power of the Holy Spirit, this the Holy Spirit says he does himself.

The work and teaching of the Spirit will redound to my glory, for the Spirit also proceeds from me. For when he says from me, it is clear that he is also from the Father, for what belongs to me belongs to the Father. Then he hears again in the same manner the phrase he will take from what is mine. It is not as if some knowledge comes on the Spirit—and that at the present time. It would be a horrible thing, indeed, almost an evil conjecture, to state that the Spirit received his instruction when he was about to bring it to humankind. Indeed, it would be a horrible suggestion if someone should say that the Spirit was taught at all. Then he would no longer be believed to dwell in people and bring all wisdom to them, if he did not have some innate wisdom in him but rather needed to be taught. Thus, when he said, he will take from what is mine and announce it to you, he meant simply to say that the Spirit would proceed from him. The statements speak of lesser things since they are adapted to what is well known to people, but the real glory of the Spirit is greater since it pertains to divinity. Moreover, it is said that God listens to a person’s words. However, it is clear that nothing is added at that time to the knowledge of God but that even before we spoke our words, he knew our prayers and had created everything according to his knowledge from the very beginning of his creation, knowing full well the changes in emotions that would take place in his creatures. Nonetheless, it is still said, Hear, O Lord and The Lord heard. And yet it is not necessary for God to wait for anything in time, as if there would be some change in God because of the prayers of human beings, or as if God would gain some knowledge from what is being said. Rather, these words are being spoken in a human fashion, so to speak, while among the godly they are understood in a divine fashion. In your suppositions the unchanging and unchangeable nature of the glory of God is not purified because he hears people speaking. So then simply because the Spirit hears and receives something does not mean that he will receive any additional knowledge or a change to the unchanging nature of the Spirit.

He says, He will take of mine, as I myself have taken of the Father’s. So the close series of the Father in the Son and the Son in the Paraclete makes three who cohere, the one attached to the other.

All things that the Father has, he says, are mine—and why not also the names? When therefore you read of God Almighty, and the Most High, and the God of hosts, and the King of Israel and I am, beware lest by these the Son also is shown to be of his own right God Almighty, as being the Word of God Almighty, and as having received power over all.^[1]

To receive [or take] must be taken here in a sense agreeable to the divine nature. As the Son in giving is not deprived of what he gives or imparts to others with any loss of his own, so too the Holy Spirit does not receive what before he did not have. For if he received what before he did not have—the gift being transferred to another—the giver would be thereby a loser. We must understand then that the Holy Spirit receives from the Son that which belonged to his nature and that there are not two substances implied, one giving and the other receiving, but one substance only. In the same way, the Son too is said to receive from the Father that wherein he himself subsists. For neither is the Son anything but what is given him by the Father, nor is the Holy Spirit any substance but that which is given him by the Son.

For the Holy Spirit is not inferior to the Son, as certain heretics have imagined, as if the Son received from the Father and the Holy Spirit received from the Son in reference to some kind of gradation of natures. . . . He himself immediately solves this difficulty and explains his own words: All things that the Father has are mine; therefore said I, that he shall take of mine and shall show it to you.

As if he said, Although the Spirit of truth proceeds from the Father, yet all things that the Father has are mine, and even the Spirit of the Father is mine and receives of mine. But beware, when you hear this, that you do not think it is a thing or possession that the Father and the Son have. That which the Father has according to his substance, that is, his eternity, immutability, goodness, the Son has also. Away with the cavils of logicians who say, Therefore the Father is the Son. If he had indeed said, All that God has are mine, impiety might have taken occasion to raise its head. But when he said, All things that the Father has are mine, by using the name of the Father, he declares himself the Son, and being the Son, he does not usurp the paternity, though by the grace of adoption he is the Father of many saints.

All things that the Father has are the Son’s. And . . . all that belongs to the Son is the Father’s. Nothing then is peculiar [to any person] because all things are in common. For their being itself is common and equal, even though the Son receives it from the Father.

Our Lord therefore has not left it uncertain whether the Paraclete is from the Father or from the Son. . . . For he is sent by the Son and proceeds from the Father; both these he receives from the Son. You ask whether to receive from the Son and to proceed from the Father are the same thing. . . . Certainly, to receive from the Son must be thought one and the same thing with receiving from the Father. For when he says, All things that the Father has are mine, therefore I said that he shall receive of mine . . . he shows here that these things are received from him because all things the Father has are the Son’s, but also that they are received from the Father. . . . This unity has no diversity, nor does it matter from whom the thing is received, since that which is given by the Father is counted also as given by the Son.