ACC ~ 1 Corinthians 12 v11b

ACCORDING TO GOD’S JUSTICE AND POWER. AMBROSE: It belongs to God’s justice that he divides and to his power that he divides according to his will or because he wishes to give to each one what he knows will be of profit. LETTER 20.

THE THREE DO WHAT THE ONE DOES. AMBROSIASTER: Paul is here attributing to the Holy Spirit what he earlier attributed to all three persons. Because they are of one nature and power, the Three do what the One does. There is only one God, whose grace is distributed to individuals as he wishes, not according to the merits of any particular person but for the upbuilding of his church. All those things which the world wants to imitate but cannot, because it is carnal, may be seen in the church, which is the house of God, where they are granted by the gift and instruction of the Holy Spirit. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

THE WILL OF THE SPIRIT. JEROME: Notice that Paul does not say “according to the will of each and every member” but “according to the will of the Spirit.” AGAINST THE PELAGIANS 16.

THE ONE SPIRIT ADAPTS TO PERSONAL DIVERSITY. CYRIL OF JERUSALEM: One and the same rain comes down on all the world, yet it becomes white in the lily, red in the rose, purple in the violets and hyacinths, different and many-colored in manifold species. Thus it is one in the palm tree and another in the vine, and all in all things, though it is uniform and does not vary in itself. For the rain does not change, coming down now as one thing and now as another, but it adapts itself to the thing receiving it and becomes what is suitable to each. Similarly the Holy Spirit, being One and of one nature and indivisible, imparts to each one his grace “according as he will.” The dry tree when watered brings forth shoots. So too does the soul in sin, once made worthy through repentance of the grace of the Holy Spirit, flower into justice. Though the Spirit is one in nature, yet by the will of God and in the name of the Son, he brings about many virtuous effects. For he employs the tongue of one for wisdom, illumines the soul of another by prophecy, to another he grants the power of driving out devils, to another the gift of interpreting the sacred Scriptures. He strengthens the self-control of one while teaching another the nature of almsgiving, and still another to fast and humble himself, and another to despise the things of the body. He prepares another for martyrdom. He acts differently in different persons, though he himself is not diverse. CATECHETICAL LECTURES 14.12.

THE GIFT HIMSELF. AUGUSTINE: For not everyone has all of them, but some have these and others those, although each has the Gift himself by whom the things proper to each one are divided, namely, the Holy Spirit. ON THE TRINITY 15.