ACC ~ John 16 v12

THE HOLY SPIRIT OVERCOMES THEIR INABILITY

ORIGEN: 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. ON FIRST PRINCIPLES 2.7.3. [1]

[1] ANF 4:285*; GCS 22(5):150.

DIVINE MYSTERIES

GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS: 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] ON THEOLOGY, THEOLOGICAL ORATION 2(28).20. [2]

[1] Jn 21:25.

[2] NPNF 2 7:295-96.

THE MYSTERY OF THE SPIRIT

HILARY OF POITIERS: 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. ON THE TRINITY 12.55-57. [2]

[1] Jn 3:7-8.

[2] JFC 66-67*; PL 10:468-72. See NPNF 2 9:233.

I STILL HAVE MUCH TO SAY TO YOU

AUGUSTINE: 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.” SERMON 27.5. [2]

[1] Jn 15:15.

[2] WSA 3 2:106.

THE DEITY OF THE SPIRIT TO BE REVEALED

GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS: 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? ON THE HOLY SPIRIT, THEOLOGICAL ORATION 5(31).27. [2]

[1] Jn 14:26.

[2] NPNF 2 7:326*.

NO SPECULATION ON WHAT IS HIDDEN

AUGUSTINE: 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. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 96.1-2. [1]

[1] ESUS IS INFORMED THAT LAZARUS IS SICK | JOHN 11:1-5

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