Cyril
of Jerusalem
Lecture 16, Part A
“Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant.... Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit….” — 1 Corinthians 12:1, 4
Summary: St. Cyril opens discussion about the Spirit with the need for humility: since it is a dangerous course, harsh judgment falls on all offenders. We must cleave exactly to what is written. The Spirit is God, one in essence and undivided with the Father and the Son; neither three Gods, nor one person in modes. His coming to the Church begins exclusively on Pentecost [circa 33]. He is not a commodity to be dispensed for money. Judgement of God on such malice against the Spirit is without recourse or remedy.[i] So let us worthily drink of the living water Who proceeds from the Father, as the gift of Christ.
Preview: 1. “Spiritual in truth is the grace we need, in order
to discourse concerning the Holy Spirit; not that we may speak what is worthy of
Him, for this is impossible, but that by speaking the words of the divine Scriptures,
we may run our course without danger.” “Whosoever shall speak a word against the
Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, nor in that
which is to come.”[ii] “The Judge of quick and dead, Jesus Christ, declared
that he has no forgiveness; if therefore any man offend, what hope has he?” 2. “It
must therefore belong to Jesus Christ’s grace itself to grant both to us to speak
without deficiency, and to you to hear with discretion; for discretion is needful
not to them only who speak, but also to them that hear, lest they hear one thing,
and misconceive another in their mind. Let
us then speak concerning the Holy Ghost nothing but what is written; and whatsoever
is not written, let us not busy ourselves about it.… for whatsoever He has not said,
we dare not say.” 3. “There is One Only Holy Ghost, the Comforter;
and as there is One God the Father, and no second Father; — and as there is One
Only-begotten Son and Word of God, who has no brother — so is there One Only Holy
Ghost, and no second spirit equal in-honor to Him. Now the Holy Ghost is a Power most mighty, a Being
divine and unsearchable; for He is living and intelligent, a sanctifying principle[iii]
of all things made by God through Christ.
He it is who illuminates the souls of the just; He was in the Prophets, He
was also in the Apostles in the New Testament.
Abhorred be they who dare to separate the operation of the Holy Ghost! …
who through the Prophets preached of Christ, and when Christ had come, descended,
and manifested Him. 4. “Let no one therefore separate the Old from the
New Testament; let no one say that the Spirit in the former is one, and in the latter
another; since thus he offends against the Holy Ghost Himself, who with the Father
and the Son together is honored, and at the time of Holy Baptism is included with
them in the Holy Trinity. For the Only-begotten
Son of God said plainly to the Apostles, Go
and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” “We preach not three Gods … we preach One God. The Faith is indivisible; the worship inseparable. We neither separate the Holy Trinity, like some;
nor do we as Sabellius work confusion.”
“For their worship is indivisible.”
5. “We would now say somewhat concerning
the Holy Ghost; not to declare His substance with exactness, for this were impossible;
but to speak of the diverse mistakes of some concerning him….” 6. “For
the heretics … some of them have dared to say that they were themselves the Holy
Ghost”: Simon, Gnostics, Valentinians, Manes…
7. Marcionists, “who tear away from
the New Testament the sayings of the Old….
who first asserted three Gods.”
8. Cataphrygians, Montanus, as
well. 9.
While Manes “dared to say that he himself was the Comforter, whom Christ
promised to send. “But the Savior when He
promised Him [the Spirit], said to the Apostles, But tarry in the city of Jerusalem, until you are endued with power
from on high.[iv] What then?
Did the Apostles who had been dead two hundred years, wait for Manes, until they should be endued with the power;
and will any dare to say, that they were not immediately full of the Holy Ghost? Moreover it is written, Then they laid their hands on and they received the Holy Ghost[v]; was not this before Manes, yea, many
years before, when the Holy Ghost descended on the day of Pentecost?” 10. “Wherefore
was Simon the sorcerer condemned? … For he said not, “Give me also the
fellowship of the Holy Ghost,” but “Give me the power;”[vi]
that he might sell to others that which could not be sold, and which he did not
himself possess.” “But what say they to Simon? Your
money perish with you, because you have thought to purchase the gift of God
with money; for you are a second Judas, for expecting to buy the grace of the
Spirit with money.” “Let us hate them who
are worthy of hatred; let us turn away from them from whom God turns away; let us
also ourselves say unto God with all boldness concerning all heretics, Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate You, and
am not I grieved with Your enemies?[vii]
For there is also an enmity which is right,
according as it is written, I will put enmity
between you and her seed[viii];
for friendship with the serpent works enmity with God, and death.[ix] 11. “Let
us return to the divine Scriptures, and let us drink waters out of our own cisterns … and out of our own springing
wells.[x] Drink we of living water, springing up into everlasting life; but this spoke the
Savior of the Spirit, which they that
believe in Him should receive.[xi]
For observe what He says, He that believes in Me … as the Scripture
has said … out of his belly shall flow
rivers of living water,[xii]
not rivers perceived by sense, and merely watering the earth with its thorns and
trees, but bringing souls to the light. And
in another place He says, But the water
that I shall give him, shall be in him a well of living water springing up into
everlasting life,[xiii]
— a new kind of water living and springing up, springing up unto them who are worthy.[xiv]
[i]
Very likely because it is the Spirit Who faithfully teaches us Christ. Without the Spirit, how shall well learn
Christ, and how shall we stand before that Court of His Last Resort and beg for
mercy? The Spirit is the Tailor Who fits
us with the robe of Christ’s righteousness: without Whom we must appear naked
before the throne of Grace.
[iii]
We are not especially comfortable with the word principle here; yet, we have
not the original from which it was translated: we would have much preferred
Principle at least. For the time being
we chalk up our objection to the vagaries of English: American and English are
simply not the same language, if they ever were. The problem is that the American idiom
implies a mysterious force, rather than a Person.
[iv]
Luke 24:49
[v]
Acts 8:17
[vi]
Which implies that power over the Holy Ghost was to be bought and sold like a
controllable commodity. Evidently, such
opinions persist to this very day.
[vii]
Psalms 139:21
[ix]
Genesis 3:4, 15; Romans 8:7; Colossians 1:21; James 4:4
[x]
The reference is to sexual purity.
Following the opinions of those outside of the Church is a form of
spiritual adultery. Proverbs 5:15
[xi]
John 4:14, 23-24; 7:37-39
[xii]
John 7:38
[xiii]
John 4:14
[xiv]
James 4:4
