Novatian, On the Trinity 29

The order of reason and the authority of faith, once we have taken in the Lord's own words and letters, urge us to believe also in the Holy Spirit. He was promised to the church long ago, but given at the times God appointed. He is promised through the prophet Joel, but given through Christ. "In the last days," God says, "I will pour out my Spirit on my servants and handmaids" (Joel 2:28-29). And the Lord himself said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone's sins, they are forgiven; if you retain them, they are retained" (John 20:22-23). The Lord Christ calls this same Spirit now the Paraclete, now the Spirit of truth. He is not new in the gospel, nor was he given anew. For this very Spirit accused the people through the prophets, and through the apostles he gave advocacy to the nations. The people deserved accusation because they had despised the law; the Gentiles who believe deserve the Spirit's patronage because they strive to attain the law of the gospel. There is a real difference in the kinds of duties he performs, because the reason for his action changes with the times. Yet he himself is not different, nor does he become another; he remains one and the same, dividing his offices across times, occasions, and moments. As the apostle Paul says, "Having the same Spirit... as it is written: 'I believed, therefore I spoke,' we also believe, therefore we also speak" (2 Cor 4:13). So it is one and the same Spirit who is in the prophets and the apostles — only there he was present for a moment, here he abides always. There he was not given to stay in them permanently; here he is given to remain in them always. There he was distributed in measure; here he is poured out fully. There he was given sparingly; here he is bestowed lavishly. He was not bestowed before the Lord's resurrection, but was given through Christ's resurrection. For Jesus said, "I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you forever, the Spirit of truth" (John 14:16-17). And: "When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father" (John 15:26). And: "If I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you" (John 16:7). And: "When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth" (John 16:13). Because the Lord was about to ascend to heaven, he necessarily gave the Paraclete to the disciples, so he would not leave them like orphans — which would be unfitting — abandoning them without an Advocate and guardian. This is the One who strengthened their souls and minds, who distinguished the gospel sacraments, who was the illuminator of divine things in them. Confirmed by him in the Lord's name, they feared neither prisons nor chains; indeed they trampled the powers of the world and its torments, armed and strengthened through him, bearing the gifts which this same Spirit distributes and directs to Christ's church, the bride, as her ornaments. He is the One who establishes prophets in the church, teaches teachers, directs tongues, produces virtues and healings, works miracles, extends discernment of spirits, supplies governance, suggests counsels, and composes and arranges all the other charismatic gifts — thus making the Lord's church perfect and complete in every way and everywhere.

This is the One who, in the form of a dove, came upon Jesus and remained after his baptism, dwelling in Christ alone, full and entire, not mutilated in any measure or portion, but distributed and sent with all his abundance. He did this so that others might receive a share of grace from him, while the fountain of the whole Holy Spirit remains in Christ, so that from him the veins of gifts and works may flow, the Holy Spirit dwelling abundantly in Christ. For Isaiah already prophesied this: "The Spirit of wisdom and understanding shall rest on him, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and piety, and he will fill him with the Spirit of the fear of God" (Isa 11:2-3). This same identical Spirit speaks in another place in the person of the Lord himself: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor" (Luke 4:18). Similarly David: "Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of joy beyond your companions" (Ps 45:7). About this the apostle Paul says: "Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him" (Rom 8:9); and: "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom" (2 Cor 3:17). This is the One who works a second birth from water, a seed of divine generation, and the consecrator of heavenly birth, a pledge of the promised inheritance, and as it were a deed of eternal salvation. He makes us God's temple and his house. He intercedes for us before God with inarticulate groans, fulfilling the office of advocacy and exhibiting the gifts of defense. He is given to inhabit our bodies and to effect our sanctification. Doing this in us, he brings our bodies to eternity and to the resurrection of immortality, accustoming them to be mixed with heavenly virtue and associated with the divine eternity of the Holy Spirit. For our bodies are instructed in him and through him to advance toward immortality, as they learn to govern themselves moderately according to his decrees. This is the One who opposes the flesh, because the flesh resists him. He restrains insatiable desires, breaks immoderate lusts, extinguishes illicit passions, conquers flaming impulses, rejects drunkenness, repels avarice, drives out luxurious revelries, binds charities, constrains affections, repels sects, establishes the rule of truth, conquers heretics, casts out the wicked, guards the gospels. About this same Spirit the apostle says: "We have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God" (1 Cor 2:12). He exults: "I think that I also have the Spirit of God" (1 Cor 7:40). He says: "The spirits of prophets are subject to prophets" (1 Cor 14:32). He reports: "The Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will depart from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the hypocrisy of liars" (1 Tim 4:1-2). Caution is placed in this Spirit so that no one ever says 'Anathema' to Jesus: no one denies Christ the Son of God, or repudiates the Creator God; no one speaks words against the Scriptures; no one establishes other sacrilegious decrees; no one writes divergent laws. Whoever blasphemes against this Spirit has no forgiveness, not only in this age but also in the age to come. This Spirit bears witness to Christ in the apostles, shows the constant faith of religion in the martyrs, seals admirable continence of chastity in virgins, guards the incorrupt and uncontaminated rights of the Lord's doctrine in all others, destroys heretics, corrects the perverse, accuses the faithless, exposes hypocrites, corrects the wicked, and guards the church incorrupt and inviolate in the holiness of perpetual virginity and truth.