Refuting the distinction of substance through Scripture
"...and God was not a stranger among them." Jeremiah likewise says: "And you have not said, 'Where is the Lord, the one who brought you up from the land of Egypt, the one who guided you in the wilderness?'" (Jeremiah 2:19). Isaiah says that the Holy Spirit has guided: "For He led them through the deep, as a horse through the desert without tiring, and as livestock through a field, a spirit came from the Lord and guided them." (Isaiah 43:16). And Paul teaches that Christ has become their guide: "For they drank from a spiritual following rock, and the rock was Christ." (1 Corinthians 10:4). To this, Jude also writes universally: "For once the Lord Jesus, having saved a people out of Egypt, a second time destroyed those who did not believe in Him." (Jude 1:5).
There, therefore, the attempt of those who call the seventh Son and the Divine Spirit a creature is twice refuted, as is the use of 'another hypostasis' as a pretext to mark the one infinite nature as being different, and the claim that 'God was not a stranger among them,' that is to say, of a different substance. In the same manner Moses says: "There shall be no inheritance or lot for the Levites in the land; the Lord Himself is their inheritance." (Numbers 18:20). And Jeremiah says: "He who formed all things is Himself the inheritance of Jacob; the Lord is His name." (Jeremiah 10:7). And David says in the 14th Psalm: "The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup." (Psalm 16:5).
Paul also writes to the Ephesians that the Holy Spirit is the inheritance: "In whom," he says, "having believed, we were sealed with the Spirit of the promise, the Holy Spirit, who is the pledge of our inheritance." (Ephesians 1:13-14). Similarly, Paul writes to the Corinthians: "There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are diversities of ministries, but the same Lord; and there are diversities of activities, but the same God who works all things in all." (1 Corinthians 12:4-11).
By demonstrating the identity of the Divinity, He recalls not only the Spirit first, then the Son, and thus the Father, but also, having just said that God works all things, He leads into: "And all these things works the one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to each one individually as He wills." (1 Corinthians 12:11). He clearly and explicitly presents Him as God, consubstantial with the Father and the Son at once, and as self-determining. One has heard also of God and the Father from Isaiah saying...
Greek
οὐκ ἦν μετ' αὐτῶν θεὸς ἀλ λότριος». 19.15 καὶ ὁ Ἱερεμίας ὡσαύτως· «καὶ οὐκ εἴπατε», φησίν, «ποῦ ἔστιν κύριος ὁ ἀναγαγὼν ὑμᾶς ἐκ γῆς Αἰγύπ του, ὁ καθοδηγήσας ὑμᾶς ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ;» 19.16 Ὁ δέ γε Ἠσαΐας τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα ὡδηγηκέναι λέγει· «ἤγαγεν γάρ», φησίν, «αὐτοὺς διὰ ἀβύσσου ὡς ἵππον δι' ἐρήμου καὶ οὐκ ἐκοπίασαν, καὶ ὡς κτήνη διὰ πεδίου κατέβη πνεῦμα παρὰ κυρίου καὶ ὡδήγη σεν αὐτούς». 19.17 Ὁ δὲ Παῦλος ὁδηγὸν αὐτῶν τὸν Χριστὸν γεγενῆσθαι διδάσκει· «ἔπινον γάρ», φησίν, «ἐκ πνευματικῆς ἀκολουθούσης πέτρας, ἡ δὲ πέτρα ἦν ὁ Χριστός». 19.18 ᾧ συνῳδὰ καὶ Ἰούδας καθολικῶς γράφει· «ἅπαξ γὰρ κύριος Ἰησοῦς λαὸν ἐξ Αἰγύπτου σώσας, δεύτερον τοὺς μὴ πισ τεύσαντας αὐτῷ ἀπώλεσεν». 19.19 Ἐνταῦθα οὖν διπλῶς ἀναιρεῖται ἡ ἐπιχείρησις τῶν λεγόντων κτίσμα τὸν σεπτὸν υἱὸν καὶ τὸ θεϊκὸν πνεῦμα, ἀπό τε τοῦ περὶ ἑκατέρας ὑποστάσεως κεχρησμῳδῆσθαι τὰ τὴν ἄπειρον μίαν φύσιν κατασημαίνοντα, ἀπό τε τοῦ παρακεῖσθαι ὅτι «οὐκ ἦν μετ' αὐτῶν θεὸς ἀλλότριος», τοῦτ' ἔστιν ἑτεροούσιος. 19.20 Τὸν ἴσον τρόπον Μωϋσῆς μὲν λέγει· «οὐκ ἔσται μερὶς οὐδὲ κλῆρος τοῖς Λευίταις ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς· κύριος αὐτὸς μερὶς αὐτῶν». Ἱερεμίας δέ· «ὁ πλάσας», φησίν, «τὰ πάντα αὐτὸς κληρονομία τοῦ Ἰακώβ. κύριος ὄνομα αὐτῷ». ∆αυῒδ δὲ ἐν ιεʹ ψαλμῷ· «κύριος μερὶς τῆς κληρονομίας μου καὶ τοῦ ποτηρίου μου». 19.21 Ὁ δέ γε Παῦλος τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα τὴν κληρονομίαν εἶναι Ἐφεσίοις ἐπιστέλλει· «ἐν ᾧ», φησίν, «πιστεύσαντες ἐσφραγίσθημεν τῷ πνεύματι τῆς ἐπαγγελίας τῷ ἁγίῳ, ὅ ἐστιν ἀρραβὼν τῆς κληρονομίας ἡμῶν». 19.22 ὁμοίως Παῦλος Κορινθίοις γράφει· «διαιρέσεις δὲ χαρισμάτων εἰσίν, τὸ δὲ αὐτὸ πνεῦμα· καὶ διαιρέσεις διακονι ῶν εἰσιν, καὶ ὁ αὐτὸς κύριος· καὶ διαιρέσεις ἐνεργημάτων εἰσιν, ὁ δὲ αὐτὸς θεὸς ὁ ἐνεργῶν τὰ πάντα ἐν πᾶσιν». 19.23 δεικνὺς δὲ τὴν ταυτότητα τῆς θεότητος οὐ μόνον ἐνταῦθα πρώτου ἐπιμέμνηται τοῦ πνεύματος, εἶτα τοῦ υἱοῦ καὶ οὕτω τοῦ πατρός, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ νῦν εἰρηκὼς τὸν θεὸν τὰ πάντα ἐνεργεῖν, μετ' ὀλίγον ἐπάγει· «ταῦτα δὲ πάντα ἐνεργεῖ τὸ ἓν καὶ τὸ αὐτὸ πνεῦμα διαιροῦν ἰδίᾳ ἑκάστῳ, καθὼς βούλεται», 19.24 σαφῶς καὶ διαρρήδην αὐτὸ θεὸν ὁμοούσιον τῷ πατρὶ καὶ τῷ υἱῷ ἅμα καὶ αὐτεξούσιον παριστῶν. 19.25 Ἔστιν ἀκοῦσαι καὶ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ πατρὸς παρ' Ἠσαΐᾳ μὲν εἰρηκότος·
About this text
Didymus the Blind defends the full divinity of Father, Son, and Spirit against those who rank them.
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