Chapter XIII.
Prophecy was not only from the Father and the Son but
also from the Spirit; the authority and operation of the latter on the
apostles is signified to be the same as Theirs; and so we are to
understand that there is unity in the three points of authority, rule, and bounty; yet need no disadvantage be feared from that participation, since such does not arise in human friendship. Lastly, it is established that this is the inheritance of the apostolic faith from the fact that the apostles are described as having obeyed the Holy Spirit.
143. , O sacred
Emperor, another strong instance in this question, and one known to
you: “In many ways and in divers manners, God spake to the
fathers in the prophets.” And the
Wisdom of God said: “I will send prophets and
apostles.” And
“To one is given,” as it is written, “through the
Spirit, the word of wisdom; to another, the word of knowledge, according to the same Spirit; to another faith, in the same Spirit; to another, the gift of healings, in the one Spirit; to another, the working of miracles; to another, prophecy.” Therefore, according to the Apostle, prophecy is not only through the Father and the Son, but also through the Holy Spirit, and therefore the office is one, and the grace one. So you find that the Spirit also is the author of prophecies.
144. The apostles also said: “It
seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us.” And when they say, “It seemed
good,” they point out not only the Worker of the grace, but also
the Author of the carrying out of that which was commanded. For
as we read of God: “It pleased God;” so, too, when it
is said that, “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit,” one who
is master of his own power is portrayed.
145. And how should He not be a master Who
speaks what He wills, and commands what He wills, as the Father
commands and the Son commands? For as Paul heard the voice saying
to him, “I am Jesus, Whom thou persecutest,” so, too, the Spirit forbade Paul and Silas to go into Bithynia. And as the Father spake through the prophets, so, too, Agabus says concerning the Spirit: “Thus saith the Holy Spirit, Thus shall the Jews in Jerusalem bind the man, whose is this girdle.” And as Wisdom sent the apostles, saying, “Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel,” so, too, the Holy Spirit says: “Separate Me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.” And so being sent forth by the Holy Spirit, as the Scripture points out farther on, they were distinguished in nothing from the other apostles, as though they were sent in one way by God the Father, in another way by Spirit.
146. Lastly, Paul having been sent by the Spirit, was both a vessel of election on
Christ’s part, and himself relates
that God wrought in him, saying: “For He that wrought for
Peter unto the apostleship of the circumcision, wrought for me also
unto the Gentiles.” Since, then, the Same wrought in Paul Who wrought in Peter, it is certainly evident that, since the Spirit wrought in Paul, the Holy Spirit wrought also in Peter. But Peter himself testifies that God the Father wrought in him, as it is stated in the Acts of the Apostles that Peter rose up and said to them: “Men and brethren, ye know that a good while ago God made choice amongst us that the Gentiles should hear the word of the Gospel from my mouth.” See, then, in Peter God wrought the grace of preaching. And who would dare to deny the operation of Christ in him, since he was certainly elected and chosen by Christ, when the Lord said: “Feed My lambs.”
147. The operation, then, of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is one, unless perchance you, who deny the oneness of the same operation upon the Apostle, think this; that the Father and the Spirit wrought in Peter, in whom the Son had wrought, as if the operation of the Son by no means sufficed for him to the attainment of the grace. And so the strength of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit being as it were joined and brought together, the work was manifold, lest the operation of Christ alone should be too weak to establish Peter.