The Sending of the Holy Spirit
When the Lord gave to the disciples power to confer rebirth
into the life of God, he said: Go, make disciples of all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. He promised through his prophets that he
would pour out this same Spirit in the last times on his servants and
handmaidens so that they would prophesy. And so the Spirit came down on the Son
of God, who became the Son of man, and with him became accustomed to dwell in
mankind and to abide in God's creation, within men, working the Father's will
among them and making their old natures new with the newness of Christ.
Luke says that at Pentecost, after the ascension of the
Lord, the Spirit cam down on the disciples with power to grant all nations
entry into life, and to open the new testament.
And so in every language they sang a hymn to God in unison; for the
Spirit brought the scattered races together into a unity, and offered to the
Father the first-fruits of all nations.
Therefore God promised to send us the Holy Spirit to make us
fit for God's purposes. Just as dry
flour cannot coalesce into a lump of dough, still less a loaf, without
moisture, so too we, being many, could not become one in Christ Jesus without
the water which comes from heaven. And
just as dry soil cannot bear fruit unless it receives moisture, so we, who to
begin with are dry wood, can never bear the fruit of life unless the rain from
heaven falls upon our wills. For our
bodies through the water of baptism have received the unity which leads to
freedom from corruption, but our souls have received it through the Spirit.
The Spirit of God came down on the Lord, the Spirit of
wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of
knowledge and devotion, the Spirit of the fear of the Lord. He gave the same
Spirit again to the Church, sending the Counselor to every nation from heaven,
from which the Lord said the devil was cast down like lightning. Accordingly, we need God's dew, so as not to
be burnt up and made unfruitful but rather to have a Counselor when we have an
accuser. For the Lord entrusts to the
Holy Spirit the man who had fallen among thieves. Taking pity on him he has
bound up his wounds and given two imperial coins, stamped with the image of the
Spirit and the inscription of the Father and the Son. We are to accept them and make the coin
entrusted to us bear fruit and multiply for the Lord.
Irenaeus of Lyons (c. 130-202)
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