(NOTE: The electronic text obtained from The Electronic Bible Society was
not completely corrected. EWTN has corrected all discovered errors.)

Transliteration of Greek words: All phonetical except: w = omega; h serves
three puposes: 1. = Eta; 2. = rough breathing, when appearing initially
before a vowel; 3. = in the aspirated letters theta = th, phi = ph, chi =
ch. Accents are given immediately after their corresponding vowels: acute =
' , grave = `, circumflex = ^. The character ' doubles as an apostrophe,
when necessary.


ST. AUGUSTIN

A TREATISE ON FAITH AND THE CREED [DE FIDE ET SYMBOLO]

[A DISCOURSE DELIVERED BEFORE A COUNCIL OF THE WHOLE NORTH AFRICAN
EPISCOPATE ASSEMBLED AT HIPPO-REGIUS.]

[Translated by Rev. S. D. F. Salmond, D.D., Professor of Systematic
Theology, Free Church College, Aberdeen.]

[The following text of the Apostles' Creed may be collected from this book
of St. Augustin, and was current in North Africa towards the close of the
fourth century:

   1. I BELIEVE IN GOD THE FATHER ALMIGHTY. Chs. 2 and 3.
   2. (And) IN JESUS CHRIST, THE SON OF GOD, THE ONLY-BEGOTTEN OF THE
FATHER, or, HIS ONLY SON, OUR LORD. Ch. 3.
   3. WHO WAS BORN THROUGH THE HOLY SPIRIT OF THE VIRGIN MARY. Ch. 4, 8.
   4. WHO UNDER PONTIUS PILATE WAS CRUCIFIED AND BURIED. Ch. 5, 11.
   5. ON THE THIRD DAY HE ROSE AGAIN FROM THE DEAD. Ch. 5, 12.
   6. HE ASCENDED INTO HEAVEN. Ch. 6, 13.
   7. HE SITTETH AT THE RIGHT HAND OF THE FATHER. Ch. 7, 14.
   8. FROM THENCE HE WILL COME AND JUDGE THE LIVING AND THE DEAD. Ch. 8,
15.
   9. (AND I BELIEVE) IN THE HOLY SPIRIT. Ch. 9, 16-19.
  10. I BELIEVE THE HOLY CHURCH (CATHOLIC). Ch. 10, 21.
  11. THE FORGIVENESS OF SIN. Ch. 10, 23.
  12. THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY. Ch. 10, 23-24.)
  13. THE LIFE EVERLASTING. Ch. 10, 24.]


CHAP. 1.--OF THE ORIGIN AND OBJECT OF THE COMPOSITION.

   1. INASMUCH as it is a position, written and established on the most
solid foundation of apostolic teaching, "that the just lives of faith;"(1)
and inasmuch also as this faith demands of us the duty at once of heart and
tongue,--for an apostle says, "With the heart man believeth unto
righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation,"(2)--
it becomes us to be mindful both of righteousness and of salvation. For,
destined as we are to reign hereafter in everlasting righteousness, we
certainly cannot secure our salvation from the present evil world, unless
at the same time, while laboring for the salvation of our neighbors, we
likewise with the mouth make our own profession of the faith which we carry
in our heart. And it must be our aim, by pious and careful watchfulness, to
provide against the possibility of the said faith sustaining any injury in
us, on any side, through the fraudulent artifices [or, cunning fraud] of
the heretics.

   We have, however, the catholic faith in the Creed, known to the
faithful and committed to memory, contained in a form of expression as
concise as has been rendered admissible by the circumstances of the case;
the purpose of which [compilation] was, that individuals who are but
beginners and sucklings among those who have been born again in Christ, and
who have not yet been strengthened by most diligent and spiritual handling
and understanding of the divine Scriptures, should be furnished with a
summary, expressed in few words, of those matters of necessary belief which
were subsequently to be explained to them in many words, as they made
progress and rose to [the height of] divine doctrine, on the assured and
steadfast basis of humility and charity. It is underneath these few words,
therefore, which are thus set in order in the Creed, that most heretics
have endeavored to conceal their poisons; whom divine mercy has withstood,
and still withstands, by the instrumentality of spiritual men, who have
been counted worthy not only to accept and believe the catholic faith as
expounded in those terms, but also thoroughly to understand and apprehend
it by the enlightenment imparted by the Lord. For it is written, "Unless ye
believe, ye shall not understand."(3) But the handling of the faith is of
service for the protection of the Creed; not, however, to the intent that
this should itself be given instead of the Creed, to be committed to memory
and repeated by those who are receiving the grace of God, but that it may
guard the matters which are retained in the Creed against the insidious
assaults of the heretics, by means of catholic authority and a more
entrenched defence.

CHAP. 2.--OF GOD AND HIS EXCLUSIVE ETERNITY.

   2. For certain parties have attempted to gain acceptance for the
opinion that GOD THE FATHER is not ALMIGHTY: not that they have been bold
enough expressly to affirm this, but in their traditions they are convicted
of entertaining and crediting such a notion. For when they affirm that
there is a nature(1) which God Almighty did not create, but of which at the
same time He fashioned this world, which they admit to have been disposed
in beauty,(2) they thereby deny that God is almighty, to the effect of not
believing that He could have created the world without employing, for the
purpose of its construction, another nature, which had been in existence
previously, and which He Himself had not made. Thus, forsooth, [they
reason] from their carnal familiarity with the sight of craftsmen and
house-builders, and artisans of all descriptions, who have no power to make
good the effect of their own art unless they get the help of materials
already prepared. And so these parties in like manner understand the Maker
of the world not to be almighty, if(3) thus He could not fashion the said
world without the help of some other nature, not framed by Himself, which
He had to use as His materials. Or if indeed they do allow God, the Maker
of the world, to be almighty, it becomes matter of course that they must
also acknowledge that He made out of nothing the things which He did make.
For, granting that He is almighty, there cannot exist anything of which He
should not be the Creator. For although He made something out of something,
as man out of clay,(4) nevertheless He certainly did not make any object
out of aught which He Himself had not made; for the earth from which the
clay comes He had made out of nothing. And even if He had made out of some
material the heavens and the earth themselves, that is to say, the universe
and all things which are in it, according as it is written, "Thou who didst
make the world out of matter unseen,"(5) or also "without form," as some
copies give it; yet we are under no manner of necessity to believe that
this very material of which the universe was, made, although it might be
"without form," although it might be "unseen," whatever might be the mode
of its subsistence, could: possibly have subsisted of itself, as if it were
co-eternal and co-eval with God. But whatsoever that mode was which it
possessed to the effect of subsisting in some manner, whatever that manner
might be, and of being capable of taking on the forms of distinct things,
this it did not possess except by the hand of Almighty God, by whose
goodness it is that everything exists,--not only every object which is
already formed, but also every object which is formable. This, moreover, is
the difference between the formed and the formable, that the formed has
already taken on form, while the formable is capable of taking the same.
But the same Being who imparts form to objects, also imparts the capability
of being formed. For of Him and in Him is the fairest figure(6) of all
things, unchangeable; and therefore He Himself is One, who communicates to
everything its I possibilities, not only that it be beautiful actually, but
also that it be capable of being beautiful. For which reason we do most
right to believe that God made all things of nothing. For, even although
the world was made of some sort of material, this self-same material itself
was made of nothing; so that, in accordance with the most orderly gift of
God, there was to enter first the capacity of taking forms, and then that
all things should be formed which have been formed. This, however, we have
said, in order that no one might suppose that the utterances of the divine
Scriptures are contrary the one to the other, in so far as it is written at
once that God made all things of nothing, and that the world was made of
matter without form.

   3. As we believe, therefore, in GOD THE FATHER ALMIGHTY, we ought to
uphold the opinion that there is no creature which has not been created by
the Almighty. And since He created all things by the Word,(7) which Word is
also designated the Truth, and the Power, and the Wisdom of God,(8)--as
also under many other appellations the Lord Jesus Christ, who(9) is
commended to our faith, is presented likewise to our mental apprehensions,
to wit, our Deliverer and Ruler,(10) the Son of God; for that Word, by
whose means all things were founded, could not have been begotten by any
other than by Him who founded all things by His instrumentality;--

CHAP. 3.--OF THE SON OF GOD, AND HIS PECULIAR DESIGNATION AS THE WORD.

   --Since this is the case, I repeat, we believe also in JESUS CHRIST,
THE SON OF GOD THE ONLY-BEGOTTEN OF THE FATHER, that is to say, HIS ONLY
SON, OUR LORD. This Word however, we ought not to apprehend merely in the
sense in which we think of our own words, which are given forth by the
voice anti the mouth, and strike the air and pass on, and subsist no longer
than their sound continues. For that Word remains unchangeably: for of this
very Word was it spoken when of Wisdom it was said, "Remaining in herself,
she maketh all things new."(1) Moreover, the reason of His being named the
Word of the Father, is that the Father is made known by Him. Accordingly,
just as it is our intention, when we speak truth, that by means of our
words our mind should be made known to him who hears us, and that whatever
we carry in secrecy in our heart may be set forth by means of signs of this
sort for the intelligent understanding of another individual; so this
Wisdom that God the Father begot is most appropriately named His Word,
inasmuch as the most hidden Father is made known to worthy minds by the
same.(2)

   4. Now there is a very great difference between our mind and those
words of ours, by which we endeavor to set forth the said mind. We indeed
do not beget intelligible words,(3) but we form them; and in the forming of
them the body is the underlying material. Between mind and body, however,
there is the greatest difference. But God, when He begot the Word, begot
that which He is Himself. Neither out of nothing, nor of any material
already made and founded did He then beget; but He begot of Himself that
which He is Himself. For we too aim at this when we speak, (as we shall
see) if we carefully consider the inclination(4) of our will; not when we
lie, but when we speak the truth. For to what else do we direct our efforts
then, but to bring our own very mind, if it can be done at all, in upon the
mind of the hearer, with the view of its being apprehended and thoroughly
discerned by him; so that we may indeed abide in our very selves, and make
no retreat from ourselves, and yet at the same time put forth a sign of
such a nature as that by it a knowledge of us(5) may be effected in another
individual; that thus, so far as the faculty is granted us, another mind
may be, as it were, put forth by the mind, whereby it may disclose itself?
This we do, making the attempt(6) both by words, and by the simple sound of
the voice, and by the countenance, and by the gestures of the body,--by so
many contrivances, in sooth, desiring to make patent that which is within;
inasmuch as we are not able to put forth aught of this nature [in itself
completely]: and thus it is that the mind of the speaker cannot become
perfectly known; thus also it results that a place is open for falsehoods.
God the Father, on the other hand, who possessed both the will and the
power to declare Himself with the utmost truth to minds designed to obtain
knowledge of Him, with the purpose of thus declaring Himself begot this
[Word] which He Himself is who did beget; which [Person] is likewise called
His Power and Wisdom,(7) inasmuch as it is by Him that He has wrought all
things, and in order disposed them; of whom these words are for this reason
spoken: "She (Wisdom) reacheth from one end to another mightily, and
sweetly doth she order all things."(8)

CHAP. 4.--OF THE SON OF GOD AS NEITHER MADE BY THE 'FATHER NOR LESS THAN
THE FATHER, AND OF HIS INCARNATION.

   5. Wherefore THE ONLY-BEGOTTEN SON OF GOD was neither made by the
Father; for, according to the word of an evangelist, "all things were made
by Him:"(9) nor begotten instantaneously;(10) since God, who is
eternally(11) wise, has with Himself His eternal Wisdom: nor unequal with
the Father, that is to say, in anything less than He; for an apostle also
speaks in this wise, "Who, although He was constituted in the form of God,
thought it not robbery to be equal with God."(12) By this catholic faith,
therefore, those are excluded, on the one hand, who affirm that the Son is
the same [Person] as the Father; for [it is clear that] this Word could not
possibly be with God, were it not with God the Father, and [it is just as
evident that] He who is alone is equal to no one, And, on the other hand,
those are equally excluded who affirm that the Son is a creature, although
not such an one as the rest of the creatures are. For however great they
declare the creature to be, if it is a creature, it has been fashioned and
made.(1) For the terms fashion and create(2) mean one and the same thing;
although in the usage of the Latin tongue the phrase create is employed at
times instead of what would be the strictly accurate word beget. But the
Greek language makes a distinction. For we call that creatura (creature)
which they call kti'sma or kti'sis; and when we desire to speak without
ambiguity, we use not the word creare (create), but the word condere
(fashion, found). Consequently, if the Son is a creature, however great
that may be, He has been made. But we believe in Him by whom all things
(omnia) were made, not in Him by whom the rest of things (cetera) were
made. For here again we cannot take this term all things in any other sense
than as meaning whatsoever things have been made.

   6. But as "the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us,"(3) the same
Wisdom which was begotten of God condescended also to be created among
men.(4) There is a reference to this in the word, "The Lord created me in
the beginning of His ways."(5) For the beginning of His ways is the Head of
the Church, which is Christ(6) endued with human nature (homine indutus),
by whom it was purposed that there should be given to us a pattern of
living, that is, a sure(7) way by which we might reach God. For by no other
path was it possible for us to return but by humility, who fell by pride,
according as it was said to our first creation, "Taste, and ye shall be as
gods."(6) Of this humility, therefore, that is to say, of the way by which
it was needful for us to return, our Restorer Himself has deemed it meet to
exhibit an example in His own person, "who thought it not robbery to be
equal with God, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant;"(9) in
order that He might be created Man in the beginning of His ways, the Word
by whom all things were made. Wherefore, in so far as He is the Only-
begotten, He has no brethren; but in so far as He is the First-begotten, He
has deemed it worthy of Him to give the name of brethren to all those who,
subsequently to and by means of His pre-eminence,(10) are born again into
the grace of God through the adoption of sons, according to the truth
commended to us by apostolic teaching." Thus, then, the Son according to
nature (naturalis filius) was born of the very substance of the Father, the
only one so born, subsisting as that which the Father is,(12) God of God,
Light of Light. We, on the other hand, are not the light by nature, but are
enlightened by that Light, so that we may be able to shine in wisdom. For,
as one says, "that was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh
into the world."(13) Therefore we add to the faith of things eternal
likewise the temporal dispensation(14) of our Lord, which He deemed it
worthy of Him to bear for us and to minister in behalf of our salvation.
For in so far as He is the only-begotten Son of God, it cannot be said of
Him that He was and that He shall be, but only that He is; because, on the
one hand, that which was, now is not; and, on the other, that which shall
be, as yet is not. He, then, is unchangeable, independent of the condition
of times and variation. And it is my opinion that this is the very
consideration to which was due the circumstance that He introduced to the
apprehension of His servant Moses the kind of name [which He then adopted].
For when he asked of Him by whom he should say that he was sent, in the
event of the people to whom he was being sent despising him, he received
his answer when He spake in this wise: "I AM THAT I AM." Thereafter, too,
He added this: "Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, HE THAT IS
(Qui est) has sent me unto you."(15)

   7. From this, I trust, it is now made patent to spiritual minds that
there cannot possibly exist any nature contrary to God. For if He is,--and
this is a word which can be spoken with propriety only of God (for that
which truly is remains unchangeably; inasmuch as that which is changed has
been something which now it is not, and shall be something which as yet it
is not),--it follows that God has nothing contrary to Himself. For if the
question were put to us, What is contrary to white? we would reply, black;
if the question were, What is contrary to hot? we would reply, cold; if the
question were, What is contrary to quick? we would reply, slow; and all
similar interrogations we would answer in like manner. When, however, it is
asked, What is contrary to that which is? the right reply to give is, that
which is not.

   8. But whereas, in a temporal dispensation, as I have said, with a view
to our salvation and restoration, and with the goodness of God acting
therein, our changeable nature has been assumed by that unchangeable Wisdom
of God, we add the faith in temporal things which have been done with
salutary effect on our behalf, believing in that Son of God WHO WAS BORN
THROUGH THE HOLY GHOST OF THE VIRGIN MARY. For by the gift of God, that is,
by the Holy Spirit, there was granted to us so great humility on the part
of so great a God, that He deemed it worthy of Him to assume the entire
nature of man (totum hominem) in the womb of the Virgin, inhabiting the
material body so that it sustained no detriment (integrum), and leaving
it(1) without detriment. This temporal dispensation is in many ways
craftily assailed by the heretics. But if any one shall have grasped the
catholic faith, so as to believe that the entire nature of man was assumed
by the Word of God, that is to say, body, soul, and spirit, he has
sufficient defense against those parties. For surely, since that assumption
was effected in behalf of our salvation, one must be on his guard lest, as
he believes that there is something belonging to. our nature which sustains
no relation to that assumption, this something may fail also to sustain any
relation to the salvation.(2) And seeing that, with the exception of the
form of the members, which has been imparted to the varieties of living
objects with differences adapted to their different kinds, man is in
nothing separated from the cattle but in [the possession of] a rational
spirit (rationali spiritu), which is also named mind (mens), how is that
faith sound, according to which the belief is maintained, that the Wisdom
of God assumed that part of us which we hold in common with the cattle,
while He did not assume that which is brightly illumined by the light of
wisdom, and which is man's peculiar gift?

   9. Moreover, those parties' also are to be abhorred who deny that our
Lord Jesus Christ had in Mary a mother upon earth; while that dispensation
has honored both sexes, at once the male and the female, and has made it
plain that not only that sex which He assumed pertains to God's care, but
also that sex by which He did assume this other, in that He bore [the
nature of] the man (virum gerendo), [and] in that He was born of the woman.
Neither is there anything to compel us to a denial of the mother of the
Lord, in the circumstance that this word was spoken by Him: "Woman, what
have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come."(4) But He rather
admonishes  us to understand that, in respect of His being God, there was
no mother for Him, the part of whose personal majesty (cujus majestatis
personam) He was preparing to show forth in the turning of water into wine.
But as regards His being crucified, He was crucified in respect of his
being man; and that was the hour which had not come as yet, at the time
when this word was spoken, "What have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not
vet come;" that is, the hour at which I shall recognize thee. For at that
period, when He was crucified as man, He recognized His human mother
(hominem matrem), and committed her most humanely (humanissime) to the care
of the best beloved disciple.(5) Nor, again, should we be moved by the fact
that, when the presence of His mother and His brethren was announced to
Him, He replied, "Who is my mother, or who my brethren?" etc.(6) But rather
let it teach us, that when parents hinder our ministry wherein we minister
the word of God to our brethren, they ought not to be recognized by us. For
if, on the ground of His having said, "Who is my mother?" every one should
conclude that He had no mother on earth, then each should as matter of
course be also compelled to deny that the apostles had fathers on earth;
since He gave them an injunction in these terms: "Call no man your father
upon the earth; for one is your Father, which is in heaven."(7)

   10. Neither should the thought of the woman's womb impair this faith in
us, to the effect that there should appear to be any necessity for
rejecting such a generation of our Lord for the mere reason that worthless
men consider it unworthy (sordidi sordidam putant). For most true are these
sayings of an apostle, both that "the foolishness of God is wiser than
men,"(8) and that "to the pure all things are pure."(9) Those,(10)
therefore, who entertain this opinion ought to ponder the fact that the
rays of this sun, which indeed they do not praise as a creature of God, but
adore as God, are diffused all the world over, through the noisomenesses of
sewers and every kind of horrible thing, and that they operate in these
according to their nature, and yet never become debased by any defilement
thence contracted, albeit that the visible light is by nature in closer
conjunction with visible pollutions. How much less, therefore, could the
Word of God, who is neither corporeal nor visible, sustain defilement from
the female body, wherein He assumed human flesh together with soul and
spirit, through the incoming of which the majesty of the Word dwells in a
less immediate conjunction with the frailty of a human body!(1) Hence it is
manifest that the Word of God could in no way have been defiled by a human
body, by which even the human soul is not defiled. For not when it rules
the body and quickens it, but only when it lusts after the mortal good
things thereof, is the soul defiled by the body. But if these persons were
to desire to avoid the defilements of the soul, they would dread rather
these falsehoods and profanities.

CHAP. 5.--OF CHRIST'S PASSION, BURIAL, AND RESURRECTION.

   11. But little [comparatively] was the humiliation (humilitas) of our
Lord on our behalf in His being born: it was also added that He deemed it
meet to die in behalf of mortal men. For "He humbled Himself, being made
subject even unto death, yea, the death of the cross:"(2) lest any one of
us, even were he able to have no fear of death [in general], should yet
shudder at some particular sort of death which men reckon most shameful.
Therefore do we believe in Him WHO UNDER PONTIUS PILATE WAS CRUCIFIED AND
BURIED. For it was requisite that the name of the judge should be added,
with a view to the cognizance of the times. Moreover, when that burial is
made an object of belief, there enters also: the recollection of the new
tomb,(3) which was meant to present a testimony to Him in His destiny to
rise again to newness of life, even as the Virgin's womb did the same to
Him in His appointment to be born. For just as in that sepulchre no other
dead person was buried,(4) whether before or after Him; so neither in that
womb, whether before or after, was anything mortal conceived.

   12. We believe also, that ON THE THIRD DAY HE ROSE AGAIN FROM TIlE
DEAD, the first-begotten for brethren destined to come after Him, whom He
has called into the adoption of the sons of God,(5) whom [also] He has
deemed it meet to make His own joint-partners and joint-heirs.(6)

CHAP. 6.--OF CHRIST'S ASCENSION INTO HEAVEN.

   13. We believe that HE ASCENDED INTO HEAVEN, which place of blessedness
He has likewise promised unto us, saying, "They shall be as the angels in
the heavens,"(7) in that city which is the mother of us all,(8) the
Jerusalem eternal in the heavens. But it is wont to give offense to certain
parties, either impious Gentiles or heretics, that we should believe in the
assumption of an earthly body into heaven. The Gentiles, however, for the
most part, set themselves diligently to ply us with the arguments of the
philosophers, to the effect of affirming that there cannot possibly be
anything earthly in heaven. For they know not our Scriptures, neither do
they understand how it has been said, "It is sown an animal body, it is
raised a spiritual body."(9) For thus it has not been expressed, as if body
were turned into spirit and became spirit; inasmuch as at present, too, our
body, which is called animal (animale), has not been turned into soul and
become soul (anima). But by a spiritual body is meant one which has been
made subject to spirit in such wise(10) that it is adapted to a heavenly
habitation, all frailty and every earthly blemish having been changed and
converted into heavenly purity and stability. This is the change concerning
which the apostle likewise speaks thus: "We shall all rise, but we shall
not all be changed."(11) And that this change is made not unto the worse,
but unto the better, the same [apostle] teaches, when he says, "And we
shall be changed."(22) But the question as to where and in what manner the
Lord's body is in heaven, is one which it would be altogether over-curious
and superfluous to prosecute. Only we must believe that it is in heaven.
For it pertains not to our frailty to investigate the secret things of
heaven, but it does pertain to our faith to hold elevated and honorable
sentiments on the subject of the dignity of the Lord's body.

CHAP. 7.--OF CHRIST'S SESSION AT THE FATHER'S RIGHT HAND.

   14. We believe also that HE SITTETH AT THE RIGHT HAND OF THE FATHER.
This, however, is  not to lead us to suppose that God the Father is, as it
were, circumscribed by a human form, so that, when we think of Him, a right
side or a left should suggest itself to the mind. Nor, again, when it is
thus said in express terms that the Father sitteth, are we to fancy that
this is done with bended knees; lest we should fall into that profanity, in
[dealing with] which an apostle execrates those who "changed the glory of
the incorruptible God into the likeness of corruptible man."(1) For it is
unlawful for a Christian to set up any such image for God in a temple; much
more nefarious is it, [therefore], to set it up in the heart, in which
truly is the temple of God, provided it be purged of earthly lust and
error. This expression, "at the right hand," therefore, we must understand
to signify a position in supremest blessedness, where righteousness and
peace and joy are; just as the kids are set on the left hand,(2) that is to
say, in misery, by reason of unrighteousness, labors, and torments.(3) And
in accordance with this, when it is said that God "sitteth," the expression
indicates not a posture of the members, but a judicial power, which that
Majesty never fails to possess, as He is always awarding deserts as men
deserve them (digna dignis tribuendo); although at the last judgment the
unquestionable brightness of the only-begotten Son of God, the Judge of the
living and the dead, is destined yet to be(4) a thing much more manifest
among men.

CHAP. 8.--OF CHRIST'S COMING TO JUDGMENT.

   15. We believe also, that at the most seasonable time HE WILL COME FROM
THENCE, AND WILL JUDGE THE QUICK AND THE DEAD: whether by these terms are
signified the righteous and: sinners, or whether it be the case that those
persons are here called the quick, whom at that period He shall find,
previous to [their] death,(5) upon the earth, while the dead denote those
who shall rise again at His advent. This temporal dispensation not only is,
as holds good of that generation which respects His being God, but also
hath been and shall be. For our Lord hath been upon the earth, and at
present He is in heaven, and [hereafter] He shall be in His brightness as
the Judge of the quick and the dead. For He shall yet come, even so as He
has ascended, according to the authority which is contained in the Acts of
the Apostles.(6) It is in accordance with this temporal dispensation,
therefore, that He speaks in the Apocalypse, where it is written in this
wise: "These things saith He, who is, and who was, and who is to come."(7)

CHAP. 9.--OF THE HOLY SPIRIT AND THE MYSTERY OF THE TRINITY.

   16. The divine generation, therefore, of our Lord, and his human
dispensation, having both been thus systematically disposed and commended
to faith,(8) there is added to our Confession, with a view to the
perfecting of the faith which we have regarding God, [the doctrine of] THE
HOLY SPIRIT, who is not of a nature inferior(9) to the Father and the Son,
but, so to say, consubstantial and co-eternal: for this Trinity is one God,
not to the effect that the Father is the same [Person] as the Son and the
Holy Spirit, but to the effect that the Father is the Father, and the Son
is the Son, and the Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit; and this Trinity is one
God, according as it is written, "Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is one
God."(10) At the same time, if we be interrogated on the subject of each
separately, and if the question be put to us, "Is the Father God ?" we
shall reply, "He is God." If it be asked whether the Son is God, we shall
answer to the same effect. Nor, if this kind of inquiry be addressed to us
with respect to the Holy Spirit, ought we to affirm in reply that He is
anything else than God; being earnestly on our guard, [however], against an
acceptance of this merely in the sense in which it is applied to men, when
it is said, "Ye are gods."(11) For of all those who have been made and
fashioned of the Father, through the Son, by the gift of the Holy Spirit,
none are gods according to nature. For it is this same Trinity that is
signified when an apostle says, "For of Him, and in Him, and through Him,
are all things."(12) Consequently, although, when we are interrogated on
the subject of each [of these Persons] severally, we reply that that
particular one regarding whom the question is asked, whether it be the
Father, or the Son, or the Holy Spirit, is God, no one, notwithstanding
this, should suppose that three Gods are worshipped by us.

   17. Neither is it strange that these things are said in reference to an
ineffable Nature, when even in those objects which we discern with the
bodily eyes, and judge of by the bodily sense, something similar holds
good. For take the instance of an interrogation on the subject of a
fountain, and consider how we are unable then to affirm that the said
fountain is itself the river; and how, when we are asked about the river,
we are as little able to call it the fountain; and, again, how we are
equally unable to designate the draught, which comes of the fountain or the
river, either river or fountain. Nevertheless, in the case of this trinity
we use the name water [for the whole]; and when the question is put:
regarding each of these separately, we reply in each several instance that
the thing is water. For if I inquire whether it is water in the fountain,
the reply is given that it is water; and if we ask whether it is water in
the river, no different response is returned; and in the case of the said
draught, no other answer can possibly be made: and yet, for all this, we do
not speak of these things as three waters, but as one water. At the same
time, of course, care must be taken that no one should conceive of the
ineffable substance of that Majesty merely as he might think of this
visible and material(1) fountain, or river, or draught. For in the case of
these latter that water which is at present in the fountain goes forth into
the river, and does not abide in itself; and when it passes from the river
or from the fountain into the draught, it does not continue permanently
there where it is taken from. Therefore it is possible here that the same
water may be in view at one time under the appellation of the fountain and
at another under that of the river, and at a third under that of the
draught. But in the case of that Trinity, we have affirmed it to be
impossible that the Father should be sometime the Son, and sometime the
Holy Spirit: just as, in a tree, the root is nothing else than the root,
and the trunk (robur) is nothing else than the trunk, and we cannot call
the branches anything else than branches for, what is called the root
cannot be called trunk and branches; and the wood which belongs to the root
cannot by any sort of transference be now in the root, and again in the
trunk, and yet again in the branches, but only in the root; since this rule
of designation stands fast, so that the root is wood. and the trunk is
wood, and the branches are wood, while nevertheless it is not three woods
that are thus spoken of, but only one. Or, if these objects have some sort
of dissimilarity, so that on account of their difference in strength they
may be spoken of, without any absurdity, as three woods; at least all
parties admit the force of the former example,--namely, that if three cups
be filled out of one fountain, they may certainly be called three cups, but
cannot be spoken of as three waters, but only as one all together. Yet, at
the same time, when asked concerning the several cups, one by one, we may
answer that in each of them bY itself there is water; although in this case
no such transference takes place as we were speaking of as occurring from
the fountain into the river. But these examples in things material
(corporalia exempla) have been adduced not in virtue of their likeness to
that divine Nature, but in reference to the oneness which subsists even in
things visible, so that it may be understood to be quite a possibility for
three  objects of some sort, not only severally, but also all together, to
obtain one single name; and that in this way no one may wonder and think it
absurd that we should call the Father God, the Son God, the Holy Spirit
God, and that nevertheless we should say that there are not three Gods in
that Trinity, but one God and one substance.(2)

   18. And, indeed, on this subject of the Father and the Son, learned and
spiritual(3) men have conducted discussions in many books, in which, so far
as men could do with men, they have endeavored to introduce an intelligible
account as to how the Father was not one personally with the Son, and yet
the two were one substantially;(4) and as to what the Father was
individually (proprie), and what the Son: to wit, that the former was the
Begetter, the latter the Begotten; the former  not of the Son, the latter
of the Father: the  former the Beginning of the latter, whence also He is
called the Head of Christ,(5) although Christ likewise is the Beginning,(6)
but not of the Father; the latter, moreover, the Image(7) of the former,
although in no respect dissimilar, and although absolutely and without
difference equal (omnino et indifferenter aequalis). These questions are
handled with greater breadth by those who, in less narrow limits than ours
are at present, seek to set forth the profession of the Christian faith in
its totality. Accordingly, in so far as He is the Son, of the Father
received He it that He is, while that other [the Father] received not this
of the Son; and in so far as He, in unutterable mercy, in a temporal
dispensation took upon Himself the [nature of] man (hominem),--to wit, the
changeable creature that was thereby to be changed into something better,--
many statements concerning Him are discovered in the Scriptures, which are
so expressed as to have given occasion to error in the impious intellects
of heretics, with whom the desire to teach takes precedence of that to
understand, so that they have supposed Him to be neither equal with the
Father nor of the same substance. Such statements [are meant] as the
following: "For the Father is greater than I;"(1) and, "The head of the
woman is the man, the Head of the man is Christ, and the Head of Christ is
God;"(2) and, "Then shall He Himself be subject unto Him that put all
things under Him;"(3) and, "I go to my Father and your Father, my God and
your God,"(4) together with some others of like tenor. Now all these have
had a place given them, [certainly] not with the object of signifying an
inequality of nature and substance; for to take them so would be to falsify
a different class of statements, such as, "I and my Father are one"
(unum);(5) and, "He that hath seen me hath seen my Father also;"(6) and,
"The Word was God,"(7) for He was not made, inasmuch as "all things were
made by Him;"(8) and, "He thought it not robbery to be equal with God:"(9)
together with all the other passages of a similar order. But these
statements have had a place given them, partly with a view to that
administration of His assumption of human nature (administrationem suscepti
hominis), in accordance with which it is said that "He emptied Himself:"
not that that Wisdom was changed, since it is absolutely unchangeable; but
that it was His will to make Himself known in such humble fashion to men.
Partly then, I repeat, it is with a view to this administration that those
things have been thus written which the heretics make the ground of their
false allegations; and partly it was with a view to the consideration that
the Son owes to the Father that which He is,(10)--thereby also certainly
owing this in particular to the Father, to wit, that He is equal to the
same Father, or that He is His Peer (eidem Patri aequalis aut par est),
whereas the Father owes whatsoever He is to no one.

   19. With respect to the HOLY SPIRIT, however, there has not been as
yet, on the part of learned and distinguished investigators of the
Scriptures, a discussion of the subject full enough or careful enough to
make it possible for us to obtain an intelligent conception of what also
constitutes His special individuality (proprium): in virtue of which
special individuality it comes to be the case that we cannot call Him
either the Son or the Father, but only the Holy Spirit; excepting that they
predicate Him to be the Gift of God, so that we may believe God not to give
a gift inferior to Himself. At the same time they hold by this position,
namely, to predicate the Holy Spirit neither as begotten, like the Son, of
the Father; for Christ is the only one [so begotten]: nor as [begotten] of
the Son, like a Grandson of the Supreme Father: while they do not affirm
Him to owe that which He is to no one, but [admit Him to owe it] to the
Father, of whom are all things; lest we should establish two Beginnings
without beginning (ne duo constituamus principia isne principio), which
would be an assertion at once most false and most absurd, and one proper
not to the catholic faith, but to the error of certain heretics.(11) Some,
however, have gone so far as to believe that the communion of the Father
and the Son, and (so to speak) their Godhead (deitatem), which the Greeks
designate theo'ths, is the Holy Spirit; so that, inasmuch as the Father is
God and the Son God, the Godhead itself, in which they are united with each
other,--to wit, the former by begetting the Son, and the latter by cleaving
to the Father,(12)--should [thereby] be constituted equal with Him by whom
He is begotten. This Godhead, then, which they wish to be understood
likewise as the love and charity subsisting between these two [Persons],
the one toward the other, they affirm to have received the name of the Holy
Spirit. And this opinion of theirs they support by many proofs drawn from
the Scriptures; among which we might instance either the passage which
says, "For the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost,
who has been given unto us,"(13) or many other proofs texts of a similar
tenor: while they ground their position also upon the express fact that it
is through the Holy Spirit that we are reconciled unto God; whence also,
when He is called the Gift of God, they will have it that sufficient
indication is offered of the love of God and the Holy Spirit being
identical. For we are not reconciled unto Him except through that love in
virtue of which we are also called sons:(1) as we are no more "under fear,
like servants,"(2) because "love, when it is made perfect, casteth out
fear;"(3) and [as] "we have received the spirit of liberty, wherein we cry,
Abba, Father."(4) And inasmuch as, being reconciled and called back into
friendship through love, we shall be able to become acquainted with all the
secret things of God, for this reason it is said of the Holy Spirit that
"He shall lead you into all truth."(5) For the same reason also, that
confidence in preaching the truth, with which the apostles were filled at
His advent,(6) is rightly ascribed to love; because diffidence also is
assigned to fear, which the perfecting of love excludes. Thus, likewise,
the same is called the Gift of God,(7) because no one enjoys that which he
knows, unless he also love it. To enjoy the Wisdom of God, however, implies
nothing else than to cleave to the same in love (ei dilectione cohaerere).
Neither does any one abide in that which he apprehends, but by love; and
accordingly the Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of sanctity (Spiritus
Sanctus), inasmuch as all things that are sanctioned (sanciuntur)(8) are
sanctioned with a view to their permanence, and there is no doubt that the
term sanctity (sanctitatem) is derived from sanction (a sanciendo). Above
all, however, that testimony is employed by the upholders of this opinion,
where it is thus written, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and
that which is born of the Spirit is spirit;"(9) "for God is a Spirit."(10)
For here He speaks of our regeneration,(11) which is not, according to
Adam, of the flesh, but, according to Christ, of the Holy Spirit.
Wherefore, if in this passage mention is made of the Holy Spirit, when it
is said, "For God is a Spirit," they maintain that we must take note that
it is not said, "for the Spirit is God,"(12) but, "for God is a Spirit;" so
that the very Godhead of the Father and the Son is in this passage called
God, and that is the Holy Spirit. To this is added another testimony which
the Apostle John offers, when he says, "For God is love."(13) For here, in
like manner, what he says is not, "Love is God,"(14) but, "God is love;" so
that the very Godhead is taken to be love. And with respect to the
circumstance that, in that enumeration of mutually connected objects which
is given when it is said, "All things are yours, and ye are Christ's, and
Christ is God's,"(15) as also, "The head of the woman is the man, the Head
of the man is Christ, and the Head of Christ is God,"(16) there is no
mention of the Holy Spirit; this they affirm to be but an application of
the principle that, m general, the connection itself is not wont to be
enumerated among the things which are connected with each other. Whence,
also, those who read with closer attention appear to recognize the express
Trinity likewise in that passage in which it is said, "For of Him, and
through Him, and in Him, are all things."(17) "Of Him," as if it meant, of
that One who owes it to no one that He is: "through Him," as if the idea
were, through a Mediator; "in Him," as if it were, in that One who holds
together, that is, unites by connecting.

   20. Those parties oppose this opinion who think that the said
communion, which we call either Godhead, or Love, or Charity, is not a
substance. Moreover, they require the Holy Spirit to be set forth to them
according to substance; neither do they take it to have been otherwise
impossible for the expression God is Love" to have been used, unless love
were a substance. In this, indeed, they are influenced by the wont of
things of a bodily nature. For if two bodies are connected with each other
in such wise as to be placed in juxtaposition one with the other, the
connection itself is not a body: inasmuch as when these bodies which had
been connected are separated, no such connection certainly is found [any
more]; while, at the same time, it is not understood to have departed, as
it were, and migrated, as is the case with those bodies themselves. But men
like these should make their heart pure, so far as they can, in order that
they may have power to see that in the substance of God there is not
anything of such a nature as would imply that therein substance is one
thing, and that which is accident to substance (aliud quod accidat
subsantiae) another thing, and not substance; whereas whatsoever can be
taken to be therein is substance. These things, however, can easily be
spoken and believed; but seen, so as to reveal how they are in themselves,
they absolutely cannot be, except by the pure heart. For which reason,
whether the opinion in question be true, or something else be the case, the
faith ought to be maintained unshaken, so that we should call the Father
God, the Son God, the Holy Spirit God, and yet not affirm three Gods, but
hold the said Trinity to be one God; and again, not affirm these [Persons]
to be different in nature, but hold them to be of the same substance; and
further uphold it, not as if the Father were sometime the Son, and sometime
the Holy Spirit, but in such wise that the Father is always the Father, and
the Son always the Son, and the Holy Spirit always the Holy Spirit. Neither
should we make any affirmation on the subject of things unseen rashly, as
if we had knowledge, but [only modestly] as believing. For these things
cannot be seen except by the heart made pure; and [even] he who in this
life sees them "in part," as it has been said, and "in an enigma,"(1)
cannot secure it that the person to whom he speaks shall also see them, if
he is hampered by impurities of heart. "Blessed," however, "are they of a
pure heart, for they shall see God."(2) This is the faith on the subject of
God our Maker and Renewer.

   21. But inasmuch as love is enjoined upon us, not only toward God, when
it was said, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with
all thy soul, and with all thy mind;"(3) but also toward our neighbor, for
"thou shalt love," saith He, "thy neighbor as thyself;"(4) and inasmuch,
moreover, as the faith in question is less fruitful, if it does not
comprehend a congregation and society of men, wherein brotherly charity may
operate;--

CHAP. 10.--OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, THE REMISSION OF SINS, AND THE
RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH.

   --Inasmuch, I repeat, as this is the case, we believe also in THE HOLY
CHURCH, [intending thereby] assuredly the CATHOLIC. For both heretics and
schismatics style their congregations churches. But heretics, in holding
false opinions regarding God, do injury to the faith itself; while
schismatics, on the other hand, in wicked separations break off from
brotherly charity, although they may believe just what we believe.
Wherefore neither do the heretics belong to the Church catholic, which
loves God; nor do the schismatics form a part of the same, inasmuch as: it
loves the neighbor, and consequently readily forgives the neighbor's sins,
because it prays that forgiveness may be extended to itself by Him who has
reconciled us to Himself, doing away with all past things, and calling us
to a new life. And until we reach the perfection of this new life, we
cannot be without sins. Nevertheless it is a matter of consequence of what
sort those sins may be.

   22. Neither ought we only to treat of the difference between sins, but
we ought most thoroughly to believe that those things in which we sin are
in no way forgiven us, if we show ourselves severely unyielding in the
matter of forgiving the sins of others.(5) Thus, then, we believe also in
THE REMISSION OF SINS.

   23. And inasmuch as there are three things of which man consists,--
namely, spirit, soul, and body,--which again are spoken of as two, because
frequently the soul is named along with the spirit; for a certain rational
portion of the same, of which beasts are devoid, is called spirit: the
principal part in us is the spirit; next, the life whereby we are united
with the body is called the soul; finally, the body itself, as it is
visible, is the last part in us. This "whole creation" (creatura), however,
"groaneth and travaileth until now."(6) Nevertheless, He has given it the
first-fruits of the Spirit, in that it has believed God, and is now of a
good will.(7) This spirit is also called the mind, regarding which an
apostle speaks thus: "With the mind I serve the law of God."(8) Which
apostle likewise expresses himself thus in another passage: "For God is my
witness, whom I serve in my spirit."(9) Moreover, the soul, when as yet it
lusts after carnal good things, is called the flesh. For a certain part
thereof resists(10) the Spirit, not in virtue of nature, but in virtue of
the custom of sins; whence it is said, "With the mind I serve the law of
God, but with the flesh the law of sin." And this custom has been turned
into a nature, according to mortal generation, by the sin of the first man.
Consequently it is also written in this wise, "And we were sometime by
nature the children of wrath,"(11) that is, of vengeance, through which it
has come to pass that we serve the law of sin. The nature of the soul,
however, is perfect when it is made subject to its own spirit, and when it
follows that spirit as the same follows God. Therefore "the animal man(12)
receiveth not the things which are of the Spirit of God."(13) But the soul
is not so speedily subdued to the spirit unto good action, as is the spirit
to God unto true faith and goodwill; but sometimes its impetus, whereby it
moves downwards into things carnal and temporal, is more tardily bridled.
But inasmuch as this same soul is also made pure, and receives the
stability of its own nature, under the dominance of the spirit, which is
the head for it, which head of the said soul has again its own head in
Christ, we ought not to despair of the restoration of the body also to its
own proper nature. But this certainly will not be effected so speedily as
is the case with the soul; just as the soul too, is not restored so
speedily as the spirit. Yet it will take place in the appropriate season,
at the last trump, when "the dead shall rise uncorrupted, and we shall be
changed."(1) And accordingly we believe also in THE RESURRECTION OF THE
FLESH, to wit, not merely that that soul, which at present by reason of
carnal affections is called the flesh, is restored; but that it shall be so
likewise with this visible flesh, which is the flesh according to nature,
the name of which has been received by the soul, not in virtue of nature,
but in reference to carnal affections: this visible flesh, then, I say,
which is the flesh properly so called, must without doubt be believed to be
destined to rise again. For the Apostle Paul appears to point to this, as
it were, with his finger, when he says, "This corruptible must put on
incorruption."(2) For when he says this, he, as it were, directs his finger
toward it. Now it is that which is visible that admits of being pointed out
with the finger; since the soul might also have been called corruptible,
for it is itself corrupted by vices of manners. And when it is read, "and
this mortal [must] put on immortality," the same visible flesh is
signified, inasmuch as at it ever and anon the finger is thus as it were
pointed. For the soul also may thus in like manner be called mortal, even
as it is designated corruptible in reference to vices of manners. For
assuredly it is "the death of the soul to apostatize from God;"(3) which is
its first sin in Paradise, as it is contained in the sacred writings.

   24. Rise again, therefore, the body will, according to the Christian
faith, which is incapable of deceiving. And if this appears incredible to
any one, [it is because] he looks simply to what the flesh is at present,
while he fails to consider of what nature it shall be hereafter. For at
that time of angelic change it will no more be flesh and blood, but only
body.(4) For when the apostle speaks of the flesh, he says, "There is one
flesh of cattle, another of birds, another of fishes, another of creeping
things: there are also both celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies."(5)
Now what he has said here is not "celestial flesh," but "both celestial
bodies and terrestrial bodies." For all flesh is also body; but every body
is not also flesh. In the first instance, [for example, this holds good] in
the case of those terrestrial bodies, inasmuch as wood is body, but not
flesh. In the case of man, again, or in that of cattle, we have both body
and flesh. In the case of celestial bodies, on the other hand, there is no
flesh, but only those simple and lucent bodies which the apostle designates
spiritual, while some call them ethereal. And consequently, when he says,
"Flesh and blood shall not inherit the kingdom of God,"(6) that does not
contradict the resurrection of the flesh; but the sentence predicates what
will be the nature of that hereafter which at present is flesh and blood.
And if any one refuses to believe that the flesh is capable of being
changed into the sort of nature thus indicated, he must be led on, step by
step, to this faith. For if you require of him whether earth is capable of
being changed into water, the nearness of the thing will make it not seem
incredible to him. Again, if you inquire whether water is capable of being
changed into air, he replies that this also is not absurd, for the elements
are near each other. And if, on the subject of the air, it is asked whether
that can be changed into an ethereal, that is, a celestial body, the simple
fact of the nearness at once convinces him of the possibility of the thing.
But if, then, he concedes that through such gradations it is quite a
possible thing that earth should be changed into an ethereal body, why does
he refuse to believe, when that will of God, too, enters in addition,
whereby a human body had power to walk upon the waters, that the same
change is capable of being effected with the utmost rapidity, precisely in
accordance with the saying, "in the twinkling of an eye,"(7) and without
any such gradations, even as, according to common wont, smoke is changed
into flame with marvellous quickness? For our flesh assuredly is of earth.
But philosophers, on the ground of whose arguments opposition is for the
most part offered to the resurrection of the flesh, so far as in these they
assert that no terrene body can possibly exist in heaven, yet concede that
any kind of body may be converted and changed into every [other] sort of
body. And when this resurrection of the body has taken place, being set
free then from the condition of time, we shall fully enjoy ETERNAL LIFE in
ineffable love and steadfastness, without corruption.(1) For "then shall be
brought to pass the saying which is written, Death is swallowed up in
victory. Where is, O death, thy sting? Where is, O death, thy
contention?"(2)

   25. This is the faith which in few words is given in the Creed to
Christian novices, to be held by them. And these few words are known to the
faithful, to the end that in believing they may be made subject to God;
that being made subject, they may rightly live; that in rightly living,
they may make the heart pure; that with the heart made pure, they may
understand that which they believe.


Taken from "The Early Church Fathers and Other Works" originally published
by Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co. in English in Edinburgh, Scotland, beginning in
1867. (LNPF I/III, Schaff). The digital version is by The Electronic Bible
Society, P.O. Box 701356, Dallas, TX 75370, 214-407-WORD.

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