Sentences, Books I–II

Chapter 1 (48).

1. Whether the Holy Spirit is given by himself. Here it must be considered: since the Holy Spirit is given to human beings by the Father and the Son—which is for him to proceed temporally from both or to be sent—whether he is also given by himself. If he is given by himself, he proceeds or is sent by himself.

2. We say that the Holy Spirit is both God and gift, or something given; therefore he both gives and is given. He gives insofar as he is God, and is given insofar as he is a gift. Since the giving or donation of the Holy Spirit is God’s operation, and is the common and undivided operation of the three persons, the Holy Spirit is therefore given not only by the Father and the Son but also by himself. — Hence Augustine says in Book XV of The Trinity¹ that he gives himself: «Just as, he says, a body of flesh is nothing other than flesh, so the gift of the Holy Spirit is nothing other than the Holy Spirit. He is therefore God’s gift insofar as he is given to those to whom he is given. In himself, however, he is God, even if he is given to no one, because he was God, coeternal with the Father and the Son, before he was given to anyone. Nor, because they give him and he is given, is he for that reason less than they. For he is given as God’s gift in such a way that he also gives himself as God. For one cannot say that he is not in his own power, of whom it is said²: The Spirit breathes where he wills». Behold, he plainly says that the Holy Spirit gives himself.

3. For if the Holy Spirit cannot give himself, while the Father and the Son can give him, then the Father and the Son can do something which the Holy Spirit cannot. Again, if the Father and the Son give the Holy Spirit but he himself does not give himself, then the Father and the Son perform an operation which the Holy Spirit does not perform; therefore the Holy Spirit gives himself. But if he gives himself, then he proceeds and is sent by himself. This is certainly true. For the temporal procession or sending of the Holy Spirit is his donation, and it is God’s operation. Therefore the Holy Spirit proceeds temporally from himself and is sent by himself, because he is given by himself.

4. It is not surprising if the Holy Spirit is said to be sent or to proceed by himself, since the Son too is said to be sent by himself. Do not be surprised, then, that the Holy Spirit is said to be sent or to proceed from the Father and the Son, and that the Son can likewise be said to be sent or to proceed from himself or from the Holy Spirit. This seems so because the temporal procession or sending itself appears to be God’s operation, and every operation of God is common to the three persons. — Then, after certain authorities of Augustine, which are repeated below, he concludes: «From these authorities it seems necessary to grant that the Son is sent by the Father, by himself, and by the Holy Spirit, and that the Holy Spirit is given not only by the Father and the Son but also by himself».

³ habuit BCLNRVWX. 17 miraculis] mirabilibus OP. || Sancti Spiritus] trp. LOP. 18 Apostoli, si] apostoli: Sic OPW. 26 quod] quia CMRVWX. 9 est aliud trp. COP. 10 est aliud trp. OP. 14 donum Dei trp. LMNRTVWX.]

⁴

⁵

Chapter 2 (49).

How the sending of both is to be understood. «Accordingly, it must be asked how the sending of the Son or of the Holy Spirit is to be understood. For the Father alone, Augustine says in the same work, is nowhere read to have been sent», but the Son and the Holy Spirit are. — Let us first see how the Son was sent. «The Apostle says: God sent his Son, made from a woman, where he sufficiently shows that the Son was sent precisely in that he was made from a woman. Therefore he could not be sent by the Father without the Holy Spirit, because the Father is understood to have sent him when he made him from a woman; and he certainly did not do this without the Holy Spirit». Here he says that the Son was sent by the Father and the Holy Spirit.

Chapter 3 (50).

He confirms by authorities that the Son was sent by the Holy Spirit. That he was sent by the Holy Spirit, as Augustine says in the same work⁶, is confirmed by authorities. Christ himself says through Isaiah⁷: Now the Lord and his Spirit have sent me. On this Ambrose says in Book II of On the Holy Spirit⁸: «Who is it who says: The Lord and his Spirit have sent me, except the one who came from the Father to save sinners», that is, Christ? «Therefore both the Father sent the Son and the Spirit did». — The same author in the same work⁹: «He was given by the Father, as Isaiah says¹⁰: A child is born for us and a son is given to us. He was given, I dare say, also by the Spirit, because he was sent by the Spirit». For the Son of God says¹¹: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; therefore he has anointed me, he has sent me to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to captives, and so on. When he read this from the book of Isaiah, he said in the Gospel¹²: Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing, to signify that it was spoken of him. «He rightly said ‘upon me’, because as son of man he was both anointed and sent to preach»; «for according to his divinity the Spirit is not upon Christ but in Christ». By these words Ambrose shows that the Son was sent and given to us not only by the Father but also by the Holy Spirit.

¹³

¹⁴

Chapter 2: Augustine’s words are quoted here as they lie in the first redaction of the Gloss on Romans 11:36 (x 59a; z 35d), and partly in the Gloss on Galatians cited above.

Chapter 4 (51).

1. That the Son was also given by himself. — Ambrose next shows that he was also given by himself, saying in the same work¹⁵: «Since it was not determined by the Prophet by whom the Son was given, it is shown that he was given by the grace of the Trinity, so that the Son himself also gave him». Here he says that the Son gave himself because the Trinity gave him. But if the Son was given by himself, then he was sent by himself and proceeded from himself. This is certainly true and must be granted, since his sending is a divine operation.

2. That the Son was sent by himself. Augustine establishes that he is sent by himself in Book II of The Trinity¹⁶, saying: «Perhaps someone will compel us to say that the Son was also sent by himself, because the conception and birth from Mary are an operation of the Trinity. But someone may say: How did the Father send him, if he sent himself? I answer by asking how the Father sanctified him, if he sanctified himself. For the Lord says both¹⁷: The one whom the Father sanctified and sent into this world; and elsewhere: I sanctify myself for them. Again I ask: how did the Father hand him over, if he handed himself over? Both statements are read. I believe he would answer, if he understands correctly: because the will of the Father and the Son is one, and their operation is inseparable. Thus he should understand that incarnation and birth from the Virgin, in which the Son is understood to have been sent, were accomplished by one and the same operation, inseparably that of the Father and the Son, with the Holy Spirit not separated from it. Therefore the same Son was sent by the Father and the Son, because it was done by the Father and his Word that he should be sent, that is, that he should be incarnate and appear to human beings. For he was not sent by changing place, since he was in the world. Therefore the invisible Father, together with the Son who was invisible with him, is said to have sent the same Son by making him visible. If he had become visible in such a way that he ceased to be invisible with the Father—that is, if the invisible substance of the Word had been changed and transformed into a visible creature—the Son would be understood to have been sent by the Father in such a way that he was only sent and was not also, with the Father, the sender. But since the form of a servant was taken in such a way that the form of God remained unchangeable, it is clear that what appeared in the Son was effected by the Father and the Son who did not appear: that is, the same visible Son was sent by the invisible Father with the invisible Son».

¹⁸ ex add. BCM.]

¹⁹

3. A summary of what is established from the foregoing. From what was said above it is plainly shown that the Son was sent by the Father, by the Holy Spirit, and by himself; and what this sending itself is, namely incarnation—the fact that he became human, through which he appeared visibly—which is the common work of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Chapter 5 (52).

The question why he says: I did not come from myself. But an objection is raised: If the Son was sent by himself, why then does he say²⁰: I did not come from myself? — Solution. Augustine answers this in Book II of The Trinity²¹, saying that this was said «according to the form of a servant, according to which he did not act so as to be sent», that is, he did not effect the incarnation, but according to the form of God.

²² et a add. BCOPVX. 18 visibilis] invisibilis BCMOPRW. 27 respondit] respondit BCM.]

²³ An OP. 6 semel tantum trp. LRV. 10 dicenda est trp. LOP. 21 factum] est add. NOPRV.]

²⁴

Chapter 5: Partly in the same primitive Gloss (x 59b; z 36a). — Chapters 6–7: «In the same way it must be said that this was said ‘according to the form of a servant, according to which he did not act so as to be sent’, that is, he did not effect the incarnation, but according to the form of God».

Chapter 6 (53).

Whether the Son was sent only once or often. Here it is asked whether the Son was sent only once or is often sent. For if the Son’s sending is only his incarnation, since he was incarnate only once, he seems to have been sent only once. But if he is often sent, there is another sending of his besides the incarnation. What is that? Is his eternal generation to be called his sending, or must another sending also be sought?

Chapter 7 (54).

That the Son is said to be sent in two ways. We say that the Son is said to be sent in two ways, apart from that eternal begetting which is ineffable and according to which he could also be called sent, as some seem to think; but more properly and truly he is said to be begotten according to it. Apart from that, therefore, he is said to be sent in two ways: either when he appeared visibly to the world, or when he transfers himself into devout souls²⁵ so that he is perceived and known by them. — Augustine clearly distinguishes these two modes of sending in Book IV of The Trinity²⁶, saying: «The Son is not said to be sent simply because he was born from the Father, but either because the Word became flesh and appeared to this world, whence he says²⁷: I went out from the Father and came into the world; or because in time he is perceived by the mind of each person, as it was said».

Chapter 8 (55).

1. That according to one mode he was sent once, according to the other often; and according to one mode so that he might be human, according to the other so that he might be with the human being. Behold, the two modes of the Son’s sending have been distinguished. According to one he was sent only once, while according to the other the Son of God was often sent and is sent daily. According to one he was sent to be human, which happened only once; according to the other he is sent to be with the human being. In this way he is sent daily to the saints, and he was also sent before the incarnation to all the saints who existed before, and even to the angels. — Hence Augustine, speaking of the Son, that is, the Wisdom of the Father, says in Book IV of The Trinity²⁸: «Wisdom is sent in one way so that it may be with the human being, and was sent in another way so that it might be human. For it transfers itself into holy souls and makes them friends of God and prophets²⁹, just as it also fills the holy angels. But when the fullness of time came³⁰, it was sent not to fill the angels, nor to be an angel, nor to be with human beings or in human beings, as it was previously in the Fathers and Prophets, but so that the Word itself might become flesh, that is, a human being».

2. That according to one mode he is said to be sent into the world, but according to the other he is not. It should moreover be noted that, according to these two modes, the Son is said to be sent into the world according to one, but not according to the other. He is said to be sent into the world in the mode by which he appeared visibly to the world. Hence Augustine says in the same book³¹: «When he is perceived in time by the mind of each person, he is indeed said to be sent, but not into this world. For he does not appear sensibly, that is, he is not present to the bodily senses. For we too, insofar as we grasp something by the mind, are not in this world; and the spirits of all the just, even while living in the flesh, insofar as they taste divine things, are not in this world». From what was said above it is clear that, besides the ineffable begetting, the Son is sent in two ways: when he appeared visibly, or when he is perceived invisibly by the mind.

³² om. MNRX, add. interl. L. 22 modum om. OP. 27 cuiusque] cuiusquam LNTV. 29 nos] etiam add. BCOP.]

³³

Chapter 9 (56).

Why the Father is not said to be sent when he is known by someone, as the Son is. Here it is asked why the Father is not said to be sent when he is known by someone in time, as the Son is. — We say that in him there is the authority of the principle, since he has no source from which he is, while the Son and the Holy Spirit are from him. «For the Father is, as Augustine says in the same book³⁴, the principle of the whole divinity, or, if it is better said, of the Godhead», because he is the principle of the Son and the Holy Spirit. For, as Augustine says in the same work³⁵, «if God the Father had also wished to appear visibly through a subject creature, he would nevertheless be said most absurdly to have been sent either by the Son whom he begot or by the Holy Spirit who proceeds from him». It is fittingly said that the one who appeared in the flesh was sent, and that the one who did not appear in it sent.

Chapter 10 (57).

Some thought that the Son and the Holy Spirit were less than the Father because they are said to have been sent. Therefore certain heretics thought that, since the Father was not sent but the Son and the Holy Spirit were, the Father was greater and the Son and the Holy Spirit lesser; and that the Father, as the greater, sent both as lesser. — Augustine rejects this in Book IV of The Trinity³⁶, contradicting them: «The Son must not therefore be thought less because he was sent by the Father; nor the Holy Spirit less because the Father and the Son also sent him. Whether these things are understood in Scripture on account of the visible creature, or rather on account of the commendation of the principle, they are not there because of inequality, disparity, or dissimilarity of substance». The Father is not therefore said to have sent the Son or the Holy Spirit because he was greater and they lesser, but chiefly to commend the authority of the principle, and because he did not appear in a visible creature as they did. Thus it has been shown what the Son’s sending is and in what ways he is sent.

³⁷ quia BMNTWX. 18 maiorem] esse add. MNRTVWX.]

³⁸

Chapter 10: The question is touched on very briefly in the Gloss on Galatians 4:4 (PL 192, 136 C–D).