On the Holy Spirit — Source paragraphs and footnotes

Date uncertain | Ambrose of Milan

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.

Complete source paragraph · On the Holy Spirit, Chapter XIII., source paragraph 8 · Original source

Date uncertain | Ambrose of Milan

153. There is, then, unity of authority, unity of appointment, unity of giving. For if you separate appointment and power, what cause was there [for maintaining] that those whom Christ appointed as apostles, God the Father

Complete source paragraph · On the Holy Spirit, Chapter XIII., source paragraph 14 · Original source

Date uncertain | Ambrose of Milan

appointed, and the Holy Spirit appointed? unless, perhaps, as if sharing a possession or a right, They, like men, were afraid of legal prejudice, and therefore the operation was divided, and the authority distributed.

Complete source paragraph · On the Holy Spirit, Chapter XIII., source paragraph 15 · Original source

Date uncertain | Ambrose of Milan

154. These things are narrow and paltry, even between men, who for the most part, although they do not agree in action, yet agree in will. So that a certain person being asked what a friend is, answered, “A second self.” If, then, a man so defined a friend as to say, he was a second self, that is to say, through a oneness of love and good-will, how much more ought we to esteem the oneness of Majesty, in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, when by the same operation and divine power, either the unity, or certainly that which is more, the ταυτότης, as it is called in Greek, is expressed, for ταύτο signifies “the same,” so that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit have the same; so that to have the same will and the same power does not arise from the affection of the will, but inheres in the substance of the Trinity.

Complete source paragraph · On the Holy Spirit, Chapter XIII., source paragraph 16 · Original source

Date uncertain | Ambrose of Milan

157. Barnabas also believed, and obeyed because he believed. Therefore, being chosen by the authority of the Holy Spirit, Which came on him abundantly, as a special sign of his merits, he was not unworthy of so great a fellowship. For one grace shone in these whom one Spirit had chosen.

Complete source paragraph · On the Holy Spirit, Chapter XIII., source paragraph 19 · Original source

Date uncertain | Ambrose of Milan

158. Nor was Paul inferior to Peter, though the latter was the foundation of the Church, and the former a wise builder knowing how to make firm the footsteps of the nations who believed; Paul was not, I say, unworthy of the fellowship of the apostles, but is easily comparable with the first, and second to none. For he who knows not that he is inferior makes himself equal.

Complete source paragraph · On the Holy Spirit, Chapter XIII., source paragraph 20 · Original source

Date uncertain | Ambrose of Milan

146. Lastly, Paul having been sent by the Spirit, was both a vessel of election on

Complete source paragraph · On the Holy Spirit, Chapter XIII., source paragraph 6 · Original source