I did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘On whomever you see the Spirit come down and remain, he is the one who will baptize with the holy Spirit (John 1:33).'
In a plan of surpassing beauty the Creator of the universe decreed the renewal of all things in Christ. In his design for restoring human nature to its original condition, he gave a promise that he would pour out on it the Holy Spirit along with his other gifts, for otherwise our nature could not enter once more into the peaceful and secure possession of those gifts.
He therefore appointed a time for the Holy Spirit to come
upon us: this was the time of Christ’s coming. He gave this promise when he
said: In those days, that is, the days of the Savior, I
will pour out a share of my Spirit on all mankind.
When the time came for this great act of unforced
generosity, which revealed in our midst the only-begotten Son, clothed with
flesh on this earth, a man born of woman, in accordance with Holy Scripture,
God the Father gave the Spirit once again. Christ, as the first fruits of our
restored nature, was the first to receive the Spirit. John the Baptist bore
witness to this when he said: I saw the Spirit coming down from heaven,
and it rested on him.
Christ “received the Spirit” in so far as he was man, and in
so far as man could receive the Spirit. He did so in such a way that, though he
is the Son of God the Father, begotten of his substance, even before the
incarnation, indeed before all ages, yet he was not offended at hearing the
Father say to him after he had become man: You are my Son; today I have
begotten you. [Psalm 110].
The Father says of Christ, who was God, begotten of him
before the ages, that he has been “begotten today,” for the Father is to accept
us in Christ as his adopted children. The whole of our nature is present in
Christ, in so far as he is man. So the Father can be said to give the Spirit
again to the Son, though the Son possesses the Spirit as his own, in order that
we may receive the Spirit in Christ. The Son therefore took to himself the seed
of Abraham, as Scripture says, and became like his brothers in all things.
The only-begotten Son received the Spirit, but not for his
own advantage, for the Spirit in his, and is given in him and through him, as
we have already said. He receives it to renew our nature in its entirety and to
make it whole again, for in becoming man he took our entire nature to himself.
If we reason correctly, and use also the testimony of Scripture, we can see
that Christ did not receive the Spirit for himself, but rather for us in him;
for it is also through Christ that all gifts come down to us.
From a sermon by Saint Cyril of Alexandria, bishop (c. 370 AD – 444 AD)
From the Crossroads Initiative Website
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