Dist. 18
by St. Bonaventure
Source text: Public Domain Mark 1.0. English translation/apparatus/encoding: CC BY-NC 4.0, Wroot Press.
https://bonaventure.wrootpress.com/browse/1/d/18/q/bon-sent-I-d18-littera
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### DISTINCTION XVIII.

#### Cap. I. *Whether it must be conceded that gifts are given through a Gift.*

Here the question is asked: since the Holy Spirit, through whom gifts are distributed, is Himself a Gift, whether it must be conceded that gifts are distributed and given through a Gift. To this we say that through the Gift which is the Holy Spirit, the things proper to each are distributed, and all good men have Him in common. Whence Augustine in the fifteenth book *On the Trinity* says: "Through the Gift which is the Holy Spirit, many gifts that are proper to each are distributed in common to all the members of Christ. For not all individually have all gifts, but these have these and others have others, although they all have the Gift itself from which the proper things are distributed to each — that is, the Holy Spirit." Behold, he openly says that gifts are given through a Gift.

#### Cap. II. *Whether the Holy Spirit is called Gift in the same sense in which He is called Given or Donated.*

Furthermore it must be diligently considered, since the Holy Spirit is called both *Gift* and *Given*, whether both names belong to Him in the same sense — which indeed may seem to be the case. For since to be given is the same as to be donated for the Holy Spirit, by the same reckoning the Holy Spirit seems to be called *Given* and *Gift*. This too Augustine seems to signify in the fifteenth book *On the Trinity*, when he says: "The Holy Spirit is so far the Gift of God as He is given to those to whom He is given; but in Himself He is God, even if He be given to no one." Behold, he openly says that the Holy Spirit is called Gift because He is given. But if He is called Gift only because He is given, then He was not Gift from eternity, since He is not given except in time.

To which we say that the Holy Spirit is called both *Gift* and *Given* or *Donated*; but *Given* or *Donated* is said only insofar as He is given or donated — which He has only from time.

But *Gift* is said not only because He is donated, but from a property which He had from eternity; whence also from eternity He was Gift. For He was eternally Gift, not because He was being given, but because He proceeded from the Father and the Son. Whence Augustine in the fourth book *On the Trinity* says: "Just as for the Son to be born is for Him to be from the Father, so for the Holy Spirit to be the Gift of God is to proceed from the Father and from the Son." Here it is openly shown that the Holy Spirit is Gift because He proceeds from the Father and from the Son, just as the Son is from the Father because He is born of Him. For it is not the same thing for the Son to be from the Father and for the Holy Spirit to be from Him; that is, the Son is not said to be from the Father by the same property by which the Holy Spirit is. For the Son is said to be from the Father because He is begotten of Him; but the Holy Spirit is said to be from the Father and from the Son because the Holy Spirit is the Gift of the Father and the Son — that is, because He proceeds from both. For the Holy Spirit is so called by that whereby He is Gift; and Gift by that whereby He is proceeding. Whence Augustine in the fifth book *On the Trinity* says: "The Holy Spirit, who is understood not as the Trinity but as in the Trinity, in that whereby He is properly called the Holy Spirit is said relatively, when He is referred both to the Father and to the Son, since the Holy Spirit is the Spirit both of the Father and of the Son. But the relation itself does not appear in this name; it appears, however, when He is called *Gift of God*: for He is the Gift of the Father and of the Son, since He proceeds both from the Father and from the Son." Behold, by these words it is openly shown that the Holy Spirit and Gift are said by the same relation; and Gift, because He proceeds from the Father and the Son. Therefore the property by which He is called Holy Spirit or Gift is the procession itself, of which we shall hereafter treat more fully along with others. Since therefore from eternity He proceeded from both, from eternity also He was Gift. Therefore the Holy Spirit is not called Gift only because He is donated; for He was Gift even before He was donated. Whence Augustine in the fifth book *On the Trinity*: "The Holy Spirit always proceeds, and proceeds not from time but from eternity; but because He so proceeded that He was donatable, He was already Gift before there was anyone to whom He might be given. For *Gift* is understood differently from *Donated*: a gift can exist even before it is given; but *donated* cannot in any way be said unless it has been given." "Eternally, therefore, the Holy Spirit is Gift, but in time He is Donated." By these words it is openly shown that, just as the Holy Spirit proceeds from eternity, so also from eternity He is Gift — not because He was donated by the Father to the Son, or by the Son to the Father, but because from eternity He proceeded as donatable.

But it is asked: donatable to whom? — whether to the Father and the Son, or only to us, who did not yet exist? But if He was not donatable to the Father and the Son, but only to us, and from this He was Gift, because He thus proceeded as donatable, it would seem that the Son in the same way was always Gift — since from eternity He proceeded from the Father as donatable to us in time. For of the Son also it is read that *He is given to us*. To which we say that the Holy Spirit proceeded as donatable to us only, not to the Father or the Son, just as also He has been given to us only. And the Son was truly given to us and proceeded from the Father from eternity, not as merely donatable, but as begotten — who could also be given. He proceeded therefore as begotten and donatable; but the Holy Spirit does not proceed as begotten, but only as Gift. And He always was Gift not only because donatable, but because He proceeded from both, and because He was donatable. Whence Augustine in the fifth book *On the Trinity* says: "By the very fact that God was about to give Him, He was already Gift, even before He was given," and therefore donatable; but donatable in another way than the Son — for He was both given otherwise and proceeded otherwise than the Son. For the procession of the Son is begetting or nativity, but the procession of the Holy Spirit is not nativity; yet both are ineffable.

#### Cap. III. *That just as the Son by being born received not only that He should be Son, but also essence, so the Holy Spirit by proceeding received not only that He should be Gift, but essence.*

And it must be noted that just as the Son by being born received not only that He should be Son, but altogether that He should be and that He should be the very substance; so also the Holy Spirit, proceeding from the Father and the Son, received not only that He should be the Holy Spirit or Gift, but also that He should altogether be and that He should be substance — which assuredly He did not receive by that whereby He is given. For since He is given only in time, if He had this by that whereby He is given, He would have received in time that He should be. Whence Augustine in the fifth book *On the Trinity* says: "The Son does not have this only by being born, that He should be Son, but altogether that He should be. It is asked, therefore, whether the Holy Spirit by that whereby He is given has not only that He should be Gift, but altogether that He should be. For if He is not, except because He is given — that is, if He does not have being except by that whereby He is given, just as the Son by being born has not only that He should be Son, which is said relatively, but altogether that He should be the very substance — how could the Holy Spirit already have been the very substance, when He was not given before there was someone to whom He might be given?" Therefore He has not by that whereby He is given, but by proceeding, that He should be Gift, and that He should be essence; just as the Son not by the fact that He has been given, but by being born, received not only that He should be Son, but that He should be essence. Whence Augustine in the fifteenth book *On the Trinity* says: "Just as generation from the Father bestows essence on the Son without beginning of time, without any mutability of nature, so procession from both bestows essence on the Holy Spirit without any beginning of time, without any mutability of nature."

Here a question arises: if the Son by being born has not only that He should be Son, but that He should be essence, and the Holy Spirit by proceeding not only that He should be Gift, but that He should be essence; then the Son by His nativity is essence, and the Holy Spirit by His procession is essence — although it is said elsewhere that the Father is not Father by that whereby He is God, nor the Son is Son by that whereby He is God, nor the Holy Spirit is Gift by that whereby He is God; since, as Augustine says in the seventh book *On the Trinity*, "by these names their relations are shown, not their essence." Whence we shall hereafter treat more fully.

To which, briefly responding, we say that neither is the Son by His nativity essence, but only Son; nor is the Holy Spirit by His procession essence, but only Gift; and yet each — both He by being born and He by proceeding — received that He should be essence. "For not, as Hilary says in the fifth book *On the Trinity*, by defection, or extension, or derivation from God is the Son God; but by power of nature into the same nature the Son subsists by nativity," and by power of nature into the same nature the Holy Spirit subsists by procession.

Which can be understood thus: from the Father, who is the unbegotten power, the Son has by nativity — that is, by being born — and the Holy Spirit by procession — that is, by proceeding — the same nature which He has. Whence the same author, speaking more clearly, opens what he had said by adding: "The nativity of God cannot fail to hold the nature from which it has come forth. For nothing subsists as other than God which subsists from nowhere other than from God." Behold, by these words it is opened how that is to be understood: "Generation from the Father bestows essence on the Son, and procession from both bestows essence on the Holy Spirit"; not because that one is essence as Son, and this one is essence as Holy Spirit — rather by personal property — but because both, that one by being born and this one by proceeding, have the same and the entire essence which is in the Father.

#### Cap. IV. *That the Holy Spirit is called Gift and Donated according to the two aforesaid modes of procession; which, insofar as He is Gift, is referred to the Father and the Son, and insofar as He is Given, to Him who gave and to those to whom He is given.*

From the foregoing it is clear that the Holy Spirit is eternally Gift and in time Given or Donated. From which appears that distinction of twofold procession, of which we treated above. For according to one procession He is called Donated or Given, but according to the other He is called Gift.

And insofar as He is eternally Gift, He is referred to the Father and the Son; but insofar as He is called Given or Donated, He is referred both to Him who gave, and to those to whom He is given; and He is said to be of Him who gives, and of those to whom He is given. Whence Augustine in the fifth book *On the Trinity* says: "What is given is referred both to Him who gave, and to those to whom He gave. Therefore the Holy Spirit is called not only of the Father and of the Son, who gave, but also ours, who received. The Spirit therefore is both of God, who gave, and ours, who received — not that spirit of ours by which we are, since that is the spirit of man, which is in him; although the spirit which is called the spirit of man we have indeed received as well; but the latter is called *ours* in one way, the former in another. For one thing is what we received that we might be, another what we received that we might be holy. That the Holy Spirit, however, is called *ours*, Scripture shows. For it is written of John that he should come *in the spirit of Elias*. Behold, he is called the Spirit of Elias — namely, the Holy Spirit, whom Elias received. And to Moses the Lord says: *I will take of your spirit and give it to them* — that is, I will give them of the Holy Spirit, whom I have already given to you." Behold, here too the spirit is called Moses's. It is therefore clear that the Holy Spirit is called our spirit, namely because He has been given to us — and given indeed for this end, that we might be holy. But the created spirit is given for this, that we might be.

#### Cap. V. *Whether the Son, since He is given to us, can be called ours, as the Holy Spirit is.*

Here it is asked whether the Son also, since He is given to us, is called or can be called *ours*. To which we say that the Son is called our bread, our redeemer, and the like; but He is not called our Son, since *Son* is said only relatively to Him who begot. And therefore He cannot be called *our Son*, but only the Father's. But insofar as He is called *Given*, He is referred both to Him who gave, and to those to whom He has been given, as is the Holy Spirit; who also, although in Scripture, as has been said before, He is called *our spirit*, or *your spirit*, or *his*, as was said of Moses and Elias, yet nowhere in Scripture does it occur thus: *Holy Spirit ours* or *yours* or *his*, but *spirit ours* or *yours* or *his* — because the Holy Spirit is so called by that whereby He is Gift, and both are said relatively to the Father and to the Son, and this by an eternal relation. If, however, He is sometimes called *our gift*, *gift* is taken for *donated* or *given*. But when *gift* is taken in the way in which the Holy Spirit is, then *gift* is said only of the Father and the Son, not of man; and so the Son under this appellation cannot be called *ours*, so as to be called *our Son*, just as neither is the Holy Spirit called ours; and yet of the Son it is said *our bread*, and of the Spirit *our spirit*. He is *our bread*, because He refreshes us, having been given to us; this one is *our spirit*, because He is breathed into us by the Father and the Son, and breathes in us as He wills. Whence Augustine in the fifth book *On the Trinity* says: "What is born of the Father is referred to the Father alone, when He is called Son; and therefore the Son is the Father's, and not ours. Yet we say also *give us our bread*, just as we say, *our spirit*."

#### Cap. VI. *Whether the Holy Spirit is referred to Himself.*

After this it is asked whether the Holy Spirit is referred to Himself: for this seems able to be proved from the foregoing. For if what is given is referred to Him who gives, and to him to whom it is given, and the Holy Spirit is given by Himself, as has been said before, therefore He is referred to Himself. We defer the determination of this question to a later point, until we treat of those things that are said relatively of God from time, in which *Given* and *Donated* are contained.

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