Letter 50022: To the Emperor Gratian — Ambrose, Bishop.

From: Ambrose, Bishop of Milan To: Emperor Gratian Date: ~381 AD Context: An additional letter accompanying the treatise on the Holy Spirit, in which Ambrose explains why the complete divinity of the Spirit is essential to Christian salvation and worship. To the Emperor Gratian — Ambrose, Bishop. I send you these further reflections on the Holy Spirit, which I trust will confirm what I have already written. The matter is urgent because there are those who will concede the divinity of the Son but deny it to the Spirit — as though the Trinity could be two-thirds divine and one-third created. The logic of salvation itself demands a fully divine Spirit. For it is the Spirit who regenerates us in baptism. If the Spirit were a creature, we would be reborn through a creature — and a creature cannot give what it does not possess. Only God gives life; therefore the one who gives new life in baptism must be God. Likewise, it is the Spirit who inspires Scripture. "All Scripture is God-breathed" (2 Timothy 3:16). If the Spirit who breathes forth Scripture is not God, then Scripture is not truly God's word — a conclusion no Christian can accept. And it is the Spirit who sanctifies. He is called the Holy Spirit not because he participates in holiness as we do — receiving it from another — but because he is the source of holiness itself. He makes holy; he is not made holy. This is the prerogative of God alone. I know these arguments may seem abstract to an emperor burdened with the governance of the world. But they are not abstract. The faith you confess at baptism, the Scripture you hear read in church, the holiness you seek in prayer — all depend on the full divinity of the Spirit. Deny that, and the entire edifice of Christian life collapses. Stand firm in the faith of the whole Trinity, most faithful Emperor, and the God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit will stand with you.

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