The work of the Holy Spirit - pagina 120

THE INCARNATION OF THE WORD

8o

did the body of Christ become an instrument of obedience by the

conception of the Holy Spirit"; or finally:

"

As

the Israelite

became

a servant by having his ear pierced, so has the Eternal Son adopted the form of a servant by becoming partaker of our flesh and blood." St.

Paul's infallible exposition of Psalm

xl. 7

does not raise any

seri-

ous objection to any of these renderings. It suffices our present purpose if it be only acknowledged that, according to Heb. x. 5, the Church must confess that there was a preparation of the body of Christ.

This being conceded and taken in connection with what the it can not be denied that

Gospel relates concerning the conception,

body of the Lord there is a peculiar work of For the angel said to Mary: "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God" (Luke i. 35). And again: " Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost " (Matt. Both passages, apart from their proper meanings, evidently i. 20). seek to produce the impression that the conception and birth of in the preparing of the

the Holy Spirit.

;

Jesus are extraordinary; that they did not occur after the will of

man, but result from an operation of the Holy Spirit. Like all other outgoing works of God, the preparation of the body of Christ is a divine work common to the three Persons. It is erroneous to say that the Holy Spirit is the Creator of the body of Jesus, or, as some have expressed it, " That the Holy Spirit was the Father of Christ, according to His human nature." Such representations must be rejected, since they destroy the confession of the Holy Trinity. This confession can not be maintained when any of the outgoing works of God are represented as not common to the three Persons.

We wish to emphasize, therefore, that not the Holy Spirit alone, but the Triune God, prepared the body of the Mediator. The Father and even the Son cooperated in this divine act. However, as we have seen in Creation and Providence, cooperation the work of each Person bears

From

the Father, of

whom

all things,

own

From

the Son,

who

is

in this

distinctive mark.

proceeded the material soul, and of all His

body of Christ, the creation of the human and powers, together with the whole plan

of the gifts

are

its

of the Incarnation.

the "n^isdom of the Father, disposing and

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