One of the fruits of the entry of sin into human life was that ungrateful humanity united together to defy the Creator, thinking that they could mock the God who brought the flood in the days of Noah: “Then they said to one another, ‘Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly’ … ‘Come let us build ourselves a city and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth’ … And the Lord said: … ‘Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.’” (Gen. 11:1–7). After the incarnate Word of God gave Himself as a sacrifice for the salvation of the world, the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples and all those who were present with them to establish a new community that gathers humanity together; not by re-uniting them again with one language, but by His work in their lives, that they may be filled with the spirit of love and unity, and sanctified that they may bear the image of God. This is the work of the Spirit in the universal Church which embraces all nations and tongues, and thereby fulfills God’s plan for humanity.
Because the apostle Paul understood this he said, “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit” (1 Cor. 12:13). This is the same Holy Spirit who hovered over the face of the waters, transforming the earth, without form, and void (Gen. 1:2) into an earth bright and fruitful, a world very good in the eyes of God. Thus also the Spirit of God hovers over the water of baptism, granting humanity the gift of being the children of God, that the community of humanity may become “heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ” (Rom. 8:17).
St. Basil the Great says of the Holy Spirit: “He is like a sunbeam whose grace is present to the one who enjoys him as if he were present to such a one alone, and still he illuminates
332 St. Clement of Alexandria, Exhortation to the Heathen 11 (ANF 2:203) amended.
333 St. Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata, or Miscellanies 5.12 (ANF 2:464).
land and sea and is mixed with the air. Just so, indeed, is the Spirit is present to each one who is fit to receive him, as if he were present to him alone.”334
St. Cyril of Jerusalem says, “Jesus therefore went up into heaven, and fulfilled the promise. For He said to them, ‘I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter’ (John 14:16). So they were sitting, looking for the coming of the Holy Spirit; ‘and when the day of Pentecost was fully come,’ here, in this city of Jerusalem … the Comforter came down from heaven, the Guardian and Sanctifier of the Church, the Ruler of souls, the Pilot of the tempest-tossed, who leads the wanderers to the light, and presides over the combatants, and crowns the victors.
“But He came down to clothe the Apostles with power, and to baptize them; for the Lord says, ‘you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days hence’ (Acts 1:5). This grace was not in part, but His power was in full perfection; for as he who plunges into the waters and is baptized is encompassed on all sides by the waters, so were they also baptized completely by the Holy Spirit …
“And why are you surprised? Take an example from matter; poor indeed and common, yet useful for the simpler sort. If the fire passing in through the mass of the iron makes the whole of it fire, so that what was cold becomes burning and what was black is made bright,— if fire which is a body thus penetrates and works without hindrance in iron which is also a body, why wonder that the Holy Spirit enters into the very inmost recesses of the soul?”335
The Fathers cited
- St. Basil the Great
- St. Cyril of Jerusalem