Chapter 22 — Of the effects ascribed to the Holy Spirit according as he moves the creature to God

Now that we have considered the works of God in us which the Scriptures ascribe to the Holy Spirit, it remains for us to consider how the Holy Spirit moves us to God.

In the first place, mutual intercourse would seem to belong to friendship in a very special manner. Now, man’s intercourse with God consists in contemplating him; thus the Apostle says: Our conversation is in heaven (Phil 3:20). Since, then, the Holy Spirit makes us to be lovers of God, it follows that by him we are made contemplators of God. Hence the Apostle says: We all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit (2 Cor 3:18).

It also belongs to friendship that a man delight in the presence of his friend, and rejoice in his words and deeds; also, that he find in him consolation in all his troubles: hence it is especially to our friends that we have recourse for comfort in time of sorrow. Since, then, the Holy Spirit makes us to be friends of God, and causes him to live in us, and us in him, as we have proved, it follows that it is through the Holy Spirit that we rejoice in God, and are comforted in all the hardships and afflictions of the world. Hence it is said: Restore to me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with your willing spirit (Ps 51:12[50:14]), and: The kingdom of God is . . . righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom 14:7), and: So the church . . . had peace and was built up; and walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit it was multiplied (Acts 9:31). For this reason our Lord calls the Holy Spirit by the name of Paraclete or Consoler: but the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, etc. (John 14:26).

It also belongs to friendship that a man consent to the things which his friend wills. Now God’s will is made known to us in his commandments. Therefore, it belongs to our love for God that we fulfill his commandments: If you love me, you will keep my commandments (John 14:15). Therefore, as the Holy Spirit makes us lovers of God, it is he also who leads us to fulfill the commandments of God, according to the saying of the Apostle: All who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God (Rom 8:14).

We must observe, however, that the sons of God are led by the Holy Spirit not as though they were slaves, but as being free. For, since to be free is to be cause of one’s own actions, we are said to do freely what we do of ourselves. Now this is what we do voluntarily: and what we do involuntarily, we do not freely, but under compulsion. This compulsion may be absolute, when the cause is wholly extraneous, and the patient contributes nothing to the action (for instance, when a man is compelled to move by force), or it may be partly voluntary, as when a man is willing to do or suffer that which is less opposed to his will in order to avoid that which is more opposed to it. Now, the Holy Spirit inclines us to act in such a way as to make us act willingly, inasmuch as he causes us to be lovers of God. Hence the sons of God are led by the Holy Spirit to act freely and for love, not slavishly and for fear. Therefore, the Apostle says: You did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of sonship (Rom 8:15).

Now the will is directed to that which is truly good. Thus, when a man turns away from what is truly good, either through passion or through an evil habit or disposition, he acts slavishly insofar as he is led by something extraneous, if we consider the natural direction of the will. But if we consider the act of the will as inclined towards a seeming good, he acts freely when he follows the passion or evil habit, but he acts slavishly if, while his will remains the same, he refrains from what he desires through fear of the law which forbids the fulfilment of his desire. Accordingly, when the Holy Spirit by love inclines the will to the true good to which it is naturally directed, he removes both the servitude whereby a man, the slave of passion and sin, acts against the order of the will, and the servitude whereby a man acts against the inclination of his will, and in obedience to the law, as the slave and not the friend of the law. Therefore, the Apostle says: Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom (2 Cor 3:17), and: If you are led by the Spirit you are not under the Law (Gal 5:18).

For this reason the Holy Spirit is said to mortify the deeds of the flesh, inasmuch as the sufferings of the flesh do not turn us from the true good, to which the Holy Spirit leads us by love: If by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live (Rom 8:13).