The One Christ: St. Augustine's Theology of Deification (continued)
160 The Holy Spirit's Indwelling communion of them both by a name which applies to them both, the gift of both is called the Holy Spirit.57
We also argued earlier that the soteriological effects of the Trinity mirror the eternal processions. If this is true, then we should now be able to see how the Holy Spirit makes us both "holy" and "spiritual" as well.
The term sanctitas carries with it two fundamental meanings, particularly Augustinian in nature. The first has to do with a certain type of imperviousness to change, namely an immunity against the dissipation of sin. Heavily Platonic, where reality is equated with immutability, sanctity and stability in God are infused into both body and soul by the Holy Spirit: "By his gift which is also given to the soul, that is by the Holy Spirit, it is not only its recipient, the soul, that is rendered safe and peaceable and holy [salua et pacata et sancta fit] but the body too that will be quickened and in its own order will be of the utmost purity."58 The Holy Spirit enters the created soul and makes the creature like himself. This transformation is not however limited solely to the incorporeal aspect of the human person, but here again we see Augustine's constant recognition of the bodily aspect of union with and in the Spirit.
The second meaning which Augustine associates with holiness is the creature's assimilation to God, a transformation attributed mainly to the Holy Spirit who enables creatures to behave divinely: to see as God sees, to know as he knows. Toward the end of the Confessions, for example, we read how Augustine clearly attributes a creature's ability to act like God to the Spirit himself. The Spirit is the one who conforms us
57. Trin. 5.11.12; Hill, Trinity, 197: "Ergo spiritus sanctus ineffabilis quaedam patris filiique communio, et ideo fortasse sic appellatur quia patri et filio potest eadem appellatio conuenire. Nam hoc ipse proprie dicitur quod illi communiter quia et pater spiritus et filius spiritus, et pater sanctus et filius sanctus. Vt ergo ex nomine quod utrique conuenit utriusque communio significetur, uocatur donum amborum spiritus sanctus"; CCL 50.219-20.
58. uera rel. 12.25; Hill, True Religion, 45.