66. Teske, " 'Homo Spiritualis' in the Confessions," 73; my emphasis. (continued)
164 The Holy Spirit's Indwelling make their will dependent upon his will and, by constantly clinging to him, become one spirit with him [ei adhaerendo iugiter unus . . . cum eo fit spiritus], and it is only devout persons who do all this! Hence, if God does not make them do this, who does?67
Grace does not erase human volition but unites it to the perfect will. It raises the human person from the enslavement of concupiscence to a life of adhering to God. This union [adhaerendo] spiritualizes the human person [fit spiritus], rendering all human operations oriented toward and in harmony with the divine.
It is imperative to distinguish how the Spirit's gift of spiritual holiness is different from his bestowal of unity and love. We mentioned earlier that the first two soteriological effects of union and charity closely mirror the union and the love within the Trinity. Now, however, the holiness and spiritual nature granted to us by the Spirit must be of a different sort than that realized within the Trinity. Why so? The holiness which the Spirit communicates to creatures must first purge us of sin and then elevate us to a nature that is never properly our own. In Augustinian terms, the Spirit must reorient our love by lifting us out of the decay we have freely brought on ourselves through divine disobedience.68 Christ ascends into heaven so as to send his Spirit, bringing about a new type of divine union. Since Christ cannot enter the human heart with his own flesh, Pentecost allows him to possess the heart, "dwelling within, so that we may be converted inwardly and be brought to life from him, and formed from him, because he is the unformed form of everything there is."69
67. gr. et pecc. or.1.46–51; Teske, Answer to the Pelagians (I/23), 428: "ergo ut currat ad dominum, et ab eo se regi cupiat, suamque uoluntatem ex eius uoluntate suspendat, eique adhaerendo iugiter unus secundum apostolum, cum eo fiat spiritus, deus quem uult religiosum facit: et hoc totum homo nisi religiosus non facit. quapropter nisi a deo fiat, ut hoc faciat, quis hoc facit?"; CSEL 42.162-63; cf. ench. 9.32.
68. Cf. Jo. eu. tr. 32.9. 69. s. 264.4; Hill, Sermons (III/7), 230.