Now he who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, is God;
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Ambrose of Milan
AD 397
Therefore, you received of the sacraments… . Because you have been baptized in the name of the Trinity, in all that we have done the mystery of the Trinity has been preserved. Everywhere the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, one operation, one sanctification… . How? God, who anointed you, and the Lord sealed you and placed the Holy Spirit in your heart. Therefore, you have received the Holy Spirit in your heart. , .
Neither walks in the ordinances of His appointment, nor acts a part becoming a Christian.
neither walks in the ordinances of His appointment, nor acts a part becoming a Christian,
Now He which stablished us. Some think that this is an ellipse, and we must understand the meaning to be, He which stablisheth us prevented, the execution of my purpose. But it is far better to refer these words, as others do, to what immediately precedes them. The promises of God have been fulfilled in Christ; but He who by His power and authority fulfils them is God Himself: as He promised, so in fact does He stablish us, anoint us, and seal us in Christ. In the third place, it would not be amiss to refer these words to what was said in ver18 , "Our word toward you was not yea and nay." In other words—I am not fickle and inconstant in my speech, my preaching, and promises. It is God who gives me this constancy, and therefore let no one think that I am arrogant enough to ascribe it to my own strength and fortitude, since I profess that I have it, not from myself but from God. As God in Himself and in His promises is yea, that Isaiah , is ever constant, firm, and unchangeable, so does ...
This must needs be true, because he is God, who hath confirmed us with you, both us and you in Christ, in the faith, and grace of Christ crucified, who hath anointed us with divine graces, who hath sealed us, as it were, by an indelible character, in the sacraments of baptism, and confirmation, and ordination, when we were made ministers of Christ, who in this manner hath given the pledge of his holy Spirit in our hearts, a sufficient pledge and earnest of his graces in this life, and of the glory he has prepared for us in the next. (Witham)
By these texts, and Ephesians iv., the Catholic Church teaches, that we are anointed and consecrated to the service of God, and sealed with a spiritual and distinctive mark, called by divines, a character, (see St. Jerome in Ephesians iv.; St. Cyril, cateches. 17.) which, as it is indelible, can never be iterated. The same is true of confirmation, and holy orders. See St. Augustine, cont. Parm. chap. xiii.Conc. Tarrac. chap. vi.
And again, in that epistle he makes this explanation: "Now He which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God, who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts."
After these words, after the renunciation of the devil and the covenant with Christ, inasmuch as you have henceforth become his very own and have nothing in common with that evil one, he straightway bids you to be marked and places on your forehead the sign of the cross. That savage beast is shameless, and when he hears those words, he grows more wild—as we might expect—and desires to assault you on sight. Hence God anoints your countenance and stamps thereon the sign of the cross. In this way God holds in check all the frenzy of the Evil One, for the devil will not dare to look on such a sight. Just as if he had beheld the rays of the sun and had leaped away, so will his eyes be blinded by the sight of your face and he will depart. For through the chrism the cross is stamped on you… . And that you may again know that it is not a man but God himself who anoints you by the hand of the priest, listen to St. Paul when he says: “It is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ, who...
If the root and the fount are properly established, how can it be that we shall not enjoy the fruits which will spring from them? One thing leads inevitably to the other.
Now He which establishes us with you in Christ, and anointed us, is God; Who also sealed us, and gave us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.
Again, from the past He establishes the future. For if it is He that establishes us in Christ; (i.e., who suffers us not to be shaken from the faith which is in Christ;) and He that anointed us and gave the Spirit in our hearts, how shall He not give us the future things?
For if He gave the principles and the foundations, and the root and the fount, (to wit, the true knowledge of Him, the partaking of the Spirit,) how shall He not give the things that come of these: for if for the sake of these those are given, much more will he supply those. And if to such as were enemies he gave these, much more when now made friends will He freely give to them those. Wherefore He said not simply the Spirit, but named earnest, that from this you might have a good hope of the whole as well. For did He not purpose to give the whole, He would never have ...
