Commentary on Baruch

Athanasius of Alexandria (296–373)

You might have known, by consulting with learned persons, that there are different meanings of the word spirit. The Scripture, in fact, also speaks of the "spirit of man [a person]," as David sings, "I spoke with my heart by night, and my spirit was afflicted." And Baruch prays, saying, "An anguished soul and a saddened spirit raises its cry to you." And in the canticle of the three young men, "Spirits and souls of the just, bless the Lord." For his part, the apostle writes, "The Spirit attests to our spirit that we are children of God. And if children, we are also heirs." And, "No one knows what is in a person except the spirit of the person that is within him." Moreover, in the letter to the Thessalonians he prays "that your whole spirit, soul and body would be kept irreproachable at the coming of Jesus Christ our Lord." Winds are also called "spirit," as for example in Genesis, "And God made a spirit sweep over the earth, and the waters subsided." And in the book of Jonah, "the Lord brought a great spirit over the sea and made a great tempest in the sea, so that the ship was in danger of breaking up." Also in Psalm 106 it is written, "He spoke, and a hurricane spirit was…

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• More works by Athanasius of Alexandria

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