The Sending of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost
Excerpts from Against Heresies by St. Irenaeus 


When the Lord told his disciples to "go and teach all nations" and to "baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit", he conferred on them the power of giving people new life in God.

He had promised through the prophets that in these last days he would pour out his Spirit on his servants and handmaids, and that they would prophesy.  The Spirit accomplished the Father's will in people, who had grown old in sin, and gave them new life in Christ.

Luke says that the Spirit came down upon the disciples at Pentecost with power to open the gates of life to all nations and to make known to them the New Covenant.  So it was that people of every language joined in singing one song of praise to God.  Scattered tribes, restored to unity by the Spirit, were offered to the Father as the firstfruits of all the nations.

This was why the Lord had promised to send the Advocate: he was to prepare us as an offering to God.  

The Spirit came down upon the Lord, and the Lord in turn gave this Spirit to his Church, sending the Advocate from heaven into all the world into which the devil had been cast down like lightning.

Since we have our accuser, we need an Advocate as well.  So the Lord, in his pity for man who had fallen into the hands of brigands, having himself bound up his wounds and left for his care two coins bearing the royal image, entrusting him to the Holy Spirit.  Now, through the Spirit, the image and inscription of the Father and the Son have been given to us, and it is our duty to use the coin committed to our charge and make it yield a rich profit for the Lord. 


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