Annotation XVI, On the Trinity (Matthew 4:1)

Annotation XVI

”Jesus was led into the desert by the Spirit,” etc. — Matthew 4:1

On the Trinity.

The author of the Opus imperfectum, at the beginning of homily 5, writes that Jesus was led into the desert by the Holy Spirit — not as a lesser by the command of a greater, but as a greater by the exhortation of a lesser. Which is an Arian dogma. In the same place, a little later, he seems to favor the Lutheran heretics, who affirm that original sin does not depart from the baptized except at death. For he says: “What sin is remitted at death, he knows who understands for what sin death was introduced. For if a man dies on account of sin, doubtless that on account of which he dies is [only then] loosed.”