Thomas Aquinas, on 2Cor 4:13

“But having the same spirit of faith, as it is written: I believed, for which cause I have spoken; we also believe, for which cause we speak also:”

“Then the Apostle shows how he acquired this hope of certainty. In regard to this he does two things. First, he states the cause of the certainty; secondly, he concludes to the certainty itself (v. 14). Now the cause of this certainty is the Spirit instilling faith into their hearts. First, therefore, he mentions this cause; secondly, he explains it with an example (v. 13b). He says therefore: the reason we hope and do not faint is that we have the same spirit of faith which the ancients had, because although the times have changed, the Spirit and the faith have not changed, except that they believed that the Christ would come and suffer, whereas we believe that he has already come and suffered. And this Spirit is the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of faith: "All these are inspired by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills" (1 Cor. 12:11). Having, therefore, this Spirit that the ancients had, we do the same things as they did and we believe. But what they did is described in Ps. 116:10, "I have believed", namely, God perfectly. And this is what the ancients did: "And all these, though well attested by their faith, did not receive what was promised" (Heb. 11:39). And so, namely, for believing, I spoke, i.e., I confessed the faith: "For man believes with his heart and so is justified, and he confesses with his lips and so is saved" (Rom. 10:10). But we do this because, since we believe, we speak and confess the faith and preach: "We cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard" (Ac. 4:20). Therefore the Holy Spirit is the cause of this certitude.”

Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.