Not as in a Statue or an Instrument

Otherwise, as the heretics say, God would be in the Lord Jesus Christ as in a statue or an instrument. That is, he would be dwelling in a man, so to speak, and speaking through a man, so to speak; it would not be he himself who dwelt and spoke as God, of himself and in his own body. And certainly he had already dwelt in the saints in this way, and spoken in the persons of the saints. He had dwelt and spoken in this way in those men too, whom I spoke of above, who had prayed for his coming. And what need was there for all of them to ask for what they already had, if what they were seeking was something they had received before? Or why should they long to see with their eyes what they were keeping in their hearts, especially since it is better for a man to have a thing within himself than to see it outside him? Or if God was to dwell in Christ in the same way as in all the saints, why should all the saints long to see Christ rather than themselves? And if they were only going to see in Jesus Christ the same thing they themselves had, why would they not much rather prefer to have it in themselves than to see it in another? [a]

But you are mistaken, you wretched madman, “not understanding,” as the apostle says, “what you say or the things you affirm.” For all the prophets and all the saints received from God some portion of the divine Spirit, as much as they were able to bear. But in Christ “all the fullness of deity” dwelt, and “dwells bodily.” And so they all fall far short of the fullness of him from whose fullness they receive something. For the fact that they are filled is the gift of Christ, since they would all certainly be empty if he were not the fullness of all.