ith the mystery
accomplished in all who were to be baptized afterwards." Now, all
those who are baptized with the baptism of Christ receive the Holy
Ghost, unless they approach unworthily; according to Matt. 3:11: "He
shall baptize you in the Holy Ghost." Therefore it was fitting that
when our Lord was baptized the Holy Ghost should descend upon Him.

Reply Obj. 1: As Augustine says (De Trin. xv): "It is most absurd to
say that Christ received the Holy Ghost, when He was already thirty
years old: for when He came to be baptized, since He was without sin,
therefore was He not without the Holy Ghost. For if it is written of
John that 'he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother's
womb,' what must we say of the Man-Christ, whose conception in the
flesh was not carnal, but spiritual? Therefore now," i.e. at His
baptism, "He deigned to foreshadow His body," i.e. the Church, "in
which those who are baptized receive the Holy Ghost in a special
manner."

Reply Obj. 2: As Augustine says (De Trin. ii), the Holy Ghost is said
to have descended on Christ in a bodily shape, as a dove, not because
the very substance of the Holy Ghost was seen, for He is invisible:
nor as though that visible creature were assumed into the unity of
the Divine Person; since it is not said that the Holy Ghost was the
dove, as it is said that the Son of God is man by reason of the
union. Nor, again, was the Holy Ghost seen under the form of a dove,
after the manner in which John saw the slain Lamb in the Apocalypse
(5:6): "For the latter vision took place in the spirit through
spiritual images of bodies; whereas no one ever doubted that this
dove was seen by the eyes of the body." Nor, again, did the Holy
Ghost appear under the form of a dove in the sense in which it is
said (1 Cor. 10:4): "'Now, the rock was Christ': for the latter had
already a created existence, and through the manner of its action was
called by the name of Christ, whom it signified: whereas this dove
came suddenly into existence, to fulfil the purpose of its
signification, and afterwards ceased to exist, like the flame which
appeared in the bush to Moses."

Hence the Holy Ghost is said to have descended upon Christ, not by
reason of His being united to the dove: but either because the dove
itself signified the Holy Ghost, inasmuch as it "descended" when it
came upon Him; or, again, by reason of the spiritual grace, which is
poured out by God, so as to descend, as it wer