The Spirit frees us from sin and death, and changes us from the earthly people we were, people of dust and ashes, into spiritual people, sharers in the divine glory, and heirs of God the Father who bear a likeness to the Son and are his co-heirs and kindred, destined to reign with him and to share his glory. In place of earth the Spirit reopens heaven to us and gladly admits us into paradise.

—Didymus the Blind, Treatise on the Trinity, 2.12