Commentary on the Nicene Creed

Commentary on the Nicene Creed

continued

Chapter IV.

1 Yesterday we endeavoured to interpret to your love, according to our ability and in a succinct manner, the things said by our blessed Fathers concerning the Divinity of the Only Begotten, while we kept the remainder of them for another day. In our commentary we reached, as you remember, the sentence in which it is said: Born of His Father before all the worlds, and not made, and there we ended our speech. If you wish, let us now begin by the grace of our Lord with this sentence. We were stating that in saying: Born of His Father before all the worlds they showed us that He is a Son truly and not figuratively only, as the heretics pretend that He is a Son only in a borrowed name like those who were called sons by grace. He is indeed alone the true Son of God the Father because He is the Only Begotten and is alone born of God His Father. This is the reason why they added: Born of His Father before all the worlds.

2 This was due to the Only Begotten Son of God, who is a true Son and not in name only. And He is from the nature of the Father and eternally from Him and with Him. It is not possible for us to imagine that there is anything between God the Father and God the Son, as God is high above everything. He who is above everything is also above the time and from eternity. If, therefore, God the Father is eternal, and if the Son is God, He is also eternal, God from God, and Eternal from Eternal, and there is nothing between God and God. As it is not possible to imagine that either times or worlds precede God, so there is nothing before the Son as He also is God, because He is born of His Father before everything, and is eternal, born of the One who is eternal. |44

3 For a perfect faith to those who have the good-will of religion this name of "Only Begotten" would have been sufficient, and they would have agreed to say that He was a true Son. (Our Fathers), however, added to it the sentence: Born of Him before all the worlds. Both phrases demonstrate how the Only Begotten is the Son of God, and it is with justice that they added for the refutation of the haters of truth: And not made. We confess that He is the Only Begotten, the Son of God, born of the Father before all the worlds, and that He is consubstantial with the Father; and we completely reject the opinion held by the ungodly people who said that the Son of God is created. He is indeed born of God and He is not made, and He is of the same nature as God and not a creature.83 A Son is very different from a creature.

4 If He is a Son He is not a creature, and if He is a creature He is not a Son. If He is a Son He is from Him and not from outside Him, and if He is a creature He is from outside Him. If He is a Son He is from Him and like Him, and if He is a creature He is from outside Him and not from Him and like Him. The natural law teaches us also these things, because we call sons those who are born of us; as to creatures they are made outside us while they were not. Likewise we understand that there are many creatures of God, but the Son is One whom we also call Only Begotten. The Son is one alone, and He is eternally from Him; as to creatures they are many and exceed all numbering, and are composed of many natures which came into existence later according to the will of their Maker, both individually and collectively. He knew that diversity was useful to the creature because it is created, and some parts of it came into existence earlier, some later and some others later still; parts of it came into existence at the same time, and parts after many others. Since all the created things were to come into existence it was justifiable that some should come earlier and some later.

5 As there is a beginning to the existence of all created things, those which came into existence later are like those which came into existence earlier. As to the Son, because He did not come into existence to His Father later but was in the beginning from Him and was from eternity with Him, is alone Son. It was not possible that the one |45 who was similar to the one who is from eternity should have come into existence later, nor was it possible that the one who has a beginning should have been similar to the one who is from eternity. Indeed there is a great difference between one who is from eternity and one who began his existence later; the difference is so great that the two cannot exist concomitantly. What possible relation can exist between one who is eternal and another who was at one time nonexistent and began his existence later?

6 It is well known that the one who is eternal and the one whose existence has a beginning are greatly separated from each other, and the gulf found between them is unbridgeable. The one who is eternal has no limits, while the one whose existence has a beginning, his very existence is limited, and the one the beginning of whose existence is limited, the time that elapsed before he came into existence is also limited. It is not possible to limit and define the chasm that exists between the one who is from eternity and the one who began to exist at a time when he was not. What possible resemblance and relation can exist between two beings so widely separated from each other? And because the Son is from eternity, and from a Father who is from eternity, no other son like Him came into existence later. He remained Son alone because He is from eternity from one who is from eternity. It was fitting that such a one should be alone the Son from the Father.

7 In this way our Fathers warned us concerning the knowledge of the Son, and wrote to us the true doctrine to the effect that when we believe in the Only Begotten Son we should understand that He is from the Father. They taught us also to flee from the impiety of the heretics and reject their contention that the Son is made, as this is very remote from the truth. The Son should not be thought of as a made being nor as a creature, but we ought to profess concerning Father and Son what is congruous to both of them, namely that the Son is from the nature of the Father and is not a being made by the Father and created outside Him from nothing. Our blessed Fathers taught us these and added something that fits the sequence of the sentence: True God of true God. Indeed what else were we justified in thinking of the one who is from God and not from outside Him but from the very nature of the Father, except that He was what God is by nature, that is to say a true God? |46

8 In this they followed the teaching of the Gospel in which it is said: "And the Word was with God, and the Word was God," 84 as if the evangelist had said, "And God was with God, and He was what He was, as He was with Him and from Him." In this way our Fathers said also: True God of true God. They added to the sentence, "God from God" that of, "True from true" because of the wickedness of those who wish to show contention and insolence even concerning heavenly 85 things. The sentence which they used does not differ from that found in the Gospel, as it is clear that the one who says, "God with God" says also "A true one with a true one." The (Gospel) does not say "And He is called God," like those who are called gods by men, nor, "He was with the one who was called God by name only," but, He was God with the one who was God, and God by nature with the one who was God by nature. Men are called gods, but are not assumed to be gods by nature: "I have said, Ye are gods, and all of you children of the Most High, but ye shall die like men,86 because I only called you so to bestow honour upon you, as you are not gods by nature; you are mortal men by nature, which is very different from Divine nature; this is evident from the nature of things, because if you had been gods by nature you would not have been entangled in sin for which you received death."

9 God is not only called God by name, but He is in reality by nature that which is implied by His name; and God the Word who is with Him is not only called God figuratively, but is also God by nature; and he who is God by nature what else can he be except true God? What is there truer than nature, and how is it possible that the one who is (God) by nature should not be so in truth? If He is not God by nature, He is neither God in truth. Indeed this name "god" is either applied to demons, who falsely and insolently dare to call themselves by it in their arrogance, or to men who are called so by God's gracious permission as an honour. As to the Son He is God by nature like the Father. 10 Although the heretics dare to call the Only Begotten, "Son of God" in a different sense, yet since He is God by nature it is evident that He is also God in truth, as there is nothing truer than the one who is what he is by nature. It is indeed evident that the one who is God by nature is also God in truth. And there is nothing truer than |47 a true one—(and this contrary to) the new wisdom of the heretics— when each of them is a true (God) by nature. Indeed they say that God the Father is God by nature and that God the Son is also God by nature, but they refuse to admit that the Son is God in truth, in spite of the fact that they admit that He is God by nature, and in this they introduce a new law to us in their innovations to the effect that He is a true God but not like God His Father. If each one of them is God by nature, how is it possible for us to understand that one of them is higher and the other lower while both of them are assumed to have an identical nature? It is impossible to find an addition or a diminution in the one whom the Sacred Books and those who followed their doctrine teach us that He is God by nature.

11 Our blessed Fathers also followed the Books and warned us against the unholy opinion and the ineptitude of the heretics, in saying: True God of true God. The Books had already stated that He was "God," and they (our Fathers) added prudently the word "true" so that we might believe that the Son is a true God like the Father, because like the Father He is a true God by nature. And as the Father was confessed as God for the confutation of the error of the multiplicity of gods—who were falsely called gods by the peoples of the earth—so also is the case with the Son of God, because we believe that God the Father and God the Son are one God, inasmuch as the Divine nature of the Father and of the Son is one. 12 To this our blessed Fathers added that the Son was "consubstantial" with His Father, a word that confirms (the faith of) the children of faith and rebukes the unbelievers. Although this is not explicitly written in Holy Writ yet its meaning is found therein. They explained here by means of a clear word the meaning of that which they had previously stated, because the sentence: Consubstantial with the Father is not different from that of: True God of true God. They did not wish to insinuate by this sentence "Consubstantial with the Father any other thing than that the being who, as previously stated by them, was God and born of His Father before all the worlds and not made—is God. Indeed, if He is born of Him before all the worlds and is not made, and if He is not a creature but a true Son of His Father, it is evident that He is from Him and not from outside Him, and that He is born of the nature of the Father and consubstantial with Him; and if He is true God of true God, it is |48 evident that He is consubstantial with Him,87 because any one who is truly God in nature is consubstantial with one who is truly God in nature.

13 The meaning of the sentence "consubstantial with His Father" is clearly found in the Book. When it says: "In the beginning He was with God and He was God," 88 it shows by means of these two phrases that He is God in nature and that He is consubstantial with God. This is also the meaning of the sentence: "My Father and I are one." 89 If the Son is one with His Father in power and in nature, He is consubstantial with Him. By His statement: "My sheep hear my voice and follow me, and I give unto them eternal life, and no man shall pluck them out of my hand," 90 He bore witness to His omnipotence and to the fact that no man can prevail against Him; and because this sentence conveyed higher things than the simple man who was seen in Him, He added: "My Father who gave them me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck (them) out of my Father's hand." 91 He lowered the significance of the sentence by the addition: "He gave me." What He said of Himself to the effect that no man can prevail against Him, He said it of His person; and to show that He did make use of such words for the purpose of showing that the power of both (the Father and the Son) was identical and that no man was able to prevail against Him in the same way as no man was able to prevail against the Father who was believed to be higher than all, He said: "My Father and I are one."

14 He made clear in this (sentence) that which He had implicitly insinuated in the meaning of the preceding words which He had uttered; it is as if He had said, "my power is identical with that of my Father and higher than all like His power, and no man can prevail against me even as no man can prevail against my Father, because my Father and I are one, and have one power and one dominion that is higher than all." This is the reason why the Jews called Him a blasphemer. Indeed they did not know the Divine nature that was dwelling in Him, but knew only that which was visible in Him, and wished to stone Him like a man making use of blasphemous words. To the same effect is the sentence: "He that hath seen me hath |49 seen my Father," 92 and: "I am in my Father and my Father in me." 93If the Father is seen in the Son it is evident that both have one nature, and each of them is seen and known in the other. In this way their mutual equality shows also the unity of their nature, and the consubstantiality of the Son with the Father. This is likewise the meaning of the sentence: "No man knoweth the Son but the Father, neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son." 94 If each of them is not known and seen except by the other, it is evident that they are invisible to all men because of their equality in nature, each of them only knowing the other. If this is so then the Son is consubstantial with the Father.

15 In spite of the fact that all these things are manifestly evident in the Sacred Books, those who incline towards evil, to the condemnation of their souls, and are not upright, dared to say that the nature of the Son is different from that of the Father, a saying which also implies that He is not a Son. It is known that he who is truly a son is of the same nature as his father. Our blessed Fathers were well advised, therefore, to make use of this expression the meaning of which was implicitly found in many words of the Sacred Books, in order to warn the faithful of their time and to rebuke the heretics; and they wished also to make it known in condensed words. If the blessed Paul did not hesitate to quote in his teaching sentences that were used by Greek philosophers, such as: "we are of the offspring of gods," 95 and: "The Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies," 96 and if he did not shrink from writing them for the reproval of his adversaries, it was all the more right for our blessed Fathers to make use in the profession of faith of the expression that the Son was Consubstantial with the Father, and although this word is not explicitly written in the Sacred Books, its meaning was implicitly found in many passages.

16 After this they said: By Whom the worlds were made and all things were created. As in the section of the faith which deals with the Father, after the word "Father" they added "Creator of all things," so also in the section which deals with the Son, after stating that He was born of the Father and was consubstantial with Him, they rightly added that He was the creator of all things, because a true Son |50 who is consubstantial with His Father is also a true creator like Him. In this same way the blessed John the evangelist, after having said "in the beginning He was with God, and He was God" 97 added: "All things were made by Him and without Him was not anything made," 98 in order to show us that He was a creator like God His Father. In this same way after our blessed Fathers had said that the Son was from the Father, that He was true God from true God and that He was consubstantial with His Father, they added: By whom the worlds were made and all things were created. They said this because as He is with His Father before all the worlds, He is the creator of all things like God His Father. And since the worlds were made by Him, He is the creator of all creatures, and He is before all the worlds, because He is from eternity and did not begin to exist later, but was in the beginning and is the creator of all the worlds, as the blessed Paul said: "By Him He made the worlds." 99

17 Our blessed Fathers also after saying like him: "By Him the worlds were made," added that He was the creator of all things. In this way they taught us the divinity of the Only Begotten while stating something which was in harmony with the Sacred Books; and gave also encouragement to those who are zealous in their religion, and confuted those who deny the divinity of the Only Begotten. As to us we have explained to your love the meaning of the (profession of) faith in a succinct manner, according to our ability. If you wish it let the measure of the things which we said suffice for our teaching of to-day, and let us praise the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. Amen. Here ends the fourth chapter.

Chapter V.

1 I know that you remember what we spoke to your love concerning the divinity of the Only Begotten, and how our blessed Fathers after their teaching about the Father came to the words written in the Sacred Books concerning the Son, and taught us both about the divinity of the Son and the form of man which He assumed for our |51 salvation.100 They thought not to keep silent on the human nature which He put on because it is through it that we received the knowledge of the Divine nature of the Only Begotten. After saying: And in one Lord Jesus Christ, in order to make manifest the Divine nature and the human nature they added: The Only Begotten Son, the first-born of all creatures, and they further instructed us concerning Divine nature and the form of man which was put on for our salvation so that little by little they might teach us everything with accuracy.

2 They first taught us how to believe in the divinity of the Only Begotten by saying that the Only Begotten Son was consubstantial with the Father, and not a Son with only an assumed name like other men who are so by grace and not by nature, but that He was a true Son from the Father; that He was an only Son, because He alone was born of the nature of His Father; that He did not become Son or was called so later, but that He was in the beginning, before all the worlds and eternally from His Father, and was not made. The reason why the Son of God should not be called a creature of God, is that He did not come into existence from nothing according to the law of all created beings, but He is eternally from His Father, "a true God of true God, and consubstantial with His Father," because He is a true Son and is by nature what the one who begat Him is.

3 Our fathers taught us these things with accuracy concerning the divinity of the Only Begotten, and fixed the profession of faith in our souls while removing from us the contention of the ungodly who dare to assert that the Son of God, who was born eternally from His Father before all the worlds, is made and created. After having shaken from our mind all the falsehood of the error of the heretics, they began to speak of the Incarnation of our Lord which took place for our salvation, in saying: Who for us children of men and for our salvation came down from heaven, was incarnate and became a man. 4 It is with justice that they first used the sentence "for us children of men and for our salvation." Because they were on the point of speaking about the Economy of His humanity, they were bound to show the purpose of it, as they could not do this with the words which |52 dealt with the divinity of the Only Begotten and in which they spoke to us how He was eternally from His Father. Since they took pains to teach us concerning His humanity, it is with justice that before everything they set forth the reason for which Divine nature humbled itself to the extent of taking upon itself the form of a servant for us and of its caring for our salvation. It is with justice, therefore, that our Fathers, in beginning their teaching concerning the Economy of His humanity, formed the starting-point of their discourse from this purpose: For us children of men and for our salvation. It was also fitting on their part to place the words "for our salvation" after the words "for us children of men," in order that they might show the aim of His coming, which was not only for the "children of men" but also "for their salvation." He came down from heaven to save and to deliver from evil, by an ineffable grace, those who were lost 102 and given up to iniquities.

5 He came down not in the sense that He moved from place to place. We are not to think that Divine nature which is everywhere moves from place to place; because this Divine nature has no body, it cannot be circumscribed in a place.. He who is not circumscribed is everywhere, and He who is everywhere it is not possible for us to think of Him that He moves from place to place. To this the blessed John bears witness when he says: "He was in the world and the world was made by Him and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own and His own received Him not." 103 He says here that "He was in the world" and that "He came unto the world"; but if He was in the world how did He come to it? Indeed, how can we say that a man came to a place where he was? He, therefore, said "He was in the world" in order to show that He is everywhere; and he added: "He came unto His own," about the Economy of His humanity. Likewise the blessed David said: "He bowed the heavens and came down," 104 in order to make manifest to us the deliverance from their tribulations which God effected for them. He called the condescension of God the "coming down" of God, in the sense that He who was so much above all condescended to deliver them from their tribulations. |53

6 It is in this sense that God the Word, the only Son of God, is said to have come down for our salvation, because He is eternally from His Father, is always with Him, and is above all as He is the cause of everything. For our salvation He condescended to come down to such a humility as to take upon Him the form of a servant and be in it so that through it 106 He might grant us the delight of His abundant gift. It is with justice, therefore, that our blessed Fathers said: Who for us children of men and for our salvation came down from heaven. They called the Economy of His humanity a "coming down from heaven," at which the blessed David was awe-struck and said: "What is man that Thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that Thou visitest him?" 107

7 Who for us children of men and for our salvation came down from heaven: what is His coming down and what is its aim? And what did [man] do that He humbled Himself to such an extent for him as to become like him, and to take upon Him the form of a servant, and to be a man for our salvation, and to make Himself manifest to all, and to assume upon Himself all that which belonged to the nature of that man, and to be exercised in all (human) faculties? And He perfected him by His power, so that He did not remove from him the (bodily) death which he received according to the law of his nature,—but while He was with him He delivered him by act of grace from (real) death and from the corruption of the grave,108 and raised him from the dead, and made him worthy of a high honour concerning which he said: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up," 109 which he did; and He was not separated from him in his crucifixion nor did He leave him at death, but He remained with him until He helped him to loose 110 the pains of death,111 and He delivered his soul from bonds which were indissoluble; and He raised him from the dead and transferred him to immortal life,112 and made him immortal, incorruptible and immutable; and He caused him to go up to heaven where he is now sitting at the right hand of God; |54 and he is "far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come" 113 as the blessed Paul testifies; and he constantly receives adoration from all creation because of his close union with God the Word.

8 It is with justice, therefore, that our blessed Fathers said that He was incarnate and became a man, so that for the sake of our salvation He might act according to all this Economy whereby He was believed to be a mere man by those who were unaware of the Godhead which was dwelling in Him and who only saw that which was visible. Indeed the Jews said to Him: "For good works we stone Thee not, but for blasphemy; and because that Thou, being a man, makest Thyself God." 114 And Paul also said, "He was in the likeness of men, and was found in fashion as a man." 115 The (sentence) "He was in the likeness of men" does not mean any other thing than that He became a man. When the Book said: "God sent His own Son who became in the likeness of the sinful flesh," 116 the "likeness of the flesh" does not mean any other thing than flesh itself; and so also when in another passage it says: "He was manifest in the flesh." 117In this passage it uses "flesh" and in the other "likeness of the flesh," but by the two expressions "flesh" and "likeness of the flesh" it does not show us any other thing than that it teaches us that He was manifest in the flesh, in the same way as "in the likeness of man" does not mean any other thing than "man."

9 It is with justice, therefore, that our blessed Fathers said: He was incarnate and became a man in order to show that He was a man, as the blessed Paul testifies, and that He fulfilled this Economy for the salvation of all. It is with justice then that our blessed Fathers made use of this word in the profession of faith for the refutation of the error of the heretics, while conforming with the true belief of the Church. And on account of the numerous schisms that had taken place among men concerning that ineffable Economy and concerning the man whom our Lord assumed, they rightly made use of the sentence: He was incarnate and became a man. The Marcionites and the Manicheans together with the followers of Valentinus and the rest of the heretics who were affected with |55 a like malady, say that our Lord did not assume any of our natures either of the body or the soul, but that He was a phantasm that struck the eyes of men like the form of the visions which the prophets saw and the apparition seen by Abraham of three men of whom none had a corporeal nature but who were only in appearance men who performed human acts, walked, talked, were washed, ate and drank. They say that in this same way our Lord did not assume any body but that He was only in appearance a man who performed and felt everything according to the requirements of men, while the one who was seen had no human nature but was only seen in appearance to be so, and that in reality He felt nothing but only the onlookers believed that He was feeling.

10 The partisans of Arius and Eunomius, however, say that He assumed a body but not a soul, and that the nature of the Godhead took the place of the soul. They lowered the Divine nature of the Only Begotten to the extent that from the greatness of its nature it moved and performed the acts of the soul and imprisoned itself in the body and did everything for its sustenance. Lo, if the Godhead had replaced the soul He would not have been hungry or thirsty, nor would He have tired or been in need of food. All these things befall the body because of its weakness, as the soul is not able to satisfy its wants, but does for it only those things that belong to itself according to the nature given to it by God. The soul is in need of a body which is perfect in everything that deals with its sustenance, and if something is missing in it, not only this same soul is unable to help it but will itself be overcome by the weakness of the body, and will be compelled to leave it against its own will.

11 If, therefore, the Godhead was performing the acts of the soul, it would also by necessity have performed the acts of the body. Only in this way could be right the opinion of the misleading heretics who deny that He assumed a body and was only seen in the same way as the angels (were seen in the Old Testament), and was a man in appearance only while He did not possess any qualities of human nature. Indeed the Godhead was able to accomplish everything so that the eyes which were seeing believed that they were seeing a real man,119 in the same way as the angels were, by the will of God, seen by Abraham. |56 12 If, however, Divine nature was sufficient for all these things, human nature which was in need of the grace of salvation from God should not have been assumed, as according to the opinion of the heretics this same Godhead would have satisfied the requirements of human nature, and in this case it would have been superfluous to assume a body at all as the Godhead was able to perform all its acts. This, however, was not the will of God, who indeed wished to put on and raise the fallen man who is composed of a body and of an immortal and rational soul, so that "as by one man sin entered the world, and death by sin, so also the free gift and the grace of God by the righteousness of one man might abound unto many." 120 As death was by man so also the resurrection from the dead (will be) by man, because "as we all die in Adam, even so in Christ shall all be made alive," 121 as the blessed Paul testifies. Therefore it was necessary that He should assume not only the body but also the immortal and rational soul; and not only the death of the body had to cease but also that of the soul, which is sin. Since according to the sentence of the blessed (Paul) sin entered the world through man, and death entered through sin, it was necessary that sin which was the cause of death should have first been abolished, and then the abolition of death would have followed by itself. If sin were not abolished we would have by necessity remained in mortality, and we would have sinned in our mutability; and when we sin, we are under punishment, and consequently the power of death will by necessity remain.

13 It was, therefore, necessary that sin should have first been abolished, as after its abolition there would be no entry for death. It is indeed clear that the strength of the sin 122 has its origin in the will of the soul. In the case of Adam also it was his soul which first accepted the advice of error and not his body, because it was not his body that Satan persuaded to yield to him, to forsake God and to believe that his Helper was a deceiver, in his desire for higher things; and in following the advice of Satan he transgressed the commandment of God and chose for himself those things which were contrary to the commandment of God. It was not his body that had to know these things but his soul which, on the promise of higher things, yielded and accepted the advice of the deceiver and lost the good things that it possessed. |57

14 It was, therefore, necessary that Christ should assume not only the body but also the soul. The enemy of the soul had to be removed first and then for the sake of it that of the body, because if death is from sin and the same death is the corruption of the body, sin would have first to be abolished and the abolition of death would follow by itself. It would be possible to save the body from death and corruption if we first made the soul immutable and delivered it from the passions of sin, so that by acquiring immutability we would also obtain deliverance from sin. The abolition of death would then be effected by the abolition of sin, and after the abolition of death it would be possible that our body should remain without dissolution and corruption. If the soul had only sinned in those things that befall it from the passions of the body, it would perhaps have been sufficient for our Lord to have assumed only the body in order to deliver (the soul) from sin. Many, however, and of different kinds are the iniquities and sins that are born of the soul. The first (sin) through which it shows its association with Satan is that of pride, about which the Apostle said: "Lest being lifted up in pride he should fall into the condemnation of the Devil." 123 In this sentence the Apostle has shown that any one who falls into pride becomes the associate of the Devil in condemnation. The one, therefore, who possesses the uncorporeal Devil in his evil thought, feels passion in his soul; and consequently it is clearly evident that the soul was greatly in need to be delivered from sins and be saved also from the passions of the body which overcome it by the power that the latter adequately possesses.

15 The blessed Paul bears witness to our words when he counts the evils to which men were drawn, to which they degraded themselves and from which Christ came into the world to deliver them; he says thus: "Wherefore God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do that thing which is not convenient, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, fornication, maliciousness, envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; and are disobedient to their parents, implacable and unmerciful." 124 These (evils) are clear and evident and in no need of a comment, and the majority of them are not born of the passions of the body but exclusively of the will of the soul. Indeed wickedness, maliciousness, envy, debate, deceit and malignity, together with pride, boasting, invention of evil things, disobedience to parents, |58 non-understanding, covenant-breaking, and unmercifulness—all these are clearly from the soul. It is with justice, therefore, that our Lord assumed the soul so that it should be first delivered from sin and be transferred to immutability by the grace of God through which it overcomes also the passions of the body. When sin is abolished from every place and has no more entry into the soul which has become immutable, every kind of condemnation will rightly be abolished and death also will perish. The body will thus remain immune from death because it has received participation in immortality. The blessed Paul confirms this in saying: "There is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, for the law of life in Christ Jesus hath made thee free from the law of sin and death." 125

16 He said that all the sentence of death,126 together with all condemnation, has been removed to those who believed in Christ, because they became alien to the way of mortality and received the Spirit and immortality, and with it they assumed immutability and became completely free from sin and mortality. It is, therefore, great madness not to believe that Christ assumed the soul; and he would even be madder who would say that He did not assume human mind, because such a one would imply that He either did not assume the soul or that He did assume the soul not of man but an irrational one akin to that of animals and beasts. 17 Human soul differs only from that of animals in the fact that the latter has no distinct person 127 of the soul except in the (material) composition of the animal,128 and so it has no separate existence, and is not believed to survive after the death of the animal. This is the reason why what is called the soul of the animal, which is said to reside in its blood,129 perishes when the blood is shed; and it is the soul that was believed to reside in the person and in the movements of the animal |59 before its death. The soul of men, however, is not like this, but it resides in its own person and is much higher than the body, as the body is mortal and acquires its life from the soul and dies and perishes whenever the soul happens to leave it. As to the soul, when it goes out it remains and does not perish but lasts forever in its own person because it is immortal and is incapable of receiving any injury 130 in its nature from men. When (Christ) said: "Fear not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul," 131 He clearly showed that the body is capable of death because it is mortal, but that the soul will remain immortal because it cannot be injured by men in its nature.

18 The difference between the soul of men and the soul of animals is such that the latter is irrational and has no person,132 while the former is immortal and is rightly believed to be also rational. Who is, therefore, so mad and devoid of human understanding as to assert that human soul is without knowledge and without reason, unless he wishes to be a teacher of a novel theory not found previously in the world to the effect that there exists an immortal nature which lives in an imperishable life but which is itself irrational? Such a thing is indeed impossible, because anything that is immortal in its nature and dwells in an imperishable life is also truly rational and endowed with reason. Because of all this our blessed Fathers warned us and said: He was incarnate and became a man, so that we should believe that the one who was assumed and in whom God the Word dwelt was a complete man, perfect in everything that belongs to human nature, and composed of a mortal body and a rational soul, because it is for man and for his salvation that He came down from heaven.

19 They rightly said that He assumed a man who resembles 133 those from whom He was assumed, because the man whom He assumed resembles Adam who introduced sin into the world, so that He might abolish sin by one who was of the same nature. Indeed, He put on a man resembling Adam who after having sinned received the punishment of death, so that He might eradicate sin from us and abolish death by similar means. When He said: "The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me," 134 He showed that such was the |60 reason for His resurrection from the dead, because Satan was holding the reins of the power of death on account of the sin that was cleaving to us, as Paul said,135 and was always working 136 for death. And because when we were subjected to sin 137 we had no hope of deliverance, the grace of God kept that man whom God put on for us free from sin, but Satan came with his deceitfulness and brought death upon Him as upon (any other) man, when he roused all the Jews against Him; and since He was not touched by sin which would subject Him to death, Christ our Lord received also upon Himself the death which with wickedness the tyrannical Satan brought upon Him. He showed to God that there was no sin in Him and that it was through injustice that He was enduring the trial of death. And He effected the abolition of condemnation with ease, and He rose from the dead by the power of God and became worthy of a new and ineffable life which He generalised to all the human kind.

20 This is the reason why our Lord said here: "The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me." In another passage He said: "Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be condemned and cast out, and I when I am lifted up from the earth will draw all (men) unto me." 139 In the first passage He shows that Satan had not one just cause for bringing death upon Him, and in the second that He had summoned the Rebel to a kind of judgment 140 where he had condemned him and cast him out of his iniquitous power, and that after obtaining these good things He would make all men partakers of His glory. 21 Our blessed Fathers said that He became incarnate so that you might understand that He assumed a complete man, who was a man not only in appearance but a man in a true human nature, and that you might believe that He assumed not only the body but the whole man who is composed of a body and of an immortal and rational soul. It is such a man that He assumed for our salvation and it is through Him that He effected salvation for our life, because He was justified and became blameless by the power of the Holy Spirit, as the blessed |61 Paul said: "He was justified in the Spirit," 141 and again: "Who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God." 142 If He suffered death according to the law of men, because He had no sin He rose from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit and became worthy of a new life in which the wishes of the soul are immutable, and He made the body immortal and incorruptible.143 In this He made us all participants in His promises, and as an earnest of His promises He gave us the first-fruits of the Spirit 144 so that we might possess a faith without doubts concerning future things; and "He established us with you in Christ and sealed us and gave the earnest of His spirit in our hearts." 145

22 We also expect to be immortal and incorruptible at the resurrection from the dead when there will be no entry for sin into us. The blessed Paul bears witness to this in saying: "For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal immortality; and when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal immortality, there shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, ' Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law." 146 He means that when we have risen from the dead immortal and incorruptible and our nature has received immutability, we shall be unable to sin, and when we have been freed from sin we shall not need the law. Indeed what is the need of the law for a nature which is freed from sin and which has no inclination towards evil.

23 Well did the blessed Paul say after these: "Who gave us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 147 This shows that it is God who was for us the source of all good things, and it is He who gave us the victory over all adversaries, either death or sin or any other evil born of them: He who for us put on the man our Lord Jesus and transferred Him through His resurrection from the dead to a new life, and placed Him at His right hand, and gave us by His grace |62 communion with Him,148 when, in truth, as the blessed Paul said: "our vile body shall be changed and be fashioned like unto His glory." 149 Because the things said by our blessed Fathers concerning the humanity of our Lord are many let us put an end here to our teaching of to-day, and let us praise the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit now, always, and for ever and ever.

24 Here ends the fifth chapter.

Chapter VI.

1 In what we have already said we have explained to your love that which was said by our blessed Fathers concerning the humanity of our Lord in the profession of faith, which they wrote and handed down to us according to the teaching of the Books. We were obliged to use many words so that you might thoroughly understand all the meaning of their sentences, and if it were possible we would have said more in order to confirm the truth and to refute the deceitful words of the heretics, but the measure of what we said was considered by us to be sufficient to all those who possess goodwill in religion, because to those who have an unwilling mind, even a long discourse will be of no avail, while to those who possess a good will a short discourse will suffice for the demonstration of the truth, when (this discourse) is drawn from the testimony of Holy Writ. Let us then embark to-day, by the assistance of the grace of God, on the continuation of that which we said previously.

2 After having said: Who for us children of men and for our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate and became a man (our blessed Fathers) added: And was bom of the Virgin Mary and crucified in the days of Pontius Pilate. They might have said many things that happened in the meantime such as He was wrapped in swaddling clothes, was laid in a manger, was under the law,150 was baptised and made manifest the works of the Gospel and many more things. If they had wished it they would have narrated all that the Sacred Books have taught us about Him and that |63 which was accomplished by Him for our salvation, as He fulfilled thoroughly the law of nature for us, because He was going to reform our nature, and He further observed the law of Moses so that He might pay our debt to the Lawgiver; and He was baptised so that He might give an emblem to the grace of our baptism; and He showed effectively in Himself the Economy of the Gospel to all men. After all these He went to crucifixion and death so that He might destroy the last enemy, which is death, and make manifest the new and immortal life.

3 Our Fathers, however, took trouble to say all these things in short terms so that the hearers might learn them with ease, and so that we might also learn thoroughly every one of them from the Sacred Books. They wrote and arranged the Creed in short terms, and this is the reason why they said: Who was born of the Virgin Mary and was crucified in the days of Pontius Pilate. They only said the beginning and the end of the Economy that took place on our behalf, as the beginning of all grace is His birth of Mary, and its end is crucifixion. They called crucifixion the Passion, and all those things which took place in it. They included all of them in one word because from the Cross arose death and from death immortal life, as the blessed Paul said also 151: "The preaching of the Cross is to them that do not believe 152 foolishness, but unto us which are saved 153 it is the power of God." He also said: "Though He was crucified through weakness yet He liveth by the power of God." 154He showed here that the word of the Cross is the power of God to those who are saved because it is with His hand that He destroyed death and made new life manifest.

4 In their profession of faith our blessed Fathers wrote, therefore, in short terms, at the beginning and at the end, all those things that were done in the interval, in order to extend their knowledge to all those willing to learn the truth. It is obvious that they do not teach that the Divine nature of the Only Begotten was born of a woman, as if it had its beginning in her, because they did not say that the one who was born of His Father before all the worlds and who is eternally from Him and with Him had His beginning from Mary, but they followed the Sacred Books which speak differently of natures |64 while referring (them) to one prosopon on account of the close union that took place between them, so that they might not be believed that they were separating the perfect union between the one who was assumed and the one who assumed. If this union were destroyed the one who was assumed would not be seen more than a mere man like ourselves. The Sacred Books refer the two words 155 as if to one Son, so that they might show in the same faith both the glory of the Only Begotten and the honour of the man whom He assumed.

5 Indeed, after the blessed Paul had said: "Of whom Christ (came)," he added: "according to the flesh," 156 in order to separate the natures and to show that he is speaking of Christ who is from the Jews according to the flesh and that he is naming neither the nature of the Godhead of the Only Begotten, nor God the Word who was from the beginning with God and who is eternally in the bosom of His Father, but the form of the man which He assumed. And so that by this word and this addition to the effect that the human nature of Christ was taken "from the Jews" the glory of Christ might not be brought low, or that He might be believed that since He is man by nature and is born of children of men, He has nothing more, he added the sentence which follows: "He is God over all" in order to show the glory of Christ, which is from God the Word who assumed Him and united Him to Himself, as He is the cause of all and Lord over all. And because of the close union that this man has with God the Son, He is honoured and worshipped by all the creation.

6 While the blessed Paul might have said: "In whom is God over all" he did not do so, but said: "He is God over all," because of the close union between the two natures. He did not believe that He who was born of the Jews according to the flesh is God over all by nature, nor did he profess that the human nature is the cause of all and is Lord of all by nature, but he professed that the form of man which He assumed was Christ in the flesh, and Him who assumed that form he called God over all; he, however, mentioned these two things together in order to show the distinction found between the natures. Nobody believes that He who is from the Jews according to the flesh is God by nature, nor that God who is above |65 all is from the Jews by nature;157 he said the two things together in order to show the close union that took place between the one who was assumed and the one who assumed, and in order that together with the difference in natures the honour and the glory that came to the man who was assumed from his union with God who assumed him, might be known to all.

7 He wrote something similar to this to the Philippians in saying: "Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation and took upon Him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men and was found in the fashion of a man." 158 Here also he clearly made a distinction between the natures and between Him who is in the form of God and Him who is in the form of a servant, between Him who assumed and Him who was assumed, and (he showed) also that He who assumed became in the fashion of a man in Him who was assumed. He who was assumed was truly in the fashion of a man, in whom was found the one who assumed Him; and He who assumed, while not a man, became in His incorporeal and immaterial nature in the form of a servant, which by nature was corporeal and material; and He was a man 159 according to the law of human body. He thus hid Himself at the time in which. He was in the world and conducted Himself with the children of men in such a way that all those who beheld Him in a human way and did not understand anything more, believed Him to be a mere man.

8 In saying this he made a clear distinction between the natures of the one who is in the form of God and the one who is in the form of a servant, of the one who assumed and the one who was assumed. And he taught us also about the human nature in which our Lord was, as he said congruous things concerning the form of the servant which He assumed: "He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him and given Him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth, and that every |66 tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God His Father." 160 9 It is not Divine nature that received death, but it is clear that it was that man who was assumed as a temple to God the Word, (a temple) which was dissolved and then raised by the one who had assumed it. And after the Crucifixion it was not Divine nature that was raised but the temple which was assumed, which rose from the dead, ascended to heaven and sat at the right hand of God;161 nor is it to Divine nature—the cause of everything—that it was given that every one should worship it and every knee should bow, but worship was granted to the form of a servant which did not in its nature possess (the right to be worshipped). While all these things are clearly and obviously said of human nature he referred them successively to Divine nature so that his sentence might be strengthened and be acceptable to hearers. Indeed, since it is above human nature that it should be worshipped by all, it is with justice that all this has been said as of one, so that the belief in a close union between the natures might be strengthened, because he clearly showed that the one who was assumed did not receive all this great honour except from the Divine nature which assumed Him and dwelt in Him.

10 Our blessed Fathers wrote in the Creed something that is in harmony with this. They first taught us about the nature of the Godhead of the Only Begotten, that He is from the Father before all the worlds, that He is born of the nature of the Father and not made, and that He is a true God and consubstantial with God because He is born of His Father. After having taught us these things concerning the divinity of the Only Begotten they proceeded to teach us concerning the Economy of His humanity and said: Who for us children of men and for our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate and became a man like us in order to effect salvation for all the human race. And they taught all those things that happened to the human nature: things through which God wished His Economy to be accomplished on our behalf. And He who was assumed for our salvation bore upon Himself all things affecting mankind, and became worthy of perfection and a source of benefits for us through our communion with Him. |67

11 They said the above things as of one in conformity with the teaching of the Books; not that human acts were affecting God in His nature, but they referred these human acts to Him because of the close union, so that the high things that happened to Him after the Passion—things that transcend human nature—might be believed, and so that all might accept them when learning that it was Divine nature which put on man and that by its union with Him He received all this honour and glory. Many things, as we have said, happened to Him according to human law; things which we may learn from the Gospel. He was wrapped in swaddling clothes after He was born and laid in a manger;162 He was circumcised after the custom of the law and was brought to the temple according to the order of Moses; He was shown before the Lord and endured all things dealing 163 with His increase in stature, wisdom and favour, while He was subject unto His parents;164 He practised in a right way all (things dealing with) the justification of the law, and then received baptism, from which He gave the New Testament as in a symbol; He endured the temptation of Satan and bore upon Himself the toil of journeys and the offering of prayers with great devotion; and, to shorten my speech, He performed all the work of the Gospel with much labour and sweating, showed much patience with His enemies, and finally drew nigh unto death by crucifixion, through which He abolished death by His resurrection from the dead.

12 Our blessed Fathers omitted all these and said: And was born of Mary and crucified in the days of Pontius Pilate, because the beginning of His Economy for us is one thing and its end is another, and they included between both headings, one after another, all those things that the Book of the Gospel taught us. He was born of the Virgin Mary as a man, according to the law of human nature,165 and was made of a woman.166 Indeed the Apostle said thus: "God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." 167 In saying that He was made of a woman He showed that He entered into the world from a woman according to |68 the law of the children of men, and the fact that "He was under the law to redeem them that were under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons," happened so that He might pay our debt to the Lawgiver and procure life for us.

13 Since He became one of us in nature it is with justice that He paid the debt of His human kinship; on account of His nature which was identical with ours He was bound to do this, and He did it. We were delivered from the yoke of bondage 168 because of the freedom which He gave us in His grace. The fact that He was not born of a man but was only fashioned by the Holy Spirit in the womb of His mother, is beyond the nature of the children of men, and the (Apostle said) that He was made of a woman in order to show us that He was fashioned from the nature of a woman and was born according to the law of nature; and this does not cause any injury to nature, because Eve also was made of Adam, and her birth is different from that of all men since she received her existence from a rib only, without marital intercourse. She had an identical nature with Adam because she received the beginning of her existence from him.

14 In this way we should also think about Christ our Lord. It was a novel thing to have been fashioned from a woman without marital intercourse, by the power of the Holy Spirit, but He is associated with the human nature by the fact that He is from the nature of Mary, and it is for this that He is said also to be the seed of David 169 and Abraham, as in His Nature He is related to them. This is the reason why the blessed Paul said: "For unto the angels hath He not put in subjection the world to come whereof we speak, but unto the one concerning whom the Book testifies, saying, 'What is man that thou art mindful of him, or the Son of Man that thou visitest him'?" 170 And again: "He took not from the nature of angels but from the seed of Abraham." 171 His words show that our Lord did not take a body from the angels, nor did He make the angels the head and renovator of the future creation which we are expecting, but the man whom He assumed from the seed of Abraham and through whom He performed all this ineffable Economy and whom He first raised from the dead and transferred to immortal and unchangeable life, Him He made the head and renovator of all the |69 creation, so that He was with justice set over the government of the new creation.

15 As a man He was born of a woman according to the law of nature, and although this happened to Him in a novel way, in the sense that He alone, to the exclusion of the rest of mankind, was fashioned in the womb by the Holy Spirit without any marital intercourse, yet all that which He did for us He did according to the law of our nature, so that He grew little by little, reached full age and performed also carefully the requirements of the law. And because He paid our debt to the law and received victory from the Giver of the law on account of His having put into practice all the requirements of the law, He drew, with His own hand, to all His human race that blessing which the law had promised to all those who keep it. 16 He was also baptised so that He might perform the Economy of the Gospel according to order, and in this (Economy) He died and abolished death. It was easy and not difficult for God to have made Him at once immortal, incorruptible and immutable as He became after His resurrection, but because it was not He alone whom He wished to make immortal and immutable, but us also who are partakers of His nature, He rightly, and on account of this association, did not so make the firstfruits of us all 172 in order that, as the blessed Paul said, "He might have the pre-eminence in all things." 173 In this way, because of the communion that we have with Him in this world, we will, with justice, be partakers with Him of the future good things. And as after He was born of a woman He increased little by little according to the law of humanity, and grew up fully,174 and was under the law and acted according to it, so also in the life of the Gospel He became an example as man to man.

17 Because it was necessary that we who were born later should receive faith concerning the above future good things and that we should believe that our Saviour, our head and the cause of all of them for us, was Christ our Lord, it was imperative that He should also arrange as much as possible our mode of life in this world according to the hope of the future. It is with justice, therefore, that in this also He became our model.175 He was baptised so that He might give a symbol to our own baptism. In it 176 He was freed from all the |70 obligations of the law. He performed also all the Economy of the Gospel: He chose disciples to Himself, established the teaching of a new law and a new doctrine, promulgated ways of acting congruous to His teaching and different from the teaching of the (old) law, and taught that the ways of acting of us who believe should be in harmony with His new teaching.177

18 We also when we are baptised show (in ourselves) the symbol of the world 178 to come; we die with Him in baptism, and we rise symbolically with Him, and we endeavour to live according to His law in the hope of the future good things which we expect to share with Him at the resurrection from the dead. If Christ our Lord had immediately after His rising from the dead, raised also all men who had previously died, and had bestowed upon them new life fully and immediately, we should have been in no need of doing anything; as, however, He actually performed only on Himself the renewal which is to come and through which He rose from the dead and His body became immortal and His soul immutable, it became necessary that this decrepit and mortal world should last further in order that mankind might believe in Him and receive the hope of communion (with Him) and future life.

19 It is with justice, therefore, that He paid the debt of the law, received baptism, and showed the new Economy of the Gospel, which is the symbol of the world to come, so that we also, who believed in Christ and became worthy of baptism, through which we received the symbol of the world to come, should live according to His commandments. This is the reason why the blessed Paul said: "God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you." 179 In this he shows that through baptism we have received the teaching of the new Economy which is the symbol of the world to come, and as much as possible we strive to live according to it, while remote from all sin, and so not according to law. Indeed we are baptised as men who die with Him and will rise symbolically with Him, because "so many of us as were baptised into Jesus Christ were baptised into His death and were buried with Him by baptism into death; that like as Jesus Christ was raised up from the dead in the glory of His Father, even so we should walk in newness of life." 180 |71

20 After having received the grace of baptism we become strangers to all the observances of the law and we are as in another life: "You are become dead to the law by the body of Jesus Christ." 181 He (Paul) said this because you have attained new life in the baptismal birth and have become part of the body of Christ our Lord; and we hope to have communion with Him now that we are freed from the life of this world and dead to the world and to the law, because the law has power in this world and we become strangers to all this world according to the symbol of baptism. When Christ our Lord performed all these things for us He drew nigh unto death, which He received by crucifixion, not a secret death, but a death that was conspicuous and witnessed by all because our Lord's resurrection was going to be proclaimed by the blessed Apostles, while the miracles wrought wonderfully by the Holy Spirit were sufficient for the corroboration of their testimony. His death had to be seen by all, as His resurrection meant the abolition of death. Indeed, He loosed the pains of death 182 completely by his resurrection from the dead, ascended unto heaven and sat at the right hand 183 of God, and is for us a true surety 184 by our participation in His resurrection. "You were saved by the grace of Him who raised us with Him 185 and placed us at the right hand in heaven in order that He might show to the future worlds the greatness of the wealth and the sweetness of His mercy which was shed on us abundantly through our Lord Jesus Christ." 186

21 And in order that we may believe in the good things which He promised to us, in spite of their greatness and in spite of the fact that they transcend us, He gave us the earnest of the future things, the firstfruits of the Holy Spirit,187 as the blessed Peter said: "He was exalted by the right hand of God, and He confirmed the promise of the Holy Ghost which He had received, and shed forth this upon us abundantly, as you now see and hear." 188 He calls "the promise of the Holy Ghost" the grace which was given for the confirmation of the future good things by the Holy Ghost. Indeed, these future things are confirmed in us by the power of the Holy Ghost. As the blessed Paul said: "It is sown a natural body and it will rise a |72 spiritual body." 189 And in order that we may possess these future good things in a firm faith 190 without doubt, He gave us even in this world 191 the firstfruits of the Spirit which we received as the earnest, of which the blessed Paul said: "In whom ye believed, and ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit (of promise) which is the earnest of our inheritance." 192 And the Economy of the grace of Christ our Lord, for which we receive baptism, is like unto this.

22 Our blessed Fathers did well, therefore, to hand to us our faith by going to the firstfruits of the faith, and including in them all the necessary things in saying: And was born of the Virgin Mary and crucified in the days of Pontius Pilate. I believe, however, that my speech has exceeded the limits as the words (which express) the Economy of the grace of Christ have only been delivered to us (in short terms) as given above. In order, therefore, that you may not receive a teaching which is not perfect and that we may not trouble you with many words, let us, by the permission of God, leave off here the things which will follow what has been said, and be satisfied with what has already been spoken to-day, and let us praise the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit now, always, and for ever and ever.—Amen.

23 Here ends the sixth chapter.