Chapter XIII.
Therefore, it is impossible to discuss these things but it is permissible to believe them: to seek humbly, not to inquire arrogantly. Therefore, the Word and substance of God, which is entirely incorporeal, could not be inserted into a human body unless by means of some spiritual nature, that is, the soul. Therefore, the soul, receiving the Word of God in a hidden rational art, without any contamination from man, God was born of the Virgin. Therefore, just as the Son of God, offering Himself as an example to all through participation, according to what the Word and wisdom of God is, does not diminish by the sharing of participation, so also the holy soul of Jesus, which was sad and disturbed on account of our sins, contracted nothing from it. This is what God loved in His predestined ones (Ambrose, On Luke, Book X, §127): this is our life, of which the Apostle says: And your life is hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3): this is what loved righteousness and hated iniquity (Psalm 44:8): this was not sad unto death, but unto death (Matthew 26:38): this was troubled on the cross not for herself, but for us: not by her own power, not by her own wisdom, not by the Word of God, who took her for the salvation of our souls, and, adorning her with every virtue and sanctity, led her into the fellowship of deity. Therefore, regarding that which is similar to all our souls, the Savior says: I have the power to lay down my life, and I have the power to take it up again; and: No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord, and I have the power to take it up again (John 10:18). This is the blessed soul, which cried out to divinity on the cross, saying: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? (Matthew 27:46). Thus, the man about to die, by the separation of divinity, cried out; for since divinity is free from death, death could not exist unless life were to depart, because life is divinity; for it never experiences either death or corruption, since it is always immortal and incorruptible. Therefore God, who is Word and Spirit, who inspires where He wills (John 3:8), did not unwillingly abandon the flesh or soul He assumed, but, because He willed it, at the time and place and in the way that He willed, He laid it aside and took it up again. Therefore, He was not stripped of His flesh by anyone's right or power, but He stripped Himself of it; for if He did not wish to die, without a doubt, He would not have died, since He is able not to die. The Apostle confirms that it is thus when he says: 'Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in Himself' (Colossians 2:15), namely, by the death of the assumed man, so that, as the blessed Apostle says, by the death of the assumed man He might destroy him who had the power of death (Hebrews 2:14), that is, the devil, and deliver those who were subject throughout life to servitude. Which was thus to happen much earlier, the prophet Isaiah had foretold, saying: Like a sheep led to the slaughter, and like a lamb before its shearer is silent; and again: He was offered, because he himself wished it, to expiate the sins of many; and again: He delivered his soul unto death, and he was reckoned among the wicked; and he himself took on the sins of many, and for the transgressors he interceded (Isaiah 53:7 et seq.). Therefore, Christ the Lord did not endure the cross out of necessity, but by his own will, saying to Peter, who was scandalized by the mystery of the cross due to the weakness of fear and trembled with human dread: Get behind me, Satan, you are a stumbling block to me; for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of men. For the chalice which the Father gave to me, do you not want me to drink it? (Matth. XVI, 23; Joan. XVIII, 11; Matth. XXVI, 23). Otherwise, if it were not offered by his own will, and he wanted to bear the cross, who could indicate and predict the traitor, and he said to the apostles: All of you will be scandalized by me this night (Matth. XXVI, 31)? He could have avoided those who were sent to capture him, but he fearlessly confronted them and said: Whom do you seek? (Joan. XVIII, 4)? Those who immediately fell backwards; for they were unable to bear the voice of the present God. Therefore, it was not a matter of necessity that he suffered, but of free will; not so much his own, but also the Father's, to whom he says: 'To do your will, my God, I desired' (Psalm 39:9). Through the true flesh of the immortal mediator of God and the mortal redemption of humans, we are made alive, saved, and freed from the snares and captivity of the devil, over whom he gave us power, saying: 'Behold, I have given you power to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and upon all the power of the enemy' (Luke 10:19). Therefore, the incarnation of humility and mystery was done so that we could receive power over the devil, who, knowing that he would become through pride, fell into such madness that he wanted to make himself equal to the highest creator, saying: 'I will set my throne on the north wind, and I will be like the Most High' (Isaiah 14:14). This is confirmed by the Apostle, saying: 'For what the Law could not do, weakened as it was by the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and concerning sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, that just as all die in Adam, so also in Christ, who through the passion of the cross dedicated to us a bath and drink from His own side, all might be made alive' (Romans 8:3; Colossians 2:15; 1 Corinthians 15:22).