Chapter IV.
It is not enough if we believe in Christ having true flesh, unless we also separate it from any confusion or weakness with divinity: nor if we say that He is the God of both covenants, unless we profess that He is co-eternal with the Word Himself: and finally, if we acknowledge that He began before the Virgin, we must proclaim that He is older than all beginning. Peter's confession is praised; and why he remained silent while others were speaking, and how wonderfully he responded afterward, is explained.
Therefore, do not interpret according to nature what is beyond the nature of divinity. For even if you believe that true flesh was assumed by Christ, and you offer the body to be transfigured on the altars; yet you do not distinguish between the nature of divinity and the body, and it is said to you: If you offer rightly, but do not divide rightly, you have sinned (Gen. 4:7). Divide what is mine, divide what is the Word's. I did not have what was His, and He did not have what is mine. He accepted what is mine, in order to share what is his: He accepted not to confuse, but to fulfill. If you believe in acceptance, you fabricate confusion; you ceased to be a Manichaean, yet you did not begin to be a son of the Church.
If you believe in the reception of the body, you join compassion to divinity: you have certainly turned away from faithlessness, not faithlessness; for you believe that what you presume is beneficial to you, but you do not believe what is worthy of God.
Moreover, if you believe that the same God is the author of both the new and the old Testament, but you attribute times and moments to his Word: Valentinus is more tolerable, who believes that there are not ages before God, but rather that there are gods, which are the ages; for it is less sacrilegious to join the ages to divinity than to prefer them.
If you believe again that Christ did not take His beginning from the Virgin, but nevertheless consider some beginning to exist before Christ: in time there is a disagreement about impiety; for you denied that He is equal to the Virgin, not to time. Moreover, I will not deny that He is equal to the Virgin in terms of receiving a body, and I will confess the Creator of time. For what profit is it if you say whether Christ is this or that creature? The creature changes, not the divinity that is worshipped.
He did not want himself to be recognized as Christ in this way, nor did he want his merits to be valued only for what is beyond human. Finally, when he asked: Who do men say that I am? (Matthew 16:13), and some said Elijah, others Jeremiah, or one of the prophets; he did not proclaim anyone's opinion. But when Peter said: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God (ibid., 16), he rightly praised him alone.
Therefore John said, Peter said, Christ proved, and you do not believe, Ariane? Do you not think that John and Peter should be believed, whom our Lord Jesus Christ himself believed to excel in the testimony of his glory to the faith of all? Finally, as a testimony to the Old and New Testaments, Moses is joined with Elijah, as John is often mentioned with Peter (Matthew 17:1).
Peter says, 'You are' (John 13:23); he does not say, 'You have begun to be.' Peter says, 'You are the Son of God'; he does not say, 'You are a creature.' John said this. If you still do not believe because you have not understood the mystery that surpasses wisdom, Peter repeated it. Christ commended both, one by judgment, the other by mystery; for he added that you should read what was leaning on Christ's chest and understand that his head, in which the principal of all senses is, was filled with a certain hidden wisdom. But if you do not think that the mystery should be understood, at least do not attack the judgment. Peter is praised because he believed in the Son of God, whom he saw; because he separated himself from the ignorant opinions of the common people. Finally, when the Lord asked what people thought of the Son of Man, when the opinion of the crowd was stated, Peter remained silent.
Therefore, be silent, Simon, and while others are answering, you remain silent. (Matth. XVI, 14). Even though you are the first, you, without being asked, ask questions. And do not fear being reprimanded by the Lord because you do not respond to the one asking. Therefore, he says, I do not respond because my own opinion is not being asked, but rather someone else's. For it is written: Let my mouth not speak the works of men (Psal. XVI, 4): however, it is the work of the deceitful to preach deceitfulness. Therefore, I remain silent for now, because I have not yet been asked about what I feel: I will not utter with my lips what my mind has not approved. There will be a time when I will respond. I myself will be asked what I feel, and only then will I respond with what is mine; it is mine to speak the truth, assert piety, proclaim gratitude.
Therefore, he does not remain silent as if he were slower in understanding or slower in speech, nor does he differ in the compliance of his voice as if he were disdainful: but he avoids the danger of common opinion as a cautious person, who did not avoid the danger of salvation. In conclusion, in the latter you have because he jumped out of the boat to meet the Lord, not desiring glory, but being eager for obedience.
Therefore, he who previously kept silent, in order to teach us that we should not repeat the words of the wicked, this one, I say, when he heard: But who do you say that I am? (Matt. XVI, 15), immediately mindful of his place, asserted his primacy: the primacy of confession, certainly not of honor; the primacy of faith, not of order. This is to say: Now let no one overcome me, now the roles are reversed: I must compensate for what I have kept silent, what I have kept silent must benefit. My tongue has no thorns; faith should come forth without hindrance. While others, although they bring up the matter, evacuate the impurity of their alien descent, those who have said that either Elijah or Jeremiah or one of the prophets is Christ (Matt. XVI, 14); for that voice had impurity, it had thorns: while others, I say, wash off this impurity, while these thorns are unraveled in others, let our voice yield the Son of God, Christ. To me, the word is pure, from which impiety has left no expressed thorns.
This is therefore Peter who responded for the other apostles, indeed before the others (Ibid., 16); and therefore he is called the foundation, because he knows how to preserve not only his own, but also the common [good]. To him Christ also gave his approval, the Father revealed. For he who speaks of the true generation of the Father received it from the Father, he did not receive it from the flesh.