Man therefore was He truly made, through Whom God the Father made the worlds too; and was not (as some suppose) in a man, so as to be conceived of by us as a man who has God indwelling in him. For if they believe that these things are really so, superfluous will seem to be the blessed Evangelist John, saying, And the Word was made Flesh. For where the need of being made man? or why is God the Word said to be Incarnate, unless was made flesh means that He was made like us, and the force of the being made man declares that He was made like us, yet remained even so above us, yea also above the whole creation?
But I think it due by instances also to prove what I have said and to persuade that the Only-Begotten has been made Man and is God even with Flesh and hath not rather indwelt in a man, rendering him God-clad, like others too who have been made partakers of His Godhead.
18. Ideas or thoughts .
God says somewhere of us, I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will be to them a God and they shall be to Me a people. And our Lord Jesus Christ Himself too saith, Lo I am coming and if any man open to Me, I will enter both I and the Father and we will dwell with him and sup with him. We are also called temples of God, for Ye (he |208 says) are the Temples of the Living God, and again, Know ye not that your bodies are the Temples of the Holy Ghost Which is in you Which ye have of God? But if they say that He is Emmanuel, as each one of us has had God indwelling in him, let them confess it openly, that when they see Him worshipped as well by us as by the Angels, in Heaven alike and upon earth, they may blush as thinking otherwise, and ignorant of the drift of the holy Scriptures, and not having in them the faith which they delivered to us, who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the Word.
But if they say that He is therefore God and glorified as God because the Word of God the Father merely dwelt in Him, and not because He was made Man, let them hear again from us, If to them who had God indwelling in them, it suffices that they might therefore be truly gods and adored by all, all are gods and to be adored, for He dwelleth in the holy Angels, and we have Him ourselves too in us through the Spirit; but this is not enough to shew that they are by nature gods and to be adored who have the Spirit in them. Not therefore for this is Emmanuel. God and to be worshipped because the Word of God dwelt in Him as in a mere man, to be considered by himself and apart, but because He was made flesh, i. e. Man, for He remained therefore God who is to be worshipped.
19. Apostolic sayings wherein Christ is called God.
Speaking of the Mystery Christward, he says, Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto His saints, unto whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles which is Christ in you the hope of glory, Whom we preach. If therefore He is God-clad and not truly God, how is Himself the riches of the glory of the Mystery which is proclaimed to the Gentiles? or how is God at all proclaimed? |209
20. Another.
For I would that ye knew what conflict I have for you and for them at Laodicea and as many as have not seen my face in the flesh, that their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding to the acknowledgement of the Mystery of God of Christ . Lo he calls the Mystery of God the Mystery of Christ, and wishes certain to have full understanding unto the acknowledgement of it. Of what understanding therefore was there need to those who would learn the Mystery of Christ, if they were to hear that God dwelt in a man? for there would be need of exceeding understanding to know on the other hand that the Word being God was made Man.
21. Another.
For from you sounded out the word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place your faith to Godward is gone forth. Lo again he makes mention that their faith was Godward, while Christ too saith, He that believeth in Me hath everlasting Life: and the word of the Lord he calls the preaching of Him.
22. Another.
For yourselves know our entrance in unto you that it was not in vain, but after that we had suffered many things before and been reviled as ye know in Philippi, we were bold in our God to speak unto you the Gospel of God. Lo speaking in God, he made mention of the Gospel of God, who preaches Christ to the Gentiles.
23. Another.
Call to mind, brethren, our labour and travail, labouring |210 night and day that we might not be burdensome to any of you, we preached the Gospel of God among you: and again, For this cause we too thank God without ceasing, because when ye received, from us the word of hearing of God, ye received it not as the word of men but as it is in truth the Word of God which worketh in you which have believed. Does he not plainly call the preaching about Christ the Gospel of God and word of God? this surely is plain to all.
24. Another .
For the grace of God our Saviour hath appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly and uprightly and piously in this world awaiting the blessed hope and coming of the glory of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. Lo our Lord Jesus Christ is most openly called God and Great: for He it is Whose coming of glory we awaiting, are diligent to live soberly and unblameably. But if He be a God-clad man, how is He also great God? or how is the hope in Him a blessed one? if so be that the Prophet Jeremiah is true in saying, Cursed the man that putteth his trust in man. For neither could his bearing God (as I said before) render him God Himself: next let them teach us what hinders that all others be gods and to be worshipped who have God in them? But blessed Paul calls Christ God and Great and that hath a blessed coming, he who is found saying of the Jews, and of Emmanuel, Whose are the fathers and the covenant and the promises and of whom as concerning the flesh, Christ Who is over all God blessed for ever. Amen.
But that by Divine revelation he did make his preaching, is clear in that himself saith, Then fourteen years after I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas and took Titus with me also ; but I went up by revelation and set forth to them the Gospel which I preach to the Gentiles, but privately to them who seemed to be somewhat, lest haply I should run or had run in vain. He preaching Christ to the Gentiles |211 as God, every where calls His Mystery Divine . He went up to Jerusalem by revelation and set forth to them who seemed to be somewhat, i. e., to the holy Apostles and Disciples, lest perchance he should run in vain or had run. But when he had gone down from Jerusalem and was again among the multitude of the Gentiles, did he correct ought of his former [teaching]? did he not persevere in confessing that Christ is God? and indeed he writes to certain, I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him who called you, unto another gospel which is not another, save there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the Gospel of Christ: and he says again, But though we or an Angel from Heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be anathema. For what reason therefore leaving all else albeit they had God indwelling, did he preach Jesus Alone as God?
25. Another.
It is written of Christ, But when He was at Jerusalem in the feast day many believed in His Name, when they saw the signs which He was doing, but Jesus Himself trusted not Himself to them, because He knew all men and because He needed not that any one should bear witness of a man, for Himself knew what was in man. If He were a God-clad man, how were not the many deceived who at Jerusalem believed on His Name? or how doth He Alone know the things which are in man when none else knoweth them ? for God is said to have fashioned our hearts one by one. Or why doth He Alone forgive sins? for He saith, That the Son of Man hath power upon earth to forgive sins. Why is He Alone apart from others the Co-sessor of God the Father? why do the Angels worship Him Alone, and did He teach us to deem of the Father as our common Father which is in Heaven, but ascribeth Him in special manner to Himself?
But perchance you will say that words of this sort are to be attributed to the indwelling Word. Ought He not |212 therefore, according to the measure beseeming Prophets, Himself too to have said, Thus saith the Lord ? But when He would ordain the things that are above the Law, taking to Himself authority befitting a Legislator, He used to say, I say to you.
How says He that He is free and not indebted to God? It is because He is Son in truth. And if He were a God-clad man, would He be also free by Nature? For God Alone is free and unbound: for He Alone exacts as it were tribute from all, and receives from all as from debtors due observance. And if Christ is the end of the Law and the Prophets, yet is a God-clad man, might one not say that the end of the prophetic preachings has brought upon us the charge of man-worship?
Again, the Law set forth, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and Him only shalt thou serve. By which teaching it led us unto Christ, as unto a knowledge more excellent than they had who were in the shadow: shall we therefore, making light of worshipping God, worship a man who has God indwelling? for where were it best that God be conceived to be? in heaven or in a man? in Seraphim or in earthly body?
If therefore He were God-clad man, how partook He like as we in flesh and blood? For if because He indwelt him, this were enough for Him that He should partake of ours like as we, and if His so participating is the being made man: He indwelt in many saints too: He was therefore not once but full often made man. Why therefore is He said once in the end of the world to have appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself? how do the Divine Scriptures preach to us one Coming of the Word?
26. If He were a God-clad man, He too (it seems) was made the Temple of God, and how is Christ in us also? as a Temple in temples? or rather as God in the temples through |213 the Spirit? If He were a God-clad man, why is His Body alone Life-giving? for such should have been the bodies of others also, wherein indwelt Almighty God.