Chapter V.
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. 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.
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.
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.
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 and given up to iniquities.
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." 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," 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
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 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?"
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, 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," 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 the pains of death, and He delivered his soul from bonds which were indissoluble; and He raised him from the dead and transferred him to immortal life, 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" as the blessed Paul testifies; and he constantly receives adoration from all creation because of his close union with God the Word.
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." And Paul also said, "He was in the likeness of men, and was found in fashion as a man." 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," 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." In 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."
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.
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.
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, in the same way as the angels were, by the will of God, seen by Abraham. |56
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." 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," 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.
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 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
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." 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.
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." 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."
He said that all the sentence of death, 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.
Human soul differs only from that of animals in the fact that the latter has no distinct person of the soul except in the (material) composition of the animal, 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, 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 in its nature from men. When (Christ) said: "Fear not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul," 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.
The difference between the soul of men and the soul of animals is such that the latter is irrational and has no person, 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.
They rightly said that He assumed a man who resembles 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," 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, and was always working for death.
And because when we were subjected to sin 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.
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." 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 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.
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," and again: "Who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God." 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. 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 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."
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." 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.
Well did the blessed Paul say after these: "Who gave us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 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, when, in truth, as the blessed Paul said: "our vile body shall be changed and be fashioned like unto His glory."
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.
Here ends the fifth chapter.