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| Of the Son of God as Neither Made by the Father Nor Less Than the Father, and of His Incarnation.
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Chapter 4.—Of the Son of God as Neither Made by the
Father Nor Less Than the Father, and of His Incarnation.
5. Wherefore The
Only-Begotten Son of God was neither made by the Father;
for, according to the word of an evangelist, “all things were
made by Him:”1541
nor
begotten instantaneously;1542
| 1542 According to the literal meaning
of the phrase ex tempore. It may, however, here be used as =
under conditions of time, or in time. | since God, who is eternally1543
| 1543 Reading sempiterne: for
which sempiternus = the eternal wise God, is also
given. | wise, has
with Himself His eternal Wisdom: nor unequal with the Father, that
is to say, in anything less than He; for an apostle also speaks in
this wise, “Who, although He was constituted in the form of God,
thought it not robbery to be equal with God.”1544
By this catholic faith, therefore,
those are excluded, on the one hand, who affirm that the Son is the
same [Person] as the Father; for [it is clear that] this Word could
not possibly be with God, were it not with God the
Father, and [it is just as evident that] He who is alone
is equal to no one. And, on the other hand, those are
equally excluded who affirm that the Son is a creature, although
not such an one as the rest of the creatures are. For however
great they declare the creature to be, if it is a creature, it has
been fashioned and made.1545
| 1545 Condita et facta
est | For the terms fashion and
create1546
mean one
and the same thing; although in the usage of the Latin tongue the
phrase create is employed at times instead of what would be
the strictly accurate word beget. But the Greek language
makes a distinction. For we call that creatura (creature)
which they call
κτίσμα or κτίσις; and when
we desire to speak without ambiguity, we use not the word
creare (create), but the word condere (fashion, found).
Consequently, if the Son is a creature, however great that may be,
He has been made. But we believe in Him by whom all things
(omnia) were made, not in Him by whom the rest of
things (cetera) were made. For here again we cannot take
this term all things in any other sense than as meaning
whatsoever things have been made.
6. But as “the Word was made
flesh, and dwelt among us,”1547
the same Wisdom which was begotten
of God condescended also to be created among men.1548
| 1548 Adopting in hominibus
creavi. One important ms. gives in
omnibus = amongst all. | There is a
reference to this in the word, “The Lord created me in the
beginning of His ways.”1549
For the beginning of His ways is
the Head of the Church, which is Christ1550
| 1550 Various editions give
principium et caput Ecclesiæ est Christus = the beginning of
His ways and the Head of the Church is Christ. | endued with human nature
(homine indutus), by whom it was purposed that there should
be given to us a pattern of living, that is, a sure1551
| 1551 For via certa others give
via recta = a right way. | way by
which we might reach God. For by no other path was it possible for
us to return but by humility, who fell by pride, according as it
was said to our first creation, “Taste, and ye shall be as
gods.”1552
Of this
humility, therefore, that is to say, of the way by which it was
needful for us to return, our Restorer Himself has deemed it meet
to exhibit an example in His own person, “who thought it not
robbery to be equal with God, but emptied Himself, taking the form
of a servant;”1553
in order that He might be created
Man in the beginning of His ways, the Word by whom all things were
made. Wherefore, in so far as He is the Only-begotten, He has no
brethren; but in so far as He is the First-begotten, He has deemed
it worthy of Him to give the name of brethren to all those who,
subsequently to and by means of His pre-eminence,1554
| 1554 Per ejus primatum
= by means of His standing as the Firstborn. We
follow the Benedictine reading, qui post ejus et per ejus
primatum in Dei gratiam renascuntur. But there is another,
although less authoritative, version, viz. qui post ejus
primitias in Dei gratia nascimur = all of us who, subsequently
to His first-fruits, are born in the grace of God. | are born
again into the grace of God through the adoption of sons, according
to the truth commended to us by apostolic teaching.1555
Thus,
then, the Son according to nature (naturalis filius) was
born of the very substance of the Father, the only one so born,
subsisting as that which the Father is,1556
| 1556 Id existens quod Pater
est, etc. Another version is, idem
existens quod Pater Deus = subsisting as the same that God the
Father is. | God of God, Light of Light. We, on
the other hand, are not the light by nature, but are enlightened by
that Light, so that we may be able to shine in wisdom. For, as one
says, “that was the true Light, which lighteth every man that
cometh into the world.”1557
Therefore we add to the faith of
things eternal likewise the temporal dispensation1558
| 1558 The term dispensatio
occurs very frequently as the equivalent of the Greek οἰκονομία = economy,
designating the Incarnation. | of our
Lord, which He deemed it worthy of Him to bear for us and to
minister in behalf of our salvation. For in so far as He is the
only-begotten Son of God, it cannot be said of Him that He
was and that He shall be, but only that He is;
because, on the one hand, that which was, now is not;
and, on the other, that which shall be, as yet is not. He,
then, is unchangeable, independent of the condition of times and
variation. And it is my opinion that this is the very consideration
to which was due the circumstance that He introduced to the
apprehension of His servant Moses the kind of name [which He then
adopted]. For when he asked of Him by whom he should say that he
was sent, in the event of the people to whom he was being sent
despising him, he received his answer when He spake in this wise:
“I Am that I Am.” Thereafter, too, He
added this: “Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel,
He that is (Qui est) has sent me
unto you.”1559
7. From this, I trust, it is now
made patent to spiritual minds that there cannot possibly exist any
nature contrary to God. For if He is,—and this is a word
which can be spoken with propriety only of God (for that which
truly is remains unchangeably; inasmuch as that which is
changed has been something which now it is not, and shall be
something which as yet it is not),—it follows that God has
nothing contrary to Himself. For if the question were put to us,
What is contrary to white? we would reply, black; if the question
were, What is contrary to hot? we would reply, cold; if the
question were, What is contrary to quick? we would reply, slow;
and all similar interrogations we would answer in like
manner. When, however, it is asked, What is contrary to that
which is? the right reply to give is, that which is
not.
8. But whereas, in a temporal
dispensation, as I have said, with a view to our salvation and
restoration, and with the goodness of God acting therein, our
changeable nature has been assumed by that unchangeable Wisdom of
God, we add the faith in temporal things which have been done with
salutary effect on our behalf, believing in that
Son of God Who Was Born Through the Holy Ghost of the Virgin
Mary. For by the gift of God, that is, by the Holy Spirit,
there was granted to us so great humility on the part of so great a
God, that He deemed it worthy of Him to assume the entire nature of
man (totum hominem) in the womb of the Virgin, inhabiting
the material body so that it sustained no detriment
(integrum), and leaving it1560
| 1560 Deserens. With less point, deferens has been suggested =
bearing it, or delivering it. | without detriment. This temporal
dispensation is in many ways craftily assailed by the heretics. But
if any one shall have grasped the catholic faith, so as to believe
that the entire nature of man was assumed by the Word of God, that
is to say, body, soul, and spirit, he has sufficient defense
against those parties. For surely, since that assumption was
effected in behalf of our salvation, one must be on his guard lest,
as he believes that there is something belonging to our nature
which sustains no relation to that assumption, this something may
fail also to sustain any relation to the salvation.1561
| 1561 Or it may = he should fail
to have any relation to the salvation. | And seeing
that, with the exception of the form of the members, which has been
imparted to the varieties of living objects with differences
adapted to their different kinds, man is in nothing separated from
the cattle but in [the possession of] a rational spirit
(rationali spiritu), which is also named mind (mens),
how is that faith sound, according to which the belief is
maintained, that the Wisdom of God assumed that part of us which we
hold in common with the cattle, while He did not assume that which
is brightly illumined by the light of wisdom, and which is man’s
peculiar gift?
9. Moreover, those parties1562
| 1562 Referring to the
Manicheans. | also are
to be abhorred who deny that our Lord Jesus Christ had in Mary a
mother upon earth; while that dispensation has honored both sexes,
at once the male and the female, and has made it plain that not
only that sex which He assumed pertains to God’s care, but also
that sex by which He did assume this other, in that He bore [the
nature of] the man (virum gerendo), [and] in that He was
born of the woman. Neither is there anything to compel us to a
denial of the mother of the Lord, in the circumstance that this
word was spoken by Him: “Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine
hour is not yet come.”1563
But He rather admonishesus to
understand that, in respect of His being God, there was no mother
for Him, the part of whose personal majesty (cujus majestatis
personam) He was preparing to show forth in the turning of
water into wine. But as regards His being crucified, He was
crucified in respect of his being man; and that was the hour which
had not come as yet, at the time when this word was spoken, “What
have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come;” that is, the
hour at which I shall recognize thee. For at that period, when He
was crucified as man, He recognized His human mother (hominem
matrem), and committed her most humanely (humanissime)
to the care of the best beloved disciple.1564
Nor, again, should we be moved by
the fact that, when the presence of His mother and His brethren was
announced to Him, He replied, “Who is my mother, or who my
brethren?” etc.1565
But rather let it teach us, that
when parents hinder our ministry wherein we minister the word of
God to our brethren, they ought not to be recognized by us. For if,
on the ground of His having said, “Who is my mother?” every one
should conclude that He had no mother on earth, then each should as
matter of course be also compelled to deny that the apostles had
fathers on earth; since He gave them an injunction in these terms:
“Call no man your father upon the earth; for one is your Father,
which is in heaven.”1566
10. Neither should the thought of
the woman’s womb impair this faith in us, to the effect that
there should appear to be any necessity for rejecting such a
generation of our Lord for the mere reason that worthless men
consider it unworthy (sordidi sordidam putant). For most
true are these sayings of an apostle, both that “the foolishness
of God is wiser than men,”1567
and that “to the pure all things
are pure.”1568
Those,1569
| 1569 In reference to the
Manicheans. | therefore,
who entertain this opinion ought to ponder the fact that the rays
of this sun, which indeed they do not praise as a creature of God,
but adore as God, are diffused all the world over, through the
noisomenesses of sewers and every kind of horrible thing, and
that they operate in these according to their nature, and yet
never become debased by any defilement thence contracted, albeit
that the visible light is by nature in closer conjunction with
visible pollutions. How much less, therefore, could the Word of
God, who is neither corporeal nor visible, sustain defilement from
the female body, wherein He assumed human flesh together with soul
and spirit, through the incoming of which the majesty of the Word
dwells in a less immediate conjunction with the frailty of a human
body!1570
| 1570 The Benedictine text gives,
quibus intervenientibus habitat majestas Verbi ab humani corporis
fragilitate secretius. Another well-supported version is, ad
humani corporis fragilitatem, etc. = more retired in relation
to the frailty of the human body. | Hence it
is manifest that the Word of God could in no way have been defiled
by a human body, by which even the human soul is not defiled. For
not when it rules the body and quickens it, but only when it lusts
after the mortal good things thereof, is the soul defiled by the
body. But if these persons were to desire to avoid the defilements
of the soul, they would dread rather these falsehoods and
profanities.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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