THE FIFTEEN BOOKS OF AURELIUS AUGUSTINUS, BISHOP OF HIPPO, ON THE TRINITY:
BOOK I
BOOK I.
IN WHICH THE UNITY AND EQUALITY OF THE SUPREME TRINITY IS ESTABLISHED FROM THE
SACRED SCRIPTURES, AND SOME TEXTS ALLEGED AGAINST THE EQUALITY OF THE SON ARE
EXPLAINED.
CHAP. 1.--THIS WORK IS WRITTEN AGAINST THOSE WHO SOPHISTICALLY ASSAIL THE
FAITH OF THE TRINITY, THROUGH MISUSE OF REASON. THEY WHO DISPUTE CONCERNING GOD ERR
FROM A THREEFOLD CAUSE. HOLY SCRIPTURE, REMOVING WHAT IS FALSE, LEADS US ON BY
DEGREES TO THINGS DIVINE. WHAT TRUE IMMORTALITY IS. WE ARE NOURISHED BY FAITH,
THAT WE MAY BE ENABLED TO APPREHEND THINGS DIVINE.
1. THE following dissertation concerning the Trinity, as the reader ought
to be informed, has been written in order to guard against the sophistries of
those who disdain to begin with faith, and are deceived by a crude and perverse
love of reason. Now one class of such men endeavor to transfer to things
incorporeal and spiritual the ideas they have formed, whether through experience of
the bodily senses, or by natural human wit and diligent quickness, or by the aid
of art, from things corporeal; so as to seek to measure and conceive of the
former by the latter. Others, again, frame whatever sentiments they may have
concerning God according to the nature or affections of the human mind; and through
this error they govern their discourse, in disputing concerning God, by
distorted and fallacious rules. While yet a third class strive indeed to transcend
the whole creation, which doubtless is changeable, in order to raise their
thought to the unchangeable substance, which is God; but being weighed down by the
burden of mortality, whilst they both would seem to know what they do not, and
cannot know what they would, preclude themselves from entering the very path of
understanding, by an over-bold affirmation of their own presumptuous judgments;
choosing rather not to correct their own opinion when it is perverse, than to
change that which they have once defended. And, indeed, this is the common
disease of all the three classes which I have mentioned,--viz., both of those who
frame their thoughts of God according to things corporeal, and of those who do so
according to the spiritual creature, such as is the soul; and of those who
neither regard the body nor the spiritual creature, and yet think falsely about
God; and are indeed so much the further from the truth, that nothing can be found
answering to their conceptions, either in the body, or in the made or created
spirit, or in the Creator Himself. For he who thinks, for instance, that God is
white or red, is in error; and yet these things are found in the body. Again,
he who thinks of God as now forgetting and now remembering, or anything of the
same kind, is none the less in error; and yet these things are found in the
mind. But he who thinks that God is of such power as to have generated Himself, is
so much the more in error, because not only does God not so exist, but neither
does the spiritual nor the bodily creature; for there is nothing whatever that
generates its own existence.(1)
2. In order, therefore, that the human mind might be purged from falsities
of this kind, Holy Scripture, which suits itself to babes has not avoided
words drawn from any class of things really existing, through which, as by
nourishment, our understanding might rise gradually to things divine and transcendent.
For, in speaking of God, it has both used words taken from things corporeal, as
when it says, "Hide me under the shadow of Thy wings;"(2) and it has borrowed
many things from the spiritual creature, whereby to signify that which indeed
is not so, but must needs so be said: as, for instance, "I the Lord thy God am a
jealous God;"(3) and, "It repenteth me that I have made man."(4) But it has
drawn no words whatever, whereby to frame either figures of speech or enigmatic
sayings, from things which do not exist at all. And hence it is that they who
are shut out from the truth by that third kind of error are more mischievously
and emptily vain than their fellows; in that they surmise respecting God, what
can neither be found in Himself nor m any creature. For divine Scripture is wont
to frame, as it were, allurements for children from the things which are found
in the creature; whereby, according to their measure, and as it were by steps,
the affections of the weak may be moved to seek those things that are above,
and to leave those things that are below. But the same Scripture rarely employs
those things which are spoken properly of God, and are not found in any
creature; as, for instance, that which was said to Moses, "I am that I am;" and, "I Am
hath sent me to you."(5) For since both body and soul also are said in some
sense to be, Holy Scripture certainly would not so express itself unless it meant
to be understood in some special sense of the term. So, too, that which the
Apostle says, "Who only hath immortality."(6) Since the soul also both is said to
be, and is, in a certain manner immortal, Scripture would not say "only hath,"
unless because true immortality is unchangeableness; which no creature can
possess, since it belongs to the creator alone.(7) So also James says, "Every good
gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of
Lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning."(8) So also
David, "Thou, shall change them, and they shall be changed; but Thou art the
same."(9)
3. Further, it is difficult to contemplate and fully know the substance of
God; who fashions things changeable, yet without any change in Himself, and
creates things temporal, yet without any temporal movement in Himself. And it is
necessary, therefore, to purge our minds, in order to be able to see ineffably
that which is ineffable; whereto not having yet attained, we are to be
nourished by faith, and led by such ways as are more suited to our capacity, that we
may be rendered apt and able to comprehend it. And hence the Apostle says, that
"in Christ indeed are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge;"(10) and
yet has commended Him to us, as to babes in Christ, who, although already born
again by His grace, yet are still carnal and psychical, not by that divine virtue
wherein He is equal to the Father, but by that human infirmity whereby He was
crucified. For he says, "I determined not to know anything among you, save
Jesus Christ and Him crucified;"(11) and then he continues, "And I was with you in
weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling." And a little after he says to
them, "And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto
carnal,(12) even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with
meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye
able."(13) There are some who are angry at language of this kind, and think it is used
in slight to themselves, and for the most part prefer rather to believe that
they who so speak to them have nothing to say, than that they themselves cannot
understand what they have said. And sometimes, indeed, we do allege to them,
not certainly that account of the case which they seek in their inquiries about
God,--because neither can they themselves receive it, nor can we perhaps either
apprehend or express it,--but such an account of it as to demonstrate to them
how incapable and utterly unfit they are to understand that which they require
of us. But they, on their parts, because they do not hear what they desire,
think that we are either playing them false in order to conceal our own ignorance,
or speaking in malice because we grudge them knowledge; and so go away
indignant and perturbed.
CHAP. 2.--IN WHAT MANNER THIS WORK PROPOSES TO DISCOURSE CONCERNING THE
TRINITY.
4. Wherefore, our Lord God helping, we will undertake to render, as far as
we are able, that very account which they so importunately demand: viz., that
the Trinity is the one and only and true God, and also how the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Spirit are rightly said, believed, understood, to be of one and
the same substance or essence; in such wise that they may not fancy themselves
mocked by excuses on our part, but may find by actual trial, both that the
highest good is that which is discerned by the most purified minds, and that for
this reason it cannot be discerned or understood by themselves, because the eye of
the human mind, being weak, is dazzled in that so transcendent light, unless
it be invigorated by the nourishment of the righteousness of faith. First,
however, we must demonstrate, according to the authority of the Holy Scriptures,
whether the faith be so. Then, if God be willing and aid us, we may perhaps at
least so far serve these talkative arguers--more puffed up than capable, and
therefore laboring under the more dangerous disease--as to enable them to find
something which they are not able to doubt, that so, in that case where they cannot
find the like, they may be led to lay the fault to their own minds, rather than
to the truth itself or to our reasonings; and thus, if there be anything in
them of either love or fear towards God, they may return and begin from faith in
due order: perceiving at length how healthful a medicine has been provided for
the faithful in the holy Church, whereby a heedful piety, healing the
feebleness of the mind, may render it able to perceive the unchangeable truth, and
hinder it from falling headlong, through disorderly rashness, into pestilent and
false opinion. Neither will I myself shrink from inquiry, if I am anywhere in
doubt; nor be ashamed to learn, if I am anywhere in error.
CHAP. 3.--WHAT AUGUSTIN REQUESTS FROM HIS READERS. THE ERRORS OF READERS DULL
OF COMPREHENSION NOT TO BE ASCRIBED TO THE AUTHOR.
5. Further let me ask of my reader, wherever, alike with myself, he is
certain, there to go on with me; wherever, alike with myself, he hesitates, there
to join with me in inquiring; wherever he recognizes himself to be in error,
there to return to me; wherever he recognizes me to be so, there to call me
back: so that we may enter together upon the path of charity, and advance towards
Him of whom it is said, "Seek His face evermore."(1) And I would make this pious
and safe agreement, in the presence of our Lord God, with all who read my
writings, as well in all other cases as, above all, in the case of those which
inquire into the unity of the Trinity, of the Father and the Son and the Holy
Spirit; because in no other subject is error more dangerous, or inquiry more
laborious, or the discovery of truth more profitable. If, then, any reader shall say,
This is not well said, because I do not understand it; such an one finds fault
with my language, not with my faith: and it might perhaps in very truth have
been put more clearly; yet no man ever so spoke as to be understood in all things
by all men. Let him, therefore, who finds this fault with my discourse, see
whether he can understand other men who have handled similar subjects and
questions, when he does not understand me: and if he can, let him put down my book, or
even, if he pleases, throw it away; and let him spend labor and time rather on
those whom he understands.(2) Yet let him not think on that account that I
ought to have been silent, because I have not been able to express myself so
smoothly and clearly to him as those do whom he understands. For neither do all
things, which all men have written, come into the hands of all. And possibly some,
who are capable of understanding even these our writings, may not find those
more lucid works, and may meet with ours only. And therefore it is useful that
many persons should write many books, differing in style but not in faith,
concerning even the same questions, that the matter itself may reach the greatest
number--some in one way, some in another. But if he who complains that he has not
understood these things has never been able to comprehend any careful and exact
reasonings at all upon such subjects, let him in that case deal with himself
by resolution and study, that he may know better; not with me by quarrellings
and wranglings, that I may hold my peace. Let him, again, who says, when he reads
my book, Certainly I understand what is said, but it is not true, assert, if
he pleases, his own opinion, and refute mine if he is able. And if he do this
with charity and truth, and take the pains to make it known to me (if I am still
alive), I shall then receive the most abundant fruit of this my labor. And if
he cannot inform myself, most willing and glad should I be that he should inform
those whom he can. Yet, for my part, "I meditate in the law of the Lord,"(1)
if not "day and night," at least such short times as I can; and I commit my
meditations to writing, lest-they should escape me through forgetfulness; hoping by
the mercy of God that He will make me hold steadfastly all truths of which I
feel certain; "but if in anything I be otherwise minded, that He will himself
reveal even this to me,"(2) whether through secret inspiration and admonition, or
through His own plain utterances, or through the reasonings of my brethren.
This I pray for, and this my trust and desire I commit to Him, who is
sufficiently able to keep those things which He has given me, and to render those which He
has promised.
6. I expect, indeed, that some, who are more dull of understanding, will
imagine that in some parts of my books I have held sentiments which I have not
held, or have not held those which I have. But their error, as none can be
ignorant, ought not to be attributed to me, if they have deviated into false
doctrine through following my steps without apprehending me, whilst I am compelled to
pick my way through a hard and obscure subject: seeing that neither can any
one, in any way, rightly ascribe the numerous and various errors of heretics to
the holy testimonies themselves of the divine books; although all of them
endeavor to defend out of those same Scriptures their own false and erroneous
opinions. The law of Christ, that is, charity, admonishes me clearly, and commands me
with a sweet constraint, that when men think that I have held in my books
something false which I have not held, and that same falsehood displeases one and
pleases another, I should prefer to be blamed by him who reprehends the falsehood,
rather than praised by him who praises it. For although I, who never held the
error, am not rightly blamed by the former, yet the error itself is rightly
censured; whilst by the latter neither am I rightly praised, who am thought to
have held that which the truth censures, nor the sentiment itself, which the truth
also censures. Let us therefore essay the work which we have undertaken in the
name of the Lord.
CHAP. 4.--WHAT THE DOCTRINE OF THE CATHOLIC FAITH IS CONCERNING THE TRINITY.
7. All those Catholic expounders of the divine Scriptures, both Old and
New, whom I have been able to read, who have written before me concerning the
Trinity, Who is God, have purposed to teach, according to the Scriptures, this
doctrine, that the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit intimate a divine unity
of one and the same substance in an indivisible equality;(3) and therefore
that they are not three Gods, but one God: although the Father hath begotten the
Son, and so He who is the Father is not the Son; and the Son is begotten by the
Father, and so He who is the Son is not the Father; and the Holy Spirit is
neither the Father nor the Son, but only the Spirit of the Father and of the Son,
Himself also co-equal with the Father and the Son, and pertaining to the unity
of the Trinity. Yet not that this Trinity was born of the Virgin Mary, and
crucified under Pontius Pilate, andand roseburied,, again the third day, and
ascended into heaven, but only the Son. Nor, again, that this Trinity descended in the
form of a dove upon Jesus when He was baptized;(4) nor that, on the day of
Pentecost, after the ascension of the Lord, when "there came a sound from heaven,
as of a rushing mighty wind,"(5) the same Trinity "sat upon each of them with
cloven tongues like as of fire," but only the Holy Spirit. Nor yet that this
Trinity said from heaven, "Thou art my Son,"(6) whether when He was baptized by
John, or when the three disciples were with Him in the mount,(7) or when the
voice sounded, saying, "I have both glorified it,and will glorify it again;"(8) but
that it was a word of the Father only, spoken to the Son; although the Father,
and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, as they are indivisible, so work
indivisibly.(9) This is also my faith, since it is the Catholic faith.
CHAP. 5.--OF DIFFICULTIES CONCERNING THE TRINITY: IN WHAT MANNER THREE ARE ONE
GOD, AND HOW, WORKING INDIVISIBLY, THEY YET PERFORM SOME THINGS SEVERALLY.
8. Some persons, however, find a difficulty in this faith; when they hear
that the Father is God, and the Son God, and the Holy Spirit God, and yet that
this Trinity is not three Gods, but one God; and they ask how they are to
understand this: especially when it is said that the Trinity works indivisibly in
everything that God works, and yet that a certain voice of the Father spoke,
which is not the voice of the Son; and that none except the Son was born in the
flesh, and suffered, and rose again, and ascended into heaven; and that none
except the Holy Spirit came in the form of a dove. They wish to understand how the
Trinity uttered that voice which was only of the Father; and how the same
Trinity created that flesh in which the Son only was born of the Virgin; and how the
very same Trinity itself wrought that form of a dove, in which the Holy Spirit
only appeared. Yet, otherwise, the Trinity does not work indivisibly, but the
Father does some things, the Son other things, and the Holy Spirit yet others:
or else, if they do some things together, some severally, then the Trinity is
not indivisible. It is a difficulty, too, to them, in what manner the Holy Spirit
is in the Trinity, whom neither the Father nor the Son, nor both, have
begotten, although He is the Spirit both of the Father and of the Son. Since, then,
men weary us with asking such questions, let us unfold to them, as we are able,
whatever wisdom God's gift has bestowed upon our weakness on this subject;
neither "let us go on our way with consuming envy."(1) Should we say that we are not
accustomed to think about such things, it would not be true; yet if we
acknowledge that such subjects commonly dwell in our thoughts, carried away as we are
by the love of investigating the truth, then they require of us, by the law of
charity, to make known to them what we have herein been able to find out. "Not
as though I had already attained, either were already perfect" (for, if the
Apostle Paul, how much more must I, who lie far beneath his feet, count myself not
to have apprehended!); but, according to my measure, "if I forget those things
that are behind, and reach forth unto those things which are before, and press
towards the mark for the prize of the high calling,"(2) I am requested to
disclose so much of the road as I have already passed, and the point to which I
have reached, whence the course yet remains to bring me to the end. And those make
the request, whom a generous charity compels me to serve. Needs must too, and
God will grant that, in supplying them with matter to read, I shall profit
myself also; and that, in seeking to reply to their inquiries, I shall myself
likewise find that for which I was inquiring. Accordingly I have undertaken the
task, by the bidding and help of the Lord my God, not so much of discoursing with
authority respecting things I know already, as of learning those things by
piously discoursing of them.
CHAP. 6.--THAT THE SON IS VERY GOD, OF THE SAME SUBSTANCE WITH THE FATHER. NOT
ONLY THE FATHER, BUT THE TRINITY, IS AFFIRMED TO BE IMMORTAL. ALL THINGS ARE
NOT FROM THE FATHER ALONE, BUT ALSO FROM THE SON. THAT THE HOLY SPIRIT IS VERY
GOD, EQUAL WITH THE FATHER AND THE SON.
9. They who have said that our Lord Jesus Christ is not God, or not very
God, or not with the Father the One and only God, or not truly immortal because
changeable, are proved wrong by the most plain and unanimous voice of divine
testimonies; as, for instance, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God." For it is plain that we are to take the Word of
God to be the only Son of God, of whom it is afterwards said, "And the Word
was made flesh, and dwelt among us," on account of that birth of His incarnation,
which was wrought in time of the Virgin. But herein is declared, not only that
He is God, but also that He is of the same substance with the Father; because,
after saying, "And the Word was God," it is said also, "The same was in the
beginning with God: all things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything
made."(3) Not simply "all things;" but only all things that were made, that
is; the whole creature. From which it appears clearly, that He Himself was not
made, by whom all things were made. And if He was not made, then He is not a
creature; but if He is not a creature, then He is of the same substance with the
Father. For all substance that is not God is creature; and all that is not
creature is God.(4) And if the Son is not of the same substance with the Father, then
He is a substance that was made: and if He is a substance that was made, then
all things were not made by Him; but "all things were made by Him," therefore
He is of one and the same substance with the Father. And so He is not only God,
but also very God. And the same John most expressly affirms this in his
epistle: "For we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an
understanding, that we may know the true God, and that we may be in His true Son Jesus
Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life." (1)
10. Hence also it follows by consequence, that the Apostle Paul did not
say, "Who alone has immortality," of the Father merely; but of the One and only
God, which is the Trinity itself. For that which is itself eternal life is not
mortal according to any changeableness; and hence the Son of God, because "He is
Eternal Life," is also Himself understood with the Father, where it is said,
"Who only hath immortality." For we, too, are made partakers of this eternal
life, and become, in our own measure, immortal. But the eternal life itself, of
which we are made partakers, is one thing; we ourselves, who, by partaking of it,
shall live eternally, are another. For if He had said, "Whom in His own time
the Father will show, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings,
and Lord of lords; who only hath immortality;" not even so would it be
necessarily understood that the Son is excluded. For neither has the Son separated the
Father from Himself, because He Himself, speaking elsewhere with the voice of
wisdom (for He Himself is the Wisdom of God),(2) says, "I alone compassed the
circuit of heaven."(3) And therefore so much the more is it not necessary that
the words, "Who hath immortality," should be understood of the Father alone,
omitting the Son; when they are said thus: "That thou keep this commandment without
spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ: whom in His
own time He will show, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of
kings, and Lord of lords; who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no
man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and
power everlasting. Amen."(4) In which words neither is the Father specially
named, nor the Son, nor the Holy Spirit; but the blessed and only Potentate, the
King of kings, and Lord of lords; that is, the One and only and true God, the
Trinity itself.
11. But perhaps what follows may interfere with this meaning; because it
is said, "Whom no man hath seen, nor can see:" although this may also be taken
as belonging to Christ according to His divinity, which the Jews did not see,
who yet saw and crucified Him in the flesh; whereas His divinity can in no wise
be seen by human sight, but is seen with that sight with which they who see are
no longer men, but beyond men. Rightly, therefore, is God Himself, the Trinity,
understood to be the "blessed and only Potentate," who "shows the coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ in His own time." For the words, "Who only hath
immortality," are said in the same way as it is said, "Who only doeth wondrous things."(5)
And I should be glad to know of whom they take these words to be said. If only
of the Father, how then is that true which the Son Himself says, "For what
things soever the Father doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise?" Is there any,
among wonderful works, more wonderful than to raise up and quicken the dead?
Yet the same Son saith, "As the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them,
even so the Son quickeneth whom He will."(6) How, then, does the Father alone
"do wondrous things," when these words allow us to understand neither the Father
only, nor the Son only, but assuredly the one only true God, that is, the
Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit? (7)
12. Also, when the same apostle says, "But to us there is but one God, the
Father, of whom are all things, and we in Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by
whom are all things, and we by Him,"(8) who can doubt that he speaks of all
things which are created; as does John, when he says, "All things were made by
Him"? I ask, therefore, of whom he speaks in another place: "For of Him, and
through Him, and in Him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen."(9) For if
of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, so as to assign each clause
severally to each person: of Him, that is to say, of the Father; through Him,
that is to say, through the Son; in Him, that is to say, in the Holy Spirit,--it
is manifest that the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit is one God,
inasmuch as the words continue in the singular number, "To whom(10) be glory for
ever." For at the beginning of the passage he does not say, "O the depth of the
riches both of the wisdom and knowledge" of the Father, or of the Son, or of the
Holy Spirit, but "of the wisdom and knowledge of God!" "How unsearchable are His
judgments, and His ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the
Lord? or who hath been His counsellor? Or who hath first given to Him and it
shall be recompensed unto him again? For of Him, and through Him, and in Him, are
all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen."(1) But if they will have this to
be understood only of the Father, then in what way are all things by the
Father, as is said here; and all things by the Son, as where it is said to the
Corinthians, "And one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things,"(2) and as in the
Gospel of John, "All things were made by Him?" For if some things were made by
the Father, and some by the Son, then all things were not made by the Father, nor
all things by the Son; but if all things were made by the Father, and all
things by the Son, then the same things were made by the Father and by the Son. The
Son, therefore, is equal with the Father, and the working of the Father and
the Son is indivisible. Because if the Father made even the Son, whom certainly
the Son Himself did not make, then all things were not made by the Son; but all
things were made by the Son: therefore He Himself was not made, that with the
Father He might make all things that were made. And the apostle has not
refrained from using the very word itself, but has said most expressly, "Who, being in
the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God;"(3) using here
the name of God specially of the Father;(4) as elsewhere, "But the head of Christ
is God."(5)
13. Similar evidence has been collected also concerning the Holy Spirit,
of which those who have discussed the subject before ourselves have most fully
availed themselves, that He too is God, and not a creature. But if not a
creature, then not only God (for men likewise are called gods (6)), but also very God;
and therefore absolutely equal with the Father and the Son, and in the unity
of the Trinity consubstantial and co-eternal. But that the Holy Spirit is not a
creature is made quite plain by that passage above all others, where we are
commanded not to serve the creature, but the Creator;(7) not in the sense in which
we are commanded to "serve" one another by love,(8) which is in Greek
<greek>douleuein</greek>, but in that in which God alone is served, which is in Greek
<greek>latreuein</greek>. From whence they are called idolaters who tender that
service to images which is due to God. For it is this service concerning which
it is said, "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou
serve."(9) For this is found also more distinctly in the Greek Scriptures, which
have <greek>latreuseis</greek>. Now if we are forbidden to serve the creature with
such a service, seeing that it is written, "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy
God, and Him only shalt thou serve" (and hence, too, the apostle repudiates those
who worship and serve the creature more than the Creator), then assuredly the
Holy Spirit is not a creature, to whom such a service is paid by all the
saints; as says the apostle, "For we are the circumcision, which serve the Spirit of
God,"(10) which is in the Greek <greek>latreuontes</greek>. For even most Latin
copies also have it thus, "We who serve the Spirit of God;" but all Greek
ones, or almost all, have it so. Although in some Latin copies we find, not "We
worship the Spirit of God," but, "We worship God in the Spirit." But let those who
err in this case, and refuse to give up to the more weighty authority, tell us
whether they find this text also varied in the MSS.: "Know ye not that your
body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God?" Yet
what can be more senseless or more profane, than that any one should dare to
say that the members of Christ are the temple of one who, in their opinion, is a
creature inferior to Christ? For the apostle says in another place, "Your
bodies are members of Christ." But if the members of Christ are also the temple of
the Holy Spirit, then the Holy Spirit is not a creature; because we must needs
owe to Him, of whom our body is the temple, that service wherewith God only is
to be served, which in Greek is called <greek>latreia</greek>. And accordingly
the apostle says, "Therefore glorify God in your body."(1)
CHAP. 7.--IN WHAT MANNER THE SON IS LESS THAN THE FATHER, AND THAN HIMSELF.
14. In these and like testimonies of the divine Scriptures, by free use of
which, as I have said, our predecessors exploded such sophistries or errors of
the heretics, the unity and equality of the Trinity are intimated to our
faith. But because, on account of the incarnation of the Word of God for the working
out of our salvation, that the man Christ Jesus might be the Mediator between
God and men,(2) many things are so said in the sacred books as to signify, or
even most expressly declare, the Father to be greater than the Son; men have
erred through a want of careful examination or consideration of the whole tenor of
the Scriptures, and have endeavored to transfer those things which are said of
Jesus Christ according to the flesh, to that substance of His which was
eternal before the incarnation, and is eternal. They say, for instance, that the Son
is less than the Father, because it is written that the Lord Himself said, "My
Father is greater than I."(3) But the truth shows that after the same sense the
Son is less also than Himself; for how was He not made less also than Himself,
who "emptied(4) Himself, and took upon Him the form of a servant?" For He did
not so take the form of a servant as that He should lose the form of God, in
which He was equal to the Father. If, then, the form of a servant was so taken
that the form of God was not lost, since both in the form of a servant and in the
form of God He Himself is the same only-begotten Son of God the Father, in the
form of God equal to the Father, in the form of a servant the Mediator between
God and men, the man Christ Jesus; is there any one who cannot perceive that
He Himself in the form of God is also greater than Himself, but yet likewise in
the form of a servant less than Himself? And not, therefore, without cause the
Scripture says both the one and the other, both that the Son is equal to the
Father, and that the Father is greater than the Son. For there is no confusion
when the former is understood as on account of the form of God, and the latter as
on account of the form of a servant. And, in truth, this rule for clearing the
question through all the sacred Scriptures is set forth in one chapter of an
epistle of the Apostle Paul, where this distinction is commended to us plainly
enough. For he says, "Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to
be equal with God; but emptied Himself, and took upon Him the form of a
servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and was found in fashions as a man."(6)
The Son of God, then, is equal to God the Father in nature, but less in
"fashion."(7) For in the form of a servant which He took He is less than the Father;
but in the form of God, in which also He was before He took the form of a
servant, He is equal to the Father. In the form of God He is the Word, "by whom all
things are made;"(8) but in the form of a servant He was "made of a woman, made
under the law, to redeem them that were under the law."(9) In like manner, in
the form of God He made man; in the form of a servant He was made man. For if
the Father alone had made man without the Son, it would not have been written,
"Let us make man in our image, after our likeness."(10) Therefore, because the
form of God took the form of a servant, both is God and both is man; but both
God, on account of God who takes; and both man, on account of man who is taken.
For neither by that taking is the one of them turned and changed into the other:
the Divinity is not changed into the creature, so as to cease to be Divinity;
nor the creature into Divinity, so as to cease to be creature.
CHAP. 8.--THE TEXTS OF SCRIPTURE EXPLAINED RESPECTING THE SUBJECTION OF THE
SON TO THE FATHER, WHICH HAVE BEEN MISUNDERSTOOD. CHRIST WILL NOT SO GIVE UP THE
KINGDOM TO THE FATHER, AS TO TAKE IT AWAY FROM HIMSELF. THE BEHOLDING HIM IS
THE PROMISED END OF ALL ACTIONS. THE HOLY SPIRIT IS SUFFICIENT TO OUR BLESSEDNESS
EQUALLY WITH THE FATHER.
15. As for that which the apostle says, "And when all things shall be
subdued unto Him, then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him that put all
things under Him:" either the text has been so turned, lest any one should
think that the "fashion"(11) of Christ, which He took according to the human
creature, was to be transformed hereafter into the Divinity, or (to express it more
precisely) the Godhead itself, who is not a creature, but is the unity of the
Trinity,--a nature incorporeal, and unchangeable, and consubstantial, and
co-eternal with itself; or if any one contends, as some have thought, that the text,
"Then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him that put all things under
Him," is so turned in order that one may believe that very "subjection" to be a
change and conversion hereafter of the creature into the substance or essence
itself of the Creator, that is, that that which had been the substance of a
creature shall become the substance of the Creator;--such an one at any rate admits
this, of which in truth there is no possible doubt, that this had not yet
taken place, when the Lord said, "My Father is greater than I." For He said this
not only before He ascended into heaven, but also before He had suffered, and had
risen from the dead. But they who think that the human nature in Him is to be
changed and converted into the substance of the Godhead, and that it was so
said, "Then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him that put all things
under Him,"--as if to say, Then also the Son of man Himself, and the human nature
taken by the Word of God, shall be changed into the nature of Him who put all
things under Him,--must also think that this will then take place, when, after
the day of judgment, "He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the
Father." And hence even still, according to this opinion, the Father is greater
than that form of a servant which was taken of the Virgin. But if some affirm
even further, that the man Christ Jesus has already been changed into the
substance of God, at least they cannot deny that the human nature still remained, when
He said before His passion, "For my Father is greater than I;" whence there is
no question that it was said in this sense, that the Father is greater than
the form of a servant, to whom in the form of God the Son is equal. Nor let any
one, hearing what the apostle says, "But when He saith all things are put under
Him, it is manifest that He is excepted which did put all things under Him,"(1)
think the words, that He hath put all things under the Son, to be so
understood of the Father, as that He should not think that the Son Himself put all
things under Himself. For this the apostle plainly declares, when he says to the
Philippians, "For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the
Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change our vile body, that it may be
fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to the working whereby He is
able even to subdue(2) all things unto Himself."(3) For the working of the
Father and of the Son is indivisible. Otherwise, neither hath the Father Himself put
all things under Himself, but the Son hath put all things under Him, who
delivers the kingdom to Him, and puts down all rule and all authority and power. For
these words are spoken of the Son: "When He shall have delivered up," says the
apostle, "the kingdom to God, even the Father; when He shall have put down(4)
all rule, and all authority, and all power." For the same that puts down, also
makes subject.
16. Neither may we think that Christ shall so give up the kingdom to God,
even the Father, as that He shall take it away from Himself. For some vain
talkers have thought even this. For when it is said, "He shall have delivered up
the kingdom to God, even the Father," He Himself is not excluded; cause He is one
God together with the Father. But that word "until" deceives those who are
careless readers of the divine Scriptures, but eager for controversies. For the
text continues, "For He must reign, until He hath put all enemies under His
feet;"(5) as though, when He had so put them, He would no more reign. Neither do
they perceive that this is said in the same way as that other text, "His heart is
established: He shall not be afraid, until He see His desire upon His
enemies."(6) For He will not then be afraid when He has seen it. What then means, "When
He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father," as though God
and the Father has not the kingdom now? But because He is hereafter to bring
all the just, over whom now, living by faith, the Mediator between God and men,
the man Christ Jesus, reigns, to that sight which the same apostle calls "face
to face;"(7) therefore the words, "When He shall have delivered up the kingdom
to God, even the Father," are as much as to say, When He shall have brought
believers to the contemplation of God, even the Father. For He says, "All things
are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father;
neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son
will reveal Him."(8) The Father will then be revealed by the Son, "when He shall
have put down all rule, and all authority, and all power;" that is, in such
wise that there shall be no more need of any economy of similitudes, by means of
angelic rulers, and authorities, and powers. Of whom that is not unfitly
understood, which is said in the Song of Songs to the bride, "We will make thee
borders(9) of gold, with studs of silver, while the King sitteth at His table;"(1)
that is, as long as Christ is in His secret place: since "your life is hid with
Christ in God; when Christ, who is our(2) life, shall appear, then shall ye
also appear with Him in glory."(3) Before which time, "we see now through a glass,
in an enigma," that is, in similitudes, "but then face to face."(4)
17. For this contemplation is held forth to us as the end of all actions,
and the everlasting fullness of joy. For "we are the sons of God; and it doth
not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we
shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is."(5) For that which He said to His
servant Moses, "I am that I am; thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel,
I Am hath sent me to you;"(6) this it is which we shall contemplate when we
shall live in eternity. For so it is said, "And this is life eternal, that they
might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent."(7)
This shall be when the Lord shall have come, and "shall have brought to light
the hidden things of darkness;"(8) when the darkness of this present mortality
and corruption shall have passed away. Then will be our morning, which is spoken
of in the Psalm, "In the morning will I direct my prayer unto Thee, and will
contemplate Thee."(9) Of this contemplation I understand it to be said, "When He
shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father;" that is, when He
shall have brought the just, over whom now, living by faith, the Mediator
between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, reigns, to the contemplation of God, even
the Father. If herein I am foolish, let him who knows better correct me; to me
at least the case seems as I have said.(10) For we shall not seek anything
else, when we shall have come to the contemplation of Him. But that contemplation
is not yet, so long as our joy is in hope. For "hope that is seen is not hope:
for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see
not, then do we with patience wait for it,"(11) viz. "as long as the King
sitteth at His table."(12) Then will take place that which is written, "In Thy
presence is fullness of joy."(13) Nothing more than that joy will be required;
because there will be nothing more than can be required. For the Father will be
manifested to us, and that will suffice for us. And this much Philip had well
understood, so that he said to the Lord, "Show us the Father, and it sufficeth us."
But he had not yet understood that he himself was able to say this very same
thing in this way also: Lord, show Thyself to us, and it sufficeth us. For, that
he might understand this, the Lord replied to him, "Have I been so long time
with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen
the Father." But because He intended him, before he could see this, to live by
faith, He went on to say, "Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the
Father in me?"(14) For "while we are at home in the body, we are absent from
the Lord: for we walk by faith, not by sight."(15) For contemplation is the
recompense of faith, for which recompense our hearts are purified by faith; as it is
written, "Purifying their hearts by faith."(16) And that our hearts are to be
purified for this contemplation, is proved above all by this text, "Blessed are
the pure in heart, for they shall see God."(17) And that this is life eternal,
God says in the Psalm, "With long life will I satisfy him, and show him my
salvation,"(18) Whether, therefore, we hear, Show us the Son; or whether we hear,
Show us the Father; it is even all one, since neither can be manifested without
the other. For they are one, as He also Himself says, "My Father and I are
one."(19) Finally, on account of this very indivisibility, it suffices that
sometimes the Father alone, or the Son alone, should be named, as hereafter to fill
us with the joy of His countenance.
18. Neither is the Spirit of either thence excluded, that is, the Spirit
of the Father and of the Son; which Holy Spirit is specially called "the Spirit
of truth, whom the world cannot receive."(20) For to have the fruition of God
the Trinity, after whose image we are made, is indeed the fullness of our joy,
than which there is no greater. On this account the Holy Spirit is sometimes
spoken of as if He alone sufficed to our blessedness: and He does alone so
suffice, because He cannot be divided from the Father and the Son; as the Father
alone is sufficient, because He cannot be divided from the Son and the Holy Spirit;
and the Son alone is sufficient because He cannot be divided from the Father
and the Holy Spirit. For what does He mean by saying, "If ye love me, keep my
commandments; and I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another
Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of truth, whom the world
cannot receive,"(1) that is, the lovers of the world? For "the natural man
receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God."(2) But it may perhaps seem,
further, as if the words, "And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another
Comforter," were so said as if the Son alone were not sufficient. And that
place so speaks of the Spirit, as if He alone were altogether sufficient: "When He,
the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth."(3) Pray,
therefore, is the Son here excluded, as if He did not teach all truth, or as if the
Holy Spirit were to fill up that which the Son could not fully teach? Let them
say then, if it pleases them, that the Holy Spirit is greater than the Son,
whom they are wont to call less. Or is it, forsooth, because it is not said, He
alone,--or, No one else except Himself--will guide you into all truth, that they
allow that the Son also may be believed to teach together with Him? In that
case the apostle has excluded the Son from knowing those things which are of God,
where he says, "Even so the things of God knoweth no one, but the Spirit of
God:"(4) so that these perverse men might, upon this ground, go on to say that
none but the Holy Spirit teaches even the Son the things of God, as the greater
teaches the less; to whom the Son Himself ascribes so much as to say, "But
because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart.
Nevertheless I tell you the truth; it is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go
not away, the Comforter will not come unto you."(5)
CHAP. 9.--ALL ARE SOMETIMES UNDERSTOOD IN ONE PERSON.
But this is said, not on account of any inequality of the Word of God and
of the Holy Spirit, but as though the presence of the Son of man with them
would be a hindrance to the coming of Him, who was not less, because He did not
"empty Himself, taking upon Him the form of a servant,"(6) as the Son did. It was
necessary, then, that the form of a servant should be taken away from their
eyes, because, through gazing upon it, they thought that alone which they saw to
be Christ. Hence also is that which is said, "If ye loved me, ye would rejoice
because I said, "I go unto the Father; for my Father is greater than I:"(7) that
is, on that account it is necessary for me to go to the Father, because,
whilst you see me thus, you hold me to be less than the Father through that which
you see; and so, being taken up with the creature and the "fashion" which I have
taken upon me, you do not perceive the equality which I have with the Father.
Hence, too, is this: "Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father."(8)
For touch, as it were, puts a limit to their conception, and He therefore would
not have the thought of the heart, directed towards Himself, to be so limited
as that He should be held to be only that which He seemed to be. But the
"ascension to the Father" meant, so to appear as He is equal to the Father, that the
limit of the sight which sufficeth us might be attained there. Sometimes also
it is said of the Son alone, that He himself sufficeth, and the whole reward of
our love and longing is held forth as in the sight of Him. For so it is said,
"He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me; and he
that loveth me shall be loved of my Father; and I will love him, and will
manifest myself to him."(9) Pray, because He has not here said, And I will show the
Father also to him, has He therefore excluded the Father? On the contrary,
because it is true, "I and my Father are one," when the Father is manifested, the
Son also, who is in Him, is manifested; and when the Son is manifested, the
Father also, who is in Him, is manifested. As, therefore, when it is said, "And I
will manifest myself to him," it is understood that He manifests also the
Father; so likewise in that which is said, "When He shall have delivered up the
kingdom to God, even the Father," it is understood that He does not take it away
from Himself; since, when He shall bring believers to the contemplation of God,
even the Father, doubtless He will bring them to the contemplation of Himself,
who has said, "And I will manifest myself to him." And so, consequently, when
Judas had said to Him, "Lord, how is it that Thou wilt manifest Thyself unto us,
and not unto the world?" Jesus answered and said to him, "If a man love me, he
will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and
make our abode with him."(10) Behold, that He manifests not only Himself to
him by whom He is loved, because He comes to him together with the Father, and
abides with him.
19. Will it perhaps be thought, that when the Father and the Son make
their abode with him who loves them, the Holy Spirit is excluded from that abode?
What, then, is that which is said above of the Holy Spirit: "Whom the world
cannot receive, because it seeth Him not:but ye know Him; for He abideth with
you,and is in you"? He, therefore, is not excluded from that abode, of whom it is
said, "He abideth with you, and is in you;" unless, perhaps, any one be so
senseless as to think, that when the Father and the Son have come that they may make
their abode with him who loves them, the Holy Spirit will depart thence, and
(as it were) give place to those who are greater. But the Scripture itself meets
this carnal idea; for it says a little above: "I will pray the Father, and He
shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever."(1) He
will not therefore depart when the Father and the Son come, but will be in the
same abode with them eternally; because neither will He come without them, nor
they without Him. But in order to intimate the Trinity, some things are
separately affirmed, the Persons being also each severally named; and yet are not to be
understood as though the other Persons were excluded, on account of the unity
of the same Trinity and the One substance and Godhead of the Father and of the
Son and of the Holy Spirit.(2)
CHAP. 10.--IN WHAT MANNER CHRIST SHALL DELIVER UP THE KINGDOM TO GOD, EVEN THE
FATHER. THE KINGDOM HAVING BEEN LIVERED TO GOD, EVEN THE FATHER, CHRIST WILL
NOT THEN MAKE INTERCESSION FOR US.
20. Our Lord Jesus Christ, therefore, will so deliver up the kingdom to
God, even the Father, Himself not being thence excluded, nor the Holy Spirit,
when He shall bring believers to the contemplation of God, wherein is the end of
all good actions, and everlasting rest, and joy which never will be taken from
us. For He signifies this in that which He says: "I will see you again, and your
heart shall rejoice; and your joy no man taketh from you."(3) Mary, sitting at
the feet of the Lord, and earnestly listening to His word, foreshowed a
similitude of this joy; resting as she did from all business, and intent upon the
truth, according to that manner of which this life is capable, by which, however,
to prefigure that which shall be for eternity. For while Martha, her sister,
was cumbered about necessary business, which, although good and useful, yet, when
rest shall have succeeded, is to pass away, she herself was resting in the
word of the Lord. And so the Lord replied to Martha, when she complained that her
sister did not help her: "Mary hath chosen the best part, which shall not be
taken away from her."(4) He did not say that Martha was acting a bad part; but
that "best part that shall not be taken away." For that part which is occupied in
the ministering to a need shall be "taken away" when the need itself has
passed away. Since the reward of a good work that will pass away is rest that will
not pass away. In that contemplation, therefore, God will be all in all; because
nothing else but Himself will be required, but it will be sufficient to be
enlightened by and to enjoy Him alone. And so he in whom "the Spirit maketh
intercession with groanings which cannot be uttered,"(5) says, "One thing have I
desired of the Lord, that I will seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the
Lord all the days of my life, to contemplate the beauty of the Lord."(6) For we
shall then contemplate God, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, when
the Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, shall have delivered up
the kingdom to God, even the Father, so as no longer to make intercession for
us, as our Mediator and Priest, Son of God and Son of man;(7) but that He Himself
too, in so far as He is a Priest that has taken the form of a servant for us,
shall be put under Him who has put all things under Him, and under whom He has
put all things: so that, in so far as He is God. He with Him will have put us
under Himself; in so far as He is a Priest, He with us will be put under Him.(8)
And therefore as the [incarnate] Son is both God and man, it is rather to be
said that the manhood in the Son is another substance [from the Son], than that
the Son in the Father [is another substance from the Father]; just as the
carnal nature of my soul is more another substance in relation to my soul itself,
although in one and the same man, than the soul of another man is in relation to
my soul.(1)
21. When, therefore, He "shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even
the Father,"--that is, when He shall have brought those who believe and live by
faith, for whom now as Mediator He maketh intercession, to that contemplation,
for the obtaining of which we sigh and groan, and when labor and groaning
shall have passed away,--then, since the kingdom will have been delivered up to
God, even the Father He will no more make intercession for us. And this He
signifies, when He says: "These things have I spoken unto you in similitudes;(2) but
the time cometh when I shall no more speak unto you in similitudes,(2) but I
shall declare(3) to you plainly of the Father:" that is, they will not then be
"similitudes," when the sight shall be "face to face." For this it is which He
says, "But I will declare to you plainly of the Father;" as if He said I will
plainly show you the Father. For He says, I will "declare" to you, because He is
His word. For He goes on to say, "At that day ye shall ask in my name; and I say
not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you: for the Father Himself
loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God. I
came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the
world, and go to the Father."(4) What is meant by "I came forth from the Father,"
unless this, that I have not appeared in that form in which I am equal to the
Father, but otherwise, that is, as less than the Father, in the creature which I
have taken upon me? And what is meant by "I am come into the world," unless
this, that I have manifested to the eyes even of sinners who love this world, the
form of a servant which I took, making myself of no reputation? And what is
meant by "Again, I leave the world," unless this, that I take away from the sight
of the lovers of this world that which they have seen? And what is meant by "I
go to the Father," unless this, that I teach those who are my faithful ones to
understand me in that being in which I am equal to the Father? Those who
believe this will be thought worthy of being brought by faith to sight, that is, to
that very sight, in bringing them to which He is said to "deliver up the kingdom
to God, even the Father." For His faithful ones, whom He has redeemed with His
blood, are called His kingdom, for whom He now intercedes; but then, making
them to abide in Himself there, where He is equal to the Father, He will no
longer pray the Father for them. "For," He says, "the Father Himself loveth you."
For indeed He "prays," in so far as He is less than the Father; but as He is
equal with the Father, He with the Father grants. Wherefore He certainly does not
exclude Himself from that which He says, "The Father Himself loveth you;" but He
means it to be understood after that manner which I have above spoken of, and
sufficiently intimated,--namely, that for the most part each Person of the
Trinity is so named, that the other Persons also may be understood. Accordingly,
"For the Father Himself loveth you," is so said that by consequence both the Son
and the Holy Spirit also may be understood: not that He does not now love us,
who spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all;(5) but God loves
us, such as we shall be, not such as we are, For such as they are whom He loves,
such are they whom He keeps eternally; which shall then be, when He who now
maketh intercession for us shall have "delivered up the kingdom to God, even the
Father," so as no longer to ask the Father, because the Father Himself loveth
us. But for what deserving, except of faith, by which we believe before we see
that which is promised? For by this faith we shall arrive at sight; so that He
may love us, being such, as He loves us in order that we may become; and not
such, as He hates us because we are, and exhorts and enables us to wish not to be
always.
CHAP. 11.--BY WHAT RULE IN THE SCRIPTURES IT IS UNDERSTOOD THAT THE SON IS NOW
EQUAL AND NOW LESS.
22. Wherefore, having mastered this rule for interpreting the Scriptures
concerning the Son of God, that we are to distinguish in them what relates to
the form of God, in which He is equal to the Father, and what to the form of a
servant which He took, in which He is less than the Father; we shall not be
disquieted by apparently contrary and mutually repugnant sayings of the sacred
books. For both the Son and the Holy Spirit, according to the form of God, are equal
to the Father, because neither of them is a creature, as we have already
shown: but according to the form of a servant He is less than the Father, because He
Himself has said, "My Father is greater than I;"(1) and He is less than
Himself, because it is said of Him, He emptied Himself;"(2) and He is less than the
Holy Spirit, because He Himself says, "Whosoever speaketh a word against the Son
of man, it shall be forgiven him; but whosoever speaketh against the Holy
Ghost, it shall not be forgiven Him."(3) And in the Spirit too He wrought miracles,
saying: "But if I with the Spirit of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom
of God is come upon you."(4) And in Isaiah He says,--in the lesson which He
Himself read in the synagogue, and showed without a scruple of doubt to be
fulfilled concerning Himself,--"The Spirit of the Lord God," He says, "is upon me:
because He hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek He hath sent me
to proclaim liberty to the captives,"(5) etc.: for the doing of which things He
therefore declares Himself to be "sent," because the Spirit of God is upon
Him. According to the form of God, all things were made by Him;(6) according to
the form of a servant, He was Himself made of a woman, made under the law.(7)
According to the form of God, He and the Father are one;(8) according to the form
of a servant, He came not to do His own will, but the will of Him that sent
Him.(9) According to the form of God, "As the Father hath life in Himself, so hath
He given to the Son to have life in Himself;"(10) according to the form of a
servant, His "soul is sorrowful even unto death;" and, "O my Father," He says,
"if it be possible, let this cup pass from me."(11) According to the form of
God, "He is the True God, and eternal life;"(12) according to the form of a
servant, "He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross."(13)--23.
According to the form of God, all things that the Father hath are His,(14) and "All
mine," He says, "are Thine, and Thine are mine;"(15) according to the form of a
servant, the doctrine is not His own, but His that sent Him.(16)
CHAP. 12.--IN WHAT MANNER THE SON IS SAID NOT TO KNOW THE DAY AND THE HOUR
WHICH THE FATHER KNOWS. SOME THINGS SAID OF CHRIST ACCORDING TO THE FORM OF GOD,
OTHER THINGS ACCORDING TO THE FORM OF A SERVANT. IN WHAT WAY IT IS OF CHRIST TO
GIVE THE KINGDOM, IN WHAT NOT OF CHRIST. CHRIST WILL BOTH JUDGE AND NOT JUDGE.
Again, "Of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which
are in heaven; neither the Son, but the Father."(17) For He is ignorant of
this, as making others ignorant; that is, in that He did not so know as at that
time to show His disciples:(18) as it was said to Abraham, "Now I know that thou
fearest God,"(19) that is, now I have caused thee to know it; because he
himself, being tried in that temptation, became known to himself. For He was
certainly going to tell this same thing to His disciples at the fitting time; speaking
of which yet future as if past, He says, "Henceforth I call you not servants,
but friends; for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth: but I have called
you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known
unto you;"(20) which He had not yet done, but spoke as though He had already done
it, because He certainly would do it. For He says to the disciples themselves,
"I have yet many things to say unto you; but ye cannot bear them now."(21)
Among which is to be understood also, "Of the day and hour." For the apostle also
says, "I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him
crucified;"(22) because he was speaking to those who were not able to receive
higher things concerning the Godhead of Christ. To whom also a little while
after he says, "I could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto
carnal."(23) He was "ignorant," therefore, among them of that which they were not able
to know from him. And that only he said that he knew, which it was fitting that
they should know from him. In short, he knew among the perfect what he knew
not among babes; for he there says: "We speak wisdom among them that are
perfect."(24) For a man is said not to know what he hides, after that kind of speech,
after which a ditch is called blind which is hidden. For the Scriptures do not
use any other kind of speech than may be found in use among men, because they
speak to men.
24. According to the form of God, it is said "Before all the hills He
begat me,"(1) that is, before all the loftinesses of things created and, "Before
the dawn I begat Thee,"(2) that is, before all times and temporal things: but
according to the form of a servant, it is said, "The Lord created me in the
beginning of His ways."(3) Because, according to the form of God, He said, "I am the
truth;" and according to the form of a servant, "I am the way."(4) For, because
He Himself, being the first-begotten of the dead,(5) made a passage to the
kingdom of God to life eternal for His Church, to which He is so the Head as to
make the body also immortal, therefore He was "created in the beginning of the
ways" of God in His work. For, according to the form of God, He is the
beginning,(6) that also speaketh unto us, in which "beginning" God created the heaven and
the earth;(7) but according to the form of a servant, "He is a bridegroom
coming out of His chamber."(8) According to the form of God, "He is the first-born
of every creature, and He is before all things and by him all things consist;"
according to the form of a servant, "He is the head of the body, the
Church."(9) According to the form of God, "He is the Lord of glory."(10) From which it is
evident that He Himself glorifies His saints: for, "Whom He did predestinate,
them He also called; and whom He called, them He also justified; and whom He
justified, them He also glorified."(11) Of Him accordingly it is said, that He
justifieth the ungodly;(12) of Him it is said, that He is just and a
justifier.(13) If, therefore, He has also glorified those whom He has justified, He who
justifies, Himself also glorifies; who is, as I have said, the Lord of glory. Yet,
according to the form of a servant, He replied to His disciples, when
inquiring about their own glorification: "To sit on my right hand and on my left is not
mine to give, but [it shall be given to them] for whom it is prepared by my
Father."(14)
25. But that which is prepared by His Father is prepared also by the Son
Himself, because He and the Father are one.(15) For we have already shown, by
many modes of speech in the divine Scriptures, that, in this Trinity, what is
said of each is also said of all, on account of the indivisible working of the one
and same substance. As He also says of the Holy Spirit, "If I depart, I will
send Him unto you."(16) He did not say, We will send; but in such way as if the
Son only should send Him, and not the Father; while yet He says in another
place, "These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you; but the
Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, He
shall teach you all things."(17) Here again it is so said as if the Son also would
not send Him, but the Father only. As therefore in these texts, so also where
He says, "But for them for whom it is prepared by my Father," He meant it to be
understood that He Himself, with the Father, prepares seats of glory for those
for whom He will. But some one may say: There, when He spoke of the Holy
Spirit, He so says that He Himself will send Him, as not to deny that the Father will
send Him; and in the other place, He so says that the Father will send Him, as
not to deny that He will do so Himself; but here He expressly says, "It is not
mine to give," and so goes on to say that these things are prepared by the
Father. But this is the very thing which we have already laid down to be said
according to the form of a servant: viz., that we are so to understand "It is not
mine to give," as if it were said, This is not in the power of man to give; that
so He may be understood to give it through that wherein He is God equal to the
Father. "It is not mine," He says, "to give;" that is, I do not give these
things by human power, but "to those for whom it is prepared by my Father;" but
then take care you understand also, that if "all things which the Father hath are
mine,"(18) then this certainly is mine also, and I with the Father have
prepared these things.
26. For I ask again, in what manner this is said, "If any man hear not my
words, I will not judge him?"(19) For perhaps He has said here, "I will not
judge him," in the same sense as there, "It is not mine to give." But what follows
here? "I came not," He says, "to judge the world, but to save the world;" and
then He adds," He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that
judgeth him." Now here we should understand the Father, unless He had added,
"The word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day." Well,
then, will neither the Son judge, because He says, "I will not judge him," nor
the Father, but the word which the Son hath spoken? Nay, but hear what yet
follows: "For I," He says, "have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me,
He gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak; and I
know that His commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even
as the Father said unto me, so I speak." If therefore the Son judges not, but
"the word which the Son hath spoken;" and the word which the Son hath spoken
therefore judges, because the Son "hath not spoken of Himself, but the Father who
sent Him gave Him a commandment what He should say, and what He should speak:"
then the Father assuredly judges, whose word it is which the Son hath spoken;
and the same Son Himself is the very Word of the Father. For the commandment of
the Father is not one thing, and the word of the Father another; for He hath
called it both a word and a commandment. Let us see, therefore, whether
perchance, when He says, "I have not spoken of myself," He meant to be understood
thus,--I am not born of myself. For if He speaks the word of the Father, then He
speaks Himself,(1) because He is Himself the Word of the Father. For ordinarily He
says, "The Father gave to me;" by which He means it to be understood that the
Father begat Him: not that He gave anything to Him, already existing and not
possessing it; but that the very meaning of, To have given that He might have, is,
To have begotten that He might be. For it is not, as with the creature so with
the Son of God before the incarnation and before He took upon Him our flesh,
the Only-begotten by whom all things were made; that He is one thing, and has
another: but He is in such way as to be what He has. And this is said more
plainly, if any one is fit to receive it, in that place where He says: "For as the
Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in
Himself."(2) For He did not give to Him, already existing and not having life, that He
should have life in Himself; inasmuch as, in that He is, He is life. Therefore
"He gave to the Son to have life in Himself" means, He begat the Son to be
unchangeable life, which is life eternal. Since, therefore, the Word of God is the
Son of God, and the Son of God is "the true God and eternal life,"(3) as John
says in his Epistle; so here, what else are we to acknowledge when the Lord
says, "The word which I have spoken, the same shall judge him at the last day,"(4)
and calls that very word the word of the Father and the commandment of the
Father, and that very commandment everlasting life?" "And I know," He says, "that
His commandment is life everlasting."
27. I ask, therefore, how we are to understand, "I will not judge him; but
the Word which I have spoken shall judge him:" which appears from what follows
to be so said, as if He would say, I will not judge; but the Word of the
Father will judge. But the Word of the Father is the Son of God Himself. Is it to be
so understood: I will not judge, but I will judge? How can this be true,
unless in this way: viz., I will not judge by human power, because I am the Son of
man; but I will judge by the power of the Word, because I am the Son of God? Or
if it still seems contradictory and inconsistent to say, I will not judge, but
I will judge; what shall we say of that place where He says, "My doctrine is
not mine?" How "mine," when "not mine?" For He did not say, This doctrine is not
mine, but "My doctrine is not mine:" that which He called His own, the same He
called not His own. How can this be true, unless He has called it His own in
one relation; not His own, in another? According to the form of God, His own;
according to the form of a servant, not His own. For when He says, "It is not
mine, but His that sent me,"(5) He makes us recur to the Word itself. For the
doctrine of the Father is the Word of the Father, which is the Only Son. And what,
too, does that mean, "He that believeth on me, believeth not on me?"(6) How
believe on Him, yet not believe on Him? How can so opposite and inconsistent a
thing be understood--"Whoso believeth on me," He says, "believeth not on me, but
on Him that sent me;"--unless you so understand it, Whoso believeth on me
believeth not on that which he sees, lest our hope should be in the creature; but on
Him who took the creature, whereby He might appear to human eyes, and so might
cleanse our hearts by faith, to contemplate Himself as equal to the Father? So
that in turning the attention of believers to the Father, and saying,
"Believeth not on me, but on Him that sent me," He certainly did not mean Himself to be
separated from the Father, that is, from Him that sent Him; but that men might
so believe on Himself, as they believe on the Father, to whom He is equal. And
this He says in express terms in another place, "Ye believe in God, believe
also in me:"(7) that is, in the same way as you believe in God, so also believe in
me; because I and the Father are One God. As therefore, here, He has as it
were withdrawn the faith of men from Himself, and transferred it to the Father, by
saying, "Believeth not on me, but on Him that sent me," from whom nevertheless
He certainly did not separate Himself; so also, when He says, "It is not mine
to give, but lit shall be given to them] for whom it is prepared by my Father,"
it is I think plain in what relation both are to be taken. For that other also
is of the same kind, "I will not judge;" whereas He Himself shall judge the
quick and dead.(1) But because He will not do so by human power, therefore,
reverting to the Godhead, He raises the hearts of men upwards; which to lift up, He
Himself came down.
CHAP. 13.--DIVERSE THINGS ARE SPOKEN CONCERNING THE SAME CHRIST, ON ACCOUNT OF
THE DIVERSE NATURES OF THE ONE HYPOSTASIS [THEANTHROPIC PERSON]. WHY IT IS
SAID THAT THE FATHER WILL NOT JUDGE, BUT HAS GIVEN JUDGMENT TO THE SON.
28. Yet unless the very same were the Son of man on account of the form of
a servant which He took, who is the Son of God on account of the form of God
in which He is; Paul the apostle would not say of the princes of this world,
"For had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory."(2) For
He was crucified after the form of a servant, and yet "the Lord of glory" was
crucified. For that "taking" was such as to make God man, and man God. Yet what
is said on account of what, and what according to what, the thoughtful,
diligent, and pious reader discerns for himself, the Lord being his helper. For
instance, we have said that He glorifies His own, as being God, and certainly then as
being the Lord of glory; and yet the Lord of glory was crucified, because even
God is rightly said to have been crucified, not after the power of the
divinity, but after the weakness of the flesh:(3) just as we say, that He judges as
God, that is, by divine power, not by human; and yet the man Himself will judge,
just as the Lord of glory was crucified: for so He expressly says, "When the
Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, and before
Him shall be gathered all nations;"(4) and the rest that is foretold of the
future judgment in that place even to the last sentence. And the Jews, inasmuch as
they will be punished in that judgment for persisting in their wickedness, as
it is elsewhere written, "shall look upon Him whom they have pierced."(5) For
whereas both good and bad shall see the Judge of the quick and dead, without
doubt the bad will not be able to see Him, except after the form in which He is
the Son of man; but yet in the glory wherein He will judge, not in the lowliness
wherein He was judged. But the ungodly without doubt will not see that form of
God in which He is equal to the Father. For they are not pure in heart; and
"Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God."(6) And that sight is face
to face,(7) the very sight that is promised as the highest reward to the just,
and which will then take place when He "shall have delivered up the kingdom to
God, even the Father;" and in this "kingdom" He means the sight of His own
form also to be understood, the whole creature being made subject to God,
including that wherein the Son of God was made the Son of man. Because, according to
this creature, "The Son also Himself shall be subject unto Him, that put all
things under Him, that God may be all in all."(8) Otherwise if the Son of God,
judging in the form in which He is equal to the Father, shall appear when He judges
to the ungodly also; what becomes of that which He promises, as some great
thing, to him who loves Him, saying, "And I will love him, and will manifest
myself to him?"(9) Wherefore He will judge as the Son of man, yet not by human
power, but by that whereby He is the Son of God; and on the other hand, He will
judge as the Son of God, yet not appearing in that [unincarnate] form in which He
is God equal to the Father, but in that [incarnate form] in which He is the Son
of man.(10)
29. Therefore both ways of speaking may be used; the Son of man will
judge, and, the Son of man will not judge: since the Son of man will judge, that the
text may be true which says, "When the Son of man shall come, then before Him
shall be gathered all nations;" and the Son of man will not judge, that the
text may be true which says, "I will not judge him;""(11) and, "I seek not mine
own glory: there is One that seeketh and judgeth."(12) For in respect to this,
that in the judgment, not the form of God, but the form of the Son of man will
appear, the Father Himself will not judge; for according to this it is said, "For
the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son."
Whether this is said after that mode of speech which we have mentioned above, where
it is said, "So hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself,"(1) that it
should signify that so He begat the Son; or, whether after that of which the
apostle speaks, saying, "Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given
Him a name which is above every name:"--(For this is said of the Son of man, in
respect to whom the Son of God was raised from the dead; since He, being in the
form of God equal to the Father, wherefrom He "emptied" Himself by taking the
form of a servant, both acts and suffers, and receives, in that same form of a
servant, what the apostle goes on to mention: "He humbled Himself, and became
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross; wherefore God also hath highly
exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name; that at the name
of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and
things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord, in the Glory of God the Father:"(2)--whether then the words, "He hath
committed all judgment unto the Son," are said according to this or that mode of
speech; it sufficiently appears from this place, that if they were said
according to that sense in which it is said, "He hath given to the Son to have life in
Himself," it certainly would not be said, "The Father judgeth no man." For in
respect to this, that the Father hath begotten the Son equal to Himself, He
judges with Him. Therefore it is in respect to this that it is said, that in the
judgment, not the form of God, but the form of the Son of man will appear. Not
that He will not judge, who hath committed all judgment unto the Son, since the
Son saith of Him, "There is One that seeketh and judgeth:" but it is so said,
"The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son;" as if
it were said, No one will see the Father in the judgment of the quick and the
dead, but all will see the Son: because He is also the Son of man, so that He
can be seen even by the ungodly, since they too shall see Him whom they have
pierced.
30. Lest, however, we may seem to conjecture this rather than to prove it
clearly, let us produce a certain and plain sentence of the Lord Himself, by
which we may show that this was the cause why He said, "The Father judgeth no
man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son," viz. because He will appear as
Judge in the form of the Son of man, which is not the form of the Father, hut
of the Son; nor yet that form of the Son in which He is equal to the Father,
but that in which He is less than the Father; in order that, in the judgment, He
may be visible both to the good and to the bad. For a little while after He
says, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on
Him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation;
but shall pass(3) from death unto life." Now this life eternal is that sight
which does not belong to the bad. Then follows, "Verily, verily, I say unto you,
The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of
God, and they that hear shall live."(4) And this is proper to the godly, who
so hear of His incarnation, as to believe that He is the Son of God, that is,
who so receive Him, as made for their sakes less than the Father, in the form of
a servant, that they believe Him equal to the Father, in the form of God. And
thereupon He continues, enforcing this very point, "For as the Father hath life
in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself." And then He
comes to the sight of His own glory, in which He shall come to judgment; which
sight will be common to the ungodly and to the just. For He goes on to say, "And
hath given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of
man."(5) I think nothing can be more clear. For inasmuch as the Son of God is
equal to the Father, He does not receive this power of executing judgment, but He
has it with the Father in secret; but He receives it, so that the good and the
bad may see Him judging, inasmuch as He is the Son of man. Since the sight of
the Son of man will be shown to the bad also: for the sight of the form of God
will not be shown except to the pure in heart, for they shall see God; that is,
to the godly only, to whose love He promises this very thing, that He will show
Himself to them. And see, accordingly, what follows: "Marvel not at this," He
says. Why does He forbid us to marvel, unless it be that, in truth, every one
marvels who does not understand, that therefore He said the Father gave Him
power also to execute judgment, because He is the Son of man; whereas, it might
rather have been anticipated that He would say, since He is the Son of God? But
because the wicked are not able to see the Son of God as He is in the form of God
equal to the Father, but yet it is necessary that both the just and the wicked
should see the Judge of the quick and dead, when they will be judged in His
presence; "Marvel not at this," He says, "for the hour is coming, in the which
all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; they that
have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil,
unto the resurrection of damnation."(1) For this purpose, then, it was necessary
that He should therefore receive that power, because He is the Son of man, in
order that all in rising again might see Him in the form in which He can be seen
by all, but by some to damnation, by others to life eternal. And what is life
eternal, unless that sight which is not granted to the ungodly? "That they
might know Thee," He says, "the One true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast
sent."(2) And how are they to know Jesus Christ Himself also, unless as the One
true God, who will show Himself to them; not as He will show Himself, in the form
of the Son of man, to those also that shall be punished?(3)
31. He is "good," according to that sight, according to which God appears
to the pure in heart; for "truly God is good unto Israel even to such as are of
a clean heart."(4) But when the wicked shall see the Judge, He will not seem
good to them; because they will not rejoice in their heart to see Him, but all
"kindreds of the earth shall then wail because of Him,"(5) namely, as being
reckoned in the number of all the wicked and unbelievers. On this account also He
replied to him, who had called Him Good Master, when seeking advice of Him how
he might attain eternal life, "Why askest thou me about good?(6) there is none
good but One, that is, God."(7) And yet the Lord Himself, in another place,
calls man good: "A good man," He says, "out of the good treasure of his heart,
bringeth forth good things: and an evil man, out of the evil treasure of his heart,
bringeth forth evil things."(8) But because that man was seeking eternal life,
and eternal life consists in that contemplation in which God is seen, not for
punishment, but for everlasting joy; and because he did not understand with
whom he was speaking, and thought Him to be only the Son of man:(9) Why, He says,
askest thou me about good? that is, with respect to that form which thou seest,
why askest thou about good, and callest me, according to what thou seest, Good
Master? This is the form of the Son of man, the form which has been taken, the
form that will appear in judgment, not only to the righteous, but also to the
ungodly; and the sight of this form will not be for good to those who are
wicked. But there is a sight of that form of mine, in which when I was, I thought it
not robbery to be equal with God: but in order to take this form I emptied
myself.(10) That one God, therefore, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
who will not appear, except for joy which cannot be taken away from the just;
for which future joy he sighs, who says, "One thing have I desired of the Lord,
that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days
of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord:"(11) that one God, therefore,
Himself, I say, is alone good, for this reason, that no one sees Him for sorrow and
wailing, but only for salvation and true joy. If you understand me after this
latter form, then I am good; but if according to that former only, then why
askest thou me about good? If thou art among those who "shall look upon Him whom
they have pierced,"(12) that very sight itself will be evil to them, because it
will be penal. That after this meaning, then, the Lord said, "Why askest thou
me about good? there is none good but One, that is, God," is probable upon
those proofs which I have alleged, because that sight of God, whereby we shall
contemplate the substance of God unchangeable and invisible to human eyes (which is
promised to the saints alone; which the Apostle Paul speaks of, as "face to
face;"(13) and of which the Apostle John says, "We shall be like Him, for we
shall see Him as He is;"(14) and of which it is said, "One thing have I desired of
the Lord, that I may behold the beauty of the Lord," and of which the Lord
Himself says, "I will both love him, and will manifest myself to him;"(15) and on
account of which alone we cleanse our hearts by faith, that we may be those
"pure in heart who are blessed for they shall see God:"(16) and whatever else is
spoken of that sight: which whosoever turns the eye of love to seek it, may find
most copiously scattered through all the Scriptures),--that sight alone, I say,
is our chief good, for the attaining of which we are directed to do whatever
we do aright. But that sight of the Son of man which is foretold, when all
nations shall be gathered before Him, and shall say to Him, "Lord, when saw we Thee
an hungered, or thirsty, etc.?" will neither be a good to the ungodly, who
shall be sent into everlasting fire, nor the chief good to the righteous. For He
still goes on to call these to the kingdom which has been prepared for them from
the foundation of the world. For, as He will say to those, "Depart into
everlasting fire;" so to these," Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you." And as those will go into everlasting burning; so the
righteous will go into life eternal. But what is life eternal, except "that they may
know Thee," He says, "the One true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast
sent?"(1) but know Him now in that glory of which He says to the Father, " Which I had
with Thee before the world was."(2) For then He will deliver up the kingdom to
God, even the Father,(3) that the good servant may enter into the joy of his
Lord,(4) and that He may hide those whom God keeps in the hiding of His
countenance from the confusion of men, namely, of those men who shall then be confounded
by hearing this sentence; of which evil hearing "the righteous man shall not
be afraid"(5) if only he be kept in "the tabernacle," that is, in the true faith
of the Catholic Church, from "the strife of tongues,"(6) that is, from the
sophistries of heretics. But if there is any other explanation of the words of the
Lord, where He says, "Why asketh thou me about good? there is none good, but
One, that is, God;" provided only that the substance of the Father be not
therefore believed to be of greater goodness than that of the Son, according to which
He is the Word by whom all things were made; and if there is nothing in it
abhorrent from sound doctrine; let us securely use it, and not one explanation
only, but as many as we are able to find. For so much the more powerfully are the
heretics proved wrong, the more outlets are open for avoiding their snares. But
let us now start afresh, and address ourselves to the consideration of that
which still remains.