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| Texts explained; Fifthly, Acts ii. 36. The Regula Fidei must be observed; made applies to our Lord's manhood; and to His manifestation; and to His office relative to us; and is relative to the Jews. Parallel instance in Gen. xxvii. 29, 37. The context contradicts the Arian interpretation.
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Chapter
XV.—Texts explained; Fifthly,
Acts ii.
36. The Regula
Fidei must be observed; madeapplies to our Lord’s manhood;
and to His manifestation; and to His office relative to us; and is
relative to the Jews. Parallel instance in Gen. xxvii. 29, 37. The context contradicts the
Arian interpretation.
11 (continued). The same is the meaning of the passage in the Acts which
they also allege, that in which Peter says, that ‘He hath made
both Lord and Christ that same Jesus whom ye have crucified.’ For
here too it is not written, ‘He made for Himself a Son,’ or
‘He made Himself a Word,’ that they should have such
notions. If then it has not escaped their memory, that they speak
concerning the Son of God, let them make search whether it is anywhere
written, ‘God made Himself a Son,’ or ‘He created for
Himself a Word;’ or again, whether it is anywhere written in
plain terms, ‘The Word is a work or creation;’ and then let
them proceed to make their case, the insensate men, that here too they
may receive their answer. But if they can produce nothing of the kind,
and only catch at such stray expressions as ‘He made’ and
‘He has been made,’ I fear lest, from hearing, ‘In
the beginning God made the heaven and the earth,’ and ‘He
made the sun and the moon,’ and ‘He made the sea,’
they should come in time to call the Word the heaven, and the Light
which took place on the first day, and the earth, and each particular
thing that has been made, so as to end in resembling the Stoics, as
they are called, the one drawing out their God into all things2272
| 2272 Brucker de Zenon. §7. n. 14. | , the other ranking God’s Word with
each work in particular; which they have well nigh done already, saying
that He is one of His works.
12. But here they must have the same answer as
before, and first be told that the Word is a Son, as has been said
above2273
, and not a work, and that such terms are not
to be understood of His Godhead, but the reason and manner of them
investigated. To persons who so inquire, the human Economy will plainly
present itself, which He undertook for our sake. For Peter, after
saying, ‘He hath made Lord and Christ,’ straightway added,
‘this Jesus whom ye crucified;’ which makes it plain to any
one, even, if so be, to them, provided they attend to the context, that
not the Essence of the Word, but He according to His manhood is said to
have been made. For what was crucified but the body? and how could be
signified what was bodily in the Word, except by saying ‘He
made?’ Especially has that phrase, ‘He made,’ a
meaning consistent with orthodoxy; in that he has not said, as I
observed before, ‘He made Him Word,’ but ‘He made Him
Lord,’ nor that in general terms2274
,
but ‘towards’ us, and ‘in the midst of’ us, as
much as to say, ‘He manifested Him.’ And this Peter
himself, when he began this primary teaching, carefully2275
| 2275 μετὰ
παρατηρήσεως. vid. infr. 44. e. 59. b. 71. e. Orat. iii. 52.
b. | expressed, when he said to them, ‘Ye
men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man manifested of
God towards you by miracles, and wonders, and signs, which God did by
Him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves know2276
.’ Consequently the term which he uses
in the end, ‘made’, this He has explained in the beginning
by ‘manifested,’ for by the signs and wonders which the
Lord did, He was manifested to be not merely man, but God in a body and
Lord also, the Christ. Such also is the passage in the Gospel according
to John, ‘Therefore the more did the Jews persecute Him, because
He not only broke the Sabbath, but said also that God was His own
Father, making Himself equal with
God2277
.’ For the Lord did not then fashion
Himself to be God, nor indeed is a made God conceivable, but He
manifested it by the works, saying, ‘Though ye believe not Me,
believe My works, that ye may know that I am in the Father, and the
Father in Me2278
.’ Thus then the Father has
‘made’ Him Lord and King in the midst of us, and towards us
who were once disobedient; and it is plain that He who is now displayed
as Lord and King, does not then begin to be King and Lord, but begins
to shew His Lordship, and to extend it even over the disobedient.
13. If then they suppose that the Saviour was not
Lord and King, even before He became man and endured the Cross, but
then began to be Lord, let them know that they are openly reviving the
statements of the Samosatene. But if, as we have quoted and declared
above, He is Lord and King everlasting, seeing that Abraham worships
Him as Lord, and Moses says, ‘Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and
upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven2279
;’ and David in the Psalms, ‘The
Lord said unto my Lord, Sit Thou on My right hand2280
;’ and, ‘Thy Throne, O God, is
for ever and ever; a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of Thy
Kingdom2281
;’ and, ‘Thy Kingdom is an
everlasting Kingdom2282
;’ it is plain
that even before He became man, He was King and Lord everlasting, being
Image and Word of the Father. And the Word being everlasting Lord and
King, it is very plain again that Peter said not that the Essence of
the Son was made, but spoke of His Lordship over us, which
‘became’ when He became man, and, redeeming all by the
Cross, became Lord of all and King. But if they continue the argument
on the ground of its being written, ‘He made,’ not willing
that ‘He made’ should be taken in the sense of ‘He
manifested,’ either from want of apprehension, or from their
Christ-opposing purpose, let them attend to another sound exposition of
Peter’s words. For he who becomes Lord of others, comes into the
possession of beings already in existence; but if the Lord is Framer of
all and everlasting King, and when He became man, then gained
possession of us, here too is a way in which Peter’s language
evidently does not signify that the Essence of the Word is a work, but
the after-subjection of all things, and the Saviour’s Lordship
which came to be over all. And this coincides with what we said
before2283
| 2283 §62, cf. Serm. Maj. de Fid. 1. | ; for as we then introduced the words,
‘Become my God and defence,’ and ‘the Lord became a
refuge for the oppressed2284
,’ and it
stood to reason that these expressions do not shew that God is
originate, but that His beneficence ‘becomes’ towards each
individual, the same sense has the expression of Peter also.
14. For the Son of God indeed, being Himself the
Word, is Lord of all; but we once were subject from the first to the
slavery of corruption and the curse of the Law, then by degrees
fashioning for ourselves things that were not, we served, as says the
blessed Apostle, ‘them which by nature are no Gods2285
,’ and, ignorant of the true God, we
preferred things that were not to the truth; but afterwards, as the
ancient people when oppressed in Egypt groaned, so, when we too had the
Law ‘engrafted2286
’ in us, and
according to the unutterable sighings2287
of
the Spirit made our intercession, ‘O Lord our God, take
possession of us2288
,’ then, as
‘He became for a house of refuge’ and a ‘God and
defence,’ so also He became our Lord. Nor did He then begin to
be, but we began to have Him for our Lord. For upon this, God being
good and Father of the Lord, in pity, and desiring to be known by all,
makes His own Son put on Him a human body and become man, and be called
Jesus, that in this body offering Himself for all, He might deliver all
from false worship and corruption, and might Himself become of all Lord
and King. His becoming therefore in this way Lord and King, this it is
that Peter means by, ‘He hath made Him Lord,’ and
‘hath sent Christ;’ as much as to say, that the Father in
making Him man (for to be made belongs to man), did not simply make Him
man, but has made Him in order to His being Lord of all men, and to His
hallowing all through the Anointing. For though the Word existing in
the form of God took a servant’s form, yet the assumption of the
flesh did not make a servant2289
| 2289 οὐκ ἐδούλον
τὸν λόγον· though, as he said supr. §10, the Word became a
servant, as far as He was man. He says the same thing Ep.
Æg 17. So say Naz. Orat. 32. 18. Nyssen. ad
Simpl. (t. 2. p. 471.) Cyril. Alex. adv. Theodor. p. 223.
Hilar. de Trin. xi. Ambros. 1. Epp. 46, 3. | of the Word, who
was by nature Lord; but rather, not only was it that emancipation of
all humanity which takes place by the Word, but that very Word who was
by nature Lord, and was then made man, hath by means of a
servant’s form been made Lord of all and Christ, that is, in
order to hallow all by the Spirit. And as God, when ‘becoming a
God and defence,’ and saying, ‘I will be a God to
them,’ does not then become God more than before, nor then begins
to become God, but, what He ever is, that He then becomes to those who
need Him, when it pleaseth Him, so
Christ also being by nature Lord and King everlasting, does not become
Lord more than He was at the time He is sent forth, nor then begins to
be Lord and King, but what He is ever, that He then is made according
to the flesh; and, having redeemed all, He becomes thereby again Lord
of quick and dead. For Him henceforth do all things serve, and this is
David’s meaning in the Psalm, ‘The Lord said unto my Lord,
Sit Thou on My right hand, until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool2290
.’ For it was fitting that the
redemption should take place through none other than Him who is the
Lord by nature, lest, though created by the Son, we should name another
Lord, and fall into the Arian and Greek folly, serving the creature
beyond the all-creating God2291
| 2291 Vid. Rom. i. 25. and so both text and application very frequently, e.g.
Ep. Æg. 4. e. 13. c. Vid. supr. i. 8, note 8, infr. iii.
16. note | .
15. This, at least according to my nothingness,
is the meaning of this passage; moreover, a true and a good meaning
have these words of Peter as regards the Jews. For Jews, astray from
the truth, expect indeed the Christ as coming, but do not reckon that
He undergoes a passion, saying what they understand not; ‘We know
that, when the Christ cometh, He abideth for ever, and how sayest Thou,
that He must be lifted up2292
?’ Next they
suppose Him, not the Word coming in flesh, but a mere man, as were all
the kings. The Lord then, admonishing Cleopas and the other, taught
them that the Christ must first suffer; and the rest of the Jews that
God was come among them, saying, ‘If He called them gods to whom
the word of God came, and the Scripture cannot be broken, say ye of Him
whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the world, Thou
blasphemest, because I said, I am the Son of God2293
?’
16. Peter then, having learned this from the
Saviour, in both points set the Jews right, saying, “O Jews, the
divine Scriptures announce that Christ cometh, and you consider Him a
mere man as one of David’s descendants, whereas what is written
of Him shews Him to be not such as you say, but rather announces Him as
Lord and God, and immortal, and dispenser of life. For Moses has said,
‘Ye shall see your Life hanging before your eyes2294
| 2294 Deut. xxviii.
66.
Vid. [de Incar. 35. The text is frequently thus explained by the
Fathers]. | .’ And David in the hundred and ninth
Psalm, ‘The Lord said unto My Lord, Sit Thou on My right hand,
till I make Thine enemies Thy footstool2295
;’ and in the fifteenth, ‘Thou
shalt not leave my soul in hades, neither shalt Thou suffer Thy Holy
One to see corruption2296
.’ Now that
these passages have not David for their scope he himself witnesses,
avowing that He who was coming was His own Lord. Nay you yourselves
know that He is dead, and His remains are with you. That the Christ
then must be such as the Scriptures say, you will plainly confess
yourselves. For those announcements come from God, and in them
falsehood cannot be. If then ye can state that such a one has come
before, and can prove him God from the signs and wonders which he did,
ye have reason for maintaining the contest, but if ye are not able to
prove His coming, but are expecting such an one still, recognise the
true season from Daniel, for his words relate to the present time. But
if this present season be that which was of old, afore-announced, and
ye have seen what has taken place among us, be sure that this Jesus,
whom ye crucified, this is the expected Christ. For David and all the
Prophets died, and the sepulchres of all are with you, but that
Resurrection which has now taken place, has shewn that the scope of
these passages is Jesus. For the crucifixion is denoted by ‘Ye
shall see your Life hanging,’ and the wound in the side by the
spear answers to ‘He was led as a sheep to the slaughter2297
,’ and the resurrection, nay more, the
rising of the ancient dead from out their sepulchres (for these most of
you have seen), this is, ‘Thou shalt not leave My soul in
hades,’ and ‘He swallowed up death in strength2298
,’ and again, ‘God will wipe
away.’ For the signs which actually took place shew that He who
was in a body was God, and also the Life and Lord of death. For it
became the Christ, when giving life to others, Himself not to be
detained by death; but this could not have happened, had He, as you
suppose, been a mere man. But in truth He is the Son of God, for men
are all subject to death. Let no one therefore doubt, but the whole
house of Israel know assuredly that this Jesus, whom ye saw in shape a
man, doing signs and such works, as no one ever yet had done, is
Himself the Christ and Lord of all. For though made man, and called
Jesus, as we said before, He received no loss
by that human passion, but rather, in being made man, He is manifested
as Lord of quick and dead. For since, as the Apostle said, ‘in
the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by
the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe2299
.’ And so, since we men would not
acknowledge God through His Word, nor serve the Word of God our natural Master, it pleased God to shew in
man His own Lordship, and so to draw all men to Himself. But to do this
by a mere man beseemed not2300
| 2300 In
the text the Mediatorial Lordship is made an office of God the Word;
still, not as God, but as man. Cf. Augustine, Trin. i. 27. 28.
In like manner the Priesthood is the office of God in the form of man,
supr. 8, note 4. And so again none but the Eternal Son could be
πρωτότοκος, yet He is so called when sent as Creator and as
incarnate. infr. 64. | ; lest, having man
for our Lord, we should become worshippers of man2301
. Therefore the Word Himself became flesh,
and the Father called His Name Jesus, and so ‘made’ Him
Lord and Christ, as much as to say, ‘He made Him to rule and to
reign;’ that while in the Name of Jesus, whom ye crucified, every
knee bows, we may acknowledge as Lord and King both the Son and through
Him the Father.”
17. The Jews then, most of them2302
| 2302 οἱ
πλεῖστοι. [An exaggeration, cf. Rom. xi. 7, &c.] | , hearing this, came to themselves and
forthwith acknowledged the Christ, as it is written in the Acts. But,
the Ario-maniacs on the contrary choose to remain Jews, and to contend
with Peter; so let us proceed to place before them some parallel
phrases; perhaps it may have some effect upon them, to find what the
usage is of divine Scripture. Now that Christ is everlasting Lord and
King, has become plain by what has gone before, nor is there a man to
doubt about it; for being Son of God, He must be like Him2303
, and being like, He is certainly both Lord
and King, for He says Himself, ‘He that hath seen Me, hath seen
the Father.’ On the other hand, that Peter’s mere words,
‘He hath made Him both Lord and Christ,’ do not imply the
Son to be a creature, may be seen from Isaac’s blessing, though
this illustration is but a faint one for our subject. Now he said to
Jacob, ‘Become thou lord over thy brother;’ and to Esau,
‘Behold, I have made him thy lord2304
.’ Now though the word
‘made’ had implied Jacob’s essence and the coming
into being, even then it would not be right in them as much as to
imagine the same of the Word of God, for the Son of God is no creature
as Jacob was; besides, they might inquire and so rid themselves of that
extravagance. But if they do not understand it of his essence nor of
his coming into being, though Jacob was by nature creature and work, is
not their madness worse than the Devil’s2305
,
if what they dare not ascribe in consequence of a like phrase even to
things by nature originate, that they attach to the Son of God, saying
that He is a creature? For Isaac said ‘Become’ and ‘I
have made,’ signifying neither the coming into being nor the
essence of Jacob (for after thirty years and more from his birth he
said this); but his authority over his brother, which came to pass
subsequently.
18. Much more then did Peter say this without
meaning that the Essence of the Word was a work; for he knew Him to be
God’s Son, confessing, ‘Thou art the Christ, the Son of the
Living God2306
;’ but he meant His Kingdom and
Lordship which was formed and came to be according to grace, and was
relatively to us. For while saying this, he was not silent about the
Son of God’s everlasting Godhead which is the Father’s; but
He had said already, that He had poured the Spirit on us; now to give
the Spirit with authority, is not in the power of creature or work, but
the Spirit is God’s Gift2307
| 2307 θεοῦ
δῶρον. And so more
distinctly S. Basil, δῶρον τοῦ
θεοῦ τὸ
πνεῦμα. de
Sp. S. 57, and more frequently the later Latins, as in the Hymn,
‘Altissimi Donum Dei;’ and the earlier, e.g. Hil. de
Trin. ii. 29. and August. Trin. xv. 29. v. 15, Petav.
Trin. vii. 13, §20. | . For the creatures
are hallowed by the Holy Spirit; but the Son, in that He is not
hallowed by the Spirit, but on the contrary Himself the Giver of it to
all2308
, is therefore no creature, but true Son of
the Father. And yet He who gives the Spirit, the same is said also to
be made; that is, to be made among us Lord because of His manhood,
while giving the Spirit because He is God’s Word. For He ever was
and is, as Son, so also Lord and Sovereign of all, being like in all
things2309
| 2309 ὅμοιος κατὰ
παντα. vid. infr.
§22, note 4. | to the Father, and having all that is
the Father’s2310
| 2310 Vid.
infr. note on Orat. iii. 1. | as He Himself has
said2311
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