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| Texts Explained; Sixthly, the Context of Proverbs viii. 22 Vz. 22-30. It is right to interpret this passage by the Regula Fidei. 'Founded' is used in contrast to superstructure; and it implies, as in the case of stones in building, previous existence. 'Before the world' signifies the divine intention and purpose. Recurrence to Prov. viii. 22, and application of it to created Wisdom as seen in the works. The Son reveals the Father, first by the works, then by the Incarnation.
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Chapter
XXII.—Texts Explained; Sixthly, the
Context of Proverbs viii. 22 Vz.
22–30 It is right to interpret this passage by the
Regula Fidei. ‘Founded’ is used in contrast to
superstructure; and it implies, as in the case of stones in building,
previous existence. ‘Before the world’ signifies the divine
intention and purpose. Recurrence to Prov. viii. 22, and application of it to created
Wisdom as seen in the works. The Son reveals the Father, first by the
works, then by the Incarnation.
But since the heretics,
reading the next verse, take a perverse view of that also, because it
is written, ‘He founded me before the world2710
,’ namely, that this is said of the
Godhead of the Word and not of His incarnate Presence2711
, it is necessary, explaining this verse
also, to shew their error.
73. It is written, ‘The Lord in Wisdom
founded the earth2712
;’ if then by
Wisdom the earth is founded, how can He who founds be founded? nay,
this too is said after the manner of proverbs2713
,
and we must in like manner investigate its sense; that we may know
that, while by Wisdom the Father frames and founds the earth to be firm
and steadfast2714
, Wisdom Itself is
founded for us, that It may become beginning and foundation of our new
creation and renewal. Accordingly here as before, He says not,
‘Before the world He hath made me Word or Son,’ lest there
should be as it were a beginning of His making. For this we must seek
before all things, whether He is Son2715
, ‘and on
this point specially search the Scriptures2716
| 2716 Vid.
supr. pp. 74, 172, and notes. vid. also Serap. i. 32
init. iv. fin. contr. Apoll. i. 6, 8, 9, 11, 22; ii. 8, 9, 13,
14, 17–19. ‘The doctrine of the Church should be proved,
not announced (ἀποδεικτικῶς
οὐκ
ἀποφαντικῶς); therefore shew that Scripture thus teaches.’
Theod. Eran. p. 199. Ambros. de Incarn. 14. Non recipio
quod extra Scripturam de tuo infers. Tertull. Carn. Christ. 7.
vid. also 6. Max. dial. v. 29. Heretics in particular professed
to be guided by Scripture. Tertull. Præscr. 8. For Gnostics
vid. Tertullian’s grave sarcasm: ‘Utantur hæretici
omnes scripturis ejus, cujus utuntur etiam mundo.’ Carn.
Christ. 6. For Arians, vid. supr. Or. i. 1, n. 4. And so
Marcellus, ‘We consider it unsafe to lay down doctrine concerning
things which we have not learned with exactness from the divine
Scriptures.’ (leg. περὶ ὧν παρὰ τῶν). Euseb. Eccl. Theol. p. 177, d. And Macedonians, vid.
Leont. de Sect. iv. init. And Monophysites, ‘I have not
learned this from Scripture; and I have a great fear of saying what it
is silent about.’ Theod. Eran. p. 215; also Hilar. ad
Const. ii. 9. Hieron. c. Lucif. 27. August. Ep. 120,
13. | ;’ for this it was, when the Apostles
were questioned, that Peter answered, saying, ‘Thou art the
Christ, the Son of the Living God2717
.’ This
also the father2718
| 2718 Ep. Æg. 4. Sent. D. 3. c. infr. 59 init.
67. fin. note infr. on iii. 8. | of the Arian heresy
asked as one of his first questions; ‘If Thou be the Son of God2719
;’ for he knew that this is the truth
and the sovereign principle of our faith; and that, if He were Himself
the Son, the tyranny of the devil would have its end; but if He were a
creature, He too was one of those descended from that Adam whom he
deceived, and he had no cause for anxiety. For the same reason the Jews
of the day2720
were angered, because the Lord said
that He was Son of God, and that God was His proper Father. For had He
called Himself one of the creatures, or said, ‘I am a
work,’ they had not been startled at the intelligence, nor
thought such words blasphemy, knowing, as they did, that even Angels
had come among their fathers; but since He called Himself Son, they
perceived that such was not the note of a creature, but of Godhead and
of the Father’s nature2721
| 2721 πατρικήν, vid. de Syn. 45, n. 1. | . The Arians then
ought, even in imitation of their own father the devil, to take some
special pains2722
| 2722 περιεργάζεσθαι, vid. iii. 18. | on this point; and
if He has said, ‘He founded me to be Word or Son,’ then to
think as they do; but if He has not so spoken, not to invent for
themselves what is not.
74. For He says not, ‘Before the world He
founded me as Word or Son,’ but simply, ‘He founded
me,’ to shew again, as I have said, that not for His own sake2723
but for those who are built upon Him does He
here also speak, after the way of proverbs. For this knowing, the
Apostle also writes, ‘Other foundation can no man lay than that
is laid, which is Jesus Christ; but let every man take heed how he
buildeth thereupon2724
.’ And it must
be that the foundation should be such as the things built on it, that
they may admit of being well compacted together. Being then the Word,
He has not, as Word2725
, any such as
Himself, who may be compacted with Him; for He is Only-begotten; but
having become man, He has the like of Him, those namely the likeness of
whose flesh He has put on. Therefore according to His manhood He is
founded, that we, as precious stones, may admit of building upon Him,
and may become a temple of the Holy Ghost who dwelleth in us. And as He
is a foundation, and we stones built upon Him, so again He is a Vine
and we knit to Him as branches,—not according to the Essence of
the Godhead; for this surely is impossible; but according to His
manhood, for the branches must be
like the vine, since we are like Him according to the flesh. Moreover,
since the heretics have such human notions, we may suitably confute
them with human resemblances contained in the very matter they urge.
Thus He saith not, ‘He made me a foundation,’ lest He might
seem to be made and to have a beginning of being, and they might thence
find a shameless occasion of irreligion; but, ‘He founded
me.’ Now what is founded is founded for the sake of the stones
which are raised upon it; it is not a random process, but a stone is
first transported from the mountain and set down in the depth of the
earth. And while a stone is in the mountain, it is not yet founded; but
when need demands, and it is transported, and laid in the depth of the
earth, then forthwith if the stone could speak, it would say, ‘He
now founded me, who brought me hither from the mountain.’
Therefore the Lord also did not when founded take a beginning of
existence; for He was the Word before that; but when He put on our
body, which He severed and took from Mary, then He says ‘He hath
founded me;’ as much as to say, ‘Me, being the Word, He
hath enveloped in a body of earth.’ For so He is founded for our
sakes, taking on Him what is ours2726
| 2726 Letter 59. 6. Leon. Ep. 28. 3. | , that we, as
incorporated and compacted and bound together in Him through the
likeness of the flesh, may attain unto a perfect man, and abide2727
| 2727 διαμείνωμεν, 69, n. 3. | immortal and incorruptible.
75. Nor let the words ‘before the
world’ and ‘before He made the earth’ and
‘before the mountains were settled’ disturb any one; for
they very well accord with ‘founded’ and
‘created;’ for here again allusion is made to the Economy
according to the flesh. For though the grace which came to us from the
Saviour appeared, as the Apostle says, just now, and has come when He
sojourned among us; yet this grace had been prepared even before we
came into being, nay, before the foundation of the world, and the
reason why is kindly and wonderful. It beseemed not that God should
counsel concerning us afterwards, lest He should appear ignorant of our
fate. The God of all then,—creating us by His own Word, and
knowing our destinies better than we, and foreseeing that, being made
‘good2728
,’ we should in the event be
transgressors of the commandment, and be thrust out of paradise for
disobedience,—being loving and kind, prepared beforehand in His
own Word, by whom also He created us2729
, the Economy
of our salvation; that though by the serpent’s deceit we fell
from Him, we might not remain quite dead, but having in the Word the
redemption and salvation which was afore prepared for us, we might rise
again and abide immortal, what time He should have been created for us
‘a beginning of the ways,’ and He who was the
‘First-born of creation’ should become
‘first-born’ of the ‘brethren,’ and again
should rise ‘first-fruits of the dead.’ This Paul the
blessed Apostle teaches in his writings; for, as interpreting the words
of the Proverbs ‘before the world’ and ‘before the
earth was,’ he thus speaks to Timothy2730
| 2730 Didym. Trin. iii. 3. p. 342. | ;
‘Be partaker of the afflictions of the Gospel according to the
power of God, who hath saved us and called us with a holy calling, not
according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace,
which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, but is now
made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath
abolished death, and brought to light life2731
.’ And to the Ephesians; ‘Blessed
be God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us
with all spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,
having predestinated us to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
Himself2732
.’
76. How then has He chosen us, before we came
into existence, but that, as he says himself, in Him we were
represented2733
beforehand? and how at all, before men
were created, did He predestinate us unto adoption, but that the Son
Himself was ‘founded before the world,’ taking on Him that
economy which was for our sake? or how, as the Apostle goes on to say,
have we ‘an inheritance being predestinated,’ but that the
Lord Himself was founded ‘before the world,’ inasmuch as He
had a purpose, for our sakes, to take on Him through the flesh all that
inheritance of judgment which lay against us, and we henceforth were
made sons in Him? and how did we receive it ‘before the world
was,’ when we were not yet in being, but afterwards in time, but
that in Christ was stored the grace which has reached us? Wherefore
also in the Judgment, when every one shall receive according to his
conduct, He says, ‘Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the
kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world2734
.’ How then, or in whom, was it
prepared before we came to be, save in the Lord who ‘before the
world’ was founded for this purpose; that we, as built upon Him,
might partake, as well-compacted stones, the life and grace which is
from Him? And this took place, as naturally suggests itself to the religious mind,
that, as I said, we, rising after our brief death, may be capable of an
eternal life, of which we had not been capable2735
| 2735 The
Catholic doctrine seems to be, that Adam innocent was mortal, yet would
not in fact have died; that he had no principle of eternal life within
him, but was sustained continually by divine power, till such time as
immortality should have been given him. vid. Incarn. 4. Cf.
Augustine, de pecc. mer. i. 3. Gen. ad lit. vi. 20. Pope
Pius V. condemned the assertion of Baius, Immortalitas primi hominis
non erat gratiæ beneficium sed naturalis conditio. His decision of
course is here referred to only historically. | ,
men as we are, formed of earth, but that ‘before the world’
there had been prepared for us in Christ the hope of life and
salvation. Therefore reason is there that the Word, on coming into our
flesh, and being created in it as ‘a beginning of ways for His
works,’ is laid as a foundation according as the Father’s
will2736
was in Him before the world, as has been
said, and before land was, and before the mountains were settled, and
before the fountains burst forth; that, though the earth and the
mountains and the shapes of visible nature pass away in the fulness of
the present age, we on the contrary may not grow old after their
pattern, but may be able to live after them, having the spiritual life
and blessing which before these things have been prepared for us in the
Word Himself according to election. For thus we shall be capable of a
life not temporary, but ever afterwards abide2737
and live in Christ; since even before this our life had been founded
and prepared in Christ Jesus.
77. Nor in any other way was it fitting that our
life should be founded, but in the Lord who is before the ages, and
through whom the ages were brought to be; that, since it was in Him, we
too might be able to inherit that everlasting life. For God is good;
and being good always, He willed this, as knowing that our weak nature
needed the succour and salvation which is from Him. And as a wise
architect, proposing to build a house, consults also about repairing
it, should it at any time become dilapidated after building, and, as
counselling about this, makes preparation and gives to the workmen
materials for a repair; and thus the means of the repair are provided
before the house; in the same way prior to us is the repair of our
salvation founded in Christ, that in Him we might even be new-created.
And the will and the purpose were made ready ‘before the
world,’ but have taken effect when the need required, and the
Saviour came among us. For the Lord Himself will stand us in place of
all things in the heavens, when He receives us into everlasting life.
This then suffices to prove that the Word of God is not a creature, but
that the sense of the passage is right2738
.
But since that passage, when scrutinized, has a right sense in every
point of view, it may be well to state what it is; perhaps many words
may bring these senseless men to shame. Now here I must recur to what
has been said before, for what I have to say relates to the same
proverb and the same Wisdom. The Word has not called Himself a creature
by nature, but has said in proverbs, ‘The Lord created me;’
and He plainly indicates a sense not spoken ‘plainly’ but
latent2739
| 2739 Cf.
73, n. 2. and reff. | , such as we shall be able to find by
taking away the veil from the proverb. For who, on hearing from the
Framing Wisdom, ‘The Lord created me a beginning of His
ways,’ does not at once question the meaning, reflecting how that
creative Wisdom can be created? who on hearing the Only-begotten Son of
God say, that He was created ‘a beginning of ways,’ does
not investigate the sense, wondering how the Only-begotten Son can
become a Beginning of many others? for it is a dark saying2740
| 2740 αἴνιγμα, supr. i. 41, n. 9. | ; but ‘a man of understanding,’
says he, ‘shall understand a proverb and the interpretation, the
words of the wise and their dark sayings2741
.’
78. Now the Only-begotten and very Wisdom2742
| 2742 αὐτοσοφία
vid. infr. note on iv. 2. | of God is Creator and Framer of all things;
for ‘in Wisdom hast Thou made them all2743
,’ he says, and ‘the earth is
full of Thy creation.’ But that what came into being might not
only be, but be good2744
| 2744 supr. de Decr. 19, n. 3. | , it pleased God
that His own Wisdom should condescend2745
| 2745 Cf.
64, notes 2 and 5. | to
the creatures, so as to introduce an impress and semblance of Its Image
on all in common and on each, that what was made might be manifestly
wise works and worthy of God2746
| 2746 Didymus argues in favour of interpreting the passage of created
wisdom at length, Trin. iii. 3. He says that the context makes
this interpretation necessary. | . For as of the Son
of God, considered as the Word, our word is an image, so of the same
Son considered as Wisdom is the wisdom which is implanted in us an
image; in which wisdom we, having the power of knowledge and thought,
become recipients of the All-framing Wisdom; and through It we are able
to know Its Father. ‘For he who hath the Son,’ saith He,
‘hath the Father also;’ and ‘he that receiveth Me,
receiveth Him that sent Me2747
.’ Such an
impress then of Wisdom being created in us, and being in all the works,
with reason does the true and framing Wisdom take to Itself what
belongs to its own impress, and say, ‘The Lord created me for His
works;’ for what the wisdom in us says, that the Lord Himself speaks as if it were His own;
and, whereas He is not Himself created, being Creator, yet because of
the image of Him created in the works2748
| 2748 Athan. here considers wisdom as the image of the Creator in the
Universe. He explains it of the Church, de Incarn. contr. Ar. 6.
if it be his [but see Prolegg. ch. iii. §1 (36)]; (and so Didym.
Trin. iii. 3 fin.) Cf. Jerome, in Eph. iv. 23, 24. Naz.
Orat. 30, 2. Epiphanius says, ‘Scripture has nowhere
confirmed this passage (Prov. viii. 22), nor has any Apostle referred
it to Christ.’ (vid. also Basil. contr. Eunom. ii. 20.)
Hær. 69. pp. 743–745. He proceeds to shew how it may
apply to Him. | ,
He says this as if of Himself. And as the Lord Himself has said,
‘He that receiveth you, receiveth Me2749
,’ because His impress is in us, so,
though He be not among the creatures, yet because His image and impress
is created in the works, He says, as if in His own person, ‘The
Lord created me a beginning of His ways for His works.’ And
therefore has this impress of Wisdom in the works been brought into
being, that, as I said before, the world might recognise in it its own
Creator the Word, and through Him the Father. And this is what Paul
said, ‘Because that which may be known of God is manifest in
them, for God has shewed it unto them: for the invisible things of Him
from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by
the things that are made2750
.’ But if so,
the Word is not a creature in essence2751
;
but the wisdom which is in us and so called, is spoken of in this
passage in the Proverbs.
79. But if this too fails to persuade them, let
them tell us themselves, whether there is any wisdom in the creatures
or not2752
| 2752 Vid.
Epiph. Hær. 69. | ? If not how is it that the Apostle
complains, ‘For after that in the Wisdom of God the world by
wisdom knew not God2753
?’ or how is
it if there is no wisdom, that a ‘multitude of wise men2754
’ are found in Scripture? for ‘a
wise man feareth and departeth from evil2755
;’ and ‘through wisdom is a house
builded2756
;’ and the Preacher says,
‘A man’s wisdom maketh his face to shine;’ and he
blames those who are headstrong thus, ‘Say not thou, what is the
cause that the former days were better than these? for thou dost not
inquire in wisdom concerning this2757
.’ But
if, as the Son of Sirach says, ‘He poured her out upon all His
works; she is with all flesh according to His gift, and He hath given
her to them that love Him2758
,’ and this
outpouring is a note, not of the Essence of the Very2759
Wisdom and Only-begotten, but of that wisdom
which is imaged in the world, how is it incredible that the All-framing
and true Wisdom Itself, whose impress is the wisdom and knowledge
poured out in the world, should say, as I have already explained, as if
of Itself, ‘The Lord created me for His works?’ For the
wisdom in the world is not creative, but is that which is created in
the works, according to which ‘the heavens declare the glory of
God, and the firmament sheweth His handywork2760
.’ This if men have within them2761
| 2761 Cf.
contr. Gent. 2, 30, 40, &c. vid. also Basil. de
Sp. S. n. 19. Cyril. in Joan. p. 75. | , they will acknowledge the true Wisdom of
God; and will know that they are made really2762
after God’s Image. And, as some son of a king, when the father
wished to build a city2763
| 2763 This
is drawn out somewhat differently, and very strikingly in contr.
Gent. 43. The Word indeed is regarded more as the Governor than
the Life of the world, but shortly before he spoke of the Word as the
Principle of permanence. 41 fin. | , might cause his
own name to be printed upon each of the works that were rising, both to
give security to them of the works remaining, by reason of the show of
his name on everything, and also to make them remember him and his
father from the name, and having finished the city might be asked
concerning it, how it was made, and then would answer, ‘It is
made securely, for according to the will of my father, I am imaged in
each work, for my name was made in the works;’ but saying this,
he does not signify that his own essence is created, but the impress of
himself by means of his name; in the same manner, to apply the
illustration, to those who admire the wisdom in the creatures, the true
Wisdom makes answer, ‘The Lord created me for the works,’
for my impress is in them; and I have thus condescended for the framing
of all things.
80. Moreover, that the Son should be speaking of
the impress that is within us as if it were Himself, should not startle
any one, considering (for we must not shrink from repetition2764
| 2764 τὸ αὐτὸ γὰρ
λέγειν οὐκ
ὀκνητέον: where Petavius, de Trin. ii. 1. §8. ingeniously but
without any authority reads οὐκ ὀκνεῖ
θεόν. It is quite a
peculiarity of Athan. to repeat and to apologize for doing so. The very
same words occur supr. 22, c. Orat. iii. 54, a.
Serap. i. 19, b. 27, e. Vid. also 2, c. 41, d. 67, a. 69, b.
iii. 39 init. vid. especially supr. p. 47, note 6. | ) that, when Saul was persecuting the Church,
in which was His impress and image, He said, as if He were Himself
under persecution, ‘Saul, why persecutest thou Me2765
?’ Therefore (as has been said), as,
supposing the impress itself of Wisdom which is in the works had said,
‘The Lord created me for the works,’ no one would have been
startled, so, if He, the True and Framing Wisdom, the Only-begotten
Word of God, should use what belongs to His image as about Himself,
namely, ‘The Lord created me for the works,’ let no one,
overlooking the wisdom created in the world and in the works, think that ‘He
created’ is said of the Substance of the Very2766
| 2766 Cf.
above, 79, n. 8. | Wisdom, lest, diluting the wine with water2767
| 2767 Isa. i. 22. Infr.
iii. 35. Ep. Æg. §17. Ambros. de Fid. iii. 65.
p. 157. note 4. | , he be judged a defrauder of the truth. For
It is Creative and Framer; but Its impress is created in the works, as
the copy of the image. And He says, ‘Beginning of ways,’
since such wisdom becomes a sort of beginning. and, as it were,
rudiments of the knowledge of God; for a man entering, as it were, upon
this way first, and keeping it in the fear of God (as Solomon says2768
, ‘The fear of the Lord is the
beginning of wisdom’), then advancing upwards in his thoughts and
perceiving the Framing Wisdom which is in the creation, will perceive
in It also Its Father2769
| 2769 The
whole of this passage might be illustrated at great length from the
contr. Gent. and the Incarn. V. D. vid. supr.
notes on 79. Cf. c. Gent. 34, and Incarn. 11, 41,
42, &c. Vid. also Basil. contr. Eunom. ii. 16. | , as the Lord
Himself has said, ‘He that hath seen Me, hath seen the
Father,’ and as John writes, ‘He who acknowledgeth the Son,
hath the Father also2770
.’ And He
says, ‘Before the world He founded me2771
,’ since in Its impress the works
remain settled and eternal. Then, lest any, hearing concerning the
wisdom thus created in the works, should think the true Wisdom,
God’s Son, to be by nature a creature, He has found it necessary
to add, ‘Before the mountains, and before the earth, and before
the waters, and before all hills He begets me,’ that in saying,
‘before every creature’ (for He includes all the creation
under these heads), He may shew that He is not created together with
the works according to Essence. For if He was created ‘for the
works,’ yet is before them, it follows that He is in being before
He was created. He is not then a creature by nature and essence, but as
He Himself has added, an Offspring. But in what differs a creature from
an offspring, and how it is distinct by nature, has been shewn in what
has gone before.
81. But since He proceeds to say, ‘When He
prepared the heaven, I was present with Him2772
,’ we ought to know that He says not
this as if without Wisdom the Father prepared the heaven or the clouds
above (for there is no room to doubt that all things are created in
Wisdom, and without It was made not even one2773
thing); but this is what He says, ‘All things took place in Me
and through Me, and when there was need that Wisdom should be created
in the works, in My Essence indeed I was with the Father, but by a
condescension2774
| 2774 Here
again the συγκατάβασις
has no reference whatever to a figurative γέννησις, as Bishop Bull contends, but to His impressing the image
of Wisdom on the works, or what He above calls the Son’s image,
on which account He is πρωτοτόκος | to things
originate, I was disposing over the works My own impress, so that the
whole world as being in one body, might not be at variance but in
concord with itself.’ All those then who with an upright
understanding, according to the wisdom given unto them, come to
contemplate the creatures, are able to say for themselves, ‘By
Thy appointment all things continue2775
;’ but
they who make light of this must be told, ‘Professing themselves
to be wise, they became fools;’ for ‘that which may be
known of God is manifest in them; for God has revealed it unto them;
for the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are
clearly seen, being perceived by the things that are made, even His
eternal Power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. Because
that when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, but served the
creature more than the Creator of all, who is blessed for ever. Amen2776
.’ And they will surely be shamed at
hearing, ‘For, after that in the wisdom of God (in the mode we
have explained above), the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God
by the foolishness of the preaching to save them that believe2777
.’ For no longer, as in the former
times, God has willed to be known by an image and shadow of wisdom,
that namely which is in the creatures, but He has made the true Wisdom
Itself to take flesh, and to become man, and to undergo the death of
the cross; that by the faith in Him, henceforth all that believe may
obtain salvation. However, it is the same Wisdom of God, which through
Its own Image in the creatures (whence also It is said to be created),
first manifested Itself, and through Itself Its own Father; and
afterwards, being Itself the Word, has ‘become flesh2778
,’ as John says, and after abolishing
death and saving our race, still more revealed Himself and through Him
His own Father, saying, ‘Grant unto them that they may know Thee
the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent2779
.’
82. Hence the whole earth is filled with the
knowledge of Him; for the knowledge of Father through Son and of Son
from Father is one and the same, and the Father delights in Him, and in
the same joy the Son rejoices in the Father, saying, ‘I was by
Him, daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him2780
.’ And this again proves that the Son
is not foreign, but proper to the Father’s Essence. For behold,
not because of us has He come to be, as the irreligious men say, nor is He out of
nothing (for not from without did God procure for Himself a cause of
rejoicing), but the words denote what is His own and like. When then
was it, when the Father rejoiced not? but if He ever rejoiced, He was
ever, in whom He rejoiced. And in whom does the Father rejoice, except
as seeing Himself in His own Image, which is His Word? And though in
sons of men also He had delight, on finishing the world, as it is
written in these same Proverbs2781
, yet this too has a
consistent sense. For even thus He had delight, not because joy was
added to Him, but again on seeing the works made after His own Image;
so that even this rejoicing of God is on account of His Image. And how
too has the Son delight, except as seeing Himself in the Father? for
this is the same as saying, ‘He that hath seen Me, hath seen the
Father,’ and ‘I am in the Father and the Father in Me2782
.’ Vain then is your vaunt as is on all
sides shewn, O Christ’s enemies, and vainly did ye parade2783
| 2783 ἐνεπομπεύσατε.
‘The ancients said πομπεύειν
“to use bad language,” and the coarse language of the
procession, πομπεία. This arose
from the custom of persons in the Bacchanalian cars using bad language
towards by-standers, and their retorting it.’ Erasm. Adag.
p. 1158. He quotes Menander,
ἐπὶ τῶν
ἁμαξῶν εἰσὶ
πομπεῖαί
τινες
σφόδρα
λοίδοροι. | and circulate everywhere your text,
‘The Lord created me a beginning of His ways,’ perverting
its sense, and publishing, not Solomon’s meaning, but your own
comment2784
| 2784 διάνοιαν,
ἐπίνοιαν, supr. Or. i. 52, n. 7. | . For behold your sense is proved to be
but a fantasy; but the passage in the Proverbs, as well as all that is
above said, proves that the Son is not a creature in nature and
essence, but the proper Offspring of the Father, true Wisdom and Word,
by whom ‘all things were made,’ and ‘without Him was
made not one thing.2785
’E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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