Bad Advertisement?
Are you a Christian?
Online Store:Visit Our Store
| Texts Explained; Sixthly, Proverbs viii. 22 Continued. Our Lord is said to be created 'for the works,' i.e. with a particular purpose, which no mere creatures are ever said to be. Parallel of Isai. xlix. 5, &c. When His manhood is spoken of, a reason for it is added; not so when His Divine Nature; Texts in proof.
PREVIOUS SECTION - NEXT SECTION - HELP 
Chapter XX.—Texts Explained;
Sixthly, Proverbs viii. 22 Continued. Our Lord is said to be
created ‘for the works,’ i.e. with a particular purpose,
which no mere creatures are ever said to be. Parallel of Isai. xlix. 5, &c. When His manhood is spoken
of, a reason for it is added; not so when His Divine Nature; Texts in
proof.
51 (continued). For the passage in the Proverbs, as I have said before,
signifies, not the Essence, but the manhood of the Word; for if He says
that He was created ‘for the works,’ He shews His intention
of signifying, not His Essence, but the Economy which took place
‘for His works,’ which comes second to being. For things
which are in formation and creation are made specially that they may be
and exist2541
| 2541 He
says in effect, ‘Before the generation of the works, they were
not; but Christ on the contrary’ (not, ‘was
before His generation,’ as Bull’s hypothesis, supr. Exc.
B. would require, but) ‘is from everlasting,’ vid.
§57, note. | , and next they have to do whatever the
Word bids them, as may be seen in the case of all things. For Adam was
created, not that He might work, but that first he might be man; for it
was after this that he received the command to work. And Noah was
created, not because of the ark, but that first he might exist and be a
man; for after this he received commandment to prepare the ark. And the
like will be found in every case on inquiring into it;—thus the
great Moses first was made a man, and next was entrusted with the
government of the people. Therefore here too we must suppose the like;
for thou seest, that the Word is not created into existence, but,
‘In the beginning was the Word,’ and He is afterwards sent
‘for the works’ and the Economy towards them. For before
the works were made, the Son was ever, nor was there yet need that He
should be created; but when the works were created and need arose
afterwards of the Economy for their restoration, then it was that the
Word took upon Himself this condescension and assimilation to the
works; which He has shewn us by the word ‘He created.’ And
through the Prophet Isaiah willing to signify the like, He says again:
‘And now thus saith the Lord, who formed me from the womb to be
His servant, to gather together Jacob unto Him and Israel, I shall be
brought together and be glorified before the Lord2542
.’
52. See here too, He is formed, not into
existence, but in order to gather together the tribes, which were in
existence before He was formed. For as in the former passage stands
‘He created,’ so in this ‘He formed;’ and as
there ‘for the works,’ so here ‘to gather
together;’ so that in every point of view it appears that
‘He created’ and ‘He formed’ are said after
‘the Word was.’ For as before His forming the tribes
existed, for whose sake He was formed, so does it appear that the works
exist, for which He was created. And when ‘in the beginning was
the Word,’ not yet were the works, as I have said before; but
when the works were made and the need required, then ‘He
created’ was said; and as if some son, when the servants were
lost, and in the hands of the enemy by their own carelessness, and need
was urgent, were sent by his father to succour and recover them, and on
setting out were to put over him the like dress2543
with them, and should fashion himself as they, lest the capturers,
recognising him2544
| 2544 Vid.
the well-known passage in S. Ignatius, ad Eph. 19 [and
Lightfoot’s note]. | as the master,
should take to flight and prevent his descending to those who were
hidden under the earth by them; and then were any one to inquire of
him, why he did so, were to make answer, ‘My Father thus formed
and prepared me for his works,’ while in thus speaking, he
neither implies that he is a servant nor one of the works, nor speaks
of the beginning of His origination, but of the subsequent charge given
him over the works,—in the same way the Lord also, having put
over Him our flesh, and ‘being found in fashion as a man,’
if He were questioned by those who saw Him thus and marvelled, would
say, ‘The Lord created Me the beginning of His ways for His
works,’ and ‘He formed Me to gather together Israel.’
This again the Spirit2545
foretells in the
Psalms, saying, ‘Thou didst set Him over the works of Thine
hands2546
;’ which elsewhere the Lord signified
of Himself, ‘I am set as King by Him upon His holy hill of Sion2547
.’ And as, when He shone2548
| 2548 ἐπέλαμψε, vid. of the Holy Spirit, Serap. i. 20, c. | in the body upon Sion, He had not His
beginning of existence or of reign, but being God’s Word and
everlasting King, He vouchsafed that His kingdom should shine in a
human way in Sion, that redeeming them and us from the sin which
reigned in them, He might bring them under His Father’s Kingdom,
so, on being set ‘for the works,’ He is not set for things
which did not yet exist, but for such as already were and needed
restoration.
53. ‘He created’ then and ‘He
formed’ and ‘He set,’ having the same meaning, do not
denote the beginning of His being, or of His essence as created, but
His beneficent renovation which came to pass for us. Accordingly,
though He thus speaks, yet He taught also that He Himself existed
before this, when He said, ‘Before Abraham came to be, I am2549
;’ and ‘when He prepared the
heavens, I was present with Him;’ and ‘I was with Him
disposing things2550
.’ And as He
Himself was before Abraham came to be, and Israel had come into being
after Abraham, and plainly He exists first and is formed afterwards,
and His forming signifies not His beginning of being but His taking
manhood, wherein also He collects together the tribes of Israel; so, as
‘being always with the Father,’ He Himself is Framer of the
creation, and His works are evidently later than Himself, and ‘He
created’ signifies, not His beginning of being, but the Economy
which took place for the works, which He effected in the flesh. For it
became Him, being other than the works, nay rather their Framer, to
take upon Himself their renovation2551
, that, whereas
He is created for us, all things may be now created in Him. For when He
said ‘He created,’ He forthwith added the reason, naming
‘the works,’ that His creation for the works might signify
His becoming man for their renovation. And this is usual with divine
Scripture2552
| 2552 ἔθος
ἐστὶ τῇ θεί&
139· γραφῇ: and
so Orat. iii. 18, b. And τῆς γραφῆς
ἔθος
ἐχούσης,
ibid. 30, d. | ; for when it signifies the fleshly
origination of the Son, it adds also the cause2553
| 2553 Vid.
Naz. Orat. 30. 2. |
for which He became man; but when he speaks or His servants declare
anything of His Godhead, all is said in simple diction, and with an
absolute sense, and without reason being added. For He is the
Father’s Radiance; and as the Father is, but not for any reason,
neither must we seek the reason of that Radiance. Thus it is written,
‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God2554
;’ and the
wherefore it assigns not2555
; but when
‘the Word was made flesh2556
,’ then it
adds the reason why, saying, ‘And dwelt among us.’ And
again the Apostle saying, ‘Who being in the form of God,’
has not introduced the reason, till ‘He took on Him the form of a
servant;’ for then he continues, ‘He humbled Himself unto
death, even the death of the cross2557
;’ for it
was for this that He both became flesh and took the form of a
servant.
54. And the Lord Himself has spoken many things
in proverbs; but when giving us notices about Himself, He has spoken
absolutely2558
; ‘I in the Father and the Father
in Me,’ and ‘I and the Father are one,’ and,
‘He that hath seen Me, hath seen the Father,’ and ‘I
am the Light of the world,’ and, ‘I am the Truth2559
| 2559 John xiv. 6, 9, 10; x.
30; viii. 12 | ;’ not setting down in every case the
reason, nor the wherefore, lest He should seem second to those things
for which He was made. For that reason would needs take precedence of
Him, without which not even He Himself had come into being. Paul, for
instance, ‘separated an Apostle for the Gospel, which the Lord
had promised afore by the Prophets2560
,’ was
thereby made subordinate to the Gospel, of which he was made minister,
and John, being chosen to prepare the Lord’s way, was made
subordinate to the Lord; but the Lord, not being made subordinate to
any reason why He should be Word, save only that He is the
Father’s Offspring and Only-begotten Wisdom, when He becomes man,
then assigns the reason why He is about to take flesh. For the need of
man preceded His becoming man, apart from which He had not put on
flesh2561
| 2561 It is
the general teaching of the Fathers that our Lord would not have been
incarnate had not man sinned. [But see Prolegg. ch. iv. §3, c.]
Cf. de Incarn. 4. vid. Thomassin. at great length de
Incarn. ii. 5–11. also Petav. de Incarn. ii. 17,
7–12. Vasquez. in 3 Thom. Disp. x. 4 and
5. | . And what the need was for which He became
man, He Himself thus signifies, ‘I came down from heaven, not to
do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me. And this is the
will of Him which hath sent Me, that of all which He hath given Me, I
should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And
this is the will of My Father, that every one which seeth the Son and
believeth on Him may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at
the last day2562
.’ And again; ‘I am come a
light into the world, that whosoever believeth on Me, should not abide
in darkness2563
.’ And again he says; ‘To
this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I
should bear witness unto the truth2564
.’ And
John has written: ‘For this was manifested the Son of God, that
He might destroy the works of the devil2565
.’
55. To give a
witness then, and for our sakes to undergo death, to raise man up and
destroy the works of the devil2566
| 2566 Two
ends of our Lord’s Incarnation are here mentioned; that He might
die for us, and that He might renew us, answering nearly to those
specified in Rom. iv. 25. ‘who was
delivered for our offences and raised again for our
justification.’ The general object of His coming, including both
of these, is treated of in Incarn. esp. §§4–20.
and in the two books against Apollinaris. Vid. supr. §8.
§9. Also infr. Orat. iv. 6. And Theodoret, Eran.
iii. p. 196, 7. Vigil. Thaps. contr. Eutych. i. p. 496.
(B. P. ed. 1624.) and S. Leo speaks of the whole course of redemption,
i.e. incarnation, atonement, regeneration, justification, &c., as
one sacrament, not drawing the line distinctly between the several
agents, elements, or stages in it, but considering it to lie in the
intercommunion of Christ’s and our persons. Serm. 63. 14.
He speaks of His fortifying us against our passions and infirmities,
both sacramento susceptionis and exemplo. Serm. 65, 2.
and of a duplex remedium cujus aliud in sacramento, aliud in
exemplo. Serm. 67, 5. also 69, 5. The tone of his teaching is
throughout characteristic of the Fathers, and very like that of S.
Athanasius. | , the Saviour came,
and this is the reason of His incarnate presence. For otherwise a
resurrection had not been, unless there had been death; and how had
death been, unless He had had a mortal body? This the Apostle, learning
from Him, thus sets forth, ‘Forasmuch then as the children are
partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the
same; that through death He might bring to nought him that had the
power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver them who through fear
of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage2567
.’ And, ‘Since by man came death,
by man came also the resurrection of the dead2568
.’ And again, ‘For what the Law
could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending His
own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in
the flesh; that the ordinance of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who
walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit2569
.’ And John says, ‘For God sent
not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world
through Him might be saved2570
.’ And again,
the Saviour has spoken in His own person, ‘For judgment am I come
into this world, that they who see not might see, and that they which
see might become blind2571
.’ Not for
Himself then, but for our salvation, and to abolish death, and to
condemn sin, and to give sight to the blind, and to raise up all from
the dead, has He come; but if not for Himself, but for us, by
consequence not for Himself but for us is He created. But if not for
Himself is He created, but for us, then He is not Himself a creature,
but, as having put on our flesh, He uses such language. And that this
is the sense of the Scriptures, we may learn from the Apostle, who says
in Ephesians, ‘Having broken down the middle wall of partition
between us, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the law of
commandments contained in ordinances, to create in Himself of twain one
new man, so making peace2572
.’ But if in
Him the twain are created, and these are in His body, reasonably then,
bearing the twain in Himself, He is as if Himself created; for those
who were created in Himself He made one, and He was in them, as they.
And thus, the two being created in Him, He may say suitably, ‘The
Lord created me.’ For as by receiving our infirmities, He is said
to be infirm Himself, though not Himself infirm, for He is the Power of
God, and He became sin for us and a curse, though not having sinned
Himself, but because He Himself bare our sins and our curse, so2573
| 2573 The
word αὐτὸς,
‘Himself,’ is all along used, where a later writer would
have said ‘His Person;’ vid. supr. §45, n. 2;
still there is more to be explained in this passage, which, taken in
the letter, would speak a language very different from Athan.’s,
as if the infirmities or the created nature of the Word were not more
real than His imputed sinfulness. (vid. on the other hand infr.
iii. 31–35). But nothing is more common in theology than
comparisons which are only parallel to a certain point as regards the
matter in hand, especially since many doctrines do not admit of exact
illustrations. Our Lord’s real manhood and imputed sinfulness
were alike adjuncts to His Divine Person, which was of an Eternal and
Infinite Nature; and therefore His Manhood may be compared to an
Attribute, or to an accident, without meaning that it really was
either. | , by creating us in Him, let Him say,
‘He created me for the works,’ though not Himself a
creature.
56. For if, as they hold, the Essence of the Word
being of created nature, therefore He says, ‘The Lord created
me,’ being a creature, He was not created for us; but if He was
not created for us, we are not created in Him; and, if not created in
Him, we have Him not in ourselves but externally; as, for instance, as
receiving instruction from Him as from a teacher2574
. And it being so with us, sin has not lost
its reign over the flesh, being inherent and not cast out of it. But
the Apostle opposes such a doctrine a little before, when he says,
‘For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus2575
;’ and if in Christ we are created,
then it is not He who is created, but we in Him; and thus the words
‘He created’ are for our sake. For because of our need, the
Word, though being Creator, endured words which are used of creatures;
which are not proper to Him, as being the Word, but are ours who are
created in Him. And as, since the Father is always, so is His Word, and
always being, always says ‘I was daily His delight, rejoicing
always before Him2576
,’ and
‘I am in the Father and the Father in Me2577
;’ so, when for our need He became man,
consistently does He use language, as ourselves, ‘The Lord hath
created Me,’ that, by His dwelling in the flesh, sin might
perfectly be expelled from the flesh, and we might have a free mind2578
| 2578 ἐλεύθερον τὸ
φρόνημα.
vid. also beginning of the paragraph, where sanctification is
contrasted to teaching. vid. also note on 79, infr. Contr.
Apoll. i. 20. fin. ibid. ii. 6. also Orat. iii. 33, where
vid. note, and 34. vid. for ἀρχή, Orat. i. 48,
note 7. Also vid. infr. Orat. iii. 56, a. iv. 33, a. Naz.
Epp. ad Cled. 1. and 2. (101, 102. Ed. Ben.) Nyssen. ad
Theoph. in Apoll. p. 696. Leo, Serm. 26, 2. Serm. 72,
2. vid. Serm. 22, 2. ut corpus regenerati fiat caro Crucifixi.
Serm. 63, 6. Hæc est nativitas nova dum homo nascitur in
Deo; in quo homine Deus natus est, carne antiqui seminis suscepta, sine
semine antiquo, ut illam novo semine, id est, spiritualiter,
reformaret, exclusis antiquitatis sordibus expiatam. Tertull. de
Carn. Christ. 17. vid. supr. i. 51, note 5. and note on 64
infr. 65 and 70. and on iii. 34. | . For what ought He, when made man, to say? ‘In the beginning I was
man?’ this were neither suitable to Him nor true; and as it
beseemed not to say this, so it is natural and proper in the case of
man to say, ‘He created’ and ‘He made’ Him. On
this account then the reason of ‘He created’ is added,
namely, the need of the works; and where the reason is added, surely
the reason rightly explains the lection. Thus here, when He says
‘He created,’ He sets down the cause, ‘the
works;’ on the other hand, when He signifies absolutely the
generation from the Father, straightway He adds, ‘Before all the
hills He begets me2579
;’ but He does
not add the ‘wherefore,’ as in the case of ‘He
created,’ saying, ‘for the works,’ but absolutely,
‘He begets me,’ as in the text, ‘In the beginning was
the Word2580
.’ For, though no works had been
created, still ‘the Word’ of God ‘was,’ and
‘the Word was God.’ And His becoming man would not have
taken place, had not the need of men become a cause. The Son then is
not a creature.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
|
