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Book
VIII.
1. The Blessed
Apostle Paul in laying down the form for appointing a bishop and
creating by his instructions an entirely new type of member of the
Church, has taught us in the following words the sum total of all the
virtues perfected in him:—Holding fast the word according to
the doctrine of faith that he may be able to exhort to sound doctrine
and to convict gainsayers. For there are many unruly men, vain
talkers and deceivers884
. For in
this way he points out that the essentials of orderliness and morals
are only profitable for good service in the priesthood if at the same
time the qualities needful for knowing how to teach and preserve the
faith are not lacking, for a man is not straightway made a good and
useful priest885
by a merely
innocent life or by a mere knowledge of preaching. For an
innocent minister is profitable to himself alone unless he be
instructed also; while he that is instructed has nothing to support his
teaching unless he be innocent. For the words of the Apostle do
not merely fit a man for his life in this world by precepts of honesty
and uprightness, nor on the other hand do they educate in expertness of
teaching a mere Scribe of the Synagogue for the expounding of the
Law: but the Apostle is training a leader of the Church,
perfected by the perfect accomplishment of the greatest virtues, so
that his life may be adorned by his teaching, and his teaching by his
life. Accordingly he has provided Titus, the person to whom his
words were addressed, with an injunction as to the perfect practice of
religion to this effect:—In all things shewing thyself an
ensample of good works, teaching with gravity sound words that cannot
be condemned, that the adversary may be ashamed, having nothing
disgraceful or evil to say of us886
.
This teacher of the Gentiles and elect doctor of the Church, from his
consciousness of Christ who spoke and dwelt within him, knew well that
the infection of tainted speech would spread abroad, and that the
corruption of pestilent doctrine would furiously rage against the sound
form of faithful words, and infusing the poison of its own evil tenets
into the inmost soul, would creep on with deep-seated mischief.
For it is of these that he says, Whose word spreadeth like a
cancer887
, tainting the
health of the mind, invaded by it with a secret and stealthy
contagion. For this reason, he wished that there should be in the
bishop the teaching of sound words, a good conscience in the faith and
expertness in exhortation to withstand wicked and false and wild
gainsayings. For there are many who pretend to the faith, but are
not subject to the faith, and rather set up a faith for themselves than
receive that which is given, being puffed up with the thoughts of human
vanity, knowing the things they wish to know and unwilling to know the
things that are true; since it is a mark of true wisdom sometimes to
know what we do not like. However, this will-wisdom is followed
by foolish preaching, for what is foolishly learnt must needs be
foolishly preached. Yet how great an evil to those who hear is
foolish preaching, when they are misled into foolish opinions by
conceit of wisdom! And for this cause the Apostle described them
thus: There are many unruly, vain talkers and
deceivers888
. Hence
we must utter our voice against arrogant wickedness and boastful
arrogance and seductive boastfulness,—yes, we must speak against
such things through the soundness of our doctrine, the truth of our
faith, the sincerity of our preaching, so that we may have the purity
of truth and the truth of sound doctrine.
2. The reason why I have just mentioned this
utterance of the Apostle is this; men of crooked minds and false
professions, void of hope and venomous of speech, lay upon me the
necessity of inveighing against them, because under the guise of
religion they instil deadly doctrines, infectious thoughts and corrupt
desires into the simple minds of their hearers. And this they do
with an utter disregard of the true sense of the apostolic teaching, so
that the Father is not a Father, nor the Son, Son, nor the Faith, the
Faith. In resisting their wild falsehoods, we have extended the
course of our reply so far, that after proving from the Law that God
and God were distinct and that very God was in very God, we then shewed
from the teaching of evangelists and apostles the perfect and true birth of the
Only-begotten God; and lastly, we pointed out in the due course of our
argument that the Son of God is very God, and of a nature identical
with the Father’s, so that the faith of the Church should neither
confess that God is single nor that there are two Gods. For
neither would the birth of God allow God to be solitary, nor would a
perfect birth allow different natures to be ascribed to two Gods.
Now in refuting their vain speaking we have a twofold object, first
that we may teach what is holy and perfect and sound, and, that our
discourse should not by straying through any by-paths and crooked ways,
and struggling out of devious and winding tunnels, seem rather to
search for the truth than declare it. Our second object is that
we should reveal to the conviction of all men the folly and absurdity
of those crafty arguments of their vain and deceitful opinions which
are adapted to a plausible show of seductive truth. For it is not
enough for us to have pointed out what things are good, unless they are
understood to be absolutely good by our refutation of their
opposites.
3. But as it is the nature and endeavour of the
good and wise to prepare themselves wholly for securing either the
reality or the opportunity of some precious hope lest their
preparedness should in some respects fall short of that which they look
for,—so in like manner those who are filled with the madness of
heretical frenzy make it their chiefest anxiety to labour with all the
ingenuity of their impiety against the truth of pious faith, in order
that against those who are religious they may establish their own
irreligion; that they may surpass the hope of our life in the
hopelessness of their own, and that they may spend more thought over
false than we spend over true teaching. For against the pious
assertions of our faith they have carefully devised such objections of
their impious misbelief, as first to ask whether we believe in one God,
next, whether Christ also be God, lastly, whether the Father is greater
than the Son, in order that when they hear us confess that God is one
they may use our reply to shew that Christ cannot be God. For
they do not enquire concerning the Son whether He be God; all they wish
for in asking questions about Christ is to prove that He is not a Son,
that by entrapping men of simple faith they may through the belief in
one God divert them from the belief in Christ as God, on the ground
that God is no longer one if Christ also must be acknowledged as
God. Again with what subtlety of worldly wisdom do they contend
when they say, If God is one, whosoever that other shall be shewn to
be, he will not be God. For if there be another God He can no
longer be one, since nature does not permit that where there is another
there should be one only, or that where there is only one there should
be another. Afterwards, when by the crafty cunning of this
insidious argument they have misled those who are ready to believe and
listen, they then apply this proposition (as if they could now
establish it by an easier method), that Christ is God rather in name
than in nature, because this generic name in Him can destroy in none
that only true belief in one God: and they contend that through
this the Father is greater than the Son, because, the natures being
different, as there is but one God, the Father is greater from the
essential character of His nature; and that the Other is only called
Son while He is really a creature subsisting by the will of the Father,
because He is less than the Father; and also that He is not God,
because God being one does not admit of another God, since he who is
less must necessarily be of a nature alien from that of the person who
is greater. Again, how foolish they are in their attempts to lay
down a law for God when they maintain that no birth can take place from
one single being, because throughout the universe birth arises from the
union of two; moreover, that the unchangeable God cannot accord from
Himself birth to one who is born, because that which is changeless is
incapable of addition, nor can the nature of a solitary and single
being contain within itself the property of generation.
4. We, on the contrary, having by spiritual
teaching arrived at the faith of the evangelists and apostles, and
following after the hope of eternal blessedness by our confession of
the Father and the Son, and having proved out of the Law the mystery of
God and God, without overstepping the limits of our faith in one God,
or failing to proclaim that Christ is God, have adopted this method of
reply from the Gospels, that we declare the true nativity of
Only-begotten God from God the Father, because that through this He was
both very God and not alien from the nature of the One very God, and
thus neither could His Godhead be denied nor Himself be described as
another God, because while the birth made Him God, the nature within
him of one God of God did not separate Him off as another God.
And although our human reason led us to this conclusion, that the names
of distinct natures could not meet together in the same nature, and not
be one, where the essence of each did not differ in kind; nevertheless,
it seemed good that we should prove this from the express sayings of our Lord, Who after
frequently making known that the God of our faith and hope was One, in
order to affirm the mystery of the One God, while declaring and proving
His own Godhead, said, I and the Father are one; and, If ye
had known Me, ye would have known My Father also; and, He that
hath seen Me hath seen the Father also; and, Believe Me, that
the Father is in Me, and I in the Father: or else believe for the
very works’ sake889
| 889 St. Bible:John.14.11">John x. 30; xiv. 7, 9, 10, 11. | . He has
signified His own birth in the name Father, and declares that in
the knowledge of Himself the Father is known. He avows the unity
of nature, when those who see Him see the Father. He bears
witness that He is indivisible from the Father, when He dwells in the
Father Who dwells in Him. He possesses the confidence of
self-knowledge when He demands credit for His words from the operations
of His power. And thus in this most blessed faith of the perfect
birth, every error, as well that of two Gods as of a single God, is
abolished, since They Who are one in essence are not one person, and He
Who is not one person with Him Who is, is yet
so free from difference from Him that They Two are One God.
5. Now seeing that heretics cannot deny
these things because they are so clearly stated and understood, they
nevertheless pervert them by the most foolish and wicked lies so as
afterwards to deny them. For the words of Christ, I and the
Father are one890
, they endeavour to
refer to a mere concord of unanimity, so that there may be in them a
unity of will not of nature, that is, that they may be one not by
essence of being, but by identity of will. And they apply to the
support of their case the passage in the Acts of the Apostles, Now
of the multitude of them that believed the heart and soul were
one891
, in order to prove that a diversity of
souls and hearts may be united into one heart and soul through a mere
conformity of will. Or else they cite those words to the
Corinthians, Now he that planteth and he that watereth are
one892
, to shew that, since They are one in
Their work for our salvation, and in the revelation of one mystery,
Their unity is an unity of wills. Or again, they quote the prayer
of our Lord for the salvation of the nations who should believe in
Him: Neither for these only do I pray, but for them also that
shall believe on Me through their Word; that they all may be one; even
as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be in
Us893
, to shew that since men cannot, so to
speak, be fused back into God or themselves coalesce into one
undistinguished mass, this oneness must arise from unity of will, while
all perform actions pleasing to God, and unite one with another in the
harmonious accord of their thoughts, and that thus it is not nature
which makes them one, but will.
6. He clearly knows not wisdom who knows not
God. And since Christ is Wisdom he must needs be beyond the pale
of wisdom who knows not Christ or hates Him894
. As, for instance, they do who
will have it that the Lord of Glory, and King of the Universe, and
Only-begotten God is a creature of God and not His Son, and in addition
to such foolish lies shew a still more foolish cleverness in the
defence of their falsehood. For even putting aside for a little
that essential character of unity which exists in God the Father and
God the Son, they can be refuted out of the very passages which they
adduce.
7. For as to those whose soul and heart were
one, I ask whether they were one through faith in God? Yes,
assuredly, through faith, for through this the soul and heart of all
were one. Again I ask, is the faith one or is there a second
faith? One undoubtedly, and that on the authority of the Apostle
himself, who proclaims one faith even as one Lord, and one baptism, and
one hope, and one God895
. If then it
is through faith, that is, through the nature of one faith, that all
are one, how is it that thou dost not understand a natural unity in the
case of those who through the nature of one faith are one? For
all were born again to innocence, to immortality, to the knowledge of
God, to the faith of hope. And if these things cannot differ
within themselves because there is both one hope and one God, as also
there is one Lord and one baptism of regeneration; if these things are
one rather by agreement than by nature, ascribe a unity of will to
those also who have been born again into them. If, however, they
have been begotten again into the nature of one life and eternity,
then, inasmuch as their soul and heart are one, the unity of will fails
to account for their case who are one by regeneration into the same
nature.
8. These are not our own conjectures which we
offer, nor do we falsely put together any of these things in order to
deceive the ears of our hearers by perverting the meaning of words; but
holding fast the form of sound teaching we know and preach the things
which are true. For the Apostle shews that this unity of the
faithful arises from the nature of the sacraments when he writes to the
Galatians, For as many of
you as were baptized into Christ did put on Christ. There is
neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither
male nor female; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus896
. That these are one amid so great
diversities of race, condition, sex,—is it from an agreement of
will or from the unity of the sacrament, since these have one baptism
and have all put on one Christ? What, therefore, will a concord
of minds avail here when they are one in that they have put on one
Christ through the nature of one baptism?
9. Or, again, since he who plants and he who
waters are one, are they not one because, being themselves born again
in one baptism they form a ministry of one regenerating baptism?
Do not they do the same thing? Are they not one in One? So
they who are one through the same thing are one also by nature, not
only by will, inasmuch as they themselves have been made the same thing
and are ministers of the same thing and the same power.
10. Now the contradiction of fools always
serves to prove their folly, because with regard to the faults which
they contrive by the devices of an unwise or crooked understanding
against the truth, while the latter remains unshaken and immovable the
things which are opposed to it must needs be regarded as false and
foolish. For heretics in their attempt to deceive others by the
words, I and the Father are one897
, that there might not be acknowledged
in them the unity and like essence of deity, but only a oneness arising
from mutual love and an agreement of wills—these heretics, I say,
have brought forward an instance of that unity, as we have shewn above,
even from the words of our Lord, That they all may be one, as Thou
Father art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be in
Us898
. Every man is outside the
promises of the Gospel who is outside the faith in them, and by the
guilt of an evil understanding has lost all simple hope. For to
know not what thou believest demands not so much excuse as a reward,
for the greatest service of faith is to hope for that which thou
knowest not. But it is the madness of most consummate wickedness
either not to believe things which are understood or to have corrupted
the sense in which one believes.
11. But although the wickedness of man can
pervert his intellectual powers, nevertheless the words retain their
meaning. Our Lord prays to His Father that those who shall
believe in Him may be one, and as He is in the Father and the Father in
Him, so all may be one in Them. Why dost thou bring in here an
identity of mind, why a unity of soul and heart through agreement of
will? For there would have been no lack of suitable words for our
Lord, if it were will that made them one, to have prayed in this
fashion,—Father, as We are one in will, so may they also be one
in will, that we may all be one through agreement. Or could it be
that He Who is the Word was unacquainted with the meaning of words? and
that He Who is Truth knew not how to speak the truth? and He Who is
Wisdom went astray in foolish talk? and He Who is Power was compassed
about with such weakness that He could not speak what He wished to be
understood? He has clearly spoken the true and sincere mysteries
of the faith of the Gospel. And He has not only spoken that we
may comprehend, He has also taught that we may believe, saying, That
they all may be one, as Thou Father art in Me, and I in Thee, that they
also may be in Us. For those first of all is the prayer of
whom it is said, That they all may be one. Then the
promotion of unity is set forth by a pattern of unity, when He says,
as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be in
Us, so that as the Father is in the Son and the Son in the Father,
so through the pattern of this unity all might be one in the Father and
the Son.
12. But because it is proper to the Father
alone and the Son that They should be one by nature because God is from
God, and the Only-begotten from the Unbegotten can subsist in no other
nature than that of His origin; so that He Who was begotten should
exist in the substance of His birth, and the birth should possess no
other and different truth of deity than that from which it issued; for
our Lord has left us in no doubt as to our belief by asserting
throughout the whole of the discourse which follows the nature of this
complete unity. For the next words are these, That the world
may believe that Thou didst send Me899
. Thus the world is to believe that
the Son has been sent by the Father because all who shall believe in
Him will be one in the Father and the Son. And how they will be
so we are soon told,—And the glory which Thou hast given Me I
have given unto them900
. Now I ask
whether glory is identical with will, since will is an emotion of the
mind while glory is an ornament or embellishment of nature. So
then it is the glory received from the Father that the Son hath given
to all who shall believe in Him, and certainly not will. Had this
been given, faith would carry with it no reward, for a necessity of will
attached to us would also impose faith upon us. However He has
shewn what is effected by the bestowal of the glory received, That
they may be one, even as We are one901
. It is then with this object that the
received glory was bestowed, that all might be one. So now all
are one in glory, because the glory given is none other than that which
was received: nor has it been given for any other cause than that
all should be one. And since all are one through the glory given
to the Son and by the Son bestowed upon believers, I ask how can the
Son be of a different glory from the Father’s, since the glory of
the Son brings all that believe into the unity of the Father’s
glory. Now it may be that the utterance of human hope in this
case may be somewhat immoderate, yet it will not be contrary to faith;
for though to hope for this were presumptuous, yet not to have believed
it is sinful, for we have one and the same Author both of our hope and
of our faith. We will treat of this matter more clearly and at
greater length in its own place, as is fitting. Yet in the
meantime it is easily seen from our present argument that this hope of
ours is neither vain nor presumptuous. So then through the glory
received and given all are one. I hold the faith and recognise
the cause of the unity, but I do not yet understand how it is that the
glory given makes all one.
13. Now our Lord has not left the minds of
His faithful followers in doubt, but has explained the manner in which
His nature operates, saying, That they may be one, as We are
one: I in them and Thou in Me, that they may be perfected in
one902
. Now I ask those who bring forward a
unity of will between Father and Son, whether Christ is in us to-day
through verity of nature or through agreement of will. For if in
truth the Word has been made flesh and we in very truth receive the
Word made flesh as food from the Lord, are we not bound to believe that
He abides in us naturally, Who, born as a man, has assumed the nature
of our flesh now inseparable from Himself, and has conjoined the nature
of His own flesh to the nature of the eternal Godhead in the sacrament
by which His flesh is communicated to us? For so are we all one,
because the Father is in Christ and Christ in us. Whosoever then
shall deny that the Father is in Christ naturally must first deny that
either he is himself in Christ naturally, or Christ in him, because the
Father in Christ and Christ in us make us one in Them. Hence, if
indeed Christ has taken to Himself the flesh of our body, and that Man
Who was born from Mary was indeed Christ, and we indeed receive in a
mystery the flesh of His body—(and for this cause we shall be
one, because the Father is in Him and He in us),—how can a unity
of will be maintained, seeing that the special property of nature
received through the sacrament is the sacrament of a perfect
unity903
| 903 If in the Sacrament we
hold real communion with the Father and the Son, the union of Father
and Son on which it is based must be also real, and not a mere concord
of will. | ?
14. The words in which we speak of the
things of God must be used in no mere human and worldly sense, nor must
the perverseness of an alien and impious interpretation be extorted
from the soundness of heavenly words by any violent and headstrong
preaching. Let us read what is written, let us understand what we
read, and then fulfil the demands of a perfect faith. For as to
what we say concerning the reality of Christ’s nature within us,
unless we have been taught by Him, our words are foolish and
impious. For He says Himself, My flesh is meat indeed, and My
blood is drink indeed. He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My
blood abideth in Me, and I in him904
. As to
the verity of the flesh and blood there is no room left for
doubt. For now both from the declaration of the Lord Himself and
our own faith, it is verily flesh and verily blood. And these
when eaten and drunk, bring it to pass that both we are in Christ and
Christ in us. Is not this true? Yet they who affirm that
Christ Jesus is not truly God are welcome to find it false. He
therefore Himself is in us through the flesh and we in Him, whilst
together with Him our own selves are in God.
15. Now how it is that we are in Him through
the sacrament of the flesh and blood bestowed upon us, He Himself
testifies, saying, And the world will no longer see Me, but ye shall
see Me; because I live ye shall live also; because I am in My Father,
and ye in Me, and I in you905
. If He wished
to indicate a mere unity of will, why did He set forth a kind of
gradation and sequence in the completion of the unity, unless it were
that, since He was in the Father through the nature of Deity, and we on
the contrary in Him through His birth in the body, He would have us
believe that He is in us through the mystery of the sacraments? and
thus there might be taught a perfect unity through a Mediator, whilst,
we abiding in Him, He abode in the Father, and as abiding in the Father
abode also in us; and so we
might arrive at unity with the Father, since in Him Who dwells
naturally in the Father by birth, we also dwell naturally, while He
Himself abides naturally in us also.
16. Again, how natural this unity is in us
He has Himself testified on this wise,—He who eateth My flesh
and drinketh My blood abideth in Me, and I in him906
. For no man shall dwell in Him, save
him in whom He dwells Himself, for the only flesh which He has taken to
Himself is the flesh of those who have taken His. Now He had
already taught before the sacrament of this perfect unity, saying,
As the living Father sent Me, and I live through the Father, so he
that eateth My flesh shall himself also live through Me907
. So then He lives through the Father,
and as He lives through the Father in like manner we live through His
flesh. For all comparison is chosen to shape our understanding,
so that we may grasp the subject of which we treat by help of the
analogy set before us. This is the cause of our life that we have
Christ dwelling within our carnal selves through the flesh, and we
shall live through Him in the same manner as He lives through the
Father. If, then, we live naturally through Him according to the
flesh, that is, have partaken of the nature of His flesh, must He not
naturally have the Father within Himself according to the Spirit since
He Himself lives through the Father? And He lives through the
Father because His birth has not implanted in Him an alien and
different nature inasmuch as His very being is from Him yet is not
divided from Him by any barrier of an unlikeness of nature, for within
Himself He has the Father through the birth in the power of the
nature.
17. I have dwelt upon these facts because the
heretics falsely maintain that the union between Father and Son is one
of will only, and make use of the example of our own union with God, as
though we were united to the Son and through the Son to the Father by
mere obedience and a devout will, and none of the natural verity of
communion were vouchsafed us through the sacrament of the Body and
Blood; although the glory of the Son bestowed upon us through the Son
abiding in us after the flesh, while we are united in Him corporeally
and inseparably, bids us preach the mystery of the true and natural
unity.
18. So we have made our reply to the folly
of our violent opponents, merely to prove the emptiness of their
falsehoods and so prevent them from misleading the unwary by the error
of their vain and foolish statements. But the faith of the Gospel
did not of necessity require our answer. The Lord prayed on our
behalf for our union with God, but God keeps His own unity and abides
in it. It is not through any mysterious appointment of God that
they are one, but through a birth of nature, for God loses nothing in
begetting Him from Himself. They are one, for the things which
are not plucked out of His hand are not plucked out of the hand of the
Father908
, for, when He is known, the Father is
known, for, when He is seen, the Father is seen, for what He speaks the
Father speaks as abiding in Him, for in His works the Father works, for
He is in the Father and the Father in Him909
| 909 Ib. xiv. 7, 9, 10, 12. | . This proceeds from no creation but
from birth; it is not brought about by will but by power; it is no
agreement of mind that speaks, it is nature; because to be created and
to be born are not one and the same, any more than to will and to be
able; neither is it the same thing to agree and to abide.
19. Thus we do not deny a unanimity between
the Father and the Son,—for heretics are accustomed to utter this
falsehood, that since we do not accept concord by itself as the bond of
unity we declare Them to be at variance. But let them listen how
it is that we do not deny such a unanimity. The Father and the
Son are one in nature, honour, power, and the same nature cannot will
things that are contrary. Moreover, let them listen to the
testimony of the Son as touching the unity of nature between Himself
and the Father, for He says, When that advocate is come, Whom I
shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth Who proceedeth
from the Father, He shall testify of Me910
. The Advocate shall come and the Son
shall send Him from the Father, and He is the Spirit of truth Who
proceedeth from the Father. Let the whole following of heretics
arouse the keenest powers of their wit; let them now seek for what lies
they can tell to the unlearned, and declare what that is which the Son
sends from the Father. He Who sends manifests His power in that
which He sends. But as to that which He sends from the Father,
how shall we regard it, as received or sent forth or begotten?
For His words that He will send from the Father must imply one
or other of these modes of sending. And He will send from the
Father that Spirit of truth which proceedeth from the Father; He
therefore cannot be the
Recipient, since He is revealed as the Sender. It only remains to
make sure of our conviction on the point, whether we are to believe an
egress of a co-existent Being, or a procession of a Being begotten.
20. For the present I forbear to expose
their licence of speculation, some of them holding that the Paraclete
Spirit comes from the Father or from the Son. For our Lord has
not left this in uncertainty, for after these same words He spoke
thus,—I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot
bear them now. When He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He shall
guide you into all truth: for He shall not speak from Himself:
but what things soever He shall hear, these shall He speak; and He
shall declare unto you the things that are to come. He shall
glorify Me: for He shall receive of Mine and shall declare it
unto you. All things whatsoever the Father hath are Mine:
therefore said I, He shall receive of Mine and shall declare it unto
you911
. Accordingly He receives from the Son,
Who is both sent by Him, and proceeds from the Father. Now I ask
whether to receive from the Son is the same thing as to proceed from
the Father. But if one believes that there is a difference
between receiving from the Son and proceeding from the Father, surely
to receive from the Son and to receive from the Father will be regarded
as one and the same thing. For our Lord Himself says, Because
He shall receive of Mine and shall declare it unto you. All
things whatsoever the Father hath are Mine: therefore said I, He
shall receive of Mine and shall declare it unto you. That
which He will receive,—whether it will be power, or excellence,
or teaching,—the Son has said must be received from Him, and
again He indicates that this same thing must be received from the
Father. For when He says that all things whatsoever the Father
hath are His, and that for this cause He declared that it must be
received from His own, He teaches also that what is received from the
Father is yet received from Himself, because all things that the Father
hath are His. Such a unity admits no difference, nor does it make
any difference from whom that is received, which given by the Father is
described as given by the Son. Is a mere unity of will brought
forward here also? All things which the Father hath are the
Son’s, and all things which the Son hath are the
Father’s. For He Himself saith, And all Mine are Thine,
and Thine are Mine912
. It is not
yet the place to shew why He spoke thus, For He shall receive of
Mine: for this points to some subsequent time, when it is
revealed that He shall receive. Now at any rate He says that He
will receive of Himself, because all things that the Father had were
His. Dissever if thou canst the unity of the nature, and
introduce some necessary unlikeness through which the Son may not exist
in unity of nature. For the Spirit of truth proceedeth from the
Father and is sent from the Father by the Son. All things that
the Father hath are the Son’s; and for this cause whatever He Who
is to be sent shall receive, He shall receive from the Son, because all
things that the Father hath are the Son’s. The nature in
all respects maintains its law, and because Both are One that same
Godhead is signified as existing in Both through generation and
nativity; since the Son affirms that that which the Spirit of truth
shall receive from the Father is to be given by Himself. So the
frowardness of heretics must not be allowed an unchecked licence of
impious beliefs, in refusing to acknowledge that this saying of the
Lord,—that because all things which the Father hath are His,
therefore the Spirit of truth shall receive of Him,—is to be
referred to unity of nature.
21. Let us listen to that chosen vessel and
teacher of the Gentiles, when he had already commended the faith of the
people of Rome because of their understanding of the truth. For
wishing to teach the unity of nature in the case of the Father and the
Son, he speaks thus, But ye are not in the flesh but in the Spirit,
if indeed the Spirit of God is in you. But if any have not the
Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. But if Christ is in you, the
body indeed is dead through sin, but the Spirit is life through
righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him Who raised up Christ from
the dead dwelleth in you; He Who raised up Christ from the dead shall
also quicken your mortal bodies, because of His Spirit Who dwelleth in
you913
. We are all spiritual if the Spirit
of God dwells in us. But this Spirit of God is also the Spirit of
Christ, and though the Spirit of Christ is in us, yet His Spirit is
also in us Who raised Christ from the dead, and He Who raised Christ
from the dead shall quicken our mortal bodies also on account of His
Spirit that dwelleth in us. We are quickened therefore on account
of the Spirit of Christ that dwelleth in us, through Him Who raised
Christ from the dead. And since the Spirit of Him Who raised
Christ from the dead dwells in us, and yet the Spirit of Christ is in
us, nevertheless the Spirit Which is in us cannot but be the Spirit of
God. Separate, then, O
heretic, the Spirit of Christ from the Spirit of God, and the Spirit of
Christ raised from the dead from the Spirit of God Which raises Christ
from the dead; when the Spirit of Christ that dwelleth in us is the
Spirit of God, and when the Spirit of Christ Who was raised from the
dead is yet the Spirit of God Who raises Christ from the dead.
22. And now I ask whether thou thinkest that in
the Spirit of God is signified a nature or a property belonging to a
nature. For a nature is not identical with a thing belonging to
it, just as neither is a man identical with what belongs to a man, nor
fire with what belongs to fire itself, and in like manner God is not
the same as that which belongs to God.
23. For I am aware that the Son of God is
revealed under the title Spirit of God in order that we may
understand the presence of the Father in Him, and that the term
Spirit of God may be employed to indicate Either, and that this
is shewn not only on the authority of prophets but of evangelists also,
when it is said, The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me; therefore He
hath anointed Me914
. And again,
Behold My Servant Whom I have chosen, My beloved in Whom My soul is
well pleased, I will put My Spirit upon Him915
. And when the Lord Himself bears
witness of Himself, But if I in the Spirit of God cast out devils,
then has the kingdom of God come upon you916
. For the passages seem without any
doubt to denote either Father or Son, while they yet manifest the
excellence of nature.
24. For I think that the expression ‘Spirit
of God’ was used with respect to Each, lest we should believe
that the Son was present in the Father or the Father in the Son in a
merely corporeal manner, that is, lest God might be thought to abide in
one position and exist nowhere else apart from Himself. For a man
or any other thing like him, when he is in one place, cannot be in
another, because what is in one place is confined to the place where it
is: his nature cannot allow him to be everywhere when he exists
in some one position. But God is a living Force, of infinite
power, present everywhere and nowhere absent, and manifests His whole
self through His own, and signifies that His own are naught else than
Himself, so that where they are He may be understood to be
Himself. Yet we must not think that, after a corporeal fashion,
when He is in one place He ceases to be everywhere, for through His own
things He is still present in all places, while the things which are
His are none other than His own self. Now these things have been
said to make us understand what is meant by ‘nature.’
25. Now I think that it ought to be clearly
understood that God the Father is denoted by the Spirit of God, because
our Lord Jesus Christ declared that the Spirit of the Lord was upon Him
since He anoints Him and sends Him to preach the Gospel. For in
Him is made manifest the excellence of the Father’s nature,
disclosing that the Son partakes of His nature even when born in the
flesh through the mystery of this spiritual unction, since after the
birth ratified in His baptism this intimation of His inherent Sonship
was heard as a voice bore witness from Heaven:—Thou art My
Son; this day have I begotten Thee917
| 917 Ps.
ii. 8, cf. St. Matt. iii. 17,
&c. | . For not even He Himself can be
understood as resting upon Himself or coming to Himself from Heaven, or
as bestowing on Himself the title of Son: but all this
demonstration was for our faith, in order that under the mystery of a
complete and true birth we should recognise that the unity of the
nature dwells in the Son Who had begun to be also man. We have
thus found that in the Spirit of God the Father is designated; but we
understand that the Son is indicated in the same way, when He
says: But if I in the Spirit of God cast out devils, then has
the kingdom of God come upon you. That is, He shews clearly
that He, by the power of His nature, casts out devils, which cannot be
cast out save by the Spirit of God. The phrase ‘Spirit of
God’ denotes also the Paraclete Spirit, and that not only on the
testimony of prophets but also of apostles, when it is
said:—This is that which was spoken through the Prophet, It
shall come to pass on the last day, saith the Lord, I will pour out of
My Spirit upon all flesh, and their sons and their daughters shall
prophesy918
. And
we learn that all this prophecy was fulfilled in the case of the
Apostles, when, after the sending of the Holy Spirit, they all spoke
with the tongues of the Gentiles.
26. Now we have of necessity set these things
forth with this object, that in whatever direction the deception of
heretics betakes itself, it might yet be kept in check by the
boundaries and limits of the gospel truth. For Christ dwells in
us, and where Christ dwells God dwells. And when the Spirit of
Christ dwells in us, this indwelling means not that any other Spirit
dwells in us than the Spirit of God. But if it is understood that
Christ dwells in us through the Holy Spirit, we must yet recognise this Spirit of
God as also the Spirit of Christ. And since the nature dwells in
us as the nature of one substantive Being, we must regard the nature of
the Son as identical with that of the Father, since the Holy Spirit Who
is both the Spirit of Christ and the Spirit of God is proved to be a
Being of one nature. I ask now, therefore, how can They fail to
be one by nature? The Spirit of Truth proceeds from the Father,
He is sent by the Son and receives from the Son. But all things
that the Father hath are the Son’s, and for this cause He Who
receives from Him is the Spirit of God but at the same time the Spirit
of Christ. The Spirit is a Being of the nature of the Son but the
same Being is of the nature of the Father. He is the Spirit of
Him Who raised Christ from the dead; but this is no other than the
Spirit of Christ Who was so raised. The nature of Christ and of
God must differ in some respect so as not to be the same, if it can be
shewn that the Spirit which is of God is not the Spirit of Christ
also.
27. But you, heretic, as you wildly rave and
are driven about by the Spirit of your deadly doctrine the Apostle
seizes and constrains, establishing Christ for us as the foundation of
our faith, being well aware also of that saying of our Lord, If a
man love Me, he will also keep My word; and My Father will love him,
and We will come unto him, and make Our abode with him919
. For by this He testified that while
the Spirit of Christ abides in us the Spirit of God abides in us, and
that the Spirit of Him that was raised from the dead differs not from
the Spirit of Him that raised Him from the dead. For they come
and dwell in us: and I ask whether they will come as aliens
associated together and make Their abode, or in unity of nature?
Nay, the teacher of the Gentiles contends that it is not two
Spirits—the Spirits of God and of Christ—that are present
in those who believe, but the Spirit of Christ which is also the Spirit
of God. This is no joint indwelling, it is one indwelling:
yet an indwelling under the mysterious semblance of a joint indwelling,
for it is not the case that two Spirits indwell, nor is one that
indwells different from the other. For there is in us the Spirit
of God and there is also in us the Spirit of Christ, and when the
Spirit of Christ is in us there is also in us the Spirit of God.
And so since what is of God is also of Christ, and what is of Christ is
also of God, Christ cannot be anything different from what God
is. Christ, therefore, is God, one Spirit with God.
28. Now the Apostle asserts that those words
in the Gospel, I and the Father are one920
,
imply unity of nature and not a solitary single Being, as he writes to
the Corinthians, Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man in
the Spirit of God calleth Jesus anathema921
. Perceivest thou now, O heretic, in
what spirit thou callest Christ a creature? For since they are
under a curse who have served the creature more than the
Creator—in affirming Christ to be a creature, learn what thou
art, since thou knowest full well that the worship of the creature is
accursed. And observe what follows, And no one can call Jesus
Lord, but in the Holy Spirit922
. Dost
thou perceive what is lacking to thee, when thou deniest Christ what is
His own? If thou holdest that Christ is Lord through His Divine
nature, thou hast the Holy Spirit. But if He be Lord merely by a
name of adoption thou lackest the Holy Spirit, and art animated by a
spirit of error: because no one can call Jesus Lord, but in the
Holy Spirit. But when thou sayest that He is a creature rather
than God, although thou stylest Him Lord, still thou dost not say that
He is the Lord. For to thee He is Lord as one of a common class
and by a familiar name, rather than by nature. Yet learn from
Paul His nature.
29. For the Apostle goes on to say, Now
there are diversities of gifts, but there is the same Spirit; and there
are diversities of ministrations but one and the same Lord; and there
are diversities of workings but the same God, Who worketh all things in
all. But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for
that which profiteth923
. In this
passage before us we perceive a fourfold statement: in the
diversity of gifts it is the same Spirit, in the diversity of
ministrations it is the very same Lord, in the diversity of workings it
is the same God, and in the bestowal of that which is profitable there
is a manifestation of the Spirit. And in order that the bestowal
of what is profitable might be recognised in the manifestation of the
Spirit, he continues: To one indeed is given through the
Spirit the word of wisdom; and to another the word of knowledge
according to the same Spirit; to another faith in the same Spirit; to
another the gift of healing in the same Spirit; to another the working
of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to
another kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of
tongues924
.
30. And indeed that which we called the fourth
statement, that is the manifestation of the Spirit in the bestowal of
what is profitable, has a
clear meaning. For the Apostle has enumerated the profitable
gifts through which this manifestation of the Spirit took place.
Now in these diverse activities that Gift is set forth in no uncertain
light of which our Lord had spoken to the apostles when He taught them
not to depart from Jerusalem; but wait, said He, for the promise of
the Father which ye heard from My lips: for John indeed baptized
with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost, which ye
shall also receive not many days hence925
. And again: But ye shall
receive power when the Holy Ghost cometh upon you; and ye shall be My
witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judæa, and in Samaria, and unto
the uttermost part of the earth926
. He
bids them wait for the promise of the Father of which they had heard
from His lips. We may be sure that here927
we have a reference to the Father’s same promise. Hence it
is by these miraculous workings that the manifestation of the Spirit
takes place. For the gift of the Spirit is manifest, where wisdom
makes utterance and the words of life are heard, and where there is the
knowledge that comes of God-given insight, lest after the fashion of
beasts through ignorance of God we should fail to know the Author of
our life; or by faith in God, lest by not believing the Gospel of God,
we should be outside His Gospel; or by the gift of healings, that by
the cure of diseases we should bear witness to His grace Who bestoweth
these things; or by the working of miracles, that what we do may be
understood to be the power of God, or by prophesy, that through our
understanding of doctrine we might be known to be taught of God; or by
discerning of spirits, that we should not be unable to tell whether any
one speaks with a holy or a perverted spirit; or by kinds of tongues,
that the speaking in tongues may be bestowed as a sign of the gift of
the Holy Spirit; or by the interpretation of tongues, that the faith of
those that hear may not be imperilled through ignorance, since the
interpreter of a tongue explains the tongue to those who are ignorant
of it. Thus in all these things distributed to each one to profit
withal there is the manifestation of the Spirit, the gift of the Spirit
being apparent through these marvellous advantages bestowed upon
each.
31. Now the blessed Apostle Paul in
revealing the secret of these heavenly mysteries, most difficult to
human comprehension, has preserved a clear enunciation and a carefully
worded caution in order to shew that these diverse gifts are given
through the Spirit and in the Spirit (for to be given through the
Spirit and in the Spirit is not the same thing), because the granting
of a gift which is exercised in the Spirit is yet bestowed through the
Spirit. But he sums up these diversities of gifts thus:
Now all these things worketh one and the same Spirit, dividing to
each one as He will928
. Now,
therefore, I ask what Spirit works these things, dividing to each one
according as He wills: is it He by Whom or He in Whom there is
this distribution of gifts929
| 929 Hilary’s
interpretation of this passage is not strictly Trinitarian. His
view is that there are two Divine Persons at work, the Father and the
Son, and that Both are embraced under the common name of
‘Spirit.’ Compare ii. 30, and the exegesis of St.
John iv. 24, which follows. | ? But if any
one shall dare to say that it is the same Person which is indicated,
the Apostle will refute so faulty an opinion, for he says above, And
there are diversities of workings, but the same God Who worketh all
things in all. So there is one Who distributes and another in
Whom the distribution is vouchsafed. Yet know that it is always
God Who worketh all these things, but in such a way that Christ works,
and the Son in His working performs the Father’s work. And
if in the Holy Spirit thou confessest Jesus to be Lord, understand the
force of that threefold indication in the Apostle’s letter;
forasmuch as in the diversities of gifts, it is the same Spirit, and in
the diversities of ministrations it is the same Lord, and in the
diversities of workings it is the same God; and again, one Spirit that
worketh all things distributing to each according as He will. And
grasp the idea if thou canst that the Lord in the distribution of
ministrations, and God in the distribution of workings, are this one
and the same Spirit Who both works and distributes as He will; because
in the distribution of gifts there is one Spirit, and the same Spirit
works and distributes.
32. But if this one Spirit of one Divinity,
one in both God and Lord through the mystery of the birth, does not
please thee, then point out to me what Spirit both works and
distributes these diverse gifts to us, and in what Spirit He does
this. But, thou must shew me nothing but what accords with our
faith, because the Apostle shews us Who is to be understood, saying,
For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members
of the body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ930
. He affirms that diversities of gifts
come from one Lord Jesus Christ Who is the body of all. Because
after he had made known the Lord in ministration, and made known also
God in workings, he yet shews that one Spirit both works and
distributes all these things, distributing these varieties of His gracious gifts
for the perfecting of one body.
33. Unless perchance we think that the
Apostle did not keep to the principle of unity in that he said, And
there are diversities of ministrations, and the same Lord, and there
are diversities of workings, but the same God931
. So that because he referred
ministrations to the Lord and workings to God, he does not appear to
have understood one and the same Being in ministrations and
operations. Learn how these members which minister are also
members which work, when he says, Ye are the body of Christ, and of
Him members indeed. For God hath set some in the Church, first
apostles, in whom is the word of wisdom; secondly prophets,
in whom is the gift of knowledge; thirdly teachers, in whom is
the doctrine of faith; next mighty works, among which are the
healing of diseases, the power to help, governments by the
prophets, and gifts of either speaking or interpreting divers kinds
of tongues. Clearly these are the Church’s agents of
ministry and work of whom the body of Christ consists; and God has
ordained them. But perhaps thou maintainest that they have not
been ordained by Christ, because it was God Who ordained them.
But thou shalt hear what the Apostle says himself: Now to each
one of us was the grace given according to the measure of the gift of
Christ. And again, He that descended is the same also that
ascended far above all the heavens that He might fill all things.
And he gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some,
evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the
saints, for the work of ministering932
. Are not then the gifts of
ministration Christ’s, while they are also the gifts of
God?
34. But if impiety has assumed to itself
that because he says, The same Lord and the same God933
, they are not in unity of nature, I will
support this interpretation with what you deem still stronger
arguments. For the same Apostle says, But for us there is one
God, the Father, of Whom are all things, and we in Him, and one Lord
Jesus Christ, through Whom are all things, and we through
Him934
. And again, One Lord, one faith,
one baptism, one God and Father of all, Who is both through all, and in
us all935
. By these
words one God and one Lord it would seem that to God only
is attributed, as to one God, the property of being God; since the
property of oneness does not admit of partnership with another.
Verily how rare and hard to attain are such spiritual gifts! How
truly is the manifestation of the Spirit seen in the bestowal of such
useful gifts! And with reason has this order in the distribution
of graces been appointed, that the foremost should be the word of
wisdom; for true it is, And no one can call Jesus Lord but in the
Holy Spirit936
, because but
through this word of wisdom Christ could not be understood to be Lord;
that then there should follow next the word of understanding, that we
might speak with understanding what we know, and might know the word of
wisdom; and that the third gift should consist of faith, seeing that
those leading and higher graces would be unprofitable gifts did we not
believe that He is God. So that in the true sense of this
greatest and most noble utterance of the Apostle no heretics possess
either the word of wisdom or the word of knowledge or the faith of
religion, inasmuch as wilful wickedness, being incapable of
understanding, is void of knowledge of the word and of genuineness of
faith. For no one utters what he does not know; nor can he
believe that which he cannot utter; and thus when the Apostle preached
one God, a proselyte as He was from the Law, and called to the gospel
of Christ, he has attained to the confession of a perfect faith.
And lest the simplicity of a seemingly unguarded statement might afford
heretics any opportunity for denying through the preaching of one God
the birth of the Son, the Apostle has set forth one God while
indicating His peculiar attribute in these words, One God the
Father, of Whom are all things, and we in Him937
, in order that He Who is God might also
be acknowledged as Father. Afterwards, inasmuch as this bare
belief in one God the Father would not suffice for salvation, he added,
And one, our Lord Jesus Christ, through Whom are all things, and we
through Him, shewing that the purity of saving faith consists in
the preaching of one God and one Lord, so that we might believe in one
God the Father and one Lord Jesus Christ. For he knew full well
how our Lord had said, For this is the will of My Father, that every
one that seeth the Son and believeth on Him should have eternal
life938
. But in
fixing the order of the Church’s faith, and basing our faith upon
the Father and the Son, he has uttered the mystery of that indivisible
and indissoluble unity and faith in the words one God and one
Lord.
35. First of all, then, O heretic that hast no
part in the Spirit which spoke by the Apostle, learn thy folly.
If thou wrongly employest the confession of one God to deny the Godhead
of Christ, on the ground that where
one God exists He must be regarded as solitary, and that to be One is
characteristic and peculiar to Him Who is One,—what sense wilt
thou assign to the statement that Jesus Christ is one Lord? For
if, as thou assertest, the fact that the Father alone is God has not
left to Christ the possibility of Godhead, it must needs be also
according to thee that the fact of Christ being one Lord does not leave
God the possibility of being Lord, seeing that thou wilt have it that
to be One must be the essential property of Him Who is One. Hence
if thou deniest that the one Lord Christ is also God, thou must needs
deny that the one God the Father is also Lord. And what will the
greatness of God amount to if He be not Lord, and the power of the Lord
if He be not God: since it (viz., the greatness or power) causes
that to be God which is Lord, and makes that Lord which is God?
36. Now the Apostle, maintaining the true
sense of the Lord’s saying, I and the Father are
one939
, whilst He asserts that Both are One,
signifies that Both are One not after the manner of the soleness of a
single being, but in the unity of the Spirit; for one God the Father
and one Christ the Lord, since Each is both Lord and God, do not yet
admit in our creed either two Gods or two Lords. So then Each is
one, and though one, neither is sole. We shall not be able to
express the mystery of the faith except in the words of the
Apostle. For there is one God and one Lord, and the fact that
there is one God and one Lord proves that there is at once Lordship in
God, and Godhead in the Lord. Thou canst not maintain a union of
person, so making God single; nor yet canst thou divide the Spirit, so
preventing the Two from being One940
| 940 See § 31,
supr., and note. | . Nor in
the one God and one Lord wilt thou be able to separate the power, so
that He Who is Lord should not also be God, and He Who is God should
not also be Lord. For the Apostle in the enunciation of the Names
has taken care not to preach either two Gods or two Lords. And
for this reason he has employed such a method of teaching as in the one
Lord Christ to set forth also one God, and in the one God the Father to
set forth also one Lord. And, not to misguide us into the
blasphemy that God is solitary, which would destroy the birth of the
Only-begotten God, he has confessed both Father and Christ.
37. Unless perchance the frenzy of utter
desperation will venture to rush to such lengths that, inasmuch as the
Apostle has called Christ Lord, no one ought to acknowledge Him as
aught else save Lord, and that because He has the property of Lord He
has not the true Godhead. But Paul knows full well that Christ is
God, for he says, Whose are the fathers, and of whom is Christ, Who
is God over all941
. It is no
creature here who is reckoned as God; nay, it is the God of things
created Who is God over all.
38. Now that He Who is God over all is also
Spirit inseparable from the Father, learn also from that very utterance
of the Apostle, of which we are now speaking. For when he
confessed one God the Father from Whom are all things, and one Lord
Jesus Christ through Whom are all things; what difference, I ask, did
he intend by saying that all things are from God and that all things
are through Christ? Can He possibly be regarded as of a nature
and spirit separable from Himself, He from Whom and through Whom are
all things? For all things have come into being through the Son
out of nothing, and the Apostle has referred them to God the Father,
From Whom are all things, but also to the Son, through Whom
are all things. And I find here no difference, since by Each
is exercised the same power. For if with regard to the
subsistence of the universe it was an exact sufficient statement that
things created are from God, what need was there to state that the
things which are from God are through Christ, unless it be one and the
same thing to be through Christ and from God? But as it has been
ascribed to Each of Them that They are Lord and God in such wise that
each title belongs to Both, so too from Whom and through
Whom is here referred to Both; and this to shew the unity of Both,
not to make known God’s singleness. The language of the
Apostle affords no opening for wicked error, nor is his faith too
exalted for careful statement. For he has guarded himself by
those specially appropriate words from being understood to mean two
Gods or a solitary God: for while he rejects oneness of person he
yet does not divide the unity of Godhead. For this from Whom
are all things and through Whom are all things, although it did not
posit a solitary Deity in the sole possession of majesty, must yet set
forth One not different in efficiency, since from Whom are all
things and through Whom are all things must signify an
Author of the same nature engaged in the same work. He affirms,
moreover, that Each is properly of the same nature. For after
announcing the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God, and after asserting the
mystery of His inscrutable judgments and avowing our ignorance of His
ways past finding out, he has yet made use of the exercise of human
faith, and rendered this homage to the depth of the unsearchable and
inscrutable mysteries of heaven, For of Him and through Him and in
Him are all things: to Him be glory for ever.
Amen942
. He employs
to indicate the one nature, that which cannot but be the work of one
nature.
39. For whereas he has specially ascribed to God
that all things are from Him, and he has assigned as a peculiar
property to Christ, that all things are through Him, and it is now the
glory of God that from Him and through Him and in Him are all things;
and whereas the Spirit of God is the same as the Spirit of Christ, or
whereas in the ministration of the Lord and in the working of God, one
Spirit both works and divides, They cannot but be one Whose properties
are those of one; since in the same Lord the Son, and in the same God
the Father, one and the same Spirit distributing in the same Holy
Spirit accomplishes all things. How worthy is this saint of the
knowledge of exalted and heavenly mysteries, adopted and chosen to
share in the secret things of God, preserving a due silence over things
which may not be uttered, true apostle of Christ! How by the
announcement of his clear teaching has he restrained the imaginations
of human wilfulness, confessing, as he does, one God the Father and one
Lord Jesus Christ, so that meanwhile no one can either preach two Gods
or one solitary God; although He Who is not one person cannot multiply
into two Gods, nor on the other hand can They Who are not two Gods be
understood to be one single person; while meantime the revelation of
God as Father demonstrates the true nativity of Christ.
40. Thrust out now your quivering and hissing
tongues, ye vipers of heresy, whether it be thou Sabellius or thou
Photinus, or ye who now preach that the Only-begotten God is a
creature. Whosoever denies the Son shall hear of one God the
Father, because inasmuch as a father becomes a father only by having a
son, this name Father necessarily connotes the existence of the
Son. And again, let him who takes away from the Son the unity of
an identical nature, acknowledge one Lord Jesus Christ. For
unless through unity of the Spirit He is one Lord room will not be left
for God the Father to be Lord. Again, let him who holds the Son
to have become Son in time and by His Incarnation, learn that through
Him are all things and we through Him, and that His timeless Infinity
was creating all things before time was. And meanwhile let him
read again that there is one hope of our calling, and one baptism, and
one faith; if, after that, he oppose himself to the preaching of the
Apostle, he, being accursed because he framed strange doctrines of his
own device, is neither called nor baptized nor believing; because in
one God the Father and in one Lord Jesus Christ there lies the one
faith of one hope and baptism. And no alien doctrine can boast
that it has a place among the truths which belong to one God and Lord
and hope and baptism and faith.
41. So then the one faith is, to confess the
Father in the Son and the Son in the Father through the unity of an
indivisible nature, not confused but inseparable, not intermingled but
identical, not conjoined but coexisting, not incomplete but
perfect. For there is birth not separation, there is a Son not an
adoption; and He is God, not a creature. Neither is He a God of a
different kind, but the Father and Son are one: for the nature
was not altered by birth so as to be alien from the property of its
original. So the Apostle holds the faith of the Son abiding in
the Father and the Father in the Son when he proclaims that for him
there is one God the Father and one Lord Christ, since in Christ the
Lord there was also God, and in God the Father there was also Lord, and
They Two are that unity which is God, and They Two are also that unity
which is the Lord, for reason indicates that there must be something
imperfect in God unless He be Lord, and in the Lord unless He were
God. And so since Both are one, and Both are implied under either
name, and neither exists apart from the unity, the Apostle has not gone
beyond the preaching of the Gospel in his teaching, nor does Christ
when He speaks in Paul differ from the words which He spoke while
abiding in the world in bodily form.
42. For the Lord had said in the gospels,
Work not for the meat which perisheth, but for the meat which
abideth unto life eternal, which the Son of Man shall give unto
you: for Him the Father, even God, hath sealed. They said
therefore unto Him, What must we do that we may work the works of
God? And He said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye
believe on Him Whom He hath sent943
. In
setting forth the mystery of His Incarnation and His Godhead our Lord
has also uttered the teaching of our faith and hope that we
should work for food, not that
which perisheth but that which abideth for ever; that we should
remember that this food of eternity is given us by the Son of Man; that
we should know the Son of Man as sealed by God the Father; that we
should know that this is the work of God, even faith in Him Whom He has
sent. And Who is it Whom the Father has sent? Even He Whom
the Father has sealed. And Who is He Whom the Father has
sealed? In truth, the Son of Man, even He who gives the food of
eternal life. And further who are they to whom He gives it?
They who shall work for the food that does not perish. Thus,
then, the work for this food is at the same time the work of God,
namely, to believe on Him Whom He has sent. But these words are
uttered by the Son of Man. And how shall the Son of Man give the
food of life eternal? Why, he knows not the mystery of his own
salvation, who knows not that the Son of Man, bestowing food unto life
eternal, has been sealed by God the Father. At this point I now
ask in what sense are we to understand that the Son of Man has been
sealed by God the Father?
43. Now we ought to recognise first of all that
God has spoken not for Himself but for us, and that He has so far
tempered the language of His utterance as to enable the weakness of our
nature to grasp and understand it. For after being rebuked by the
Jews for having made Himself the equal of God by professing to be the
Son of God, He had answered that He Himself did all things that the
Father did, and that He had received all judgment from the Father;
moreover that He must be honoured even as the Father. And in all
these things having before declared Himself Son, He had made Himself
equal to the Father in honour, power and nature. Afterwards He
had said that as the Father had life in Himself, so He had given the
Son to have life in Himself, wherein He signified that by virtue of the
mystery of the birth He possessed the unity of the same nature.
For when He says that He has what the Father has, He means that He has
the Father’s self. For that God is not after human fashion
of a composite being, so that in Him there is a difference of kind
between Possessor and Possessed; but all that He is is life, a nature,
that is, complete, absolute and infinite, not composed of dissimilar
elements but with one life permeating the whole. And since this
life was in such wise given as it was possessed, although the fact that
it was given manifestly reveals the birth of the Recipient, it yet does
not involve a difference of kind since the life given was such as was
possessed.
44. Therefore after this manifold and
precise revelation of the presence of the Father’s nature in
Himself, He goes on to say, For Him hath the Father sealed, even
God944
. It is the nature of a seal to
exhibit the whole form of the figure graven upon it, and that an
impression taken from it reproduces it in every respect; and since it
receives the whole of that which is impressed, it displays also in
itself wholly whoever has been impressed upon it. Yet this
comparison is not adequate to exemplify the Divine birth, because in
seals there is a matter, difference of nature, and an act of
impression, whereby the likeness of stronger natures is impressed upon
things of a more yielding nature. But the Only-begotten God, Who
was also through the Mystery of our salvation the Son of Man, desiring
to point out to us the likeness of His Father’s proper nature in
Himself, said that He was sealed by God; because the Son of Man was
about to give the food of eternal life, and that we thereby might
perceive in Him the power of giving food unto eternity, in that He
possessed within Himself all the fulness of His Father’s form,
even of the God Who sealed Him: so that what God had sealed
should display in itself none other than the form of the God Who sealed
it. These things indeed the Lord spoke to the Jews, who could not
receive His saying because of unbelief.
45. But in us the preacher of the Gospel by
the Spirit of Christ Who spoke through him, instils the knowledge of
this His proper nature when he says, Who, being in the form of God,
thought it not a thing to grasp at that He was equal with God, but
emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant945
| 945 Phil. ii. 6, 7. The sense in which Hilary
understands non rapinam arbitratus est, is to be seen in his
explanation, non sibi rapiens esse se æqualem Deo (see just
below). | . For He, Whom God had sealed, could
be naught else than the form of God, and that which has been sealed in
the form of God must needs present at the same time imaged forth within
itself all that God possesses. And for this cause the Apostle
taught that He Whom God sealed is God abiding in the form of God.
For when about to speak of the Mystery of the body assumed and born in
Him, he says, He thought it not a thing to grasp at that He was
equal with God, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a
servant946
. As regards
His being in the form of God, by virtue of God’s seal upon Him,
he still remained God. But inasmuch as He was to take the form of
a servant and become
obedient unto death, not grasping at His equality with God, He emptied
Himself through obedience to take the form of a slave. And He
emptied Himself of the form of God, that is, of that wherein He was
equal with God—not that He regarded His equality with God as any
encroachment,—although He was in the form of God and equal with
God and sealed by God as God.
46. At this point I ask whether He Who abides as
God in the form of God is a God of another kind, as we perceive in the
case of seals in respect of the likenesses which stamp and those which
are stamped, since a steel die impressed upon lead or a gem upon wax
shapes the figure cut in it or imprints that which stands in relief
upon it. But if there be any one so foolish and senseless as to
think that that, pertaining to Himself, which God fashions to be God,
is aught but God, and that He Who is in the form of God is in any
respect anything else save God after the mystery of His Incarnation and
of His humility, made perfect through obedience even unto the death of
the cross, he shall hear, by the confession of things in heaven and
things on earth and things under the earth and of every tongue, that
Jesus is in the glory of God the Father. If then, when His form
had become that of a slave He abides in such glory, how, I ask, did He
abide when in the form of God? Must not Christ the Spirit have
been in the nature of Gods—for this is what is meant by ‘in
the glory of God’—when Christ as Jesus, that is, born as
man, exists in the glory of God the Father?
47. In all things the blessed Apostle
preserves the unchangeable teaching of the Gospel faith. The Lord
Jesus Christ is proclaimed as God in such wise that neither does the
Apostle’s faith, by calling Him a God of a different order, fall
away to the confession of two Gods, nor by making God the Son
inseparable from the Father does it leave an opening for the unholy
doctrine of a single and solitary God. For when he says, in
the form of God and in the glory of the Father the Apostle
neither teaches that They differ one from another, nor allows us to
think of Him as not existing. For He Who is in the form of God
neither ends by becoming another God nor Himself loses His
Godhead: for He cannot be severed from the form of God since He
exists in it, nor is He, Who is in the form of God, not God Just as He
Who is in the glory of God cannot be aught else than God, and, since He
is God in the glory of God, cannot be proclaimed as another god and one
different from the true God, seeing that by reason of the fact that He
is in the glory of God He possesses naturally from Him in Whose glory
He is, the property of divinity.
48. But there is no danger that the one
faith will cease to be such through diversity in its preaching.
The Evangelist had taught that our Lord said, He that hath seen Me,
hath seen the Father also947
. But has
Paul, the teacher of the Gentiles, forgotten or kept back the meaning
of the Lord’s words, when he says, Who is the image of the
invisible God948
? I
ask whether He is the visible likeness of the invisible God, and
whether the infinite God can also be presented to view under the
likeness of a finite form? For a likeness must needs repeat the
form of that of which it is the likeness. Let those, however, who
will have a nature of a different sort in the Son determine what sort
of likeness of the invisible God they wish the Son to be. Is it a
bodily likeness exposed to the gaze, and moving from place to place
with human gait and motion? Nay, but let them remember that
according to the Gospels and the Prophets both Christ is a Spirit and
God is a Spirit. If they confine this Christ the Spirit within
the bounds of shape and body, such a corporeal Christ will not be the
likeness of the invisible God, nor will a finite limitation represent
that which is infinite.
49. But, as it is, neither did the Lord
leave us in doubt: He who hath seen Me, hath seen the Father
also; nor was the Apostle silent as to His nature, Who is the
image of the invisible God. For the Lord had said, If I do
not the works of My Father, believe Me not949
,
teaching them to see the Father in Himself in that He did the works of
the Father; that through perceiving the power of His nature they might
understand the nature of that power which they perceived.
Wherefore the Apostle proclaiming that this is the image of God, says,
Who is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all
creation; for in Him were all things made in the heavens and upon the
earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or
dominions or principalities or powers; all things have been created
through Him and in Him, and He is before all, and for Him all things
consist. And He is the head of the body, the Church, Who is the
beginning, the first-born from the dead, that in all things He might
have the pre-eminence. For it was the good pleasure of the Father
that in Him should all the fulness dwell, and through Him all things
should be reconciled to Him950
. So through the
power of these works He is the image of God. For assuredly the
Creator of things invisible is not compelled by any necessity inherent in His
nature to be the visible image of the invisible God. And lest He
should be regarded as the likeness of the form and not of the nature,
He is styled the likeness of the invisible God in order that we may
understand by His exercise of the powers (not the invisible attributes)
of the Divine nature, that that nature is in Him.
50. He is accordingly the first-born of
every creature because in Him all things were created. And lest
any one should dare to refer to any other than Him the creation of all
things in Himself, he says, All things have been created through Him
and in Him, and He is before all, and for Him all things
consist. All things then consist for Him Who is before all
things, and in Whom are all things. Now this indeed describes the
origin of created things. But concerning the dispensation by
which He assumed our body, he adds, And He is the head of the body,
the Church: Who is the beginning, the first-born from the
dead: that in all things He might have the pre-eminence.
For it was the good pleasure of the Father that in Him should all the
fulness dwell, and that through Him all things should be reconciled to
Him. The Apostle has assigned to the spiritual mysteries
their material effects. For He Who is the image of the invisible
God is Himself the head of His body, the Church, and He Who is the
first-born of every creature is at the same time the beginning, the
first born from the dead: that in all things He might have the
pre-eminence, being for us the Body, while He is also the image of God,
since He, Who is the first-born of created things, is at the same time
the first-born for eternity; so that as to Him things spiritual, being
created in the First-born, owe it that they abide, even so all things
human also owe it to Him that in the First-born from the dead they are
born again into eternity. For He is Himself the beginning, Who as
Son is therefore the image, and because the image, is of God.
Further He is the first-born of every created thing, possessing in
Himself the origin of the universe: and again He is the head of
His body, the Church, and the first-born from the dead, so that in all
things He has the pre-eminence. And because all things consist
for Him, in Him the fulness of the Godhead is pleased to dwell, for in
Him all things are reconciled through Him to Him, through Whom all
things were created in Himself.
51. Do you now perceive what it is to be the
image of God? It means that all things are created in Him through
Him. Whereas all things are created in Him, understand that He,
Whose image He is, also creates all things in Him. And since all
things which are created in Him are also created through Him, recognize
that in Him Who is the image there is present the nature of Him, Whose
image He is. For through Himself He creates the things which are
created in Him, just as through Himself all things are reconciled in
Him. Inasmuch as they are reconciled in Him, recognise in Him the
nature of the Father’s unity, reconciling all things to Himself
in Him. Inasmuch as all things are reconciled through Him,
perceive Him reconciling to the Father in Himself all things which He
reconciled through Himself. For the same Apostle says, But all
things are from God, Who reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and
gave unto us the ministry of reconciliation: to wit, that God was
in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself951
. Compare with this the whole mystery
of the faith of the Gospel. For He Who is seen when Jesus is
seen, Who works in His works, and speaks in His words, also reconciles
in His reconciliation. And for this cause, in Him and through Him
there is reconciliation, because the Father abiding in Him through a
like nature restored the world to Himself by reconciliation through and
in Him.
52. Thus God out of regard for human
weakness has not set forth the faith in bare and uncertain
statements. For although the authority of our Lord’s mere
words of itself compelled their acceptance, He nevertheless has
informed our reason by a revelation which explains their meaning, that
we might learn to know His words, I and the Father are
one952
, by means of that which was itself the
cause of the unity in question. For in saying that the Father
speaks in His words, and works through His working, and judges through
His judgment, and is seen in His manifestation, and reconciles through
His reconciliation, and abides in Him, while He in turn abides in the
Father,—what more fitting words, I ask, could He have employed in
His teaching to suit the faculties of our reason, that we might believe
in Their unity, than those by which, through the truth of the birth and
the unity of the nature, it is declared that whatever the Son did and
said, the Father said and did in the Son? This says nothing of a
nature foreign to Himself, or added by creation to God, or born into
Godhead by a partition of God, but it betokens the divinity of One Who
by a perfect birth is begotten perfect God, Who has so confident an
assurance of His nature that He says, I in the Father and the Father
in Me953
, and again, All
things whatsoever the Father hath are Mine954
. For nought of the Godhead is lacking in Him, in Whose
working and speaking and manifestation God works and speaks and is
beheld. They are not two Gods, Who in their working and words and
manifestation put on a semblance of unity. Neither is He a
solitary God. Who in the works and words and sight of God,
Himself worked and spoke and was seen as God. The Church
understands this. The Synagogue does not believe, philosophy does
not know, that being One of One, Whole of Whole, God and Son, He has
neither by His birth deprived the Father of His completeness, nor
failed to possess the same completeness in Himself by right of His
birth. And whosoever is caught in this folly of unbelief is a
disciple either of the Jews or of the heathen.
53. Now that you may understand the saying
of the Lord, when He said, All things whatsoever the Father hath are
Mine955
, learn the teaching
and faith of the Apostle who said, Take heed lest any lead you
astray through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men,
after the elements of the world and not after Christ; for in Him
dwelleth the fulness of Godhead bodily956
. That man is of the world and savours
of the teaching of men and is the victim of philosophy, who does not
know Christ to be the true God, who does not recognise in Him the
fulness of Godhead. The mind of man knows only that which it
understands, and the world’s powers of belief are limited, since
it judges according to the laws of the material elements that that
alone is possible which it can see or do. For the elements of the
world have come into being out of nothing, but Christ’s
continuity of existence did not begin in the non-existent, nor did He
ever begin to exist, but He took from the beginning a beginning which
is eternal. The elements of the world are either without life, or
have issued out of this stage into life, but Christ is life, born to be
living God from the living God. The elements of the world have
been established by God, but they are not God: Christ as God of
God is Himself wholly all that God is. The elements of the world,
since they are within it, cannot possibly rise out of their condition
and cease to be within it, but Christ, while having God within Himself
through the Mystery, is Himself in God. The elements of the
universe, generating from themselves creatures with a life like their
own, do indeed through the exercise of their bodily functions bestow
upon them from their own bodies the beginnings of life, but they are
not themselves present as living beings in their offspring, whereas in
Christ all the fulness of the Godhead is present in bodily
shape.
54. Now I ask, whose Godhead is it whereof the
fulness dwells in Him? If it be not that of the Father, what
other God do you, misleading preacher of one God, thrust upon me as Him
Whose Godhead dwells fully in Christ? But if it be that of the
Father, inform me how this fulness dwells in Him in bodily
fashion. If you hold that the Father abides in the Son in bodily
fashion, the Father, while dwelling in the Son, will not exist in
Himself. If on the other hand, and this is more true, the Godhead
abiding in Him in bodily shape displays within Him the verity of the
nature of God from God, inasmuch as God is in Him, abiding neither
through condescension nor through will but by birth, true and wholly in
bodily fulness according as He is; and inasmuch as, in the whole
compass of His being, He was born by His divine birth to be God, and
within the Godhead there is no difference or dissimilarity, except that
in Christ He dwells in bodily form, and yet whatever dwells in Him
bodily is according to the fulness of Godhead; why follow after the
doctrines of men? Why cleave to the teaching of empty
falsehoods? Why talk of ‘agreement’ or ‘harmony
of will’ or ‘a creature?’ The fulness of
Godhead dwells in Christ bodily.
55. The Apostle has herein held fast to the canon
of his faith, by teaching that the fulness of the Godhead dwelt in
Christ bodily; and this, in order that the teaching of the faith might
not degenerate into an unholy profession of a oneness of Persons or
sinful frenzy break forth into the belief of two different
natures. For the fulness of Godhead which dwells in Christ in
bodily fashion is neither solitary nor separable; for the fulness in
bodily form does not admit any partition from the other bodily fulness,
and the indwelling Godhead cannot be regarded as also the
dwelling-place of the Godhead. And Christ is so constituted that
the fulness of Godhead dwells in Him in bodily fashion, and that this
fulness must be held one in nature with Christ. Lay hands on
every chance that offers for your quibbles, sharpen the points of your
blasphemous wit. Name, at least, the imaginary being whose
fulness of Godhead it is which dwells in Christ in bodily
fashion. For He is Christ, and there is dwelling in Him in bodily
fashion the fulness of Godhead.
56. And if you would know what it is to
‘dwell in bodily fashion,’ understand what it is to speak
in one that speaks, to be seen in one who is seen, to work in one who
works, to be God in God, whole of whole, one of one; and thus learn
what is meant by the fulness
of God in bodily shape. Remember, too, that the Apostle does not
keep silence on the question, whose Godhead it is, which dwells fully
in Christ in bodily fashion, for he says, For the invisible things
of Him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being
perceived through the things that are made, even His everlasting power
and divinity957
. So it is
His Godhead that dwells in Christ in bodily fashion, not partially but
wholly, not parcelwise but in fulness; and so dwelling that the Two are
one, and so one, that the One Who is God does not differ from the Other
Who is God: Both so equally divine, as a perfect birth engendered
perfect God. And the birth exists thus in its perfection, because
the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily in God born of
God.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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