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| Why it was the Son of God, and not the Father or the Spirit, that became man: and what having became man He achieved.
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Chapter
IV.—Why it was the Son of God, and not the Father
or the Spirit, that became man: and what having became man He
achieved.
The Father is Father2259
| 2259 Greg. Naz.,
Orat. 37; Fulg., De fid. ad Petrum; Thomas Aquinas, III.,
quæst. 3, Art. 6. |
and not Son2260
| 2260 Greg. Naz.,
Orat. 39. | : the Son
is Son and not Father: the Holy Spirit is Spirit and not Father
or Son. For the individuality2261
| 2261 ἡ ἰδιότης, Latin,
proprietas, the propriety, that which is distinctive of
each. | is
unchangeable. How, indeed, could individuality continue to exist
at all if it were ever changing and altering? Wherefore the Son
of God became Son of Man in order that His individuality might
endure. For since He was the Son of God, He became Son of Man,
being made flesh of the holy Virgin and not losing the individuality of
Sonship2262
| 2262 Text, καὶ οὐκ
ἐκστὰς τῆς ὑ&
187·κῆς
ἰδιότητος.
R. 1 has, καὶ
οὐκ ἐξέστη
τῆς οἰκείας
ἰδιότητος, and
the old trans. is “et non secessit a propria
proprietate.” | .
Further, the Son of God became man, in order that
He might again bestow on man that favour for the sake of which He
created him. For He created him after His own image, endowed with
intellect and free-will, and after His own likeness, that is to say,
perfect in all virtue so far as it is possible for man’s nature
to attain perfection. For the following properties are, so to
speak, marks of the divine nature: viz. absence of care and
distraction and guile, goodness, wisdom, justice, freedom from all
vice. So then, after He had placed man in communion with Himself
(for having made him for incorruption2263
, He led him up through communion with
Himself to incorruption), and when moreover, through the transgression
of the command we had confused and obliterated the marks of the divine
image, and had become evil, we were stripped of our communion with God
(for what communion hath light with darkness2264
?): and having been shut out from
life we became subject to the corruption of death: yea, since He
gave us to share in the better part, and we did not keep it secure, He
shares in the inferior part, I mean our own nature, in order that
through Himself and in Himself He might renew that which was made after
His image and likeness, and might teach us, too, the conduct of a
virtuous life, making through Himself the way thither easy for us, and
might by the communication of life deliver us from corruption, becoming
Himself the firstfruits of our resurrection, and might renovate the
useless and worn vessel calling us to the knowledge of God that He
might redeem us from the tyranny of the devil, and might strengthen and
teach us how to overthrow the tyrant through patience and
humility2265
| 2265 Athan., De
Incarn.; Cyril, In Joan., bk. i. | .
The worship of demons then has ceased:
creation has been sanctified by the divine blood: altars and
temples of idols have been overthrown, the knowledge of God has been
implanted in men’s minds, the co-essential Trinity, the uncreate
divinity, one true God, Creator and Lord of all receives men’s
service: virtues are cultivated, the hope of resurrection has
been granted through the resurrection of Christ, the demons shudder at
those men who of old were under their subjection. And the marvel,
indeed, is that all this has been successfully brought about through
His cross and passion and death. Throughout all the earth the
Gospel of the knowledge of God has been preached; no wars or weapons or
armies being used to rout the enemy, but only a few, naked, poor,
illiterate, persecuted and tormented men, who with their lives in their
hands, preached Him Who was crucified in the flesh and died, and who
became victors over the wise and powerful. For the omnipotent
power of the Cross accompanied them. Death itself, which once was
man’s chiefest terror, has been overthrown, and now that which
was once the object of hate and loathing is preferred to life.
These are the achievements of Christ’s presence: these are
the tokens of His power. For it was not one people that He saved,
as when through Moses He divided the sea and delivered Israel out of
Egypt and the bondage of Pharaoh2266
; nay,
rather He rescued all mankind from the corruption of death and the
bitter tyranny of sin: not leading them by force to virtue, not
overwhelming them with earth or burning them with fire, or ordering the
sinners to be stoned, but persuading men by gentleness and
long-suffering to choose virtue and vie with one another, and find
pleasure in the struggle to attain it. For, formerly, it was
sinners who were persecuted, and yet they clung all the closer to sin,
and sin was looked upon by them as their God: but now for the
sake of piety and virtue men choose persecutions and crucifixions and
death.
Hail! O Christ, the Word and Wisdom and Power of
God, and God omnipotent! What can we helpless ones give Thee in
return for all these good
gifts? For all are Thine, and Thou askest naught from us save our
salvation, Thou Who Thyself art the Giver of this, and yet art grateful
to those who receive it, through Thy unspeakable goodness. Thanks
be to Thee Who gave us life, and granted us the grace of a happy life,
and restored us to that, when we had gone astray, through Thy
unspeakable condescension. E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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