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| Chapter XII. The kingdom of the Father and of the Son is one and undivided, so likewise is the Godhead of each.
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Chapter XII.
The kingdom of the Father and of the Son is one and
undivided, so likewise is the Godhead of each.
92. I would now ask
how they suppose the kingdom of the Father and the Son to be divided,
when the Lord hath said, as we showed above: “Every kingdom
divided against itself shall be speedily overthrown.”2266
93.
Indeed, it was to debar the impious teaching of Arian enmity that Saint
Peter himself asserted the dominion of the Father and the Son to be
one, saying: “Wherefore, my brethren, labour to make your
calling and election sure, for so doing you shall not go astray, for
thus your entrance into the eternal realm of God and our Lord and
Saviour2267
| 2267 Orig.
“conservator.” This title must have reference
to the present work of Christ. | Jesus Christ
shall be granted with the greater abundance of grace.”2268
94. Now, if it be thought that Christ’s
dominion alone is spoken of, and the place be therefore understood in
such sense that the Father and the Son are regarded as divided in
authority—yet it will be still acknowledged that it is the
dominion of the Son, and that an eternal one, and thus not only will
two kingdoms, separate, and so liable to fail, be brought in, but,
furthermore, inasmuch as no kingdom is to be compared with God’s
kingdom, which they cannot, however greatly they may desire to, deny to
be the kingdom of the Son, they must either turn back upon their
opinion, and acknowledge the kingdom of the Father and the Son to be
one and the same; or they must ascribe to the Father the government of
a lesser kingdom—which is blasphemy; or they must acknowledge
Him, Whom they wickedly declare to be inferior in respect of Godhead,
to possess an equal kingdom, which is inconsistent.
95. But this [their teaching] squares not, agrees
not, holds not [with its premisses]. Let them confess, then, that
the kingdom is one, even as we confess and prove, not indeed on our own
evidence, but upon testimony vouchsafed from heaven.
96. To begin with, learn, from further
testimonies [of Scripture], how that the kingdom of heaven is also the
kingdom of the Son: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, that
there are some amongst those which stand here with us, who shall not
taste death, until they see the Son of Man coming into His
kingdom.”2269
There is
therefore no room for doubt that the kingdom appertaineth to the Son of
God.
97. Now learn that the kingdom of the Son is
the very same as the kingdom of the Father: “Verily, I say
unto you that there be some of those which stand around us, who shall
not taste death until they see the kingdom of God coming in
power.”2270
So far,
indeed, is it one kingdom, that the reward is one, the inheritor is one
and the same, and so also the merit, and He Who promises [the
reward].
98. How can it but be one kingdom, above all
when the Son Himself hath said of Himself: “Then shall the
righteous shine like the sun in the kingdom of My
Father”?2271
For that
which is the Father’s, by fitness to His majesty, is also the
Son’s, by unity in the same glory.2272
The Scripture, therefore, hath
declared the kingdom to be the kingdom both of the Father and of the
Son.
99. Now learn that where the kingdom of God
is named, there is no putting aside of the authority either of the
Father or of the Son, because both the kingdom of the Father and the
kingdom of the Son is included under the single name of God,
saying: “When ye shall see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and
all the prophets, in the kingdom of God.”2273
Do we deny that the prophets are
in the kingdom of the Son, when even to a dying robber who said,
“Remember me, when Thou comest into Thy kingdom,” the Lord
made answer: “Verily, I say unto thee, to-day shalt thou be
with Me in paradise.”2274
What,
indeed, do we understand by being in the kingdom of God, if not the
having escaped eternal death? But they who have escaped eternal
death see the Son of Man coming into His kingdom.
100. How, then, can He not have in His power
that which He gives, saying: “To thee will I give the keys
of the kingdom of heaven”?2275
See
the gulf between [the one and the other]. The servant opens, the
Lord bestows; the One through Himself, the other through Christ; the
minister receives the keys, the Lord appoints powers: the one is
the right of a giver, the other the duty of a steward.
101. See now yet another proof that the
kingdom, the government, of the Father and the Son is one. It is
written in the Epistle to Timothy: “Paul, an apostle of
Jesus Christ, according to the government of God, our Saviour, and
Christ Jesus, our Hope.”2276
One,
therefore, the kingdom of the Father and the Son is plainly declared to
be, even as Paul the Apostle also asserted, saying: “For
know this, that no shameless person, none that is impure, or covetous
(which meaneth idolatry), hath inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and
of God.”2277
It is,
therefore, one kingdom, one Godhead.
102.
Oneness in Godhead the Law hath proved, which speaks of one
God,2278
as also the Apostle, by saying of
Christ; “In Whom dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead
bodily.”2279
For if,
as the Apostle saith, all the fulness of the Godhead, bodily, is in
Christ, then must the Father and the Son be confessed to be of one
Godhead; or if it is desired to sunder the Godhead of the Son from the
Godhead of the Father, whilst the Son possesses all the fulness of the
Godhead bodily, what is supposed to be further reserved, seeing that
nothing remains over and above the fulness of perfection?
Therefore the Godhead is one.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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