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| Chapter VIII. Christ, so far as He is true Son of God, has no Lord, but only so far as He is Man; as is shown by His words in which He addressed at one time the Father, at another the Lord. How many heresies are silenced by one verse of Scripture! We must distinguish between the things that belong to Christ as Son of God or as Son of David. For under the latter title only must we ascribe it to Him that He was a servant. Lastly, he points out that many passages cannot be taken except as referring to the Incarnation.
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Chapter VIII.
Christ, so far as He is true Son of God, has no Lord,
but only so far as He is Man; as is shown by His words in which He
addressed at one time the Father, at another the Lord. How many
heresies are silenced by one verse of Scripture! We must
distinguish between the things that belong to Christ as Son of God or
as Son of David. For under the latter title only must we ascribe
it to Him that He was a servant. Lastly, he points out that many
passages cannot be taken except as referring to the Incarnation.
99. Wherefore also
it is plain how He calls Him Lord, Whom He knew as Father. For He
says: “I confess to Thee, Father, Lord of heaven and
earth.”2633
First
Wisdom spoke of His own Father, and then proclaimed Him Lord of
creation. For this reason the Lord shows in His Gospel that no
lordship is exercised where there is a true offspring, saying:
“What think ye of Christ? Whose Son is He? They say
unto Him, The son of David. Jesus saith to them, How then doth
David in spirit call Him Lord, saying: The Lord said unto my
Lord: Sit Thou on My right hand”? Then he
added: “If David in spirit then call Him Lord, how is He
his son? And no man was able to answer Him a
word.”2634
100. With what care did the Lord provide for the
faith in this witness because of the Arians! For He did not
say: “The spirit calls Him Lord,” but that
“David spake in spirit;” in order that men might believe
that as He is his, that is, David’s son according to the flesh,
so also He is his Lord and God according to His Godhead. Thou
seest, then, that there is a distinction between the
titles that are used of relationship and of
lordship.
101. And rightly did the Lord speak of His
own Father, but of the Lord of heaven and earth; so that thou, when
thou readest of the Father and the Lord, mayest understand it is the
Father of the Son, and the Lord of Creation. In the one title
rests the claim of nature, in the other the authority to rule.
For taking on Himself the form of a servant, He calls Him Lord, because
He has submitted to service; being equal to Him in the form of God, but
being a servant in the form of His body: for service is the due
of the flesh, but lordship is the due of the Godhead. Wherefore
also the Apostle says: “The God of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of glory,”2635
that is,
terming Him God of the adoption of humanity but the Father of
glory. Did God have two Sons, Christ and Glory? Certainly
not. Therefore if there is one Son of God, even Christ, Christ is
Glory. Why dost thou strive to belittle Him who is the glory of
the Father?
102. If then the Son is glory, and the
Father is glory (for the Father of glory cannot be anything else than
glory), there is no separation of glories, but glory is one. Thus
glory is referred to its own proper nature, but lordship to the service
of the body that was assumed. For if the flesh is subject to the
soul of a just man as it is written: “I chastise my body
and bring it into subjection;”2636
how much
more is it subject to the Godhead, of Which it is said:
“For all things serve Thee”?2637
103. By one question the Lord has shut out
both Sabellians and Photinians and Arians. For when He said that
the Lord spoke to the Lord, Sabellius is set aside, who will have it
that the same Person is both Father and Son. Photinus is set
aside, who thinks of Him merely as man; for none could be Lord of David
the King, but He Who is God, for it is written: “Thou shalt
worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou
serve.”2638
Would
the prophet who ruled under the Law act contrary to the Law?
Arius is set aside, who hears that the Son sits on the right hand of
the Father; so that if he argues from human ways, he refutes himself,
and makes the poison of his blasphemous arguments to flow back upon
himself. For in interpreting the inequality of the Father and the
Son by the analogy of human habits (wandering from the truth in either
case), he puts Him first Whom he makes little of, confessing Him to be
the First, Whom he hears to be at the right hand. The
Manichæan also is set aside, for he does not deny that He is the
Son of David according to the flesh, Who, at the cry of the blind men,
“Jesus, Thou Son of David, have mercy on us,”2639
was pleased at their faith and stood
and healed them. But He does deny that this refers to His
eternity, if He is called Son of David alone by those who are
false.
104. For “Son of God” is against
Ebion,2640
| 2640 Ebion recognized our
Lord absolutely as man and no more. | “Son of
David,” is against the Manichees;2641
“Son of God” is against Photinus,2642
“Son of David” is against
Marcion;2643
“Son of
God” is against Paul of Samosata,2644
| 2644 His error was much
the same as that of Ebion, except that he asserted that the Word
descended from heaven and dwelt in Jesus. | “Son of David” is against
Valentinus;2645
“Son of
God” is against Arius and Sabellius, the inheritors of heathen
errors. “Lord of David” is against the Jews, who
beholding the Son of God in the flesh, in impious madness believed Him
to be only man.
105. But in the faith of the Church one and
the same is both Son of God the Father and Son of David. For the
mystery of the Incarnation of God is the salvation of the whole of
creation, according to that which is written: “That without
God He should taste death for every man;”2646
that is, that every creature might be
redeemed without any suffering at the price of the blood of the
Lord’s Divinity, as it stands elsewhere: “Every
creature shall be delivered from the bondage of
corruption.”2647
106. It is one thing to be named Son
according to the divine Substance, it is another thing to be so called
according to the adoption of human flesh. For, according to the
divine Generation, the Son is equal to God the Father; and, according
to the adoption of a body, He is a servant to God the Father.
“For,” it says, “He took upon Him the form of a
servant.”2648
The Son
is, however, one and the same. On the other hand, according to
His glory, He is Lord to the holy patriarch David, but his Son in the
line of actual descent, not abandoning aught of His own, but acquiring
for Himself the rights that go with the adoption into our
race.
107. Not only does He undergo service in the
character of man by reason of His descent from David, but also by
reason of His name, as it is written: “I have found David
My Servant;”2649
and
elsewhere: “Behold I
will send unto you My Servant, the Orient
is His name.”2650
And the Son
Himself says: “Thus saith the Lord, that formed Me from the
womb to be His servant, and said unto Me: It is a great thing for
Thee to be called My Servant. Behold I have set Thee up for a
witness to My people, and a light to the Gentiles, that Thou mayest be
for salvation unto the ends of the earth.”2651
To whom is this said, if not to
Christ? Who being in the form of God, emptied Himself and took
upon Him the form of a servant.2652
But
what can be in the form of God, except that which exists in the fulness
of the Godhead?
108. Learn, then, what this means:
“He took upon Him the form of a servant.” It
means that He took upon Him all the perfections of humanity in their
completeness, and obedience in its completeness. And so it says
in the thirtieth Psalm: “Thou hast set my feet in a large
room. I am made a reproach above all mine enemies. Make Thy
face to shine upon Thy servant.”2653
| 2653 Ps. xxxi. 3, 11, 16. | “Servant” means the
Man in whom He was sanctified; it means the Man in whom He was
anointed; it means the Man in whom He was made under the law, made of
the Virgin; and, to put it briefly, it means the Man in whose person He
has a mother, as it is written: “O Lord, I am Thy Servant,
I am Thy Servant, and the Son of Thy hand-maid;”2654
and again: “I am cast down
and sore humbled.”2655
109. Who is sore humbled, but Christ, Who
came to free all through His obedience? “For as by one
man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of
one shall many be made righteous.”2656
Who received the cup of
salvation? Christ the High Priest, or David who never held the
priesthood, nor endured suffering? Who offered the sacrifice of
Thanksgiving?2657
110. But that is insufficient; take
again: “Preserve My soul, for I am holy.”2658
Did David say this of
himself? Nay, He says it, Who also says: “Thou wilt
not leave My soul in hell, neither wilt Thou suffer Thine Holy One to
see corruption.”2659
The Same
then says both of these.
111. He has added further: “Save
Thy Servant;”2660
and, further
on: “Give Thy strength to Thy servant, and to the Son of
Thy handmaid;”2661
and, elsewhere,
that is, in Ezekiel: “And I will set up one Shepherd over
them, and He shall rule them, even My Servant David. He shall
feed them, and He shall be their Shepherd. And I the Lord will be
their God, and My Servant David a prince among them.”2662
Now David the Son of Jesse was
already dead. Therefore he speaks of Christ, Who for our sakes
was made the Son of a handmaiden in the form of man; for according to
His divine Generation He has no Mother, but a Father only: nor is
He the fruit of earthly desire, but the eternal Power of
God.
112. And so, also, when we read that the
Lord said: “My time is not yet full come;”2663
and: “Yet a little while I
am with you;” and: “I go unto Him that sent
Me;”2664
and:
“Now is the Son of Man glorified;”2665
we ought to refer all this to the sacrament of the Incarnation.
But when we read: “And God is glorified in Him, and God
hath glorified Him;”2666
what doubt is
there here, where the Son is glorified by the Father, and the Father is
glorified by the Son?
113. Next, to make clear the faith of the
Unity, and the Union of the Trinity, He also said that He would be
glorified by the Spirit, as it stands: “He shall receive of
Mine, and shall glorify Me.”2667
Therefore the Holy Spirit also glorifies the Son of God. How,
then, did He say: “If I glorify Myself, My glory is
nothing.”2668
Is then
the glory of the Son nothing? It is blasphemy to say so, unless
we apply these words to His flesh; for the Son spoke in the character
of man, for by comparison with the Godhead, there is no glory of the
flesh.
114. Let them cease from their wicked objections
which are but thrown back upon their own falseness. For they say,
it is written: “Now is the Son of Man
glorified.” I do not deny that it is written:
“The Son of Man is glorified.” But let them see what
follows: “And God is glorified in Him.” I can
plead some excuse for the Son of Man, but He has none for His Father;
for the Father took not flesh upon Himself. I can plead an
excuse, but do not use it. He has none, and is falsely
attacked. I can either understand it in its plain sense, or I can
apply to the flesh what concerns the flesh. A devout mind
distinguishes between the things which are spoken after the flesh or
after the Godhead. An impious mind turns aside to the dishonour
of the Godhead, all that is said with regard to the littleness of the
flesh. E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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