Chapter XVII.
Christ acted for our advantage in being unwilling to
reveal the day of judgment. This is made plain by other words of
our Lord and by a not dissimilar passage from Paul’s
writings. Other passages in which the same ignorance seems to be
attributed to the Father are brought forward to meet those who are
anxious to know why Christ answered His disciples, as though He did not
know. From these Ambrose argues against them that if they admit
ignorance and inability in the Father, they must admit that the same
Substance exists in the Son as in the Father; unless they prefer to
accuse the Son of falsehood; since it belongs neither to Him nor to the
Father to deceive, but the unity of both is pointed out in the passage
named.
208. But we ask for
what reason He was unwilling to state the time. If we ask it, we
shall not find it is owing to ignorance, but to wisdom. For it
was not to our advantage to know; in order that we being ignorant of
the actual moments of judgment to come, might ever be as it were on
guard, and set on the watch-tower of virtue, and so avoid the habits of
sin; lest the day of the Lord should come upon us in the midst of our
wickedness. For it is not to our advantage to know but rather to
fear the future; for it is written: “Be not high-minded but
fear.”2788
209. For if He had distinctly stated the day, he
would seem to have laid down a rule
of life for that one age which was nearest to
the judgment, and the just man in the earlier times would be more
negligent, and the sinner more free from care. For the adulterer
cannot cease from the desire of committing adultery unless he fears
punishment day by day, nor can the robber forsake the hiding places in
the woods where he dwells, unless he knows punishment is hanging over
him day by day. For impurity generally spurs them on, but fear is
irksome to the end.
210. Therefore I have said that it was not
to our advantage to know; nay, it is to our advantage to be ignorant,
that through ignorance we might fear, through watchfulness be
corrected, as He Himself said: “Be ye ready, for ye know
not at what hour the Son of Man cometh.”2789
For the soldier does not know
how to watch in the camp unless he knows that war is at
hand.
211. Wherefore at another time also the Lord
Himself when asked by his Apostles (Yes, for they did not understand it
as Arius did, but believed that the Son of God knew the future.
For unless they had believed this, they would never have asked the
question.)—the Lord, I say, when asked when He would restore the
kingdom to Israel, did not say that He did not know, but says:
“It is not for you to know the times or years, which the Father
hath put in His own power.”2790
Mark
what He said: It is not for you to know! Read again,
“It is not for you.” “For you,” He said,
not “for Me,” for now He spoke not according to His own
perfection but as was profitable to the human body and our soul.
“For you” therefore He said, not “for
Me.”
212. Which example the Apostle also
followed: “But of the times and seasons, brethren,”
he says, “ye have no need that I write unto you.”2791
Thus not even the Apostle himself,
the servant of Christ, said that he knew not the seasons, but that
there was no need for the people to be taught; for they ought ever to
be armed with spiritual armour, that the virtue of Christ may stand
forth in each one. But when the Lord says: “Of the
times which the Father hath put in His own power,”2792
He certainly cannot be without a share
in His Father’s knowledge, in whose power He is by no means
without a share. For power grows out of wisdom and virtue; and
Christ is both of these.
213. But you ask, why did He not refuse His
disciples as one who knew, but would not say; and, why did He state
instead that neither the angels nor the Son knew?2793
I too will ask you why God says
in Genesis: “I will go down now, and see whether they have
done altogether according to the cry that is come unto Me. And if
not, that I may know.”2794
Why does
Scripture also say of God: “And the Lord came down to see
the city and the tower, which the sons of men builded.”2795
Why also does the prophet say in
the Book of the Psalms: “The Lord looked down upon the
children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and that
did seek God”?2796
Just as
though in one place, if God had not descended, and in the other, if He
had not looked down, He would have been ignorant either of men’s
work or of their merits.
214. But in the Gospel of Luke also thou
hast the same, for the Father says: “What shall I do?
I will send My beloved Son; it may be that they will reverence
Him.”2797
In
Matthew and in Mark thou hast: “But He sent His only Son,
saying: they will reverence My Son;”2798
In one book He says: “It
may be that they will reverence My Son;”2799
and is in doubt as though He does not
know; for this is the language of one in doubt. But in the two
other books He says: “They will reverence My Son;”
that is, He declares that reverence will be shown.
215. But God can neither be in doubt, nor
can He be deceived. For he only is in doubt, who is ignorant of
the future; and he is deceived, who has predicted one thing, whilst
another has happened. Yet what is plainer than the fact that
Scripture states the Father to have said one thing of the Son, and that
the same Scripture proves another think to have taken place? The
Son was beaten, He was mocked, was crucified, and died.2800
He suffered much worse things in the
flesh than those servants who had been appointed before. Was the
Father deceived, or was He ignorant of it, or was He unable to give
help? But He that is true cannot make a mistake; for it is
written: “God is faithful Who doth not lie.”2801
How was He ignorant, Who knows
all? What could He not do, Who could do all?
216. Yet if either He was ignorant, or had not
power (for you would sooner agree to say that the Father did not know
than own that the Son knows), you see from this very
fact that the Son is of one Substance with the
Father; seeing that the Son like the Father (to speak in accordance
with your foolish ideas) does not know all things, and cannot do all
things. For I am not so eager or rash in giving praise to the Son
as to dare to say that the Son can do more than the Father; for I make
no distinction of power between the Father and the Son.
217. But perhaps you say that the Father did not
say so, but that the Son erred about the Father. So now you
convict the Son not only of weakness, but also of blasphemy and
lying. However if you do not believe the Son with regard to the
Father, neither may you believe Him with regard to that. For if
He wished to deceive us in saying that the Father was in doubt as
though He knew not what would take place, He wished also to deceive us
about Himself in saying that He did not know the future. It would
be far more endurable for Him to stretch the veil of ignorance in front
of that which He does of His own accord, than that He should seem to be
deluded by a result contrary to what He had foretold in the things He
had declared of His Father.
218. But neither is the Father deceived, not does
the Son deceive. It is the custom of the holy Scriptures to speak
thus, as the examples I have already given, and many others testify, so
that God feigns not to know what He does know. In this then a
unity of Godhead, and a unity of character is proved to exist in the
Father and in the Son; seeing that, as God the Father hides what is
known to Him, so also the Son, Who is the image of God in this respect,
hides what is known to Him.
E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
