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| Chapter VI. That the power of bestowing Divine grace did not come to Christ in the course of time, but was innate in Him from His very birth.
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Chapter VI.
That the power of bestowing Divine grace did not come to
Christ in the course of time, but was innate in Him from His very
birth.
But perhaps you will say
that this grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, of which the Apostle writes,
was not born with Him, but was afterwards infused into Him by the
descent of Divinity upon Him, since you say that the man Jesus Christ
our Lord (whom you call a mere man) was not born with God, but
afterwards was assumed by God:2414
| 2414 Nestorius
maintained that “that which was formed in the womb of Mary was
not God Himself…but because God dwells in him whom He has
assumed, therefore also He who is assumed is called God because of Him
who assumes Him. And it is not God who has suffered, but God was united
with the crucified flesh.” (Fragm. in Marius Mercator p. 789
sq. (ed. Migne).) Thus he made out that in Christ were two
Persons, one assuming and the other assumed. | and that through
this grace was given to the man at the same time that Divinity was
given to Him. Nor do we say anything else than that Divine grace
descended with the Divinity, for the Divine grace of God is in a way a
bestowal of actual Divinity and a gift of a liberal supply of graces.
Perhaps then it may be thought that the difference between us is one of
time rather than of what is essential, since the Divinity which we say
was born with Jesus Christ you say was afterwards infused into Him. But
the fact is that if you deny that Divinity was born with the Lord you
cannot afterwards make a confession according to the faith; for it is
an impossibility for one and the same thing to be partly impious and
also to turn out partly pious, and for the same thing partly to belong
to faith and partly to misbelief. To begin with then I ask you this: Do
you say that our Lord Jesus Christ, who was born of the Virgin Mary is
only the Son of man, or that He is the Son of God as well? For we, I
mean all who hold the Catholic faith, all of us, I say, believe and are
sure and know and confess that He is both, i.e., that He is Son of man
because born of a woman and Son of God because conceived of Divinity.
Do you then admit that He is both, i.e., Son of God and Son of man, or
do you say that He is Son of man only? If Son of man only then there
cry out against you apostles and prophets, aye and the Holy Ghost
Himself, by whom the conception was brought about. That most shameless
mouth of yours is stopped by all the witnesses of the Divine decrees:
it is stopped by sacred writings and holy witnesses: aye and it is
stopped by the very gospel of God as if by a Divine hand. And that
mighty Gabriel who in the case of Zacharias restrained the voice of
unbelief by the power of his word, much more strongly condemned in your
case the voice of
blasphemy and sin, by his own lips,
saying to the Virgin Mary, the mother of God: “The Holy Ghost
shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow
thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall
be called the Son of God.”2415
Do you see
how Jesus Christ is first proclaimed to be the Son of God that
according to the flesh He might become the Son of man? For when the
Virgin Mary was to bring forth the Lord she conceived owing to the
descent of the Holy Spirit upon her and the cooperation of the power of
the Most High. And from this you can see that the origin of our Lord
and Saviour must come from thence, whence His conception came; and
since He was born owing to the descent of the fulness of Divinity in
Its completeness upon the Virgin, He could not be the Son of man unless
He had first been the Son of God; and so the angel when sent to
announce His nativity and sacred birth, when he had already spoken of
the mystery of His conception added a word expressive of His birth,
saying: “Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of
thee shall be called the Son of God” [i.e., He shall be called
the Son of Him from whom He was begotten].2416
| 2416 There is some
doubt whether the words enclosed in brackets form part of the genuine
text. Petschenig brackets them, as wanting in some mss. |
Jesus Christ is therefore the Son of God, because He was begotten of
God and conceived of God. But if He is the Son of God, then most
certainly He is God: but if He is God, then He is not lacking in the
grace of God. Nor indeed was He ever lacking in that of which He is
Himself the maker. For grace and truth were made by Jesus
Christ.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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