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| Chapter VI. That there is in Christ but one Hypostasis (i.e., Personal self).
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Chapter VI.
That there is in Christ but one Hypostasis (i.e.,
Personal self).
But perhaps you think it
a trifle to make this clear: not because it fails in clearness, but
because the obscurity of unbelief always causes obscurity even in what
is clear. Hear then how the Apostle sums up in a few words this whole
mystery of the Lord’s unity [of Person]. “Our one Lord
Jesus Christ,” he says, “by whom are all
things.”2460
O good Jesus,
what weight there is in Thy words! For Thine they are, when spoken of
Thee by Thine own. See how much is embraced in the few words of this
saying of the Apostle’s. “One Lord,” says he,
“Jesus Christ, by whom are all things.” Did he make use of
any circumlocution in order to proclaim the truth of this great
mystery?2461
| 2461 Tanti mysterii
sacramentum. | or did he make a
long story of that which he wanted us to grasp? “Our one
Lord,” he says, “Jesus Christ, by whom are all
things.” In a plain and short phrase he taught the secret of this
great mystery, through this confidence by which he realized that in
what refers to God his statements had no need of lengthened arguments,
and that the Divinity added faith to his utterances. For the
demonstration of facts is enough to confirm what is said, whenever the
proof rests on the authority of the speaker. There is then, he says,
“one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things.” Notice how
you read the same thing of the Word of the Father, which you read of
Christ. For the gospel tells us that “All things were made by
Him, and without Him was not anything made.”2462
The Apostle says, “By Christ are
all things:” the gospel says, “By the Word are all
things.” Do these sacred utterances contradict each other? Most
certainly not. But by Christ, by whom the Apostle said that all things
were created, and by the Word, by whom the Evangelist relates that all
things were made, we are meant to understand one and the same Person.
Hear, I tell you, what the Word of God, Himself God, has said of
Himself. “No man,” he saith, “hath ascended into
heaven, save He who came down from heaven, even the Son of man, who is
in heaven.”2463
And again He
says: “If ye shall see the Son of man ascending where He was
before.”2464
He said that
the Son of man was in heaven: He asserted that the Son of man had come
down from heaven. What does it mean? Why are you muttering? Deny it, if
you can. But do you ask the reason of what is said? However I do not
give it you. God has said this. God has spoken this to me: His Word is
the best reason. I get rid of arguments and discussions. The Person of
the Speaker alone is enough to make me believe. I may not debate about
the trustworthiness of what is said, nor discuss it. Why should I
question whether what God has said is true, since I ought not to doubt
that what God says is true. “No man,” He says, “hath
ascended into heaven, save He who came down from heaven, even the Son
of man, who is in heaven.” Certainly the Word of the Father was
ever in heaven: and how did He assert that the Son of man was ever in
heaven? You are then to understand that He showed that He who was ever
the Son of God was also the Son of man: when He asserted that He, who
had but recently appeared as the Son of man, was ever in heaven. To
this points still more that other passage in which He testifies that
the same Son of man; viz., the Word of God who, as He said, came down
from heaven, even at the time when He was speaking on earth, was in
heaven. For “no man,” He said, “hath ascended into
heaven, save He who came down from heaven, even the Son of man who is
in heaven.” Who, I pray you, is this who is speaking? Assuredly
it is Christ. But where was He at the moment when He spoke? Assuredly
on earth. And how can He assert that He came down from heaven when He
was born, and that He was in heaven when He was speaking, or say that
He is the same Son of man, when certainly no one but God can come down
from heaven, and when He speaks on earth, and certainly cannot be in
heaven except through the Infinite nature of God? Consider then this at
last, and note that the Son of man is the same Person as the Word of
God: for He is the Son of man since He is truly born of man, and the
Word of God, since He who speaks on earth abideth
ever in heaven. And so when He truly
terms Himself the Son of man, it refers to His human birth, while the
fact that He never departs from heaven, refers to the Infinite
character of His Divine nature. And so the Apostle’s teaching is
admirably in accordance with those sacred words: (“for He that
descended,” says He, “is the same that ascended also above
all heavens, that He might fill all things,”2465
) when He says that He that descended is
the same that ascended. But none can descend from heaven except the
Word of God: who certainly “being in the form of God, emptied
Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of
men, and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and
became obedient unto death, even the death of the
Cross.”2466
Thus the Word
of God descended from heaven: but the Son of man ascended. But He says
that the same Person ascended and descended. Thus you see that the Son
of man is the same Person as the Word of God.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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