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{246} Chapter 12. Texts explained; secondly, Psalm xlv. 7, 8.
§ 46. 1. SUCH an explanation of the Apostle's word's, confutes the irreligious men; and what the Psalmist says admits also the same orthodox sense, which they misinterpret, but which in the Psalmist is manifestly religious. He says then, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever; a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of Thy Kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity, therefore God, even Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows. Behold, O ye Arians, and acknowledge even hence the truth. The Psalmist speaks of all us as fellows or partakers [Note 1] of the Lord; but were He one of things which come out of nothing and of things generate, He Himself had been one of those who partake. But, since He hymned Him as the eternal God, saying, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever, and has declared that all other things partake of Him, what conclusion must we draw, but that He is distinct from generated things, and He only the Father's veritable Word, Radiance, and Wisdom, which all things generate partake [Note 2], being sanctified by Him in the Spirit [Note A]? And therefore He is here "anointed," not that He may become God, for He was {247} so even before; nor that He may become King, for He had the Kingdom eternally, existing as God's Image, as the sacred Oracle shews; but in our behalf is this written, as before. For the Israelitish kings, upon their being anointed, then became kings, not being so before, as David, as Ezekias, as Josias, and the rest; but the Saviour on the contrary, being God, and ever ruling in the Father's Kingdom, and being Himself the Dispenser of the Holy Ghost, nevertheless is here said to be anointed, that, as before, being said as man to be anointed with the Spirit, He might provide for us men, not only exaltation and resurrection, but the indwelling and intimacy [Note 3] of the Spirit. And signifying this the Lord Himself hath said by His own mouth in the Gospel according to John, I have sent them into the world, and for their sakes do I sanctify Myself, that they may be sanctified in the truth [John xvii. 18, 19.] [Note 4]. In saying this He has shewn that He is not the sanctified, but the Sanctifier; for He is not sanctified by other, but Himself sanctifies Himself, that we may be sanctified in the truth. He who sanctifies Himself is Lord of sanctification, how then does this take place? What does He mean but this? "I, being the Father's Word, I give to Myself, when become man, the Spirit; and Myself, become man, do I sanctify in Him, that henceforth in Me, who am Truth, (for Thy Word is Truth,) all may be sanctified." § 47. 2. If then for our sake He sanctifies Himself, and does this when He becomes man, it is very plain that the Spirit's descent on Him in Jordan, was a descent upon us, because of His bearing our body. And it did not take place for promotion [Note 5] to the Word, but again for our sanctification, that we might share His anointing, and of us it might be said, Know ye not that ye are God's Temple, and the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? [1 Cor. iii. 16.] For when the Lord, as man, was washed in Jordan, it was we who were washed in Him and by Him [Note 6]. And when He received the Spirit, we it was who by Him were made recipients of It. And moreover for this reason, not as Aaron or David or the rest, was He anointed with oil, but in another way above all His fellows, with the oil of gladness; which He Himself interprets to be the Spirit, saying by the Prophet, The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because the Lord hath anointed Me [Isai. lxi. 1.]; as also the Apostle has {248} said, How God anointed Him with the Holy Ghost [Acts x. 38.]. When then were these things spoken of Him but when He came in the flesh and was baptized in Jordan, and the Spirit descended on Him? And indeed the Lord Himself said, The Spirit shall take of Mine; and I will send Him and to His disciples, Receive ye the Holy Ghost [John xvi. 14. 7; xx. 22.]. And notwithstanding, He who, as the Word and Radiance of the Father, gives to others, now is said to be sanctified, because now He has become man, and the Body that is sanctified is His. From him then we have begun to receive the unction and the seal, John saying, And ye have an unction from the Holy One [1 John ii. 20.]; and the Apostle, And ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise [Eph. i. 13.]. Therefore because of us and for us are these words. 3. What advance then of promotion, and reward of virtue or generally of conduct, is proved from this in our Lord's instance? For if He was not God, and then had become God, if not being King He was preferred to the Kingdom, your reasoning would have had some faint plausibility. But if He is God and the throne of His kingdom is everlasting, in what way could God advance? or what was there wanting to Him who was sitting on His Father's throne? And if, as the Lord Himself has said, the Spirit is His, and takes of His, and He sends It, it is not the Word, considered as the Word [Note 7] and Wisdom, who is anointed with the Spirit which He Himself gives, but the flesh assumed by Him which is anointed in Him and by Him [Note B]; that the sanctification {249} coming to the Lord as man, may come to all men from Him. For not of Itself, saith He, doth the Spirit speak, but the Word is He who gives It to the worthy. For this is like the passage considered above; for as the Apostle has written, Who existing in form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but humbled Himself, and took a servant's form, so David celebrates the Lord, as the everlasting God and King, but sent to us and assuming our body which is mortal. For this is his meaning in the Psalm, All Thy garments [Note C] smell of myrrh, aloes, and cassia [Ps. xlv. 9.]; and it is represented by Nicodemus and by Mary's company, when he came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pounds weight [John xix. 39.]; and they the spices which they had prepared for the burial of the Lord's body [Luke xxiv. 1.]. § 48. 4. What advancement [Note 8] then was it to the Immortal to have assumed the mortal? or what promotion is it to the Everlasting to have put on the temporal? what reward can be great to the Everlasting God and King in the bosom of the Father? See ye not, that this too was done and written because of us and for us, that us who are mortal and temporal, the Lord, become man, might make immortal, and bring into the everlasting kingdom of heaven? Blush ye not, speaking lies against the divine oracles? For when our Lord Jesus Christ had been among us, we indeed were promoted, as rescued from sin; but He is the same [Note 9]: nor did He alter, when He became man, (to repeat what I have said,) but, as has been written, The Word of God abideth for ever [Note 10]. Surely as, before His becoming man, He, the Word, dispensed to the saints the Spirit as His own [Note 11], so also when made man, He sanctifies all by the Spirit and says to His Disciples, Receive ye the Holy Ghost. And He gave to Moses and the other seventy; and through Him David prayed to the Father, saying, Take not Thy Holy Spirit from me [Ps. li. 11.]. On the other hand, when made man, He said, I will send to you the Paraclete, the Spirit of truth [John xv. 26.]; and He sent Him, He, the Word of God, as being faithful. {250} 5. Therefore Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and for ever [Heb. xiii. 8.], remaining unalterable, and at once gives and receives, giving as God's Word, receiving as man. It is not the Word then, viewed as the Word, that is promoted; for He had all things and has them always; but men, who have in Him and through Him their origin [Note D] of receiving them. For, when He is now said to be anointed in a human respect, we it is who in Him are anointed; since also, when He is baptized, we it is who in Him are baptized. But on all these things the Savior throws much light, when He says to the Father, And the glory which Thou gavest Me, I have given to them, that they may be one, even as We are one [John xvii. 22.]. Because of us then He asked for glory, and the words occur, took and gave and highly exalted, that we might take, and to us might be given, and we might be exalted, in Him; as also for us He sanctifies Himself, that we might be sanctified in Him [Note 12]. {251} § 49. 6. But if they take advantage of the word wherefore, as connected with the passage in the Psalm, Wherefore God, even Thy, God, hath anointed Thee, for their own purposes, let these novices in Scripture and masters in irreligion know, that, as before, the word wherefore does not imply reward of virtue or conduct in the Word, but the reason why He came down to us, and of the Spirit's anointing which took place in Him for our sakes. For He says not, "Wherefore He anointed Thee in order to Thy being God or King or Son or ‘Word;" for so He was before and is for ever, as has been shewn; but rather, "Since Thou art God and King, therefore Thou wast anointed, since none but Thou couldest unite man to the Holy Ghost, Thou the Image of the Father, in which [Note 13] we were made in the beginning; for Thine is even the Spirit." For the nature of things generate could give no warranty for this, Angels having transgressed, and men disobeyed [Note E]. Wherefore there was need of God; and the Word is God; that those who had become under a curse, He Himself might set free. If then He was of nothing, He would not have been the Christ or Anointed, being one among others and having fellowship as the rest [Note 14]. But, whereas He is God, as being Son of God, and is everlasting King, and exists as Radiance and Expression of the Father [Heb. i. 3.], therefore fitly is He the expected Christ, whom the Father announces to mankind, by revelation to His holy Prophets; that as through Him we have come to be, so also in Him all men might be redeemed from their sins, and by Him all things might be ruled [Note F]. And this is the cause of {252} the anointing which took place in Him, and of the incarnate presence of the Word [Note G]; which the Psalmist foreseeing, celebrates, first His Godhead and kingdom, which is the Father's, in these tones, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever; a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of Thy Kingdom [Ps. xlv. 5.]; then, announces His descent to us thus, Therefore God, even Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows [Ib. 8.]. § 50. 7. What is there to wonder at, what to disbelieve, if the Lord who gives the Spirit, is here said Himself to be anointed with the Spirit, at a time when, necessity requiring it, He did not refuse in respect of His manhood to call Himself inferior to the Spirit? For the Jews saying that He cast out devils in Beelzebub, He answered and said to them, for the exposure of their blasphemy, But if I through the Spirit of God cast out devils [Matt. xii. 28.]. Behold, the Giver of the Spirit here says that He cast out devils in the Spirit; but this is not said, except because of His flesh. For since man's nature is not equal of itself to casting out devils, but only in power of the Spirit, therefore as man He said, But if I through the Spirit of God cast out devils. Of course too He signified that the blasphemy offered to the Holy Ghost is greater than that against His humanity, when He said, Whosoever shall speak a Word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him [Ib. 32.]; such as were those who said, Is not this the carpenter's son [Ib. xiii. 55.]? but they who blaspheme against the Holy Ghost, and ascribe the deeds of the Word to the devil, shall have inevitable punishment [Note H]. This is what the Lord spoke to the Jews, as {253} man; but to the disciples shewing His Godhead and His majesty, and intimating that He was not inferior but equal to the Spirit, He gave the Spirit and said, Receive ye the Holy Ghost [John xx. 22.], and I send Him, and He shall glorify Me, and Whatsoever He heareth, that He shall speak [Ib. xvi. 13. 14.]. As then in this place the Lord Himself, the Giver of the Spirit, does not refuse to say that through the Spirit He casts out devils, as man; in like manner He the same, the Giver of the Spirit, refused not to say, The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me [Is. lxi. 1.], in respect of His having become flesh, as John hath said; that it might be shewn in both these particulars, that we are they who need the Spirit's grace in our sanctification, and again who are unable to cast out devils without the Spirit's power. Through whom then and from whom behoved it that the Spirit should be given but through the Son, whose also the Spirit is? and when were we enabled to receive It, except when the Word became man? and, as the passage of the Apostle shews, that we had not been redeemed and highly exalted, had not He who exists in form of God taken a servant's form, so David also shews, that no otherwise should we have partaken the Spirit and been sanctified, but that the Giver of the Spirit, the Word Himself, had spoken of Himself as anointed with the Spirit for us. And therefore have we securely received it, He being said to be anointed in the flesh; for the flesh being first sanctified in Him [Note 15], and He being said, as man, to have received for its sake, we have the sequel of the Spirit's grace, receiving out of His fullness [John i. 16.]. § 51. 8. Nor do the words, Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity, which are added in the Psalm, shew, as again you suppose, that the Nature of the Word is alterable, but rather by their very force signify His unalterableness. For since of things generate the nature is alterable, and the one portion had transgressed and the other disobeyed, as has been said, and it is not certain how they will act, but it often happens that he who is now good afterwards alters and becomes different, so that one who was but now righteous, soon is found unrighteous, wherefore there was here also {254} need of one unalterable, that men might have the immutability of the righteousness of the Word as an image and type for virtue [Note I]. And this thought commends itself strongly to the right-minded. For since the first man Adam altered, and through sin death came into the world, therefore it became the second Adam to be unalterable; that, should the Serpent again assault, even the Serpent's deceit might be baffled, and, the Lord being unalterable and unchangeable, the Serpent might become powerless in his assaults against all. For as when Adam had transgressed, his sin reached unto all men, so, when the Lord had become man and had overthrown the Serpent, that so great strength of His is to extend through all men, so that each of us may say, For we are not ignorant of his devices [2 Cor. ii. 11.]. Good reason then that the Lord, who ever is in nature unalterable, loving righteousness and hating iniquity, should be anointed and Himself sent on mission, that, He, being and remaining the same [Note 16], by taking this alterable flesh, might condemn sin in it [Rom. viii. 3.], and might secure its freedom, and its ability [Note K] henceforth to fulfil the righteousness of the Law in itself, so as to be able to say, But we are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwelleth in us [Ib. 9.]. § 52. 9. Vainly then, here again, O Arians, have ye made this conjecture, and vainly alleged the words of Scripture; for God's Word is unalterable, and is ever in one state, not as it may happen [Note L], but as the Father is; since how is He like {255} the Father, unless He be thus? or how is all that is the Father's, the Son's also, if He has not the unalterableness and unchangeableness of the Father [Note 17]? Not as being subject to laws [Note M], and as influenced this way and that, does He love this and hate that, lest, if from fear of forfeiture He chooses the opposite, we admit in another way that He is alterable; but, as being God and the Father's Word, He is a just judge and lover of virtue, or rather its dispenser. Therefore being just and holy by nature, on this account He is said to love righteousness and to hate iniquity; as much as to say, that He loves and takes to Him the virtuous, and rejects and hates the unrighteous. And divine Scripture says the same of the Father; The Righteous Lord loveth righteousness; Thou hatest all them that work iniquity; and, The Lord loveth the gates of Sion, more than all the dwellings of Jacob [Ps. xi. 8.; v. 5. lxxxvii. 2.]; and, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated [Mal. i. 2, 3.]; and in Esaias, there is the voice of God again saying, I the Lord love righteousness, and hate robbery of unrighteousness [Is. lxi. 8.]. Let them then expound those former words as these latter; for the former also are written of the Image of God: else, misinterpreting these as those, they will conceive that the Father too is alterable. But, since the very hearing others say this is not without peril, we do well to think that God is said to love righteousness and to hate robbery of unrighteousness, not as if influenced this way and that, and capable of the contrary, selecting one thing and not choosing another, for this belongs to things generated, but that, as a judge, He loves and takes to Him the righteous and withdraws from the bad. It follows then to think the same concerning the Image of God also, that He loves and hates no otherwise than thus. For such must be the nature of the Image as is Its Father, though the Arians in their blindness fail to see either that Image or any other truth of the divine oracles. For being forced from the conceptions or rather misconceptions [Note N] of their own hearts, they fall back upon passages of divine {256} Scripture, and here too from want of understanding, according to their wont, the discern not their meaning; but laying down their own irreligion as a sort of canon of interpretation [Note O], they wrest the whole of the divine oracles into accordance with it. And so on the bare mention of such doctrine, they deserve nothing but the reply, Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God [Matt. xxii. 29.]; and if they persist in it, they must be put to silence, by the words, Render to man the things that are man's, and to God the things that are God's [Ib. 21.]. {257} Chapter 13. Texts explained; thirdly, Hebrews i. 4.
§ 53. 1. BUT it is written, say they, in the Proverbs, The Lord created life Me the beginning of His ways, for His works [Prov. viii. 22.] [Note 18]; and in the Epistle to the Hebrews the Apostle says, Being made so much better than the Angels, as He hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent Name than they [Heb. i. 4.]. And soon after, Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to Him that appointed Him [Ib. iii. 1.] [Note 19]. And in the Acts, Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ [Acts ii. 36.] [Note 20]. These passages they brought forward at every turn, mistaking their sense, under the idea that they proved that the Word of God was a creature and work and one of things generate; and thus they deceive the thoughtless, making the language of Scripture their pretence, but instead of the true sense sowing [Note 21] upon it the poison of their own [Note 22] heresy. For had they known, they would not have been irreligious against the Lord of glory [1 Cor. ii. 8.], nor have wrested the good words of Scripture. If then henceforward openly adopting Caiaphas's way, {258} they have determined on judaizing, and are ignorant of the text, that verily God shall dwell upon the earth [vid. 1 Kings viii. 27. Zech. ii. 10. Bar. iii. 37.], let them not inquire into the Apostolical sayings; for they were out of place with Jews. Or, if mixing themselves up with the godless Manichees [Note A], they deny that the Word was made flesh, and His incarnate presence [Note 23], then let them not bring forward the Proverbs, for this is out of place with the Manichees. But if for preferment-sake, and the lucre of avarice which follows [Note 24], and the desire for good repute, they venture not on denying the text, The Word was made flesh, since so it is written, either let them rightly interpret the words of Scripture, of the embodied [Note 25] presence of the Saviour, or, if they deny their sense, let them deny too that the Lord became man. For it is unseemly, while confessing that the Word became flesh, yet to be ashamed at what is written of Him, and on that account to corrupt the sense. § 54. 2. Thus, it is written, So much better than the Angels; let us then first examine this. Now it is right and necessary, as in all divine Scripture, so here, faithfully to expound the time of which the Apostle wrote, and the person [Note 26], and the point; lest the reader, from ignorance missing either these or any similar particular, may be wide of the true sense. This understood that inquiring eunuch, when he thus besought Philip, I pray thee, of whom doth the Prophet speak this? of himself, or of some other man [Acts viii. 34.]? for he feared lest, expounding the lesson unsuitably to the person, he should wander from the right sense. And the disciples, wishing to learn the time of what was foretold, besought the Lord, Tell us, said they, when shall these things be? and what is the sign of Thy coming [Matt. xxiv. 3.]? And again, hearing from the Saviour the events of the end, they desired to learn the time of it, that they might be kept from error themselves, and might be able to teach others; as, for instance, when they have learned, they set right the Thessalonians, who were going wrong [vid. 1 Thess. iv. 13. 2 Thess. ii. 1. &c.]. When then one knows properly these points, his understanding of the faith is right and healthy; but if he mistakes any such points, forthwith he falls into heresy. Thus the party of Hymenæus and Alexander were beside the time [2 Tim. ii. 17, 18. 1 Tim. i. 20.], when they {259} said that the resurrection had already been; and the Galatians were after the time, in making much of circumcision now. And to miss the person was the lot of the Jews, and is still, who think that of one of themselves is said, Behold, a Virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and they shall call His Name Emmanuel, which is being interpreted, God with us [Is. vii. 14. Matt. i. 23.]; and that, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up to you [Deut. xviii. 15.], is spoken of one of the Prophets; and who, as to the words, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter [Is. liii. 7.], instead of learning from Philip, conjecture them spoken of Esaias or some other of the Prophets which have been [Note B]. § 55. 3. Such has been the state of mind under which Christ's enemies have fallen into their execrable heresy [Note 27]. For had they known the person, and the subject, and the season of the Apostle's words, they would not have expounded of Christ's divinity what belongs to His manhood, nor in their folly have committed so great an act of irreligion. Now this will be readily seen, if one expounds properly the beginning of this passage. For the Apostle says, God who at sundry times and divers manners spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son [Heb. i. 1, 2.]; then again shortly after he says, when He had by Himself purged our sins, He sat down on the right hand if the Majesty on high, having become [Note 28] so much better than the Angels, as He hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent Name than they [Ib. iii. 4.]. It appears then that the Apostle's words make mention of that time, when God spoke unto us by His Son, and when a purging of sins took place. Now when did He speak unto us by His Son, and when did purging of sins take place? and when did He become man? when, but subsequently to the Prophets in the last days? Next, proceeding with his account of the economy in which we were concerned, and speaking of the last times, he is naturally led to observe that not even in the former times was God silent with men, but spoke to them by the Prophets. And, whereas the Prophets ministered, and the Law {260} was spoken by Angels, while the Son too came on earth, and that in order to minister, he was forced to add, Become so much better than the Angels, wishing to shew that, as much as the son excels a servant, so much also the ministry of the Son is better than the ministry of servants. Contrasting then the old ministry and the new, the Apostle deals freely with the Jews, writing and saying, Become so much better than the Angels. This is why throughout he uses no comparison, such as "become greater," or "more honourable," lest we should think of Him and them as one in kind [Note 29], but better [Note 30] is his word, by way of marking the difference of the Son's nature from things generated. And of this we have proof from divine Scripture; David, for instance, saying in the Psalm, One day in Thy courts is better than a thousand [Ps. lxxxiv. 10.]: and Solomon crying out, Receive my instruction and not silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold. For wisdom is better than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it [Prov. viii. 10, 11.]. Are not wisdom and stones of the earth different in substance [Note 31] and separate [Note 32] in nature? Are heavenly courts at all akin to earthly houses? Or is there any similarity between things eternal and spiritual, and things temporal and mortal? And this is what Esaias says, Thus saith the Lord unto the eunuchs that keep My sabbaths, and choose the things that please Me, and take hold of My Covenant; even unto them will I give in Mine house, and within My walls, a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off [Is. lvi. 4, 5.]. In like manner there is nought akin between the Son and the Angels; so that the word better is not used to compare but to contrast, because of the difference [Note 33] of His nature from them. And therefore the Apostle also himself, when he interprets the word better, places its force in nothing short of the Son's excellence [Note 34] over things generated, calling the one Son, the other servants ; the one, as a Son with the Father, sitting on the right; and the others, as servants, standing before Him, and being sent, and fulfilling offices. § 56. Scripture, in speaking thus, implies, O Arians, not that the Son is generate, but rather other than things generate, and proper to the Father, being in His bosom. {261} 4. Nor [Note C] does even the expression become, which here occurs, show that the Son is generate, as ye suppose. If indeed it were simply become and no more, a case might stand for the Arians; but, whereas they are forestalled with the word Son throughout the passage, shewing that He is other than things generate, so again not even the word become occurs absolutely [Note D], but better is immediately subjoined. For the writer thought the expression immaterial, knowing that in the case of one who was confessedly a genuine Son, to say become is the same with saying that He was generated, and that He is better. For it matters not though we speak of what is generate, as "become" or "made;" but on the contrary, things generate cannot be called generate, God's handiwork as they are, except so far as after their making they partake of the Son who is the true Generate, and are therefore said to have been generated also, not at all in their own nature, but because of their participation of the Son in the Spirit [Note E]. And this again divine Scripture {262} recognises; for it not only says in the case of things generate, All things came to be through Him, and without Him there was not any thing made [John i. 3.], and, In wisdom hast Thou made them all [Ps. civ. 24.]; but in the case of sons also which are generate, To Job there came seven sons and three daughters [Job i. 2.], and, Abraham was an hundred years old when there came to him Isaac his son [Gen. xxi. 5.]; and Moses said, If to any one there come sons. Therefore since the Son is other than things generate, alone the proper offspring of the Father's substance, this plea of the Arians about the word become is worth nothing. 5. If moreover, baffled so far, they should still violently insist that the language is that of comparison, and that comparison in consequence implies oneness of kind [Note 35], so that the Son is of the nature of Angels, they will in the first place incur the disgrace of rivalling and repeating what Valentinus held, and Carpocrates, and those other heretics, of whom the former said that the Angels were one in kind with the Christ, and Carpocrates that Angels are framers of the world [Note F]. Perchance it is under the instruction of these masters that they compare the Word of God with the Angels; § 57. though surely amid such speculations, they will be moved by the Psalmist, saying, Who is he among the gods that shall be like unto the Lord? [Ps. lxxxix. 7.] And, Among the gods there is none like unto Thee, O Lord [Ib. lxxxvi. 8.]. However, they must be answered, with the chance of their profiting by it, that comparison confessedly does belong to subjects one in kind, not to those which differ. No one, for instance, would compare God with man, or again man with brutes, nor wood with stone, because their natures are unlike; but God is beyond comparison, and man is compared {263} to man, and wood to wood, and stone to stone. Now in such cases we should not speak of better, but of "rather" and "more;" thus Joseph was comely rather than his brethren, and Rachel than Leah; star [Note 36] is not better than star, but is the rather excellent in glory; whereas in bringing together things which differ in kind, then better is used to mark the difference, as has been said in the case of wisdom and jewels. Had then the Apostle said, "by so much has the Son precedence of the Angels," or "by so much greater," you would have had a plea, as if the Son were compared with the Angels; but, as it is, in saying that He is better, and differs as far as Son from servants, the Apostle shews that He is other than the Angels in nature. 6. Moreover by saying that He it is who has laid the foundation of all things [Heb. i. 10.], he shews that He is other than all things generate. But if He be other and different in substance [Note 37] from their nature, what comparison of His substance [Note 38] can there be, or what likeness to them? though, even if they have any such thoughts, Paul shall refute them, who speaks to the very point, For unto which of the Angels said He at any time, Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee? And of the Angels He saith, Who maketh His Angels spirits, and His ministers a flame of fire [Ib. v. 7.]. § 58. Observe here, the word made belongs to things generate, and he calls them things made; but to the Son He speaks not of making, nor of becoming, but of eternity and kingship, and a Framer's office, exclaiming, Thy Throne, O God, is for ever and ever [Ib. 8.]; and, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of Thine hands; they shall perish, but Thou remainest [Ib. 10, 11.]. From which words even they, were they but willing, might perceive that the Framer is other than things framed, the former God, the latter things generate, made out of nothing. For what has been said, They shall perish, is said, not as if the creation were destined for destruction, but to express the nature of things generate by the issue to which they tend [Note 39]. For things which admit of perishing, though through the grace [Note 40] of their Maker they perish not, yet have come out of nothing, and themselves witness that they once were not. And on this account, since their nature is such, it is said of {264} the Son, Thou remainest, to shew His eternity; for not having the capacity of perishing, as things generate have, but having eternal duration, it is foreign to Him to have it said, "He was not before His generation," but proper to Him to be always, and to endure together with the Father. And though the Apostle had not thus written in his Epistle to the Hebrews, still his other Epistles, and the whole of Scripture, would certainly forbid their entertaining such notions concerning the Word. But since he has here expressly written it, and, as has been above shewn, the Son is Offspring of the Father's substance, and He is Framer, and other things are framed by Him, and He is the Radiance and Word and Image and Wisdom of the Father, and things generate stand and serve in their place below the Trinity, therefore the Son is different in kind and different in substance from things generate, and on the contrary is proper to the Father's substance and one in nature to it [Note G]. And hence it is that the Son too says not, My Father is better than I [John xiv. 28.], lest we should conceive Him to be foreign to His Nature, but greater, not indeed in greatness, nor in time, but because of His generation from the Father Himself [Note H]; nay, in saying greater He again shews that He is proper to His substance. § 59. 7. And the Apostle's own reason for saying, so much better than the Angels, was not any wish in the first instance to compare the substance [Note 41] of the Word to things generate, (for He cannot be compared, rather they are incommeasurable,) but regarding the Word's visitation [Note 42] in the flesh, and the economy which He then sustained, he wished to shew that He was not like those who had gone before Him; so that, as much as He excelled in nature those who were sent afore by Him, by so much also the grace which came from and through Him was better than the ministry through Angels [Note I]. For it is the function of servants, to demand the fruits and no more; but of the Son and Master to forgive the debts and to transfer the vineyard. {265} 8. Certainly what the Apostle proceeds to say shews the excellence of the Son over things generate; Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. For if the word spoken by Angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward; how shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard Him [Heb. ii. 1-3.]. But if the Son were in the number of things generate, He was not better than they, nor did disobedience involve increase of punishment because of Him; any more than in the Ministry of Angels there was not, according to each Angel, greater or less guilt in the transgressors, but the Law was one, and one was its vengeance on transgressors. But, whereas the Word is not in the number of generate things, but is Son of the Father, therefore, as He Himself is better and His acts better and transcendent, so also the punishment is worse. Let them contemplate then the grace which is through the Son, and let them acknowledge the witness which He gives even from His works, that He is other than things generated, and alone the very Son in the Father and the Father in Him. And the Law [Note K] was spoken by Angels, and perfected no one, needing the visitation of the Word, as Paul hath said [Ib. vii. 19.]; but that visitation has perfected the work of the Father. And then, from Adam unto Moses death reigned; but the presence of the Word abolished death. [Note 43] And no longer in Adam are we all dying; but in Christ we are all reviving. And then, from Dan to Bersabe was the Law proclaimed, and in Judæa only was God known; but now, unto all the earth has gone forth their voice, and all the earth has been filled with the knowledge of God, and the disciples have made disciples of all the nations [Matt. xxviii. 19.], and now is fulfilled what {266} is written, They shall be all taught of God [John vi. 45. Is. liv. 13.]. And then what was revealed, was but a type; but now the truth has been manifested. And this again the Apostle himself describes afterwards more clearly, saying, By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament [Heb. vii. 22.]; and again, But now hath He obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also He is the Mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises [Ib. viii. 6.]. And, For the Law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did [Ib. vii. 19.]. And again he says, It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these [Ib. ix. 23.]. Both in the verse before us then, and throughout, does he ascribe the word better to the Lord, who is better and other than generated things. For better is the sacrifice through Him, better the hope in Him; and also the promises through Him, not merely as great compared with small, but the one differing from the other in nature, because He who conducts this economy, is better than things generated. § 60. 9. Moreover the words He is become [Note 44] surety denotes the pledge in our behalf which He has provided. For as, being the Word, He became flesh [John i. 14.], and become we ascribe to the flesh, for it is generated and created, so do we here the expression He is become, expounding it according to a second sense, viz. because He has become man. And let these contentious men know, that they fail in this their perverse purpose; let them know that Paul does not signify that His substance [Note 45] has become, knowing, as he did, that He is Son and Wisdom and Radiance and Image of the Father; but here too he refers the word become to the ministry of that covenant, in which death which once ruled is abolished. Since here also the ministry through him has become better, in that what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in the flesh [Rom. viii. 3.], ridding it of the trespass, in which, being continually held captive, it admitted not the Divine mind. And having rendered the flesh capable [Note 46] of the Word, He made us walk, no longer according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit, and say again and again, "But we are not in the flesh {267} but in the Spirit," and, "For the Son of God came into the world, not to judge the world, but to redeem all men, and that the world might be saved through Him." [v. John iii. 17.] Formerly the world, as guilty, was under judgment from the Law; but now the Word has taken on Himself the judgment, and having suffered in the body for all, has bestowed salvation to all [Note L]. With a view to this, hath John exclaimed, The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ [Ib. i. 17.]. Better is grace than the Law, and truth than the shadow. § 61. 10. Better then, as has been said, could not have been brought to pass by any other than the Son, who sits on the right hand of the Father. And what does this denote but the Son's genuineness [Note 47], and, that the Godhead of the Father is the same as the Son's [Note 48]? For in that the Son reigns in His Father's kingdom, is seated upon the same throne as the Father, and is contemplated in the Father's Godhead, therefore is the Word God, and whoso beholds the Son, beholds the Father; and thus there is one God. Sitting then on the right, yet hath He not His Father on the left [Note M]; but whatever is right [Note 49] and precious in the Father, that also the Son has, and says, All things that the Father hath are Mine [Ib. xvi. 15.]. Wherefore also the Son, though sitting on the right, also sees the Father on the right, though it be as become man that He says, I saw the Lord always before My face, for He is on My right hand, therefore I shall not fall [Ps. xvi. 9.]. This shows moreover that the Son is in the Father and the Father in the Son; for the Father being on the right, the Son is on the right; and while the Son sits on the right of the Father, the Father is in the Son. And the Angels indeed minister ascending and descending; but concerning the Son he saith, And let all the Angels of God worship Him [Heb. i. 6.]. And when {268} Angels minister, they say, "I am sent unto thee," and, "The Lord has commanded;" but the Son, though He say in human fashion, "I am sent," and comes to finish the work and to minister [vid. John xvii. 4. Mark x. 45.], nevertheless says, as being Word and Image, I am in the Father, and the Father in Me; and, He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father [John xiv. 10, 9.] [Note 50]; and, The Father that abideth in Me, He doeth the works; for what we behold in that Image, are the Father's works. 11. What has been already said ought to prevail with those persons who are fighting against the very truth; however, if, because it is written, become better, they refuse to explain become, as used of the Son, to be "has been generated and is;" [Note N] or again as referring to the better covenant having come to be [Note O], as we have said, but consider from this expression that the Word is called generate, let them hear the same again in a concise form, since they have forgotten what has been said. § 62. If the Son be in the number of the Angels, then let the word become apply to Him as to them, and let Him not differ at all from them in nature; but be they either sons with Him, or be He an Angel with them; sit they one and all together on the right hand of the Father, or be the Son standing with them all as a ministering Spirit, sent forth to minister Himself as they are. But if on the other hand Paul distinguishes the Son from things generate, saying, To which of the Angels said He at any time, Thou art My Son? and the one frames heaven and earth, but they are made by Him; and He sitteth with the Father, but they stand by ministering, who does not see that he has not used the word become of the substance [Note 51] of the Word, but of the ministration come through Him? For as, being the Word, He became flesh, so when become man, He became by so much better in His ministry than the ministry which came by the Angels, as Son excels servants and Framer things framed. Let them cease therefore to take the word became of the substance of the Son, for He is not one of generated things; and let them acknowledge that it is indicative of His ministry and the economy which came to pass. 12. But how He became better in His ministry, being {269} better in nature than things generate, appears from what has been said before, which, I consider, is sufficient in itself to put them to shame. But if they carry on the contest, it will be proper upon their rash daring to close with them, and to oppose to them those similar expressions which are used concerning the Father Himself. This may serve to prevail with them to refrain their tongue from evil, or may teach them the depth of their folly. Now it is written, Become my strong rock and house of defence, that Thou mayest save me [Ps. xxxi. 3.]. And again, The Lord became a defence for the oppressed [Ib. ix. 9.], and the like which are found in divine Scripture. If then they apply these passages to the Son, which perhaps is nearest to the truth, then let them acknowledge that the sacred writers ask Him, as not being generate, to become to them a strong rock and house of defence; and for the future let them understand become, and He made, and He created, of His incarnate presence. For then did He become a strong rock and house of defence, when He bore our sins in His own body upon the tree, and said, Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest [Matt. xi. 28.]. § 63. 13. But if they refer these passages to the Father, will they, when it is here also written, "Become" and "He became," venture so far as to affirm that God is generate? Yea, they will dare, as they thus argue concerning His Word; for the course of their argument carries them on to conjecture the same things concerning the Father, as they devise concerning His Word. But far be such a notion ever from the thoughts of all the faithful! for neither is the Son in the number of things generated, nor do the words of Scripture in question, Become, and He became, denote beginning of being, but that succour which was given to the needy. For God is always, and one and the same; but men came to be afterwards through the Word, when the Father Himself willed it; and God is invisible and inaccessible to generated things, and especially to men upon earth. When then men in infirmity invoke Him, when in persecution they ask help, when under injuries they pray, then the invisible, being a lover of man, shines forth upon them with His beneficence, which He exercises through and in {270} His proper Word. And forthwith the divine manifestation is made to every one according to his need, and is made to the weak health, and to the persecuted a refuge and house of defence; and to the injured He says, While Thou speakest I will say, Here I am [Is. lviii. 9.]. What defence then comes to each through the Son, that each says that God has come to be to himself, since succour comes from God Himself through the Word. Moreover the usage of men recognises this, and every one will confess its propriety. Often succour comes from man to man; one has undertaken toil for the injured, as Abraham for Lot; and another has opened his home to the persecuted, as Abdias to the sons of the prophets; and another has entertained a stranger, as Lot the Angels; and another has supplied the needy, as Job those who begged of him. As then, should one and the other of these benefitted persons say, "Such a one became an assistance to me," and another "and to me a refuge," and "to another a supply," yet in so saying would not be speaking of the original becoming or the substance of their benefactors, but of the beneficence coming to themselves from them, so also when the sacred writers say concerning God, He became and become Thou, they do not denote any original becoming, for God is unoriginate and not generate, but the salvation which is made to be unto men from Him. § 64. 14. This being so understood, it is parallel also respecting the Son, that whatever, and however often, is said, such as, He became and become, should ever have the same sense: so that as, when we hear the words in question become better than the Angels and He became, we should not conceive any original becoming of the Word, nor in any way fancy from such terms that He is generate; but should understand Paul's words of His ministry and economy when He became man. For when the Word became flesh and dwelt among us [John i. 14.]and came to minister and to grant salvation to all, then He became to us salvation, and became life, and became propitiation; then His economy in our behalf became much better than the Angels, and He became the Way and became the Resurrection. And as the words Become my strong rock do not denote that the substance of God Himself became, but his lovingkindness, as has been said, {271} so also here the having become better than the Angels, and, He became, and, by so much is Jesus become a better surety, do not signify that the substance [Note 52] of the Word is generate, (perish the thought!) but the beneficence which towards us came to be through His incarnation; unthankful though the heretics be, and obstinate in behalf of their irreligion. FootnotesA. It is here said that all things generate
partake the Son and are sanctified by the Spirit. How a [gennesis]
or adoption through the Son is necessary for every creature in order
to its consistence, lift, or preservation, has been explained, supr.
p. 32, note Q. Sometimes the Son was considered as the special
Principle of reason, as by Origen, vid. ap. Athan. Serap. iv. 9. vid.
himself, de Incarn. 11. These offices of the Son and the Spirit are
contrasted by S. Basil, in his de Sp. S. [ton prostattonta kurion,
ton demiourgounta logon, to stereoun pneuma], &c. c.
16. n. 38. B.
Elsewhere Athan. says that our Lord's Godhead was the immediate
anointing or chrism of the manhood He assumed. "God needed not
the anointing, nor was the anointing made without God; but God both
applied it, and also received it in that body which was capable of
it." in Apollin. ii. 3. and [to chrisma ego ho logos,
to de christhen hup' emou
ho anthropos]. Orat. iv. § 36. [infra p. 534] vid.
Origen. Periarch. ii. 6. n. 4. And S. Greg. Naz. still more expressly,
and from the same text as Athan., "The Father anointed Him 'with
the oil of gladness above His fellows,' anointing the manhood with
the Godhead." Orat. x. fin. Again, "This [the Godhead]
is the anointing of the manhood, not sanctifying by an energy as the
other Christs [anointed] but by a presence of Him whole who anointed,
[holou tou chriontos]; whence it came to pass that what
anointed was called man and what was anointed was made God." Orat.
30. 20. "He Himself anointed Himself; anointing as God the body
with His Godhead, and anointed as man." Damasc. F. O. iii. 3. Dei
Filius, sicut pluvia in vellus, toto divinitatis unguento nostram se
fudit in carnem. Chrysolog. Serm. 60. It is more common, however, to
consider that the anointing was the descent of the Spirit, as Athan.
says at the beginning of this section, according to Luke iv. 18. Acts
x. 38. C.
Our Lord's manhood is spoken of as a garment; more distinctly
afterwards, "As Aaron was himself, and did not change on putting round
him the high priest's garment, but remaining the same, was but clothed
&c. Orat. ii. 8 [infra p. 291]. On the Apollinarian abuse of the
idea, vid. note in loc. D.
The word origin, [arche], implies the doctrine, more
fully brought out in other passages of the Fathers, that our Lord has
deigned to become an instrumental cause, as it may be called, of the
life of each individual Christian. For at first sight it may be
objected to the whole course of Athan.'s argument thus: —What
connection is there between the sanctification of Christ's manhood and
ours? how does it prove that human nature is sanctified because a
particular specimen of it was sanctified in Him? S. Chrysostom
explains: "He is born of our substance; you will say, 'This does
not pertain to all;' yea, to all. He mingles ([anamignusin])
Himself with the faithful individually, through the mysteries, and
whom He has begotten those He nurses from Himself, not puts them out
to other hands," &c. Hom. in Matt. 82. 5. [p. 1092 O.T.] And
just before, "It sufficed not for Him to be made man, to be
scourged, to be sacrificed; but He assimilates us to Him ([anaphurei
heauton hemin]), not merely by faith, but really, has He
made us His body." Again, "That we are commingled ([anakerasthomen])
into that flesh, not merely through love, but really, is brought about
by means of that food which He has bestowed upon us." Hom. in
Joann. 46. 3. [p. 399 O.T.] And so S. Cyril writes against Nestorius:
"Since we have proved that Christ is the Vine, and we branches as
adhering to a communion with Him, not spiritual merely but bodily, why
clamours he against us thus bootlessly, saying that, since we adhere
to Him, not in a bodily way, but rather by faith and the affection of
love according to the Law, therefore He has called, not His own flesh
the vine, but rather the Godhead?" in Joann. Lib. 10, p. 863, 4.
And Nyssen: "As they who have taken poison, destroy its deadly
power by some other preparation ... so when we have tasted what
destroys our nature, we have need of that instead which restores what
was destroyed ... But what is this? nothing else than that Body which
has been proved to be mightier than death, and was the beginning, [katerxato],
of our life. For a little leaven," &c. Orat. Catech. 37.
Decoctâ quasi per ollam carnis nostræ cruditate, sanctificavit in æternum
nobis cibum carnem suam. Paulin. Ep. 23. Of course in such statements
nothing simply material is
implied; or, as Hooker says, "The mixture of His bodily substance with
ours is a thing which the ancient Fathers disclaim. Yet the mixture of
His flesh with ours they speak of, to signify what our very bodies
through mystical conjunction from that vital efficacy which we know to
be in His, and from bodily mixtures they borrow divers similitudes
rather to declare the truth than the manner of coherence between His
sacred and the sanctified bodies of saints." Eccl. Pol. V. 56. § 10.
But without some explanation of this nature, language such as S.
Athanasius's in the text seems a mere matter of words. vid. infr. §
50 fin. E.
[allalon men parabanton, anthropon de
parakousanton]. Vid infr. § 51. init. And so ad Afr. 7. [angelon
men parabanton, tou de' Adam parakousantos], where the
inference is added more distinctly, "and all creatures needing the
grace of the Word," who is [atreptos], whereas [trepta ta
geneta]. vid. supr. p. 32, note Q; infr. Orat. ii. iii.
Cyril. in Joann. lib. v. 2. On the subject of the sins of Angels, vid.
Huet. Origen. ii. 5. § 16. Petav. Dogm. t. 3. p. 87. Dissert. Bened.
in Cyril. Hier. iii. 5. Natal. Alex. Hist. Æt. i. Diss. 7. F.
The word wherefore is here declared to denote the fitness
why the Son of God should become the Son of man. His Throne, as God,
is for ever; He has loved righteousness; therefore He is equal
to the anointing of the Spirit, as man. And so S. Cyril on the same
text, as in l.c. in the foregoing note. "In this ineffable unity of
the Trinity, whose words and judgments are common in all, the Person
of the Son has fitly undertaken to repair the race of man, that, since
He it is by whom all things were made, and without whom nothing is
made, and who breathed the truth of rational life into men fashioned
of the dust of the earth, so He too should restore to its lost dignity
our nature thus fallen from the citadel of eternity, and should be the
reformer of that of which He had been the maker." Leon. Ep. 64. 2.
vid. Athan. de Incarn. 7 fin. 10. In Illud omn. 2. Cyril. in Gen. i.
p. 13. G.
[ensarkos parousia]. This phrase which has occurred above, §
8. p. 190, is very frequent with Athan. vid. infr. § 53, 59, 62 fin.
ii. 6, 10. 55, 66 twice, 72 fin. iii. 28, 35. Incarn. 20. Sent. D. 9.
Ep. Æg. 4. Serap. i. 3, 9. vid. also Cyril. Catech. iii. 11. xii. 15.
xiv. 27, 30. Epiph. Hær. 77. 17. The Eutychians avail themselves of
it at the Council of Constantinople, vid. Hard. Conc. t. 2. pp. 164,
236. H.
He enters into the explanation of this text at some' length in Serap.
iv. 8. &c. Origen, he says, and Theognostus understand the sin
against the Holy Ghost to be apostasy from the grace of Baptism,
referring to Heb. vi. 4. So far the two agree; but Origen went on to
say, that the proper power or virtue of the Son extends over rational
natures alone, e.g. heathens, but that of the Spirit only over
Christians; those then who sin against the Son or their reason, have a
remedy in Christianity and its baptism, but nothing remains for those
who sin against the Spirit. But Theognostus, referring to the text, "I
have many things to say but ye cannot bear them now; howbeit when He,
the Spirit of Truth," &c. argued that to sin against the Son was
to sin against inferior light, but against the Spirit was to reject
the full truth of the Gospel. And then he goes on to give the same
interpretation as here in the text, in passage of great force and
beauty. I.
Vid. Athan. de Incarn. 13. 14. vid. also Gent. 41 fin. and supr. p.
29, note K. Cum justitia nulla esset in terrâ, doctorem misit, quasi
vivam legem. Lactant. Instit. iv. 25. "The Only-begotten was made man
like us, … as if lending us His own stedfastness." Cyril. in Joann.
Lib. v. 2. p. 473 [p. 549 O.T.]; vid also Thesaur. 20. p. 198. August.
de Corr. et Grat. 10-12. Damasc. F. O. iv. 4. But the words of Athan.
embrace too many subjects to illustrate distinctly in a note. K.
"Without His sojourning here at all, God was able to speak the Word
only and undo the curse … but then the power indeed of Him who gave
command had been shewn, but man had been but such as Adam before the
fall, receiving grace from without, not having it united to the body
… Then, had he been again seduced by the serpent, a second need had
arisen of God's commanding and undoing the curse; and this had gone on
without limit, and men had remained under guilt just as before, being
in slavery to sin; and ever sinning, they had ever needed pardon, and
never been made free, being in themselves carnal, and ever defeated by
the Law by reason of the infirmity of the flesh." Orat. ii. 68 [infra
pp. 378, 379]. And so in Incarn. 7. he says that repentance might have
been pertinent, had man merely offended, without corruption
following; but that that corruption involved the necessity of
the Word's vicarious sufferings and intercessory office. L.
[haplos, ouk haplos horisthe, all'
akribos exetasthe]. Socr. i. 9. p. 31. M.
Eunomius said that our Lord was utterly separate from the Father, "by
natural law," [nomoi physeos]; S. Basil observes,
"as if the God of all had not power over Himself, [heautou kyrios],
but were in bondage under the decrees of necessity." contr. Eunom. ii.
30. N.
[ennoion mallon de paranoion]. viii. p. 237, note
D. And so [kat' epinoian, alla mallon estin aponoia]. Orat. ii.
§ 38 [infra p. 333]. O.
[idian]. vid. p. 233, note A. p. 257, ref. 5. [idion
kakonoion], Orat. ii. § 18 [infra p. 307]. Instead of
professing to examine Scripture or to acquiesce in what they had been
taught, the Arians were remarkable for insisting on certain abstract
positions or inferences on which they make the whole controversy turn.
Vid. Socrates's account of Arius's commencement, "If God has a Son, He
must have a beginning of existence." &c. &c. and so the word [ageneton]. A.
Vid. the same contrast, de Syn. § 33. p. 130; supr. § 8. p. 189;
Orat. iv. § 23 [p. 540]. B.
The more common evasion on the part of the Jews was to interpret the
prophecy of their own sufferings in captivity. It was an idea of
Grotius that the prophecy received a first fulfilment in Jeremiah.
vid. Justin Tryph. 72 [p. 164 O.T.] et al., Iren. Hær. iv. 33 [pp.
404, 409 sqq. O.T.], Tertull. in Jud. 9, Cyprian. Testim. in Jud. ii.
13 [p. 49 sqq. O.T.], Euseb. Dem. iii. 2. &c. [cf. Driver and
Neubauer Jewish commentaries on Is. lii. and liii. and Introduction to
English Translation of these pp. xxxvii. sq.] C.
There is apparently much confusion in the arrangement of the
paragraphs that follow; though the appearance may perhaps arise from
Athan.'s incorporating some passage from a former work into his text.
vid. p. 227. note D. It is easy to suggest alterations, but not any
thing satisfactory. The same ideas are scattered about. Thus [sunkritikos]
occurs in n. 3. and n. 5. The Son's seat on the right, and Angels in
ministry. n. 3 fin. n. 10. n. 11. "Become" interpreted as "is
generated and is." n. 4. and n. 11. The explanation of "become," n. 4.
n. 9. n. 11.-n. 14. The Word's [epidemia] is introduced
in n. 7. and 8. [parousia] being the more common word; [epidemia]
occurs Orat. ii. § 67 init. Serap. i. 9. Vid. however p. 268, notes N
and O. If a change must be suggested, it would be to transfer n. 4.
after n. 8. and n. 10. after n. 3. D.
[apolelumenos]. vid. also Orat. ii. 54. 62. iii. 22.
Basil. contr. Eunom. i. p. 244. Cyril. Thesaur. 25. p. 236. [dialelumenos].
Orat. iv. 1. E.
In this translation, [geneton] and [genneton]
have been considered as synonymous, in spite of such distinction in
the reading, as Montfaucon adopts; and this under the impression that
that distinction is of a later date, Athan. as Basil after him,
apparently not recognising it. The Platonists, certainly spoke of the
Almighty as [agennetos], and the world as [gennetos],
and the Arians took advantage of this phraseology. If then Athan. did
not admit it, he would naturally have said so; whereas his argument
is, "True, the world or creation is [gennetos], but only
by [metousia], as partaking of Him who is the one and only real
[gennetos], or Son." vid. p. 32, note Q. That is, he
does not discriminate between two distinct ideas, "Son" and "creature"
confused by a common name, but he admits their connection, only
explains it; or, to speak logically, instead of considering [genneton]
and [geneton] as equivocal words, he uses them as
synonymous and one, with a primary and secondary meaning. Afterwards
they were distinguished, p. 226, note C. In like manner, our Lord is
called [monogenes]. Athan. speaks of the [genesis]
of human sons, and of the Divine, de Decr. § 11. and in de Syn. §
47. he observes that S. Ignatius calls the Son [genetos kai
agenetos], without a hint about the distinction of roots.
Again, one of the orginal Arian positions was that our Lord was a [gennema
all' ouch hos hen ton gennematon],
which Athan. frequently notices and combats, vid. Orat. ii. 19. But
instead of answering it by substituting [geneton],
as if [poiematon], for [gennematon],
he allows that [gennema] may be taken as
synonymous with [ktisma], and only argues that there is a special
sense of it in which it applies to the Word, not as one of a number,
as the Arians said, but solely, incommunicably, as being the [monogenes].
In the passage before us, which at first seems to require the
distinction, he does not say, 1. that the Son is not [genetos]
or [gennetos], "generate," i.e. in the general sense; 2.
that He is generated, [gegenesthai] or [gegennesthai],
as the [monogenes]; 3. that the [geneta]
or [genneta] (creatures) are called [geneta],
or said [gegennesthai], as partaking of the [gennetos
huios]. 4. that (in themselves) they are properly said [gegonenai]
or [pepoiesthai]. It may be admitted, as evident even
from this passage, that though Athan. does not distinguish between [geneton]
and [genneton], yet he considers [gegennesthai]
or [gennema] as especially appropriate to the Son, [gegonenai]
and [genomenos] to the creation. F.
These tenets and similar ones were common to many branches of the
Gnostics, who paid worship to the Angels, or ascribed to them the
creation; the doctrine of their consubstantiality with our Lord arose
from their belief in emanation. S. Athanasius here uses the word [homogenes],
not [homoousios] which was usual with them (vid. Bull D. F. N.
ii. 1. § 2) as with the Manichees after them, Beausobre, Manich. iii.
8. G.
Here again is a remarkable avoidance of the word [homoousion].
He says that the Son is [heterogenes kai heteroousios ton
genneton, kai tes tou patros ousias idios kai
homophues]. vid. pp. 209, 210, notes D, E. H.
Athan. otherwise explains this text, Incarn. contr. Arian. 4. if it be
his. This text is thus taken by Basil. contr. Eun. iv. p. 289. Naz.
Orat. 30. 7. &c. &c. I.
He also applies this text to our Lord's economy and ministry, de Sent.
D. 11. in Apoll. ii. 15. K.
Part of this chapter, as for instance n. 7, 8. is much more finished
in point of style than the general course of his Orations. It may be
indeed only the natural consequence of his warming with his subject,
but this beautiful passage looks very much like an insertion. Some
words of it are found in Sent. D. 11. written a few years sooner. He
certainly transcribed himself in other places, as S. Leo, e.g. repeats
himself in another controversy. Athan. is so very eloquent and rich a
writer when ever he is led into comments upon Scripture, that one
almost regrets he had ever to adopt a controversial tone; except
indeed that Arianism has given occasion to those comments, and that
that tone is of course a lesson of doctrine to us, and therefore
instructive. L.
vid. Incarn. passim. Theod. Eranist. iii. pp. 196-198, &c. &c.
It was the tendency of all the heresies concerning the Person of
Christ to explain away or deny the Atonement. The Arians, after the
Platonists, insisted on the pre-existing Priesthood, as if the
incarnation and crucifixion were not of its essence. The Apollinarians
resolved the Incarnation into a manifestation, Theod. Eran. i. The
Nestorians denied the Atonement, Procl. ad Armen. p. 615. And the
Eutychians, Leont. Ep. 28, 5. M.
Nec ideo tamen quasi humanâ formâ circumscriptum esse Deum Patrem
arbitrandum est, ut de illo cogitantibus dextrum aut sinistrum latus
animo occurrat; aut id ipsum quod sedens Pater dicitur, flexis
poplitibus fieri putandum est, ne in illud incidamus sacrilegium,
&c. August. de Fid. et Symb. 14 [Short treatises, p. 25 O.T.].
Does this passage of Athan.'s shew that the Anthropomorphites were
stirring in Egypt already? N.
Of His divine nature, n. 4.-n. 8. O.
Of His human nature, n. 9. and 10. Margin Notes1. [metochous]. 2.
p. 15, note E. 3.
[oikeioteta]. 4.
vid. Cyril, Thesaur. 20, p. 197. 5.
[epi beltiosei]. 6.
Pusey on Baptism, 2d Ed. pp. 275-293. 7.
p. 240, ref. 4. 8.
[prokope]. 9.
p. 23, note A; infra, § 51. 10.
Isai. xl. 8. [logos] but [rhema o]. 11.
p. 236, note C. 12.
Cyril, Thesaur. 20, p. 197. 13.
p. 254, note I. 14.
p. 15, note E. 15.
p. 250, note D. 16.
p. 249, ref. 2. 17.
p. 231, ref. 1. 18.
vid. Orat. ii. § 19-72. 19.
vid. Orat. ii § 2-11. 20.
vid. Orat. ii § 11-18. 21.
p. 5, note K. 22.
[idion]. 23.
p. 252, note G. 24.
p. 190, note C. 25.
[ensomaton]. 26.
p. 22, note Z. 27.
[musaran]. 28.
[genomenos], being made. E.V. 29.
[homogenon], vid. p. 169. 30.
[kreitton], superior or above. 31.
[heteroousia]. 32.
[alla]. 33.
[to allatton]. 34.
[diaphorai]. 35.
[homogene], p. 260, ref. 1. 36.
Orat. ii. § 20. 37.
[heteroousion]. 38.
p. 144, note K. 39.
p. 223, note G. 40.
p. 32, note Q. 41.
p. 263, ref. 3. § 60. 62. 64. ii. § 18. 42.
[epidemian]. 43.
John xvii. 4. Rom. v. 14. 2 Tim. i. 10. 1 Cor. xv. 22. vid. Ps. lxxvi.
1. and Is. xi. 19. 44.
[gegonen] was made, E.V. John i. 14. 45.
p. 244, note K. 46.
[dektiken] vid. p. 260, note D. 47.
[to gnesion]. 48.
p. 145, note R. 49.
[dexion]. 50.
p. 229, note G. 51.
p. 59, ref. 1. 52.
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