On the Christian Faith 3.3–3.9

So when you read “God,” do not separate the Father, do not separate the Son; for the deity of the Father and of the Son is one and the same. And so do not separate them even where you read that he is “blessed and the only Potentate”; for this is said of God, as you have it: “I charge you before God, who gives life to all things”; but Christ also gives life; the name of God, then, befits both the Father and the Son, since the effect of the working also befits both. Let us follow out the rest. “I charge you,” he says, “before God who gives life to all things, and Christ Jesus.” In God is also the Word, as it is written: “In God I will praise the Word.” In God is Jesus, his everlasting power; in “God,” then, he bore witness to the unity of divinity, and in the name of Christ to the mystery of the incarnation. Indeed, to show that he had spoken of the incarnation of Christ, he added: “who bore witness under Pontius Pilate to the good confession, that you keep the commandment without spot until the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, whom in his own times the blessed and only Potentate will show, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality and dwells in light unapproachable, whom no man has seen nor can see.” These things, then, were written of God, whose name in both its dignity and its truth is common to the Son. Why, then, is the Son separated in this place, when all these things befit the Son as well? Or, if they do not befit him, deny that he is God, if you deny him the things that befit God. He cannot be denied to be blessed who bestows blessedness: “For blessed are those whose iniquities are forgiven.” He cannot be denied to be blessed who imparts sound doctrine, as it is written: “which is according to the gospel of the glory of the blessed God.” He cannot be denied to be mighty, of whom the Father says: “I have laid help upon one who is mighty.” And who would dare to deny his immortality, when he himself has bestowed immortality on others, as it is written of the Wisdom of God: “Through her I shall have immortality”? But the immortality of his nature is one thing, ours another. Frail things are not to be compared with divine. There is only one substance, that of the divinity, which cannot die. Hence the Apostle too, though he knew that both the soul and the angels are immortal, proclaimed that God alone has immortality. For the soul also dies: “For the soul that sins, it shall die”; nor is an angel immortal by nature, since his immortality lies in the will of the Creator. And do not drag it to a prejudice that Gabriel does not die, Raphael does not die, Uriel does not die; for in them too the capacity of their nature is open to sin, though by discipline they are not open to it. For every rational creature admits accidents and is subject to judgment. And among accidents are the penalty of judgment, corruption, and advancement. Hence Ecclesiastes too says: “For God will bring every work of his into judgment.” So every creature, even if it does not die or sin, is still capable of corruption and death; and it has this not from an immortal nature but from discipline or grace, if in any respect it does not change toward vices. One immortality, then, is that which is given; another is that which is always without the capacity of change. Is the divinity of Christ denied to be immortal because on the cross he tasted death for all? Then Gabriel is better than Christ, because he has not died while Christ died. But the servant is not above his lord; for the weakness of the flesh is one thing, the eternity of the divinity another: death belongs to the flesh, immortality to the power. But if the divinity brought it about that the flesh should not see corruption, though it was liable to corruption by nature, how could the divinity itself die? And how does the Son not dwell in light unapproachable, when the Son is in the bosom of the Father, and the Father is light, and the Son himself also is light, for God is light? Or if we think of some unapproachable light other than that of the deity, is it a light better than the Father, so that he is not in the light who, as it is written, is both with the Father and in the Father? Let them not, then, separate the Son when they read “God alone,” nor separate the Father when they read “the Son alone.” On earth the Son is not without the Father; and do you think that the Father is in heaven without the Son? The Son is in the flesh (when I say “in the flesh” or “on earth,” I am speaking according to the times of the Gospel, for now we no longer know Christ according to the flesh); the Son, then, is in the flesh, and he is not alone, according to what is written: “And I am not alone, because the Father is with me”; and do you think that the Father is alone in the light? But lest you think this a mere argument, take also a testimony: “No one,” he says, “has ever seen God, except the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father; he has declared him.” How is the Father alone, if the Son is in the bosom of the Father? How does he declare one whom he does not see? The Father, then, is not alone. Take now both “the Father alone” and “the Son alone.” The Father alone, because there is no other Father; the Son alone, because there is no other Son; God alone, because the divinity of the Trinity is one.

It is clear enough, then, both that God alone is not the Father without the Son, and that the Son is not understood to be God alone without the Father; for the Son of God is read to have been made according to the flesh, not according to the divine generation. And in what respect he was made, he declared, speaking through the mouth of the holy patriarch: “For my soul is filled with evils, and my life has drawn near to hell. I am counted with those who go down into the pit; I have become as a man without help, free among the dead.” Here too, “as a man,” he says, not as God, “I have become.” And “my soul is filled with evils”: the soul, certainly, not the divinity. He was made in that respect in which he was due to hell; he was made in that respect in which he was counted with others; for the divinity rejects any likeness of comparison. And yet, even in that very flesh subject to death, notice the majesty of divinity in Christ. Though he became as a man, and became as flesh, he nevertheless became free among the dead, and free without help. But how does the Son say here that he was without help, when it was said above, “I have laid help upon one who is mighty”? Here too, then, distinguish the natures. The flesh has help; the divinity has none. He is free, then, because he did not know the bonds of death; he was not captured by the underworld, but worked in the underworld. He is without help, because not by a messenger nor by an envoy, but himself in person, the Lord saved his people. For how could he seek help to raise his own body, who raised others? And although men too have raised the dead, they did not do it by their own power but in the name of Christ. It is one thing to ask, another to command; one thing to merit, another to give. Elijah, then, raised the dead, but he prayed; he did not command. Elisha raised the dead by fitting himself to the dead body; even the touch of his own dead body raised a dead man, so that he might be a type that he who was to come, sent in the likeness of sinful flesh, would raise the dead even when buried. Peter too, when he cured Aeneas, said: “In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, rise and walk”: not in his own name, he says, but in the name of Christ. “Rise” is the word of one who commands; but the confidence comes from merit, not from a presumption of power; and the authority of the command comes from the working of the name, not from his own power. What, then, do the Arians say? In the name of Christ even Peter commands, and they will not have it that the Son of God commanded, but that he asked. “But it is read that he asked.” Learn the difference. He asks as son of man; he commands as Son of God. Do you not grant to the Son of God what even the devil granted, and do you disparage him with a greater sacrilege? The devil says: “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” He says “command”; you say “beseech.” He believes that at the command of the Son of God the nature of the elements and of things would be turned into its opposite; you believe that unless the Son of God asks, not even his own will is fulfilled. The devil thinks the Son of God is to be judged by his power; you, by weakness. The temptations of the devil are more tolerable than the arguments of Arius. Nor let it trouble you that the Psalm called the Son of man mighty, since you read that the Lord of majesty was crucified. And what greater power is there than to have dominion over the heavenly powers? And he had it, who commanded Thrones, Dominions, and Angels. For although he was among the wild beasts, as it is written, yet the angels ministered to him, so that you may recognize that one thing belongs to the incarnation, another to his power. According to the flesh, then, he is tried by the beasts; according to his dignity he is adored by the angels. We have learned, then, that he was made man, and that this is to be referred to the man. Indeed you have elsewhere: “Who was made to him from the seed of David.” According to the flesh he was certainly made from the seed of David; but as God he was born of God before the ages.

Yet “made” is not always referred to creation; for it is written: “Lord, you have been made our refuge”; and: “You have been made my salvation.” Certainly no definition or production of creation is declared here; rather, he is said to have been made my refuge and to have turned to me for salvation, as the Apostle also said: “Who was made for us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.” He said “made for us,” not “created from the Father.” Indeed, how he says that wisdom was made for us, he explained in what follows, saying: “But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, which was hidden, which God predestined before eternal times for our glory, which none of the rulers of this world knew. For if they had known it, they would never have crucified the Lord of majesty.” Where the mystery of the passion is expressed, the course of the eternal generation is certainly not being declared. My wisdom, then, is the Lord’s cross; my redemption is the Lord’s death; for we have been redeemed with precious blood, as the apostle Peter said. With his blood, then, the Lord redeemed us as man; and the same, as God, forgave our sins. Let us not, then, lay ambushes in words and go hunting with the snares of words, so that, because the word that is read is thought by the impious to signify something else, we interpret not what the sense expresses but what the letter shows. So the Jews perished, while they despise the depths of meaning and follow the bare words; “for the letter kills, but the spirit gives life.” And yet, between two grave sacrileges, it is perhaps more detestable to refer to the divinity what belongs to the flesh than to refer to the letter what belongs to the spirit. The Jews were afraid to believe in flesh in God, and so they lost the grace of redemption, because they repudiate the cause of salvation; these men drag the majesty of the divinity down to the weaknesses of the flesh. Detestable are the Jews, who crucified the Lord’s flesh; yet I think those more detestable who have believed that the divinity of Christ was subjected to the cross. Indeed he who often dealt with the Jews says: “Avoid a heretic after one correction.” Nor is it without injury to the Father that by a sacrilegious interpretation they divert the words “made for us wisdom” to that ineffable generation of Christ, which is subject to no times or moments. For besides the fact that an injury to the Son is an insult to the Father, these sacrileges also proceed against the Father, of whom it is written: “But let God be true, and every man a liar.” Or if they think it said of the Son, they do not indeed prejudice his generation; but what they deny, that he is God and true God, they confess on the authority of this reading. It would be lengthy if I wished to review one by one how often we have read “made,” certainly not through nature but through grace. For Moses too says: “He has become my helper and protector for salvation.” And David says: “Be to me a God and protector and a house of refuge, to save me.” And Isaiah says: “You have become a helper to every lowly city.” Certainly the saints do not say to God, “You were created,” but, “You have become our protector and helper through your grace.”

Hence there is no need to fear the argument which the Arians are accustomed to put together by a savage interpretation, saying that the Word of God was made, because, they say, it is written: “What was made in him was life.” First let them understand that if they refer “what was made” to the divine substance, they entangle themselves in the questions of the Manichaeans. For the Manichaeans object: “If what was made in him is life, then there is something that was not made in him, and that is death,” so as impiously to bring in two principles. But the Church condemns this. Next, how can they show that the Evangelist punctuated it in this way? For very many learned and faithful people punctuate it thus: “All things were made through him, and without him nothing was made that was made”; others thus: “All things were made through him, and without him nothing was made”; then they read “What was made,” and add “in him,” that is: “Whatever was made is in him.” What is “in him”? The Apostle teaches, saying: “For in him we are and live and move.” Yet however they wish to punctuate it, they cannot raise a false charge here against God the Word, if they want to refer “what was made” to his substance, without raising a false charge against God the Father too, of whom it is written: “But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his works may be made manifest, because they were made in God.” See, here we read that the works of man were made in God, and yet we cannot refer them to the divine substance; but either we recognize them as made through him (as in that saying of the Apostle, that all things were created through him and in him, and he is before all, and all things hold together in him), or, as the testimony of the present reading teaches, we must reckon as made in God the virtues by which the fruit of eternal life is acquired: chastity, piety, religion, faith, and the others of this kind, which were made in the will of God. So as they were made in the will and power of God the Father, so they were made in those of Christ too, as we read: “Created in Christ in good works”; and in the psalm: “Let peace be made in your power”; and elsewhere: “You made all things in wisdom.” “In wisdom,” it says, “you made,” not “you made wisdom.” For since all things were made in wisdom, and Christ is the wisdom of God, not an accident, surely, but subsisting and abiding for ever, then, if wisdom was made, it was made in a worse condition than all things, since wisdom could not be made through itself. So if “to be made” is often referred to some purpose and not to nature, “to be created” too is referred to a cause.

Hence we understand that what is written of the Lord’s incarnation, “The Lord created me the beginning of his ways for his works,” means that the Lord Jesus was created from the Virgin to redeem the works of the Father. For there can be no doubt that it was said of the mystery of the incarnation, since the Lord took on flesh for the sake of his works, to free them from the slavery of corruption, so that through the passion of his body he might destroy him who had the power of death. For the flesh of Christ is for the sake of the works; the divinity is before the works; for he is before all things, and all things hold together in him. The divinity, then, is not for the sake of the works, but the works are for the sake of the divinity, as the Apostle declared when he said that all things are on account of the Son of God. For thus you have it: “For it was fitting that he, through whom are all things and for whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering.” Did he not plainly set out that the Son of God, who by his divinity created all things, afterwards, for the salvation of the people, took on both the assumption of flesh and the suffering of death? And for what works he was created from the Virgin, the Lord himself showed when he cured the blind man, saying: “I must work the works of him who sent me.” And he added, so that we might believe that it was said of his incarnation: “While I am in this world, I am the light of this world.” For as man he is in this world for a time; as God he always is. Indeed elsewhere he says: “Behold, I am with you until the end of the world.” Nor does any question remain about the “beginning,” since, when he was asked in the flesh, “Who are you?” he answered: “The beginning, who also speak to you.” This is referred not only to the substance of the eternal divinity but also to the lessons of the virtues. For by this he proved himself to be eternal God, because he is himself the beginning of all things and the author of every virtue, because he is head of the Church, as it is written: “For he is the head of the body, the Church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead.” It is clear, then, that “the beginning of his ways” was said of the incarnation too, and is to be referred to the mystery of the body he assumed. For he took on flesh in order to lay out for us the road to heaven. Indeed he says: “I ascend to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” Indeed, so that you may know that the almighty Father prescribed his ways to the Son according to the incarnation, you have in Zechariah what the angel said to Jesus, who was clothed in filthy garments: “Thus says the Lord Almighty: If you walk in my ways and keep my commandments.” What is that filthy garment but the assumption of flesh? The ways of the Lord, then, are like paths of good life, which are directed by Christ, who says: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” The heavenly way, then, is the power of God; for Christ is the way for us. And a good way, which has opened the kingdom of heaven to believers. And the ways of the Lord are right ways, as it is written: “Make your ways known to me, O Lord.” Chastity is a way, faith a way, abstinence a way. For there is a way of virtue, and there is also a way of iniquity; for it is written: “And see if there is a way of iniquity in me.” The beginning of our virtue, then, is Christ. He is the beginning of integrity, who taught virgins not to look for a husband’s embrace but to dedicate the integrity of mind and body to the Holy Spirit rather than to a husband. Christ is the beginning of frugality, who became poor though he was rich. Christ is the beginning of patience, who when he was reviled did not revile in return, and when he was struck did not strike back. Christ is the beginning of humility, who took the form of a servant, though he was equal to God the Father in the majesty of power. For from him every virtue has received its beginning. And so, that we might learn these kinds of virtues, “a Son is given to us, whose beginning is upon his shoulders.” That beginning is the cross of the Lord, the beginning of fortitude, by which the way was opened for the holy martyrs to the suffering of the sacred contest.

Isaiah saw this beginning, and so he says: “A child is born, a Son is given to us.” The Magi too saw it, and so, when they beheld the little one in the manger, they worshiped, saying, “A child is born”; when they beheld the star, they proclaimed, “A Son is given to us.” One gift from the earth, another gift from heaven, and both are one, perfect in both, without change of divinity and without diminution of human nature. They worshiped one, and offered their gifts to the same one, to show that he who was seen in the manger was the Lord of heaven. Distinguish the weight of each word: “A child is born, a Son is given to us.” Though he was born of the Father, he was not born to us, but given; for the Son is not for our sake, but we are for the Son’s sake. For he was not born for us who was born before us and is the founder of the whole creation; nor is he now born for the first time who always was and was in the beginning; but that which was not is born for us. This the angel too, speaking to the shepherds, said had been brought forth, as you have it written: “For to us is born this day a Savior, who is Christ the Lord, in the city of David.” What was not, then, was born to us: that is, a child from the Virgin, a body from Mary; for this is after us, that is before us. Other manuscripts read thus: “A child is born to us, a Son is given to us”; that is, he who was the Son of God, this one was born to us from Mary as a child and was given to us. That he was given, hear the prophet saying: “And give us your salvation.” For what is above us is given; what is from heaven is given; as we read of the Spirit too: “The love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” But see how this passage extinguishes many heresies. “A child is born to us,” not to the Jews; “to us,” not to the Manichaeans; “to us,” not to the Marcionites. The prophet says “to us,” that is, to believers, not to unbelievers. And indeed by his mercy he was born for all; but the faithlessness of heretics has brought it about that he who was born for all was not born for all. For the light of day too is commanded to rise upon the good and the bad; but to those who do not see, it does not appear to rise. As, then, the child was not born to all but to the faithful, so the Son was given not to the unbelieving but to the faithful. He was given to us, not to the Photinians; for they say that the Son of God was not given to us, but was born among us at the beginning of his existence. He was given to us, not to the Sabellians; for they will not have the Son given, asserting that the Father is the same as the Son. To us, not to the Arians; for they too do not have the Son given for salvation, but sent in weakness; they do not have the Counselor, since they think he did not know the future; they do not have the Son, since they do not think him everlasting; though it is written of the Word of God that he was in the beginning, and elsewhere: “In the beginning was the Word.” Indeed, to return to the example proposed: “In the beginning,” it says, “before he made the earth, before he made the depths, and before he brought forth the springs of waters, before all the hills he begot me.”

Perhaps you will say: how have I stated that “The Lord created me” was said of the incarnation of Christ, when the creation of the world came before Christ’s incarnation? But consider that it is the custom of the divine Scriptures both to speak of things to come as past, and to signify the twofold substance in Christ, of divinity and of flesh, lest anyone deny either his divinity or his flesh. For just as you have in Isaiah, “A child is born to us, and a Son is given to us,” so here too he first set down the creation of the flesh and then added the assertion of the divinity, so that you might know that there are not two Christs but one, who was both begotten of the Father before the ages and in the last times created from the Virgin; that is: “I am he who was created from man, created for a purpose, who was begotten before the ages.” Indeed, when about to say, “The Lord created me,” he first said: “I will recount the things that are from of old.” When about to say “he begot,” he first said: “In the beginning, before he made the earth, before all the hills he begot me.” “Before,” when it is said, stretches back to infinity without any limit. Indeed, “Before Abraham,” he says, “I am,” certainly not after Adam; and “before the morning star,” certainly not after the angels. But when he said “before,” he did not say that he was within anything, but that all things were within him; for this is how the divine Scriptures are accustomed to signify the eternity of God. Indeed elsewhere you have: “Before the mountains were made and the world was formed, from age to age you are.” Before all things, then, is the generation; among all things and for the sake of all things, the creation. Born of the Father above the Law, made from Mary under the Law.