Catechetical Lectures 12.4–12.27

But you, remember what was said yesterday about his Godhead. Believe that he, the only-begotten Son of God, was himself born again, of the Virgin. Believe John the evangelist, who says, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” For the Word is eternal, begotten of the Father before all ages; but the flesh he took on recently, for our sake. But many contradict, and say, “What cause was so great that God should come down into humanity? And is it God's nature at all to associate with men? And is it possible for a virgin to bear without a man?” Since there is much contradiction, and the battle takes many forms, come, by the grace of Christ and the prayers of those present, let us resolve each question.

And first let us inquire for what reason Jesus came down. And do not attend to my ingenious arguments, for perhaps you might be misled by sophistry; but unless you receive the testimony of the prophets on each matter, do not believe what is said; unless you learn from the divine Scriptures about the Virgin, the place, the time and the manner, do not accept testimony from a man. For one who is present and teaching may well be suspected; but who that has sense will suspect one who prophesied a thousand and more years beforehand? If, then, you seek the cause of Christ's coming, go back to the first book of the Scriptures. In six days God made the world; but the world was for man. For the sun, though it shines with the brightest rays, was made to give light to man; and all the animals were appointed to serve us; plants and trees were created for our enjoyment. All the works of creation are good, but none of them is the image of God, only man. The sun was formed by a command alone, but man by divine hands: “Let us make man in our image and likeness.” A wooden image of an earthly king is honoured: how much more the rational image of God? But this greatest of the works of creation, while it rejoiced in paradise, the devil's envy cast out. The enemy rejoiced over the fall of the one he envied: would you have wished the enemy to go on rejoicing? Not daring to approach the man because of his strength, he approached the woman as the weaker, while she was still a virgin; for it was after the fall from paradise that “Adam knew Eve his wife.”

Cain and Abel came next as the second generation of mankind; and Cain was the first murderer. Afterwards a flood was poured out because of the great wickedness of men; fire came down from heaven upon the people of Sodom because of their lawlessness. After some time God chose Israel; but this people too was corrupted, and the chosen race was wounded. For while Moses stood before God on the mountain, a calf was worshipped by the people instead of God. In the time of the lawgiver Moses, who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” a man dared to go into a brothel to commit lewdness. After Moses, prophets were sent to heal Israel; but in their healing they lamented that they could not overcome the

disease, so that one of them says, “Woe is me, for the godly man has perished from the earth, and there is none among men who does right”; and again, “All have turned aside, together they have become worthless; there is none who does good, there is not even one”; and again, “Cursing and stealing and adultery and murder have been poured out upon the land.” “They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons.” “They practised augury and sorcery and divination.” And again, “Binding their garments with cords, they made hangings next to the altar.”

Very great was the wound of humanity: from the feet to the head there was no soundness in it; one could not apply ointment, nor oil, nor bandages. Then the prophets, lamenting and wearied, said, “Who will give salvation out of Zion?” and again, “Let your hand be upon the man of your right hand, and upon the son of man whom you made strong for yourself; and we will not turn away from you.” And another of the prophets entreated, saying, “Lord, bow the heavens and come down.” The wounds of humanity are beyond our healing. “They have killed your prophets and torn down your altars.” The evil cannot be set right by us; it needs you to set it right.

The Lord heard the prayer of the prophets. The Father did not overlook our race as it perished; he sent forth his Son, the Lord, from heaven as physician. And one of the prophets says, “The Lord whom you seek is coming, and he will come suddenly.” Where? To his own temple, the Lord, where you stoned him. Then another of the prophets, hearing this, says to him: “Speaking of God's salvation, do you speak quietly? Announcing the good news of God's coming for salvation, do you speak in secret? Go up on a high mountain, you who bring good news to Zion; speak to the cities of Judah.” What shall I say? “Behold our God! Behold, the Lord comes with strength!” Again the Lord himself has said, “Behold, I come and will dwell in your midst, says the Lord; and many nations shall flee to the Lord.” The Israelites refused the salvation that comes through me: “I come to gather all the nations and the tongues”; for “he came to his own, and his own did not receive him.”

And what do you grant to the nations? “I come to gather all the nations, and I will leave a sign upon them.” For from my struggle on the cross I give to each of my soldiers a royal seal to bear on his forehead. And another of the prophets said, “And he bowed the heavens and came down, and darkness was under his feet”; for his coming down from heaven was not known to men.

Then Solomon, hearing his father David say these things, and having built a wonderful house, and foreseeing the one who would come into it, says in wonder, “Will God indeed dwell with men on the earth?” Yes, says David, anticipating him in the psalm entitled “For Solomon,” in which it is said, “He shall come down like rain upon a fleece”: rain, because of what is heavenly; upon a fleece, because of the humanity. For rain coming down on a fleece comes down without a sound; so that, since the mystery of the birth was unknown, the Magi said, “Where is he who has been born King of the Jews?”, and Herod, troubled, inquired about the one who had been born and said, “Where is the Christ to be born?” [10] But who is this that comes down? He says next: “And he shall endure with the sun, and before the moon, for generations of generations.” And again another of the prophets says, “Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion; proclaim it, daughter of Jerusalem; behold, your King comes to you, righteous and saving.” Kings are many: of which do you speak, O prophet? Give us a sign that other kings do not have. If you say a king clothed in purple, the dignity of the robe has been anticipated; if you say one escorted by spearmen and riding in gold-inlaid chariots, this too has been anticipated by others. Give us a sign peculiar to the King whose coming you proclaim. And the prophet answers and says, “Behold, your King comes to you, righteous and saving; he is meek, and mounted on a beast of burden and a young colt,” not on chariots. You have a unique sign of the King who came. Of kings, Jesus alone sat upon an unbroken colt, entering Jerusalem amid acclamations as king. And what does this King do when he comes? “You also, by the blood of the covenant, have sent forth your prisoners from a pit that has no water.” [11] But he might perhaps even sit on a colt; give us rather a sign of where the King who enters will stand. And give the sign not far from the city, so that we may not be ignorant of it; give us the sign near us, plain to see, so that even while in the city we may see the place. And the prophet again answers, saying, “And his feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east.” Does not anyone standing within the city see the place?

We have two signs, and we desire to learn a third. Tell us, what does the Lord do when he has come? Another prophet says, “Behold our God,” and next, “He himself will come and save us. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall hear; then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the stammerers shall be clear.” Let yet another testimony be given us. You say, O prophet, that the Lord is coming and doing signs such as have never been done; what other clear sign do you give? “The Lord himself comes to judgment with the elders of the people and with its rulers.” A remarkable sign: the Master judged by his servants the elders, and bearing it.

These things the Jews read, but do not hear; for they have stopped the ears of their heart, so that they may not hear. But we believe in Jesus Christ, who came in the flesh and became man, since otherwise we could not receive him. For since we could not look upon him or enjoy him as he was, he became what we are, so that in this way we might be counted worthy to enjoy him. For if we cannot look fully at the sun, which was made on the fourth day, can we see God, its Maker? The Lord came down in fire on Mount Sinai, and the people could not bear it, but said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself, and we will hear; and let not God speak to us, lest we die”; and again, “For who of all flesh that has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of the fire shall live?” If hearing the voice of God speaking is a cause of death, how would the sight of God himself not bring death? And why do you wonder? Moses himself says, “I am terrified and trembling.”

What, then, would you have? That he who came for salvation should become a cause of destruction because men could not bear him? Or that he should suit his grace to our measure? Daniel could not bear the vision of an angel; and could you have borne the sight of the Master of the angels? Gabriel appeared, and Daniel fell down. And of what kind, and in what form, was the one who appeared? “His face was like lightning,” not like the sun; “and his eyes like lamps of fire,” not like a furnace of fire; “and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude,” not like that of twelve legions of angels; and yet the prophet fell down. And the angel comes to him, saying, “Do not fear, Daniel; stand up; take courage; your words have been heard.” And Daniel says, “I stood up trembling”; and not even so did he answer, until “the likeness of a man's hand touched him.” And when the one who appeared had changed into the appearance of a man, Daniel speaks; and what does he say? “O lord, at your appearing my inward parts were turned within me, and no strength remains in me, and no breath is left in me.” If an angel, appearing, took away the prophet's voice and strength, would God's appearing have left him breath? And until, as Scripture says, “one like the appearance of a man touched me,” Daniel did not take courage. Since, then, our weakness had been shown by trial, the Lord took on what man was seeking; for since man sought to hear from one of like appearance, the Saviour took on a nature with like feelings, so that men might be taught more easily.

Receive also another cause. Christ came to be baptized and to sanctify baptism; he came to work wonders, walking on the waters of the sea. Since before his coming in the flesh “the sea saw and fled, and the Jordan turned back,” the Lord took the body so that the sea, seeing him, might endure it, and the Jordan receive him without fear. This is one cause; but there is also a second. Through Eve, a virgin, came death; it was fitting that through a virgin, or rather from a virgin, life should appear; so that as the serpent deceived the one, so Gabriel might bring good news to the other. Men, abandoning God, made carved images in human form. Since, then, an image in human form was falsely worshipped as God, God truly became man, so that the falsehood might be undone. The devil had used the flesh as an instrument against us; and knowing this Paul says, “But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind and taking me captive,” and so on. By the very weapons with which the devil used to defeat us, by these we were saved. The Lord took from us our likeness, to save humanity; he took our likeness, to give greater grace to what was lacking, so that sinful humanity might become a partaker of God. “For where sin abounded, grace abounded all the more.” The Lord had to suffer for us; but the devil would not have dared to approach him if he had known him: “For if they had known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” The body, then, became a bait for death, so that the dragon, hoping to swallow it, might vomit up also those already swallowed. For “death prevailed and swallowed,” and again, “God has taken away every tear from every face.” [16] Was it to no purpose that Christ became man? Are our teachings ingenious phrases and human sophistries? Are not the divine Scriptures our salvation? Are not the predictions of the prophets? Keep this deposit for me, then, unshaken, and let no one move you: believe that God became man.

That it was possible for him to become man has been shown; but if the Jews still disbelieve, let us put this before them: What strange thing do we proclaim in saying that God became man, when you yourselves say that Abraham received the Lord as a guest? What strange thing do we proclaim, when Jacob says, “For I have seen God face to face, and my soul was preserved”? The Lord who ate with Abraham ate also with us. What strange thing, then, do we proclaim? But we also present two witnesses, those who stood before the Lord on Mount Sinai: Moses was in a cleft of the rock, and Elijah was then in a cleft of the rock. They, being present with him when he was transfigured on Mount Tabor, spoke to the disciples of the departure which he was to accomplish at Jerusalem. But, as I said before, it has been shown that it was possible for him to become man; and the rest of the proofs is left for the diligent to gather.

Our discourse promised to find both the time of the Saviour's coming and the place; and we must not go away convicted of falsehood, but rather send away the newcomers of the Church well assured. Let us seek, then, the time when the Lord came, since his coming is recent and disputed, and since Christ Jesus is “the same yesterday and today and for ever.” Moses the prophet, then, says, “The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet from among your brothers, like me”; but let the “like me” be kept for the present, to be examined in its proper place. But when does this expected prophet come? “Go back,” he says, “to what has been written by me; examine closely the prophecy spoken by Jacob to Judah”: “Judah, may your brothers praise you,” and what follows (not to quote it all), “A ruler shall not fail from Judah, nor a leader from his thighs, until he comes for whom it is laid up; and he is the expectation”—not of the Jews, but “of the nations.” He gave, then, as a sign of Christ's coming the ceasing of the rule of the Jews. If they are not now under the Romans, the Christ has not yet come; if they have a ruler of the race of Judah and of David, the one expected has not yet come. For I am ashamed to speak of their recent doings concerning those whom they now call patriarchs, what their descent is and who their mother; I leave that to those who know. But this one who comes as the expectation of the nations, what further sign does he have? It says next, “Binding his colt to the vine.” You see that colt clearly announced by Zechariah.

But again you seek yet another testimony of the time: “The Lord said to me, You are my Son; today I have begotten you”; and a little later, “You shall shepherd them with a rod of iron.” I have said before that the kingdom of the Romans is plainly called a rod of iron; and concerning it let us recall what remains from Daniel. For relating and interpreting to Nebuchadnezzar the image of the statue, he tells also the whole vision concerning it: and that a stone cut out of a mountain without hands, not formed by human contrivance, would prevail over the whole world. And he says most clearly: “And in the days of those kingdoms the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, and his kingdom shall not be left to another people.”

But we still seek a clearer proof of the times of his coming. For man, being hard to persuade, does not believe what is said unless he receives the very years clearly reckoned. What, then, is the season, and what is the time? It is when, the kings from Judah having failed, Herod, a foreigner, then reigns. The angel who speaks with Daniel says (and mark now what is said), “And you shall know and understand: from the going forth of the word for the answer and for the building of Jerusalem, until Christ the prince, are seven weeks and sixty-two weeks.” Sixty-nine weeks of years make 483 years. He said, then, that after Jerusalem was built, when 483 years had passed and the rulers had failed, then a king of another race comes, in whose time the Christ is born. Now Darius the Mede built the city in the sixth year of his own reign, the first year of the sixty-sixth Olympiad of the Greeks. Among the Greeks an Olympiad is the name for the games held every four years, because of the day made up every four years of the sun's courses from the three hours of each year. And Herod reigns in the 186th Olympiad, in its fourth year. From the sixty-sixth to the 186th Olympiad there are, then, 120 Olympiads between, and a little over. The 120 Olympiads make 480 years; the other three remaining years are perhaps taken up in the interval between the first year and the fourth. And you have the proof according to the Scripture which says, “From the going forth of the word for the answer and for the building of Jerusalem, until Christ the prince, are seven weeks and sixty-two weeks.” Of the times, then, you have this proof for the present, though there are also other, different interpretations of the weeks of years foretold in Daniel. [20] … “For from you shall come forth for me a ruler, to be prince in Israel; and his goings forth are from the beginning, from the days of eternity.” … concerning the places, being an inhabitant of Jerusalem, you know beforehand also what is written in the 131st psalm: “Behold, we heard of it in Ephrathah; we found it in the fields of the wood”; for a few years ago the place was wooded. You have heard again Habakkuk saying to the Lord, “When the years draw near, you shall be known; when the time is come, you shall be shown.” And what is the sign, O prophet, of the Lord who comes? And he says next, “In the midst of two lives you shall be known”: plainly saying this to the Lord, “Having come in the flesh you live and die, and having risen from the dead you live again.” And from what part of the region around Jerusalem does he come: from east or west, north or south? Tell us exactly. And he answers most clearly and says, “God shall come from Teman” (Teman means “south”), “and the Holy One from Mount Paran, shaded, thickly wooded”; which the Psalmist said in agreement: “We found it in the fields of the wood.”

Next we ask from whom he comes, and how. Isaiah tells us this: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive in the womb and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel.” And the Jews contradict this, for it has long been their custom to oppose the truth wickedly; and they say that it is not written “the virgin” but “the young woman.” But I, granting what they say, even so find the truth. For we must ask them:

When a virgin is being violated, when does she cry out and call for helpers, after the violation or before it? If, then, Scripture says elsewhere, “The young woman cried out, and there was none to help her,” does it not speak of a virgin? And that you may learn more clearly that in the divine Scripture a virgin is also called a young woman, hear what is said of the Shunammite: “And the young woman was very beautiful”; for it is acknowledged that she was chosen as a virgin and brought to David.

But the Jews say again, “This was said to Ahaz, concerning Hezekiah.” Let us, then, read the Scripture: “Ask a sign for yourself from the Lord your God, in the depth or in the height.” The sign must certainly be something extraordinary: the water from the rock, the parting of the sea, the turning back of the sun, and the like. But what is about to be said holds a plainer refutation of the Jews. (I know that I am saying much, and that the hearers are weary; but bear with the multitude of words, since these things are stirred up for Christ's sake, and the words are not about ordinary matters.) Now when Isaiah said this, Ahaz was reigning, and Ahaz reigned only sixteen years, and the prophecy was spoken to him within these; the objection of the Jews is refuted by the king who succeeded him, Hezekiah son of Ahaz, who was twenty-five years old when he began to reign. For since the prophecy falls within the sixteen years, he had been born to Ahaz nine years before the prophecy. What need, then, was there to speak the prophecy about one already born, even before the reign of his father Ahaz? For it did not say “has conceived,” but “the virgin shall conceive,” speaking with foreknowledge.

That the Lord is born of a virgin, then, we have clearly learned; but we must show of what family the virgin was. “The Lord swore truth to David, and will not annul it: Of the fruit of your body I will set upon your throne”; and again, “I will establish his seed for ever and ever, and his throne as the days of heaven”; and next, “Once I have sworn by my holiness, that I will not lie to David: his seed shall remain for ever, and his throne as the sun before me, and as the moon established for ever.” You see that the word is about Christ, not about Solomon; for his throne did not remain like the sun. But if anyone objects because Christ did not sit on the wooden throne of David, let us bring forward that saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on the seat of Moses”; for it means not the wooden seat but the authority of teaching. So seek for me the throne of David also, not the wooden throne, but the kingdom itself. And take as my witnesses the children who cried out, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the King of Israel!” And the blind men also say, “Son of David, have mercy.” And Gabriel bears witness plainly to Mary, saying, “And the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David”; and Paul says, “Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, of the seed of David, according to my gospel”; and at the beginning of Romans he says, “who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh.” …

But the Jews are troubled at these things. Isaiah foresaw this too, saying, “And they will wish that they had been burned with fire; for a child has been born to us” (not to them), “a son also has been given to us.” Note that he was first Son of God, then given to us. And a little later he says, “And of his peace there is no bound.” The Romans have bounds; of the kingdom of the Son of God there are no bounds. The Persians and Medes have bounds, but of the Son there are no bounds. Then next: “Upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom, to set it right.” The holy Virgin, then, was of David's line.

For it was fitting that he who is most pure, and a teacher of purity, should come forth from a pure bridal chamber. For if he who serves well as priest to Jesus abstains from a woman, how was Jesus himself to come from a man and a woman? “For you are he,” he says in the Psalms, “who drew me out of the womb.” Mark carefully the words “who drew me out of the womb,” which signify that he was born without a man, drawn out of a virgin's womb and flesh; for the manner is different for those born in the course of marriage.

And he who fashioned these very members is not ashamed to take flesh from such members. And who tells us this? The Lord says to Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the belly I knew you, and before you came out of the womb I sanctified you.” He, then, who in fashioning men touches them and is not ashamed, was he ashamed, in fashioning for his own sake the holy flesh, the veil of the Godhead? It is God who even now fashions infants in the womb, as is written in Job: “Did you not milk me like milk and curdle me like cheese? You clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews.” There is nothing defiled in the human structure, unless one pollutes it with adulteries and licentiousness. He who formed Adam formed Eve too, and male and female were formed by divine hands. None of the members of the body, as formed from the beginning, is defiled. Let all the heretics be silenced who accuse bodies, or rather the one who formed them. But let us remember Paul, who says, “Do you not know that your bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you?” And again the prophet foretold in the person of Jesus, “My flesh is from them”; and elsewhere it is written, “Therefore he will give them up until the time of her who bears.” And what is the sign? It says next, “She shall bear, and the rest of their brothers shall return.” And what are the betrothal gifts of the Virgin, the holy bride? “And I will betroth you to myself in faithfulness.” And Elizabeth, speaking to her, says likewise, “And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”

But Greeks and Jews alike mock us, and say that it was impossible for the Christ to be born of a virgin. The Greeks let us silence from their own myths. You who say that stones thrown down were changed into men, how do you say that it is impossible for a virgin to bear? You who tell the myth that a daughter was born from a brain, how do you say that it is impossible for a son to be born from a virgin's womb? You who falsely say that Dionysus was carried in the thigh of your Zeus, how do you reject what is true among us? I know that I am speaking of things unworthy of the present hearing; but we have brought these forward so that you may reproach the Greeks at the right time, answering them from their own myths.