On the Trinity 16

If Christ is only man, how does he himself say, “And everyone who lives and believes in me will not die forever”? But one who believes in a solitary and bare man is said to be accursed; whereas here one who believes in Christ is declared not accursed, but never to die. Hence, if he is only man, as the heretics would have it, how will whoever believes in him not die forever, since he who trusts in man is held to be accursed? Or if he is not accursed, but rather destined, as we read, to the attainment of eternal life, then Christ is not only man but also God: whoever believes in him both lays down the danger of the curse and comes to the fruit of righteousness.

If Christ is only man, how does he say that the Paraclete will take from what is his the things he is to announce? For the Paraclete does not receive anything from man; rather the Paraclete offers knowledge to man. Nor does the Paraclete learn things to come from man; rather the Paraclete instructs man about things to come. Therefore, either the Paraclete did not receive from Christ, a man, what he announces, since a man can give nothing to the Paraclete, from whom man himself must receive; and in this place Christ is deceiving and misleading when he says that the Paraclete will receive from him, a man, the things he will announce: or he does not deceive us, as indeed he does not deceive, and the Paraclete received from Christ what he announces. But if he received from Christ what he announces, then Christ is greater than the Paraclete, since the Paraclete would not receive from Christ unless he were less than Christ. And the Paraclete, being less than Christ, proves by this very fact that Christ, from whom he received what he announces, is also God; so that the testimony to Christ's divinity is great, since the Paraclete, found to be less than Christ, takes from him what he hands on to the rest. For if Christ were only man, Christ would receive from the Paraclete what he was to say, not the Paraclete from Christ what he was to announce.

If Christ is only man, why did he lay down for us such a rule of believing as to say, “And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the one and true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent”? If he had not wished to be understood as God too, why did he add, “and Jesus Christ whom you have sent”, unless he wished to be received as God as well? For if he did not wish to be understood as God, he would have added, “and the man Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” But as it is, he did not add it, and Christ did not present himself to us as man only, but joined himself to God, so that through this conjunction he might wish to be understood as God also, as he is. We must therefore believe, according to the rule laid down, in the Lord, the one true God, and consequently in him whom he sent, Jesus Christ, who would never, as we have said, have joined himself to the Father unless he wished to be understood as God too; for he would have separated himself from him if he had not wished to be understood as God. For he would have placed himself only among men, if he knew himself to be only man; and he would not have joined himself with God if he did not know himself to be God as well. As it is, he is silent about the man, since no one doubts that he is man; and he rightly joins himself to God, in order to lay down for those who would believe the formula of his divinity.

If Christ is only man, how does he say, “And now honor me with the glory which I had with you before the world was”? If before the world was he had glory with God and held glory with the Father, he existed before the world; for he would not have had glory unless he himself, who could hold glory, had existed first. For no one can have anything unless he who holds something has himself existed before. But Christ has glory before the founding of the world; therefore he existed before the founding of the world. For unless he had existed before the founding of the world, he could not have had glory before the founding of the world, since he himself would not have existed. But a man, who came after the world, could not have had glory before the founding of the world; yet Christ had it; therefore he existed before the world. He was not, then, only man, who existed before the world: he is therefore God, since he existed before the world and held glory before the world. Nor let this be said to be predestination, since it is not written; or let those who think so add it. But woe is written to those who add, as also to those who take away; so what cannot be added cannot be said. Predestination, then, which is not written, being set aside, Christ existed in substance before the founding of the world. For he is the Word through whom all things were made, and without whom nothing was made. For even if he is said to be glorious in predestination, and the predestination existed before the founding of the world, then let order be kept, and a great number of men will be destined to glory before him. For by that destination Christ will be understood to be less than the others, since he is marked as later than they. For if this glory was in predestination, Christ received this predestination to glory last of all: for Adam will be seen to have been predestined before him, and Abel, and Enoch, and Noah, and Abraham, and all the rest. For since with God the order of all persons and things has been arranged, many will be said to have been predestined before this predestination of Christ to glory. And on this reckoning Christ, who is found to be better and greater and older even than the angels themselves, is detected to be less than other men. Either, then, let all these things be taken away, so that divinity may be taken from Christ; or, if these things cannot be taken away, let the heretics give back to Christ his own divinity.