On the Trinity 22
Summary: Philippians 2 shows Christ in the form of God, obedient to the Father, emptying himself by taking a servant's form and receiving the name above every name; a mere man is not emptied by being born, so Christ is God.
Latin text · PL 3:957a–959b
Cur autem, licet ad aliam partem disputandi festinare videamur, illum praetereamus apud Apostolum locum? Qui cum in forma Dei esset, non rapinam arbitratus est aequalem se Deo esse; sed semetipsum exinanivit, formam servi accipiens, in similitudine hominum factus, et habitu inventus ut homo: humiliavit se, obediens factus usque ad mortem, mortem autem crucis: propterea et Deus illum superexaltavit, et dedit illi nomen quod est super omne nomen; ut in nomine Jesu omne genu flectatur, coelestium, terrestrium et infernorum, et omnis lingua confiteatur, quoniam Dominus Jesus in gloria est Dei Patris. Qui cum in forma Dei esset, inquit. Si homo tantummodo Christus, in imagine Dei, non in forma Dei relatus fuisset. Hominem enim scimus ad imaginem, non ad formam Dei factum. Quis ergo est iste, qui in forma Dei, ut diximus, factus est Angelus? Sed nec in Angelis formam Dei legimus, nisi quoniam hic praecipuus atque generosus prae omnibus, Dei Filius, Verbum Dei, imitator omnium paternorum operum, dum et ipse operatur sicut et Pater ejus, in forma (ut expressimus) est Dei Patris. Et merito in forma pronuntiatus est Dei, dum et ipse super omnia, et omnis creaturae divinam obtinens potestatem, et Deus est exemplo Patris: hoc ipsum tamen a Patre proprio consecutus, ut omnium et Deus esset, et Dominus esset, et Deus ad formam Dei Patris ex ipso genitus atque prolatus. Hic ergo quamvis esset in forma Dei, non est rapinam arbitratus aequalem se Deo esse. Quamvis enim ex Deo Patre Deum esse meminisset, nunquam se Deo Patri aut comparavit aut contulit, memor se esse ex suo Patre, et hoc ipsum quod est habere se, quia Pater dedisset. Inde denique et ante carnis assumptionem, sed et post assumptionem corporis, post ipsam praeterea resurrectionem, omnem Patri in omnibus rebus obedientiam praestitit pariter ac praestat. Ex quo probatur nunquam arbitratum illum esse rapinam quamdam divinitatem, ut aequaret se Patri Deo: quin imo contra, omni ipsius imperio et voluntati obediens atque subjectus, etiam ut formam servi susciperet contentus fuit (hoc est, hominem illum fieri) et substantiam carnis et corporis, quam ex paternorum et secundum hominem delictorum servitute venientem nascendo suscepit: quo tempore se etiam exinanivit, dum humanam conditionis fragilitatem suscipere non recusavit. Quoniam si homo tantummodo natus fuisset, per hoc exinanitus non esset: homo enim nascens augetur, non exinanitur: nam dum incipit esse quod cum non esset habere non potuit, ut diximus, non exinanitur, sed potius augetur atque ditatur. At si Christus exinanitur in eo quod nascitur, formam servi accipiendo, quomodo homo tantummodo est? de quo verius dictum fuisset, locupletatum illum esse tunc cum nasceretur, non exinanitum; nisi quoniam auctoritas divini Verbi, ad suscipiendum hominem interim conquiescens, nec se suis viribus exercens, dejicit se ad tempus atque deponit, dum hominem fert quem suscepit. Exinanit se, dum ad injurias contumeliasque descendit, dum audit infanda, experitur indigna: cujus tamen humilitatis adest statim egregius fructus. Accepit enim nomen, quod est super omne nomen, quod utique non aliud intelligimus esse quam nomen Dei. Nam cum Dei sit solius esse super omnia, consequens est, ut nomen illud sit super omne quod est ejus, qui super omnia est, Dei. Est ergo nomen illud quod super omne nomen est: quod nomen est ejus utique consequenter, qui cum in forma Dei fuisset, non rapinam arbitratus est aequalem se Deo esse. Neque enim si non Deus esset Christus, omne se in nomine ejus genu flecteret, coelestium et terrestrium et infernorum: nec visibilia aut invisibilia, aut rerum omnium omnis creatura homini esset subjecta sive substrata, quae se ante hominem esse meminisset. Ex quo dum in forma Dei esse Christus dicitur, et dum in nativitatem secundum carnem se exinanisse monstratur, et dum id accepisse nomen a Patre quod sit super omne nomen exprimitur, et dum in nomine ejus omne genu coelestium, terrenorum et infernorum se flectere et curvare monstratur, et hoc ipsum in gloriam Dei Patris, succurrere asseritur: consequenter non ex illo tantum homo est, quia obediens Patri factus est usque ad mortem, mortem autem crucis; sed ex his etiam rebus superioribus divinitatem Christi sonantibus, Dominus Christus Jesus et Deus, quod haeretici nolunt, esse monstratur.
English · Claude translation
But why, though we seem to be hastening to another part of the discussion, should we pass over that passage in the Apostle? “Who, though he was in the form of God, did not think it robbery to be equal with God, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, made in the likeness of men, and found in bearing as a man: he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even the death of the cross; therefore God also exalted him above all, and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of things in heaven, on earth, and under the earth, and every tongue confess that the Lord Jesus is in the glory of God the Father.” “Who, though he was in the form of God,” he says. If Christ were only man, he would have been described as in the image of God, not in the form of God. For we know that man was made to the image, not to the form, of God. Who, then, is this who, as we have said, was in the form of God? An angel? But we do not read of the form of God even among the angels; except that this one, preeminent and noble above all, the Son of God, the Word of God, the imitator of all his Father's works, since he himself works just as his Father does, is (as we have put it) in the form of God the Father. And rightly he has been declared to be in the form of God, since he himself is above all things and holds divine power over every creature, and is God after the example of the Father; yet he obtained this very thing from his own Father, that he should be both God and Lord of all, and God begotten and brought forth from him after the form of God the Father.
This one, then, though he was in the form of God, did not think it robbery to be equal with God. For though he remembered that he was God from God the Father, he never compared or set himself beside God the Father, mindful that he was from his Father, and that he had the very thing that he is because the Father had given it. Hence, finally, both before taking up the flesh, and also after taking up the body, and moreover after the resurrection itself, he rendered, and renders, all obedience to the Father in all things. By this it is proved that he never thought divinity a kind of robbery, so as to make himself equal to God the Father; but on the contrary, obedient and subject to his every command and will, he was content even to take up the form of a servant (that is, to become that man), and the substance of flesh and body, which he took up by being born, coming as it did from the slavery of the sins of the fathers and of man: and at that time he also emptied himself, since he did not refuse to take up the frailty of the human condition. For if he had been born only a man, he would not have been emptied by this: for a man, when he is born, is increased, not emptied; for when he begins to be what he could not have had when he did not exist, he is, as we have said, not emptied but rather increased and enriched. But if Christ is emptied in being born, by taking the form of a servant, how is he only man? Of him it would more truly have been said that he was enriched when he was born, not emptied; except that the authority of the divine Word, resting for a while in order to take up the man, and not exercising itself with its own powers, lowers itself for a time and lays itself down, while it bears the man whom it took up. He empties himself when he descends to injuries and insults, when he hears unspeakable things and experiences unworthy ones. Yet an excellent fruit of this humility is at once present. For he received the name that is above every name, which we certainly understand to be none other than the name of God. For since it belongs to God alone to be above all things, it follows that the name that is above all belongs to him who is above all things, God. That, then, is the name which is above every name; and it follows that this name belongs to him who, though he was in the form of God, did not think it robbery to be equal with God. For if Christ were not God, every knee of things in heaven, on earth, and under the earth would not bend at his name; nor would things visible or invisible, or every creature of all things, be subject or placed beneath a man, since they would remember that they existed before man. Hence, since Christ is said to be in the form of God, and is shown to have emptied himself into birth according to the flesh, and is declared to have received from the Father the name that is above every name, and every knee of things in heaven, on earth, and under the earth is shown to bend and bow at his name, and this very thing is asserted to serve the glory of God the Father: it follows that he is not only man because he became obedient to the Father unto death, even the death of the cross; but from these higher things, which proclaim the divinity of Christ, the Lord Christ Jesus is also shown to be God, which the heretics do not wish.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotation is Phil 2:6–11 in an Old Latin form (“non rapinam arbitratus est”, “in gloria est Dei Patris”); allusions to Gen 1:27 and John 5:19. “Who, then, is this who, as we have said, was in the form of God? An angel?” takes the printed “qui in forma Dei, ut diximus, factus est Angelus” as two questions (“factus est? Angelus?”), as the next sentence (“we do not read of the form of God even among the angels”) requires. Novatian's stress on the Son's obedience and on receiving his divinity from the Father reflects pre-Nicene subordinationist language; it is translated as written.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR: misread letters; OCR: r for n; OCR: uncertain character; stray period): semelipsnm → semetipsum; obed(??)ens → obediens; accip(??)endo → accipiendo; divini. Verbi → divini Verbi; in romine → in nomine.
Cite this passage
Novatian, Trin. 22 (PL 3:957a–959b; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/novatian-trinitate/22/).
The SBL abbreviation for this work has not been checked yet.
Plain text
Novatian, Trin. 22 (PL 3:957a–959b; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/novatian-trinitate/22/).
Download citation:BibTeX ·RIS (Zotero, EndNote)
Whole work:BibTeX ·RIS ·Markdown text