(1) In our former book[1] we dealt fully enough with a few of the chief
points about the heathen worship of idols, and how those false fears
originally arose. We also, by God's grace, briefly indicated that the Word
of the Father is Himself divine, that all things that are owe their being
to His will and power, and that it is through Him that the Father gives
order to creation, by Him that all things are moved, and through Him that
they receive their being. Now, Macarius, true lover of Christ, we must take
a step further in the faith of our holy religion, and consider also the
Word's becoming Man and His divine Appearing in our midst. That mystery the
Jews traduce, the Greeks deride, but we adore; and your own love and
devotion to the Word also will be the greater, because in His Manhood He
seems so little worth. For it is a fact that the more unbelievers pour
scorn on Him, so much the more does He make His Godhead evident. The things
which they, as men, rule out as impossible, He plainly shows to be
possible; that which they deride as unfitting, His goodness makes most fit;
and things which these wiseacres laugh at as "human" He by His inherent
might declares divine. Thus by what seems His utter poverty and weakness on
the cross He overturns the pomp and parade of idols, and quietly and
hiddenly wins over the mockers and unbelievers to recognize Him as God.
Now in dealing with these matters it is necessary first to recall what has
already been said. You must understand why it is that the Word of the
Father, so great and so high, has been made manifest in bodily form. He has
not assumed a body as proper to His own nature, far from it, for as the
Word He is without body. He has been manifested in a human body for this
reason only, out of the love and goodness of His Father, for the salvation
of us men. We will begin, then, with the creation of the world and with God
its Maker, for the first fact that you must grasp is this: "the renewal of
creation has been wrought by the Self-same Word Who made it in the
beginning." There' is thus no inconsistency between creation and salvation
for the One Father has employed the same Agent for both works, effecting
the salvation of the world through the same Word Who made it in the
beginning.
(2) In regard to the making of the universe and the creation of all things
there have been various opinions, and each person has propounded the theory
that suited his own taste. For instance, some say that all things are self-
originated and, so to speak, haphazard. The Epicureans are among these;
they deny that there is any Mind behind the universe at all. This view is
contrary to all the facts of experience, their own existence included. For
if all things had come into being in this automatic fashion, instead of
being the outcome of Mind, though they existed, they would all be uniform
and without distinction. In the universe everything would be sun or moon or
whatever it was, and in the human body the whole would be hand or eye or
foot. But in point of fact the sun and the moon and the earth are all
different things, and even within the human body there are different
members, such as foot and hand and head. This distinctness of things argues
not a spontaneous generation but a prevenient Cause; and from that Cause we
can apprehend God, the Designer and Maker of all.
Others take the view expressed by Plato, that giant among the Greeks. He
said that God had made all things out of pre-existent and uncreated matter,
just as the carpenter makes things only out of wood that already exists.
But those who hold this view do not realize that to deny that God is
Himself the Cause of matter is to impute limitation to Him, just as it is
undoubtedly a limitation on the part of the carpenter that he can make
nothing unless he has the wood. How could God be called Maker and Artificer
if His ability to make depended on some other cause, namely on matter
itself? If He only worked up existing matter and did not Himself bring
matter into being, He would be not the Creator but only a craftsman.
Then, again, there is the theory of the Gnostics, who have invented for
themselves an Artificer of all things other than the Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ. These simply shut their eyes to the obvious meaning of
Scripture. For instance, the Lord, having reminded the Jews of the
statement in Genesis, "He Who created them in the beginning made them male
and female . . . ," and having shown that for that reason a man should
leave his parents and cleave to his wife, goes on to say with reference to
the Creator, "What therefore God has joined together, let no man put
asunder."[2] How can they get a creation independent of the Father out of
that? And, again, St. John, speaking all inclusively, says, "All things
became by Him and without Him came nothing into being.[3] How then could the
Artificer be someone different, other than the Father of Christ?
(3)Such are the notions which men put forward. But the impiety of their
foolish talk is plainly declared by the divine teaching of the Christian
faith. From it we know that, because there is Mind behind the universe, it
did not originate itself; because God is infinite, not finite, it was not
made from pre-existent matter, but out of nothing and out of non-existence
absolute and utter God brought it into being through the Word. He says as
much in Genesis: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth;[4]
and again through that most helpful book "The Shepherd," "Believe thou
first and foremost that there is One God Who created and arranged all
things and brought them out of non-existence into being."[5] Paul also
indicates the same thing when he says, "By faith we understand that the
worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that the things which we see now
did not come into being out of things which had previously appeared."[6] For
God is good--or rather, of all goodness He is Fountainhead, and it is
impossible for one who is good to be mean or grudging about anything.
Grudging existence to none therefore, He made all things out of nothing
through His own Word, our Lord Jesus Christ and of all these His earthly
creatures He reserved especial mercy for the race of men. Upon them,
therefore, upon men who, as animals, were essentially impermanent, He
bestowed a grace which other creatures lacked--namely the impress of His
own Image, a share in the reasonable being of the very Word Himself, so
that, reflecting Him and themselves becoming reasonable and expressing the
Mind of God even as He does, though in limited degree they might continue
for ever in the blessed and only true life of the saints in paradise. But
since the will of man could turn either way, God secured this grace that He
had given by making it conditional from the first upon two things--namely,
a law and a place. He set them in His own paradise, and laid upon them a
single prohibition. If they guarded the grace and retained the loveliness
of their original innocence, then the life of paradise should be theirs,
without sorrow, pain or care, and after it the assurance of immortality in
heaven. But if they went astray and became vile, throwing away their
birthright of beauty, then they would come under the natural law of death
and live no longer in paradise, but, dying outside of it, continue in death
and in corruption. This is what Holy Scripture tells us, proclaiming the
command of God, "Of every tree that is in the garden thou shalt surely eat,
but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil ye shall not eat, but in
the day that ye do eat, ye shall surely die."[7] "Ye shall surely die"--not
just die only, but remain in the state of death and of corruption.
(4) You may be wondering why we are discussing the origin of men when we
set out to talk about the Word's becoming Man. The former subject is
relevant to the latter for this reason: it was our sorry case that caused
the Word to come down, our transgression that called out His love for us,
so that He made haste to help us and to appear among us. It is we who were
the cause of His taking human form, and for our salvation that in His great
love He was both born and manifested in a human body. For God had made man
thus (that is, as an embodied spirit), and had willed that he should remain
in incorruption. But men, having turned from the contemplation of God to
evil of their own devising, had come inevitably under the law of death.
Instead of remaining in the state in which God had created them, they were
in process of becoming corrupted entirely, and death had them completely
under its dominion. For the transgression of the commandment was making
them turn back again according to their nature; and as they had at the
beginning come into being out of non-existence, so were they now on the way
to returning, through corruption, to non-existence again. The presence and
love of the Word had called them into being; inevitably, therefore when
they lost the knowledge of God, they lost existence with it; for it is God
alone Who exists, evil is non-being, the negation and antithesis of good.
By nature, of course, man iS mortal, since he was made from nothing; but he
bears also the Likeness of Him Who is, and if he preserves that Likeness
through constant contemplation, then his nature iS deprived of its power
and he remains incorrupt. So is it affirmed in Wisdom: "The keeping of His
laws is the assurance of incorruption."[8] And being incorrupt, he would be
henceforth as God, as Holy Scripture says, "I have said, Ye are gods and
sons of the Highest all of you: but ye die as men and fall as one of the
princes."[9]
(5) This, then, was the plight of men. God had not only made them out of
nothing, but had also graciously bestowed on them His own life by the grace
of the Word. Then, turning from eternal things to things corruptible, by
counsel of the devil, they had become the cause of their own corruption in
death; for, as I said before, though they were by nature subject to
corruption, the grace of their union with the Word made them capable of
escaping from the natural law, provided that they retained the beauty of
innocence with which they were created. That is to say, the presence of the
Word with them shielded them even from natural corruption, as also Wisdom
says:
God created man for incorruption and as an image of His own eternity; but
by envy of the devil death entered into the world."[10] When this happened,
men began to die, and corruption ran riot among them and held sway over
them to an even more than natural degree, because it was the penalty of
which God had forewarned them for transgressing the commandment. Indeed,
they had in their sinning surpassed all limits; for, having invented
wickedness in the beginning and so involved themselves in death and
corruption, they had gone on gradually from bad to worse, not stopping at
any one kind of evil, but continually, as with insatiable appetite,
devising new kinds of sins. Adulteries and thefts were everywhere, murder
and rapine filled the earth, law was disregarded in corruption and
injustice, all kinds of iniquities were perpetrated by all, both singly and
in common. Cities were warring with cities, nations were rising against
nations, and the whole earth was rent with factions and battles, while each
strove to outdo the other in wickedness. Even crimes contrary to nature
were not unknown, but as the martyr-apostle of Christ says: "Their women
changed the natural use into that which is against nature; and the men
also, leaving the natural use of the woman, flamed out in lust towards each
other, perpetrating shameless acts with their own sex, and receiving in
their own persons the due recompense of their pervertedness."[11]
ENDNOTES
1. i.e. the "Confra Gentes."
2. Matt. xix. 4-6.
3. John i. 3.
4. Gen. i. 1.
5. "The Shepherd of Hermas," Book II. I.
6. Heb. xi. 3.
7. Gen. ii. 16 f.
8. Wisdom vi. 18.
9. Psalm lxxxii. 6 f.
10. Wisdom ii. 23 f.
11. Rom. i. 26 f.
CHAPTER II THE DIVINE DILEMMA AND ITS SOLUTION IN THE INCARNATION
(6) We saw in the last chapter that, because death and corruption were
gaining ever firmer hold on them, the human race was in process of
destruction. Man, who was created in God's image and in his possession of
reason reflected the very Word Himself, was disappearing, and the work of
God was being undone. The law of death, which followed from the
Transgression, prevailed upon us, and from it there was no escape. The
thing that was happening was in truth both monstrous and unfitting. It
would, of course, have been unthinkable that God should go back upon His
word and that man, having transgressed, should not die; but it was equally
monstrous that beings which once had shared the nature of the Word should
perish and turn back again into non-existence through corruption. It was
unworthy of the goodness of God that creatures made by Him should be
brought to nothing through the deceit wrought upon man by the devil; and it
was supremely unfitting that the work of God in mankind should disappear,
either through their own negligence or through the deceit of evil spirits.
As, then, the creatures whom He had created reasonable, like the Word, were
in fact perishing, and such noble works were on the road to ruin, what then
was God, being Good, to do? Was He to let corruption and death have their
way with them? In that case, what was the use of having made them in the
beginning? Surely it would have been better never to have been created at
all than, having been created, to be neglected and perish; and, besides
that, such indifference to the ruin of His own work before His very eyes
would argue not goodness in God but limitation, and that far more than if
He had never created men at all. It was impossible, therefore, that God
should leave man to be carried off by corruption, because it would be
unfitting and unworthy of Himself.
(7) Yet, true though this is, it is not the whole matter. As we have
already noted, it was unthinkable that God, the Father of Truth, should go
back upon His word regarding death in order to ensure our continued
existence. He could not falsify Himself; what, then, was God to do? Was He
to demand repentance from men for their transgression? You might say that
that was worthy of God, and argue further that, as through the
Transgression they became subject to corruption, so through repentance they
might return to incorruption again. But repentance would not guard the
Divine consistency, for, if death did not hold dominion over men, God would
still remain untrue. Nor does repentance recall men from what is according
to their nature; all that it does is to make them cease from sinning. Had
it been a case of a trespass only, and not of a subsequent corruption,
repentance would have been well enough; but when once transgression had
begun men came under the power of the corruption proper to their nature and
were bereft of the grace which belonged to them as creatures in the Image
of God. No, repentance could not meet the case. What--or rather Who was it
that was needed for such grace and such recall as we required? Who, save
the Word of God Himself, Who also in the beginning had made all things out
of nothing? His part it was, and His alone, both to bring again the
corruptible to incorruption and to maintain for the Father His consistency
of character with all. For He alone, being Word of the Father and above
all, was in consequence both able to recreate all, and worthy to suffer on
behalf of all and to be an ambassador for all with the Father.
(8) For this purpose, then, the incorporeal and incorruptible and
immaterial Word of God entered our world. In one sense, indeed, He was not
far from it before, for no part of creation had ever been without Him Who,
while ever abiding in union with the Father, yet fills all things that are.
But now He entered the world in a new way, stooping to our level in His
love and Self-revealing to us. He saw the reasonable race, the race of men
that, like Himself, expressed the Father's Mind, wasting out of existence,
and death reigning over all in corruption. He saw that corruption held us
all the closer, because it was the penalty for the Transgression; He saw,
too, how unthinkable it would be for the law to be repealed before it was
fulfilled. He saw how unseemly it was that the very things of which He
Himself was the Artificer should be disappearing. He saw how the surpassing
wickedness of men was mounting up against them; He saw also their universal
liability to death. All this He saw and, pitying our race, moved with
compassion for our limitation, unable to endure that death should have the
mastery, rather than that His creatures should perish and the work of His
Father for us men come to nought, He took to Himself a body, a human body
even as our own. Nor did He will merely to become embodied or merely to
appear; had that been so, He could have revealed His divine majesty in some
other and better way. No, He took our body, and not only so, but He took it
directly from a spotless, stainless virgin, without the agency of human
father--a pure body, untainted by intercourse with man. He, the Mighty One,
the Artificer of all, Himself prepared this body in the virgin as a temple
for Himself, and took it for His very own, as the instrument through which
He was known and in which He dwelt. Thus, taking a body like our own,
because all our bodies were liable to the corruption of death, He
surrendered His body to death instead of all, and offered it to the Father.
This He did out of sheer love for us, so that in His death all might die,
and the law of death thereby be abolished because, having fulfilled in His
body that for which it was appointed, it was thereafter voided of its power
for men. This He did that He might turn again to incorruption men who had
turned back to corruption, and make them alive through death by the
appropriation of His body and by the grace of His resurrection. Thus He
would make death to disappear from them as utterly as straw from fire.
(9) The Word perceived that corruption could not be got rid of otherwise
than through death; yet He Himself, as the Word, being immortal and the
Father's Son, was such as could not die. For this reason, therefore, He
assumed a body capable of death, in order that it, through belonging to the
Word Who is above all, might become in dying a sufficient exchange for all,
and, itself remaining incorruptible through His indwelling, might
thereafter put an end to corruption for all others as well, by the grace of
the resurrection. It was by surrendering to death the body which He had
taken, as an offering and sacrifice free from every stain, that He
forthwith abolished death for His human brethren by the offering of the
equivalent. For naturally, since the Word of God was above all, when He
offered His own temple and bodily instrument as a substitute for the life
of all, He fulfilled in death all that was required. Naturally also,
through this union of the immortal Son of God with our human nature, all
men were clothed with incorruption in the promise of the resurrection. For
the solidarity of mankind is such that, by virtue of the Word's indwelling
in a single human body, the corruption which goes with death has lost its
power over all. You know how it is when some great king enters a large city
and dwells in one of its houses; because of his dwelling in that single
house, the whole city is honored, and enemies and robbers cease to molest
it. Even so is it with the King of all; He has come into our country and
dwelt in one body amidst the many, and in consequence the designs of the
enemy against mankind have been foiled and the corruption of death, which
formerly held them in its power, has simply ceased to be. For the human
race would have perished utterly had not the Lord and Savior of all the Son
of God, come among us to put an end to death.
(10) This great work was, indeed, supremely worthy of the goodness of God.
A king who has founded a city, so far from neglecting it when through the
carelessness of the inhabitants it is attacked by robbers, avenges it and
saves it from destruction, having regard rather to his own honor than to
the people's neglect. Much more, then, the Word of the All-good Father was
not unmindful of the human race that He had called to be; but rather, by
the offering of His own body He abolished the death which they had
incurred, and corrected their neglect by His own teaching. Thus by His own
power He restored the whole nature of man. The Savior's own inspired
disciples assure us of this. We read in one place: " For the love of Christ
constraineth us, because we thus judge that, if One died on behalf of all,
then all died, and He died for all that we should no longer live unto
ourselves, but unto Him who died and rose again from the dead, even our
Lord Jesus Christ."[1] And again another says: "But we behold Him Who hath
been made a little lower than the angels, even Jesus, because of the
suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that by the grace of God
He should taste of death on behalf of every man." The same writer goes on
to point Our why it was necessary for God the Word and none other to become
Man: "For it became Him, for Whom are all things and through Whom are all
things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Author of their
salvation perfect through suffering.[2] He means that the rescue of mankind
from corruption was the proper part only of Him Who made them in the
beginning. He points out also that the Word assumed a human body, expressly
in order that He might offer it in sacrifice for other like bodies: "Since
then the children are sharers in flesh and blood, He also Himself assumed
the same, in order that through death He might bring to nought Him that
hath the power of death, that is to say, the Devil, and might rescue those
who all their lives were enslaved by the fear of death."[3] For by the
sacrifice of His own body He did two things: He put an end to the law of
death which barred our way; and He made a new beginning of life for us, by
giving us the hope of resurrection. By man death has gained its power over
men; by the Word made Man death has been destroyed and life raised up anew.
That is what Paul says, that true servant of Christ: For since by man came
death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. Just as in Adam all
die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive,"[4] and so forth. Now,
therefore, when we die we no longer do so as men condemned to death, but as
those who are even now in process of rising we await the general
resurrection of all, "which in its own times He shall show,"[5] even God Who
wrought it and bestowed it on us.
This, then, is the first cause of the Savior's becoming Man. There are,
however, other things which show how wholly fitting is His blessed presence
in our midst; and these we must now go on to consider.
ENDNOTES
1. 2 Cor. v. 14 f.
2. Heb. ii. 9 ff.
3. Heb. ii. 14 f.
4. 1 Cor. xv. 21 f.
5. 1 Tim. vi. 15.
CHAPTER III THE DIVINE DILEMMA AND ITS SOLUTION IN THE INCARNATION--
continued
(11) When God the Almighty was making mankind through His own Word, He
perceived that they, owing to the limitation of their nature, could not of
themselves have any knowledge of their Artificer, the Incorporeal and
Uncreated. He took pity on them, therefore, and did not leave them
destitute of the knowledge of Himself, lest their very existence should
prove purposeless. For of what use is existence to the creature if it
cannot know its Maker? How could men be reasonable beings if they had no
knowledge of the Word and Reason of the Father, through Whom they had
received their being? They would be no better than the beasts, had they no
knowledge save of earthly things; and why should God have made them at all,
if He had not intended them to know Him? But, in fact, the good God has
given them a share in His own Image, that is, in our Lord Jesus Christ, and
has made even themselves after the same Image and Likeness. Why? Simply in
order that through this gift of Godlikeness in themselves they may be able
to perceive the Image Absolute, that is the Word Himself, and through Him
to apprehend the Father; which knowledge of their Maker is for men the only
really happy and blessed life.
But, as we have already seen, men, foolish as they are, thought little of
the grace they had received, and turned away from God. They defiled their
own soul so completely that they not only lost their apprehension of God,
but invented for themselves other gods of various kinds. They fashioned
idols for themselves in place of the truth and reverenced things that are
not, rather than God Who is, as St. Paul says, "worshipping the creature
rather than the Creator."[1] Moreover, and much worse, they transferred the
honor which is due to God to material objects such as wood and stone, and
also to man; and further even than that they went, as we said in our former
book. Indeed, so impious were they that they worshipped evil spirits as
gods in satisfaction of their lusts. They sacrificed brute beasts and
immolated men, as the just due of these deities, thereby bringing
themselves more and more under their insane control. Magic arts also were
taught among them, oracles in sundry places led men astray, and the cause
of everything in human life was traced to the stars as though nothing
existed but that which could be seen. In a word, impiety and lawlessness
were everywhere, and neither God nor His Word was known. Yet He had not
hidden Himself from the sight of men nor given the knowledge of Himself in
one way only; but rather He had unfolded it in many forms and by many ways.
(12) God knew the limitation of mankind, you see; and though the grace of
being made in His Image was sufficient to give them knowledge of the Word
and through Him of the Father, as a safeguard against their neglect of this
grace, He provided the works of creation also as means by which the Maker
might be known. Nor was this all. Man's neglect of the indwelling grace
tends ever to increase; and against this further frailty also God made
provision by giving them a law, and by sending prophets, men whom they
knew. Thus, if they were tardy in looking up to heaven, they might still
gain knowledge of their Maker from those close at hand; for men can learn
directly about higher things from other men. Three ways thus lay open to
them, by which they might obtain the knowledge of God. They could look up
into the immensity of heaven, and by pondering the harmony of creation come
to know its Ruler, the Word of the Father, Whose all-ruling providence
makes known the Father to all. Or, if this was beyond them, they could
converse with holy men, and through them learn to know God, the Artificer
of all things, the Father of Christ, and to recognize the worship of idols
as the negation of the truth and full of all impiety. Or else, in the third
place, they could cease from lukewarmness and lead a good life merely by
knowing the law. For the law was not given only for the Jews, nor was it
solely for their sake that God sent the prophets, though it was to the Jews
that they were sent and by the Jews that they were persecuted. The law and
the prophets were a sacred school of the knowledge of God and the conduct
of the spiritual life for the whole world.
So great, indeed, were the goodness and the love of God. Yet men, bowed
down by the pleasures of the moment and by the frauds and illusions of the
evil spirits, did not lift up their heads towards the truth. So burdened
were they with their wickednesses that they seemed rather to be brute
beasts than reasonable men, reflecting the very Likeness of the Word.
(13) What was God to do in face of this dehumanising of mankind, this
universal hiding of the knowledge of Himself by the wiles of evil spirits?
Was He to keep silence before so great a wrong and let men go on being thus
deceived and kept in ignorance of Himself? If so, what was the use of
having made them in His own Image originally? It would surely have been
better for them always to have been brutes, rather than to revert to that
condition when once they had shared the nature of the Word. Again, things
being as they were, what was the use of their ever having had the knowledge
of God? Surely it would have been better for God never to have bestowed it,
than that men should subsequently be found unworthy to receive it.
Similarly, what possible profit could it be to God Himself, Who made men,
if when made they did not worship Him, but regarded others as their makers?
This would be tantamount to His having made them for others and not for
Himself. Even an earthly king, though he is only a man, does not allow
lands that he has colonized to pass into other hands or to desert to other
rulers, but sends letters and friends and even visits them himself to
recall them to their allegiance, rather than allow His work to be undone.
How much more, then, will God be patient and painstaking with His
creatures, that they be not led astray from Him to the service of those
that are not, and that all the more because such error means for them sheer
ruin, and because it is not right that those who had once shared His Image
should be destroyed.
What, then, was God to do? What else could He possibly do, being God, but
renew His Image in mankind, so that through it men might once more come to
know Him? And how could this be done save by the coming of the very Image
Himself, our Savior Jesus Christ? Men could not have done it, for they are
only made after the Image; nor could angels have done it, for they are not
the images of God. The Word of God came in His own Person, because it was
He alone, the Image of the Father Who could recreate man made after the
Image.
In order to effect this re-creation, however, He had first to do away with
death and corruption. Therefore He assumed a human body, in order that in
it death might once for all be destroyed, and that men might be renewed
according to the Image. The Image of the Father only was sufficient for
this need. Here is an illustration to prove it.
(14) You know what happens when a portrait that has been painted on a panel
becomes obliterated through external stains. ,The artist does not throw
away the panel, but the subject of the portrait has to come and sit for it
again, and then the likeness is re-drawn on the same material. Even so was
it with the All-holy Son of God. He, the Image of the Father, came and
dwelt in our midst, in order that He might renew mankind made after
Himself, and seek out His lost sheep, even as He says in the Gospel: "I
came to seek and to save that which was lost.[2] This also explains His
saying to the Jews: "Except a man be born anew . . ."[3] a He was not
referring to a man's natural birth from his mother, as they thought, but to
the re-birth and re-creation of the soul in the Image of God.
Nor was this the only thing which only the Word could do. When the madness
of idolatry and irreligion filled the world and the knowledge of God was
hidden, whose part was it to teach the world about the Father? Man's, would
you say? But men cannot run everywhere over the world, nor would their
words carry sufficient weight if they did, nor would they be, unaided, a
match for the evil spirits. Moreover, since even the best of men were
confused and blinded by evil, how could they convert the souls and minds of
others? You cannot put straight in others what is warped in yourself.
Perhaps you will say, then, that creation was enough to teach men about the
Father. But if that had been so, such great evils would never have
occurred. Creation was there all the time, but it did not prevent men from
wallowing in error. Once more, then, it was the Word of God, Who sees all
that is in man and moves all things in creation, Who alone could meet the
needs of the situation. It was His part and His alone, Whose ordering of
the universe reveals the Father, to renew the same teaching. But how was He
to do it? By the same means as before, perhaps you will say, that is,
through the works of creation. But this was proven insufficient. Men had
neglected to consider the heavens before, and now they were looking in the
opposite direction. Wherefore, in all naturalness and fitness. desiring to
do good to men, as Man He dwells, taking to Himself a body like the rest;
and through His actions done in that body, as it were on their own level,
He teaches those who would not learn by other means to know Himself, the
Word of God, and through Him the Father.
(15) He deals with them as a good teacher with his pupils, coming down to
their level and using simple means. St. Paul says as much: "Because in the
wisdom of God the world in its wisdom knew not God, God thought fit through
the simplicity of the News proclaimed to save those who believe."[4] Men had
turned from the contemplation of God above, and were looking for Him in the
opposite direction, down among created things and things of sense. The
Savior of us all, the Word of God, in His great love took to Himself a body
and moved as Man among men, meeting their senses, so to speak, half way. He
became Himself an object for the senses, so that those who were seeking God
in sensible things might apprehend the Father through the works which He,
the Word of God, did in the body. Human and human minded as men were,
therefore, to whichever side they looked in the sensible world they found
themselves taught the truth. Were they awe-stricken by creation? They
beheld it confessing Christ as Lord. Did their minds tend to regard men as
Gods? The uniqueness of the Savior's works marked Him, alone of men, as Son
of God. Were they drawn to evil spirits? They saw them driven out by the
Lord and learned that the Word of God alone was God and that the evil
spirits were not gods at all. Were they inclined to hero-worship and the
cult of the dead? Then the fact that the Savior had risen from the dead
showed them how false these other deities were, and that the Word of the
Father is the one true Lord, the Lord even of death. For this reason was He
both born and manifested as Man, for this He died and rose, in order that,
eclipsing by His works all other human deeds, He might recall men from all
the paths of error to know the Father. As He says Himself, "I came to seek
and to save that which was lost."[5]
(16) When, then, the minds of men had fallen finally to the level of
sensible things, the Word submitted to appear in a body, in order that He,
as Man, might center their senses on Himself, and convince them through His
human acts that He Himself is not man only but also God, the Word and
Wisdom of the true God. This is what Paul wants to tell us when he says:
"That ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be strong to apprehend
with all the saints what is the length and breadth and height and depth,
and to know the love of God that surpasses knowledge, so that ye may be
filled unto all the fullness of God."[6] The Self-revealing of the Word is in
every dimension--above, in creation; below, in the Incarnation; in the
depth, in Hades; in the breadth, throughout the world. All things have been
filled with the knowledge of God.
For this reason He did not offer the sacrifice on behalf of all immediately
He came, for if He had surrendered His body to death and then raised it
again at once He would have ceased to be an object of our senses. Instead
of that, He stayed in His body and let Himself be seen in it, doing acts
and giving signs which showed Him to be not only man, but also God the
Word. There were thus two things which the Savior did for us by becoming
Man. He banished death from us and made us anew; and, invisible and
imperceptible as in Himself He is, He became visible through His works and
revealed Himself as the Word of the Father, the Ruler and King of the whole
creation.
(17) There is a paradox in this last statement which we must now examine.
The Word was not hedged in by His body, nor did His presence in the body
prevent His being present elsewhere as well. When He moved His body He did
not cease also to direct the universe by His Mind and might. No. The
marvelous truth is, that being the Word, so far from being Himself
contained by anything, He actually contained all things Himself. In
creation He is present everywhere, yet is distinct in being from it;
ordering, directing, giving life to all, containing all, yet is He Himself
the Uncontained, existing solely in His Father. As with the whole, so also
is it with the part. Existing in a human body, to which He Himself gives
life, He is still Source of life to all the universe, present in every part
of it, yet outside the whole; and He is revealed both through the works of
His body and through His activity in the world. It is, indeed, the function
of soul to behold things that are outside the body, but it cannot energize
or move them. A man cannot transport things from one place to another, for
instance, merely by thinking about them; nor can you or I move the sun and
the stars just by sitting at home and looking at them. With the Word of God
in His human nature, however, it was otherwise. His body was for Him not a
limitation, but an instrument, so that He was both in it and in all things,
and outside all things, resting in the Father alone. At one and the same
time--this is the wonder--as Man He was living a human life, and as Word He
was sustaining the life of the universe, and as Son He was in constant
union with the Father. Not even His birth from a virgin, therefore, changed
Him in any way, nor was He defiled by being in the body. Rather, He
sanctified the body by being in it. For His being in everything does not
mean that He shares the nature of everything, only that He gives all things
their being and sustains them in it. Just as the sun is not defiled by the
contact of its rays with earthly objects, but rather enlightens and
purifies them, so He Who made the sun is not defiled by being made known in
a body, but rather the body is cleansed and quickened by His indwelling,
"Who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth."[7]
(18) You must understand, therefore, that when writers on this sacred theme
speak of Him as eating and drinking and being born, they mean that the
body, as a body, was born and sustained with the food proper to its nature;
while God the Word, Who was united with it, was at the same time ordering
the universe and revealing Himself through His bodily acts as not man only
but God. Those acts are rightly said to be His acts, because the body which
did them did indeed belong to Him and none other; moreover, it was right
that they should be thus attributed to Him as Man, in order to show that
His body was a real one and not merely an appearance. From such ordinary
acts as being born and taking food, He was recognized as being actually
present in the body; but by the extraordinary acts which He did through the
body He proved Himself to be the Son of God. That is the meaning of His
words to the unbelieving Jews: "If I do not the works of My Father, believe
Me not; but if I do, even if ye believe not Me, believe My works, that ye
may know that the Father is in Me and I in the Father."
Invisible in Himself, He is known from the works of creation; so also, when
His Godhead is veiled in human nature, His bodily acts still declare Him to
be not man only, but the Power and Word of God. To speak authoritatively to
evil spirits, for instance, and to drive them out, is not human but divine;
and who could see-Him curing all the diseases to which mankind is prone,
and still deem Him mere man and not also God? He cleansed lepers, He made
the lame to walk, He opened the ears of the deaf and the eyes of the blind,
there was no sickness or weakness that-He did not drive away. Even the most
casual observer can see that these were acts of God. The healing of the man
born blind, for instance, who but the Father and Artificer of man, the
Controller of his whole being, could thus have restored the faculty denied
at birth? He Who did thus must surely be Himself the Lord of birth. This is
proved also at the outset of His becoming Man. He formed His own body from
the virgin; and that is no small proof of His Godhead, since He Who made
that was the Maker of all else. And would not anyone infer from the fact of
that body being begotten of a virgin only, without human father, that He
Who appeared in it was also the Maker and Lord of all beside?
Again, consider the miracle at Cana. Would not anyone who saw the substance
of water transmuted into wine understand that He Who did it was the Lord
and Maker of the water that He changed? It was for the same reason that He
walked on the sea as on dry land--to prove to the onlookers that He had
mastery over all. And the feeding of the multitude, when He made little
into much, so that from five loaves five thousand mouths were filled--did
not that prove Him none other than the very Lord Whose Mind is over all?
ENDNOTES
1. Rom. i. 25.
2. Luke xix. 10.
3. John iii. 3.
4. 1 Cor. i. 21.
5. Luke xix. 10.
6. Eph. iii. 17 ff.
7. 1 Peter ii. 22.
CHAPTER IV THE DEATH OF CHRIST
(19) All these things the Savior thought fit to do, so that, recognizing
His bodily acts as works of God, men who were blind to His presence in
creation might regain knowledge of the Father. For, as I said before, who
that saw His authority over evil spirits and their response to it could
doubt that He was, indeed, the Son, the Wisdom and the Power of God? Even
the very creation broke silence at His behest and, marvelous to relate,
confessed with one voice before the cross, that monument of victory, that
He Who suffered thereon in the body was not man only, but Son of God and
Savior of all. The sun veiled his face, the earth quaked, the mountains
were rent asunder, all men were stricken with awe. These things showed that
Christ on the cross was God, and that all creation was His slave and was
bearing witness by its fear to the presence of its Master.
Thus, then, God the Word revealed Himself to men through His works. We must
next consider the end of His earthly life and the nature of His bodily
death. This is, indeed, the very center of our faith, and everywhere you
hear men speak of it; by it, too, no less than by His other acts, Christ is
revealed as God and Son of God.
(20) We have dealt as far as circumstances and our own understanding permit
with the reason for His bodily manifestation. We have seen that to change
the corruptible to incorruption was proper to none other than the Savior
Himself, Who in the beginning made all things out of nothing; that only the
Image of the Father could re-create the likeness of the Image in men, that
none save our Lord Jesus Christ could give to mortals immortality, and that
only the Word Who orders all things and is alone the Father's true and
sole-begotten Son could teach men about Him and abolish the worship of
idols But beyond all this, there was a debt owing which must needs be paid;
for, as I said before, all men were due to die. Here, then, is the second
reason why the Word dwelt among us, namely that having proved His Godhead
by His works, He might offer the sacrifice on behalf of all, surrendering
His own temple to death in place of all, to settle man's account with death
and free him from the primal transgression. In the same act also He showed
Himself mightier than death, displaying His own body incorruptible as the
first-fruits of the resurrection.
You must not be surprised if we repeat ourselves in dealing with this
subject. We are speaking of the good pleasure of God and of the things
which He in His loving wisdom thought fit to do, and it is better to put
the same thing in several ways than to run the risk of leaving something
out. The body of the Word, then, being a real human body, in spite of its
having been uniquely formed from a virgin, was of itself mortal and, like
other bodies, liable to death. But the indwelling of the Word loosed it
from this natural liability, so that corruption could not touch it. Thus it
happened that two opposite marvels took place at once: the death of all was
consummated in the Lord's body; yet, because the Word was in it, death and
corruption were in the same act utterly abolished. Death there had to be,
and death for all, so that the due of all might be paid. Wherefore, the
Word, as I said, being Himself incapable of death, assumed a mortal body,
that He might offer it as His own in place of all, and suffering for the
sake of all through His union with it, " might bring to nought Him that had
the power of death, that is, the devil, and might deliver them who all
their lifetime were enslaved by the fear of death."[1]
(21) Have no fears then. Now that the common Savior of all has died on our
behalf, we who believe in Christ no longer die, as men died aforetime, in
fulfillment of the threat of the law. That condemnation has come to an end;
and now that, by the grace of the resurrection, corruption has been
banished and done away, we are loosed from our mortal bodies in God's good
time for each, so that we may obtain thereby a better resurrection. Like
seeds cast into the earth, we do not perish in our dissolution, but like
them shall rise again, death having been brought to nought by the grace of
the Savior. That is why blessed Paul, through whom we all have surety of
the resurrection, says: "This corruptible must put on incorruption and this
mortal must put on immortality; but when this corruptible shall have put on
incorruption and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be
brought to pass the saying that is written, 'Death is swallowed up in
victory. O Death, where is thy sting? O Grave, where is thy victory?"[2]
"Well then," some people may say, "if the essential thing was that He
should surrender His body to death in place of all, why did He not do so as
Man privately, without going to the length of public crucifixion? Surely it
would have been more suitable for Him to have laid aside His body with
honor than to endure so shameful a death." But look at this argument
closely, and see how merely human it is, whereas what the Savior did was
truly divine and worthy of His Godhead for several reasons. The first is
this. The death of men under ordinary circumstances is the result of their
natural weakness. They are essentially impermanent, so after a time they
fall ill and when worn out they die. But the Lord is not like that. He is
not weak, He is the Power of God and Word of God and Very Life Itself. If
He had died quietly in His bed like other men it would have looked as if He
did so in accordance with His nature, and as though He was indeed no more
than other men. But because He was Himself Word and Life and Power His body
was made strong, and because the death had to be accomplished, He took the
occasion of perfecting His sacrifice not from Himself, but from others. How
could He fall sick, Who had healed others? Or how could that body weaken
and fail by means of which others are made strong? Here, again, you may
say, "Why did He not prevent death, as He did sickness?" Because it was
precisely in order to be able to die that He had taken a body, and to
prevent the death would have been to impede the resurrection. And as to the
unsuitability of sickness for His body, as arguing weakness, you may say,
"Did He then not hunger?" Yes, He hungered, because that was the property
of His body, but He did not die of hunger because He Whose body hungered
was the Lord. Similarly, though He died to ransom all, He did not see
corruption. His body rose in perfect soundness, for it was the body of none
other than the Life Himself.
(22) Someone else might say, perhaps, that it would have been better for
the Lord to have avoided the designs of the Jews against Him, and so to
have guarded His body from death altogether. But see how unfitting this
also would have been for Him. Just as it would not have been fitting for
Him to give His body to death by His own hand, being Word and being Life,
so also it was not consonant with Himself that He should avoid the death
inflicted by others. Rather, He pursued it to the uttermost, and in
pursuance of His nature neither laid aside His body of His own accord nor
escaped the plotting Jews. And this action showed no limitation or weakness
in the Word; for He both waited for death in order to make an end of it,
and hastened to accomplish it as an offering on behalf of all. Moreover, as
it was the death of all mankind that the Savior came to accomplish, not His
own, He did not lay aside His body by an individual act of dying, for to
Him, as Life, this simply did not belong; but He accepted death at the
hands of men, thereby completely to destroy it in His own body.
There are some further considerations which enable one to understand why
the Lord's body had such an end. The supreme object of His coming was to
bring about the resurrection of the body. This was to be the monument to
His victory over death, the assurance to all that He had Himself conquered
corruption and that their own bodies also would eventually be incorrupt;
and it was in token of that and as a pledge of the future resurrection that
He kept His body incorrupt. But there again, if His body had fallen sick
and the Word had left it in that condition, how unfitting it would have
been! Should He Who healed the bodies of others neglect to keep His own in
health? How would His miracles of healing be believed, if this were so?
Surely people would either laugh at Him as unable to dispel disease or else
consider Him lacking in proper human feeling because He could do so, but
did not.
(23) Then, again, suppose without any illness He had just concealed His
body somewhere, and then suddenly reappeared and said that He had risen
from the dead. He would have been regarded merely as a teller of tales, and
because there was no witness of His death, nobody would believe His
resurrection. Death had to precede resurrection, for there could be no
resurrection without it. A secret and unwitnessed death would have left the
resurrection without any proof or evidence to support it. Again, why should
He die a secret death, when He proclaimed the fact of His rising openly?
Why should He drive out evil spirits and heal the man blind from birth and
change water into wine, all publicly, in order to convince men that He was
the Word, and not also declare publicly that incorruptibility of His mortal
body, so that He might Himself be believed to be the Life? And how could
His disciples have had boldness in speaking of the resurrection unless they
could state it as a fact that He had first died? Or how could their hearers
be expected to believe their assertion, unless they themselves also had
witnessed His death? For if the Pharisees at the time refused to believe
and forced others to deny also, though the things had happened before their
very eyes, how many excuses for unbelief would they have contrived, if it
had taken place secretly? Or how could the end of death and the victory
over it have been declared, had not the Lord thus challenged it before the
sight of all, and by the incorruption of His body proved that henceforward
it was annulled and void?
(24) There are some other possible objections that must be answered. Some
might urge that, even granting the necessity of a public death for
subsequent belief in the resurrection, it would surely have been better for
Him to have arranged an honorable death for Himself, and so to have avoided
the ignominy of the cross. But even this would have given ground for
suspicion that His power over death was limited to the particular kind of
death which He chose for Himself; and that again would furnish excuse for
disbelieving the resurrection. Death came to His body, therefore, not from
Himself but from enemy action, in order that the Savior might utterly
abolish death in whatever form they offered it to Him. A generous wrestler,
virile and strong, does not himself choose his antagonists, lest it should
be thought that of some of them he is afraid. Rather, he lets the
spectators choose them, and that all the more if these are hostile, so that
he may overthrow whomsoever they match against him and thus vindicate his
superior strength. Even so was it with Christ. He, the Life of all, our
Lord and Savior, did not arrange the manner of his own death lest He should
seem to be afraid of some other kind. No. He accepted and bore upon the
cross a death inflicted by others, and those others His special enemies, a
death which to them was supremely terrible and by no means to be faced; and
He did this in order that, by destroying even this death, He might Himself
be believed to be the Life, and the power of death be recognized as finally
annulled. A marvelous and mighty paradox has thus occurred, for the death
which they thought to inflict on Him as dishonor and disgrace has become
the glorious monument to death's defeat. Therefore it is also, that He
neither endured the death of John, who was beheaded, nor was He sawn
asunder, like Isaiah: even in death He preserved His body whole and
undivided, so that there should be no excuse hereafter for those who would
divide the Church.
(25) So much for the objections of those outside the Church. But if any
honest Christian wants to know why He suffered death on the cross and not
in some other way, we answer thus: in no other way was it expedient for us,
indeed the Lord offered for our sakes the one death that was supremely
good. He had come to bear the curse that lay on us; and how could He
"become a curse"[3] otherwise than by accepting the accursed death? And that
death is the cross, for it is written "Cursed is every one that hangeth on
tree."[4] Again, the death of the Lord is the ransom of all, and by it "the
middle wall of partition"[5] is broken down and the call of the Gentiles
comes about. How could He have called us if He had not been crucified, for
it is only on the cross that a man dies with arms outstretched? Here,
again, we see the fitness of His death and of those outstretched arms: it
was that He might draw His ancient people with the one and the Gentiles
with the other, and join both together in Himself. Even so, He foretold the
manner of His redeeming death, "I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men
unto Myself."[6] Again, the air is the sphere of the devil, the enemy of our
race who, having fallen from heaven, endeavors with the other evil spirits
who shared in his disobedience both to keep souls from the truth and to
hinder the progress of those who are trying to follow it. The apostle
refers to this when he says, "According to the prince of the power of the
air, of the spirit that now worketh in the sons of disobedience."[7] But the
Lord came to overthrow the devil and to purify the air and to make "a way"
for us up to heaven, as the apostle says, "through the veil, that is to
say, His flesh."[8] This had to be done through death, and by what other kind
of death could it be done, save by a death in the air, that is, on the
cross? Here, again, you see how right and natural it was that the Lord
should suffer thus; for being thus "lifted up," He cleansed the air from
all the evil influences of the enemy. "I beheld Satan as lightning
falling,"[9] He says; and thus He re-opened the road to heaven, saying again,
"Lift up your gates, O ye princes, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting
doors."[10] For it was not the Word Himself Who needed an opening of the
gates, He being Lord of all, nor was any of His works closed to their
Maker. No, it was we who needed it, we whom He Himself upbore in His own
body--that body which He first offered to death on behalf of all, and then
made through it a path to heaven.
ENDNOTES
1. Heb. ii. 14 f
2. 1 Cor. xv. 53 ff.
3. Gal. iii. 13.
4. Gal. iii. 13.
5. Eph. ii. 14.
6. John xii. 32.
7. Eph. ii. 2.
8. Heb. x. 20.
9. Luke x. 18.
10. Psalm xxiv. 7.
CHAPTER V THE RESURRECTION
(26) Fitting indeed, then, and wholly consonant was the death on the cross
for us; and we can see how reasonable it was, and why it is that the
salvation of the world could be accomplished in no other way. Even on the
cross He did not hide Himself from sight; rather, He made all creation
witness to the presence of its Maker. Then, having once let it be seen that
it was truly dead, He did not allow that temple of His body to linger long,
but forthwith on the third day raised it up, impassable and incorruptible,
the pledge and token of His victory.
It was, of course, within His power thus to have raised His body and
displayed it as alive directly after death. But the all-wise Savior did not
do this, lest some should deny that it had really or completely died.
Besides this, had the interval between His death and resurrection been but
two days, the glory of His incorruption might not have appeared. He waited
one whole day to show that His body was really dead, and then on the third
day showed it incorruptible to all. The interval was no longer, lest people
should have forgotten about it and grown doubtful whether it were in truth
the same body. No, while the affair was still ringing in their ears and
their eyes were still straining and their minds in turmoil, and while those
who had put Him to death were still on the spot and themselves witnessing
to the fact of it, the Son of God after three days showed His once dead
body immortal and incorruptible; and it was evident to all that it was from
no natural weakness that the body which the Word indwelt had died, but in
order that in it by the Savior's power death might be done away.
(27) A very strong proof of this destruction of death and its conquest by
the cross is supplied by a present fact, namely this. All the disciples of
Christ despise death; they take the offensive against it and, instead of
fearing it, by the sign of the cross and by faith in Christ trample on it
as on something dead. Before the divine sojourn of the Savior, even the
holiest of men were afraid of death, and mourned the dead as those who
perish. But now that the Savior has raised His body, death is no longer
terrible, but all those who believe in Christ tread it underfoot as
nothing, and prefer to die rather than to deny their faith in Christ,
knowing full well that when they die they do not perish, but live indeed,
and become incorruptible through the resurrection. But that devil who of
old wickedly exulted in death, now that the pains of death are loosed, he
alone it is who remains truly dead. There is proof of this too; for men
who, before they believe in Christ, think death horrible and are afraid of
it, once they are converted despise it so completely that they go eagerly
to meet it, and themselves become witnesses of the Savior's resurrection
from it. Even children hasten thus to die, and not men only, but women
train themselves by bodily discipline to meet it. So weak has death become
that even women, who used to be taken in by it, mock at it now as a dead
thing robbed of all its strength. Death has become like a tyrant who has
been completely conquered by the legitimate monarch; bound hand and foot
the passers-by sneer at him, hitting him and abusing him, no longer afraid
of his cruelty and rage, because of the king who has conquered him. So has
death been conquered and branded for what it is by the Savior on the cross.
It is bound hand and foot, all who are in Christ trample it as they pass
and as witnesses to Him deride it, scoffing and saying, "O Death, where is
thy victory? O Grave, where is thy sting ?[1]
(28) Is this a slender proof of the impotence of death, do you think? Or is
it a slight indication of the Savior's victory over it, when boys and young
girls who are in Christ look beyond this present life and train themselves
to die? Every one is by nature afraid of death and of bodily dissolution;
the marvel of marvels is that he who is enfolded in the faith of the cross
despises this natural fear and for the sake of the cross is no longer
cowardly in face of it. The natural property of fire is to burn. Suppose,
then, that there was a substance such as the Indian asbestos is said to be,
which had no fear of being burnt, but rather displayed the impotence of the
fire by proving itself unburnable. If anyone doubted the truth of this, all
he need do would be to wrap himself up in the substance in question and
then touch the fire. Or, again, to revert to our former figure, if anyone
wanted to see the tyrant bound and helpless, who used to be such a terror
to others, he could do so simply by going into the country of the tyrant's
conqueror. Even so, if anyone still doubts the conquest of death, after so
many proofs and so many martyrdoms in Christ and such daily scorn of death
by His truest servants, he certainly does well to marvel at so great a
thing, but he must not be obstinate in unbelief and disregard of plain
facts. No, he must be like the man who wants to prove the property of the
asbestos, and like him who enters the conqueror's dominions to see the
tyrant bound. He must embrace the faith of Christ, this disbeliever in the
conquest of death, and come to His teaching. Then he will see how impotent
death is and how completely conquered. Indeed, there have been many former
unbelievers and deriders who, after they became believers, so scorned death
as even themselves to become martyrs for Christ's sake.
(29) If, then, it is by the sign of the cross and by faith in Christ that
death is trampled underfoot, it is clear that it is Christ Himself and none
other Who is the Archvictor over death and has robbed it of its power.
Death used to be strong and terrible, but now, since the sojourn of the
Savior and the death and resurrection of His body, it is despised; and
obviously it is by the very Christ Who mounted on the cross that it has
been destroyed and vanquished finally. When the sun rises after the night
and the whole world is lit up by it, nobody doubts that it is the sun which
has thus shed its light everywhere and driven away the dark. Equally clear
is it, since this utter scorning and trampling down of death has ensued
upon the Savior's manifestation in the body and His death on the cross,
that it is He Himself Who brought death to nought and daily raises
monuments to His victory in His own disciples. How can you think otherwise,
when you see men naturally weak hastening to death, unafraid at the
prospect of corruption, fearless of the descent into Hades, even indeed
with eager soul provoking it, not shrinking from tortures, but preferring
thus to rush on death for Christ's sake, rather than to remain in this
present life? If you see with your own eyes men and women and children,
even, thus welcoming death for the sake of Christ's religion, how can you
be so utterly silly and incredulous and maimed in your mind as not to
realize that Christ, to Whom these all bear witness, Himself gives the
victory to each, making death completely powerless for those who hold His
faith and bear the sign of the cross? No one in his senses doubts that a
snake is dead when he sees it trampled underfoot, especially when he knows
how savage it used to be; nor, if he sees boys making fun of a lion, does
he doubt that the brute is either dead or completely bereft of strength.
These things can be seen with our own eyes, and it is the same with the
conquest of death. Doubt no longer, then, when you see death mocked and
scorned by those who believe in Christ, that by Christ death was destroyed,
and the corruption that goes with it resolved and brought to end.
(30) What we have said is, indeed, no small proof of the destruction of
death and of the fact that the cross of the Lord is the monument to His
victory. But the resurrection of the body to immortality, which results
henceforward from the work of Christ, the common Savior and true Life of
all, is more effectively proved by facts than by words to those whose
mental vision is sound. For, if, as we have shown, death was destroyed and
everybody tramples on it because of Christ, how much more did He Himself
first trample and destroy it in His own body! Death having been slain by
Him, then, what other issue could there be than the resurrection of His
body and its open demonstration as the monument of His victory? How could
the destruction of death have been manifested at all, had not the Lord's
body been raised? But if anyone finds even this insufficient, let him find
proof of what has been said in present facts. Dead men cannot take
effective action; their power of influence on others lasts only till the
grave. Deeds and actions that energize others belong only to the living.
Well, then, look at the facts in this case. The Savior is working mightily
among men, every day He is invisibly persuading numbers of people all over
the world, both within and beyond the Greek-speaking world, to accept His
faith and be obedient to His teaching. Can anyone, in face of this, still
doubt that He has risen and lives, or rather that He is Himself the Life?
Does a dead man prick the consciences of men, so that they throw all the
traditions of their fathers to the winds and bow down before the teaching
of Christ? If He is no longer active in the world, as He must needs be if
He is dead, how is it that He makes the living to cease from their
activities, the adulterer from his adultery, the murderer from murdering,
the unjust from avarice, while the profane and godless man becomes
religious? If He did not rise, but is still dead, how is it that He routs
and persecutes and overthrows the false gods, whom unbelievers think to be
alive, and the evil spirits whom they worship? For where Christ is named,
idolatry is destroyed and the fraud of evil spirits is exposed; indeed, no
such spirit can endure that Name, but takes to flight on sound of it. This
is the work of One Who lives, not of one dead; and, more than that, it is
the work of God. It would be absurd to say that the evil spirits whom He
drives out and the idols which He destroys are alive, but that He Who
drives out and destroys, and Whom they themselves acknowledge to be Son of
God, is dead.
(31) In a word, then, those who disbelieve in the resurrection have no
support in facts, if their gods and evil spirits do not drive away the
supposedly dead Christ. Rather, it is He Who convicts them of being dead.
We are agreed that a dead person can do nothing: yet the Savior works
mightily every day, drawing men to religion, persuading them to virtue,
teaching them about immortality, quickening their thirst for heavenly
things, revealing the knowledge of the Father, inspiring strength in face
of death, manifesting Himself to each, and displacing the irreligion of
idols; while the gods and evil spirits of the unbelievers can do none of
these things, but rather become dead at Christ's presence, all their
ostentation barren and void. By the sign of the cross, on the contrary, all
magic is stayed, all sorcery confounded, all the idols are abandoned and
deserted, and all senseless pleasure ceases, as the eye of faith looks up
from earth to heaven. Whom, then, are we to call dead? Shall we call Christ
dead, Who effects all this? But the dead have not the faculty to effect
anything. Or shall we call death dead, which effects nothing whatever, but
lies as lifeless and ineffective as are the evil spirits and the idols? The
Son of God, "living and effective,[2] is active every day and effects the
salvation of all; but death is daily proved to be stripped of all its
strength, and it is the idols and the evil spirits who are dead, not He. No
room for doubt remains, therefore, concerning the resurrection of His body.
Indeed, it would seem that he who disbelieves this bodily rising of the
Lord is ignorant of the power of the Word and Wisdom of God. If He took a
body to Himself at all, and made it His own in pursuance of His purpose, as
we have shown that He did, what was the Lord to do with it, and what was
ultimately to become of that body upon which the Word had descended? Mortal
and offered to death on behalf of all as it was, it could not but die;
indeed, it was for that very purpose that the Savior had prepared it for
Himself. But on the other hand it could not remain dead, because it had
become the very temple of Life. It therefore died, as mortal, but lived
again because of the Life within it; and its resurrection is made known
through its works.
It is, indeed, in accordance with the nature of the invisible God that He
should be thus known through His works; and those who doubt the Lord's
resurrection because they do not now behold Him with their eyes, might as
well deny the very laws of nature. They have ground for disbelief when
works are lacking; but when the works cry out and prove the fact so
clearly, why do they deliberately deny the risen life so manifestly shown?
Even if their mental faculties are defective, surely their eyes can give
them irrefragable proof of the power and Godhead of Christ. A blind man
cannot see the sun, but he knows that it is above the earth from the warmth
which it affords; similarly, let those who are still in the blindness of
unbelief recognize the Godhead of Christ and the resurrection which He has
brought about through His manifested power in others. Obviously He would
not be expelling evil spirits and despoiling idols, if He were dead, for
the evil spirits would not obey one who was dead. If, on the other hand,
the very naming of Him drives them forth, He clearly is not dead; and the
more so that the spirits, who perceive things unseen by men, would know if
He were so and would refuse to obey Him. But, as a matter of fact, what
profane persons doubt, the evil spirits know--namely that He is God; and
for that reason they flee from Him and fall at His feet, crying out even as
they cried when He was in the body, "We know Thee Who Thou art, the Holy
One of God," and, "Ah, what have I in common with Thee, Thou Son of God? I
implore Thee, torment me not."[3]
Both from the confession of the evil spirits and from the daily witness of
His works, it is manifest, then, and let none presume to doubt it, that the
Savior has raised His own body, and that He is very Son of God, having His
being from God as from a Father, Whose Word and Wisdom and Whose Power He
is. He it is Who in these latter days assumed a body for the salvation of
us all, and taught the world concerning the Father. He it is Who has
destroyed death and freely graced us all with incorruption through the
promise of the resurrection, having raised His own body as its first-
fruits, and displayed it by the sign of the cross as the monument to His
victory over death and its corruption.
ENDNOTES
1. Cor. xv. 55.
2. Heb.iv. 12.
3. Cf. Luke iv. 34 and Mark v. 7.
CHAPTER VI REFUTATION OF THE JEWS
(33) We have dealt thus far with the Incarnation of our Savior, and have
found clear proof of the resurrection of His Body and His victory over
death. Let us now go further and investigate the unbelief and the ridicule
with which Jews and Gentiles respectively regard these same facts. It seems
that in both cases the points at issue are the same, namely the
unfittingness or incongruity (as it seems to them) alike of the cross and
of the Word's becoming man at all. But we have no hesitation in taking up
the argument against these objectors, for the proofs on our side are
extremely clear.
First, then, we will consider the Jews. Their unbelief has its refutation
in the Scriptures which even themselves read; for from cover to cover the
inspired Book clearly teaches these things both in its entirety and in its
actual words. Prophets foretold the marvel of the Virgin and of the Birth
from her, saying, "Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they
shall call his name 'Emmanuel,' which means 'God is with us.'"[1] And Moses,
that truly great one in whose word the Jews trust so implicitly, he also
recognized the importance and truth of the matter. He puts it thus: "There
shall arise a star from Jacob and a man from Israel, and he shall break in
pieces the rulers of Moab.[2] And, again, "How lovely are thy dwellings, O
Jacob, thy tents, O Israel! Like woodland valleys they give shade, and like
parks by rivers, like tents which the Lord has pitched, like cedar-trees by
streams. There shall come forth a Man from among his seed, and he shall
rule over many peoples."[3] And, again, Isaiah says, "Before the Babe shall
be old enough to call father or mother, he shall take the power of Damascus
and the spoils of Samaria from under the eyes of the king of Assyria."[4]
These words, then, foretell that a Man shall appear. And Scripture
proclaims further that He that is to come is Lord of all. These are the
words, "Behold, the Lord sitteth on an airy cloud and shall come into
Egypt, and the man-made images of Egypt shall be shaken."[5] And it is from
Egypt also that the Father calls him back, saying, "Out of Egypt have I
called My Son."[6]
(34) Moreover, the Scriptures are not silent even about His death. On the
contrary, they refer to it with the utmost clearness. They have not feared
to speak also of the cause of it. He endures it, they say, not for His own
sake, but for the sake of bringing immortality and salvation to all, and
they record also the plotting of the Jews against Him and all the
indignities which He suffered at their hands. Certainly nobody who reads
the Scriptures can plead ignorance of the facts as an excuse for error!
There is this passage, for instance: "A man that is afflicted and knows how
to bear weakness, for His face is turned away. He was dishonored and not
considered, He bears our sins and suffers for our sakes. And we for our
part thought Him distressed and afflicted and ill-used; but it was for our
sins that He was wounded and for our lawlessness that He was made weak.
Chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His bruising we are
healed."[7] O marvel at the love of the Word for men, for it is on our
account that He is dishonored, so that we may be brought to honor. "For all
we," it goes on, "have strayed like sheep, man has strayed from his path,
and the Lord has given Him up for our sins; and He Himself did not open His
mouth at the ill-treatment. Like a sheep He was led to slaughter, and as a
lamb is dumb before its shearer, so He opened not His mouth; in His
humiliation His judgment was taken away."[8] And then Scripture anticipates
the surmises of any who might think from His suffering thus that He was
just an ordinary man, and shows what power worked in His behalf. "Who shall
declare of what lineage He comes?" it says, "for His life is exalted from
the earth. By the lawlessnesses of the people was He brought to death, and
I will give the wicked in return for His burial and the rich in return for
His death. For He did no lawlessness, neither was deceit found in His
mouth. And the Lord wills to heal Him of His affliction."[9]
(35) You have heard the prophecy of His death, and now, perhaps, you want
to know what indications there are about the cross. Even this is not passed
over in silence: on the contrary, the sacred writers proclaim it with the
utmost plainness. Moses foretells it first, and that right loudly, when he
says, "You shall see your Life hanging before your eyes, and shall not
believe."[10] After him the prophets also give their witness, saying, "But I
as an innocent lamb brought to be offered was yet ignorant of it. They
plotted evil against Me, saying, 'Come, let us cast wood into His bread,
and wipe Him out from the land of the living."[11] And, again, "They pierced
My hands and My feet, they counted all My bones, they divided My garments
for themselves and cast lots for My clothing."[12] Now a death lifted up and
that takes place on wood can be none other than the death of the cross;
moreover, it is only in that death that the hands and feet are pierced.
Besides this, since the Savior dwelt among men, all nations everywhere have
begun to know God; and this too Holy Writ expressly mentions. "There shall
be the Root of Jesse," it says, "and he who rises up to rule the nations,
on Him nations shall set their hope."[13]
These are just a few things in proof of what has taken place; but indeed
all Scripture teems with disproof of Jewish unbelief. For example, which of
the righteous men and holy prophets and patriarchs of whom the Divine
Scriptures tell ever had his bodily birth from a virgin only? Was not Abel
born of Adam, Enoch of Jared, Noah of Lamech, Abraham of Terah, Isaac of
Abraham, and Jacob of Isaac? Was not Judah begotten by Jacob and Moses and
Aaron by Ameram? Was not Samuel the son of Elkanah, David of Jesse, Solomon
of David, Hezekiah of Ahaz, Josiah of Amon, Isaiah of Amos, Jeremiah of
Hilkiah and Ezekiel of Buzi? Had not each of these a father as author of
his being? So who is He that is born of a virgin only, that sign of which
the prophet makes so much? Again, which of all those people had his birth
announced to the world by a star in the heavens? When Moses was born his
parents hid him. David was unknown even in his own neighborhood, so that
mighty Samuel himself was ignorant of his existence and asked whether Jesse
had yet another son. Abraham again became known to his neighbors as a great
man only after his birth. But with Christ it was otherwise. The witness to
His birth was not man, but a star shining in the heavens whence He was
coming down.
(36) Then, again, what king that ever was reigned and took trophies from
his enemies before he had strength to call father or mother? Was not David
thirty years old when he came to the throne and Solomon a grown young man?
Did not Joash enter on his reign at the age of seven, and Josiah, some time
after him, at about the same age, both of them fully able by that time to
call father or mother? Who is there, then, that was reigning and despoiling
his enemies almost before he was born? Let the Jews, who have investigated
the matter, tell us if there was ever such a king in Israel or Judah--a
king upon whom all the nations set their hopes and had peace, instead of
being at enmity with him on every side! As long as Jerusalem stood there
was constant war between them, and they all fought against Israel. The
Assyrians oppressed Israel, the Egyptians persecuted them, the Babylonians
fell upon them, and, strange to relate, even the Syrians their neighbors
were at war with them. And did not David fight with Moab and smite the
Syrians, and Hezekiah quail at the boasting of Sennacherib? Did not Amalek
make war on Moses and the Amorites oppose him, and did not the inhabitants
of Jericho array themselves against Joshua the son of Nun? Did not the
nations always regard Israel with implacable hostility? Then it is worth
inquiring who it is, on whom the nations are to set their hopes. Obviously
there must be someone, for the prophet could not have told a lie. But did
any of the holy prophets or of the early patriarchs die on the cross for
the salvation of all? Was any of them wounded and killed for the healing of
all? Did the idols of Egypt fall down before any righteous man or king that
came there? Abraham came there certainly, but idolatry prevailed just the
same; and Moses was born there, but the mistaken worship was unchanged.
(37) Again, does Scripture tell of anyone who was pierced in hands and feet
or hung upon a tree at all, and by means of a cross perfected his sacrifice
for the salvation of all? It was not Abraham, for he died in his bed, as
did also Isaac and Jacob. Moses and Aaron died in the mountain, and David
ended his days in his house, without anybody having plotted against him.
Certainly he had been sought by Saul, but he was preserved unharmed. Again
Isaiah was sawn asunder, but he was not hung on a tree. Jeremiah was
shamefully used, but he did not die under condemnation. Ezekiel suffered,
but he did so, not on behalf of the people, but only to signify to them
what was going to happen. Moreover, all these even when they suffered were
but men, like other men; but He Whom the Scriptures declare to suffer on
behalf of all is called not merely man but Life of all, although in point
of fact He did share our human nature. "You shall see your Life hanging
before your eyes," they say, and "Who shall declare of what lineage He
comes?" With all the saints we can trace their descent from the beginning,
and see exactly how each came to be; but the Divine Word maintains that we
cannot declare the lineage of Him Who is the Life. Who is it, then, of Whom
Holy Writ thus speaks? Who is there so great that even the prophets
foretell of Him such mighty things? There is indeed no one in the
Scriptures at all, save the common Savior of all, the Word of God, our Lord
Jesus Christ. He it is that proceeded from a virgin, and appeared as man on
earth, He it is Whose earthly lineage cannot be declared, because He alone
derives His body from no human father, but from a virgin alone. We can
trace the paternal descent of David and Moses and of all the patriarchs.
But with the Savior we cannot do so, for it was He Himself Who caused the
star to announce His bodily birth, and it was fitting that the Word, when
He came down from heaven, should have His sign in heaven too, and fitting
that the King of creation on His coming forth should be visibly recognized
by all the world. He was actually born in Judea, yet men from Persia came
to worship Him. He it is Who won victory from His demon foes and trophies
from the idolaters even before His bodily appearing--namely, all the
heathen who from every region have abjured the tradition of their fathers
and the false worship of idols and are now placing their hope in Christ and
transferring their allegiance to Him. The thing is happening before our
very eyes, here in Egypt; and thereby another prophecy is fulfilled, for at
no other time have the Egyptians ceased from their false worship save when
the Lord of all, riding as on a cloud, came down here in the body and
brought the error of idols to nothing and won over everybody to Himself and
through Himself to the Father. He it is Who was crucified with the sun and
moon as witnesses; and by His death salvation has come to all men, and all
creation has been redeemed. He is the Life of all, and He it is Who like a
sheep gave up His own body to death, His life for ours and our salvation.
(38) Yet the Jews disbelieve this. This argument does not satisfy them.
Well, then, let them be persuaded by other things in their own oracles. Of
whom, for instance, do the prophets say "I was made manifest to those who
did not seek Me, I was found by those who had not asked for Me? I said,
'See, here am I,' to the nation that had not called upon My Name. I
stretched out My hands to a disobedient and gainsaying people."[14] Who is
this person that was made manifest, one might ask the Jews? If the prophet
is speaking of himself, then they must tell us how he was first hidden, in
order to be manifested afterwards. And, again, what kind of man is this
prophet, who was not only revealed after being hidden, but also stretched
out his hands upon the cross? Those things happened to none of those
righteous men: they happened only to the Word of God Who, being by nature
without body, on our account appeared in a body and suffered for us all.
And if even this is not enough for them, there is other overwhelming
evidence by which they may be silenced. The Scripture says, "Be strong,
hands that hang down and feeble knees, take courage, you of little faith,
be strong and do not fear. See, our God will recompense judgment, He
Himself will come and save us. Then the eyes of blind men shall be opened
and the ears of deaf men shall hear, and stammerers shall speak
distinctly."[15] What can they say to this, or how can they look it in the
face at all? For the prophecy does not only declare that God will dwell
here, it also makes known the signs and the time of His coming. When God
comes, it says, the blind will see, the lame will walk, the deaf will hear
and the stammerers will speak distinctly. Can the Jews tell us when such
signs occurred in Israel, or when anything of the kind took place at all in
Jewry? The leper Naaman was cleansed, it is true, but no deaf man heard nor
did any lame man walk. Elijah raised a dead person and so did Elisha; but
no one blind from birth received his sight. To raise a dead person is a
great thing indeed, but it is not such as the Savior did. And surely, since
the Scriptures have not kept silence about the leper and the dead son of
the widow, if a lame man had walked and a blind man had received his sight,
they would have mentioned these as well. Their silence on these points
proves that the events never took place. When therefore did these things
happen, unless when the Word of God Himself came in the body? Was it not
when He came that lame men walked and stammerers spoke clearly and men
blind from birth were given sight? And the Jews who saw it themselves
testified to the fact that such things had never before occurred. "Since
the world began," they said, "it has never been heard of that anyone should
open the eyes of a man born blind. If this Man were not from God, He could
do nothing."[16]
(39) But surely they cannot fight against plain facts. So it may be that,
without denying what is written, they will maintain that they are still
waiting for these things to happen, and that the Word of God is yet to
come, for that is a theme on which they are always harping most brazenly,
in spite of all the evidence against them. But they shall be refuted on
this supreme point more clearly than on any, and that not by ourselves but
by the most wise Daniel, for he signifies the actual date of the Savior's
coming as well as His Divine sojourn in our midst. "Seventy weeks," he
says, "are cut short upon thy people and upon the holy city, to make a
complete end of sin and for sins to be sealed up and iniquities blotted
out, and to make reconciliation for iniquity and to seal vision and
prophet, and to anoint a Holy One of holies. And thou shalt know and
understand from the going forth of the Word to answer,[17] and to build
Jerusalem, until Christ the Prince."[18] In regard to the other prophecies,
they may possibly be able to find excuses for deferring their reference to
a future time, but what can they say to this one? How can they face it at
all? Not only does it expressly mention the Anointed One, that is the
Christ, it even declares that He Who is to be anointed is not man only, but
the Holy One of holies! And it says that Jerusalem is to stand till His
coming, and that after it prophet and vision shall cease in Israel! David
was anointed of old, and Solomon, and Hezekiah; but then Jerusalem and the
place stood, and prophets were prophesying, Gad and Asaph and Nathan, and
later Isaiah and Hosea and Amos and others. Moreover, those men who were
anointed were called holy certainly, but none of them was called the Holy
of holies. Nor is it any use for the Jews to take refuge in the Captivity,
and say that Jerusalem did not exist then, for what about the prophets? It
is a fact that at the outset of the Exile Daniel and Jeremiah were there,
and Ezekiel and Haggai and Zechariah also prophesied.
(40) So the Jews are indulging in fiction, and transferring present time to
future. When did prophet and vision cease from Israel? Was it not when
Christ came, the Holy One of holies? It is, in fact, a sign and notable
proof of the coming of the Word that Jerusalem no longer stands, neither is
prophet raised up nor vision revealed among them. And it is natural that it
should be so, for when He that was signified had come, what need was there
any longer of any to signify Him? And when the Truth had come, what further
need was there of the shadow? On His account only they prophesied
continually, until such time as Essential Righteousness has come, Who was
made the Ransom for the sins of all. For the same reason Jerusalem stood
until the same time, in order that there men might premeditate the types
before the Truth was known. So, of course, once the Holy One of holies had
come, both vision and prophecy were sealed. And the kingdom of Jerusalem
ceased at the same time, because kings were to be anointed among them only
until the Holy of holies had been anointed. Moses also prophesies that the
kingdom of the Jews shall stand until His time, saying, "A ruler shall not
fail from Judah nor a prince from his loins, until the things laid up for
him shall come and the Expectation of the nations Himself."[19] And that is
why the Savior Himself was always proclaiming "The law and the prophets
prophesied until John."[20] So if there is still king or prophet or vision
among the Jews, they do well to deny that Christ is come; but if there is
neither king nor vision, and since that time all prophecy has been sealed
and city and temple taken, how can they be so irreligious, how can they so
flaunt the facts, as to deny Christ Who has brought it all about? Again,
they see the heathen forsaking idols and setting their hopes through Christ
on the God of Israel; why do they yet deny Christ Who after the flesh was
born of the root of Jesse and reigns henceforward? Of course, if the
heathen were worshipping some other god, and not confessing the God of
Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Moses, then they would do well to argue
that God had not come. But if the heathen are honoring the same God Who
gave the law to Moses and the promises to Abraham--the God Whose word too
the Jews dishonored, why do they not recognize or rather why do they
deliberately refuse to see that the Lord of Whom the Scriptures prophesied
has shone forth to the world and appeared to it in a bodily form? Scripture
declares it repeatedly. "The Lord God has appeared to us,"[21] and again, "He
sent forth His Word and healed them."[22] And again, "It was no ambassador,
no angel who saved us, but the Lord Himself."[23] The Jews are afflicted like
some demented person who sees the earth lit up by the sun, but denies the
sun that lights it up! What more is there for their Expected One to do when
he comes? To call the heathen? But they are called already. To put an end
to prophet and king and vision? But this too has already happened. To
expose the Goddenyingness of idols? It is already exposed and condemned. Or
to destroy death? It is already destroyed. What then has not come to pass
that the Christ must do? What is there left out or unfulfilled that the
Jews should disbelieve so light-heartedly? The plain fact is, as I say,
that there is no longer any king or prophet nor Jerusalem nor sacrifice nor
vision among them; yet the whole earth is filled with the knowledge of God,
and the Gentiles, forsaking atheism, are now taking refuge with the God of
Abraham through the Word, our Lord Jesus Christ.
Surely, then, it must be plain even to the most shameless that the Christ
has come, and that He has enlightened all men everywhere, and given them
the true and divine teaching about His Father.
Thus the Jews may be refuted by these and other arguments from the Divine
teaching.
ENDNOTES
1. Isaiah vii. 14.
2. Numbers xxiv. 17.
3. Numbers xxiv. 5-7.
4. Isaiah viii. 4
5. Isaiah xix. 1.
6. Hosea xi. 1.
7. Isaiah liii. 3-5
8. Isaiah liii. 6-8.
9. Isaiah liii. 8-10.
10. Deut. xxviii. 66.
11. Jer. xi. 19.
12. Psalm xxii. 16-18.
13. Isaiah xi. 10.
14. Isaiah lxv. 1, 2.
15. Isaiah xxxv. 3-6.
16. John ix. 32, 33."
17. "Answer" is LXX misreading for Hebrew "restore."
18. Daniel ix. 24, 25.
19. Gen. xlix. 10.
20. Matt. xi. 13.
21. Psalm cxviii. 27.
22. Psalm cvii. 20.
23. Isaiah lxiii. 9.
CHAPTER VII REFUTATION OF THE GENTILES
(41) We come now to the unbelief of the Gentiles; and this is indeed a
matter for complete astonishment, for they laugh at that which is no fit
subject for mockery, yet fail to see the shame and ridiculousness of their
own idols. But the arguments on our side do not lack weight, so we will
confute them too on reasonable grounds, chiefly from what we ourselves also
see.
First of all, what is there in our belief that is unfitting or ridiculous?
Is it only that we say that the Word has been manifested in a body? Well,
if they themselves really love the truth, they will agree with us that this
involved no unfittingness at all. If they deny that there is a Word of God
at all, that will be extraordinary, for then they will be ridiculing what
they do not know. But suppose they confess that there is a Word of God,
that He is the Governor of all things, that in Elim the Father wrought the
creation, that by His providence the whole receives light and life and
being, and that He is King over all, so that He is known by means of the
works of His providence, and through Him the Father. Suppose they confess
all this, what then? Are they not unknowingly turning the ridicule against
themselves? The Greek philosophers say that the universe is a great body,
and they say truly, for we perceive the universe and its parts with our
senses. But if the Word of God is in the universe, which is a body, and has
entered into it in its every part, what is there surprising or unfitting in
our saying that He has entered also into human nature? If it were unfitting
for Him to have embodied Himself at all, then it would be unfitting for Him
to have entered into the universe, and to be giving light and movement by
His providence to all things in it, because the universe, as we have seen,
is itself a body. But if it is right and fitting for Him to enter into the
universe and to reveal Himself through it, then, because humanity is part
of the universe along with the rest, it is no less fitting for Him to
appear in a human body, and to enlighten and to work through that. And
surely if it were wrong for a part of the universe to have been used to
reveal His Divinity to men, it would be much more wrong that He should be
so revealed by the whole!
(42) Take a parallel case. A man's personality actuates and quickens his
whole body. If anyone said it was unsuitable for the man's power to be in
the toe, he would be thought silly, because, while granting that a man
penetrates and actuates the whole of his body, he denied his presence in
the part. Similarly, no one who admits the presence of the Word of God in
the universe as a whole should think it unsuitable for a single human body
to be by Him actuated and enlightened.
But is it, perhaps, because humanity is a thing created and brought into
being out of non-existence that they regard as unfitting the manifestation
of the Savior in our nature? If so, it is high time that they spurned Him
from creation too; for it, too, has been brought out of non-being into
being by the Word. But if, on the other hand, although creation is a thing
that has been made, it is not unsuitable for the Word to be present in it,
then neither is it unsuitable for Him to be in man. Man is a part of the
creation, as I said before; and the reasoning which applies to one applies
to the other. All things derive from the Word their light and movement and
life, as the Gentile authors themselves say, "In Him we live and move and
have our being."[1] Very well then. That being so, it is by no means
unbecoming that the Word should dwell in man. So if, as we say, the Word
has used that in which He is as the means of His self-manifestation, what
is there ridiculous in that? He could not have used it had He not been
present in it; but we have already admitted that He is present both in the
whole and in the parts. What, then, is there incredible in His manifesting
Himself through that in which He is? By His own power He enters completely
into each and all, and orders them throughout ungrudgingly; and, had He so
willed, He could have revealed Himself and His Father by means of sun or
moon or sky or earth or fire or water. Had He done so, no one could rightly
have accused Him of acting unbecomingly, for He sustains in one whole all
things at once, being present and invisibly revealed not only in the whole,
but also in each particular part. This being so, and since, moreover, He
has willed to reveal Himself through men, who are part of the whole, there
can be nothing ridiculous in His using a human body to manifest the truth
and knowledge of the Father. Does not the mind of man pervade his entire
being, and yet find expression through one part only, namely the tongue?
Does anybody say on that account that Mind has degraded itself? Of course
not. Very well, then, no more is it degrading for the Word, Who pervades
all things, to have appeared in a human body. For, as I said before, if it
were unfitting for Him thus to indwell the part, it would be equally so for
Him to exist within the whole.
(43) Some may then ask, why did He not manifest Himself by means of other
and nobler parts of creation, and use some nobler instrument, such as sun
or moon or stars or fire or air, instead of mere man? The answer is this.
The Lord did not come to make a display. He came to heal and to teach
suffering men. For one who wanted to make a display the thing would have
been just to appear and dazzle the beholders. But for Him Who came to heal
and to teach the way was not merely to dwell here, but to put Himself at
the disposal of those who needed Him, and to be manifested according as
they could bear it, not vitiating the value of the Divine appearing by
exceeding their capacity to receive it.
Moreover, nothing in creation had erred from the path of God's purpose for
it, save only man. Sun, moon, heaven, stars, water, air, none of these had
swerved from their order, but, knowing the Word as their Maker and their
King, remained as they were made. Men alone having rejected what is good,
have invented nothings instead of the truth, and have ascribed the honor
due to God and the knowledge concerning Him to demons and men in the form
of stones. Obviously the Divine goodness could not overlook so grave a
matter as this. But men could not recognize Him as ordering and ruling
creation as a whole. So what does He do? He takes to Himself for instrument
a part of the whole, namely a human body, and enters into that. Thus He
ensured that men should recognize Him in the part who could not do so in
the whole, and that those who could not lift their eyes to His unseen power
might recognize and behold Him in the likeness of themselves. For, being
men, they would naturally learn to know His Father more quickly and
directly by means of a body that corresponded to their own and by the
Divine works done through it; for by comparing His works with their own
they would judge His to be not human but Divine. And if, as they say, it
were unsuitable for the Word to reveal Himself through bodily acts, it
would be equally so for Him to do so through the works of the universe. His
being in creation does not mean that He shares its nature; on the contrary,
all created things partake of His power. Similarly, though He used the body
as His instrument, He shared nothing of its defect,[2] but rather sanctified
it by His indwelling. Does not even Plato, of whom the Greeks think so
much, say that the Author of the Universe, seeing it storm-tossed and in
danger of sinking into the state of dissolution, takes his seat at the helm
of the Life-force of the universe, and comes to the rescue and puts
everything right? What, then, is there incredible in our saying that,
mankind having gone astray, the Word descended upon it and was manifest as
man, so that by His intrinsic goodness and His steersmanship He might save
it from the storm?
(44) It may be, however, that, though shamed into agreeing that this
objection is void, the Greeks will want to raise another. They will say
that, if God wanted to instruct and save mankind, He might have done so,
not by His Word's assumption of a body, but, even as He at first created
them, by the mere signification of His will. The reasonable reply to that
is that the circumstances in the two cases are quite different. In the
beginning, nothing as yet existed at all; all that was needed, therefore,
in order to bring all things into being, was that His will to do so should
be signified. But once man was in existence, and things that were, not
things that were not, demanded to be healed, it followed as a matter of
course that the Healer and Savior should align Himself with those things
that existed already, in order to heal the existing evil. For that reason,
therefore, He was made man, and used the body as His human instrument. If
this were not the fitting way, and He willed to use an instrument at all,
how otherwise was the Word to come? And whence could He take His
instrument, save from among those already in existence and needing His
Godhead through One like themselves? It was not things non-existent that
needed salvation, for which a bare creative word might have sufficed, but
man--man already in existence and already in process of corruption and
ruin. It was natural and right, therefore, for the Word to use a human
instrument and by that means unfold Himself to all.
You must know, moreover, that the corruption which had set in was not
external to the body but established within it. The need, therefore, was
that life should cleave to it in corruption's place, so that, just as death
was brought into being in the body, life also might be engendered in it. If
death had been exterior to the body, life might fittingly have been the
same. But if death was within the body, woven into its very substance and
dominating it as though completely one with it, the need was for Life to be
woven into it instead, so that the body by thus enduing itself with life
might cast corruption off. Suppose the Word had come outside the body
instead of in it, He would, of course, have defeated death, because death
is powerless against the Life. But the corruption inherent in the body
would have remained in it none the less. Naturally, therefore, the Savior
assumed a body for Himself, in order that the body, being interwoven as it
were with life, should no longer remain a mortal thing, in thrall to death,
but as endued with immortality and risen from death, should thenceforth
remain immortal. For once having put op corruption, it could not rise,
unless it put on life instead; and besides this, death of its very nature
could not appear otherwise than in a body. Therefore He put on a body, so
that in the body He might find death and blot it out. And, indeed, how
could the Lord have been proved to be the Life at all, had He not endued
with life that which was subject to death? Take an illustration. Stubble is
a substance naturally destructible by fire; and it still remains stubble,
fearing the menace of fire which has the natural property of consuming it,
even if fire is kept away from it, so that it is not actually burnt. But
suppose that, instead of merely keeping the fire from it somebody soaks the
stubble with a quantity of asbestos, the substance which is said to be the
antidote to fire. Then the stubble no longer fears the fire, because it has
put on that which fire cannot touch, and therefore it is safe. It is just
the same with regard to the body and death. Had death been kept from it by
a mere command, it would still have remained mortal and corruptible,
according to its nature. To prevent this, it put on the incorporeal Word of
God, and therefore fears neither death nor corruption any more, for it is
clad with Life as with a garment and in it corruption is clean done away.
(45) The Word of God thus acted consistently in assuming a body and using a
human instrument to vitalize the body. He was consistent in working through
man to reveal Himself everywhere, as well as through the other parts of His
creation, so that nothing was left void of His Divinity and knowledge. For
I take up now the point I made before, namely that the Savior did this in
order that He might fill all things everywhere with the knowledge of
Himself, just as they are already filled with His presence, even as the
Divine Scripture says, "The whole universe was filled with the knowledge of
the Lord."[3] If a man looks up to heaven he sees there His ordering; but if
he cannot look so high as heaven, but only so far as men, through His works
he sees His power, incomparable with human might, and learns from them that
He alone among men is God the Word. Or, if a man has gone astray among
demons and is in fear of them, he may see this Man drive them out and judge
therefrom that He is indeed their Master. Again, if a man has been immersed
in the element of water and thinks that it is God--as indeed the Egyptians
do worship water--he may see its very nature changed by Him and learn that
the Lord is Creator of all. And if a man has gone down even to Hades, and
stands awestruck before the heroes who have descended thither, regarding
them as gods, still he may see the fact of Christ's resurrection and His
victory over death, and reason from it that, of all these, He alone is very
Lord and God.
For the Lord touched all parts of creation, and freed and undeceived them
all from every deceit. As St. Paul says, "Having put off from Himself the
principalities and the powers, He triumphed on the cross,"[4] so that no one
could possibly be any longer deceived, but everywhere might find the very
Word of God. For thus man, enclosed on every side by the works of creation
and everywhere--in heaven, in Hades, in men and on the earth, beholding the
unfolded Godhead of the Word, is no longer deceived concerning God, but
worships Christ alone, and through Him rightly knows the Father.
On these grounds, then, of reason and of principle, we will fairly silence
the Gentiles in their turn. But if they think these arguments insufficient
to confute them, we will go on in the next chapter to prove our point from
facts.
ENDNOTES
1. See Acts xvii. 28.
2. Literally, "He shared nothing of the things of the body."
3. Isaiah xi. 9.
4. Col. ii. 15.
CHAPTER VIII REFUTATION OF THE GENTILES--continued
(46) When did people begin to abandon the worship of idols, unless it were
since the very Word of God came among men? When have oracles ceased and
become void of meaning, among the Greeks and everywhere, except since the
Savior has revealed Himself on earth? When did those whom the poets call
gods and heroes begin to be adjudged as mere mortals, except when the Lord
took the spoils of death and preserved incorruptible the body He had taken,
raising it from among the dead ? Or when did the deceitfulness and madness
of demons fall under contempt, save when the Word, the Power of God, the
Master of all these as well, condescended on account of the weakness of
mankind and appeared on earth? When did the practice and theory of magic
begin to be spurned under foot, if not at the manifestation of the Divine
Word to men? In a word, when did the wisdom of the Greeks become foolish,
save when the true Wisdom of God revealed Himself on earth? In old times
the whole world and every place in it was led astray by the worship of
idols, and men thought the idols were the only gods that were. But now all
over the world men are forsaking the fear of idols and taking refuge with
Christ; and by worshipping Him as God they come through Him to know the
Father also, Whom formerly they did not know. The amazing thing, moreover,
is this. The objects of worship formerly were varied and countless; each
place had its own idol and the so-called god of one place could not pass
over to another in order to persuade the people there to worship him, but
was barely reverenced even by his own. Indeed no! Nobody worshipped his
neighbor's god, but every man had his own idol and thought that it was lord
of all. But now Christ alone is worshipped, as One and the Same among all
peoples everywhere; and what the feebleness of idols could not do, namely,
convince even those dwelling close at hand, He has effected. He has
persuaded not only those close at hand, but literally the entire world to
worship one and the same Lord and through Him the Father.
(47) Again, in former times every place was full of the fraud of the
oracles, and the utterances of those at Delphi and Dordona and in Boeotia
and Lycia and Libya and Egypt and those of the Kabiri and the Pythoness
were considered marvelous by the minds of men. But now, since Christ has
been proclaimed everywhere, their madness too has ceased, and there is no
one left among them to give oracles at all. Then, too, demons used to
deceive men's minds by taking up their abode in springs or rivers or trees
or stones and imposing upon simple people by their frauds. But now, since
the Divine appearing of the Word, all this fantasy has ceased, for by the
sign of the cross, if a man will but use it, he drives out their deceits.
Again, people used to regard as gods those who are mentioned in the poets--
Zeus and Kronos and Apollo and the heroes, and in worshipping them they
went astray. But now that the Savior has appeared among men, those others
have been exposed as mortal men, and Christ alone is recognized as true
God, Word of God, God Himself. And what is one to say about the magic that
they think so marvelous? Before the sojourn of the Word, it was strong and
active among Egyptians and Chaldeans and Indians and filled all who saw it
with terror and astonishment. But by the coming of the Truth and the
manifestation of the Word it too has been confuted and entirely destroyed.
As to Greek wisdom, however, and the philosophers' noisy talk, I really
think no one requires argument from us; for the amazing fact is patent to
all that, for all that they had written so much, the Greeks failed to
convince even a few from their own neighborhood in regard to immortality
and the virtuous ordering of life. Christ alone, using common speech and
through the agency of men not clever with their tongues, has convinced
whole assemblies of people all the world over to despise death, and to take
heed to the things that do not die, to look past the things of time and
gaze on things eternal, to think nothing of earthly glory and to aspire
only to immortality.
(48) These things which we have said are no mere words: they are attested
by actual experience. Anyone who likes may see the proof of glory in the
virgins of Christ, and in the young men who practice chastity as part of
their religion, and in the assurance of immortality in so great and glad a
company[1] of martyrs. Anyone, too, may put what we have said to the proof of
experience in another way. In the very presence of the fraud of demons and
the imposture of the oracles and the wonders of magic, let him use the sign
of the cross which they all mock at, and but speak the Name of Christ, and
he shall see how through Him demons are routed, oracles cease, and all
magic and witchcraft is confounded.
Who, then, is this Christ and how great is He, Who by His Name and presence
overshadows and confounds all things on every side, Who alone is strong
against all and has filled the whole world with His teaching? Let the
Greeks tell us, who mock at Him without stint or shame. If He is a man, how
is it that one man has proved stronger than all those whom they themselves
regard as gods, and by His own power has shown them to be nothing? If they
call Him a magician, how is it that by a magician all magic is destroyed,
instead of being rendered strong? Had He conquered certain magicians or
proved Himself superior to one of them only, they might reasonably think
that He excelled the rest only by His greater skill. But the fact is that
His cross has vanquished all magic entirely and has conquered the very name
of it. Obviously, therefore, the Savior is no magician, for the very demons
whom the magicians invoke flee from Him as from their Master. Who is He,
then? Let the Greeks tell us, whose only serious pursuit is mockery!
Perhaps they will say that He, too, is a demon, and that is why He
prevailed. But even so the laugh is still on our side. for we can confute
them by the same proofs as before. How could He be a demon, Who drives
demons out? If it were only certain ones that He drove out, then they might
reasonably think that He prevailed against them through the power of their
Chief, as the Jews, wishing to insult Him, actually said. But since the
fact is, here again, that at the mere naming of His Name all madness of the
demons is rooted out and put to flight, obviously the Greeks are wrong
here, too, and our Lord and Savior Christ is not, as they maintain, some
demonic power.
If, then, the Savior is neither a mere man nor a magician, nor one of the
demons, but has by His Godhead confounded and overshadowed the opinions of
the poets and the delusion of the demons and the wisdom of the Greeks, it
must be manifest and will be owned by all that He is in truth Son of God,
Existent Word and Wisdom and Power of the Father. This is the reason why
His works are no mere human works, but, both intrinsically and by
comparison with those of men, are recognized as being superhuman and truly
the works of God.
(49) What man that ever was, for instance, formed a body for himself from a
virgin only? Or what man ever healed so many diseases as the common Lord of
all? Who restored that which was lacking in man's nature or made one blind
from birth to see? Aesculapius was deified by the Greeks because he
practiced the art of healing and discovered herbs as remedies for bodily
diseases, not, of course, forming them himself out of the earth, but
finding them out by the study of nature. But what is that in comparison
with what the Savior did when, instead of just healing a wound, He both
fashioned essential being and restored to health the thing that He had
formed? Hercules, too, is worshipped as a god by the Greeks because he
fought against other men and destroyed wild animals by craft. But what is
that to what the Word did, in driving away from men diseases and demons and
even death itself? Dionysus is worshipped among them, because he taught men
drunkenness; yet they ridicule the true Savior and Lord of all, Who taught
men temperance.
That, however, is enough on this point. What will they say to the other
marvels of His Godhead? At what man's death was the sun darkened and the
earth shaken? Why, even to this day men are dying, and they did so also
before that time. When did any such marvels happen in their case? Now shall
we pass over the deeds done in His earthly body and mention those after His
resurrection? Has any man's teaching, in any place or at any time, ever
prevailed everywhere as one and the same, from one end of the earth to the
other, so that his worship has fairly flown through every land? Again, if,
as they say, Christ is man only and not God the Word, why do not the gods
of the Greeks prevent His entering their domains? Or why, on the other
hand, does the Word Himself dwelling in our midst make an end of their
worship by His teaching and put their fraud to shame?
(50) Many before Him have been kings and tyrants of the earth, history
tells also of many among the Chaldeans and Egyptians and Indians who were
wise men and magicians. But which of those, I do not say after his death,
but while yet in this life, was ever able so far to prevail as to fill the
whole world with his teaching and retrieve so great a multitude from the
craven fear of idols, as our Savior has won over from idols to Himself? The
Greek philosophers have compiled many works with persuasiveness and much
skill in words; but what fruit have they to show for this such as has the
cross of Christ? Their wise thoughts were persuasive enough until they
died; yet even in their life-time their seeming influence was
counterbalanced by their rivalry with one another, for they were a jealous
company and declaimed against each other. But the Word of God, by strangest
paradox, teaching in meaner language, has put the choicest sophists in the
shade, and by confounding their teachings and drawing all men to Himself He
has filled His own assemblies. Moreover, and this is the marvelous thing by
going down as Man to death He has confounded ail the sounding utterances of
the wise men about the idols. For whose death ever drove out demons, or
whose death did ever demons fear, save that of Christ? For where the Savior
is named, there every demon is driven out. Again, who has ever so rid men
of their natural passions that fornicators become chaste and murderers no
longer wield the sword and those who formerly were craven cowards boldly
play the man? In a word, what persuaded the barbarians and heathen folk in
every place to drop their madness and give heed to peace, save the faith of
Christ and the sign of the cross? What other things have given men such
certain faith in immortality as have the cross of Christ and the
resurrection of His body? The Greeks told all sorts of false tales, but
they could never pretend that their idols rose again from death: indeed it
never entered their heads that a body could exist again after death at all.
And one would be particularly ready to listen to them on this point,
because by these opinions they have exposed the weakness of their own
idolatry, at the same time yielding to Christ the possibility of bodily
resurrection, so that by that means He might be recognized by all as Son of
God.
(51) Again, who among men, either after his death or while yet living,
taught about virginity and did not account this virtue impossible for human
beings? But Christ our Savior and King of all has so prevailed with His
teaching on this subject that even children not yet of lawful age promise
that virginity which transcends the law. And who among men has ever been
able to penetrate even to Scythians and Ethiopians, or Parthians or
Armenians or those who are said to live beyond Hyrcania, or even the
Egyptians and Chaldeans, people who give heed to magic and are more than
naturally enslaved by the fear of demons and savage in their habits, and to
preach at all about virtue and self-control and against the worshipping of
idols, as has the Lord of all, the Power of God, our Lord Jesus Christ? Yet
He not only preached through His own disciples, but also wrought so
persuasively on men's understanding that, laying aside their savage habits
and forsaking the worship of their ancestral gods, they learnt to know Him
and through Him to worship the Father. While they were yet idolaters, the
Greeks and Barbarians were always at war with each other, and were even
cruel to their own kith and kin. Nobody could travel by land or sea at all
unless he was armed with swords, because of their irreconcilable quarrels
with each other. Indeed, the whole course of their life was carried on with
the weapons, and the sword with them replaced the staff and was the
mainstay of all aid. All this time, as I said before, they were serving
idols and offering sacrifices to demons, and for all the superstitious awe
that accompanied this idol worship, nothing could wean them from that
warlike spirit. But, strange to relate, since they came over to the school
of Christ, as men moved with real compunction they have laid aside their
murderous cruelty and are war-minded no more. On the contrary, all is peace
among them and nothing remains save desire for friendship.
(52) Who, then, is He Who has done these things and has united in peace
those who hated each other, save the beloved Son of the Father, the common
Savior of all, Jesus Christ, Who by His own love underwent all things for
our salvation? Even from the beginning, moreover, this peace that He was to
administer was foretold, for Scripture says, "They shall beat their swords
into ploughshares and their spears into sickles, and nation shall not take
sword against nation, neither shall they learn any more to wage war."[2] Nor
is this by any means incredible.
The barbarians of the present day are naturally savage in their habits, and
as long as they sacrifice to their idols they rage furiously against each
other and cannot bear to be a single hour without weapons. But when they
hear the teaching of Christ, forthwith they turn from fighting to farming,
and instead of arming themselves with swords extend their hands in prayer.
In a word, instead of fighting each other, they take up arms against the
devil and the demons, and overcome them by their selfcommand and integrity
of soul. These facts are proof of the Godhead of the Savior, for He has
taught men what they could never learn among the idols. It is also no small
exposure of the weakness and nothingness of demons and idols, for it was
because they knew their own weakness that the demons were always setting
men to fight each other, fearing lest, if they ceased from mutual strife,
they would turn to attack the demons themselves. For in truth the disciples
of Christ, instead of fighting each other, stand arrayed against demons by
their habits and virtuous actions, and chase them away and mock at their
captain the devil. Even in youth they are chaste, they endure in times of
testing and persevere in toils. When they are insulted, they are patient,
when robbed they make light of it, and, marvelous to relate, they make
light even of death itself, and become martyrs of Christ.
(53) And here is another proof of the Godhead of the Savior, which is
indeed utterly amazing. What mere man or magician or tyrant or king was
ever able by himself to do so much? Did anyone ever fight against the whole
system of idol-worship and the whole host of demons and all magic and all
the wisdom of the Greeks, at a time when all of these were strong and
flourishing and taking everybody in, as did our Lord, the very Word of God?
Yet He is even now invisibly exposing every man's error, and single-handed
is carrying off all men from them all, so that those who used to worship
idols now tread them under foot, reputed magicians burn their books and the
wise prefer to all studies the interpretation of the gospels. They are
deserting those whom formerly they worshipped, they worship and confess as
Christ and God Him Whom they used to ridicule as crucified. Their so-called
gods are routed by the sign of the cross, and the crucified Savior is
proclaimed in all the world as God and Son of God. Moreover, the gods
worshipped among the Greeks are now falling into disrepute among them on
account of the disgraceful things they did, for those who receive the
teaching of Christ are more chaste in life than they. If these, and the
like of them, are human works, let anyone who will show us similar ones
done by men in former time, and so convince us. But if they are shown to
be, and are the works not of men but of God, why are the unbelievers so
irreligious as not to recognize the Master Who did them? They are afflicted
as a man would be who failed to recognize God the Artificer through the
works of creation. For surely if they had recognized His Godhead through
His power over the universe, they would recognize also that the bodily
works of Christ are not human, but are those of the Savior of all, the Word
of God. And had they recognized this, as Paul says, "They would not have
crucified the Lord of glory."[3]
(54) As, then, he who desires to see God Who by nature is invisible and not
to be beheld, may yet perceive and know Him through His works, so too let
him who does not see Christ with his understanding at least consider Him in
His bodily works and test whether they be of man or God. If they be of man,
then let him scoff; but if they be of God, let him not mock at things which
are no fit subject for scorn, but rather let him recognize the fact and
marvel that things divine have been revealed to us by such humble means,
that through death deathlessness has been made known to us, and through the
Incarnation of the Word the Mind whence all things proceed has been
declared, and its Agent and Ordainer, the Word of God Himself. He, indeed,
assumed humanity that we might become God. He manifested Himself by means
of a body in order that we might perceive the Mind of the unseen Father. He
endured shame from men that we might inherit immortality. He Himself was
unhurt by this, for He is impassable and incorruptible; but by His own
impassability He kept and healed the suffering men on whose account He thus
endured. In short, such and so many are the Savior's achievements that
follow from His Incarnation, that to try to number them is like gazing at
the open sea and trying to count the waves. One cannot see all the waves
with one's eyes, for when one tries to do so those that are following on
baffle one's senses. Even so, when one wants to take in all the
achievements of Christ in the body, one cannot do so, even by reckoning
them up, for the things that transcend one's thought are always more than
those one thinks that one has grasped.
As we cannot speak adequately about even a part of His work, therefore, it
will be better for us not to speak about it as a whole. So we will mention
but one thing more, and then leave the whole for you to marvel at. For,
indeed, everything about it is marvelous, and wherever a man turns his gaze
he sees the Godhead of the Word and is smitten with awe.
(55) The substance of what we have said so far may be summarized as
follows. Since the Savior came to dwell among us, not only does idolatry no
longer increase, but it is getting less and gradually ceasing to be.
Similarly, not only does the wisdom of the Greeks no longer make any
progress, but that which used to be is disappearing. And demons, so far
from continuing to impose on people by their deceits and oracle-givings and
sorceries, are routed by the sign of the cross if they so much as try. On
the other hand, while idolatry and everything else that opposes the faith
of Christ is daily dwindling and weakening and falling, see, the Savior's
teaching is increasing everywhere! Worship, then, the Savior "Who is above
all" and mighty, even God the Word, and condemn those who are being
defeated and made to disappear by Him. When the sun has come, darkness
prevails no longer; any of it that may be left anywhere is driven away. So
also, now that the Divine epiphany of the Word of God has taken place, the
darkness of idols prevails no more, and all parts of the world in every
direction are enlightened by His teaching. Similarly, if a king be reigning
somewhere, but stays in his own house and does not let himself be seen, it
often happens that some insubordinate fellows, taking advantage of his
retirement, will have themselves proclaimed in his stead; and each of them,
being invested with the semblance of kingship, misleads the simple who,
because they cannot enter the palace and see the real king, are led astray
by just hearing a king named. When the real king emerges, however, and
appears to view, things stand differently. The insubordinate impostors are
shown up by his presence, and men, seeing the real king, forsake those who
previously misled them. In the same way the demons used formerly to impose
on men, investing themselves with the honor due to God. But since the Word
of God has been manifested in a body, and has made known to us His own
Father, the fraud of the demons is stopped and made to disappear; and men,
turning their eyes to the true God, Word of the Father, forsake the idols
and come to know the true God.
Now this is proof that Christ is God, the Word and Power of God. For
whereas human things cease and the fact of Christ remains, it is clear to
all that the things which cease are temporary, but that He Who remains is
God and very Son of God, the sole-begotten Word.
ENDNOTES
1. Literally, "so great a chorus . . .". "choros" being properly a band of
dancers and singers.
2. Isaiah ii. 4.
3. Cor. ii. 8.
CHAPTER IX CONCLUSION
(56) Here, then, Macarius, is our offering to you who love Christ, a brief
statement of the faith of Christ and of the manifestation of His Godhead to
us. This will give you a beginning, and you must go on to prove its truth
by the study of the Scriptures. They were written and inspired by God; and
we, who have learned from inspired teachers who read the Scriptures and
became martyrs for the Godhead of Christ, make further contribution to your
eagerness to learn. From the Scriptures you will learn also of His second
manifestation to us, glorious and divine indeed, when He shall come not in
lowliness but in His proper glory, no longer in humiliation but in majesty,
no longer to suffer but to bestow on us all the fruit of His cross-- the
resurrection and incorruptibility. No longer will He then be judged, but
rather will Himself be Judge, judging each and all according to their deeds
done in the body, whether good or ill. Then for the good is laid up the
heavenly kingdom, but for those that practice evil outer darkness and the
eternal fire. So also the Lord Himself says, "I say unto you, hereafter ye
shall see the Son of Man seated on the right hand of power, coming on the
clouds of heaven in the glory of the Father."[1] For that Day we have one of
His own sayings to prepare us, "Get ready and watch, for ye know not the
hour in which He cometh"[2] And blessed Paul says, "We must all stand before
the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive according as he
practiced in the body, whether good or ill."[3]
(57) But for the searching and right understanding of the Scriptures there
is need of a good life and a pure soul, and for Christian virtue to guide
the mind to grasp, so far as human nature can, the truth concerning God the
Word. One cannot possibly understand the teaching of the saints unless one
has a pure mind and is trying to imitate their life. Anyone who wants to
look at sunlight naturally wipes his eye clear first, in order to make, at
any rate, some approximation to the purity of that on which he looks; and a
person wishing to see a city or country goes to the place in order to do
so. Similarly, anyone who wishes to understand the mind of the sacred
writers must first cleanse his own life, and approach the saints by copying
their deeds. Thus united to them in the fellowship of life, he will both
understand the things revealed to them by God and, thenceforth escaping the
peril that threatens sinners in the judgment, will receive that which is
laid up for the saints in the kingdom of heaven. Of that reward it is
written: "Eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither hath entered into the
heart of man the things that God has prepared"[4] for them that live a godly
life and love the God and Father in Christ Jesus our Lord, through Whom and
with Whom be to the Father Himself, with the Son Himself, in the Holy
Spirit, honor and might and glory to ages of ages. Amen.
ENDNOTES
1. Matt. xxvi. 64.
2. Matt. xxiv. 42.
3. 2 Cor. v. 10.
4. 1 Cor. ii. 9.
