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Thus the form of a servant indicates not only this visible thing, but the entire substance of man. 9. Refutation of the impiety of the heretics. But some of those who hold opinions contrary to piety, since they try to shoot down the doctrines of truth with apostolic sayings, Arius and Eunomius affirming that a soulless man was assumed by the God Logos, but Apollinaris a souled one, but deprived of mind, I know not what he thinks the human soul to be; but Marcion and Manes, and that remaining band of impiety, deny the whole mystery of the economy together. And the ineffable conception and pregnancy of the holy Virgin, they consider to be a myth and a fabrication; and they declare that the divinity was concealed by an apparition of a body, and in this way appeared to men as a man. It is necessary to present the clear meaning of the apostolic sayings to the pious, "who, being in the form of God, he says, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man." Each of the aforementioned heretics, appropriating these things, constructs the falsehood of their abominable doctrines. Arius and Eunomius and Apollinaris and those with them, declaring that the form of the servant and the fashion and the likeness of man signifies the appearance of our nature; while those of the more detestable phalanx, take the fashion and the likeness for some shadow and image and apparition resembling a body. 10. Interpretation of, "who, being in the form of God." But we shall immediately refute the madness of both; for he calls the form of the servant the substance of the servant, as we have shown; for if the form of God indicates the substance of God, it is very clear that the form of the servant is also indicative of the substance of the servant; but the phrase, "being made in the likeness of man, and being found in fashion as a man," the Apostle has not set down as names of the nature, but of the activity; for since the Lord Christ, having our nature, did not accept our wickedness, but was free from all of it, as the prophet exclaims, that "he did no iniquity, neither was deceit found in his mouth;" and John, the citizen of the desert, bears witness with him, saying: "Behold the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world;" the blessed Paul necessarily said he was made 75.1429 in the likeness of man, and was found in fashion as a man, being free from the evil activity of men. Wherefore he also said elsewhere: "For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." See how through these things he resolves the obscurity of those other things. "God," he says, "sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh;" he did not simply say, in the likeness of flesh, dissolving the blasphemy of the impious doctrines; for the grace of the Spirit foreknows all things; but, "in the likeness of sinful flesh," so that we might learn that he has posited "likeness" because our Savior was freed from all sin; for having become man as to nature, he became man with respect to sin; wherefore in the likeness of sinful flesh he condemned sin in the flesh; having assumed human nature, but not accepting the yoke of sin which tyrannizes among men, but having cast off all its dominion, and having shown, that it is possible in human nature of the

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οὕτως ἡ τοῦ δούλου μορφὴ, οὐ τὸ ὁρώμενον τοῦτο μόνον, ἀλλὰ πᾶσαν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου δηλοῖ τὴν οὐσίαν. Θʹ. Ἔλεγχος τῆς τῶν αἱρετικῶν ἀσεβείας. Τινὲς δὲ τῶν τἀναντία φρονούντων τῆς εὐσεβείας, ἐπειδὴ τοῖς ἀποστολικοῖς ῥητοῖς πειρῶνται κατα τοξεύειν ἀληθείας τὰ δόγματα, Ἄρειος μὲν καὶ Εὐ νόμιος ἄψυχον ἄνθρωπον ἀνειλῆφθαι παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγου διαβεβαιούμενοι, Ἀπολινάριος δὲ ἔμψυχον, νοῦ δὲ ἐστερημένον, οὐκ οἶδ' ὅ τι νοῶν τὴν ἀνθρω πείαν ψυχήν· Μαρκίων δὲ καὶ Μάνης, καὶ ἡ λοιπὴ τῆς ἀσεβείας ἐκείνη συμμορία, τὸ τῆς οἰκονομίας ἄπαν ὁμοῦ ἀρνεῖται μυστήριον. Καὶ τὴν μὲν ἄῤῥη τον τῆς ἁγίας Παρθένου σύλληψίν τε καὶ κύησιν, μῦθον εἶναι καὶ πλάσμα νομίζουσι· φαντασίᾳ δὲ σώματος τὴν θεότητα συγκαλυφθῆναι διαγορεύουσι, καὶ τούτῳ τῷ τρόπῳ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἄνθρωπον ἀνα φανῆναι. Ἀναγκαῖον τῶν ἀποστολικῶν ῥητῶν σαφῆ τῆς διανοίας παραστῆσαι τοῖς εὐσεβέσιν, «ὃς ἐν μορφῇ Θεοῦ, φησὶν, ὑπάρχων, οὐχ ἁρπαγμὸν ἡγή σατο τὸ εἶναι ἴσα Θεῷ, ἀλλ' ἑαυτὸν ἐκένωσε, μορφὴν δούλου λαβὼν, ἐν ὁμοιώματι ἀνθρώπων γενόμενος, καὶ σχήματι εὑρεθεὶς ὡς ἄνθρωπος.» Ταῦτα τῶν προειρημένων αἱρετικῶν ἕκαστος οἰκειούμενος, τῶν βδελυρῶν δογμάτων κατασκευάζει τὸ ψεῦδος. Ἄρειος μὲν καὶ Εὐνόμιος καὶ Ἀπολινάριος καὶ οἱ κατὰ τούτους, τὴν τοῦ δούλου μορφὴν καὶ τὸ σχῆμα καὶ τὸ ὁμοίωμα τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, τὸ φαινόμενον τῆς ἡμε τέρας φύσεως σημαίνειν διαγορεύοντες· οἱ δὲ τῆς μυσαρωτέρας φάλαγγος, τὸ σχῆμα καὶ τὸ ὁμοίωμα εἰς σκιάν τινα καὶ εἰκόνα καὶ φαντασίαν σώματι ἐοικυῖαν λαμβάνοντες. Ιʹ. Ἑρμηνεία τοῦ, «ὃς ἐν μορφῇ Θεοῦ ὑπάρχων.» Φρενοβλάβειαν δὲ τὴν ἀμφοτέρων παραυτίκα ἡμεῖς διελέγξομεν· μορφὴν γὰρ δούλου τὴν οὐσίαν, ὡς ἀπεδείξαμεν, προσαγορεύει τοῦ δούλου· εἰ γὰρ ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ μορφὴ τὴν οὐσίαν δηλοῖ τοῦ Θεοῦ, εὔδηλον ὡς καὶ ἡ τοῦ δούλου τῆς οὐσίας ἐστὶ τοῦ δούλου ση μαντική· τὸ δὲ, «ἐν ὁμοιώματι τοῦ ἀνθρώπου γενόμε νος, καὶ σχήματι εὑρεθεὶς ὡς ἄνθρωπος,» οὐχ ὡς τῆς φύσεως ὀνόματα τέθεικεν ὁ Ἀπόστολος, ἀλλὰ τῆς ἐνεργείας· ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ὁ ∆εσπότης Χριστὸς τὴν ἡμετέραν ἔχων φύσιν, τὴν ἡμετέραν οὐ κατεδέξατο πονηρίαν, ἀλλ' ἁπάσης ἐλεύθερος, ὡς ὁ προφήτης βοᾷ, ὅτι «ἀνομίαν οὐκ ἐποίησεν, οὐδὲ εὑρέθη δόλος ἐν τῷ στόματι αὐτοῦ·» καὶ ὁ τῆς ἐρήμου πολίτης Ἰωάννης συμμαρτυρεῖ λέγων· «Ἴδε ὁ ἀμνὸς ὁ αἴρων τοῦ κόσμου τὴν ἁμαρτίαν·» ὁ μακάριος Παῦ λος ἐν ὁμοιώματι ἀνθρώπου αὐτὸν ἀναγκαίως ἔφη 75.1429 γενέσθαι, καὶ σχήματι εὑρεθῆναι ὡς ἄνθρωπον, τῆς πονηρᾶς ἐνεργείας τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀπηλλαγμένον. ∆ιὸ καὶ ἑτέρωθι ἔλεγε· «Τὸ γὰρ ἀδύνατον τοῦ νό μου ἐν ᾧ ἠσθένει διὰ τῆς σαρκὸς, ὁ Θεὸς τὸν ἑαυτοῦ Υἱὸν πέμψας, ἐν ὁμοιώματι σαρκὸς ἁμαρτίας, καὶ περὶ ἁμαρτίας, κατέκρινε τὴν ἁμαρτίαν ἐν σαρκὶ, ἵνα τὸ δικαίωμα τοῦ νόμου πληρωθῇ ἐν ἡμῖν τοῖς μὴ κατὰ σάρκα περιπατοῦσιν, ἀλλὰ κατὰ πνεῦμα.» Ὁρᾶτε πῶς διὰ τούτων ἐκείνων λύει τὴν ἀσά φειαν. «Ὁ Θεὸς, φησὶ, τὸν ἑαυτοῦ Υἱὸν πέμψας ἐν ὁμοιώματι σαρκὸς ἁμαρτίας·» οὐχ ἁπλῶς εἶπεν, ἐν ὁμοιώματι σαρκὸς, διαλύων τῶν ἀσεβῶν δογμάτων τὴν βλασφημίαν· προγινώσκει γὰρ ἅπαντα ἡ χάρις τοῦ Πνεύματος· ἀλλ', «ἐν ὁμοιώματι σαρκὸς ἁμαρτίας,» ἵνα μάθωμεν ὡς τὸ «ὁμοίωμα,» διὰ τὸ πάσης ἁμαρ τίας ἀπηλλάχθαι τὸν ἡμέτερον Σωτῆρα, τέθεικεν· ἄνθρωπος γὰρ γενόμενος τὴν φύσιν, κατὰ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν γέγονεν ἄνθρωπος· διὸ ἐν ὁμοιώματι σαρ κὸς ἁμαρτίας κατέκρινε τὴν ἁμαρτίαν ἐν τῇ σαρκί· ἀνθρωπείαν μὲν φύσιν ἀναλαβὼν, τῆς δὲ τυραννού σης ἐν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἁμαρτίας τὸν ζυγὸν μὴ δεξά μενος, ἀλλὰ πᾶσαν ταύτης ἀποῤῥίψας τὴν δεσπο τείαν, καὶ δείξας, ὡς δυνατὸν ἐν ἀνθρωπείᾳ φύσει τῶν τῆς