Chapter 30.—The Incarnation of the Word.

Hence, although these do not now require a grace more joyous for the present, they nevertheless need a more powerful grace; and what grace is more powerful than the only-begotten Son of God, equal to the Father and co-eternal, made man for them, and, without any sin of His own, either original or actual, crucified by men who were sinners? And although He rose again on the third day, never to die any more, He yet bore death for men and gave life to the dead, so that redeemed by His blood, having received so great and such a pledge, they could say, “If God be for us, who is against us? He who spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how has He not with Him also given to us all things?”114    Rom viii. 31, 32. God therefore took upon Him our nature—that is, the rational soul and flesh of the man Christ—by an undertaking singularly marvellous, or marvellously singular; so that with no preceding merits of His own righteousness He might in such wise be the Son of God from the beginning, in which He had begun to be man, that He, and the Word which is without beginning, might be one person. For there is no one blinded by such ignorance of this matter and the Faith as to dare to say that, although born of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary the Son of man, yet of His own free will by righteous living and by doing good works, without sin, He deserved to be the Son of God; in opposition to the gospel, which says, “The Word was made flesh.”115    John i. 14. For where was this made flesh except in the Virginal womb, whence was the beginning of the man Christ? And, moreover, when the Virgin asked how that should come to pass which was told her by the angel, the angel answered, “The Holy Ghost shall come over on to thee and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee, therefore that holy thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.”116    Luke i. 35. “Therefore,” he said; not because of works of which certainly of a yet unborn infant there are none; but “therefore,” because “the Holy Ghost shall come over on to thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee, that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.” That nativity, absolutely gratuitous, conjoined, in the unity of the person, man to God, flesh to the Word! Good works followed that nativity; good works did not merit it. For it was in no wise to be feared that the human nature taken up by God the Word in that ineffable manner into a unity of person, would sin by free choice of will, since that taking up itself was such that the nature of man so taken up by God would admit into itself no movement of an evil will. Through this Mediator God makes known that He makes those whom He redeemed by His blood from evil, everlastingly good; and Him He in such wise assumed that He never would be evil, and, not being made out of evil, would always be good.117    Some editions have, instead of “and not being made,” etc., “lest being made of evil he should not always be good.”

30. Proinde etsi non interim laetiore nunc; verumtamen potentiore gratia indigent isti: et quae potentior quam Dei unigenitus Filius, aequalis Patri et coaeternus, pro eis homo factus, et sine suo ullo vel originali vel proprio peccato ab hominibus peccatoribus crucifixus? Qui quamvis die tertio resurrexit, nunquam moriturus ulterius; pertulit tamen pro mortalibus mortem, qui mortuis praestitit vitam, ut redempti ejus sanguine, tanto ac tali pignore accepto dicerent: Si Deus pro nobis, quis contra nos? Qui Filio suo proprio non pepercit, sed pro nobis omnibus tradidit eum, quomodo non et cum illo omnia nobis donavit (Rom. VIII, 31, 32)? Deus ergo naturam nostram, id est animam rationalem carnemque hominis Christi suscepit, susceptione singulariter mirabili vel mirabiliter singulari, ut nulli justitiae suae praecedentibus meritis Filius Dei sic esset ab initio quo esse homo coepisset, ut ipse et Verbum quod sine initio est, una persona esset. Neque enim quisquam tanta rei hujus et fidei caecus est ignorantia, ut audeat dicere, quamvis de Spiritu sancto et virgine Maria filium hominis natum, per liberum tamen arbitrium bene vivendo, et sine peccato bona opera faciendo meruisse ut esset Dei Filius, resistente Evangelio atque dicente, Verbum caro factum est (Joan. I, 14). Nam ubi hoc factum est, nisi in utero virginali, unde fuit initium hominis Christi? Itemque Virgine requirente, quomodo fieret quod ei per angelum nuntiabatur, angelus respondit, Spiritus sanctus superveniet in te , et virtus Altissimi obumbrabit tibi: propterea, quod nascetur ex te Sanctum, vocabitur Filius Dei (Luc. I, 35). Propterea, inquit: non propter opera, quae nondum nati utique nulla sunt; sed propterea quia Spiritus sanctus superveniet in te, et virtus Altissimi obumbrabit tibi, quod nascetur ex te Sanctum, vocabitur Filius Dei. Ista nativitas profecto gratuita conjunxit in unitate personae hominem Deo, carnem Verbo. Istam nativitatem bona opera secuta sunt, non bona opera meruerunt. Neque enim metuendum erat, ne isto ineffabili modo in unitatem personae a Verbo Deo natura humana suscepta, per liberum voluntatis peccaret arbitrium, cum ipsa susceptio talis esset, ut natura hominis a Deo ita suscepta, nullum in se motum 0935 malae voluntatis admitteret. Per hunc Mediatorem Deus ostendit eos, quos ejus sanguine redemit, facere se ex malis deinceps in aeternum bonos, quem sic suscepit, ut nunquam esset malus, nec ex malo factus semper esset bonus .