Chapter IX.

The objection that the Son, being sent by the Father, is, in that regard at least, inferior, is met by the answer that He was also sent by the Spirit, Who is yet not considered greater than the Son. Furthermore, the Spirit, in His turn, is sent by the Father to the Son, in order that Their unity in action might be shown forth. It is our duty, therefore, carefully to distinguish what utterances are to be fitly ascribed to Christ as God, and what to be ascribed to Him as man.

74. I have no fears in the matter of that commonly advanced objection, that Christ is inferior because He was sent. For even if He be inferior, yet this is not so proved;345    That is to say, it does not follow, from the fact that the Son was sent, that He is inferior in nature. on the other hand, His equal title to honour is in truth proved. Since all honour the Son as they honour the Father,346    S. John v. 23. it is certain that the Son is not, in so far as being sent, inferior.

75. Regard not, therefore, the narrow bounds of human language, but the plain meaning of the words, and believe facts accomplished. Bethink you that our Lord Jesus Christ said in Isaiah that He had been sent by the Spirit.347    Isa. lxi. 1. “Since the Holy Scriptures frequently, in plain words, teach the equality of the Son with the Father, and the Son’s actual deeds likewise testify thereto, it is not permissible to call that truth in question on the strength of a single phrase, which we are compelled to make use of, in speaking of God, by reason of the limitations of human language. For in speaking of God, and the things of God, we make use of terms which we employ in treating of created natures, and which on that account convey the notion of imperfection which is found only in such natures.”—Hurter in loc. Is the Son, therefore, less than the Spirit because He was sent by the Spirit? Thus you have the record, that the Son declares Himself sent by the Father and His Spirit. “I am the beginning,” He saith,348    Isa. xlviii. 12. “and I live for ever, and My hand hath laid the foundations of the earth, My right hand hath made the heaven to stand abidingly;”349    Isa. xlvii. 13. “Mine hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth, and My right hand hath spanned the heavens.”—A.V. and further on: “I have spoken, and I have called; I have brought him, and have made his way to prosper. Draw ye near to Me, and hear these things: not in secret have I spoken from the beginning. When they were made, I was there: and now hath the Lord and His Spirit sent Me.”350    Isa. xlviii. 15, 16. Here, indeed, He Who made the heaven and the earth Himself saith that He is sent by the Lord and His Spirit. Ye see, then, that the poverty of language takes not from the honour of His mission. He, then, is sent by the Father; by the Spirit also is He sent.

76. And that you may gather that there is no separating difference of majesty, the Son in turn sends the Spirit, even as He Himself hath said: “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send you from My Father—the Spirit of truth, who cometh forth from My Father.”351    S. John xv. 26. That this same Comforter is also to be sent by the Father He has already taught, saying, “But the Comforter, that Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name.”352    S. John xiv. 26. Behold their unity, inasmuch as whom God the Father sends, the Son sends also, and Whom the Father sends, the Spirit sends also. Else, if the Arians will not admit that the Son was sent, because we read that the Son is the right hand of the Father, then they themselves will confess with respect to the Father, what they deny concerning the Son, unless perchance they discover for themselves either another Father or another Son.

77. A truce, then, to vain wranglings over words, for the kingdom of God, as it is written, consisteth not in persuasive words, but in power plainly shown forth. Let us take heed to the distinction of the Godhead from the flesh. In each there speaks one and the same Son of God, for each nature is present in Him; yet while it is the same Person Who speaks, He speaks not always in the same manner. Behold in Him, now the glory of God, now the affections of man. As God He speaks the things of God, because He is the Word; as man He speaks the things of man, because He speaks in my nature.

78. “This is the living bread, which came down from heaven.”353    S. John vi. 51. This bread is His flesh, even as He Himself said: “This bread which I will give is My flesh.”354    S. John vii. 52. This is He Who came down from heaven, this is He Whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into this world. Even the letter itself teaches us that not the Godhead but the flesh needed sanctification, for the Lord Himself said, “And I sanctify Myself for them,”355    S. John xvii. 19. in order that thou mayest acknowledge that He is both sanctified in the flesh for us, and sanctifies by virtue of His Divinity.

79. This is the same One Whom the Father sent, but “born of a woman, born under the law,”356    Gal. iv. 4. as the Apostle hath said. This is He Who saith: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me; wherefore He hath anointed Me, to bring good tidings to the poor hath He sent Me:”357    S. Luke iv. 18; Isa. lxi. 1. This is He Who saith: “My doctrine is not Mine, but His, Who sent Me. If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of Myself.”358    S. John vii. 16. Doctrine that is of God, then, is one thing; doctrine that is of man, another; and so when the Jews, regarding Him as man, called in question His teaching,359    “regarding Him as man.” In the original “secundum hominem,” lit. “after the way, or manner, of man.” If the Jews had accepted Jesus Christ’s teachings as divine, they would not have questioned it. But they acted as though they were confronted with one who was no more than man, and whose authority therefore was properly liable to be called in question. and said, “How knoweth this man letters, having never learnt?” Jesus answered and said, “My doctrine is not Mine,” for, in teaching without elegance of letters, He seems to teach not as man, but rather as God, having not learned, but devised His doctrine.

80. For He hath found and devised all the way of discipline, as we read above, inasmuch as of the Son of God it hath been said: “This is our God, and none other shall be accounted of in comparison with Him, Who hath found all the way of discipline. After these things He was seen on earth, and conversed with men.”360    Baruch iii. 36 ff. How, then, could He, as divine, not have His own doctrine—He Who hath found all the way of discipline before He was seen on earth? Or how is He inferior, of Whom it is said, “None shall be accounted of in comparison with Him”? Surely He is entitled incomparable, in comparison of Whom none other can be accounted of—yet so that He cannot be accounted of before the Father. Now if men suppose that the Father is spoken of, they shall not escape running into the blasphemy of Sabellius, of ascribing the assumption of human nature to the Father.

81. Let us proceed with what follows. “He who speaketh of himself, seeketh his own glory.”361    S. John. vii. 18. See the unity wherein Father and Son are plainly revealed.362    “In these words attention is called to the Unity of Nature (or Substance) in distinct Persons, for in the very act of speaking and teaching, the Son shows that He is a Person, but He Who speaks not of Himself, but as the Father hath taught Him, shows that He is distinct from the Father, and yet He has, with the Father, one and the same doctrine, and therefore one and the same nature; for, in God, being and knowing are one and the same.”—Hurter. He who speaks cannot but be; yet that which He speaks cannot be solely from Him, for in Him all that is, is naturally derived from the Father.

82. What now is the meaning of the words “seeketh his own glory”? That is, not a glory in which the Father has no part—for indeed the Word of God is His glory. Again, our Lord saith: “that they may see My glory.”363    S. John xvii. 24. But that glory of the Word is also the glory of the Father, even as it is written: “The Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father.”364    Phil. ii. 11 (another instance of adaptation). In regard of His Godhead, therefore, the Son of God so hath His own glory, that the glory of Father and Son is one: He is not, therefore, inferior in splendour, for the glory is one, nor lower in Godhead, for the fulness of the Godhead is in Christ.365    Col. i. 19; ii. 9.

83. How, then, you ask, is it written, “Father, the hour is come; glorify Thy Son?”366    S. John xvii. 1. He Who saith these words needs to be glorified, say you. Thus far you have eyes to see; the remainder of the Scripture you have not read, for it proceeds: “that Thy Son may glorify Thee.” Hath ever the Father need of any, in that He is to be glorified by the Son?

CAPUT IX.

Objicientibus Filium cum a Patre sit missus, eo utique minorem esse; respondetur illum etiam a Spiritu missum, quo tamen minor non habeatur. Additur etiam Spiritum mitti a Patre et Filio, ut utriusque operationum unitas designetur: Hinc admonemur sedulo distinguendum quae locutiones Christo ut Deo, quaeve eidem ut homini conveniant: quarum exempla non pauca subjiciuntur exponunturque.

74. Nec illud sane metuo, quod solent obtendere minorem esse, quia missus est. Si enim et minor non docetur, et honorificentiae docetur aequalitas; cum ita omnes honorificent Filium, sicut honorificant Patrem 0575C (Joan. V, 23), constat eo minorem non esse, quod missus est.

75. Non ergo humani sermonis angustias, sed verborum claritatem intuere, operibus crede. Considera quia Dominus noster Jesus Christus in Esaia locutus est ab Spiritu sancto esse se missum (Esa. LXI, 1). Numquid ergo Spiritu minor Filius, quia missus ab Spiritu est? Habes igitur scriptum quod Filius a Patre et Spiritu ejus dicat esse se missum: Ego sum, inquit, primus, et ego in aeternum, et manus 0576A mea fundavit terram, dextera mea solidavit coelum (Esai. XLVIII, 12, 13); et infra: Ego locutus sum, et ego vocavi; adduxi eum, et prosperum iter ejus feci. Accedite ad me, et audite haec: non in occulto ab initio locutus sum. Cum fierent, illic eram: et nunc Dominus misit me, et Spiritus ejus (Ibid., 15, 16). Utique qui coelum fecit et terram, ipse dicit a Domino et a Spiritu ejus esse se missum. Videtis ergo quod simplicitas sermonis, non injuria 485 missionis sit. Ipse igitur missus a Patre, ipse est missus ab Spiritu.

76. Et ut cognoscas nullam majestatis esse distantiam, etiam Filius Spiritum mittit, sicut ipse dixit: Cum venerit autem Paraclitus, quem ego mittam vobis a Patre meo, Spiritus veritatis, qui a Patre meo procedit (Joan. XV, 26). Hunc eumdem Paraclitum et a 0576B Patre esse mittendum supra docuit dicens: Paraclitus autem ille Spiritus sanctus, quem mittet Pater in nomine meo (Joan. XIV, 26). Vide unitatem, quia quem Deus Pater mittit, mittit et Filius: et quem mittit Pater, mittit et Spiritus. Aut si nolunt Filium missum, quia dexteram Patris Filium legimus; ipsi de Patre quod de Filio abnuunt, fatebuntur: nisi forte aut alterum sibi Patrem, aut alterum sibi Filium inveniant Ariani.

77. Sileant igitur inanes de sermonibus quaestiones; quia regnum Dei, sicut scriptum est (I Cor. II, 4), non in persuasione verbi est, sed in ostensione virtutis. Servemus distinctionem divinitatis et carnis. Unus in utraque loquitur Dei Flius; quia in eodem utraque natura est: et si idem loquitur, non 0576C uno semper loquitur modo. Intende in eo nunc gloriam Dei, nunc hominis passiones. Quasi Deus loquitur quae sunt divina, quia Verbum est: quasi homo dicit quae sunt humana, quia in mea substantia loquebatur.

78. Hic est panis vivus, qui descendit de coelo (Joan. VI, 51). Panis hic caro est, sicut ipse dixit: Hic panis quem ego dabo, caro mea est (Ibid., 52). Hic est qui descendit de coelo, hic est quem Pater sanctificavit, et misit in hunc mundum. Nec ipsa 0577A littera nos docet sanctificatione divinitatem eguisse, sed carnem. Denique ipse Dominus dixit: Et ego memetipsum sanctifico pro ipsis (Joan. XVII, 19); ut agnoscas quod et sanctificatur in carne pro nobis, et divinitate sanctificat.

79. Hic idem est quem Pater misit, sed factum ex muliere, factum sub Lege, ut Apostolus dixit (Galat. IV, 4). Hic est, qui ait: Spiritus Domini super me, propter quod unxit me: evangelizare pauperibus misit me (Luc. IV, 18). Hic est qui dicit: Mea doctrina non est mea, sed ejus qui misit me. Si quis voluerit voluntatem ejus facere, cognoscet de doctrina, utrum ex Deo est, an ego a me ipso loquar (Joan. VII, 16, 17). Alia ergo ex Deo doctrina, alia ex homine. Itaque Judaei cum doctrinam ejus secundum hominem quaererent, 0577B et dicerent: Quomodo hic litteras novit, cum non didicerit (Joan. VII, 15)? respondit Jesus, et dixit: Mea doctrina, non est mea; nam cum sine 486 eruditione litterarum doceat, non quasi homo, sed potius ut Deus videtur docere, qui doctrinam non didicerit, sed invenerit.

80. Adinvenit enim omnem viam disciplinae, ut supra lectum est; nam utique de Filio Dei dictum est: Hic est Deus noster, et non aestimabitur alius ad eum qui adinvenit omnem viam disciplinae. Post haec in terris visus est, et cum hominibus conversatus est (Baruc. III, 36 et seq). Quomodo ergo secundum divinitatem doctrinam suam non habet, qui adinvenit omnem viam disciplinae, antequam videretur in terris? Aut quomodo minor, de quo dictum est: Non 0577C aestimabitur alius ad eum? Utique incomparabilis dicitur, ad quam nemo alius aestimari potest: sed ita incomparabilis, ut Patri nequeat anteferri. Quod si de Patre dictum putant, impietatem Sabellii non evadent, ut Patri susceptionem humanae carnis attribuant.

81. Persequamur sequentia: Qui a semetipso, inquit, loquitur, gloriam suam quaerit (Joan. VII, 18). Vide unitatem, quae et Patrem signat et Filium. Non potest non esse, qui loquitur: sed non potest a semetipso esse quod loquitur, in quo naturaliter ex Patre sunt omnia.

82. Quid est autem: Gloriam suam quaerit? Hoc est, non divisam a Patre gloriam; nam utique et Verbum Deus habet gloriam. Denique dicit: Ut videant gloriam 0577D meam (Joan. XVII, 24). Sed illa verbi gloria eadem Patris gloria est, sicut scriptum est: Dominus Jesus Christus in gloria est Dei Patris (Philip. II, 11). Ita igitur secundum divinitatem Dei Filius suam gloriam 0578A habet, ut Patris et Filii una sit gloria. Non est ergo minor in claritate, quia una gloria: non minor divinitate, quia plenitudo divinitatis in Christo est.

83. Et quomodo, inquis, scriptum est: Pater, venit hora, clarifica Filium tuum (Joan. XVII, 1)? Qui hoc dicit, clarificatione, inquis, indiget. Hucusque oculos habes: quod reliquum est non legisti; sequitur enim: Ut Filius tuus clarificet te (Ibid.). Numquid et Pater indiget, qui clarificandus a Filio est?