Chapter X.

The objection taken on the ground of the Son’s obedience is disproved, and the unity of power, Godhead, and operation in the Trinity set forth, Christ’s obedience to His mother, to whom He certainly cannot be called inferior, is noticed.

84. In like manner our adversaries commonly make a difficulty of the Son’s obedience, forasmuch as it is written: “And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient even unto death.”367    Phil. ii. 7, 8. The writer has not only told us that the Son was obedient even unto death, but also first shown that He was man, in order that we might understand that obedience unto death was the part not of His Godhead but of His Incarnation, whereby He took upon Himself both the functions and the names belonging to our nature.

85. Thus we have learnt that the power of the Trinity is one, as we are taught both in and after the Passion itself: for the Son suffers through His body, which is the earnest of it; the Holy Spirit is poured upon the apostles: into the Father’s hands the spirit is commended; furthermore, God is with a mighty voice proclaimed the Father. We have learnt that there is one form, one likeness, one sanctification, of the Father and of the Son, one activity, one glory, finally, one Godhead.

86. There is, therefore, but one only God, for it is written: “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.”368    Deut. vi. 13. One God, not in the sense that the Father and the Son are the same Person, as the ungodly Sabellius affirms—but forasmuch as there is one Godhead of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. But where there is one Godhead, there is one will, one purpose.

87. Again, that thou mayest know that the Father is, and the Son is, and that the work of the Father and of the Son is one, follow the saying of the Apostle: “Now may God Himself, and our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ direct our way unto you.”369    1 Thess. iii. 11. Both Father and Son are named, but there is unity of direction,370    The act of direction is one and, correspondingly, the verb “direct” is, in the Latin and the Greek, put in the singular number. because unity of power. So also in another place we read: “Now may our Lord Himself, Jesus Christ, and God and our Father, Who hath loved us, and given us eternal consolation, and good hope in grace, console and strengthen your hearts.”371    2 Thess. ii. 15, 16. How perfect a unity it is that the Apostle presents to us, insomuch that the fount of consolation is not many, but one. Let doubt be dumb, then, or, if it will not be overcome by reason, let the thought of our Lord’s gracious kindliness bend it.

88. Let us call to mind how kindly our Lord hath dealt with us, in that He taught us not only faith but manners also. For, having taken His place in the form of man, He was subject to Joseph and Mary.372    S. Luke ii. 51. Was He less than all mankind, then, because He was subject? The part of dutifulness is one, that of sovereignty is another, but dutifulness doth not exclude sovereignty. Wherein, then, was He subject to the Father’s law? In His body, surely, wherein He was subject to His mother.

CAPUT X.

Objectionem a Filii obedientia desumptam solvit, ostensoque Trinitatis unam potentiam, divinitatem atque operationem esse, addit Christum etiam matri, qua minor dici neutiquam potest, obedientiam exhibuisse.

0578B

84. Pari modo obedientiam Filii objicere solent, quia scriptum est: Et specie inventus 487 ut homo, humiliavit semetipsum, factus obediens usque ad mortem (Phil. II, 7, 8). Et hominem praemisit, et usque ad mortem dixit; ut intelligeremus obedientiam mortis non divinitatis fuisse, sed incarnationis: in qua et officia nostra suscepit et nomina.

85. Didicimus itaque unam esse potentiam Trinitatis, quam nos in ipsa atque post ipsam docuit passionem; Filius enim patitur per corporis sacramentum, apostolis Spiritus sanctus infunditur: in manus Patris commendatur spiritus, Deus quoque Pater maxima voce signatur. Didicimus unam Patris et Filii esse imaginem, unam similitudinem, unam 0578C sanctificationem. Didicimus unam esse operationem, unam gloriam, unam quoque divinitatem.

86. Unus ergo et solus Deus; quia scriptum est: Dominum Deum tuum adorabis, et illi soli servies (Deut. VI, 13). Unus Deus, non ut ipse sit Pater et Filius, sicut impius Sabellius asserit: sed quia Patris et Filii, Spiritusque sancti una divinitas sit: ubi autem una divinitas, una voluntas, una praeceptio.

87. Denique ut scias et Patrem esse, et Filium esse, et unum opus Patris ac Filii esse, Apostolum sequere, qui dixit: Ipse autem Deus, et Pater noster, et Dominus noster Jesus dirigat viam nostram ad vos (I Thess. III, 11). Et Patrem loquitur, et Filium loquitur: sed unitas directionis est; quia unitas potestatis est. Sic et alibi habes: Ipse autem Dominus 0578D noster Jesus Christus, et Deus, et Pater noster qui dilexit nos, et dedit consolationem aeternam, et spem bonam in gratia; consoletur corda vestra, et confirmet (II Thess. II, 16, 17). Quantam unitatem ostendit, 0579A ut consolationis unitas, non pluralitas sit! Conticescat ergo perfidia, aut si ratione non vincitur, morali humanitate flectatur.

88. Consideremus quam moraliter egerit Dominus; ut nos non solum fidem, sed etiam mores doceret. Namque in forma hominis constitutus, subditus erat Joseph et Mariae (Luc. II, 51). Numquid ergo minor et hominibus, quia subditus? Aliud pietatis, aliud potestatis est: sed non praejudicat pietas potestati. In quo ergo legis subditum Patri? In corpore scilicet, in quo erat subditus matri.