The Divine Indwelling

 OUR Lord, by becoming man, has found a way whereby to sanctify that nature, of which His own manhood is the pattern specimen. He inhabits us personally, and this inhabitation is effected by the channel of the Sacraments.

 "Since the Word bore our body," says Athanasius, "and came to be in us ([ gegonen ]), therefore, by reason of the Word in us, is God called our Father." Decr. § 31. Vid. [ ton en hemin huion ]. Orat. ii. § 59, [ ho logos theos en sarki ... heneka tou hagiazein ten sarka gegonen anthropos ]. ibid. § 10, also § 56, and [ ton en autois oikounta logon ], § 61. Also Orat. i. § 50, iii. 23-25, iv. § 21. "We rise from the earth, the curse of sin being removed, because of Him who is in us," iii. § 33.

 In thus teaching Athan. follows the language of Scripture, in which [ en ] means in our nature, though sometimes among us; vid. [ ontos en hemin theos ], 1 Cor. xiv. 25. [ en emoi ], Gal. i. 24. [ entos humon ], Luke xvii. 21. [ eskenosen en hemin ], John i. 14; also xiv. 17, 23; 1 Cor. vi. 20; 1 John iii. 24, etc.

 By this indwelling our Lord is the immediate [ arche ] of spiritual life to each of His elect individually. [ Ouk ho logos estin ho beltioumenos, eichen gar panta, all' hoi anthropoi hoi archen echontes tou lambanein en autoi  kai di autou ]. Orat. i. 48. Vid. also what he says on the phrase [ arche hodon ]. Orat. ii. 48, etc. Also the note of the Benedictine editor on Justin's Tryphon. 61, referring to Tatian. c. Gent. S. Athenag. Apol. 10. Iren. Hær. iv. 20, n. 4. Origen in Joan. tom. i. 39. Tertull. Prax. 6, and Ambros. de Fid. iii. 7.

 "Flesh being first sanctified in Him," says Athan., "and He being said on account of it to have received as man [the anointing], we have the sequel of the Spirit's grace receiving out of His fulness ." Orat. i. 50. vid. art. Grace . Other Fathers use still stronger language. S. Chrysostom explains, "He is born of our Substance: you will say, 'This does not pertain to all;' yea, to all. He mingles ([ anamignusin ]) Himself with the faithful individually, through the mysteries, and whom He has begotten those He nurses from Himself, not puts them out to other hands," etc. Hom. 82, 5, in Matt., etc., etc. vid. art. Freedom .

 In Orat. iii. § 33 S. Athanasius uses the strong phrase [ logotheises tes sarkos ], of regenerate human nature. Damascene speaks of the [ logosis ] of the flesh, but he means principally our Lord's flesh, F. O. iv. 18, p. 286, ed. Ven. For the words [ theousthai ], etc. vid. supr. art. Deification ; also vid. The Flesh .

 Nor is this all; we must go on to the results of this doctrine, as indicated in the following passages of Scripture which are referred to above: "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" 1 Cor. iii. 16, 17; vi. 15-20. 2 Cor. vi. 16, etc. It is plain that there is a special presence of God in those who are real members of our Lord. To this St. Paul seems to refer when he says, "They glorified God in me," Gal. i. 24. To this and to other passages noted supr. Athanasius refers, when he says, "Because of our relationship to His Body we too have become God's temple, and in consequence are made God's sons, so that even in us the Lord is now worshipped, and beholders report, as the Apostle says, that God is in them of a truth." Orat. i. § 43. And S. Basil, arguing for the worship of the Holy Spirit, says, "Man in common is crowned with glory and honour, and glory and honour and peace are reserved in the promises for every one who doeth good. And there is a certain glory of Israel peculiar, and the Psalmist speaks of a glory of his own, 'Awake up my glory;' and there is a glory of the sun, and according to the Apostle even a ministration of condemnation with glory. So many then being glorified, choose you that the Spirit alone of all should be without glory?" de Sp. S. c. 24.

 We are led on to a farther remark: If even while we are in the flesh, soul and body become, by the in-dwelling of the Word, so elevated above their natural state, so sacred, that to profane them is a sacrilege, is it wonderful that the Saints above should so abound in prerogatives and privileges, and should claim a religious cultus, when once in the pleroma, and in the sight as in the fruition of the exuberant infinitude of God?