Chapter VIII.

The prophecy of Christ’s Godhead and Manhood, contained in the verse of Isaiah just now cited, is unfolded, and its force in refuting various heresies demonstrated.

54. This beginning did Isaiah see, and therefore he says: “A Child is born, a Son is given to us,” as also did the Magi, and therefore worshipped they, when they saw the little One in the stable, and said: “A Child is born,” and, when they saw the star, declared, “A Son is given to us.” On the one hand, a gift from earth—on the other, a gift from heaven—and both are One Person, perfect in respect of each, without any changeableness in the Godhead, as without any taking away from the fulness of the Manhood. One Person did the Magi adore, to one and the same they offered their gifts, to show that He Who was seen in the stall was the very Lord of heaven.

55. Mark how the two verbs differ in their import: “A Child is born, a Son is given.” Though born of the Father, yet is He not born, but given to us, forasmuch as the Son is not for our sakes, but we for the Son’s. For indeed He was not born to us, being born before us, and the maker of all things created: nor is He now brought to life for the first time, Who was always, and was in the beginning;554    S. John i. 1. on the other hand, that which before-time was not is born to us. Again we find it thus recorded, how that the angel, when he spoke to the shepherds, said that He had been born: “Who is this day born to us a Saviour, Who is Christ the Lord, in the city of David.”555    S. Luke ii. 11. To us, then, was born that which was not before—that is, a child of the Virgin, a body from Mary—for this was made after man had been created, whereas [the Godhead] was before us.

56. Some manuscripts read as follows: “A Child is born to us a Son is given to us;”556    This is the right rendering. See Driver’s Life and Times of Isaiah, p. 30, note 2. that is to say, He, Who is Son of God, is born as Mary’s child for us, and given to us. As for the fact that He is “given,” listen to the prophet’s words: “And grant us Thy salvation.”557    Ps. lxxxv. But that which is above us is given: what is from heaven is given: even as indeed we read concerning the Spirit, that “the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, Who is given unto us.”558    Rom. v. 5.

57. But note how this passage is as water upon fire to a crowd of heresies. “A Child is born to us,” not to the Jews; “to us,” not to the Manichæans; “to us,” not to the Marcionites. The prophet says “to us,” that is, to those who believe, not to unbelievers. And He indeed, in His pitifulness, was born for all, but it is the disloyalty of heretics that hath brought it to pass that the birth of Him Who was born for all should not profit all. For the sun is bidden to rise upon the good and the bad, but to them that see not there is no appearance of sunrise.

58. Even as the Child, then, is born not unto all, but unto the faithful: so the Son is given to the faithful and not to the unbelieving. He is given to us, not to the Photinians; for they affirm that the Son of God was not given unto us, but was born and first began to exist amongst us. To us is He given, not to the Sabellians, who will not hear of a Son being given, maintaining that Father and Son are one and the same. Unto us is He given, not unto the Arians, in whose judgment the Son was not given for salvation, but sent over subject and inferior, to whom, moreover, He is no “Counsellor,” inasmuch as they hold that He knows nought of the future, no Son, since they believe not in His eternity, though of the Word of God it is written: “That which was in the beginning;” and again: “In the beginning was the Word.”559    S. John i. 1, 2. To return to the passage we set before us to discuss. “In the beginning,” saith the Scripture, “before He made the earth, before He made the deeps, before He brought forth the springs of water, before all the hills He begat Me.”560    Prov. viii. 23 ff.

507 CAPUT VIII.

Versiculus in Esaia proxime citatus de Christi humanitate ac divinitate explicatur, eoque varias haereses jugulari evincitur.

54. Vidit hoc principium Esaias, et ideo ait: Puer 0601A natus est, Filius datus est nobis. Viderunt et Magi, et ideo cum parvalum in praesepi cernerent, adoraverunt dicentes: Puer natus est; cum stellam conspicerent, praedicantes: Filius datus est nobis (Matth. II, 11). Aliud munus e terris, aliud munus e coelo, et utrumque unus in utroque perfectus, et sine mutabilitate divinitatis, et sine humanae imminutione naturae. Unum adoraverunt, eidemque munera obtulerunt; ut ostenderent ipsum esse coeli Dominum, qui in praesepibus videretur.

55. Distingue singulorum momenta verborum: Puer natus est, Filius datus est nobis. Etsi ex Patre natus, non tamen nobis natus, sed datus est; quia non Filius propter nos, sed nos propter Filium. Neque enim nobis natus est, qui et ante nos natus 0601B est, et totius est conditor creaturae: neque nunc primum nascitur, qui erat semper, et erat in principio: sed illud quod non erat, nobis nascitur. Quod etiam angelus pastoribus cum loqueretur, dixit esse generatum, sicut habes scriptum: Quia natus est nobis hodie Salvator, qui est Christus Dominus, in civitate David (Luc. II, 11). Nobis ergo quod non erat, natum est: hoc est, puer ex Virgine, corpus ex Maria; hoc enim post nos, illud ante nos.

56. Alii codices sic habent: Puer natus est nobis, Filius datus est nobis; hoc est, qui erat Filius Dei, hic ex Maria puer natus est nobis, et datus est nobis. Quia datus sit, audi Prophetam dicentem: Et salutare tuum da nobis (Psal. LXXXIV, 8). Quod enim supra nos est, datur: quod de coelo est, datur; 0601C sicut etiam de Spiritu legimus quod, Charitas Dei effusa est in cordibus nostris per Spiritum sanctum, qui datus est nobis (Rom. V, 5).

57. Sed videte quemadmodum hic locus multas haereses exstinguat. Puer natus est nobis, non Judaeis: nobis, non Manichaeis: nobis, non Marcionitis. Propheta dicit: Nobis, hoc est credentibus, non incredulis. Et ille quidem misericordia sua omnibus natus est, sed perfidia haereticorum fecit, ut non omnibus nasceretur, qui omnibus natus est. Nam et lumen diei oriri jubetur super bonos et malos: sed oriri non videntibus non videtur (Matth. V, 15).

58. Sicut ergo puer non omnibus natus est, sed fidelibus: sic Filius non infidelibus datus est, sed fidelibus. Nobis datus est, non Photinianis; illi 0601D enim non datum nobis Dei Filium dicunt esse, sed ab initio inter nos natum: nobis datus est, non Sabellianis; illi enim nolunt Filium datum, eumdem asserentes Patrem esse quem Filium: nobis, non Arianis; et ipsi enim non habent Filium pro salute datum, sed pro infirmitate transmissum: non habent consiliarium, quem putant futura nescisse: non habent Filium, quem sempiternum non putant; cum 508 scriptum sit de Verbo Dei, quod erat in principio; et alibi: In principio, erat Verbum (Joan. I, 2). Denique ut ad propositum revertamur exemplum: In principio, inquit, antequam terram faceret, 0602A antequam abyssos faceret, et antequam produceret fontes aquarum, ante omnes colles genuit me (Prov. VIII, 23 et seq.).