Chapter IX.

The preceding quotation from Solomon’s Proverbs receives further explanation.

59. Perchance you will ask how I came to cite, as referring to the Incarnation of Christ, the place, “The Lord created Me,” seeing that the creation of the universe took place before the Incarnation of Christ? But consider that the use of holy Scripture is to speak of things to come as though already past, and to make intimation of the union of two natures, Godhead and Manhood, in Christ, lest any should deny either His Godhead or His Manhood.

60. In Isaiah, for example, you may read: “A Child is born unto us, and a Son is given unto us;” so here also [in the Proverbs] the prophet sets forth first the creation of the flesh, and joined thereto the declaration of the Godhead, that you might know that Christ is not two, but One, being both begotten of the Father before the worlds, and in the last times561    1 Pet. i. 21; Heb. i. 1, 2; Gal. iv. 4.    S. John vi. 58. created of the Virgin. And thus the meaning is: I, Who am begotten before the worlds, am He Who was created of mortal woman, created for a set purpose.

61. Again, immediately before the declaration, “The Lord created Me,” He says, “I will tell of the things which are from eternity,” and before saying, “He begat,” He premised, “In the beginning, before He made the earth, before all hills.” In its extent, the preposition “before” reaches back into the past without end or limit, and so “Before Abraham was, I am,”562    S. John viii. 58.    Isa. xiv. 6. clearly need not mean “after Adam,” just as “before the Morning Star”563    Ps. cx. 3.    1 Thess. v. 10. need not mean “after the angels.” But when He said “before,” He intended, not that He was included in any one’s existence, but that all things are included in His, for thus it is the custom of Holy Writ to show the eternity of God. Finally, in another passage you may read: “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever the earth and the world were made, Thou art from everlasting to everlasting.”564    Ps. xc. 2.    S. John x. 17 ff.

62. Before all created things, then, is the Son begotten; within all and for the good of all is He made; begotten of the Father, above the Law,565    S. Mark ii. 28.    S. John vi. 54. brought forth of Mary, under the Law.566    Gal. iv. 4.    S. John vi. 56.

CAPUT IX.

Difficultatem ex loco Salomonis supra laudato exorientem solvit Ambrosius, illic et praeteritum sumi pro futuro, et geminam in Christo naturam designari patefaciens.

59. Fortasse dices, quomodo de incarnatione Christi dictum esse memoraverim: Dominus creavit me, cum ante incarnationem Christi creatura sit mundi? Sed considera quia moris est Scripturis divinis, et futura pro praeteritis dicere, et geminam in Christo significare substantiam divinitatis, et carnis; 0602B ne quis aut divinitatem neget ejus, aut carnem.

60. Nam sicut in Esaia habes: Puer natus est nobis, et Filius datus est nobis (Esai. IX, 6); ita hic quoque ante praemisit creaturam carnis, et subtexuit assertionem divinitatis; ut scires non duos Christos, sed unum esse: qui et ante saecula generatus sit ex Patre, et ultimis temporibus creatus ex Virgine, hoc est: Ego sum ille creatus ex homine, creatus ad causam, qui sum generatus ante saecula.

61. Denique dicturus: Dominus creavit me, praemisit: Commemorabo quae a saeculo sunt. Dicturus: Genuit, praemisit: In principio antequam terram faceret, ante omnes colles genuit me. Ante, cum dicitur, in infinitum retro sine aliqua definitione porrigitur. Denique, ante Abraham, inquit, ego sum (Joan. VIII, 0602C 58), non utique post Adam: et ante Luciferum (Psal. CIX, 3), non utique post angelos. Sed ante, cum dixit, non se intra aliquem, sed omnia intra se dixit; sic enim moris est aeternitatem Dei Scripturis significare divinis. Denique alibi habes: Priusquam montes fierent, et formaretur orbis terrae, a saeculo et usque in saeculum tu es (Psal. LXXXIX, 2).

62. Ante omnia ergo generatio, inter omnia et propter omnia creatura. Natus ex Patre supra Legem, factus ex Maria sub Lege.