Chapter XI.

St. Ambrose returns to the main question, and shows that whenever Christ is said to have “been made” (or “become”), this must be understood with reference to His Incarnation, or to certain limitations. In this sense several passages of Scripture—especially of St. Paul—are expounded. The eternal Priesthood of Christ, prefigured in Melchizedek. Christ possesses not only likeness, but oneness with the Father.

76. When, therefore, Christ is said to have been “made,” to have “become,” the phrase relates, not to the substance of the Godhead, but often to the Incarnation—sometimes indeed to a particular office; for if you understand it of His Godhead, then God was made into an object of insult and derision inasmuch as it is written: “But thou hast rejected thy Christ,581    Or, as E.V.—“Thine Anointed” (χριστὸς from χρίω=anoint). and brought Him to nought; thou hast driven Him to wander;” and again: “And He was made the derision of His neighbours.”582    Ps. lxxxix. 37, 40. Of His neighbours, mark you—not of them of His household, not of them who clave to Him, for “he who cleaveth to the Lord is one Spirit;”583    1 Cor. vi. 17. he who is neighbour doth not cleave to Him. Again, “He was made a derision,” because the Lord’s Cross is to Jews a stumbling-block, and to Greeks is foolishness:584    1 Cor. i. 23. for to them that are wise He is, by that same Cross, made higher than the heavens, higher than angels, and is made the Mediator of the better covenant, even as He was Mediator of the former.

77. Mark how I repeat the phrase; so far am I from seeking to avoid it. Yet take notice in what sense He is “made.”

78. In the first place, “having made purification, He sitteth on the right hand of Majesty on high, being made so much better than the angels.”585    Heb. i. 3, 4. Now where purification is, there is a victim; where there is a victim, there is also a body; where a body is, there is oblation; where there is the office of oblation, there also is sacrifice made with suffering.

79. In the next place, He is the Mediator of a better covenant. But where there is testamentary disposition, the death of the testator must first come to pass,586    Heb. vii. 22; xi. 16. as it is written a little further on. Howbeit, the death is not the death of His eternal Godhead, but of His weak human frame.

80. Furthermore, we are taught how He is made “higher than the heavens.” “Unspotted,” saith the Scripture,587    Heb. vii. 26, 27. “separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; not having daily need, as the priests have need, to offer a victim first for his own sins, and then for those of the people. For this He did by sacrificing Himself once and for all.” None is said to be made higher, save he who has in some respect been lower; Christ, then, is, by His sitting at the right hand of the Father, made higher in regard of that wherein, being made lower than the angels, He offered Himself to suffer.

81. Finally, the Apostle himself saith to the Philippians, that “being made in the likeness of man, and found in outward appearance as a man, He humbled Himself, being made obedient even unto death.”588    Phil. ii. 7, 8. Mark that, in regard whereof He is “made,” He is made, the Apostle saith, in the likeness of man, not in respect of Divine Sovereignty, and He was made obedient unto death, so that He displayed the obedience proper to man, and obtained the kingdom appertaining of right to Godhead.

82. How many passages need we cite further in evidence that His “being made” must be understood with reference to His Incarnation, or to some particular dispensation? Now whatsoever is made, the same is also created, for “He spake and they were made; He gave also the word, and they were created.”589    Ps. cxlviii. 5. “The Lord created me.” These words are spoken with regard to His Manhood; and we have also shown, in our First Book, that the word “created” appears to have reference to the Incarnation.

83. Again, the Apostle himself, by declaring that no worship is to be rendered to a created existence, has shown that the Son has not been created, but begotten, of God.590    Rom. i. 25. At the same time he shows in other places what there was in Christ that was created, in order to make plain in what sense he has read in Solomon’s book: “The Lord created Me.”

84. Let us now review a whole passage591    Viz.: the complete section Heb. ii. 14–iii. 2. in order. “Seeing, then, that the sons have parts of flesh and blood, He too likewise was made to have part in the same, to the end that by death He might overthrow him who had the power of death.”592    Heb. ii. 14. Who, then, is He Who would have us to be partakers in His own flesh and blood? Surely the Son of God. How, save by means of the flesh, was He made partaker with us,593    Particeps noster—our partner, companion, sharing all our labours (and taking the lion’s share, too). Isa. liii. 4. or by what, save by bodily death, brake He the chains of death? For Christ’s endurance of death was made the death of Death.594    1 Cor. xv. 54, 55. This text, then, speaks of the Incarnation.

85. Let us see what follows: “For He did not indeed [straightway] put on Him the nature of angels, but that of Abraham’s seed. And thus was He able to be made like to His brethren in all things throughout, that He might become a compassionate and faithful Prince, a Priest unto God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people; for in that He Himself suffered He is able also to help them that are tempted. Wherefore, brethren most holy, ye who have each his share in a heavenly calling, look upon the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Jesus, regard His faithfulness to His Creator, even as Moses was in his house.”595    Heb. ii. 16–iii. 2. These, then, are the Apostle’s words.

86. You see what it is in respect whereof the writer calls Him created: “In so far as He took upon Him the seed of Abraham;” plainly asserting the begetting of a body. How, indeed, but in His body did He expiate the sins of the people? In what did He suffer, save in His body—even as we said above: “Christ having suffered in the flesh”? In what is He a priest, save in that which He took to Himself from the priestly nation?596    “Priestly nation.”—Ex. xix. 5; 1 Pet. ii. 9. We must not understand especial reference to the priestly tribe of Levi only, but to the whole people of Israel. Cf. Heb. vii.

87. It is a priest’s duty to offer something, and, according to the Law, to enter into the holy places by means of blood; seeing, then, that God had rejected the blood of bulls and goats, this High Priest was indeed bound to make passage and entry into the holy of holies in heaven through His own blood, in order that He might be the everlasting propitiation for our sins. Priest and victim, then, are one; the priesthood and sacrifice are, however, exercised under the conditions of humanity, for He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and He is a priest after the order of Melchizedek.597    Ps. cx. 4.

88. Let no man, therefore, when he beholds an order of human establishment, contend that in it resides the claim of Divinity;598    Gen. xiv. 18 ff. for even that Melchizedek, by whose office Abraham offered sacrifice, the Church doth certainly not hold to be an angel (as some Jewish triflers do), but a holy man and priest of God, who, prefiguring our Lord,599    Orig. “typum gerens Domini”—“bearing the stamp of our Lord,” marked with His mark, as a coin is stamped with the image and superscription of the king or other authority who issues it. is described as “without father or mother, without history of his descent, without beginning and without end,”600    Heb. vii. 1 ff. in order to show beforehand the coming into this world of the eternal Son of God, Who likewise was incarnate and then brought forth without any father, begotten as God without mother, and was without history of descent, for it is written: “His generation who shall declare?”601    Isa. liii. 8.

89. This Melchizedek, then, have we received as a priest of God made upon the model of Christ, but the one we regard as the type, the other as the original. Now a type is a shadow of the truth, and we have accepted the royalty of the one in the name of a single city, but that of the other as shown in the reconciliation of the whole world; for it is written: “God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself;”602    2 Cor. v. 19. that is to say, [in Christ was] eternal Godhead: or, if the Father is in the Son, even as the Son is in the Father, then Their unity in both nature603    Lat. substantia. and operation is plainly not denied.

90. But how, indeed, could our adversaries justly deny this, even if they would, when the Scripture saith: “But the Father, Who abideth in Me, even He doeth the works;” and “The works that I do, He Himself worketh”?604    S. John xiv. 10. Not “He also doeth the works,” but one should regard it as similarity rather than unity of work; in saying, “The things that I do, He Himself doeth,” the Apostle has left it clear that we ought to believe that the work of the Father and the work of the Son is one.

91. On the other hand, when He would have similarity, not unity, of works, to be understood, He said: “He that believeth in Me, the works which I do, shall he do also.”605    S. John xiv. 12. Skilfully inserting here the word “also,” He hath allowed us similarity, and yet hath not ascribed natural unity. One, therefore, is the work of the Father and the work of the Son, whether the Arians please so to think or not.

CAPUT XI.

Redit ad locum propositum, et ubi Christus dicitur factus, hoc vel ad incarnationem vel ad causam sive adjunctum aliquod referri docet. Ad eum sensum plurima sacrorum codicum et Pauli imprimis testimonia edisserit: maxime autem in eo immoratur, ut Christum verum sacerdotem esse atque in Melchisedech praefiguratum, eique cum Patre operationis unitatem, non vero solam similitudinem inesse persuadeat.

76. Non ergo ad substantiam divinitatis, sed ad incarnationem saepe, nonnumquam etiam ad causam 0605C pertinet, cum dicitur factus. Nam si ad divinitatem refers, ergo et in opprobrium Deus factus est; sic enim habes: Tu autem repulisti, et ad nihilum redegisti, dispulisti Christum tuum (Psal. LXXXVIII, 39); et infra: Et factus est in opprobrium vicinis suis (Ibid., 42). Vicinis, inquit, non civibus, non domesticis, non adhaerentibus; quoniam qui adhaeret Domino, unus spiritus est (I Cor. VI, 17): qui vicinus est, non adhaeret. Et, Factus est in opprobrium; quia crux Domini Judaeis scandalum, Graecis stultitia (I Cor. I, 23). Nam sapientibus per eamdem crucem excelsior factus est coelis, excelsior angelis, et melioris testamenti factus est sponsor, ipse qui erat prioris.

77. Vide quam non defugiam ista, ut etiam congeram: sed quomodo factus sit, considera.

0606A 78. Primum quod purificatione facta, considet in dextera magnitudinis in excelsis, tanto melior factus angelis (Hebr. I, 3, 4). Ubi purificatio, hostia: ubi hostia, corpus: ubi corpus, oblatio: ubi munus oblationis, ibi sacrificium passionis.

79. Deinde sponsor melioris testamenti (Hebr. VII, 22). Ubi testamentum, mors necesse est praecedat testatoris (Hebr. IX, 16), sicut subter est scriptum: mors autem non ad divinitatis aeternitatem, sed ad fragilitatem refertur humanam.

80. Excelsior quoque coelis factus quomodo sit, ostenditur: Immaculatus, inquit, segregatus a peccatoribus, et excelsior coelis factus: qui non habet quotidie necessitatem, sicut sacerdotes, prius pro suis delictis hostiam offerre, deinde pro populi. Hoc enim fecit semel 0606Bse offerendo, sicut scriptum est (Hebr. VII, 26, 27). 512 Nemo excelsior factus dicitur, nisi qui in aliquo fuerit humilior: in eo igitur excelsior factus est, sedendo ad dexteram Patris, in quo se minor angelis factus, obtulit passioni (Hebr. II, 9).

81. Postremo ipse Apostolus ad Philippenses ait, quia in similitudine hominis factus, et specie inventus ut homo, humiliavit semetipsum, factus obediens usque ad mortem (Phil. II, 7, 8). Vide ubi factus sit: In similitudine, inquit, hominis, non in potestate Dei: et factus abediens usque ad mortem; ut obedientiam quidem hominis habuerit, regnum divinitatis.

82. Quantis igitur adhuc utemur exemplis ad incarnationem, vel ad aliquid referendum esse quod factus est! Quod autem et factum est, idem 0606C est et creatum: Dixit enim, et facta sunt: ipse mandavit, et creata sunt (Psal. CXLVIII, 5). Dominus creavit me (Prov. VIII, 22), secundum carnem dictum: creatum quoque supra ostendimus in libro primo (Cap. 14 et seq.) de incarnatione dictum videri.

83. Ipse etiam Apostolus asserendo serviendum non esse creaturae, significavit ex Deo Filium non creatum esse, sed genitum (Rom. I, 25). Tamen etiam alibi, ut manifestaret quomodo in Salomone sit lectum: Dominus creavit me; quid in Christo creatum esset, ostendit.

84. Itaque totius seriem capitis recenseamus; sic enim habes: Ergo quia filii participes sunt carnis et sanguinis, et ipse similiter particeps factus est eorumdem; ut per mortem destrueret hunc qui mortis habebat 0607Aimperium (Hebr. II, 14). Quis ergo est qui nos participes suae voluit esse carnis et sanguinis? Utique Dei Filius. Quomodo nisi per carnem particeps factus est noster? aut per quam, nisi per corporis mortem mortis vincula dissolvit? Mortis enim mors facta est susceptio mortis in Christo. Ergo de incarnatione proposuit.

85. Videamus sequentia: Nec enim statim Angelos, inquit, assumpsit, sed semen Abrahae. Unde habuit per omnia fratribus similari; ut misericors fieret et fidelis princeps, sacerdos ad Deum, ut expiaret peccata populi. In quo enim passus est ipse; et tentatus, potest et tentatos juvare (Ibid., 16, 17). Propter quod, fratres sanctissimi, vocationis coelestis participes, intuemini apostolum et principem sacerdotum confessionis nostrae Jesum 0607Bfidelem esse creatori suo, sicut et Moyses in domo ejus (Hebr. III, 1, 2). Haec nempe verba sunt Apostoli.

86. Videtis in quo creatum dicat: in quo assumpsit, inquit, semen Abrahae, corporalem utique generationem asserit. In quo autem, nisi in corpore expiavit populi peccata? In quo passus est, nisi in corpore; sicut et supra diximus: Christo passo secundum carnem? In quo sacerdos, nisi in eo quod sacerdotali assumpsit ex genere?

87. Sacerdos enim aliquid debet offerre, et secundum Legem in sancta intrare per sanguinem (Hebr. IX, 25): 513 ergo quia sanguinem taurorum, hircorumque repudiaverat Deus, hunc utique sacerdotem per suum sanguinem, sicut legisti, in sancta sanctorum coeli summa penetrantem oportebat intrare (Ibid. 12); 0607C ut aeterna nostrorum esset oblatio peccatorum. Idem ergo sacerdos, idem et hostia: et sacerdotium tamen, et sacrificium humanae conditionis officium est; nam et agnus ad immolandum ductus est, et sacerdos est secundum ordinem Melchisedech.

88. Nemo igitur ubi ordinem cernit humanae conditionis, ibi jus divinitatis asserat. Nam et illum Melchisedech per quem Abraham hostias suas obtulit (Gen. XIV, 18), non angelum utique secundum Judaica ludibria intelligit Ecclesia, sed virum sanctum, ac sacerdotem Dei, qui typum gerens Domini, et sine Patre, et sine matre, et sine generationis enarratione, et sine initio, et sine fine describitur; ut ostenderet sempiternum Filium Dei in hunc mundum esse venturum, qui et sine Patre secundum 0607D incarnationem natus est, et sine matre secundum divinam generationem, et sine enarratione generationis; quia scriptum est: Generationem autem ejus quis enarrabit (Esa. LIII, 8)?

89. Ergo illum Melchisedech in Christi typo sacerdotem Dei accepimus: sed illum in typo, hunc in veritate: typus autem umbra est veritatis: illum in nomine unius civitatis, hunc regem in reconciliatione 0608A totius mundi; quia scriptum est: Deus erat in Christo, mundum reconcilians sibi (II Cor. V, 19); hoc est, sempiterna divinitas; aut, si Pater in Filio, sicut Filius in Patre, et substantiae utique et operationis unitas non negatur.

90. Quomodo autem negare merito possunt, etiam si velint, cum scriptum sit: Pater autem qui in me manet, ipse facit opera; et: Opera quae ego facio, ipse facit (Joan. XIV, 10)? Non dixit: Et ipse facit; ne similitudinem magis, quam unitatem operis aestimares: sed dicendo: Quae ego facio, ipse facit, manifestum reliquit quod unum opus Patris et Filii credere debeamus.

91. Denique ubi similitudinem operum, non unitatem voluit intelligi: Qui credit, inquit, in me, 0608Bopera quae ego facio, et ipse faciet (Ibid., 12). Bene hic et interponendo, similitudinem nobis donavit; et tamen unitatem naturalem negavit. Unum est igitur opus Patris et Filii, etiamsi non placeat Arianis.