14. Nay, and that ye may know that he has referred the matter to deeds, he saith, “And every spirit, qui solvit Christum, which does away with Christ that He came in the flesh,356    Qui solvit Christum in carne venisse. Edd. Erasm. Lugd. and Ven. omit in carne venisse, but the Louvain editors attest that they are found in the mss. of Augustin. Ed. Par. (Bodl. mss. ext. Laud. 116, a late one, have them). Infra, Hom. vii. 2. Omnis qui solvit J.C., et negat eum in carne venisse. The printed Vulg. has, Omnis spiritus qui solvit Christum ex Deo non est. In Serm. 182 and 183, preached some time later on this text, Aug. reads it, Omnis sp. qui non confitetur (and, qui negat) Jesum Christum in carne venisse. S. Cypr. Test. adv. Jud. ii. 18, qui autem negat in carne venisse, de Deo non est. S. Iren. iii. 18, in the ancient Latin version, Et omnis sp. qui solvit Jesum Christum, non est ex Deo. Tertull. adv. Marcion. v. 16, præcursores antichristi spiritus, negantes Christum in carne venisse et solventes Jesum, sc. in Deo creatore. De jejun. adv. Psych. 1, non quod alium Deum prædicent.…, nec quod Jesum Christum solvant. De carne Christi, 24. Qui negat Christum in carne venisse, hic antichristus est: where he says, the apostle “by clearly marking one Christ, shakes those who argue for a Christ multiform, making Christ one, Jesus another, &c.” Leo Ep. x. 5. ad Flavian, seems to have read in the Gr. διαιροῦν. Other Latin authorities for the reading qui solvit are cited by Mill. in loc. Socrates H. E. vii. 32, affirms, that in the old mss. the reading was πᾶν πνεῦμα ὃ λύει τὸν ’Ιησοῦν ἀπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ οὐκ žστι: adding, that the expression was expunged from the old copies by those who would fain separate the Godhead from the Man of the Incarnation, οἰ χωρίζειν ἀπὸ τοῦ τῆς οἰκονομίας ἀνθρώπου βουλόμενοι τὴν θεότητα. (Valesius in loc. suggests that Socrates may have read in his mss. ὃ λύει τὸν ’Ιησοῦν ἀπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ οὐκ žστι: Matthäi, that he wrote, ë μὴ ὁμολογεῖ, τούτεστιν, ὃ λύει.) But no extant mss. acknowledge the reading: and the Greek Fathers headed by S. Polycarp ad Philipp. sec. 7 (πᾶς ὃς ἂν μὴ ὁμολογῇ ’Ι.Χ. ἐν σαρκἱ ἐληλυθέναι,) bear witness to the received text: only Cyril. de recta Fide ad Reginas being cited by Mill for the reading λύει. This reading may (as Mill has suggested, comp. Grot. in loc.) have originated in a marginal gloss, directed against the Gnostics. Thus in a scholion edited by Matthäi it is said: “For the precursors of Antichrist were the heresies, whose characteristic mark it is by the means of false prophets and spirits λύειν τὸν ’Ιησοῦν, to unmake Jesus, by not confessing that He is come in the flesh.” is not of God.” A doing away in deeds is meant. What has he shown thee? “That denieth:” in that he saith, “doeth away” (or, “unmaketh”). He came to gather in one, thou comest to unmake. Thou wouldest pull Christ’s members asunder. How can it be said that thou deniest not that Christ is come in the flesh, who rendest assunder the Church of God which He hath gathered together? Therefore thou goest against Christ; thou art an antichrist. Be thou within, or be thou without, thou art an antichrist: only, when thou art within, thou art hidden; when thou art without, thou art made manifest. Thou unmakest Jesus and deniest that He came in the flesh; thou art not of God. Therefore He saith in the Gospel: “Whoso shall break357    Solverit. one of these least commandments, and shall teach so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven.”358    Matt. v. 19. What is this breaking? What this teaching? A breaking in the deeds and a teaching as it were in words.359    S. Aug. de Serm. Dom. in Monte, i. 21. Qui ergo solverit et docuerit homines…i.e., secundum id quod solvit, non secundum id quod invenit et legit…Qui autem fecerit et docuerit sic (οὕτως for οὖτος) h.e. secundum id quod non solvit. Here he takes docuerit sic in the sense of teaching men by and agreeably with the practice of the teacher, which is that of breaking the commandments: “whosoever shall break one of these least commandments and in that way shall teach men,” solverit et secundum suam solutionem docuerit. But supra, Hom. in Ev. cxxii. 9, he seems to make it parallel with Matt. xxiii. 3, “they say and do not:” qui docent bona loquendo quæ solvunt male vivendo. Comp. Serm. cclii. 3. His full meaning appears to be, that together with the good teaching in words, there goes a sort of teaching (quasi docet) not in words but in the deeds. “Thou that preachest men should not steal, dost thou steal?”360    Rom. ii. 21. Therefore he that steals breaks or undoes the commandment in his deed, and as it were teaches so: “he shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven,” i.e. in the Church of this present time.361    So in Serm. cclii. 3: de Civ. D. xx. 9; but otherwise explained above, Tract. cxxii. 9. Of him it is said, “What they say do ye; but what they do, that do not ye.362    Matt. xxiii. 3. But he that shall do, and shall teach so, shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” From this, that He has here said, fecerit, “shall do,” while in opposition to this He has there said solverit, meaning non fecerit, “shall not do, and shall teach so”—to break, then, is, not to do—what doth He teach us, but that we should interrogate men’s deeds, not take their words upon trust? The obscurity of the things compels us to speak much at length, chiefly that that which the Lord deigns to reveal may be brought within reach even of the brethren of slower understanding, because all were bought by the blood of Christ. And I am afraid the epistle itself will not be finished during these days as I promised: but as the Lord will, it is better to reserve the remainder, than to overload your hearts with too much food.

14. Adeo ut noveritis quia ad facta retulit, Et omnis spiritus, ait, qui solvit Christum, in carne venisse , non est ex Deo. Solvere factis intelligitur. Quid tibi ostendit? qui negat; quia dixit, solvit . Ille venit colligere, tu venis solvere. Distringere vis membra Christi. Quomodo non negas Christum in carne venisse, qui disrumpis Ecclesiam Dei, quam ille congregavit? 2029 Contra Christum ergo venis; antichristus es. Intus sis, foris sis; antichristus es: sed quando intus es, lates, quando foris es, manifestaris. Solvis Jesum, et negas eum in carne venisse; non es ex Deo. Ideo dicit in Evangelio: Qui solverit unum de mandatis istis minimis, et docuerit sic, minimus vocabitur in regno coelorum. Quid est, solvitur? quid est, docetur? Solvitur factis, et docetur quasi verbis. Qui praedicas non furandum, furaris (Rom. II, 21). Solvit ergo in facto qui furatur, et quasi docet sic; minimus vocabitur in regno coelorum, id est, in Ecclesia hujus temporis. De illo dictum est, Quae dicunt facite; quae autem faciunt, facere nolite (Matth. XXIII, 3). Qui autem fecerit, et sic docuerit, magnus vocabitur in regno coelorum (Id. V, 19). Ex eo quod dixit hic, fecerit, contra hoc ibi dixit, solverit, id est, non fecerit, et docuerit sic. Ille ergo solvit qui non facit. Quid nos docet, nisi ut facta interrogemus, non verba credamus? Obscuritas rerum multa nos cogit dicere: maxime ut illud quod Dominus revelare dignatur, etiam ad tardiores fratres perveniat; quia omnes Christi sanguine comparati sunt. Et vereor ne ipsa Epistola istis diebus, sicut promiseram, non finiatur: sed quod Domino placet, melius est servare reliquias, quam onerare corda nimio cibo.