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effecting His own incarnation, and with the cooperation of the Holy Spirit, He accomplished this. And that he holds to this concept, is clear from this. For having said that because of the ineffable (240) union of the human and divine nature, God is said to have suffered, and humanity to have descended from heaven with the humanity to have descended from heaven with the divinity; and by this to have shown the perfect exchange of the properties naturally belonging to each nature of the one Christ and Son, by way of transfer, he adds, saying, "Whence we also confess one will of our Lord Jesus Christ," How, he says? "Because manifestly our nature was assumed by the divinity, not sin;" that is, not out of sin; all but speaking in unison with the great Athanasius, who wrote these things against the impious Apollinaris, "He was born of a woman, having raised up for himself the form of man from the first creation, in a manifestation of flesh without fleshly wills and human thoughts, in an image of newness; for the will is of divinity alone, since the whole nature is also divinity." For since the procession of the birth of the Word according to the flesh for our sakes occurred in a way beyond us; for no passionate will or thought of the flesh preceded, as is seen in our case, because of the pleasure which, from deceit, has mastered the race, but only the will of the divinity through the Son effecting, as I said, his own embodiment according to the good pleasure of the Father, and the cooperation of the all-holy Spirit, innovating in himself and through himself the manner of birth introduced into nature, and effecting his own conception without seed from the holy Theotokos and Ever-virgin Mary; having considered this ineffable principle of his birth, the one said, "only the will of divinity is in him," while the other, "One will of the Lord Jesus Christ, because manifestly, he says, our nature was assumed by the divinity, and not sin;" "without fleshly wills and human thoughts," as the divine Athanasius says; certainly not that he, as man, along with being God by nature, does not have a human and natural will, just as he also has a divine and paternal one.

And the same thing he also intimates in what follows, stating, "He was conceived without sin by the Holy Spirit, and of the holy, immaculate, and Ever-virgin Theotokos Mary, and was born of her according to the flesh without stain." And divine Scripture he adduces, (241) making mention of the flesh, both in praise and in censure, not suggesting we understand the flesh of the Lord as another than ours in nature and in substance—far from it!—since he knew that it was assumed from our substance, that is, from the all-holy womb of the Ever-virgin and Mother of God who is of one nature with us, but as another with respect to sin, and in having nothing at all opposed, as we have in our members the law from the transgression to the law of the spirit. "For the flesh corrupted by sin was not assumed, he says, by the Savior, which wars against the law of his mind." For of whom the law of birth according to sin through seed did not precede, in him it is entirely not present even in his members, but a law of righteousness is manifested to us for a model, and completely abolishing that which was introduced into nature by the transgression. "For the sinless one came, he says, to seek and to save the lost, that is, the sinning nature of the human race." "For another law in his members, or a will different or contrary to the Father did not exist." From this showing, not that he did not have a human and natural will; for he does not appear to have said this; but that as man, neither in body through the members did he possess anything whatsoever contrary to nature

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αὐτουργοῦντος τήν οἰκείαν σάρκωσιν, καί Πνεύματος ἁγίου συνδρομῇ, ταύτην εἰργάσατο. Καί ὅτι γε ταύτης ἔχεται τῆς ἐννοίας, δῆλον ἐντεῦθεν. Εἰπών γάρ, ὅτι διά τήν ἄφραστον (240) ἕνωσιν τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης καί θείας φύσεως, καί Θεός λέγεται παθεῖν, καί ἀνθρωπότης ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ κατελθεῖν μετά τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ κατελθεῖν μετά τῆς θεότητος· καί ταύτῃ δεῖξαι τήν τῶν φυσικῶς προσόντων ἑκατέρᾳ φύσει τῶν τοῦ ἑνός Χριστοῦ καί Υἱοῦ κατ᾿ ἀπαλλαγήν ἄκραν ἀντίδοσιν, ἐπάγει λέγων, " Ὅθεν καί ἕν θέλημα ὁμολογοῦμεν τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ," Πῶς, φησίν; " Ἐπειδή προδήλως ἐκ τῆς θεότητος προσελήφθη ἡ ἡμετέρα φύσις, οὐχ ἁμαρτία·" τουτέστιν, οὐκ ἐκ τῆς ἁμαρτίας· μονονουχί συμφθεγγόμενος τῷ μεγάλῳ Ἀθανασίῳ, γράφοντι τάδε κατ᾿ Ἀπολιναρίου τοῦ δυσσεβοῦς, " Ἐγεννήθη ἐκ γυναικός, ἐκ τῆς πρώτης πλάσεως τήν ἀνθρώπου μορφήν ἑαυτῷ ἀναστησάμενος, ἐν ἐπιδείξει σαρκός δίχα σαρκικῶν θελημάτων καί λογισμῶν ἀνθρωπίνων, ἐν εἰκόνι καινότητος· ἡ γάρ θέλησις θεότητος μόνῃ, ἐπειδή καί φύσις ὅλη θεότητος." Ἐπειδή γάρ τῆς δι᾿ ἡμᾶς κατά σάρκα τοῦ Λόγου γεννήσεως ὑπέρ ἡμᾶς, ἡ πρόοδος γέγονεν· οὐ γάρ σαρκός ἐμπαθής προηγήσατο θέλησις ἤ λογισμός, ὡς ἐφ᾿ ἡμῶν ὁρᾶται, διά τήν ἐξ ἀπάτης τοῦ γένους κατακρατοῦσαν ἡδονήν, ἀλλά θέλησις θεότητος μόνη δι᾿ Υἱοῦ αὐτουργοῦντος, ὡς ἔφην, τήν οἰκείαν σωμάτωσιν κατ᾿ εὐδοκίαν Πατρός, καί συνέργειαν τοῦ παναγίου Πνεύματος, καινοτομοῦντος ἐν ἑαυτῷ τε καί δι᾿ ἑαυτοῦ τόν ἐπεισαχθέντα τῇ φύσει τῆς γεννήσεως τρόπον, καί ἀσπόρως τήν ἑαυτοῦ ποιουμένου σύλληψιν ἐκ τῆς ἁγίας Θεοτόκου καί Ἀειπαρθένου Μαρίας· τοῦτον δή τόν ἄῤῥητον αὐτοῦ τῆς γεννήσεως σκοπήσαντες λόγον, ἐκεῖνος μέν, "θέλησιν μόνην ἐπ᾿ αὐτοῦ θεότητος" εἶπεν, οὗτος δέ, "Θέλημα ἕν τοῦ Κυρίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ἐπειδή προδήλως, φησίν, ἐκ τῆς θεότητος προσελήφθη ἡ ἡμετέρα φύσις, καί οὐχ ἁμαρτία· δίχα σαρκικῶν θελημάτων καί λογισμῶν ἀνθρωπίνων," ὡς ὁ θεῖός φησιν Ἀθανάσιος· οὐ μέν γε τό μή καί ὡς ἄνθρωπον αὐτόν μετά τοῦ εἶναι φύσει Θεόν οὐκ ἔχει ἀνθρώπινον θέλημα καί φυσικόν, ὥσπερ οὖν καί θεῖον καί πατρικόν.

Τό δ᾿ αὐτό κἀν τοῖς ἑξῆς ὑπαινίττεται, φάσκων, "Χωρίς ἁμαρτίας συνελήφθη ἐκ Πνεύματος ἁγίου, καί τῆς ἁγίας ἀχράντου καί Ἀειπαρθένου θεοτόκου Μαρίας, καί χωρίς μολυσμοῦ ἐξ αὐτῆς κατά σάρκα γεγέννηται." Τήν δέ γε θείαν Γραφήν ἐπαινετῶς τε καί ψεκτῶς παράγει (241) τῆς σαρκός μνημονεύουσαν, οὐχ ἑτέραν μή γένοιτο, τῇ τε φύσει καί τῇ οὐσίᾳ τήν τοῦ Κυρίου σάρκα πρός τήν ἡμετέραν ὑποβάλλων νοεῖν, ὅς γε ταύτην ἠπίστατο προσληφθεῖαν ἐκ τῆς ἡμετέρας οὐσίας, ἤγουν τῶν τῆς ὁμοφυοῦς ἡμῖν Ἀειπαρθένου καί Θεομήτορος παναγίων σπλάγχνων, ἀλλ᾿ ἑτέραν τῇ ἁμαρτησίᾳ, καί τοῦ μηδαμῶς ἀντιταττόμενον ἔχειν, καθάπερ ἡμεῖς ἐν τοῖς μέλεσι τόν ἐκ παραβάσεως νόμον τῷ νόμῳ τοῦ πνεύματος "Οὐ γάρ προσελήφθη, φησίν, ὑπό τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡ κατεφθαρμένη ἀπό τῆς ἁμαρτίας σάρξ, ἡ ἀντιστρατευομένη τῷ νόμῳ τοῦ νοός αὐτοῦ." Οὗ τινος γάρ οὐ προκαθηγήσατο ὁ καθ᾿ ἁμαρτίαν διά σπορᾶς τῆς γεννήσεως νόμος, τούτου παντελῶς οὐ δέ τοῖς μέλεσιν ἐνυπάρχει, ἀλλά νόμος δικαιοσύνης πρός ὑποτύπωσιν ἡμῖν ἐκφαινόμενος, καί τόν ἐκ παραβάσεως ἐπεισαχθέντα τῇ φύσει τελείως ἐξαφανίζων. Ἦλθε γάρ, φησίν, ὁ ἀναμάρτητος ζητῆσαι καί σῶσαι τό ἀπολωλός, τουτέστι τήν ἁμαρτήσασαν τοῦ ἀνθρωπίνου γένους φύσιν. " Ἕτερος γάρ νόμος ἐν τοῖς μέλεσιν αὐτοῦ, ἤ θέλημα διάφορον ἤ ἐναντίον οὐ γέγονε τῷ Πατρί." Ἐντεῦθεν δεικνύς, οὐχ ὡς οὐκ εἶχεν ἀνθρώπινον θέλημα καί φυσικόν· οὐ γάρ λέξας φαίνεται τοῦτο· ἀλλ᾿ ὅτιπερ ὡς ἄνθρωπος οὔτε κατά σῶμα διά τῶν μελῶν τήν οἱανοῦν ἐκέκτητο παρά φύσιν