Chapter XXXVIII.

Since we hold that the great God is in essence simple, invisible, and incorporeal, Himself pure intelligence, or something transcending intelligence and existence, we can never say that God is apprehended by any other means than through the intelligence which is formed in His image, though now, in the words of Paul, “we see in a glass obscurely, but then face to face.”1691    1 Cor. xiii. 12.  And if we use the expression “face to face,” let no one pervert its meaning; but let it be explained by this passage, “Beholding with open face the glory of the Lord, we are changed into the same image, from glory to glory,” which shows that we do not use the word in this connection to mean the visible face, but take it figuratively, in the same way as we have shown that the eyes, the ears, and the other parts of the body are employed.  And it is certain that a man—I mean a soul using a body, otherwise called “the inner man,” or simply “the soul”—would answer, not as Celsus makes us answer, but as the man of God himself teaches.  It is certain also that a Christian will not make use of “the language of the flesh,” having learnt as he has “to mortify the deeds of the body”1692    Rom. viii. 13. by the spirit, and “to bear about in his body the dying of Jesus;”1693    2 Cor. iv. 10. and “mortify your members which are on the earth,”1694    Col. iii. 5. and with a true knowledge of these words, “My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh,”1695    Gen. vi. 3. and again, “They that are in the flesh cannot please God,”1696    Rom. viii. 8. he strives in every way to live no longer according to the flesh, but only according to the Spirit.

Νοῦν τοίνυν ἢ ἐπέκεινα νοῦ καὶ οὐσίας λέγοντες εἶναι ἁπλοῦν καὶ ἀόρατον καὶ ἀσώματον τὸν τῶν ὅλων θεόν, οὐκ ἂν ἄλλῳ τινὶ ἢ τῷ κατὰ τὴν ἐκείνου τοῦ νοῦ εἰκόνα γενομένῳ φήσομεν καταλαμβάνεσθαι τὸν θεόν· νῦν μέν, ἵνα τῇ λέξει χρήσωμαι τοῦ Παύλου, "δι' ἐσόπτρου καὶ [ἐν] αἰνίγματι τότε δὲ πρόσωπον πρὸς πρόσωπον". "Πρόσωπον" δὲ ἐὰν λέγω, μὴ συκοφαντείτω τις διὰ τὴν λέξιν τὸν δηλούμενον νοῦν ὑπ' αὐτῆς, ἀλλὰ μανθανέτω [ἐν τῷ] "ἀνακεκαλυμμένῳ προσώπῳ τὴν δόξαν κυρίου κατοπτριζόμενοι καὶ τὴν αὐτὴν εἰκόνα μεταμορφούμενοι ἀπὸ δόξης εἰς δόξαν" οὐ πρόσωπον αἰσθητὸν ἐν τοῖς τοιούτοις παραλαμβανόμενον ἀλλὰ κατὰ τροπολογίαν νοούμενον ὡς καὶ ὀφθαλμοὺς καὶ ὦτα, καὶ ὅσα ἐν τοῖς ἀνωτέρω ὁμώνυμα τοῖς τοῦ σώματος μέλεσι παρεσ τήσαμεν. Καὶ ἄνθρωπος μὲν οὖν, τουτέστι ψυχὴ χρωμένη σώματι, λεγομένη "ὁ ἔσω ἄνθρωπος" ἀλλὰ καὶ "ψυχή", ἀποκρί νεται οὐχ ἅπερ Κέλσος ἀνέγραψεν, ἀλλ' ἅπερ αὐτὸς διδάσκει ὁ τοῦ θεοῦ ἄνθρωπος. Σαρκὸς δὲ φωνῇ οὐκ ἂν Χριστιανὸς χρήσαιτο, μαθὼν "πνεύματι τὰς πράξεις τοῦ σώματος" θανατοῦν καὶ "πάντοτε τὴν νέκρωσιν τοῦ Ἰησοῦ ἐν τῷ σώματι" περιφέρειν καὶ "Νεκρώσατε τὰ μέλη τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς", καὶ εἰδὼς τί δηλοῦται ἐκ τοῦ "Οὐ μὴ καταμείνῃ τὸ πνεῦμά μου ἐν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις τούτοις εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα διὰ τὸ εἶναι αὐτοὺς σάρκας", ἐπιστάμενος δὲ καὶ ὅτι "Οἱ ἐν σαρκὶ ὄντες θεῷ ἀρέσαι οὐ δύνανται" καὶ διὰ τοῦτο πάντα πράττων εἰς τὸ μηδαμῶς αὐτὸν ἔτι εἶναι "ἐν τῇ σαρκὶ ἀλλ'" "ἐν" μόνῳ "τῷ πνεύματι".