On the Incarnation

De Incarnatione Verbi Dei

By: St. Athanasius

St. Mark Coptic Orthodox Church427 West Side Ave, Jersey City, NJ 07304Available via: http://www.saintmark.com

E-mail:webmaster@saintmark.com© January, 1999

Athanasius stood contra mundum ("against theworld") in defense of the biblical doctrine of Christ.He opposed Arius when it seemed all the worldwould follow Arius's heresy. Athanasius's workremains even today the definitive statement oforthodox Trinitarianism.

1. Creation and the Fall

n our former book[1] we dealt fully enoughwith a few of the chief points about theheathen worship of idols, and how those false

fears originally arose. We also, by God's grace,briefly indicated that the Word of the Father isHimself divine, that all things that are owe theirbeing to His will and power, and that it is throughHim that the Father gives order to creation, by Himthat all things are moved, and through Him thatthey receive their being. Now, Macarius, true loverof Christ, we must take a step further in the faith ofour holy religion, and consider also the Word'sbecoming Man and His divine Appearing in ourmidst. That mystery the Jews traduce, the Greeksderide, but we adore; and your own love anddevotion to the Word also will be the greater,because in His Manhood He seems so little worth.For it is a fact that the more unbelievers pour scornon Him, so much the more does He make HisGodhead evident. The things which they, as men,rule out as impossible, He plainly shows to bepossible; that which they deride as unfitting, Hisgoodness makes most fit; and things which thesewiseacres laugh at as "human" He by His inherentmight declares divine. Thus by what seems Hisutter poverty and weakness on the cross Heoverturns the pomp and parade of idols, andquietly and hiddenly wins over the mockers andunbelievers to recognize Him as God.

Now in dealing with these matters it is necessaryfirst to recall what has already been said. You must

understand why it is that the Word of the Father,so great and so high, has been made manifest inbodily form. He has not assumed a body as properto His own nature, far from it, for as the Word He iswithout body. He has been manifested in a humanbody for this reason only, out of the love andgoodness of His Father, for the salvation of usmen. We will begin, then, with the creation of theworld and with God its Maker, for the first fact thatyou must grasp is this: the renewal of creation hasbeen wrought by the Self-same Word Who made itin the beginning. There is thus no inconsistencybetween creation and salvation for the One Fatherhas employed the same Agent for both works,effecting the salvation of the world through thesame Word Who made it in the beginning.

(2) In regard to the making of the universe andthe creation of all things there have been variousopinions, and each person has propounded thetheory that suited his own taste. For instance,some say that all things are self- originated and, soto speak, haphazard. The Epicureans are amongthese; they deny that there is any Mind behind theuniverse at all. This view is contrary to all the factsof experience, their own existence included. For ifall things had come into being in this automaticfashion, instead of being the outcome of Mind,though they existed, they would all be uniform andwithout distinction. In the universe everythingwould be sun or moon or whatever it was, and inthe human body the whole would be hand or eyeor foot. But in point of fact the sun and the moonand the earth are all different things, and evenwithin the human body there are differentmembers, such as foot and hand and head. This

distinctness of things argues not a spontaneousgeneration but a prevenient Cause; and from thatCause we can apprehend God, the Designer andMaker of all.

Others take the view expressed by Plato, thatgiant among the Greeks. He said that God hadmade all things out of pre-existent and uncreatedmatter, just as the carpenter makes things only outof wood that already exists. But those who holdthis view do not realize that to deny that God isHimself the Cause of matter is to impute limitationto Him, just as it is undoubtedly a limitation on thepart of the carpenter that he can make nothingunless he has the wood. How could God be calledMaker and Artificer if His ability to make dependedon some other cause, namely on matter itself? IfHe only worked up existing matter and did notHimself bring matter into being, He would be notthe Creator but only a craftsman.

Then, again, there is the theory of the Gnostics,who have invented for themselves an Artificer of allthings other than the Father of our Lord JesusChrist. These simply shut their eyes to the obviousmeaning of Scripture. For instance, the Lord,having reminded the Jews of the statement inGenesis, "He Who created them in the beginningmade them male and female. . . ," and havingshown that for that reason a man should leave hisparents and cleave to his wife, goes on to say withreference to the Creator, "What therefore God hasjoined together, let no man put asunder."[ 2] Howcan they get a creation independent of the Fatherout of that? And, again, St. John, speaking allinclusively, says, "All things became by Him andwithout Him came nothing into being.[ 3] How then

could the Artificer be someone different, other thanthe Father of Christ?

(3)Such are the notions which men put forward.But the impiety of their foolish talk is plainlydeclared by the divine teaching of the Christianfaith. From it we know that, because there is Mindbehind the universe, it did not originate itself;because God is infinite, not finite, it was not madefrom pre-existent matter, but out of nothing and outof non-existence absolute and utter God brought itinto being through the Word. He says as much inGenesis: "In the beginning God created theheavens and the earth;[4] and again through thatmost helpful book The Shepherd, "Believe thoufirst and foremost that there is One God Whocreated and arranged all things and brought themout of non-existence into being."[ 5] Paul alsoindicates the same thing when he says, "By faithwe understand that the worlds were framed by theWord of God, so that the things which we see nowdid not come into being out of things which hadpreviously appeared."[6] For God is good—or rather,of all goodness He is Fountainhead, and it isimpossible for one who is good to be mean orgrudging about anything. Grudging existence tonone therefore, He made all things out of nothingthrough His own Word, our Lord Jesus Christ andof all these His earthly creatures He reservedespecial mercy for the race of men. Upon them,therefore, upon men who, as animals, wereessentially impermanent, He bestowed a gracewhich other creatures lacked—namely the impress ofHis own Image, a share in the reasonable being ofthe very Word Himself, so that, reflecting Him andthemselves becoming reasonable and expressing

the Mind of God even as He does, though inlimited degree they might continue for ever in theblessed and only true life of the saints in paradise.But since the will of man could turn either way,God secured this grace that He had given bymaking it conditional from the first upon twothings—namely, a law and a place. He set them inHis own paradise, and laid upon them a singleprohibition. If they guarded the grace and retainedthe loveliness of their original innocence, then thelife of paradise should be theirs, without sorrow,pain or care, and after it the assurance ofimmortality in heaven. But if they went astray andbecame vile, throwing away their birthright ofbeauty, then they would come under the naturallaw of death and live no longer in paradise, but,dying outside of it, continue in death and incorruption. This is what Holy Scripture tells us,proclaiming the command of God, "Of every treethat is in the garden thou shalt surely eat, but ofthe tree of the knowledge of good and evil ye shallnot eat, but in the day that ye do eat, ye shallsurely die."[7] "Ye shall surely die"—not just die only,but remain in the state of death and of corruption.

(4) You may be wondering why we arediscussing the origin of men when we set out totalk about the Word's becoming Man. The formersubject is relevant to the latter for this reason: itwas our sorry case that caused the Word to comedown, our transgression that called out His love forus, so that He made haste to help us and toappear among us. It is we who were the cause ofHis taking human form, and for our salvation that inHis great love He was both born and manifested ina human body. For God had made man thus (that

is, as an embodied spirit), and had willed that heshould remain in incorruption. But men, havingturned from the contemplation of God to evil oftheir own devising, had come inevitably under thelaw of death. Instead of remaining in the state inwhich God had created them, they were in processof becoming corrupted entirely, and death hadthem completely under its dominion. For thetransgression of the commandment was makingthem turn back again according to their nature; andas they had at the beginning come into being outof non-existence, so were they now on the way toreturning, through corruption, to non-existenceagain. The presence and love of the Word hadcalled them into being; inevitably, therefore whenthey lost the knowledge of God, they lost existencewith it; for it is God alone Who exists, evil isnon-being, the negation and antithesis of good. Bynature, of course, man is mortal, since he wasmade from nothing; but he bears also the Likenessof Him Who is, and if he preserves that Likenessthrough constant contemplation, then his nature isdeprived of its power and he remains incorrupt. Sois it affirmed in Wisdom: "The keeping of His lawsis the assurance of incorruption."[8] And beingincorrupt, he would be henceforth as God, as HolyScripture says, "I have said, Ye are gods and sonsof the Highest all of you: but ye die as men and fallas one of the princes."[ 9]

(5) This, then, was the plight of men. God hadnot only made them out of nothing, but had alsograciously bestowed on them His own life by thegrace of the Word. Then, turning from eternalthings to things corruptible, by counsel of the devil,they had become the cause of their own corruption

in death; for, as I said before, though they were bynature subject to corruption, the grace of theirunion with the Word made them capable ofescaping from the natural law, provided that theyretained the beauty of innocence with which theywere created. That is to say, the presence of theWord with them shielded them even from naturalcorruption, as also Wisdom says: God createdman for incorruption and as an image of His owneternity; but by envy of the devil death entered intothe world."[10] When this happened, men began todie, and corruption ran riot among them and heldsway over them to an even more than naturaldegree, because it was the penalty of which Godhad forewarned them for transgressing thecommandment. Indeed, they had in their sinningsurpassed all limits; for, having inventedwickedness in the beginning and so involvedthemselves in death and corruption, they had goneon gradually from bad to worse, not stopping atany one kind of evil, but continually, as withinsatiable appetite, devising new kinds of sins.Adulteries and thefts were everywhere, murderand rapine filled the earth, law was disregarded incorruption and injustice, all kinds of iniquities wereperpetrated by all, both singly and in common.Cities were warring with cities, nations were risingagainst nations, and the whole earth was rent withfactions and battles, while each strove to outdo theother in wickedness. Even crimes contrary tonature were not unknown, but as themartyr-apostle of Christ says: "Their womenchanged the natural use into that which is againstnature; and the men also, leaving the natural useof the woman, flamed out in lust towards each

other, perpetrating shameless acts with their ownsex, and receiving in their own persons the duerecompense of their pervertedness."[11]

Chapter 1 Notes

1. i.e. the Contra Gentes.2. Matt. xix. 4-6.3. John i. 3.4. Gen. i. 1.5. The Shepherd of Hermas, Book 2. par 1.6. Heb. xi. 3.7. Gen. ii. 16 f.8. Wisdom vi. 18.9. Psalm lxxxii. 6 f.

10. Wisdom ii. 23 f.11. Rom. i. 26 f.

Go back to the top of Chapter 1

2. The Divine Dilemma andIts Solution in the

Incarnation

e saw in the last chapter that, becausedeath and corruption were gaining everfirmer hold on them, the human race was in

process of destruction. Man, who was created inGod's image and in his possession of reasonreflected the very Word Himself, was disappearing,and the work of God was being undone. The law ofdeath, which followed from the Transgression,prevailed upon us, and from it there was noescape. The thing that was happening was in truthboth monstrous and unfitting. It would, of course,have been unthinkable that God should go backupon His word and that man, having transgressed,should not die; but it was equally monstrous thatbeings which once had shared the nature of theWord should perish and turn back again intonon-existence through corruption. It was unworthyof the goodness of God that creatures made byHim should be brought to nothing through thedeceit wrought upon man by the devil; and it wassupremely unfitting that the work of God inmankind should disappear, either through theirown negligence or through the deceit of evil spirits.As, then, the creatures whom He had createdreasonable, like the Word, were in fact perishing,and such noble works were on the road to ruin,what then was God, being Good, to do? Was He to

let corruption and death have their way with them?In that case, what was the use of having madethem in the beginning? Surely it would have beenbetter never to have been created at all than,having been created, to be neglected and perish;and, besides that, such indifference to the ruin ofHis own work before His very eyes would arguenot goodness in God but limitation, and that farmore than if He had never created men at all. Itwas impossible, therefore, that God should leaveman to be carried off by corruption, because itwould be unfitting and unworthy of Himself.

(7) Yet, true though this is, it is not the wholematter. As we have already noted, it wasunthinkable that God, the Father of Truth, shouldgo back upon His word regarding death in order toensure our continued existence. He could notfalsify Himself; what, then, was God to do? WasHe to demand repentance from men for theirtransgression? You might say that that was worthyof God, and argue further that, as through theTransgression they became subject to corruption,so through repentance they might return toincorruption again. But repentance would notguard the Divine consistency, for, if death did nothold dominion over men, God would still remainuntrue. Nor does repentance recall men from whatis according to their nature; all that it does is tomake them cease from sinning. Had it been a caseof a trespass only, and not of a subsequentcorruption, repentance would have been wellenough; but when once transgression had begunmen came under the power of the corruptionproper to their nature and were bereft of the gracewhich belonged to them as creatures in the Image

of God. No, repentance could not meet the case.What—or rather Who was it that was needed forsuch grace and such recall as we required? Who,save the Word of God Himself, Who also in thebeginning had made all things out of nothing? Hispart it was, and His alone, both to bring again thecorruptible to incorruption and to maintain for theFather His consistency of character with all. For Healone, being Word of the Father and above all, wasin consequence both able to recreate all, andworthy to suffer on behalf of all and to be anambassador for all with the Father.

(8) For this purpose, then, the incorporeal andincorruptible and immaterial Word of God enteredour world. In one sense, indeed, He was not farfrom it before, for no part of creation had ever beenwithout Him Who, while ever abiding in union withthe Father, yet fills all things that are. But now Heentered the world in a new way, stooping to ourlevel in His love and Self-revealing to us. He sawthe reasonable race, the race of men that, likeHimself, expressed the Father's Mind, wasting outof existence, and death reigning over all incorruption. He saw that corruption held us all thecloser, because it was the penalty for theTransgression; He saw, too, how unthinkable itwould be for the law to be repealed before it wasfulfilled. He saw how unseemly it was that the verythings of which He Himself was the Artificer shouldbe disappearing. He saw how the surpassingwickedness of men was mounting up against them;He saw also their universal liability to death. All thisHe saw and, pitying our race, moved withcompassion for our limitation, unable to endurethat death should have the mastery, rather than

that His creatures should perish and the work ofHis Father for us men come to nought, He took toHimself a body, a human body even as our own.Nor did He will merely to become embodied ormerely to appear; had that been so, He could haverevealed His divine majesty in some other andbetter way. No, He took our body, and not only so,but He took it directly from a spotless, stainlessvirgin, without the agency of human father—a purebody, untainted by intercourse with man. He, theMighty One, the Artificer of all, Himself preparedthis body in the virgin as a temple for Himself, andtook it for His very own, as the instrument throughwhich He was known and in which He dwelt. Thus,taking a body like our own, because all our bodieswere liable to the corruption of death, Hesurrendered His body to death instead of all, andoffered it to the Father. This He did out of sheerlove for us, so that in His death all might die, andthe law of death thereby be abolished because,having fulfilled in His body that for which it wasappointed, it was thereafter voided of its power formen. This He did that He might turn again toincorruption men who had turned back tocorruption, and make them alive through death bythe appropriation of His body and by the grace ofHis resurrection. Thus He would make death todisappear from them as utterly as straw from fire.

(9) The Word perceived that corruption could notbe got rid of otherwise than through death; yet HeHimself, as the Word, being immortal and theFather's Son, was such as could not die. For thisreason, therefore, He assumed a body capable ofdeath, in order that it, through belonging to theWord Who is above all, might become in dying a

sufficient exchange for all, and, itself remainingincorruptible through His indwelling, mightthereafter put an end to corruption for all others aswell, by the grace of the resurrection. It was bysurrendering to death the body which He hadtaken, as an offering and sacrifice free from everystain, that He forthwith abolished death for Hishuman brethren by the offering of the equivalent.For naturally, since the Word of God was aboveall, when He offered His own temple and bodilyinstrument as a substitute for the life of all, Hefulfilled in death all that was required. Naturallyalso, through this union of the immortal Son of Godwith our human nature, all men were clothed withincorruption in the promise of the resurrection. Forthe solidarity of mankind is such that, by virtue ofthe Word's indwelling in a single human body, thecorruption which goes with death has lost its powerover all. You know how it is when some great kingenters a large city and dwells in one of its houses;because of his dwelling in that single house, thewhole city is honored, and enemies and robberscease to molest it. Even so is it with the King of all;He has come into our country and dwelt in onebody amidst the many, and in consequence thedesigns of the enemy against mankind have beenfoiled and the corruption of death, which formerlyheld them in its power, has simply ceased to be.For the human race would have perished utterlyhad not the Lord and Savior of all, the Son of God,come among us to put an end to death.

(10) This great work was, indeed, supremelyworthy of the goodness of God. A king who hasfounded a city, so far from neglecting it whenthrough the carelessness of the inhabitants it is

attacked by robbers, avenges it and saves it fromdestruction, having regard rather to his own honorthan to the people's neglect. Much more, then, theWord of the All-good Father was not unmindful ofthe human race that He had called to be; butrather, by the offering of His own body Heabolished the death which they had incurred, andcorrected their neglect by His own teaching. Thusby His own power He restored the whole nature ofman. The Savior's own inspired disciples assureus of this. We read in one place: " For the love ofChrist constraineth us, because we thus judgethat, if One died on behalf of all, then all died, andHe died for all that we should no longer live untoourselves, but unto Him who died and rose againfrom the dead, even our Lord Jesus Christ."[1] Andagain another says: "But we behold Him Who hathbeen made a little lower than the angels, evenJesus, because of the suffering of death crownedwith glory and honor, that by the grace of God Heshould taste of death on behalf of every man." Thesame writer goes on to point out why it wasnecessary for God the Word and none other tobecome Man: "For it became Him, for Whom areall things and through Whom are all things, inbringing many sons unto glory, to make the Authorof their salvation perfect through suffering.[ 2] Hemeans that the rescue of mankind from corruptionwas the proper part only of Him Who made them inthe beginning. He points out also that the Wordassumed a human body, expressly in order that Hemight offer it in sacrifice for other like bodies:"Since then the children are sharers in flesh andblood, He also Himself assumed the same, inorder that through death He might bring to nought

Him that hath the power of death, that is to say, theDevil, and might rescue those who all their liveswere enslaved by the fear of death."[3] For by thesacrifice of His own body He did two things: He putan end to the law of death which barred our way;and He made a new beginning of life for us, bygiving us the hope of resurrection. By man deathhas gained its power over men; by the Word madeMan death has been destroyed and life raised upanew. That is what Paul says, that true servant ofChrist: For since by man came death, by mancame also the resurrection of the dead. Just as inAdam all die, even so in Christ shall all be madealive,"[4] and so forth. Now, therefore, when we diewe no longer do so as men condemned to death,but as those who are even now in process of risingwe await the general resurrection of all, "which inits own times He shall show,"[5] even God Whowrought it and bestowed it on us.

This, then, is the first cause of the Savior'sbecoming Man. There are, however, other thingswhich show how wholly fitting is His blessedpresence in our midst; and these we must now goon to consider.

Chapter 2 Notes

1. 2 Cor. v. 14 f.2. Heb. ii. 9 ff.3. Heb. ii. 14 f.

4. 1 Cor. xv. 21 f.5. 1 Tim. vi. 15.

Go back to the top of Chapter 2

3. The Divine Dilemma andIts Solution in the

Incarnation—continuedhen God the Almighty was making mankindthrough His own Word, He perceived thatthey, owing to the limitation of their nature,

could not of themselves have any knowledge oftheir Artificer, the Incorporeal and Uncreated. Hetook pity on them, therefore, and did not leavethem destitute of the knowledge of Himself, lesttheir very existence should prove purposeless. Forof what use is existence to the creature if it cannotknow its Maker? How could men be reasonablebeings if they had no knowledge of the Word andReason of the Father, through Whom they hadreceived their being? They would be no better thanthe beasts, had they no knowledge save of earthlythings; and why should God have made them atall, if He had not intended them to know Him? But,in fact, the good God has given them a share inHis own Image, that is, in our Lord Jesus Christ,and has made even themselves after the sameImage and Likeness. Why? Simply in order thatthrough this gift of Godlikeness in themselves theymay be able to perceive the Image Absolute, thatis the Word Himself, and through Him toapprehend the Father; which knowledge of theirMaker is for men the only really happy and blessedlife.

But, as we have already seen, men, foolish asthey are, thought little of the grace they had

received, and turned away from God. They defiledtheir own soul so completely that they not only losttheir apprehension of God, but invented forthemselves other gods of various kinds. Theyfashioned idols for themselves in place of the truthand reverenced things that are not, rather thanGod Who is, as St. Paul says, "worshipping thecreature rather than the Creator."[1] Moreover, andmuch worse, they transferred the honor which isdue to God to material objects such as wood andstone, and also to man; and further even than thatthey went, as we said in our former book. Indeed,so impious were they that they worshipped evilspirits as gods in satisfaction of their lusts. Theysacrificed brute beasts and immolated men, as thejust due of these deities, thereby bringingthemselves more and more under their insanecontrol. Magic arts also were taught among them,oracles in sundry places led men astray, and thecause of everything in human life was traced to thestars as though nothing existed but that whichcould be seen. In a word, impiety and lawlessnesswere everywhere, and neither God nor His Wordwas known. Yet He had not hidden Himself fromthe sight of men nor given the knowledge ofHimself in one way only; but rather He hadunfolded it in many forms and by many ways.

(12) God knew the limitation of mankind, yousee; and though the grace of being made in HisImage was sufficient to give them knowledge of theWord and through Him of the Father, as asafeguard against their neglect of this grace, Heprovided the works of creation also as means bywhich the Maker might be known. Nor was this all.Man's neglect of the indwelling grace tends ever to

increase; and against this further frailty also Godmade provision by giving them a law, and bysending prophets, men whom they knew. Thus, ifthey were tardy in looking up to heaven, they mightstill gain knowledge of their Maker from thoseclose at hand; for men can learn directly abouthigher things from other men. Three ways thus layopen to them, by which they might obtain theknowledge of God. They could look up into theimmensity of heaven, and by pondering theharmony of creation come to know its Ruler, theWord of the Father, Whose all-ruling providencemakes known the Father to all. Or, if this wasbeyond them, they could converse with holy men,and through them learn to know God, the Artificerof all things, the Father of Christ, and to recognizethe worship of idols as the negation of the truthand full of all impiety. Or else, in the third place,they could cease from lukewarmness and lead agood life merely by knowing the law. For the lawwas not given only for the Jews, nor was it solelyfor their sake that God sent the prophets, though itwas to the Jews that they were sent and by theJews that they were persecuted. The law and theprophets were a sacred school of the knowledge ofGod and the conduct of the spiritual life for thewhole world.

So great, indeed, were the goodness and thelove of God. Yet men, bowed down by thepleasures of the moment and by the frauds andillusions of the evil spirits, did not lift up their headstowards the truth. So burdened were they with theirwickednesses that they seemed rather to be brutebeasts than reasonable men, reflecting the veryLikeness of the Word.

(13) What was God to do in face of thisdehumanising of mankind, this universal hiding ofthe knowledge of Himself by the wiles of evilspirits? Was He to keep silence before so great awrong and let men go on being thus deceived andkept in ignorance of Himself? If so, what was theuse of having made them in His own Imageoriginally? It would surely have been better forthem always to have been brutes, rather than torevert to that condition when once they had sharedthe nature of the Word. Again, things being as theywere, what was the use of their ever having hadthe knowledge of God? Surely it would have beenbetter for God never to have bestowed it, than thatmen should subsequently be found unworthy toreceive it. Similarly, what possible profit could it beto God Himself, Who made men, if when madethey did not worship Him, but regarded others astheir makers? This would be tantamount to Hishaving made them for others and not for Himself.Even an earthly king, though he is only a man,does not allow lands that he has colonized to passinto other hands or to desert to other rulers, butsends letters and friends and even visits themhimself to recall them to their allegiance, ratherthan allow His work to be undone. How muchmore, then, will God be patient and painstakingwith His creatures, that they be not led astray fromHim to the service of those that are not, and that allthe more because such error means for themsheer ruin, and because it is not right that thosewho had once shared His Image should bedestroyed.

What, then, was God to do? What else could Hepossibly do, being God, but renew His Image in

mankind, so that through it men might once morecome to know Him? And how could this be donesave by the coming of the very Image Himself, ourSavior Jesus Christ? Men could not have done it,for they are only made after the Image; nor couldangels have done it, for they are not the images ofGod. The Word of God came in His own Person,because it was He alone, the Image of the FatherWho could recreate man made after the Image.

In order to effect this re-creation, however, Hehad first to do away with death and corruption.Therefore He assumed a human body, in orderthat in it death might once for all be destroyed, andthat men might be renewed according to theImage. The Image of the Father only was sufficientfor this need. Here is an illustration to prove it.

(14) You know what happens when a portraitthat has been painted on a panel becomesobliterated through external stains. The artist doesnot throw away the panel, but the subject of theportrait has to come and sit for it again, and thenthe likeness is re-drawn on the same material.Even so was it with the All-holy Son of God. He,the Image of the Father, came and dwelt in ourmidst, in order that He might renew mankind madeafter Himself, and seek out His lost sheep, even asHe says in the Gospel: "I came to seek and tosave that which was lost.[2] This also explains Hissaying to the Jews: "Except a man be born anew .. ."[3] a He was not referring to a man's naturalbirth from his mother, as they thought, but to there-birth and re-creation of the soul in the Image ofGod.

Nor was this the only thing which only the Wordcould do. When the madness of idolatry and

irreligion filled the world and the knowledge of Godwas hidden, whose part was it to teach the worldabout the Father? Man's, would you say? But mencannot run everywhere over the world, nor wouldtheir words carry sufficient weight if they did, norwould they be, unaided, a match for the evil spirits.Moreover, since even the best of men wereconfused and blinded by evil, how could theyconvert the souls and minds of others? You cannotput straight in others what is warped in yourself.Perhaps you will say, then, that creation wasenough to teach men about the Father. But if thathad been so, such great evils would never haveoccurred. Creation was there all the time, but it didnot prevent men from wallowing in error. Oncemore, then, it was the Word of God, Who sees allthat is in man and moves all things in creation,Who alone could meet the needs of the situation. Itwas His part and His alone, Whose ordering of theuniverse reveals the Father, to renew the sameteaching. But how was He to do it? By the samemeans as before, perhaps you will say, that is,through the works of creation. But this was proveninsufficient. Men had neglected to consider theheavens before, and now they were looking in theopposite direction. Wherefore, in all naturalnessand fitness. desiring to do good to men, as Man Hedwells, taking to Himself a body like the rest; andthrough His actions done in that body, as it wereon their own level, He teaches those who wouldnot learn by other means to know Himself, theWord of God, and through Him the Father.

(15) He deals with them as a good teacher withhis pupils, coming down to their level and usingsimple means. St. Paul says as much: "Because in

the wisdom of God the world in its wisdom knewnot God, God thought fit through the simplicity ofthe News proclaimed to save those whobelieve."[ 4] Men had turned from thecontemplation of God above, and were looking forHim in the opposite direction, down among createdthings and things of sense. The Savior of us all,the Word of God, in His great love took to Himselfa body and moved as Man among men, meetingtheir senses, so to speak, half way. He becameHimself an object for the senses, so that those whowere seeking God in sensible things mightapprehend the Father through the works which He,the Word of God, did in the body. Human andhuman minded as men were, therefore, towhichever side they looked in the sensible worldthey found themselves taught the truth. Were theyawe-stricken by creation? They beheld itconfessing Christ as Lord. Did their minds tend toregard men as Gods? The uniqueness of theSavior's works marked Him, alone of men, as Sonof God. Were they drawn to evil spirits? They sawthem driven out by the Lord and learned that theWord of God alone was God and that the evilspirits were not gods at all. Were they inclined tohero-worship and the cult of the dead? Then thefact that the Savior had risen from the deadshowed them how false these other deities were,and that the Word of the Father is the one trueLord, the Lord even of death. For this reason wasHe both born and manifested as Man, for this Hedied and rose, in order that, eclipsing by His worksall other human deeds, He might recall men fromall the paths of error to know the Father. As Hesays Himself, "I came to seek and to save that

which was lost."[5](16) When, then, the minds of men had fallen

finally to the level of sensible things, the Wordsubmitted to appear in a body, in order that He, asMan, might center their senses on Himself, andconvince them through His human acts that HeHimself is not man only but also God, the Wordand Wisdom of the true God. This is what Paulwants to tell us when he says: "That ye, beingrooted and grounded in love, may be strong toapprehend with all the saints what is the lengthand breadth and height and depth, and to know thelove of God that surpasses knowledge, so that yemay be filled unto all the fullness of God."[6] TheSelf- revealing of the Word is in everydimension—above, in creation; below, in theIncarnation; in the depth, in Hades; in the breadth,throughout the world. All things have been filledwith the knowledge of God.

For this reason He did not offer the sacrifice onbehalf of all immediately He came, for if He hadsurrendered His body to death and then raised itagain at once He would have ceased to be anobject of our senses. Instead of that, He stayed inHis body and let Himself be seen in it, doing actsand giving signs which showed Him to be not onlyman, but also God the Word. There were thus twothings which the Savior did for us by becomingMan. He banished death from us and made usanew; and, invisible and imperceptible as inHimself He is, He became visible through Hisworks and revealed Himself as the Word of theFather, the Ruler and King of the whole creation.

(17) There is a paradox in this last statementwhich we must now examine. The Word was not

hedged in by His body, nor did His presence in thebody prevent His being present elsewhere as well.When He moved His body He did not cease also todirect the universe by His Mind and might. No. Themarvelous truth is, that being the Word, so far frombeing Himself contained by anything, He actuallycontained all things Himself. In creation He ispresent everywhere, yet is distinct in being from it;ordering, directing, giving life to all, containing all,yet is He Himself the Uncontained, existing solelyin His Father. As with the whole, so also is it withthe part. Existing in a human body, to which HeHimself gives life, He is still Source of life to all theuniverse, present in every part of it, yet outside thewhole; and He is revealed both through the worksof His body and through His activity in the world. Itis, indeed, the function of soul to behold things thatare outside the body, but it cannot energize ormove them. A man cannot transport things fromone place to another, for instance, merely bythinking about them; nor can you or I move the sunand the stars just by sitting at home and looking atthem. With the Word of God in His human nature,however, it was otherwise. His body was for Himnot a limitation, but an instrument, so that He wasboth in it and in all things, and outside all things,resting in the Father alone. At one and the sametime—this is the wonder— as Man He was living ahuman life, and as Word He was sustaining the lifeof the universe, and as Son He was in constantunion with the Father. Not even His birth from avirgin, therefore, changed Him in any way, nor wasHe defiled by being in the body. Rather, Hesanctified the body by being in it. For His being ineverything does not mean that He shares the

nature of everything, only that He gives all thingstheir being and sustains them in it. Just as the sunis not defiled by the contact of its rays with earthlyobjects, but rather enlightens and purifies them, soHe Who made the sun is not defiled by beingmade known in a body, but rather the body iscleansed and quickened by His indwelling, "Whodid no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth."[ 7]

(18) You must understand, therefore, that whenwriters on this sacred theme speak of Him aseating and drinking and being born, they mean thatthe body, as a body, was born and sustained withthe food proper to its nature; while God the Word,Who was united with it, was at the same timeordering the universe and revealing Himselfthrough His bodily acts as not man only but God.Those acts are rightly said to be His acts, becausethe body which did them did indeed belong to Himand none other; moreover, it was right that theyshould be thus attributed to Him as Man, in orderto show that His body was a real one and notmerely an appearance. From such ordinary acts asbeing born and taking food, He was recognized asbeing actually present in the body; but by theextraordinary acts which He did through the bodyHe proved Himself to be the Son of God. That isthe meaning of His words to the unbelieving Jews:"If I do not the works of My Father, believe Me not;but if I do, even if ye believe not Me, believe Myworks, that ye may know that the Father is in Meand I in the Father."

Invisible in Himself, He is known from the worksof creation; so also, when His Godhead is veiled inhuman nature, His bodily acts still declare Him tobe not man only, but the Power and Word of God.

To speak authoritatively to evil spirits, for instance,and to drive them out, is not human but divine; andwho could see-Him curing all the diseases to whichmankind is prone, and still deem Him mere manand not also God? He cleansed lepers, He madethe lame to walk, He opened the ears of the deafand the eyes of the blind, there was no sickness orweakness that-He did not drive away. Even themost casual observer can see that these were actsof God. The healing of the man born blind, forinstance, who but the Father and Artificer of man,the Controller of his whole being, could thus haverestored the faculty denied at birth? He Who didthus must surely be Himself the Lord of birth. Thisis proved also at the outset of His becoming Man.He formed His own body from the virgin; and thatis no small proof of His Godhead, since He Whomade that was the Maker of all else. And would notanyone infer from the fact of that body beingbegotten of a virgin only, without human father,that He Who appeared in it was also the Makerand Lord of all beside?

Again, consider the miracle at Cana. Would notanyone who saw the substance of watertransmuted into wine understand that He Who didit was the Lord and Maker of the water that Hechanged? It was for the same reason that Hewalked on the sea as on dry land—to prove to theonlookers that He had mastery over all. And thefeeding of the multitude, when He made little intomuch, so that from five loaves five thousandmouths were filled—did not that prove Him noneother than the very Lord Whose Mind is over all?

Chapter 3 Notes

1. Rom. i. 25.2. Luke xix. 10.3. John iii. 3.4. 1 Cor. i. 21.5. Luke xix. 10.6. Eph. iii. 17 ff.7. 1 Peter ii. 22.

Go back to the top of Chapter 3

4. The Death of Christ

ll these things the Savior thought fit to do, sothat, recognizing His bodily acts as works ofGod, men who were blind to His presence in

creation might regain knowledge of the Father.For, as I said before, who that saw His authorityover evil spirits and their response to it could doubtthat He was, indeed, the Son, the Wisdom and thePower of God? Even the very creation brokesilence at His behest and, marvelous to relate,confessed with one voice before the cross, thatmonument of victory, that He Who sufferedthereon in the body was not man only, but Son ofGod and Savior of all. The sun veiled his face, theearth quaked, the mountains were rent asunder, allmen were stricken with awe. These things showedthat Christ on the cross was God, and that allcreation was His slave and was bearing witness byits fear to the presence of its Master.

Thus, then, God the Word revealed Himself tomen through His works. We must next consider theend of His earthly life and the nature of His bodilydeath. This is, indeed, the very center of our faith,and everywhere you hear men speak of it; by it,too, no less than by His other acts, Christ isrevealed as God and Son of God.

(20) We have dealt as far as circumstances andour own understanding permit with the reason forHis bodily manifestation. We have seen that tochange the corruptible to incorruption was properto none other than the Savior Himself, Who in thebeginning made all things out of nothing; that only

the Image of the Father could re-create thelikeness of the Image in men, that none save ourLord Jesus Christ could give to mortals immortality,and that only the Word Who orders all things andis alone the Father's true and sole-begotten Soncould teach men about Him and abolish theworship of idols But beyond all this, there was adebt owing which must needs be paid; for, as Isaid before, all men were due to die. Here, then, isthe second reason why the Word dwelt among us,namely that having proved His Godhead by Hisworks, He might offer the sacrifice on behalf of all,surrendering His own temple to death in place ofall, to settle man's account with death and free himfrom the primal transgression. In the same act alsoHe showed Himself mightier than death, displayingHis own body incorruptible as the first-fruits of theresurrection.

You must not be surprised if we repeatourselves in dealing with this subject. We arespeaking of the good pleasure of God and of thethings which He in His loving wisdom thought fit todo, and it is better to put the same thing in severalways than to run the risk of leaving something out.The body of the Word, then, being a real humanbody, in spite of its having been uniquely formedfrom a virgin, was of itself mortal and, like otherbodies, liable to death. But the indwelling of theWord loosed it from this natural liability, so thatcorruption could not touch it. Thus it happened thattwo opposite marvels took place at once: the deathof all was consummated in the Lord's body; yet,because the Word was in it, death and corruptionwere in the same act utterly abolished. Death therehad to be, and death for all, so that the due of all

might be paid. Wherefore, the Word, as I said,being Himself incapable of death, assumed amortal body, that He might offer it as His own inplace of all, and suffering for the sake of allthrough His union with it, " might bring to noughtHim that had the power of death, that is, the devil,and might deliver them who all their lifetime wereenslaved by the fear of death."[1]

(21) Have no fears then. Now that the commonSavior of all has died on our behalf, we whobelieve in Christ no longer die, as men diedaforetime, in fulfillment of the threat of the law.That condemnation has come to an end; and nowthat, by the grace of the resurrection, corruptionhas been banished and done away, we are loosedfrom our mortal bodies in God's good time foreach, so that we may obtain thereby a betterresurrection. Like seeds cast into the earth, we donot perish in our dissolution, but like them shall riseagain, death having been brought to nought by thegrace of the Savior. That is why blessed Paul,through whom we all have surety of theresurrection, says: "This corruptible must put onincorruption and this mortal must put onimmortality; but when this corruptible shall haveput on incorruption and this mortal shall have puton immortality, then shall be brought to pass thesaying that is written, 'Death is swallowed up invictory. O Death, where is thy sting? O Grave,where is thy victory?"[ 2]

"Well then," some people may say, "if theessential thing was that He should surrender Hisbody to death in place of all, why did He not do soas Man privately, without going to the length ofpublic crucifixion? Surely it would have been more

suitable for Him to have laid aside His body withhonor than to endure so shameful a death." Butlook at this argument closely, and see how merelyhuman it is, whereas what the Savior did was trulydivine and worthy of His Godhead for severalreasons. The first is this. The death of men underordinary circumstances is the result of their naturalweakness. They are essentially impermanent, soafter a time they fall ill and when worn out they die.But the Lord is not like that. He is not weak, He isthe Power of God and Word of God and Very LifeItself. If He had died quietly in His bed like othermen it would have looked as if He did so inaccordance with His nature, and as though He wasindeed no more than other men. But because Hewas Himself Word and Life and Power His bodywas made strong, and because the death had tobe accomplished, He took the occasion ofperfecting His sacrifice not from Himself, but fromothers. How could He fall sick, Who had healedothers? Or how could that body weaken and fail bymeans of which others are made strong? Here,again, you may say, "Why did He not preventdeath, as He did sickness?" Because it wasprecisely in order to be able to die that He hadtaken a body, and to prevent the death would havebeen to impede the resurrection. And as to theunsuitability of sickness for His body, as arguingweakness, you may say, "Did He then nothunger?" Yes, He hungered, because that was theproperty of His body, but He did not die of hungerbecause He Whose body hungered was the Lord.Similarly, though He died to ransom all, He did notsee corruption. His body rose in perfectsoundness, for it was the body of none other than

the Life Himself.(22) Someone else might say, perhaps, that it

would have been better for the Lord to haveavoided the designs of the Jews against Him, andso to have guarded His body from deathaltogether. But see how unfitting this also wouldhave been for Him. Just as it would not have beenfitting for Him to give His body to death by His ownhand, being Word and being Life, so also it wasnot consonant with Himself that He should avoidthe death inflicted by others. Rather, He pursued itto the uttermost, and in pursuance of His natureneither laid aside His body of His own accord norescaped the plotting Jews. And this action showedno limitation or weakness in the Word; for He bothwaited for death in order to make an end of it, andhastened to accomplish it as an offering on behalfof all. Moreover, as it was the death of all mankindthat the Savior came to accomplish, not His own,He did not lay aside His body by an individual actof dying, for to Him, as Life, this simply did notbelong; but He accepted death at the hands ofmen, thereby completely to destroy it in His ownbody.

There are some further considerations whichenable one to understand why the Lord's body hadsuch an end. The supreme object of His comingwas to bring about the resurrection of the body.This was to be the monument to His victory overdeath, the assurance to all that He had Himselfconquered corruption and that their own bodiesalso would eventually be incorrupt; and it was intoken of that and as a pledge of the futureresurrection that He kept His body incorrupt. Butthere again, if His body had fallen sick and the

Word had left it in that condition, how unfitting itwould have been! Should He Who healed thebodies of others neglect to keep His own in health?How would His miracles of healing be believed, ifthis were so? Surely people would either laugh atHim as unable to dispel disease or else considerHim lacking in proper human feeling because Hecould do so, but did not.

(23) Then, again, suppose without any illness Hehad just concealed His body somewhere, and thensuddenly reappeared and said that He had risenfrom the dead. He would have been regardedmerely as a teller of tales, and because there wasno witness of His death, nobody would believe Hisresurrection. Death had to precede resurrection,for there could be no resurrection without it. Asecret and unwitnessed death would have left theresurrection without any proof or evidence tosupport it. Again, why should He die a secretdeath, when He proclaimed the fact of His risingopenly? Why should He drive out evil spirits andheal the man blind from birth and change waterinto wine, all publicly, in order to convince men thatHe was the Word, and not also declare publiclythat incorruptibility of His mortal body, so that Hemight Himself be believed to be the Life? And howcould His disciples have had boldness in speakingof the resurrection unless they could state it as afact that He had first died? Or how could theirhearers be expected to believe their assertion,unless they themselves also had witnessed Hisdeath? For if the Pharisees at the time refused tobelieve and forced others to deny also, though thethings had happened before their very eyes, howmany excuses for unbelief would they have

contrived, if it had taken place secretly? Or howcould the end of death and the victory over it havebeen declared, had not the Lord thus challenged itbefore the sight of all, and by the incorruption ofHis body proved that henceforward it was annulledand void?

(24) There are some other possible objectionsthat must be answered. Some might urge that,even granting the necessity of a public death forsubsequent belief in the resurrection, it wouldsurely have been better for Him to have arrangedan honorable death for Himself, and so to haveavoided the ignominy of the cross. But even thiswould have given ground for suspicion that Hispower over death was limited to the particular kindof death which He chose for Himself; and thatagain would furnish excuse for disbelieving theresurrection. Death came to His body, therefore,not from Himself but from enemy action, in orderthat the Savior might utterly abolish death inwhatever form they offered it to Him. A generouswrestler, virile and strong, does not himself choosehis antagonists, lest it should be thought that ofsome of them he is afraid. Rather, he lets thespectators choose them, and that all the more ifthese are hostile, so that he may overthrowwhomsoever they match against him and thusvindicate his superior strength. Even so was it withChrist. He, the Life of all, our Lord and Savior, didnot arrange the manner of his own death lest Heshould seem to be afraid of some other kind. No.He accepted and bore upon the cross a deathinflicted by others, and those others His specialenemies, a death which to them was supremelyterrible and by no means to be faced; and He did

this in order that, by destroying even this death, Hemight Himself be believed to be the Life, and thepower of death be recognized as finally annulled. Amarvelous and mighty paradox has thus occurred,for the death which they thought to inflict on Himas dishonor and disgrace has become the gloriousmonument to death's defeat. Therefore it is also,that He neither endured the death of John, whowas beheaded, nor was He sawn asunder, likeIsaiah: even in death He preserved His body wholeand undivided, so that there should be no excusehereafter for those who would divide the Church.

(25) So much for the objections of those outsidethe Church. But if any honest Christian wants toknow why He suffered death on the cross and notin some other way, we answer thus: in no otherway was it expedient for us, indeed the Lordoffered for our sakes the one death that wassupremely good. He had come to bear the cursethat lay on us; and how could He "become acurse"[3] otherwise than by accepting the accurseddeath? And that death is the cross, for it is written"Cursed is every one that hangeth on tree."[4]Again, the death of the Lord is the ransom of all,and by it "the middle wall of partition"[ 5] is brokendown and the call of the Gentiles comes about.How could He have called us if He had not beencrucified, for it is only on the cross that a man dieswith arms outstretched? Here, again, we see thefitness of His death and of those outstretchedarms: it was that He might draw His ancient peoplewith the one and the Gentiles with the other, andjoin both together in Himself. Even so, He foretoldthe manner of His redeeming death, "I, if I be liftedup, will draw all men unto Myself."[6] Again, the air

is the sphere of the devil, the enemy of our racewho, having fallen from heaven, endeavors withthe other evil spirits who shared in hisdisobedience both to keep souls from the truth andto hinder the progress of those who are trying tofollow it. The apostle refers to this when he says,"According to the prince of the power of the air, ofthe spirit that now worketh in the sons ofdisobedience."[7] But the Lord came to overthrowthe devil and to purify the air and to make "a way"for us up to heaven, as the apostle says, "throughthe veil, that is to say, His flesh."[ 8] This had to bedone through death, and by what other kind ofdeath could it be done, save by a death in the air,that is, on the cross? Here, again, you see howright and natural it was that the Lord should sufferthus; for being thus "lifted up," He cleansed the airfrom all the evil influences of the enemy. "I beheldSatan as lightning falling,"[9] He says; and thus Here-opened the road to heaven, saying again, "Liftup your gates, O ye princes, and be ye lift up, yeeverlasting doors."[10] For it was not the WordHimself Who needed an opening of the gates, Hebeing Lord of all, nor was any of His works closedto their Maker. No, it was we who needed it, wewhom He Himself upbore in His own body—thatbody which He first offered to death on behalf ofall, and then made through it a path to heaven.

Chapter 4 Notes

1. Heb. ii. 14 f2. 1 Cor. xv. 53 ff.3. Gal. iii. 13.4. Gal. iii. 13.5. Eph. ii. 14.6. John xii. 32.7. Eph. ii. 2.8. Heb. x. 20.9. Luke x. 18.

10. Psalm xxiv. 7.

Go back to the top of Chapter 4

5. The Resurrection

itting indeed, then, and wholly consonant wasthe death on the cross for us; and we can seehow reasonable it was, and why it is that the

salvation of the world could be accomplished in noother way. Even on the cross He did not hideHimself from sight; rather, He made all creationwitness to the presence of its Maker. Then, havingonce let it be seen that it was truly dead, He didnot allow that temple of His body to linger long, butforthwith on the third day raised it up, impassableand incorruptible, the pledge and token of Hisvictory.

It was, of course, within His power thus to haveraised His body and displayed it as alive directlyafter death. But the all-wise Savior did not do this,lest some should deny that it had really orcompletely died. Besides this, had the intervalbetween His death and resurrection been but twodays, the glory of His incorruption might not haveappeared. He waited one whole day to show thatHis body was really dead, and then on the thirdday showed it incorruptible to all. The interval wasno longer, lest people should have forgotten aboutit and grown doubtful whether it were in truth thesame body. No, while the affair was still ringing intheir ears and their eyes were still straining andtheir minds in turmoil, and while those who had putHim to death were still on the spot and themselveswitnessing to the fact of it, the Son of God afterthree days showed His once dead body immortaland incorruptible; and it was evident to all that it

was from no natural weakness that the body whichthe Word indwelt had died, but in order that in it bythe Savior's power death might be done away.

(27) A very strong proof of this destruction ofdeath and its conquest by the cross is supplied bya present fact, namely this. All the disciples ofChrist despise death; they take the offensiveagainst it and, instead of fearing it, by the sign ofthe cross and by faith in Christ trample on it as onsomething dead. Before the divine sojourn of theSavior, even the holiest of men were afraid ofdeath, and mourned the dead as those who perish.But now that the Savior has raised His body, deathis no longer terrible, but all those who believe inChrist tread it underfoot as nothing, and prefer todie rather than to deny their faith in Christ, knowingfull well that when they die they do not perish, butlive indeed, and become incorruptible through theresurrection. But that devil who of old wickedlyexulted in death, now that the pains of death areloosed, he alone it is who remains truly dead.There is proof of this too; for men who, before theybelieve in Christ, think death horrible and are afraidof it, once they are converted despise it socompletely that they go eagerly to meet it, andthemselves become witnesses of the Savior'sresurrection from it. Even children hasten thus todie, and not men only, but women train themselvesby bodily discipline to meet it. So weak has deathbecome that even women, who used to be taken inby it, mock at it now as a dead thing robbed of allits strength. Death has become like a tyrant whohas been completely conquered by the legitimatemonarch; bound hand and foot the passers-bysneer at him, hitting him and abusing him, no

longer afraid of his cruelty and rage, because ofthe king who has conquered him. So has deathbeen conquered and branded for what it is by theSavior on the cross. It is bound hand and foot, allwho are in Christ trample it as they pass and aswitnesses to Him deride it, scoffing and saying, "ODeath, where is thy victory? O Grave, where is thysting?[1]

(28) Is this a slender proof of the impotence ofdeath, do you think? Or is it a slight indication ofthe Savior's victory over it, when boys and younggirls who are in Christ look beyond this present lifeand train themselves to die? Every one is bynature afraid of death and of bodily dissolution; themarvel of marvels is that he who is enfolded in thefaith of the cross despises this natural fear and forthe sake of the cross is no longer cowardly in faceof it. The natural property of fire is to burn.Suppose, then, that there was a substance suchas the Indian asbestos is said to be, which had nofear of being burnt, but rather displayed theimpotence of the fire by proving itself unburnable.If anyone doubted the truth of this, all he need dowould be to wrap himself up in the substance inquestion and then touch the fire. Or, again, torevert to our former figure, if anyone wanted to seethe tyrant bound and helpless, who used to besuch a terror to others, he could do so simply bygoing into the country of the tyrant's conqueror.Even so, if anyone still doubts the conquest ofdeath, after so many proofs and so manymartyrdoms in Christ and such daily scorn of deathby His truest servants, he certainly does well tomarvel at so great a thing, but he must not beobstinate in unbelief and disregard of plain facts.

No, he must be like the man who wants to provethe property of the asbestos, and like him whoenters the conqueror's dominions to see the tyrantbound. He must embrace the faith of Christ, thisdisbeliever in the conquest of death, and come toHis teaching. Then he will see how impotent deathis and how completely conquered. Indeed, therehave been many former unbelievers and deriderswho, after they became believers, so scorneddeath as even themselves to become martyrs forChrist's sake.

(29) If, then, it is by the sign of the cross and byfaith in Christ that death is trampled underfoot, it isclear that it is Christ Himself and none other Whois the Archvictor over death and has robbed it of itspower. Death used to be strong and terrible, butnow, since the sojourn of the Savior and the deathand resurrection of His body, it is despised; andobviously it is by the very Christ Who mounted onthe cross that it has been destroyed andvanquished finally. When the sun rises after thenight and the whole world is lit up by it, nobodydoubts that it is the sun which has thus shed itslight everywhere and driven away the dark. Equallyclear is it, since this utter scorning and tramplingdown of death has ensued upon the Savior'smanifestation in the body and His death on thecross, that it is He Himself Who brought death tonought and daily raises monuments to His victoryin His own disciples. How can you think otherwise,when you see men naturally weak hastening todeath, unafraid at the prospect of corruption,fearless of the descent into Hades, even indeedwith eager soul provoking it, not shrinking fromtortures, but preferring thus to rush on death for

Christ's sake, rather than to remain in this presentlife? If you see with your own eyes men andwomen and children, even, thus welcoming deathfor the sake of Christ's religion, how can you be soutterly silly and incredulous and maimed in yourmind as not to realize that Christ, to Whom theseall bear witness, Himself gives the victory to each,making death completely powerless for those whohold His faith and bear the sign of the cross? Noone in his senses doubts that a snake is deadwhen he sees it trampled underfoot, especiallywhen he knows how savage it used to be; nor, ifhe sees boys making fun of a lion, does he doubtthat the brute is either dead or completely bereft ofstrength. These things can be seen with our owneyes, and it is the same with the conquest ofdeath. Doubt no longer, then, when you see deathmocked and scorned by those who believe inChrist, that by Christ death was destroyed, and thecorruption that goes with it resolved and brought toend.

(30) What we have said is, indeed, no smallproof of the destruction of death and of the factthat the cross of the Lord is the monument to Hisvictory. But the resurrection of the body toimmortality, which results henceforward from thework of Christ, the common Savior and true Life ofall, is more effectively proved by facts than bywords to those whose mental vision is sound. For,if, as we have shown, death was destroyed andeverybody tramples on it because of Christ, howmuch more did He Himself first trample anddestroy it in His own body! Death having beenslain by Him, then, what other issue could there bethan the resurrection of His body and its open

demonstration as the monument of His victory?How could the destruction of death have beenmanifested at all, had not the Lord's body beenraised? But if anyone finds even this insufficient,let him find proof of what has been said in presentfacts. Dead men cannot take effective action; theirpower of influence on others lasts only till thegrave. Deeds and actions that energize othersbelong only to the living. Well, then, look at thefacts in this case. The Savior is working mightilyamong men, every day He is invisibly persuadingnumbers of people all over the world, both withinand beyond the Greek-speaking world, to acceptHis faith and be obedient to His teaching. Cananyone, in face of this, still doubt that He has risenand lives, or rather that He is Himself the Life?Does a dead man prick the consciences of men,so that they throw all the traditions of their fathersto the winds and bow down before the teaching ofChrist? If He is no longer active in the world, as Hemust needs be if He is dead, how is it that Hemakes the living to cease from their activities, theadulterer from his adultery, the murderer frommurdering, the unjust from avarice, while theprofane and godless man becomes religious? If Hedid not rise, but is still dead, how is it that He routsand persecutes and overthrows the false gods,whom unbelievers think to be alive, and the evilspirits whom they worship? For where Christ isnamed, idolatry is destroyed and the fraud of evilspirits is exposed; indeed, no such spirit canendure that Name, but takes to flight on sound ofit. This is the work of One Who lives, not of onedead; and, more than that, it is the work of God. Itwould be absurd to say that the evil spirits whom

He drives out and the idols which He destroys arealive, but that He Who drives out and destroys,and Whom they themselves acknowledge to beSon of God, is dead.

(31) In a word, then, those who disbelieve in theresurrection have no support in facts, if their godsand evil spirits do not drive away the supposedlydead Christ. Rather, it is He Who convicts them ofbeing dead. We are agreed that a dead person cando nothing: yet the Savior works mightily everyday, drawing men to religion, persuading them tovirtue, teaching them about immortality, quickeningtheir thirst for heavenly things, revealing theknowledge of the Father, inspiring strength in faceof death, manifesting Himself to each, anddisplacing the irreligion of idols; while the gods andevil spirits of the unbelievers can do none of thesethings, but rather become dead at Christ'spresence, all their ostentation barren and void. Bythe sign of the cross, on the contrary, all magic isstayed, all sorcery confounded, all the idols areabandoned and deserted, and all senselesspleasure ceases, as the eye of faith looks up fromearth to heaven. Whom, then, are we to call dead?Shall we call Christ dead, Who effects all this? Butthe dead have not the faculty to effect anything. Orshall we call death dead, which effects nothingwhatever, but lies as lifeless and ineffective as arethe evil spirits and the idols? The Son of God,"living and effective,[ 2] is active every day andeffects the salvation of all; but death is daily provedto be stripped of all its strength, and it is the idolsand the evil spirits who are dead, not He. No roomfor doubt remains, therefore, concerning theresurrection of His body.

Indeed, it would seem that he who disbelievesthis bodily rising of the Lord is ignorant of thepower of the Word and Wisdom of God. If He tooka body to Himself at all, and made it His own inpursuance of His purpose, as we have shown thatHe did, what was the Lord to do with it, and whatwas ultimately to become of that body upon whichthe Word had descended? Mortal and offered todeath on behalf of all as it was, it could not but die;indeed, it was for that very purpose that the Saviorhad prepared it for Himself. But on the other handit could not remain dead, because it had becomethe very temple of Life. It therefore died, as mortal,but lived again because of the Life within it; and itsresurrection is made known through its works.

It is, indeed, in accordance with the nature of theinvisible God that He should be thus knownthrough His works; and those who doubt the Lord'sresurrection because they do not now behold Himwith their eyes, might as well deny the very laws ofnature. They have ground for disbelief when worksare lacking; but when the works cry out and provethe fact so clearly, why do they deliberately denythe risen life so manifestly shown? Even if theirmental faculties are defective, surely their eyescan give them irrefragable proof of the power andGodhead of Christ. A blind man cannot see thesun, but he knows that it is above the earth fromthe warmth which it affords; similarly, let those whoare still in the blindness of unbelief recognize theGodhead of Christ and the resurrection which Hehas brought about through His manifested powerin others. Obviously He would not be expelling evilspirits and despoiling idols, if He were dead, for theevil spirits would not obey one who was dead. If,

on the other hand, the very naming of Him drivesthem forth, He clearly is not dead; and the more sothat the spirits, who perceive things unseen bymen, would know if He were so and would refuseto obey Him. But, as a matter of fact, what profanepersons doubt, the evil spirits know—namely that Heis God; and for that reason they flee from Him andfall at His feet, crying out even as they cried whenHe was in the body, "We know Thee Who Thouart, the Holy One of God," and, "Ah, what have I incommon with Thee, Thou Son of God? I imploreThee, torment me not."[3]

Both from the confession of the evil spirits andfrom the daily witness of His works, it is manifest,then, and let none presume to doubt it, that theSavior has raised His own body, and that He isvery Son of God, having His being from God asfrom a Father, Whose Word and Wisdom andWhose Power He is. He it is Who in these latterdays assumed a body for the salvation of us all,and taught the world concerning the Father. He itis Who has destroyed death and freely graced usall with incorruption through the promise of theresurrection, having raised His own body as itsfirst-fruits, and displayed it by the sign of the crossas the monument to His victory over death and itscorruption.

Chapter 5 Notes

1. Cor. xv. 55.2. Heb.iv. 12.3. Cf. Luke iv. 34 and Mark v. 7.

Go back to the top of Chapter 5

6. Refutation of the Jews

e have dealt thus far with the Incarnation ofour Savior, and have found clear proof of theresurrection of His Body and His victory over

death. Let us now go further and investigate theunbelief and the ridicule with which Jews andGentiles respectively regard these same facts. Itseems that in both cases the points at issue arethe same, namely the unfittingness or incongruity(as it seems to them) alike of the cross and of theWord's becoming man at all. But we have nohesitation in taking up the argument against theseobjectors, for the proofs on our side are extremelyclear.

First, then, we will consider the Jews. Theirunbelief has its refutation in the Scriptures whicheven themselves read; for from cover to cover theinspired Book clearly teaches these things both inits entirety and in its actual words. Prophetsforetold the marvel of the Virgin and of the Birthfrom her, saying, "Behold, a virgin shall conceiveand bear a son, and they shall call his nameEmmanuel, which means God is with us."[1] AndMoses, that truly great one in whose word theJews trust so implicitly, he also recognized theimportance and truth of the matter. He puts it thus:"There shall arise a star from Jacob and a manfrom Israel, and he shall break in pieces the rulersof Moab.[ 2] And, again, "How lovely are thydwellings, O Jacob, thy tents, O Israel! Likewoodland valleys they give shade, and like parksby rivers, like tents which the Lord has pitched, like

cedar-trees by streams. There shall come forth aMan from among his seed, and he shall rule overmany peoples."[3] And, again, Isaiah says, "Beforethe Babe shall be old enough to call father ormother, he shall take the power of Damascus andthe spoils of Samaria from under the eyes of theking of Assyria."[4] These words, then, foretell thata Man shall appear. And Scripture proclaimsfurther that He that is to come is Lord of all. Theseare the words, "Behold, the Lord sitteth on an airycloud and shall come into Egypt, and theman-made images of Egypt shall be shaken."[5]And it is from Egypt also that the Father calls himback, saying, "Out of Egypt have I called MySon."[6]

(34) Moreover, the Scriptures are not silent evenabout His death. On the contrary, they refer to itwith the utmost clearness. They have not feared tospeak also of the cause of it. He endures it, theysay, not for His own sake, but for the sake ofbringing immortality and salvation to all, and theyrecord also the plotting of the Jews against Himand all the indignities which He suffered at theirhands. Certainly nobody who reads the Scripturescan plead ignorance of the facts as an excuse forerror! There is this passage, for instance: "A manthat is afflicted and knows how to bear weakness,for His face is turned away. He was dishonoredand not considered, He bears our sins and suffersfor our sakes. And we for our part thought Himdistressed and afflicted and ill-used; but it was forour sins that He was wounded and for ourlawlessness that He was made weak.Chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and byHis bruising we are healed."[7] O marvel at the

love of the Word for men, for it is on our accountthat He is dishonored, so that we may be broughtto honor. "For all we," it goes on, "have strayed likesheep, man has strayed from his path, and theLord has given Him up for our sins; and He Himselfdid not open His mouth at the ill-treatment. Like asheep He was led to slaughter, and as a lamb isdumb before its shearer, so He opened not Hismouth; in His humiliation His judgment was takenaway."[8] And then Scripture anticipates thesurmises of any who might think from His sufferingthus that He was just an ordinary man, and showswhat power worked in His behalf. "Who shalldeclare of what lineage He comes?" it says, "forHis life is exalted from the earth. By thelawlessnesses of the people was He brought todeath, and I will give the wicked in return for Hisburial and the rich in return for His death. For Hedid no lawlessness, neither was deceit found in Hismouth. And the Lord wills to heal Him of Hisaffliction."[9]

(35) You have heard the prophecy of His death,and now, perhaps, you want to know whatindications there are about the cross. Even this isnot passed over in silence: on the contrary, thesacred writers proclaim it with the utmostplainness. Moses foretells it first, and that rightloudly, when he says, "You shall see your Lifehanging before your eyes, and shall notbelieve."[10] After him the prophets also give theirwitness, saying, "But I as an innocent lambbrought to be offered was yet ignorant of it. Theyplotted evil against Me, saying, 'Come, let us castwood into His bread, and wipe Him out from theland of the living."[ 11] And, again, "They pierced

My hands and My feet, they counted all My bones,they divided My garments for themselves and castlots for My clothing."[ 12] Now a death lifted up andthat takes place on wood can be none other thanthe death of the cross; moreover, it is only in thatdeath that the hands and feet are pierced. Besidesthis, since the Savior dwelt among men, all nationseverywhere have begun to know God; and this tooHoly Writ expressly mentions. "There shall be theRoot of Jesse," it says, "and he who rises up torule the nations, on Him nations shall set theirhope."[13]

These are just a few things in proof of what hastaken place; but indeed all Scripture teems withdisproof of Jewish unbelief. For example, which ofthe righteous men and holy prophets andpatriarchs of whom the Divine Scriptures tell everhad his bodily birth from a virgin only? Was notAbel born of Adam, Enoch of Jared, Noah ofLamech, Abraham of Terah, Isaac of Abraham,and Jacob of Isaac? Was not Judah begotten byJacob and Moses and Aaron by Ameram? Was notSamuel the son of Elkanah, David of Jesse,Solomon of David, Hezekiah of Ahaz, Josiah ofAmon, Isaiah of Amos, Jeremiah of Hilkiah andEzekiel of Buzi? Had not each of these a father asauthor of his being? So who is He that is born of avirgin only, that sign of which the prophet makesso much? Again, which of all those people had hisbirth announced to the world by a star in theheavens? When Moses was born his parents hidhim. David was unknown even in his ownneighborhood, so that mighty Samuel himself wasignorant of his existence and asked whether Jessehad yet another son. Abraham again became

known to his neighbors as a great man only afterhis birth. But with Christ it was otherwise. Thewitness to His birth was not man, but a star shiningin the heavens whence He was coming down.

(36) Then, again, what king that ever wasreigned and took trophies from his enemies beforehe had strength to call father or mother? Was notDavid thirty years old when he came to the throneand Solomon a grown young man? Did not Joashenter on his reign at the age of seven, and Josiah,some time after him, at about the same age, bothof them fully able by that time to call father ormother? Who is there, then, that was reigning anddespoiling his enemies almost before he wasborn? Let the Jews, who have investigated thematter, tell us if there was ever such a king inIsrael or Judah—a king upon whom all the nationsset their hopes and had peace, instead of being atenmity with him on every side! As long asJerusalem stood there was constant war betweenthem, and they all fought against Israel. TheAssyrians oppressed Israel, the Egyptianspersecuted them, the Babylonians fell upon them,and, strange to relate, even the Syrians theirneighbors were at war with them. And did notDavid fight with Moab and smite the Syrians, andHezekiah quail at the boasting of Sennacherib?Did not Amalek make war on Moses and theAmorites oppose him, and did not the inhabitantsof Jericho array themselves against Joshua theson of Nun? Did not the nations always regardIsrael with implacable hostility? Then it is worthinquiring who it is, on whom the nations are to settheir hopes. Obviously there must be someone, forthe prophet could not have told a lie. But did any of

the holy prophets or of the early patriarchs die onthe cross for the salvation of all? Was any of themwounded and killed for the healing of all? Did theidols of Egypt fall down before any righteous manor king that came there? Abraham came therecertainly, but idolatry prevailed just the same; andMoses was born there, but the mistaken worshipwas unchanged.

(37) Again, does Scripture tell of anyone whowas pierced in hands and feet or hung upon a treeat all, and by means of a cross perfected hissacrifice for the salvation of all? It was notAbraham, for he died in his bed, as did also Isaacand Jacob. Moses and Aaron died in the mountain,and David ended his days in his house, withoutanybody having plotted against him. Certainly hehad been sought by Saul, but he was preservedunharmed. Again Isaiah was sawn asunder, but hewas not hung on a tree. Jeremiah was shamefullyused, but he did not die under condemnation.Ezekiel suffered, but he did so, not on behalf of thepeople, but only to signify to them what was goingto happen. Moreover, all these even when theysuffered were but men, like other men; but HeWhom the Scriptures declare to suffer on behalf ofall is called not merely man but Life of all, althoughin point of fact He did share our human nature."You shall see your Life hanging before youreyes," they say, and "Who shall declare of whatlineage He comes?" With all the saints we cantrace their descent from the beginning, and seeexactly how each came to be; but the Divine Wordmaintains that we cannot declare the lineage ofHim Who is the Life. Who is it, then, of Whom HolyWrit thus speaks? Who is there so great that even

the prophets foretell of Him such mighty things?There is indeed no one in the Scriptures at all,save the common Savior of all, the Word of God,our Lord Jesus Christ. He it is that proceeded froma virgin, and appeared as man on earth, He it isWhose earthly lineage cannot be declared,because He alone derives His body from nohuman father, but from a virgin alone. We cantrace the paternal descent of David and Moses andof all the patriarchs. But with the Savior we cannotdo so, for it was He Himself Who caused the starto announce His bodily birth, and it was fitting thatthe Word, when He came down from heaven,should have His sign in heaven too, and fitting thatthe King of creation on His coming forth should bevisibly recognized by all the world. He was actuallyborn in Judea, yet men from Persia came toworship Him. He it is Who won victory from Hisdemon foes and trophies from the idolaters evenbefore His bodily appearing—namely, all the heathenwho from every region have abjured the tradition oftheir fathers and the false worship of idols and arenow placing their hope in Christ and transferringtheir allegiance to Him. The thing is happeningbefore our very eyes, here in Egypt; and therebyanother prophecy is fulfilled, for at no other timehave the Egyptians ceased from their false worshipsave when the Lord of all, riding as on a cloud,came down here in the body and brought the errorof idols to nothing and won over everybody toHimself and through Himself to the Father. He it isWho was crucified with the sun and moon aswitnesses; and by His death salvation has come toall men, and all creation has been redeemed. He isthe Life of all, and He it is Who like a sheep gave

up His own body to death, His life for ours and oursalvation.

(38) Yet the Jews disbelieve this. This argumentdoes not satisfy them. Well, then, let them bepersuaded by other things in their own oracles. Ofwhom, for instance, do the prophets say "I wasmade manifest to those who did not seek Me, Iwas found by those who had not asked for Me? Isaid, 'See, here am I,' to the nation that had notcalled upon My Name. I stretched out My hands toa disobedient and gainsaying people."[ 14] Who isthis person that was made manifest, one might askthe Jews? If the prophet is speaking of himself,then they must tell us how he was first hidden, inorder to be manifested afterwards. And, again,what kind of man is this prophet, who was not onlyrevealed after being hidden, but also stretched outhis hands upon the cross? Those things happenedto none of those righteous men: they happenedonly to the Word of God Who, being by naturewithout body, on our account appeared in a bodyand suffered for us all. And if even this is notenough for them, there is other overwhelmingevidence by which they may be silenced. TheScripture says, "Be strong, hands that hang downand feeble knees, take courage, you of little faith,be strong and do not fear. See, our God willrecompense judgment, He Himself will come andsave us. Then the eyes of blind men shall beopened and the ears of deaf men shall hear, andstammerers shall speak distinctly."[15] What canthey say to this, or how can they look it in the faceat all? For the prophecy does not only declare thatGod will dwell here, it also makes known the signsand the time of His coming. When God comes, it

says, the blind will see, the lame will walk, the deafwill hear and the stammerers will speak distinctly.Can the Jews tell us when such signs occurred inIsrael, or when anything of the kind took place atall in Jewry? The leper Naaman was cleansed, it istrue, but no deaf man heard nor did any lame manwalk. Elijah raised a dead person and so didElisha; but no one blind from birth received hissight. To raise a dead person is a great thingindeed, but it is not such as the Savior did. Andsurely, since the Scriptures have not kept silenceabout the leper and the dead son of the widow, if alame man had walked and a blind man hadreceived his sight, they would have mentionedthese as well. Their silence on these points provesthat the events never took place. When thereforedid these things happen, unless when the Word ofGod Himself came in the body? Was it not whenHe came that lame men walked and stammerersspoke clearly and men blind from birth were givensight? And the Jews who saw it themselvestestified to the fact that such things had neverbefore occurred. "Since the world began," theysaid, "it has never been heard of that anyoneshould open the eyes of a man born blind. If thisMan were not from God, He could do nothing."[16]

(39) But surely they cannot fight against plainfacts. So it may be that, without denying what iswritten, they will maintain that they are still waitingfor these things to happen, and that the Word ofGod is yet to come, for that is a theme on whichthey are always harping most brazenly, in spite ofall the evidence against them. But they shall berefuted on this supreme point more clearly than onany, and that not by ourselves but by the most

wise Daniel, for he signifies the actual date of theSavior's coming as well as His Divine sojourn inour midst. "Seventy weeks," he says, "are cut shortupon thy people and upon the holy city, to make acomplete end of sin and for sins to be sealed upand iniquities blotted out, and to makereconciliation for iniquity and to seal vision andprophet, and to anoint a Holy One of holies. Andthou shalt know and understand from the goingforth of the Word to answer,[ 17] and to buildJerusalem, until Christ the Prince."[ 18] In regard tothe other prophecies, they may possibly be able tofind excuses for deferring their reference to afuture time, but what can they say to this one?How can they face it at all? Not only does itexpressly mention the Anointed One, that is theChrist, it even declares that He Who is to beanointed is not man only, but the Holy One ofholies! And it says that Jerusalem is to stand tillHis coming, and that after it prophet and visionshall cease in Israel! David was anointed of old,and Solomon, and Hezekiah; but then Jerusalemand the place stood, and prophets wereprophesying, Gad and Asaph and Nathan, andlater Isaiah and Hosea and Amos and others.Moreover, those men who were anointed werecalled holy certainly, but none of them was calledthe Holy of holies. Nor is it any use for the Jews totake refuge in the Captivity, and say thatJerusalem did not exist then, for what about theprophets? It is a fact that at the outset of the ExileDaniel and Jeremiah were there, and Ezekiel andHaggai and Zechariah also prophesied.

(40) So the Jews are indulging in fiction, andtransferring present time to future. When did

prophet and vision cease from Israel? Was it notwhen Christ came, the Holy One of holies? It is, infact, a sign and notable proof of the coming of theWord that Jerusalem no longer stands, neither isprophet raised up nor vision revealed among them.And it is natural that it should be so, for when Hethat was signified had come, what need was thereany longer of any to signify Him? And when theTruth had come, what further need was there ofthe shadow? On His account only they prophesiedcontinually, until such time as EssentialRighteousness has come, Who was made theRansom for the sins of all. For the same reasonJerusalem stood until the same time, in order thatthere men might premeditate the types before theTruth was known. So, of course, once the HolyOne of holies had come, both vision and prophecywere sealed. And the kingdom of Jerusalemceased at the same time, because kings were tobe anointed among them only until the Holy ofholies had been anointed. Moses also prophesiesthat the kingdom of the Jews shall stand until Histime, saying, "A ruler shall not fail from Judah nor aprince from his loins, until the things laid up for himshall come and the Expectation of the nationsHimself."[19] And that is why the Savior Himselfwas always proclaiming "The law and the prophetsprophesied until John."[ 20] So if there is still kingor prophet or vision among the Jews, they do wellto deny that Christ is come; but if there is neitherking nor vision, and since that time all prophecyhas been sealed and city and temple taken, howcan they be so irreligious, how can they so flauntthe facts, as to deny Christ Who has brought it allabout? Again, they see the heathen forsaking idols

and setting their hopes through Christ on the Godof Israel; why do they yet deny Christ Who afterthe flesh was born of the root of Jesse and reignshenceforward? Of course, if the heathen wereworshipping some other god, and not confessingthe God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob andMoses, then they would do well to argue that Godhad not come. But if the heathen are honoring thesame God Who gave the law to Moses and thepromises to Abraham—the God Whose word too theJews dishonored, why do they not recognize orrather why do they deliberately refuse to see thatthe Lord of Whom the Scriptures prophesied hasshone forth to the world and appeared to it in abodily form? Scripture declares it repeatedly. "TheLord God has appeared to us,"[21] and again, "Hesent forth His Word and healed them."[22] Andagain, "It was no ambassador, no angel who savedus, but the Lord Himself."[23] The Jews areafflicted like some demented person who sees theearth lit up by the sun, but denies the sun thatlights it up! What more is there for their ExpectedOne to do when he comes? To call the heathen?But they are called already. To put an end toprophet and king and vision? But this too hasalready happened. To expose theGod-denyingness of idols? It is already exposedand condemned. Or to destroy death? It is alreadydestroyed. What then has not come to pass thatthe Christ must do? What is there left out orunfulfilled that the Jews should disbelieve solight-heartedly? The plain fact is, as I say, thatthere is no longer any king or prophet norJerusalem nor sacrifice nor vision among them; yetthe whole earth is filled with the knowledge of God,

and the Gentiles, forsaking atheism, are nowtaking refuge with the God of Abraham through theWord, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Surely, then, it must be plain even to the mostshameless that the Christ has come, and that Hehas enlightened all men everywhere, and giventhem the true and divine teaching about His Father.

Thus the Jews may be refuted by these andother arguments from the Divine teaching.

Chapter 6 Notes

1. Isaiah vii. 14.2. Numbers xxiv. 17.3. Numbers xxiv. 5-7.4. Isaiah viii. 45. Isaiah xix. 1.6. Hosea xi. 1.7. Isaiah liii. 3-58. Isaiah liii. 6-8.9. Isaiah liii. 8-10.

10. Deut. xxviii. 66.11. Jer. xi. 19.12. Psalm xxii. 16-18.13. Isaiah xi. 10.14. Isaiah lxv. 1, 2.15. Isaiah xxxv. 3-6.16. John ix. 32, 33."17. "Answer" is LXX misreading for Hebrew

"restore."

18. Daniel ix. 24, 25.19. Gen. xlix. 10.20. Matt. xi. 13.21. Psalm cxviii. 27.22. Psalm cvii. 20.23. Isaiah lxiii. 9.

Go Back to the top of Chapter 6

7. Refutation of theGentiles

e come now to the unbelief of the Gentiles;and this is indeed a matter for completeastonishment, for they laugh at that which is

no fit subject for mockery, yet fail to see the shameand ridiculousness of their own idols. But thearguments on our side do not lack weight, so wewill confute them too on reasonable grounds,chiefly from what we ourselves also see.

First of all, what is there in our belief that isunfitting or ridiculous? Is it only that we say that theWord has been manifested in a body? Well, if theythemselves really love the truth, they will agreewith us that this involved no unfittingness at all. Ifthey deny that there is a Word of God at all, thatwill be extraordinary, for then they will be ridiculingwhat they do not know. But suppose they confessthat there is a Word of God, that He is theGovernor of all things, that in Elim the Fatherwrought the creation, that by His providence thewhole receives light and life and being, and that Heis King over all, so that He is known by means ofthe works of His providence, and through Him theFather. Suppose they confess all this, what then?Are they not unknowingly turning the ridiculeagainst themselves? The Greek philosophers saythat the universe is a great body, and they saytruly, for we perceive the universe and its partswith our senses. But if the Word of God is in theuniverse, which is a body, and has entered into it

in its every part, what is there surprising or unfittingin our saying that He has entered also into humannature? If it were unfitting for Him to haveembodied Himself at all, then it would be unfittingfor Him to have entered into the universe, and tobe giving light and movement by His providence toall things in it, because the universe, as we haveseen, is itself a body. But if it is right and fitting forHim to enter into the universe and to revealHimself through it, then, because humanity is partof the universe along with the rest, it is no lessfitting for Him to appear in a human body, and toenlighten and to work through that. And surely if itwere wrong for a part of the universe to have beenused to reveal His Divinity to men, it would bemuch more wrong that He should be so revealedby the whole!

(42) Take a parallel case. A man's personalityactuates and quickens his whole body. If anyonesaid it was unsuitable for the man's power to be inthe toe, he would be thought silly, because, whilegranting that a man penetrates and actuates thewhole of his body, he denied his presence in thepart. Similarly, no one who admits the presence ofthe Word of God in the universe as a whole shouldthink it unsuitable for a single human body to be byHim actuated and enlightened.

But is it, perhaps, because humanity is a thingcreated and brought into being out ofnon-existence that they regard as unfitting themanifestation of the Savior in our nature? If so, it ishigh time that they spurned Him from creation too;for it, too, has been brought out of non-being intobeing by the Word. But if, on the other hand,although creation is a thing that has been made, it

is not unsuitable for the Word to be present in it,then neither is it unsuitable for Him to be in man.Man is a part of the creation, as I said before; andthe reasoning which applies to one applies to theother. All things derive from the Word their lightand movement and life, as the Gentile authorsthemselves say, "In Him we live and move andhave our being."[1] Very well then. That being so, itis by no means unbecoming that the Word shoulddwell in man. So if, as we say, the Word has usedthat in which He is as the means of Hisself-manifestation, what is there ridiculous in that?He could not have used it had He not been presentin it; but we have already admitted that He ispresent both in the whole and in the parts. What,then, is there incredible in His manifesting Himselfthrough that in which He is? By His own power Heenters completely into each and all, and ordersthem throughout ungrudgingly; and, had He sowilled, He could have revealed Himself and HisFather by means of sun or moon or sky or earth orfire or water. Had He done so, no one could rightlyhave accused Him of acting unbecomingly, for Hesustains in one whole all things at once, beingpresent and invisibly revealed not only in thewhole, but also in each particular part. This beingso, and since, moreover, He has willed to revealHimself through men, who are part of the whole,there can be nothing ridiculous in His using ahuman body to manifest the truth and knowledgeof the Father. Does not the mind of man pervadehis entire being, and yet find expression throughone part only, namely the tongue? Does anybodysay on that account that Mind has degraded itself?Of course not. Very well, then, no more is it

degrading for the Word, Who pervades all things,to have appeared in a human body. For, as I saidbefore, if it were unfitting for Him thus to indwellthe part, it would be equally so for Him to existwithin the whole.

(43) Some may then ask, why did He notmanifest Himself by means of other and noblerparts of creation, and use some nobler instrument,such as sun or moon or stars or fire or air, insteadof mere man? The answer is this. The Lord did notcome to make a display. He came to heal and toteach suffering men. For one who wanted to makea display the thing would have been just to appearand dazzle the beholders. But for Him Who cameto heal and to teach the way was not merely todwell here, but to put Himself at the disposal ofthose who needed Him, and to be manifestedaccording as they could bear it, not vitiating thevalue of the Divine appearing by exceeding theircapacity to receive it.

Moreover, nothing in creation had erred from thepath of God's purpose for it, save only man. Sun,moon, heaven, stars, water, air, none of these hadswerved from their order, but, knowing the Wordas their Maker and their King, remained as theywere made. Men alone having rejected what isgood, have invented nothings instead of the truth,and have ascribed the honor due to God and theknowledge concerning Him to demons and men inthe form of stones. Obviously the Divine goodnesscould not overlook so grave a matter as this. Butmen could not recognize Him as ordering andruling creation as a whole. So what does He do?He takes to Himself for instrument a part of thewhole, namely a human body, and enters into that.

Thus He ensured that men should recognize Himin the part who could not do so in the whole, andthat those who could not lift their eyes to Hisunseen power might recognize and behold Him inthe likeness of themselves. For, being men, theywould naturally learn to know His Father morequickly and directly by means of a body thatcorresponded to their own and by the Divine worksdone through it; for by comparing His works withtheir own they would judge His to be not humanbut Divine. And if, as they say, it were unsuitablefor the Word to reveal Himself through bodily acts,it would be equally so for Him to do so through theworks of the universe. His being in creation doesnot mean that He shares its nature; on thecontrary, all created things partake of His power.Similarly, though He used the body as Hisinstrument, He shared nothing of its defect,[2] butrather sanctified it by His indwelling. Does not evenPlato, of whom the Greeks think so much, say thatthe Author of the Universe, seeing it storm-tossedand in danger of sinking into the state ofdissolution, takes his seat at the helm of theLife-force of the universe, and comes to the rescueand puts everything right? What, then, is thereincredible in our saying that, mankind having goneastray, the Word descended upon it and wasmanifest as man, so that by His intrinsic goodnessand His steersmanship He might save it from thestorm?

(44) It may be, however, that, though shamedinto agreeing that this objection is void, the Greekswill want to raise another. They will say that, if Godwanted to instruct and save mankind, He mighthave done so, not by His Word's assumption of a

body, but, even as He at first created them, by themere signification of His will. The reasonable replyto that is that the circumstances in the two casesare quite different. In the beginning, nothing as yetexisted at all; all that was needed, therefore, inorder to bring all things into being, was that His willto do so should be signified. But once man was inexistence, and things that were, not things thatwere not, demanded to be healed, it followed as amatter of course that the Healer and Savior shouldalign Himself with those things that existedalready, in order to heal the existing evil. For thatreason, therefore, He was made man, and usedthe body as His human instrument. If this were notthe fitting way, and He willed to use an instrumentat all, how otherwise was the Word to come? Andwhence could He take His instrument, save fromamong those already in existence and needing HisGodhead through One like themselves? It was notthings non-existent that needed salvation, forwhich a bare creative word might have sufficed,but man—man already in existence and already inprocess of corruption and ruin. It was natural andright, therefore, for the Word to use a humaninstrument and by that means unfold Himself to all.

You must know, moreover, that the corruptionwhich had set in was not external to the body butestablished within it. The need, therefore, was thatlife should cleave to it in corruption's place, so that,just as death was brought into being in the body,life also might be engendered in it. If death hadbeen exterior to the body, life might fittingly havebeen the same. But if death was within the body,woven into its very substance and dominating it asthough completely one with it, the need was for

Life to be woven into it instead, so that the body bythus enduing itself with life might cast corruptionoff. Suppose the Word had come outside the bodyinstead of in it, He would, of course, have defeateddeath, because death is powerless against theLife. But the corruption inherent in the body wouldhave remained in it none the less. Naturally,therefore, the Savior assumed a body for Himself,in order that the body, being interwoven as it werewith life, should no longer remain a mortal thing, inthrall to death, but as endued with immortality andrisen from death, should thenceforth remainimmortal. For once having put op corruption, itcould not rise, unless it put on life instead; andbesides this, death of its very nature could notappear otherwise than in a body. Therefore He puton a body, so that in the body He might find deathand blot it out. And, indeed, how could the Lordhave been proved to be the Life at all, had He notendued with life that which was subject to death?Take an illustration. Stubble is a substancenaturally destructible by fire; and it still remainsstubble, fearing the menace of fire which has thenatural property of consuming it, even if fire is keptaway from it, so that it is not actually burnt. Butsuppose that, instead of merely keeping the firefrom it somebody soaks the stubble with a quantityof asbestos, the substance which is said to be theantidote to fire. Then the stubble no longer fearsthe fire, because it has put on that which firecannot touch, and therefore it is safe. It is just thesame with regard to the body and death. Haddeath been kept from it by a mere command, itwould still have remained mortal and corruptible,according to its nature. To prevent this, it put on

the incorporeal Word of God, and therefore fearsneither death nor corruption any more, for it is cladwith Life as with a garment and in it corruption isclean done away.

(45) The Word of God thus acted consistently inassuming a body and using a human instrument tovitalize the body. He was consistent in workingthrough man to reveal Himself everywhere, as wellas through the other parts of His creation, so thatnothing was left void of His Divinity andknowledge. For I take up now the point I madebefore, namely that the Savior did this in order thatHe might fill all things everywhere with theknowledge of Himself, just as they are alreadyfilled with His presence, even as the DivineScripture says, "The whole universe was filled withthe knowledge of the Lord."[3] If a man looks up toheaven he sees there His ordering; but if hecannot look so high as heaven, but only so far asmen, through His works he sees His power,incomparable with human might, and learns fromthem that He alone among men is God the Word.Or, if a man has gone astray among demons andis in fear of them, he may see this Man drive themout and judge therefrom that He is indeed theirMaster. Again, if a man has been immersed in theelement of water and thinks that it is God—as indeedthe Egyptians do worship water—he may see its verynature changed by Him and learn that the Lord isCreator of all. And if a man has gone down even toHades, and stands awestruck before the heroeswho have descended thither, regarding them asgods, still he may see the fact of Christ'sresurrection and His victory over death, andreason from it that, of all these, He alone is very

Lord and God.For the Lord touched all parts of creation, and

freed and undeceived them all from every deceit.As St. Paul says, "Having put off from Himself theprincipalities and the powers, He triumphed on thecross,"[ 4] so that no one could possibly be anylonger deceived, but everywhere might find thevery Word of God. For thus man, enclosed onevery side by the works of creation andeverywhere—in heaven, in Hades, in men and on theearth, beholding the unfolded Godhead of theWord, is no longer deceived concerning God, butworships Christ alone, and through Him rightlyknows the Father.

On these grounds, then, of reason and ofprinciple, we will fairly silence the Gentiles in theirturn. But if they think these arguments insufficientto confute them, we will go on in the next chapterto prove our point from facts.

Chapter 7 Notes

1. See Acts xvii. 28.2. Literally, "He shared nothing of the things of

the body."3. Isaiah xi. 9.4. Col. ii. 15.

Go Back to the top of Chapter 7

8. Refutation of theGentiles--continued

hen did people begin to abandon theworship of idols, unless it were since thevery Word of God came among men? When

have oracles ceased and become void of meaning,among the Greeks and everywhere, except sincethe Savior has revealed Himself on earth? Whendid those whom the poets call gods and heroesbegin to be adjudged as mere mortals, exceptwhen the Lord took the spoils of death andpreserved incorruptible the body He had taken,raising it from among the dead? Or when did thedeceitfulness and madness of demons fall undercontempt, save when the Word, the Power of God,the Master of all these as well, condescended onaccount of the weakness of mankind and appearedon earth? When did the practice and theory ofmagic begin to be spurned under foot, if not at themanifestation of the Divine Word to men? In aword, when did the wisdom of the Greeks becomefoolish, save when the true Wisdom of Godrevealed Himself on earth? In old times the wholeworld and every place in it was led astray by theworship of idols, and men thought the idols werethe only gods that were. But now all over the worldmen are forsaking the fear of idols and takingrefuge with Christ; and by worshipping Him as Godthey come through Him to know the Father also,Whom formerly they did not know. The amazingthing, moreover, is this. The objects of worship

formerly were varied and countless; each placehad its own idol and the so-called god of one placecould not pass over to another in order topersuade the people there to worship him, but wasbarely reverenced even by his own. Indeed no!Nobody worshipped his neighbor's god, but everyman had his own idol and thought that it was lordof all. But now Christ alone is worshipped, as Oneand the Same among all peoples everywhere; andwhat the feebleness of idols could not do, namely,convince even those dwelling close at hand, Hehas effected. He has persuaded not only thoseclose at hand, but literally the entire world toworship one and the same Lord and through Himthe Father.

(47) Again, in former times every place was fullof the fraud of the oracles, and the utterances ofthose at Delphi and Dordona and in Boeotia andLycia and Libya and Egypt and those of the Kabiriand the Pythoness were considered marvelous bythe minds of men. But now, since Christ has beenproclaimed everywhere, their madness too hasceased, and there is no one left among them togive oracles at all. Then, too, demons used todeceive men's minds by taking up their abode insprings or rivers or trees or stones and imposingupon simple people by their frauds. But now, sincethe Divine appearing of the Word, all this fantasyhas ceased, for by the sign of the cross, if a manwill but use it, he drives out their deceits. Again,people used to regard as gods those who arementioned in the poets—Zeus and Kronos andApollo and the heroes, and in worshipping themthey went astray. But now that the Savior hasappeared among men, those others have been

exposed as mortal men, and Christ alone isrecognized as true God, Word of God, GodHimself. And what is one to say about the magicthat they think so marvelous? Before the sojourn ofthe Word, it was strong and active amongEgyptians and Chaldeans and Indians and filled allwho saw it with terror and astonishment. But by thecoming of the Truth and the manifestation of theWord it too has been confuted and entirelydestroyed. As to Greek wisdom, however, and thephilosophers' noisy talk, I really think no onerequires argument from us; for the amazing fact ispatent to all that, for all that they had written somuch, the Greeks failed to convince even a fewfrom their own neighborhood in regard toimmortality and the virtuous ordering of life. Christalone, using common speech and through theagency of men not clever with their tongues, hasconvinced whole assemblies of people all theworld over to despise death, and to take heed tothe things that do not die, to look past the things oftime and gaze on things eternal, to think nothing ofearthly glory and to aspire only to immortality.

(48) These things which we have said are nomere words: they are attested by actualexperience. Anyone who likes may see the proof ofglory in the virgins of Christ, and in the young menwho practice chastity as part of their religion, andin the assurance of immortality in so great and glada company[ 1] of martyrs. Anyone, too, may putwhat we have said to the proof of experience inanother way. In the very presence of the fraud ofdemons and the imposture of the oracles and thewonders of magic, let him use the sign of the crosswhich they all mock at, and but speak the Name of

Christ, and he shall see how through Him demonsare routed, oracles cease, and all magic andwitchcraft is confounded.

Who, then, is this Christ and how great is He,Who by His Name and presence overshadows andconfounds all things on every side, Who alone isstrong against all and has filled the whole worldwith His teaching? Let the Greeks tell us, whomock at Him without stint or shame. If He is a man,how is it that one man has proved stronger than allthose whom they themselves regard as gods, andby His own power has shown them to be nothing?If they call Him a magician, how is it that by amagician all magic is destroyed, instead of beingrendered strong? Had He conquered certainmagicians or proved Himself superior to one ofthem only, they might reasonably think that Heexcelled the rest only by His greater skill. But thefact is that His cross has vanquished all magicentirely and has conquered the very name of it.Obviously, therefore, the Savior is no magician, forthe very demons whom the magicians invoke fleefrom Him as from their Master. Who is He, then?Let the Greeks tell us, whose only serious pursuitis mockery! Perhaps they will say that He, too, is ademon, and that is why He prevailed. But even sothe laugh is still on our side. for we can confutethem by the same proofs as before. How could Hebe a demon, Who drives demons out? If it wereonly certain ones that He drove out, then theymight reasonably think that He prevailed againstthem through the power of their Chief, as the Jews,wishing to insult Him, actually said. But since thefact is, here again, that at the mere naming of HisName all madness of the demons is rooted out and

put to flight, obviously the Greeks are wrong here,too, and our Lord and Savior Christ is not, as theymaintain, some demonic power.

If, then, the Savior is neither a mere man nor amagician, nor one of the demons, but has by HisGodhead confounded and overshadowed theopinions of the poets and the delusion of thedemons and the wisdom of the Greeks, it must bemanifest and will be owned by all that He is in truthSon of God, Existent Word and Wisdom andPower of the Father. This is the reason why Hisworks are no mere human works, but, bothintrinsically and by comparison with those of men,are recognized as being superhuman and truly theworks of God.

(49) What man that ever was, for instance,formed a body for himself from a virgin only? Orwhat man ever healed so many diseases as thecommon Lord of all? Who restored that which waslacking in man's nature or made one blind frombirth to see? Aesculapius was deified by theGreeks because he practiced the art of healingand discovered herbs as remedies for bodilydiseases, not, of course, forming them himself outof the earth, but finding them out by the study ofnature. But what is that in comparison with whatthe Savior did when, instead of just healing awound, He both fashioned essential being andrestored to health the thing that He had formed?Hercules, too, is worshipped as a god by theGreeks because he fought against other men anddestroyed wild animals by craft. But what is that towhat the Word did, in driving away from mendiseases and demons and even death itself?Dionysus is worshipped among them, because he

taught men drunkenness; yet they ridicule the trueSavior and Lord of all, Who taught mentemperance.

That, however, is enough on this point. What willthey say to the other marvels of His Godhead? Atwhat man's death was the sun darkened and theearth shaken? Why, even to this day men aredying, and they did so also before that time. Whendid any such marvels happen in their case? Nowshall we pass over the deeds done in His earthlybody and mention those after His resurrection?Has any man's teaching, in any place or at anytime, ever prevailed everywhere as one and thesame, from one end of the earth to the other, sothat his worship has fairly flown through everyland? Again, if, as they say, Christ is man only andnot God the Word, why do not the gods of theGreeks prevent His entering their domains? Orwhy, on the other hand, does the Word Himselfdwelling in our midst make an end of their worshipby His teaching and put their fraud to shame?

(50) Many before Him have been kings andtyrants of the earth, history tells also of manyamong the Chaldeans and Egyptians and Indianswho were wise men and magicians. But which ofthose, I do not say after his death, but while yet inthis life, was ever able so far to prevail as to fill thewhole world with his teaching and retrieve so greata multitude from the craven fear of idols, as ourSavior has won over from idols to Himself? TheGreek philosophers have compiled many workswith persuasiveness and much skill in words; butwhat fruit have they to show for this such as hasthe cross of Christ? Their wise thoughts werepersuasive enough until they died; yet even in their

life- time their seeming influence wascounterbalanced by their rivalry with one another,for they were a jealous company and declaimedagainst each other. But the Word of God, bystrangest paradox, teaching in meaner language,has put the choicest sophists in the shade, and byconfounding their teachings and drawing all men toHimself He has filled His own assemblies.Moreover, and this is the marvelous thing by goingdown as Man to death He has confounded ail thesounding utterances of the wise men about theidols. For whose death ever drove out demons, orwhose death did ever demons fear, save that ofChrist? For where the Savior is named, there everydemon is driven out. Again, who has ever so ridmen of their natural passions that fornicatorsbecome chaste and murderers no longer wield thesword and those who formerly were cravencowards boldly play the man? In a word, whatpersuaded the barbarians and heathen folk inevery place to drop their madness and give heedto peace, save the faith of Christ and the sign ofthe cross? What other things have given men suchcertain faith in immortality as have the cross ofChrist and the resurrection of His body? TheGreeks told all sorts of false tales, but they couldnever pretend that their idols rose again fromdeath: indeed it never entered their heads that abody could exist again after death at all. And onewould be particularly ready to listen to them on thispoint, because by these opinions they haveexposed the weakness of their own idolatry, at thesame time yielding to Christ the possibility of bodilyresurrection, so that by that means He might berecognized by all as Son of God.

(51) Again, who among men, either after hisdeath or while yet living, taught about virginity anddid not account this virtue impossible for humanbeings? But Christ our Savior and King of all hasso prevailed with His teaching on this subject thateven children not yet of lawful age promise thatvirginity which transcends the law. And who amongmen has ever been able to penetrate even toScythians and Ethiopians, or Parthians orArmenians or those who are said to live beyondHyrcania, or even the Egyptians and Chaldeans,people who give heed to magic and are more thannaturally enslaved by the fear of demons andsavage in their habits, and to preach at all aboutvirtue and self-control and against the worshippingof idols, as has the Lord of all, the Power of God,our Lord Jesus Christ? Yet He not only preachedthrough His own disciples, but also wrought sopersuasively on men's understanding that, layingaside their savage habits and forsaking theworship of their ancestral gods, they learnt to knowHim and through Him to worship the Father. Whilethey were yet idolaters, the Greeks and Barbarianswere always at war with each other, and wereeven cruel to their own kith and kin. Nobody couldtravel by land or sea at all unless he was armedwith swords, because of their irreconcilablequarrels with each other. Indeed, the whole courseof their life was carried on with the weapons, andthe sword with them replaced the staff and was themainstay of all aid. All this time, as I said before,they were serving idols and offering sacrifices todemons, and for all the superstitious awe thataccompanied this idol worship, nothing could weanthem from that warlike spirit. But, strange to relate,

since they came over to the school of Christ, asmen moved with real compunction they have laidaside their murderous cruelty and are war-mindedno more. On the contrary, all is peace among themand nothing remains save desire for friendship.

(52) Who, then, is He Who has done thesethings and has united in peace those who hatedeach other, save the beloved Son of the Father,the common Savior of all, Jesus Christ, Who byHis own love underwent all things for oursalvation? Even from the beginning, moreover, thispeace that He was to administer was foretold, forScripture says, "They shall beat their swords intoploughshares and their spears into sickles, andnation shall not take sword against nation, neithershall they learn any more to wage war."[2] Nor isthis by any means incredible.

The barbarians of the present day are naturallysavage in their habits, and as long as they sacrificeto their idols they rage furiously against each otherand cannot bear to be a single hour withoutweapons. But when they hear the teaching ofChrist, forthwith they turn from fighting to farming,and instead of arming themselves with swordsextend their hands in prayer. In a word, instead offighting each other, they take up arms against thedevil and the demons, and overcome them by theirselfcommand and integrity of soul. These facts areproof of the Godhead of the Savior, for He hastaught men what they could never learn among theidols. It is also no small exposure of the weaknessand nothingness of demons and idols, for it wasbecause they knew their own weakness that thedemons were always setting men to fight eachother, fearing lest, if they ceased from mutual

strife, they would turn to attack the demonsthemselves. For in truth the disciples of Christ,instead of fighting each other, stand arrayedagainst demons by their habits and virtuousactions, and chase them away and mock at theircaptain the devil. Even in youth they are chaste,they endure in times of testing and persevere intoils. When they are insulted, they are patient,when robbed they make light of it, and, marvelousto relate, they make light even of death itself, andbecome martyrs of Christ.

(53) And here is another proof of the Godhead ofthe Savior, which is indeed utterly amazing. Whatmere man or magician or tyrant or king was everable by himself to do so much? Did anyone everfight against the whole system of idol-worship andthe whole host of demons and all magic and all thewisdom of the Greeks, at a time when all of thesewere strong and flourishing and taking everybodyin, as did our Lord, the very Word of God? Yet Heis even now invisibly exposing every man's error,and single-handed is carrying off all men fromthem all, so that those who used to worship idolsnow tread them under foot, reputed magiciansburn their books and the wise prefer to all studiesthe interpretation of the gospels. They aredeserting those whom formerly they worshipped,they worship and confess as Christ and God HimWhom they used to ridicule as crucified. Theirso-called gods are routed by the sign of the cross,and the crucified Savior is proclaimed in all theworld as God and Son of God. Moreover, the godsworshipped among the Greeks are now falling intodisrepute among them on account of thedisgraceful things they did, for those who receive

the teaching of Christ are more chaste in life thanthey. If these, and the like of them, are humanworks, let anyone who will show us similar onesdone by men in former time, and so convince us.But if they are shown to be, and are the works notof men but of God, why are the unbelievers soirreligious as not to recognize the Master Who didthem? They are afflicted as a man would be whofailed to recognize God the Artificer through theworks of creation. For surely if they had recognizedHis Godhead through His power over the universe,they would recognize also that the bodily works ofChrist are not human, but are those of the Saviorof all, the Word of God. And had they recognizedthis, as Paul says, "They would not have crucifiedthe Lord of glory."[3]

(54) As, then, he who desires to see God Whoby nature is invisible and not to be beheld, may yetperceive and know Him through His works, so toolet him who does not see Christ with hisunderstanding at least consider Him in His bodilyworks and test whether they be of man or God. Ifthey be of man, then let him scoff; but if they be ofGod, let him not mock at things which are no fitsubject for scorn, but rather let him recognize thefact and marvel that things divine have beenrevealed to us by such humble means, thatthrough death deathlessness has been madeknown to us, and through the Incarnation of theWord the Mind whence all things proceed hasbeen declared, and its Agent and Ordainer, theWord of God Himself. He, indeed, assumedhumanity that we might become God. Hemanifested Himself by means of a body in orderthat we might perceive the Mind of the unseen

Father. He endured shame from men that wemight inherit immortality. He Himself was unhurt bythis, for He is impassable and incorruptible; but byHis own impassability He kept and healed thesuffering men on whose account He thus endured.In short, such and so many are the Savior'sachievements that follow from His Incarnation, thatto try to number them is like gazing at the opensea and trying to count the waves. One cannot seeall the waves with one's eyes, for when one tries todo so those that are following on baffle one'ssenses. Even so, when one wants to take in all theachievements of Christ in the body, one cannot doso, even by reckoning them up, for the things thattranscend one's thought are always more thanthose one thinks that one has grasped.

As we cannot speak adequately about even apart of His work, therefore, it will be better for usnot to speak about it as a whole. So we willmention but one thing more, and then leave thewhole for you to marvel at. For, indeed, everythingabout it is marvelous, and wherever a man turnshis gaze he sees the Godhead of the Word and issmitten with awe.

(55) The substance of what we have said so farmay be summarized as follows. Since the Saviorcame to dwell among us, not only does idolatry nolonger increase, but it is getting less and graduallyceasing to be. Similarly, not only does the wisdomof the Greeks no longer make any progress, butthat which used to be is disappearing. Anddemons, so far from continuing to impose onpeople by their deceits and oracle-givings andsorceries, are routed by the sign of the cross ifthey so much as try. On the other hand, while

idolatry and everything else that opposes the faithof Christ is daily dwindling and weakening andfalling, see, the Savior's teaching is increasingeverywhere! Worship, then, the Savior "Who isabove all" and mighty, even God the Word, andcondemn those who are being defeated and madeto disappear by Him. When the sun has come,darkness prevails no longer; any of it that may beleft anywhere is driven away. So also, now that theDivine epiphany of the Word of God has takenplace, the darkness of idols prevails no more, andall parts of the world in every direction areenlightened by His teaching. Similarly, if a king bereigning somewhere, but stays in his own houseand does not let himself be seen, it often happensthat some insubordinate fellows, taking advantageof his retirement, will have themselves proclaimedin his stead; and each of them, being invested withthe semblance of kingship, misleads the simplewho, because they cannot enter the palace andsee the real king, are led astray by just hearing aking named. When the real king emerges,however, and appears to view, things standdifferently. The insubordinate impostors are shownup by his presence, and men, seeing the real king,forsake those who previously misled them. In thesame way the demons used formerly to impose onmen, investing themselves with the honor due toGod. But since the Word of God has beenmanifested in a body, and has made known to usHis own Father, the fraud of the demons isstopped and made to disappear; and men, turningtheir eyes to the true God, Word of the Father,forsake the idols and come to know the true God.

Now this is proof that Christ is God, the Word

and Power of God. For whereas human thingscease and the fact of Christ remains, it is clear toall that the things which cease are temporary, butthat He Who remains is God and very Son of God,the sole-begotten Word.

Chapter 8 Notes

1. Literally, "so great a chorus" "choros" (Gk.)being properly a band of dancers andsingers.

2. Isaiah ii. 4.3. Cor. ii. 8.

Go Back to the top of Chapter 8

9. Conclusion

ere, then, Macarius, is our offering to youwho love Christ, a brief statement of the faithof Christ and of the manifestation of His

Godhead to us. This will give you a beginning, andyou must go on to prove its truth by the study ofthe Scriptures. They were written and inspired byGod; and we, who have learned from inspiredteachers who read the Scriptures and becamemartyrs for the Godhead of Christ, make furthercontribution to your eagerness to learn. From theScriptures you will learn also of His secondmanifestation to us, glorious and divine indeed,when He shall come not in lowliness but in Hisproper glory, no longer in humiliation but inmajesty, no longer to suffer but to bestow on us allthe fruit of His cross— the resurrection andincorruptibility. No longer will He then be judged,but rather will Himself be Judge, judging each andall according to their deeds done in the body,whether good or ill. Then for the good is laid up theheavenly kingdom, but for those that practice evilouter darkness and the eternal fire. So also theLord Himself says, "I say unto you, hereafter yeshall see the Son of Man seated on the right handof power, coming on the clouds of heaven in theglory of the Father."[1] For that Day we have oneof His own sayings to prepare us, "Get ready andwatch, for ye know not the hour in which Hecometh"[2] And blessed Paul says, "We must allstand before the judgment seat of Christ, that eachone may receive according as he practiced in the

body, whether good or ill."[3](57) But for the searching and right

understanding of the Scriptures there is need of agood life and a pure soul, and for Christian virtueto guide the mind to grasp, so far as human naturecan, the truth concerning God the Word. Onecannot possibly understand the teaching of thesaints unless one has a pure mind and is trying toimitate their life. Anyone who wants to look atsunlight naturally wipes his eye clear first, in orderto make, at any rate, some approximation to thepurity of that on which he looks; and a personwishing to see a city or country goes to the place inorder to do so. Similarly, anyone who wishes tounderstand the mind of the sacred writers mustfirst cleanse his own life, and approach the saintsby copying their deeds. Thus united to them in thefellowship of life, he will both understand the thingsrevealed to them by God and, thenceforthescaping the peril that threatens sinners in thejudgment, will receive that which is laid up for thesaints in the kingdom of heaven. Of that reward itis written: "Eye hath not seen nor ear heard,neither hath entered into the heart of man thethings that God has prepared"[4] for them that livea godly life and love the God and Father in ChristJesus our Lord, through Whom and with Whom beto the Father Himself, with the Son Himself, in theHoly Spirit, honor and might and glory to ages ofages. Amen.

Chapter 9 Notes

1. Matt. xxvi. 64.2. Matt. xxiv. 42.3. 2 Cor. v. 10.4. 1 Cor. ii. 9.