Homilies on Genesis 2

Why ever, concerning the sun and the moon and the heaven and the rest, did He say, 'Let it come to be';

but concerning man, 'Let Us make'? And what ever is the meaning of 'According to the image'?

Do you then remember the questions lately set before you? For you have raised us to such boldness and daring that we now venture even upon questions;

or rather, this would be neither daring nor presumption.

For it was not by trusting in our own power, but by casting the whole upon the prayers of our presiding fathers and upon yours, that we stripped for the arena.

And the prayer of the Church is so powerful that, even were we more voiceless than stones, it can make our tongue lighter than any feather.

when the wind falls upon the sails of the ship, it sends the vessel forth swifter than an arrow;

so also the prayer of the Church, falling upon the tongue of the speaker, sends forth the word more vehemently than the west wind.

Therefore we too, taking courage each day, strip for the contest.

For if, in the contests of the world, one who has only ten or twenty admirers in so great a crowd goes down into the contest with eagerness;

how much more shall we, where not ten, nor twenty only, but our whole theater is composed of brethren and fathers, do this with confidence.

And yet, in the outward contests, the combatant would reap nothing great from the spectator, save only that the latter should shout and marvel at what is done, and contend from his seat above with those who gainsay;

but to come down into the arena, and stretch forth a hand, and pull the foot of the adversary, or display any other such thing—these are not lawful for them.

For those who from the beginning arranged those contests, by fixing sharp stakes and casting ropes round in a circle, thus restrain the frenzy of the spectators.

And what wonder if it be not lawful for a spectator to come down, seeing that they even seat the trainer outside, beyond the dust, and bid him bring in from afar the aid of his teaching to the contestants, but do not permit him to draw near? But it is not so here;

rather, both teacher and spectator may come down to us, and stand near in disposition, and through their prayers rally our strength together.

Come then, let us lay hold of the very grips of those wrestlers.

For when those men, having caught each other about the middle, are by the force of their holds hurled toward the crowd standing round outside, on account of the narrowness of the place, they loose their grips and return again to the place of contest;

then, having returned, they do not grapple upright again, but placing themselves in that same manner of holds in which, being so, they had been separated.

Since, then, the narrowness of the place has compelled us also to break off our discourse, come, let us return to the place of contest and loose the grips from the words read to us today.

'And God said,' it says, 'Let Us make man according to Our image and likeness.'

One first thing is worthy of inquiry: why ever, when the heaven was being made, is 'Let Us make' nowhere said, but rather 'Let there be a heaven,' 'Let there be light,' and so with each part of the creation;

but here 'Let Us make' alone is added—counsel and deliberation and communication with some other of equal honor? Who then ever is the one about to be fashioned, that he enjoys so great an honor? It is man, the great and wondrous living being, and more precious to God than all creation, for whose sake are heaven and earth and sea and the whole remaining body of creation;

man, for whose salvation God so yearned, as not even to spare His Only-Begotten for his sake;

for He did not cease doing all things and taking every measure, until having led him up He seated him at His own right hand.

'He raised us up together and seated us together at His right hand in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.'

For this reason there is counsel and deliberation and communication—not because God has need of counsel;

but by the form of the words He shows forth the honor toward the one who was to come into being for us.

'And how,' one says, 'if he is more precious than the whole world, is he brought forth later than the world?' For this very reason, because he is more precious than the world.

For just as, when a king is about to ride into some city, generals and prefects and bodyguards and all the servants go on ahead, that having prepared the palace and set in order all the rest of the attendance, they may receive the king with much honor;

even so also here, as when a king is about to be brought in, the sun went before, the heaven ran before, the light entered first, all things came to be and were set in order, and then man is at last brought in with much honor.

'Let Us make man according to the image.'

To whom does God say, 'Let Us make'? These are the writings of Moses—of Moses, in whom they falsely claim to believe.

And that they lie and do not believe, hear Christ convicting them and saying:

'If you believed Moses, you would believe Me.'

But now, with them are the books, while with us is the treasure of the books;

with them the letters, but with us both the letters and the meanings.

To whom, then, tell me, does He say, 'Let Us make man'? 'To an angel,' one says, 'or to an archangel He simply speaks.'

For just as household slaves who are worthy of scourging, when accused by their masters and having no straightforward answer to give, put forward whatever comes to mind;

even so you too say, 'To an angel and an archangel He spoke.'

What sort of angel? What sort of archangel? For it does not belong to angels to create, nor to archangels to fashion these things.

And for what reason, when He made the heaven, did He not say to an angel and an archangel, but brought it forth by Himself; yet when He brought forth the living being more precious than heaven and than the whole world, namely man, then does He take the servants as partners in the creation? (2)

These things are not so; they are not so;

for it belongs to angels to stand by, not to create;

to archangels it belongs to minister, not to share in counsel and deliberation.

Hear what Isaiah says concerning the powers of the Seraphim, which are above the archangels:

'I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up, and the Seraphim stood round about Him;

six wings to the one, and six wings to the one;

and with two wings they covered their faces,' evidently walling off their sight, because they were not able to endure the lightning borne from the throne.

What do you say? The Seraphim stand by, and are in such wonder and amazement—and that while beholding the condescension of God;

yet do angels share counsel with Him, and partake of His deliberation? But this could have no reason.

But who is He to whom He says, 'Let Us make man'? The Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty One, the Strong God, the Ruler of peace, the Father of the age to come—He Himself, the Only-Begotten Son of God.

To Him, therefore, He says, 'Let Us make man according to Our image and according to Our likeness.'

For neither did He say 'Mine and Yours,' nor 'Mine and yours' (plural), but 'According to Our image,' showing one image and one likeness;

but of God and of angels there is not one image, nor one likeness.

For how could there be one image and likeness of the Master and of the ministers? So that from every side your argument is refuted;

for indeed He showed forth here an image of dominion, as what follows also makes clear.

For having said 'According to the image and according to the likeness,' He added, 'And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea';

but the dominion of God and of angels could not be one.

For how could it be, that of the servants and of the Master, of the ministers and of Him who commands? But yet again certain others fasten upon us, saying that God has such an image as we also have, wrongly understanding what has been said.

For He did not speak of an image of essence, but an image of dominion, as we shall show from what is subsequently brought forward.

For that the Divine is not of human form, hear Paul when he says:

A man indeed ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God;

but the woman is the glory of the man.

Therefore, he says, she ought to have a covering upon her head.

And indeed, if he here spoke of an image in the sense of an exact likeness of form to God, and if for this reason man is called the image of God—because God has been so shaped—

then, according to their view, not only the man but the woman also ought to have been called an image.

For of woman and of man there is one type and one character, and the likeness is one.

For what reason, then, is the man said to be the image of God, but the woman no longer so? Because he does not speak of the image which lies in form, but of the image which is according to rule, which the man alone possesses, and no longer the woman as well.

For he is subjected to no one;

but she came to be under him, even as God says:

Your turning shall be to your husband, and he shall rule over you.

For this reason the man is the image of God, since he has no one above him, just as no one is above God, but he rules over all;

but the woman is the glory of the man, since she is subjected to the man.

We ought not to think the Divine to be like gold, or silver, or stone, or the engraving of art or of man's imagining.

And what he says is of this sort:

Not only has the Divine transcended the visible forms, he says, but neither could the mind fashion for itself such a thing as what God is.

How then could God have the form of a man, when Paul says that there is no mind at all able to fashion within itself the essence of God? For our own form and type we could all readily fashion within ourselves according to our thoughts.

Again I wished even now to bring forward the discourse concerning almsgiving, but the time does not permit us;

wherefore let us now turn ourselves to silence, having charged you with this: to hold fast with all exactness everything that has been said, and to make much provision for right conduct, lest we gather here in vain and to no purpose.

For even if we maintain the correctness of our doctrines, yet if the virtue of works is not present, we shall certainly fall away from eternal life.

For not everyone, he says, who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

Let us then do the will of God with all diligence and eagerness, that we may be able to enter into the heavens and to attain the good things laid up for those who love God;

which may it be granted us all to attain, by the grace and lovingkindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, be glory, might, and honor, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.