On the Trinity 2-1 part 6/9

'and he who believes in me shall never thirst' — he who came to the fig tree as though hungering, yet commanded, as God, that the plant should no longer produce fruit, thereby setting deed upon word and showing that he himself was the one who spoke in the beginning:

...an act of the economy — he, the undying fountain, who taught the Samaritan woman to ask of him the water of life.

It is enough concerning this to call to mind the voice of the Gospel, which says:

When Christ knew that all things were now finished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, he says:

'I thirst' — so that it might be shown that this word did not proceed from the compulsion of thirst, but so that nothing of what was spoken in the Scriptures might be left unfulfilled.

For he was not overcome by his suffering — he, the Lord of all things and of sleep itself, who neither slumbers nor sleeps, but keeps watch over Christians, and remains impassible in his divinity even while abiding amid the sufferings;

so that the psalmist cries out to him:

'Awake, as one who sleeps, O Lord!' And the word 'as' does not indicate actual sleep on a single occasion;

for having risen at once he rebuked it as God, and the winds were stilled, and the sea grew so calm that it only continued to swell and murmur, letting itself be struck by the oars, and furnishing occasion for a hymn with a sailor's melody, while all cried out with delight:

'Christ, save!' For whenever the true Life is thought to be sleeping, then all things would be thought to have died, as not being given life.

For suppose that, while this Life sleeps, death is awake, and that no one has the means to draw the vital breezes.

Nor, then, does he become poor who is rich in mercy and good in compassion, since he is from above and without need — he who supplies from himself, as a remedy for the pain of poverty, his own dispensation.

Nor does that One stand in need of strength belonging to another;

for it is written that in him all things hold together, and that to him every knee bows, of things in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and that in that very economy angels drew near and ministered to him — as to one who is ever in the Father and with God.

What, then, does 'There appeared an angel of the Lord strengthening him' mean? It is used instead of saying 'glorifying him.'

For Moses too composed such a thing, having sung a song of this kind in the wilderness:

'Let all the angels of God worship him;'

'and let all the sons of God strengthen him' — that is, they shall sing hymns of praise.

And another Scripture also confirms these things, presenting angels who say:

'Thine is the glory, thine is the dominion, thine is the power, thine is the might.' And even those outside the faith spoke well of him in words such as these:

'All things lie beneath the nods of great God's mind.'

'Beginning, and fountain of life, and surpassing glory, and dominion and force, and the unfading might of strength, and mighty power, and encompassing necessity.'

Nor, then, does the great and true God pray — he, the radiance of the Father's glory, the living Word of God and guardian of all things — as though he were inferior in his divinity;

for he does not, by prayer, alter difficult circumstances as we do, he who indeed, by will alone and by presence alone, procures good hope for all, and by his gift of good things outstrips our petitions;

for, it says, 'to him they shall pray'; but he prays because he became like us without confusion and without fault, and was eager to demonstrate this through more manifest deeds.

For he who spoke such things, and who in the flesh was nailed to the cross in his hands and feet,

raised up to the height those for whose sake he did such things, while he dashed the demons down to Hades.

And this is what Paul writes:

'Having stripped off the principalities and the powers, he made a public example of them, triumphing over them in himself.' And the refutation comes directly from the very things by which they bring their accusation.

For the same Paul, made wise by the Spirit of Wisdom, writes a saying that is exceedingly keen and profound, yet befitting God, not incomprehensible, and holding in balance both the exaltation of the Only-begotten and his condescension; it runs thus:

...to him in his very divinity, from the things he suffered, having personally shared with us in the flesh, and having learned, in a general way, the obedience proper to the flesh — that is, he received obedience and wiped away the ancient disobedience.

It would therefore be foolish to attribute to the divinity fearfulness, or weeping, or weariness, and whatever else has been mentioned above.

For the Son, the Word, is able to do all things, except to undergo these in respect of his generation from the Father, just as it is impossible for God to lie, as Paul writes when expressing his displeasure with such people —

'...in which it is impossible for God to lie.' Let the heretics, then, their jaws bound with muzzle and bit, withdraw from things that cannot be mounted, and let them not meddle with what is not lawful;

for what need have they of it? But let them, on hearing what has been set before them, understand that some things he said in what belongs to us, and others in what belongs to himself;

and let them, together with us, come to know and worship his unutterable and indescribable love for mankind, and let them cry out together with us and the Apostle:

'The peace of God surpasses all understanding'; and, 'The riches of Christ are unsearchable'; and let them sing together with the psalmist:

'The judgments of the Lord are a great deep.' So much for these matters.

on the one hand, the truly faithful and exact preachers

But those outside also gave this counsel and admonition:

For man does not possess strength so great as to find, by tracking and contriving, the All-seeing One, the incomprehensible nature,

but you may easily attain him, if persuaded that the Maker of all things is greatest.

But let us proceed to another topic.

And so, the all-wise answer of the Master of all, recorded in Mark, given to the apostles concerning the end of all things, which says as follows:

'But concerning that day or that hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone' — a text which they interpret unsoundly.

For Matthew, who before this proceeded through the other sayings without omission, did not say that the Son is ignorant, but rather set forth that he even knows the very manner of the end, in these words:

'But concerning that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels of the heavens, but the Father alone.'

'For as the days of Noah were, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.'

'For as in the days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and they did not know until the flood came and took them all away;'

'so too will the coming of the Son of Man be.' The other evangelists, then, made no mention of this at all;

but the apostles provided the resolution to this heretical objection, speaking thus in the Gospel according to John:

'Now we know that you know all things' — since, it says, he is the Son, the Word of God, through whom all things came into being;

and among all these things is also the last day.

And one must not improperly construe what was denied for a providential purpose.

For just as for our sake he chose to take the form of a servant, so too he chose to say that he does not know.

For he employed this, as it were, like a medicine, because it was beneficial to humanity not to know the answer to its question;

so that, always expecting it, and supposing the hour of judgment to be at the very doors, it might become ready, through works and faith, for salvation.

For it did not escape him that he was the maker of the very time which he is said not to have known;

nor again was he ignorant of his own second coming, he who is in the Father and has the Father in himself — and it is evident that this is together with knowledge;

for if the Father, who knows all things, is in him, then he himself also knows, since he beholds all things in the Father.

For how could he fail to see — he who has the light in himself, who brought all things into order and arrangement, who knew all things before their coming into being, the maker of the ages, who also set a boundary for creation and fixed the measure of the days of its constitution, and who said:

'the last day'; and again:

'It will not be by night, that the day should overtake you in darkness' — he who also foretold the signs that would occur about that time, and who is about to cause that fearful, eveningless day to dawn, who also foretold the form and manner of the judgment, who was shown to possess the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and who foretold beforehand:

'There will be heresies and schisms among you'; and Judas's betrayal, and Peter's denial before the cock crowed, and the destruction of the temple;

he who also foreshowed the false prophets who would arise in the last times;

'No one knows the Father except the Son'; and, 'As the Father knows me, I also know him.' Is it not clear, then, that he knows the Father with the very knowledge which the Father has of himself?

But if to know the Father were one thing, and to know the Father's own things another, then God the Father would be greater than his own knowledge of his own affairs — which includes the last day as well — inasmuch as each one is himself greater than what belongs to himself.

Or perhaps the saying, 'No one knows that day or hour, neither the Son, but the Father,' can also be understood in this way, as one of the holy Fathers, full of wisdom, taught without need of syllogistic argument — Basil was his name:

instead of meaning, 'Unless the Father knows, neither does the Son know' — from which it follows that, since the Father knows, it is not possible for me to be ignorant;

'for I do all things according to the will of the Father;'

'but for you to know this is not the will of the Father.'

'To you, then,' he says, 'I am ignorant,' though in truth I am not ignorant;

for I foretold you this through the psalmist:

'How far from my salvation are the words of my transgressions!' — that is, far from my divinity are the words spoken in my incarnation.

He does the same also in the case of Lazarus, foretelling, on the one hand, as one who knows all things:

'Lazarus has fallen asleep'; but, on the other hand, asking as one who knows nothing:

'Where have you laid him?' — then, as God, raising him.

So too in the case of the woman with the flow of blood, saying, on the one hand, as a man who is ignorant:

'Who touched me?' — but healing, as Savior;

just as also, somewhere, God the Father asked Adam as though ignorant:

'Where is Abel your brother?' And he asked Moses:

'What is that in your hand?' And elsewhere:

'The Lord knew those who are his' — as though he were ignorant of those who are not his.

And he also spoke to Abraham, when he was willing to sacrifice his son to him:

'Now I know that you fear God' — as though he had previously been ignorant of this.

'Where is Sarah your wife?' But that he said this while knowingly aware of it too, is shown admittedly by what follows.

For when he had said that she would bear a child, and she disbelieved because she had grown old, and smiled within the tent, he said:

'Sarah laughed within herself.' And further, he also said to Lot:

'I cannot do this' — that is, bring the punishment upon the Sodomites — 'until you arrive there.'

'Therefore he called the name of the city Zoar.' And elsewhere:

'Depart from me, workers of lawlessness;'

'I never knew you.' And other sayings, too, which seem small in relation to his divinity, are recorded of him;

such as this: 'I am coming down, to see whether they are acting according to the outcry that has come to me;'

'but if not, that I may know'; and elsewhere:

'I repent that I made man;' and again:

'I repent that I anointed Saul as king;' and in Psalm 105:

'And he remembered his covenant, and repented according to the abundance of his mercy, and gave them over to compassion.'

And they gird themselves especially with this, and hold forth as their defense what Paul writes to the Corinthians in his first epistle:

'that there is no God but one'

'For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth — as indeed there are many gods and many lords — yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we through him.' For he says:

The phrase 'from whom' and the title 'God' fit only the Father, as being superior with respect to their worship, and as being, as it were, prior in time to both hypostases;

'Lord' fits the Son, as one who serves and holds second place, through whom all things came into being;

and the phrase 'in whom' fits, in third place by way of subordinate rank, the Holy Spirit;

'for in him,' it says, 'all glory is sent up' — having set out toward this conclusion also from the writings of Paul, both the exhortation to the Ephesians, contained in these words:

'Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption;' and the letter to the Corinthians, containing this teaching:

'For the kingdom of God is not food and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.' But this too is not at all in their favor.

For the variations in the wording are not made on account of any diminishment of the Son and the Holy Spirit;

for both expressions properly belong to each hypostasis.

For if all things are from God, as indeed is true, how then are all things also from above through the Son? And if he understood him to be numbered among the adopted gods, why did he not mingle him with the others, and not unite him with the Father instead? But these things have been said in this way, on the one hand so that the confusion of the divine hypostases might not be conceived, but each might be clearly distinguished;

and on the other hand, so that the polytheism of the Greeks might be cast out through the words, 'One God, the Father'; the disbelief of the Jews concerning Christ, through the words, 'One Lord, Jesus Christ'; the folly of the Montanists — who were about to worship the three all-hymned hypostases as a single person — through the words, 'One, and One, and One'; and the madness of Sabellius, who imagined God the Word to have no true subsistence, as though he were the spoken word that is dissolved and scattered into the air, [refuted] thus:

That the Apostle, guarding the bond of divine peace, again brings both these expressions together, and refers them to the one most ineffable God, writing to the Romans:

'For from him, and through him, and to him, are all things;'

'to him be the glory forever.'

'One God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in all' — not saying that 'through all' is foreign to 'over all', nor that 'in all' is foreign to 'through all'. For creation is not separated from him who is 'over all' — creation which God the Word, who is 'through all', brought into being, while the Spirit of God, who is 'in all', fills, sustains, sanctifies, and gives life to it.

For this very reason, following the Master's ordinance concerning baptism, when writing a second time to the Corinthians, he preserved equal honor for the Trinity, saying:

'The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.' Here, while all but placing the Son before the Father, he shows the sameness of the Godhead and the simplicity of the faith; yet he also assigns equal worship to the Holy Spirit, saying that unity and fellowship belong to him as well,

of essence, of kingship, of will, and of the glory that is sent up.

But let us recall the problem from its beginning.

'One God, the Father, and one Lord, Jesus Christ' — not as though the name of the Godhead were superior, or the name of the Lordship took precedence, nor as though it were fitting for the Father alone to be called God, and for the Son alone to be called Lord; for both names are proper to both;

but rather so that it might declare both the distinct subsistence of the hypostases, and that they exist in one Godhead and one Lordship.

Since indeed, according to them, if the Son is not by nature God, then neither is the Father Lord — may he be merciful to us, since we are compelled by necessity, on account of their folly, to utter such things — but since 'God' and 'Lord' happen to be the same, and the one does not differ from the other, nor is it altogether separated from it, Scripture sometimes places 'the Lord' before 'the God', as when it says, according to Moses:

'The Lord your God, the Lord, is one'; and again:

'How should one pursue a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, unless the Lord had given them up, and God had delivered them?' And according to the Psalmist, in the seventh Psalm:

'O Lord my God, if I have done this.' And according to Joshua the son of Nun, the worship that is owed to God alone is offered to the Lord:

'that you have chosen for yourselves the Lord, to serve him.' It is also possible to observe from another Scripture that 'the Lord' does not apply to one hypostasis alone. For David sings in the eighty-second Psalm:

'Let them be ashamed and troubled forever and ever, and let them be confounded, and perish, and know that your name is the Lord,'

'that you alone are the Most High over all the earth.' For if this is said concerning the Father, how then does Paul write:

'One is holy, one is Lord, Jesus Christ'? And again:

'Now the Lord is the Spirit'? But if this is written concerning the Son, then, according to them, the Father is not Lord, not Most High, not holy;

or else they will have to find fault with David's singing, in the hundred and ninth Psalm:

'The Lord said to my Lord:'

'Sit at my right hand'; and in the ninety-ninth:

'Know that the Lord himself is God, that he made us, and not we ourselves.' And this signifies him through whom all things came to be,

'Make a way for him who rides upon the west;'

'The Lord is his name.' And by 'the west' he means, in the last times;

and by 'the Lord' he means him who appeared, when the fullness of time came.

And they will have to find fault also with Isaiah, who likewise prophesies the Son as God and Lord, thus:

'Behold, the Lord comes with strength, and his arm with dominion;'

'behold, his reward is with him, and his work before his face.'

'As a shepherd he will shepherd his flock, and with his arm he will gather the lambs.' And they will find fault also with James, who made this the opening of his own letter:

'James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus'; and in what follows:

'and of the Lord God.' And they will find fault also with Paul, who writes, affirming to the Romans:

'that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.' Or else let them agree that 'God' and 'Lord' are names common to the three hypostases, just as also 'King', and 'Most High', and 'undefiled', and 'incomprehensible', and 'holy', and whatever else is fitting to say concerning God;

and neither is the Father estranged from lordship, even though it is written:

'One Lord, Jesus Christ'; and, 'Now the Lord is the Spirit'; nor is the Son, or the Holy Spirit, cast out of the Godhead, even though it is said:

'One God, the Father.' Such, then, as has been shown, is the truth, and thus do we also give glory.

But the heretics, having composed their doxology by their own authority, glorify one through another, in yet another, as though through an instrument — but more truly, they glorify no one at all;

transgressing both the divine ordinance concerning baptism, and the Epistle of Paul, where he mentions the Trinity conjointly and with equal honor;

and moreover transgressing also the will of the Father, who wills that his Son be honored, even as he himself is honored,

[saying] 'Glory to the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Spirit' — which is nowhere written conjointly, but always separately, with an interchange of expressions, for the reasons already mentioned, yet not for the sake of doxology, nor on account of any diminution;

for instance, in the passages set forth above, Scripture says:

'One God and Father, from whom are all things, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things'; and it did not go on to say, 'in the Holy Spirit', or 'in the Spirit',

But often Scripture uses 'through whom' in place of 'with whom';

as Paul writes to the Corinthians:

'For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you through many tears' — in place of 'with many tears';

And again in the first Epistle:

'And when I arrive, whomever you approve, these I will send through letters to carry your gift to Jerusalem'; that is, 'I will send them with letters',

Then elsewhere, Scripture, without saying 'from whom' or 'through whom', says:

'In the Holy Spirit'; which is the same as, 'with the Holy Spirit',

for in many places, instead of saying 'together with this one' or 'with this one', Scripture has said 'in this one'; as it prophesies in the sixty-sixth Psalm:

'I will enter your house with burnt offerings' — in place of 'with burnt offerings';

'He brought them out with silver and gold'; that is, 'with silver and gold';

'You will not go out with our armies'; which is, 'together with our armies',

But the most wise Paul, writing concerning Christ the Savior, instead of saying, 'All things hold together upon him, and were created by him', said:

'In him were all things created.' If, then, the Master's own utterance, saying, 'Baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit', signifies no difference, then the expression 'in the Holy Spirit' will likewise involve no difference — both because the three are named with equal honor into one single name, and because to say 'into the name' and to say 'in the name' amounts to the same thing. These things, then, are sufficient.

Nevertheless, it is found that 'from whom' is written also concerning the Son and concerning the Holy Spirit, and that 'through whom' is used also concerning the Father and concerning the divine Spirit, and that 'in whom' is not restricted to the Holy Spirit alone, but is said also concerning the Father and the Son, as the Scriptures set out below will show.

That 'from whom' is said also concerning the Son and the Holy Spirit, thus:

concerning the Son, Paul to the Ephesians:

'who is the head, Christ, from whom the whole body, being joined together and knit together, grows with the growth of God'; John in the Gospel:

'From his fullness we have all received'; and again, from the Son:

'He will receive from what is mine, and will declare it to you'; and elsewhere:

'I perceived power going out from me.' Concerning the Holy Spirit:

'He who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life'; and again:

'That which is born of the Spirit is spirit'; and the angel said, 'For that which is begotten in her is of the Holy Spirit.' That concerning the Father it is written, conjointly, 'from whom', 'through whom', and 'in whom', has already been said above;

that 'through whom', taken separately, is applied also to the Father and to the Holy Spirit, thus:

concerning the Father, Isaiah, speaking from the Father to the Son:

'Behold, proselytes shall come to you through me.' Observe how, on account of their equal honor and consubstantiality, the Father brings the nations to the Son;

'Woe to those who make deep counsel, and not through the Lord.' And in Genesis, Adam says:

'I have gotten a man through God'; and again:

'All that Moses commanded Israel through the ordinance of the Lord.' And Joseph says to the eunuchs:

'Is not the interpretation of them through God?' But Paul also says to the Hebrews:

'For it was fitting,' he says, 'for him, for whom are all things and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings.' It should be noted how closely this resembles the passage cited above, 'One Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things'; and to the Colossians:

'Paul, an apostle, a servant of Jesus Christ through the will of God;' and to the Corinthians:

'God is faithful, through whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.' Remember again that God the Father calls us to his own Son —

'I exhort you therefore, brothers, through the mercies of God;' and to the Galatians:

'So that you are no longer a slave, but a son;'

'and if a son, then also an heir through God.' Concerning the Holy Spirit, Isaiah, speaking from the Father:

'You made a plan, not through me, and covenants, not through my Spirit.' Paul to the Corinthians:

'God has revealed it to us through his Spirit;'

'for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God;' and again:

'For to one is given, through the Spirit, a word of wisdom, and to another, faith, by the same Spirit.' To the Romans:

'Now I exhort you, brothers, through our Lord Jesus Christ, and through the love of the Spirit;' and again:

'He who raised Jesus Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies, through his Spirit who dwells in you;' and, according to the riches of his glory, 'to be strengthened with power through his Spirit;' and again:

'The love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit;' and to Timothy:

'Guard the good deposit through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.' And the Acts say:

for he also composed the Acts of the Apostles —

that in which it is written concerning both the Father and his only-begotten Son as follows:

'And God said to him,' it says:

'Call her name, Not-pitied;'

'for I will no longer continue to have mercy on the house of Israel, but I will indeed set myself against them;'

'but the sons of Judah I will have mercy on, and I will save them in the Lord their God.' In the Song of Hannah:

'My heart is made firm in the Lord, my horn is exalted in my God.' David in Psalm 107:

'And will you not go out, O God, with our armies? Give us help against tribulation, for the salvation of man is vain.'

'In God we shall do valiantly, and he will bring to nothing those who afflict us;' and again:

'In God I shall leap over a wall;' and again:

'In God I shall praise my words.' Paul to the Colossians:

'Giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you for a share in the inheritance of the saints in light;'

'who has delivered us from the power of darkness, and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of his love;'

'in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins;'

'Paul, and Silvanus, and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ;' and again:

'But if you call yourself a Jew, and rest upon the law, and boast in God;' and elsewhere:

'One God, through whom are all things, and we for/unto him;' and again:

'In God, who created all things;' and again:

'that at last, by the will of God, I may now succeed in coming to you;' and again:

'Pray in God;' and again:

'He who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they have been wrought in God.' Concerning the Son, Paul to the Colossians:

'For in him were created all things in the heavens and on the earth, the visible and the invisible;'

'whether thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers — all things were created through him and unto him;'

'and he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.' To the Corinthians, in the first Epistle:

'But you were washed, but you were justified, but you were sanctified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God;' and in the second Epistle:

'But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the fragrance of the knowledge of him;' and again:

'So that if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.' And to the Romans:

'For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death;' and to the same [Romans]:

'For all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.' And to the Hebrews:

'God, having spoken of old in many ways to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us in his Son.' Peter in his Epistle:

'But the God of all grace, who has called us to his eternal glory in Christ Jesus —'

Furthermore, the Greeks too — wise in their own conceit, yet beyond all folly, drunk with the pride of polytheism, persuading themselves that they alone are men of manifold learning, while being more ignorant than all others concerning the one thing needful, and possessing no accurate knowledge whatever of the blessed Trinity in Unity — being like him of whom Scripture says, 'The impious man, having fallen into a depth of evils, despises all,' out of a self-willed excess of pretended piety and idle curiosity, wrongly lean, in order to confirm their polytheism — or rather their atheism — upon the aforesaid utterance of the Apostle:

'If there are any who are called gods, whether in heaven or on earth —'

'as indeed there are many gods and many lords;' and to the prophetic word that says:

'You shall not revile the gods;' and, 'The God of gods, the Lord, has spoken;' yet they no longer perceive these two points:

one, that the Apostle wrote, before the aforementioned saying:

'They are so-called gods;' that is, not existing so by nature, but only by name.