Works (CSEL) 15 part 6/31

'A man's steps are directed by the Lord.' Finally, he is the more perfect who understands that he cannot walk without the Lord. 'Teach me,' he says, 'thy ways.' And, to come to the history — for we ought not merely to draw the simple sequence of the deed, but also to refer our own acts to the imitation of what is written — the people went out of Egypt. It knew not the way that led to the holy land. God sent a pillar of fire, that by night the people might learn the way. He sent also by day a pillar of cloud, that they might turn aside neither to the left nor to the right. But thou art not such, O man, that thou too shouldst merit a pillar of fire; thou hast not Moses, thou receivest no sign; for now, after the Lord's coming, faith is required, signs are put away.

Fear the Lord and presume upon the Lord; for the Lord will send his angels round about them that fear him, and will deliver them. You see indeed that everywhere the Lord's power cooperates with human endeavors, so that no one can build without the Lord, no one keep watch without the Lord, no one begin anything without the Lord. And therefore, according to the apostle: 'Whether you eat or whether you drink, do all in the glory of God,' in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; for in two epistles he has commanded you in one place to act 'in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,' in another 'in the glory of God,' that you may know the glory of the Father and of the Son to be the same and their power the same, and that in nothing concerning their divinity do the Father and Son differ, who do not differ concerning our safeguarding.

David therefore taught me that no one builds a house or keeps a city without the Lord. Moses also taught me that none but God made the world; for 'in the beginning God made heaven and earth.' He taught also that God made man by his own work, and did not set him forth idly: 'God formed man of the slime of the earth, and breathed into his face the breath of life,' that you may observe a certain act of God concerning the building of man, by a certain practice of bodily operation. He taught also that God made woman; for 'God sent a deep sleep upon Adam, and he slept; and he took one rib from his side, and filled up the flesh in its place. And the Lord God built the rib, which he had taken from Adam, into a woman.'

Not in vain, as I have said, does Moses present God working with certain bodily hands about Adam and Eve. God commanded the world to be made, and it was made, and in one word the Scripture indicates the work of the world to be completed; but when it comes to man, the prophet has somehow taken pains to show you the very hands of the laboring God. These things, the elaborated works of God, compel me to understand in them something more, I know not what, than I read. The apostle came to the aid of me as I struggled, and what I did not understand — what it was, 'bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh, and she shall be called woman, because she was taken from her husband' — he revealed to me by the divine Spirit, saying: 'This is a great sacrament.' What sacrament?

Because 'there shall be two in one flesh,' and because 'a man shall leave his father and mother and shall cleave to his wife,' and because 'we are members of his body, of his flesh and of his bones.' Who is this man, for whose sake a woman leaves her parents? The Church leaves her parents, the Church which has been gathered from the Gentile peoples, to whom it is said prophetically: 'Forget thy people and the house of thy father.' For the sake of what man, unless perhaps that one of whom John says: 'After me comes a man who was made before me?' From whose side, as he slept, God took the rib; for it is he who slept and rested and rose again, because the Lord took him up. And what is his rib but his power?

For then, when the soldier opened his side, immediately water and blood came forth, which was poured out for the life of the world. This life of the world is the rib of Christ, this is the rib of the second Adam; for the first Adam was made into a living soul, the last Adam into a quickening spirit; the last Adam is Christ, the rib of Christ is the life of the Church. We therefore are members of his body, of his flesh and of his bones. And perhaps this is the rib of which he said: 'I perceive that power has gone forth from me'; this is the rib which went forth from Christ and did not diminish his body; for the rib is not bodily but spiritual, and the Spirit himself is not divided, but divides to each one as he wills. This is Eve, the mother of all the living.

For if you understand, you seek the living among the dead; you understand that those are dead who are without Christ, who are not partakers of life; for this is what it is not to be partakers of Christ, since Christ is life. The mother of the living, therefore, is the Church, which God built, with Christ Jesus himself the supreme corner-stone, in whom the whole structure, framed together, grows into a temple. Let God therefore come, let him build the woman — her indeed as the helper of Adam, but this one as the helper of Christ — not because Christ requires help, but because we seek and desire to attain to the grace of Christ through the Church. And now she is being built, and now she is being formed, and now the woman is being figured, and now she is being created.

And therefore the Scripture has used a new expression, because 'we are built up upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets.' And now a spiritual house rises into a holy priesthood. Come, O Lord God, build this woman, build the city. Let thy child also come; for I believe thee when thou sayest: 'He himself shall build the city for me.' Behold the woman, the mother of all; behold the spiritual house; behold the city which lives forever, because it knows not how to die. For it is the city of Jerusalem, which now is seen on earth, but shall be caught up above Elijah — for Elijah was one only — and shall be translated above Enoch, whose death is not found;

for he was caught away, lest malice should change his heart, but she is loved by Christ as glorious, holy, immaculate, without wrinkle. And how much better is it that the whole body be taken up, than that only one was taken up! For this is the hope of the Church. She shall surely be caught up, taken up, translated to heaven. Behold, Elijah was caught up by a chariot of fire; the Church shall be caught up. Do you not believe me? Believe at least Paul, in whom Christ spoke. 'We shall be caught up,' he says, 'in the clouds to meet Christ in the air; and so we shall ever be with the Lord.'

For the building up of her, therefore, many indeed are sent: the patriarchs are sent, the prophets are sent, the archangel Gabriel is sent, innumerable angels are dispatched, and the multitude of the heavenly host praises God, because the building of this city was drawing near. Many are sent to her, but Christ alone builds her; yet he is not alone, because the Father is present; and although he alone builds, yet he does not alone usurp the grace of so great a building. It is written of the temple of God which Solomon built, in which there was a type of the Church, that there were seventy thousand who bore burdens on their shoulders, and eighty thousand hewers of stone.

Let those angels come, let the hewers of stone come; let the superfluities of our stones be cut away, let the rough be made smooth; let those also come who bear on their shoulders; for it is written: 'They shall be carried upon the shoulders.' He came therefore to John, since you have learned the rest. He came to the baptism of John, but the baptism of John had penance for offenses. And therefore John forbade him, saying: 'I ought to be baptized by thee, and comest thou to me? Why dost thou come to me, who hast no sin? For he is to be baptized who has sin; but he who has committed no sin, why should he seek the laver of penance?' 'Suffer it,' he says, 'now' — that is: while the Church is being built — 'it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness.' And what is righteousness but mercy?

For 'he has dispersed abroad, he has given to the poor: his righteousness remaineth forever.' He gave to me, a poor man, he gave to me, a needy one, the grace which I had not before; therefore his righteousness remaineth forever. And what is righteousness, but that you yourself first begin what you would have another do, and exhort others by your own example? What is righteousness, but that, because he took on flesh, not as God to exclude the sense or service of the flesh, but as man to conquer the flesh, he might teach me to conquer? For he taught by what reason I might be able to bury under crimes, and to renew by virtues, the filth of the corruptible flesh, congealed with earthly vices. O the truly divine foresight in the very humility of the Lord! For the more abject the humility, the more divine the providence.

God is betrayed by the bitterness of his own injuries, and by the use of his own remedies he who needed no remedies is proved to be God. For what is so divine, for calling the peoples forth, as that no one should flee the laver of grace, when Christ did not flee the laver of penance? Let no one say that he is exempt from sin, when Christ came for the remedy of sins. If Christ washed for us — nay rather, washed us in his own body — how much more ought we to wash away our own offenses?

By what greater work, therefore, by what greater mystery is God proved to be God — though he is God in all things — than by this, when throughout the whole world, wherever the condition of the human race is spread abroad, through the partings and tracts of separated regions, in one moment, in one body, God abolished the fraud of the ancient error and poured out the grace of the heavenly kingdom? For one was immersed, but he raised up all; one descended, that we all might ascend; one took upon himself the sins of all, that in him the sins of all might be cleansed. Purify yourselves therefore, as the apostle says, because he purified himself for us, who needed no purification. So much for ourselves. Now let us consider the mystery of the Trinity. We say one God, but we confess the Father and we confess the Son. For since it is written:

'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve,' the Son denied that he was alone, saying: 'But I am not alone; for the Father is with me.' Nor now is he alone; for the Father testifies that he is present. The Holy Spirit is present; for never can the Trinity be separated from itself. Finally, heaven was opened, the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily form like a dove. How then do the heretics say that he alone is in heaven, who is not alone on earth? Let us attend to the mystery. Why like a dove? For grace requires the simplicity of the laver, that we may be simple as doves. Grace requires the peace of the laver, which of old in a type a dove once brought to that ark which alone was free from the flood.

He taught me whose type that dove was, who now deigned to descend in the appearance of a dove; he taught that in that branch, in that ark, there was a type of peace and of the Church, namely that amid the very floods of the world the Holy Spirit brings to his Church a fruitful peace. David also taught, who, perceiving by the prophetic spirit the sacrament of baptism, said: 'Who will give me wings like a dove?' The Holy Spirit therefore came; but attend to the mystery. He came to Christ; for all things were created through him and consist in him. But see the kindly Lord, who alone subjected himself to injuries, who alone did not seek grace. And where did he build the Church?

'I will ask the Father,' he says, 'and he will give you another Paraclete, that he may abide with you forever, the Spirit of truth, whom this world cannot receive, because it sees him not, neither knows him.' Rightly therefore did he show himself in a body, since in the substance of the Godhead he is not seen. We have seen the Spirit, but in a bodily form; let us see the Father also. But since we cannot see him, let us hear him; for the kindly God is present, he will not forsake his temple. He wills to build up every soul, he wills to form it unto salvation, he wills to transfer living stones from earth to heaven. He loves his temple, and let us love him. If we love God, let us keep his commandments; if we love him, let us know him;

for he who says that he knows him and keeps not his commandments is a liar. For how can he love God who loves not the truth, since God is truth? Let us therefore hear the Father; for the Father is invisible. But the Son also is invisible according to his divinity; for no one has ever seen God. Since therefore the Son is God, certainly in that which is God the Son is not seen, but he willed to show himself in a body; and because the Father bore no body, therefore the Father willed to prove himself present to us in the Son, saying: 'Thou art my Son, in thee I am well pleased.' If you wish to learn that the Son is always present with the Father, read the voice of the Son saying: 'If I ascend into heaven, thou art there; if I descend into hell, thou art present.'

If you seek the testimony of the Father, you have heard it from John. Believe him to whom Christ entrusted himself to be baptized, to whom the Father committed the Son by a heavenly voice, saying: 'This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.' Where are the Arians, to whom the Son is not pleasing, in whom the Father was well pleased? This I do not say, nor has any of men spoken it; for neither through man did God speak, nor through angels, nor through archangels, but a voice sent from heaven by the Father himself sealed it. Then in another place the same Father repeats, saying: 'This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear him,' saying assuredly: hear him saying, 'I and the Father are one.' He therefore who believes not the Son, believes not the Father. The Father is a witness concerning the Son.

If there is doubt concerning the Son, the Father's testimony is not believed. Then when he says: 'in whom I am well pleased,' he praises not things foreign in the Son, but his own. For what is it to say: 'in whom I am well pleased,' but that all things which the Son has are mine, even as the Son said: 'All things that the Father has are mine?' For the power of an undifferentiated divinity does not separate between Father and Son, but shares one power between Father and Son. Let us believe the Father, whose voice the elements have sounded; let us believe the Father, to whose voice the elements rendered obedience. The world believed in the elements; let it believe in men. It believed in things lifeless; let it believe in men. It believed in things dumb; let it believe in things that speak;

it believed in things which have no sense; let it believe in those who have attained sense, that they might know God. THIRD BOOK. And Jesus himself was beginning to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph. As we are about to speak of the genealogies — of which we see some discrepancy in the Gospel according to Matthew or in this one, whose interpretation we have in hand — since it is not credible that holy men could have spoken things contradicting one another, especially concerning the deeds of the saving Lord, let us show, with all the diligence we can, that they did not say things at variance. And first of all, no one ought to be troubled that it is so written: 'who was supposed to be the son of Joseph.'

For he was rightly supposed to be, because by nature he was not, but he was therefore supposed to be, because Mary, who was espoused to Joseph her husband, had borne him; for thus you have it: 'Is not this the son of Joseph the carpenter?' We have said above for what reason the saving Lord willed to be born through a virgin; we have said also for what reason through one espoused, and why at the time of the census: nor does it seem out of place that we should also declare for what reason he had a carpenter for a father. For by this type he shows that he is his Father who, as the fashioner of all things, founded the world, according to that which is written: 'In the beginning God made heaven and earth.'

For although human things are not to be compared with divine, yet the type is complete, in that the Father of Christ works with fire and spirit, and like a good craftsman of the soul, hews away our vices, quickly applying the axe to unfruitful trees, taught to cut away the petty, to preserve the lofty for the summits, to soften the rigid things of the mind with the fire of the Spirit, and to form the whole human race for various uses by the diverse quality of his ministries. But why the genealogy of Joseph rather than of Mary is described, since Mary bore Christ of the Holy Spirit and Joseph seems foreign to the begetting of the Lord, we might doubt, unless the custom of the Scriptures instructed us, which always seeks the origin of the man. For thus you have it: 'Phares was the son of Judah, prince of the tribe.'

He begot Esrom, and Esrom begot Aram, and Aram begot Aminadab, and Aminadab begot Naasson, and Naasson begot Salmon, and Salmon begot Booz, and Booz begot Obed, and Obed begot Jesse, and Jesse begot David. For the person of the man is sought, who even in the senate and the other councils of the cities asserts the dignity of his lineage. But how unseemly it would be, if, the man's origin being passed over, the woman's origin were sought, so that he who is to be preached to the peoples of the whole world should seem to have had no father! But let us show that elsewhere too the genealogy was traced in a different order, lest here also the evangelists should seem to disagree, who followed the ancient order. For thus you have it:

There was a man of Arath, and his name was Elcana, the son of Jeroham, the son of Eli, the son of Ozi. You see the description of origin woven together in the ancient manner, both from fathers to sons and from sons to fathers; you see everywhere the family traced through the generations of the men: do not wonder if Matthew ran through the order of the generations from Abraham down to Joseph, and Luke from Joseph up to Adam and to God. Do not wonder that the origin of Joseph is described. For indeed, having been born according to the flesh, he ought to follow the custom of the flesh; and he who came into the world ought to be described after the manner of the world, especially since in the origin of Joseph there is also the origin of Mary.

For since Joseph was a just man, certainly he took a wife from his own tribe and from his own homeland, nor could the just man act contrary to that which is prescribed by the law. For thus you have it: that each one shall cleave to the inheritance of his own tribe, the children of Israel, nor shall they pass from tribe to tribe; and every daughter that has the inheritance of the tribes of the children of Israel shall be wife to one of the people and of the tribe of her father. And so at the time of the census Joseph went up from the house and from the homeland of David, that he might be enrolled with Mary his wife. She, who brings her enrollment from the same house and from the same homeland, certainly designates herself to be of the same tribe and of the same homeland.

Elizabeth too is introduced as a kinswoman of Mary: first, because all the Jews are kindred, as the Apostle also taught when he said, 'For I could wish that I myself were accursed for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites.' They were therefore kinswomen because both were Israelites, and likewise kinswomen because both were of the tribe of Judah. You have learned that Mary was of the tribe of Judah; learn that Elizabeth was so too. For Mary, 'rising up in those days, went into the hill country with haste,' it says, 'into a city of Judah, and entered into the house of Zacharias.' Since Moses had prescribed that each one dwell according to his own tribe, surely, since she remained in a city of Judah, she was also of the tribe of Judah, especially since the priests, whose portion is God, were of Elizabeth's lineage.

At the same time, how beautiful it is that, when the one bore the forerunner of Christ and the other bore Christ, and the one conceived of the Holy Spirit and the other, filled with the Holy Spirit, prophesied, they should also be seen to have been kinswomen according to the flesh—they who according to God did not lack the fellowship of spiritual kinship! But if, according to the holy Apostle, the head of every woman is the man, and according to the divine law 'they two are in one flesh,' surely those who were one flesh and one spirit—how could it come about that they should be seen to have a country and a tribe divided? There is added this, that the angel Gabriel too foretold concerning the Lord that 'the Lord shall give unto him the throne of David his father.' It is certain therefore that Mary too descended from the lineage of David.

At the same time we also learn that it makes no difference in what order the series of generation is set forth, since the path is open from either direction. But it seems we must explain why holy Matthew began to enumerate the generation of Christ from Abraham, while holy Luke carried it from Christ all the way up to God. Yet first I think it must by no means be passed over why holy Matthew, when he began the order of generation from Abraham, did not put it thus, 'The book of the generation of Abraham,' but, 'The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham,' and why he named precisely these two. For not idly are the most faithful authors of the lineage chosen, that we may understand that in the very generation of the flesh a spiritual succession is rather to be sought.

For these are two men into whom the divine promises flowed. First Abraham, who before the law of Moses and before the people of the Jews, forsaking his own and coming to know God, earned the testimony of faith, because 'he believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness'; who also received from God an oracle, saying to him: 'Get thee out of thy land and from thy kindred and from thy father's house into a land that I will show thee, and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee and magnify thy name, and thou shalt be blessed; and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curse thee, and in thee shall all the tribes of the earth be blessed.' You see therefore that the gatherings of the nations and the assembly of the most holy Church were promised by the divine oracle to this man first.

And therefore he ought to be designated as the author of the lineage, who first earned the pledge of the Church that was to be established. David too is rightly declared the author of the lineage, because with an oath he received the answer that of him, according to the flesh, Christ was to come. For thus it is written: 'The Lord hath sworn truth unto David, and he will not repent of it: of the fruit of thy womb will I set upon my seat'; and elsewhere: 'Once have I sworn by my holiness, that I will not lie unto David; his seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me'; and in Chronicles: 'And it shall come to pass, when thy days are fulfilled and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will raise up thy seed after thee, which shall be of thy womb, and I will establish his kingdom.'

'He shall build me a house, and I will establish his throne for ever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son, and my mercy I will not take away from him, as I took it from those who were before thee.' Through Isaiah also the same Lord God revealed the generation of the Lord, saying: 'There shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall ascend from the root, and the Spirit of God shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding'; and below: 'And there shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to rule the nations, in him shall the Gentiles hope'; and elsewhere: 'A child is born unto us, a son is given unto us, whose government is upon his shoulders, and his name shall be called the Angel of great counsel; for I will bring peace upon the princes, and health to him.'

'Great is his authority, and of his peace there is no end, upon the throne of David and in his kingdom.' In which, by Aquila's interpretation too, we see the promise to have arisen not as of a man, but of one who was beyond man. For he interpreted it thus: 'A child is born unto us, a son is given unto us, and his measure is made upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor, my Counsellor, the Mighty, the Powerful, Father of the age, Prince of peace. His order is fulfilled, and of his peace there is no end upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom.' That all things accord concerning Christ is signified by evident oracles.

Nor can the fruit of the divine power be diverted to the favour of Solomon, who was David's son, whose end is doubtless known; for there was an end to the kingdom and to the peace of Solomon, as is shown in the readings of the books of Kings. There is one Christ, whose kingdom has no end. Next, Solomon ruled over no Gentile nations, but Christ gathered the Church from among the nations. Finally, Solomon was both born and obtained the kingdom while David was alive, whereas this one who is promised is shown to be about to arise after David's death, as you have it: 'When thy days shall be fulfilled and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will raise up of thy seed one who shall be of thy womb, and I will establish his kingdom.'

'He shall build me a house, and I will establish his throne for ever.' Did Solomon reign for ever, who reigned only forty years? 'I will be,' he says, 'to him a father, and he shall be to me a son'—who is that proper Son of God except him to whom it was said, 'Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee'?—'and my mercy I will not take from him, and I will keep him faithful in my house and in his kingdom for ever.' But that Solomon erred—perhaps so gravely for this reason, lest men should err and believe the promise to have flowed to himself—we have learned from the series of the divine readings; for he built a temple to the idol of Astarte for the love of a woman, and the Lord was angry with Solomon.

If therefore he even began to reign while David was alive—for you have it that, when it was announced to David that Solomon was reigning, the king worshipped upon his bed and said: 'Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who hath given me this day one of my seed sitting upon my throne, and my eyes see it'—if he erred, if he gave offence, you see that the series of the promise pledged Christ. And therefore the evangelist chose these two authors of the lineage: the one who received the promise concerning the gathering of the peoples, the other who obtained the oracle concerning the generation of Christ.

And therefore, although in the order of succession he is later, yet he is described before Abraham in the Lord's generation, because it is a greater thing to have received the promise concerning Christ than concerning the Church, since the Church itself is through Christ. Therefore the one is the head of the lineage according to the flesh, the other the head of the lineage according to the spirit; the one according to the favour of the seed, the other according to the faith of the peoples; for he who saves is more excellent than he who is saved. And therefore he is called the son of David: 'The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David'; for he ought first to be called the son of him to whom a son was promised to be given, although the Apostle says that Christ was promised to Abraham also; for 'to Abraham were the promises made, and to his seed.' He does not say,