So too they should receive the baptism which was given by him—instituted indeed first in him, who was also the first to be baptized, and delivered by him to the rest also—so that it might be celebrated according to the prefiguration of things to come.
In the aforesaid seventeenth chapter, from the words of blessed Peter, in which he says in the Acts of the Apostles, 'Let each one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ,' this is built up: that in that invocation which is made in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Christ is not also contained; and that what the apostle Peter said, that they ought to be baptized in the name of Christ, does not appear to signify the mystery of the Trinity; and consequently it follows that, when one is baptized in the name of the Trinity, he does not appear to be baptized in the name of Christ, so that according to this understanding a quaternity appears to be introduced. It is also added in the same chapter.
That we are called Christians after Christ in the same way as the followers of various sects or errors received their appellations from their founders and masters, that is, as the Platonists from Plato and the Marcionites from Marcion and the Manichaeans from Manes. If therefore anyone thus understands, teaches, believes, or preaches this, let him be anathema. For we are called and are Christians for this reason, that receiving baptism we put on our very Lord Jesus Christ, and, he being our head, we all are made in him one body. Chapter XVIII. And according to two considerations he holds the place of an image. For those who love certain persons, often setting up their images after their death, think they have therein a sufficient consolation for the death, and him
who is not seen and is not present, they think, gazing as it were upon an image, that they see him, thus appeasing the flame and vehemence of their longing. But those also who have the images of emperors throughout the cities seem to honour, as though present and to be seen, those who are not present, by the veneration and adoration of the images. Now both these things are fulfilled through him: for all who are with him both follow virtue and, being ready to render what is owed to God, love him and greatly honour him; and love indeed the divine nature bestows upon him, though it is not seen, fulfilling it in him who is seen by all, so that all suppose they see him himself through the other and that he is ever present to them;
and they render all honour as though to an imperial image, since as it were the divine nature is in him and is beheld in him. For if he is also the Son who is said to dwell within, yet with him is also the Father, and it is believed by every creature that in every way inseparably he is with the Son; and the Spirit too is not absent, being made, as it were, in the place of anointing for him, and is ever with him who was assumed. Nor is it to be wondered at, since even of any men who follow virtue it is said that the Father is with the Son: 'For we will come, both I and the Father, and will make our abode with him.' And that the Spirit too is inseparable from men of this kind is certain to all.
In the aforesaid eighteenth chapter Christ is asserted to be the image of the invisible Word of God in such a way as if the images of absent princes were venerated in place of their honours. If anyone thus understands, teaches, believes, or preaches this, let him be anathema. Chapter XIX. For this, that 'this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased,' demonstrates at his baptism an adoption according to a comparison with the Jewish adoption, since to them also it had been said: 'I have said, you are gods and all sons of the Most High,' and 'I have begotten and exalted sons.' The pre-eminence of that adoption he showed in that he said 'beloved' and 'in whom I am well pleased.'
On this account the Father's voice also came confirming the adoption, and by the naming of 'Son' through adoption according to grace it designated him who is truly the Son: whose conjunction to the true and firm adoption constituted this one, and the Holy Spirit, descending in the form of a dove, remained upon him, so that, being held in conjunction with him who is truly the Son by his co-operation, he might remain possessing the firm dignity of adoption. And in all things—in which the baptism of the Lord Christ was first prefigured as the type of adoption, that is, the baptism from the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit—what took place was fulfilled. In the aforesaid nineteenth chapter, where the Gospel according to Luke concerning the baptism of Christ seems to be expounded, there are two censures:
one, that a duality of sons is introduced, since Christ seems to be called Son of God through adoption; the other, that he too is asserted to have been baptized in the name of the Trinity, whereby a quaternity is without doubt shown. If therefore anyone thus understands, teaches, believes, or preaches this, let him be anathema. Chapter XX. Therefore the psalm shows us so great a difference between the Word of God and the man that was received. But these things are found divided in the New Testament: to the Lord indeed belong the opening words of the psalm, in which it calls him the maker of creation and says that he has a magnificence exalted above the heavens and is made wonderful in all the earth; but to the apostle the latter part, the things which are of the man who merited so great a benefit, in Jesus receiving it.
How is it not manifest that divine Scripture evidently teaches us that the one is God the Word, but the other is man, and shows us that there is a great difference between them? For the one remembers, but the other merits to be remembered; and the one visits, but the other, when he merits the visitation, is called blessed; and the one, in bestowing the benefit, made him a little lower than the angels, but the other received the benefit even through such a diminution; and the one crowns with glory and honour, but the other is crowned and for these things is called blessed; and the one sets him over all the works of his hands and has subjected all things under his feet, but the other has merited to have dominion over those things over which he had not previously had power.
In the aforesaid twentieth chapter, where the eighth psalm seems to be expounded, Christ is asserted to be a mere man—as has already been said in other passages—and is shown as divided from the Word of God, and a duality of persons is introduced. If anyone thus understands, teaches, believes, or preaches this, and does not so understand in Christ our Lord and God two natures indivisibly and unconfusedly united, that, the difference of those same natures remaining, he himself is one and the same true Son both of God and of man, let him be anathema. Chapter XXI.
But those who are unwilling to consider these things attempt to draw all the voices to the Lord Christ, so that even the things which were said of the people they would understand in like manner, and would furnish laughter to the Jews, when from the sequence of the writings they show voices that in no way pertain to the Lord Christ. Chapter XXII. Of such a kind is also this: that 'his soul was not left in hell, nor did his flesh see corruption'; for the prophet indeed sets this hyperbolically concerning the people, speaking of providence, meaning to say that he preserved them unassailable from all evils.
But since this received its true fulfilment even in the actual events in the Lord Christ, blessed Peter, most fittingly speaking of him, uses the saying, showing that what was said hyperbolically of the people—by a certain reasoning, using the voice of the prophet—this received its true fulfilment in the actual events now in the Lord Christ. In the aforesaid twenty-first and twenty-second chapters this seems to be said: that the prophecy which, speaking in the person of Christ, says, 'You will not leave my soul in hell, nor will you give your holy one to see corruption,' was not foretold of Christ himself but of the people of the Israelite race, but that blessed Peter the apostle wished by the outcome to apply this prophecy to Christ.
And therefore whoever thus understands, teaches, believes, or preaches this, let him be anathema. Chapter XXIII. That other passage has the same understanding: 'They divided my garments among them, and upon my vesture they cast lots.' For it is certain that this psalm in no way suits the Lord. For it did not belong to the Lord Christ, who committed no sin, nor was guile found in his mouth, to say: 'Far from my salvation are the words of my sins.' But the Lord himself, according to the common law of men, while he was oppressed in his passion, 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?'
he uttered this voice; and the apostles manifestly drew to him the words 'they divided my garments among them and upon my vesture they cast lots,' since what had first been said hyperbolically by David because of the evils brought upon him, this by the events came to pass in the Lord Christ, whose garments they also divided and whose tunic they subjected to a lot. In the aforesaid twenty-third chapter, in expounding certain words of the twenty-first psalm, in which it is said, 'They divided my garments among them and upon my vesture they cast lots,' these are denied to suit the Lord Jesus Christ; rather it is said that David spoke this of himself because of certain evils which he suffered,
and that the evangelist drew it to Christ from the outcome; and it is added that the Lord Jesus Christ, who committed no sin, could not say: 'Far from my salvation are the words of my sins.' And therefore, whoever thus understands, teaches, believes, or preaches this, and does not understand that the things in which sins are mentioned pertain to his body, which is the Church, which in this world cannot be without sin, but believes that those things about the dividing of the garments were foretold and fulfilled specially of the head himself, that is, of our Lord God Jesus Christ, let him be anathema. Chapter XXIV. 'They pierced my hands and feet': and they scrutinized all things, both what I did and what I attempted;
for he said 'they pierced' by a metaphor from those who by digging attempt to search out the things that are in the depths. 'They numbered all my bones': they became the possessors of all my strength and all my substance, so as to subject even by number the things that are mine. This he said from the custom which enemies have, who, when they have gained the mastery, make a subtle inventory of what they have found even by number. Therefore, saying next, 'But they themselves considered and looked upon me,' he added: 'They divided my garments among them, and upon my vesture they cast lots.'
For he says 'considering me' as meaning 'perceiving that all things desired had befallen them in me' (for 'to perceive' is used, as it is among us, in the sense of 'he saw in him the things which he wished him to suffer'), as though—I being wholly given over to evils—like enemies they divided my belongings by lot after the devastation and captivity, making a division of them. And the evangelist indeed, taking words from the events in the Lord, used them, as we have said in other passages; for that the psalm does not pertain to the Lord we have evidently shown above. But blessed David spoke these things hyperbolically, rather from the things that were done by Absalom.
For since, when David had withdrawn, Absalom by the right of war entered the metropolis, took possession of all the royal goods, and did not shrink even from defiling his father's bed. In the aforesaid twenty-fourth chapter, concerning the same twenty-first psalm mentioned, those words where it says, 'They pierced my hands and my feet, they numbered all my bones; they themselves considered and looked upon me,' are asserted not to have been foretold of Christ, but that David said these of himself because of the tyranny of Absalom, who had usurped the royal city and his substance and had numbered all his father's goods in the land, but that the evangelist drew these from the outcome to the person of Christ. Whoever therefore thus understands, teaches, believes, or preaches this, let him be anathema. Chapter XXV.
Since food and drink become sweet in a time of joy, but unpleasant and bitter in sorrow, 'such,' he says, 'were the things done by them, that out of sorrow and anger there was for me food in place of gall, and there was also drink differing in nothing from vinegar.' But this happens especially in fits of anger which are accompanied by tribulation, which was likely to be their experience against their own people. And the evangelist used this testimony concerning the Lord; and the Lord himself, saying of himself, 'The zeal of your house has consumed me'; and blessed Paul, speaking of the Jews, 'Let their table become,' and the rest; and blessed Peter, of Judas, 'Let his habitation become desolate.'
And indeed, when the circumstances are diverse—not as if the psalm were spoken now for these things, and again about that one, and again about another—but because many things were said about the Jews, who separated themselves from God and the law, convicting their impiety, the use of testimonies is necessary, together with what is taken from the events, such as: 'They gave gall for my food, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.' In the aforesaid twenty-fifth chapter, concerning that passage of the psalm where it says:
'They gave gall for my food, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink,' it is expounded against the evident truth of the Gospel by saying that the Lord was not truly given vinegar to drink, but that, to his sorrow and anger at those who offered it, he had drink in place of vinegar and food in place of gall; nor was this foretold of him, but the evangelist used this testimony from the outcome concerning the Lord. Therefore, whoever thus understands, teaches, believes, or preaches this, let him be anathema. Chapter XXVI.
Just as therefore by such a confession Nathanael is shown not to have had knowledge of the deity (for the Jews and Samaritans, hoping for such things, were very far from the knowledge of the Word of God), so also Martha by that confession is proved not to have had at that time knowledge of the deity, and manifestly neither did blessed Peter: for it still sufficed for them at that time, receiving that revelation, to grasp something pre-eminent and greater concerning him beyond the imagination of other men;
but after the resurrection, being brought by the Spirit to knowledge, they then received the perfect knowledge even of the revelation, so that they might know that his pre-eminence beyond other men came to him not by any bare honour from God, as in the case of other men, but through the union with the Word of God, through which he is partaker of every honour after his ascension into heaven. In the aforesaid twenty-sixth chapter, Peter is denied to have had recognition of the deity of Christ before his resurrection, and is said rather to have received a phantasm of understanding above other men; and again a duality of sons is introduced, since it calls the man a partaker of the Word of God after he ascended into heaven.
Whoever therefore thus understands, teaches, believes, or preaches this, and does not understand Christ our Lord to be one and the same Son of God and of man, the difference of the united natures remaining in him, let him be anathema. Chapter XXVII. Matthew the evangelist indeed says, after the temptations, that the angels came and ministered to him—that is, being stationed with him and co-operating, and all things around him ministering to God—which he was already shown to be, more illustrious, through his combats against the devil. But that the angels were also present to him when he was to suffer, we learn from the Gospels; and when he rose, they were seen at the tomb. For through all these things the dignity of Christ was shown, in that the angels were inseparably present to him and ministered in all things around him:
for just as they are separated from sinners, so also they come to the aid of those honoured by merit. On which account the Lord well says: 'You will see greater things, for heaven too will be opened to all through me, and all the angels will ever be with me, now ascending, now descending, as to a member of God's household and a friend.' In the aforesaid twenty-seventh chapter, where the matter is expounded from Matthew the evangelist—that, the temptations being completed, the angels came to minister to Christ—it is said that, just as to others, the angels came to the aid of Christ, who was honoured by merit, and that the angels thus ascended and descended to Christ, as to a friend and a member of God's household.
Whoever therefore thus understands, teaches, believes, or preaches this, and does not understand that the angels served and serve Christ as true God, the Son of the true God, one and the same with the perfect humanity assumed from the womb of the Virgin, as to their Creator and Lord, let him be anathema. Chapter XXVIII. The Lord was more disturbed and had a struggle against the passions of the soul than those of the body, and with a superior mind he conquered lusts, the deity mediating in him unto perfection. Whence the Lord seems chiefly to establish his struggle against these: for, not deceived by the desire of money and not held by the desire of glory, he yielded nothing to the flesh, for it was not his to be conquered by such things.
But if he had not assumed a soul, but it were the deity which had conquered these things, then in no way does the profit of the things that were done regard us (for what likeness is there of the deity and of the human soul unto the perfection of conduct?), and the combats of the Lord seem to have been not for our profit but for the sake of a certain display. But if it is not possible to say this (for it is certain that those things were done for our sake), and he set up a greater combat against the passions of the soul, but a lesser against those of the flesh, inasmuch as it was more and more disturbing to it, and it was the soul which more needed the medicine;
namely, that assuming both flesh and soul, through both he struggled for both, mortifying indeed sin in the flesh and taming its lusts and making them easy to be captured by the soul's better reason, but instructing the soul and exercising it both to conquer its own passions and to restrain the lusts of the flesh: for the indwelling deity was working these things, this indwelling deity was mediating unto each of them. In the aforesaid twenty-eighth chapter, again a mere man is introduced as Christ, who by the reason of the soul is said to have tamed the lusts of the body and to have instructed the soul and exercised it, so that it might conquer its own passions and restrain in itself the lusts of the flesh:
which things, nevertheless, he says the soul wrought with the deity mediating unto both; so that, according to these things, we no longer have the very same one Jesus Christ as mediator of God and men, but the deity would seem to have been mediatrix between flesh and soul. Whoever therefore thus understands, teaches, believes, or preaches this, let him be anathema. Chapter XXIX. 'But if it was flesh,' he says, 'that was crucified, how did the sun turn away its rays, and darkness seized the whole earth, and there were earthquakes, and rocks were rent, and the dead rose again?' What then would they say also about the darkness made in Egypt in the times of Moses, not for three hours but for three days? And what about the other miracles wrought through Moses?
etquaeperIesumNaue, quisolemstarefecit, quisoletintemporibusEzechiaeregisetcontranaturamretroreuersusest? etdeHeliseireliquiis, quaemortuumresuscitauerunt? sienimuerbumdeumpassumdemonstrant, quaeIncrucefactasunt, etpropterhominemnonconcedunthaecfactaesse, et, quaeintemporibusMosae, proptergenusHabraamnoneruntet, quaeintemporibusIesuNaue, et, quaeinEzechiaeregis. quodsiillapropterIudaeorumpopulummirabiliterfactasunt, quomodononmagis, quaeincrucefactasunt, propterdeiuerbitemplum?
And those wrought through Joshua the son of Nun, who made the sun stand still; and the sun which, in the times of King Hezekiah, contrary to nature, turned back? And about the relics of Elisha, which raised a dead man? For if the things done on the cross demonstrate that God the Word suffered, and yet they do not concede that these were done on account of the man, then neither will the things done in the times of Moses have been on account of the race of Abraham, nor those in the times of Joshua the son of Nun, nor those in the times of King Hezekiah. But if those things were wrought marvellously on account of the people of the Jews, how much more were the things done on the cross wrought on account of the temple of the Word of God?
In the aforesaid twenty-ninth chapter, while it is as it were contradicting Apollinaris, who involved the divine nature in the passions, it deviates from the right path and exceeds the measure of assertion, so that a mere man is thought to have hung on the cross. And therefore whoever thus understands, teaches, believes, or preaches this, and does not, believing Christ to be true God, confess that the same one, while his deity remained impassible, suffered in his own flesh, let him be anathema. Chapter XXX. But it is manifest that the union is fitting: for through it the natures gathered together made one person according to the union.
For just as it is said of man and woman that they are now no longer two but one flesh, let us also reasonably say, according to the principle of union, that there are not two persons but one, the natures, that is, being distinct. For just as there the number of two does not hinder their being called one flesh (for it is certain in what sense they are called one), so also here the union of person does not hinder the difference of natures. For when we distinguish the natures, we speak of the perfect nature of the Word of God and a perfect person (for it is not possible to speak of a subsistence without a person); and likewise a perfect nature and person of the man; but when we regard the conjunction, then we speak of one person.
In the aforesaid thirtieth chapter, by a most wicked example an attempt is made to show how the one person of Christ can be understood: that is, as it is read of man and woman coming together, so also in Christ, the natures being distinct, as it were one person; and there follows that there is a perfect nature and person of the Word of God and likewise a perfect nature and person of the man. Whence it appears that both from the example of man and woman, where there are two persons, and from the things that follow, although the number is passed over in silence, nevertheless two persons of the one Christ are introduced. Whoever thus understands, teaches, believes, or preaches this, let him be anathema. Chapter XXXI.
But naming Christ indeed according to the assumed flesh 'the form of a servant,' and him who assumed it 'God over all,' he nevertheless brought this in according to the conjunction, so that by the signification of the names of the natures he might make a manifest division. Let no one therefore call him who is according to the flesh from the Jews 'God,' nor again 'God who is over all' 'according to the flesh from the Jews.' In the aforesaid thirty-first chapter, in the exposition which seems to have been made concerning the creed of the three hundred and eighteen fathers, not only is a division of the natures asserted, but also, by saying absolutely that neither he who is according to the flesh from the Jews
be called God, nor again God who is over all be called 'according to the flesh from the Jews'—a man bare of deity and a pure God without flesh are as it were separately and separately pronounced to be two persons. If therefore anyone thus understands, teaches, believes, or preaches this, and does not thus confess in the one Christ that the natures are united, so that the singularity of person and of subsistence is acknowledged apart, let him be anathema. Chapter XXXII. For he says Jesus of Nazareth, whom God anointed with the Holy Spirit and with power: but he who was anointed with the Spirit of God assumed, in every way, something thence. And who, being mad, would say that the divine nature assumed anything from the Spirit—and also from the partakers? For he calls 'partakers' those, namely, who themselves also were anointed;
But those who have been anointed and thereby made righteous partakers of him are said to share in the anointing in no other way than with him who was assumed. And this very thing is shown by the fact that he received a just reward: 'for on this account,' it says, 'because you loved righteousness and hated iniquity, for these things you merited the special anointing.' In the aforesaid thirty-second chapter, in the commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews, that saying of blessed Peter is brought in, where he said:
'Jesus of Nazareth, whom God anointed with the Holy Spirit and with power' (Acts 10:38); and it is added: 'but he who has been anointed with the Spirit of God has in every way received something therefrom'; and further: 'but who in his madness would say that the divine nature received anything from the Spirit?' By these words Christ is brought in as a mere man, who by the anointing of the Holy Spirit was made a partaker of the divine nature, as also others are, and who under the title of a just reward — because he loved righteousness and hated iniquity — merited the special anointing. Whoever therefore thus thinks, teaches, believes, or preaches, let him be anathema. Chapter 33. 'Rabbi, you are the Son of God, you are the King of Israel' (John 1:49): that is, 'you are he who was long ago foretold as the Christ';
For these things, namely, they hoped concerning Christ, as of one appointed to be an intimate of God's household beyond all others. Chapter 34. He too was indeed certain, saying that Christ was Son of God not according to a birth of the deity, but according to the fact that he was an intimate of God — whereby men who through virtue were established as intimates of God were meanwhile called sons of God. In the aforesaid thirty-third and thirty-fourth chapters, on the interpretation of the Gospel according to John, the words of Nathanael saying to the Lord are brought in: 'you are the Son of God, you are the King of Israel', and it is inferred that this was said to Christ as to an intimate of God, so that Christ himself is not God but is an intimate of God more than other men.
And it is added that, just as other holy men are called sons of God yet are men, so also Christ, through the intimacy which he has with God, was named 'God' by Nathanael, with whom he was speaking. If anyone thus thinks, teaches, believes, or preaches, and does not confess the same Christ to be true God and true man, one and perfect in each nature, let him be anathema. Chapter 35. For when he says: 'concerning his Son, who was made of the seed of David according to the flesh' (Rom 1:3), it is certain that here he calls Son the one who was made of the seed of David according to the flesh — not the Word who is God, but the assumed form of a servant.
For God was not made according to the flesh, nor was God made from the seed of David, but a man taken up for us, whom the blessed Apostle plainly calls Son. In the aforesaid thirty-fifth chapter, when the Apostle's passage from the Epistle to the Romans is expounded, where he says: 'concerning his Son, who was made for him of the seed of David according to the flesh', the bare form of a servant is put forward, by saying that here he calls Son the one who was made of the seed of David according to the flesh — not God the Word, but a man taken up for us, whom the blessed Apostle plainly calls Son: which words show that, as has been said, a mere man is being preached.