[2651] Isa. xlix. 5, 6.
[2652] Phil. ii. 6, 7.
[2653] Ps. xxxi. 3, 11, 16.
[2654] Ps. cxvi. 16.
[2655] Ps. xxxviii. 8.
[2656] Rom. v. 19.
[2657] Ps. cxvi. 13, 17.
[2658] Ps. lxxxvi. 2.
[2659] Ps. xvi. 10.
[2660] Ps. lxxxvi. 2.
[2661] Ps. lxxxvi. 16.
[2662] Ez. xxxiv. 23, 24.
[2663] S. John vii. 8.
[2664] S. John vii. 33.
[2665] S. John xiii. 31.
[2666] S. John xiii. 31.
[2667] S. John xvi. 14.
[2668] S. John viii. 54.
Chapter IX.
The saint meets those who in Jewish wise object to the order of the words: "In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost," with the retort that the Son also is often placed before the Father; though he first points out that an answer to this objection has been already given by him.
115. Why is it that the Arians, after the Jewish fashion, are such false and shameless interpreters of the divine words, going indeed so far as to say that there is one power of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost, since it is written: "Go ye, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost"? And why do they make a distinction of divine power owing to the mere order of words?
116. Though I have already given this very witness for a unity of majesty and name in my former books, yet if they make this the ground of debate, I can maintain on the testimony of the Scriptures that the Son is mentioned first in many places, and that the Father is spoken of after Him. Is it therefore a fact that, because the name of the Son is placed first, by the mere accident of a word, as the Arians would have it, the Father comes second to the Son? God forbid, I say, God forbid. Faith knows nothing of such order as this; it knows nothing of a divided honour of the Father and the Son. I have not read of, nor heard of, nor found any varying degree in God. Never have I read of a second, never of a third God. I have read of a first God, [2669] I have heard of a first and only God.
117. If we pay such excessive regard to order, then the Son ought not to sit at the right hand of the Father, nor ought He to call Himself the First and the Beginning. The Evangelist was wrong in beginning with the Word and not with God, where he says: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God." [2670] For, according to the order of human usage, he ought to name the Father first. The Apostle also was ignorant of their order, who says: "Paul the servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an Apostle, separated unto the Gospel of God;" [2671] and elsewhere: "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost." [2672] If we follow the order of the words, he has placed the Son first, and the Father second. But the order of the words is often changed; and therefore thou oughtest not to question about order or degree, in the case of God the Father and His Son, for there is no severance of unity in the Godhead.
[2669] Isa. xliv. 6.
[2670] S. John i. 1.
[2671] Rom. i. 1.
[2672] 2 Cor. xiii. 14.
Chapter X.
The Arians openly take sides with the heathen in attacking the words: "He that believeth on Me, believeth not on Me," etc. The true meaning of the passage is unfolded; and to prevent us from believing that the Lord forbade us to have faith in Him, it is shown how He spoke at one time as God, at another as Man. After bringing forward examples of various results of that faith, he shows that certain other passages also must be taken in the same way.
118. Last of all, to show that they are not Christians, they deny that we are to believe on Christ, saying that it is written: "He that believeth on Me, believeth not on Me, but on Him that sent Me." [2673] I was awaiting this confession; why did you delude me with your quibbles? I knew I had to contend with heathens. Nay, they indeed are converted, but ye are not. If they believe, that the sacrament [of Baptism] is safe; ye have received it, and destroyed it, or perchance it has never been received, but was unreal [2674] from the first.
119. It is written, they say: "He that believeth on Me, believeth not on Me, but on Him that sent Me." But see what follows, and see how the Son of God wishes to be seen; for it continues: "And he that seeth Me, seeth Him that sent Me," [2675] for the Father is seen in the Son. Thus, He has explained what He had spoken earlier, that he who confesses the Father believes on the Son. For he who knows not the Son, neither knows the Father. For every one that denies the Son has not the Father, but he that confesses the Son has both the Father and the Son.
120. What, then, is the meaning of "Believeth not on Me"? That is, not on that which you can perceive in bodily form, nor merely on the man whom you see. For He has stated that we are to believe not merely on a man, but that thou mayest believe that Jesus Christ Himself is both God and Man. Wherefore, for both reasons He says: "I came not from Myself;" [2677] and again: "I am the beginning, of which also I speak to you." [2678] As Man He came not from Himself; as Son of God He takes not His beginning from men; but "I am," He says, "Myself the beginning of which also I speak to you.' Neither are the words which I speak human, but divine."
121. Nor is it right to believe that He denied we were to believe on Him, since He Himself said: "That whosoever believeth on Me should not abide in darkness;" [2679] and in another place again: "For this is the will of My Father that sent Me, that every one that seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, may have eternal life;" [2680] and again: "Ye believe in God, believe also in Me." [2681]
122. Let no one, therefore, receive the Son without the Father, because we read of the Son. The Son hath the Father, but not in a temporal sense, nor by reason of His passion, nor owing to His conception, nor by grace. I have read of His Generation, I have not read of His Conception. And the Father says: "I have begotten;" [2682] He does not say: "I have created." And the Son calls not God His Creator in the eternity of His divine Generation, but Father.
123. He represents Himself also now in the character of man, now in the majesty of God; now claiming for Himself oneness of Godhead with the Father, now taking upon Him all the frailty of human flesh; now saying that He has not His own doctrine, and now that He seeks not His own will; now pointing out that His testimony is not true, and now that it is true. For He Himself has said: "If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true." [2683] Later on He says: "If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is true." [2684]
124. And how is Thy testimony, Lord Jesus, not true? Did not he who believed it, though he hung upon the cross, and paid the penalty for the crime he owned to, cast aside the deserts of the robber and gain the reward of the innocent? [2685]
125. Was Paul deceived, who received his sight, because he believed; [2686] which sight he had lost, before he believed?
126. And did Joshua, the son of Nun, err in recognizing the leader of the heavenly host? [2687] But after he believed, he forthwith conquered, being found worthy to triumph in the battle of faith. Again, he did not lead forth his armed ranks into the fight, nor did he overthrow the ramparts of the enemy's walls, with battering rams or other engines of war, but with the sound of the seven trumpets of the priests. Thus the blare of the trumpet and the badge of the priest brought a cruel war to an end.
127. A harlot saw this; and she who in the destruction of the city lost all hope of any means of safety, because her faith had conquered, bound a scarlet thread in her window, and thus uplifted a sign of her faith and the banner of the Lord's Passion; [2688] so that the semblance of the mystic blood, which should redeem the world, might be in memory. So, without, the name of Joshua was a sign of victory to those who fought; within, the semblance of the Lord's Passion was a sign of salvation to those in danger. Wherefore, because Rahab understood the heavenly mystery, the Lord says in the Psalm: "I will be mindful of Rahab and Babylon that know Me." [2689]
128. How, then, is Thy testimony not true, O Lord, except it be given in accordance with the frailty of man? For "every man is a liar."
129. Lastly, to prove that He spoke as man, He says: "The Father that sent Me, He beareth witness of Me." [2691] But His testimony as God is true, as He Himself says: "My record is true: for I know whence I come, and whither I go, but ye know not whence I come, and whither I go. Ye judge after the flesh." [2692] They judge then not after the Godhead but after the manhood, who think that Christ had not the power of bearing witness.
130. Therefore, when thou hearest: "He that believeth, believeth not on Me;" or: "The Father that sent Me, He gave Me a commandment;" [2693] thou hast now learnt whither thou oughtest to refer those words. Lastly, He shows what the commandment is, saying: "I lay down My life, that I may take it again. No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself." [2694] Thou seest, then, what is said so as to show He had full power to lay down or to take up His life; as He also said: "I have power to lay it down, and I have power again to take it up. This commandment have I received of My Father." [2695]
131. Whether, then, a command, or, as some Latin manuscripts have it, a direction was given, it was certainly not given to Him as God, but as incarnate man, with reference to the victory He should gain in undergoing His Passion.
[2673] S. John xii. 44.
[2674] It would seem that the form of words was sometimes changed by Arians, in which case there would be of course no valid baptism.
[2675] S. John xii. 45.
[2676] 1 John ii. 23.
[2677] S. John vii. 28.
[2678] S. John viii. 25.
[2679] S. John xii. 46.
[2680] S. John vi. 40.
[2681] S. John xiv. 1.
[2682] Ps. ii. 7.
[2683] S. John v. 31.
[2684] S. John vii. 14.
[2685] S. Luke xxiii. 41.
[2686] Acts ix. 12.
[2687] Josh. v. 13.
[2688] Josh. ii. 18.
[2689] Ps. lxxxvii. 4.
[2690] Ps. cxvi. 11.
[2691] S. John viii. 18.
[2692] S. John viii. 14, 15.
[2693] S. John xii. 49.
[2694] S. John x. 17.
[2695] S. John x. 18.