[312] John iv. 24.
[313] Ps. xxxiii. 6.
[314] Kosmopoiias.
[315] Gen. i. 2.
[316] Rom. viii. 9.
[317] Rom. viii. 11.
[318] Rom. viii. 14, 15.
[319] Rom. ix. 1.
[320] Rom. xv. 13.
XI.
And again, writing to those same Romans, he says: "But I have written the more boldly unto you in some sort, as putting you in mind, because of the grace that is given to me of God, that I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the Gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost. I have therefore whereof I may glory through Jesus Christ in those things which pertain to God. For I dare not to speak of any of those things which Christ hath not wrought by me, [321] to make the Gentiles obedient, by word and deed, through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Holy Spirit." [322] And again: "Now I beseech you, brethren, for our Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and by the love of the Spirit." [323] And these things, indeed, are written in the Epistle to the Romans. [324]
[321] [A reference to his canon, perhaps, recorded in 2 Cor. x. 13-16. Compare Rom. xv. 20. The canonists erect the discrimination between Orders and Mission, upon these texts and (Acts xiii. 2, 3, etc.) Gal. ii. 8, 9. See vol. i. p. 495, note 3.]
[322] Rom. xv. 15-19. [Concerning which remarkable passage, see vol. v. p. 409, Elucidation I.]
[323] Rom. xv. 30.
[324] [It is evident that St. Paul founded the Church at Rome. St. Peter (see note 13, supra) could only have come to Rome to look after the Jewish disciples there. Elucidation, p. 47, infra.]
XII.
Again, in the Epistle to the Corinthians he says: "For my speech and my preaching was not in the enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power; that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." [325] And again he says: "As it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him. But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God." [326] And again he says: "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God." [327]
[325] 1 Cor. ii. 4, 5.
[326] 1 Cor. ii. 9-11.
[327] 1 Cor. ii. 14.
XIII.
Seest thou that all through Scripture the Spirit is preached, and yet nowhere named a creature? And what can the impious have to say if the Lord sends forth His disciples to baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit? [328] Without contradiction, that implies a communion and unity between them, according to which there are neither three divinities nor (three) lordships; but, while there remain truly and certainly the three persons, the real unity of the three must be acknowledged. And in this way proper credit will be given to the sending and the being sent [329] (in the Godhead), according to which the Father hath sent forth the Son, and the Son in like manner sends forth the Spirit. For one of the persons surely could not (be said to) send Himself; and one could not speak of the Father as incarnate. For the articles of our faith will not concur with the vicious tenets of the heresies; and it is right that our conceptions should follow the inspired and apostolic doctrines, and not that our impotent fancies should coerce the articles of our divine faith.
[328] Matt. xxviii. 19.
[329] The text is, houto gar (to apostellon) kai to apostellomenon, oikeios an pisteuoito, kath' ho, etc.
XIV.
But if they say, How can there be three Persons, and how but one Divinity?--we shall make this reply: That there are indeed three persons, inasmuch as there is one person of God the Father, and one of the Lord the Son, and one of the Holy Spirit; and yet that there is but one divinity, inasmuch as the Son is the Image of God the Father, who is One,--that is, He is God of God; and in like manner the Spirit is called the Spirit of God, and that, too, of nature according to the very substance, [330] and not according to simple participation of God. And there is one substance [331] in the Trinity, which does not subsist also in the case of objects that are made; for there is not one substance in God and in the things that are made, because none of these is in substance God. Nor, indeed, is the Lord one of these according to substance, but there is one Lord the Son, and one Holy Spirit; and we speak also of one Divinity, and one Lordship, and one Sanctity in the Trinity; because the Father is the Cause [332] of the Lord, having begotten Him eternally, and the Lord is the Prototype [333] of the Spirit. For thus the Father is Lord, and the Son also is God; and of God it is said that "God is a Spirit." [334]
[330] phusikos kat' auten ten ousian.
[331] ousia.
[332] arche.
[333] prototupos.
[334] John iv. 24.
XV.
We therefore acknowledge one true God, the one First Cause, and one Son, very God of very God, possessing of nature the Father's divinity,--that is to say, being the same in substance with the Father; [335] and one Holy Spirit, who by nature and in truth sanctifies all, and makes divine, as being of the substance of God. [336] Those who speak either of the Son or of the Holy Spirit as a creature we anathematize. All other things we hold to be objects made, and in subjection, [337] created by God through the Son, (and) sanctified in the Holy Spirit. Further, we acknowledge that the Son of God was made a Son of man, having taken to Himself the flesh from the Virgin Mary, not in name, but in reality; and that He is both the perfect Son of God, and the (perfect) Son of man,--that the Person is but one, and that there is one worship [338] for the Word and the flesh that He assumed. And we anathematize those who constitute different worships, one for the divine and another for the human, and who worship the man born of Mary as though He were another than the God of God. For we know that "in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." [339] And we worship Him who was made man on account of our salvation, not indeed as made perfectly like in the like body, [340] but as the Lord who has taken to Himself the form of the servant. We acknowledge the passion of the Lord in the flesh, the resurrection in the power of His divinity, the ascension to heaven, and His glorious appearing when He comes for the judgment of the living and the dead, and for the eternal life of the saints.
[335] Note the phrase here, afterwards formulated, homoousion to Patri. [This phrase, with abundant other tokens, makes it apparent that the work is not Gregory's. It is further evident from section xviii. I should be glad to think otherwise.]
[336] kai theopoion ek tes ousias tou Theou uparchon.
[337] doula.
[338] proskunesin.
[339] John i. 1.
[340] ison en iso genomenon to somati.
XVI.
And since some have given us trouble by attempting to subvert our faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, and by affirming of Him that He was not God incarnated, but a man linked with God; for this reason we present our confession on the subject of the aforementioned matters of faith, and reject the faithless dogmas opposed thereto. For God, having been incarnated in the flesh of man, retains also His proper energy pure, possessing a mind unsubjected by the natural [341] and fleshly affections, and holding the flesh and the fleshly motions divinely and sinlessly, and not only unmastered by the power of death, but even destroying death. And it is the true God unincarnate that has appeared incarnate, the perfect One with the genuine and divine perfection; and in Him there are not two persons. Nor do we affirm that there are four to worship, viz., God and the Son of God, and man and the Holy Spirit. Wherefore we also anathematize those who show their impiety in this, and who thus give the man a place in the divine doxology. For we hold that the Word of God was made man on account of our salvation, in order that we might receive the likeness of the heavenly, and be made divine [342] after the likeness of Him who is the true Son of God by nature, and the Son of man according to the flesh, our Lord Jesus Christ.
[341] psuchikon.
[342] theopoiethomen.
XVII.
We believe therefore in one God, that is, in one First Cause, the God of the law and of the Gospel, the just and good; and in one Lord Jesus Christ, true God, that is, Image of the true God, Maker of all things seen and unseen, Son of God and only-begotten Offspring, and Eternal Word, living and self-subsistent and active, [343] always being with the Father; and in one Holy Spirit; and in the glorious advent of the Son of God, who of the Virgin Mary took flesh, and endured sufferings and death in our stead, and came to resurrection on the third day, and was taken up to heaven; and in His glorious appearing yet to come; and in one holy Church, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the flesh, and life eternal.
[343] energon.