[108] John xvi. 22
[109] Luke x. 30-42
[110] Rom. viii. 26
[111] Ps. xxvii. 4
[112] [The redeemed must forever stand in the relation of redeemed sinners to their Redeemer. Thus standing, they will forever need Christ's sacrifice and intercession in respect to their past sins in this earthly state. But as in the heavenly state they are sinless, and are incurring no new guilt, it is true that they do not require the fresh application of atoning blood for new sins, nor Christ's intercession for such. This is probably what Augustin means by saying that Christ "no longer makes intercession for us," when he has delivered up the kingdom to God. When the Mediator has surrendered his commission, he ceases to redeem sinners from death, while yet he continues forever to be the Head of those whom he has redeemed, and their High Priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek (Heb. vii. 17.)--W.G.T.S.]
[113] 1 Cor. xv. 24-28
[114] [The animal soul is different in kind from the rational soul though both constitute one person; while the rational soul of a man is the same in kind with that of another man. Similarly, says Augustin, there is a difference in kind between the human nature and the divine nature of Christ, though constituting one theanthropic person, while the divine nature of the Son is the same in substance with that of the Father, though constituting two different persons, the Father and Son.--W.G.T.S.]
[115] Proverbs--A.V.
[116] Proverbs--A.V.
[117] Show--A.V.
[118] John xvi. 25-28
[119] Rom. viii. 32
Chapter 11.--By What Rule in the Scriptures It is Understood that the Son is Now Equal and Now Less.
22. Wherefore, having mastered this rule for interpreting the Scriptures concerning the Son of God, that we are to distinguish in them what relates to the form of God, in which He is equal to the Father, and what to the form of a servant which He took, in which He is less than the Father; we shall not be disquieted by apparently contrary and mutually repugnant sayings of the sacred books. For both the Son and the Holy Spirit, according to the form of God, are equal to the Father, because neither of them is a creature, as we have already shown: but according to the form of a servant He is less than the Father, because He Himself has said, "My Father is greater than I;" [120] and He is less than Himself, because it is said of Him, He emptied Himself;" [121] and He is less than the Holy Spirit, because He Himself says, "Whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him; but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven Him." [122] And in the Spirit too He wrought miracles, saying: "But if I with the Spirit of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you." [123] And in Isaiah He says,--in the lesson which He Himself read in the synagogue, and showed without a scruple of doubt to be fulfilled concerning Himself,--"The Spirit of the Lord God," He says, "is upon me: because He hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek He hath sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives," [124] etc.: for the doing of which things He therefore declares Himself to be "sent," because the Spirit of God is upon Him. According to the form of God, all things were made by Him; [125] according to the form of a servant, He was Himself made of a woman, made under the law. [126] According to the form of God, He and the Father are one; [127] according to the form of a servant, He came not to do His own will, but the will of Him that sent Him. [128] According to the form of God, "As the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself;" [129] according to the form of a servant, His "soul is sorrowful even unto death;" and, "O my Father," He says, "if it be possible, let this cup pass from me." [130] According to the form of God, "He is the True God, and eternal life;" [131] according to the form of a servant, "He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." [132] --23. According to the form of God, all things that the Father hath are His, [133] and "All mine," He says, "are Thine, and Thine are mine;" [134] according to the form of a servant, the doctrine is not His own, but His that sent Him.
[120] John xiv. 28
[121] Phil. ii. 7
[122] Matt. xii. 32
[123] Matt. xii. 28
[124] Isa. lxi. 1; Luke iv. 18, 19
[125] John i. 3
[126] Gal. iv. 4
[127] John x. 30
[128] John vi. 38
[129] John v. 26. [In communicating the Divine Essence to the Son, in eternal generation, the essence is communicated with all its attributes. Self existence is one of these attributes. In this way, the Father "gives to the Son to have life in himself," when he makes common (koinonein), between Himself and the Son, the one Divine Essence.--W.G.T.S.]
[130] Matt. xxvi. 38, 39
[131] 1 John v. 20
[132] Phil. ii. 8
[133] John xvii. 15
[134] John xvii. 10
[135] John vii. 16
Chapter 12.--In What Manner the Son is Said Not to Know the Day and the Hour Which the Father Knows. Some Things Said of Christ According to the Form of God, Other Things According to the Form of a Servant. In What Way It is of Christ to Give the Kingdom, in What Not of Christ. Christ Will Both Judge and Not Judge.
Again, "Of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven; neither the Son, but the Father." [136] For He is ignorant of this, as making others ignorant; that is, in that He did not so know as at that time to show His disciples: [137] as it was said to Abraham, "Now I know that thou fearest God," [138] that is, now I have caused thee to know it; because he himself, being tried in that temptation, became known to himself. For He was certainly going to tell this same thing to His disciples at the fitting time; speaking of which yet future as if past, He says, "Henceforth I call you not servants, but friends; for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you;" [139] which He had not yet done, but spoke as though He had already done it, because He certainly would do it. For He says to the disciples themselves, "I have yet many things to say unto you; but ye cannot bear them now." [140] Among which is to be understood also, "Of the day and hour." For the apostle also says, "I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified;" [141] because he was speaking to those who were not able to receive higher things concerning the Godhead of Christ. To whom also a little while after he says, "I could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal." [142] He was "ignorant," therefore, among them of that which they were not able to know from him. And that only he said that he knew, which it was fitting that they should know from him. In short, he knew among the perfect what he knew not among babes; for he there says: "We speak wisdom among them that are perfect." [143] For a man is said not to know what he hides, after that kind of speech, after which a ditch is called blind which is hidden. For the Scriptures do not use any other kind of speech than may be found in use among men, because they speak to men.
24. According to the form of God, it is said "Before all the hills He begat me," [144] that is, before all the loftinesses of things created and, "Before the dawn I begat Thee," [145] that is, before all times and temporal things: but according to the form of a servant, it is said, "The Lord created me in the beginning of His ways." [146] Because, according to the form of God, He said, "I am the truth;" and according to the form of a servant, "I am the way." [147] For, because He Himself, being the first-begotten of the dead, [148] made a passage to the kingdom of God to life eternal for His Church, to which He is so the Head as to make the body also immortal, therefore He was "created in the beginning of the ways" of God in His work. For, according to the form of God, He is the beginning, [149] that also speaketh unto us, in which "beginning" God created the heaven and the earth; [150] but according to the form of a servant, "He is a bridegroom coming out of His chamber." [151] According to the form of God, "He is the first-born of every creature, and He is before all things and by him all things consist;" according to the form of a servant, "He is the head of the body, the Church." [152] According to the form of God, "He is the Lord of glory." [153] From which it is evident that He Himself glorifies His saints: for, "Whom He did predestinate, them He also called; and whom He called, them He also justified; and whom He justified, them He also glorified." [154] Of Him accordingly it is said, that He justifieth the ungodly; [155] of Him it is said, that He is just and a justifier. [156] If, therefore, He has also glorified those whom He has justified, He who justifies, Himself also glorifies; who is, as I have said, the Lord of glory. Yet, according to the form of a servant, He replied to His disciples, when inquiring about their own glorification: "To sit on my right hand and on my left is not mine to give, but [it shall be given to them] for whom it is prepared by my Father." [157]
25. But that which is prepared by His Father is prepared also by the Son Himself, because He and the Father are one. [158] For we have already shown, by many modes of speech in the divine Scriptures, that, in this Trinity, what is said of each is also said of all, on account of the indivisible working of the one and same substance. As He also says of the Holy Spirit, "If I depart, I will send Him unto you." [159] He did not say, We will send; but in such way as if the Son only should send Him, and not the Father; while yet He says in another place, "These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you; but the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all things." [160] Here again it is so said as if the Son also would not send Him, but the Father only. As therefore in these texts, so also where He says, "But for them for whom it is prepared by my Father," He meant it to be understood that He Himself, with the Father, prepares seats of glory for those for whom He will. But some one may say: There, when He spoke of the Holy Spirit, He so says that He Himself will send Him, as not to deny that the Father will send Him; and in the other place, He so says that the Father will send Him, as not to deny that He will do so Himself; but here He expressly says, "It is not mine to give," and so goes on to say that these things are prepared by the Father. But this is the very thing which we have already laid down to be said according to the form of a servant: viz., that we are so to understand "It is not mine to give," as if it were said, This is not in the power of man to give; that so He may be understood to give it through that wherein He is God equal to the Father. "It is not mine," He says, "to give;" that is, I do not give these things by human power, but "to those for whom it is prepared by my Father;" but then take care you understand also, that if "all things which the Father hath are mine," [161] then this certainly is mine also, and I with the Father have prepared these things.
26. For I ask again, in what manner this is said, "If any man hear not my words, I will not judge him?" [162] For perhaps He has said here, "I will not judge him," in the same sense as there, "It is not mine to give." But what follows here? "I came not," He says, "to judge the world, but to save the world;" and then He adds, "He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him." Now here we should understand the Father, unless He had added, "The word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day." Well, then, will neither the Son judge, because He says, "I will not judge him," nor the Father, but the word which the Son hath spoken? Nay, but hear what yet follows: "For I," He says, "have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, He gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak; and I know that His commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak." If therefore the Son judges not, but "the word which the Son hath spoken;" and the word which the Son hath spoken therefore judges, because the Son "hath not spoken of Himself, but the Father who sent Him gave Him a commandment what He should say, and what He should speak:" then the Father assuredly judges, whose word it is which the Son hath spoken; and the same Son Himself is the very Word of the Father. For the commandment of the Father is not one thing, and the word of the Father another; for He hath called it both a word and a commandment. Let us see, therefore, whether perchance, when He says, "I have not spoken of myself," He meant to be understood thus,--I am not born of myself. For if He speaks the word of the Father, then He speaks Himself, [163] because He is Himself the Word of the Father. For ordinarily He says, "The Father gave to me;" by which He means it to be understood that the Father begat Him: not that He gave anything to Him, already existing and not possessing it; but that the very meaning of, To have given that He might have, is, To have begotten that He might be. For it is not, as with the creature so with the Son of God before the incarnation and before He took upon Him our flesh, the Only-begotten by whom all things were made; that He is one thing, and has another: but He is in such way as to be what He has. And this is said more plainly, if any one is fit to receive it, in that place where He says: "For as the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself." [164] For He did not give to Him, already existing and not having life, that He should have life in Himself; inasmuch as, in that He is, He is life. Therefore "He gave to the Son to have life in Himself" means, He begat the Son to be unchangeable life, which is life eternal. Since, therefore, the Word of God is the Son of God, and the Son of God is "the true God and eternal life," [165] as John says in his Epistle; so here, what else are we to acknowledge when the Lord says, "The word which I have spoken, the same shall judge him at the last day," [166] and calls that very word the word of the Father and the commandment of the Father, and that very commandment everlasting life?" "And I know," He says, "that His commandment is life everlasting."