27. I ask, therefore, how we are to understand, "I will not judge him; but the Word which I have spoken shall judge him:" which appears from what follows to be so said, as if He would say, I will not judge; but the Word of the Father will judge. But the Word of the Father is the Son of God Himself. Is it to be so understood: I will not judge, but I will judge? How can this be true, unless in this way: viz., I will not judge by human power, because I am the Son of man; but I will judge by the power of the Word, because I am the Son of God? Or if it still seems contradictory and inconsistent to say, I will not judge, but I will judge; what shall we say of that place where He says, "My doctrine is not mine?" How "mine," when "not mine?" For He did not say, This doctrine is not mine, but "My doctrine is not mine:" that which He called His own, the same He called not His own. How can this be true, unless He has called it His own in one relation; not His own, in another? According to the form of God, His own; according to the form of a servant, not His own. For when He says, "It is not mine, but His that sent me," [167] He makes us recur to the Word itself. For the doctrine of the Father is the Word of the Father, which is the Only Son. And what, too, does that mean, "He that believeth on me, believeth not on me?" [168] How believe on Him, yet not believe on Him? How can so opposite and inconsistent a thing be understood--"Whoso believeth on me," He says, "believeth not on me, but on Him that sent me;"--unless you so understand it, Whoso believeth on me believeth not on that which he sees, lest our hope should be in the creature; but on Him who took the creature, whereby He might appear to human eyes, and so might cleanse our hearts by faith, to contemplate Himself as equal to the Father? So that in turning the attention of believers to the Father, and saying, "Believeth not on me, but on Him that sent me," He certainly did not mean Himself to be separated from the Father, that is, from Him that sent Him; but that men might so believe on Himself, as they believe on the Father, to whom He is equal. And this He says in express terms in another place, "Ye believe in God, believe also in me:" [169] that is, in the same way as you believe in God, so also believe in me; because I and the Father are One God. As therefore, here, He has as it were withdrawn the faith of men from Himself, and transferred it to the Father, by saying, "Believeth not on me, but on Him that sent me," from whom nevertheless He certainly did not separate Himself; so also, when He says, "It is not mine to give, but [it shall be given to them] for whom it is prepared by my Father," it is I think plain in what relation both are to be taken. For that other also is of the same kind, "I will not judge;" whereas He Himself shall judge the quick and dead. [170] But because He will not do so by human power, therefore, reverting to the Godhead, He raises the hearts of men upwards; which to lift up, He Himself came down.
[136] Mark xiii. 32
[137] [The more common explanation of this text in modern exegesis makes the ignorance to be literal, and referable solely to the human nature of our Lord, not to his person as a whole. Augustin's explanation, which Bengel, on Mark xiii. 32, is inclined to favor, escapes the difficulty that arises from a seeming division of the one theanthopic person into two portions, one of which knows, and the other does not. Yet this same difficulty besets the fact of a growth in knowledge, which is plainly taught in Luke i. 80. In this case, the increase in wisdom must relate to the humanity alone.--W.G.T.S.]
[138] Gen. xxii. 12
[139] John xv. 15
[140] John xvi. 12
[141] 1 Cor. ii. 2
[142] 1 Cor. iii. 1
[143] 1 Cor. ii. 6
[144] Prov. viii. 25
[145] Ps. cx. 3. Vulgate.
[146] Prov. viii. 22
[147] John xiv. 6
[148] Apoc. i. 5
[149] John viii. 25
[150] Gen. i. 1
[151] Ps. xix. 5
[152] Col. i. 15, 17, 18
[153] 1 Cor. ii. 8
[154] Rom. viii. 30
[155] Rom. iv. 5
[156] Rom. iii. 26
[157] Matt. xx. 23
[158] John x. 30
[159] John xvi. 7
[160] John xiv. 25, 26
[161] John xvi. 15
[162] John xii. 47-50
[163] Seipsum loquitur
[164] John v. 26
[165] 1 John v. 20
[166] John xii. 48
[167] John vii. 16
[168] John xii. 44
[169] John xiv. 1
[170] 2 Tim. iv. 1
Chapter 13.--Diverse Things are Spoken Concerning the Same Christ, on Account of the Diverse Natures of the One Hypostasis [Theanthropic Person]. Why It is Said that the Father Will Not Judge, But Has Given Judgment to the Son.
28. Yet unless the very same were the Son of man on account of the form of a servant which He took, who is the Son of God on account of the form of God in which He is; Paul the apostle would not say of the princes of this world, "For had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory." [171] For He was crucified after the form of a servant, and yet "the Lord of glory" was crucified. For that "taking" was such as to make God man, and man God. Yet what is said on account of what, and what according to what, the thoughtful, diligent, and pious reader discerns for himself, the Lord being his helper. For instance, we have said that He glorifies His own, as being God, and certainly then as being the Lord of glory; and yet the Lord of glory was crucified, because even God is rightly said to have been crucified, not after the power of the divinity, but after the weakness of the flesh: [172] just as we say, that He judges as God, that is, by divine power, not by human; and yet the man Himself will judge, just as the Lord of glory was crucified: for so He expressly says, "When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, and before Him shall be gathered all nations;" [173] and the rest that is foretold of the future judgment in that place even to the last sentence. And the Jews, inasmuch as they will be punished in that judgment for persisting in their wickedness, as it is elsewhere written, "shall look upon Him whom they have pierced." [174] For whereas both good and bad shall see the Judge of the quick and dead, without doubt the bad will not be able to see Him, except after the form in which He is the Son of man; but yet in the glory wherein He will judge, not in the lowliness wherein He was judged. But the ungodly without doubt will not see that form of God in which He is equal to the Father. For they are not pure in heart; and "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God." [175] And that sight is face to face, [176] the very sight that is promised as the highest reward to the just, and which will then take place when He "shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father;" and in this "kingdom" He means the sight of His own form also to be understood, the whole creature being made subject to God, including that wherein the Son of God was made the Son of man. Because, according to this creature, "The Son also Himself shall be subject unto Him, that put all things under Him, that God may be all in all." [177] Otherwise if the Son of God, judging in the form in which He is equal to the Father, shall appear when He judges to the ungodly also; what becomes of that which He promises, as some great thing, to him who loves Him, saying, "And I will love him, and will manifest myself to him?" [178] Wherefore He will judge as the Son of man, yet not by human power, but by that whereby He is the Son of God; and on the other hand, He will judge as the Son of God, yet not appearing in that [unincarnate] form in which He is God equal to the Father, but in that [incarnate form] in which He is the Son of man.
29. Therefore both ways of speaking may be used; the Son of man will judge, and, the Son of man will not judge: since the Son of man will judge, that the text may be true which says, "When the Son of man shall come, then before Him shall be gathered all nations;" and the Son of man will not judge, that the text may be true which says, "I will not judge him;" [180] and, "I seek not mine own glory: there is One that seeketh and judgeth." [181] For in respect to this, that in the judgment, not the form of God, but the form of the Son of man will appear, the Father Himself will not judge; for according to this it is said, "For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son." Whether this is said after that mode of speech which we have mentioned above, where it is said, "So hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself," [182] that it should signify that so He begat the Son; or, whether after that of which the apostle speaks, saying, "Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name:"--(For this is said of the Son of man, in respect to whom the Son of God was raised from the dead; since He, being in the form of God equal to the Father, wherefrom He "emptied" Himself by taking the form of a servant, both acts and suffers, and receives, in that same form of a servant, what the apostle goes on to mention: "He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross; wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, in the Glory of God the Father:" [183] --whether then the words, "He hath committed all judgment unto the Son," are said according to this or that mode of speech; it sufficiently appears from this place, that if they were said according to that sense in which it is said, "He hath given to the Son to have life in Himself," it certainly would not be said, "The Father judgeth no man." For in respect to this, that the Father hath begotten the Son equal to Himself, He judges with Him. Therefore it is in respect to this that it is said, that in the judgment, not the form of God, but the form of the Son of man will appear. Not that He will not judge, who hath committed all judgment unto the Son, since the Son saith of Him, "There is One that seeketh and judgeth:" but it is so said, "The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son;" as if it were said, No one will see the Father in the judgment of the quick and the dead, but all will see the Son: because He is also the Son of man, so that He can be seen even by the ungodly, since they too shall see Him whom they have pierced.
30. Lest, however, we may seem to conjecture this rather than to prove it clearly, let us produce a certain and plain sentence of the Lord Himself, by which we may show that this was the cause why He said, "The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son," viz. because He will appear as Judge in the form of the Son of man, which is not the form of the Father, but of the Son; nor yet that form of the Son in which He is equal to the Father, but that in which He is less than the Father; in order that, in the judgment, He may be visible both to the good and to the bad. For a little while after He says, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on Him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but shall pass [184] from death unto life." Now this life eternal is that sight which does not belong to the bad. Then follows, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live." [185] And this is proper to the godly, who so hear of His incarnation, as to believe that He is the Son of God, that is, who so receive Him, as made for their sakes less than the Father, in the form of a servant, that they believe Him equal to the Father, in the form of God. And thereupon He continues, enforcing this very point, "For as the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself." And then He comes to the sight of His own glory, in which He shall come to judgment; which sight will be common to the ungodly and to the just. For He goes on to say, "And hath given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of man." [186] I think nothing can be more clear. For inasmuch as the Son of God is equal to the Father, He does not receive this power of executing judgment, but He has it with the Father in secret; but He receives it, so that the good and the bad may see Him judging, inasmuch as He is the Son of man. Since the sight of the Son of man will be shown to the bad also: for the sight of the form of God will not be shown except to the pure in heart, for they shall see God; that is, to the godly only, to whose love He promises this very thing, that He will show Himself to them. And see, accordingly, what follows: "Marvel not at this," He says. Why does He forbid us to marvel, unless it be that, in truth, every one marvels who does not understand, that therefore He said the Father gave Him power also to execute judgment, because He is the Son of man; whereas, it might rather have been anticipated that He would say, since He is the Son of God? But because the wicked are not able to see the Son of God as He is in the form of God equal to the Father, but yet it is necessary that both the just and the wicked should see the Judge of the quick and dead, when they will be judged in His presence; "Marvel not at this," He says, "for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." [187] For this purpose, then, it was necessary that He should therefore receive that power, because He is the Son of man, in order that all in rising again might see Him in the form in which He can be seen by all, but by some to damnation, by others to life eternal. And what is life eternal, unless that sight which is not granted to the ungodly? "That they might know Thee," He says, "the One true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent." [188] And how are they to know Jesus Christ Himself also, unless as the One true God, who will show Himself to them; not as He will show Himself, in the form of the Son of man, to those also that shall be punished? [189]