Eran.--Certainly not.
Orth.--Why?
Eran.--He was born of the holy Virgin alone.
Orth.--He is therefore properly styled "without father"?
Eran.--True.
Orth.--Do you say that according to the divine Nature He had a mother?
Eran.--Certainly not.
Orth.--For He was begotten of the Father alone before the ages?
Eran.--Agreed.
Orth.--And yet, as the generation He has of the Father is ineffable, He is spoken of as "without descent." "Who" says the prophet "shall declare His generation?" [1210]
Eran.--You are right.
Orth.--Thus it becomes Him to have neither beginning of days nor end of life; for He is without beginning, indestructible, and, in a word, eternal, and coeternal with the Father.
Eran.--This is my view too. But we must now consider how this fits the admirable Melchisedec.
Orth.--As an image and type. The image, as we have just observed, has not all the properties of the archetype. Thus to the Saviour these qualities are proper both by nature and in reality; but the story of the origin of the race has attributed them to Melchisedec. For after telling us of the father of the patriarch Abraham, and of the father and mother of Isaac, and in like manner of Jacob and of his sons, and exhibiting the pedigree of our first forefathers, of Melchisedec it records neither the father nor the mother, nor does it teach that he traced his descent from any one of Noah's sons, to the end that he may be a type of Him who is in reality without father, and without mother. And this is what the divine Apostle would have us understand, for in this very passage he says further, "But he whose descent is not counted from them received tithes of Abraham, and blessed him that had the promises." [1211]
Eran.--Then, since Holy Scripture has not mentioned his parents, can he be called without father and without mother?
Orth.--If he had really been without father and without mother, he would not have been an image, but a reality. But since these are his qualities not by nature, but according to the dispensation of the Divine Scripture, he exhibits the type of the reality.
Eran.--The type must have the character of the archetype.
Orth.--Is man called an image of God?
Eran.--Man is not an image of God, but was made in the image of God.
Orth.--Listen then to the Apostle. He says: "For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God."
Eran.--Granted, then, that he is an image of God.
Orth.--According to your argument then he must needs have plainly preserved the characters of the archetype, and have been uncreate, uncompounded, and infinite. He ought in like manner to have been able to create out of the non existent, he ought to have fashioned all things by his word and without labour, in addition to this to have been free from sickness, sorrow, anger, and sin, to have been immortal and incorruptible and to possess all the qualities of the archetype.
Eran.--Man is not an image of God in every respect.
Orth.--Though truly an image in the qualities in which you would grant him to be so, you will find that he is separated by a wide interval from the reality.
Eran.--Agreed.
Orth.--Consider now too this point. The divine Apostle calls the Son the image of the Father; for he says "Who is the image of the invisible God?" [1214]
Eran.--What then; has not the Son all the qualities of the Father?
Orth.--He is not Father. He is not uncaused. He is not unbegotten.
Eran.--If He were He would not be Son.
Orth.--Then does not what I said hold good; the image has not all the qualities of the archetype?
Eran.--True.
Orth.--Thus too the divine Apostle said that Melchisedec is made like unto the Son of God. [1215]
Eran.--Suppose we grant that he is without Father and without Mother and without descent, as you have said. But how are we to understand his having neither beginning of days nor end of life?
Orth.--The holy Moses when writing the ancient genealogy tells us how Adam being so many years old begat Seth, [1216] and when he had lived so many years he ended his life. [1217] So too he writes of Seth, of Enoch, and of the rest, but of Melchisedec he mentions neither beginning of existence nor end of life. Thus as far as the story goes he has neither beginning of days nor end of life, but in truth and reality the only begotten Son of God never began to exist and shall never have an end.
Eran.--Agreed.
Orth.--Then, so far as what belongs to God and is really divine is concerned, Melchisedec is a type of the Lord Christ; but as far as the priesthood is concerned, which belongs rather to man than to God, the Lord Christ was made a priest after the order of Melchisedec. [1218] For Melchisedec was a high priest of the people, and the Lord Christ for all men has made the right holy offering of salvation.
Eran.--We have spent many words on this matter.
Orth.--Yet more were needed, as you know, for you said the point was a difficult one.
Eran.--Let us return to the question before us.
Orth.--What was the question?
Eran.--On my remarking that Christ must not be called man, but only God, you yourself besides many other testimonies adduced also the well known words of the Apostle which he has used in his epistle Timothy--"One God, one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time."
Orth.--I remember from what point we diverged into this digression. It was when I had said that the name of mediator exhibits the two natures of the Saviour, and you said that Moses was called a mediator though he was only a man and not God and man. I was therefore under the necessity of following up these points to show that the type has not all the qualities of the archetype. Tell me, then, whether you allow that the Saviour ought also to be called man.
Eran.--I call Him God, for He is God's Son.
Orth.--If you call him God, because you have learnt that he is God's Son, call him also man, for he often called Himself "Son of Man."
Eran.--The name man does not apply to Him in the same way as the name God.
Orth.--As not really belonging to Him or for some other reason?
Eran.--God is his name by nature; man is the designation of the Incarnation. [1220]
Orth.--But are we to look on the Incarnation as real, or as something imaginary and false?
Eran.--As real.
Orth.--If then the grace of the Incarnation is real, and what we call Incarnation is the divine Word's being made man, then the name man is real; for after taking man's nature He is called man.
Eran.--Before His passion He was styled man, but afterward He was no longer so styled.
Orth.--But it was after the Passion and the Resurrection that the divine Apostle wrote the Epistle to Timothy wherein he speaks of the Saviour Christ as man, [1221] and writing after the Passion and the Resurrection to the Corinthians he exclaims "For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead." [1222] And in order to make his meaning clear he adds, "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." [1223] And after the Passion and the Resurrection the divine Peter, in his address to the Jews, called Him man. [1224] And after His being taken up into heaven, Stephen the victorious, amid the storm of stones, said to the Jews, "Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God." [1225] Are we to suppose ourselves wiser than the illustrious heralds of the truth?
Eran.--I do not suppose myself wiser than the holy doctors, but I fail to find the use of the name.
Orth.--How then could you persuade them that deny the incarnation of the Lord, Marcionists, I mean, and Manichees, and all the rest who are thus unsound, to accept the teaching of the truth, unless you adduce these and similar proofs with the object of shewing that the Lord Christ is not God only but also man?
Eran.--Perhaps it is necessary to adduce them.
Orth.--Why not then teach the faithful the reality of the doctrine? Are you forgetful of the apostolic precept enjoining us to be "ready to give an answer." [1226] Now let us look at the matter in this light. Does the best general engage the enemy, attack with arrows and javelins, and endeavour to break their column all alone, or does he also arm his men, and marshal them, and rouse their hearts to play the man?
Eran.--He ought rather to do this latter.
Orth.--Yes; for it is not the part of a general to expose his own life, and take his place in the ranks, and let his men go fast asleep, but rather to keep them awake for their work at their post.
Eran.--True.
Orth.--This is what the divine Paul did, for in writing to them who had made profession of their faith he said, "Take unto you the whole armour of God that ye be able to stand against the wiles of the Devil." [1227] And again, "Stand therefore with your loins girt about with truth," [1228] and so on. Bear in mind too what we have already said, that a physician supplies what nature lacks. Does he find the cold redundant? He supplies the hot, and so on with the rest; and this is what the Lord does.
Eran.--And where will you show that the Lord has done this?
Orth.--In the holy gospels.
Eran.--Show me then and fulfil your promise.
Orth.--What did the Jews consider our Saviour Christ?
Eran.--A man.
Orth.--And that He was also God they were wholly ignorant.
Eran.--Yes.
Orth.--Was it not then necessary for the ignorant to learn?
Eran.--Agreed.
Orth.--Listen to Him then saying to them: "Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of these works do ye stone me?" [1229] And when they replied: "For a good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy, and because that thou being a man makest thyself God," [1230] He added "It is written in your law I said ye are gods. If he called them gods unto whom the word of God came and the scripture cannot be broken, say ye of Him whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the world thou blasphemest, because I said I am the Son of God? If I do not the works of my father believe me not...that I am in the Father and the Father is in me." [1231]
Eran.--In the passages you have just read you have shewn that the Lord shewed Himself to the Jews to be God and not man.
Orth.--Yes, for they did not need to learn what they knew; that He was a man they knew, but they did not know that He was from the beginning God. He adopted this same course in the case of the Pharisees; for when He saw them accosting Him as a mere man He asked them "What think ye of Christ? Whose son is He?" [1232] And when they said "Of David" He went on "How then doth David calling him Lord say The Lord said unto my Lord sit thou on my right hand.'" [1233] Then He goes on to argue, "If then He is His Lord how is He His Son?"
Eran.--You have brought testimony against yourself, for the Lord plainly taught the Pharisees to call Him not "Son of David" but "Lord of David." Wherefore He is distinctly shown wishing to be called God and not man.
Orth.--I am afraid you have not attended to the divine teaching. He did not repudiate the name of "Son of David," but He added that He ought also to be believed to be Lord of David. This He clearly shews in the words "If He is his Lord how is He then his Son?" He did not say "if He is Lord He is not Son," but "how is He his Son?" instead of saying in one respect He is Lord and in another Son. These passages both distinctly show the Godhead and the manhood.
Eran.--There is no need of argument. The Lord distinctly teaches that He does not wish to be called Son of David.
Orth.--Then He ought to have told the blind men and the woman of Canaan and the multitude not to call Him Son of David, and yet the blind men cried out "Thou Son of David have mercy on us." [1234] And the woman of Canaan "Have mercy on me O Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a Devil." [1235] And the multitude: "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord." [1236] And not only did He not take it ill, but even praised their faith; for the blind He freed from their long weary night and granted them the power of sight; the maddened and distraught daughter of the woman of Canaan He healed and drove out the wicked demon; and when the chief priests and Pharisees were offended at them that shouted "Hosanna to the Son of David" He did not merely not prevent them from shouting, but even sanctioned their acclamation, for, said He, "I tell you that if these should hold their peace the stones would immediately cry out." [1237]