[2507] to legomenon ktizesthai te phusei kai te ousi& 139; ktisma. also infr. 60. Without meaning that the respective terms are synonymous, is it not plain that in a later phraseology this would have been, not simply that He is in His Person a creature,' or that His Person is created?' Athan.'s use of the phrase ousia tou logou has already been noticed, supr. i. 45, and passages from this Oration are given in another connexion, supr. p. 70, note 15. The term is synonymous with the Divine Nature as existing in the Person of the Word. [Cf. Prolegg. ch. ii. §3 (2) b.] In the passage in the text the ousia of the Word is contrasted to the ousia of creatures; and it is observable that it is implied that our Lord has not taken on Him a created ousia. He said not, Athan. remarks, I became a creature, for the creatures have a created essence;' he adds that He created' signifies, not essence, but something taking place in Him peri ekeinon, i.e. some adjunct or accident (e.g. notes on de Decr. 22), or as he says supr. §8, envelopment or dress. And infr. §51, he contrasts the ousia and the anthropinon of the Word; as in Orat. i. 41. ousia and he anthropotes; and phusis and sarx, iii. 34. init. and logos and sarx, 38. init. And He speaks of the Son taking on Him the economy,' infr. 76, and of the hupostasis tou logou being one with ho anthropos, iv. 25, c. It is observed, §8, note, how this line of teaching might be wrested to the purposes of the Apollinarian and Eutychian heresies; and, considering Athan.'s most emphatic protests against their errors in his later works, as well as his strong statements in Orat. iii. there is no hazard in this admission. His ordinary use of anthropos for the manhood might quite as plausibly be perverted on the other hand into a defence of Nestorianism. Vid. also the Ed. Ben. on S. Hilary, præf. p. xliii. who uses natura absolutely for our Lord's Divinity, as contrasted to the dispensatio, and divides His titles into naturalia and assumpta.
[2508] Ps. civ. 24. LXX.; Rom. viii. 22.
[2509] Rev. viii. 9; 1 Tim. iv. 4.
[2510] Wisd. ix. 2.
[2511] Matt. xix. 4. (ho ktisas).
[2512] Deut. iv. 32.
[2513] Col. i. 15-17
[2514] Ps. cii. 18. LXX.
[2515] Ps. li. 12.
[2516] Eph. ii. 15.
[2517] Eph. iv. 22; vid. Cyr. Thes. p. 156.
[2518] Jer. xxxi. 22. vid. also supr. p. 85, where he notices that this is the version of the Septuagint, Aquila's being The Lord created a new thing in woman.' Athan. has preserved Aquila's version in three other places, in Psalm xxx. 12; lix. 5; lxv. 18.
[2519] Prov. ix. 1.
[2520] John i. 14.
[2521] §10. n. 6.
[2522] Gal. iii. 13; 2 Cor. v. 21.
[2523] Gal. iii. 13; Is. liii. 4; 1 Pet. ii. 24
[2524] Here he says that, though our Lord's flesh is created or He is created as to the flesh, it is not right to call Him a creature. This is very much what S. Thomas says, as referred to in §45, note 1, in the words of the Schools, that Æthiops, albus secundum dentes, non est albus. But why may not our Lord be so called upon the principle of the communicatio Idiomatum (infr. note on iii. 31.) as He is said to be born of a Virgin, to have suffered, &c.? The reason is this:--birth, passion, &c., confessedly belong to His human nature, without adding according to the flesh;' but creature' not implying humanity, might appear a simple attribute of His Person, if used without limitation. Thus, as S. Thomas adds, though we may not absolutely say Æthiops est albus, we may say crispus est,' or in like manner, calvus est.' Since crispus, or calvus, can but refer to the hair. Still more does this remark apply in the case of Sonship,' which is a personal attribute altogether; as is proved, says Petav. de Incarn. vii. 6 fin. by the instance of Adam, who was in all respects a man like Seth, yet not a son. Accordingly, we may not call our Lord, even according to the manhood, an adopted Son.
[2525] pompeuete, infr. 82.
[2526] archen hodon; and so in Justin's Tryph. 61. The Bened. Ed. in loc. refers to a similar application of the word to our Lord in Tatian contr. Gent. 5. Athenag. Ap. 10. Iren. Hær. iv. 20. n. 3. Origen. in Joan. tom. 1. 39. Tertull. adv. Prax. 6. and Ambros. de Fid. iii. 7.
[2527] arche teknon, Gen. xlix. 3.
[2528] Cf. p. 157, note 7.
[2529] Rom. i. 20.
[2530] Vid. Col. i. 16
[2531] i. 61; ii. 27.
[2532] He says that, though none could be a beginning' of creation, who was a creature, yet still that such a title belongs not to His essence. It is the name of an office which the Eternal Word alone can fill. His Divine Sonship is both superior and necessary to that office of a Beginning.' Hence it is both true (as he says) that if the Word is a creature, He is not a beginning;' and yet that that beginning' is in the number of the creatures.' Though He becomes the beginning,' He is not a beginning as to His essence,' vid. supr. i. 49, and infr. §60. where he says, He who is before all, cannot be a beginning of all, but is other than all,' which implies that the beginning of all is not other than all. vid. §8, note 4, on the Priesthood, and §16, n. 7.
[2533] Ps. lxxxix. 6.
[2534] Bar. iii. 35.
[2535] Vid. Prov. iii. 19; ix. 1.
[2536] Matt. xi. 25.
[2537] to ktiston, i.e. soma, §47.
[2538] Ps. lxxxvi. 16.
[2539] Ps. c. 3.
[2540] John i. 1, 3; Col. i. 16.
Chapter XX.--Texts Explained; Sixthly, Proverbs viii. 22 Continued. Our Lord is said to be created for the works,' i.e. with a particular purpose, which no mere creatures are ever said to be. Parallel of Isai. xlix. 5, &c. When His manhood is spoken of, a reason for it is added; not so when His Divine Nature; Texts in proof.
51 (continued). For the passage in the Proverbs, as I have said before, signifies, not the Essence, but the manhood of the Word; for if He says that He was created for the works,' He shews His intention of signifying, not His Essence, but the Economy which took place for His works,' which comes second to being. For things which are in formation and creation are made specially that they may be and exist [2541] , and next they have to do whatever the Word bids them, as may be seen in the case of all things. For Adam was created, not that He might work, but that first he might be man; for it was after this that he received the command to work. And Noah was created, not because of the ark, but that first he might exist and be a man; for after this he received commandment to prepare the ark. And the like will be found in every case on inquiring into it;--thus the great Moses first was made a man, and next was entrusted with the government of the people. Therefore here too we must suppose the like; for thou seest, that the Word is not created into existence, but, In the beginning was the Word,' and He is afterwards sent for the works' and the Economy towards them. For before the works were made, the Son was ever, nor was there yet need that He should be created; but when the works were created and need arose afterwards of the Economy for their restoration, then it was that the Word took upon Himself this condescension and assimilation to the works; which He has shewn us by the word He created.' And through the Prophet Isaiah willing to signify the like, He says again: And now thus saith the Lord, who formed me from the womb to be His servant, to gather together Jacob unto Him and Israel, I shall be brought together and be glorified before the Lord [2542] .'
52. See here too, He is formed, not into existence, but in order to gather together the tribes, which were in existence before He was formed. For as in the former passage stands He created,' so in this He formed;' and as there for the works,' so here to gather together;' so that in every point of view it appears that He created' and He formed' are said after the Word was.' For as before His forming the tribes existed, for whose sake He was formed, so does it appear that the works exist, for which He was created. And when in the beginning was the Word,' not yet were the works, as I have said before; but when the works were made and the need required, then He created' was said; and as if some son, when the servants were lost, and in the hands of the enemy by their own carelessness, and need was urgent, were sent by his father to succour and recover them, and on setting out were to put over him the like dress [2543] with them, and should fashion himself as they, lest the capturers, recognising him [2544] as the master, should take to flight and prevent his descending to those who were hidden under the earth by them; and then were any one to inquire of him, why he did so, were to make answer, My Father thus formed and prepared me for his works,' while in thus speaking, he neither implies that he is a servant nor one of the works, nor speaks of the beginning of His origination, but of the subsequent charge given him over the works,--in the same way the Lord also, having put over Him our flesh, and being found in fashion as a man,' if He were questioned by those who saw Him thus and marvelled, would say, The Lord created Me the beginning of His ways for His works,' and He formed Me to gather together Israel.' This again the Spirit [2545] foretells in the Psalms, saying, Thou didst set Him over the works of Thine hands [2546] ;' which elsewhere the Lord signified of Himself, I am set as King by Him upon His holy hill of Sion [2547] .' And as, when He shone [2548] in the body upon Sion, He had not His beginning of existence or of reign, but being God's Word and everlasting King, He vouchsafed that His kingdom should shine in a human way in Sion, that redeeming them and us from the sin which reigned in them, He might bring them under His Father's Kingdom, so, on being set for the works,' He is not set for things which did not yet exist, but for such as already were and needed restoration.
53. He created' then and He formed' and He set,' having the same meaning, do not denote the beginning of His being, or of His essence as created, but His beneficent renovation which came to pass for us. Accordingly, though He thus speaks, yet He taught also that He Himself existed before this, when He said, Before Abraham came to be, I am [2549] ;' and when He prepared the heavens, I was present with Him;' and I was with Him disposing things [2550] .' And as He Himself was before Abraham came to be, and Israel had come into being after Abraham, and plainly He exists first and is formed afterwards, and His forming signifies not His beginning of being but His taking manhood, wherein also He collects together the tribes of Israel; so, as being always with the Father,' He Himself is Framer of the creation, and His works are evidently later than Himself, and He created' signifies, not His beginning of being, but the Economy which took place for the works, which He effected in the flesh. For it became Him, being other than the works, nay rather their Framer, to take upon Himself their renovation [2551] , that, whereas He is created for us, all things may be now created in Him. For when He said He created,' He forthwith added the reason, naming the works,' that His creation for the works might signify His becoming man for their renovation. And this is usual with divine Scripture [2552] ; for when it signifies the fleshly origination of the Son, it adds also the cause [2553] for which He became man; but when he speaks or His servants declare anything of His Godhead, all is said in simple diction, and with an absolute sense, and without reason being added. For He is the Father's Radiance; and as the Father is, but not for any reason, neither must we seek the reason of that Radiance. Thus it is written, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God [2554] ;' and the wherefore it assigns not [2555] ; but when the Word was made flesh [2556] ,' then it adds the reason why, saying, And dwelt among us.' And again the Apostle saying, Who being in the form of God,' has not introduced the reason, till He took on Him the form of a servant;' for then he continues, He humbled Himself unto death, even the death of the cross [2557] ;' for it was for this that He both became flesh and took the form of a servant.