81. But since He proceeds to say, When He prepared the heaven, I was present with Him [2772] ,' we ought to know that He says not this as if without Wisdom the Father prepared the heaven or the clouds above (for there is no room to doubt that all things are created in Wisdom, and without It was made not even one [2773] thing); but this is what He says, All things took place in Me and through Me, and when there was need that Wisdom should be created in the works, in My Essence indeed I was with the Father, but by a condescension [2774] to things originate, I was disposing over the works My own impress, so that the whole world as being in one body, might not be at variance but in concord with itself.' All those then who with an upright understanding, according to the wisdom given unto them, come to contemplate the creatures, are able to say for themselves, By Thy appointment all things continue [2775] ;' but they who make light of this must be told, Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools;' for that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God has revealed it unto them; for the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived by the things that are made, even His eternal Power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. Because that when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, but served the creature more than the Creator of all, who is blessed for ever. Amen [2776] .' And they will surely be shamed at hearing, For, after that in the wisdom of God (in the mode we have explained above), the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of the preaching to save them that believe [2777] .' For no longer, as in the former times, God has willed to be known by an image and shadow of wisdom, that namely which is in the creatures, but He has made the true Wisdom Itself to take flesh, and to become man, and to undergo the death of the cross; that by the faith in Him, henceforth all that believe may obtain salvation. However, it is the same Wisdom of God, which through Its own Image in the creatures (whence also It is said to be created), first manifested Itself, and through Itself Its own Father; and afterwards, being Itself the Word, has become flesh [2778] ,' as John says, and after abolishing death and saving our race, still more revealed Himself and through Him His own Father, saying, Grant unto them that they may know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent [2779] .'
82. Hence the whole earth is filled with the knowledge of Him; for the knowledge of Father through Son and of Son from Father is one and the same, and the Father delights in Him, and in the same joy the Son rejoices in the Father, saying, I was by Him, daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him [2780] .' And this again proves that the Son is not foreign, but proper to the Father's Essence. For behold, not because of us has He come to be, as the irreligious men say, nor is He out of nothing (for not from without did God procure for Himself a cause of rejoicing), but the words denote what is His own and like. When then was it, when the Father rejoiced not? but if He ever rejoiced, He was ever, in whom He rejoiced. And in whom does the Father rejoice, except as seeing Himself in His own Image, which is His Word? And though in sons of men also He had delight, on finishing the world, as it is written in these same Proverbs [2781] , yet this too has a consistent sense. For even thus He had delight, not because joy was added to Him, but again on seeing the works made after His own Image; so that even this rejoicing of God is on account of His Image. And how too has the Son delight, except as seeing Himself in the Father? for this is the same as saying, He that hath seen Me, hath seen the Father,' and I am in the Father and the Father in Me [2782] .' Vain then is your vaunt as is on all sides shewn, O Christ's enemies, and vainly did ye parade [2783] and circulate everywhere your text, The Lord created me a beginning of His ways,' perverting its sense, and publishing, not Solomon's meaning, but your own comment [2784] . For behold your sense is proved to be but a fantasy; but the passage in the Proverbs, as well as all that is above said, proves that the Son is not a creature in nature and essence, but the proper Offspring of the Father, true Wisdom and Word, by whom all things were made,' and without Him was made not one thing. [2785] '
[2710] Prov. viii. 23.
[2711] Or. i. 49, n. 2.
[2712] Prov. iii. 19.
[2713] Cf. 44, n. 3.
[2714] §69. 3.
[2715] Serap. ii. 7, 8.
[2716] Vid. supr. pp. 74, 172, and notes. vid. also Serap. i. 32 init. iv. fin. contr. Apoll. i. 6, 8, 9, 11, 22; ii. 8, 9, 13, 14, 17-19. The doctrine of the Church should be proved, not announced (apodeiktikos ouk apophantikos); therefore shew that Scripture thus teaches.' Theod. Eran. p. 199. Ambros. de Incarn. 14. Non recipio quod extra Scripturam de tuo infers. Tertull. Carn. Christ. 7. vid. also 6. Max. dial. v. 29. Heretics in particular professed to be guided by Scripture. Tertull. Præscr. 8. For Gnostics vid. Tertullian's grave sarcasm: Utantur hæretici omnes scripturis ejus, cujus utuntur etiam mundo.' Carn. Christ. 6. For Arians, vid. supr. Or. i. 1, n. 4. And so Marcellus, We consider it unsafe to lay down doctrine concerning things which we have not learned with exactness from the divine Scriptures.' (leg. peri hon para ton). Euseb. Eccl. Theol. p. 177, d. And Macedonians, vid. Leont. de Sect. iv. init. And Monophysites, I have not learned this from Scripture; and I have a great fear of saying what it is silent about.' Theod. Eran. p. 215; also Hilar. ad Const. ii. 9. Hieron. c. Lucif. 27. August. Ep. 120, 13.
[2717] Matt. xvi. 16.
[2718] Ep. Æg. 4. Sent. D. 3. c. infr. 59 init. 67. fin. note infr. on iii. 8.
[2719] Matt. iv. 3.
[2720] §1, n. 6.
[2721] patriken, vid. de Syn. 45, n. 1.
[2722] periergazesthai, vid. iii. 18.
[2723] §60, n. 2.
[2724] 1 Cor. iii. 10, 11; Didym. Trin. iii. 3. p. 341.
[2725] §8, note 3^a.
[2726] Letter 59. 6. Leon. Ep. 28. 3.
[2727] diameinomen, 69, n. 3.
[2728] Gen. i. 31.
[2729] i. 49, n. 10.
[2730] Didym. Trin. iii. 3. p. 342.
[2731] 2 Tim. i. 8-10.
[2732] Eph. i. 3-5.
[2733] Cf. 64, notes 3, 5.
[2734] Matt. xxv. 34.
[2735] The Catholic doctrine seems to be, that Adam innocent was mortal, yet would not in fact have died; that he had no principle of eternal life within him, but was sustained continually by divine power, till such time as immortality should have been given him. vid. Incarn. 4. Cf. Augustine, de pecc. mer. i. 3. Gen. ad lit. vi. 20. Pope Pius V. condemned the assertion of Baius, Immortalitas primi hominis non erat gratiæ beneficium sed naturalis conditio. His decision of course is here referred to only historically.
[2736] Cf. 31. n. 8.
[2737] 74, n. 5.
[2738] §44, n. 1.
[2739] Cf. 73, n. 2. and reff.
[2740] ainigma, supr. i. 41, n. 9.
[2741] Prov. i. 5, 6.
[2742] autosophia vid. infr. note on iv. 2.
[2743] Ps. civ. 24. Sept.
[2744] supr. de Decr. 19, n. 3.
[2745] Cf. 64, notes 2 and 5.
[2746] Didymus argues in favour of interpreting the passage of created wisdom at length, Trin. iii. 3. He says that the context makes this interpretation necessary.
[2747] 1 John ii. 23; Matt. x. 40.
[2748] Athan. here considers wisdom as the image of the Creator in the Universe. He explains it of the Church, de Incarn. contr. Ar. 6. if it be his [but see Prolegg. ch. iii. §1 (36)]; (and so Didym. Trin. iii. 3 fin.) Cf. Jerome, in Eph. iv. 23, 24. Naz. Orat. 30, 2. Epiphanius says, Scripture has nowhere confirmed this passage (Prov. viii. 22), nor has any Apostle referred it to Christ.' (vid. also Basil. contr. Eunom. ii. 20.) Hær. 69. pp. 743-745. He proceeds to shew how it may apply to Him.
[2749] Matt. x. 40.
[2750] Rom. i. 19, 20.
[2751] Cf. 45, n. 2.
[2752] Vid. Epiph. Hær. 69.
[2753] 1 Cor. i. 21.
[2754] Vid. Wisd. vi. 24
[2755] Prov. xiv. 16.
[2756] Ib. xxiv.
[2757] Eccles. viii. 1; vii. 10.
[2758] Ecclus. i. 9, 10.
[2759] Cf. 78, n. 1.
[2760] Ps. xix. 1.
[2761] Cf. contr. Gent. 2, 30, 40, &c. vid. also Basil. de Sp. S. n. 19. Cyril. in Joan. p. 75.
[2762] De Decr. 31, n. 5.
[2763] This is drawn out somewhat differently, and very strikingly in contr. Gent. 43. The Word indeed is regarded more as the Governor than the Life of the world, but shortly before he spoke of the Word as the Principle of permanence. 41 fin.
[2764] to auto gar legein ouk okneteon: where Petavius, de Trin. ii. 1. §8. ingeniously but without any authority reads ouk oknei theon. It is quite a peculiarity of Athan. to repeat and to apologize for doing so. The very same words occur supr. 22, c. Orat. iii. 54, a. Serap. i. 19, b. 27, e. Vid. also 2, c. 41, d. 67, a. 69, b. iii. 39 init. vid. especially supr. p. 47, note 6.
[2765] Acts ix. 4.
[2766] Cf. above, 79, n. 8.
[2767] Isa. i. 22. Infr. iii. 35. Ep. Æg. §17. Ambros. de Fid. iii. 65. p. 157. note 4.
[2768] Prov. i. 7, LXX.
[2769] The whole of this passage might be illustrated at great length from the contr. Gent. and the Incarn. V. D. vid. supr. notes on 79. Cf. c. Gent. 34, and Incarn. 11, 41, 42, &c. Vid. also Basil. contr. Eunom. ii. 16.
[2770] John xiv. 9; 1 John ii. 23. and so Cyril in Joan. p. 864. vid. Wetstein in loc.
[2771] Vid. Prov. viii. 24-26.
[2772] Ib. viii. 27.
[2773] John i. 3.
[2774] Here again the sunkatabasis has no reference whatever to a figurative gennesis, as Bishop Bull contends, but to His impressing the image of Wisdom on the works, or what He above calls the Son's image, on which account He is prototokos
[2775] Vid. Ps. cxix. 91
[2776] Rom. i. 19-25
[2777] 1 Cor. i. 21.
[2778] John i. 14.
[2779] Vid. ib. xvii. 3.
[2780] Prov. viii. 30.
[2781] Prov. viii. 31.
[2782] John xiv. 9, 10.
[2783] enepompeusate. The ancients said pompeuein "to use bad language," and the coarse language of the procession, pompeia. This arose from the custom of persons in the Bacchanalian cars using bad language towards by-standers, and their retorting it.' Erasm. Adag. p. 1158. He quotes Menander, epi ton hamaxon eisi pompeiai tines sphodra loidoroi.
[2784] dianoian, epinoian, supr. Or. i. 52, n. 7.
[2785] John i. 3.
Discourse III.
------------------------
Chapter XXIII.--Texts Explained; Seventhly, John xiv. 10 Introduction. The doctrine of the coinherence. The Father and the Son Each whole and perfect God. They are in Each Other, because their Essence is One and the Same. They are Each Perfect and have One Essence, because the Second Person is the Son of the First. Asterius's evasive explanation of the text under review; refuted. Since the Son has all that the Father has, He is His Image; and the Father is the One God, because the Son is in the Father.
1. The Ario-maniacs, as it appears, having once made up their minds to transgress and revolt from the Truth, are strenuous in appropriating the words of Scripture, When the impious cometh into a depth of evils, he despiseth [2786] ;' for refutation does not stop them, nor perplexity abash them; but, as having a whore's forehead,' they refuse to be ashamed [2787] ' before all men in their irreligion. For whereas the passages which they alleged, The Lord created me [2788] ,' and Made better than the Angels [2789] ,' and First-born [2790] ,' and Faithful to Him that made Him [2791] ' have a right sense [2792] , and inculcate religiousness towards Christ, so it is that these men still, as if bedewed with the serpent's poison, not seeing what they ought to see, nor understanding what they read, as if in vomit from the depth of their irreligious heart, have next proceeded to disparage our Lord's words, I in the Father and the Father in Me [2793] ;' saying, How can the One be contained in the Other and the Other in the One?' or How at all can the Father who is the greater be contained in the Son who is the less?' or What wonder, if the Son is in the Father,' considering it is written even of us, In Him we live and move and have our being [2794] ?' And this state of mind is consistent with their perverseness, who think God to be material, and understand not what is True Father' and True Son,' nor Light Invisible' and Eternal,' and Its Radiance Invisible,' nor Invisible Subsistence,' and Immaterial Expression' and Immaterial Image.' For did they know, they would not dishonour and ridicule the Lord of glory, nor interpreting things immaterial after a material manner, pervert good words. It were sufficient indeed, on hearing only words which are the Lord's, at once to believe, since the faith of simplicity is better than an elaborate process of persuasion; but since they have endeavoured to profane even this passage to their own heresy, it becomes necessary to expose their perverseness and to shew the mind of the truth, at least for the security of the faithful. For when it is said, I in the Father and the Father in Me,' They are not therefore, as these suppose, discharged into Each Other, filling the One the Other, as in the case of empty vessels, so that the Son fills the emptiness of the Father and the Father that of the Son [2795] , and Each of Them by Himself is not complete and perfect (for this is proper to bodies, and therefore the mere assertion of it is full of irreligion), for the Father is full and perfect, and the Son is the Fulness of Godhead. Nor again, as God, by coming into the Saints, strengthens them, thus is He also in the Son. For He is Himself the Father's Power and Wisdom, and by partaking of Him things originate are sanctified in the Spirit; but the Son Himself is not Son by participation, but is the Father's own Offspring [2796] . Nor again is the Son in the Father, in the sense of the passage, In Him we live and move and have our being;' for, He as being from the Fount [2797] of the Father is the Life, in which all things are both quickened and consist; for the Life does not live in life [2798] , else it would not be Life, but rather He gives life to all things.