20. So many and diverse, yea and more than these, are His witnesses: is then the Christ thus witnessed any longer disbelieved? Nay rather if there is any one who formerly believed not, let him now believe: and if any was before a believer, let him receive a greater increase of faith, by believing in our Lord Jesus Christ, and let him understand whose name he bears. Thou art called a Christian: be tender of the name; let not our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, be blasphemed through thee: but rather let your good works shine before men [1231] that they who see them may in Christ Jesus our Lord glorify the Father which is in heaven: To whom be the glory, both now and for ever and ever. Amen.
[1114] 1 Cor. viii. 5, 6. Cyril omits the clause: as there be gods many and lords many.
[1115] 1 John ii. 23.
[1116] Ib. x. 9.
[1117] Ib. xiv. 6.
[1118] Matt. xi. 27.
[1119] John iii. 36.
[1120] Matt. iii. 17.
[1121] Ps. ii. 7.
[1122] to poluonumon, a word used by the Greek Poets of their gods, as by Homer (Hymn to Demeter, 18, 32) of Zeus, Kronou poluonumos huios. Cf. Soph. Ant. 1115; Æschyl. Prom. V. 210.
[1123] John x. 7, 9. Cyril calls Christ a "spiritual," or "rational" (logike) door, and applies the same term to His sheep, below. Origen (In Evang. Joh. Tom. i. cap. 29): Thura ho Soter anagegraptai, ibid. philanthropos de on...poimen ginetai.
[1124] John xiv. 6.
[1125] Ib. i. 29; Is. liii. 7, 8; Acts viii. 32.
[1126] John x. 11.
[1127] Matt. x. 10, 16.
[1128] Gen. xlix. 9; Apoc. v. 5.
[1129] 1 Pet. v. 8.
[1130] Ps. cxviii. 22.
[1131] Is. xxviii. 16; 1 Pet. ii. 4-6.
[1132] The reading of the earlier Editions huper anthropon is free from all difficulty, and so the more likely to have been substituted for what is at first sight more difficult huper anthropon, the reading of Cod. Coislin. adopted by the Benedictine and subsequent Editors. The idea of a super-human Priesthood to which the Son in His Divine nature was anointed by the Father from eternity is repeated by Cyril in § 14 of this Lecture, and in Cat. xi. 1, 14. See Index, "Priesthood," and the reference there given to a fuller consideration of the subject in the Introduction.
[1133] Ps. lxxxviii. 5.
[1134] John v. 27. Comparing what Cyril says here with Cat. iv. 15, and xv. 10, we see that he means to explain why Christ is called the "Son of Man" when "He cometh again from heaven," and "no more from earth." The preceding clause refers to His first coming in the flesh, as differing in the manner of His conception and birth from other men.
[1135] Cf. Athanas. (c. Arian. II. xv. 14), "That very Word who was by nature Lord, and was then made man, hath by means of a servant's form been made Lord of all and Christ."
[1136] Cf. Irenæus (III. xvi. 8): "All therefore are outside the Dispensation, who under pretence of knowledge understand that Jesus was one, and Christ another, and the Only-begotten another (from whom again is the Word), and the Saviour another." The Cerinthians, Ebionites, Ophites, and Valentinians are mentioned by Irenæus as thus separating the Christ from Jesus.
[1137] Cf. Athanas. (Epist. X.): "Since He is rich and manifold, He varies Himself according to the individual capacity of each soul."
[1138] 1 Cor. ix. 22.
[1139] ek prokopes. We learn from Athanasius (c. Arian. i. 37, 38, 40), that from St. Paul's language Philipp. ii. 9: "Wherefore also God highly exalted Him, &c.," and from Ps. xlv. 7: "Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows," the Arians argued that Christ first received Divine honour as Son and Lord as the reward of His obedience as Man. Athanasius replies (c. 40): "He was not from a lower state promoted; but rather, existing as God, He took the form of a servant, and in taking it was not promoted but humbled Himself. Where then is there here any reward of virtue, or what advancement (prokope) and promotion in humiliation?" The same doctrine had been previously held by the disciples of Paul of Samosata, who said that Christ was not originally God, but after His Incarnation was by advance (ek prokopes) made God, from being made by nature a mere man: see Athanas. (de Decretis, § 24, c. Arian. i. 38). S. Cyril refers to the error and uses the same word, in xi. 1, 7, 13, 15, 17, and xiv. 27.
[1140] katachrestikos, i.e. in a secondary or metaphorical sense. Cf. vii. 5.
[1141] neumati, "command" or "bidding," as expressed by nodding the head.
[1142] Origen (De Principiis, I. ii. 10) had argued that "even God cannot be called omnipotent, unless there exist those over whom He may exercise His power," and therefore creation must have been eternal, or God could not have been eternally Omnipotent. In other passages Origen declares it an impiety to hold that matter is co-eternal with God (De Princip. II. i. 4), and yet maintains that there were other worlds before this, and that there was never a time when there was no world existing. Methodius, in a fragment of his work On things Created, preserved by Photius, and quoted by Bishop Bull (Def. Fid. Nic. II. xiii. 9), argues against these theories of Origen, that in John i. 2 the words "The same was in the beginning with God" indicate the authority (to exousiastikon) of the Word which He had with the Father before the world came into existence; since from all eternity God the Father, together with His Word, possessed the Almighty power whereby whenever He would He could create worlds to rule over. Dean Church remarks that "On the other hand Tertullian, contra Hermog. 3, considering the attributes in question to belong not to the Divine Nature, but Office, denies that God was Almighty (Lord?) from eternity; while the Greeks affirmed this (vid. Cyril Alex. in Joann. xvii. 8, p. 963; Athan. Orat. ii. 12-14), as understanding by the term the inherent but latent attribute of doing what He had not yet done, to exousiastikon." Cleopas, the Jerusalem Editor, regards the passage as directed against Paul of Samosata, who asserted that Christ had become God, and received His kingdom and Lordship only after His Incarnation, and remarks:--"S. Cyril evidently regards the Lordship of Jesus Christ as twofold: one that which from eternity belonged to Him as God, which he calls natural, according to which He was ever both Lord and King, as being by nature God' (Cyril Alex. in Johann. cap. xvii.); and the other the Lordship in time relative to the creatures, by which He exercises dominion over the works created by Him, as being their Maker."
[1143] Luke ii. 11.
[1144] Among those who denied the Divine præ-existence of Christ Cleopas enumerates Ebion, Carpocrates, Theodotus, Artemon, Paul of Samosata, Marcellus, and Photinus.
[1145] Gen. i. 26.
[1146] Ib. i. 27.
[1147] Ib. xix. 24.
[1148] 1 Cor. x. 4.
[1149] Heb. xi. 27.
[1150] Heb. xi. 26. Quoting from memory Cyril mistakes the order of the two sentences.
[1151] Ex. xxxiii. 13. Cyril means that even before His Incarnation Christ was seen as far as was possible by Prophets such as Moses. This view was held by many of the Fathers before Cyril. See Justin M. (Tryph. § 56 ff.); Tertull. (adv. Praxean, § 16); Euseb. (Demonstr. Evang. V. 13-16).
[1152] Ex. xxxiii. 20.
[1153] Matt. xvii. 2.
[1154] Ex. xxxiii. 17. Gr. logon, "word," in imitation of the Hebrew idiom.
[1155] Ex. xxxiii. 22.
[1156] Ex. xxxiii. 19. Literally "will call in the name of the Lord (Jehovah):" compare Gen. iv. 26.
[1157] Ex. xxxiv. 5-7. For "keeping righteousness and shewing mercy," the Hebrew has only "keeping mercy."
[1158] Ex. xxxiv. 8.
[1159] Ib. xxxiv. 9.
[1160] Ps. cx. 1. Heb. "An oracle of Jehovah unto my lord." Cyril's argument is based upon the common mistake of supposing that Kurios represents the same Hebrew word in both parts of the sentence.
[1161] 1 Cor. xv. 27, 28.
[1162] Cyril evidently alludes to Philip. ii. 6, "Who being in the form of God thought it not a prize to be on an equality with God:" for the right interpretation of which passage, see Dean Gwynn's notes in the Speaker's Commentary.
[1163] Matt. xi. 27; Luke x. 22. On this text Athanasius wrote a special treatise (In illud Omnia,' &c.), against the arguments of Arius, Eusebius, and their fellows, who said,--"If all things were delivered (meaning by all' the Lordship of Creation), there was once a time when He had them not. But it He had them not, He is not of the Father, for if He were, He would on that account have had them always." Again (contr. Arian. Orat. III. cap. xxvii. § 36), Athanasius argues: "Lest a man, perceiving that the Son has all that the Father hath, from the exact likeness and identity of what He hath, should wander into the impiety of Sabellius, considering Him to be the Father, therefore He has said, Was given unto Me, and I received, and Were delivered to Me, only to shew that He is not the Father, but the Father's Word, and the Eternal Son, who, because of His likeness to the Father, has eternally what He has from Him, and because He is the Son, has from the Father what eternally He hath."
[1164] Luke ii. 10, 11.
[1165] Acts x. 36.
[1166] Matt. iv. 11.
[1167] Isa. xix. 1. "Behold, the Lord rideth upon a swift cloud, and cometh unto Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at His presence." The prophecy was supposed by many of the Fathers to have been fulfilled by the flight into Egypt. Cf. Athanas. (Ep. LXI. ad Maximum, § 4): "As a child He came down to Egypt, and brought to nought its idols made with hands:" and (de Incarn. § 36): "Which of the righteous men or kings went down into Egypt, so that at his coming the idols of Egypt fell?" On the passage of Isaiah see Delitzsch, and Kay (Speaker's Commentary).
[1168] Matt. ii. 13.
[1169] Ib. xxviii. 7.
[1170] 1 Cor. viii. 5, 6.
[1171] Compare Eusebius (Eccl. Hist. I. cap. iii.), a passage which Cyril seems to have followed in his explanation of the names Jesus' and Christ.'
[1172] For the common reading enkritois panton Cod. Mon. I. has ekkritois p. which is required both by the construction and the sense. The change may have been caused by the occurrence of enkriton just below.
[1173] Eusebius (u.s): "His successor, therefore, who had not hitherto borne the name Jesus, but had been called by another name, Auses, which had been given him by his parents, he now called Jesus, bestowing the name upon him as a gift of honour far greater than any kingly diadem." Auses is a common corruption of the name Oshea. See the note on the passage of Eusebius in this series.
[1174] Eusebius: "He consecrated a man high-priest of God, in so far as that was possible, and him he called Christ." Cf. Lev. iv. 5, 16; vi. 22: ho hiereus ho Christos
[1175] Heb. v. 4, 5, 6. Cyril omits from his quotation the reference to Ps. ii. 7: "Thou art My Son: this day have I begotten Thee."
[1176] Josh. iii. 1.
[1177] Ib. xiv. 1.
[1178] Matt. xxi. 31.
[1179] Matt. xxiv. 2.
[1180] Isa. lxii. 11: "Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his reward is with him."
[1181] to kurioktonon ton 'Ioudaion.
[1182] Matt. i. 20.
[1183] The Anathema appended to the Creed of Nicæa condemns those who said prin gennethenai ouk en. On this Eusebius of Cæsarea (Epist. § 9) remarks: "Moreover to anathematize Before His generation He was not,' did not seem preposterous, in that it is confessed by all, that the Son of God was before the generation according to the flesh."
[1184] Isa. xlix. 1.
[1185] Ib. xlix. 2.
[1186] tuphlon aistheton.
[1187] John v. 14, 8.
[1188] Mark ix. 24.
[1189] Compare the fragment of the Apology of Quadratus presented to Hadrian 127 a.d., preserved by Eusebius (H.E. IV. iii.): "But the works of our Saviour were always present, for they were genuine:--those that were healed, and those that arose from the dead, who were seen not only when they were healed and when they were raised, but were also always present; and not merely while the Saviour was on earth, but also after His death they were alive for a long while, so that some of them survived even to our times." See the notes on the passage of Eusebius, in this series.
[1190] 1 John ii. 22.
[1191] Heb. vii. 24.
[1192] On the opinion that Christ was from all eternity the true High Priest of the Creation, see Index, Priesthood, and the reference there given to the Introduction. Cf. x. 4: xi. 1. Athan (c. Arian. Or. ii. 12, J. H. N.).