XXI. These names however are still common to Him Who is above us, and to Him Who came for our sake. But others are peculiarly our own, and belong to that nature which He assumed. So He is called Man, not only that through His Body He may be apprehended by embodied creatures, whereas otherwise this would be impossible because of His incomprehensible nature; but also that by Himself He may sanctify humanity, and be as it were a leaven to the whole lump; and by uniting to Himself that which was condemned may release it from all condemnation, becoming for all men all things that we are, except sin;--body, soul, mind and all through which death reaches--and thus He became Man, who is the combination of all these; God in visible form, because He retained that which is perceived by mind alone. He is Son of Man, both on account of Adam, and of the Virgin from Whom He came; from the one as a forefather, from the other as His Mother, both in accordance with the law of generation, and apart from it. He is Christ, because of His Godhead. For this is the Anointing of His Manhood, and does not, as is the case with all other Anointed Ones, sanctify by its action, but by the Presence in His Fulness of the Anointing One; the effect of which is that That which anoints is called Man, and makes that which is anointed God. He is The Way, because He leads us through Himself; The Door, as letting us in; the Shepherd, as making us dwell in a place of green pastures, [3693] and bringing us up by waters of rest, and leading us there, and protecting us from wild beasts, converting the erring, bringing back that which was lost, binding up that which was broken, guarding the strong, and bringing them together in the Fold beyond, with words of pastoral knowledge. The Sheep, as the Victim: The Lamb, as being perfect: the Highpriest, as the Offerer; Melchisedec, as without Mother in that Nature which is above us, and without Father in ours; and without genealogy above (for who, it says, shall declare His generation?) and moreover, as King of Salem, which means Peace, and King of Righteousness, and as receiving tithes from Patriarchs, when they prevail over powers of evil. They are the titles of the Son. Walk through them, those that are lofty in a godlike manner; those that belong to the body in a manner suitable to them; or rather, altogether in a godlike manner, that thou mayest become a god, ascending from below, for His sake Who came down from on high for ours. In all and above all keep to this, and thou shalt never err, either in the loftier or the lowlier names; Jesus Christ is the Same yesterday and to-day in the Incarnation, and in the Spirit for ever and ever. Amen.
[3595] Prov. viii. 22. The A.V. has in the place Possessed, and this has very high authority: but the Hebrew word in almost every case signifies to Acquire. It is used, says Bp. Wordsworth (ad h. l.), about eighty times in the O.T., and in only five places is it rendered in our Translation by Possess;--in two of which (Gen. xiv. 10, 22, and Ps. cxxxix. 13) it might well have the sense of Creating, and in two (Jer. xxxii. 15, and Zech. xi. 5) of Getting. In some ancient Versions (LXX. and Syr.) it is rendered by Create. S. Jerome in his Ep. ad Cypr. (ii. 697) says that the word may here be understood of possession, but in his Comm. on Ephes. ii. (p. 342) he adopts the rendering Create, which he applies to the Incarnation, as in several places does S. Athanasius. But Wordsworth thinks it better to apply the words to the Eternal Generation, as S. Hilary expounds it (c. Arianos, who argued from it that Christ was a creature); "quia Filius Dei non corporalis parturitionis est genitus exemplo, sed ex perfecto Deo perfectus Deus natus; et ideo ait creatam se esse Sapientia; omnem in generatione sua notionem passionis corporalis excludens."
[3596] Is. xxiii. 4.
[3597] Job xxviii. 14.
[3598] Ps. xix. 1.
[3599] Zech. xiii. 7.
[3600] Ps. cxiv. 6.
[3601] Ps. cxi. 7.
[3602] Ps. xiv. 7.
[3603] Isa. xlix. 6; liii. 11. The LXX. here mistranslates; the Hebrew and the Latin have the same word in all the passages quoted below, while the LXX. varies, as follows: Isa. xlii. 1. pais. 19. paides, douloi. xliv. 2. pais. 21. pais. xlviii. 29. doulon. xlix. 3. doulos. 5. doulon. 6. paida. 7. doulon. lii. 13. pais. liii. 11. douleuonta.
[3604] See Prolegomena, sec. ii. and 2 Pet. i. 4.
[3605] Luke i. 78.
[3606] Phil. ii. 9.
[3607] Acts ii. 36.
[3608] 1 Cor. xv. 35.
[3609] Acts iii. 21.
[3610] Ps. cx. 1.
[3611] Luke i. 33. Cf. Nic. Creed.
[3612] Matt. xxviii. 20.
[3613] Ps. lxxxii. 1.
[3614] S. Gregory would here shew that the subjection of Christ of which S. Paul speaks in the passage quoted, is that of the Head of the Church, representing the members of His body. Cf. S. Ambrose, de Fide V. vi., quoted by Petavius, de Trin. III. v. 2.
[3615] Gal. iii. 13.
[3616] 2 Cor. v. 21.
[3617] 1 Cor. xv. 45.
[3618] Ps. xxii. 1.
[3619] I.e. Ps. xxii. A.V.
[3620] Heb. v. 8, etc.
[3621] Leuvenclavius translates "The art of this lovingkindness gauges," etc.
[3622] The Benedictines render, "In darkness, that is, in this life, because of the veil of the body."
[3623] Heb. ii. 18.
[3624] The Benedictines take para phtheiresthosan in an active sense: "I would not let even the Sabellians wrest such an expression."
[3625] John xiv. 28.
[3626] Ib. xx. 17.
[3627] Ephes. i. 17.
[3628] John viii. 54.
[3629] John v. 22.
[3630] Ps. ii. 8.
[3631] John xvii. 2.
[3632] 2 Pet. i. 17, etc.
[3633] John v. 19.
[3634] Matt. v. 14.
[3635] Mark ii. 19.
[3636] John xv. 3.
[3637] Mark vi. 5.
[3638] Note with the Benedictines that S. Gregory is here speaking of our Lord alone, not of ordinary Physicians; hence he uses the singular.
[3639] John vii. 7.
[3640] Matt. xii. 34.
[3641] Matt. xix. 26.
[3642] John iii. 4.
[3643] Matt. xix. 24.
[3644] One ms. reads "to be fourteen."
[3645] John v. 19.
[3646] Ib. xvi. 15.
[3647] Ib. vi. 57.
[3648] John v. 17.
[3649] Ps. civ. 4, 5, LXX.
[3650] cf. Amos iv. 13, where A.V. reads, He That formed the mountains and created the wind.
[3651] John vi. 38.
[3652] Matt. xxvi. 39.
[3653] Observe that S. Gregory expressly limits this paraphrase to the Divine Nature of our Lord, and is not in any way denying to Him a Human Will also;--indeed in the preceding sentence he distinctly asserts it. The whole passage makes very strongly against the heresy of Apollinarius, which adopted the Arian tenet that in our Lord the Divine Logos supplied the place of the human soul.
[3654] John iii. 34.
[3655] Ps. lix. 3.
[3656] Dan. ix. 18.
[3657] John vi. 40.
[3658] V. l. Restoration.
[3659] John xiv. 24.
[3660] Ib. xvii. 3.
[3661] Luke xviii. 19.
[3662] 1 Tim. i. 17.
[3663] Ib. vi. 16.
[3664] Ib. i. 17.
[3665] Mat. xii. 35.
[3666] 1 Sam. xv. 28.
[3667] Ps. cxxv. 4.
[3668] Baruch iii. 35, 37.
[3669] Heb. vii. 25.
[3670] Rom. viii. 26.
[3671] 1 Tim. ii. 5.
[3672] 2 Cor. v. 16.
[3673] 1 John ii. 1.
[3674] Mark xiii. 32.
[3675] 1 Cor. ii. 11.
[3676] Elias thinks that the great S. Basil is here referred to. Petavius thinks the first argument of c. xvi. forced and unsatisfactory.
[3677] John xii. 49.
[3678] Heb. v. 7., etc.
[3679] Phil. ii. 9.
[3680] Luke xii. 44.
[3681] Exod. iii. 14.
[3682] The derivation of Theos from Theein (to run) is given by Plato (Crat., 397c). That from Aithein (to blaze) is found also in S. John Damascene (De Fide Orth., I., 12), who however may have borrowed it from S. Gregory, or from the source whence the latter took it. S. Athanasius also admits it (De Defin., 11). Other definitions are, according to Suicer, (1) Theasthai (to see), e.g. Greg. Nyss. in Cant. Hom., V. (2) Theorein (to contemplate), Athan. Quæst Misc., Qu. XI. Theos legetai apo to theorein ta panta, hoionei theoros kai theos, egoun theates panton. (3) Tithenai (to place), Clem., Al. Strom., l. s. fin., theos para ten thesin eiretai.
[3683] Deut. iv. 24.
[3684] Lord (Kurios) is simply the LXX. rendering of the word which in reading Hebrew is substituted for the Ineffable Name. Thus in the passages quoted, had the original language been used, the Four-Lettered Name would have appeared.
[3685] Isa. xlii. 8.
[3686] Amos ix. 6.
[3687] Of the oration on Christmas Day, where He is called ho tou Patros horos kai logos, and see Note there.
[3688] Ratio (relation; sometimes reason) Sermo (discourse) and Verbum (Word) are all renderings of Logos.
[3689] John xiv. 9.
[3690] Gen. v. 3.
[3691] Acts xvii. 28.
[3692] Gen. ii. 7.
[3693] Ps. xxiii. 2.
The Fifth Theological Oration.
On the Holy Spirit.
I. Such then is the account of the Son, and in this manner He has escaped those who would stone Him, passing through the midst of them. [3694] For the Word is not stoned, but casts stones when He pleases; and uses a sling against wild beasts--that is, words--approaching the Mount [3695] in an unholy way. But, they go on, what have you to say about the Holy Ghost? From whence are you bringing in upon us this strange God, of Whom Scripture is silent? And even they who keep within bounds as to the Son speak thus. And just as we find in the case of roads and rivers, that they split off from one another and join again, so it happens also in this case, through the superabundance of impiety, that people who differ in all other respects have here some points of agreement, so that you never can tell for certain either where they are of one mind, or where they are in conflict.
II. Now the subject of the Holy Spirit presents a special difficulty, not only because when these men have become weary in their disputations concerning the Son, they struggle with greater heat against the Spirit (for it seems to be absolutely necessary for them to have some object on which to give expression to their impiety, or life would appear to them no longer worth living), but further because we ourselves also, being worn out by the multitude of their questions, are in something of the same condition with men who have lost their appetite; who having taken a dislike to some particular kind of food, shrink from all food; so we in like manner have an aversion from all discussions. Yet may the Spirit grant it to us, and then the discourse will proceed, and God will be glorified. Well then, we will leave to others [3696] who have worked upon this subject for us as well as for themselves, as we have worked upon it for them, the task of examining carefully and distinguishing in how many senses the word Spirit or the word Holy is used and understood in Holy Scripture, with the evidence suitable to such an enquiry; and of shewing how besides these the combination of the two words--I mean, Holy Spirit--is used in a peculiar sense; but we will apply ourselves to the remainder of the subject.
III. They then who are angry with us on the ground that we are bringing in a strange or interpolated God, viz.:--the Holy Ghost, and who fight so very hard for the letter, should know that they are afraid where no fear is; [3697] and I would have them clearly understand that their love for the letter is but a cloak for their impiety, as shall be shewn later on, when we refute their objections to the utmost of our power. But we have so much confidence in the Deity of the Spirit Whom we adore, [3698] that we will begin our teaching concerning His Godhead by fitting to Him the Names which belong to the Trinity, even though some persons may think us too bold. The Father was the True Light which lighteneth every man coming into the world. The Son was the True Light which lighteneth every man coming into the world. The Other Comforter was the True Light which lighteneth every man coming into the world. [3699] Was and Was and Was, but Was One Thing. Light thrice repeated; but One Light and One God. This was what David represented to himself long before when he said, In Thy Light shall we see Light. [3700] And now we have both seen and proclaim concisely and simply the doctrine [3701] of God the Trinity, comprehending out of Light (the Father), Light (the Son), in Light (the Holy Ghost). He that rejects it, let him reject it; [3702] and he that doeth iniquity, let him do iniquity; we proclaim that which we have understood. We will get us up into a high mountain, [3703] and will shout, if we be not heard, below; we will exalt the Spirit; we will not be afraid; or if we are afraid, it shall be of keeping silence, not of proclaiming.