Writings of Augustine. On the Trinity, De Trinitate
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The Fifteen Books of Aurelius Augustinus, Bishop of Hippo,
on the Trinity, de Trinitate
Translated by the Rev. Arthur West Haddan, B.D.,
Hon. Canon of Worchester, and Rector of Barton-on-the-Heath,
Warwickshire.
Published in 1886 by Philip Schaff,
New York: Christian Literature Publishing Co.
.
Book I.
In which the unity and equality of the supreme Trinity is established
from the sacred Scriptures, and some texts alleged against the
equality of the Son are explained.
Chapter 1.--This Work is Written Against Those Who Sophistically
Assail the Faith of the Trinity, Through Misuse of Reason. They Who
Dispute Concerning God Err from a Threefold Cause. Holy Scripture,
Removing What is False, Leads Us on by Degrees to Things Divine. What
True Immortality is. We are Nourished by Faith, that We May Be Enabled
to Apprehend Things Divine.
1. The following dissertation concerning the Trinity, as the reader
ought to be informed, has been written in order to guard against the
sophistries of those who disdain to begin with faith, and are deceived
by a crude and perverse love of reason. Now one class of such men
endeavor to transfer to things incorporeal and spiritual the ideas
they have formed, whether through experience of the bodily senses, or
by natural human wit and diligent quickness, or by the aid of art,
from things corporeal; so as to seek to measure and conceive of the
former by the latter. Others, again, frame whatever sentiments they
may have concerning God according to the nature or affections of the
human mind; and through this error they govern their discourse, in
disputing concerning God, by distorted and fallacious rules. While yet
a third class strive indeed to transcend the whole creation, which
doubtless is changeable, in order to raise their thought to the
unchangeable substance, which is God; but being weighed down by the
burden of mortality, whilst they both would seem to know what they do
not, and cannot know what they would, preclude themselves from
entering the very path of understanding, by an over-bold affirmation
of their own presumptuous judgments; choosing rather not to correct
their own opinion when it is perverse, than to change that which they
have once defended. And, indeed, this is the common disease of all the
three classes which I have mentioned,--viz., both of those who frame
their thoughts of God according to things corporeal, and of those who
do so according to the spiritual creature, such as is the soul; and of
those who neither regard the body nor the spiritual creature, and yet
think falsely about God; and are indeed so much the further from the
truth, that nothing can be found answering to their conceptions,
either in the body, or in the made or created spirit, or in the
Creator Himself. For he who thinks, for instance, that God is white or
red, is in error; and yet these things are found in the body. Again,
he who thinks of God as now forgetting and now remembering, or
anything of the same kind, is none the less in error; and yet these
things are found in the mind. But he who thinks that God is of such
power as to have generated Himself, is so much the more in error,
because not only does God not so exist, but neither does the spiritual
nor the bodily creature; for there is nothing whatever that generates
its own existence. [8]
2. In order, therefore, that the human mind might be purged from
falsities of this kind, Holy Scripture, which suits itself to babes
has not avoided words drawn from any class of things really existing,
through which, as by nourishment, our understanding might rise
gradually to things divine and transcendent. For, in speaking of God,
it has both used words taken from things corporeal, as when it says,
"Hide me under the shadow of Thy wings;" [9] and it has borrowed many
things from the spiritual creature, whereby to signify that which
indeed is not so, but must needs so be said: as, for instance, "I the
Lord thy God am a jealous God;" [10] and, "It repenteth me that I have
made man." [11] But it has drawn no words whatever, whereby to frame
either figures of speech or enigmatic sayings, from things which do
not exist at all. And hence it is that they who are shut out from the
truth by that third kind of error are more mischievously and emptily
vain than their fellows; in that they surmise respecting God, what can
neither be found in Himself nor in any creature. For divine Scripture
is wont to frame, as it were, allurements for children from the things
which are found in the creature; whereby, according to their measure,
and as it were by steps, the affections of the weak may be moved to
seek those things that are above, and to leave those things that are
below. But the same Scripture rarely employs those things which are
spoken properly of God, and are not found in any creature; as, for
instance, that which was said to Moses, "I am that I am;" and, "I Am
hath sent me to you." [12] For since both body and soul also are said
in some sense to be, Holy Scripture certainly would not so express
itself unless it meant to be understood in some special sense of the
term. So, too, that which the Apostle says, "Who only hath
immortality." [13] Since the soul also both is said to be, and is, in
a certain manner immortal, Scripture would not say "only hath," unless
because true immortality is unchangeableness; which no creature can
possess, since it belongs to the creator alone. [14] So also James
says, "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and
cometh down from the Father of Lights, with whom is no variableness,
neither shadow of turning." [15] So also David, "Thou shall change
them, and they shall be changed; but Thou art the same." [16]
3. Further, it is difficult to contemplate and fully know the
substance of God; who fashions things changeable, yet without any
change in Himself, and creates things temporal, yet without any
temporal movement in Himself. And it is necessary, therefore, to purge
our minds, in order to be able to see ineffably that which is
ineffable; whereto not having yet attained, we are to be nourished by
faith, and led by such ways as are more suited to our capacity, that
we may be rendered apt and able to comprehend it. And hence the
Apostle says, that "in Christ indeed are hid all the treasures of
wisdom and knowledge;" [17] and yet has commended Him to us, as to
babes in Christ, who, although already born again by His grace, yet
are still carnal and psychical, not by that divine virtue wherein He
is equal to the Father, but by that human infirmity whereby He was
crucified. For he says, "I determined not to know anything among you,
save Jesus Christ and Him crucified;" [18] and then he continues, "And
I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling." And a
little after he says to them, "And I, brethren, could not speak unto
you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, [19] even as unto babes in
Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye
were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able." [20] There are
some who are angry at language of this kind, and think it is used in
slight to themselves, and for the most part prefer rather to believe
that they who so speak to them have nothing to say, than that they
themselves cannot understand what they have said. And sometimes,
indeed, we do allege to them, not certainly that account of the case
which they seek in their inquiries about God,--because neither can
they themselves receive it, nor can we perhaps either apprehend or
express it,--but such an account of it as to demonstrate to them how
incapable and utterly unfit they are to understand that which they
require of us. But they, on their parts, because they do not hear what
they desire, think that we are either playing them false in order to
conceal our own ignorance, or speaking in malice because we grudge
them knowledge; and so go away indignant and perturbed.
Footnotes
[8] [Augustin here puts generare for creare--which is rarely the case
with him, since the distinction between generation and creation is of
the highest importance in discussing the doctrine of the Trinity. His
thought here is, that God does not bring himself into being, because
he always is. Some have defined God as the Self-caused: causa sui. But
the category of cause and effect is inapplicable to the Infinite
Being.--W.G.T.S.]
[9] Ps. xvii. 8
[10] Ex. xx. 5
[11] Gen. vi. 7
[12] Ex. iii. 14
[13] 1 Tim. vi. 16
[14] [God's being is necessary; that of the creature is contingent.
Hence the name I Am, or Jehovah,--which denotes this difference. God
alone has immortality a parte ante, as well as a parte
post.--W.G.T.S.]
[15] Jas. i. 17
[16] Ps. cii. 26, 27
[17] Col. ii. 3
[18] 1 Cor. ii. 2, 3
[19] [St. Paul, in this place, denominates imperfect but true
believers "carnal," in a relative sense, only. They are comparatively
carnal, when contrasted with the law of God, which is absolutely and
perfectly spiritual. (Rom. vii. 14.) They do not, however, belong to
the class of carnal or natural men, in distinction from spiritual. The
persons whom the Apostle here denominates "carnal," are "babes in
Christ."--W.G.T.S.]
[20] 1 Cor. iii. 1, 2
Chapter 2.--In What Manner This Work Proposes to Discourse Concerning
the Trinity.
4. Wherefore, our Lord God helping, we will undertake to render, as
far as we are able, that very account which they so importunately
demand: viz., that the Trinity is the one and only and true God, and
also how the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are rightly said,
believed, understood, to be of one and the same substance or essence;
in such wise that they may not fancy themselves mocked by excuses on
our part, but may find by actual trial, both that the highest good is
that which is discerned by the most purified minds, and that for this
reason it cannot be discerned or understood by themselves, because the
eye of the human mind, being weak, is dazzled in that so transcendent
light, unless it be invigorated by the nourishment of the
righteousness of faith. First, however, we must demonstrate, according
to the authority of the Holy Scriptures, whether the faith be so.
Then, if God be willing and aid us, we may perhaps at least so far
serve these talkative arguers--more puffed up than capable, and
therefore laboring under the more dangerous disease--as to enable them
to find something which they are not able to doubt, that so, in that
case where they cannot find the like, they may be led to lay the fault
to their own minds, rather than to the truth itself or to our
reasonings; and thus, if there be anything in them of either love or
fear towards God, they may return and begin from faith in due order:
perceiving at length how healthful a medicine has been provided for
the faithful in the holy Church, whereby a heedful piety, healing the
feebleness of the mind, may render it able to perceive the
unchangeable truth, and hinder it from falling headlong, through
disorderly rashness, into pestilent and false opinion. Neither will I
myself shrink from inquiry, if I am anywhere in doubt; nor be ashamed
to learn, if I am anywhere in error.
Chapter 3.--What Augustin Requests from His Readers. The Errors of
Readers Dull of Comprehension Not to Be Ascribed to the Author.
5. Further let me ask of my reader, wherever, alike with myself, he
is certain, there to go on with me; wherever, alike with myself, he
hesitates, there to join with me in inquiring; wherever he recognizes
himself to be in error, there to return to me; wherever he recognizes
me to be so, there to call me back: so that we may enter together upon
the path of charity, and advance towards Him of whom it is said, "Seek
His face evermore." [21] And I would make this pious and safe
agreement, in the presence of our Lord God, with all who read my
writings, as well in all other cases as, above all, in the case of
those which inquire into the unity of the Trinity, of the Father and
the Son and the Holy Spirit; because in no other subject is error more
dangerous, or inquiry more laborious, or the discovery of truth more
profitable. If, then, any reader shall say, This is not well said,
because I do not understand it; such an one finds fault with my
language, not with my faith: and it might perhaps in very truth have
been put more clearly; yet no man ever so spoke as to be understood in
all things by all men. Let him, therefore, who finds this fault with
my discourse, see whether he can understand other men who have handled
similar subjects and questions, when he does not understand me: and if
he can, let him put down my book, or even, if he pleases, throw it
away; and let him spend labor and time rather on those whom he
understands. [22] Yet let him not think on that account that I ought
to have been silent, because I have not been able to express myself so
smoothly and clearly to him as those do whom he understands. For
neither do all things, which all men have written, come into the hands
of all. And possibly some, who are capable of understanding even these
our writings, may not find those more lucid works, and may meet with
ours only. And therefore it is useful that many persons should write
many books, differing in style but not in faith, concerning even the
same questions, that the matter itself may reach the greatest
number--some in one way, some in another. But if he who complains that
he has not understood these things has never been able to comprehend
any careful and exact reasonings at all upon such subjects, let him in
that case deal with himself by resolution and study, that he may know
better; not with me by quarrellings and wranglings, that I may hold my
peace. Let him, again, who says, when he reads my book, Certainly I
understand what is said, but it is not true, assert, if he pleases,
his own opinion, and refute mine if he is able. And if he do this with
charity and truth, and take the pains to make it known to me (if I am
still alive), I shall then receive the most abundant fruit of this my
labor. And if he cannot inform myself, most willing and glad should I
be that he should inform those whom he can. Yet, for my part, "I
meditate in the law of the Lord," [23] if not "day and night," at
least such short times as I can; and I commit my meditations to
writing, lest they should escape me through forgetfulness; hoping by
the mercy of God that He will make me hold steadfastly all truths of
which I feel certain; "but if in anything I be otherwise minded, that
He will himself reveal even this to me," [24] whether through secret
inspiration and admonition, or through His own plain utterances, or
through the reasonings of my brethren. This I pray for, and this my
trust and desire I commit to Him, who is sufficiently able to keep
those things which He has given me, and to render those which He has
promised.
6. I expect, indeed, that some, who are more dull of understanding,
will imagine that in some parts of my books I have held sentiments
which I have not held, or have not held those which I have. But their
error, as none can be ignorant, ought not to be attributed to me, if
they have deviated into false doctrine through following my steps
without apprehending me, whilst I am compelled to pick my way through
a hard and obscure subject: seeing that neither can any one, in any
way, rightly ascribe the numerous and various errors of heretics to
the holy testimonies themselves of the divine books; although all of
them endeavor to defend out of those same Scriptures their own false
and erroneous opinions. The law of Christ, that is, charity,
admonishes me clearly, and commands me with a sweet constraint, that
when men think that I have held in my books something false which I
have not held, and that same falsehood displeases one and pleases
another, I should prefer to be blamed by him who reprehends the
falsehood, rather than praised by him who praises it. For although I,
who never held the error, am not rightly blamed by the former, yet the
error itself is rightly censured; whilst by the latter neither am I
rightly praised, who am thought to have held that which the truth
censures, nor the sentiment itself, which the truth also censures. Let
us therefore essay the work which we have undertaken in the name of
the Lord.
Footnotes
[21] Ps. cv. 4
[22] [This request of Augustin to his reader, involves an admirable
rule for authorship generally--the desire, namely, that truth be
attained, be it through himself or through others. Milton teaches the
same, when he says that the author must "study and love learning for
itself, not for lucre, or any other end, but the service of God and of
truth, and perhaps that lasting fame and perpetuity of praise, which
God and good men have consented shall be the reward of those whose
published labors advance the good of mankind."--W.G.T.S.]
[23] Ps. i. 2
[24] Phil. iii. 15
Chapter 4.--What the Doctrine of the Catholic Faith is Concerning the
Trinity.
7. All those Catholic expounders of the divine Scriptures, both Old
and New, whom I have been able to read, who have written before me
concerning the Trinity, Who is God, have purposed to teach, according
to the Scriptures, this doctrine, that the Father, and the Son, and
the Holy Spirit intimate a divine unity of one and the same substance
in an indivisible equality; [25] and therefore that they are not three
Gods, but one God: although the Father hath begotten the Son, and so
He who is the Father is not the Son; and the Son is begotten by the
Father, and so He who is the Son is not the Father; and the Holy
Spirit is neither the Father nor the Son, but only the Spirit of the
Father and of the Son, Himself also co-equal with the Father and the
Son, and pertaining to the unity of the Trinity. Yet not that this
Trinity was born of the Virgin Mary, and crucified under Pontius
Pilate, and buried, and rose again the third day, and ascended into
heaven, but only the Son. Nor, again, that this Trinity descended in
the form of a dove upon Jesus when He was baptized; [26] nor that, on
the day of Pentecost, after the ascension of the Lord, when "there
came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind," [27] the same
Trinity "sat upon each of them with cloven tongues like as of fire,"
but only the Holy Spirit. Nor yet that this Trinity said from heaven,
"Thou art my Son," [28] whether when He was baptized by John, or when
the three disciples were with Him in the mount, [29] or when the voice
sounded, saying, "I have both glorified it, and will glorify it
again;" [30] but that it was a word of the Father only, spoken to the
Son; although the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, as they
are indivisible, so work indivisibly. [31] This is also my faith,
since it is the Catholic faith.
Footnotes
[25] [Augustin teaches the Nicene doctrine of a numerical unity of
essence in distinction from a specific unity. The latter is that of
mankind. In this case there is division of substance--part after part
of the specific nature being separated and formed, by propagation,
into individuals. No human individual contains the whole specific
nature. But in the case of the numerical unity of the Trinity, there
is no division of essence. The whole divine nature is in each divine
person. The three divine persons do not constitute a species--that is,
three divine individuals made by the division and distribution of one
common divine nature--but are three modes or "forms" (Phil. ii. 6) of
one undivided substance, numerically and identically the same in
each.--W.G.T.S.]
[26] Matt. iii. 16
[27] Acts ii. 2, 4
[28] Mark i. 11
[29] Matt. xvii. 5
[30] John xii. 28
[31] [The term Trinity denotes the Divine essence in all three modes.
The term Father (or Son, or Spirit) denotes the essence in only one
mode. Consequently, there is something in the Trinity that cannot be
attributed to any one of the Persons, as such; and something in a
Person that cannot be attributed to the Trinity, as such. Trinality
cannot be ascribed to the first Person; paternity cannot be ascribed
to the Trinity.--W.G.T.S.]
Chapter 5.--Of Difficulties Concerning the Trinity: in What Manner
Three are One God, and How, Working Indivisibly, They Yet Perform Some
Things Severally.
8. Some persons, however, find a difficulty in this faith; when they
hear that the Father is God, and the Son God, and the Holy Spirit God,
and yet that this Trinity is not three Gods, but one God; and they ask
how they are to understand this: especially when it is said that the
Trinity works indivisibly in everything that God works, and yet that a
certain voice of the Father spoke, which is not the voice of the Son;
and that none except the Son was born in the flesh, and suffered, and
rose again, and ascended into heaven; and that none except the Holy
Spirit came in the form of a dove. They wish to understand how the
Trinity uttered that voice which was only of the Father; and how the
same Trinity created that flesh in which the Son only was born of the
Virgin; and how the very same Trinity itself wrought that form of a
dove, in which the Holy Spirit only appeared. Yet, otherwise, the
Trinity does not work indivisibly, but the Father does some things,
the Son other things, and the Holy Spirit yet others: or else, if they
do some things together, some severally, then the Trinity is not
indivisible. It is a difficulty, too, to them, in what manner the Holy
Spirit is in the Trinity, whom neither the Father nor the Son, nor
both, have begotten, although He is the Spirit both of the Father and
of the Son. Since, then, men weary us with asking such questions, let
us unfold to them, as we are able, whatever wisdom God's gift has
bestowed upon our weakness on this subject; neither "let us go on our
way with consuming envy." [32] Should we say that we are not
accustomed to think about such things, it would not be true; yet if we
acknowledge that such subjects commonly dwell in our thoughts, carried
away as we are by the love of investigating the truth, then they
require of us, by the law of charity, to make known to them what we
have herein been able to find out. "Not as though I had already
attained, either were already perfect" (for, if the Apostle Paul, how
much more must I, who lie far beneath his feet, count myself not to
have apprehended!); but, according to my measure, "if I forget those
things that are behind, and reach forth unto those things which are
before, and press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling,"
[33] I am requested to disclose so much of the road as I have already
passed, and the point to which I have reached, whence the course yet
remains to bring me to the end. And those make the request, whom a
generous charity compels me to serve. Needs must too, and God will
grant that, in supplying them with matter to read, I shall profit
myself also; and that, in seeking to reply to their inquiries, I shall
myself likewise find that for which I was inquiring. Accordingly I
have undertaken the task, by the bidding and help of the Lord my God,
not so much of discoursing with authority respecting things I know
already, as of learning those things by piously discoursing of them.
Footnotes
[32] Wisd. vi. 23
[33] Phil. iii. 12-14
Chapter 6.--That the Son is Very God, of the Same Substance with the
Father. Not Only the Father, But the Trinity, is Affirmed to Be
Immortal. All Things are Not from the Father Alone, But Also from the
Son. That the Holy Spirit is Very God, Equal with the Father and the
Son.
9. They who have said that our Lord Jesus Christ is not God, or not
very God, or not with the Father the One and only God, or not truly
immortal because changeable, are proved wrong by the most plain and
unanimous voice of divine testimonies; as, for instance, "In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was
God." For it is plain that we are to take the Word of God to be the
only Son of God, of whom it is afterwards said, "And the Word was made
flesh, and dwelt among us," on account of that birth of His
incarnation, which was wrought in time of the Virgin. But herein is
declared, not only that He is God, but also that He is of the same
substance with the Father; because, after saying, "And the Word was
God," it is said also, "The same was in the beginning with God: all
things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made." [34]
Not simply "all things;" but only all things that were made, that is;
the whole creature. From which it appears clearly, that He Himself was
not made, by whom all things were made. And if He was not made, then
He is not a creature; but if He is not a creature, then He is of the
same substance with the Father. For all substance that is not God is
creature; and all that is not creature is God. [35] And if the Son is
not of the same substance with the Father, then He is a substance that
was made: and if He is a substance that was made, then all things were
not made by Him; but "all things were made by Him," therefore He is of
one and the same substance with the Father. And so He is not only God,
but also very God. And the same John most expressly affirms this in
his epistle: "For we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given
us an understanding, that we may know the true God, and that we may be
in His true Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life."
[36]
10. Hence also it follows by consequence, that the Apostle Paul did
not say, "Who alone has immortality," of the Father merely; but of the
One and only God, which is the Trinity itself. For that which is
itself eternal life is not mortal according to any changeableness; and
hence the Son of God, because "He is Eternal Life," is also Himself
understood with the Father, where it is said, "Who only hath
immortality." For we, too, are made partakers of this eternal life,
and become, in our own measure, immortal. But the eternal life itself,
of which we are made partakers, is one thing; we ourselves, who, by
partaking of it, shall live eternally, are another. For if He had
said, "Whom in His own time the Father will show, who is the blessed
and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; who only
hath immortality;" not even so would it be necessarily understood that
the Son is excluded. For neither has the Son separated the Father from
Himself, because He Himself, speaking elsewhere with the voice of
wisdom (for He Himself is the Wisdom of God), [37] says, "I alone
compassed the circuit of heaven." [38] And therefore so much the more
is it not necessary that the words, "Who hath immortality," should be
understood of the Father alone, omitting the Son; when they are said
thus: "That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable,
until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ: whom in His own time He
will show, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings,
and Lord of lords; who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light
which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to
whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen." [39] In which words
neither is the Father specially named, nor the Son, nor the Holy
Spirit; but the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and
Lord of lords; that is, the One and only and true God, the Trinity
itself.
11. But perhaps what follows may interfere with this meaning; because
it is said, "Whom no man hath seen, nor can see:" although this may
also be taken as belonging to Christ according to His divinity, which
the Jews did not see, who yet saw and crucified Him in the flesh;
whereas His divinity can in no wise be seen by human sight, but is
seen with that sight with which they who see are no longer men, but
beyond men. Rightly, therefore, is God Himself, the Trinity,
understood to be the "blessed and only Potentate," who "shows the
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in His own time." For the words, "Who
only hath immortality," are said in the same way as it is said, "Who
only doeth wondrous things." [40] And I should be glad to know of whom
they take these words to be said. If only of the Father, how then is
that true which the Son Himself says, "For what things soever the
Father doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise?" Is there any, among
wonderful works, more wonderful than to raise up and quicken the dead?
Yet the same Son saith, "As the Father raiseth up the dead, and
quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom He will." [41] How,
then, does the Father alone "do wondrous things," when these words
allow us to understand neither the Father only, nor the Son only, but
assuredly the one only true God, that is, the Father, and the Son, and
the Holy Spirit? [42]
12. Also, when the same apostle says, "But to us there is but one God,
the Father, of whom are all things, and we in Him; and one Lord Jesus
Christ, by whom are all things, and we by Him," [43] who can doubt
that he speaks of all things which are created; as does John, when he
says, "All things were made by Him"? I ask, therefore, of whom he
speaks in another place: "For of Him, and through Him, and in Him, are
all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen." [44] For if of the
Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, so as to assign each clause
severally to each person: of Him, that is to say, of the Father;
through Him, that is to say, through the Son; in Him, that is to say,
in the Holy Spirit,--it is manifest that the Father, and the Son, and
the Holy Spirit is one God, inasmuch as the words continue in the
singular number, "To whom [45] be glory for ever." For at the
beginning of the passage he does not say, "O the depth of the riches
both of the wisdom and knowledge" of the Father, or of the Son, or of
the Holy Spirit, but "of the wisdom and knowledge of God!" "How
unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out! For who
hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been His counsellor? Or
who hath first given to Him and it shall be recompensed unto him
again? For of Him, and through Him, and in Him, are all things: to
whom be glory for ever. Amen." [46] But if they will have this to be
understood only of the Father, then in what way are all things by the
Father, as is said here; and all things by the Son, as where it is
said to the Corinthians, "And one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all
things," [47] and as in the Gospel of John, "All things were made by
Him?" For if some things were made by the Father, and some by the Son,
then all things were not made by the Father, nor all things by the
Son; but if all things were made by the Father, and all things by the
Son, then the same things were made by the Father and by the Son. The
Son, therefore, is equal with the Father, and the working of the
Father and the Son is indivisible. Because if the Father made even the
Son, whom certainly the Son Himself did not make, then all things were
not made by the Son; but all things were made by the Son: therefore He
Himself was not made, that with the Father He might make all things
that were made. And the apostle has not refrained from using the very
word itself, but has said most expressly, "Who, being in the form of
God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God;" [48] using here the
name of God specially of the Father; [49] as elsewhere, "But the head
of Christ is God." [50]
13. Similar evidence has been collected also concerning the Holy
Spirit, of which those who have discussed the subject before ourselves
have most fully availed themselves, that He too is God, and not a
creature. But if not a creature, then not only God (for men likewise
are called gods [51] ), but also very God; and therefore absolutely
equal with the Father and the Son, and in the unity of the Trinity
consubstantial and co-eternal. But that the Holy Spirit is not a
creature is made quite plain by that passage above all others, where
we are commanded not to serve the creature, but the Creator; [52] not
in the sense in which we are commanded to "serve" one another by love,
[53] which is in Greek douleuein, but in that in which God alone is
served, which is in Greek latreuein. From whence they are called
idolaters who tender that service to images which is due to God. For
it is this service concerning which it is said, "Thou shalt worship
the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve." [54] For this is
found also more distinctly in the Greek Scriptures, which have
latreuseis. Now if we are forbidden to serve the creature with such a
service, seeing that it is written, "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy
God, and Him only shalt thou serve" (and hence, too, the apostle
repudiates those who worship and serve the creature more than the
Creator), then assuredly the Holy Spirit is not a creature, to whom
such a service is paid by all the saints; as says the apostle, "For we
are the circumcision, which serve the Spirit of God," [55] which is in
the Greek latreuontes. For even most Latin copies also have it thus,
"We who serve the Spirit of God;" but all Greek ones, or almost all,
have it so. Although in some Latin copies we find, not "We worship the
Spirit of God," but, "We worship God in the Spirit." But let those who
err in this case, and refuse to give up to the more weighty authority,
tell us whether they find this text also varied in the mss.: "Know ye
not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you,
which ye have of God?" Yet what can be more senseless or more profane,
than that any one should dare to say that the members of Christ are
the temple of one who, in their opinion, is a creature inferior to
Christ? For the apostle says in another place, "Your bodies are
members of Christ." But if the members of Christ are also the temple
of the Holy Spirit, then the Holy Spirit is not a creature; because we
must needs owe to Him, of whom our body is the temple, that service
wherewith God only is to be served, which in Greek is called latreia.
And accordingly the apostle says, "Therefore glorify God in your
body." [56]
Footnotes
[34] John i. 1, 14, 2, 3
[35] [Augustin here postulates the theistic doctrines of two
substances--infinite and finite; in contradiction to the postulate of
pantheism, that there is only one substance--the infinite.--W.G.T.S.]
[36] 1 John v. 20
[37] 1 Cor. i. 24
[38] Ecclus. xxiv. 5
[39] 1 Tim. vi. 14-16
[40] Ps. lxxii. 18
[41] John v. 19, 21
[42] [Nothing is more important, in order to a correct interpretation
of the New Testament, than a correct explanation of the term God.
Sometimes it denotes the Trinity, and sometimes a person of the
Trinity. The context always shows which it is. The examples given here
by Augustin are only a few out of many.--W.G.T.S.]
[43] 1 Cor. viii. 6
[44] Rom. xi. 36
[45] Ipsi.
[46] Rom. xi. 33-36
[47] 1 Cor. viii. 6
[48] Phil. ii. 6
[49] [It is not generally safe to differ from Augustin in trinitarian
exegesis. But in Phil. ii. 6 "God" must surely denote the Divine
Essence, not the first Person of the Essence. St. Paul describes
"Christ Jesus" as "subsisting" (huparchon) originally, that is prior
to incarnation, "in a form of God"(en morphe theou), and because he so
subsisted, as being "equal with God." The word morphe is anarthrous in
the text: a form, not the form, as the A.V and R.V. render. St. Paul
refers to one of three "forms" of God--namely, that particular form of
Sonship, which is peculiar to the second person of the Godhead. Had
the apostle employed the article with morphe, the implication would be
that there is only one "form of God"--that is, only one person in the
Divine Essence. If then theou, in this place, denotes the Father, as
Augustin says, St. Paul would teach that the Logos subsisted "in a
form of the Father," which would imply that the Father had more than
one "form," or else (if morphe be rendered with the article) that the
Logos subsisted in the "form" of the Father, neither of which is true.
But if "God," in this place, denotes the Divine Essence, then St. Paul
teaches that the unincarnate Logos subsisted in a particular "form" of
the Essence--the Father and Spirit subsisting in other "forms" of it.
The student will observe that Augustin is careful to teach that the
Logos, when he took on him "a form of a servant," did not lay aside "a
form of God." He understands the kenosis (ekenose) to be, the humbling
of the divinity by its union with the humanity, not the exinanition of
it in the extremest sense of entirely divesting himself of the
divinity, nor the less extreme sense of a total non-use of it during
the humiliation.--W.G.T.S.]
[50] 1 Cor. xi. 3
[51] Ps. lxxxii. 6
[52] Rom. i. 25
[53] Gal. v. 13
[54] Deut. vi. 13
[55] Phil. iii. 3 (Vulgate, etc.).
[56] 1 Cor. vi. 19, 15, 20
Chapter 7.--In What Manner the Son is Less Than the Father, and Than
Himself.
14. In these and like testimonies of the divine Scriptures, by free
use of which, as I have said, our predecessors exploded such
sophistries or errors of the heretics, the unity and equality of the
Trinity are intimated to our faith. But because, on account of the
incarnation of the Word of God for the working out of our salvation,
that the man Christ Jesus might be the Mediator between God and men,
[57] many things are so said in the sacred books as to signify, or
even most expressly declare, the Father to be greater than the Son;
men have erred through a want of careful examination or consideration
of the whole tenor of the Scriptures, and have endeavored to transfer
those things which are said of Jesus Christ according to the flesh, to
that substance of His which was eternal before the incarnation, and is
eternal. They say, for instance, that the Son is less than the Father,
because it is written that the Lord Himself said, "My Father is
greater than I." [58] But the truth shows that after the same sense
the Son is less also than Himself; for how was He not made less also
than Himself, who "emptied [59] Himself, and took upon Him the form of
a servant?" For He did not so take the form of a servant as that He
should lose the form of God, in which He was equal to the Father. If,
then, the form of a servant was so taken that the form of God was not
lost, since both in the form of a servant and in the form of God He
Himself is the same only-begotten Son of God the Father, in the form
of God equal to the Father, in the form of a servant the Mediator
between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; is there any one who cannot
perceive that He Himself in the form of God is also greater than
Himself, but yet likewise in the form of a servant less than Himself?
And not, therefore, without cause the Scripture says both the one and
the other, both that the Son is equal to the Father, and that the
Father is greater than the Son. For there is no confusion when the
former is understood as on account of the form of God, and the latter
as on account of the form of a servant. And, in truth, this rule for
clearing the question through all the sacred Scriptures is set forth
in one chapter of an epistle of the Apostle Paul, where this
distinction is commended to us plainly enough. For he says, "Who,
being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God;
but emptied Himself, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was
made in the likeness of men: and was found in fashion [60] as a man."
[61] The Son of God, then, is equal to God the Father in nature, but
less in "fashion." [62] For in the form of a servant which He took He
is less than the Father; but in the form of God, in which also He was
before He took the form of a servant, He is equal to the Father. In
the form of God He is the Word, "by whom all things are made;" [63]
but in the form of a servant He was "made of a woman, made under the
law, to redeem them that were under the law." [64] In like manner, in
the form of God He made man; in the form of a servant He was made man.
For if the Father alone had made man without the Son, it would not
have been written, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness."
[65] Therefore, because the form of God took the form of a servant,
both is God and both is man; but both God, on account of God who
takes; and both man, on account of man who is taken. For neither by
that taking is the one of them turned and changed into the other: the
Divinity is not changed into the creature, so as to cease to be
Divinity; nor the creature into Divinity, so as to cease to be
creature.
Footnotes
[57] 1 Tim. ii. 5
[58] John xiv. 28
[59] Exinanivit
[60] Habitu
[61] Phil. ii. 6, 7
[62] Habitu
[63] John i. 3
[64] Gal. iv. 4, 5
[65] Gen. i. 26
Chapter 8.--The Texts of Scripture Explained Respecting the Subjection
of the Son to the Father, Which Have Been Misunderstood. Christ Will
Not So Give Up the Kingdom to the Father, as to Take It Away from
Himself. The Beholding Him is the Promised End of All Actions. The
Holy Spirit is Sufficient to Our Blessedness Equally with the Father.
15. As for that which the apostle says, "And when all things shall be
subdued unto Him, then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him
that put all things under Him:" either the text has been so turned,
lest any one should think that the "fashion" [66] of Christ, which He
took according to the human creature, was to be transformed hereafter
into the Divinity, or (to express it more precisely) the Godhead
itself, who is not a creature, but is the unity of the Trinity,--a
nature incorporeal, and unchangeable, and consubstantial, and
co-eternal with itself; or if any one contends, as some have thought,
that the text, "Then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him
that put all things under Him," is so turned in order that one may
believe that very "subjection" to be a change and conversion hereafter
of the creature into the substance or essence itself of the Creator,
that is, that that which had been the substance of a creature shall
become the substance of the Creator;--such an one at any rate admits
this, of which in truth there is no possible doubt, that this had not
yet taken place, when the Lord said, "My Father is greater than I."
For He said this not only before He ascended into heaven, but also
before He had suffered, and had risen from the dead. But they who
think that the human nature in Him is to be changed and converted into
the substance of the Godhead, and that it was so said, "Then shall the
Son also Himself be subject unto Him that put all things under
Him,"--as if to say, Then also the Son of man Himself, and the human
nature taken by the Word of God, shall be changed into the nature of
Him who put all things under Him,--must also think that this will then
take place, when, after the day of judgment, "He shall have delivered
up the kingdom to God, even the Father." And hence even still,
according to this opinion, the Father is greater than that form of a
servant which was taken of the Virgin. But if some affirm even
further, that the man Christ Jesus has already been changed into the
substance of God, at least they cannot deny that the human nature
still remained, when He said before His passion, "For my Father is
greater than I;" whence there is no question that it was said in this
sense, that the Father is greater than the form of a servant, to whom
in the form of God the Son is equal. Nor let any one, hearing what the
apostle says, "But when He saith all things are put under Him, it is
manifest that He is excepted which did put all things under Him," [67]
think the words, that He hath put all things under the Son, to be so
understood of the Father, as that He should not think that the Son
Himself put all things under Himself. For this the apostle plainly
declares, when he says to the Philippians, "For our conversation is in
heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus
Christ: who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like
unto His glorious body, according to the working whereby He is able
even to subdue [68] all things unto Himself." [69] For the working of
the Father and of the Son is indivisible. Otherwise, neither hath the
Father Himself put all things under Himself, but the Son hath put all
things under Him, who delivers the kingdom to Him, and puts down all
rule and all authority and power. For these words are spoken of the
Son: "When He shall have delivered up," says the apostle, "the kingdom
to God, even the Father; when He shall have put down [70] all rule,
and all authority, and all power." For the same that puts down, also
makes subject.
16. Neither may we think that Christ shall so give up the kingdom to
God, even the Father, as that He shall take it away from Himself. For
some vain talkers have thought even this. For when it is said, "He
shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father," He
Himself is not excluded; because He is one God together with the
Father. But that word "until" deceives those who are careless readers
of the divine Scriptures, but eager for controversies. For the text
continues, "For He must reign, until He hath put all enemies under His
feet;" [71] as though, when He had so put them, He would no more
reign. Neither do they perceive that this is said in the same way as
that other text, "His heart is established: He shall not be afraid,
until He see His desire upon His enemies." [72] For He will not then
be afraid when He has seen it. What then means, "When He shall have
delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father," as though God and
the Father has not the kingdom now? But because He is hereafter to
bring all the just, over whom now, living by faith, the Mediator
between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, reigns, to that sight which
the same apostle calls "face to face;" [73] therefore the words, "When
He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father," are
as much as to say, When He shall have brought believers to the
contemplation of God, even the Father. For He says, "All things are
delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the
Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to
whomsoever the Son will reveal Him." [74] The Father will then be
revealed by the Son, "when He shall have put down all rule, and all
authority, and all power;" that is, in such wise that there shall be
no more need of any economy of similitudes, by means of angelic
rulers, and authorities, and powers. Of whom that is not unfitly
understood, which is said in the Song of Songs to the bride, "We will
make thee borders [75] of gold, with studs of silver, while the King
sitteth at His table;" [76] that is, as long as Christ is in His
secret place: since "your life is hid with Christ in God; when Christ,
who is our [77] life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him
in glory." [78] Before which time, "we see now through a glass, in an
enigma," that is, in similitudes, "but then face to face." [79]
17. For this contemplation is held forth to us as the end of all
actions, and the everlasting fullness of joy. For "we are the sons of
God; and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that,
when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He
is." [80] For that which He said to His servant Moses, "I am that I
am; thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel, I Am hath sent me
to you;" [81] this it is which we shall contemplate when we shall live
in eternity. For so it is said, "And this is life eternal, that they
might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast
sent." [82] This shall be when the Lord shall have come, and "shall
have brought to light the hidden things of darkness;" [83] when the
darkness of this present mortality and corruption shall have passed
away. Then will be our morning, which is spoken of in the Psalm, "In
the morning will I direct my prayer unto Thee, and will contemplate
Thee." [84] Of this contemplation I understand it to be said, "When He
shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father;" that is,
when He shall have brought the just, over whom now, living by faith,
the Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, reigns, to the
contemplation of God, even the Father. If herein I am foolish, let him
who knows better correct me; to me at least the case seems as I have
said. [85] For we shall not seek anything else, when we shall have
come to the contemplation of Him. But that contemplation is not yet,
so long as our joy is in hope. For "hope that is seen is not hope: for
what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we
see not, then do we with patience wait for it," [86] viz. "as long as
the King sitteth at His table." [87] Then will take place that which
is written, "In Thy presence is fullness of joy." [88] Nothing more
than that joy will be required; because there will be nothing more
than can be required. For the Father will be manifested to us, and
that will suffice for us. And this much Philip had well understood, so
that he said to the Lord, "Show us the Father, and it sufficeth us."
But he had not yet understood that he himself was able to say this
very same thing in this way also: Lord, show Thyself to us, and it
sufficeth us. For, that he might understand this, the Lord replied to
him, "Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known
me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father." But because He
intended him, before he could see this, to live by faith, He went on
to say, "Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in
me?" [89] For "while we are at home in the body, we are absent from
the Lord: for we walk by faith, not by sight." [90] For contemplation
is the recompense of faith, for which recompense our hearts are
purified by faith; as it is written, "Purifying their hearts by
faith." [91] And that our hearts are to be purified for this
contemplation, is proved above all by this text, "Blessed are the pure
in heart, for they shall see God." [92] And that this is life eternal,
God says in the Psalm, "With long life will I satisfy him, and show
him my salvation." [93] Whether, therefore, we hear, Show us the Son;
or whether we hear, Show us the Father; it is even all one, since
neither can be manifested without the other. For they are one, as He
also Himself says, "My Father and I are one." [94] Finally, on account
of this very indivisibility, it suffices that sometimes the Father
alone, or the Son alone, should be named, as hereafter to fill us with
the joy of His countenance.
18. Neither is the Spirit of either thence excluded, that is, the
Spirit of the Father and of the Son; which Holy Spirit is specially
called "the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive." [95] For
to have the fruition of God the Trinity, after whose image we are
made, is indeed the fullness of our joy, than which there is no
greater. On this account the Holy Spirit is sometimes spoken of as if
He alone sufficed to our blessedness: and He does alone so suffice,
because He cannot be divided from the Father and the Son; as the
Father alone is sufficient, because He cannot be divided from the Son
and the Holy Spirit; and the Son alone is sufficient because He cannot
be divided from the Father and the Holy Spirit. For what does He mean
by saying, "If ye love me, keep my commandments; and I will pray the
Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide
with you for ever; even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot
receive," [96] that is, the lovers of the world? For "the natural man
receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God." [97] But it may
perhaps seem, further, as if the words, "And I will pray the Father,
and He shall give you another Comforter," were so said as if the Son
alone were not sufficient. And that place so speaks of the Spirit, as
if He alone were altogether sufficient: "When He, the Spirit of truth,
is come, He will guide you into all truth." [98] Pray, therefore, is
the Son here excluded, as if He did not teach all truth, or as if the
Holy Spirit were to fill up that which the Son could not fully teach?
Let them say then, if it pleases them, that the Holy Spirit is greater
than the Son, whom they are wont to call less. Or is it, forsooth,
because it is not said, He alone,--or, No one else except
Himself--will guide you into all truth, that they allow that the Son
also may be believed to teach together with Him? In that case the
apostle has excluded the Son from knowing those things which are of
God, where he says, "Even so the things of God knoweth no one, but the
Spirit of God:" [99] so that these perverse men might, upon this
ground, go on to say that none but the Holy Spirit teaches even the
Son the things of God, as the greater teaches the less; to whom the
Son Himself ascribes so much as to say, "But because I have said these
things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart. Nevertheless I tell
you the truth; it is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not
away, the Comforter will not come unto you." [100]
Footnotes
[66] Habitum
[67] 1 Cor. xv. 28, 24, 27
[68] Subjicere
[69] Phil. iii. 20, 21
[70] Evacuaverit
[71] 1 Cor. xv. 24, 25
[72] Ps. cxii. 8
[73] 1 Cor. xiii. 12
[74] Matt. xi. 27
[75] Similitudines
[76] In recubitu Cant. i. 11; see LXX.
[77] Vestra
[78] Col. iii. 3, 4
[79] 1 Cor. xiii. 12
[80] 1 John iii. 2
[81] Ex. iii 14
[82] John xvii. 3
[83] 1 Cor. iv. 5
[84] Ps. v. 5
[85] [The common explanation is better, which regards the "kingdom"
that is to be delivered up, to be the mediatorial commission. When
Christ shall have finished his work of redeeming men, he no longer
discharges the office of a mediator. It seems incongruous to
denominate the beatific vision of God by the redeemed, a surrender of
a kingdom. In I. x. 21, Augustin says that when the Redeemer brings
the redeemed from faith to sight, "He is said to `deliver up the
kingdom to God, even the Father.' "--W.G.T.S.]
[86] Rom. viii. 24, 25
[87] Cant. i. 12
[88] Ps. xvi. 11
[89] John xiv. 8, 10
[90] 2 Cor. v. 6, 7
[91] Acts xv. 9
[92] Matt. v. 8
[93] Ps. xci. 16
[94] John x. 30
[95] John xiv. 17
[96] John xiv. 15-17
[97] 1 Cor. ii. 14
[98] John xvi. 13
[99] 1 Cor. ii. 11
[100] John xvi. 6, 7
Chapter 9.--All are Sometimes Understood in One Person.
But this is said, not on account of any inequality of the Word of God
and of the Holy Spirit, but as though the presence of the Son of man
with them would be a hindrance to the coming of Him, who was not less,
because He did not "empty Himself, taking upon Him the form of a
servant," [101] as the Son did. It was necessary, then, that the form
of a servant should be taken away from their eyes, because, through
gazing upon it, they thought that alone which they saw to be Christ.
Hence also is that which is said, "If ye loved me, ye would rejoice
because I said, `I go unto the Father; for my Father is greater than
I:'" [102] that is, on that account it is necessary for me to go to
the Father, because, whilst you see me thus, you hold me to be less
than the Father through that which you see; and so, being taken up
with the creature and the "fashion" which I have taken upon me, you do
not perceive the equality which I have with the Father. Hence, too, is
this: "Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father." [103]
For touch, as it were, puts a limit to their conception, and He
therefore would not have the thought of the heart, directed towards
Himself, to be so limited as that He should be held to be only that
which He seemed to be. But the "ascension to the Father" meant, so to
appear as He is equal to the Father, that the limit of the sight which
sufficeth us might be attained there. Sometimes also it is said of the
Son alone, that He himself sufficeth, and the whole reward of our love
and longing is held forth as in the sight of Him. For so it is said,
"He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth
me; and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father; and I will love
him, and will manifest myself to him." [104] Pray, because He has not
here said, And I will show the Father also to him, has He therefore
excluded the Father? On the contrary, because it is true, "I and my
Father are one," when the Father is manifested, the Son also, who is
in Him, is manifested; and when the Son is manifested, the Father
also, who is in Him, is manifested. As, therefore, when it is said,
"And I will manifest myself to him," it is understood that He
manifests also the Father; so likewise in that which is said, "When He
shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father," it is
understood that He does not take it away from Himself; since, when He
shall bring believers to the contemplation of God, even the Father,
doubtless He will bring them to the contemplation of Himself, who has
said, "And I will manifest myself to him." And so, consequently, when
Judas had said to Him, "Lord, how is it that Thou wilt manifest
Thyself unto us, and not unto the world?" Jesus answered and said to
him, "If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love
him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." [105]
Behold, that He manifests not only Himself to him by whom He is loved,
because He comes to him together with the Father, and abides with him.
19. Will it perhaps be thought, that when the Father and the Son make
their abode with him who loves them, the Holy Spirit is excluded from
that abode? What, then, is that which is said above of the Holy
Spirit: "Whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not: but
ye know Him; for He abideth with you, and is in you"? He, therefore,
is not excluded from that abode, of whom it is said, "He abideth with
you, and is in you;" unless, perhaps, any one be so senseless as to
think, that when the Father and the Son have come that they may make
their abode with him who loves them, the Holy Spirit will depart
thence, and (as it were) give place to those who are greater. But the
Scripture itself meets this carnal idea; for it says a little above:
"I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that
He may abide with you for ever." [106] He will not therefore depart
when the Father and the Son come, but will be in the same abode with
them eternally; because neither will He come without them, nor they
without Him. But in order to intimate the Trinity, some things are
separately affirmed, the Persons being also each severally named; and
yet are not to be understood as though the other Persons were
excluded, on account of the unity of the same Trinity and the One
substance and Godhead of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit. [107]
Footnotes
[101] Phil. ii. 7
[102] John xiv. 28
[103] John xx. 17
[104] John xiv. 21
[105] John xiv. 22, 23
[106] John xiv. 16-23
[107] [An act belonging eminently and officially to a particular
trinitarian person is not performed to the total exclusion of the
other persons, because of the numerical unity of essence. The whole
undivided essence is in each person; consequently, what the essence in
one of its personal modes, or forms, does officially and eminently, is
participated in by the essence in its other modes or forms. Hence the
interchange of persons in Scripture. Though creation is officially the
Father's work, yet the Son creates (Col. i. 16; Heb. i. 3). The name
Saviour is given to the Father (1 Tim. i. 1). Judgment belongs
officially to the Son (John v. 22; Matt xxv. 31); yet the Father
judgeth (1 Pet. i. 17). The Father raises Christ (Acts xiii. 30); yet
Christ raises himself (John x. 18; Acts x. 41; Rom. xiv.
9).--W.G.T.S.]
Chapter 10.--In What Manner Christ Shall Deliver Up the Kingdom to
God, Even the Father. The Kingdom Having Been Delivered to God, Even
the Father, Christ Will Not Then Make Intercession for Us.
20. Our Lord Jesus Christ, therefore, will so deliver up the kingdom
to God, even the Father, Himself not being thence excluded, nor the
Holy Spirit, when He shall bring believers to the contemplation of
God, wherein is the end of all good actions, and everlasting rest, and
joy which never will be taken from us. For He signifies this in that
which He says: "I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice;
and your joy no man taketh from you." [108] Mary, sitting at the feet
of the Lord, and earnestly listening to His word, foreshowed a
similitude of this joy; resting as she did from all business, and
intent upon the truth, according to that manner of which this life is
capable, by which, however, to prefigure that which shall be for
eternity. For while Martha, her sister, was cumbered about necessary
business, which, although good and useful, yet, when rest shall have
succeeded, is to pass away, she herself was resting in the word of the
Lord. And so the Lord replied to Martha, when she complained that her
sister did not help her: "Mary hath chosen the best part, which shall
not be taken away from her." [109] He did not say that Martha was
acting a bad part; but that "best part that shall not be taken away."
For that part which is occupied in the ministering to a need shall be
"taken away" when the need itself has passed away. Since the reward of
a good work that will pass away is rest that will not pass away. In
that contemplation, therefore, God will be all in all; because nothing
else but Himself will be required, but it will be sufficient to be
enlightened by and to enjoy Him alone. And so he in whom "the Spirit
maketh intercession with groanings which cannot be uttered," [110]
says, "One thing have I desired of the Lord, that I will seek after;
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to
contemplate the beauty of the Lord." [111] For we shall then
contemplate God, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, when the
Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, shall have
delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father, so as no longer to
make intercession for us, as our Mediator and Priest, Son of God and
Son of man; [112] but that He Himself too, in so far as He is a Priest
that has taken the form of a servant for us, shall be put under Him
who has put all things under Him, and under whom He has put all
things: so that, in so far as He is God, He with Him will have put us
under Himself; in so far as He is a Priest, He with us will be put
under Him. [113] And therefore as the [incarnate] Son is both God and
man, it is rather to be said that the manhood in the Son is another
substance [from the Son], than that the Son in the Father [is another
substance from the Father]; just as the carnal nature of my soul is
more another substance in relation to my soul itself, although in one
and the same man, than the soul of another man is in relation to my
soul. [114]
21. When, therefore, He "shall have delivered up the kingdom to God,
even the Father,"--that is, when He shall have brought those who
believe and live by faith, for whom now as Mediator He maketh
intercession, to that contemplation, for the obtaining of which we
sigh and groan, and when labor and groaning shall have passed
away,--then, since the kingdom will have been delivered up to God,
even the Father, He will no more make intercession for us. And this He
signifies, when He says: "These things have I spoken unto you in
similitudes; [115] but the time cometh when I shall no more speak unto
you in similitudes, [116] but I shall declare [117] to you plainly of
the Father:" that is, they will not then be "similitudes," when the
sight shall be "face to face." For this it is which He says, "But I
will declare to you plainly of the Father;" as if He said I will
plainly show you the Father. For He says, I will "declare" to you,
because He is His word. For He goes on to say, "At that day ye shall
ask in my name; and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father
for you: for the Father Himself loveth you, because ye have loved me,
and have believed that I came out from God. I came forth from the
Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go
to the Father." [118] What is meant by "I came forth from the Father,"
unless this, that I have not appeared in that form in which I am equal
to the Father, but otherwise, that is, as less than the Father, in the
creature which I have taken upon me? And what is meant by "I am come
into the world," unless this, that I have manifested to the eyes even
of sinners who love this world, the form of a servant which I took,
making myself of no reputation? And what is meant by "Again, I leave
the world," unless this, that I take away from the sight of the lovers
of this world that which they have seen? And what is meant by "I go to
the Father," unless this, that I teach those who are my faithful ones
to understand me in that being in which I am equal to the Father?
Those who believe this will be thought worthy of being brought by
faith to sight, that is, to that very sight, in bringing them to which
He is said to "deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father." For
His faithful ones, whom He has redeemed with His blood, are called His
kingdom, for whom He now intercedes; but then, making them to abide in
Himself there, where He is equal to the Father, He will no longer pray
the Father for them. "For," He says, "the Father Himself loveth you."
For indeed He "prays," in so far as He is less than the Father; but as
He is equal with the Father, He with the Father grants. Wherefore He
certainly does not exclude Himself from that which He says, "The
Father Himself loveth you;" but He means it to be understood after
that manner which I have above spoken of, and sufficiently
intimated,--namely, that for the most part each Person of the Trinity
is so named, that the other Persons also may be understood.
Accordingly, "For the Father Himself loveth you," is so said that by
consequence both the Son and the Holy Spirit also may be understood:
not that He does not now love us, who spared not His own Son, but
delivered Him up for us all; [119] but God loves us, such as we shall
be, not such as we are, for such as they are whom He loves, such are
they whom He keeps eternally; which shall then be, when He who now
maketh intercession for us shall have "delivered up the kingdom to
God, even the Father," so as no longer to ask the Father, because the
Father Himself loveth us. But for what deserving, except of faith, by
which we believe before we see that which is promised? For by this
faith we shall arrive at sight; so that He may love us, being such, as
He loves us in order that we may become; and not such, as He hates us
because we are, and exhorts and enables us to wish not to be always.
Footnotes
[108] John xvi. 22
[109] Luke x. 30-42
[110] Rom. viii. 26
[111] Ps. xxvii. 4
[112] [The redeemed must forever stand in the relation of redeemed
sinners to their Redeemer. Thus standing, they will forever need
Christ's sacrifice and intercession in respect to their past sins in
this earthly state. But as in the heavenly state they are sinless, and
are incurring no new guilt, it is true that they do not require the
fresh application of atoning blood for new sins, nor Christ's
intercession for such. This is probably what Augustin means by saying
that Christ "no longer makes intercession for us," when he has
delivered up the kingdom to God. When the Mediator has surrendered his
commission, he ceases to redeem sinners from death, while yet he
continues forever to be the Head of those whom he has redeemed, and
their High Priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek (Heb. vii.
17.)--W.G.T.S.]
[113] 1 Cor. xv. 24-28
[114] [The animal soul is different in kind from the rational soul
though both constitute one person; while the rational soul of a man is
the same in kind with that of another man. Similarly, says Augustin,
there is a difference in kind between the human nature and the divine
nature of Christ, though constituting one theanthropic person, while
the divine nature of the Son is the same in substance with that of the
Father, though constituting two different persons, the Father and
Son.--W.G.T.S.]
[115] Proverbs--A.V.
[116] Proverbs--A.V.
[117] Show--A.V.
[118] John xvi. 25-28
[119] Rom. viii. 32
Chapter 11.--By What Rule in the Scriptures It is Understood that the
Son is Now Equal and Now Less.
22. Wherefore, having mastered this rule for interpreting the
Scriptures concerning the Son of God, that we are to distinguish in
them what relates to the form of God, in which He is equal to the
Father, and what to the form of a servant which He took, in which He
is less than the Father; we shall not be disquieted by apparently
contrary and mutually repugnant sayings of the sacred books. For both
the Son and the Holy Spirit, according to the form of God, are equal
to the Father, because neither of them is a creature, as we have
already shown: but according to the form of a servant He is less than
the Father, because He Himself has said, "My Father is greater than
I;" [120] and He is less than Himself, because it is said of Him, He
emptied Himself;" [121] and He is less than the Holy Spirit, because
He Himself says, "Whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it
shall be forgiven him; but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost,
it shall not be forgiven Him." [122] And in the Spirit too He wrought
miracles, saying: "But if I with the Spirit of God cast out devils, no
doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you." [123] And in Isaiah He
says,--in the lesson which He Himself read in the synagogue, and
showed without a scruple of doubt to be fulfilled concerning
Himself,--"The Spirit of the Lord God," He says, "is upon me: because
He hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek He hath sent
me to proclaim liberty to the captives," [124] etc.: for the doing of
which things He therefore declares Himself to be "sent," because the
Spirit of God is upon Him. According to the form of God, all things
were made by Him; [125] according to the form of a servant, He was
Himself made of a woman, made under the law. [126] According to the
form of God, He and the Father are one; [127] according to the form of
a servant, He came not to do His own will, but the will of Him that
sent Him. [128] According to the form of God, "As the Father hath life
in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself;"
[129] according to the form of a servant, His "soul is sorrowful even
unto death;" and, "O my Father," He says, "if it be possible, let this
cup pass from me." [130] According to the form of God, "He is the True
God, and eternal life;" [131] according to the form of a servant, "He
became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." [132] --23.
According to the form of God, all things that the Father hath are His,
[133] and "All mine," He says, "are Thine, and Thine are mine;" [134]
according to the form of a servant, the doctrine is not His own, but
His that sent Him. [135]
Footnotes
[120] John xiv. 28
[121] Phil. ii. 7
[122] Matt. xii. 32
[123] Matt. xii. 28
[124] Isa. lxi. 1; Luke iv. 18, 19
[125] John i. 3
[126] Gal. iv. 4
[127] John x. 30
[128] John vi. 38
[129] John v. 26. [In communicating the Divine Essence to the Son, in
eternal generation, the essence is communicated with all its
attributes. Self existence is one of these attributes. In this way,
the Father "gives to the Son to have life in himself," when he makes
common (koinonein), between Himself and the Son, the one Divine
Essence.--W.G.T.S.]
[130] Matt. xxvi. 38, 39
[131] 1 John v. 20
[132] Phil. ii. 8
[133] John xvii. 15
[134] John xvii. 10
[135] John vii. 16
Chapter 12.--In What Manner the Son is Said Not to Know the Day and
the Hour Which the Father Knows. Some Things Said of Christ According
to the Form of God, Other Things According to the Form of a Servant.
In What Way It is of Christ to Give the Kingdom, in What Not of
Christ. Christ Will Both Judge and Not Judge.
Again, "Of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels
which are in heaven; neither the Son, but the Father." [136] For He is
ignorant of this, as making others ignorant; that is, in that He did
not so know as at that time to show His disciples: [137] as it was
said to Abraham, "Now I know that thou fearest God," [138] that is,
now I have caused thee to know it; because he himself, being tried in
that temptation, became known to himself. For He was certainly going
to tell this same thing to His disciples at the fitting time; speaking
of which yet future as if past, He says, "Henceforth I call you not
servants, but friends; for the servant knoweth not what his Lord
doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard
of my Father I have made known unto you;" [139] which He had not yet
done, but spoke as though He had already done it, because He certainly
would do it. For He says to the disciples themselves, "I have yet many
things to say unto you; but ye cannot bear them now." [140] Among
which is to be understood also, "Of the day and hour." For the apostle
also says, "I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus
Christ, and Him crucified;" [141] because he was speaking to those who
were not able to receive higher things concerning the Godhead of
Christ. To whom also a little while after he says, "I could not speak
unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal." [142] He was
"ignorant," therefore, among them of that which they were not able to
know from him. And that only he said that he knew, which it was
fitting that they should know from him. In short, he knew among the
perfect what he knew not among babes; for he there says: "We speak
wisdom among them that are perfect." [143] For a man is said not to
know what he hides, after that kind of speech, after which a ditch is
called blind which is hidden. For the Scriptures do not use any other
kind of speech than may be found in use among men, because they speak
to men.
24. According to the form of God, it is said "Before all the hills He
begat me," [144] that is, before all the loftinesses of things created
and, "Before the dawn I begat Thee," [145] that is, before all times
and temporal things: but according to the form of a servant, it is
said, "The Lord created me in the beginning of His ways." [146]
Because, according to the form of God, He said, "I am the truth;" and
according to the form of a servant, "I am the way." [147] For, because
He Himself, being the first-begotten of the dead, [148] made a passage
to the kingdom of God to life eternal for His Church, to which He is
so the Head as to make the body also immortal, therefore He was
"created in the beginning of the ways" of God in His work. For,
according to the form of God, He is the beginning, [149] that also
speaketh unto us, in which "beginning" God created the heaven and the
earth; [150] but according to the form of a servant, "He is a
bridegroom coming out of His chamber." [151] According to the form of
God, "He is the first-born of every creature, and He is before all
things and by him all things consist;" according to the form of a
servant, "He is the head of the body, the Church." [152] According to
the form of God, "He is the Lord of glory." [153] From which it is
evident that He Himself glorifies His saints: for, "Whom He did
predestinate, them He also called; and whom He called, them He also
justified; and whom He justified, them He also glorified." [154] Of
Him accordingly it is said, that He justifieth the ungodly; [155] of
Him it is said, that He is just and a justifier. [156] If, therefore,
He has also glorified those whom He has justified, He who justifies,
Himself also glorifies; who is, as I have said, the Lord of glory.
Yet, according to the form of a servant, He replied to His disciples,
when inquiring about their own glorification: "To sit on my right hand
and on my left is not mine to give, but [it shall be given to them]
for whom it is prepared by my Father." [157]
25. But that which is prepared by His Father is prepared also by the
Son Himself, because He and the Father are one. [158] For we have
already shown, by many modes of speech in the divine Scriptures, that,
in this Trinity, what is said of each is also said of all, on account
of the indivisible working of the one and same substance. As He also
says of the Holy Spirit, "If I depart, I will send Him unto you."
[159] He did not say, We will send; but in such way as if the Son only
should send Him, and not the Father; while yet He says in another
place, "These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with
you; but the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will
send in my name, He shall teach you all things." [160] Here again it
is so said as if the Son also would not send Him, but the Father only.
As therefore in these texts, so also where He says, "But for them for
whom it is prepared by my Father," He meant it to be understood that
He Himself, with the Father, prepares seats of glory for those for
whom He will. But some one may say: There, when He spoke of the Holy
Spirit, He so says that He Himself will send Him, as not to deny that
the Father will send Him; and in the other place, He so says that the
Father will send Him, as not to deny that He will do so Himself; but
here He expressly says, "It is not mine to give," and so goes on to
say that these things are prepared by the Father. But this is the very
thing which we have already laid down to be said according to the form
of a servant: viz., that we are so to understand "It is not mine to
give," as if it were said, This is not in the power of man to give;
that so He may be understood to give it through that wherein He is God
equal to the Father. "It is not mine," He says, "to give;" that is, I
do not give these things by human power, but "to those for whom it is
prepared by my Father;" but then take care you understand also, that
if "all things which the Father hath are mine," [161] then this
certainly is mine also, and I with the Father have prepared these
things.
26. For I ask again, in what manner this is said, "If any man hear not
my words, I will not judge him?" [162] For perhaps He has said here,
"I will not judge him," in the same sense as there, "It is not mine to
give." But what follows here? "I came not," He says, "to judge the
world, but to save the world;" and then He adds, "He that rejecteth
me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him." Now here
we should understand the Father, unless He had added, "The word that I
have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day." Well, then,
will neither the Son judge, because He says, "I will not judge him,"
nor the Father, but the word which the Son hath spoken? Nay, but hear
what yet follows: "For I," He says, "have not spoken of myself; but
the Father which sent me, He gave me a commandment, what I should say,
and what I should speak; and I know that His commandment is life
everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said
unto me, so I speak." If therefore the Son judges not, but "the word
which the Son hath spoken;" and the word which the Son hath spoken
therefore judges, because the Son "hath not spoken of Himself, but the
Father who sent Him gave Him a commandment what He should say, and
what He should speak:" then the Father assuredly judges, whose word it
is which the Son hath spoken; and the same Son Himself is the very
Word of the Father. For the commandment of the Father is not one
thing, and the word of the Father another; for He hath called it both
a word and a commandment. Let us see, therefore, whether perchance,
when He says, "I have not spoken of myself," He meant to be understood
thus,--I am not born of myself. For if He speaks the word of the
Father, then He speaks Himself, [163] because He is Himself the Word
of the Father. For ordinarily He says, "The Father gave to me;" by
which He means it to be understood that the Father begat Him: not that
He gave anything to Him, already existing and not possessing it; but
that the very meaning of, To have given that He might have, is, To
have begotten that He might be. For it is not, as with the creature so
with the Son of God before the incarnation and before He took upon Him
our flesh, the Only-begotten by whom all things were made; that He is
one thing, and has another: but He is in such way as to be what He
has. And this is said more plainly, if any one is fit to receive it,
in that place where He says: "For as the Father hath life in Himself,
so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself." [164] For He did
not give to Him, already existing and not having life, that He should
have life in Himself; inasmuch as, in that He is, He is life.
Therefore "He gave to the Son to have life in Himself" means, He begat
the Son to be unchangeable life, which is life eternal. Since,
therefore, the Word of God is the Son of God, and the Son of God is
"the true God and eternal life," [165] as John says in his Epistle; so
here, what else are we to acknowledge when the Lord says, "The word
which I have spoken, the same shall judge him at the last day," [166]
and calls that very word the word of the Father and the commandment of
the Father, and that very commandment everlasting life?" "And I know,"
He says, "that His commandment is life everlasting."
27. I ask, therefore, how we are to understand, "I will not judge him;
but the Word which I have spoken shall judge him:" which appears from
what follows to be so said, as if He would say, I will not judge; but
the Word of the Father will judge. But the Word of the Father is the
Son of God Himself. Is it to be so understood: I will not judge, but I
will judge? How can this be true, unless in this way: viz., I will not
judge by human power, because I am the Son of man; but I will judge by
the power of the Word, because I am the Son of God? Or if it still
seems contradictory and inconsistent to say, I will not judge, but I
will judge; what shall we say of that place where He says, "My
doctrine is not mine?" How "mine," when "not mine?" For He did not
say, This doctrine is not mine, but "My doctrine is not mine:" that
which He called His own, the same He called not His own. How can this
be true, unless He has called it His own in one relation; not His own,
in another? According to the form of God, His own; according to the
form of a servant, not His own. For when He says, "It is not mine, but
His that sent me," [167] He makes us recur to the Word itself. For the
doctrine of the Father is the Word of the Father, which is the Only
Son. And what, too, does that mean, "He that believeth on me,
believeth not on me?" [168] How believe on Him, yet not believe on
Him? How can so opposite and inconsistent a thing be
understood--"Whoso believeth on me," He says, "believeth not on me,
but on Him that sent me;"--unless you so understand it, Whoso
believeth on me believeth not on that which he sees, lest our hope
should be in the creature; but on Him who took the creature, whereby
He might appear to human eyes, and so might cleanse our hearts by
faith, to contemplate Himself as equal to the Father? So that in
turning the attention of believers to the Father, and saying,
"Believeth not on me, but on Him that sent me," He certainly did not
mean Himself to be separated from the Father, that is, from Him that
sent Him; but that men might so believe on Himself, as they believe on
the Father, to whom He is equal. And this He says in express terms in
another place, "Ye believe in God, believe also in me:" [169] that is,
in the same way as you believe in God, so also believe in me; because
I and the Father are One God. As therefore, here, He has as it were
withdrawn the faith of men from Himself, and transferred it to the
Father, by saying, "Believeth not on me, but on Him that sent me,"
from whom nevertheless He certainly did not separate Himself; so also,
when He says, "It is not mine to give, but [it shall be given to them]
for whom it is prepared by my Father," it is I think plain in what
relation both are to be taken. For that other also is of the same
kind, "I will not judge;" whereas He Himself shall judge the quick and
dead. [170] But because He will not do so by human power, therefore,
reverting to the Godhead, He raises the hearts of men upwards; which
to lift up, He Himself came down.
Footnotes
[136] Mark xiii. 32
[137] [The more common explanation of this text in modern exegesis
makes the ignorance to be literal, and referable solely to the human
nature of our Lord, not to his person as a whole. Augustin's
explanation, which Bengel, on Mark xiii. 32, is inclined to favor,
escapes the difficulty that arises from a seeming division of the one
theanthopic person into two portions, one of which knows, and the
other does not. Yet this same difficulty besets the fact of a growth
in knowledge, which is plainly taught in Luke i. 80. In this case, the
increase in wisdom must relate to the humanity alone.--W.G.T.S.]
[138] Gen. xxii. 12
[139] John xv. 15
[140] John xvi. 12
[141] 1 Cor. ii. 2
[142] 1 Cor. iii. 1
[143] 1 Cor. ii. 6
[144] Prov. viii. 25
[145] Ps. cx. 3. Vulgate.
[146] Prov. viii. 22
[147] John xiv. 6
[148] Apoc. i. 5
[149] John viii. 25
[150] Gen. i. 1
[151] Ps. xix. 5
[152] Col. i. 15, 17, 18
[153] 1 Cor. ii. 8
[154] Rom. viii. 30
[155] Rom. iv. 5
[156] Rom. iii. 26
[157] Matt. xx. 23
[158] John x. 30
[159] John xvi. 7
[160] John xiv. 25, 26
[161] John xvi. 15
[162] John xii. 47-50
[163] Seipsum loquitur
[164] John v. 26
[165] 1 John v. 20
[166] John xii. 48
[167] John vii. 16
[168] John xii. 44
[169] John xiv. 1
[170] 2 Tim. iv. 1
Chapter 13.--Diverse Things are Spoken Concerning the Same Christ, on
Account of the Diverse Natures of the One Hypostasis [Theanthropic
Person]. Why It is Said that the Father Will Not Judge, But Has Given
Judgment to the Son.
28. Yet unless the very same were the Son of man on account of the
form of a servant which He took, who is the Son of God on account of
the form of God in which He is; Paul the apostle would not say of the
princes of this world, "For had they known it, they would not have
crucified the Lord of glory." [171] For He was crucified after the
form of a servant, and yet "the Lord of glory" was crucified. For that
"taking" was such as to make God man, and man God. Yet what is said on
account of what, and what according to what, the thoughtful, diligent,
and pious reader discerns for himself, the Lord being his helper. For
instance, we have said that He glorifies His own, as being God, and
certainly then as being the Lord of glory; and yet the Lord of glory
was crucified, because even God is rightly said to have been
crucified, not after the power of the divinity, but after the weakness
of the flesh: [172] just as we say, that He judges as God, that is, by
divine power, not by human; and yet the man Himself will judge, just
as the Lord of glory was crucified: for so He expressly says, "When
the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with
Him, and before Him shall be gathered all nations;" [173] and the rest
that is foretold of the future judgment in that place even to the last
sentence. And the Jews, inasmuch as they will be punished in that
judgment for persisting in their wickedness, as it is elsewhere
written, "shall look upon Him whom they have pierced." [174] For
whereas both good and bad shall see the Judge of the quick and dead,
without doubt the bad will not be able to see Him, except after the
form in which He is the Son of man; but yet in the glory wherein He
will judge, not in the lowliness wherein He was judged. But the
ungodly without doubt will not see that form of God in which He is
equal to the Father. For they are not pure in heart; and "Blessed are
the pure in heart: for they shall see God." [175] And that sight is
face to face, [176] the very sight that is promised as the highest
reward to the just, and which will then take place when He "shall have
delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father;" and in this
"kingdom" He means the sight of His own form also to be understood,
the whole creature being made subject to God, including that wherein
the Son of God was made the Son of man. Because, according to this
creature, "The Son also Himself shall be subject unto Him, that put
all things under Him, that God may be all in all." [177] Otherwise if
the Son of God, judging in the form in which He is equal to the
Father, shall appear when He judges to the ungodly also; what becomes
of that which He promises, as some great thing, to him who loves Him,
saying, "And I will love him, and will manifest myself to him?" [178]
Wherefore He will judge as the Son of man, yet not by human power, but
by that whereby He is the Son of God; and on the other hand, He will
judge as the Son of God, yet not appearing in that [unincarnate] form
in which He is God equal to the Father, but in that [incarnate form]
in which He is the Son of man. [179]
29. Therefore both ways of speaking may be used; the Son of man will
judge, and, the Son of man will not judge: since the Son of man will
judge, that the text may be true which says, "When the Son of man
shall come, then before Him shall be gathered all nations;" and the
Son of man will not judge, that the text may be true which says, "I
will not judge him;" [180] and, "I seek not mine own glory: there is
One that seeketh and judgeth." [181] For in respect to this, that in
the judgment, not the form of God, but the form of the Son of man will
appear, the Father Himself will not judge; for according to this it is
said, "For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment
unto the Son." Whether this is said after that mode of speech which we
have mentioned above, where it is said, "So hath He given to the Son
to have life in Himself," [182] that it should signify that so He
begat the Son; or, whether after that of which the apostle speaks,
saying, "Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a
name which is above every name:"--(For this is said of the Son of man,
in respect to whom the Son of God was raised from the dead; since He,
being in the form of God equal to the Father, wherefrom He "emptied"
Himself by taking the form of a servant, both acts and suffers, and
receives, in that same form of a servant, what the apostle goes on to
mention: "He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the
death of the cross; wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and
given Him a name which is above every name; that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and
things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord, in the Glory of God the Father:" [183] --whether
then the words, "He hath committed all judgment unto the Son," are
said according to this or that mode of speech; it sufficiently appears
from this place, that if they were said according to that sense in
which it is said, "He hath given to the Son to have life in Himself,"
it certainly would not be said, "The Father judgeth no man." For in
respect to this, that the Father hath begotten the Son equal to
Himself, He judges with Him. Therefore it is in respect to this that
it is said, that in the judgment, not the form of God, but the form of
the Son of man will appear. Not that He will not judge, who hath
committed all judgment unto the Son, since the Son saith of Him,
"There is One that seeketh and judgeth:" but it is so said, "The
Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son;"
as if it were said, No one will see the Father in the judgment of the
quick and the dead, but all will see the Son: because He is also the
Son of man, so that He can be seen even by the ungodly, since they too
shall see Him whom they have pierced.
30. Lest, however, we may seem to conjecture this rather than to prove
it clearly, let us produce a certain and plain sentence of the Lord
Himself, by which we may show that this was the cause why He said,
"The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the
Son," viz. because He will appear as Judge in the form of the Son of
man, which is not the form of the Father, but of the Son; nor yet that
form of the Son in which He is equal to the Father, but that in which
He is less than the Father; in order that, in the judgment, He may be
visible both to the good and to the bad. For a little while after He
says, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and
believeth on Him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not
come into condemnation; but shall pass [184] from death unto life."
Now this life eternal is that sight which does not belong to the bad.
Then follows, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and
now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they
that hear shall live." [185] And this is proper to the godly, who so
hear of His incarnation, as to believe that He is the Son of God, that
is, who so receive Him, as made for their sakes less than the Father,
in the form of a servant, that they believe Him equal to the Father,
in the form of God. And thereupon He continues, enforcing this very
point, "For as the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to
the Son to have life in Himself." And then He comes to the sight of
His own glory, in which He shall come to judgment; which sight will be
common to the ungodly and to the just. For He goes on to say, "And
hath given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the
Son of man." [186] I think nothing can be more clear. For inasmuch as
the Son of God is equal to the Father, He does not receive this power
of executing judgment, but He has it with the Father in secret; but He
receives it, so that the good and the bad may see Him judging,
inasmuch as He is the Son of man. Since the sight of the Son of man
will be shown to the bad also: for the sight of the form of God will
not be shown except to the pure in heart, for they shall see God; that
is, to the godly only, to whose love He promises this very thing, that
He will show Himself to them. And see, accordingly, what follows:
"Marvel not at this," He says. Why does He forbid us to marvel, unless
it be that, in truth, every one marvels who does not understand, that
therefore He said the Father gave Him power also to execute judgment,
because He is the Son of man; whereas, it might rather have been
anticipated that He would say, since He is the Son of God? But because
the wicked are not able to see the Son of God as He is in the form of
God equal to the Father, but yet it is necessary that both the just
and the wicked should see the Judge of the quick and dead, when they
will be judged in His presence; "Marvel not at this," He says, "for
the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear
His voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the
resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the
resurrection of damnation." [187] For this purpose, then, it was
necessary that He should therefore receive that power, because He is
the Son of man, in order that all in rising again might see Him in the
form in which He can be seen by all, but by some to damnation, by
others to life eternal. And what is life eternal, unless that sight
which is not granted to the ungodly? "That they might know Thee," He
says, "the One true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent." [188]
And how are they to know Jesus Christ Himself also, unless as the One
true God, who will show Himself to them; not as He will show Himself,
in the form of the Son of man, to those also that shall be punished?
[189]
31. He is "good," according to that sight, according to which God
appears to the pure in heart; for "truly God is good unto Israel even
to such as are of a clean heart." [190] But when the wicked shall see
the Judge, He will not seem good to them; because they will not
rejoice in their heart to see Him, but all "kindreds of the earth
shall then wail because of Him," [191] namely, as being reckoned in
the number of all the wicked and unbelievers. On this account also He
replied to him, who had called Him Good Master, when seeking advice of
Him how he might attain eternal life, "Why askest thou me about good?
[192] there is none good but One, that is, God." [193] And yet the
Lord Himself, in another place, calls man good: "A good man," He says,
"out of the good treasure of his heart, bringeth forth good things:
and an evil man, out of the evil treasure of his heart, bringeth forth
evil things." [194] But because that man was seeking eternal life, and
eternal life consists in that contemplation in which God is seen, not
for punishment, but for everlasting joy; and because he did not
understand with whom he was speaking, and thought Him to be only the
Son of man: [195] Why, He says, askest thou me about good? that is,
with respect to that form which thou seest, why askest thou about
good, and callest me, according to what thou seest, Good Master? This
is the form of the Son of man, the form which has been taken, the form
that will appear in judgment, not only to the righteous, but also to
the ungodly; and the sight of this form will not be for good to those
who are wicked. But there is a sight of that form of mine, in which
when I was, I thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but in
order to take this form I emptied myself. [196] That one God,
therefore, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, who will not
appear, except for joy which cannot be taken away from the just; for
which future joy he sighs, who says, "One thing have I desired of the
Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the
Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord:" [197]
that one God, therefore, Himself, I say, is alone good, for this
reason, that no one sees Him for sorrow and wailing, but only for
salvation and true joy. If you understand me after this latter form,
then I am good; but if according to that former only, then why askest
thou me about good? If thou art among those who "shall look upon Him
whom they have pierced," [198] that very sight itself will be evil to
them, because it will be penal. That after this meaning, then, the
Lord said, "Why askest thou me about good? there is none good but One,
that is, God," is probable upon those proofs which I have alleged,
because that sight of God, whereby we shall contemplate the substance
of God unchangeable and invisible to human eyes (which is promised to
the saints alone; which the Apostle Paul speaks of, as "face to face;"
[199] and of which the Apostle John says, "We shall be like Him, for
we shall see Him as He is;" [200] and of which it is said, "One thing
have I desired of the Lord, that I may behold the beauty of the Lord,"
and of which the Lord Himself says, "I will both love him, and will
manifest myself to him;" [201] and on account of which alone we
cleanse our hearts by faith, that we may be those "pure in heart who
are blessed for they shall see God:" [202] and whatever else is spoken
of that sight: which whosoever turns the eye of love to seek it, may
find most copiously scattered through all the Scriptures),--that sight
alone, I say, is our chief good, for the attaining of which we are
directed to do whatever we do aright. But that sight of the Son of man
which is foretold, when all nations shall be gathered before Him, and
shall say to Him, "Lord, when saw we Thee an hungered, or thirsty,
etc.?" will neither be a good to the ungodly, who shall be sent into
everlasting fire, nor the chief good to the righteous. For He still
goes on to call these to the kingdom which has been prepared for them
from the foundation of the world. For, as He will say to those,
"Depart into everlasting fire;" so to these, "Come, ye blessed of my
Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you." And as those will go
into everlasting burning; so the righteous will go into life eternal.
But what is life eternal, except "that they may know Thee," He says,
"the One true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent?" [203] but
know Him now in that glory of which He says to the Father, "Which I
had with Thee before the world was." [204] For then He will deliver up
the kingdom to God, even the Father, [205] that the good servant may
enter into the joy of his Lord, [206] and that He may hide those whom
God keeps in the hiding of His countenance from the confusion of men,
namely, of those men who shall then be confounded by hearing this
sentence; of which evil hearing "the righteous man shall not be
afraid" [207] if only he be kept in "the tabernacle," that is, in the
true faith of the Catholic Church, from "the strife of tongues," [208]
that is, from the sophistries of heretics. But if there is any other
explanation of the words of the Lord, where He says, "Why asketh thou
me about good? there is none good, but One, that is, God;" provided
only that the substance of the Father be not therefore believed to be
of greater goodness than that of the Son, according to which He is the
Word by whom all things were made; and if there is nothing in it
abhorrent from sound doctrine; let us securely use it, and not one
explanation only, but as many as we are able to find. For so much the
more powerfully are the heretics proved wrong, the more outlets are
open for avoiding their snares. But let us now start afresh, and
address ourselves to the consideration of that which still remains.
Footnotes
[171] 1 Cor. ii. 8
[172] 2 Cor. xiii. 4
[173] Matt. xxv. 31, 32
[174] Zech. xii. 10
[175] Matt. v. 8
[176] 1 Cor. xiii. 12
[177] 1 Cor. xv. 24-28
[178] John xiv. 21
[179] [Augustin in this discussion, sometimes employs the phrase "Son
of man" to denote the human nature of Christ, in distinction from the
divine. But in Scripture and in trinitarian theology generally, this
phrase properly denotes the whole theanthropic person under a human
title--just as "man", (1 Tim. ii. 5), "last Adam" (1 Cor. xv. 45), and
"second man" (1 Cor. xv. 47), denote not the human nature, but the
whole divine-human person under a human title. Strictly used, the
phrase "Son of man" does not designate the difference between the
divine and human natures in the theanthropos, but between the person
of the un-incarnate and that of the incarnate Logos. Augustin's
meaning is, that the Son of God will judge men at the last day, not in
his original "form of God," but as this is united with human
nature--as the Son of man.--W.G.T.S.]
[180] John xii. 47
[181] John viii. 50
[182] John v. 22, 26
[183] Phil. ii. 8-11
[184] Transiit in Vulg.; and so in the Greek.
[185] John v. 24, 25
[186] John v. 25, 26
[187] John v. 22-29
[188] John xvii. 3
[189] [Augustin here seems to teach that the phenomenal appearance of
Christ to the redeemed in heaven will be different from that to all
men in the day of judgment. He says that he will show himself to the
former "in the form of God;" to the latter, "in the form of the Son of
man." But, surely, it is one and the same God-man who sits on the
judgment throne, and the heavenly throne. His appearance must be the
same in both instances: namely, that of God incarnate. The effect of
his phenomenal appearance upon the believer will, indeed, be very
different from that upon the unbeliever. For the wicked, this vision
of God incarnate will be one of terror; for the redeemed one of
joy.--W.G.T.S.]
[190] Ps. lxxiii. 1
[191] Apoc. i. 7
[192] [Augustin's reading of this text is that of the uncials; and in
that form which omits the article with agathou.--W.G.T.S.]
[193] Matt. xix. 17
[194] Matt. xii. 35
[195] [That is, a mere man. Augustin here, as in some other places,
employs the phrase "Son of man" to denote the human nature by
itself--not the divine and human natures united in one person, and
designated by this human title. The latter is the Scripture usage. As
"Immanuel" does not properly denote the divine nature, but the union
of divinity and humanity, so "Son of man" does not properly denote the
human nature, but the union of divinity and humanity.--W.G.T.S.]
[196] Phil. ii. 6, 7
[197] Ps. xxvii. 4
[198] Zech. xii. 10
[199] 1 Cor. xiii. 12
[200] 1 John iii. 2
[201] John xiv. 21
[202] Matt. v. 8
[203] Matt. xxv. 37, 41, 34
[204] John xvii. 3-5
[205] 1 Cor. xv. 24
[206] Matt. xxv. 21, 23
[207] Ps. cxii. 7
[208] Ps. xxxi. 21
.
Book II.
Augustin pursues his defense of the equality of the Trinity; and in
treating of the sending of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and of the
various appearances of God, demonstrates that He who is sent is not
therefore less than He who sends, because the one has sent, the other
has been sent; but that the Trinity, being in all things equal, and
alike in its own nature unchangeable and invisible and omnipresent,
works indivisibly in each sending or appearance.
Preface.
When men seek to know God, and bend their minds according to the
capacity of human weakness to the understanding of the Trinity;
learning, as they must, by experience, the wearisome difficulties of
the task, whether from the sight itself of the mind striving to gaze
upon light unapproachable, or, indeed, from the manifold and various
modes of speech employed in the sacred writings (wherein, as it seems
to me, the mind is nothing else but roughly exercised, in order that
it may find sweetness when glorified by the grace of Christ);--such
men, I say, when they have dispelled every ambiguity, and arrived at
something certain, ought of all others most easily to make allowance
for those who err in the investigation of so deep a secret. But there
are two things most hard to bear with, in the case of those who are in
error: hasty assumption before the truth is made plain; and, when it
has been made plain, defence of the falsehood thus hastily assumed.
From which two faults, inimical as they are to the finding out of the
truth, and to the handling of the divine and sacred books, should God,
as I pray and hope, defend and protect me with the shield of His good
will, [209] and with the grace of His mercy, I will not be slow to
search out the substance of God, whether through His Scripture or
through the creature. For both of these are set forth for our
contemplation to this end, that He may Himself be sought, and Himself
be loved, who inspired the one, and created the other. Nor shall I be
afraid of giving my opinion, in which I shall more desire to be
examined by the upright, than fear to be carped at by the perverse.
For charity, most excellent and unassuming, gratefully accepts the
dovelike eye; but for the dog's tooth nothing remains, save either to
shun it by the most cautious humility, or to blunt it by the most
solid truth; and far rather would I be censured by any one whatsoever,
than be praised by either the erring or the flatterer. For the lover
of truth need fear no one's censure. For he that censures, must needs
be either enemy or friend. And if an enemy reviles, he must be borne
with: but a friend, if he errs, must be taught; if he teaches,
listened to. But if one who errs praises you, he confirms your error;
if one who flatters, he seduces you into error. "Let the righteous,"
therefore, "smite me, it shall be a kindness; and let him reprove me;
but the oil of the sinner shall not anoint my head." [210]
Footnotes
[209] Ps. v. 12
[210] Ps. cxli. 5
Chapter 1.--There is a Double Rule for Understanding the Scriptural
Modes of Speech Concerning the Son of God. These Modes of Speech are
of a Threefold Kind.
2. Wherefore, although we hold most firmly, concerning our Lord Jesus
Christ, what may be called the canonical rule, as it is both
disseminated through the Scriptures, and has been demonstrated by
learned and Catholic handlers of the same Scriptures, namely, that the
Son of God is both understood to be equal to the Father according to
the form of God in which He is, and less than the Father according to
the form of a servant which He took; [211] in which form He was found
to be not only less than the Father, but also less than the Holy
Spirit; and not only so, but less even than Himself,--not than Himself
who was, but than Himself who is; because, by taking the form of a
servant, He did not lose the form of God, as the testimonies of the
Scriptures taught us, to which we have referred in the former book:
yet there are some things in the sacred text so put as to leave it
ambiguous to which rule they are rather to be referred; whether to
that by which we understand the Son as less, in that He has taken upon
Him the creature, or to that by which we understand that the Son is
not indeed less than, but equal to the Father, but yet that He is from
Him, God of God, Light of light. For we call the Son God of God; but
the Father, God only; not of God. Whence it is plain that the Son has
another of whom He is, and to whom He is Son; but that the Father has
not a Son of whom He is, but only to whom He is father. For every son
is what he is, of his father, and is son to his father; but no father
is what he is, of his son, but is father to his son. [212]
3. Some things, then, are so put in the Scriptures concerning the
Father and the Son, as to intimate the unity and equality of their
substance; as, for instance, "I and the Father are one;" [213] and,
"Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal
with God;" [214] and whatever other texts there are of the kind. And
some, again, are so put that they show the Son as less on account of
the form of a servant, that is, of His having taken upon Him the
creature of a changeable and human substance; as, for instance, that
which says, "For my Father is greater than I;" [215] and, "The Father
judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son." For a
little after he goes on to say, "And hath given Him authority to
execute judgment also, because He is the Son of man." And further,
some are so put, as to show Him at that time neither as less nor as
equal, but only to intimate that He is of the Father; as, for
instance, that which says, "For as the Father hath life in Himself, so
hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself;" and that other:
"The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He seeth the Father do."
[216] For if we shall take this to be therefore so said, because the
Son is less in the form taken from the creature, it will follow that
the Father must have walked on the water, or opened the eyes with clay
and spittle of some other one born blind, and have done the other
things which the Son appearing in the flesh did among men, before the
Son did them; [217] in order that He might be able to do those things,
who said that the Son was not able to do anything of Himself, except
what He hath seen the Father do. Yet who, even though he were mad,
would think this? It remains, therefore, that these texts are so
expressed, because the life of the Son is unchangeable as that of the
Father is, and yet He is of the Father; and the working of the Father
and of the Son is indivisible, and yet so to work is given to the Son
from Him of whom He Himself is, that is, from the Father; and the Son
so sees the Father, as that He is the Son in the very seeing Him. For
to be of the Father, that is, to be born of the Father, is to Him
nothing else than to see the Father; and to see Him working, is
nothing else than to work with Him: but therefore not from Himself,
because He is not from Himself. And, therefore, those things which "He
sees the Father do, these also doeth the Son likewise," because He is
of the Father. For He neither does other things in like manner, as a
painter paints other pictures, in the same way as he sees others to
have been painted by another man; nor the same things in a different
manner, as the body expresses the same letters, which the mind has
thought; but "whatsoever things," saith He, "the Father doeth, these
same things also doeth the Son likewise." [218] He has said both
"these same things," and "likewise;" and hence the working of both the
Father and the Son is indivisible and equal, but it is from the Father
to the Son. Therefore the Son cannot do anything of Himself, except
what He seeth the Father do. From this rule, then, whereby the
Scriptures so speak as to mean, not to set forth one as less than
another, but only to show which is of which, some have drawn this
meaning, as if the Son were said to be less. And some among ourselves
who are more unlearned and least instructed in these things,
endeavoring to take these texts according to the form of a servant,
and so misinterpreting them, are troubled. And to prevent this, the
rule in question is to be observed whereby the Son is not less, but it
is simply intimated that He is of the Father, in which words not His
inequality but His birth is declared.
Footnotes
[211] Phil. ii. 6, 7
[212] [Augustin here brings to view both the trinitarian and the
theanthropic or mediatorial subordination. The former is the status of
Sonship. God the Son is God of God. Sonship as a relation is
subordinate to paternity. But a son must be of the same grade of
being, and of the same nature with his father. A human son and a human
father are alike and equally human. And a Divine Son and a Divine
father are alike and equally divine. The theanthropic or mediatorial
subordination is the status of humiliation, by reason of the
incarnation. In the words of Augustin, it is "that by which we
understand the Son as less, in that he has taken upon Him the
creature." The subordination in this case is that of voluntary
condescension, for the purpose of redeeming sinful man.--W.G.T.S.]
[213] John x. 30
[214] Phil. ii. 6
[215] John xiv. 28
[216] John v. 22, 27, 26, 19
[217] Matt. xiv. 26, and John ix. 6, 7
[218] John v. 19
Chapter 2.--That Some Ways of Speaking Concerning the Son are to Be
Understood According to Either Rule.
4. There are, then, some things in the sacred books, as I began by
saying, so put, that it is doubtful to which they are to be referred:
whether to that rule whereby the Son is less on account of His having
taken the creature; or whether to that whereby it is intimated that
although equal, yet He is of the Father. And in my opinion, if this is
in such way doubtful, that which it really is can neither be explained
nor discerned, then such passages may without danger be understood
according to either rule, as that, for instance, "My doctrine is not
mine, but His that sent me." [219] For this may both be taken
according to the form of a servant, as we have already treated it in
the former book; [220] or according to the form of God, in which He is
in such way equal to the Father, that He is yet of the Father. For
according to the form of God, as the Son is not one and His life
another, but the life itself is the Son; so the Son is not one and His
doctrine another, but the doctrine itself is the Son. And hence, as
the text, "He hath given life to the Son," is no otherwise to be
understood than, He hath begotten the Son, who is life; so also when
it is said, He hath given doctrine to the Son, it may be rightly
understood to mean, He hath begotten the Son, who is doctrine so that,
when it is said, "My doctrine is not mine, but His who sent me," it is
so to be understood as if it were, I am not from myself, but from Him
who sent me.
Footnotes
[219] John vii. 16
[220] See above, Book I. c. 12.
Chapter 3.--Some Things Concerning the Holy Spirit are to Be
Understood According to the One Rule Only.
5. For even of the Holy Spirit, of whom it is not said, "He emptied
Himself, and took upon Him the form of a servant;" yet the Lord
Himself says, "Howbeit, when He the Spirit of Truth is come, He will
guide you into all truth. For He shall not speak of Himself, but
whatsoever He shall hear that shall He speak; and He will show you
things to come. He shall glorify me; for He shall receive of mine, and
shall show it unto you." And except He had immediately gone on to say
after this, "All things that the Father hath are mine; therefore said
I, that He shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you;" [221] it
might, perhaps, have been believed that the Holy Spirit was so born of
Christ, as Christ is of the Father. Since He had said of Himself, "My
doctrine is not mine, but His that sent me;" but of the Holy Spirit,
"For He shall not speak of Himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that
shall He speak;" and, "For He shall receive of mine, and shall show it
unto you." But because He has rendered the reason why He said, "He
shall receive of mine" (for He says, "All things that the Father hath
are mine; therefore said I, that He shall take of mine"); it remains
that the Holy Spirit be understood to have of that which is the
Father's, as the Son also hath. And how can this be, unless according
to that which we have said above, "But when the Comforter is come,
whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth
which proceedeth from the Father, He shall testify of me"? [222] He is
said, therefore, not to speak of Himself, in that He proceedeth from
the Father; and as it does not follow that the Son is less because He
said, "The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He seeth the Father
do" (for He has not said this according to the form of a servant, but
according to the form of God, as we have already shown, and these
words do not set Him forth as less than, but as of the Father), so it
is not brought to pass that the Holy Spirit is less, because it is
said of Him, "For He shall not speak of Himself, but whatsoever He
shall hear, that shall He speak;" for the words belong to Him as
proceeding from the Father. But whereas both the Son is of the Father,
and the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father, why both are not called
sons, and both not said to be begotten, but the former is called the
one only-begotten Son, and the latter, viz. the Holy Spirit, neither
son nor begotten, because if begotten, then certainly a son, we will
discuss in another place, if God shall grant, and so far as He shall
grant. [223]
Footnotes
[221] John xvi. 13-15
[222] John xv. 26
[223] Below, Bk. XV. c. 25.
Chapter 4.--The Glorification of the Son by the Father Does Not Prove
Inequality.
6. But here also let them wake up if they can, who have thought this,
too, to be a testimony on their side, to show that the Father is
greater than the Son, because the Son hath said, "Father, glorify me."
Why, the Holy Spirit also glorifies Him. Pray, is the Spirit, too,
greater than He? Moreover, if on that account the Holy Spirit
glorifies the Son, because He shall receive of that which is the
Son's, and shall therefore receive of that which is the Son's because
all things that the Father has are the Son's also; it is evident that
when the Holy Spirit glorifies the Son, the Father glorifies the Son.
Whence it may be perceived that all things that the Father hath are
not only of the Son, but also of the Holy Spirit, because the Holy
Spirit is able to glorify the Son, whom the Father glorifies. But if
he who glorifies is greater than he whom he glorifies, let them allow
that those are equal who mutually glorify each other. But it is
written, also, that the Son glorifies the Father; for He says, "I have
glorified Thee on the earth." [224] Truly let them beware lest the
Holy Spirit be thought greater than both, because He glorifies the Son
whom the Father glorifies, while it is not written that He Himself is
glorified either by the Father or by the Son.
Footnotes
[224] John xvii. 1, 4
Chapter 5.--The Son and Holy Spirit are Not Therefore Less Because
Sent. The Son is Sent Also by Himself. Of the Sending of the Holy
Spirit.
7. But being proved wrong so far, men betake themselves to saying,
that he who sends is greater than he who is sent: therefore the Father
is greater than the Son, because the Son continually speaks of Himself
as being sent by the Father; and the Father is also greater than the
Holy Spirit, because Jesus has said of the Spirit, "Whom the Father
will send in my name;" [225] and the Holy Spirit is less than both,
because both the Father sends Him, as we have said, and the Son, when
He says, "But if I depart, I will send Him unto you." I first ask,
then, in this inquiry, whence and whither the Son was sent. "I," He
says, "came forth from the Father, and am come into the world." [226]
Therefore, to be sent, is to come forth forth from the Father, and to
come into the world. What, then, is that which the same evangelist
says concerning Him, "He was in the world, and the world was made by
Him, and the world knew Him not;" and then he adds, "He came unto His
own?" [227] Certainly He was sent thither, whither He came; but if He
was sent into the world, because He came forth from the Father, then
He both came into the world and was in the world. He was sent
therefore thither, where He already was. For consider that, too, which
is written in the prophet, that God said, "Do not I fill heaven and
earth?" [228] If this is said of the Son (for some will have it
understood that the Son Himself spoke either by the prophets or in the
prophets), whither was He sent except to the place where He already
was? For He who says, "I fill heaven and earth," was everywhere. But
if it is said of the Father, where could He be without His own word
and without His own wisdom, which "reacheth from one end to another
mightily, and sweetly ordereth all things?" [229] But He cannot be
anywhere without His own Spirit. Therefore, if God is everywhere, His
Spirit also is everywhere. Therefore, the Holy Spirit, too, was sent
thither, where He already was. For he, too, who finds no place to
which he might go from the presence of God, and who says, "If I ascend
up into heaven, Thou art there; if I shall go down into hell, behold,
Thou art there;" wishing it to be understood that God is present
everywhere, named in the previous verse His Spirit; for He says,"
Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from Thy
presence?" [230]
8. For this reason, then, if both the Son and the Holy Spirit are sent
thither where they were, we must inquire, how that sending, whether of
the Son or of the Holy Spirit, is to be understood; for of the Father
alone, we nowhere read that He is sent. Now, of the Son, the apostle
writes thus: "But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent
forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them
that were under the law." [231] "He sent," he says, "His Son, made of
a woman." And by this term, woman, [232] what Catholic does not know
that he did not wish to signify the privation of virginity; but,
according to a Hebraism, the difference of sex? When, therefore, he
says, "God sent His Son, made of a woman," he sufficiently shows that
the Son was "sent" in this very way, in that He was "made of a woman."
Therefore, in that He was born of God, He was in the world; but in
that He was born of Mary, He was sent and came into the world.
Moreover, He could not be sent by the Father without the Holy Spirit,
not only because the Father, when He sent Him, that is, when He made
Him of a woman, is certainly understood not to have so made Him
without His own Spirit; but also because it is most plainly and
expressly said in the Gospel in answer to the Virgin Mary, when she
asked of the angel, "How shall this be?" "The Holy Ghost shall come
upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee." [233]
And Matthew says, "She was found with child of the Holy Ghost." [234]
Although, too, in the prophet Isaiah, Christ Himself is understood to
say of His own future advent, "And now the Lord God and His Spirit
hath sent me." [235]
9. Perhaps some one may wish to drive us to say, that the Son is sent
also by Himself, because the conception and childbirth of Mary is the
working of the Trinity, by whose act of creating all things are
created. And how, he will go on to say, has the Father sent Him, if He
sent Himself? To whom I answer first, by asking him to tell me, if he
can, in what manner the Father hath sanctified Him, if He hath
sanctified Himself? For the same Lord says both; "Say ye of Him," He
says, "whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the world, Thou
blasphemest, because I said, I am the Son of God;" [236] while in
another place He says, "And for their sake I sanctify myself." [237] I
ask, also, in what manner the Father delivered Him, if He delivered
Himself? For the Apostle Paul says both: "Who," he says, "spared not
His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all;" [238] while elsewhere
he says of the Saviour Himself, "Who loved me, and delivered Himself
for me." [239] He will reply, I suppose, if he has a right sense in
these things, Because the will of the Father and the Son is one, and
their working indivisible. In like manner, then, let him understand
the incarnation and nativity of the Virgin, wherein the Son is
understood as sent, to have been wrought by one and the same operation
of the Father and of the Son indivisibly; the Holy Spirit certainly
not being thence excluded, of whom it is expressly said, "She was
found with child by the Holy Ghost." For perhaps our meaning will be
more plainly unfolded, if we ask in what manner God sent His Son. He
commanded that He should come, and He, complying with the commandment,
came. Did He then request, or did He only suggest? But whichever of
these it was, certainly it was done by a word, and the Word of God is
the Son of God Himself. Wherefore, since the Father sent Him by a
word, His being sent was the work of both the Father and His Word;
therefore the same Son was sent by the Father and the Son, because the
Son Himself is the Word of the Father. For who would embrace so
impious an opinion as to think the Father to have uttered a word in
time, in order that the eternal Son might thereby be sent and might
appear in the flesh in the fullness of time? But assuredly it was in
that Word of God itself which was in the beginning with God and was
God, namely, in the wisdom itself of God, apart from time, at what
time that wisdom must needs appear in the flesh. Therefore, since
without any commencement of time, the Word was in the beginning, and
the Word was with God, and the Word was God, it was in the Word itself
without any time, at what time the Word was to be made flesh and dwell
among us. [240] And when this fullness of time had come, "God sent His
Son, made of a woman," [241] that is, made in time, that the Incarnate
Word might appear to men; while it was in that Word Himself, apart
from time, at what time this was to be done; for the order of times is
in the eternal wisdom of God without time. Since, then, that the Son
should appear in the flesh was wrought by both the Father and the Son,
it is fitly said that He who appeared in that flesh was sent, and that
He who did not appear in it, sent Him; because those things which are
transacted outwardly before the bodily eyes have their existence from
the inward structure (apparatu) of the spiritual nature, and on that
account are fitly said to be sent. Further, that form of man which He
took is the person of the Son, not also of the Father; on which
account the invisible Father, together with the Son, who with the
Father is invisible, is s