So far with reference to this. Now let us examine and declare what is meant by the form of prayer used, pra Father, then. He saith, glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son may also glorify Thee. How then, or in what manner, will what I have said be brought to pass 1 I will. He says, that as Thou hast given Me power over all flesh, that so also, all that Thou hast given Me may have life eternal. For the Father glorified His own Son, putting the whole world under His rule: and He was glorified Himself also in turn by Him. For the Son was glorified of the Father, being believed of all to be, the Offsj)ring and Fruit of Him That is all-powerful, and at His pleasure puts all things under the yoke of His Son's kingly power; and the Father was glorified in turn, so to speak, by His own Son. For since the Son was known to be able to accomplish all things at His pleasure, the splendour of His reputation has reached to Him That begat Him. As therefore, He says. Thou didst glorify and wast glorified, giving to the Son power and sovereignty over all, after the manner just now stated, so I will that nothing that Thou hast given Me be lost; for this honour will pass from the Father to the Son, and from the Son to the Father. For it was meet that all those who were wholly subject to. and under, the rule of the Word, the allpowerful God, now having been saved once for all, should also abide in blessings without end; so as to be freed from the power of death, and the dominion of corruption and sin, and should no longer lie in subjection to their ancient enemies.
And, as the words, Tliou gavest Him authority over all Chap. 4. flesh, may possibly perplex some simple-minded hearers, ^' ^^"' * let us make a few reflections thereon which may be useful; without scruple, as it is necessary, even though language may be wholly inadequate to such an exposition. For the Lord will say this most suitably in the character He had assumed; I mean His humiliation and His lowly humanity. For listen to the argument: If indeed we feel ashamed, when we hear that He became a slave for our sakes, though Lord of all with the Father; and that He was set up as King ujion His holy hill of Z ion, Pa. u. 6. though He had the power to reign over the universe by right of His own Nature, and borrowed it not from others; we must needs also feel ashamed, if He says that He receives anything as Man. And, if we marvel at His voluntary subjection, when we bear in mind the dignity that is His by birthright, why are we not also astonied when we hear this saying? For, possessing all things as God, He says that He receives as Man, to whom kingly power comes, not by natural right, but by gift. For What hast tJtou that thou didst not receive? will suit the l Cor. iv. limitations of created beings; and Christ is also a creature in so far as He is Man; though by Nature uncreate, in so far as He came from God. For all things are conceived of, as naturally and individually being in God's hand, and are so in truth; but all good things in us are borrowed and brought down to us by Divine grace. When then, as Man, being appointed to rule over us. He says that the Father has given Him power over all flesh, we must not be oflfended at it; for we must bear in mind the scheme of our redemption. But, if you choose to listen to His words as having more reference to His Divinity, think on what the Lord said to the Jews: Verily, verily, I say Supra unto you, no man can come to Me except the Father ^^' which sent Me draw Him. For whom the Father will quicken, them, as by His own life-giving power. He brings to His Son, and through Him gives them power and wisdom; nay, if He will to bring -any into subjection to
Book 11. His own rule, He calls them in no other way, save by c. xvn. 2. ^-^^ living and all-sufficient Might, whereby He rules over the universe — I mean His Son. For men, who have of themselves no power to a,ccomplish anything that is above and beyond themselves, borrow from God the power, which can bring all things superhuman into subjection; for through Him, kings have their dominion, according to the Scripture, and monarchs through Him rule over the earth. And the God of the universe, having this power in Himself alone, subjects to Himself the race of man, who are reprobates from His love, and have shaken off the yoke of His kingdom, together with all beside; receiving, as it were, from His own might, the gift of dominion over them, and subjugating thereby whatsoever He will. For God the Father subjects them to His Son, as to His own power; and thi-ough Him wholly, and in no other way, all things that exist become His willing subjects, through obedience to His yoke. For as He endows with wisdom, and quickens with life, all things through Him, so also He rules over the universe through Him.
We must observe, however, that it was not to Israel alone any longer, that the favour of the Divine love of mankind was confined, but it was extended to all flesh. For that which is wholly subject to the power of the Saviour, will wholly partake in life and grace from
That the Son will not be excluded from being true God, even though He named God the Father the only true God.
3 And this is life eternal, that they should know Thee the only Chap. 5. true God, and Him Whom Thou didst send, even Jesus " Christ.
He defines faith as the mother of eternal life, and says that the power of the true knowledge of God will be such as to cause us to remain for ever in a state of incorruption, and blessedness, and sanctification. And we say that that is true knowledge of God, which cannot incur the reproach of turning aside to aught else, or running after things unseemly. For some have worshipped the creature rather than the Creator, and Rom. i. have dared to say to a block of wood: Thou art i^^y jer.n.27. Father; and to a stone, Thou hast begotten me. For to such abysmal ignorance did miserable men relapse, that they even gave, in all its fulness, the great Name of God, to senseless blocks of wood; and invested them with the ineffable glory of that Nature, which is over all. He calls God the Father, then, the only true God, by contrast to spurious gods, and with the intention to distinguish the true God, from those who are so named in error; for this is the object of His words. Very appropriately, then, He first speaks of God as being One and One only, and then makes mention of His own glory in the words: And Jesus Christ Whom Thou hast sent. For a man can in nowise attain to complete knowledge of the Father, unless side by side, and in most intimate connexion with it, he lay hold on the knowledge of His Offspring; that is, the Son. For, if a man know what the
Jesus Christ is One God
Book 11. Father is, he cannot but know also the Son. When, then, c. xvu. 3. jjg gg^j^^ ^Yisit the Father was the true God, He did not exclude Himself. For being in Him, and of Him, by Nature, He will be also Himself the true God and the only God, as He is the only God: for beside Him, there
Ps. xcvi. is none other god who is the only true God. For the
'^' gods of the heathen are devils. For the creation is enslaved, and I know not how any worship them, or sink into such a slough of unreasoning and sensuous folly. With the many gods, then, in this world, who are erroneously so conceived, and have won this spurious title, the only true God is brought into contrast; and the Son also, Who is by Nature in Him, and of Him, at once in diversity and in identity of Nature, according to a natural Unity. I say in diversity of Nature, because He has in fact an individual Existence; for the Son is the Son, and not the Father. In identity of Nature also, because the Son, Who came forth from Him, is inseparably joined by Nature, with the existence of His Father. For the Father is one with the Son, even though He is the Father; and is so spoken of, because He did in fact beget Him.
This, then. He says, is eternal life, that they should know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ Whom Thou hast sent. Then one of those who are never weary of hearkening to the Scripture, and seriously pursue the study of Divine doctrines, will ask: Do we say that knowledge is eternal life; and that to know the one true and living God will suffice to give us complete security of expectation, and nothing else be lacking? Then how
S.James is faith apart from ivorks dead? And when we speak of faith, we mean the true knowledge of God, and nothing else; for by faith comes knowledge: and the prophet
Is. vii. 9. Isaiah bears us witness, who said to some: If ye do not believe neither shall ye understand. And that the writings of the holy men are referring to the knowledge which consists in barren speculations, a thing wholly profitless, I think you will perceive from what follows.
God is one; thou doest ivell: the devils also believe and Chap. 5. s/nidder. What then shall we say to this? How does ^' ^^"" Christ speak truth, when He says that eternal life is the knowledge of God the Father, the One true God, and (with Him) of the Son? I think, indeed, we must answer that the saying of the Saviour is wholly true. For this knowledge is life, travailing as it were in birth of the whole meaning of the mystery, and vouchsafing unto us participation in the mystery of the Eucharist, whereby we are joined unto the living and life-giving Word. And for this reason, I think, Paul says that the Gentiles are made felloiv-members of the body and fellow- Eph.iii.6. partakers of Christ; inasmuch as they partake in His blessed Body and Blood; and our members may in this sense be conceived of, as being members of Christ. This i Cor. vi. knowledge, then, which also brings to us the Eucharist by the Spirit, is life. For it dwells in our hearts, shaping anew those who receive it into sonship with Him, and moulding them into incorruption and piety towards God, through life according to the Gospel. Our Lord Jesus Christ, then, knowing that the knowledge of the One true God brings unto us, and, so to speak, promotes our union with, the blessings of which we have spoken, says that it is eternal life; insomuch as it is the mother and nurse of eternal life, being in its own power and nature pregnant with those things which cause life, and lead unto it.
And I think we ought attentively to observe in what way Christ says that the knowledge of the One true God is perfected in us in all its fulness. For see how it cannot exist apart from the contemplation of the Son, and it is clear that it cannot exist ^part from the Holy Spirit; for such is the nature of the belief in each Person of the Trinity, according to the Scripture. The Jews indeed, following in the steps of Moses' commandments, rejected the many false gods, and betook themselves to the iv. lo, worship of the One true God, under his guidance. Thou ^1^°^^.
Book 11. only shall thou serve. But those who still cling to the • -'^^"- • worship of the One true God, as not yet having complete knowledge of Him they worship, are called thereto to know not that the Creator of all things is one only, the One true God, but that He is a Father and has begotten a Son; and moreover, and yet more than all this, to gaze attentively on Him in His unchangeable Likeness, that is, the Son. For through the lineaments of that which is modelled, we can readily attain to perfect knowledge of the model. Very necessary then was it, for our Lord Jesus Christ to tell us, that those who have been called through faith to sonship and eternal life, not only ought to learn that the true God is One only, but that He is also a Father; and is the Father of One Who became flesh for our sakes, and Who was sent to restore the corrupted nature of rational beings, that is, of mankind.
That the Son is not bare of God-befitting glory, even though He is found saying to the Father, And now glorify Me ivit/i the glo7'i/ iv/iich 1 had, Sfc.
5 which Thou hast given Me to do it. And now, 0 Father, ^/ ^^"' ' glorify/ Thou Me with Thine own Self, with the glory which
Our Saviour's speech now intertwines the human element in His Nature with the Divine, and is of composite nature, looking both ways; not merging overmuch the Person of the Speaker in the perfect power and glory of His Divinity, nor allowing it altogether to rest on the lowly level of His Humanity; but mingling the twain into one, which is not foreign to either. For our Lord Jesus Christ thought that He ought to teach His believers, not merely that He is God the Only-begotten, but that He also became Man for us, that He might reconcile us all to God the Father, and mould us into newness of life; purchasing humanity with His own Blood, and venturing His life for the salvation of the world, while, though He was One, He was more precious than all mankind. He says, then, that He glorified the Father upon the earth, for He finished the work which He gave Him to do.
Come now, let us follow out, as it were, two roads, in our investigation of this passage, and say that it has reference both to His Divine and His Human Nature. If then, as Man, He says this, you may take it in this way: Christ is for us a type and origin and pattern of the Divine life, and shows us plainly how, and in what
5* ^^"' ' commentators on the Divine writings give a most subtle exposition of the passage. He instructs us, then, by what He' here says, that each one of us, if he fulfils his allotted task, and follows out to the end what is commanded of God, then in truth he glorifies Him by his righteous acts; not indeed as though He had any lack of glory, for the Ineffable Nature of God is complete, but because he causes His praise to be sung by those who see his acts,
S. Matt, and are profited thereby. Yea, the Saviour saith: Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good ivorks, and glorify your Father Which is in heaven. For when we are made truly manly, and willing to do good works for God's sake, we are not winning for our own selves the reputation thereof, but are carrying God's worship into our actions, to the honour and glory of Him That ruleth over all. For just as when, for leading a profligate life displeasing to God, we are rightly called to account, as doing despite unto His unspeakable glory, and make our own souls liable to punishment, as the
Is. lii. 5. prophet tells, if we hearken to his voice: My Name through you is continually blasphemed among the Gentiles, on the same grounds I think that when we display pre-eminent virtue, we are then preparing for Him a song of praise. When, therefore, we have accomplished the work that God has given us to do, then and most rightly may we attain to a freedom of speech in His own most seemly words; and claim, as it were, like glory in
1 Sam. ii. return from God Who has been glorified by us: For as I live, saith the Lord, them that honour Me tvill L honour, and he that lightly esteemeth Me shall he lightly esteemed. In order, then, that He might show us, that we might suitably ask for glory in return from the onl}^ true God, I mean glory in the world to come, when we have displayed towards Him perfect and blameless obedience, and have shown ourselves keepers of His commandments to the letter, Christ says that He glorified the Father, when He finished the work upon earth that
He gave Him. He requests, however, for Himself in Chap. 6. return, no foreign or borrowed glory, as we do, but rather g" ^^"" ^' that honour and renown which is His own. For we were bound to ask for it, and not He. Observe how in and through His own Person, He first renders possible to our nature this boldness of speech, on two accounts. For in Him first, and through Him, we have been enriched both with the ability to fulfil those things essential to our salvation, which are entrusted to us by God, and also the duty of boldly asking for the honour which is due to those who distinguish themselves in His service.
For of old time, through the sin that reigned in us, and the fall that was in Adam, we both failed of ability to accomplish any of those things which make for virtue, and also were very far removed from freedom of speech with God. Yea, God, to that end, out of the abundance of His kindness, spake consolation by the voice of the prophet, saying: Fear not, because Thou hast been is. Hv. 4. ashamed, neither be confounded because thou hast been put to shame. As, then, in all other things that are good our Lord Jesus Christ is the Beginning, and the Gate, and the Way, so also is He here.
But if the Saviour is seeking His own glory that He had before the world began, and we, suiting the meaning of the passage so as to make it apply to our case, maintain that we ourselves ought also with great zeal to do God's Will, and so boldly ask for glory from above, let no one think that we say this, — that it becomes a man imitating Christ, to ask for some ancient glory that was before the world began, as due also to himself; but let him rather remember that each ought to speak according to his deserts. For if Christ, like us, had only the human element in His Nature, let Him then speak only as befits the earth-born, and not exceed the limits of humanity. But if the Word, being God, became Flesh, when He says anything as God, it will be suitable to Himself alone, and not to those who are not as He is.
Book 11. more as a Man, we shall take it in the sense above given; c. xvii., 1^^^ ^^ ^^ reflect, on the other hand, on the Divine dignity of Christ, we rightly think it has a meaning above human nature. We say, then, that He glorified His own Father, God, when He fulfilled the work which He received from Him, not being His servant or in any ministerial capacity; and this as of necessity, that the Lord of all might not appear in the lowliness of our nature and that of the creation which is enslaved. For to perform the duties of a servant, and submissively obey the Divine commands, is the part of men and angels. Rather, we say that He, being the Power and Wisdom of His Father, well accomphshed the task of our redemption, entrusted as it were to Him; as indeed also said the Divine Psalmist, expounding the meaning of the
Ps.lxviii. mystery: 0 God, command Thy Strength; strengthen, 0 God, that which Thou hast wrought for us. For in order that he may clearly prove that the Son is the Power of the Father, though not separate from Him so far I mean as His identity of Essence and Nature is concerned, he fu'st says, Command Thy Strength, bringing in a duality of Persons — I mean Him that commands and Him to Whom the command is given — he suddenly unites them in their natural unity, attributing to the Ineffable Nature of God in its entirety the result achieved; for he says in his wisdom: " Strengthen, O God, that which Thou hast wrought for us." The Son, then, receives or has entrusted to Him from the Father, the work of saving the world. But in what manner, or how, God commands His own Strength, we ought to examine and explain, so far as it is possible humanly to interpret things which exceed man's understanding. Let us take for example, then, some man among us, and imagine him learned in the art of making bronzes. Then let us suppose that he sets himself to mould a statue, or perhaps to repair one that is decayed or mutilated. How, then, will he work, or how will he repair, as he has determined? Clearly he will entrust to the power of his hands and his skill in the art, not in a ministerial capacity. 495 the fulfilment of what he chooses to do. But if any one Chap. 6. thinks his wisdom and power appear distinct in some 5 ^^"' ' sense from himself, so far as their conception is concerned, still are they not in fact distinct. For these also are included in the definition of his essence. You must think the case is something like this wise, but must not accept the illustration as exactly similar. For God is above all things, and must be thought superior to any power of illustration. The sun and the fire, taking this by way of illustration, may be thought to occupy a similar relative position. For, just as the sun commands the light which it sheds to illumine the whole world, and allots to the power of its rays as their function, so to say, to cast the power of their heat on all things that receive it, so likewise also the fiLi-e commands and enjoins in some sort the peculiar qualities of its nature to fulfil its peculiar duties; but we do not, on this account, say that the ray and the light are in the position of ministers and servants to the sun, or the power of burning to the fire. For each of the two works by means of its own inherent qualities. But if they appear to be in a sense not selfworking, yet are they not distinct in nature from their own. Some such idea we must hold about the relation between God the Father and the Word Who is by Nature begotten of Him, whenever He is said to be entrusted with work to do to us-ward.
His Wisdom and Power, therefore, that is Christ, glorified God the Father upon the earth, having finished the work which He gave Him, And, as He brings His work to its fitting termination. He claims the glory which always attaches to Him; and now that occasion calls for the recovery of His ancient glory He seeks it. What work, then, has He fulfilled, whereby He says that He glorified the Father? For while He was the true God He became Man, by the approval and will of the Father, through His desire to save the whole world, and raise up anew the fallen race on the earth to endless life and the true knowledge of God. And this was in very
Book 11. truth accomplished by the Divine power and might of c. xvii. 4, Qj^rist, Who made death powerless, upset the dominion of the devil, destroyed sin, and showed incomparable love towards us, by remitting the charges against us all, and giving light to those astraj^ who now know the One true God. Christ, then, having accomplished this by His own power, the Father was glorified by all — I mean all those in the world who knew His wisdom, and power, and the mercy and love towards mankind, which is in Him. For He has shone forth and manifested Himself in the Son, Who is, as it were, the Likeness and Express Image of His Person; and by its fruit the tree is known, according to the Scripture. And when the works were fulfilled, and the wonderful scheme of our redemption brought to its fitting conclusion, He returns to His own glory, and assumes His ancient honour; save only, that being still endued with the human shape. He moulds accordingly the form of His prayer, and asks as though He possessed it not: for man hath all things from God. For though in the fullest sense, as He was God of God the Father, He was invested with Divine glory, still, since at the season of His Incarnation for us He in a sense diminished it, taking upon Him this mean body. He with reason seeks it as though He had it not, speaking the words as Man. The wise Paul also himself had some such idea, when he enjoins us concerning Him: Phil. ii. Let this mind be in each of you which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, counted it not a prize to be on an equality with God, but emptied Himself, taking the form, of a sei'vant, being made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the Cross. Wherefore also God highly exalted Him, and gave unto Him the Name ivhich is above every name; that in the Name of Jesus Christ every knee shoidd boiu, of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth, and that every tongue shoidd confess that Jes^is Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. For though the Son is high, Chap. 6. inasmuch as He proceeded as God and Lord from the5'^^"" ' Father, none the less is the Father recorded to have exalted man in Him, for on man the degradation of his nature brings the need of exaltation. He prays, then, for the recovery of His own glory, even in the flesh. He is not wholly bereft of His own glory when He so speaks, even though He were to ask without receiving, for the Word, being the true God, was never robbed of His own majesty. He rather refers to the glory which belongs ever to Him, and its appropriate temple in the heavens, and His own return thither in the raiment of the flesh, on which the interval of His humiliation had been consequent. For that He may not appear to be claiming for Himself a strange and unusual glory to which He had not been accustomed in time past, He distinguishes it by the addition of the epithet ^ " before the world was," ' y>- and the words " with Thine own Self." For the Son ''" '""'^' has never been excluded from the honour of the Father, but ever reigneth with Him, and with Him is adored and worshipped by us and by the holy angels as God, and of God, and in God, and with God. And this is, I think, what the inspired Evangelist John means to teach us, when He says: In the beginning ivas the Word, and Supra the Word ^vas luith God, and the Word was God. The^' ^''^' same was in the beginning with God.
That the fact that something is said to have been given to the Son from the Father does not rob Him of God-befitting dignity; but He plainly appears to be Consubstantial, and of the Father, even if He is said to receive aught.
Book 11. G / manifested Thy Name unto the men ivhom Thou hast given g' ' Me out of the ivorld: Thine they were, and Thou hast given
7 them, to Me; and they have kept Thy loord. Nov: they knoio that all things ivhatsoever Thou hast given Me are
8 from Thee: for the words ichich Thou hast given Me I have given unto them; and they received them and knew of a truth that I came forth from Thee, and they believed that Thou didst send' Me.
I have previously stated with reference to the passages I have just examined, not without care, if I may say so, that Christ made His prayer to the Father in the heavens both as Man and also as God. For He carefully moderates His language so as to avoid either extreme, neither keeping it altogether within the limits of humanity, nor yet allowing it to be wholly affected by His Divine glory; and none the less here also may we see the same characteristic observed. For,, as being by Nature God, and the express Image of His unspeakable Nature, He says to His Father: / manifested Thy Name unto the men, using the word "Name" instead of "glory," for this is the usual practice in speech amongst us. Prov. Moreover, the wise Solomon wi'ote: A good name is more to he desired than great riches; that is, " a good reputation and honour " is better than the splendour and <. ^ eminence which wealth confers. And God Himself says, xix. 12. by the mouth of Isaiah, to those who have made them- selves eunuchs for the Jcingdom of heaven's sake, Let not Chap. 7. the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree. For thus saith g ^^"" the Lord unto the eumtchs that keep My coniniandnients, is. ivi. and choose the things that please Me, Even unto them ^~^' willl give in Mine house and within My wcdls a place and a name better than of sons and daughters: Iivill give them an everlasting name. And no man ought to imagine, I think, if he be wise, that the honour with which God will requite them will be paid out in bare names and titles to those who, with noble and virtuous aspirations, have wrestled with worldly pleasure, and have mortified their members which are upon the earth, and regarded Col. iii. 5. only those things which are not displeasing to the Divine law; rather He uses the word name instead of glory, for they who reign with Christ will be enviable and worthy all admiration.
The Saviour therefore plainly declares that He has manifested the Name of God the Father; that is, He has established His glory throughout the whole world. And how? Clearly by the manifestation of Himself, through His exceeding great works. For the Father is glorified in the Son, as in an Image and Type of His own form, for in the lineaments of that which is modelled, the beauty of the model is always clearly seen. The Onlybegotten, then, has manifested Himself, being in His Essence Wisdom and Life, Architect and Creator of the universe, superior to death and corruption, holy, blameless, compassionate, sacred, pure. Hereby all men know that He That begat Him is even as He is; for He cannot be different in Nature from His Offspring. He showed Himself, therefore, as in an Image and Type of His own form, in the glory of the Son. Such was indeed the language concerning Him among the men of old time, but now has He manifested Himself to our very sight, and that which we see with our eyes is more convincing than any words.
I think, indeed, that what we have here stated is not irrelevant. We must now, however, tread another path,
Book 11. that is, enter on another line of speculation. For the c.xvii. - g^^ manifested the Father's Name clearly by bringing us to the knowledge and perfect apprehension, not of the fact that He is God alone (for this message was conveyed to us before His coming by the inspired Scripture), but that, besides being God in truth, He is also Father in no spurious sense; having in Himself, and proceeding from Himself, His own Offspring, Coequal and Coeternal with His own Nature. For He did not beget in time the Creator of the ages. And God's Name of " Father " is in some sort greater than the Name God itself; for the one is symbolical only of His Majesty, while the other is explanatory of the essential attribute of His Person. For, when a man speaks of God, he indicates the Sovereign of the universe; but, when he utters the Name of Father, he touches on the definition of His individuality, for he manifests the fact that He begat. And Christ Himself gives to God the Name of Father, as in some sense a more appropriate and truer appellation; Supra saying on one occasion, not " I and God " but I and the ^' ' Father are One; and on another occasion, with reference
And also when He bade His disciples baptise all nations, He did not bid them do this in the Name of God, but s. Matt. He expressly enjoined them to do this into the Na'me of
' the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. And the inspired Moses, when he was explaining the origin of the world, did not attribute its creation to a single
Gen. i.26. person, for he wrote, And God said, Let us make man in our Image, after our Likeness: and by the words Let us make, and in our Likeness, the Holy Trinity is signified; for the Father created and called into being the universe, through the Son, in the Spirit, But the men of old found such expressions hard to understand, and the language obscure; for the Father was not individually named, nor was the Person of the Son expressly introduced. Our Lord Jesus Christ, however, without any concealment, and with perfect freedom of speech, called
God His Father; and Ly naming Himself Son, and show- Chap. 7. ing that He was Himself in very truth the Offspring of g'^^"' the Sovereign Nature of the universe, He manifested the Father's Name, and brought us to perfect knowledge of Him. For the perfect knowledge of God and the Creator of the universe standeth not in believing merely that He is God, but in believing also that He is the Father; and the Father also of a Son, not unaccompanied of course by the Holy Spirit. For the bare belief, that God is God, suits us no better than those under the Law; for it does not exceed the limit of the knowledge the Jews attained. And just as the Law, when it brought in this axiom of instruction, which was insufficient to sustain a life of piety in God's service, perfected nothing, so also the knowledge which it instilled about God was imperfect; only able to restrain men from love of false gods, and persuade them to worship the One true God: For Exod. xx. thou shalt have, it says, no other gods beside Me. Thou shalt worshix> the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt iv. lo, thou serve. But our Lord Jesus Christ sets better things ^"^".
° Deut. VI. before those who are under the Law of Moses; and, 13.
giving them instruction clearer than the commandment of the Law, vouchsafed them better and clearer knowledge than that of old. For He has made it plain to us, not merely that the Originator and Sovereign of the world is God, but also that He is a Father; and facts prove this; for He has set Himself before us as His Likeness, saying, He that hath seen Me hath seen Supra the Father. I and the Father are One. ^'^'^/ ^'
And this, as we suppose, as being God and of God 30. by Nature, He saith openly^, in His Divine character, to His Father; but He adds at once, speaking more as Man: Whom Thou hast given Me out of the tvorld: Thine they were, and Thou hast given them to Me. We must think that our Lord says this, not as though some
502 All things are God's, Book 11, separate and particular portion had been allotted and jj" ^ '■ ~ belonged to the dominion of the Father, in which the Son Himself had no part, for He is King before the ages began, as the Psalmist says, and eternally shares the Father's rule. Moreover, the wise Evangelist John, teaching us that all things belong to Him and are put Supra i. under His sway, wrote: He cmne unto His oivn, and they that were His own received Him not; calling those His own who knew Him not, and were rejecting the yoke of His kingdom. He spake this on this occasion, from the wish to make clear to His hearers, that there were some in this world, who did not even so much as receive into their minds the One true God, but served the creature, and devils, and the inventions of devils. Still, though they knew not the Creator of the world, and were astray from the truth, they were God's; insomuch as He is Lord of all, as their Creator. For all things belong to God, and there is nothing that exists over which the One God is not ruler, though the creature may not know his Maker. For no man can maintain that the fact, that some have gone astray from Him, can avail to deprive the Creator of the world of His universal dominion; but he must rather admit that all things are subjected to His rule, through His having made them and brought them into being. Since, then, this is the truth, even they who were fast bound by the snares of the devil, and entangled in the vanities of the world, belonged in fact to the living God. And how were they given to the Son? For God the Father consented that Emmanuel should reign over them; not as though He then fii'st began His reign — for He was ever Lord and King as being God by Nature— but because, having become Man and ventured His life for the salvation of the world, He purchased all men for Himself, and through Himself brought them to God the Father. He then, That of old reigneth from the beginning with His Father, was appointed King as a Man, to Whom like all else the sceptre comes by gift, according to the limitations of human nature. For not in the same sense Chap. 7. as that in which man is a rational being, capable of thought ^ ^^"- °~ and knowledge (these things being included in his natural advantages), is he also a king; for while the former attributes are comprehended in the definition of his essence, the latter is extraneous and additional, and not among those which attach inseparably to his nature; for kingly power is given and taken away from a man, without affecting in any degree at all the definition of his essence. The dignity of kingship, therefore, is thrust upon a man by God as a gift, and from without: For by Prov.viii, ilfe, He says, kings rule, and j)rinces reign over the earth. ' He then. That ruleth over all with the Father, insomuch as He was, and is, and will be, by Nature God, receives power over the worLd, according to the form and limits proper to a man.
And therefore He saith: All things whatsoever Thou hast given Me are from Thee. For in a special and peculiar sense all things are God's, and are given to us His creatures. Universal possession and power are most appropriate to God, but to us it is most fitting to receive. He bore witness, however, before His devout believers, to what was fitting to the servant, and prompted to obedience. For, He saith, the ivords which Thou hast given Me I have given unto them, and they received them and knew of a truth that I came forth from Thee, and they believed that Thou didst send Me. He expressly here calls His own words the sayings of God the Father, because of Their identity of Substance, and because He is God the Word declaratory of His Father's Will; just as the word, which proceeds out of our own mouths, and by its utterance assailing the hearing of one who stands by, interprets the hidden mysteries of the heart. Therefore also the saying of the Prophet declared concerning Him: His Name is called Messenger of Great Counsel. Is. ix. 6. For the truly great, wonderful, and mysterious counsel of the Father is conveyed to us by the Word That is in Him, and of Him, through the words He uttered as a
He testified then to those who love Him, that they received and kept the words given Him by the Father, and were besides satisfied that He came, and was sent, from God; while those who were diseased with the contrary opinion were otherwise minded. For they who neither received His words nor kept their minds open to conviction, were not disposed to believe that He came from God, and was sent by Him. Moreover, the Jews said Cf. supra on One occasion: If this Man were from God, He would ^^■^'°- not have broken the Sabbath; and on another. We are 29. ' ' disciples of Moses: tve knoiu that God hath sp)oken unto Moses, hut as for this Man tve knoiv not tvhence He is. You see how they denied His mission; so that they even cried in their shamelessness, they knew not whence He was. And that they did not admit His unspeakably high birth from everlasting, I mean His proceeding from God the Father, diseased as they were by the great perversity of their thoughts, and ready to stone Him with stones merely because of His Incarnation, you may easily satisfy yourself, if you will listen to the words of Supra the Evangelist: For this cause therefore the Jews sougJd to kill Him, because He not only brake the Sabbath, but also called God His own Father, making Himself equal with God. And what the impious Jews said unto Him Supra is also recorded: For a good work we stone Thee not, but ^' for blasphemy; because thcd Thou, being a man, makest
Thyself God. You will understand then very clearly, that those who truly keep His words have believed and confessed that He manifested Himself from the Father (for this is, I think, what / came forth means), Ps. ii. 7. and that He was sent to us to tell us the commandment of the Lord, as is said in the Psalms; while they who laughed to scorn the Word, Who was thus Divine and
signify His Biuine Mission.
from the Father, rejected the faith, and plainly denied Chap. 7. that He was God and from the Father, and that He came to g ^^"' ^~ us for our salvation, and dwelt among us, yet without sin. Justly, then, does He commend to God the Father, those who are, good men, and are His own, and have submitted their souls to the hearing of His words, and will ever hold them in remembrance; that what He said may be made clear, beginning from the time of His sojourn amongst us. And what are His words'? Every- s. Matt. one therefore tvho shall confess Me before men, him will ^-^2,33. / also confess before My Father Which is in heaven. But tvhosoever shall deny Me before men, him will I also deny before My Father Which is in heaven. This also God the Father HimseK long ago declared that He would do, speaking by the mouth of Isaiah: Ye are My is. xliii. witnesses, saith the Lord, and the servant whom I have chosen. Our Saviour then speaks, at the same time, in His character as God, and in His character as Man. For He was at once God and Man, speaking in either character without reproach, suiting each occasion with appropriate words as it required.
That nothing- which is spoken of as belonging to the Father will be excluded from the kingdom of the Son, for Both alike rule over all.
Book 11, 9 / jyTciy for them: I 'pray not for the tcorld, hut for those j'j ■ 10 tvhom Thou hast given Me; for they are Thine: and all things that are Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine; and 11 I am glorified in them. And I am no more in the world, and these are in the ivorld, and I come to Thee.
"■ ■ all-holy High Priest, by His own prayers He appeases the anger of His Father, sacrificing Himself for us. For ceremonial was then, as it were, a type and transparent shadowing forth of the mediation of Christ, shown forth in the last times, and the high priest of the Law indicated in his own person that Priest Who is above the Law. For the things of the Law are shadows of the truth. For the inspired Moses, and with him the eminent Aaron, continually intervened between God and the assembly of the people; at one time deprecating God's anger for the transgressions of the people of Israel, and inviting mercy from above upon them when they were faint; at another, praying and blessing the people, and ordering sacrifices according to the Law and offerings of gifts besides in their appointed order, sometimes for sins, and sometimes thank-offerings for the benefits they felt that they had received from God. But Christ Who manifested
Himself in the last times above the types and figures of Chap. 8. the Law, at once our High Priest and Mediator, prays for ^•^^"^"■^~ us as Man; and at the same time is ever ready to cooperate with God the Father, Who distributes good gifts to those who are worthy. Paul showed us this most plainly in the words: Grace to you and peace from God, 200^1.2, our Father, and the Lord Jestis Christ. He then prays for us as Man, and also unites in distributing good gifts to us as God. For He, being a holy High Priest, blameless and undefiled, offered Himself not for His own weakness, as was the custom of those to whom was allotted the duty of sacrificing according to the Law, but rather for the salvation of our souls, and that once for all, because of our sin, and is an Advocate for us: A7id He IS. John is the propitiation for our sins, as John saith; and not "' ' for ours only, but also for the whole luorld.
But perhaps someone, wishing to controvert what we have said, will exclaim, " Is not what the disciple says quite contrary to the Saviour's words? " For our Lord Jesus Christ expressly in these words repudiates the necessity of praying to God for the whole world, while the wise John affii-med quite the contrary. For he maintains that the Saviour will be the Advocate and propitiation, not merely for our sins, but also for the sins of the whole world. It is not hard to find the solution to this difficulty, or to say how the disciple may be seen to be in accord with his Master's saying. For the blessed John, as he was a Jew and of the Jews, that some might not perhaps think that our Lord was merely an Advocate for the Israelites, and not in any sense for the rest of the nations scattered over the whole world, though destined to distinguish themselves by faith on Him and to be shortly called to knowledge of salvation through Christ, is perforce impelled to declare that our Lord will not only be the propitiation for the race of Israel, but also for the whole world; that is, those of every nation and kindred, who shall be called through faith to righteousness and sanctification. Our Loi'd
508 Those given to Christ are yet the Fathers. Book 11. Jesus Christ clistinscuishes from His own those who are by stubborn disobedience; and, referring to those who are prone to listen to His Divine commands, and who have already submitted, as it were, the necks of the hearts, and well-nigh bound round them the yoke of submission to God, said that for them only it was most fitting for Him to pi'ay. For to those only, whose Mediator and High Priest He is, He thought it meet to bring the blessings of His mediation; to those, I mean, who. He says, were given to Himself, but were the Father's, as there is no other way of fellowship with God save by the Son. And He will Himself teach you
^^^' ' hy Me. For observe how the Father,- when He gave to His Son those of whom He speaks, won them over to Himself. And the Apostle, who was so conversant with
2 Cor. V. the sacred writings, knowing this well, says: God was in Christ, reconciling the ivorld unto Himself. For when Christ acted as Mediator, and received those who come to Him by faith, and brought them aright through Himself to the Father, the world was reconciled to God, Therefore also the Prophet Isaiah taught us, in anticipa-
XX 11. J, pgg^gg with Him; let us who are in the way have peace. For if we banish from our hearts whatsoever estrangeth us from the love of Christ, I mean the base lasciviousness which hankers after sinful pleasure and is ever inclined to the delights of the world, and is besides the mother and nurse of all vice, and leads us widely astray, we shall become united in fellowship with Christ, and shall make peace with God, being joined to the Father HimseK through the Son, inasmuch as we receive in ourselves the Word That was begotten of Him, and cry out
Father's, but are not therefore removed from Christ. For God the Father reitjneth with Him, and through
Him ruleth over His own. For the Holy and Consub- Chap. 8. stantial Trinity share the same kingdom, and their \i^^^' universal dominion is one and the same; and whatever is the Son's will be subject to the glory of the Son and the Father; and also, whatever is said to be under the rule of the Father, over that the Son will surely hold sway. And therefore He saith: And all Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine. For as in Them perfect identity of Nature is visible and evident, the opinion held about Their majesty is not various, and does not attribute anything individually to One apart from the Other, but considers one and the same glory, identical in every respect, to attach to Both. For He That is by right of His Nature the Heir of His Father's Divine dignities will clearly have all that the Father hath, and will also show that His Father hath all that He Himself hath. For Either naturally reveals the Other in Himself; and the Son is seen in the Father, and the Father also in the Son. This kind of instruction the inspired writings gave us in the mystery. When, then, universal dominion is one of the dignities of the Father, it will belong also to the Son; for He is the express Image of His Person, and can endure no shadow of unlikeness or variance at all. He declares that He has been glorified in them, showing that His prayer for them is, as it were, a recompence well deserved.
What then is His request, and why does He endeavour to obtain God's favour for His followers 1 / am no more in the tvorld, He says, and these are in the tvorld, and I come to Thee. For while He yet lived i.i converse with His holy Apostles in the flesh upon earth, the consolation of His visible Presence was ever with them in their daily path, as it were to give instant succour to those in peril; and they were therefore sustained in courage. For the mind of man is readier to rely upon the things that are seen than the things that are unseen, for encouragement or pleasure. When we say this, we are far from asserting that the Lord is
* Book 11. powerless to save, if He be not visibly present; for jj^^"' ~ any one who thought this would rightly be convicted of
Heb. xiii. folly. For Jesus Christ is the saone yesterday, and to-
^' day, yea, and for ever. But He knew that His disciples were very faint at heart, left desolate as it were on the earth, with the world raging round them like fierce billows, and ever ready to beleaguer with intolerable terrors and imminent and great dangers those who persist in bearing God's tidings to the uninitiated.
Since then. He says, I come to Thee, for I shall soon ascend to sit on the throne of God the Father, and reign with Him, and these will remain the while in the world, / jjray for them, for Thou gavest them
Me; and as Thine and Mine now I rightly care for them, and / am glorified in them, for all things tvhatsoever Thou hast given Me are Thine, and Thine are
Mine. And the saying is true. For those in the world who have been given to Christ, and are on that account the Father's, have not therefore disavowed the duty of praising Him through Whom they were united to God the Father, and having been brought to Him, will remain none the less His. For He hath all things in common with the Father, together with His inherent
Godhead and power. For there is one God in us. Who is worshipped in the Holy and Consubstantial Trinity; and we all of us belong to the one true God, being subject as servants to the Holy and Consubstantial Trinity.
That the dignity of Godhead is inherent in the Son; even though He is said to have received this from the Father, because of His humanity and the form of His humiliation.
1 1 Holy Father, keep them in Thy Name which Thou hast given Chap. 0. Me, that they may he one, even as We are. c.xvn.ll.
He still preserves the blending of two things into one: the human element, I mean, which, so far as we are concerned, imparts humiliation, and the Divine element, which is pregnant with the most exalted majesty. For His speech is combined of both; and, just as we stated in our interpretation of the foregoing passage, the Divine element is not perfectly exalted to the height, nor yet is it wholly sundered from the limitations of humanity, holding as it were a middle place by an unspeakable and ineffable fusion of the two, so as not to pass outside the limits of true Godhead, nor yet altogether to leave behind those of humanity. For His ineffable descent from God the Father exalts Him, inasmuch as He is the Word and Only-begotten, into a Divine Nature and the majesty which naturally accompanies it, while His humiliation brings Him down in some sort to our level, not as though it availed perforce to overpower the kingship over the universe which He shares with the Father, for the Only-begotten could never submit to violence against His Will. Rather was His humiliation self-chosen, accepted and maintained from love towards us. For He humbled Himself, that is, of His own Will and not by any compulsion. For He would be proved to have undergone the Incarnation against His Will, if there were any one at all
Book 11. able to prevail over Him, and who bade Him unwillc.xvii.ii. ij]g]y isiko. this upon Him. He humbled Himself therefore willingly for our sakes, for we should never have been called His sons and God's, if the Only-begotten had not undergone humiliation for us and on our account; to Whose Likeness we are conformed by participation in the Spirit, and so become children of God, and God's. Whenever, therefore, in His sayings. He blends together in some way the human with the Divine, do not be therefore offended, nor lightly relinquish the admiration you ought to feel at the incomparable art displayed in His sayings, skilfully preserving for us in divers ways their twofold character, so that we can see at the same time the God and the Man speaking truly in His Nature, marvellously combining the humiliation of His Humanity with the glory of His ineffable Divinity; preserving wholly blameless and irreproachable the harmonious fusion of the two.
And how is it that, when we say this, we do not affirm that the Nature of the Word is degraded from its original majesty? To think this would indeed display the greatest ignorance; for that which is Divine is altogether and wholly changeless, and endureth no shadow of turning but rather ever remaineth on one stay. We rather make such a statement because the manner of His voluntary degradation, as by necessary inference investing Him with the form of humiliation, causes the Only-begotten, Who is coequal with, and in the Likeness of, the Father, and in Him and proceeding from Him, to be apparently in an inferior position to Him. Be not astonished at hearing this, if the Son appear to fall short of the Father's majesty because of His Humanity, when for this very reason Paul declared that He was thus inferior even to the angels, Heb.;i.9. in the following words: Him Who hath been made a little loiver than tJte angels, even Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honour, though the holy angels were bidden to worship Him,
GocVs Name In inlterently Christ's Name.
for u'hen, He says, He hrlngeth in the Firstborn into Chap. 9. the world, He saith, And let all the angels of God ^•^^"" • worship Him, as well as also the Holy Seraphim, who Heb. i. 6. stood around and fulfilled the office of servants when He appeared unto the prophet sitting on a high and Is. vi. i. lofty throne. Then, so far as His being begotten and proceeding from God the Father is concerned. His Humanity is not proper to the Son; but it is proper to Him in so far as He is Incarnate Man, and remaineth ever what He was and is, and will be such for evermore, and debaseth Himself to what He was not of old for our sakes.
He saith, then: Holy Father, hee]) them in Thy Name luhich Thou hast given Me; that they may he one, even as We are. He desires His disciples to be kept by the power and might of the Ineffable Divine Nature, well and suitably attributing the power of saving whomsoever He will, yea, and with ease, to the true and living God; and thereby, again. He glorifies no other nature than His own, as in the Person of the Father, from Whom He proceeded as God. Therefore He saith. Father, keep them in TJiy Name xvhich Thoii hast given Me; that is, the Name of God. He says again, that the Name of God was not given unto Him as though He had not been God by Nature, and were now called from without to the dignity of Godhead. For then would He be created, and possess a spurious and elective glory and an adulterate nature, which it were impious for us to imagine. For thereby He would be mulcted of His inherent character of Sonship. But since, as the inspired writings prophesy, the Word became flesh. Supra that is, man, He says that He received Divine attributes ^' ' by gift; for clearly the title and actuality of Divine glory could not naturally attach to man. But consider, and attentively reflect, how He showed Himself the living and inherent Power of God the Father, whereby He doeth all things. For when, addressing His Father, He says. Keep them, He did not indeed suffice for
Book 11. them alone, but suitably brought in Himself as working t.xvn.. ^^^. ^]^g-j. preservation and being for that purpose also the power and instrument of His Father; for He says: Keep them in Thy Name tuhich Thou hast given Me. Note how guarded the saying is. For allotting and attributing as suitable only to the Nature of God providential care over us, He declares at once that to Himself has been given the glory of Godhead, because of the form of manhood, saying that what was His by Phil.ii.9. natural right was given to Him; that is, tlie Name wltich is above every name. Therefore also we say that this Name belongs to the Son by nature, as proceeding from the Father; but, so far as He is Man, those things are His by gift which He receives as Man, using herein the form of speech applicable to ourselves; for man is not God by nature, but Christ is God by nature, even though He be conceived of as Human because He was amongst us.
He wishes indeed the disciples to be kept in unity of mind and purpose, being blended, as it were, with one another in soul and spirit and the bond of brotherly love; and to be linked together in an unbroken chain of affection, so that their unity may be so far perfected as that their elective affinity may resemble the natural unity which exists between the Father and the Son; and, remaining undebased and invincible, may not be distorted by anything whatever that exists in the world, or by the lusts of the flesh, into dissimilarity of purpose; but rather preserving in the unity of true piety and holiness the power of love intact, which also came to
Acts iv. pass. For, as we read in the Acts of the Apostles, ^Ae multitude of them that believed were of one heart and soul, in the unity that is of the Spirit. And this is what
Eph.iv.4. Paul himself also meant, when he said: One body and
1 Cor. X. one Spirit; for ive who are many are one body in Christ,
^^' for tue all partake of.the one bread, and we have all received the unction of one Spirit, that is, the Spirit of Christ. As. then, thev were to be one body, and the unity of 'purpose of Father and Son. 515 to partake of one and the selfsame Spirit, He desires Chap. o. His disciples to be preserved in a unity of spirit which ^•^'^"•^■'' nothing could disturb, and in unbroken singleness of mind. And if any man suppose that after this manner the disciples are united even as the Father and the Son • are One, not merely in Substance, but also in purpose (for the holy Nature of God has one Will, and one and the selfsame purpose altogether), let him so think. For He will not stray wide of the mark, since we can see identity of purpose among true Christians, though we have not consubstantiality as the Father and the Word That proceeded from Him, and is in Him.
12 While I teas with them, I ke2)t them i^i Thy Name which Thou hast given Me: and I guarded them, and not one of them perished, hut the son of perdition; that the, Scrip-
Our Saviour's speech soon proceeds to illustrate His meaning more plainly; and while at the first dark hints were given, it is now proclaimed and revealed like a storm breaking into sunshine. For the disciples thought that our Saviour's abandonment of them, — I mean in the flesh, — would inflict on them great loss; for nothing could prevent His being with them as God. But they expected that no one could then save them after Christ's Ascension into heaven, but that they would fall a prey to those who wished to injure them, and that there would be nothing to restrain the hand of their powerful adversaries, but rather that any one so disposed might work his will on them without hindrance, and involve them in any peril. But wise as they were and fathers in the faith, and bearers of light to the world, we need not shrink from saying that they ought not merely to have regarded the Incarnate Presence of our Saviour Christ, but to have known that even though He were to deprive them of converse with Him in the flesh, and they saw Him not with the eye of the body, yet that it was their duty at any rate to think of Him as present with them for
Book 11. evermore in the power of His Godhead. For will God c.^xvn.i2, g^,^^. j^gg ^j^g attributes of His Person? Or what power can resist an Omnipotent Nature, or is able perforce to hinder it in the performance of its functions? And it is the power and actuality of God's Being to be present everywhere, and unspeakably to fill the heavens and also the earth, and to contain all things, but to be contained of none. For God is not bounded by place, nor separated by distance within any sphere, however great; for such like things cannot avail to affect that Nature which has nothing to do with the dimensions of space. Then, since Christ was at the same time God and Man, the disciples ought to have been aware that, though He were absent in the body, yet He would not wholl}' forsake them, but would be ever with them by reason of God's unspeakable might. And for this reason also our Saviour Himself said, in the foregoing passage: Supra Holy Father, keep them in Thy Name which Thou hast given Me; and here again: While I tuas with them, I kept them in Thy JVame tuhich Thou hast given Me; almost pointing out this fact to His disciples, that the ability to save them suited rather the working of His power as God than His Presence in the flesh: for this very flesh was not sanctified of itself; but when, by His Incarnation, the Word was made one with it, it was in some sort transformed into His inherent power, and is now become the channel of salvation and sanctification to those who partake thereof. We must not then attribute the whole of the Divine activities of Christ to the flesh by itself, but we shall be rather right if we ascribe them to the Divine power of the Word. For does not " keeping the disciples in the Name of the Father " mean this, and nothing else? For they are kept by the glory of God. He removes, then, from His disciples' minds, the fear which they felt because they thought themselves forsaken; often following the same course of thought. He assures them that they will be in perfect safety, not through living with their Master in the body, but rather through His power as God. 517 because He is by Nature God. Evidently the universal Chap. 9. dominion and might which are His have no end; for He j'g ' ' can suffer no change or alteration from that state in which He dwells eternally, but will keep them safe with ease for evermore, and rescue them from every peril that may assail them. Consider also the forethought wrapped up in the saying, to our profit and edification. For when He asks that they — I mean His holy disciples — should be kept by God the Father, He declares that He Himself had done this, showing Himself like in power and works to His Father, or rather. His inherent might. For surely He Who is seen to have the same power as God, He Who is acknowledged the true God, must be thought to be wholly inherent in Him, and to possess equality of power and identity of Nature with Him. And how can He Who kept them as God in the Name of God, and as a God crowned them with the glory that proceeded from righteous actions befitting the title, be foreign to God, or of different nature? Is He not in very deed shown to be that which He is, namely, God ■? For nothing that exists can do those works which are peculiar to God, without being in its own nature that which we imagine God to be. He still preserves in the passage the twofold conception of His character owing to His Incarnation. For He takes away, as it were, from His Nature, as a created Being, the power of saving and preserving all to whom this is due for their piety towards God, and ascribes it to the Name of the Father, attributing to the Divine Nature alone the things which are of God. And for this reason, again, though He says that He kept the disciples. He did not give the honour of taking up the work to His Humanity, but rather says that it was fulfilled in the Name of God; excluding Himself, in a manner, from its accomplishment, so far as He is flesh and is so conceived of, but not excluding Himself from the power of keeping them, and of accomplishing the works of a God, insomuch as He is God, and from God, the all-working power of the Father —
Book 11. a Divine force which even when at rest displays by its c.xvii. ^, ^gj.y attributes the Nature from which it ineffably proceeded^. And if here too, again, He says that the Name of God has been given unto Him, although He is in fact God by Nature, as the Only-begotten Who proceeded from Him, He is not thereby in truth degraded, nor would He thereby exclude Himself from the honour and glory which is His due. Far from it. For to receive is appropriate to His Humanity, and can be fittingly ascribed thereto; for, of itself, humanity possesses nothing.
He says that He so kept His disciples, and had such care for them, that none of them was lost save one, whom He called the son of perdition; as though he were doomed to destruction of his own choice, or rather his own wickedness and impiety. For it is inconceivable that the traitor disciple was by a Divine and irresistible decree entangled, as it were, in the snare of the fowler, and brought within the devil's noose; for then would he surely have been guiltless when he succumbed to the verdict of heaven. For who shall oppose the decree of God? And now he is condemned and accursed, and it would have been better for him if he had never been born. And why? Surely the wretched man met his doom as a consequence of his own volitions, and is not convicted by destiny. He that was so enamoured of destruction may well be called a son of perdition, inasmuch as he merited ruin and corruption, and ever awaits the day of perdition as fraught with anguish and lamentation''.
And as Christ added to the words He used concerning him, thnt the Scripture inigJit he fulfilled, we have given an explanation which may be useful to readers of this passage. For it was not because of any prophecy in Scripture that the traitor was lost, and became so vile as to barter for a few coins the precious Blood of Christ, but rather, as through his own innate wickedness he Ch.\p o. betrayed his Lord, and was infallibly destined to ^^'^^"•12' destruction on that account, the Scripture, which cannot lie, foretold that so it would be. For the Scripture is the Word of God, Who knows all things, and carries in His own consciousness the character and life of each one of us, and his conversation from the beginning to the end. Moreover, the Psalmist, attributing to Him knowledge of all things, of the past as well as of the future, thus addresses Him: Thou under standest all my thoughts Ps. afar off; Thou coinpassest my path and my lying dotun, '^^^^^- -' and art acquainted with all my ways. The Divine Word, then, Which had complete foreknowledge, and saw the future as though it were already present, besides all the rest which It told us about Christ, revealed unto us that he that was ranked a disciple would also die the death of a traitor. Still, the foreknowledge and foretelling of the future indicated not the pleasure and commandment of God; nor yet was the prophecy directed to compel the actual fulfilment of the evil that was foreshadowed and the conspiracy against the Saviour, but lather to avert it. For when Judas had this knowledge he might, at any rate, if he had so chosen, have shunned and avoided the result, as he was free to determine his inclinations in any direction.
Put perhaps you will say, " How, then, can Christ be said to have kept His disciples, if merely in pursuance of the inclinations and volitions of their own wills the rest escaped the devil's net, while Judas alone was taken, ill-fated beyond the others '? How, then, can the safekeeping here spoken of be said to have been of profit?
Nay, my good friend, we answer, soberness is indeed a good thing, and the keeping guard over our minds profiteth much, together with an earnest endeavour towards the doing of good works and stablishing ourselves in virtue, for so shall we work out our o'lnn Phil. ii. salvation; but this alone will not avail to save the soul of man. For it stands in urofent need of assistance and righteousness smooth. And to prove to you that we are not able to do anything at all of ourselves without the aid of Divine grace, hearken to the voice of the Psalmist:
^'-.. If the Lord build not the house, their labour is in vain that build it: and if the Lord keep not the city, the tvatchman waketh but in vain.
I say, then, that it is our bounden duty to foster and practise a home-bred self-denial and a rehgious frame of mind; but in so doing also to ask help of God, and, receiving the aid that comes from above as a panoply proof against ever}' assault, to acquit ourselves like men. When God has once for all vouchsafed to grant our prayer, and it is therefore in our power to subdue the might of our adversaries, and conquer the power of the devil, if we do not choose to follow him when he allures us to pleasure or any other kind of sin; then, I say, if we let our wills comply with him, and, yielding to our wicked inclinations, are entangled in his noose, how can we any more with justice accuse any one else, or fail to attribute our doom to our own folly? For is not this Avhat Solomon said
Prov.xix. long ago: The foolishness of man p)erverteth his way, and his lieart fretteth against the Lord? And this is vmquestionably the case. If, however, the traitor was unable to enjoy the succour of the Saviour as much as the other disciples, let any man only prove tliis, and we submit; but if, while he was, in common with the rest, encompassed by the Divine grace, of his own will he relapsed into the abyss of peixlition, how can Christ be said not to have kept him, when He vouchsafed him the riches of His mercy, and increased, so far as it was possible in any man's case, his chance of safety, if he had not chosen his doom of his own will? His grace, moreover, was conspicuous in the rest, continually keeping in safety those who made their own free-will, as it were, co-operate therewith. For this is the manner in which the salvation of each one of us is achieved.
13 And these things I sjjeah in the world, that they may have Chap. 9. My joy faljtlled in themselves. c.xvn.ld.
Keep in mind once more what we were just now saying, and you will easily understand the drift of the passage. For He on all occasions preserved the juxtaposition of the two aspects of His character, at the same time displaying the Divine majesty for which He was pre-eminent, and not discarding the proper limitations of the Human Nature which He assumed at His Incarnation. For there would be something absurd in the supposition that He wished to disown what He had willingly taken upon Himself. For being Himself in lack of nothing, but the all-perfect Son of a perfect Father, He emptied Phil.ii.7. Hiinself of His glory, not to do Himself any service, but rather to convey to us the blessing which would result from His humiliation. Showing Himself, then, to them as at the same time both God and Man, He, as it were, induces His disciples to reflect that absent, as well as present, He would work the things which made for their salvation in God; and that, as He had them in His keeping while He was yet with them on the earth in the form of Man, so also would He keep them while absent from them as God, through the excellency of His Substance. For that which is Divine is not bounded by space, and is not far from anything that exists, but fills and pervades the universe, and though present in all things is contained of none. When, addressing His own Father, He says: Holy Father, keep them, He at once Supra refers, by right of its existence, to the universal working ^^^' ' of the power of the Father; and at the same time shows that He standeth not apart from His Nature, but, being in it and proceeding from it, is indivisibly united with it, though He be conceived of as independently existing. Keep therti, He says, in Thy Name xvhich Thou hast given Ibid. Me; and again: While I was tuith them, I kept them in Ibid- 12. Thy Name vAich Thou hast given Me. We are bound, therefore, to think that, if He had kept them hitherto in the
522 Christ, ivhether iiresent or absent in Body, Book 11. Name given Him by the Father, that is, in the glory of every name; and if He wishes the Father Himself also to keep them in the Name given unto Him, He will not be excluded from acting in the work; for the Father will keep those who are knit to Him by faith through the agency of the Only-begotten, Who is His power and might. For He will not exercise His power in any way save through Him. Then, if even in the flesh He kept them, by the power and glory of His Godhead, how can we think that He will fail to think His disciples worthy of the mercy which they need; and how can they ever lose His sure support while the Divine power of the Onlybegotten abideth evermore, and the power which is His by Nature is for ever firmly established? For that which is Divine admits of no variance at all, or of any change into any evil agency, but shines forth for ever in those attributes which belong to it eternally.
I have spoken then. He says, these things in the ivorld, that My disciples might have My joy fulfilled in them. What kind of joy is meant we will proceed to show, putting away from us fear of dispute, because of the obscurity of the expression. The blessed disciples, then, thought indeed that w^hile Christ was present wdth them in their daily lives, I mean, of course, in the flesh, they could easily rid themselves of every calamity and readily escape danger from the Jews, and that they would remain proof against every assault of their foes; but that when He was separated from them, and had gone up to heaven, they would fall an easy prey to perils of every sort, and would have to bear the attack of the king of terrors himself, as there was no one any more with them who was strong to save, and who could scare away the temptations that assailed them. For this cause, then, our Lord Jesus Christ neither disavowed the Manhood He had once for all taken upon Himself, nor yet showed Himself deficient in Divine power; speaking plainly to this intent, and saved through the 2^ower of His Godhead. 523 saying that the Name of God had been given to Him Chap. 9, as Man, but that through Him, and in Him, the Father <^-^^"-i^- showed mercy to those who worshipped Him, and had them in safe keeping. What, then, was the wise object that He here had in view? It was that the blessed disciples might understand and know well, if they only slightly considered this saying, that even when He was in the flesh, it was not through the flesh that He was working for their salvation, but in the omnipotent glory and might of His Godhead. My absence in the flesh then, He says, will do My disciples no harm, while the Divine power of the Only-begotten can easily keep them safe, even though He be not visibly present in the body.
We give this explanation, not as making of no account the holy Body of Christ— God forbid; but because it were more fitting that the accomplishment of His Word should be ascribed to the glory of the Godhead. For even the Body Itself of Christ was sanctified by the power of the Word made one with it, and it is thus endowed with living force in the blessed Eucharist, so that it is able to implant in us its sanctifying grace. Therefore also our Saviour Christ Himself, once conversing with the Jews, and speaking many things concerning His own Body, calling it the true Bread of Life, said: The bread which I will give you is My Flesh, Supra which I ivill give for the life of the world. And when ^^' ° ' they were sore amazed and perplexed to know how the nature of earthly flesh could be to them the channel of eternal life, He answered and said: It is the Spirit that Ibid. 63. quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that T spake unto you are spirit, and are life. For here, too. He says that the flesh can profit nothing, that is, to sanctify and quicken those who receive it, so far, that is, as it is mere human flesh; but when it is understood and believed to be the temple of the Word, then surely it will be a channel of sanctification and life, but not altogether of itself, but through God, Who has been
Book 11. iiiacle one with it, Who is holy and Life. Ascribing c_xvii.i, everything, then, to the power of His Godhead, He says that His disciples will suffer no loss from His departure in the body, with reference, at any rate, to their seeking to be in His keeping. For the Saviour, though He be vanished into heaven, will yet not be far from those who love Him, but will be with them by the power of His Godhead.
In order, then, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves, He says, I have spoken these things in the world. What, then, is this joy which is fulfilled and perfect "? It is the knowledge and belief that Christ was not a mere Man as we are, but that, besides being as we are, yet without sin. He is also the true God. It is clear, then, and beyond dispute, that He will always have the power to save those who worship Him at any time He will, even though He be not present in the body. For this knowledge will involve the perfect fulfilment of our own joy, inasmuch as we have an ally ever near us. Who is strong enough to rescue us from every evil.
14 I have given them Thy Word; and the world hated them, because they are not of the ivorld, even as I am not of the
15 world. I pray not that Thou shouldest take them from the iijorld, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil one.
He points out to us the most needful increase of favour from above and from the Father, which, He says, is almost owed by Him to those who incur danger for His sake, as a just and well-deserved return. For the world hateth on God's account those who worship Him, and who are obedient to the laws that He has laid down, and who lightly esteem worldly pleasure, and who also, as is most right, will receive succour and grace from Him, and continuance in well-being. For surely they who after a manner rely upon Him, and are of good courage and engage in warfare on His account, will receive a recompense in harmony with the aim they Chap. 9. have in view. Therefore the Saviour says: / have given!^^^^"-i^' ther)i Thy Word; and the world hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. For they received with great gladness, He says, Thy Word given unto them by Me, that is, the Gospel message, which easily extricates from a worldly life and thoughts of earth, those who welcome it. Therefore also are they hated of the world, that is, of those who choose to have at heart the things of this world, and who love this pleasure-loving and most impure life. For the conversation of Saints is displeasing to worldlings; ever making light as it does of the hardships of this life, and pointing out how abominable is a worldly career, and accusing its vileness, and assailing with bitter rebukes those who think that pleasure consists in succumbing to temptation, and in having continual intercourse with the evil of this world, and triumphing over all selfish desire, and contemning ambition, and teaching men to abhor covetousness the mother of all evils, and to cast it far from them, and furthermore bidding those who are ensnared in the net of the devil to escape from old deceits, and to betake themselves to the God of the universe.
For this cause, therefore, O Father, He says, are they hated. For they are in ill odour with the world, not because they have been convicted of any crime or impiety, but because I have given unto them Thy Word, so that they are also out of the world even as I am. For the life and conduct that is in Christ is wholly dissevered from earthly thoughts and worldly conversation; that life, by following after which we shall ourselves also, so far as possible, escape being reckoned among the men of this world. Therefore the inspired Paul enjoins us to folloiv His steps; and we shall then best follow i S. Pet.
Him, when we love only the things that are not of this ' world, and, lifting our minds above fleshly thoughts, gaze only on heavenly things. He ranks Himself, too, with
526 Christ inits Himself on a level ivith us, Book 11. jJis disciples because of His Manhood, by imitating which,
15. ' ' in the conception of Him as Man, we attain every kind of virtue, as we just now said; passing unscathed thi'ough all the wickedness of the world, and showing ourselves strangers and aliens to its wickedness. Just so, then, the Divine Paul indeed himself exhorts us; and, with refer- Gal. vi. ence to himself and Christ, through Which the world hath ^^' been crucified unto me, and I unto the world, bids us,
1 Cor. xi. speaking in another place, Be ye imitators of vie, even as
I also ann of Christ. Paul did not indeed imitate Christ in so far as our Lord is Creator of the world; for he did not establish a new firmament, nor did he ever reveal to us new seas, or a new earth. How, then, did he imitate Him? Surely it was by moulding in his own character and conduct an admirable pattern of the life of which Christ was Himself the exemplar, so far at least as Paul could attain to it; for who can be equal to Christ?
Putting Himself, then, on a level with us, because of His Human Nature, or, to speak more accurately, as first presenting us with the blessing of taking ourselves out of the world by the life which transcends worldly things, for the life and teaching of the Gospel is above the world, He says that He Himself is not of the world, and that we are even as He is, since His Divine Word has taken up its abode in our hearts. Furthermore, He declares that as the world hated Him so will it also hate them. The world indeed hateth Christ, because it is in conflict with His words, and accepts not His teaching, men's minds being wholly yielded up to base desires; and even as the world hates our Saviour Christ, it hath hated also the disciples who carry through Him His
2 Cor. V. message, as Paul also did, who said: We are ambassadors, ''^' therefore, on behalf of Christ, as though God tvere intreating by us: we beseech you on behalf of Christ, be ye reconciled to God.
What, then, is His prayer, after that He has shown that the disciples are hated by those who are fast bound by the evil things of the world? I 'pray not. He saith, that
Thou shouldest take them from the world, but that Thou Chap. 9. shouldest keep thevi from the evil one. For Christ does i^"^^' ' not wish them to be quit of human affairs, or to be rid of life in the body, when they have not yet finished the course of their apostleship, or distinguished themselves by the virtues of a godly life; but he wishes them, after they have lived their lives in the company of men in the world, and have guided the footsteps of those who are His to a state of life well pleasing to God, then at last, with the glory they have achieved, to be carried into the heavenly city, and to dwell with the company of the holy angels. We find, moreover, one of the Saints approaching the God Who loves virtue with the cry: Take Ps.cii.24. ')ne not aivay in the 'midst of my days; for pious souls cannot, without a pang, put off the garment of the flesh before they have perfected their life in holiness above their fellows. Therefore also the Law of Moses, teaching us that sinners are visited as in wrath, and by way of penalty, with premature death, often reiterates the warning to stand aloof from evil, that thou diest not before Eccles. thy time. Besides, if the Saints chose to keep themselves ^"' apart from our daily life, it would infer no small loss to those who are unstable in the faith; nay, they could in nowise be guided in the way of righteousness, without the aid of those who are able to lead them therein. Paul knew this when he said. To depart and be with Christ is Phil. i. far better for me, yet to abide in the flesh is more need- ' ' ful for your sake. Christ, therefore, in His care for the salvation of the uninstructed, says that those who are in the world ought not to be left desolate without the Saints, who are men of light, and the salt of the earth; but prays rather for the safe keeping of His holy ones, and that they may be ever untouched by the malice of the evil one, shunning the assault of temptations by the power of His Omnipotent Father.
We must also remark that He calls the Word, which is His, and came forth from Him — I mean the Gospel — the Word of God the Father, showing that He is not
Book 11. separate from the Father, but Consubstantial with Him. ^.xvu., Yq^ ^yg shall find in the writings of the Evangelists that s. Matt, the people of the Jews were amazed at Him, because He ^"' ' ■ taught them as one having authority, and not as their Scribes. For these latter were seen to apply the teaching of the Law in every case in their discourses to them; while our Lord Jesus Christ did not at all follow slavishly the types shadowed forth in those writings, but, illumining His own Word by Divine power, exclaimed: Ibid. V. It ivas said to them of old time, Thou shall not commit '' ' adultery: hut I say unto you, Thou shalt not covet; though the Law expressly says, with reference to the statutes of God, that none should add thereto or take away therefrom: but Christ took away from, and also added unto them, changing the type into truth. Therefore He cannot be reckoned among those under the Law, that is, among creatures; for on whomsoever Nature has put the brand of slavery, on him is imposed the necessity of being under the Law. Christ, then, represented His own Word as the Word of the Father. For He is the Word That is in the Father and proceedeth from Him, and That enunciates the Will of the Godhead — I mean the only true Godhead Which is in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
16 They are not of the world, even as I avi not of the
By these words He indicates once more, and makes clear to us, the reason why He requires to ascend to God the Father, and why so to do becomes Him, while He is still our Mediator, and High Priest, and Advocate, according to the Holy Scripture; and shows us that it is in order that, if at any time we encounter failure, or miss the straight path in thought or action, or are assailed by unexpected perils or buffeted by the tempest of the devil's malice, He may approach His Father on our behalf in His appropriate character as Mediator; and may join with Him in granting good gifts to those who chap. 9, are worthy. For it would well become Him so to do, ^•''^"•i''> as He is God by Nature. Those then, He says, who have received Thy Word, O Father, through Me, show forth My Likeness in themselves and are conformed to the pattern of Thine own Son, who, like Him, pass unscathed through the ocean of the world's wickedness, and have shown themselves foreigners and strangers to the love of pleasure in this life, and every kind of vice. Therefore keep them in Thy truth, for exceeding purity is inherent in Christ. For He is truly God, and cannot be subject to sin nor endure it, but is rather the fountain of all goodness, and the beauty of holiness. For the Divine Nature, that ruleth over all, can do nothing but what is in truth suitable and belongeth thereto. And the holy disciples, I mean all who believe on Him, cannot otherwise exhibit purity unspotted by the wickedness of this world than by means of forgiveness and grace from above, which putteth away the defilement of previous offences and the accusing sins of their past lives; and, further, conferring on them the glory of a life of sanctification, though their continuance therein be not free from conflict, as Paul wisely teaches us, saying: Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest i Cor. x. he fall. For our life is cast upon the deep, and we are tossed by divers storms, as the devil tempts without ceasing, and continually assails and strives to defile if he can, by the insidious inventions of malice, even those who have been already made pure. For his meat is well Hab.i.16. chosen, as the prophet says. Having then borne witness to His disciples that their life was out of the world, and that they were conformed to the likeness of His own essential purity, He proceeds to pray to His Father to keep them. It is almost as though He said: O Holy Father, if they were in the world— that is, if they lived the life that has honour in this world — if, sowing the seed of earthly and temporary pleasure in their hearts, they imprinted on themselves the foul image of the evil one, VOL. II. M m
Book 11. he would not have attacked them with temptation, nor c.^vu.it), ijg^yg armed himself against his own children, for he would have in them the likeness of his own inherent wickedness. But since they, following after Me, laugh to scorn the deceitfulness of this world, and are out of the world, and, moreover, in their conduct show most clearly the impress of My incomparable holiness, and on that account have Satan, who is ever murmuring against the Saints, for their bitter foe, ever lying in wait for them; therefore of necessity I desire them to be in Thy safe keeping. And to be in Thy safe keeping is not to be far from Thy truth, that is, from Me. For I am by Nature Thy truth, O Father, the Essential, True, and Living Word.
We must suppose that this is what He thinks right to say. See how, in all His sayings, so to speak, He insinuates His own Person into the action of the Father, whatever that action has reference to, and puts Himself altogether side by side with Him, wishing probably to Supra show how ti'ue the statement is: All things were made ^- ^- by Him; and without Him was not anything made. In the previous passage, indeed. He briefly besought His Father to keep the disciples in the Name which had been given unto Himself. In this, however. He desires His prayer on their behalf to be fulfilled in the truth of the Father. What, then, does this mean; or what does the change in the language signify? Is it meant to show that the working of the Father, shown through Him in mercy to the Saints, is not uniform? For in the fii-st passage, when He says that His disciples ought to be kept in the Name of the Father, that is to say, in the glory and power of His Godhead, so that they should be out of the power of the enemy. He declares that aid is vouchsafed to the Saints in whatever happens unto them, after the secret fashion that Christ at the proper season S. Luke revealed to His disciples when He said: Simon, Simon, ^"' ' behold, Satan asked to have you, that he might sift yow as ivheat: but I made sivpiilieation for thee, that thy faith fail not. For many of God's dealings concerning Chap. 9. us are in secret, Christ taking thought for the life of j^^""''^^' each of us, and covering us as with a shield. But here, when He says Keep them in the truth, He signifies clearly their being led by revelation of the truth to apprehend it. For no man can attain to the knowledge of truth without the light of the Spirit, nor can he at all, humanly speaking, work out for himself an accurate comprehension of the Divine doctrines. For the mysteries of Holy Writ exceed our understanding, and glorious is the blessing of having even a moderate knowledge concerning Christ.
The blessed Peter, moreover, when he confessed that the Lord was in truth the Son of the living God, heard the words: Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona; for flesh s. Matt. and blood hath not revecded it unto thee, but My Fcdher ^^^' '' Which is in heaven. For He reveals to the Saints His Son, Who is truth, and does not allow Satan to lead the mind of His believers astray to false knowledge; relying on whom, in their season, Hymenceus and Alexander i Tim. i. have made shipivrech concerning tlie faith, rejecting the ' true doctrine of the faith. Of great avail, then, towards a right continuance in the straight path of thought and action, is our safe keeping by the Father in the Name of God and in truth; that we may not fail in making our light shine forth in action, nor, by turning aside to folly, stray far away from the doctrines of true holiness. And this may easily be our lot, if we are seen to be out of the world while not disavowing our birth in the world; for of the dust of the earth are we all framed, as the Scripture saith, but by the quahty of our deeds we rid ourselves of life in the world. For while they walk upon earth, those who love conformity with Christ are citizens of heaven.
We must also remark that He very appropriately here calls the Father holy, almost, as it were, reminding Him that, as He is holy. He takes pleasure in those that are holy. And all men are holy, whosoever are seen to be
Book 11. unspotted by the world, and whosoever are by nature in 17^ ■ ' Christ, in the Father's likeness adopted, and chosen to be His disciples by the sanctification according to grace, and the light and goodness of their lives. For a man may thus be conformed to the Image of God, Which transcends the world.
That Christ is not holy from participation in anything- diflferent from Himself; and that the sanctification through the Spirit is not alien to His Substance.
1 9 into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that ^^ " ' they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.
After giving the Father here especially the name of Holy, and praying that the disciples might be kept in the truth, that is, in His Spirit (for the Spirit is the truth, IS. John as John says, as He is also the Spirit of truth, that is, of ^' '' the Only-begotten Himself), He declares that He sent xvi. 13, them into the world after the fashion of His own mission; for Jesus is the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Heb.iii.i. as Paul says, in the appropriate character of His Manhood, and by the way of His humiliation. He says, then, that the disciples, after having been once for all thereto prepared, stand wholly in need of sanctification by the Holy Father, Who implanteth in them the Holy Spirit through the Son. For in truth the disciples of the Saviour would never have become so illustrious as to be the torchbearers of the whole world, nor would they have withstood the brunt of the temptations of their enemies, nor the terrible assaults of the devil, had they not had their minds fortified by communion with the Spirit; and had they not been continually thereby enabled to accomplish a bidding unheard of before and passing mere human power; and had they not been ever led by the light of the Spirit, without effort, to a perfect knowledge of the inspired writings and the holy
Book 11. doctrines of the Church. Furtherinore, the Saviour, c.xvii. ^, j^^^^^g cissemhled together luith them after His resurrection Acts i. 4. from the dead, as is recorded, and bidding them preach Ibid. grace through faith throughout the whole world, charged them not to depart from Jerusalem, hid to wait for the 'promise of the Father, tvhich they had heard of Him as Joel ii. well as by the mouth of the holy prophets. For it shall come to pass in those days, saith the Lord, thcd I ivill pour out My Spirit upon all flesh. And the Saviour Himself plainly declared that His Holy Spirit would be Supra shed forth upon them, in the words: I have yet many ^3^" "' things to say unto you, but ye cannot hear them noiu. Hoivheit, ivhen He, the Spirit of Truth, is come. He shall Ibid. xiv. guide you into all truth; and again: I tvill pray the Father, and He shcdl give you another Comforter. For the Spirit belongeth unto God the Father, and none the less also unto the Son Himself, not as distinct Entities, or as though He was inherent or existed in Either divisibly; but, inasmuch as the Son by Nature proceeds from the Father and is in Him (being the true Offspring of His Essence), the Spirit — Which is the Father's by Nature— is brought down to men; shed forth indeed from the Father, but through the Son Himself conveyed to the creature; not merely ministerially or in the manner of a servant, but, as I said just now, proceeding from the Substance Itself of God the Father; and shed forth on those worthy to receive Him through the Word, Which is Consubstantial with and proceeded from Him, and so proceeded as to have a self-dependent being, and ever abideth in Him, at the same time in unity, and also, as it were, with an individual existence. For we maintain that the Son has an independent existence, but still inheres in His Father, and has in Himself Him that begat Him; and that the Spii'it of the Father is indeed the Spirit of the Son; and that, when the Father sends or promises to distribute the Spirit to the Saints, the Son also vouchsafes the Spirit to them as His own, because of His identity in Substance with the Father. And that the Father works in every respect through Him He has Himself very clearly pointed out Chap. lo. to us in the words: It is expedient for you that I go ^•^^"•^^' away: for if I go not aivay the Comforter cannot come Supra unto you; but tvken I depart I tuill send Him unto^''^ " you. And again: / will pray the Father, and He shall ibid. give you another Comforter. Plainly here He promises ^^^' " to send us the Comforter.
Since, then, the disciples, who respect My sayings, have been sent forth on their mission in the world, even as I myself, keep them, Holy Father, in Tliy truth; that is, in Thy Word, in Which, and through Which, the Spirit Which sanctifies is and proceeds. And what is the Saviour's aim in saying this? He besought the Father for that sanctification which is in and through the Spirit to be given to ourselves; and He desires that which was in us at the first age of the world, and at the beginning of creation by gift of God, to be quickened anew" into life. This we say, because the Only-begotten is our Mediator, and fulfils the part of Advocate for us before our Father Which is in heaven. But that we may free our explanation from all obscurity, and make the meaning of what is said clear to our hearers, let us say a few words about the creation of the first man.
The inspired Moses said concerning him, that God took dust from the earth and formed man of it. He then goes on to tell the manner in which, after the body was perfectly joined together, life was given to it. He breathed, he says, into his nostrils the breath o/Gen.ii. 7. life; signifying that not without sanctification by the Spirit was life given to man, nor yet was it wholly devoid or barren of the Divine Nature. For never could anything, which had so base an origin, have been seen to be created in the Image of the Most High, had it not taken and received, through the Spu-it moulding it, so to speak, a fair mask, by the Will of God. For as His Spirit is a perfect Likeness of the Substance of the Only-begotten, according to the saying