and the earth, and all things that are contained in them, depend upon Him: nevertheless, foolish men, having rejected the knowledge and worship of Him, have preferred things that do not exist to those that do exist, and in place of God who truly is A, they have made things that were not at all into gods, serving the creature rather than the Creator (Rom. 1, 25): which is certainly most foolish and impious. For it is the same as if someone should think the work worthy of admiration, but not the craftsman, and, having admired the buildings of some city, should despise the architect: or if someone, judging some musical instrument to be praiseworthy, should hold its maker in contempt. They are truly insane and very blind! For how could they have known a building, B or a ship, or a lyre, at all, unless the shipwright had built the ship, and the architect had constructed the houses, and the musician had fashioned the lyre? Just, therefore, as he who thought so would be held most demented, so those do not seem to me to be of sound mind who do not know God, nor worship His Word, the Savior of all, our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the Father administers and contains all things, and provides for the universe: in whom, since you have faith and are pious, O lover of Christ, rejoice and rest assured that the fruit of your piety and faith will be immortality and the kingdom of heaven, provided only that your soul has been adorned as His laws prescribe. For just as for those who live according to His precepts the reward is eternal life: so for those who have chosen the opposite path and have not followed the way of virtue, great shame and inevitable danger await in the day of judgment, because, even though they have not been ignorant of the way of truth, C they have acted contrary to what they knew.
OF OUR HOLY FATHER ATHANASIUS, ARCHBISHOP OF ALEXANDRIA, DISCOURSE ON THE INCARNATION OF THE WORD, AND OF HIS MANIFESTATION TO US THROUGH THE BODY.
1. Since in the preceding discourse, although culling a few things from many, we have spoken sufficiently and abundantly regarding the error and superstition of the gentiles in the worship of idols, D and what was the first origin of idols, and by what means from the beginning the discovery of these things came to pass, and that it is from wickedness that men
A have devised for themselves the worship of idols. But since, by the grace of God, we have indicated a few things also concerning the divinity of the Word of the Father and His providence and power over all things, and that the good Father orders all things by Him, and all things are moved by Him, and in Him have life; come, follow the sequence, blessed and truly Christ-loving man, that we may recount also the things regarding the incarnation of the Word according to the faith of our piety, and may declare His divine advent to us. This, which the Jews indeed calumniate, and the Greeks mock, we worship; that you may have even more and greater piety toward Him from the perceived humility of the Word. For by how much He is mocked by the unbelievers, by so much does He provide greater testimony of His divinity: that the things which men do not understand as possible, these He Himself shows B to be possible; and the things which men mock as unseemly, these He Himself makes seemly by His own goodness. And the things which men, playing the philosopher, laugh at as human, these He Himself demonstrates to be divine by His own power, overturning the phantasm of idols by His own supposed humility through the cross, and unseenly converting those who mock and disbelieve, so that they recognize His divinity and power. But for the account of these things, there is need of the memory of what was said before; that you may also be able to know the cause of the manifestation in the flesh of such and so great a Word of the Father, and may not think that the Savior wore a body by the consequence of nature; but that, being bodiless by nature, and existing as the Word, He was nevertheless manifested to us in a human body on account of the philanthropy and goodness of His own Father for our salvation. It is fitting, however, as we make the account concerning this, to speak first C about the creation of the universe and its Creator God, that so one might worthily contemplate that its renewal also was accomplished by the Word who created it from the beginning. For nothing will appear contrary, if through whom the Father created it, in Him He also wrought its salvation.
2. Concerning the making of the world and the creation of all things, many have reasoned in various ways, and as each willed, so also they defined it. For some say that all things came to be automatically and as they happened, like the Epicureans, who also mythologize that there is no providence of the universe at all, lying D directly against the manifest phenomena. For if all things had come to be automatically without providence according to them, all things must have come to be simply, and be alike, and not diverge.
A For as in the case of a single body it would have been necessary for all things either to be sun or moon, and in the case of men it would have been necessary for the whole to be a hand, or an eye, or a foot. But now it is not so; but we see one thing as the sun, another as the moon, and another as the earth; and again, in the case of human bodies, one part is a foot, another a hand, another the head. And such an arrangement shows that they did not come to be automatically, but demonstrates that a cause precedes these things, from which it is possible to perceive both the one who arranged them and God who made all things.
Others, among whom is the great Plato B among the Greeks, argue that God made all things from pre-existent and ungenerated matter; for they say that God could not have made anything if matter had not pre-existed, just as the wood must pre-exist for the carpenter, so that he may be able to work. But they do not know, in saying this, that they are attributing weakness to God. For if He is not the maker of the matter Himself, but makes things that exist from pre-existing matter, He is found to be weak, not being able to make any of the things that come to be without matter; just as, indeed, it is a weakness of the carpenter not to be able to make anything of what is necessary without his wood. C And indeed, according to their hypothesis, if the matter were not there, God would not have made anything. And how, then, could He still be called Maker and Creator, having the act of making from another, that is to say, from matter? And if matters stand thus, God according to them will be only a craftsman and not the creator of their existence, if He works upon the pre-existent matter, while He Himself is not the cause of the matter. For, in general, one could not even be called a creator if one does not create the matter from which the created things have also come to be.
But those of the heresies fabricate for themselves another creator of all things besides the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, D being blind to the great truth even in these things of which they speak. For when the Lord says to the Jews: "Have you not read that He who created from the beginning made them male and female, and said: For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife; and the two shall be in one flesh; then indicating the Creator, He says: What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder," how do they introduce a creation that is foreign to the Father? And if, according to John who embraces all things clearly and excepts nothing, "All things were made through Him, and without Him was made nothing," who, I pray, can be the other creator besides the Father of Christ?
A And the faith in Christ rejects these follies as detestable impiety. For it knows that things were not made by chance, since they are governed by providence; nor from pre-existing matter, since God is not weak; but it knows that God made the whole universe, which did not exist at all, to come into being out of nothing through the Word, as He says through Moses: "In the beginning God made heaven and earth"; and through the most useful book of the Shepherd: "First of all, believe that God is one, who created and perfected all things, and made them to be out of that which was not." This is what Paul also signifies when he says: "By faith we understand that the ages were prepared by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made from things that appear." For God is good, or rather He is the very fountain of goodness; and to the good, envy could never exist concerning anything; wherefore, B envying existence to no one, He made all things out of nothing through His own Word, our Lord Jesus Christ. Among these, having mercy on the human race above all things that exist on the earth, and seeing that it was not sufficient by the law of its own nature to remain forever, He granted them something more: He did not create men simply, as He did all the brute animals on earth, but He made them in His own image, bestowing upon them also a portion of the power of His own Word, so that, having as it were some shadows of the Word and having become rational, they might be able to abide in blessedness, living the true life of the saints in paradise. And knowing again that the will of men was able to incline in either direction, He took precautions C and secured the grace given to them by both a law and a place. For having brought them into His own paradise, He gave them a law, so that, if they preserved the grace and remained good, they might have a life in paradise free from sorrow, pain, and care, in addition to having the promise of immortality in the heavens; but if they should transgress and, turning away, become evil, they might know that they would bring upon themselves the corruption of death according to nature, and that they would no longer live in paradise, but outside it, dying, would abide in death and D corruption. The divine Scripture also signifies this, speaking in the person of God: "Of every tree that is in paradise you may eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it; for in the day that you eat of it, you shall die the death." And what else could "you shall die the death" mean than this: not only to die, but also to abide in the corruption of death?
A 4. You perhaps wonder why, when we set out to speak about the Incarnation of the Word, we now tell the story of the beginning of mankind. But this is not foreign to the scope of our discourse. For it is necessary for us, when speaking about the Savior’s epiphany to us, to speak also about the beginning of mankind, so that you may know that we were the cause of his coming down, and that our transgression called forth the Word's love for mankind, so that the Lord even reached us and appeared among men. For we were the subject of his being made flesh; and for the sake of our salvation he in his love for mankind willed both to come to be and to appear in a human body.
In this way, then, God made man A and willed that he should remain in incorruption. But men, having neglected and turned away from the contemplation of God, and having devised evil for themselves, as was said in the preceding oration, were subjected to the pre-denounced condemnation of death; and thereafter they did not remain as they had been created, but, as they thought, they were corrupted, and death reigned over them. For the transgression of the commandment turned them back to their natural condition, so that, just as they had come into existence from nothing, they should also, as time passed, suffer corruption in their existence—and this most deservedly. For if they were called into existence by the presence and beneficence of the Word, having not existed at all by B nature, it followed that, once men were stripped of the contemplation of God and turned toward those things that in no way have existence (since evils do not have existence, whereas good things do, inasmuch as they come from the existing God), they were also stripped of the benefit of always existing. That is, having been dissolved, they would remain in death and corruption. For man is by nature mortal, since he has been made from nothing. Yet, because of his likeness to Him who IS—which, if he had preserved it by constant contemplation of Him, would have blunted the corruption that is by nature and would have left him incorrupt, just as Wisdom says: "The observance of the law is the confirmation of incorruption"—he would have lived thereafter as God, as the divine C Scripture also hints at somewhere, saying: "I said: You are gods, and all sons of the Most High; but you die like men, and fall like one of the princes."
5. For God not only made us from nothing, but he also granted us to live according to God through the grace of the Word. But men, having turned away from eternal realities, and having been turned by the counsel of the devil toward the things subject to corruption, became the cause of their own [ruin].
A They were, as I have said, by nature mortal; but by the grace of the participation of the Word, they would have undoubtedly escaped the condition of nature, had they remained good. For because of the Word that was with them, the natural corruption of these men did not approach them (61), as Wisdom also says: "God created man for incorruption, and as an image of His own eternity; but by the envy of the devil, death entered into the world" (62). B This having happened, men began to die, and corruption thenceforth grew stronger against them, having greater power over the whole race than the condition of nature itself, inasmuch as it had already received the divine threat against men because of the transgression of the commandment. And indeed, humans did not stand within fixed limits in their transgressions; but extending themselves little by little, they finally arrived at what is measureless (63), becoming from the beginning the inventors of wickedness, and calling forth death and corruption upon themselves; and later, having turned to injustice and transgressing every law, and not standing in one evil, but devising all things new with new inventions, they became insatiable in sinning. For there were adulteries and thefts everywhere; the whole C earth was full of murders and rapines; and there was no concern for law regarding corruption and injustice; but all evils were committed both privately and publicly by everyone. Cities fought against cities; and nations rose up against nations (64); and the whole inhabited world was divided by factions and wars, each person contending in transgression. Nor were those things contrary to nature far from these, but as the witness of Christ, the Apostle, said: "For their women changed the natural use into that which is against nature; and likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves the recompense which it was necessary to receive for their error" (65).
6. Since death was prevailing more and more, and corruption D persisting against men, the race of humans was perishing; and the human being, who was rational and made in the image of God, was disappearing; and the work made by God was being undone (66). For indeed, death, as I said, was for the rest prevailing against us by law; and it was not possible to escape the law, because it had been imposed by God on account of the transgression. And that which was happening was truly both absurd and indecorous. For it was absurd for God, having spoken, to lie—if, that is, when God had decreed that man should die if he violated the commandment, he did not die once the commandment had been violated.
And it was also unseemly A that things which had once been created as rational beings, and had shared in His own Word, should perish and turn back again into non-existence by way of corruption. It was not worthy of the goodness of God that the things created by Him should be corrupted because of the deception imposed upon men by the devil. Furthermore, it was of all things most unseemly that God’s workmanship in men should vanish, either because of their own carelessness or because of the deception of the demons.
Since, then, these rational beings were being corrupted and such works were being destroyed, what was God, being good, required to do? Should He have let corruption have power over them and death prevail? If so, what was the need for them to have been created in the beginning? It would have been better for them not to have been made at all, than to have been made and then neglected and left to perish. For such neglect would argue for weakness in God, rather than goodness, if He permitted the work He had made to be destroyed, more than if He had never created man in the beginning. For if He had not created them, no one would have been there to contemplate His weakness; but once He had created them and brought them into being, it would have been most absurd for His works to perish—especially before the very eyes of their Maker. Therefore, because this was unseemly and unworthy of the goodness of God, B He was required not to allow men to be carried away by corruption.
7. But just as it was necessary for this to happen, so also, conversely, it was fitting for God to remain truthful regarding the law He had laid down concerning death. For it would have been absurd for God, the Father of truth, to appear as a liar for the sake of our own benefit and survival. What then was required to happen in this case, or what should God have done? Should He have required repentance from men for their transgression? One might say this would have been worthy of God, arguing that just as they had fallen into corruption through transgression, so they might return to incorruption through repentance. But repentance would neither secure the consistency C of God’s nature—for He would still not be truthful if men were not held in the death He had decreed—nor does repentance recall men from what is according to nature, but only halts the commission of sins. If only an offense had been committed, and corruption had not followed, repentance would indeed have sufficed. But since, once the transgression had taken hold, men were held fast in the corruption that had become natural to them, and had been stripped of the grace of being in the image of God, what else was required to occur? What was needed for such grace and restoration, if not the Word of God D who had made all things out of nothing in the beginning
A For it was His to restore what was corruptible into incorruption, and to preserve for the Father what was reasonable on behalf of all. For being the Word of the Father and existing above all, He alone was able to recreate the whole, and He alone was capable of suffering on behalf of all, and interceding for all to the Father.
8. And for this reason the incorporeal and incorruptible and immaterial Word of God comes into our realm, though He was not far off before; for no part of creation had been left empty of Him, but He filled all things everywhere, existing with His own Father. But He comes, condescending in His own love for us and manifestation. And seeing the rational race perishing, and death reigning over them by corruption; and seeing also the threat of the transgression holding fast our corruption, and that it was absurd that the law should be dissolved before it was fulfilled; and seeing also the unseemliness of what had occurred, that things He was the creator of were being brought to nothing; and seeing also the excessive wickedness of men, that they had increased it little by little and intolerably against themselves; and seeing also the accountability of all B men to death; having pity on our race, and compassionating our weakness, and condescending to our corruption, and not enduring the mastery of death, lest what had come to be should perish, and the work of His Father in forming men should be rendered useless, He takes to Himself a body, and that not different from our own. For He did not simply wish to be in a body, nor did He wish only to appear; for He could have made His manifestation through some other more excellent body if He had only wished to appear; but He takes our own, and that not simply, but from an inviolate and undefiled Virgin, who knew no man, pure and truly unmixed with the company of men. C For He, being powerful and the creator of all, fashions for Himself in the Virgin a temple—the body—and makes it His own instrument, in which He is made known and dwells; and thus, having taken from our own what was of like kind, since all were subject to the corruption of death, He handed it over to death on behalf of all, and offered it to the Father, doing this with love for mankind, so that, as all died in Him, the law against the corruption of men might be dissolved, inasmuch as the power had been exhausted in the Lordly body, and no longer had a place against men of like nature; and that He might turn men back again to incorruption, who had turned back into corruption, and might make them alive from death, by the making of the body His own and by the grace of the resurrection removing death from them D like straw from fire.
A For when the Word perceived that in no other way could the corruption of men be undone save by death, and that it was impossible for the Word, being immortal and the Son of the Father, to die—for this reason He takes to Himself a body capable of death, so that this, having participated in the Word 82 who is over all, might be sufficient to die for all, and might remain incorruptible by reason of the Word who dwelt in it, and that henceforth corruption might cease from all by the grace of the resurrection. Whence, as a sacrifice and offering free from every stain, which He Himself took for Himself, B He brings the body to death, and immediately, by the offering of a fitting one 83, He destroyed death from all His peers. For since the Word of God was above all, He, as was fitting, bringing His own temple and bodily instrument as a substitute for all, paid the debt owed in death; and thus, through the identical body, the incorruptible Son of God, being joined to all, rightly clothed all with incorruptibility 85 in the promise of the resurrection. For that corruption in death no longer has a place against men, because of the Word dwelling in them through the one body; and just as when a great king has entered into some great city and has set up his dwelling in one of the houses within it, C such a city is altogether deemed worthy of great honor, and no enemy or robber any longer invades it, but rather it is guarded with the utmost care because of the King who dwells in one of its houses—so also it came to pass in the case of the King of all. For having come to our land and set up His dwelling in one body among His peers, henceforth every plotting against men by the enemy has ceased, and the corruption of death which previously held strength against them has vanished. For the race of men would have perished, had not the Lord of all and Saviour, the Son of God, arrived to meet the end of death.
10 But this great work was truly most appropriate to the divine goodness. For if a king, D having built a house or a city, does not at all abandon it when it is ravaged by robbers through the negligence of its inhabitants, but as his own work defends and protects it, looking not to the negligence of the inhabitants but to that which is worthy of himself; much more did the Word of the good Father not overlook the race of men—the work made by Him—as it was going into corruption; but the death which had occurred He wiped away through the offering of His own body, and their negligence He corrected by His own teaching, and all that was human He restored by His own virtue and power.
Anyone can confirm these things by the authority of the Savior’s own theologians, if he reads their writings, where they say: "For the love of Christ urges us, because we judge this, that if one died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that we should no longer live for ourselves, but for Him who died for us and rose again from the dead, our Lord Jesus Christ." And again: "We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone." Then he also points out the reason why it was necessary for no one other than the Word of God Himself to become incarnate, saying: "For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the captain of their salvation through sufferings." By this he implies that it was not for anyone other than the Word of God, who had also created them in the beginning, to restore to health those who had suffered corruption. B And that the Word Himself took for Himself a body, for the sake of the sacrifice of similar bodies, the same writers also indicate, saying: "Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." For by the sacrifice of His own body, He both put an end to the law which was against us, and renewed for us the beginning of life, having given the hope of resurrection. For since death had gained dominion over men from men, for this reason, again, through the incarnation of the Word of God, the dissolution of death and the resurrection of life have taken place, as the Christ-bearing man says: "For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive," and the things that follow. For we no longer die now as men condemned, but as those who are to be raised we await the common resurrection of all, which God, who also brought it about and bestowed it, will show at His own appointed times. This is the first cause of the Savior’s incarnation. One can also understand that His coming to us in goodness C reasonably ensued from these considerations as well.
11. God, who is Lord of all things, when He created the race of men through His own Word, perceiving again the weakness of their nature—how it was insufficient of itself to know the Creator or, in general, to gain any concept of God, because He is unbegotten while they were made from nothing, and because He is incorporeal D
A but men were fashioned further down with a body, and in general there was a great deficiency in created things regarding the attainment and knowledge of their Maker. Yet, having pity on the human race, as He is good, He did not leave them destitute of the knowledge of Himself, lest they should exist to no purpose. For what profit would there be for things that have been made, if they did not know their own Artificer? Or how could they be rational, not knowing the Word of the Father, in whom they were also created? They were in no way going to differ from unreasoning creatures, if they knew nothing beyond earthly things. And indeed why would God have created them, if He did not want to be known by them? Wherefore, that this might not happen, being good, He imparts to them the image of His own Word, our Lord Jesus Christ, and makes them according to His own image and likeness; so that by means of this grace, B perceiving the image, that is, the Word of the Father, they might be able to attain a concept of the Father, and, knowing their Maker, live the truly happy and blessed life. But men, again, being senseless, and having thus made light of the grace given to them, turned themselves away from God to such a degree, and so darkened their own soul, that they not only forgot the concept of God, but even fashioned other things for themselves instead of Him. For they fashioned idols for themselves in place of the truth, and preferred things that are not to the God who truly is, serving the creature rather than the Creator; and, which is the worst thing, they transferred the honor of God even to wood and stones and to every material and to men, and practiced more things than these, as has been said above. Their impiety was so great that they went on to worship demons and declared them to be gods, fulfilling their lusts. For they performed sacrifices of unreasoning animals and slaughters of men, as has been said before, in service to their requirements, more and more binding themselves with the goads of those same demons. Hence, therefore, magic arts were taught among them, and oracles in various places deceived miserable men, and all men attributed the causes of their birth and existence to the stars and all bodies in the heavens, C thinking of nothing more than what was perceived. In a word, everything was full of impiety and wickedness, and God alone and His Word were unknown, though He had not in the least hidden Himself from men, nor had He given them a simple knowledge of Himself, but had unfolded it to them in various and manifold ways.
12. It was enough, indeed, that the grace by which we were made according to the image of God should suffice to know the Word of God D and, through Him, the Father. But God, knowing the weakness of men,
A men, made provision for their negligence, so that if they were unwilling to know God by themselves, they should not be ignorant of the Creator through the works of creation. But because the malice of men slides gradually into things that are worse, He again made provision for this infirmity of theirs by sending them the Law and the prophets, who were known to them, so that even if they were loath to look up to heaven and recognize the Maker, they might have instruction from those who were near. For men are able to learn more easily about higher things from men. It was possible, therefore, for them to look up to the magnitude of the heaven and, having considered the harmony of creation, to know its Governor, the Word of the Father, who by His own providence over all things reveals the Father to all, and for this reason moves the whole B, that through Him all might know God. And if this was irksome to them, it was possible for them to encounter the holy men, and through them to learn of God, the Creator of all things, the Father of Christ; and that the worship of idols is atheism and full of all impiety. It was also possible for them, having known the Law, to cease from every transgression and to live a life according to virtue. For the Law was not given for the sake of the Jews only, nor were the prophets sent for their sake alone; although they were sent to the Jews and were persecuted by the Jews, they were, for the whole inhabited world, a sacred school for the knowledge of God and for the training of the soul. Since therefore the goodness and love of God for man were so great, yet men, overcome by present pleasures and by the phantasms and deceits of demons, did not turn their eyes toward the truth, but loaded themselves with more evils and sins, so that they no longer appeared to be rational, but were deemed irrational because of their conduct.
13. Since therefore men were led astray, and since demonic error was casting its shadow everywhere, and hiding the knowledge of the true God, what was God supposed to do? Was He to hold His peace at such a state of affairs, and allow men to be led astray by demons and not to know God? And what C was the need for man to have been made from the beginning according to the image of God? For he ought either to have been made simply as an irrational being, or, having been made rational, not to live the life of irrational animals. And what, in general, was the need for him to have received a conception of God from the beginning? For if he is not worthy to receive it even now, it certainly ought not to have been given to him from the beginning. And what profit would there be to God the Creator, and what glory would accrue to Him, if those who were made by Him D were not to worship Him, but were to think that others were their makers?
For God would be found to have created these things for others and not for Himself. Furthermore, any A king, being a man, does not allow the lands built by him to be handed over to others to serve them, nor to have recourse to others; but by his letters he reminds them, and often he sends to them through his friends; and if need be, he himself arrives, that by his presence he may influence them, solely that they might not serve others, and his own work become useless. How much more, then, will God have compassion on the things—the work of which He is Creator—lest they wander away from Him and serve things that are naught, especially when such an error is the cause of their destruction and ruin? It was not fitting that things which had once shared in the image of God should perish. What, then, was God to do? B Or what was to be done, other than to renew that which was made after the image, so that through it men might again be able to know Him? But how could this have happened, had not the very image of God, our Savior Jesus Christ, come? For it could not be done through men, since they themselves were made after the image; nor indeed through the angels, for they too are not images. Wherefore the Word of God came in His own person, that, as He is the image of the Father, He might be able to recreate man who was made after the image. Otherwise, it would not have happened, had not death and corruption been destroyed; wherefore He fittingly took a mortal body, that death in it might henceforth be destroyed, and men might again be renewed after the image. No one else, therefore, was suitable for this necessity C except the image of the Father.
14. For just as when an effigy painted on a panel has been obliterated by filth thrown upon it, it is necessary for him whose effigy it is to arrive again, so that his image may be restored in the same material; for the material itself is not cast away on account of the image expressed upon it, but the obliterated effigy is renewed within it: so also the most holy Son of the Father, who is the image of the Father, came to us, in order to recreate man made after His own likeness, and to recover him as one lost, by the granting of the remission of sins, as He Himself says in the Gospels: "I came to find and to save what was lost." Whence also He said to the Jews: "Unless one be born again." D By which words He did not signify procreation from women, as they indeed supposed, but was designating the soul, in as far as it is reborn and recreated in that which is after the image. And since both idolatry and impiety were occupying the whole world, and the knowledge of God was…
A hidden, whose business was it to teach the world about the Father? Was it a man's? But it was not in the power of men to travel over the whole world, nor did human nature suffice to endure such a journey, nor could they be considered reliable on this account, nor were they capable of resisting, by themselves, the deceit and fantasy of the demons. For since the souls of all were wounded and led astray by demonic deceit and the vanity of idols, how was it possible for the soul of man and the mind of men to be persuaded, when they could not even see them? And he who does not see, how can he be taught? But perhaps someone might say that creation was sufficient. But if creation had been sufficient, such great evils would not have occurred. For creation also existed, and nevertheless men were rolling in the same error regarding God. Whose need was it, then, but that of the Word of God, who sees both the soul and the mind, who moves all things in creation, and through them makes the Father known? For it was the task of Him who teaches about the Father through His own providence and the arrangement of all things, to renew the same teaching. How, then, could this have happened? Perhaps someone might say that it was possible by the same means, so that through the works of creation one could again show what relates to Him. But this was no longer safe. For men had neglected this previously, and they had their eyes fixed not upward, but B downward. Whence, suitably, wishing to benefit men, He visits them as a man, taking to Himself a body similar to theirs, and from the lower things; I mean, through the works of the body, so that those who had not wished to know Him through His providence and governance over all things might, at least through the works done by His body, know the Word of God who is in the body, and through Him [know] the Father.
15. C For as a good teacher who cares for his own disciples, not being ashamed to condescend to instruct those who are unable to benefit from higher things through simpler ones; in the same way, the Word of God, as Paul says: "For since in the wisdom of God the world through wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of the preaching to save them that believe" (1 Cor. 1:21). For since men, having turned away from the contemplation of God, and having sunk as if in a deep pit, having their eyes D cast downward, were seeking God in generation and in sensible things, fashioning for themselves mortal men and demons as gods; for this reason the lover of mankind and common Savior of all, the Word of God, takes to Himself a body, and as a man dwells among men, and takes the senses of all, so that those who think that God is to be found in bodily things may, from the works which the Lord performs through the ministry of the body, perceive the truth, and through Him reckon the Father. And being men, and thinking all things human...
A upon which they might turn their senses, they saw that they were being taken up by these, and taught the truth from every side. For whether they were struck with wonder at creation, they saw it confessing Christ as Lord; or if their mind was preoccupied with men, so as to esteem them gods, yet from the works of the Saviour, comparing those of others with them, it was manifest that the Saviour alone was the Son of God among men, since there were no such works among them as had been done by the Word of God. And if they were preoccupied with demons, yet seeing them driven out by the Lord, they were able to know that He alone was the Word of God, and that the demons were not gods. But if even toward the dead their mind was held fast, so as to worship heroes and those called gods by the poets, yet seeing the Saviour's resurrection, they were forced to confess that those were false, and that the Lord alone was the true Word of the Father, He who even reigns over death. Therefore also He was born, and appeared as man, and died, and rose again, eclipsing and obscuring by His own deeds the deeds of all men who had ever lived, so that in whatever direction men had been preoccupied, He might recall them from there, and teach them His true Father, even as He Himself says: I am come to save and to find that which was lost.
16. For since the perception of men B had fallen to bodily things, the Word lowered Himself that He might appear through a body, so that, as man, He might transfer to Himself those who are men, and turn their senses to Himself; and that henceforth, looking upon Him as man, through the works which He does, He might persuade them that He is not man only, but also God, and the Word and Wisdom of the true God. This also Paul, wishing to indicate, says: Rooted and grounded in love, that ye may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. For since the Word spread Himself C everywhere, both above and below, and in the depth and in the breadth: above, in creation; below, in the incarnation; in the depth, when He descended into Hades; and in the breadth, insofar as He illuminated the whole world with His advent; all things are truly filled with the knowledge of God. For this reason, He did not offer the sacrifice for all immediately upon His arrival, by delivering His body to death and then raising it from the dead—for thus He would rather have hidden Himself from us—but He exhibited Himself to be seen through it, in that He remained in it, and did such works and gave such signs, D which made them recognize Him not as man, but as the Word of God. For the Saviour showed His love for mankind in both ways through the incarnation.
A For He was not enclosed in a body, nor was He present in the body in such a way that He was absent elsewhere; nor, while He moved that body, were all things left empty of His activity and providence. But what is most paradoxical is this: being the Word, He was not contained by anything, but rather He Himself contained all things. As He is in the whole of creation, He is outside the universe in His essence, yet in all things by His own powers, ordering all things and extending His providence into everything and in everything, and giving life to each and to all together; containing the whole and not being contained, but being B in His Father alone in His entirety in all respects. So also, while being in the human body and giving it life, He was, as is fitting, giving life to all things; and He was in all things, and was outside the whole. Known from the body through His works, He was not hidden even by the activity of the universe.
For it is the function of the soul indeed to contemplate even things outside its own body by its reasonings, yet not to act outside its own body, nor to move things far away by its presence. No man, therefore, when thinking of distant things, thereby moves them or transfers them; nor, if someone is sitting in his own house and contemplates the things in heaven, does he thereby move the sun C or turn the heaven in its course. He sees them indeed as moving and as having been made, but he does not have the power to cause them. But such was not the Word of God in man. For He was not bound to the body, but rather He held it, so that He was in it and was also in all things, and was outside all things, and rested in the Father alone. And this was the wonderful thing, that while He lived as a man, yet as the Word He was giving life to all things, and as the Son He was with the Father.
Wherefore, when the Virgin gave birth, He did not suffer, nor was He defiled by being in the body; D but rather He even sanctified the body. For even while He is in all things, He does not partake of all things, but rather all things are given life and nourished by Him. For if the sun, which was made by Him and is seen by us, moving in heaven, is not defiled by touching earthly bodies, nor is it obscured by darkness, but rather itself illuminates and purges them: then much more was the all-holy Word of God, the maker and Lord of the sun, not defiled when He made Himself known in a body. Rather, being Himself incorruptible, He gave life and purity to the mortal body, who, scripture says, "did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth." (1 Pet. II, 22)
18. When those theologians who treat of these matters teach that He ate and drank and was born, observe that while the body, as a body, was being born and was being nourished with appropriate foods, He Himself, the God Word who was united to the body, governing all things, by the things which He accomplished in the body, made Himself known not as man, but as God the Word. These things are said concerning Him because the body which was eating and being born and suffering belonged to no one else, but to the Lord. And because He had become man, it was fitting that these things also should be spoken of as concerning a man, so that His body might be seen to be a true one and not a phantasm or a fiction. Nevertheless, just as from these things it was recognized that He was present in the body, so from the works which He accomplished through the body, He made Himself known as the Son of God. B Whence also He cried out to the unbelieving Jews, saying: *If I do not the works of my Father, do not believe me; but if I do, even if you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.* For just as He, being invisible, is known from the works of creation, so too, having become man and being hidden in a body, He showed by His works that He who accomplished these things was not a man, but the power and Word of God. For Him to command the demons and for them to be driven out is not a human, but a divine work. Or who, seeing Him healing the diseases to which the human race is subject, still considered Him a man and not God? C For He cleansed lepers, made the lame walk, opened the hearing of the deaf, made the blind to see, and simply drove away all diseases and infirmities from men—from which it was easy for anyone at all to discern His divinity. For who, seeing Him bestow what was lacking, where nature had failed at birth, and opening the eyes of the man born blind, would not consider that the procreation of man is subject to Him, and that He is the author of it? For there cannot be any doubt that He who restored to man what he lacked at birth is the Lord of the origin of men. For this reason also, when He came to us in the beginning, He fashioned a body for Himself from a Virgin, so that He might provide to all a not insignificant proof of His divinity; D that it might be manifest from this that He who fashioned that body is also the Maker of other bodies. For who, observing a body coming forth from a virgin alone without a man, does not understand that He who appears in it is the Maker and Lord of other bodies also? Who, observing the nature of the waters changed and converted into wine, does not believe that the author of this thing is also the Creator of the substance of all the waters? Hence, therefore, He also, as Lord, stepped into the sea and walked there as if on land,
A giving to those who saw Him a sign of His lordship over all things. And by feeding such a great multitude from a few [loaves], and by Himself providing an abundance out of scarcity, so that five thousand were satisfied from five loaves, and another equal amount remained over, He taught nothing else than that He Himself was the Lord of the providence of all things.
19. And it seemed appropriate to the Savior to do all these things, so that since men had remained ignorant of His providence over all things, and had not perceived His divinity through nature, at least by the works He performed through the body they might lift up their eyes and, through Him, gain an understanding of the knowledge of the Father, B by reasoning—as I said before—from the particular to His providence over the whole. For who, seeing His authority over demons, or seeing the demons themselves confessing Him to be their Lord, would still have a doubting mind as to whether He is the Son of God, and the Wisdom and Power [of God]? Nor did He allow creation itself to be silent, but—which is worthy of unique admiration—even in His death, or rather, in the very trophy erected against death, I mean the cross, the whole of creation confessed that He who was known and suffering in the body was not merely a man, but the Son of God and the Savior of all. For when the sun turned away, and the earth was shaken, and the mountains were rent asunder, all men were struck with fear; C these things showed that Christ, who was fixed to the cross, was true God, and that the whole of creation was His servant and, by its fear, was testifying to the presence of the Master. Thus, then, did God the Word manifest Himself to men through His works. But it would be consistent also to recount and speak of the end of His life and sojourn in the body, and what the death of His body was like; especially since this is the head of our faith, and all men universally babble about it, so that you may know that even from this it is no less recognized that Christ is God and the Son of God. D
20. As for the cause of His bodily advent, as far as it was possible, and as we were able to understand it in part, we have explained above that it belonged to no other to transform the corruptible into incorruptibility, except the Savior Himself, who had also made all things from nothing at the beginning; and it belonged to no other to recreate for men the [likeness] according to the image, except the Image of the Father; and it belonged to no other to render the mortal immortal, except the Lord Jesus Christ, who is Himself the very Life; and it belonged to no other to teach concerning the Father and to overthrow the worship of idols, except the Word who regulates all things and is the only true, begotten Son of the Father. But since what was owed by all deserved to be paid—for all, as I said before, were bound to die, which was the principal cause of His advent—
A therefore He, after having proven His divinity by His works, then offered the sacrifice on behalf of all, delivering His own temple to death in place of all, that He might render all free and exempt from the ancient transgression, and might prove Himself stronger than death, showing His own body as the incorruptible first-fruits of the resurrection of all.
Nor should you be surprised if we often repeat the same things. For when we speak of the benevolent will of God toward us, we interpret the same meaning in many words, so that we might not appear to have omitted anything, and that it might not be imputed to us as a crime that we had spoken less than what was proper about so great a matter. For it is better to incur the reproach of tautology than to omit any of the things that ought to be committed to writing.
Therefore, since the body—as it had in common with all men the same substance (for it was a human body)—even though it was formed by a new miracle from the Virgin alone, yet because it was mortal, it died just as other bodies do. But because the Word had assumed that same body for Himself, it was not corrupted according to its own nature, but because of the Word dwelling in it, it became immune to corruption. And thus, two miracles occurred simultaneously in the same thing: namely, that the death of all was fulfilled in the Lord's body, and that death and corruption were destroyed because of the Word dwelling in it. B For there was need of death, and it was necessary that death should occur on behalf of all, so that what was owed by all might be paid.
Wherefore, as I said, since the Word could not die (for He was immortal), He took unto Himself a body that could die, that He might offer it as His own on behalf of all, and that He Himself, suffering on behalf of all through His entry into that body, might render vain the efforts of him who held the power of death, that is, the devil, and might deliver those who through fear of death were subject to slavery throughout their whole life. C
21. Certainly, after the common Savior of all died for us, we who are faithful in Christ no longer undergo death as before according to the threat of the law (for such a condemnation has reached its end); but as corruption ceases and vanishes through the grace of the resurrection, we are henceforth dissolved only for the time which God has defined for each, so that we may obtain a better resurrection. For, like seeds cast into the earth, we do not perish when we are dissolved, but, as if sown, we shall rise again, death having been rendered powerless through the grace of the Savior. D Hence, therefore, the blessed Paul, having become the sponsor of the resurrection for all, says: "It behooves this corruptible
to put on incorruption; and this mortal to put on immortality. But when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal A shall have put on immortality, then shall come to pass the word that is written: Death is swallowed up in victory; where, O death, is thy sting? Where, O death, thy victory?" [1 Cor. xv, 53-55.] Why then, one might ask, if it was necessary for Him to deliver up His body to death on behalf of all, did He not lay it down as a man would privately, but instead went so far as to be crucified? For it would have been more honorable for Him to lay down His body as He chose, rather than to endure such a death amid ignominy. See, however, whether this objection be not merely human, while what was done by the Savior is truly divine and worthy of His divinity for many reasons. First, because the death which befalls men comes to them by the weakness of their own nature; for, being unable to persist for long, they are dissolved by time. Because of this, diseases also befall them, and they die through infirmity. But the Lord is not infirm, but is the Power of God, and the Word of God, and Life Itself. If, therefore, He had laid down His body in private and in the customary manner of men upon a bed, it would have been thought that He, too, suffered this according to the weakness of nature, and had nothing more than other men. But since He was also Life and the Word of God, and it was necessary that the death on behalf of all should take place, for this reason He kept the body strong in Himself as He was Life and Power; yet, because it was necessary that death should occur, He took the occasion to perfect the sacrifice not from Himself, but from others; for it was not fitting that the Lord, who healed the diseases of others, should Himself be seized by disease. Nor again was it fitting that the body should be weakened in which He made C the infirmities of others strong. Why, then, did He not prevent death, just as He did not prevent sickness? Because it was for this very reason that He possessed a body, and it was not fitting to prevent it, lest the resurrection also be impeded. To have allowed sickness to precede death, however, would have been indecorous, lest infirmity be thought to exist in the body. Did He not, then, hunger? Yes, He hungered, according to the property of the body; but He did not perish of hunger, because of the Lord who wore it. For this reason, even if He died to serve as a ransom for all, yet He did not see corruption. For He rose whole, because the body was not that of another, but of Life Itself.
22. "But," someone might say, "He ought to have avoided the plots of the Jews, so that He might have kept His own body completely immortal." Let such a person hear that this, too, was indecorous for the Lord. For just as it was not fitting for the Word of God, being Life, to inflict death upon His own body by His own hand, so it was not fitting for Him to flee from death inflicted by others, but rather to pursue it unto destruction. Hence, quite consistently, neither by Himself
did He lay down the body nor did He flee from the Jews when they plotted against Him. A This was no proof of weakness in the Word, but rather gave evidence that He was Savior and Life; for He awaited death so that He might destroy it, and He hastened to complete the death offered for the salvation of all. Moreover, the Savior came not to end His own death, but the death of men; whence He did not lay aside the body by a death of His own (for, being Life, He possessed none), but He received the one from men, so that He might utterly annihilate this one also, having approached His own body. Further, from these things one may reasonably see that the Lord’s body came to such an end. The Lord was most concerned about the resurrection of the body which He was going to perform. For this indeed was the trophy over death: to display this to all and to assure everyone of the destruction of corruption brought about by Him, and henceforth the incorruptibility of bodies, for which He has kept His own body incorrupt B as a pledge and token for all of the resurrection that will happen to all. If, then, the body had again fallen ill, and the Word had departed from it in the sight of all, it would certainly have been unbecoming for the One who healed the diseases of others to overlook His own instrument wasting away in sickness. For how would He have been believed to have driven away the weaknesses of others, while His own temple was weak within Him? Either He would have been mocked as one unable to drive away disease, or, if able and yet not doing so, He would have been considered unkind and inhumane toward others as well.
23. If, moreover, he had died without sickness or pain, privately and in some corner, either in a desert place, or at home, or wherever else he might have hidden the body, and after this had suddenly appeared again and asserted that he had risen from the dead, he would certainly C have seemed to all to be telling fables, and even less faith would have been placed in him speaking about the resurrection, when there was absolutely no one to bear witness to his death. But death must precede resurrection, since without death preceding it, no resurrection could follow. Whence, if the destruction of the body had been hidden, since death would have gone unnoticed and had not occurred before witnesses, his resurrection also would have been hidden and without witnesses. But indeed, for what reason would he have wished to undergo death secretly, he who, after he rose, openly proclaimed his resurrection? Or why did he who drove out demons in the sight of all, and restored sight to the man born blind, and changed water into wine, in order that through these things he might create faith that he is the Word of God, not show that which was mortal incorrupt in the sight of all, so that he might be believed to be Life itself? D How, indeed, would his disciples have dared to speak freely about the doctrine of the resurrection, not having it in their power to say that he first died? Or how would it have been believed that they were saying that death happened first, and then the resurrection, unless they had those among whom they spoke with boldness as witnesses of his death? For if it had happened in this way, in the sight of all...
A the Pharisees would not only have refused to believe, but would have compelled even those who had seen the resurrection to deny it; if these things had happened in secret, how many excuses for unbelief, I ask, would they not have devised? Furthermore, how would the end of death or the victory over it have been made manifest, had he not, by calling all to witness, shamed it, showing it as a corpse stripped [of life], and finally by the incorruption of his body?
24. It is necessary for us to anticipate in our defense what others might object. B For someone might perhaps say this: if his death had to occur in the sight of all and with witnesses, so that the message of the resurrection might be believed, he should at least have chosen for himself an honorable death, so as to avoid the ignominy of the cross. Yet had he done so, he would have given room for suspicion against himself, as one who was not stronger than any kind of death, but only the one which he had chosen; and thus the excuse for disbelief regarding the resurrection would have been no less. Whence, the death did not come upon his body from himself, but from the plotting of others, so that he might destroy the very death which they brought upon the Savior. And just as a noble wrestler, being great in wisdom and courage, does not choose his own opponents himself, lest he give the suspicion of cowardice before anyone, but leaves it to the discretion of the spectators—especially if he allows them to be his enemies—so that by throwing and defeating whomever they set before him, he may be believed to be stronger than all; C so too, the Lord and Savior of all, our Christ, did not devise for himself a death of the body, lest he appear to be afraid of any other; but he did not refuse to undergo in the cross the death brought about by others, and especially by his enemies—the one they considered dreadful, shameful, and something to be avoided—so that, once it was abolished, he might be believed to be the Life, and the power of death might be utterly destroyed. For a wondrous and unexpected thing happened: that which they thought to be an ignominious death, this was a trophy against death itself. Hence, he did not suffer the death of John, with the head being severed, nor was he sawn asunder like Isaiah, so that even in death he might keep his body undivided and whole, and that no excuse might remain for those who wish to divide the Church.
25. These things serve to answer those who pile up arguments from without; D but if any of our own people asks, not out of contentiousness but out of a desire to learn, why he did not suffer another death but rather the cross, let him also hear that for this reason the Lord...
A properly endured this for our sake. For if he came to bear the curse that had come upon us, how else could he have become a curse, unless he had accepted the death that occurs for a curse? And this is the cross; for so it is written: Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. Furthermore, if the death of the Lord is a ransom for all, and by his death the middle wall of partition is broken down, and the calling of the nations takes place, how could he have called us, had he not been crucified? For truly, only on the cross does one die with hands outstretched. Therefore, it was fitting for the Lord to endure this and to stretch out his hands, that with one he might draw the ancient people, and with the other those from the nations, and unite both in himself. For this is what he himself said, signifying by what death he was about to redeem all: When I am lifted up, he says, I will draw all to myself. Moreover, if the devil, the enemy of our race, having fallen from heaven, wanders about in this lower air, where he exercises authority over the other demons who are like him in their disobedience, and through them performs illusions for those who are being deceived, and attempts to obstruct those who are ascending—concerning whom the Apostle says: According to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the sons of disobedience—and if, furthermore, the Lord came to cast down the devil, to purify the air, and to open for us the way to heaven through the veil, that is to say, his own flesh, as the Apostle says; finally, if this had to be accomplished by death, by what other death, I ask you, could these things have been achieved, if not by the death which the Lord suffered in the air on the cross? For only he who lays down his life on the cross dies in the air. Therefore, the Lord B fittingly endured such a death. For by being lifted up in this way, he purified the air from the devilish and all the deceptive designs of the demons, saying: I was watching Satan fall like lightning. And he opened the way to heaven by renewing it, saying again: Lift up your gates, you princes, and be elevated, you eternal gates. For the Word himself did not need the gates to be opened, being the Lord of all; nor was anything created closed to its Creator; but we ourselves, whom he was lifting up through his own body, were the ones in need of this. For just as he delivered his body for all to death, so also through the same body he opened the way to heaven.
25. Rightly and most fittingly, therefore, did the Lord D endure the death for us on the cross: the cause of which is in every respect highly agreeable to right reason, for it is evident and clear to everyone that the salvation of all could not have been restored in any other way than by the cross. For even in this, he did not allow himself to be unknown, even on the cross, but rather moved the created nature...
A to testify to the presence of its Creator. Nor did he allow his temple, that is to say his body, to lie lifeless for long; but when he had shown it dead by the encounter of death, he raised it up immediately on the third day, bearing off the incorruption and impassibility that had been wrought in the body as trophies and palms of victory over death. He could indeed have raised the body immediately after death and shown it alive again; but for good reasons the Savior did not do this. For some might have suspected that it had not died at all, or had not been touched by death at all, if he had resurrected it immediately. Perhaps, too, if death and resurrection had occurred in the same interval of time, the glory of the incorruption would have been uncertain and unknown. Wherefore, in order that it might be established that the body had been dead, the Word suffered one full day B to pass between, and on the third day showed it to all as incorrupt. Therefore, in order that it might be manifest that the body had been truly dead, he raised it up on the third day. But lest this seem incredible, or men think he possessed another body—if, for instance, he had not restored it to life except after a long time, when it would already have been deeply corrupted (for there would not have been wanting those who, because of the longer delay, would not have believed, and would have forgotten what had been done)—for this reason he did not wait longer than three days, nor did he put those who had heard him speak of the resurrection off to a later time; but while his words were still ringing in their ears, while they were still awaiting him with attentive eyes, and were suspended in their minds; while those who had slain him and were witnesses of the death of the Lord's body C were still living on earth and lingering in the same places, the Son of God himself showed the body, which had been dead for the space of three days, to be immortal and incorrupt; and it was demonstrated to all that the body had not died because of the weakness of the nature of the indwelling Word, but that death might be destroyed in it by the power of the Savior.
27. That death has been dissolved and that victory over it has been gained by the cross, and that it no longer has any power, but is truly dead, is no slight proof and clear evidence that it is despised by all the disciples of Christ, and all trample upon it, and no longer fear it, but by the sign of the cross and the faith in Christ trample upon it as dead. For of old, before the divine coming of the Savior, death was fearful even to the saints themselves D and all lamented those who were dying as though they were perishing. But now that the Savior has raised his body from the dead, death is no longer fearful, but all who believe in Christ trample upon it as though it were nothing, and choose rather to die than to deny the faith in Christ. For they know truly that by dying they do not perish, but live and become incorrupt through the resurrection. But he who before was...
B maliciously leaping upon mankind, the devil, once his pangs were loosed, remained truly the only dead one. And the proof of this is that, before men believe in Christ, they see death as fearful and dread it; but when they pass over into His faith and teaching, they so despise death that they even eagerly rush upon it, and become witnesses of the resurrection accomplished by the Savior against it. For indeed, even while still children in age, they hasten to die, and not only men but also women exercise themselves against it. So weak has it become, that women whom it formerly deceived now mock it as a dead and paralyzed thing. For just as when a tyrant has been conquered by a true king, and bound hand and foot, no one passing by any longer fears his fury and cruelty, but instead—on account of the victory won over him by the king—they mock him, beat him, and tear at him; so also, death having been conquered and branded by the Savior on the cross, and bound hand and foot, all who are in Christ, passing by, trample upon it, and witnessing to Christ, deride death, scoffing at it and saying the things written of it from of old: Where, O death, is thy victory? Where, O Hades, thy sting?
28. Is this, then, a slight indication of the weakness of death? Or is it a small proof of the victory won over it by the Savior, when children and young maidens in Christ despise this present life and meditate on dying? For man is by nature fearful of death and the dissolution of the body; but the most paradoxical thing is this, that he who has put on the faith of the cross despises even those things which are according to nature, and does not fear death for Christ’s sake. And just as if one, while fire has the natural power to burn, were to say that there is something which does not fear its flame but rather proves its weakness—such as is reported of the Indian asbestos—and if someone, not believing the one who asserts this, should wish to put the matter to the test for himself, he would put on the asbestos and cast it into the fire, and thus would confirm for himself the weakness of the fire against it; or as if anyone should be seized with the desire to see a bound tyrant, of necessity he betakes himself to the region and dominion of the victor, and there beholds him who was formidable to others become weak: so if anyone is an unbeliever, and even D now, after such great things, and after so many who have become witnesses in Christ, and after the daily...
mockery of death A by the distinguished athletes of Christ, still has his mind in doubt as to whether death has been brought to nothing and has reached its end, he does well to marvel at such a great thing. Yet let him not be hard-hearted to the point of unbelief, nor shameless in the face of such evident things. But just as he who has taken up asbestos knows that it is unburnable by fire, and he who wishes to see a tyrant bound goes over to the domain of the conqueror; so too let him who is an unbeliever concerning the victory over death accept the faith of Christ and pass over into His teaching; and he will see the weakness of death and the victory over it. For many who previously disbelieved and mocked, having later believed, have so despised death that they themselves have even become witnesses of Christ.
29. Furthermore, if by the sign of the cross and the faith in Christ death is trampled underfoot, it would be evident to anyone judging by the truth that there is no other than Christ Himself who has carried off palms and triumphs over death and has weakened it. If mortality, which previously had great power and for this reason was terrible, is now, after the coming of the Savior and the death and resurrection of His body, despised; then it is manifest that death has been destroyed and overcome by the very Christ who ascended the cross. For just as, when the sun rises after night and illuminates the whole world with its rays, it is doubtful to no one that the sun, which diffuses its own light everywhere, is also the one that has driven away the darkness and illuminated all things: so, since death began to be despised and trampled C underfoot from the time the Savior came to us in His saving bodily manifestation and from the completion of the cross, it is clear that He Himself is the Savior, who appeared in the body, who has destroyed death, and who displays triumphs over it daily in His own disciples. For when one sees men, weak by nature, rushing eagerly towards death, and not fearing its corruption, nor dreading the descents into Hades, but calling it out with a ready soul, and not fearing torments, but rather preferring the rush towards death to the life here for the sake of Christ; or even if one witnesses men and women and young children rushing and leaping into death for the sake of piety towards Christ—who is so simple-minded, or who is so unbelieving, or whose mind is so blinded, that he does not understand and reckon that Christ, to whom men bear witness, Himself grants and gives the victory over death to each one, causing it to be weakened in each of those who have faith in Him and who bear the sign of the cross? For indeed, he who sees a serpent being trampled D underfoot, especially if he has not been ignorant of its previous ferocity, no longer doubts that it is dead and utterly extinguished, unless perhaps he happens to be deranged and does not have the healthy senses of the body. For who, seeing a lion being a plaything for children, would not know...
that it has either died or lost all of its own power? A Just as it is possible for the eyes to see that these things are true, so, since death is mocked and scorned by the faithful in Christ, let no one hereafter shrink from believing, and let no one doubt that death has been destroyed by Christ and its corruption dissolved and done away with.
30. Therefore, that death has been destroyed by Christ, and that the Lord’s cross has been set up against it as a trophy, is no small proof according to what we have said. But that the resurrection of the immortal body was indeed brought about by the Savior of all, Christ, who is true life, is proved more clearly by the phenomena themselves than by words—that is, to those who have a healthy eye of the mind. For if, as we have shown, death is destroyed, and all men trample upon it because of Christ, much more did he himself first trample upon it with his own body and destroy it. B For death having been killed by him, what else was there to happen but that the body should rise again, and this be shown as a trophy against death? For how would death have been seen to be destroyed, if the Lord’s body had not risen? And if this proof is not sufficient for someone regarding his resurrection, let him even hold faith in what is said from the things that happen before his eyes. For if a man who has become dead is able to effect nothing, but for him his grace holds only until the grave and thenceforth ceases; and if only the living perform actions and only they can accomplish anything among men; let him who wishes certainly see and, being his own judge, confess the truth from what he has seen. C For when the Savior effects so many and such great things among men; when daily he secretly persuades from every quarter—from those inhabiting Greece and the barbarian lands—such a multitude to come over to his own faith and all to obey his teaching: will anyone now have a doubtful mind as to whether a resurrection has been accomplished by the Savior, and whether Christ is alive, or rather, is he himself life? Is it the work of a dead man to prick the minds of men, so that they renounce their ancestral laws and worship the teaching of Christ? Or how, if he is not acting—for this is the property of a dead man—does he himself hold back those who are acting and living from their activity, so that the adulterer no longer commits adultery, the murderer no longer kills, the unjust man no longer defrauds, and the impious man becomes pious? D How can it be the case, if he has not risen but is dead, that he himself expels, pursues, and puts to flight the demons whom the infidels falsely call gods and worship? For where Christ and the faith of Christ is named, from thence all idolatry is cast out, all the frauds and fallacies of the demons are immediately exposed, and no demon can even bear the very name, but even at the hearing of it, he soon flees and departs. This is surely not the work of a dead man.
but of a living man, and most especially of God. Moreover, it would be ridiculous to say that the demons driven away by Him and the idols being abolished are alive, but to call the One who drives them out, and who by His own power causes them not even to appear—whom all even confess to be the Son of God—a dead man.
A 31. A further argument against those who are skeptical about the resurrection will be this: if Christ, whom they consider dead, were such, all the demons and the gods whom they worship would not flee from Him, but rather Christ proves them all to be dead. For if it is true that a dead man performs no action, and yet the Savior every day accomplishes so many things—drawing men to piety, persuading them to pursue virtue, teaching them about immortality, B stirring in them a longing for heavenly things, revealing the knowledge of the Father, inspiring them with power against death, showing Himself to each, and destroying the godlessness of idols—while the gods and demons among the faithless can do none of these things, but rather become dead through the presence of Christ, having their pretensions rendered idle and empty;—if, by the sign of the cross, all sorcery ceases, all witchcraft is abolished, all idols are abandoned and forsaken, all irrational pleasure is silenced, and every man looks up to heaven from the earth—who, I ask, is to be called dead? Is it Christ, who works such great things? But C it is not the nature of a dead man to act. Or is it not rather the one who acts not at all, but lies like an inanimate thing, which is the proper state of demons and idols, as being dead? For the Son of God, being alive and active, works every day and brings about the salvation of all; but death D is daily exposed as having itself grown weak, and the idols and demons are found to be more and more dead, so that from this no one can any longer doubt about the resurrection of His body.
If, however, there is anyone who still refuses to believe that the Lord's body has risen, such a one seems to be ignorant of the power of God the Word and Wisdom. For if He truly took a body, and made it His own in accordance with the reasonable sequence, as the account has shown, what, I ask, was the Lord to do concerning it? Or what end was the body to have, once the Word had entered into it? For it could not but die, since it was mortal and was being offered to death for all—for which reason the Savior also prepared it for Himself—yet it could not remain a corpse, because it had become the temple of Life. Therefore, it died as a mortal thing, but it came to life again because of the life within it; and the works themselves are the proof of its resurrection.
32. That it is not seen, and therefore doubted that it has risen, is the time for those who are skeptical to deny nature itself.
For indeed, it is proper to God not to be seen, but to be known from His works, even as has been said above. If, then, there were no works, it would be reasonable for men to disbelieve one who is not seen; but if the works cry out and demonstrate Him clearly, why do they willfully deny the life of the resurrection which is so manifest? For even if their minds were blinded, they could at least see with their external senses the incontestable power and divinity of Christ. Just as a blind man, even if he does not see the sun, yet perceives the heat that it produces and knows that the sun is above the earth, so too those who contradict—even if they do not yet believe and are still blind to the truth—should not, because they know the power of others who believe, deny the divinity of Christ and the resurrection that took place through Him. B For it is clear that if Christ were dead, He would not expel demons or despoil idols, for demons would not obey a dead man. But if they are openly expelled by the mention of His name, it is a most certain proof that He is not dead; especially since demons, who see things invisible to men, could easily know whether Christ were truly dead, and would not obey Him. But now, though the impious do not believe, the demons see that He is God, and for this reason they fly and fall before Him, saying the same things they said when He was in the body: "We know who You are; You are the Holy one of God"; and, "Leave us alone, what have You to do with us, Son of God? I beseech You, do not torment me." Since, therefore, the demons bear witness and the works testify daily, no one should now shamelessly resist the truth, holding it for certain that the Savior raised His own body, and that He is the true Son of God, existing from Him as from a Father, as the proper Word, Wisdom, and Power, who later, for the salvation of all, took on a body and enlightened the whole world with the knowledge of the Father, destroyed death, and bestowed incorruptibility upon all through the promise of the resurrection—the firstfruits of which He raised from the dead being His own body, which He exhibited as a trophy over death and its corruption by the sign of the cross. C 33. Since matters are thus, and the proof of the resurrection of the body and the victory won by the Savior over death is manifest, come, let us also refute the unbelief of the Jews and the mockery of the Gentiles. For as to these points, perhaps the Jews disbelieve, and the Gentiles laugh, reviling the unseemliness of the cross and the incarnation of the Word of God; but my discourse will not shrink from meeting both, especially since evident arguments are at hand against them. Since the Jews, while not believing...
have hence the means of conviction from the Scriptures which they themselves read. For the books inspired by God cry out everywhere concerning these things, so that the very words make it manifest. For the prophets proclaimed beforehand from of old the miracle concerning the Virgin and the birth that was to come from her, saying: "Behold, a virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel," which is interpreted, "God with us." A And Moses, who is truly great and believed by them to be truthful, concerning the incarnation of the Saviour, having examined the oracle as a great matter and having recognized it as true, set it down, saying: "A star shall rise out of Jacob, and a man out of Israel, and he shall bruise the princes of Moab." And again: "How good are thy houses, O Jacob, thy tabernacles, O Israel! As shady valleys, and as gardens by the rivers, and as tents which the Lord has pitched, as cedars by the waters. A man shall come forth from his seed, and shall be Lord of many nations." And again, Isaiah: "Before the child knows how to call father or mother, he shall take the power of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria before the king of the Assyrians." That he will appear as a man is proclaimed by these things; but that the one coming is the Lord of all is again foretold, for they say: "Behold, the Lord sits upon a light cloud and shall come into Egypt, and the hand-made things of Egypt shall be shaken." And indeed, from there the Father recalls him, saying: "Out of Egypt have I called my Son."
34. Nor is his death passed over in silence, but it is indicated C very clearly in the divine Scriptures; for they did not fear to mention the cause of his death—that he endures it not for his own sake, but for the immortality and salvation of all—and the plot of the Jews and the insults offered to him by them, so that no one might be unaware of the things taking place and be led astray. They say, then: "A man in a stroke, and knowing how to bear infirmity, because his face is turned away, he was dishonoured and was not accounted of. He bears our sins and is pained for us; and we thought him to be in pain and in stroke and in affliction. But he was wounded for our sins and was weakened for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his bruise we were healed." Marvel at the philanthropy of the Word, that for our sake he is dishonoured, in order that we D might become honoured. For all, he says, like sheep have we gone astray; each in his own way has gone astray; and the Lord delivered him up for our sins; and he, because he is afflicted, does not open his mouth. As a sheep he is led to the slaughter, and as a lamb before the shearer he is speechless; so
he does not open his mouth. In his humiliation his judgment was taken away. Then, lest any person should take him to be an ordinary man because of his suffering, the Scripture forestalls the suspicions of men, and explains his power and the difference of his nature, which is unlike our own, saying: "Who shall declare his generation? For his life is taken from the earth; for the iniquities of the people he was led to death. And I will give the wicked for his burial, and the rich for his death; because he did no iniquity, neither was guile found in his mouth. And the Lord wills to cleanse him from the blow." A
35. But perhaps, while listening to these prophecies about his death, you also seek to learn what has been signified about the cross? This has not been passed over in silence, but has been described very clearly by the holy men. For Moses first, and with a loud voice, foretells it, saying: "You shall see your life hanging before your eyes, and you shall not believe." And the prophets who came after him again testify about this, saying: "But I, as an innocent lamb led to the slaughter, did not know. They plotted a wicked scheme against me, saying: Come, let us cast wood into his bread, and let us root him out from the land of the living." And again: "They pierced my hands and my feet; they have counted all my bones. They divided my garments among themselves, and upon my vesture they cast lots." Now, a death that is suspended in the air and takes place upon wood could surely be none other than the cross, and in no other death are the feet and hands pierced except on the cross alone. C And since, by the Savior's advent, all nations everywhere began to acknowledge God, they did not leave this, either, without a sign; but clear mention is made of this matter in the sacred writings. "For there shall be," he says, "the root of Jesse, and he who arises to rule the Gentiles; in him shall the Gentiles hope." And these points, indeed, are said as a few examples for the confirmation of what has come to pass. But all Scripture is full of testimonies by which the unbelief of the Jews is refuted. For who among the righteous and holy prophets and patriarchs who are recorded in the divine Scriptures has ever been born from a virgin alone? Or what woman has ever been able to generate a human being without a man? Was not Abel born of Adam, Enoch of Jared, Noah of Lamech, Abraham of Terah, Isaac of Abraham, and Jacob of Isaac? Was not Judah born of Jacob, Moses and Aaron of Amram, Samuel of Elkanah? Was not David born of Jesse, Solomon of David, Hezekiah of D
A Ahaz, Josiah of Amos, Isaiah of Amos, Jeremiah of Hilkiah, Ezekiel of Buzi? Has not every man had his father as the author of his generation? Who then is he who has been born of a virgin alone? For the prophet took great care concerning the sign of this event. Whose star, furthermore, ran ahead in the heavens, and announced to the world that he was born? For the parents of Moses hid his birth. David, meanwhile, was not even known to his neighbors, since not even the great Samuel knew him, but inquired if there were yet another son of Jesse. Abraham, moreover, was only recognized by those near to him once he had become a grown man. But of the birth of Christ, the witness was not a man, but a star appearing in heaven, from whence he also descended.
B 36. What king was ever able, before he could call father or mother, to reign and take trophies from his enemies? Was not David thirty years old when he reigned, and did not Solomon reign having become a youth? Did not Joash ascend the throne having become seven years old, and was not the subsequent Josiah, around his seventh year, that he took hold of the rule? But even so, these, while at that age, were able to call upon father or mother. Who then is he who reigned and despoiled his enemies almost before his birth? And what manner of king has there been in Israel and in Judah, let the Jews who have searched it out say, in whom all the nations have placed their hope and have had peace? And were they not rather opposed by the nations on every side? For as long as Jerusalem stood, there was an implacable war for them, and all fought against Israel, seeing that the Assyrians pressed them, the Egyptians C pursued them, and the Babylonians harassed them with incursions; and what is marvelous is that they even had the neighboring Syrians as enemies against them. For did not David wage war against the Moabites and strike down the Syrians? Did not Josiah guard against his neighbors, and did not Hezekiah fear the arrogance of Sennacherib? Did not Amalek lead an army against Moses, and did the Amorites not oppose them, while those who inhabited Jericho arrayed themselves against Joshua, the son of Nun? And generally, were there any bonds of friendship that were not irreconcilable between the nations and Israel? Who then is he in whom the nations place their hope; it is worth seeing. For it must be so, since it is impossible for the prophet to have lied. Whose, then, of the holy prophets or of the patriarchs from of old was the death on the cross for the salvation of all? Or who was wounded and D put to death for the health of all? Who of the righteous or the kings descended into Egypt, and upon his arrival the idols of the Egyptians fell down? For Abraham indeed went down there; but nevertheless, the idols...
idolatry flourished there as well. And Moses was born there, but the superstition of those who were in error remained the same as before. A
37. Who among those mentioned by Scripture has had his hands and feet pierced, or has been hung upon wood and died on a cross for the salvation of all? For Abraham died in his bed; likewise, Isaac and Jacob also died upon their beds, having stretched out their feet. Moses and Aaron died on the mountain; David died in his house, having suffered no treachery from the people; for although he was sought out by Saul to be killed, he escaped without harm. Isaiah was indeed sawn asunder, but he was not hung upon wood. Jeremiah was insulted, but died without being condemned. Ezekiel suffered, but not for the people; rather, he was indicating what was to befall the people. Furthermore, those who suffered such things B were men of the same nature as everyone else. But he who is indicated by the Scriptures as suffering on behalf of all is not called a man simply, but is called the life of all, even if he were to happen to be like men in his nature. For you shall see, he says, your life hanging before your eyes; and, Who shall declare his generation? For if anyone learns the genealogy of all the saints, he is able to recount from the beginning who and whence each one was born; but as for him who is Life, the divine oracles declare that his generation cannot be recounted. Who, then, is he of whom the divine Scriptures speak these things? Or who is so great that the prophets should have foretold so much about him? Indeed, no one else is found in the Scriptures C except the common Savior of all, the Word of God, our Lord Jesus Christ. For this is he who came forth from the Virgin and appeared as a man on earth, and possesses a generation according to the flesh that cannot be recounted; for there is no one who can indicate his father according to the flesh, since his body is not of a man, but of the Virgin alone. Just as, therefore, it is possible for anyone to trace the ancestors of David and of Moses and of all the patriarchs, so no one is able to recount the generation of the Savior according to the flesh from a man. This is he who also willed that the birth of his body be indicated by a star; for it was fitting that the Word coming down from heaven should also have his indication from heaven; and it was fitting that the King of creation, emerging, D should be known openly by all creation. Indeed, he was born in Judea, and the Persians came to worship him. This is he who, even before appearing in the body, gained the victory over the opposing demons and triumphed over idolatry. Hence, therefore, all the nations from everywhere, having detested their ancestral custom and the impiety of their idols, now place their hope in Christ and join themselves to him, so that even with their eyes
A one may see such things. For the impiety of the Egyptians has never ceased, except when the Lord of all, riding as it were upon a cloud, descended there in the body, destroyed the error of the idols, and brought all men to himself and through himself to the Father. He is the one who was crucified before the sun, the creation, and those who brought death upon him as witnesses; and by his death salvation B has come to all, and the whole creation has been redeemed. He is the life of all, who like a sheep delivered his own body to death for the salvation of all, even if the Jews do not believe.
33. If they do not consider these things sufficient, let them be persuaded by other testimonies which they themselves possess. For of whom do the prophets speak? "I appeared B to those who did not seek me; I was found by those who did not ask for me; I said, Behold me, to a nation that did not call upon my name; I stretched out my hands to a disobedient and gainsaying people." Who then is he who appeared? Let someone say to the Jews. For if it is a prophet, let them say when he was hiding so that he might appear later? And what kind of prophet is this, who appeared from being invisible, and stretched out his hands upon the cross? Of the just men, clearly none, but only the Word of God, who being in his nature is incorporeal, yet for our sake appeared in the body, and suffered for all. C Or if not even this is sufficient for them, let them be put to shame by other things, seeing such a manifest refutation. For the Scripture says: "Be strong, ye slack hands and ye feeble knees; be comforted, ye who are fearful in mind; be strong, do not fear. Behold, our God will render judgment; he will come and save us. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall hear. Then the lame man shall leap as a hart, and the tongue of the stammerers shall be clear." What then can they say about this, or how do they dare to look against it at all? For the prophecy signifies that God is visiting, D and the signs make known the time of his presence. For they say that the blind seeing, the lame walking, the deaf hearing, and the tongue of the stammerers becoming clear take place at the divine presence as it occurs. When, therefore, did such signs happen in Israel, or where has such a thing happened in Judea? Let them say. Naaman the leper was cleansed, but a deaf man did not hear, nor did a lame man walk. Elijah and Elisha raised a dead man; but a man born blind did not receive his sight. For while it is indeed a great thing to raise a dead man, it is not such a miracle as that which the Savior performed. Save that if the Scripture was not silent about the leper and
A the widow’s son, it certainly would not have omitted to declare these things, had they occurred, and for the lame to walk, and for the blind to recover sight. But since it is silent in the Scriptures, it is clear that these things had not happened before. When, therefore, did these things take place, if not when the Word of God Himself appeared in the body? And when did He appear, if not when the lame walked, and the stammerers were made to speak clearly, and the deaf heard, and the man born blind recovered his sight? For this reason, the Jews who were watching at that time said, as if they had never heard of these things happening at any other time: "Since the world began it was not heard that any one opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing" (17).
39. But perhaps, since they are unable to contend against things so manifest, they will not deny what is written, but will maintain that they are still expecting these things and that the Word of God has not yet come. For they repeat this up and down, and are not ashamed to be confounded B by facts so plain. But on this point, more than on anything else, they will be refuted, not by us, but by the most wise Daniel, who indicated both the present time and the divine advent of the Savior, saying: "Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people, and upon the holy city, to finish the transgression, and to seal up sins, and to wipe away iniquities, and to make reconciliation for iniquities, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy, and thou shalt know and understand from the going forth of the commandment to answer and to build Jerusalem unto Christ the prince" (18). Perhaps in other cases they might be able to find excuses and delay the written prophecies to a future time. But what C can they say to these things, or what at all can they oppose, where Christ is clearly indicated, and he who is to be anointed is declared to be not merely a man, but the "Most Holy," and Jerusalem stands until His advent, and thereafter the prophet and the vision cease in Israel? Formerly David, Solomon, and Hezekiah were anointed, but Jerusalem and the place still stood, and the prophets continued to prophesy—namely, Gad, Asaph, Nathan, and after them Isaiah, Hosea, Amos, and others. Furthermore, those who were anointed were called holy men, but not the "Most Holy." But if they object to the captivity, and contend that because of it Jerusalem did not stand, D what will they say about the prophets? For after the people were once led to Babylon,
A there were Daniel and Jeremiah; and Ezekiel, Haggai, and Zechariah were prophesying. 40. But the Jews defer the present time. For when did prophet or vision cease from Israel, except when Christ, the Holy of Holies, arrived? For it is a great sign and clear indication of the presence of the Word of God that Jerusalem no longer stands, nor does a prophet arise, nor is vision revealed to them, and this is highly reasonable. For when the One signified had arrived, what need was there any longer of those who signify? And when the truth was present, what need was there any longer of the shadow? For this reason they prophesied until the righteousness itself should come, and the One who redeems the sins of all. For this reason also Jerusalem had stood for so long, that they might there contemplate the types of the truth. Therefore, with the Holy of Holies present, vision and prophecy were B reasonably sealed, and the kingdom of Jerusalem came to an end. For kings were anointed among them only until the Holy of Holies was anointed. Jacob also predicts that the kingdom of the Jews would continue until Him, saying: "A ruler shall not fail from Judah, nor a leader from his thighs, until what is reserved for him comes, and he is the expectation of the nations." Hence the Savior himself also cried out, saying: "The law and the prophets prophesied until John." If, then, there is currently a king, or prophet, or vision among the Jews, they are right to deny that Christ has come; but if they have neither king nor vision, and all prophecy has now been sealed, and both the city and the temple have been captured, why are they so impious and committing such a grave sin, that they see the things that have happened, yet dare to deny Christ who did these very things? And why, when they see the Gentiles leaving behind their idols and placing their hope in the God of Israel through Christ, do they nevertheless not fear to repudiate the Christ who was born according to C the flesh from the root of Jesse and is now reigning? For if the nations were worshipping another God, and did not confess the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Moses, they would indeed have a just cause for doubting the coming of God; but if the Gentiles worship that same God who gave the Law to Moses and the promises to Abraham, and whose Word the Jews treated most unworthily, why do they not recognize—or rather, why do they willfully neglect to see—the Lord whom the Scriptures predicted would shine upon the world, and appear in the body, just as Scripture says: "The Lord God appeared to us"; and, "He sent His Word"
and healed them"; and again, "Not a messenger, nor an angel, but the Lord Himself saved them." Indeed, A they seem to me to be like a man who, out of his mind, sees the land illuminated by the sun, yet denies the very sun that illuminates it. For what more remains to be done by the one they are expecting? Should He call the Gentiles? But they have already been called. Should He end the prophet, the king, and the vision? This, too, has already come to pass. Should He convict the impiety of idols? It has already been convicted and condemned. Should He destroy death? It has already been destroyed. What, then, is left undone that Christ was required to do? Or what remains that has not been fulfilled, so that the Jews might rejoice while continuing to disbelieve? For if, as we indeed see, B there is no king, no prophet, no Jerusalem, no sacrifice, and no vision among them, but rather the whole earth is filled with the knowledge of God, and those from the nations, having rejected their impiety, now take refuge in the God of Abraham through the Word of our Lord Jesus Christ, it must be clear even to the most shameless that Christ has come, and that He has illuminated all men everywhere with His own light, and has instructed them in the true and divine doctrine concerning His own Father. By these and many other proofs, which it is possible to draw from the divine Scriptures, one might rightly refute the Jews.
41. Regarding the Gentiles, I cannot help but wonder that they laugh at things which are by no means laughable, while they themselves persist, blinded in their own baseness, failing to notice that they have set up their worship in wood and stone. C But since we are not lacking in sound arguments to defend the truth of our doctrine, let us proceed, if it pleases, to refute them as well with appropriate arguments, especially from those things which we ourselves observe. For what else do they find among us that is absurd or ridiculous, except that we say the Word has appeared in a body? And even this they themselves would agree was not absurdly done, if they would but be lovers of truth. If, indeed, they deny that there is a Word of God, they are talking nonsense in their ignorance, mocking things they do not understand. But if they admit that there is a Word of God, and that He is the Ruler of everything, and that through Him the Father created the universe, and that by His providence all things are illuminated, D given life, and exist, and are subject to His command—so that through the effects of His providence the Word Himself is known, and through the Word, the Father—I ask you to observe whether they are not imprudently inciting laughter against themselves. The Gentile philosophers teach that the world is a great body, and they speak truly, for we see it and its parts falling under our senses. If, then, the Word of God is in the world, which is a body, and is in everything...
and every part of it, what is strange or absurd if we say that He has also entered into man? A For if it is absurd for Him to be in a body at all, it would also be absurd for Him to have entered into the whole, and to be illuminating and moving all things by His providence; for the whole is also a body. But if it is proper for Him to enter into the world and to be known in the whole, it would also be proper for Him to appear in a human body, and for this to be illuminated and undergo activity by Him. For the race of humans is also a part of the whole. And if it is unseemly for a part to become an instrument for Him for the knowledge of the Godhead, it would follow most absurdly that He is known throughout the whole world as well.
42. For just as that senseless person would rightly be held to be foolish, B if, although the whole body is moved and illuminated by man, someone were to say that it is absurd for the power of man to exist in the toe of his foot, because—while conceding that he is in the whole body and acts through it—he does not want him to be in a part; so, he who confesses and believes that the Word of God is in the whole, and that the whole is illuminated and moved by Him, should not think it absurd that one human body is also moved and illuminated by the same. But if, because the human race is created and came into being from non-existence, they think for this reason that we are saying something unseemly when we speak of the manifestation of the Savior in man, it is time for them to cast Him out of creation as well; for it, too, came into being out of nothing through the Word. C But if, even though creation is created, it is not absurd for the Word to be in it, then it is not absurd for Him to be in man either. For whatever they might conceive concerning the whole, it is necessary to conceive the same also concerning the part; for man, as I said before, is a part of the whole. Therefore, it is in no way unseemly for the Word to be in man, and for all things to be illuminated and moved and to live by Him and in Him, just as the authors among them also say: *In Him we live and move and have our being.* What, therefore, do we say is worthy of mockery, if the Word uses as an instrument for His own manifestation the body in which He already exists? For if He were not in it, He could not have used it. D But if it has been conceded above that the Word is in the universe and in its individual parts, what is there incredible if He shows Himself in those things in which He exists? For just as that same One, who by His own power is in individual things and in all things, and who manages all things abundantly, if He wished to use the service of the sun, or the moon, or the heavens, or the earth, or the waters, or fire, to speak and to make Himself and His own Father known, no one would say that it is absurd for Him to have done so.
A For He, since He holds all things together, and is present with all things and in that part, and manifests Himself invisibly, it would not be absurd if He, who orders all things and gives life to everything, desiring to make Himself known through men, used a human body as an instrument for the manifestation of the truth and the knowledge of the Father. For humanity is a part of the whole. And just as the mind, being in the whole man, is indicated by a part of the body—I mean the tongue—and yet no one would say that the essence of the mind is diminished on account of this; so the Word, being through all things, if He has used a human instrument, this would not appear unseemly. For if, as I said before, it is unseemly to use a body as an instrument, it is also unseemly for Him to be in the whole.
43. But if they inquire, why then did He not appear through other more beautiful parts of the world, B and use a more splendid instrument, for example, the sun, or the moon, or the stars, or fire, or the ether, but used only man? Let them learn that the Lord did not come to display Himself, but to heal and teach those who were suffering. For it would have been the action of one displaying Himself only to appear and strike the beholders with astonishment; but it was the action of one healing and teaching not merely to arrive, but to provide for the advantage of those in need, and to appear in such a way as they were able to bear; lest, if the manner of His coming exceeded the need of those laboring, it should rather disturb them, and thus the coming of the Divine C might become useless to them.
Truly, no other of the created beings besides man alone was erring concerning the knowledge of God. For the sun, the moon, the heavens, the stars, the waters, and the ether did not disturb their order, but knowing their Maker and King, the Word, they remain as they were created. But men alone, having turned away from the good, subsequently devised things that were not as truth, and attributed the worship of God and the knowledge of Him to demons and men in stone idols. D Hence, since it was unworthy of the Divine goodness to overlook such perversity, and since, moreover, men could not recognize Him who administers and rules all things in the universe, He rightly took a part of the universe, namely, the human body, as an instrument for Himself, and entered into it, so that, because they could not recognize Him in the whole universe, they might at least not be ignorant of Him residing in a part; and those who could not behold His invisible power might at least be able to understand and contemplate Him from the resemblance. For, being men, it is through a body belonging to them, and through the divine works performed by it, that they can more quickly and closely recognize its Father, by comparing that these are not human works, but are rather the works of God done by Him.
A If it would be absurd, according to them, for the Word to be made known through the works of the body, then it would be just as absurd for Him to be known from the works of the universe. For just as, being in creation, He shares in nothing of the creation, but rather all things share in His power; so also, using the body as an instrument, He shared in nothing of the body, but rather He Himself sanctified the body. For if even Plato, who is admired by the Gentiles 49, says: “Seeing the world which He generated being storm-tossed and in danger of sinking into the place of unlikeness, [the Creator] sat at the helm of the soul, and brings aid, and corrects all the errors” — what is said to be incredible among us, if, as humanity was wandering, the Word sat at its helm, and appeared as a man, that He might rescue it while it was storm-tossed, through His own governance and goodness?
44. But perhaps they will be overcome by shame, and will choose to say that God, who wished to instruct and save men, ought to have done it by a mere nod, and not have the Word of God touch a body, just as He did in the past when He brought them into existence from nothing. But to this objection of theirs, one could fittingly reply that, in the past, when nothing at all existed, there was need only of a nod and will for the creation of the universe; but when man had come to be, and necessity demanded that not the things that were not, but the things that had been created should be healed, it was consistent for the Physician and Savior to be present to the already created things, so that He might heal the things that were. B And man had been made; therefore, He used the human instrument, the body. For if it was not meant to happen this way, how was the Word, wishing to use an instrument, to appear? Or from where was He to take this, if not from the things that had already been made and were in need of His divinity through that which is like themselves? For the things that were not did not need salvation, such that a mere command might suffice; but man, who had already been made, was being corrupted and perishing; wherefore, the Word fittingly used a human instrument, and spread Himself out into all things. C Then this also must be known: that the corruption that had arisen was not outside the body, but had become inherent in it, and there was a necessity D that it should be dissolved, and merged into the infinite place of unlikeness: He sits again at its helm, and recalling the laboring and loosened parts to their original state, agreeable to Himself, He adorns and corrects them, and renders it immortal and free from old age. » This is also taught there. Plato clearly teaches that God, after the perfect golden age of Saturn, through which He Himself was ruling the world, let go of its helm: and this done, after a long time and various revolutions, the world had so fallen away that it would have almost perished, had not God immediately come to its aid, and again grasped its helm.
A For just as death occurred in the body, so also might life occur within it. If, therefore, death had been outside the body, life also would have needed to be outside it; but if death was intertwined with the body, and as, being present with it, it held sway over it, it was necessary also for life to be intertwined with the body, that the body, having put on life in place of death, might cast off corruption. Furthermore, if the Word had even come to be outside the body and not within it, death would indeed have been very naturally vanquished by Him, inasmuch as death is not able to resist life; but nonetheless, the corruption that had come about would have remained in the body. For this reason, the Savior very fittingly put on a body, so that, the body being intertwined with life, it might no longer remain in death as something mortal, but instead, having put on immortality, might thenceforth remain, having risen again, immortal. For having once put on corruption, it could not have risen unless it had put on life; and again, death would not have appeared by itself B if it were not in a body. For this reason, He put on a body, that finding death in the body, He might blot it out. For how could the Lord have been shown to be life at all, if He had not made that which was mortal to be alive? And just as in the case of straw, which is by nature consumed by fire, if one keeps fire away from the straw, the straw is indeed not burned, but it remains entirely straw nonetheless, fearing the threat of fire, for fire is by nature destructive of it; but if one clothes the straw with much asbestos, which is said to be naturally inimical to fire, the straw no longer fears the fire, having safety from the incombustible garment: in the same way, one might also speak concerning the body and death; that if death had been warded off from the body by command alone, it would have been no less mortal and subject to corruption according C to the principle of bodies. But that this might not happen, He put on the bodiless Word of God; and thus it no longer fears death or corruption, having life as a garment, and corruption being made to vanish in Him.
45. Consequently, the Word of God very fittingly took on a body and used a human instrument, so that He might both give life to the body and, as He is known in the world through His works, so also might He act within man and show Himself everywhere, leaving nothing devoid of His own divinity and knowledge. For I repeat here the same things I treated above, namely that the Savior acted in this way, so that just as He fills all things by being present everywhere, so also might He fill all things with the knowledge of Himself, as the divine Scripture testifies: "The whole earth is filled with the knowledge of the Lord." D (Isa. XI, 9).
A For if anyone wishes to look up to heaven, he observes its order and beauty. But if he cannot contemplate heaven, provided he turns his eyes to men, he will recognize from His works His infinite power over men and will acknowledge that this One among men is the Word of God. And if he has been led astray by demons and is terrified by them, he sees Him driving them out and easily believes that He is their master. Or if he is immersed in the nature of water and thinks that these things are God, as the Egyptians who worship water, seeing it changed by Him, he concludes immediately that the Lord is the creator of the waters. Furthermore, even if one should reach the very underworld and be astonished at the heroes who descended there, thinking them to be gods, yet seeing His resurrection and victory over death, he does not doubt that Christ alone among them is to be held as the true Lord and God. For the Lord touched every part of the creation and freed all things from every error and exposed them, as Paul B says: "Having despoiled the principalities and the powers, He triumphed in the cross" (Coloss. II, 15); so that no one could any longer be deceived, but could everywhere find the true Word of God. For thus man, being constrained on every side, and seeing the divinity of the Word unrolled everywhere—that is, in heaven, in the underworld, in man, and upon the earth—is no longer deceived about God, but worships Him alone, and through the Word gains the knowledge of the Father most excellently. With these reasonable arguments we shall not badly refute the Gentiles; and if they do not think these arguments sufficient to put themselves to shame, let them at least be persuaded that the things we have said are true from those things which are apparent in the sight of all.
46. When did men begin to abandon the worship of idols, unless from the time when the true Word of God became man? When did the oracles among the Greeks and everywhere in the world cease and vanish, unless since the Savior revealed Himself on earth? When did the gods and heroes described by the poets begin to be exposed as mere mortal men and held in contempt, C unless when the Lord fashioned the trophy over death, and kept the body which He had taken incorrupt, having raised it from the dead? When did the fraud and madness of demons begin to be despised, unless when the Word, the power of God, and the Lord of all—and of these too—taking pity on the weakness of men, appeared on earth? When did the art and the schools of magic begin to be trodden underfoot, unless after the divine epiphany of the Word among men? And, in short, when was the wisdom of the Greeks made foolish, unless when the true wisdom of God made itself known on earth? For formerly, men throughout the whole D...
the whole world and every place A wandered about in the superstitious worship of idols, and men thought nothing else was gods but idols. But now, throughout the whole world, men are abandoning the superstitious worship of idols and taking refuge in Christ, and by worshiping Him as God, they are coming to know through Him the Father whom they did not know. And what is most wonderful: while there are various and almost infinite religions, and every place has its own idol, and the one whom they call God is not able to pass beyond the neighboring district so as to persuade those from the neighboring regions to worship him (for no one else worshiped his neighbor's god, but each kept his own idol, thinking it to be the Lord of all B), Christ alone is worshiped by all as one and the same everywhere. And that which the weakness of idols could not accomplish—so as to persuade even those living nearby—this Christ has done, having persuaded not only those living nearby, but the whole world simply, to worship one and the same Lord, and through Him, God his Father.
47. And indeed, formerly all places were filled with the deception of oracles, and the prognostications at Delphi, Dodona, Boeotia, Lycia, Libya, Egypt, and of the Cabiri, and the Pythia, were objects of admiration in the imagination of men. But now, since Christ began to be preached everywhere, the madness of these also has ceased, C and there is no longer among them any one who gives oracles. And formerly, demons used to deceive the minds of men with various specters, taking possession of springs or rivers, or trees or stones, and in this way they would strike the foolish with amazement by their sorceries; but now, after the divine appearance of the Word, the illusion of these things has ceased. For by using only the sign of the cross, a man drives away their deceits. And formerly, men thought that those called gods by the poets—Zeus, Cronus, Apollo, and the heroes—were gods, and they went astray worshiping them; but now, when the Savior appeared among men, it became manifest that they were mortal human beings, stripped of their disguises, and Christ alone D among all men was known as the true God, the Word of God from God. But what shall one say about the art of magic, which they admire so much? Namely, that before the arrival of the Word, it was powerful and vigorous among the Egyptians, the Chaldeans, and the Indians, and would fill those who saw it with wondrous amazement; but by the presence of the truth and the arrival of the Word, this too was exposed and utterly destroyed. Moreover, regarding
A gentile wisdom and the magniloquence of the philosophers, I think no one requires any words from us, since the miracle is before the eyes of all: because, although the wise men of the gentiles wrote so many volumes and could not persuade even a few from the neighboring 74 lands concerning immortality and a virtuous life, Christ alone, by means of simple words and through men who were not wise in language, has persuaded great multitudes of people throughout the whole world to despise death, to think upon immortal things, to look past things that are temporary, to gaze upon things that are eternal, and to hold 75 earthly glory as nothing, but to lay claim only to that which is heavenly.
48. These things which we say do not consist of words alone, but also have the testimony of truth from experience itself. For let whoever wishes come forward and contemplate the sign of virtue in the virgins of Christ and in the young men who profess chastity, and the faith in immortality in that great choir of his martyrs. And let whoever wishes to receive a trial B of the things previously mentioned come forward, and in the very presence of the apparitions 76 of demons, and the deceit of oracles, and the wonders of magic, let him use 77 the sign of the cross, which is a mockery to them, and let him name Christ alone; and he shall see how through him demons flee, oracles 78 cease, and every kind of magic and sorcery is rendered ineffective. Who, therefore, and how great is this Christ, who by his own naming and presence has overshadowed and destroyed all things from every side, and who alone is powerful against all, and has filled the whole world with his own teaching? Let the Greeks, who laugh so unrestrainedly and unblushingly, answer. For if he is a man, how can one man prevail over the power of all the gods whom they themselves worship, and prove them to be nothing C by his own power? But if they call him a magician, how is it possible that all magic is destroyed by a magician, rather than being strengthened 79? For if he merely conquered men who were magicians, or was stronger than one alone, it might well have been thought that he was superior to others through some better art; but if the cross of Christ has won the victory over all magic universally, and even over the very name of it, it is clear that the Savior is not a magician, inasmuch as the demons, who are invoked by other magicians, flee from him as from their Master. Who, therefore, is he—let the Greeks who have D as their only pursuit the mocking of others—tell us? Perhaps they might say that he has also become a demon, and that he is powerful in this way. But saying this, they will be laughed to scorn 80.
B For how is it possible for one who drives out demons to be a demon? If he were simply driving out demons, it might be well thought that he prevails over the lesser ones by the power of the prince of the demons 81, just as the Jews, wishing to insult him, said to him. But if all the fury of the demons is confounded and driven away by his name, it is manifest, and they themselves must see in this that they are mistaken, and that our Lord and Savior Christ is not, as they suppose, some demonic power 82. If, therefore, the Savior is neither a mere man, nor a magician, nor some demon, but by his own divinity he has annulled and eclipsed even the suspicions of the poets, the phantasms of the demons, and the wisdom of the Greeks, it must be manifest and confessed by all that this is truly the Son of God, being the Word, and Wisdom, and Power of the Father. For this reason, his works are not human, but above the condition of man; and these are known to be truly God's, both from the things themselves and when compared with the deeds of men.
49. For who of all men that have ever lived ever fashioned a body for himself from a virgin alone? Or who of all men ever healed such diseases as the common Lord of all? Who has fulfilled a defect of nature, and made one born blind 83 to see? Asclepius, indeed, is reckoned among the gods by them because he practiced medicine and discovered herbs for the ailments of the body—though he did not form them himself from the earth, but only discovered them by the science of nature. But what is this when compared to the deed of the Savior, who did not merely heal a wound, but fashioned nature and restored the body 84? Hercules, too, is worshipped by the Gentiles as a god because he fought against equal men and killed wild beasts by guile; but what are these if compared with the things done by the Word, who drove out diseases, demons 85, and death itself from among men? Dionysius is worshipped among them because he became a teacher of drunkenness to men; while the Savior, the true Lord of all, having taught temperance, is mocked by them. But let these things be. What, moreover, have they to urge against the other miracles of his divinity? At the death of which man was the sun darkened and the earth shaken? Behold, down to this very time men are dying, and have died from of old 86; when has such a miracle ever happened at the death of any of them? Or, to pass over the deeds he performed in the body, and to mention those which followed the resurrection of his body: whose doctrine of all those who have ever lived has been one and the same, and has prevailed so throughout the whole world that his worship has flown into every
A region, and that, if Christ, according to them, is a man and not God the Word, he is not hindered by the gods they worship from arriving in the same region which they occupy, but rather the Word himself, by his advent and doctrine, antiquates their worship and dispels their fallacies?
50. Many kings and tyrants have existed; many wise men and magi are commemorated among the Chaldeans, Egyptians, and Indians; but who among them, I do not say after death, but even while yet living, has possessed such power as to fill the whole earth with his doctrine, and to turn such a multitude of men from the superstition of idols as our Savior has converted from idols to himself? The Gentile philosophers have written B many books with much eloquence and art; but what have they done with which the cross of Christ can be compared? Their sophisms prevailed only as long as they lived; nay, even while they lived, the very thing which seemed to gain them authority excited mutual disputes among them, and furnished occasion for them to contend with one another. But the Word of God, which is truly a thing of wonder, using a humbler style, eclipsed even the most acute sophists, and drawing all men to himself, overturned their doctrine and filled his own churches. That too is worthy of admiration, that while enduring death as a man, he cast down the vain magniloquence of the wise concerning idols. For whose death ever put demons to flight? Or whose death did demons ever fear as they do that of Christ? C For where the name of the Savior is uttered, thence every demon is expelled. Who indeed has so cut away the depraved affections of men, that the impure seek after purity, the homicidal cast away their swords, and the timid possess a brave heart? Finally, who has made barbarian and diverse nations to lay aside their madness and embrace peace, if not the faith of Christ and the sign of the cross? Who else has made men so certain of immortality as the cross of Christ and the resurrection of his body? For although the Gentiles have devised everything, yet they could not feign a resurrection of their own idols, inasmuch as they did not even think whether it was at all possible for a body to exist again after death. But in this they seem to me most worthy of approval; for by so persuading themselves, D they indeed convicted the weakness of their own idolatry, but granted this power to Christ, so that even from this he might be known among all as the Son of God.
51. Who therefore among men, after death or even during his life, has taught virginity, and that it is not impossible for the
A virtue of this to be acquired by men? But our Savior and the King of all, Christ, had such power in teaching this, that even children who had not yet reached the legal age, do not fear to profess the virginity which is above the law. Who among men has ever been able to travel through so much land, and to reach as far as the Scythians and Ethiopians, or the Persians, Armenians, Goths, those who are said to dwell beyond the Ocean, or those who inhabit beyond Hyrcania, or, in short, to come to the Egyptians and Chaldaeans, men devoted to the magical art, and beyond measure superstitious and rustic in their manners, so as to discourse among them concerning the embracing of virtue and purity, and the shunning of the worship of idols, as did the Lord of all, the Power of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, who not only preached through his own disciples, B but also himself, by his interior persuasion, led their minds to cast off the ferocity of their manners, no longer to worship their ancestral gods, but to acknowledge Him, and through Him to worship the Father? For formerly, indeed, the idolatrous Gentiles and barbarians were warring among themselves, and were cruel even toward their kinsmen; for it was not possible for anyone at all, either by land or by sea, to travel without arming his hand with swords on account of the irreconcilable fighting they carried on against one another. Indeed, their whole life was passed through arms, and the sword was for them instead of a staff and every other support. And although, as I said, they served idols and offered sacrifices to demons, yet the superstitious worship of demons contributed nothing to them for the shedding of such rustic manners. But after they accepted the doctrine of Christ, then indeed, which is truly most wonderful, being pricked in their minds, they abandoned the cruelty of murders and no longer love wars: but nothing is dear to them except perpetual peace and friendship.
52. Who, therefore, is the author of such great things, or who reconciled peace among those who were pursuing one another with hatred, if not the beloved Son of the Father, the common Savior of all, Jesus Christ, who by his own love for us endured all things for our salvation? And indeed, this kind of peace, which he was about to bring to us, the divine Scriptures had once foretold with these words: "They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more" (Isa. II, 4). Nor indeed is that incredible, since even now the barbarians, to whom D ferocity of manners is innate, while they [are serving idols...]
still sacrifice to their idols, are inflamed with mutual fury, and cannot endure to remain for a single hour without swords; but when they hear the teaching of Christ, they at once turn from war to husbandry, and instead of arming their hands with swords, they extend them in prayer. And generally, instead of fighting against one another, they henceforth arm themselves against the devil and against demons, overcoming them by temperance and by the virtues of the soul. This is a very clear proof of the divinity of the Savior: that what men could not learn while among idols, this they have learned from Him; and this is no slight proof of the weakness and nothingness of demons and idols. For the demons, knowing their own weakness, did for this reason of old incite men to wage war against one another, so that, by not ceasing from strife among themselves, they might not turn to the battle against demons. B Indeed, those who are Christ’s disciples, having no contention among themselves, arm themselves by their ways and virtuous deeds against the demons, pursuing them and mocking their leader, the devil, so that in youth they are temperate, in temptations patient, in labors enduring, while enduring insults they remain calm, and in being plundered they hold it in contempt; and what is most wonderful, they even despise death and become martyrs of Christ.
53. But yet another thing, which is a most marvelous sign of the divinity of the Savior, I shall mention: who has ever been a man, whether mere man, or magus, or tyrant, or king, who was able to contend by himself against such a multitude, and against the whole of idolatry and every demoniacal host, and every magic art, and all the wisdom of the Greeks, which was so powerful and still flourishing and striking all with awe, and at a single stroke C to stand against them all, as our Lord, the true Word of God, who, invisibly refuting the error of each, alone despoils all men from all, so that those who once worshipped idols henceforth trample them underfoot, and those who were amazed by magic arts burn their books, and the wise prefer the interpretation of the Gospels to all interpretations? For those whom they once worshipped, these they abandon; and Him whom they mocked as crucified, this one they worship as Christ, confessing Him to be God Himself. And the gods called such by them are driven away by the sign of the cross; while the crucified Savior is proclaimed as God and Son of God throughout all the world. And the gods worshipped among the Greeks are denounced by them as base; while those who accept the teaching of Christ lead a life D more chaste than theirs. Therefore, if these and suchlike things are human, let him who wishes show...
and similar things are human: let him who wishes show and prove that men of an earlier age did the same. But if these works appear-as indeed they are-not of men, but of God, why are the infidels so godless as not to acknowledge the Lord who wrought them? A For they suffer the same as if one, from the works of creation, should fail to know God the maker of them. For if they recognized His divinity from the power which He exercises over the whole, they would have known that the works which Christ did by means of the body were not human, but those of the Word of God, the Saviour of all. And knowing this, as Paul says, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory I Cor. II, 8.
54. B Just as, therefore, if any one should desire to see God, who is invisible by nature and not to be seen at all, he understands and apprehends Him from His works, so let him who does not see Christ by the intellect, at least apprehend Him from the works of the body, and let him examine whether these be human or of God. And if they be human, let him mock; but if they are not human, but of God, let him acknowledge and not C laugh at what is not to be mocked at; but rather let him marvel, that by such a humble object things divine have been manifested to us, and that by death immortality has reached to all, and by the becoming man of the Word the providence of all has been made known, and He Himself, the Author and Creator of it—the Word of God. For He Himself became man, that we might be made god; and He Himself manifested Himself through a body, that we might receive an idea of the invisible Father; and He Himself endured the insolence from men, that we might inherit immortality. For He Himself was harmed by nothing, being impassible and incorruptible and the very Word and God; but D the suffering men, for whose sake He endured these things, He kept and preserved in His own impassibility. And in general the achievements of the Saviour, through His Incarnation becoming what they are and so many, if any one should wish to tell of them, he is like those who look at the vast sea and wish to count its waves. For just as it is not possible for the eyes to take in the whole of the waves, as they flow one after another, so it is impossible for him who wishes to embrace all the achievements of Christ in the body to take them all in even with his mind, as there are more that escape his apprehension than those which he thinks he has grasped. It is better, therefore, not to want to speak of all, of which not even a part can be worthily expressed, but still to mention one and leave it to you to marvel at the whole. For all things alike hold the wonder, and wherever one
A turns his gaze, he sees the divinity of the Word and is struck with amazement.
55. It is fitting, therefore, after what we have said, that you should perceive and—as it were—hold this as the head of all that has been said up to now, and marvel greatly: that since the Savior’s coming, idolatry not only has not increased, but what existed began to diminish and little by little to fade away. Furthermore, the wisdom of the Greeks makes no more progress; but rather, what existed before is gradually vanishing. Demons, too, no longer deceive anyone with phantasms, oracles, or magic; but if they even dare to attempt or meddle in such things, they are confounded by the sign of the cross. To sum it all up, observe how the Savior’s doctrine is spreading everywhere, while all idolatry and everything that opposes the faith in B Christ is daily diminishing, weakening, and falling. When you see this, adore the Savior of all and the powerful Word of God; but condemn those things that are being diminished and abolished by Him. For just as when the sun rises, darkness no longer has strength, but even if any remains, it is driven away; so too, when the divine manifestation of the Word of God came, the darkness of idols no longer has power, but all places in the whole world are illuminated by His doctrine. And just as when a king, though he does not appear in a certain region, remains hidden at home within his own house, some unruly men often make use of his absence to proclaim C themselves kings, and each one, by putting on a false appearance, stalks the simple-minded with his name, since they hear there is a king but do not see him—especially because they are not allowed to enter inside the house—but when the true king comes forth and appears, the unruly impostors are exposed by his presence, and the people, seeing the true king, abandon those who formerly deceived them; so, too, in the past, demons deceived mankind, attributing to themselves the honor due to God. But when the Word of God appeared in a body and made His Father D known to us, then the deception of the demons began to vanish and cease, while men, looking to the true Word of the Father, abandon the idols and henceforth know the true God. This is the sure proof that Christ is the Word of God and the power of God. For since human things cease, while the word of Christ constantly perseveres, it is manifest to all that the things which cease are temporal, but He who constantly remains is God and the true only-begotten Word and Son of God.
56. These things we have discussed with you briefly, as much as
A seems sufficient for the instruction and formation of the faith according to Christ and for the understanding of His divine epiphany to us, O person who loves Christ. Having taken the occasion from these things, if you wish to apply yourself sincerely and diligently to the study of the Sacred Scriptures, you will understand more accurately and clearly than what we have set forth, to what extent these things are true. For they were spoken and written by God through the ministry of holy, God-inspired men; and we, who have learned them from the teachers who had constant access to them—who also became witnesses of the divinity of Christ—transmit them to your love of learning.
You will also know His second, glorious, and truly divine epiphany to us again, when He comes not with humility B, but in His own glory; when He comes not with lowliness, but in His own majesty; when He comes no longer to suffer, but to render to all the fruit of His own cross, namely, the resurrection and incorruption. He will come, I say, not to be judged again, but so that He may judge all, according to what each has done through the body, whether good or evil; and to the good, the kingdom of heaven will be granted; but the wicked will be cast into eternal fire and outer darkness. For the Lord Himself teaches us this in His words: *I say to you, hereafter you shall see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of power, and coming on the clouds of heaven in the glory of the Father* (Matt. 26:64). Therefore, the Word is indeed salutary, admonishing us for that day and saying: *Be prepared and stay awake, for you do not know at what hour He comes* (Matt. 24:42). For according to the blessed Paul: *We must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may render an account according to what he has done through the body, whether good or evil* (2 Cor. 5:10). C
57. Nevertheless, beyond the study and true knowledge of the Scriptures, integrity of life and cleanliness of soul and Christian virtue are also necessary, so that the mind, proceeding through them, may be able to reach what it desires and to understand, as far as is possible for human nature, about the Word of God. For no one can understand the words of the saints without a pure mind and the imitation of their life. For just as one who desires to see the light of the sun must wipe and cleanse his eye, and in a way make himself similar to the sun, so that the eye, having become like light, may be able to see to the sun’s light—or just as if someone wished to see a city or some region, he would necessarily betake himself to the place for the sake of seeing it—so, he who desires to understand the mind and sense of the theologians must first wash and cleanse his soul through the holiness of life D