Commentary on the Apostles' Creed

Please help support the mission of New Advent and get the full contents of this website as an instant download. Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more — all for only $19.99...

The Creed of Aquileia

It seems desirable to give the original Latin and English versions of the Creed of Aquileia, on which Rufinus makes his commentary. The words or letters which are peculiar to this creed are put in italics.

• Credo in Deo Patre omnipotentiinvisibili et impassibili (Ibelieve inGod the Father Almighty,invisible and impassible)
• Et in Jesu Christo, unico Filio ejus, Domino nostro (And inJesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord)
• Qui natus est de Spiritu Sancto ex Maria Virgine (Who was born from theHoly Ghost, of the Virgin Mary)
• Crucifixus sub Pontio Pilato, et sepultus (Was crucified underPontius Pilate, and buried)
• Descendit ad inferna; tertia die resurrexit a mortuis (He descended tohell; on the third day he rose again from the dead)
• Ascendit in cœlos; sedet ad dexteram Patris; (He ascended to the heavens; he sits at the right hand of the Father)
• Inde venturus est judicare vivos et mortuos; (Thence he is to come to judge the quick and the dead)
• Et in Spiritu Sancto (And in theHoly Ghost)
• Sanctam Ecclesiam (The Holy Church)
• Remissionem peccatorum (The remission ofsins)
• Hujus carnis resurrectionem (The resurrection of this flesh)

1. My mind has as little inclination for writing as sufficiency, most faithful Bishop (Papa) Laurentius, for I wellknow that it is a matter of no little peril to submit a slender ability to general criticism. But, since in your letter you rashly (forgive my saying so) require me, by Christ'ssacraments, which I hold in the greatest reverence, to compose something for you concerning the Faith, in accordance with the traditional and natural meaning of the Creed, although in so doing you impose a burden upon me beyond my strength to bear (for I do not forget the opinion of the wise, which sojustly says, thatto speak of God even what istrue is perilous); still, if you will aid with yourprayers the necessity which your requisition has laid upon me, I will try to say something, moved rather by a reverential regard for your injunction than by presumptuous confidence in my ability. What I write, however, will hardly seem worthy of the consideration ofpersons of mature understanding, but suited rather to the capacity of children and young beginners inChrist.

I find, indeed, that some eminent writers have published treatises on these matters piously and briefly written. Moreover, Iknow that theheretic Photinus has written on the same; but with the object, not of explaining the meaning of the text to his readers, but of wresting things simply andtruthfully said in support of his owndogma, while yet theHoly Spirit has taken care that in these words nothing should be set down which is ambiguous or obscure, or inconsistent with other truths: for therein is thatprophecy verified,Finishing and cutting short the word in equity: because a short word will the Lord make upon the earth. It shall be our endeavour, then, first to restore and emphasize the words of the Apostles in their native simplicity; and, secondly, to supply such things as seem to have been omitted by former expositors. But that the scope of thisshort word, as we have called it, may be made more plain, we will enquire from the beginning how it came to be given to the Churches.

2. Our forefathers have handed down to us the tradition, that, after the Lord's ascension, when, through the coming of theHoly Ghost, tongues of flame had settled upon each of the Apostles, that they might speak diverse languages, so that no race however foreign, no tongue however barbarous, might be inaccessible to them and beyond their reach, they were commanded by the Lord to go severally to the several nations to preach the word ofGod. Being on the eve therefore of departing from one another, they first mutually agreed upon a standard of their future preaching, lest haply, when separated, they might in any instance vary in the statements which they should make to those whom they should invite tobelieve inChrist. Being all therefore met together, and being filled with theHoly Ghost, they composed, as we have said, this brief formulary of their future preaching, each contributing his several sentence to one common summary: and they ordained that the rule thus framed should be given to those whobelieve.

To this formulary, for many and most sufficient reasons, they gave the name or Symbol. For Symbol (κύμβολον) in Greek answers to bothIndicium (a sign or token) andCollatio (a joint contribution made by several) in Latin. For this the Apostles did in these words, each contributing his several sentence. It is calledIndicium orSignum, a sign or token, because, at that time, as theApostle Paul says, and as is related in the Acts of the Apostles, many of the vagabondJews, pretending to beapostles ofChrist, went about preaching for gain's sake or their belly's sake, naming the name of Christ indeed, but not delivering their message according to the exact traditional lines. The Apostles therefore prescribed this formulary as a sign or token by which he who preached Christtruly, according to Apostolic rule, might be recognised. Finally, they say that in civilwars, since the armour of both sides is alike, and the language the same, and the custom and mode of warfare the same, each general, to guard against treachery, is wont to deliver to his soldiers a distinctsymbol or watchword — in Latinsignum orindicium— so that if one is met with, of whom it is doubtful to which side he belongs, being asked the symbol (watchword), he discloses whether he is friend or foe. And for this reason, the tradition continues, the Creed is not written on paper or parchment, but is retained in the hearts of thefaithful, that it may be certain that no one has learned it by reading, as is sometimes the case with unbelievers, but by tradition from the Apostles.

The Apostles therefore, as we have said, being about to separate in order to preach theGospel, settled upon this sign or token of their agreement in thefaith; and, unlike the sons ofNoah, who, when they were about to separate from one another, built a tower of baked bricks and pitch, whose top might reach to heaven, they raised a monument offaith, which might withstand the enemy, composed of living stones and pearls of the Lord, such that neither winds might overthrow it, nor floods undermine it, nor the force of storms and tempests shake it. Rightjustly, then, were the former, when, on the eve of separation, they built a tower ofpride, condemned to the confusion of tongues, so that no one might understand his neighbour's speech; while the latter, who were building a tower offaith, were endowed with theknowledge and understanding of all languages; so that the one might prove a sign and token ofsin, the other offaith.

But it is time now that we should say something about these same pearls, among which is placed first the fountain and source of all, when it is said —

3. IBelieve inGod the Father Almighty.

But before I begin to discuss the meaning of the words, I think it well to mention that in different Churches some additions are found in this article. This is not the case, however, in theChurch of the city ofRome; the reason being, as I suppose, that, on the one hand, noheresy has had its origin there, and, on the other, that the ancient custom is there kept up, that those who are going to bebaptized should rehearse the Creed publicly, that is, in the audience of the people; the consequence of which is that the ears of those who are alreadybelievers will not admit the addition of a single word. But in other places, as I understand, additions appear to have been made, on account of certainheretics, by means of which it was hoped that novelty in doctrine would be excluded. We, however, follow that order which we received when we werebaptized in theChurch of Aquileia.

IBelieve, therefore, is placed in the forefront, as theApostle Paul, writing to the Hebrews, says,He that comes to God must first of allbelieve that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those whobelieve in Him. The Prophet also says,Unless youbelieve, you shall not understand. That the way to understand, therefore, may be open to you, you do rightly first of all, in professing that youbelieve; for no one embarks upon the sea, and trusts himself to the deep and liquid element, unless he first believes it possible that he will have a safe voyage; neither does the husbandman commit his seed to the furrows and scatter his grain on the earth, but in the belief that the showers will come, together with the sun's warmth, through whose fostering influence, aided by favouring winds, the earth will produce and multiply and ripen its fruits. In fine, nothing in life can be transacted if there be not first a readiness tobelieve. What wonder then, if, coming toGod, we first of all profess that webelieve, seeing that, without this, not even common life can be lived. We have premised these remarks at the outset, since the Pagans are wont to object to us that our religion, because it lacks reasons, rests solely on belief. We have shown, therefore, that nothing can possibly be done or remain stable unless belief precede. Finally, marriages are contracted in the belief that children will be born; and children are committed to the care of masters in the belief that the teaching of the masters will be transferred to the pupils; and one man assumes the ensigns of empire, believing that peoples and cities and a well-equipped army also willobey him. But if no one enters upon any one of these several undertakings except in the belief that the results spoken of will follow, must not belief be much more requisite if one would come to theknowledge of God? But let us see what thisshort word of the Creed sets forth.

4.IBelieve inGod the Father Almighty.

The Eastern Churches almost universally deliver the article thus,Ibelieve inOneGod the Father Almighty; and again in the next article, where we say,And inChrist Jesus, His only Son, our Lord, they deliver it.,And inOne (Lord)our Lord Jesus Christ, His only Son; confessing, that is,oneGod, andone Lord, in accordance with the authority of theApostle Paul. But we shall return to this by-and-by. For the present, let us turn our attention to the words,InGod the Father Almighty.

God, so far as thehuman mind can form an idea, is the name of that nature or substance which is above all things.Father is a word expressive of a secret and ineffablemystery. When you hear the wordGod, you must understand thereby a substance without beginning, without end, simple, uncompounded, invisible, incorporeal, ineffable, inappreciable, which has in it nothing which has been either added or created. For He is withoutcause who is absolutely thecause of all things. When you hear the wordFather, you must understand by this the Father of a Son, which Son is the image of the aforesaid substance. For as no one is calledLord unless he have a possession or a servant whose lord he is, and as no one is calledmaster unless he have adisciple, so no one can possibly be calledfather unless he have a son. This very name ofFather, therefore, shows plainly that, together with the Father there subsists a Son also.

But I would not have you discuss howGod the Father begot theSon, nor intrude too curiously into the profoundmystery, lest haply, by prying too eagerly into the brightness of light inaccessible, you should lose the faint glimpse which, by the gift ofGod, has been vouchsafed to mortals. Or, if you suppose that this is a subject to be investigated with all possible scrutiny, first propose to yourself questions which concern ourselves, and then, if you are able to deal satisfactorily with them, speed on from earthly things to heavenly, from visible to invisible. Determine first, if you can, how themind, which is within you, generates a word, and what is the spirit of the memory which is in it; and how these, though diverse in reality and in operation, are yet one in substance or nature; and though they proceed from themind, yet are never separated from it. And if these, though they are in us and in the substance of our ownsoul, yet seem to be hidden from us in proportion as they are invisible to our bodily sight, let us take for our enquiry things which are more open to view. How does a spring generate a river from itself? By what spirit is it borne into a rapidly flowing stream? How happens it that, while the river and the spring are one and inseparable, yet neither can the river be understood to be, or can be called, the spring, nor the spring the river, and yet he who has seen the river has seen the spring also? Exercise yourself first in explaining these, and explain, if you are able, things which you have under your hands; and then you may come to loftier matters. Do not think, however, that I would have you ascend all at once from the earth above the heavens: I would first, with your leave, draw your attention to this firmament which our eyes behold, and ask you to explain, if you can, thenature of this visible luminary — how that celestial fire generates from itself the brightness of light, how it also produces heat; and though these are three in reality, how they are yet one in substance. And if you are capable of investigating each of these, even then you must acknowledge that themystery of the Divine generation is by so much the more diverse and the more transcendent as the Creator is more powerful than the creatures, as the artificer is more excellent than his work, as He who ever is more noble than that which had its beginning out of nothing.

That God then is the Father of His only Son our Lord is to bebelieved, not discussed; for it is not lawful for a servant to dispute about the nativity of his lord. The Father has bornewitness from heaven, saying,This is My belovedSon, in Whom I am well pleased: hear Him. The Father says that He is His Son and bids us hear Him. The Son says,He who sees Me sees the Father also, andI and the Father are one, andI came forth from God and have come into the world. Where is the man who can thrust himself as a disputant between these words of Father and Son, who can divide the Godhead, separate its volition, break asunder the substance, cut the spirit in parts, and deny that what the Truth speaks istrue? God then is atrue Father as the Father of the Truth, not begetting extrinsically, but generating the Son from that which Himself is; that is, as the All-wise He generates Wisdom, as the Just Justice, as the Everlasting the Everlasting, as the Immortal Immortality, as the Invisible the Invisible; because He is Light, He generates Brightness, because He is Mind, He generates the Word.

5. Now whereas we said that the Eastern Churches, in their delivery of the Creed, say,In one God the Father Almighty, andin one Lord, theone is not to be understood numerically but absolutely. For example, if one should say,one man orone horse, hereone is used numerically. For there may be a second man and a third, or a second horse and a third. But where a second or a third cannot be added, if we sayone we mean one not numerically but absolutely. For example, if we say,one Sun, here the meaning is that a second or a third cannot be added, for there is but one Sun. Much more then isGod, when He is said to beone, calledone, not numerically but absolutely, that is, He is therefore said to be one because there is no other. In like manner, also, it is to be understood of the Lord, that He is one Lord,Jesus Christ, by or through WhomGod the Father possesses dominion over all, whence also, in the next clause, God is calledAlmighty.

God is calledAlmighty because He possesses rule and dominion over all things. But the Father possesses all things by His Son, as the Apostle says,By Him were created all things, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers. And again, writing to the Hebrews, he says,By Him also He made the worlds, andHe appointed Him heir of all things. Byappointed we are to understandgenerated. Now if the Father made the worlds by Him, and all things were created by Him, and He is heir of all things, then by Him He possesses rule also over all things. Because, as light is born of light, andtruth oftruth, so Almighty is born of Almighty. As it is written of the Seraphim in the Revelation of John,And they have no rest day and night, crying Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Sabaoth, which was and which is and which is to come, the Almighty. He then whois to come is calledAlmighty. And what other is there whois to come but Christ, theSon of God?

To the foregoing is addedInvisible and Impassible. I should mention that these two words are not in the Creed of the Roman Church. They were added in our Church, as is well known, on account of the Sabellianheresy, called by usthe Patripassian, that, namely, which says that the Father Himself was born of the Virgin and became visible, or affirms that He suffered in the flesh. To exclude such impiety, therefore, concerning theFather, our forefathers seem to have added these words, calling the Fatherinvisible and impassible. For it is evident that theSon, not theFather, became incarnate and was born in the flesh, and that from that nativity in the flesh the Son becamevisible and passible. Yet so far as regards thatimmortal substance of the Godhead, which He possesses, and which is one and the same with that of theFather, we mustbelieve that neither theFather, nor theSon, nor theHoly Ghost isvisible or passible. But theSon, in that He condescended to assume flesh, was both seen and also suffered in the flesh. Which also the Prophet foretold when he said,This is our God: no other shall be accounted of in comparison of Him. He has found out all the way ofknowledge, and has given it unto Jacob His servant and toIsrael His beloved. Afterward He showed Himself upon the earth, and conversed with men.

6. Next there follows,And inChrist Jesus, His Only Son, Our Lord.Jesus is a Hebrew word meaningSaviour.Christ is so called fromChrism, i.e. unction. For we read in the Books ofMoses, that Auses, the son of Nave, when he was chosen to lead the people, had his name changed fromAuses toJesus, to show that this was a name proper for princes and generals, for those, namely, who shouldsave the people who followed them. Therefore, both were calledJesus, both the one who conducted the people, who had been brought forth out of the land ofEgypt, and freed from the wanderings of the wilderness, into the land of promise, and the other, who conducted the people, who had been brought forth from the darkness ofignorance, and recalled from theerrors of the world, into thekingdom of heaven.

Christ is a name proper either to High Priests or Kings. For formerly bothhigh priests and kings wereconsecrated with the ointment of chrism: but these, as mortal and corruptible, with material and corruptible ointment. Jesus is made Christ, being anointed with theHoly Spirit, as theScripture says of HimWhom the Father has anointed with theHoly Spirit sent down from heaven. And Isaiah had prefigured the same, saying in the person of theSon,TheSpirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me, He has sent Me to preach good tidings to the poor.

Having shown them whatJesus is, Who saves His people, and whatChrist is, Who is made a High Priest for ever, let us now see in what follows, of Whom these things are said,His only Son, our Lord. Here we are taught that this Jesus, of whom we have spoken, and this Christ, the meaning of whose name we have expounded, isthe onlySon of God andour Lord. Lest, perchance, you should think that thesehuman names have an earthly significance, therefore it is added that He isthe onlySon of God, our Lord. For He is born One of One, because there is one brightness of light, and there is one word of the understanding. Neither does an incorporeal generation degenerate into the plural number, or suffer division, where He Who is born is in no wise separated from Him Who begets. He isonly (unique), as thought is to themind, as wisdom is to the wise, as a word is to the understanding, as valour is to the brave. For as the Father is said by the Apostle to bealone wise, so likewise the Son alone is called wisdom. He is then theonly Son. And, although inglory, everlastingness,virtue, dominion, power, He is what the Father is, yet all these He has not unoriginately as theFather, but from theFather, as theSon, without beginning and equal; and although He is the Head of all things, yet the Father is the Head of Him. For so it is written,The Head of Christ isGod.

7. When you hear the wordSon, you must not think of a nativity after the flesh; but remember that it is spoken of an incorporeal substance, and a simple and uncompounded nature. For if, as we said above, whether when the understanding generates a word, or the mind sense, or light brings forth brightness from itself, nothing of this sort is sought for, or any manner of weakness and imperfection imagined in this kind of generation, how much purer and more sacred ought to be our conception of the Creator of all these!

But perhaps you say,The generation of which you speak is an unsubstantial generation. For light does not produce substantial brightness, nor the understanding generate a substantial word, but theSon of God, it is affirmed, was generated substantially. To this we reply, first, When in other things examples or illustrations are used, the resemblance cannot hold in every particular, but only in some one point for which the illustration is employed. For instance, When it is said in theGospel,Thekingdom of heaven is like leaven, which awoman hid in three measures of meal, are we toimagine that thekingdom of heaven is in all respects like leaven, so that like leaven it is palpable and perishable so as to become sour and unfit for use? Obviously the illustration was employed simply for this object — to show how, through the preaching of God's word which seems so small a thing, men's minds could be imbued with the leaven offaith. So likewise, when it is said,Thekingdom of heaven is like a net cast into the sea, which draws in fishes of every kind, are we to suppose that the substance of thekingdom of heaven is likened in all respects to thenature of twine of which a net is made, and to the knots with which the meshes are tied? No; the sole object of the comparison is to show that, as a net brings fishes to the shore from the depths of the sea, so by the preaching of thekingdom of heaven men'ssouls are liberated from the depth of theerror of this world. From whence it is evident that examples or illustrations do not answer in every particular to the things which they are brought to exemplify or illustrate. Otherwise, if they were the same in all respects, they would no longer be called examples or illustrations, but rather would be the things themselves.

8. Then further it is to be observed that no creature can be such as its Creator. And therefore, as the divine substance oressence admits of no comparison, so neither does the Divinity. Moreover, every creature is of nothing. If therefore a spark which is so unsubstantial but yet is fire, begets of itself a creature which is of nothing, and maintains in it the essential nature of that from which it springs, (i.e. the fire of the parent spark), why could not the substance of thateternal Light which ever has been because it has in itself nothing which is not substantial, produce from itself substantial brightness? Rightly, therefore, is the Son calledonly,unique. For He who has been so born isonly andunique. That which is unique can admit of no comparison. Nor can He who made all things be like in substance to the things which He has made. This then is Christ Jesus, the onlySon of God, who is also our Lord.Only may be referred both to Son and to Lord. ForJesus Christ isonly both astruly Son and as one Lord. For all other sons, though they are called sons, are so called by thegrace of adoption, not by verity of nature; and if there be others who are called lords, they are called so from an authority bestowed not inherent. But Christ alone is the only Son and the only Lord, as the Apostle says,One LordJesus Christ, by Whom are all things. Therefore, after the Creed has in due order set forth the ineffablemystery of the nativity of the Son from theFather, it now descends to the dispensation which He vouchsafed to enter upon for man'ssalvation. And of Him whom just now it called theonlySon of God andour Lord, it now says.

9.Who Was Born by(de)TheHoly Ghost of the Virgin Mary. This nativity amongmen is in the way of dispensation, whereas the former nativity is of the divine substance; the one results from his condescension, the other from his essential nature. He is born by theHoly Ghost of theVirgin. Here a chaste ear and a pure mind is required. For you must understand that now a temple has been built within the secret recesses of a Virgin's womb for Him of Whom erewhile you learned that He was born ineffably of the Father. And just as in the sanctification of theHoly Ghost no thought of imperfection is to be admitted, so in the Virgin-birth no defilement is to be imagined. For this birth was a new birth given to this world, and rightly new. For He Who is the only Son in heaven is by consequence the only Son on earth, and was uniquely born, born as no other ever was or can be.

The words of the Prophets concerning Him,A Virgin shall conceive and bring forth a Son, areknown to all, and are cited in theGospels again and again. The Prophet Ezekiel too had predicted the miraculous manner of that birth, calling Mary figurativelythe Gate of the Lord, the gate, namely, through which the Lord entered the world. For he says,The gate which looks towards the East shall be closed, and shall not be opened, and no one shall pass through it, because the Lord God ofIsrael shall pass through it, and it shall be closed. What could be said with such evident reference to the inviolate preservation of the Virgin's condition? That Gate of Virginity was closed; through it the Lord God ofIsrael entered; through it He came forth from the Virgin's womb into this world; and the Virgin-state being preserved inviolate, the gate of the Virgin remained closed forever. Therefore theHoly Ghost is spoken of as the Creator of the Lord's flesh and of His temple.

10. Starting from this point you may understand the majesty of theHoly Ghost also. For theGospel witnesses of Him that when theangel said to the Virgin,You shall bring forth a Son and shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from theirsins, she replied,How shall this be, seeing Iknow not a man? on which theangel said to her,TheHoly Ghost shall come upon you, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow you. Wherefore thatholy Thing which shall be born of You shall be called theSon of God. See here the Trinity mutually cooperating with each other. TheHoly Ghost is spoken of as coming upon the Virgin, and the Power of the Highest as overshadowing her. What is the Power of the Highest but Christ Himself, Who is the Power ofGod and the Wisdom of God? Whose is this Power? The Power of the Highest. There is here then the Highest, there is also the Power of the Highest, there is also theHoly Ghost. This is the Trinity, everywhere latent, and everywhere apparent, distinct in names andpersons, but inseparable in the substance of the Godhead. And although the Son alone is born of the Virgin, yet there is present also the Highest, there is present also theHoly Ghost, that both the conception and the bringing forth of the Virgin may be sanctified.

11. These things, since they are asserted upon the warrant of the Prophetical Scriptures, may possibly silence theJews,infidel and incredulous though they be. But the Pagans are wont to ridicule us when they hear us speak of a Virgin-birth. We must, therefore, say a few words in reply to their cavils. Every birth, I suppose, depends upon three conditions. There must be awoman of mature age, she must have intercourse with aman, her womb must not be barren. Of these three conditions, in the birth of which we are speaking, one was wanting, the man. And this, forasmuch as He of Whose birth we speak was not an earthly but a heavenly man, was supplied by the Heavenly Spirit, thevirginity of the mother being preserved inviolate. And yet why should it be thought marvellous for avirgin to conceive, when it is well known that the Eastern bird, which they call the Phœnix, is in such wise born, or born again, without the intervention of a mate, that it remains continually one, and continually by being born or born again succeeds itself? That beesknow no wedlock, and no bringing forth of young, is notorious. There are also other things which are found to be subject to some such law of birth. Shall it be thought incredible, then, that was done by divine power, for the renewal and restoration of the whole world, of which instances are observed in the nativity of animals? And yet it is strange that theGentiles should think this impossible, whobelieve their own Minerva to have been born from the brain of Jupiter. What is more difficult tobelieve, or what more contrary to nature? Here, there is awoman, the order of nature is kept, there is conception, and in due time birth; there, there is no female, but a man alone, and — birth! Why does he who believes the one marvel at the other? Again, they say that Father Bacchus was born from Jupiter's thigh. Here is another portent, yet it isbelieved. Venus also, whom they call Aphrodite, was born, theybelieve, of the foam of the sea, as her compounded name shows. They affirm that Castor and Pollux were born of an egg, the Myrmidons of ants. There are a thousand other things which, though contrary to nature, find credit with them, such as the stones thrown by Deucalion and Pyrrha, and the crop of men sprung from thence. And when theybelieve such myths and so many of them, does one thing seem impossible to them, that awoman of mature age, not defiled by man but impregnated by theHoly Ghost, should conceive a divine progeny? Who, forsooth, if they are hard of belief, ought in no wise to have given credence to those prodigies, being, as they are, so many and so degrading; but if they dobelieve them, they ought much more readily to receive these beliefs of ours, sohonourable and soholy, than theirs so discreditable and so vile.

12. But they say, perhaps, If it was possible to God that avirgin should conceive, it was possible also that she should bring forth, but they think it unmeet that a being of so great majesty should enter the world in such wise, that even though there had been no defilement from intercourse with man, there should yet be the unseemliness attendant upon the act of delivery. To which let us reply briefly, meeting them on their own level. If a person should see a little child in the act of being suffocated in a quagmire, and himself, a great man and powerful, should go into the mire, just at its verge, so to say, to rescue the dying child; would you blame this man as defiled for having stepped into a little mire, or would you praise him as merciful, for having preserved the life of one that was perishing? But the case supposed is that of an ordinary man. Let us return to thenature of Him Who was born. How much, think you, is thenature of the Sun inferior to him? How much beyonddoubt, the Creature to the Creator? Consider now if a ray of the sun alights upon a quagmire, does it receive any pollution from it? Or is the sun the worse for shedding his light upon foul objects? Fire, too, how far inferior is its nature to the things of which we are speaking? Yet no substance, whether foul or vile, isbelieved to pollute fire if applied to it. When the case is plainly thus with regard to material things, do you suppose that anything of pollution and defilement can befall that supereminent and incorporeal nature, which is above all fire and all light? Then, lastly, note this also: we say that man was created byGod out of the clay of the earth. But if God is thought to be defiled in seeking to recover His own work, much more must He be thought so in making that work originally. And it is idle to ask why He passed through what is repugnant to our sense of modesty, when you cannot tell why He made what is so repugnant. And therefore it is not nature but general estimation that has made us think these things to be such. Otherwise, all things that are in the body, being formed from one and the same clay, are distinguished from one another only in their uses and natural offices.

13. But there is another consideration which we must not leave out in the solution of this question, namely, that the substance ofGod, which is wholly incorporeal, cannot be introduced into bodies or be received by them in the first instance, unless there be some spiritual substance as a medium, which is capable of receiving thedivine Spirit. For instance, if we say that light is able to irradiate all the members of the body, yet by none of them can it be received except by the eye. For it is the eye alone which is receptive of light. So theSon of God is born of avirgin, not associated with the flesh alone in the first instance, but begotten with asoul as a medium between the flesh and God. With thesoul, then, serving as a medium, and receiving theWord of God in the secret citadel of the rational spirit, God was born of the Virgin without any such disparagement as youimagine. And therefore nothing is to be esteemed base or unseemly wherein was the sanctification of theSpirit, and where thesoul which was capable of God became also a partaker of flesh. Account nothing impossible where the power of the Most High was present. Have no thought ofhuman weakness where there was the plenitude of Divinity.

14.He Was Crucified UnderPontius Pilate and Was Buried: He Descended into Hell. TheApostle Paul teaches us that we ought to havethe eyes of our understanding enlightenedthat we may understand what is the height and breadth and depth.The height and breadth and depth is a description of the Cross, of which that part which is fixed in the earth he calls the depth, the height that which is erected upon the earth and reaches upward, the breadth that which is spread out to the right hand and to the left. Since, therefore, there are so many kinds of death by which it is given to men to depart this life, why does the Apostle wish us to have our understanding enlightened so as toknow the reason why, of all of them, the Cross was chosen in preference for the death of the Saviour. We mustknow, then, that that Cross was a triumph. It was a signal trophy. A triumph is a token of victory over an enemy. Since then Christ, when He came, brought three kingdoms at once into subjection under His sway (for this He signifies when he says,That in the name ofJesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth), and conquered all of these by His death, a death was sought answerable to themystery, so that being lifted up in the air, and subduing the powers of the air, He might make a display of His victory over these supernatural and celestial powers. Moreover theholy Prophet says thatall the day long He stretched out His hands to the people on the earth, that He might both make protestation to unbelievers and invitebelievers: finally, by that part which is sunk under the earth, He signified His bringing into subjection to Himself the kingdoms of the nether world.

15. Moreover — to touch briefly some of the more recondite topics — when God made the world in the beginning, He set over it and appointed certain powers of celestialvirtues by whom the race of mortal men might be governed and directed. That this was so doneMoses signifies in the Song in Deuteronomy,When the Most High divided thenations, He appointed the bounds of the nations according to the number of theangels ofGod. But some of these, as he who is called the Prince of this world, did not exercise the power whichGod had committed to them according to thelaws by which they had received it, nor did they teachmankind toobey God's commandments, but taught them rather to follow their own perverse guidance. Thus we were brought under the bonds ofsin, because, as the Prophet says,We were sold under oursins. For every man, when he yields tolust, is receiving the purchase-money of hissoul. Under that bond then every man was held by those mostwicked rulers, which same bond Christ, when He came, tore down and stripped them of this their power. ThisPaul signifies under a greatmystery, when he says of Him,He destroyed the hand-writing which was against us, nailing it to His cross, and led away principalities and powers, triumphing over them in Himself. Those rulers, then, whom God had set overmankind, having become contumacious and tyrannical, took in hand to assail the men who had been committed to their charge and to rout them utterly in the conflicts ofsin, as the Prophet Ezekielmystically intimates when he says,In that dayangels shall come forth hastening to exterminateEthiopia, and there shall be perturbation among them in the day ofEgypt; for behold He comes. Having stript them then of their almighty power, Christ is said to have triumphed, and to have delivered to men the power which was taken from them, as also Himself says to Hisdisciples in theGospel,Behold I have given you power to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and upon all the might of the enemy. The Cross ofChrist, then, brought those who had wrongfully abused the authority which they had received into subjection to those who had before been in subjection to them. But us, that is,mankind, it teaches first of all to resistsin even unto death, and willingly to die for the sake of religion. Next, this same Cross sets before us an example ofobedience, in like manner as it has punished the contumacy of those who were once our rulers. Hear, therefore, how the Apostle would teach usobedience by the Cross of Christ:Let this mind be in you, which was inChrist Jesus, Who, being in the form ofGod, thought it notrobbery to be equal withGod, but made Himself of noreputation, taking upon Him the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men; and, being found in fashion as aman, He becameobedient unto death, even the death of the Cross. As, then, a consummate master teaches both by example and precept, so Christ taught theobedience, which good men are to render even at the cost of death, by Himself first dying in rendering it.

16. But perhaps some one is alarmed at hearing us discourse of the death of Him of Whom, a short while since, we said that He is everlasting withGod theFather, and that He was begotten of the Father's substance, and is one withGod theFather, in dominion, majesty, andeternity. But be not alarmed, O faithful hearer. Presently you will see Him of Whose death you hear once moreimmortal; for the death to which He submits is about to spoil death. For the object of thatmystery of the Incarnation which we expounded just now was that the divinevirtue of theSon of God, as though it were a hook concealed beneath the form and fashion ofhuman flesh (He being, as theApostle Paul says,found in fashion as a man), might lure on the Prince of this world to a conflict, to whom offering His flesh as a bait, His divinity underneath might catch him and hold him fast with its hook, through the shedding of His immaculate blood. For He alone Whoknows no stain ofsin has destroyed thesins of all, of those, at least, who have marked the door-posts of theirfaith with His blood. As, therefore, if a fish seizes a baited hook, it not only does not take the bait off the hook, but is drawn out of the water to be itself food for others, so He Who had the power of death seized the body ofJesus in death, not being aware of the hook of Divinity inclosed within it, but having swallowed it he was caught immediately, and the bars ofhell being burst asunder, he was drawn forth as it were from the abyss to become food for others. Which result the Prophet Ezekiel long ago foretold under this same figure, saying,I will draw you out with My hook, and stretch you out upon the earth: the plains shall be filled with you, and I will set all the fowls of the air over you, and I will satiate all the beasts of the earth with you. The Prophet David also says,You have broken the heads of the great dragon, You have given him to be meat to the people ofEthiopia. And Job in like manner witnesses of the samemystery, for he says in the person of the Lord speaking to him,Will you draw forth the dragon with a hook, and will you put your bit in his nostrils?

17. It is with no loss or disparagement therefore of His Divine nature that Christ suffers in the flesh, but His Divine nature through the flesh descended into death, that by the infirmity of the flesh He might effectsalvation; not that He might be detained by death according to the law of mortality, but that He might by Himself in his resurrection open the gates of death. It is as if a king were to proceed to aprison, and to go in and open the doors, undo the fetters, break in pieces the chains, the bars, and the bolts, and bring forth and set at liberty the prisoners, and restore those who are sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death to light and life. The king, therefore, is said indeed to have been inprison, but not under the same condition as the prisoners who were detained there. They were inprison to be punished, He to free them from punishment.

18. They who have handed down the Creed to us have with much forethought specified the time when these things were done —underPontius Pilate,— lest in any respect the tradition should falter, as though vague and uncertain. But it should beknown that the clause,He descended into Hell, is not added in the Creed of the Roman Church, neither is it in that of the Oriental Churches. It seems to be implied, however, when it is said thatHe was buried. But in thelove andzeal for theDivine Scriptures which possess you, you say to me, Idoubt not,These things ought to beproved by more evident testimonies from theDivine Scriptures. For the more important the things are which are to bebelieved, so much the more do they need apt and undoubtedwitness. True. But we, as speaking to those whoknow the law, have left unnoticed, for the sake of brevity, a whole forest of testimonies. But if this also be required, let us cite a few out of many,knowing, as we do, that to those who are acquainted with theScriptures, a very ample sea of testimonies lies open.

19. First of all, then, we mustknow that the doctrine of the Cross is not regarded by all in the same light. It is one thing to theGentiles, to theJews another, toChristians another; as also the Apostle says,We preach Christ crucified — to theJews a stumbling-block, to theGentiles foolishness, but to those who are called, bothJews and Greeks, Christ, the power ofGod and the wisdom ofGod; and, in the same place,For the preaching of the Cross is to those who perish foolishness, but to those who are saved, that is, to us, it isthe Power ofGod. TheJews, to whom it had been delivered out of the Law, that Christ should abide for ever, were offended by His Cross, because they were unwilling tobelieve Hisresurrection. To theGentiles it seemed foolishness thatGod should have submitted to death, because they wereignorant of themystery of the Incarnation. ButChristians, who had accepted His birth and passion in the flesh and Hisresurrection from the dead, of coursebelieved that it was the power of God which had overcome death.

First, therefore, hear how this very thing isprophetically declared byIsaiah, that theJews, to whom the Prophets had foretold these things, would notbelieve, but that they who had never heard them from the Prophets, wouldbelieve them.To whom He was not spoken of they shall see, and they that have not heard shall understand. Moreover, this same Isaiah foretells that, while those who were engaged in the study of the Law from childhood to old agebelieved not, to theGentiles everymystery should be transferred. His words are:And the Lord of Hosts shall make a feast on this mountain unto all nations: they shall drinkjoy, they shall drink wine, they shall be anointed with ointment on this mountain. Deliver all these things to the nations. This was the counsel of the Almighty respecting all the nations. But they who boast themselves of theirknowledge of the Law will, perhaps, say to us,Youblaspheme in saying that the Lord was subjected to the corruption of death and to the suffering of the Cross. Read, therefore, what you find written in the Lamentations of Jeremiah:The Spirit of our countenance, Christ the Lord, was taken in our corruptions, of whom we said, we shall live under His shadow among the nations. You hear how the Prophet says that Christ the Lord was taken, and for us, that is, for oursins, delivered to corruption. Under whose shadow, since the people of theJews have continued in unbelief, he says theGentiles lie, because we live not inIsrael, but among theGentiles.

20. But, if it does not weary you, let the point out as briefly as possible, specific references toprophecy in theGospels, that those who are being instructed in the first elements of thefaith may have these testimonies written on their hearts, lest anydoubt concerning the things which theybelieve should at any time take them by surprise. We are told in theGospel that Judas, one ofChrist's friends and associates at table, betrayed Him. Let the show you how this is foretold in the Psalms:He who has eaten My bread has lifted up his heel against Me: and in another place;My friends and My neighbours drew near and set themselves against Me: and again;His words were made softer than oil and yet be they very darts. What then is meant by his words were made soft?Judas came to Jesus and said to Him, Hail, Master, and kissed Him. Thus through the soft blandishment of akiss he implanted the execrable dart of betrayal. On which the Lord said to him,Judas, do you betray theSon of Man with akiss? You observe that He was appraised by the traitor'scovetousness at thirty pieces of silver. Of this also the Prophet speaks,And I said to them, If you think good, give me my price, or if not, forbear; and presently,I received from them, he says,thirty pieces of silver, and I cast them into the house of the Lord, into the foundry. Is not this what is written in theGospels, that Judas,repenting of what he had done, brought back the money, and threw it down in the temple and departed? Well did He call it His price, as though blaming and upbraiding. For He had done so many good works among them, He had given sight to the blind, feet to the lame, the power of walking to the palsied, life also to the dead; for all these good works they paid Him death as His price, appraised at thirty pieces of silver. It is related also in theGospels that He was bound. This also the word ofprophecy had foretold byIsaiah, saying,Woe unto theirsoul, who have devised a mostevil device against themselves, saying, Let us bind the just One, seeing that He is unprofitable to us.

21. But, says some one,Are these things to be understood of the Lord? Could the Lord be held prisoner by men and dragged to judgment? Of this also the same Prophet shall convince you. For he says,The Lord Himself shall come into judgment with the elders and princes of the people. The Lord is judged then according to the Prophet's testimony, and not only judged, but scourged, and smitten on the face with the palms (of men's hands), and spitted on, and suffers every insult and indignity for our sake. And because all who should hear these things preached by the Apostles would be perfectly amazed, therefore also the Prophet speaking in their person exclaims,Lord, who hasbelieved our report? For it is incredible thatGod, theSon of God, should be spoken of and preached as having suffered these things. For this reason they are foretold by the Prophets, lest anydoubt should spring up in those who are about tobelieve. Christ the Lord Himself therefore in His own person, says,I gave My back to the scourges, and My cheeks to the palms, I turned not away My face from shame and spitting. This also is written among His other sufferings, that they bound Him, and led Him away toPilate. This also the Prophet foretold, saying,And they bound him and conducted Him as a pledge of friendship(xenium) to King Jarim. But some one objects,ButPilate was not a king. Hear then what theGospel relates next,Pilate hearing that He was fromGalilee, sent Him toHerod, who was king inIsrael at that time. And rightly does the Prophet add the nameJarim, which means a wild-vine, forHerod was not of the house ofIsrael, nor of that Israelitish vine which the Lord had brought out ofEgypt, andplanted in a very fruitful hill, but was a wild vine, i.e. of an alien stock. Rightly, therefore, was he calleda wild-vine, because he in nowise sprung from the shoots of the vine ofIsrael. And whereas the Prophet used the phrasexenium,A pledge of friendship, this also corresponds,ForHerod andPilate, as theGospel witnesses,from being enemies were made friends, and, as though in token of their reconciliation, each sent Jesus bound to the other. What matter, so long as Jesus, as Saviour, reconciles those who were at variance, and restores peace, and also brings back concord! Wherefore of this also it is written in Job,May the Lord reconcile the hearts of the princes of the earth.

22. It is related that whenPilate wanted to release Him all the people cried out,Crucify Him, Crucify Him! This also theProphet Jeremiah foretells, saying, in the person of the Lord Himself,My inheritance has become to Me as a lion in the forest. He has uttered his voice against Me, wherefore I havehated it. And therefore (says He) I have forsaken and left My house. And again in another place,Against whom have ye opened your mouth, and against whom have ye let loose your tongues? When He stood before His judge, it is written thatHe held His peace. Many Scriptures testify of this. In the Psalms it is written,I became as a man that hears not, and in whose mouth are no reproofs. And again,I was as a deaf man, and heard not, and as one that is dumb and opens not his mouth. And again another Prophet says,As a lamb before her shearer, so He opened not His mouth. In His humiliation His judgment was taken away. It is written that there was put on Him a crown of thorns. Of this hear in the Canticles the voice ofGod the Father marvelling at the iniquity of Jerusalem in the insult done to His Son:Go forth and see, you daughters of Jerusalem, the crown wherewith His mother has crowned Him. Moreover, of the thorns another Prophet makes mention:I looked that she should bring forth grapes, and she brought forth thorns, and instead of righteousness a cry. But that you mayknow the secrets of themystery, it behooved Him, Who came to take away thesins of the world, to free the earth also from the curse, which it had received through thesin of the first man, when the Lord saidCursed be the earth in your labours: thorns: and thistles shall it bring forth to you. For thiscause, therefore, is Jesus crowned with thorns, that first sentence of condemnation might be remitted. He is led to thecross, and the life of the whole word is suspended on the wood of which it is made. I would point out how this also is confirmed by testimony from the Prophets. You find Jeremiah speaking of it thus,Come and let us cast wood into His bread, and crush Him out of the land of the living. And again,Moses, mourning over them, says,Your life shall be suspended before your eyes, and you shallfear day and night, and shall notbelieve your life. But we must pass on, for already we are exceeding our proposed measure of brevity, and are lengthening out ourshort word by a long dissertation. Yet we will add a few words more, lest we should seem altogether to have passed over what we undertook.

23. It is written that when the side ofJesus was piercedHe shed thereout blood and water. This has a mystical meaning. For Himself had said,Out of His belly shall flow rivers of living water. But He shed forth blood also, of which theJews sought that it might be upon themselves and upon their children. He shed forth water, therefore, which might washbelievers; He shed forth blood also which might condemn unbelievers. Yet it might be understood also as prefiguring the twofoldgrace ofbaptism, one that which is given by thebaptism of water, the other that which is sought throughmartyrdom in the outpouring of blood, for both are calledbaptism. But if you ask further why our Lord is said to have poured forth blood and water from His side rather than from any other member, Iimagine that by the rib in the side thewoman is signified. Since the fountain ofsin and death proceeded from the firstwoman, who was the rib of the first Adam, the fountain of redemption and life is drawn from the rib of the second Adam.

24. It is written that inour Lord's passion there was darkness over the earth from the sixth hour until the ninth. To this also you will find the Prophet witnessing,Your Sun shall go down at mid-day. And again, the Prophet Zechariah,In that day there shall be no more light. There shall be cold and frost in one day, and that dayknown to the Lord; and it shall be neither day nor night, but at evening time there shall be light. What plainer language could the Prophet have used for his words to seem not so much aprophecy of the future as a narrative of the past? He foretold both the cold and the frost. For Peter was warming himself at the fire because it was cold: and he was suffering cold not only in respect of the time (the early hour), but also of hisfaith. There is added,and that day shall beknown to the Lord; and it shall be neither day nor night. What isneither day nor night? Did he not plainly speak of the darkness interposed in the day, and then the light afterwards restored? That was not day, for it did not begin with sun-rise, neither was it complete night, for it did not, when the day was ended, receive its due space from the beginning or prolong it to the end; but the light which had been driven away by the crime ofwicked men is restored at evening time. For after the ninth hour, the darkness is driven away, and the sun is restored to the world. Again, another Prophet witnesses of the same,The light shall be darkened upon the earth in the day-time.

25. TheGospel further relates that the soldiers parted the garments ofJesus among themselves, and cast lots upon His vesture. TheHoly Spirit provided that this also should be witnessed beforehand by the Prophets, for David says,They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture they did cast lots. Nor were the Prophets silent even as to the robe, the scarlet robe, which the soldiers are said to have put upon Him in mockery. Listen to Isaiah,Who is this that comes from Edom, red in his garments from Bozrah? Wherefore are your garments red, and your raiment as though you had trodden in the wine-press? To which Himself replies,I have trodden the wine-press alone, O daughter of Sion. For He alone it is Who has notsinned, and has taken away thesins of the world. For if by one man death could enter into the world, how much more by one man, Who was God also, could life be restored!

26. It is related also that vinegar was given Him to drink, or wine mingled with myrrh which is bitterer than gall. Hear what the Prophet has foretold of this:They gave Me gall to eat, and when I was thirsty they gave Me vinegar to drink. Agreeably with whichMoses, even in his day, said to the people,Their vine is of the vineyards ofSodom, and their branch ofGomorrha; their grape is a grape of gall, and their cluster a cluster of bitterness. And again, the Prophet upbraiding them says,Oh foolish people and unwise, have ye thus requited the Lord? Moreover, in the Canticles the same things are foretold, where even the garden in which the Lord was crucified is indicated:I have come into my garden, my sister, my spouse, and have gathered in my myrrh. Here the Prophet has plainly set forth the wine mingled with myrrh which the Lord has given Him to drink.

27. Next it is written thatHe gave up the ghost. This also had been foretold, by the Prophet, who says, addressing the Father in the Person of theSon,Into Your hands I commend My Spirit. He is related also to have been buried, and a great stone laid at the door of the sepulchre. Hear what the word ofprophecy foretold by Jeremiah concerning this also,They have cut off my life in the pit, and have laid a stone upon Me. These words of the Prophet point most plainly to His burial. Here are yet others,The righteous has been taken away from beholding iniquity, and his place is in peace. And in another place,I will give the malignant for his burial; and yet once more,He has lain down and slept as a lion, and as a lion's cub; who shall rouse Him up?

28. That He descended intohell is also evidently foretold in thePsalms, where it is said,You have brought Me also into the dust of the death. And again,What profit is there in my blood, when I shall have descended into corruption? And again,I descended into the deep mire, where there is no bottom. Moreover, John says,Are You He that shall come (intohell, withoutdoubt), or do we look for another? Whence also Peter says thatChrist beingput to death in the flesh, but quickened in theSpirit which dwells in Him, descended to the spirits who were shut up inprison, who in the days ofNoahbelieved not, to preach unto them; where also what He did inhell is declared. Moreover, the Lord says by the Prophet, as though speaking of the future,You will not leave mysoul inhell, neither will You suffer Your Holy One to see corruption. Which again, in prophetic language he speaks of as actually fulfilled,O Lord, You have brought mysoul out ofhell: You have saved me from them that go down into the pit. There follows next —

29.The Third Day He Rose Again from the Dead. Theglory ofChrist's resurrection threw a lustre upon everything which before had the appearance of weakness and frailty. If a while since it seemed to you impossible that animmortal Being could die, you see now that He who has overcome death and is risen again cannot be mortal. But understand herein the goodness of the Creator, that so far as you by sinning have cast yourself down, so far has He descended in following you. And do not impute lack of power toGod, the Creator of all things, by imagining his work to have ended in the fall into an abyss which He in His redemptive purpose was unable to reach. We speak of infernal and supernal, because we are bounded by the definite circumference of the body, and are confined within the limits of the region prescribed to us. But toGod, Who is present everywhere and absent nowhere, what is infernal and what supernal? Notwithstanding, through the assumption of a body there is room for these also. The flesh which had been deposited in the sepulchre, is raised, that that might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Prophet,You will not suffer Your Holy One to see corruption. He returned, therefore, a victor from the dead, leading with Him the spoils ofhell. For He led forth those who were held in captivity by death, as He Himself had foretold, when He said,When I shall be lifted up from the earth I shall draw all unto Me. To this theGospel bearswitness, when it says,The graves were opened, and many bodies ofsaints which slept arose, and appeared unto many, and entered into theholy City, that city, doubtless, of which the Apostle says,Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the Mother of us all. As also he says again to the Hebrews,It became Him, for Whom are all things, and by Whom are all things, Who had brought many sons intoglory, to make the Author of theirsalvation perfect through suffering. Sitting, therefore, on the right hand ofGod in the highest heavens, He placed there thathuman flesh, made perfect through sufferings, which had fallen to death by the lapse of the first man, but was now restored by thevirtue of the resurrection. Whence also the Apostle says,Who has raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places. For He was the potter, Who, as theProphet Jeremiah teaches,took up again with His hands, and formed anew, as it seemedgood to Him, the vessel which had fallen from His hands and was broken in pieces. And it seemedgood to Him that the mortal and corruptible body which He had assumed, this body raised from the rocky sepulchre and renderedimmortal and incorruptible, He should now place not on the earth but in heaven, and at His Father's right hand. The Scriptures of theOld Testament are full of thesemysteries. No Prophet, no Lawgiver, no Psalmist is silent, but almost every one of the sacred pages speaks of them. It seems superfluous, therefore, to linger in collecting testimonies; yet we will cite some few, remitting those who desire to drink more largely to the well-springs of the divine volumes themselves.

30. It is said then in thePsalms,I laid me down and slept, and rose up again, because the Lord sustained me. Again, in another place,Because of the wretchedness of the needy and the groaning of thepoor, now will I arise, says the Lord. And elsewhere, as we have said above,O Lord, you have brought mysoul out ofhell; You have saved me from them that go down into the pit. And in another place,Because You have turned and quickened me, and brought me out of the deep of the earth again. In the 87th Psalm He is most evidently spoken of:He became as a man without help, free among the dead. It is not saidaman, butas aman. For in that He descended intohell, He wasas a man: but He wasfree among the dead, because He could not be detained by death. And therefore in the one nature the power ofhuman weakness, in the other the power of divine majesty is exhibited. The Prophet Hosea also speaks most manifestly of the third day in this wise,After two days He will heal us; but on the third day we shall rise and shall live in His presence. This he says in the person of those who, rising with Him on the third day, are recalled from death to life. And they are the samepersons who say,On the third day we shall rise again, and shall live in His presence. But Isaiah says plainly,Who brought forth from the earth the great Shepherd of the sheep. Then, that thewomen were to see Hisresurrection, while theScribes andPharisees and the people disbelieved, this also Isaiah foretold in these words,Youwomen, who come from beholding, come: for it is a people that has no understanding. But as to thewomen who are related to have gone to the sepulchre after the resurrection, and to have sought Him without finding, as Mary Magdalene, who is related to have come to the sepulchre before it was light, and not finding Him, to have said, weeping, to theangels who were there,They have taken away the Lord, and Iknow not where they have laid Him — even this is foretold in the Canticles:On my bed I sought Him Whom mysoul loves; I sought Him in the night, and found Him not. Of those also who found Him, and held Him by the feet, it is foretold, in the same book,I will hold Him Whom mysoul loves, and will not let Him go. Take these passages, a few of many; for being intent on brevity we cannot heap together more.

31.He Ascended intoHeaven, and Sits on the Right Hand of the Father: from Thence He Shall Come to Judge the Quick and the Dead. These clauses follow with suitable brevity at the end of this part of the Creed which treats of the Son. What is said is plain, but the question is how and in what sense it is to be understood. For toascend, and tosit, and tocome, unless you understand the words in accordance with the dignity of the divine nature, appear to point to something ofhuman weakness. For having consummated what was to be done on earth, and having recalledsouls from the captivity ofhell, He is spoken of as ascending up to heaven, as the Prophet had foretold,Ascending up on high He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men, those gifts, namely, which Peter, in the Acts of the Apostles, spoke of concerning theHoly Ghost,Being therefore by the right hand of God exalted, He has shed forth this gift which you do see and hear. He gave the gift of theHoly Ghost tomen, because the captives, whom thedevil had before carried intohell throughsin, Christ by Hisresurrection from death recalled to heaven. He ascended therefore into heaven, not whereGod the Word had not been before, for He was always in heaven, and abode in theFather, but where the Word made flesh had not been seated before. Lastly, since this entrance within the gates of heaven seemed new to its ministers and princes, they say to one another, on seeing thenature of flesh penetrating into the secret recesses of heaven, as David full of theHoly Ghost, declares,Lift up your gates, you princes, and be lifted up ye everlasting gates, and the King ofglory shall enter in. Who is the King ofglory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Which words are spoken not with reference to the power of the divine nature, but with reference to the novelty of flesh ascending to the right hand ofGod. The same David says elsewhere,God has ascended jubilantly, and the Lord with the sound of the trumpet. For conquerors are wont to return from battle with the sound of the trumpet. Of Him also it is said,Who builds up His ascent in heaven. And again,Who has ascended above the cherubims, flying upon the wings of the winds.

32. To sit at the right hand of the Father is amystery belonging to the Incarnation. For it does not befit that incorporeal nature without the assumption of flesh; neither is the excellency of a heavenly seat sought for the divine nature, but for thehuman. Whence it is said of Him,Your seat, OGod, is prepared from thence forward; You are from everlasting. The seat, then, whereon the Lord Jesus was to sit, was prepared from everlasting,in whose name every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things on earth, and things under the earth; and every tongue shall confess to Him thatJesus is Lord in theglory ofGod the Father; of Whom also David thus speaks,The Lord said to my Lord, Sit on my right hand until I make Your enemies Your footstool. Referring to which words the Lord in theGospel said to thePharisees,If therefore David in spirit calls Him Lord, how is He his Son? By which He showed that according to the Spirit He was the Lord, according to the flesh He was theSon, of David. Whence also the Lord Himself says in another place,Verily I say unto you, henceforth you shall see theSon of Man sitting at the right hand of the power ofGod. And the Apostle Peter says ofChrist,Who is on the right hand ofGod, seated in the heavens. AndPaul also, writing to the Ephesians,According to the working of the might of His power, which He wrought inChrist, when He raised Him from the dead, and seated Him on His right hand.

33. That He shall come to judge the quick and the dead we are taught by many testimonies of thedivine Scriptures. But before we cite what the Prophets say on this point, we think it necessary to remind you that this doctrine of thefaith would have us daily solicitous concerning the coming of the Judge, that we may so frame our conduct as having to give account to the Judge who is at hand. For this is what the Prophet said of the man who is blessed, that,He orders his words in judgment. When, however, He is said to judge the quick and the dead, this does not mean that some will come to judgment who are still living, others who are already dead; but that He will judge bothsouls and bodies, where, bysouls are meantthe quick, and the bodiesthe dead; as also the Lord Himself says in theGospel,Fear not them who are able to kill the body, but are not able to hurt thesoul; but ratherfear Him who is able to destroy bothsoul and body in Gehenna.

34. Now let us show briefly, if you will, that these things were foretold by the Prophets. You will yourself, since you are so minded, gather together more from the ample range of theScriptures. The Prophet Malachi says,Behold the Lord Almighty shall come, and who shall abide the day of His coming, or who shall abide the sight of Him? For He does come as the fire of a furnace and as fuller's soap: and He shall sit, refining and purifying as it were gold and silver. But that you mayknow more certainly Who this Lord is of Whom these things are said, hear what the Prophet Daniel also foretells:I saw, says he,in the vision of the night, and, behold, One like theSon of Man coming with the clouds of heaven, and He came near to the Ancient of days, and was brought near before Him; and there was given to Him dominion, andhonour, and a kingdom. And all peoples, tribes, and languages shall serve Him. And His dominion is aneternal dominion which shall not pass away, and His kingdom shall not be destroyed. By these words we are taught not only of His coming and judgment, but of His dominion and kingdom, that His dominion iseternal, and His kingdom indestructible, without end; as it is said in the Creed,and of His kingdom there shall be no end. So that one who says that Christ's kingdom shall one day have an end is very far from thefaith. Yet it behooves us toknow that the enemy is wont to counterfeit this salutary advent of Christ with cunning fraud in order to deceive thefaithful, and in the place of theSon of Man, Who is looked for as coming in the majesty of His Father, to prepare the Son of Perdition with prodigies and lying signs, that instead of Christ he may introduceAntichrist into the world; of whom the Lord Himself warned theJews beforehand in theGospels,Because I have come in My Father's Name, and you received Me not, another will come in his own name, and him you will receive. And again,When you shall see theabomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the Prophet, standing in theholy place, let him that reads understand. Daniel, therefore, in his visions speaks very fully and amply of the coming of that delusion: but it is not worth while to cite instances, for we have enlarged enough already; we therefore refer any one who may wish toknow more concerning these matters to the visions themselves. The Apostle also himself says,Let no than deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come except there come a falling away first, and that man ofsin be revealed, the Son of Perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above everything that is calledGod, or that is worshipped, so that he sits in the temple ofGod, showing himself as though himself were God. And soon afterwards,Then shall thatwicked one be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus shall slay with the breath of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming: whose coming is after the working ofSatan with all power and signs and lying wonders. And again, shortly afterwards,And therefore the Lord shall send unto them strong delusion, that they maybelieve alie, that all may be judged who have notbelieved thetruth. For this reason, therefore, is thisdelusion foretold unto us by the words of Prophets, Evangelists, and Apostles, lest any one should mistake the coming ofAntichrist for the coming ofChrist. But as the Lord Himself says,When they shall say unto you, lo, here is Christ, or lo, He is there,believe it not. For many false Christs andfalse prophets shall come and shall seduce many. But let us see how He has pointed out the judgment of thetrue Christ:As the lightning shines from the east unto the west, so shall the coming of theSon of Man be. When, therefore, thetrue LordJesus Christ shall come, He will sit and set up his throne of judgment. As also He says in theGospel,He shall separate the sheep from the goats, that is, the righteous from the unrighteous; as the Apostle writes,We must all stand before the judgment-seat ofChrist, that every man may receive the awards due to the body, according as he has done, whether they be good orevil. Moreover, the judgment will be not only fordeeds, but for thoughts also, as the same Apostle says,Their thoughts mutually accusing or else excusing one another, in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men. But on these points let this suffice. Next follows in the order of thefaith —

35.And in theHoly Ghost. What has been delivered above somewhat at large concerning Christ relates to themystery of His Incarnation and of His Passion, and, by thus intervening, as belonging to His Person, has somewhat delayed the mention of theHoly Spirit. Otherwise, if the divine nature alone be taken into account, as in the beginning of the Creed we sayIbelieve inGod the Father Almighty, and afterwards,InJesus Christ His only Son our Lord, so in like manner we add,And in theHoly Ghost. But all of these particulars which are spoken of above concerning Christ relate, as we have said, to the dispensation of the flesh (to His Incarnation). By the mention of theHoly Spirit, themystery of the Trinity is completed. For as one Father is mentioned, and there is no other Father, and one only-begotten Son is mentioned, and there is no other only-begotten Son, so also there is oneHoly Ghost, and there cannot be anotherHoly Ghost. In order, therefore, that the Persons may be distinguished, the terms expressing relationship (the properties) are varied, whereby the first is understood to be theFather, of Whom are all things, Who Himself also has no Father, the second theSon, as born of theFather, and the third theHoly Ghost, as proceeding from both, and sanctifying all things. But that in the Trinity one and the same Godhead may be set forth, since, prefixing the prepositionin we say that webelieveinGod theFather, so also we say,in Christ His Son, so alsoin theHoly Ghost. But our meaning will be made more plain in what follows. For the Creed proceeds —

36.The Holy Church; The Forgiveness of Sin, the Resurrection of This Flesh. It is not said,In theholy Church, norIn the forgiveness ofsins, norIn the resurrection of the flesh. For if the prepositionin had been added, it would have had the same force as in the preceding articles. But now in those clauses in which thefaith concerning the Godhead is declared, we sayInGod theFather, andInJesus Christ His Son, andIn theHoly Ghost, but in the rest, where we speak not of the Godhead but of creatures andmysteries, the prepositionin is not added. We do not sayWebelievein theholy Church, butWebelieve theholy Church, not asGod, but as theChurch gathered together to God: and webelieve that there isforgiveness ofsins; we do not sayWebelievein the forgiveness ofsins; and webelieve that there will be aResurrection of the flesh; we do not sayWebelievein the resurrection of the flesh. By this monosyllabic preposition, therefore, the Creator is distinguished from the creatures, and things divine are separated from thingshuman.

This then is theHoly Ghost, who in theOld Testament inspired the Law and the Prophets, in the New theGospels and the Epistles. Whence also the Apostle says,All Scripture given by inspiration ofGod is profitable for instruction. And therefore it seems proper in this place to enumerate, as we have learned from the tradition of the Fathers, the books of the New and of theOld Testament, which, according to the tradition of our forefathers, arebelieved to have been inspired by theHoly Ghost, and have been handed down to the Churches ofChrist.

37. Of theOld Testament, therefore, first of all there have been handed down five books ofMoses, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy; Then Jesus Nave, (Joshua the Son of Nun), The Book of Judges together with Ruth; then four books of Kings (Reigns), which the Hebrews reckon two; the Book of Omissions, which is entitled the Book of Days (Chronicles), and two books of Ezra (Ezra and Nehemiah), which the Hebrews reckon one, and Esther; of the Prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel; moreover of the twelve (minor) Prophets, one book; Job also and the Psalms of David, each one book. Solomon gave three books to theChurches, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Canticles. These comprise the books of theOld Testament.

Of the New there are fourGospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John; the Acts of the Apostles, written by Luke; fourteen Epistles of theApostle Paul, two of the Apostle Peter, one of James,brother of the Lord and Apostle, one of Jude, three of John, the Revelation of John. These are the books which the Fathers have comprised within the Canon, and from which they would have us deduce theproofs of ourfaith.

38. But it should beknown that there are also other books which our fathers call notCanonical butEcclesiastical: that is to say, Wisdom, called the Wisdom of Solomon, and another Wisdom, called the Wisdom of the Son of Syrach, which last-mentioned the Latins called by the general title Ecclesiasticus, designating not the author of the book, but the character of the writing. To the same class belong the Book of Tobit, and the Book of Judith, and the Books of the Maccabees. In theNew Testament the little book which is called the Book of the Pastor of Hermas, [and that] which is called The Two Ways, or the Judgment of Peter; all of which they would have read in theChurches, but not appealed to for the confirmation of doctrine. The other writings they have namedApocrypha. These they would not have read in the Churches.

These are the traditions which the Fathers have handed down to us, which, as I said, I have thought it opportune to set forth in this place, for the instruction of those who are being taught the first elements of theChurch and of the Faith, that they mayknow from what fountains of theWord of God their draughts must be taken.

39. We come next in the order of belief to theHoly Church. We have mentioned above why the Creed does not say here, as in the preceding article,In the Holy Church. They, therefore, who were taught above tobelieve in oneGod, under themystery of the Trinity, mustbelieve this also, that there is oneholy Church in which there is onefaith and onebaptism, in which isbelieved oneGod theFather, and oneLord Jesus Christ, His Son, and oneHoly Ghost. This is thatholy Church which is without spot or wrinkle. For many others have gathered together Churches, asMarcion, andValentinus, and Ebion, and Manichæus, andArius, and all the otherheretics. But those Churches are not without spot or wrinkle of unfaithfulness. And therefore the Prophet said of them,Ihate theChurch of the malignants, and I will not sit with the ungodly. But of this Church which keeps thefaith of Christ entire, hear what theHoly Spirit says in the Canticles,My dove is one; the perfect one of her mother is one. He then who receives thisfaith in theChurch let him not turn aside in the Council of vanity, and let him not enter in with those who practise iniquity.

ForMarcion's assembly is a Council of vanity in that he denies that the Father of Christ isGod, the Creator, who by His Son made the world. Ebion's is a Council of vanity since he teaches that, while webelieve inChrist, we are withal to observe thecircumcision of the flesh, the keeping of theSabbath, the accustomedsacrifices, and all the other ordinances according to the letter of the Law. Manichæus' is a Council of vanity in regard of his teaching; first in that he calls himself the Paraclete, then that he says that the world was made by anevilGod, denies God the Creator, rejects theOld Testament, asserts twonatures, one good the otherevil, mutually opposing one another, affirms that men'ssouls are co-eternal withGod, that, according to the Pythagoreans, they return through various circles of nativity into cattle and animals and beasts, denies the resurrection of our flesh, maintains that the passion and nativity of the Lord were not in the verity of flesh, but only in appearance. It was the Council of vanity whenPaul of Samosata and his successor Photinus afterwards taught, that Christ was not born of the Father before the world, but had His beginning from Mary, andbelieved not that being God He was born man, but that of man He was made God. It was the Council of vanity whenArius and Eunomius taught as their determinate opinion that theSon of God was not born of the very substance of theFather, but was created out of nothing, and that theSon of God had a beginning, and is inferior to the Father: moreover they affirm that theHoly Ghost is not only inferior to theSon, but is also a ministering Spirit. Theirs also is a Council of vanity who confess indeed that the Son is of the substance of theFather, but distinguish and separate theHoly Spirit, while yet the Saviour shows in theGospel that the power and Godhead of the Trinity are one and the same, saying,Baptize all nations in the Name of theFather, and of theSon, and of theHoly Ghost, and it is plainly impious for man to put asunder what God has joined together. That also is the Council of vanity which a pertinacious andwicked contention formerly gathered together, affirming that Christ assumedhuman flesh indeed, but not a rationalsoul withal, since Christ conferred one and the samesalvation on the flesh, and the animalsoul, and the reason and mind of man. That also is the Council of vanity which Donatus drew together throughout Africa, by charging theChurch with traditorship (delivering up the sacred books), and with which Novatus disturbed men's minds by denying the grant of repentance to thelapsed, and condemning second marriages, though contracted possibly of necessity. All of these then avoid as congregations of malignants. Those also, if such there be, who are said to assert that theSon of God does not see orknow theFather, as Himself isknown and seen by the Father; or that the kingdom of Christ will have an end; or that the flesh will not be raised in the complete restoration of its substance; these also who deny that there will be ajust judgment ofGod in respect of all, and affirm that thedevil will be absolved from the punishment of damnation due to him. To all these, I say, let the believer turn a deaf ear. But hold fast by theholy Church, which confessesGod the Father Almighty, and His only Son,Jesus Christ our Lord, and theHoly Ghost, of one concordant and harmonious substance, believes that theSon of God was born of the Virgin, suffered for man'ssalvation, rose again from the dead in the same flesh in which he was born; and, lastly, hopes that He will come the Judge of all, through Whom also both theForgiveness of Sins and the Resurrection of the Flesh are preached.

40. As to theForgiveness of Sins, it ought to be enough simple tobelieve. For who would ask thecause or the reason when a Prince grants indulgence? When the liberality of an earthly sovereign is no fit subject for discussion, shall man's temerity discuss God's largess? For the Pagans are wont to ridicule us, saying that we deceive ourselves, fancying that crimes committed in deed can be purged by words. And they say,Can he who has committedmurder be no murderer, and he who has committedadultery be accounted no adulterer? How then shall one guilty of crimes of this sort all of a sudden be madeholy? But to this, as I said, we answer better byfaith than by reason. For he is King of all who has promised it: He is Lord of heaven and earth who assures us of it. Would you have me refuse tobelieve that He who made me a man of the dust of the earth can of a guilty person make me innocent? And that He who when I was blind made me see, or when I was deaf made me hear, or lame walk, can recover for me my lost innocence? And to come to thewitness of Nature — to kill a man is not always criminal, but to kill ofmalice, not by law, is criminal. It is not the deed then, in such matters, that condemns me, because sometimes it is rightly done, but theevil intention of the mind. If then my mind which had been rendered criminal, and in which thesin originated, is corrected, why should I seem to you incapable of being made innocent, who before was criminal? For if it is plain, as I have shown, that crime consists not in the deed but in the will, as anevil will, prompted by anevildemon, has made me obnoxious tosin and death, so the will prompted by the goodGod, being changed to good, has restored me to innocence and life. It is the same also in all other crimes. In this way there is found to be no opposition between ourfaith andnaturalreason, while forgiveness ofsins is imputed not todeeds, which when once done cannot be changed, but to themind, which it is certain can be converted from bad to good.

41. This last article, which affirms theResurrection of the Flesh, concludes the sum of all perfection with succinct brevity. Although on this point also thefaith of theChurch is impugned, not only byGentiles, but byheretics likewise. ForValentinus altogether denies the resurrection of the flesh, so do the Manicheans, as we showed above. But they refuse to listen to the Prophet Isaiah when he says,The dead shall rise, and they who are in the graves shall be raised, or to most wise Daniel, when he declares,Then they who are in the dust of the earth shall arise, these toeternal life, but those to shame and confusion. Yet even in theGospels, which they appear to receive, they ought to learn from our Lord and Saviour, Who says, when instructing theSadducees,As touching the resurrection of the dead: have ye not read how He says toMoses in the Bush, I am theGod ofAbraham, theGod of Isaac, theGod of Jacob? Now God is not theGod of the dead but of the living. Where in what goes before He declares what and how great is theglory of the resurrection, saying,But in the resurrection of the dead they will neither marry or be given in marriage, but will be as theangels ofGod. But thevirtue of the resurrection confers on men an angelical state, so that they who have risen from the earth shall not live again on the earth with the brute animals but withangels in heaven — yet those only whose purer life has fitted them for this — those, namely, who even now preserving the flesh of theirsoul inchastity, have brought it into subjection to theHoly Spirit, and thus with every stain ofsins done away and changed into spiritualglory by thevirtue of sanctification, have been counted worthy to have it admitted into the society ofangels.

42. But unbelievers cry,How can the flesh, which has been putrified and dissolved, or changed into dust, sometimes also swallowed up by the sea, and dispersed by the waves, be gathered up again, and again made one, and a man's body formed anew out of it? To whom our first answer is inPaul's words:You fool, that which you sow is not quickened, except it die. And that which you sow, you sow not the body, which shall be, but bare grain of wheat or of some other seed: but God gives it a body as seems good to Him. Did you notbelieve that that which you see taking place every year in the seeds which you cast into the ground will come to pass in your flesh which by the law of God is sown in the earth? Why,pray, have you so mean an opinion of God's power that you do notbelieve it possible for the scattered dust of which each man's flesh was composed to be re-collected and restored to its own original fabric? Do you refuse to admit the fact when you see mortal ingenuity search for veins of metal deeply buried in the ground, and the experienced eye discover gold where the inexperienced thinks there is nothing but earth? Why should we refuse to grant these things to Him who made man, when he whom He made can do so much? And when mortal ingenuity discovers that gold has its own proper vein, and silver another, and that a far different vein of copper, and diverse and distinct veins of iron and lead lie concealed beneath what has the appearance of earth, shall divine power be thought unable to discover and distinguish the component particles belonging to each man's flesh, even though they seem to be dispersed?

43. But let us endeavour to assist thosesouls which fail in theirfaith through reasons drawn from nature. If one should mix different sorts of seeds together and sow them indiscriminately in the earth, will not the grain of each several kind, wherever it may have been thrown, shoot forth at the proper time in accordance with its own specific nature so as to reproduce the condition of its own form and its own body.

Thus then the substance of each individual flesh, though its particles have been variously and diversely scattered, has within it animmortal principle, since it is the flesh of animmortalsoul, and at the time whichGod in His good pleasure shall appoint, there will be collected from the earth and drawn to it, its own component particles, which will be restored to that form which death had formerly dissolved. And thus it will come to pass that to eachsoul will be restored, not a confused or foreign body but its own which it had when alive, in order that the flesh together with its ownsoul may for the conflicts of the present life either be crowned if undefiled, or punished if defiled. And accordingly our Church, in teaching thefaith instead ofthe Resurrection of the flesh, as the Creed is delivered in other Churches, guardedly adds the pronounthis—the resurrection ofthis flesh.Of this, that is, nodoubt, of the person who rehearses the Creed, making thesign of the cross upon his forehead, while he says the word, that each believer mayknow that his flesh, if he have kept it clean fromsin, will be a vessel ofhonour, useful to the Lord, prepared for every good work; but, if defiled bysins, that it will be a vessel ofwrath destined to destruction.

But now, concerning theglory of the resurrection and the greatness of the promise by whichGod has bound Himself, if any one desires to be more fully informed, he will find notices in almost all the divine volumes, out of which, simply by way of bringing them to remembrance, we will mention a few passages in the present place, and then make an end of the work which you have enjoined. TheApostle Paul makes use of such arguments as the following in asserting that mortal flesh will rise again.But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is not Christ risen. And if Christ be not risen, our preaching is vain and yourfaith is vain. And presently afterwards,But now is Christ risen from the dead, thefirst-fruits of them that sleep. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as inAdam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order. Christ thefirst-fruits, afterwards they that are Christ's at His coming, then comes the end. And afterways he adds,Behold I show you amystery: We shall all rise indeed, but we shall not all be changed; or as other copies read,We shall all sleep, indeed but we shall not all be changed; in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall rise incorruptible, and we shall be changed. However, whichever be thetrue text, writing to the Thessalonians, he says,I would not have youignorant, brethren, concerning those who are asleep, that you sorrow not, as the others who have no hope. For if webelieve thatJesus died and rose again, so those also who sleep through Jesus shall God bring with Him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain at the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them that sleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, with the trump ofGod, and the dead who are in Christ shall rise first: then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet Christ in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

44. But that you may not suppose this to be a novel doctrine peculiar toPaul, I will adduce also what the Prophet Ezekiel foretold by theHoly Ghost.Behold, says he,I will open your graves and bring you forth out of your graves. Let me recall, further, how Job, who abounds in mystical language, plainly predicts the resurrection of the dead.There is hope for a tree; for if it be cut down it will sprout again, and its shoot shall never fail. But if its root have waxed old in the earth, and the stock thereof be dead in the dust, yet through the scent of water it will flourish again, and put forth shoots as a young plant. But man, if he be dead, is he departed and gone? And mortal man, if he have fallen, shall he be no more? Do you not see, that in these words he is appealing to men's sense of shame, as it were, and saying,Ismankind so foolish, that when they see the stock of a tree which has been cut down shooting forth again from the ground, and dead wood again restored to life, theyimagine their own case to have no likeness to that of wood or trees? But to convince you that Job's words are to be read as a question, when he says,But mortal man when he has fallen shall he not rise again? take thisproof from what follows; for he adds immediately,But if a man be dead, shall he live? And presently afterwards he says,I will wait till I be made again; and afterwards he repeats the same:Who shall raise again upon the earth my skin, which is now draining this cup of suffering?

45. Thus much inproof of the profession which we make in the Creed when we sayThe resurrection of this flesh. As to the additionthis see how consonant it is with all that we have cited from the divine books. What else does Job signify in the place which we explained above,He will raise again my skin, which is now draining this cup of suffering, that is, which is undergoing these torments? Does he not plainly say that there will be a resurrection of this flesh, this, I mean, which is now undergoing the extremity of trials and tribulations? Moreover, when the Apostle says,This corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put onimmortality, are not his words those of one who in a manner touches his body and places his finger upon it? This body then, which is now corruptible, will by thegrace of the resurrection be incorruptible, and this which is now mortal will be clothed withvirtues ofimmortality, that, asChrist rising from the dead dies no more, death has no more dominion over Him, so those who shall rise in Christ shall never again feel corruption or death, not because thenature of flesh will have been cast off, but because its condition and quality will have been changed. There will be a body, therefore, which will rise from the dead incorruptible andimmortal, not only of the righteous, but also of sinners; of the righteous that they may be able ever to abide with Christ, of sinners that they may undergo without end the punishment due to them.

46. That the righteous shall ever abide with Christ our Lord we haveproved above, where we have shown that the Apostle says,Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet Christ in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. And do not marvel that the flesh of thesaints is to be changed into such aglorious condition at the resurrection as to be caught up to meetGod, suspended in the clouds and borne in the air, since the same Apostle, setting forth the great things whichGod bestows on them thatlove Him, says,Who shall change our vile body that it may be made like Hisglorious body. It is nowise absurd then, if the bodies of thesaints are said to be raised up into the air, seeing that they are said to be renewed after the image ofChrist's body, which is seated at God's right hand. But this also theholy Apostle adds, speaking either of himself or of others of his own place or merit,He will raise us up together with Christ and make us sit together in the heavenly places. Whence, since God'ssaints have these promises and aninfinite number like them respecting the resurrection of the righteous, it will now not be difficult tobelieve those also which the Prophets have foretold, namely, thatthe righteous shall shine as the sun and as the brightness of the firmament in thekingdom of God. For who will think it difficult that they should have the brightness of the sun, and be adorned with the splendour of the stars and of this firmament, for whom the life and conversation ofGod'sangels are being prepared in heaven, or who are represented as being hereafter to be conformed to theglory ofChrist's body? In reference to whichglory, promised by the Saviour's mouth, theholy Apostle says,It is sown as an animal body; it will rise a spiritual body. For if it istrue, as it certainly istrue, that God will vouchsafe to associate every one of the righteous and of thesaints in companionship with theangels, it is certain that He will change their bodies also into theglory of a spiritual body.

47. Nor let this promise seem to you contrary to the natural structure of the body. For if webelieve, according to what is written, that God took clay of the earth and made man, and that the origin of our body was this, that, by thewill ofGod, earth was changed into flesh, why does it seem absurd to you or contrary to reason if, on the same principles on which earth is said to be advanced to all animal body, an animal body in turn should bebelieved to be advanced to a spiritual body? These things and many like these you will find in thedivine Scriptures concerning the resurrection of the righteous. There will be given to sinners also, as we said above, a condition of incorruption andimmortality at the resurrection, that, as God assigns this state to the righteous for perpetuity ofglory, so He may assign the same to sinners for prolongation of confusion and punishment. For this also the Prophet's words, which we referred to above, state clearly:Many shall rise from the dust of the earth, some to lifeeternal, and others to confusion andeternal shame.

48. If then we have understood in what august significance God Almighty is called Father, and in whatmysterious senseour Lord Jesus Christ is held to be His only Son, and with what entire perfection of meaning His Spirit is called theHoly Spirit, and how theHoly Trinity is one in substance but has distinctions of relation and of Persons, what also is the birth from a Virgin, what the nativity of the Word in the flesh, what themystery of the Cross, what the purpose of our Lord's descent intohell, what theglory of the Resurrection, and the delivery ofsouls from their captivity in the infernal regions, what also His ascension into heaven, and the expected advent of the Judge; moreover how theholy Church ought to be acknowledged as opposed to the congregations of vanity, what is the number of the sacred Volume, what conventicles ofheretics ought to be avoided, and how in the forgiveness ofsins there is no opposition whatever between the divine freedom andnaturalreason, and how not only the sacred oracles but also the example of Lord and Saviour Himself, and the conclusions ofnaturalreason, confirm thetruth of the resurrection of our flesh — if, I say, we have intelligently followed these in succession in accordance with the rule of the tradition hereinbefore expounded, wepray that the Lord will grant to us, and to all who hear these words, that having kept thefaith which we have received, having finished our course, we may await the crown of righteousness laid up for us, and be found among those who shall rise again toeternal life, and be delivered from confusion andeternal shame, through Christ our Lord, through Whom toGod the Father Almighty with theHoly Ghost isglory and dominion for ever and ever.Amen.

CONTACT US |ADVERTISE WITH NEW ADVENT