Chapter Six

On the Incarnation of Christ

After these investigations, it is time to turn to the question of the incarnation of our Lord and Saviour, how and why did he become man? In fact, to the extent of our little strength, we have already considered the divine nature, more on the basis of its own works than on the basis of the contemplation of our thoughts; we have also considered its (divine nature's) creations, both visible and invisible, contemplated by faith, because even human mortality cannot see everything with its eyes and comprehend it with its mind, because, of course, we humans are the weakest and weakest animal of all rational animals; while those beings, heavenly or superstitious, are much higher (than us). Now, therefore, we are left to ask ourselves the question of the mean between all these creatures and God, i.e., of the Mediator, whom the Apostle Paul proclaims to be "the firstborn of all creation." We see that in the Holy Scriptures much is said about His greatness, we find that He "is the image of the invisible God, born before all creation, for by Him was created all things, both in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible: whether thrones, dominions, principalities, powers, all things were created by Him and for Him; and He is before all things, and in Him all things stand." (Col. 1:15-17). He is the head of all, and alone has God the Father as his head, for it is written: "And God is the head of Christ" (1 Corinthians 11:3). It is also written that "no man knoweth the Son but the Father, and no man knoweth the Father except the Son" (Matt. 11:26), for who can know what Wisdom is, except him who begat it? Or who knows with complete clarity what Truth is, except the Father of Truth? Who can truly examine the whole nature of the Word of God and the nature of God Himself, which is of God, except God alone, who had the Word? Therefore, we must be sure that this Word, or Reason, this Wisdom, this Truth, no one knows except the Father alone, and therefore it is written about Him: "I think that even the world itself could not contain the books that are written" (John 21:25), i.e. (books) about the glory and majesty of the Son of God. And indeed, it is impossible to set forth in writing what relates to the glory of the Savior. And so, when we see so many great testimonies concerning the nature of the Son of God, we are stunned in the greatest amazement that this superior Being, humbling Himself from the state of His majesty, was made man and dwelt among men, as the grace that poured out through His mouth bears witness, and as the Father in heaven testified to Him, and as various signs, and wonders, and powers, confirm, committed by Him. Before this appearance in the flesh, He sent prophets as forerunners and heralds of His coming. After His ascension into heaven, He commanded the holy apostles, filled with the power of His Divinity, to go around the entire universe – people who were inexperienced and unlearned, (who came out) from among the publicans or fishermen; He gave them a command that from every tongue and from all nations they should form an assembly of godly people who believe in Him.

But of all the miracles and great deeds pertaining to Him, this one in particular excites the wonder of the human mind, and the feeble thought of a mortal being cannot in any way understand and comprehend in particular that so great a power of divine majesty, that the Word of the Father Himself and the Wisdom of God Herself, in Whom all things visible and invisible were created, were found, as it should be believed, within the limits of the limitation of the person who appeared in Judea; that the Wisdom of God entered into the womb of the mother, was born as a child, and wept in the likeness of weeping babies; that later (this Son of God) was troubled by death, as He Himself confesses when He says: "My soul is sorrowful unto death" (Matt. 26:38), and that finally He was brought to death, which is considered by people to be the most shameful, and in spite of this, three days later He was resurrected. Thus we see in Him, on the one hand, something human, in which He does not seem to differ in the least from the general weakness of mortals, and, on the other hand, something divine, which is peculiar to no other nature than that first and ineffable nature of the Godhead. Hence arises the difficulty for human thought: struck by amazement, it is at a loss where to lean, what to hold onto, what to turn to. If she thinks of Him as God, she sees Him as mortal; if it considers (Him) to be a man, then it sees Him who trampled on the power of death and Who rises from the dead with prey. Therefore, we must observe with all fear and reverence, so that in one and the same (person) we discover the truth of both natures, so that, on the one hand, we do not think anything unworthy and unseemly about that divine and ineffable essence, and, on the other hand, our deeds (as a man) are not considered false illusory images. To put all this into human ears and to explain it in words is, of course, far beyond the power of our dignity, mind, and word. I think that this surpasses even the measure (of the abilities inherent in) the holy apostles; Or perhaps the explanation of this mystery is not accessible even to the entire creation of the heavenly powers. We shall expound the doctrine on this subject, as briefly as possible, not from the motives of any boldness, but only because the plan of the work requires it; And let us set forth more what our faith contains than the ordinary proofs presented by human reason, and on our part we will present our conjectures rather than any clear statements.

Thus, according to the teaching of the Scriptures, the Only-begotten Son of God, through Whom, as the preceding reasoning has shown, all things visible and invisible were created, He created all things, and loves created things. Therefore, being Himself the invisible image of the invisible God, He invisibly granted participation in Himself to all rational creatures, so that each would participate in Him to the extent that he was imbued with a feeling of love towards Him. But, in consequence of the faculty of free will, there was a difference and variety among the souls, because one soul had a more ardent love for its Creator, the other a more superficial and weaker one. The same soul of whom Jesus said that "no one takes it away from me" (Jn. 10:18), from the very beginning of creation and in subsequent time, inseparably and inseparably, she dwelt in Him as in the Wisdom and Word of God, as in Truth and eternal light, and, with all her being and entering into His light and radiance, she became primarily one spirit with Him, as the Apostle promises to those who should imitate her: "He who unites with the Lord is one spirit with the Lord" (1 Corinthians 6:17). By means of this substance of the soul between God and the flesh (for it was not possible for the divine nature to be united to the body without an intermediary), God, as we have said, is born of man, because it was not unnatural for this middle substance to assume a body, and, on the other hand, it was not unnatural for this soul, as a rational substance, to receive God, in Whom, as we said above, it has already fully entered, as in the Word, both Wisdom and Truth. Therefore, being in God and having received the whole Son of God into Himself, this soul with the flesh it has taken on is justly called the Son of God, the power of God, Christ and the Wisdom of God, and vice versa, the Son of God, through Whom all things were created, is called Jesus Christ and the Son of Man. Thus it is said that the Son of God died – of course, by that nature, which, of course, could accept death, and He who has to come in the glory of His Father with the holy angels is called the son of man. For this reason, in all Scripture, just as the divine nature is called by human names, so the human nature is adorned with the glorious names of the divine nature; for more than anything else can be said in the words of the Scriptures: "And the two shall be one flesh, so that they are no longer two, but one flesh" (Mark 10:8). It must be thought that the Word of God is more one with the soul in the flesh than husband with wife. In the same way, who is more fitting to be one spirit with God than this soul, which through love has been so united with God that it is justly called one spirit with Him?

(From the letter of Justinian to Menas: "For this reason man also became Christ, having attained it (by his) virtues, as the prophet testifies; saying, "Thou hast loved righteousness, and hast hated iniquity; therefore have I anointed Thee, O God, Thy God with the oil of joy more than Thy fellow-partakers" (Psalm 44:8). It was fitting that He Who is in no way separable from the Only-begotten should (always) abide with the Only-begotten and be glorified together with Him").

The perfection of love and the sincerity of the acquired affection made this unity with God inseparable, so that the reception of this soul (the Son of God) was not accidental or illusory, but was granted to it dignity because of its virtues. That this is so, listen to the prophet who says of this soul: "Thou hast loved righteousness, and hast hated iniquity; therefore have I anointed Thee, O God, Thy God with the oil of joy more than Thy fellow-partakers" (Psalm 44:8). Thus, He is anointed with the oil of joy, i.e. the soul of Christ, together with the Word of God, becomes Christ – as a reward for love. Anointing with the oil of joy means nothing else than being filled with the Holy Spirit; but the words "more partakers" show that the grace of the Spirit was not given to her, as the prophets did, but that the substantial fullness of the very word of God was present in her, as the Apostle said: "In Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily" (Col. 2:9). Finally, for the same reason, the prophet not only said: "Thou didst love righteousness," but also added: "and hated iniquity," since to hate iniquity means what the Scriptures say about Him: "He did not sin, and there was no deceit in His mouth" (Isaiah 53:9) and again: "He was tempted like us in all things, except sin" (Hebrews 4:15). And the Lord Himself says: "Who of you shall clothe Me for sin?" (John 8:46, old, ed.). And again He Himself says of Himself: "The prince of this world is coming, and in Me he has nothing" (John 14:30). All this shows that there was no sinful feeling in Him. Wishing to make this clearer, namely that the sinful feeling never entered Him, the prophet says: "Before a child is able to say, 'My father, my mother, reject evil' (Isaiah 8:4; Isaiah 7:16).

The following difficulty may arise to some: we have shown above that in Christ there is a rational soul; but in all our arguments we have often proved that the nature of souls is capable of good and evil. This difficulty is explained as follows. There can be no doubt that the nature of that soul was the same as that of all souls; otherwise, if it were not truly a soul, it could not be called a soul. But since the power of choice between good and evil is inherent in all (souls), this soul, which belongs to Christ, has so loved righteousness, that in consequence of the greatness of love it has adhered to it invariably and inseparably, so that the strength of the disposition, the immeasurable power of feeling, the inextinguishable fervor of love have cut off (from it) all thought of seduction and change, and that which was formerly free, as a result of prolonged exercise, turned into nature. Thus, it must be believed that in Christ there was a human and rational soul, and at the same time it must be thought that this soul had no disposition or opportunity for sin.

But for the fullest explanation of the matter, it seems not superfluous to make use of some semblance, although in so lofty and so difficult a question it is impossible to find many suitable examples. However, without any prejudice, we will present the following example. Iron metal can perceive both cold and heat. Suppose, then, that a quantity of iron always lies in the fire, and that with all its pores and all its sinews it receives fire, everything has become fire. If fire is never separated from this iron, and it is not separated from fire, shall we say that this piece of iron, which by nature is certainly iron, being in fire and constantly burning, can ever receive cold? On the contrary, we say, and this is more true, that the whole (of this piece of iron) has become fire, because in it there is nothing but fire, as we often observe with (our) eyes in furnaces, and if anyone tries to touch or feel (it), he will feel the power of fire, and not of iron. In the same way, that soul is like iron in fire, always in the Word, always in Wisdom, always in God, and therefore everything it does, feels, thinks, is God. That is why this soul cannot be called seducing and changeable: it has received immutability as a result of a continuous and ardent union with the Word of God. Of course, a certain warmth of the Word of God descends on all the saints, too: but in this soul the Divine fire itself has essentially rested, from which a certain warmth emanates on the others. For the words "Thy God has anointed Thee, O God, with the oil of joy more than Thy fellow-partakers" show that that soul is anointed differently with the oil of joy, i.e., with the Word of God and Wisdom, and that its partakers, i.e., the holy prophets and apostles, are anointed differently. These, as they say, walked only in the fragrance of the fragrance of God, and the soul of Christ was the vessel of the fragrance itself, from the fragrance of which, through participation in it, worthy people became prophets and apostles. The substance of incense is one thing, and its smell is another; in the same way, Christ is one thing, and His partakers are another. And just as the very vessel that contains the substance of the incense can in no way receive any stench, while those who partake of its smell, if they are more or less removed from its fragrance, can receive the stench: so Christ, being the very vessel in which the substance of the incense was, could not receive the foul smell; but His partners will be the more capable of perceiving the smell, the closer they are to the vessel.

I think that Jeremiah the prophet, understanding exactly what the nature of the Wisdom of God is in Him and what is the nature that He took on for the salvation of the world, said: "The breath of our life, the anointed of the Lord, is caught in their pits, the one of whom we spoke: under His shadow we will dwell among the nations" (Lamentations 4:20). The shadow of our body is inseparable from the body and unswervingly reproduces all the movements and actions of the body. In this sense, I think, the prophet, wishing to show the work and movement of the soul of Christ, which was inseparably inherent in it and carried out everything in accordance with the movement and will of Christ, called this soul a shadow of Christ the Lord, in which we can live among the nations, because in the mystery of this reception (of the Word of God by the soul) there live nations who attain salvation by imitating this soul through faith. The same, I think, is shown by David, saying: "Remember, O Lord, the reproach (of mine), which reproached (me) for the change of Thy Christ" (Psalm 88:51-52 Old Ed.). Does not Paul mean the same when he says: "Your life is hidden with Christ in God" (Col. 3:3). And in another place he says: "You seek proof of whether Christ speaks in me" (2 Corinthians 13:3). This means that Christ, according to him, is now hidden in God. In this saying we can point out the same meaning that, as we said above, is contained in the words of the prophet about the shadow of Christ; or perhaps it transcends the understanding of the human mind. In the Holy Scriptures we find many other sayings about the meaning of the shadow. Such, for example, are the words of Gabriel to Mary in the Gospel of Luke: "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you" (Luke 1:35). Likewise, the Apostle speaks of the law that those who are circumcised in the flesh serve "the image and shadow of the things of heaven" (Hebrews 8:5). And in another place it says: "Our days are a shadow on earth" (Job 8:9). If, then, the law, which is a shadow on earth, and we live among the nations in the shadow of Christ, then we must consider whether the truth of all these shadows is not known in that revelation, when all the saints are vouchsafed to behold the glory of God, and also the causes and truth of things, no longer through a mirror, nor divination, but face to face. Having already received the pledge of this truth through the Holy Spirit, the Apostle said: "If we knew Christ according to the flesh, we now know him no more" (2 Corinthians 5:16). And so, this is what we could imagine when we discuss at the present time such difficult subjects, i.e., the Incarnation and the Divinity of Christ. If anyone can find anything better and confirm his words with more obvious proofs from the Holy Scriptures, then surely he must accept these latter rather than ours.