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27. But if the Son is said to be sent by the Father on this
account, that the one is the Father, and the other the Son, this
does not in any manner hinder us from believing the Son to be equal,
and consubstantial, and co-eternal with the Father, and yet to have
been sent as Son by the Father. Not because the one is greater, the
other less; but because the one is Father, the other Son; the one
begetter, the other begotten; the one, He from whom He is who is
sent; the other, He who is from Him who sends. For the Son is
from the Father, not the Father from the Son. And according to
this manner we can now understand that the Son is not only said to have
been sent because "the Word was made flesh," but therefore sent that
the Word might be made flesh, and that He might perform through His
bodily presence those things which were written; that is, that not
only is He understood to have been sent as man, which the Word was
made but the Word, too, was sent that it might be made man; because
He was not sent in respect to any inequality of power, or substance,
or anything that in Him was not equal to the Father; but in respect
to this, that the Son is from the Father, not the Father from the
Son; for the Son is the Word of the Father, which is also called
His wisdom. What wonder, therefore, if He is sent, not because
He is unequal with the Father, but because He is "a pure emanation
(manatio) issuing from the glory of the Almighty God?" For
there, that which issues, and that from which it issues, is of one
and the same substance. For it does not issue as water issues from an
aperture of earth or of stone, but as light issues from light. For
the words, "For she is the brightness of the everlasting light,"
what else are they than, she is light of everlasting light? For what
is the brightness of light, except light itself? and so co-eternal,
with the light, from which the light is. But it is preferable to
say, "the brightness of light," rather than" the light of light;"
lest that which issues should be thought to be darker than that from
which it issues. For when one hears of the brightness of light as
being light itself, it is more easy to believe that the former shines
by means of the latter, than that the latter shines less. But because
there was no need of warning men not to think that light to be less,
which begat the other (for no heretic ever dared say this, neither is
it to be believed that any one will dare to do so), Scripture meets
that other thought, whereby that light which issues might seem darker
than that from which it issues; and it has removed this surmise by
saying, "It is the brightness of that light," namely, of eternal
light, and so shows it to be equal. For if it were less, then it
would be its darkness, not its brightness; but if it were greater,
then it could not issue from it, for it could not surpass that from
which it is educed. Therefore, because it issues from it, it is not
greater than it is; and because it is not its darkness, but its
brightness, it is not less than it is: therefore it is equal. Nor
ought this to trouble us, that it is called a pure emanation issuing
from the glory of the Almighty God, as if itself were not
omnipotent, but an emanation from the Omnipotent; for soon after it
is said of it, "And being but one, she can do all things." But
who is omnipotent, unless He who can do all things? It is sent,
therefore, by Him from whom it issues; for so she is sought after by
him who loved and desired her. "Send her," he says, "out of Thy
holy heavens, and from the throne of Thy glory, that, being
present, she may labor with me;" that is, may teach me to labor
[heartily] in order that I may not labor [irksomely]. For her
labors are virtues. But she is sent in one way that she may be with
man; she has been sent in another way that she herself may be man.
For, "entering into holy souls, she maketh them friends of God and
prophets;" so she also fills the holy angels, and works all things
fitting for such ministries by them. But when the fullness of time was
come, she was sent, not to fill angels, nor to be an angel, except
in so far as she announced the counsel of the Father, which was her
own also; nor, again, to be with men or in men, for this too took
place before, both in the fathers and in the prophets; but that the
Word itself should be made flesh, that is, should be made man. In
which future mystery, when revealed, was to be the salvation of those
wise and holy men also, who, before He was born of the Virgin, were
born of women; and in which, when done and made known, is the
salvation of all who believe, and hope, and love. For this is "the
great mystery of godliness, which was manifest in the flesh, justified
in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed
on in the world, received up into glory."
28. Therefore the Word of God is sent by Him, of whom He is the
Word; He is sent by Him, from whom He was begotten (genitum);
He sends who begot, That is sent which is begotten. And He is then
sent to each one, when He is apprehended and perceived by each, in so
far as He can be apprehended and perceived, in proportion to the
comprehension of the rational soul, either advancing towards God, or
already perfect in God. The Son, therefore, is not properly said
to have been sent in that He is begotten of the Father; but either in
that the Word made flesh appeared to the world, whence He says, "I
came forth from the Father, and am come into the world;" or in that
from time to time, He is perceived by the mind of each, according to
the saying, "Send her, that, being present with me, she may labor
with me." What then is born (natum) from eternity is eternal,
"for it is the brightness of the everlasting light;" but what is sent
from time to time, is that which is apprehended by each. But when the
Son of God was made manifest in the flesh, He was sent into this
world in the fullness of time, made of a woman. "For after that, in
the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God" (since "the
light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not"),
it "pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe," and that the Word should be made flesh, and dwell among
us. But when from time to time He comes forth and is perceived by the
mind of each, He is said indeed to be sent, but not into this world;
for He does not appear sensibly, that is, He does not present
Himself to the corporeal senses. For we ourselves, too, are not in
this world, in respect to our grasping with the mind as far as we can
that which is eternal; and the spirits of all the righteous are not in
this world, even of those who are still living in the flesh, in so far
as they have discernment in things divine. But the Father is not said
to be sent, when from time to time He is apprehended by any one, for
He has no one of whom to be, or from whom to proceed; since Wisdom
says, "I came out of the mouth of the Most High," and it is said
of the Holy Spirit, "He proceedeth from the Father," but the
Father is from no one.
29. As, therefore, the Father begat, the Son is begotten; so
the Father sent, the Son was sent. But in like manner as He who
begat and He who was begotten, so both He who sent and He who was
sent, are one, since the Father and the Son are one. So also the
Holy Spirit is one with them, since these three are one. For as to
be born, in respect to the Son, means to be from the Father; so to
be sent, in respect to the Son, means to be known to be from the
Father. And as to be the gift of God in respect to the Holy
Spirit, means to proceed from the Father; so to be sent, is to be
known to proceed from the Father. Neither can we say that the Holy
Spirit does not also proceed from the Son, for the same Spirit is
not without reason said to be the Spirit both of the Father and of the
Son. Nor do I see what else He intended to signify, when He
breathed on the face of the disciples, and said, "Receive ye the
Holy Ghost." For that bodily breathing, proceeding from the body
with the feeling of bodily touching, was not the substance of the Holy
Spirit, but a declaration by a fitting sign, that the Holy Spirit
proceeds not only from the Father, but also from the Son. For the
veriest of madmen would not say, that it was one Spirit which He gave
when He breathed on them, and another which He sent after His
ascension. For the Spirit of God is one, the Spirit of the Father
and of the Son, the Holy Spirit, who worketh all in all. But that
He was given twice was certainly a significant economy, which we will
discuss in its place, as far as the Lord may grant. That then which
the Lord says, "Whom I will send unto you from the Father,"
shows the Spirit to be both of the Father and of the Son; because,
also, when He had said, "Whom the Father will send," He added
also, "in my name." Yet He did not say, Whom the Father will
send from me, as He said, "Whom I will send unto you from the
Father," showing, namely, that the Father is the beginning
(principium) of the whole divinity, or if it is better so expressed,
deity. He, therefore, who proceeds from the Father and from the
Son, is referred back to Him from whom the Son was born (natus).
And that which the evangelist says, "For the Holy Ghost was not
yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified;" how is this to
be understood, unless because the special giving or sending of the
Holy Spirit after the glorification of Christ was to be such as it
had never been before? For it was not previously none at all, but it
had not been such as this. For if the Holy Spirit was not given
before, wherewith were the prophets who spoke filled? Whereas the
Scripture plainly says, and shows in many places, that they spake by
the Holy Spirit. Whereas, also, it is said of John the Baptist,
"And he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his
mother's womb." And his father Zacharias is found to have been
filled with the Holy Ghost, so as to say such things of him. And
Mary, too, was filled with the Holy Ghost, so as to foretell such
things of the Lord, whom she was bearing in her womb. And Simeon
and Anna were filled with the Holy Spirit, so as to acknowledge the
greatness of the little child Christ. How, then, was "the Spirit
not yet given, since Jesus was not yet glorified," unless because
that giving, or granting, or mission of the Holy Spirit was to have
a certain speciality of its own in its very advent, such as never was
before? For we read nowhere that men spoke in tongues which they did
not know, through the Holy Spirit coming upon them; as happened
then, when it was needful that His coming should be made plain by
visible signs, in order to show that the whole world, and all nations
constituted with different tongues, should believe in Christ through
the gift of the Holy Spirit, to fulfill that which is sung in the
Psalm, "There is no speech nor language where their voice is not
heard; their sound is gone out through all the earth, and their words
to the end of the world."
30. Therefore man was united, and in some sense commingled, with
the Word of God, so as to be One Person, when the fullness of time
was come, and the Son of God. made of a woman, was sent into this
world, that He might be also the Son of man for the sake of the sons
of men. And this person angelic nature could prefigure beforehand, so
as to pre-announce, but could not appropriate, so as to be that
person itself.
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