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17. And first, in that which is written in Genesis, viz., that
God spake with man whom He had formed out of the dust; if we set
apart the figurative meaning, and treat it so as to place faith in the
narrative even in the letter, it should appear that God then spake
with man in the appearance of a man. This is not indeed expressly laid
down in the book, but the general tenor of its reading sounds in this
sense, especially in that which is written, that Adam heard the voice
of the Lord God, walking in the garden in the cool of the evening,
and hid himself among the trees of the garden; and when God said,
"Adam, where art thou?" replied, "I heard Thy voice, and I
was afraid because I was naked, and I hid myself from Thy face."
For I do not see how such a walking and conversation of God can be
understood literally, except He appeared as a man. For it can
neither be said that a voice only of God was framed, when God is said
to have walked, or that He who was walking in a place was not
visible; while Adam, too, says that he hid himself from the face of
God. Who then was He? Whether the Father, or the Son, or the
Holy Spirit? Whether altogether indiscriminately did God the
Trinity Himself speak to man in the form of man? The context,
indeed, itself of the Scripture nowhere, it should seem, indicates a
change from person to person; but He seems still to speak to the first
man, who said, "Let there be light," and, "Let there be a
firmament," and so on through each of those days; whom we usually
take to be God the Father, making by a word whatever He willed to
make. For He made all things by His word, which Word we know, by
the right rule of faith, to be His only Son. If, therefore, God
the Father spake to the first man, and Himself was walking in the
garden in the cool of the evening, and if it was from His face that
the sinner hid himself amongst the trees of the garden, why are we not
to go on to understand that it was He also who appeared to Abraham and
to Moses, and to whom He would, and how He would, through the
changeable and visible creature, subjected to Himself, while He
Himself remains in Himself and in His own substance, in which He is
unchangeable and invisible? But, possibly, it might be that the
Scripture passed over in a hidden way from person to person, and while
it had related that the Father said "Let there be light," and the
rest which it mentioned Him to have done by the Word, went on to
indicate the Son as speaking to the first man; not unfolding this
openly, but intimating it to be understood by those who could
understand it.
18. Let him, then, who has the strength whereby he can penetrate
this secret with his mind's eye, so that to him it appears clearly,
either that the Father also is able, or that only the Son and Holy
Spirit are able, to appear to human eyes through a visible creature;
let him, I say, proceed to examine these things if he can, or even
to express and handle them in words; but the thing itself, so far as
concerns this testimony of Scripture, where God spake with man, is,
in my judgment, not discoverable, because it does not evidently appear
even whether Adam usually saw God with the eyes of his body;
especially as it is a great question what manner of eyes it was that
were opened when they tasted the forbidden fruit; for before they had
tasted, these eyes were closed. Yet I would not rashly assert, even
if that scripture implies Paradise to have been a material place, that
God could not have walked there in any way except in some bodily form.
For it might be said, that only words were framed for the man to
hear, without seeing any form. Neither, because it is written,
"Adam hid himself from the face of God," does it follow forthwith
that he usually saw His face. For what if he himself indeed could not
see, but feared to be himself seen by Him whose voice he had heard,
and had felt His presence as he walked? For Cain, too, said to
God, "From Thy face I will hide myself;" yet we are not
therefore compelled to admit that he was wont to behold the face of God
with his bodily eyes in any visible form, although he had heard the
voice of God questioning and speaking with him of his sin. But what
manner of speech it was that God then uttered to the outward ears of
men, especially in speaking to the first man, it is both difficult to
discover, and we have not undertaken to say in this discourse. But if
words alone and sounds were wrought, by which to bring about some
sensible presence of God to those first men, I do not know why I
should not there understand the person of God the Father, seeing that
His person is manifested also in that voice, when Jesus appeared in
glory on the mount before the three disciples; and in that when the
dove descended upon Him at His baptism; and in that where He cried
to the Father concerning His own glorification and it was answered
Him, "I have both glorified, and will glorify again." Not that
the voice could be wrought without the work of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit (since the Trinity works indivisibly), but that such a voice
was wrought as to manifest the person of the Father only; just as the
Trinity wrought that human form from the Virgin Mary, yet it is the
person of the Son alone; for the invisible Trinity wrought the
visible person of the Son alone. Neither does anything forbid us,
not only to understand those words spoken to Adam as spoken by the
Trinity, but also to take them as manifesting the person of that
Trinity. For we are compelled to understand of the Father only,
that which is said, "This is my beloved Son." For Jesus can
neither be believed nor understood to be the Son of the Holy Spirit,
or even His own Son. And where the voice uttered, "I have both
glorified, and will glorify again," we confess it was only the person
of the Father; since it is the answer to that word of the Lord, in
which He had said, "Father, glorify thy Son," which He could
not say except to God the Father only, and not also to the Holy
Spirit, whose Son He was not. But here, where it is written,
"And the Lord God said to Adam," no reason can be given why the
Trinity itself should not be understood.
19. Likewise, also, in that which is written, "Now the Lord
had said unto Abraham, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy
kindred, and thy father's house," it is not clear whether a voice
alone came to the ears of Abraham, or whether anything also appeared
to his eyes. But a little while after, it is somewhat more clearly
said, "And the Lord appeared unto Abraham, and said, Unto thy
seed will I give this land." But neither there is it expressly said
in what form God appeared to him, or whether the Father, or the
Son, or the Holy Spirit appeared to him. Unless, perhaps, they
think that it was the Son who appeared to Abraham, because it is not
written, God appeared to him, but "the Lord appeared to him."
For the Son seems to be called the Lord as though the name was
appropriated to Him; as e.g. the apostle says, "For though there
be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be
gods many and lords many,) but to us there is but one God, the
Father, of whom are all things, and we in Him; and one Lord Jesus
Christ, by whom are all things, and we by Him." But since it is
found that God the Father also is called Lord in many places, for
instance, "The Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day
have I begotten Thee;" and again, "The Lord said unto my Lord,
Sit Thou at my right hand; "a since also the Holy Spirit is found
to be called Lord, as where the apostle says, "Now the Lord is
that Spirit;" and then, lest any one should think the Son to be
signified, and to be called the Spirit on account of His incorporeal
substance, has gone on to say, "And where the Spirit of the Lord
is, there is liberty; and no one ever doubted the Spirit of the Lord
to be the Holy Spirit: therefore, neither here does it appear
plainly whether it was any person of the Trinity that appeared to
Abraham, or God Himself the Trinity, of which one God it is
said, "Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and Him only shall thou
serve." But under the oak at Mature he saw three men, whom he
invited, and hospitably received, and ministered to them as they
feasted. Yet Scripture at the beginning of that narrative does not
say, three men appeared to him, but, "The Lord appeared to him."
And then, setting forth in due order after what manner the Lord
appeared to him, it has added the account of the three men, whom
Abraham invites to his hospitality in the plural number, and
afterwards speaks to them in the singular number as one; and as one He
promises him a son by Sara, viz. the one whom the Scripture calls
Lord, as in the beginning of the same narrative, "The Lord," it
says, "appeared to Abraham." He invites them then, and washes
their feet, and leads them forth at their departure, as though they
were men; but he speaks as with the Lord God, whether when a son is
promised to him, or when the destruction is shown to him that was
impending over Sodom.
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