|
Again, "Of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the
angels which are in heaven; neither the Son, but the Father." For
He is ignorant of this, as making others ignorant; that is, in that
He did not so know as at that time to show His disciples: as it was
said to Abraham, "Now I know that thou fearest God," that is,
now I have caused thee to know it; because he himself, being tried in
that temptation, became known to himself. For He was certainly going
to tell this same thing to His disciples at the fitting time; speaking
of which yet future as if past, He says, "Henceforth I call you
not servants, but friends; for the servant knoweth not what his Lord
doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have
heard of my Father I have made known unto you;" which He had not
yet done, but spoke as though He had already done it, because He
certainly would do it. For He says to the disciples themselves, "I
have yet many things to say unto you; but ye cannot bear them now."
Among which is to be understood also, "Of the day and hour." For
the apostle also says, "I determined not to know anything among you,
save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified;" because he was speaking to
those who were not able to receive higher things concerning the Godhead
of Christ. To whom also a little while after he says, "I could not
speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal." He was
"ignorant," therefore, among them of that which they were not able
to know from him. And that only he said that he knew, which it was
fitting that they should know from him. In short, he knew among the
perfect what he knew not among babes; for he there says: "We speak
wisdom among them that are perfect." For a man is said not to know
what he hides, after that kind of speech, after which a ditch is
called blind which is hidden. For the Scriptures do not use any other
kind of speech than may be found in use among men, because they speak
to men.
24. According to the form of God, it is said "Before all the
hills He begat me," that is, before all the loftinesses of things
created and, "Before the dawn I begat Thee," that is, before all
times and temporal things: but according to the form of a servant, it
is said, "The Lord created me in the beginning of His ways."
Because, according to the form of God, He said, "I am the
truth;" and according to the form of a servant, "I am the way."
For, because He Himself, being the first-begotten of the dead,
made a passage to the kingdom of God to life eternal for His Church,
to which He is so the Head as to make the body also immortal,
therefore He was "created in the beginning of the ways" of God in
His work. For, according to the form of God, He is the
beginning, that also speaketh unto us, in which "beginning" God
created the heaven and the earth; but according to the form of a
servant, "He is a bridegroom coming out of His chamber."
According to the form of God, "He is the first-born of every
creature, and He is before all things and by him all things
consist;" according to the form of a servant, "He is the head of
the body, the Church." According to the form of God, "He is the
Lord of glory." From which it is evident that He Himself glorifies
His saints: for, "Whom He did predestinate, them He also
called; and whom He called, them He also justified; and whom He
justified, them He also glorified." Of Him accordingly it is
said, that He justifieth the ungodly; of Him it is said, that He
is just and a justifier. If, therefore, He has also glorified those
whom He has justified, He who justifies, Himself also glorifies;
who is, as I have said, the Lord of glory. Yet, according to the
form of a servant, He replied to His disciples, when inquiring about
their own glorification: "To sit on my right hand and on my left is
not mine to give, but [it shall be given to them] for whom it is
prepared by my Father."
25. But that which is prepared by His Father is prepared also by
the Son Himself, because He and the Father are one. For we have
already shown, by many modes of speech in the divine Scriptures,
that, in this Trinity, what is said of each is also said of all, on
account of the indivisible working of the one and same substance. As
He also says of the Holy Spirit, "If I depart, I will send Him
unto you." He did not say, We will send; but in such way as if the
Son only should send Him, and not the Father; while yet He says in
another place, "These things have I spoken unto you, being yet
present with you; but the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom
the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all things."
Here again it is so said as if the Son also would not send Him, but
the Father only. As therefore in these texts, so also where He
says, "But for them for whom it is prepared by my Father," He
meant it to be understood that He Himself, with the Father,
prepares seats of glory for those for whom He will. But some one may
say: There, when He spoke of the Holy Spirit, He so says that
He Himself will send Him, as not to deny that the Father will send
Him; and in the other place, He so says that the Father will send
Him, as not to deny that He will do so Himself; but here He
expressly says, "It is not mine to give," and so goes on to say
that these things are prepared by the Father. But this is the very
thing which we have already laid down to be said according to the form
of a servant: viz., that we are so to understand "It is not mine to
give," as if it were said, This is not in the power of man to give;
that so He may be understood to give it through that wherein He is
God equal to the Father. "It is not mine," He says, "to
give;" that is, I do not give these things by human power, but "to
those for whom it is prepared by my Father;" but then take care you
understand also, that if "all things which the Father hath are
mine," then this certainly is mine also, and I with the Father have
prepared these things.
26. For I ask again, in what manner this is said, "If any man
hear not my words, I will not judge him?" For perhaps He has said
here, "I will not judge him," in the same sense as there, "It is
not mine to give." But what follows here? "I came not," He
says, "to judge the world, but to save the world;" and then He
adds," He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one
that judgeth him." Now here we should understand the Father, unless
He had added, "The word that I have spoken, the same shall judge
him in the last day." Well, then, will neither the Son judge,
because He says, "I will not judge him," nor the Father, but the
word which the Son hath spoken? Nay, but hear what yet follows:
"For I," He says, "have not spoken of myself; but the Father
which sent me, He gave me a commandment, what I should say, and
what I should speak; and I know that His commandment is life
everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said
unto me, so I speak." If therefore the Son judges not, but "the
word which the Son hath spoken;" and the word which the Son hath
spoken therefore judges, because the Son "hath not spoken of
Himself, but the Father who sent Him gave Him a commandment what
He should say, and what He should speak:" then the Father
assuredly judges, whose word it is which the Son hath spoken; and the
same Son Himself is the very Word of the Father. For the
commandment of the Father is not one thing, and the word of the
Father another; for He hath called it both a word and a commandment.
Let us see, therefore, whether perchance, when He says, "I have
not spoken of myself," He meant to be understood thus, I am not
born of myself. For if He speaks the word of the Father, then He
speaks Himself, because He is Himself the Word of the Father.
For ordinarily He says, "The Father gave to me;" by which He
means it to be understood that the Father begat Him: not that He
gave anything to Him, already existing and not possessing it; but
that the very meaning of, To have given that He might have, is, To
have begotten that He might be. For it is not, as with the creature
so with the Son of God before the incarnation and before He took upon
Him our flesh, the Only-begotten by whom all things were made; that
He is one thing, and has another: but He is in such way as to be
what He has. And this is said more plainly, if any one is fit to
receive it, in that place where He says: "For as the Father hath
life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in
Himself." For He did not give to Him, already existing and not
having life, that He should have life in Himself; inasmuch as, in
that He is, He is life. Therefore "He gave to the Son to have
life in Himself" means, He begat the Son to be unchangeable life,
which is life eternal. Since, therefore, the Word of God is the
Son of God, and the Son of God is "the true God and eternal
life," as John says in his Epistle; so here, what else are we to
acknowledge when the Lord says, "The word which I have spoken, the
same shall judge him at the last day," and calls that very word the
word of the Father and the commandment of the Father, and that very
commandment everlasting life?" "And I know," He says, "that
His commandment is life everlasting."
27. I ask, therefore, how we are to understand, "I will not
judge him; but the Word which I have spoken shall judge him:" which
appears from what follows to be so said, as if He would say, I will
not judge; but the Word of the Father will judge. But the Word of
the Father is the Son of God Himself. Is it to be so understood:
I will not judge, but I will judge? How can this be true, unless
in this way: viz., I will not judge by human power, because I am
the Son of man; but I will judge by the power of the Word, because
I am the Son of God? Or if it still seems contradictory and
inconsistent to say, I will not judge, but I will judge; what shall
we say of that place where He says, "My doctrine is not mine?"
How "mine," when "not mine?" For He did not say, This
doctrine is not mine, but "My doctrine is not mine:" that which He
called His own, the same He called not His own. How can this be
true, unless He has called it His own in one relation; not His
own, in another? According to the form of God, His own; according
to the form of a servant, not His own. For when He says, "It is
not mine, but His that sent me," He makes us recur to the Word
itself. For the doctrine of the Father is the Word of the Father,
which is the Only Son. And what, too, does that mean, "He that
believeth on me, believeth not on me?" How believe on Him, yet not
believe on Him? How can so opposite and inconsistent a thing be
understood "Whoso believeth on me," He says, "believeth not on
me, but on Him that sent me;" unless you so understand it, Whoso
believeth on me believeth not on that which he sees, lest our hope
should be in the creature; but on Him who took the creature, whereby
He might appear to human eyes, and so might cleanse our hearts by
faith, to contemplate Himself as equal to the Father? So that in
turning the attention of believers to the Father, and saying,
"Believeth not on me, but on Him that sent me," He certainly did
not mean Himself to be separated from the Father, that is, from Him
that sent Him; but that men might so believe on Himself, as they
believe on the Father, to whom He is equal. And this He says in
express terms in another place, "Ye believe in God, believe also in
me:" that is, in the same way as you believe in God, so also
believe in me; because I and the Father are One God. As
therefore, here, He has as it were withdrawn the faith of men from
Himself, and transferred it to the Father, by saying, "Believeth
not on me, but on Him that sent me," from whom nevertheless He
certainly did not separate Himself; so also, when He says, "It is
not mine to give, but lit shall be given to them] for whom it is
prepared by my Father," it is I think plain in what relation both
are to be taken. For that other also is of the same kind, "I will
not judge;" whereas He Himself shall judge the quick and dead. But
because He will not do so by human power, therefore, reverting to the
Godhead, He raises the hearts of men upwards; which to lift up, He
Himself came down.
|
|