|
ALTHOUGH we began to speak some time back on this Divine grace of our
Lord and Saviour, I want to say somewhat more on the same subject from the
Holy Scriptures. We read in the Acts of the Apostles that the Apostle
James thus refuted those who thought that when they received the gospel
they ought still to bear the yoke of the old Law: "Why," said he, "do ye
tempt God, to put a yoke upon the necks of the disciples which neither our
fathers nor we have been able to bear. But by the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ we believe to be saved in like manner as they also." The Apostle
certainly speaks of the gift of this grace as given by Jesus Christ. Answer
me now, if you please: do you think that this grace which is given for the
salvation of all men, is given by man or by God? If you say, By man, Paul,
God's own vessel, will cry out against you, saying: "There appeared the
grace of God our Saviour." He teaches that this grace is the result of a
Divine gift, and not of human weakness. And even if the sacred testimony
was not sufficient, the truth of the matter itself would bear its witness,
because fragile earthly things cannot possibly furnish a thing of lasting
and immortal value; nor can anyone give to another that in which he himself
is lacking, nor supply a sufficiency of that, from the want of which he
admits that he himself is suffering. You cannot then help admitting that
the grace comes from God. It is God then who has given it. But it has been
given by our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore the Lord Jesus Christ is God. But
if He be, as He certainly is, God: then she who bore God is Theotocos,
i.e., the mother of God. Unless perhaps you want to take refuge in so
utterly absurd and blasphemous a contradiction as to deny that she from
whom God was born is the mother of God, while you cannot deny that He who
was born is God. But, however, let us see what the gospel of God thinks
about this same grace of our Lord: "Grace and truth," it says, "came by
Jesus Christ." If Christ is a mere man, how did these come by Christ?
Whence was there in Him Divine power if, as you say, there was in Him only
the nature of man? Whence comes heavenly largesse, if His is earthly
poverty? For no one can give what he has not already. As then Christ gave
Divine grace, He already had that which He gave. Nor can anyone endure a
diversity of things that are so utterly different from each other, as at
one and the same time to suffer the wants of a poor man, and also to show
the munificence of a bounteous one. And so the Apostle Paul, knowing that
all the treasures of heavenly riches are found in Christ, rightly writes to
the Churches: "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you."For
though he had already often enough taught that God is the same as Christ,
and that all the glory of Deity resides in Him, and that all the fulness of
the Godhead dwelleth in Him bodily, yet here he is certainly right in
praying for the grace of Christ alone, without adding the word God: for
while he had often taught that the grace of God is the same as the grace of
Christ, he now most perfectly prays only for the grace of Christ, for he
knows that in the grace of Christ is contained the whole grace of God.
Therefore he says: "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you." If
Jesus Christ was a mere man, then in his wish that the grace of Christ
might be given to the Churches he was wishing that the grace of a man might
be given; and by saying: "The grace of Christ be with you" he meant: the
grace of a man be with you, the grace of flesh be with you, the grace of
bodily weakness, the grace of human frailty! Or why did he ever even
mention the word grace, if his wish was for the grace of a man? For there
was no reason for wishing, if that was not in existence which was wished
for; nor ought he to have prayed that there might be bestowed on them the
grace of one who, according to you, did not possess the reality of that
grace for which he was wishing. And so you see that it is utterly absurd
and ridiculous--or rather not a thing to laugh at but to cry over, for what
is a matter for laughter to some frivolous persons becomes a matter for
crying to pious and faithful souls, for they shed tears of charity for the
folly of your unbelief, and weep pious tears at the folly of another's
impiety. Let us then recover ourselves for a while and take our breath, for
this idea is not only without wisdom but also without the Spirit, as it is
certainly wanting in spiritual wisdom and has nothing to do with the Spirit
of salvation.
|
|