Behold, O ye Arians, and acknowledge hence the truth. The Psalmist
speaks of us all as fellows or partakers of the Lord, but were he
one of things which come out of nothing and of things generated he
himself had been one of those who partake. But since he hymned him
as the eternal God, saying, "Thy throne, O God, is forever and
ever," and has declared that all other things partake of him, what
conclusion must we draw, but that he is distinct from generated
things, and he only the Father's veritable word, radiance, and
wisdom, which all things generate partake, being sanctified by him
in the Spirit? And, therefore, he is here "anointed," not that he
may become God, for he was so even before; nor that he may become
king, for he had the kingdom eternally, existing as God's image, as
the sacred oracle shows; but in our behalf is this written, as
before. For the Israelitish kings, upon their being anointed, then
became kings, not being so before, as David, as Ezekias, as Josias,
and the rest; but the Savior, on the contrary, being God, and ever
ruling in the Father's kingdom, and being himself the Dispenser of
the Holy Ghost, nevertheless is here said to be anointed, that, as
before, being said as man to be anointed with the Spirit, he might
provide for us more, not only exaltation and resurrection, but the
indwelling and intimacy of the Spirit. And signifying this, the Lord
himself hath said by his own mouth, in the Gospel according to
John: "I have sent them into the world, and for their sakes do I
sanctify myself, that they may be sanctified in the truth." In
saying this, he has shown that he is not the sanctified, but the
Sanctifier; for he is not sanctified by other, but himself
sanctifies himself, that we may be sanctified in the truth. He who
sanctifies himself is Lord of sanctification. How, then, does this
take place? What does he mean but this? "I, being the Father's Word,
I give to myself, when become man, the Spirit; and myself, become
man, do I sanctify in him, that henceforth in me, who am truth (for
'Thy Word is Truth'), all may be sanctified."
If, then, for our sake, he sanctifies himself, and does this when he
becomes man, it is very plain that the Spirit's descent on him in
Jordan was a descent upon us, because of his bearing our body. And
it did not take place for promotion to the Word, but again for our
sanctification, that we might share his anointing, and of us it
might be said, Know ye not that ye are God's temple, and the Spirit
of God dwelleth in you? For when the Lord, as man, was washed in
Jordan, it was we who were washed in him and by him. And when he
received the Spirit, we it was who, by him, were made recipients of
it. And, moreover, for this reason, not as Aaron, or David, or the
rest, was he anointed with oil, but in another way, above all his
fellows, "with the oil of gladness," which he himself interprets to
be the Spirit, saying by the prophet, "The Spirit of the Lord is
upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me"; as also the Apostle has
said, "How God anointed him with the Holy Ghost." When, then, were
these things spoken of him, but when he came in the flesh, and was
baptized in Jordan, and the spirit descended on him? And, indeed,
the Lord himself said, "The Spirit shall take of mine," and "I will
send him"; and to his Disciples, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost." And,
notwithstanding, he who, as the word and radiance of the Father,
gives to others, now is said to be sanctified, because now he has
become Man, and the Body that is sanctified is his. From him, then,
we have begun to receive the unction and the seal, John saying, "And
ye have an unction from the Holy One"; and the Apostle, "And ye were
sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise." Therefore, because of us,
and for us, are these words. What advance, then, of promotion, and
reward of virtue, or generally of conduct, is proved from this in
our Lord's instance? For if he was not God, and then had become
God--if, not being king, he was preferred to the kingdom, your
reasoning would have had some faint plausibility. But if he is God,
and the throne of his kingdom is everlasting, in what way could God
advance? Or what was there wanting to him who was sitting on his
Father's throne? And if, as the Lord himself has said, the Spirit
is his, and takes of his, and he sends it, it is not the Word,
considered as the Word and Wisdom, who is anointed with the Spirit,
which he himself gives, but the flesh assumed by him, which is
anointed in him and by him; that the sanctification coming to the
Lord as man, may come to all men from him. For, not of itself,
saith he, doth the Spirit speak, but the word is he who gives it to
the worthy. For this is like the passage considered above; for, as
the Apostle hath written, "Who, existing in form of God, thought it
not robbery to be equal with God, but humbled himself, and took a
servant's form," so David celebrates the Lord, as the everlasting
God and king, but sent to us, and assuming our body, which is
mortal. For this is his meaning in the Psalm, "All thy garments
smell of myrrh, aloes, and cassia"; and it is represented by
Nicodemus's and by Mary's company, when he came, bringing a mixture
of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pounds weight; and they took
the spices which they had prepared for the burial of the Lord's
body.
What advancement, then, was it to the Immortal to have assumed the
mortal? Or what promotion is it to the Everlasting to have put on
the temporal? What reward can be great to the Everlasting God and
King, in the bosom of the Father? See ye not, that this, too, was
done and written because of us and for us, that us who are mortal
and temporal, the Lord, become man, might mate immortal, and bring
into the everlasting kingdom of heaven? Blush ye not, speaking lies
against the divine oracles? For when our Lord Jesus Christ had been
among us, we, indeed, were promoted, as rescued from sin; but he is
the same, nor did he alter when he became man (to repeat what I have
said), but, as has been written, "The word of God abideth forever."
Surely as, before his becoming man, he, the Word, dispensed to the
saints the Spirit as his own; so also, when made man, be sanctifies
all by the Spirit, and says to his Disciples, "Receive ye the Holy
Ghost." And he gave to Moses and the other seventy; and through him
David prayed to the Father, saying, "Take not thy Holy Spirit from
me." On the other hand, when made man, he said, "I will send to you
the Paraclete, the Spirit of Truth"; and he sent him, he, the Word
of God, as being faithful.
Therefore "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, to-day, and forever,"
remaining unalterable, and at once gives and receives, giving as
God's Word, receiving as man. It is not the Word then, viewed as the
Word, that is promoted,--for he had all things and has had them
always,--but men, who have in him and through him their origin of
receiving them. For, when he is now said to be anointed in a human
respect, we it is who in him are anointed; since also, when he is
baptized, we it is who in him are baptized. But on all these things
the Savior throws much light, when he says to the Father, "And the
glory which thou gavest me, I have given to them, that they may be
one, even as we are one." Because of us, then, he asked for glory,
and the words occur, "took" and "gave" and "highly exalted," that we
might take, and to us might be given, and we might be exalted, in
him; as also for us he sanctifies himself, that we might be
sanctified in him.
But if they take advantage of the word "wherefore," as connected
with the passage in the Psalm, "Wherefore God, even thy God, hath
anointed thee," for their own purposes, let these novices in
Scripture and masters in irreligion know that, as before, the word
"wherefore" does not imply reward of virtue or conduct in the Word,
but the reason why he came down to us, and of the Spirit's
anointing, which took place in him for our sakes. For he says not,
"Wherefore he anointed thee in order to thy being God or King or Son
or Word,"--for so he was before, and is forever, as has been
shown,--but rather, "Since thou art God and king, therefore thou
wast anointed, since none but thou couldst unite man to the Holy
Ghost, thou the image of the Father, in which we were made in the
beginning; for thine is even the Spirit," For the nature of things
generate could give no warranty for this, angels having
transgressed, and men disobeyed. Wherefore there was need of God;
and the Word is God; that those who had become under a curse, he
himself might set free. If then he was of nothing, he would not
have been the Christ or Anointed, being one among others and having
fellowship as the rest. But, whereas he is God, as being the Son of
God, and is everlasting King, and exists as radiance and expression
of the Father, wherefore fitly is he the expected Christ, whom the
Father announces to mankind, by revelation to his holy prophets;
that as through him we have come to be, so also in him all men might
be redeemed from their sins, and by him all things might be ruled.
And this is the cause of the anointing which took place in him, and
of the incarnate presence of the Word; which the Psalmist
foreseeing, celebrates, first his Godhead and kingdom, which is the
Father's, in these tones, "Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever; a
sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom"; then
announces his descent to us thus: "Wherefore God, even thy God, hath
anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows."