Sidenote: Phil. ii. 7.
Sidenote: Eccles. x. 8.
1. THE man of whom you have written to me as a disseminator of
pernicious doctrines is a very light character, and has already
received the reward of his poison. For he has been replied to publicly,
and what he had sown in private he has reaped openly. I had previously
esteemed him vain and envious only, but when this language of his
reached my ears, I immediately answered that he was infected by the
venom of Apollinaris, who will not admit that our Lord Jesus became
a servant for us when He took upon Him our flesh; and this, although
the Apostle declares that _He took on Him the form of a servant_. This
is the bulwark, this is the hedge of our faith; he who destroys this
shall be destroyed himself, as it is written, _Whoso breaketh an hedge,
a serpent shall bite him_.
2. At first I gently asked him, Why do you what is in itself good with
evil intent? For I esteem it a favour if any one who reads my writings
will tell me of any thing which causes him surprise. And this, first,
because even in things which I know I may be deceived. Many things
pass by the ear unheeded, many things sound differently to others,
it is well, if it be possible, to be on one’s guard in all matters.
Next, because it does not become me to be disturbed, seeing that many
questions are mooted concerning the words of the Apostles and those
of the Gospel and our Lord Himself, if things are found in my writings
also, which people consider subjects of dispute. For many indulge
their own humour, like that man who compassed the whole world, that he
might find some one to censure, not one whom he might deem worthy of
imitation.
Sidenote: S. Matt. xi. 25.
Sidenote: Ps. cix. 25, 26.
3. Now this man discovered a nasty means of cavilling at something in
my writings, since in commenting upon the passage in which the Lord
Jesus said, _I thank Thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth_, I stated
that it was intended to show that He is the Father of the Son and the
Lord of the creature. Nevertheless in the Psalm the Son has plainly
called the Father, Lord: _They that looked upon Me shaked their heads:
help Me, O Lord My God_. For speaking in the form of a servant He
called Him Lord Whom He knew to be His Father; though equal in the form
of God, proclaiming Himself to be a servant according to the substance
of His flesh; for slavery is of the flesh, lordship of the Godhead.
Sidenote: 2 Cor. v. 16.
Sidenote: 2 Cor. v. 17.
Sidenote: Phil. ii. 7.
Sidenote: 2 Cor. v. 21.
Sidenote: Gal. iii. 13.
Sidenote: 1 Cor. xv. 28.
Sidenote: Acts iii. 6.
Sidenote: Ib. 13.
Sidenote: Rev. v. 12.
Sidenote: Ps. xxii. 6.
Sidenote: 1 Cor. xv. 55.
4. First then your great sagacity perceives that what is said in the
Gospel has reference to the times of the Gospel, when the Lord Jesus
dwelt among men in human form; but now _we know Christ according to the
flesh no longer_. Be it that He was so seen and known by them of old,
now _old things are passed away, all things are become new_. But all
things are from God, Who has reconciled us by Christ unto Himself; for
we were dead, and therefore One was made a servant for all. Why do I
say, a servant? He was made sin, a reproach, a curse. For the Apostle
has said that _He was made sin for us_, that the Lord Jesus _was made a
curse for us_. He has said, _when all things shall be subdued unto Him,
then shall He also Himself be subject_. Peter also said in the Acts
of the Apostles, _In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and
walk_. Then he said also, that God had _glorified His Servant Jesus_,
and no one brings any charge against him concerning the time. But in
the Apocalypse He is called _a Lamb_ by John, in the Psalm He is called
_a worm and no man_. He was made all these things that He might blunt
the sting of our death, that He might take away our slavery, that He
might abolish our curses, our sins, our reproaches.
Sidenote: Exod. xvi. 18.
Sidenote: Is. liii. 4.
Sidenote: Phil. ii. 7.
Sidenote: Ib. 11.
Sidenote: Ps. xxii. 7.
Sidenote: S. Luke xxiii. 34.
Sidenote: Isa. xl. 5.
Sidenote: Ib. liii. 2.
5. These things and others and many more you have written me word
that you answered to one who consulted you; and, seeing that they
are contained in Holy Scripture, how should any one hesitate to utter
what has been thus piously written, tending as they do to the glory
of Christ, not to His disparagement? For if it is said of His gift,
that is, of the manna, that _he that gathered little had no lack[225],
he that gathered much had nothing over_[226], could He Himself suffer
diminution or increase? For in what respect was He diminished by taking
upon Him our bondage, our infirmities? He was humbled, He was in the
form of a servant, but He was also in the glory of God the Father.
He was a worm upon the Cross, but He also forgave the sins of His
persecutors. He was a reproach, but He is also the glory of the Lord,
as it is written, _The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all
flesh shall see it together_. What did He lose Who is wanting in
nothing? _He had_ indeed _no form or comeliness_, but He had the
fulness of the Godhead. He was accounted weak, but He ceased not to be
the Power of God. He was seen in human form, but there shone upon earth
the Divine Majesty and the glory of the Father.
Sidenote: Phil. ii. 6, 7.
Sidenote: Ps. xlv. 2.
6. Well therefore has the Apostle repeated the same word, saying of the
Lord Jesus, _Who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be
equal with God; but made Himself of no reputation and took upon Him the
form of a servant_. What is the meaning of _in the form of God_ but in
the fulness of the Godhead, in the expression of the Divine perfection?
Being therefore in the fulness of the Godhead, He _emptied Himself_ of
it, and received the fulness of human nature and perfection: as nothing
was wanting to Him as God so neither was there any thing wanting to
His completeness as Man, that in either _form_ He might be perfect.
Wherefore David also says, _Thou art fairer than the children of men_.
Sidenote: Gal. iv. 8.
Sidenote: Phil. ii. 7.
Sidenote: Ib.
Sidenote: Jer. xvii. 9.
Sidenote: S. Matt. viii. 2, 3.
Sidenote: S. John xi. 33, 44.
Sidenote: S. Matt. xxvii. 52.
7. The Apollinarian is confuted, he has no refuge to turn to, he is
caught in his own net. For he himself had said, He took upon him the
form of a servant, He was not chosen to be a servant. I ask again
therefore, what is the meaning of _in the form of God_? He replies,
In the nature of God. For there are those, says the Apostle, _which by
nature are no gods_. I enquire, what is the meaning of _took upon Him
the form of a servant_? Doubtless, as I have stated, the perfection
of the nature and condition of man, that He might be in the likeness
of man. And he has said well _the likeness_, not of the flesh, but _of
men_, for He is in the same flesh. But since He alone was without sin,
but all men are in sin, He was seen _in the form of man_. Wherefore
the prophet also says, _He is a man yet who can know him_[227]?
Man according to the flesh, but beyond man according to the Divine
operation. When he touched the leper He was seen as man, but above
man when He cleansed him. When He wept over Lazarus dead, He wept as
man, but He was above men when He commanded the dead to come forth with
bound feet. He was seen as man when He hung upon the cross, but above
man when the graves were opened and He raised the dead.
Sidenote: Phil. ii. 8.
Sidenote: 1 Tim. ii. 5.
Sidenote: S. John i. 14.
8. Nor has the Apollinarian venom any cause for complaining because
it is thus it written, _And being found in fashion[228] as a man_, for
Jesus is not hereby denied to be man, for in another place Paul himself
calls Him, _The Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus_,
but rather His manhood is established. For it is the custom and manner
of Scripture so to express itself, and we read also in the Gospel, _And
we beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only-begotten of the Father_.
In the same way therefore that He is called _as_ the only-begotten, yet
it is not denied that He is truly the only-begotten Son of God, so He
is said to be _as_ man, yet it is not denied that the perfection of
manhood existed in Him.
Sidenote: Phil. ii. 7.
Sidenote: Gal. iv. 4.
Sidenote: Ps. cxix. 91.
Sidenote: Ib. lxxxix. 20, 26, 27.
Sidenote: Ib. lxxxvi. 2.
9. While, then, He was in the form of a servant, humbled even unto
death, He yet remained in the glory of God. What injury then was
His state of subjection to Him? We read that He was made a servant,
because we read that He was made of a Virgin and created in the flesh,
for every creature is a servant, as the Prophet says; _For all things
serve Thee_. Wherefore also God the Father says, _I have found David
My servant, with My holy oil have I anointed him. He shall call Me,
Thou art my Father, my God, and my strong salvation; and I will make
him My first-born_; and in another Psalm, _Preserve Thou my soul for
I am holy: save Thy servant_, and afterwards in the same Psalm, _Give
Thy strength unto Thy servant, and help the son of Thy handmaid_. Thus
I have collected the words of the Father and of the Son, that I may
answer not with human arguments but by the Divine oracles.
Sidenote: Ps. xxxi. 5.
Sidenote: Ib. 8.
Sidenote: Ib. 11.
Sidenote: Ib. 16.
Sidenote: Isa. xlix. 1–3.
Sidenote: Ib. xli. 8.
Sidenote: S. John i. 18.
10. In another passage He says, _Into Thy hands I commend My spirit_,
and, _Thou hast set My feet in a large room_, and, _I became a reproof
among all Mine enemies_. And in the same Psalm, _Shew Thy servant the
light of Thy countenance_. By the mouth of Isaiah too the Son of God
Himself says, _From my mother’s womb the Lord hath called My name, and
He hath made My mouth like a sharp sword, in the shadow of His hand
hath He hid Me, and made Me a polished shaft; in His quiver hath He hid
Me; and said unto Me, Thou art My servant, O Israel_. For the Son of
God is also called Israel, as in another place, _But thou, Israel, My
Servant Jacob, whom I have chosen_. For He alone hath truly not only
seen but also declared God the Father.
Sidenote: Isa. xlix. 3, 4, 5.
Sidenote: Isa. xlix. 6.
Sidenote: Ib. xlii. 6. xlix. 6.
Sidenote: Ezek. xxxiv. 23, 24.
Sidenote: Zech. iii. 8.
Sidenote: Ib. iii. 3.
11. And it goes on, _In whom I will be glorified. Then I said, I have
laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain: yet
surely my judgment is with the Lord, and my work with my God. And now
saith the Lord that formed me from the womb to be His servant, to bring
Jacob again to Him and Israel._ Who hath gathered the people of God but
Christ? Who is glorified before the Lord? Who is the Power of God? He
to Whom the Father hath said, _It is a light thing that Thou shouldest
be My servant_[229], and He to Whom He says _Behold, I will give Thee
for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles, that Thou
mightest be My Salvation unto the end of the earth_. Of Him He has also
spoken by the mouth of the prophet Ezekiel, saying, _I will set up one
Shepherd over them, and He shall feed them, even My Servant David, He
shall feed them, and He shall be their Shepherd. And I the Lord will
be their God, and My Servant David a Prince among them._ Now king David
was already dead, and therefore the true David, the truly humble, the
truly meek, the true Son of God, strong of hand, is announced by this
name; he also is intended in the book of the prophet Zechariah, where
God the Father says, _Behold I will send my servant, the Orient[230] is
His name_. Did then His being _clothed in filthy garments_ deprive the
Sun of righteousness of the brightness of His Godhead?
12. And why need I say more? Shall we deem servitude to be a state
of greater weakness than that of being made sin, of being a curse,
a reproach, than the infirmities which He bore for our sakes that we
might be saved from them? For He was made all of these that He might
relieve the world from them. But they will not admit that He was made
a servant, a reproach, a curse, because they affirm that the Word and
the flesh are of one substance, and say, Because He redeemed us He is
called a servant, and ought to be called sin. And they do not perceive
this to be the glory of Christ, that in His Incarnation He took upon
Him the state of a servant that He might restore liberty to all; He
bore our sins, that He might take away the sin of the world.
Sidenote: Gal. iii. 13.
Sidenote: Is. xlix. 4.
Sidenote: Phil. ii. 16.
13. He was made a servant, He was made sin and a curse, that thou
mightest cease to be a servant of sin, and that He might absolve thee
from the curse of the Divine judgment. He therefore took upon Him thy
curse, for _Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree_. He was made a
curse upon the cross, that thou mightest be blessed in the kingdom of
God. He was disgraced, He was vilified and set at nought. He said, _I
have laboured in vain_, through Whom Paul was enabled to say, _I have
not laboured in vain_. This He did that He might confer on His servants
the fruit of good works and the glory of the preaching of the Gospel,
whereby the world might be released from the burthen of its toil.
Sidenote: Jer. xvii. 11.
14. On hearing these things _the partridge[231] was left in the midst
of her days_, she who cried _that she might gather the things which she
did not lay_, and was overcome by the voice of the Lord Jesus. And even
now is she preparing for flight.
Farewell; love me, for I love you.
LETTER XLVII.
A.D. 390.
THIS brief letter was sent with a book which Sabinus had asked
for. It is a friendly invitation to a regular correspondence, as
bringing friends together in spirit who are severed in body.