Authors/Augustine/On the Trinity/On the Trinity Book I

• 1.1 De triplici cause erroris falsa de deo opinantium. Chapter 1.— This Work is Written Against Those Who Sophistically Assail the Faith of the Trinity, Through Misuse of Reason. They Who Dispute Concerning God Err from a Threefold Cause. Holy Scripture, Removing What is False, Leads Us on by Degrees to Things Divine. What True Immortality is. We are Nourished by Faith, that We May Be Enabled to Apprehend Things Divine.
• 1.2 Ordo disputandi de trinitate dinina. Chapter 2.— In What Manner This Work Proposes to Discourse Concerning the Trinity.
• 1.3 De diverso iudicio legentium et capacitate dissimili. Chapter 3.— What Augustine Requests from His Readers. The Errors of Readers Dull of Comprehension Not to Be Ascribed to the Author.
• 1.4 Quae esse propria divinae trinitatis senserint catholici tractatores. Chapter 4.— What the Doctrine of the Catholic Faith is Concerning the Trinity.
• 1.5 De quaestionibus quibus moventur de trinitate quaerentes. Chapter 5.— Of Difficulties Concerning the Trinity: in What Manner Three are One God, and How, Working Indivisibly, They Yet Perform Some Things Severally.
• 1.6 De unitate patris et filii et spiritus sancti qui sunt unus et solus et verus deus. Chapter 6.— That the Son is Very God, of the Same Substance with the Father. Not Only the Father, But the Trinity, is Affirmed to Be Immortal. All Things are Not from the Father Alone, But Also from the Son. That the Holy Spirit is Very God, Equal with the Father and the Son.
• 1.7 Quod unigenitus dei filius propter formam serui minor patre dicatur, qui in forma dei aequalis est p Chapter 7.— In What Manner the Son is Less Than the Father, and Than Himself.
• 1.8 De subiectione qua filius subiciendus dicitur patri. Chapter 8.— The Texts of Scripture Explained Respecting the Subjection of the Son to the Father, Which Have Been Misunderstood. Christ Will Not So Give Up the Kingdom to the Father, as to Take It Away from Himself. The Beholding Him is the Promised End of All Actions. The Holy Spirit is Sufficient to Our Blessedness Equally with the Father.
• 1.9 Quam utile credentibus fuerit ut ad patrem in forma serui Christus ascenderit. Chapter 9.— All are Sometimes Understood in One Person.
• 1.10 Quomodo traditurus sit regnum filius patri. Chapter 10.— In What Manner Christ Shall Deliver Up the Kingdom to God, Even the Father. The Kingdom Having Been Delivered to God, Even the Father, Christ Will Not Then Make Intercession for Us.
• 1.11 Qua discretione intellegendus sit nunc aequalis patri filius, nunc autem minor. Chapter 11.— By What Rule in the Scriptures It is Understood that the Son is Now Equal and Now Less.
• 1.12 Qua ratione filius nescire dicatur diem et horam quam scit pater. Chapter 12.— In What Manner the Son is Said Not to Know the Day and the Hour Which the Father Knows. Some Things Said of Christ According to the Form of God, Other Things According to the Form of a Servant. In What Way It is of Christ to Give the Kingdom, in What Not of Christ. Christ Will Both Judge and Not Judge.
• 1.13 De unitate personae filii dei et filii hominis sive in gloria sive in humilitate. Chapter 13.— Diverse Things are Spoken Concerning the Same Christ, on Account of the Diverse Natures of the One Hypostasis [Theanthropic Person]. Why It is Said that the Father Will Not Judge, But Has Given Judgment to the Son.

Latin	Latin
De trinitate quae deus summus et verus est libros iuvenis inchoavi, senex edidi. Omiseram quippe hoc opus posteaquam comperi praereptos mihi esse sive subreptos antequam eos absoluerem et retractatos ut mea dispositio fuerat expolirem. Non enim singillatim sed omnes simul edere ea ratione decreueram quoniam praecedentibus consequentes inquisitione proficiente nectuntur. Cum ergo per eos homines (qui priusquam vellem ad quosdam illorum pervenire potuerunt) dispositio mea nequivisset impleri, interruptam dictationem reliqueram cogitans hoc ipsum in aliquibus scriptis meis conqueriut scirent qui possent non a me fuisse eosdem libros editos sed ablatos priusquam mihi editione mea digni viderentur.	I began as a very young man, and have published in my old age, some books concerning the Trinity, who is the supreme and true God. I had in truth laid the work aside, upon discovering that it had been prematurely, or rather surreptitiously, stolen from me before I had completed it, and before I had revised and put the finishing touches to it, as had been my intention. For I had not designed to publish the Books one by one, but all together, inasmuch as the progress of the inquiry led me to add the later ones to those which precede them. When, therefore, these people had hindered the fulfillment of my purpose (in that some of them had obtained access to the work before I intended), I had given over dictating it, with the idea of making my complaint public in some other work that I might write, in order that whoso could might know that the Books had not been published by myself, but had been taken away from my possession before they were in my own judgment fit for publication.
Verum multorum fratrum uehementissima postulatione et maxime tua iussione compulsus opus tam laboriosum adivuante domino terminare curavi, eosque emendatos non ut volui sed ut potui, ne ab illis qui subrepti iam in manus hominum exierant plurimum discreparent, venerationi tuae per filium nostrum condiaconum carissimum misi et cuicumque audiendos, describendos legendosque permisi. In quibus si servari mea dispositio potuisset, essent profecto etsi easdem sententias habentes, multo tamen enodatiores atque planiores quantum rerum tantarum explicandarum difficultas et facultas nostra pateretur. Sunt autem qui primos quattuor vel potius quinque etiam sine prooemiis habent et duodecimum sine extrema parte non parua, sed si eis haec editio potuerit innotescere, omnia si voluerint et valuerint emendabunt. Peto sane ut hanc epistulam seorsum quidem sed tamen ad caput eorundem librorum iubeas anteponi. Ora pro me.	Compelled, however, by the eager demands of many of my brethren, and above all by your command, I have taken the pains, by God's help, to complete the work, laborious as it is; and as now corrected (not as I wished, but as I could, lest the Books should differ very widely from those which had surreptitiously got into people's hands), I have sent them to your Reverence by my very dear son and fellow deacon, and have allowed them to be heard, copied, and read by every one that pleases. Doubtless, if I could have fulfilled my original intention, although they would have contained the same sentiments, they would have been worked out much more thoroughly and clearly, so far as the difficulty of unfolding so profound a subject, and so far, too, as my own powers, might have allowed. There are some persons, however, who have the first four, or rather five, Books without the prefaces, and the twelfth with no small part of its later chapters omitted. But these, if they please and can, will amend the whole, if they become acquainted with the present edition. At any rate, I have to request that you will order this letter to be prefixed separately, but at the beginning of the Books. Farewell. Pray for me.
[1.1.1] Lecturus haec quae de trinitate disserimus prius oportet ut noverit stilum nostrum adversus eorum vigilare calumnias qui fidei contemnentes initium immaturo et peruerso rationis amore falluntur. Quorum nonnulli ea quae de corporalibus rebus sive per sensus corporeos experta notaverunt, sive quae natura humani ingenii et diligentiae vivacitate vel artis adiutorio perceperunt, ad res incorporeas et spiritales transferre conantur ut ex his illas metiri atque opinari velint. Sunt item alii qui secundum animi humani naturam vel affectum de deo sentiunt, si quid sentiunt, et ex hoc errore cum de deo disputant sermoni suo distortas et fallaces regulas figunt. Est item aliud hominum genus, eorum qui universam quidem creaturam, quae profecto mutabilis est, nituntur transcendere ut ad incommutabilem substantiam quae deus est erigant intentionem; sed mortalitatis onere praegrauati cum et videri volunt scire quod nesciunt et quod volunt scire non possunt, praesumptiones opinionum suarum audacius affirmando intercludunt sibimet intellegentiae vias, magis eligentes sententiam suam non corrigere peruersam quam mutare defensam. Et hic quidem omnium morbus est trium generum quae proposui: et eorum scilicet qui secundum corpus de deo sapiunt; et eorum qui secundum spiritalem creaturam, sicuti est anima; et eorum qui neque secundum corpus neque secundum spiritalem creaturam, et tamen de deo falsa existimant, eo remotiores a vero quo id quod sapiunt nec in corpore reperitur nec in facto et condito spiritu nec in ipso creatore. Qui enim opinatur deum, verbi gratia, candidum vel rutilum, fallitur; sed tamen haec inveniuntur in corpore. Rursus qui opinatur deum nunc obliviscentem, nunc recordantem vel si quid huiusmodi est, nihilominus in errore est; sed tamen haec inveniuntur in animo. Qui autem putant eius esse potentiae deum ut seipsum ipse genuerit, eo plus errant quod non solum deus ita non est sed nec spiritalis nec corporalis creatura. Nulla enim omnino res est quae se ipsam gignat ut sit.	1. The following dissertation concerning the Trinity, as the reader ought to be informed, has been written in order to guard against the sophistries of those who disdain to begin with faith, and are deceived by a crude and perverse love of reason. Now one class of such men endeavor to transfer to things incorporeal and spiritual the ideas they have formed, whether through experience of the bodily senses, or by natural human wit and diligent quickness, or by the aid of art, from things corporeal; so as to seek to measure and conceive of the former by the latter. Others, again, frame whatever sentiments they may have concerning God according to the nature or affections of the human mind; and through this error they govern their discourse, in disputing concerning God, by distorted and fallacious rules. While yet a third class strive indeed to transcend the whole creation, which doubtless is changeable, in order to raise their thought to the unchangeable substance, which is God; but being weighed down by the burden of mortality, while they both would seem to know what they do not, and cannot know what they would, preclude themselves from entering the very path of understanding, by an over-bold affirmation of their own presumptuous judgments; choosing rather not to correct their own opinion when it is perverse, than to change that which they have once defended. And, indeed, this is the common disease of all the three classes which I have mentioned— viz., both of those who frame their thoughts of God according to things corporeal, and of those who do so according to the spiritual creature, such as is the soul; and of those who neither regard the body nor the spiritual creature, and yet think falsely about God; and are indeed so much the further from the truth, that nothing can be found answering to their conceptions, either in the body, or in the made or created spirit, or in the Creator Himself. For he who thinks, for instance, that God is white or red, is in error; and yet these things are found in the body. Again, he who thinks of God as now forgetting and now remembering, or anything of the same kind, is none the less in error; and yet these things are found in the mind. But he who thinks that God is of such power as to have generated Himself, is so much the more in error, because not only does God not so exist, but neither does the spiritual nor the bodily creature; for there is nothing whatever that generates its own existence.
[1.1.2] Ut ergo ab huiusmodi falsitatibus humanus animus purgaretur, sancta scriptura paruulis congruens nullius generis rerum verba vitavit ex quibus quasi gradatim ad divina atque sublimia noster intellectus velut nutritus assurgeret. Nam et verbis ex rebus corporalibus sumptis usa est cum de deo loqueretur, velut cum ait: Sub umbraculo alarum tuarum protege me. Et de spiritali creatura multa transtulit quibus significaret illud quod ita non esset sed ita dici opus esset, sicuti est: Ego sum deus zelans et: Poenitet me hominem fecisse. De rebus autem quae omnino non sunt non traxit aliqua vocabula quibus vel figuraret locutiones vel sirparet aenigmata. Unde perniciosius et inanius euanescunt qui tertio illo genere erroris a veritate secluduntur hoc suspicando de deo quod neque in ipso neque in ulla creatura inveniri potest. Rebus enim quae in creatura reperiuntur solet scriptura divina velut infantilia oblectamenta formare quibus infirmorum ad quaerenda superiora et inferiora deserenda pro suo modulo tamquam passibus moveretur aspectus. Quae vero proprie de deo dicuntur, quae in nulla creatura reperiuntur raro ponit scriptura divina, sicut illud quod dictum est ad Moysen: Ego sum qui sum et: Qui est misit me ad vos. Cum enim esse aliquo modo dicatur et corpus et animus, nisi proprio quodam modo vellet intellegi, non id utique diceret. Et illud quod ait apostolus: Qui solus habet immortalitatem. Cum et anima modo quodam immortalis esse dicatur et sit, non diceret, solus habet, nisi quia vera immortalitas incommutabilitas est, quam nulla potest habere creatura quoniam solius creatoris est. Hoc et Iacobus dicit: Omne datum optimum et omne donum perfectum desursum est descendens a patre luminum, apud quem non est commutatio nec momenti obumbratio. Hoc et David: Mutabis ea et mutabuntur; tu autem idem ipse es.	2. In order, therefore, that the human mind might be purged from falsities of this kind, Holy Scripture, which suits itself to babes has not avoided words drawn from any class of things really existing, through which, as by nourishment, our understanding might rise gradually to things divine and transcendent. For, in speaking of God, it has both used words taken from things corporeal, as when it says, Hide me under the shadow of Your wings; and it has borrowed many things from the spiritual creature, whereby to signify that which indeed is not so, but must needs so be said: as, for instance, I the Lord your God am a jealous God; and, It repents me that I have made man. But it has drawn no words whatever, whereby to frame either figures of speech or enigmatic sayings, from things which do not exist at all. And hence it is that they who are shut out from the truth by that third kind of error are more mischievously and emptily vain than their fellows; in that they surmise respecting God, what can neither be found in Himself nor in any creature. For divine Scripture is wont to frame, as it were, allurements for children from the things which are found in the creature; whereby, according to their measure, and as it were by steps, the affections of the weak may be moved to seek those things that are above, and to leave those things that are below. But the same Scripture rarely employs those things which are spoken properly of God, and are not found in any creature; as, for instance, that which was said to Moses, I am that I am; and, I Am has sent me to you. For since both body and soul also are said in some sense to be, Holy Scripture certainly would not so express itself unless it meant to be understood in some special sense of the term. So, too, that which the Apostle says, Who only has immortality. Since the soul also both is said to be, and is, in a certain manner immortal, Scripture would not say only has, unless because true immortality is unchangeableness; which no creature can possess, since it belongs to the creator alone. So also James says, Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of Lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. So also David, You shall change them, and they shall be changed; but You are the same.
[1.1.3] Proinde substantiam dei sine ulla sui commutatione, mutabilia facientem, et sine ullo suo temporali motu temporalia creantem, intueri et plene nosse difficile est. Et ideo est necessaria purgatio mentis nostrae qua illud ineffabile ineffabiliter videri possit; qua nondum praediti fide nutrimur, et per quaedam tolerabiliora ut ad illud capiendum apti et habiles efficiamur itinera ducimur. Unde apostolus in Christo quidem dicit esse omnes thesauros sapientiae et scientiae absconditos. Eum tamen, quamvis iam gratia eius renatis sed adhuc carnalibus et animalibus, tamquam paruulis in Christo, non ex divina viritute in qua aequalis est patri sed ex humana infirmitate ex qua crucifixus est, commendavit. Ait namque: Neque enim iudicavi me scire aliquid in vobis nisi Iesum Christum et hunc crucifixum. Deinde secutus ait: Et ego in infirmitate et in timore et tremore multo fui apud vos. Et paulo post eis dicit: Et ego, fratres, non potui loqui vobis quasi spiritalibus sed quasi carnalibus. Quasi paruulis in Christo lac vobis potum dedi, non escam; nondum enim poteratis, sed nec adhuc potestis. Hoc cum dicitur quibusdam irascuntur et sibi contumeliose dici putant, et plerumque malunt credere eos potius a quibus haec audiunt non habere quod dicant quam se capere non posse quod dixerint. Et aliquando afferimus eis rationem, non quam petunt cum de deo quaerunt quia nec ipsi eam valent sumere nec nos fortasse vel apprehendere vel proferre, sed qua demonstretur eis quam sint inhabiles minimeque idonei percipiendo quod exigunt. Sed quia non audiunt quod volunt, aut callide nos agere putant ut nostram occultemus imperitiam aut malitiose quod eis inuideamus peritiam, atque ita indignantes perturbatique discedunt.	3. Further, it is difficult to contemplate and fully know the substance of God; who fashions things changeable, yet without any change in Himself, and creates things temporal, yet without any temporal movement in Himself. And it is necessary, therefore, to purge our minds, in order to be able to see ineffably that which is ineffable; whereto not having yet attained, we are to be nourished by faith, and led by such ways as are more suited to our capacity, that we may be rendered apt and able to comprehend it. And hence the Apostle says, that in Christ indeed are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge; and yet has commended Him to us, as to babes in Christ, who, although already born again by His grace, yet are still carnal and psychical, not by that divine virtue wherein He is equal to the Father, but by that human infirmity whereby He was crucified. For he says, I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified; and then he continues, And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And a little after he says to them, And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto you were not able to bear it, neither yet now are you able. There are some who are angry at language of this kind, and think it is used in slight to themselves, and for the most part prefer rather to believe that they who so speak to them have nothing to say, than that they themselves cannot understand what they have said. And sometimes, indeed, we do allege to them, not certainly that account of the case which they seek in their inquiries about God—because neither can they themselves receive it, nor can we perhaps either apprehend or express it—but such an account of it as to demonstrate to them how incapable and utterly unfit they are to understand that which they require of us. But they, on their parts, because they do not hear what they desire, think that we are either playing them false in order to conceal our own ignorance, or speaking in malice because we grudge them knowledge; and so go away indignant and perturbed.
[1.2.4] Quapropter adivuante domino deo nostro suscipiemus et eam ipsam quam flagitant, quantum possumus, reddere rationem, quod trinitas sit unus et solus et verus deus, et quam recte pater et filius et spiritus sanctus unius eiusdemque substantiae vel essentiae dicatur, credatur, intellegatur; ut non quasi nostris excusationibus inludantur sed reipsa experiantur et esse illud summum bonum quod purgatissimis mentibus cernitur, et a se propterea cerni comprehendique non posse quia mentis humanae acies inualida in tam excellenti luce non figitur nisi per iustitiam fidei nutrita uegetetur. Sed primum secundum auctoritatem scripturarum sanctarum utrum ita se fides habeat demonstrandum est. Deinde si voluerit et adivuerit deus, istis garrulis ratiocinatoribus, elatioribus quam capacioribus atque ideo morbo periculosiore laborantibus, sic fortasse seruiemus ut inveniant aliquid unde dubitare non possint, et ob hoc in eo quod invenire nequiverint, de suis mentibus potius quam de ipsa veritate vel de nostris disputationibus conquerantur. Atque ita si quid eis erga deum vel amoris est vel timoris, ad initium fidei et ordinem redeant, iam sentientes quam salubriter in sancta ecclesia medicine fidelium constitute sit ut ad perceptionem incommutabilis veritatis imbecillam mentem observata pietas sanet ne in opinionem noxiae falsitatis temeritas inordinate praecipitet. Nec pigebit autem me, sicubi haesito, quaerere; nec pudebit, sicubi erro, discere.	4. Wherefore, our Lord God helping, we will undertake to render, as far as we are able, that very account which they so importunately demand: viz., that the Trinity is the one and only and true God, and also how the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are rightly said, believed, understood, to be of one and the same substance or essence; in such wise that they may not fancy themselves mocked by excuses on our part, but may find by actual trial, both that the highest good is that which is discerned by the most purified minds, and that for this reason it cannot be discerned or understood by themselves, because the eye of the human mind, being weak, is dazzled in that so transcendent light, unless it be invigorated by the nourishment of the righteousness of faith. First, however, we must demonstrate, according to the authority of the Holy Scriptures, whether the faith be so. Then, if God be willing and aid us, we may perhaps at least so far serve these talkative arguers— more puffed up than capable, and therefore laboring under the more dangerous disease— as to enable them to find something which they are not able to doubt, that so, in that case where they cannot find the like, they may be led to lay the fault to their own minds, rather than to the truth itself or to our reasonings; and thus, if there be anything in them of either love or fear towards God, they may return and begin from faith in due order: perceiving at length how healthful a medicine has been provided for the faithful in the holy Church, whereby a heedful piety, healing the feebleness of the mind, may render it able to perceive the unchangeable truth, and hinder it from falling headlong, through disorderly rashness, into pestilent and false opinion. Neither will I myself shrink from inquiry, if I am anywhere in doubt; nor be ashamed to learn, if I am anywhere in error.
[1.3.5] Proinde quisquis haec legit ubi pariter certus est, pergat mecum; ubi pariter haesitat, quaerat mecum; ubi errorem suum cognoscit, redeat ad me; ubi meum, reuocet me. Ita ingrediamur simul caritatis viam tendentes ad eum de quo dictum est: Quaerite faciem eius semper. Et hoc placitum pium atque tutum coram domino deo nostro cum omnibus interim qui ea quae scribo legunt et in omnibus scriptis meis maximeque in his ubi quaeritur unitas trinitatis, patris et filii et spiritus sancti, quia neque periculosius alicubi erratur, nec laboriosius aliquid quaeritur, nec fructuosius aliquid invenitur. Quisquis ergo cum legit dicit: Non bene hoc dictum est quondam non intellego locutionem meam reprehendit, non fidem; et forte vere potuit dici planius. Verumtamen nullus hominum ita locutus est ut in omnibus ab omnibus intellegeretur. Vide at ergo cui hoc in sermone meo displicet utrum altos in talibus rebus quaestionibusque versatos cum intellegat, me non intellegit; et si ita est ponat librum meum vel etiam, si hoc videtur, abiciat, et eis potius quos intellegit operam et tempus impendat. Non tamen propterea putet me tacere debuisse quia non tam expedite ac dilucide quam illi quos intellegit eloqui potui. Neque enim omnia quae ab omnibus conscribuntur in omnium menus veniunt, et fieri potest ut nonnulli qui etiam haec nostra intellegere valent illos planiores non inveniant libros et in istos saltem incident. Ideoque utile est plures a pluribus fieri diverso stilo, non diversa fide, etiam de quaestionibus eisdem ut ad plurimos res ipsa perveniat, ad altos sic, ad altos autem sic. At si ille qui se ista non intellexisse conqueritur nulla umquam de talibus rebus diligenter et acute disputata intellegere potuit, secum agat votis et studiis ut proficiat, non mecum querelis et conuiciis ut taceam. Qui vero haec legens dicit: Intellego quidem quid dictum sit sed non vere dictum est asserat, ut places, sententiam suam et redarguat meam si potest. Quod si cum caritate et veritate fecerit, mihique etiam (si in hac vita maneo) cognoscendum facere curaverit, uberrimum fructum laboris huius mei cepero. Quod si mihi non potuerit, quibus id potuerit me volente ac libente praestiterit. Ego tamen in lege domini rneditabor, si non die ac nocte, saltem quibus temporum particulis possum, et meditationes meas ne oblivione fugiant stilo alligo sperans de misericordia dei quod in omnibus veris quae certa mihi sunt perseuerantem me faciet; si quid autem aliter sapio, id quoque mihi ipse reuelabit sive per occultas inspirationes atgue admonitiones sive per manifesta eloquia sua sive per fraternal sermocinationes. Hoc oro et hoc depositum desideriumque meum penes ipsum habeo, qui mihi satis idoneus est et custodire quae dedit et reddere quae promisit.	5. Further let me ask of my reader, wherever, alike with myself, he is certain, there to go on with me; wherever, alike with myself, he hesitates, there to join with me in inquiring; wherever he recognizes himself to be in error, there to return to me; wherever he recognizes me to be so, there to call me back: so that we may enter together upon the path of charity, and advance towards Him of whom it is said, Seek His face evermore. And I would make this pious and safe agreement, in the presence of our Lord God, with all who read my writings, as well in all other cases as, above all, in the case of those which inquire into the unity of the Trinity, of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit; because in no other subject is error more dangerous, or inquiry more laborious, or the discovery of truth more profitable. If, then, any reader shall say, This is not well said, because I do not understand it; such an one finds fault with my language, not with my faith: and it might perhaps in very truth have been put more clearly; yet no man ever so spoke as to be understood in all things by all men. Let him, therefore, who finds this fault with my discourse, see whether he can understand other men who have handled similar subjects and questions, when he does not understand me: and if he can, let him put down my book, or even, if he pleases, throw it away; and let him spend labor and time rather on those whom he understands. Yet let him not think on that account that I ought to have been silent, because I have not been able to express myself so smoothly and clearly to him as those do whom he understands. For neither do all things, which all men have written, come into the hands of all. And possibly some, who are capable of understanding even these our writings, may not find those more lucid works, and may meet with ours only. And therefore it is useful that many persons should write many books, differing in style but not in faith, concerning even the same questions, that the matter itself may reach the greatest number— some in one way, some in another. But if he who complains that he has not understood these things has never been able to comprehend any careful and exact reasonings at all upon such subjects, let him in that case deal with himself by resolution and study, that he may know better; not with me by quarrellings and wranglings, that I may hold my peace. Let him, again, who says, when he reads my book, Certainly I understand what is said, but it is not true, assert, if he pleases, his own opinion, and refute mine if he is able. And if he do this with charity and truth, and take the pains to make it known to me (if I am still alive), I shall then receive the most abundant fruit of this my labor. And if he cannot inform myself, most willing and glad should I be that he should inform those whom he can. Yet, for my part, I meditate in the law of the Lord, if not day and night, at least such short times as I can; and I commit my meditations to writing, lest they should escape me through forgetfulness; hoping by the mercy of God that He will make me hold steadfastly all truths of which I feel certain; but if in anything I be otherwise minded, that He will himself reveal even this to me, whether through secret inspiration and admonition, or through His own plain utterances, or through the reasonings of my brethren. This I pray for, and this my trust and desire I commit to Him, who is sufficiently able to keep those things which He has given me, and to render those which He has promised.
[1.3.6] Arbitror sane nonnullos tardiores in quibusdam locis librorum meorum opinaturos me sensisse quod non sensi aut non sensisse quod sensi. Quorum errorem mihi tribui non debere quis nesciat, si velut me sequentes neque apprehendentes deviaverint in aliquam falsitatem dum per quaedam dense et opaca cogor.uiam carpere, quandoquidem nec ipsis sanctis divinorum librorum auctoritatibus ullo modo quisquam recte tribuerit tam multos et varios errores haereticorum, cum omnes ex eisdem scripturis falsas atque fallaces opiniones suas conentur defendere? Admonet me plane ac mihi iubet suavissimo imperio lex Christi, hoc est caritas, ut cum aliquid falsi in libris meis me sensisse homines putant quod ego non sensi atque idipsum falsum alteri displicet, alteri placet, malim me reprehendi a reprehensore falsitatis quam ab eius laudatore laudari. Ab illo enim, quamvis ego non recte qui hoc non senserim, error tamen ipse recte vituperatur; ab hoc autem nec ego recte laudor a quo existimor id sensisse quod vituperat veritas, nec ipsa sententia quam vituperat veritas. Ergo in nomine domini susceptum opus aggrediamur.	6. I expect, indeed, that some, who are more dull of understanding, will imagine that in some parts of my books I have held sentiments which I have not held, or have not held those which I have. But their error, as none can be ignorant, ought not to be attributed to me, if they have deviated into false doctrine through following my steps without apprehending me, while I am compelled to pick my way through a hard and obscure subject: seeing that neither can any one, in any way, rightly ascribe the numerous and various errors of heretics to the holy testimonies themselves of the divine books; although all of them endeavor to defend out of those same Scriptures their own false and erroneous opinions. The law of Christ, that is, charity, admonishes me clearly, and commands me with a sweet constraint, that when men think that I have held in my books something false which I have not held, and that same falsehood displeases one and pleases another, I should prefer to be blamed by him who reprehends the falsehood, rather than praised by him who praises it. For although I, who never held the error, am not rightly blamed by the former, yet the error itself is rightly censured; while by the latter neither am I rightly praised, who am thought to have held that which the truth censures, nor the sentiment itself, which the truth also censures. Let us therefore essay the work which we have undertaken in the name of the Lord.
[1.4.7] Omnes quos legere potui qui ante me scripserunt de trinitate quae deus est, divinorum librorum ueterum et nouorum catholici tractatores, hoc intenderunt secundum scripturas docere, quod pater et filius et spiritus sanctus unius substantiae inseparabili aequalitate divinam insinvent unitatem, ideoque non sint tres dii sed unus deus -- quamvis pater filium genuerit, et ideo filius non sit qui pater est; filiusque a patre sit genitus, et ideo pater non sit qui filius est, spiritusque sanctus nec pater sit nec filius, sed tantum patris et filii spiritus, patri et filio etiam ipse coaequalis et ad trinitatis pertinens unitatem. Non tamen eandem trinitatem natam de virgine Maria et sub Pontio Pilato crucifixam et sepultam tertio die resurrexisse et in caelum ascendisse, sed tantummodo filium. Nec eandem trinitatem descendisse in specie columbae super Iesum baptizatum aut die pentecostes post ascensionem domini sonitu facto de caelo quasi ferretur fiatus uehemens et linguis divisis velut ignis, sed tantummodo spiritum sanctum. Nec eandem trinitatem dixisse de caelo: Tu es filius meus, sive cum baptizatus est a Iohanne sive in monte quando cum illo erant tres discipuli, aut quando sonuit vox dicens: Et clarificavi et iterum clarificabo, sed tantummodo patris vocem fuisse ad filium factam, quamvis pater et filius et spiritus sanctus sicut inseparabiles sunt, ita inseparabiliter operentur. Haec et mea fides est quando haec est catholica fides.	7. All those Catholic expounders of the divine Scriptures, both Old and New, whom I have been able to read, who have written before me concerning the Trinity, Who is God, have purposed to teach, according to the Scriptures, this doctrine, that the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit intimate a divine unity of one and the same substance in an indivisible equality; and therefore that they are not three Gods, but one God: although the Father has begotten the Son, and so He who is the Father is not the Son; and the Son is begotten by the Father, and so He who is the Son is not the Father; and the Holy Spirit is neither the Father nor the Son, but only the Spirit of the Father and of the Son, Himself also co-equal with the Father and the Son, and pertaining to the unity of the Trinity. Yet not that this Trinity was born of the Virgin Mary, and crucified under Pontius Pilate, and buried, and rose again the third day, and ascended into heaven, but only the Son. Nor, again, that this Trinity descended in the form of a dove upon Jesus when He was baptized; nor that, on the day of Pentecost, after the ascension of the Lord, when there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, the same Trinity sat upon each of them with cloven tongues like as of fire, but only the Holy Spirit. Nor yet that this Trinity said from heaven, You are my Son, whether when He was baptized by John, or when the three disciples were with Him in the mount, or when the voice sounded, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again; but that it was a word of the Father only, spoken to the Son; although the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, as they are indivisible, so work indivisibly. This is also my faith, since it is the Catholic faith.
[1.5.8] Sed in ea nonnulli perturbantur cum audiunt deum patrem et deum filium et deum spiritum sanctum, et tamen hanc trinitatem non tres deos sed unum deum; et quemadmodum id intellegant quaerunt, praesertim cum dicitur inseparabiliter operari trinitatem in omni re quam deus operatur, et tamen quandam vocem patris sonuisse, quae vox filu non sit; in carne autem natum et passum et resurrexisse et ascendisse non nisi filium, in columbae autem specie venisse non nisi spiriturn sanctum. Intellegere volunt quomodo et illam vocem quae non nisi patris sunt trinitas fecerit, et illam carnem in qua non nisi filius de virgine natus est eadem trinitas creaverit, et illam columbae speciem in qua non nisi spiritus sanctus apparuit illa ipsa trinitas operate sit. Alioquin non inseparabiliter trinitas operatur, sed alla pater facit, alla filius, alla spiritus sanctus; aut si quaedam simul faciunt, quaedam sine invicem, iam non inseparabilis trinitas. Movet etiam quomodo spiritus sanctus in trinitate sit, quem nec pater nec filius nec ambo genuerint, cum sit spiritus patris et filii. Quia ergo quaerunt ista homines, et taedio nobis sunt ut si quid hinc ex dono dei sapit infirmitas rostra, edisseramus eis ut possumus, neque cum inuidia tabescente iter habeamus. Si dicimus nos nihil de talibus rebus cogitare solere, mentimur, si autem fatemur habitare ista in cogitationibus nostris quondam rapimur amore indagandae veritatis, flagitant lure caritatis ut eis indicemus quid hinc excogitare potuerimus. "Non quia iam acceperim aut iam perfectus sim" (nam si Paulus apostolus, quanto magis ego longe infra illius pedes iacens, non me arbitror apprehendisse?), sed pro modulo meo si ea "quae retro sunt obliviscor et in anteriora me extendo et secundum intentionem sequor ad palmam supernae vocationis", quantum eiusdem viae peregerim et quo peruenerim unde mihi in fine reliquus cursus est ut aperiam desideratur a me illis desiderantibus quibus me seruire cogit libera caritas. Oportet autem et donabit deus ut eis ministrando quae legant ipse quoque proficiam, et eis cupiens respondere quaerentibus ipse quoque inveniam quod quaerebam. Ergo suscepi haec iubente atque adivuante domino deo nostro non tam cognita cum auctoritate disserere quam ea cum pietate disserendo cognoscere.	8. Some persons, however, find a difficulty in this faith; when they hear that the Father is God, and the Son God, and the Holy Spirit God, and yet that this Trinity is not three Gods, but one God; and they ask how they are to understand this: especially when it is said that the Trinity works indivisibly in everything that God works, and yet that a certain voice of the Father spoke, which is not the voice of the Son; and that none except the Son was born in the flesh, and suffered, and rose again, and ascended into heaven; and that none except the Holy Spirit came in the form of a dove. They wish to understand how the Trinity uttered that voice which was only of the Father; and how the same Trinity created that flesh in which the Son only was born of the Virgin; and how the very same Trinity itself wrought that form of a dove, in which the Holy Spirit only appeared. Yet, otherwise, the Trinity does not work indivisibly, but the Father does some things, the Son other things, and the Holy Spirit yet others: or else, if they do some things together, some severally, then the Trinity is not indivisible. It is a difficulty, too, to them, in what manner the Holy Spirit is in the Trinity, whom neither the Father nor the Son, nor both, have begotten, although He is the Spirit both of the Father and of the Son. Since, then, men weary us with asking such questions, let us unfold to them, as we are able, whatever wisdom God's gift has bestowed upon our weakness on this subject; neither let us go on our way with consuming envy. Should we say that we are not accustomed to think about such things, it would not be true; yet if we acknowledge that such subjects commonly dwell in our thoughts, carried away as we are by the love of investigating the truth, then they require of us, by the law of charity, to make known to them what we have herein been able to find out. Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect (for, if the Apostle Paul, how much more must I, who lie far beneath his feet, count myself not to have apprehended!); but, according to my measure, if I forget those things that are behind, and reach forth unto those things which are before, and press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling, I am requested to disclose so much of the road as I have already passed, and the point to which I have reached, whence the course yet remains to bring me to the end. And those make the request, whom a generous charity compels me to serve. Needs must too, and God will grant that, in supplying them with matter to read, I shall profit myself also; and that, in seeking to reply to their inquiries, I shall myself likewise find that for which I was inquiring. Accordingly I have undertaken the task, by the bidding and help of the Lord my God, not so much of discoursing with authority respecting things I know already, as of learning those things by piously discoursing of them.
[1.6.9] Qui dixerunt dominum nostrum Iesum Christum non esse deum, aut non esse verum deum, aut non cum patre unum et solum deum, aut non vere immortalem quia mutabilem, manifestissima divinorum testimoniorum et consona voce conuicti sunt. Unde sunt illa: In principio erat verbum, et verbum erat apud deum, et deus erat verbum. Manifestum enim quod verbum dei filium dei unicum accipimus, de quo post dicit: Et verbum caro factum est, propter nativitatem incarnationis eius quae facta est in tempore ex virgine. In eo autem declarat non tantum deum esse sed etiam eiusdem cum patre substantiae quia cum dixisset: Et deus erat verbum. Hoc erat, inquit, in principio apud deum, omnia per ipsum facta sunt, et sine ipso factum est nihil. Neque enim dicit omnia 'nisi quae facta sunt,' id est omnem creaturam. Unde liquido apparet ipsum factum non esse per quem facta sunt omnia. Et si factus non est, creatura non est; si autem creatura non est, eiusdem cum patre substantiae est. Omnis enim substantia quae deus non est creatura est, et quae creatura non est deus est. Et si non est filius eiusdem substantiae cuius pater, ergo facta substantia est; si facta substantia est, non omnia per ipsum facta sunt; at si omnia per ipsum facta sunt, unius igitur eiusdemque cum patre substantiae est. Et ideo non tantum deus sed et verus deus. Quod idem Iohannes apertissime in epistula sua dicit: Scimus quod filius dei venerit et dederit nobis intellectum ut cognoscamus verum et simus in vero, filio eius Iesu Christo. Hic est verus deus et vita aeterna.	9. They who have said that our Lord Jesus Christ is not God, or not very God, or not with the Father the One and only God, or not truly immortal because changeable, are proved wrong by the most plain and unanimous voice of divine testimonies; as, for instance, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. For it is plain that we are to take the Word of God to be the only Son of God, of whom it is afterwards said, And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, on account of that birth of His incarnation, which was wrought in time of the Virgin. But herein is declared, not only that He is God, but also that He is of the same substance with the Father; because, after saying, And the Word was God, it is said also, The same was in the beginning with God: all things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made. Not simply all things; but only all things that were made, that is; the whole creature. From which it appears clearly, that He Himself was not made, by whom all things were made. And if He was not made, then He is not a creature; but if He is not a creature, then He is of the same substance with the Father. For all substance that is not God is creature; and all that is not creature is God. And if the Son is not of the same substance with the Father, then He is a substance that was made: and if He is a substance that was made, then all things were not made by Him; but all things were made by Him, therefore He is of one and the same substance with the Father. And so He is not only God, but also very God. And the same John most expressly affirms this in his epistle: For we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us an understanding, that we may know the true God, and that we may be in His true Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.
[1.6.10] Hinc etiam consequenter intellegitur non tantummodo de patre dixisse apostolum Paulum: Qui solus habet immortalitatem sed de uno et solo deo, quod est ipsa trinitas. Neque enim ipsa vita aeterna mortalis est secundum aliquam mutabilitatem; ac per hoc filius dei, quia vita aeterna est, cum patre etiam ipse intellegitur ubi dictum est: Solus habet immortalitatem. Eius enim vitae aeternae et nos participes facti pro modulo nostro immortales efficimur. Sed aliud est ipsa cuius participes efficimur vita aeterna, aliud nos qui eius participatione vivemus in aeternum. Si enim dixisset: Quem temporibus propriis ostendit pater beatus et solus potens, rex regum et dominus dominantium, qui solus habet immortalitatem nec sic inde separatum filium oporteret intellegi. Neque enim quia ipse filius alibi loquens voce sapientiae (ipse est enim sapientia dei) ait: Gyrum caeli circuivi sola separavit a se patrem. Quanto magis ergo non est necesse ut tantummodo de patre praeter filium intellegatur quod dictum est: Qui solus habet immortalitatem cum ita dictum sit: Ut serues, inquit, mandatum sine macula, inreprehensibile, usque in adventum domini nostri Iesu Christi, quem temporibus propriis ostendit beatus et solus potens, rex regum et dominus dominantium, qui solus habet immortalitatem et lucem habitat inaccessibilem, quem nemo hominum vidit nec videre potest, cui est honor et gloria in saecula saeculorum. In quibus verbis nec pater proprie nominatus est nec filius nec spiritus sanctus, sed beatus et solus potens, rex regum et dominus dominantium, quod est unus et solus et verus deus, ipsa trinitas.	10. Hence also it follows by consequence, that the Apostle Paul did not say, Who alone has immortality, of the Father merely; but of the One and only God, which is the Trinity itself. For that which is itself eternal life is not mortal according to any changeableness; and hence the Son of God, because He is Eternal Life, is also Himself understood with the Father, where it is said, Who only has immortality. For we, too, are made partakers of this eternal life, and become, in our own measure, immortal. But the eternal life itself, of which we are made partakers, is one thing; we ourselves, who, by partaking of it, shall live eternally, are another. For if He had said, Whom in His own time the Father will show, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; who only has immortality; not even so would it be necessarily understood that the Son is excluded. For neither has the Son separated the Father from Himself, because He Himself, speaking elsewhere with the voice of wisdom (for He Himself is the Wisdom of God), says, I alone compassed the circuit of heaven. And therefore so much the more is it not necessary that the words, Who has immortality, should be understood of the Father alone, omitting the Son; when they are said thus: That you keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ: whom in His own time He will show, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; who only has immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man has seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen. In which words neither is the Father specially named, nor the Son, nor the Holy Spirit; but the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; that is, the One and only and true God, the Trinity itself.
[1.6.11] Nisi forte quae sequuntur perturbabunt hunc intellectum, quia dixit: Quem nemo hominum vidit nec videre potest cum hoc etiam ad Christum pertinere secundum eius divinitatem aecipiatur quam non viderunt iudaei, qui tamen carnem viderunt et crucifixerunt. Videri autem divinitas humano visu nullo modo potest, sed eo visu videtur quo iam qui vident non homines sed ultra homines sunt. Recte ergo ipse deus trinitas intellegitur beatus et solus potens, ostendens adventum domini nostri Iesu Christi temporibus propriis. Sic enim dictum est: Solus habet immortalitatem quomodo dictum est: Qui facit mirabilia solus. Quod velim scire de quo dictum accipiant. Si de patre tantum, quomodo ergo verum est quod ipse filius dicit: Quaecumque enim pater facit, haec eadem et filius facit similiter? An quidquam est inter mirabilia mirabilius quam resuscitare et vivificare mortuos? Dicit autem idem filius: Sicut pater suscitat mortuos et vivificat, sic et filius quos vult vivificat. Quomodo ergo solus pater facit mirabilia, cum haec verba nec patrem tantum nec filium tantum permittant intellegi, sed utique deum unum verum solum, id est patrem et filium et spiritum sanctum?	11. But perhaps what follows may interfere with this meaning; because it is said, Whom no man has seen, nor can see: although this may also be taken as belonging to Christ according to His divinity, which the Jews did not see, who yet saw and crucified Him in the flesh; whereas His divinity can in no way be seen by human sight, but is seen with that sight with which they who see are no longer men, but beyond men. Rightly, therefore, is God Himself, the Trinity, understood to be the blessed and only Potentate, who shows the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in His own time. For the words, Who only has immortality, are said in the same way as it is said, Who only does wondrous things. And I should be glad to know of whom they take these words to be said. If only of the Father, how then is that true which the Son Himself says, For what things soever the Father does, these also does the Son likewise? Is there any, among wonderful works, more wonderful than to raise up and quicken the dead? Yet the same Son says, As the Father raises up the dead, and quickens them, even so the Son quickens whom He will. How, then, does the Father alone do wondrous things, when these words allow us to understand neither the Father only, nor the Son only, but assuredly the one only true God, that is, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit?
[1.6.12] Item dicit idem apostolus: Nobis unus deus pater ex quo omnia, et nos in ipso, et unus dominus Iesus Christus per quem omnia, et nos per ipsum. Quis dubitet eum omnia 'quae creata sunt' dicere, sicut Iohannes: Omnia per ipsum facta sunt? Quaero itaque de quo dicit alio loco: Quoniam ex ipso et per ipsum et in ipso sunt omnia, ipsi gloria in saecula saeculorum. Si enim de patre et filio et spiritu sancto ut singulis personis singula tribuantur, ex ipso, ex patre; per ipsum, per filium; in ipso, in spiritu sancto; manifestum quod pater et filius et spiritus sanctus unus deus est quando singulariter intulit: Ipsi gloria in saecula saeculorum. Unde enim coepit hunc sensum; non ait: O altitudo divitiarum sapientae et scientiae patris aut filii aut spiritus sancti, sed: sapientiae et scientiae dei! Quam inscrutabilia sunt iudicia eius et investigabiles viae eius! Quis enim cognovit sensum domini? Aut quis consiliarius eius fuit? Aut quis prior dedit, et retribuetur ei? Quoniam ex ipso et per ipsum et in ipso sunt omnia; ipsi gloria in saecula saeculorum. Amen. Si autem hoc de patre tantummodo intellegi volunt, quomodo ergo omnia per patrem sunt sicut hic dicitur, et omnia per filium sicut ad corinthios ubi ait: Et unus dominus Iesus Christus per quem omnia et sicut in euangelio Iohannis: Omnia per ipsum facta sunt Si enim alia per patrem, alia per filium, iam non omnia per patrem nec omnia per filium. Si autem omnia per patrem et omnia per filium, eadem per patrem quae per filium. Aequalis ergo est patri filius, et inseparabilis operatio est patris et filii. Quia si vel filium fecit pater quem non fecit ipse filius, non omnia per filium facta sunt. At omnia per filium facta sunt. Ipse igitur factus non est ut cum patre faceret omnia quae facta sunt. Quamquam nec ab ipso verbo tacuerit apostolus et apertissime omnino dixerit: Qui cum in forma dei esset, non rapinam arbitratus est esse aequalis deo hic deum proprie patrem appellans, sicut alibi: Caput autem Christi deus.	12. Also, when the same apostle says, 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, who can doubt that he speaks of all things which are created; as does John, when he says, All things were made by Him? I ask, therefore, of whom he speaks in another place: For of Him, and through Him, and in Him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen. For if of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, so as to assign each clause severally to each person: of Him, that is to say, of the Father; through Him, that is to say, through the Son; in Him, that is to say, in the Holy Spirit—it is manifest that the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit is one God, inasmuch as the words continue in the singular number, To whom be glory for ever. For at the beginning of the passage he does not say, O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of the Father, or of the Son, or of the Holy Spirit, but of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out! For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counsellor? Or who has first given to Him and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of Him, and through Him, and in Him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen. But if they will have this to be understood only of the Father, then in what way are all things by the Father, as is said here; and all things by the Son, as where it is said to the Corinthians, And one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and as in the Gospel of John, All things were made by Him? For if some things were made by the Father, and some by the Son, then all things were not made by the Father, nor all things by the Son; but if all things were made by the Father, and all things by the Son, then the same things were made by the Father and by the Son. The Son, therefore, is equal with the Father, and the working of the Father and the Son is indivisible. Because if the Father made even the Son, whom certainly the Son Himself did not make, then all things were not made by the Son; but all things were made by the Son: therefore He Himself was not made, that with the Father He might make all things that were made. And the apostle has not refrained from using the very word itself, but has said most expressly, Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God; using here the name of God specially of the Father; as elsewhere, But the head of Christ is God.
[1.6.13] Similiter et de spiritu sancto collecta sunt testimonia quibus ante nos qui haec disputaverunt abundantius usi sunt quia et ipse deus et non creatura. Quod si non creatura, non tantum deus (nam et homines dicti sunt dii), sed etiam verus deus. Ergo patri et filio prorsus aequalis et in trinitatis unitate consubstantialis et coaeternus. Maxime vero illo loco satis claret quod spiritus sanctus non sit creatura ubi iubemur non seruire creaturae sed creatori, non eo modo quo iubemur per caritatem seruire invicem, quod est graece *douleuein*, sed eo modo quo tantum deo seruitur, quod est graece *latreuein*. Unde idolatrae dicuntur qui simulacris eam seruitutem exhibent quae debetur deo. Secundum hanc enim seruitutem dictum est: Dominum deum tuum adorabis et illi soli seruies. Nam hoc distinctius in graeca scriptura invenitur, *latreuseis* enim habet. Porro si tali seruitute creaturae seruire prohibemur quandoquidem dictum est: Dominum deum tuum adorabis et illi soli seruies -- unde et apostolus detestatur eos qui coluerunt et seruierunt creaturae quam creatori -- non est utique creatura spiritus sanctus cui ab omnibus sanctis talis seruitus exhibetur dicente apostolo: Nos enim sumus circumcisio, spiritui dei seruientes quod est in graeco *latreeuontes*. Plures enim codices etiam latini sic habent, qui spiritui dei seruimus; graeci autem omnes aut paene omnes. In nonnullis autem exemplaribus latinis invenimus non "spiritui dei seruimus" sed "spiritu deo seruimus". Sed qui in hoc errant et auctoritati graviori cedere detractant, numquid et illud varium in codicibus reperiunt: Nescitis quia corpora uestra templum in vobis est spiritus sancti quem habetis a deo? Quid autem insanius magisque sacrilegum est quam ut quisquam dicere audeat membra Christi templum esse creaturae minoris secundum ipsos quam Christus est? Alio enim loco dicit: Corpora uestra membra sunt Christi. Si autem quae membra sunt Christi templum est spiritus sancti, non est creatura spiritus sanctus, quia cui corpus nostrum templum exhibemus necesse est ut huic eam seruitutem debeamus qua non nisi deo seruiendum est, quae graece appellatur *latreia*. Unde consequenter dicit: Glorificate ergo deum in corpore uestro.	13. Similar evidence has been collected also concerning the Holy Spirit, of which those who have discussed the subject before ourselves have most fully availed themselves, that He too is God, and not a creature. But if not a creature, then not only God (for men likewise are called gods ), but also very God; and therefore absolutely equal with the Father and the Son, and in the unity of the Trinity consubstantial and co-eternal. But that the Holy Spirit is not a creature is made quite plain by that passage above all others, where we are commanded not to serve the creature, but the Creator; not in the sense in which we are commanded to serve one another by love, which is in Greek d???e?e??, but in that in which God alone is served, which is in Greek ?at?e?e?? . From whence they are called idolaters who tender that service to images which is due to God. For it is this service concerning which it is said, You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve. For this is found also more distinctly in the Greek Scriptures, which have ?at?e?se?? . Now if we are forbidden to serve the creature with such a service, seeing that it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve (and hence, too, the apostle repudiates those who worship and serve the creature more than the Creator), then assuredly the Holy Spirit is not a creature, to whom such a service is paid by all the saints; as says the apostle, For we are the circumcision, which serve the Spirit of God, which is in the Greek ?at?e???te? . For even most Latin copies also have it thus, We who serve the Spirit of God; but all Greek ones, or almost all, have it so. Although in some Latin copies we find, not We worship the Spirit of God, but, We worship God in the Spirit. But let those who err in this case, and refuse to give up to the more weighty authority, tell us whether they find this text also varied in the mss.: Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which you have of God? Yet what can be more senseless or more profane, than that any one should dare to say that the members of Christ are the temple of one who, in their opinion, is a creature inferior to Christ? For the apostle says in another place, Your bodies are members of Christ. But if the members of Christ are also the temple of the Holy Spirit, then the Holy Spirit is not a creature; because we must needs owe to Him, of whom our body is the temple, that service wherewith God only is to be served, which in Greek is called ?at?e?a . And accordingly the apostle says, Therefore glorify God in your body.
[1.7.14] His et talibus divinarum scripturarum testimoniis quibus, ut dixi, priores copiosius usi expugnaverunt haereticorum tales calumnies vel errores, insinuatur fidei nostrae unites et aequalitas trinitatis. Sed quia multa in sanctis libris propter incarnationem verbi dei, quae pro salute nostra reparanda facta est ut mediator dei et hominum esset homo Christus Iesus, ita dicuntur ut maiorem filio patrem significent vel etiam apertissime ostendant, erraverunt homines minus diligenter scrutantes vel intuentes universam seriem scripturarum, et ea quae de Christo Iesu secundum hominem dicta sunt ad eius substantiam quae ante incarnationem sempiterna erat et sempiterna est transferre conati sunt. Et illi quidem dicunt minorem filium esse quam pater est quia scriptum est ipso domino dicente: Pater maior me est. Veritas autem ostendit secundum istum modum etiam se ipso minorem filium. Quomodo enim non etiam se ipso minor factus est qui semetipsum exinanivit formam serui accipiens? Neque enim sic accepit formam serui ut amitteret formam dei in qua erat aequalis patri. Si ergo ita accepta est forma serui ut non amitteretur forma dei, cum et in forma serui et in forma dei idem ipse sit filius unigenitus dei patris, in forma dei aequalis patri, in forma serui mediator dei et hominum homo Christus Iesus, quis non intellegat quod in forma dei etiam ipse se ipso maior est, in forma autem serui etiam se ipso minor est? Non itaque immerito scriptura utrumque dicit, et aequalem patri filium, et patrem maiorem filio. Illud enim propter formam dei, hoc autem propter formam serui sine ulla confusione intellegitur. Et haec nobis regula per omnes sanctas scripturas dissoluendae huius quaestionis ex uno capite epistulae Pauli apostoli promitur ubi manifestius ista distinctio commendatur. Ait enim: Qui cum in forma dei esset, non rapinam arbitratus est esse aequalis deo, sed semetipsum exinanivit formam serui accipiens, in similitudine hominum factus et habitu inventus ut homo. Est ergo dei filius deo patri natura aequalis, habitu minor. In forma enim serui quam accepit minor est patre; in forma autem dei in qua erat etiam antequam hanc accepisset aequalis est patri. In forma dei verbum per quod facta sunt omnia; in forma autem serui factus ex muliere, factus sub lege ut eos qui sub lege erant redimeret. Proinde in forma dei fecit hominem; in forma serui factus est homo. Nam si pater tantum sine filio fecisset hominem, non scriptum esset: Faciamus hominem ad imaginem et similitudinem nostram. Ergo quia forma dei accepit formam serui, utrumque deus et utrumque homo; sed utrumque deus propter accipientem deum, utrumque autem homo propter acceptum hominem. Neque enim illa susceptione alterum eorum in alterum conversum atque mutatum est; nec divinitas quippe in creaturam mutata est ut desisteret esse divinitas, nec creatura in divinitatem ut desisteret esse creatura.	14. In these and like testimonies of the divine Scriptures, by free use of which, as I have said, our predecessors exploded such sophistries or errors of the heretics, the unity and equality of the Trinity are intimated to our faith. But because, on account of the incarnation of the Word of God for the working out of our salvation, that the man Christ Jesus might be the Mediator between God and men, many things are so said in the sacred books as to signify, or even most expressly declare, the Father to be greater than the Son; men have erred through a want of careful examination or consideration of the whole tenor of the Scriptures, and have endeavored to transfer those things which are said of Jesus Christ according to the flesh, to that substance of His which was eternal before the incarnation, and is eternal. They say, for instance, that the Son is less than the Father, because it is written that the Lord Himself said, My Father is greater than I. But the truth shows that after the same sense the Son is less also than Himself; for how was He not made less also than Himself, who emptied Himself, and took upon Him the form of a servant? For He did not so take the form of a servant as that He should lose the form of God, in which He was equal to the Father. If, then, the form of a servant was so taken that the form of God was not lost, since both in the form of a servant and in the form of God He Himself is the same only-begotten Son of God the Father, in the form of God equal to the Father, in the form of a servant the Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; is there any one who cannot perceive that He Himself in the form of God is also greater than Himself, but yet likewise in the form of a servant less than Himself? And not, therefore, without cause the Scripture says both the one and the other, both that the Son is equal to the Father, and that the Father is greater than the Son. For there is no confusion when the former is understood as on account of the form of God, and the latter as on account of the form of a servant. And, in truth, this rule for clearing the question through all the sacred Scriptures is set forth in one chapter of an epistle of the Apostle Paul, where this distinction is commended to us plainly enough. For he says, Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God; but emptied Himself, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and was found in fashion as a man. The Son of God, then, is equal to God the Father in nature, but less in fashion. For in the form of a servant which He took He is less than the Father; but in the form of God, in which also He was before He took the form of a servant, He is equal to the Father. In the form of God He is the Word, by whom all things are made; but in the form of a servant He was made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law. In like manner, in the form of God He made man; in the form of a servant He was made man. For if the Father alone had made man without the Son, it would not have been written, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. Therefore, because the form of God took the form of a servant, both is God and both is man; but both God, on account of God who takes; and both man, on account of man who is taken. For neither by that taking is the one of them turned and changed into the other: the Divinity is not changed into the creature, so as to cease to be Divinity; nor the creature into Divinity, so as to cease to be creature.
[1.8.15] Illud autem quod ait idem apostolus: Cum autem ei omnia subiecta fuerint, tunc et ipse filius subiectus erit ei qui illi subiecit omnia aut ideo dictum est ne quisquam putaret habitum Christi, qui ex humana creatura susceptus est, conversum iri postea in ipsam divinitatem vel, ut certius expresserim, deitatem, quae non est creatura sed est unitas trinitatis mcorporea et incommutabilis, et sibimet consubstantialis et coaeterna natura. Aut si quisquam contendit, ut aliqui senserunt, ita dictum: Et ipse filius subiectus erit ei qui illi subiecit omnia ut ipsam subiectionem, commutationem et conversionem credat futuram creaturae in ipsam substantiam vel essentiam creatoris, id est ut quae fuerat substantia creaturae fiat substantia creatoris, certe vel hoc concedit quod non habet ullam dubitationem nondum hoc fuisse factum cum dominus diceret: Pater maior me est. Dixit enim hoc non solum antequam ascendisset in caelum, verum etiam antequam passus resurrexisset a mortuis. Illi autem qui putant humanam in eo naturam in deitatis substantiam mutari atque converti et ita dictum: Tunc et ipse filius subiectus erit ei qui illi subiecit omnia ac si diceretur: 'Tunc et ipse filius hominis et a verbo dei suscepta humana natura commutabitur in eius naturam qui ei subiecit omnia,' tunc futurum putant cum post diem iudicii tradiderit regnum deo et patri. Ac per hoc etiam secundum istam opinionem adhuc pater maior est quam serui forma quae de virgine accepta est. Quod si et aliqui hoc affirmant, quod iam fuerit in dei substantiam mutatus homo Christus Iesus, illud certe negare non possunt quod adhuc natura hominis manebat quando ante passionem dicebat: Quoniam pater maior me est. Unde nulla cunctatio est secundum hoc esse dictum quod forma serui maior est pater, cui in forma dei aequalis est filius. Nec quisquam cum audierit quod ait apostolus: Cum autem dixerit quia omnia subiecta sunt, manifestum quia praeter eum qui subiecit illi omnia ita existimet de patre intellegendum quod subiecerit omnia filio ut ipsum filium sibi omnia subiecisse non putet. {Quod apostolus ad philippenses ostendit dicens: Nostra autem conversatio in caelis est; unde et saluatorem exspectamus dominum Iesum Christum, qui transfiguravit corpus humilitatis nostrae conforme ut fiat corpori gloriae suae, secundum operationem suam qua possit etiam sibi subicere omnia.} Inseparabilis enim est operatio patris et filii. Alioquin nec ipse pater sibi subiecit omnia, sed filius ei subiecit qui ei regnum tradidit et euacuat omnem principatum et omnem potestatem et virtutem. De filio quippe ista dicta sunt: Cum tradiderit, inquit, regnum deo et patri, cum euacuaverit omnem principatum et omnem potestatem et virtutem. Ipse enim subiecit qui euacuat.	15. As for that which the apostle says, And when all things shall be subdued unto Him, then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him that put all things under Him: either the text has been so turned, lest any one should think that the fashion of Christ, which He took according to the human creature, was to be transformed hereafter into the Divinity, or (to express it more precisely) the Godhead itself, who is not a creature, but is the unity of the Trinity,— a nature incorporeal, and unchangeable, and consubstantial, and co-eternal with itself; or if any one contends, as some have thought, that the text, Then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him that put all things under Him, is so turned in order that one may believe that very subjection to be a change and conversion hereafter of the creature into the substance or essence itself of the Creator, that is, that that which had been the substance of a creature shall become the substance of the Creator;— such an one at any rate admits this, of which in truth there is no possible doubt, that this had not yet taken place, when the Lord said, My Father is greater than I. For He said this not only before He ascended into heaven, but also before He had suffered, and had risen from the dead. But they who think that the human nature in Him is to be changed and converted into the substance of the Godhead, and that it was so said, Then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him that put all things under Him,— as if to say, Then also the Son of man Himself, and the human nature taken by the Word of God, shall be changed into the nature of Him who put all things under Him—must also think that this will then take place, when, after the day of judgment, He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father. And hence even still, according to this opinion, the Father is greater than that form of a servant which was taken of the Virgin. But if some affirm even further, that the man Christ Jesus has already been changed into the substance of God, at least they cannot deny that the human nature still remained, when He said before His passion, For my Father is greater than I; whence there is no question that it was said in this sense, that the Father is greater than the form of a servant, to whom in the form of God the Son is equal. Nor let any one, hearing what the apostle says, But when He says all things are put under Him, it is manifest that He is excepted which did put all things under Him, think the words, that He has put all things under the Son, to be so understood of the Father, as that He should not think that the Son Himself put all things under Himself. For this the apostle plainly declares, when he says to the Philippians, For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like His glorious body, according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself. For the working of the Father and of the Son is indivisible. Otherwise, neither has the Father Himself put all things under Himself, but the Son has put all things under Him, who delivers the kingdom to Him, and puts down all rule and all authority and power. For these words are spoken of the Son: When He shall have delivered up, says the apostle, the kingdom to God, even the Father; when He shall have put down all rule, and all authority, and all power. For the same that puts down, also makes subject.
[1.8.16] Nec sic arbitremur Christum traditurum regnum deo et pa tri ut adimat sibi. Nam et hoc quidam uaniloqui crediderunt. Cum enim dicitur: Tradiderit regnum deo et patri non separatur ipse quia simul cum patre unus deus est. Sed divinarum scripturarum incuriosos et contentionum studiosos fallit verbum quod positum est, donec. Ita namque sequitur: Oportet enim illum regnare donec ponat omnes inimicos sub pedibus suis tamquam cum posuerit non sit regnaturus. Nec intellegunt ita dictum sicut est illud: Confirmatum est cor eius; non commovebitur donec videat super inimicos suos. Non enim cum viderit, iam commovebitur. Quid ergo est: Cum tradiderit regnum deo et patri quasi modo non habeat regnum deus et pater? Sed quia omnes iustos quibus nunc regnat ex fide viventibus mediator dei et hominum homo Christus Iesus perducturus est ad speciem quam visionem dicit idem apostolus facie ad faciem, ita dictum est: Cum tradiderit regnum deo et patri ac si diceretur: 'Cum perduxerit credentes ad contemplationem dei et patris.' Sicut enim dicit: Omnia mihi tradita sunt a patre meo, et nemo novit filium nisi pater, neque patrem quis novit nisi filius et cui voluerit filius reuelare tunc reuelabitur a filio pater cum euacuaverit omnem principatum et omnem potestatem et virtutem, id est ut necessaria non sit dispensatio similitudinum per angelicos principatus et potestates et virtutes. Ex quarum persona non inconvenienter intellegitur dici in cantico canticorum ad sponsam: Similitudines auri faciemus tibi cum distinctionibus argenti quoadusque rex in recubitu suo est id est quoadusque Christus in secreto suo est, quia: vita nostra abscondita est cum Christo in deo. Cum Christus, inquit, apparuerit vita uestra, tunc et vos cum ipso apparebitis in gloria. Quod antequam fiat, videmus nunc per speculum in aenigmate, hoc est in similitudinibus, tunc autem facie ad faciem.	16. Neither may we think that Christ shall so give up the kingdom to God, even the Father, as that He shall take it away from Himself. For some vain talkers have thought even this. For when it is said, He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father, He Himself is not excluded; because He is one God together with the Father. But that word until deceives those who are careless readers of the divine Scriptures, but eager for controversies. For the text continues, For He must reign, until He has put all enemies under His feet; as though, when He had so put them, He would no more reign. Neither do they perceive that this is said in the same way as that other text, His heart is established: He shall not be afraid, until He see His desire upon His enemies. For He will not then be afraid when He has seen it. What then means, When He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father, as though God and the Father has not the kingdom now? But because He is hereafter to bring all the just, over whom now, living by faith, the Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, reigns, to that sight which the same apostle calls face to face; therefore the words, When He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father, are as much as to say, When He shall have brought believers to the contemplation of God, even the Father. For He says, All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knows the Son, but the Father; neither knows any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him. The Father will then be revealed by the Son, when He shall have put down all rule, and all authority, and all power; that is, in such wise that there shall be no more need of any economy of similitudes, by means of angelic rulers, and authorities, and powers. Of whom that is not unfitly understood, which is said in the Song of Songs to the bride, We will make you borders of gold, with studs of silver, while the King sits at His table; that is, as long as Christ is in His secret place: since your life is hid with Christ in God; when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall you also appear with Him in glory. Before which time, we see now through a glass, in an enigma, that is, in similitudes, but then face to face.
[1.8.17] Haec enim nobis contemplatio promittitur actionum omnium finis atque aeterna perfectio gaudiorum. Filii enim dei sumus, et nondum apparuit quod erimus. Scimus quia cum apparuerit, similes ei erimus quondam videbimus eum sicuti est. Quod enim dixit famulo suo Moysi: Ego sum qui sum. Et dices itaque filiis Israhel: Qui est misit me ad vos; hoc contemplabimur cum vivemus in aeternum. Ita quippe ait: Haec est autem vita aeterna ut cognoscant te unum verum deum et quem misisti Iesum Christum. Hoc fiet cum venerit dominus et inluminaverit occulta tenebrarum, cum tenebrae mortalitatis huius corruptionisque transierint. Tunc erit mane nostrum de quo in psalmo dicitur: Mane adstabo tibi et contemplabor. De hac contemplatione intellego dictum: Cum tradiderit regnum deo et patri id est cum perduxerit iustos quibus nunc ex fide viventibus regnat mediator dei et hominum homo Christus Iesus ad contemplationem dei et patris. Si desipio hic, corrigat me qui melius sapit; mihi aliud non videtur. Neque enim quaeremus aliud cum ad illius contemplationem peruenerimus, quae nunc non est quamdiu gaudium nostrum in spe est. Spes autem quae videtur non est spes. Quod enim videt quis, quid et sperat? Si autem quod non videmus speramus, per patientiam exspectamus quoadusque rex in recubitu suo est. Tunc erit quod scriptum est: Adimplebis me laetitia cum uultu tuo. Illa laetitia nihil amplius requiretur quia nec erit quod amplius requiratur. Ostendetur enim nobis pater et aufficiet nobis. Quod bene intellexerat Philippus ut diceret: Domine, ostende nobis patrem et sufficit nobis. Sed nondum intellexerat eo quoque modo idipsum se potuisse dicere: 'Domine, ostende nobis te et sufficit nobis.' Ut enim hoc intellegeret, responsum est ei a domino: Tanto tempore vobiscum sum et non cognovistis me? Philippe, qui me vidit vidit et patrem. Sed quia volebat eum ex fide vivere antequam illud posses videre, secutus est et ait: Non credis quia ego in patre et pater in me? Quamdiu enim sumus in corpore, peregrinamur a Domino. Per fidem enim ambulamus, non per speciem. Contemplatio quippe merces est fidei, cui mercedi per fidem corda mundantur, sicut scriptum est: Mundans fide corda eorum. Probatur autem quod illi corda mundentur illa maxime sententia: Beati mundicordes quondam ipsi deum videbunt. Et quia haec est vita aeterna dicit deus in psalmis: Longitudinem dierum replebo eum, et ostendam illi salutare meum. Sive ergo audiamus: 'Ostende nobis filium,' sive audiamus: Ostende nobis patrem tantundem valet quia neuter sine altero potest ostendi. Unum quippe sunt, sicut ait: Ego et pater unum sumus. Denique propter ipsam inseparabilitatem sufficienter aliquando nominatur vel pater solus vel filius solus adimpleturus nos laetitia cum uultu quo.	17. For this contemplation is held forth to us as the end of all actions, and the everlasting fullness of joy. For we are the sons of God; and it does not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is. For that which He said to His servant Moses, I am that I am; thus shall you say to the children of Israel, I Am has sent me to you; this it is which we shall contemplate when we shall live in eternity. For so it is said, And this is life eternal, that they might know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent. This shall be when the Lord shall have come, and shall have brought to light the hidden things of darkness; when the darkness of this present mortality and corruption shall have passed away. Then will be our morning, which is spoken of in the Psalm, In the morning will I direct my prayer unto You, and will contemplate You. Of this contemplation I understand it to be said, When He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; that is, when He shall have brought the just, over whom now, living by faith, the Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, reigns, to the contemplation of God, even the Father. If herein I am foolish, let him who knows better correct me; to me at least the case seems as I have said. For we shall not seek anything else, when we shall have come to the contemplation of Him. But that contemplation is not yet, so long as our joy is in hope. For hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man sees, why does he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it, viz. as long as the King sits at His table. Then will take place that which is written, In Your presence is fullness of joy. Nothing more than that joy will be required; because there will be nothing more than can be required. For the Father will be manifested to us, and that will suffice for us. And this much Philip had well understood, so that he said to the Lord, Show us the Father, and it suffices us. But he had not yet understood that he himself was able to say this very same thing in this way also: Lord, show Yourself to us, and it suffices us. For, that he might understand this, the Lord replied to him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet have you not known me, Philip? He that has seen me has seen the Father. But because He intended him, before he could see this, to live by faith, He went on to say, Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? For while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: for we walk by faith, not by sight. For contemplation is the recompense of faith, for which recompense our hearts are purified by faith; as it is written, Purifying their hearts by faith. And that our hearts are to be purified for this contemplation, is proved above all by this text, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. And that this is life eternal, God says in the Psalm, With long life will I satisfy him, and show him my salvation. Whether, therefore, we hear, Show us the Son; or whether we hear, Show us the Father; it is even all one, since neither can be manifested without the other. For they are one, as He also Himself says, My Father and I are one. Finally, on account of this very indivisibility, it suffices that sometimes the Father alone, or the Son alone, should be named, as hereafter to fill us with the joy of His countenance.
[1.8.18] Nec inde separatur utriusque spiritus, id est patris et filii spiritus, qui spiritus sanctus proprie dicitur, spiritus veritatis quem hic mundus accipere non potest. Hoc est enim plenum gaudium nostrum quo amplius non est, frui trinitate deo ad cuius imaginem facti sumus. Propter hoc aliquando ita loquitur de spiritu sancto tamquam solus ipse sufficiat ad beatitudinem nostram; et ideo solus sufficit quia separari a patre et filio non potest, sicut pater solus sufficit quia separari a filio et spiritu sancto non potest, et filius ideo sufficit solus quia separari a patre et spiritu sancto non potest. Quid enim sibi vult quod ait: Si diligitis me, mandata mea servate, et ego rogabo patrem, et alium aduocatum dabit vobis ut vobiscum sit in aeternum, spiritum veritatis quem hic mundus accipere non potest, id est dilectores mundi? Animalis enim homo non percipit quae sunt spiritus dei. Sed adhuc videri potest ideo dictum: Et ego rogabo patrem, et alium aduocatum dabit vobis quasi non sufficiat solus filius. Illo autem loco ita de illo dictum est tamquam solus omnino sufficiat: Cum venerit ille spiritus veritatis, docebit vos omnem veritatem. Numquid ergo separatur hinc filius tamquam ipse non doceat omnem veritatem, aut quasi hoc impleat spiritus sanctus quod minus potuit docere filius? Dicant ergo, si places, maiorem esse filio spiritum sanctum quem minorem illo solent dicere. An quia non dictum est: 'Ipse solus,' aut: 'Nemo nisi ipse' vos docebit omnem veritatem, ideo permittunt ut cum illo docere credatur et filius? Apostolus ergo separavit filium ab sciendis his quae dei sunt ubi ait: Sic et quae dei sunt nemo scit nisi spiritus dei! ut iam isti peruersi possint ex hoc dicere quod et filium non doceat quae dei sunt nisi spiritus sanctus, tamquam maior minorem; cui filius ipse tantum tribuit ut diceret: Quia haec locutus sum vobis, tristitia cor uestrum implevit. Sed ego veritatem dico: expedit vobis ut ego eam; nam si non abiero, aduocatus non veniet ad vos.	18. Neither is the Spirit of either thence excluded, that is, the Spirit of the Father and of the Son; which Holy Spirit is specially called the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive. For to have the fruition of God the Trinity, after whose image we are made, is indeed the fullness of our joy, than which there is no greater. On this account the Holy Spirit is sometimes spoken of as if He alone sufficed to our blessedness: and He does alone so suffice, because He cannot be divided from the Father and the Son; as the Father alone is sufficient, because He cannot be divided from the Son and the Holy Spirit; and the Son alone is sufficient because He cannot be divided from the Father and the Holy Spirit. For what does He mean by saying, If you love me, keep my commandments; and I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, that is, the lovers of the world? For the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God. But it may perhaps seem, further, as if the words, And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, were so said as if the Son alone were not sufficient. And that place so speaks of the Spirit, as if He alone were altogether sufficient: When He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth. Pray, therefore, is the Son here excluded, as if He did not teach all truth, or as if the Holy Spirit were to fill up that which the Son could not fully teach? Let them say then, if it pleases them, that the Holy Spirit is greater than the Son, whom they are wont to call less. Or is it, forsooth, because it is not said, He alone—or, No one else except Himself— will guide you into all truth, that they allow that the Son also may be believed to teach together with Him? In that case the apostle has excluded the Son from knowing those things which are of God, where he says, Even so the things of God knows no one, but the Spirit of God: so that these perverse men might, upon this ground, go on to say that none but the Holy Spirit teaches even the Son the things of God, as the greater teaches the less; to whom the Son Himself ascribes so much as to say, But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless I tell you the truth; it is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you.
[1.9.18] Hoc autem dixit non propter inaequalitatem verbi dei et spiritus sancti, sed tamquam impedimento esset praesentia filii hominis apud eos quominus veniret ille qui minor non esset quia non semetipsum exinanivit sicut filius formam serui accipiens. Oportebat ergo ut auferretur ab oculis eorum forma serui quam intuentes hoc solum esse Christum putabant quod videbant. Inde est et illud quod ait: Si diligeretis me, gauderetis quondam eo ad patrem, quia pater maior me est id est propterea me oportet ire ad patrem quia dum me ita videtis, et ex hoc quod videtis aestimatis minor sum patre, atque ita circa creaturam susceptumque habitum occupati aequalitatem quam cum patre habeo non intellegitis. Inde est et illud: Noli me tangere, nondum enim ascendi ad patrem meum. Tactus enim tamquam finem facit notionis. Ideoque nolebat in eo esse finem intenti cordis in se ut hoc quod videbatur tantummodo putaretur. Ascensio autem ad patrem erat ita videri sicut aequalis est patri ut ibi esset finis visionis quae sufficit nobis. Aliquando item de filio solo dicitur quod ipse sufficiat et in eius visione merces tota promittitur dilectionis et desiderii nostri. Sic enim ait: Qui habet mandata mea et custodit ea, ille est qui me diligit. Qui autem me diligit, diligetur a patre meo; et ego diligam eum et ostendam me ipsum illi. Numquid hic quia non dixit: 'Ostendam illi et patrem,' ideo separavit patrem? Sed quia verum est: Ego et pater unum sumus cum pater ostenditur, et filius ostenditur qui in illo est; et cum filius ostenditur, etiam pater ostenditur qui in illo est. Sicut ergo cum ait: Et ostendam illi me ipsum intellegitur quia ostendit et patrem, ita et in eo quod dicitur: Cum tradiderit regnum deo et patri intellegitur quia non adimit sibi. Quoniam cum perducet credentes ad contemplationem dei et patris, profecto perducet ad contemplationem suam qui dixit: Et ostendam illi me ipsum. Et ideo consequenter cum dixisset illi Iudas: Domine, quid factum est quia ostensurus es te nobis et non huic mundo? respondit Iesus et dixit illi: Si quis me diligit, sermonem meum servabit; et pater meus diliget ilium, et ad illum veniemus et mansionem apud illum faciemus. Ecce quia non solum se ipsum ostendit ei a quo diligitur, quia simul cum patre venit ad eum et mansionem facit apud eum.	But this is said, not on account of any inequality of the Word of God and of the Holy Spirit, but as though the presence of the Son of man with them would be a hindrance to the coming of Him, who was not less, because He did not empty Himself, taking upon Him the form of a servant, as the Son did. It was necessary, then, that the form of a servant should be taken away from their eyes, because, through gazing upon it, they thought that alone which they saw to be Christ. Hence also is that which is said, If you loved me, you would rejoice because I said, 'I go unto the Father; for my Father is greater than I:' that is, on that account it is necessary for me to go to the Father, because, while you see me thus, you hold me to be less than the Father through that which you see; and so, being taken up with the creature and the fashion which I have taken upon me, you do not perceive the equality which I have with the Father. Hence, too, is this: Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father. For touch, as it were, puts a limit to their conception, and He therefore would not have the thought of the heart, directed towards Himself, to be so limited as that He should be held to be only that which He seemed to be. But the ascension to the Father meant, so to appear as He is equal to the Father, that the limit of the sight which suffices us might be attained there. Sometimes also it is said of the Son alone, that He himself suffices, and the whole reward of our love and longing is held forth as in the sight of Him. For so it is said, He that has my commandments, and keeps them, he it is that loves me; and he that loves me shall be loved of my Father; and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Pray, because He has not here said, And I will show the Father also to him, has He therefore excluded the Father? On the contrary, because it is true, I and my Father are one, when the Father is manifested, the Son also, who is in Him, is manifested; and when the Son is manifested, the Father also, who is in Him, is manifested. As, therefore, when it is said, And I will manifest myself to him, it is understood that He manifests also the Father; so likewise in that which is said, When He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father, it is understood that He does not take it away from Himself; since, when He shall bring believers to the contemplation of God, even the Father, doubtless He will bring them to the contemplation of Himself, who has said, And I will manifest myself to him. And so, consequently, when Judas had said to Him, Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said to him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. Behold, that He manifests not only Himself to him by whom He is loved, because He comes to him together with the Father, and abides with him.
[1.9.19] An forte putabitur mansionem in dilectore suo facientibus patre et filio exclusus esse ab hac mansione spiritus sanctus? Quid est ergo quod superius ait de spiritu sancto: Quem hic mundus accipere non potest quondam non videt illum, nostis illum vos quia vobiscum manes et in vobis est? Non itaque ab hac mansione separatus est de quo dictum est, vobiscum manes et in vobis est. Nisi forte quisquam sic absurdus est ut arbitretur cum pater et filius venerint ut mansionem faciant apud dilectorem suum, discessurum inde spiritum sanctum et tamquam locum daturum esse maioribus. Sed et huic carnali cogitationi occurrit scripturae paulo quippe superius ait: Et ego rogabo patrem, et alium aduocatum dabit vobis ut vobiscum sit in aeternum. Non ergo discedet patre et filio venientibus, sed in eadem mansione cum ipsis erit in aeternum quia nec ille sine ipsis venit nec illi sine illo. Sed propter insinuationem trinitatis personis etiam singulis nominatis dicuntur quaedam; non tamen aliis separatis intelleguntur propter eiusdem trinitatis unitatem unamque substantiam atque deitatem patris et filii et spiritus sancti.	19. Will it perhaps be thought, that when the Father and the Son make their abode with him who loves them, the Holy Spirit is excluded from that abode? What, then, is that which is said above of the Holy Spirit: Whom the world cannot receive, because it sees Him not: but you know Him; for He abides with you, and is in you? He, therefore, is not excluded from that abode, of whom it is said, He abides with you, and is in you; unless, perhaps, any one be so senseless as to think, that when the Father and the Son have come that they may make their abode with him who loves them, the Holy Spirit will depart thence, and (as it were) give place to those who are greater. But the Scripture itself meets this carnal idea; for it says a little above: I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever. He will not therefore depart when the Father and the Son come, but will be in the same abode with them eternally; because neither will He come without them, nor they without Him. But in order to intimate the Trinity, some things are separately affirmed, the Persons being also each severally named; and yet are not to be understood as though the other Persons were excluded, on account of the unity of the same Trinity and the One substance and Godhead of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
[1.10.20] Tradet itaque regnum deo et patri dominus noster Iesus Christus, non se inde separato nec spiritu sancto, quondam perducet credentes ad contemplationem dei ubi est finis omnium bonarum actionum et requies sempiterna et gaudium quod non auferetur a nobis. Hoc enim significat in eo quod ait: Iterum videbo vos, et gaudebit cor uestrum, et gaudium uestrum nemo auferet a vobis. Huius gaudii similitudinem praesignabat Maria sedens ad pedes domini et intenta in verbum eius, quieta scilicet ab omni actione et intenta in veritatem secundum quendam modum cuius capax est ista vita, quo tamen praefiguraret illud quod futurum est in aeternum. Martha quippe sorore sua in necessitatis actione conversante quamvis bona et utili, tamen cum requies successerit transitura, ipsa requiescebat in verbo domini. Et ideo dominus conquerenti Marthae quod eam soror non adivuaret respondit: Maria optimam partem elegit quae non auferetur ab ea. Non partem malam dixit quod agebat Martha, sed istam optimam quae non auferetur. Illa enim quae in ministerio indigentiae est, cum indigentia ipsa transierit, auferetur. Boni quippe operis transituri merces est requies permansura. In illa igitur contemplatione deus erit omnia in omnibus quia nihil ab illo aliud requiretur, sed solo ipso inlustrari perfruique sufficiet. Ideoque ille in quo spiritus interpellat gemitibus inenarrabilibus: Unam, inquit, petit a domino, hanc requiram, ut inhabitem in domo domini per omnes dies vitae meae, ut contempler delectationem domini. Contemplabimur enim deum patrem et filium et spiritum sanctum cum mediator dei et hominum homo Christus Iesus tradiderit regnum deo et patri ut iam non interpellet pro nobis mediator et sacerdos noster filius dei et filius hominis sed et ipse in quantum sacerdos est, assumpta propter nos forma serui, subiectus sit ei qui illi subiecit omnia et cui subiecit omnia, ut in quantum deus est cum illo nos subiectos habeas, in quantum sacerdos nobiscum illi subiectus sit. Quapropter cum filius sit et deus et homo, alla substantia deus, alla homo, homo potius in filio quam filius in patre; sicut caro animae meae alia substantia est ad animam meam quamvis in uno homine quam anima alterius hominis ad animam meam.	20. Our Lord Jesus Christ, therefore, will so deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father, Himself not being thence excluded, nor the Holy Spirit, when He shall bring believers to the contemplation of God, wherein is the end of all good actions, and everlasting rest, and joy which never will be taken from us. For He signifies this in that which He says: I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice; and your joy no man takes from you. Mary, sitting at the feet of the Lord, and earnestly listening to His word, foreshowed a similitude of this joy; resting as she did from all business, and intent upon the truth, according to that manner of which this life is capable, by which, however, to prefigure that which shall be for eternity. For while Martha, her sister, was cumbered about necessary business, which, although good and useful, yet, when rest shall have succeeded, is to pass away, she herself was resting in the word of the Lord. And so the Lord replied to Martha, when she complained that her sister did not help her: Mary has chosen the best part, which shall not be taken away from her. He did not say that Martha was acting a bad part; but that best part that shall not be taken away. For that part which is occupied in the ministering to a need shall be taken away when the need itself has passed away. Since the reward of a good work that will pass away is rest that will not pass away. In that contemplation, therefore, God will be all in all; because nothing else but Himself will be required, but it will be sufficient to be enlightened by and to enjoy Him alone. And so he in whom the Spirit makes intercession with groanings which cannot be uttered, says, One thing have I desired of the Lord, that I will seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to contemplate the beauty of the Lord. For we shall then contemplate God, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, when the Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father, so as no longer to make intercession for us, as our Mediator and Priest, Son of God and Son of man; but that He Himself too, in so far as He is a Priest that has taken the form of a servant for us, shall be put under Him who has put all things under Him, and under whom He has put all things: so that, in so far as He is God, He with Him will have put us under Himself; in so far as He is a Priest, He with us will be put under Him. And therefore as the [incarnate] Son is both God and man, it is rather to be said that the manhood in the Son is another substance [from the Son], than that the Son in the Father [is another substance from the Father]; just as the carnal nature of my soul is more another substance in relation to my soul itself, although in one and the same man, than the soul of another man is in relation to my soul.
[1.10.21] Cum ergo tradiderit regnum deo et patri, id est cum credentes et viventes ex fide pro quibus nunc mediator interpellat perduxerit ad contemplationem cui percipiendae suspiramus et gemimus, et transierit labor et gemitus, iam non interpellabit pro nobis tradito regno deo et patri. Hoc significans ait: Haec vobis locutus sum in similitudinibus; veniet hora quando iam non in similitudinibus loquar vobis, sed manifeste de patre nuntiabo vobis id est iam non erunt similitudines cum visio fuerit facie ad faciem. Hoc est enim quod ait, sed manifeste de patre nuntiabo vobis, ac si diceret 'manifeste patrem ostendam vobis.' Nuntiabo quippe ait quia verbum eius est. Sequitur enim et dicit: Illa die in nomine meo petetis, et non dico vobis quia ego rogabo patrem; ipse enim pater amat vos quia vos me amatis et credidistis quia ego a deo exivi. Exivi a patre et veni in hunc mundum: iterum relinquo mundum et uado ad patrem. Quid est, a patre exit, nisi 'non in ea forma qua aequalis sum patri sed aliter, id est in assumpta creatura minor apparui'? Et quid est, veni in hunc mundum, nisi 'formam serui quam me exinaniens accept etiam peccatorum qui mundum istum diligunt oculis demonstravi'? Et quid est, iterum relinquo mundum, nisi 'ab aspectu dilectorum mundi aufero quod viderunt'? Et quid est, uado ad patrem, nisi 'doceo me sic intellegendum a fidelibus meis quomodo aequalis sum patri'? Hoc qui credunt digni habebuntur perduci a fide ad speciem, id est ad ipsam visionem, quo perducens dictus est tradere regnum deo et patri. Fideles quippe eius quos redemit sanguine suo dicti sunt regnum eius pro quibus nunc interpellat; tunc autem illic eos sibi faciens inhaerere ubi aequalis est patri, non iam rogabit patrem pro eis. Ipse enim, inquit, pater amat vos. Ex hoc enim rogat quo minor est patre quo vero aequalis exaudit cum patre. Unde se ab eo quod dixit: Ipse enim pater amat vos utique ipse non separat; sed secundum ea facit intellegi quae supra commemoravi satisque insinuavi, plerumque ita nominari unamquamque in trinitate personam ut et aliae illic intellegantur. Sic itaque dictum est: Ipse enim pater amat vos ut consequenter intellegatur et filius et spiritus sanctus; non quia modo nos non amat qui proprio filio non pepercit sed pro nobis omnibus tradidit eum sed tales nos amat deus quales futuri sumus, non quales sumus. Quales enim amat, tales in aeternum conservat, quod tunc erit cum tradiderit regnum deo et patri qui nunc interpellat pro nobis ut iam non roget patrem quia ipse pater amat nos. Quo autem merito nisi fidei qua credimus antequam illud quod promittitur videamus? Per hanc enim pervenimus ad speciem ut tales amet quales amat ut simus, non quales odit quia sumus, et hortatur ac praestat ne tales esse semper velimus.	21. When, therefore, He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father,— that is, when He shall have brought those who believe and live by faith, for whom now as Mediator He makes intercession, to that contemplation, for the obtaining of which we sigh and groan, and when labor and groaning shall have passed away—then, since the kingdom will have been delivered up to God, even the Father, He will no more make intercession for us. And this He signifies, when He says: These things have I spoken unto you in similitudes; but the time comes when I shall no more speak unto you in similitudes, but I shall declare to you plainly of the Father: that is, they will not then be similitudes, when the sight shall be face to face. For this it is which He says, But I will declare to you plainly of the Father; as if He said I will plainly show you the Father. For He says, I will declare to you, because He is His word. For He goes on to say, At that day you shall ask in my name; and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you: for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God. I came forth from the Father, and have come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father. What is meant by I came forth from the Father, unless this, that I have not appeared in that form in which I am equal to the Father, but otherwise, that is, as less than the Father, in the creature which I have taken upon me? And what is meant by I have come into the world, unless this, that I have manifested to the eyes even of sinners who love this world, the form of a servant which I took, making myself of no reputation? And what is meant by Again, I leave the world, unless this, that I take away from the sight of the lovers of this world that which they have seen? And what is meant by I go to the Father, unless this, that I teach those who are my faithful ones to understand me in that being in which I am equal to the Father? Those who believe this will be thought worthy of being brought by faith to sight, that is, to that very sight, in bringing them to which He is said to deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father. For His faithful ones, whom He has redeemed with His blood, are called His kingdom, for whom He now intercedes; but then, making them to abide in Himself there, where He is equal to the Father, He will no longer pray the Father for them. For, He says, the Father Himself loves you. For indeed He prays, in so far as He is less than the Father; but as He is equal with the Father, He with the Father grants. Wherefore He certainly does not exclude Himself from that which He says, The Father Himself loves you; but He means it to be understood after that manner which I have above spoken of, and sufficiently intimated,— namely, that for the most part each Person of the Trinity is so named, that the other Persons also may be understood. Accordingly, For the Father Himself loves you, is so said that by consequence both the Son and the Holy Spirit also may be understood: not that He does not now love us, who spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all; but God loves us, such as we shall be, not such as we are, for such as they are whom He loves, such are they whom He keeps eternally; which shall then be, when He who now makes intercession for us shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father, so as no longer to ask the Father, because the Father Himself loves us. But for what deserving, except of faith, by which we believe before we see that which is promised? For by this faith we shall arrive at sight; so that He may love us, being such, as He loves us in order that we may become; and not such, as He hates us because we are, and exhorts and enables us to wish not to be always.
[1.11.22] Quapropter cognita ista regula intellegendarum scripturarum de filio dei ut distinguamus quid in eis sonet secundum formam dei in qua est et aequalis est patri, et quid secundum formam serui quam accepit et minor est patre, non conturbabimur tamquam contrariis ac repugnantibus inter se sanctorum librorum sententiis. Nam secundum formam dei aequalis est patri et filius et spiritus sanctus quia neuter eorum creatura est sicut iam ostendimus; secundum formam autem serui minor est patre quia ipse dixit: Pater maior me est minor est se ipso quia de illo dictum est: Semetipsum exinanivit minor est spiritu sancto quia ipse ait: Qui dixerit blasphemiam in filium hominis, remittetur ei, qui autem dixerit in spiritum sanctum, non dimittetur ei. Et in ipso virtutes operatus est dicens: Si ego in spiritu dei eicio daemonia, certe supervenit super vos regnum dei. Et apud Esaiam dicit, quam lectionem ipse in synagoga recitavit et de se completam sine scrupulo dubitationis ostendit: Spiritus, inquit, domini super me; propter quod unxit me, euangelizare pauperibus misit me, praedicare captivis remissionem... etc. ad quae facienda ideo se dicit missum quia spiritus domini est super eum. Secundum formam dei omnia per ipsum facta sunt, secundum formam serui ipse factus est ex muliere, factus suo lege. Secundum formam dei ipse et pater unum sunt, secundum formam serui non venit facere voluntatem suam sed voluntatem eius qui misit eum. Secundum formam dei sicut habet pater vitam in semetipso, sic dedit et filio vitam habere in semetipso; secundum formam serui tristis est anima eius usque ad mortem et: Pater, inquit, si fieri potest, transeat hic calix. Secundum formam dei ipse est verus deus et vita aeterna; secundum formam serui factus est obediens usque ad mortem, mortem autem crucis.	22. Wherefore, having mastered this rule for interpreting the Scriptures concerning the Son of God, that we are to distinguish in them what relates to the form of God, in which He is equal to the Father, and what to the form of a servant which He took, in which He is less than the Father; we shall not be disquieted by apparently contrary and mutually repugnant sayings of the sacred books. For both the Son and the Holy Spirit, according to the form of God, are equal to the Father, because neither of them is a creature, as we have already shown: but according to the form of a servant He is less than the Father, because He Himself has said, My Father is greater than I; and He is less than Himself, because it is said of Him, He emptied Himself; and He is less than the Holy Spirit, because He Himself says, Whosoever speaks a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him; but whosoever speaks against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven Him. And in the Spirit too He wrought miracles, saying: But if I with the Spirit of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God has come upon you. And in Isaiah He says—in the lesson which He Himself read in the synagogue, and showed without a scruple of doubt to be fulfilled concerning Himself—The Spirit of the Lord God, He says, is upon me: because He has anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives, etc.: for the doing of which things He therefore declares Himself to be sent, because the Spirit of God is upon Him. According to the form of God, all things were made by Him; according to the form of a servant, He was Himself made of a woman, made under the law. According to the form of God, He and the Father are one; according to the form of a servant, He came not to do His own will, but the will of Him that sent Him. According to the form of God, As the Father has life in Himself, so has He given to the Son to have life in Himself; according to the form of a servant, His soul is sorrowful even unto death; and, O my Father, He says, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. According to the form of God, He is the True God, and eternal life; according to the form of a servant, He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
[1.11.23] Secundum formam dei, omnia quae habet pater ipsius sunt: Et omnia tua mea sunt, inquit, et mea tua secundum formam serui non est doctrina ipsius sed illius qui eum misit.	23. According to the form of God, all things that the Father has are His, and All mine, He says, are Yours, and Yours are mine; according to the form of a servant, the doctrine is not His own, but His that sent Him.
[1.12.23] Et: De die et hora nemo scit neque angeli in caelo neque filius nisi pater. Hoc enim nescit quod nescientes facit, id est quod non ita sciebat ut tunc discipulis indicaret, sicut dictum est ad Abraham: Nunc cognovi quia times deum id est nunc feci ut cognosceres, quia et ipse sibi in illa temptatione probatus innotuit. Nam et illud utique dicturus erat discipulis tempore opportuno, de quo futuro tamquam praeterito loquens ait: Iam non dicam vos seruos sed amicos. Seruus enim nescit voluntatem domini sui, vos autem dixi amicos quia omnia quae audivi a patre meo nota vobis feci quod nondum fecerat, sed quia certo facturus erat quasi iam fecisset locutus est. Ipsis enim ait: Multa habeo vobis dicere, sed non potestis illa portare modo. Inter quae intellegitur et: De die et hora. Nam et apostolus: Neque enim iudicavi me, inquit, scire aliquid in vobis nisi Christum Iesum et hunc crucifixum. Eis enim loquebatur qui capere altiora de Christi deitate non poterant. Quibus etiam paulo post dicit: Non potui loqui vobis quasi spiritalibus sed quasi carnalibus. Hoc ergo inter illos nesciebat quod per illum scire non poterant. Et hoc solum se scire dicebat quod eos per illum scire oportebat. Denique sciebat inter perfectos quod inter paruulos nesciebat; ibi quippe ait: Sapientiam loquimur inter perfectos. Eo namque genere locutionis nescire quisque dicitur quod occultat quo dicitur fossa caeca quae occulta est. Neque enim aliquo genere loquuntur scripturae quod in consuetudine humana non inveniatur quia utique hominibus loquuntur.	Again, Of that day and that hour knows 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 you fear God, that is, now I have caused you 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 knows not what his Lord does: 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 you 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.
[1.12.24] Secundum formam dei dictum est: Ante omnes colles genuit me id est ante omnes altitudines creaturarum, et: Ante luciferum genui te id est ante omnia tempora et temporalia; secundum formam autem serui dictum est: Dominus creavit me in principio viarum suarum. Quia secundum formam dei dixit: Ego sum veritas et secundum formam serui: Ego sum via. Quia enim ipse est primogenitus a mortuis, iterfecit ecclesiae suae ad regnum dei ad vitam aeternam, cui caput est ad immortalitatem etiam corporis, ideo creatus est in principio viarum dei in opera eius. Secundum formam enim dei principium est quod et loquitur nobis, in quo principio fecit deus caelum et terram; secundum formam autem serui: Sponsus procedens de thalamo suo. Secundum formam dei: Primogenitus omnis creaturae, et ipse est ante omnes et omnia in illo constant secundum formam serui: Ipse est caput corporis ecclesiae. Secundum formam dei dominus gloriae. Unde manifestum est quod ipse glorificet sanctos suos. Quos enim praedestinavit, ipsos et vocavit; et quos vocavit, ipsos et iustificavit; quos autem iustificavit, ipsos et glorificavit. De illo quippe dictum est quod iustificet impium; de illo dictum est quod sit iustus et iustificans. Si ergo quos iustificavit, ipsos et glorificavit, qui iustificat ipse et glorificat, qui est, ut dixi, dominus gloriae. Secundum formam tamen serui satagentibus discipulis de glorificatione sua respondit: Sedere ad dexteram meam aut ad sinistram non est meum dare vobis, sed quibus paratum est a patre meo.	24. According to the form of God, it is said Before all the hills He begot me, that is, before all the loftinesses of things created and, Before the dawn I begot You, 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 speaks 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 justifies 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.
[1.12.25] Quod autem paratum est a patre eius et ab ipso filio paratum est quia ipse et pater unum sunt. Iam enim ostendimus in hac trinitate per multos locutionum divinarum modos etiam de singulis dici quod omnium est propter inseparabilem operationem unius eiusdemque substantiae. Sicut et de spiritu sancto dicit: Cum ego iero, mittam illum ad vos. Non dixit, 'mittemus,' sed ita quasi tantum filius eum missurus esset, non et pater; cum alio loco dicat: Haec locutus sum vobis apud vos martens, aduocatus autem ille spiritus sanctus quem mittet pater in nomine meo, ille vobis declarabit omnia. Hic rursus ita dictum est quasi non eum missurus esset et filius sed tantum pater. Sicut ergo ista ita et illud quod ait, sed quibus paratum est a patre meo; cum patre se intellegi voluit parare sedes gloriae quibus vellet. Sed dicit aliquis: 'Illic cum de spiritu sancto loqueretur, ita se missurum ait ut non negaret patrem missurum, et alio loco ita patrem ut non negaret se missurum; hic vero aperte ait: Non est meum dare atque ita secutus a patre dixit ista praeparata.' Sed hoc est quod praestruximus secundum formam serui dictum, ut ita intellegeremus: Non est meum dare vobis ac si diceretur: 'Non est humanae potestatis hoc dare,' ut per illud intellegatur hoc dare per quod deus et aequalis est patri. Non est meum, inquit, dare, id est non humane potestate ista do, sed quibus paratum est a patre meo; sed iam tu intellege quia si omnia quae habet pater mea sunt, et hoc utique meum est, et cum patre ista paravi.	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 has are mine, then this certainly is mine also, and I with the Father have prepared these things.
[1.12.26] Nam et illud quaero quomodo dictum sit: Si quis non audit verba mea, ego non iudicabo illum. Fortassis enim ita hoc dixit, ego non iudicabo ilium, quemadmodum ibi, non est meum dare. Sed quid hic sequitur? Non enim veni, inquit, ut iudicem mundum, sed ut saluum faciam mundum. Deinde adiungit et dicit: Qui me spernit et non accipit verba mea, habet qui se iudicet. Hic iam intellegeremus patrem nisi adiungeret et diceret: Verbum quod locutus sum, ipsum iudicabit ilium in novissima die. Quid igitur iam nec filius iudicabit quia dixit: Ego non iudicabo ilium, nec pater, sed verbum quod locutus est filius? Immo audi adhuc quod sequitur: Quia ego, inquit, non ex me locutus sum, sed ille qui me misit pater, ille mandatum mihi dedit quid dicam et quid loquar, et scio quia mandatum eius vita aeterna est. Quae ego loquor, ita ut dixit mihi pater, sic loquor. Si ergo non iudicat filius sed verbum quod locutus est filius, ideo autem iudicat verbum quod locutus est filius quia non ex se locutus est filius, sed qui misit eum pater mandatum ei dedit quid dicat et quid loquatur. Pater utique iudicat cuius verbum est quod locutus est filius, atque ipsum verbum patris idem ipse est filius. Non enim aliud est mandatum patris, aliud verbum patris; nam et verbum hoc appellavit et mandatum. Videamus ergo ne forte quod ait "Ego non ex me locutus sum", hoc intellegi voluerit, 'Ego non ex me natus sum.' Si enim verbum patris loquitur, se ipsum loquitur quia ipse est verbum patris. Plerumque enim dicit: Dedit mihi pater in quo vult intellegi quod eum genuerit pater, ut non tamquam iam exsistenti et non habenti dederit aliquid, sed ipsum dedisse ut haberet, genuisse est ut esset. Non enim sicut creatura ita dei filius ante incarnationem et ante assumptam creaturam, unigenitus per quem facta sunt omnia, aliud est et aliud habet, sed hoc ipsum est quod est id quod habet. Quod illo loco manifestius dicitur si quis ad capiendum sit idoneus ubi ait: Sicut habet pater vitam in semetipso ita dedit filio habere vitam in semetipso. Neque enim iam exsistenti et vitam non habenti dedit ut haberet vitam in semetipso cum eo ipso quod est vita sit. Hoc est ergo, dedit filio habere vitam in semetipso, genuit filium esse incommutabilem vit am quod est vita aeterna. Cum ergo verbum dei sit filius dei et filius dei sit verus deus et vita aeterna sicut in epistula sua dicit Iohannes, etiam hic quid aliud agnoscimus cum dicit dominus: Verbum quod locutus sum, ipsum iudicabit eum in novissima die? Et ipsum verbum patris verbum esse dicit et mandatum patris ipsumque mandatum vitam aeternam. Et scio, inquit, quia mandatum eius vita aeterna est.	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 rejects me, and receives not my words, has one that judges 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 has 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 has spoken; and the word which the Son has spoken therefore judges, because the Son has 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 has 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 has 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 begot 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 has life in Himself, so has 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 begot 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.
[1.12.27] Quaero itaque quomodo intellegamus: Ego non iudicabo sed: verbum quod locutus sum iudicabit quod ex consequentibus apparel ita dictum ac si diceret 'Ego non iudicabo, sed verbum patris iudicabit.' Verbum autem patris est ipse filius dei. Siccine intellegendum est: 'Ego non iudicabo, sed ego iudicabo'? Quomodo istud potest esse verum nisi ita: 'Ego' scilicet 'non iudicabo ex potestate humane quia filius hominis sum, sed ego iudicabo ex potestate verbi quondam filius dei sum.' Aut si contraria et repugnantia videntur 'Ego non iudicabo, sed ego iudicabo,' quid illic dicemus ubi ait: Mea doctrina non est mea Quomodo mea, quomodo non mea? Non enim dixit: 'Ista doctrina non est mea,' sed: Mea doctrina non est mea; quam dixit suam, eandem dixit non suam. Quomodo istud verum est nisi secundum aliud suam dixerit, secundum aliud non suam; secundum formam dei, suam; secundum formam serui, non suam? Cum enim dicit: Non est mea sed eius qui me misit ad ipsum verbum nos facit recurrere. Doctrina enim patris est verbum patris, qui est unicus filius. Quid sibi et illud vult: Qui in me credit, non in me credit Quomodo in ipsum, quomodo non in ipsum? Quomodo tam contrarium sibique adversum potest intellegi: Qui in me credit, inquit, non in me credit sed in eum qui me misit nisi ita intellegas: 'Qui in me credit, non in hoc quod videt credit,' ne sit spes nostra in creatura, sed in illo qui suscepit creaturam in qua humanis oculis appareret ac sic ad se aequalem patri contemplandum per fidem corda mundaret? Ideoque ad patrem referens intentionem credentium et dicens: Non in me credit sed in eum qui me misit non utique se a patre, id est ab illo qui eum misit, voluit separari, sed ut sic in eum crederetur quomodo in patrem cui aequalis est. Quod aperte alio loco dicit: Credite in deum et in me credite id est sicut creditis in deum, sic et in me quia ego et pater unus deus. Sicuti ergo hic tamquam abstulit a se fidem hominum et in patrem transtulit dicendo: Non in me credit sed in eum qui me misit, a quo tamen se non utique separavit; sic etiam quod ait: Non est meum dare, sed quibus paratum est a patre meo puto clarere secundum quid utrumque accipiendum sit. Tale est enim et illud: Ego non iudicabo cum ipse iudicaturus sit vivos et mortuos; sed quia non ex potestate humane, propterea recurrens ad deitatem sursum erigit corda hominum propter quae subleuanda descendit.	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 believes in me, believes not on me? How believe in Him, yet not believe in Him? How can so opposite and inconsistent a thing be understood— Whoso believes in me, He says, believes not on me, but on Him that sent me;— unless you so understand it, Whoso believes in me believes 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, Believes 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 in Himself, as they believe in the Father, to whom He is equal. And this He says in express terms in another place, You 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, Believes 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 [it 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.
[1.13.28] Nisi tamen idem ipse esset filius hominis propter formam serui quam accepit qui est filius dei propter dei formam in qua est, non diceret apostolus Paulus de principibus huius saeculi: Si enim cognovissent, numquam dominum gloriae crucifixissent. Ex forma enim serui crucifixus est, et tamen dominus gloriae crucifixus est. Talis enim erat illa susceptio quae deum hominem faceret et hominem deum. Quid tamen propter quid et quid secundum quid dicatur, adivuante domino prudens et diligens et plus rector intellegit. Nam ecce diximus quia secundum id quod deus est glorificat suos, secundum hoc utique quod dominus gloriae est; et tamen dominus gloriae crucifixus est, quia recte dicitur et deus crucifixus, non ex virtute divinitatis sed ex infirmitate carnis; sicut dicimus quia secundum id quod deus est iudicat, hoc est ex potestate divina non ex humane, et tamen ipse homo iudicaturus est sicut dominus gloriae crucifixus est. Ita enim aperte dicit: Cum venerit filius hominis in gloria sua et omnes angeli cum eo, tunc congregabuntur ante eum omnes gentes et caetera quae de futuro iudicio usque ad ultimam sententiam in eo loco praedicantur. Et iudaei quippe, qui in malitia perseuerantes in illo iudicio puniendi sunt, sicut alibi scriptum est: Videbunt in quem pupugerunt. Cum enim et boni et mali visuri sint iudicem vivorum et mortuorum, procul dubio eum videre mall non poterunt nisi secundum formam qua filius hominis est, sed tamen in claritate in qua iudicabit, non in humilitate in qua iudicatus est. Caeterum illam dei formam in qua aequalis est patri procul dubio impii non videbunt. Non enim sunt mundicordes: Beati enim mundicordes quondam ipsi deum videbunt. Et ipsa visio est facie ad faciem, quae summum praemium promittitur iustis; et ipsa fiet cum trades regnum deo et patri, in quo et suae formae visionem vult intellegi, subiecta deo universa creatura et ipsa in qua filius dei filius hominis factus est, quia secundum hanc et ipse filius tunc subiectus illi erit qui ei subiecit omnia ut sit deus omnia in omnibus. Alioquin si filius dei iudex in forma in qua aequalis est patri etiam impiis cum iudicaturus est apparebit, quid est quod pro magno dilectori suo pollicetur dicens: Et ego diligam eum et ostendam me ipsum illi? Quapropter filius hominis iudicaturus est nec tamen ex humana potestate sed ex ea qua filius dei est; et rursus filius dei iudicaturus est, nec tamen in ea forma apparens in qua deus est aequalis patri, sed in ea qua filius hominis est.	28. Yet unless the very same were the Son of man on account of the form of a servant which He took, who is the Son of God on account of the form of God in which He is; Paul the apostle would not say of the princes of this world, For had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. For He was crucified after the form of a servant, and yet the Lord of glory was crucified. For that taking was such as to make God man, and man God. Yet what is said on account of what, and what according to what, the thoughtful, diligent, and pious reader discerns for himself, the Lord being his helper. For instance, we have said that He glorifies His own, as being God, and certainly then as being the Lord of glory; and yet the Lord of glory was crucified, because even God is rightly said to have been crucified, not after the power of the divinity, but after the weakness of the flesh: just as we say, that He judges as God, that is, by divine power, not by human; and yet the man Himself will judge, just as the Lord of glory was crucified: for so He expressly says, When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, and before Him shall be gathered all nations; and the rest that is foretold of the future judgment in that place even to the last sentence. And the Jews, inasmuch as they will be punished in that judgment for persisting in their wickedness, as it is elsewhere written, shall look upon Him whom they have pierced. For whereas both good and bad shall see the Judge of the quick and dead, without doubt the bad will not be able to see Him, except after the form in which He is the Son of man; but yet in the glory wherein He will judge, not in the lowliness wherein He was judged. But the ungodly without doubt will not see that form of God in which He is equal to the Father. For they are not pure in heart; and Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. And that sight is face to face, the very sight that is promised as the highest reward to the just, and which will then take place when He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; and in this kingdom He means the sight of His own form also to be understood, the whole creature being made subject to God, including that wherein the Son of God was made the Son of man. Because, according to this creature, The Son also Himself shall be subject unto Him, that put all things under Him, that God may be all in all. Otherwise if the Son of God, judging in the form in which He is equal to the Father, shall appear when He judges to the ungodly also; what becomes of that which He promises, as some great thing, to him who loves Him, saying, And I will love him, and will manifest myself to him? Wherefore He will judge as the Son of man, yet not by human power, but by that whereby He is the Son of God; and on the other hand, He will judge as the Son of God, yet not appearing in that [unincarnate] form in which He is God equal to the Father, but in that [incarnate form] in which He is the Son of man.
[1.13.29] Itaque utrumque dici potest, et: 'Filius hominis iudicabit,' et: 'Non filius hominis iudicabit,' quia filius hominis iudicabit ut verum sit quod ait: Cum venerit filius hominis, tunc congregabuntur ante eum omnes gentes et non filius hominis iudicabit ut verum sit quod ait: Ego non iudicabo et: Ego non quaero gloriam meam; est qui quaerat et iudicet. Nam secundum id quod in iudicio non forma dei sed forma filii hominis apparebit, nec ipse pater iudicabit. Secundum hoc enim dictum est: Pater non iudicat quemquam sed omne iudicium dedit filio. Quod utrum ex illa locutione dictum sit quam supra commemoravimus ubi ait: Sic dedit filio habere vitam in semetipso ut significaret quia sic genuit filium an ex illa qua loquitur apostolus dicens: Propter quod eum suscitavit et donavit ei nomen quod est super omne nomen. Hoc enim de filio hominis dictum est secundum quem dei filius suscitatus est a mortuis. Ille quippe in forma dei aequalis est patri, ex quo se exinanivit formam serui accipiens; in ipsa forma serui et agit et patitur et accipit, quae consequenter contexit apostolus: Humiliavit se factus obediens usque ad mortem, mortem autem crucis; propter quod eum exaltavit et donavit ei nomen quod est super omne nomen, ut in nomine Iesu omne genu flectatur caelestium et terrestrium et infernorum, et omnis lingua confiteatur quia dominus Iesus in gloria est dei patris. Utrum ergo secundum illam an secundum istam locutionem dictum sit: Omne iudicium dedit filio, satis hinc apparel quia si secundum illud diceretur secundum quod dictum est: Dedit filio habere vitam in semetipso non utique diceretur: Pater non iudicat quemquam. Secundum hoc enim quod aequalem pater genuit filium iudicat cum illo. Secundum hoc ergo dictum est quod in iudicio non forma dei sed forma filii hominis apparebit. Non quia non iudicabit qui dedit omne iudicium filio, cum de illo dicat filius: Est qui quaerat et iudicet sed ita dictum est: Pater non iudicat quemquam sed omne iudicium dedit filio ac si diceretur: 'Patrem nemo videbit in iudicio vivorum et mortuorum sed omnes filium,' quia et filius hominis est ut possit et ab impiis videri cum et illi videbunt in quem pupugerunt.	29. Therefore both ways of speaking may be used; the Son of man will judge, and, the Son of man will not judge: since the Son of man will judge, that the text may be true which says, When the Son of man shall come, then before Him shall be gathered all nations; and the Son of man will not judge, that the text may be true which says, I will not judge him; and, I seek not my own glory: there is One that seeks and judges. For in respect to this, that in the judgment, not the form of God, but the form of the Son of man will appear, the Father Himself will not judge; for according to this it is said, For the Father judges no man, but has committed all judgment unto the Son. Whether this is said after that mode of speech which we have mentioned above, where it is said, So has He given to the Son to have life in Himself, that it should signify that so He begot the Son; or, whether after that of which the apostle speaks, saying, Wherefore God also has highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name:— (For this is said of the Son of man, in respect to whom the Son of God was raised from the dead; since He, being in the form of God equal to the Father, wherefrom He emptied Himself by taking the form of a servant, both acts and suffers, and receives, in that same form of a servant, what the apostle goes on to mention: He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross; wherefore God also has highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, in the Glory of God the Father: — whether then the words, He has committed all judgment unto the Son, are said according to this or that mode of speech; it sufficiently appears from this place, that if they were said according to that sense in which it is said, He has given to the Son to have life in Himself, it certainly would not be said, The Father judges no man. For in respect to this, that the Father has begotten the Son equal to Himself, He judges with Him. Therefore it is in respect to this that it is said, that in the judgment, not the form of God, but the form of the Son of man will appear. Not that He will not judge, who has committed all judgment unto the Son, since the Son says of Him, There is One that seeks and judges: but it is so said, The Father judges no man, but has committed all judgment unto the Son; as if it were said, No one will see the Father in the judgment of the quick and the dead, but all will see the Son: because He is also the Son of man, so that He can be seen even by the ungodly, since they too shall see Him whom they have pierced.
[1.13.30] Quod ne conicere potius quam aperte demonstrare videamur, proferimus eiusdem domini certam manifestamque sententiam qua ostendamus ipsam fuisse causam ut diceret: Pater non iudicat quemquam sed omne iudicium dedit filio quia iudex forma filii hominis apparebit, quae forma non est patris sed filii, nec ea filii in qua aequalis est patri sed in qua minor est patre, ut sit in iudicio conspicuus et bonds et malis. Paulo post enim dicit: Amen dico vobis quia qui verbum meum audit et credit ei qui me misit, habet vitam aeternam, et in iudicium non veniet sed transiet de morte in vitam. Haec vita aeterna est illa visio quae non pertinet ad malos. Deinde sequitur: Amen, amen dico vobis quia veniet hora et nunc est cum mortui audient vocem filii dei, et qui audierint vivent. Et hoc proprium est piorum qui sic audiunt de incarnatione eius ut credant quia filius dei est, id est sic eum propter se factum accipiunt minorem patre in forma serui ut credant quia aequalis est patri in forma dei. Et ideo sequitur et hoc ipsum commendans dicit: Sicut enim habet pater vitam in semetipso, ita dedit et filio vitam habere in semetipso. Deinde venit ad visionem suae claritatis in qua venturus est ad iudicium, quae visio communis erit et impiis et iustis. Sequitur enim et dicit: Et potestatem dedit ei et iudicium facere quondam filius hominis est. Puto nihil esse manifestius. Nam quia filius dei est et aequalis est patri, non accipit inane potestatem iudicii faciendi sed habet illam cum patre in occulto; accipit autem illam ut bond et mall eum videant iudicantem quia filius hominis est. Visio quippe filii hominis exhibebitur et malis; nam visio formae dei non nisi mundis corde, quia ipsi deum videbunt; id est solis piis quorum dilectioni hoc ipsum promittit quia ostendet se ipsum illis. Et ideo vide quid sequitur: Nolite mirari hoc inquit. Quid nos prohibet mirari nisi illud quod reuera miratur omnis qui non intellegit ut ideo diceret patrem dedisse ei potestatem et iudicium facere quondam filius hominis est cum magis quasi hoc exspectaretur ut diceret, 'quoniam filius dei est'? Sed quia filium dei secundum id quod in forma dei aequalis est patri videre iniqui non possum, oportet autem ut iudicem vivorum et mortuorum cum coram iudicabuntur et iusti videant et iniqui. Nolite, inquit, hoc mirari, quondam veniet hora in qua omnes qui in monumentis sunt audient vocem eius, et prodient qui bona gesserunt in resurrectionem vitae; qui mala gesserunt in resurrectionem iudicii. Ad hoc ergo oportebat ut ideo acciperet illam potestatem quia filius hominis est ut resurgentes omnes viderent eum in forma in qua videri ab omnibus potest, sed alii ad damnationem alii ad vitam aeternam. Quae est autem vita aeterna nisi iila visio quae non conceditur impus? Ut cognoscant te, inquit, unum verum deum et quem misisti Iesum Christum. Quomodo et ipsum Iesum Christum nisi quemadmodum unum verum deum qui ostendet se ipsum illis, non quomodo se ostendet etiam puniendis in forma filii hominis?	30. Lest, however, we may seem to conjecture this rather than to prove it clearly, let us produce a certain and plain sentence of the Lord Himself, by which we may show that this was the cause why He said, The Father judges no man, but has committed all judgment unto the Son, viz. because He will appear as Judge in the form of the Son of man, which is not the form of the Father, but of the Son; nor yet that form of the Son in which He is equal to the Father, but that in which He is less than the Father; in order that, in the judgment, He may be visible both to the good and to the bad. For a little while after He says, Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that hears my word, and believes in Him that sent me, has everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but shall pass from death unto life. Now this life eternal is that sight which does not belong to the bad. Then follows, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. And this is proper to the godly, who so hear of His incarnation, as to believe that He is the Son of God, that is, who so receive Him, as made for their sakes less than the Father, in the form of a servant, that they believe Him equal to the Father, in the form of God. And thereupon He continues, enforcing this very point, For as the Father has life in Himself, so has He given to the Son to have life in Himself. And then He comes to the sight of His own glory, in which He shall come to judgment; which sight will be common to the ungodly and to the just. For He goes on to say, And has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of man. I think nothing can be more clear. For inasmuch as the Son of God is equal to the Father, He does not receive this power of executing judgment, but He has it with the Father in secret; but He receives it, so that the good and the bad may see Him judging, inasmuch as He is the Son of man. Since the sight of the Son of man will be shown to the bad also: for the sight of the form of God will not be shown except to the pure in heart, for they shall see God; that is, to the godly only, to whose love He promises this very thing, that He will show Himself to them. And see, accordingly, what follows: Marvel not at this, He says. Why does He forbid us to marvel, unless it be that, in truth, every one marvels who does not understand, that therefore He said the Father gave Him power also to execute judgment, because He is the Son of man; whereas, it might rather have been anticipated that He would say, since He is the Son of God? But because the wicked are not able to see the Son of God as He is in the form of God equal to the Father, but yet it is necessary that both the just and the wicked should see the Judge of the quick and dead, when they will be judged in His presence; Marvel not at this, He says, for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. For this purpose, then, it was necessary that He should therefore receive that power, because He is the Son of man, in order that all in rising again might see Him in the form in which He can be seen by all, but by some to damnation, by others to life eternal. And what is life eternal, unless that sight which is not granted to the ungodly? That they might know You, He says, the One true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent. And how are they to know Jesus Christ Himself also, unless as the One true God, who will show Himself to them; not as He will show Himself, in the form of the Son of man, to those also that shall be punished?
[1.13.31] Secundum illam visionem bonus est secundum quam visionem deus apparet mundis corde, quondam: Quam bonus deus Israhel rectis corde! Quando autem iudicem videbunt mali, non eis videbitur bonus quia non ad eum gaudebunt corde, sed tunc se plangent omnes tribus terrae in numero utique malorum omnium et infidelium. Propter hoc etiam illi, qui eum dixerat magistrum bonum quaerens ab eo consilium consequendae vitae aeternae, respondit: Quid me interrogas de bono? Nemo bonus nisi unus deus cum et hominem alio loco dicat bonum ipse dominus: Bonus homo, inquit, de bono thesauro cordis sui profert bona, et malus homo de malo thesauro cordis sui profert mala. Sed quia ille vitam aeternam quaerebat, vita autem aeterna est in illa contemplatione qua non ad poenam videtur deus sed ad gaudium sempiternum, et non intellegebat cum quo loquebatur quia tantummodo eum filium hominis arbitrabatur: Quid me interrogas, inquit, de bono? Id est: 'Istam formam quam vides, quid interrogas de bono, et vocas me secundum quod vides magistrum bonum? Haec forma filii hominis est; haec forma accepta est; haec forma apparebit in iudicio non tantum iustis sed et impiis, et huius formae visio non erit in bonum eis qui male agunt. Est autem visio formae meae in qua cum essem non rapinam arbitratus sum esse aequalis deo, sed ut hanc acciperem me ipsum exinanivi.' Ille ergo unus deus pater et filius et spiritus sanctus qui non apparebit nisi ad gaudium quod non auferetur a iustis cui gaudio futuro suspirat qui dicit: Unam petit a domino, hanc requiram, ut inhabitem in domo domini per omnes dies vitae meae, ut contempler delectationem domini unus ergo deus ipse est solus bonus ad hoc, quia nemo eum videt ad luctum et planctum sed tantum ad salutem et laetitiam veram. 'Secundum illam formam si me intellegis, bonus sum; si autem secundum hanc solam, quid me interrogas de bono si inter illos eris qui videbunt in quem pupugerunt, et ipsa visio malum eis erit quia poenalis erit?' Ex ista sententia dixisse dominum: Quid me interrogas de bono? Nemo bonus nisi unus deus, his documentis quae commemoravi probabile est, quia visio illa dei qua contemplabimur incommutabilem atque humanis oculis inuisibilem dei substantiam quae solis sanctis promittitur -- quam dicit apostolus Paulus facie ad faciem; et de qua dicit apostolus Iohannes: Similes ei erimus quoniam videbimus eum sicuti est et de qua dicitur: Unam petii a domino, ut contempler delectationem domini et de qua dicit ipse dominus: Et ego diligam eum et ostendam me ipsum illi et propter quam solam fide corda mundamus ut simus beati mundicordes quoniam ipsi deum videbunt; et si qua alia de ista visione dicta sunt quae copiosissime sparsa per omnes scripturas invenit quisquis ad eam quaerendam oculum amoris intendit -- sola est summum bonum nostrum cuius adipiscendi causa praecipimur agere quidquid recte agimus. Visio vero illa filii hominis quae praenuntiata est cum congregabuntur ante eum omnes gentes et dicent ei: Domine, quando te vidimus esurientem et sitientem? etc. nec bonum erit impiis qui mittentur in ignem aetenum, nec summum bonum erit iustis. Adhuc enim vocat eos ad regnum quod eis paratum est ab initio mundi. Sicut enim illis dicet: Ite in ignem aeternum, sic istis: Venite, benedicti patris mei, possidete paratum vobis regnum. Et sicut ibunt illi in ambustionem aeternam, sic iusti in vitam aeternam. Quid est autem vita aeterna nisi ut cognoscant te, inquit, unum verum deum et quem misisti Iesum Christum? Sed iam in ea claritate de qua dicit patri: quam habui apud te priusquam mundus fieret. Tunc enim tradet regnum deo et patri ut intret seruus bonus in gaudium domini sui, et abscondat eos quos possidet deus in abscondito uultus sui a conturbatione hominum, eorum scilicet qui tunc conturbabuntur audientes illam sententiam. A quo auditu malo iustus non timebit si modo protegatur in tabernaculo, id est in fide recta catholicae ecclesiae, a contradictione linguarum, id est a calumniis haereticorum. Si vero est alius intellectus verborum domini quibus ait: Quid me interrogas de bono? Nemo bonus nisi unus deus, dum tamen non ideo credatur maioris bonitatis esse patris quam filii substantia secundum quam verbum est per quod facta sunt omnia nihilque abhorret a sana doctrina, securi utamur non uno tantum sed quotquot reperiri potuerint. Tanto enim fortius conuincuntur haeretici quanto plures exitus patent ad eorum laqueos evitandos. Sed ea quae adhuc consideranda sunt ab alio iam petamus exordio.	31. He is good, according to that sight, according to which God appears to the pure in heart; for truly God is good unto Israel even to such as are of a clean heart. But when the wicked shall see the Judge, He will not seem good to them; because they will not rejoice in their heart to see Him, but all kindreds of the earth shall then wail because of Him, namely, as being reckoned in the number of all the wicked and unbelievers. On this account also He replied to him, who had called Him Good Master, when seeking advice of Him how he might attain eternal life, Why do you ask me about good? there is none good but One, that is, God. And yet the Lord Himself, in another place, calls man good: A good man, He says, out of the good treasure of his heart, brings forth good things: and an evil man, out of the evil treasure of his heart, brings forth evil things. But because that man was seeking eternal life, and eternal life consists in that contemplation in which God is seen, not for punishment, but for everlasting joy; and because he did not understand with whom he was speaking, and thought Him to be only the Son of man: Why, He says, do you ask me about good? That is, with respect to that form which you see, why do you ask about good, and call me, according to what you see, Good Master? This is the form of the Son of man, the form which has been taken, the form that will appear in judgment, not only to the righteous, but also to the ungodly; and the sight of this form will not be for good to those who are wicked. But there is a sight of that form of mine, in which when I was, I thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but in order to take this form I emptied myself. That one God, therefore, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, who will not appear, except for joy which cannot be taken away from the just; for which future joy he sighs, who says, One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord: that one God, therefore, Himself, I say, is alone good, for this reason, that no one sees Him for sorrow and wailing, but only for salvation and true joy. If you understand me after this latter form, then I am good; but if according to that former only, then why do you ask me about good? If you are among those who shall look upon Him whom they have pierced, that very sight itself will be evil to them, because it will be penal. That after this meaning, then, the Lord said, Why do you ask me about good? There is none good but One, that is, God, is probable upon those proofs which I have alleged, because that sight of God, whereby we shall contemplate the substance of God unchangeable and invisible to human eyes (which is promised to the saints alone; which the Apostle Paul speaks of, as face to face; and of which the Apostle John says, We shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is; and of which it is said, One thing have I desired of the Lord, that I may behold the beauty of the Lord, and of which the Lord Himself says, I will both love him, and will manifest myself to him; and on account of which alone we cleanse our hearts by faith, that we may be those pure in heart who are blessed for they shall see God: and whatever else is spoken of that sight: which whosoever turns the eye of love to seek it, may find most copiously scattered through all the Scriptures)—that sight alone, I say, is our chief good, for the attaining of which we are directed to do whatever we do aright. But that sight of the Son of man which is foretold, when all nations shall be gathered before Him, and shall say to Him, Lord, when saw we You an hungered, or thirsty, etc.? will neither be a good to the ungodly, who shall be sent into everlasting fire, nor the chief good to the righteous. For He still goes on to call these to the kingdom which has been prepared for them from the foundation of the world. For, as He will say to those, Depart into everlasting fire; so to these, Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you. And as those will go into everlasting burning; so the righteous will go into life eternal. But what is life eternal, except that they may know You, He says, the One true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent? but know Him now in that glory of which He says to the Father, Which I had with You before the world was. For then He will deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father, that the good servant may enter into the joy of his Lord, and that He may hide those whom God keeps in the hiding of His countenance from the confusion of men, namely, of those men who shall then be confounded by hearing this sentence; of which evil hearing the righteous man shall not be afraid if only he be kept in the tabernacle, that is, in the true faith of the Catholic Church, from the strife of tongues, that is, from the sophistries of heretics. But if there is any other explanation of the words of the Lord, where He says, Why do you ask me about good? There is none good, but One, that is, God; provided only that the substance of the Father be not therefore believed to be of greater goodness than that of the Son, according to which He is the Word by whom all things were made; and if there is nothing in it abhorrent from sound doctrine; let us securely use it, and not one explanation only, but as many as we are able to find. For so much the more powerfully are the heretics proved wrong, the more outlets are open for avoiding their snares. But let us now start afresh, and address ourselves to the consideration of that which still remains.