Translated by Gerhard F. Bente and W. H. T. Dau
Printed in: Gerhard F. Bente et al., ed.,
Concordia Triglotta
(St. Louis, MO: Concordia, 1921), 1105-49
116] That Christ as God has the same divine majesty in one way, namely, essentially and as His essential property, in and of Himself; but as man He has it in another mode, namely, not essentially in and of Himself, but because of, and according to, the mode of the personal union.
117] John 14,6: I am the Life.
118] John 5,26: He hath given to the Son to have life in Himself,... because He is the Son of Man.
119] CYRIL, lib. 12, Thesauri, cap. 15 (t. 2, p. 167 [t. 5, ed. Paris, 1638]): "There is one condition and property appertaining to the creature and another to the Creator, but our nature, assumed by the Son of God, has exceeded its measure, and by grace has been transferred into the condition of the One assuming it."
120] The same, on John, lib. 2, cap. 144 (t. 1, p. 134 [t. 4, ed. Paris, 1638]): "Christ added the reason why He said that life and the power of judgment had been given Him by the Father, saying, Because He is the Son of Man, in order that we may understand that all things were given Him as man. However, the only-begotten Son is not partaker of life, but is life by nature."
121] The same, lib. 3, cap. 37 (t. 1, p. 181): "The body of Christ quickens, because it is the body of Life itself, retaining the power of the incarnate Word, and full of the power of Him by whom all things are and live."
122] The same, lib. 4, cap 14 (p. 201): "Since the flesh of the Savior was joined to the Word of God, who is Life by nature, it was rendered quickening."
123] And cap. 18 (p. 204): "My body I have filled with life, I have assumed mortal flesh; but since, being naturally the Life, I dwell in it [the flesh], I have transformed it altogether according to My life."
124] Cap. 24 (p. 210): "The nature itself of the flesh cannot of itself quicken, neither is it understood to be alone in Christ, but it has united with it the Son of God, who is substantially the Life. Therefore, when Christ call His flesh quickening, He does not ascribe the power of quickening to it in the same manner as to Himself or His own Spirit. For the Spirit quickens of Himself, to Whose power the flesh rises by the union. But how this occurs we can neither understand with the mind nor express with the tongue, but we receive it in silence and firm faith."
125] The same, lib. 10, cap. 13 (p.501): "The flesh of life, having been made the flesh of the Only-begotten, has been brought to the power of life."
126] The same, lib. 11, cap. 21 (p. 552): "The flesh itself of Christ was not of itself holy, but, transformed in a certain manner by union with the Word to the power of the Word, it is the cause of salvation and sanctification to those who partake thereof. Therefore, we ascribe the efficacy of the divine working not to the flesh as flesh, but to the power of the Word."
127] Lib. 6, Dialog. (t. 5, op. ed. cit.): "He is glorified by the Father, not because He is God, but since He was man; for, not having as the fruit of His own nature the power of working with divine efficacy, He received it in a certain manner by the union and ineffable concurrence which God the Word is understood to have with humanity."
128] The same, On the True Faith, to Theodosius (p. 278): "He has introduced His life into the assumed body by the very dispensation of the union."
129] In the same place (p. 279): The Word quickens on account of the ineffable birth from the living Father. Yet we should see where the efficacy of divine glory is ascribed also to His own flesh." Also: "We will confess that, with respect to the ability to quicken, earthly flesh is inoperative, so far as its own nature is concerned."
130] EPIPHANIUS, Against the Ariomanites, p. 337 (Haeres., 69; p. 789, ed. Colon.): "For His human nature was not something subsisting apart by itself, neither did He speak with the divinity separated and the human nature existing apart, as though they were different persons, but with the human nature united with the divine (there being one consecration), and in the same even now knowing the most perfect things, it being now united in God and joined to the one Deity."
131] AUGUSTINE, Of the Words of the Lord, Discourse 58 (t. 10, pp. 217. 218): "I indeed adore the Lord's flesh, yea, the perfect humanity in Christ, for the reason that it has been assumed by the divinity and united to Deity, and I confess not that there are two different persons, but that the one and the same Son of God is God and man. In a word, if you separate man and God, I never believe nor serve Him."
132] Also, "If any one disdain worshiping humanity, not naked or alone, but united to divinity, namely, the one Son of God, true God and true man, he will die eternally."
133] The same, De Civitate, lib. 10, cap. 24: "The flesh of Christ, therefore, does not of itself cleanse believers, but through the Word, by which it has been assumed."
134] COUNCIL OF EPHESUS, Canon 11 (in Cyril, t. 6, p. 196): "If anyone does not confess that the Lord's flesh is quickening, for the reason that it was appropriated to the Word that quickens all things, let him be anathema."
135] THEOPHYLACT, on John 3 (pp. 605. 184, ed. cit.): "And He has given all things into the hand of the Son, according to humanity. But if [also] according to divinity, what is meant? The Father has given all things to the Son by reason of nature, not of grace."
136] The same, on Matt. 28: "If you would understand the declaration: 'All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth,' as spoken of God the Word, the meaning will be that both the unwilling and willing now acknowledge Me as God, who before served Me after the manner of involuntary obedience. But as spoken of the human nature, understand it thus: I, preciously the condemned nature, but being God according to the unconfused union with the Son of God, have received power over all things."
137] DAMASCENUS, (lib. 3, cap. 17): "For not according to its [the flesh's] own operation, but by the Word united to it, He wrought divine things, the Word displaying through it His own operation. For glowing iron burns not by possessing in a natural manner the power to burn, but by possessing this from its union with the fire. Therefore in itself it was mortal, and on account of its personal union to the Word, quickening."
138] The same (cap. 18): "His [Christ's] divine will was both eternal and omnipotent, etc. But His human will not only began in time, but also endured natural and unblamable affections, and naturally was not indeed omnipotent; but as truly and by nature it has become the will also of God the Word, it is also omnipotent." This is, as explained by a commentator: "The divine will has, by its own nature, the power to do all things which it wishes; but Christ's human will does not have power to do everything by its nature, but as united to God the Word."
139] The same, in the same book, cap. 21: "The human nature does not possess essentially the knowledge of the future; but the soul of the Lord, on account of the union with the Word and the personal identity with the same, was, apart from other divine criteria, rich also in the knowledge of the future."
140] And at the end of the chapter: "We say that the one Christ, Master, and Lord of all creation, at the same time God and man, knows also all things. For in Him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."
141] The same (lib. 2, cap. 22): "For although it (the soul of the Lord) was of a nature that was ignorant of the future, nevertheless, being personally united to the Word, it had the knowledge of all things, not by grace, but on account of the personal union."
142] Shortly afterwards: "And since in our Lord Jesus Christ the natures are distinct, the natural wills, that is, the powers of will, are also distinct."
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