35. vi. By successive steps the Lord put off the human taken from the mother, and put on a Human from the Divine within Him, which is the Divine Human, and is the Son of God. That in the Lord were the Divine and the human, the Divine from Jehovah the Father, and the human from the virgin Mary, is known. Hence He was God and Man, having a Divine essence and a human nature; a Divine essence from the Father, and a human nature from the mother; and therefore was equal to the Father as to the Divine, and less than the Father as to the human. It is also known that this human nature from the mother was not transmuted into the Divine essence, nor commingled with it, for this is taught in the Doctrine of Faith which is called the Athanasian Creed. For a human nature cannot be transmuted into the Divine essence, nor can it be commingled therewith. [2] In accordance with the same creed is also our doctrine, that the Divine assumed the Human, that is, united itself to it, as a soul to its body, so that they were not two, but one Person. From this it follows that the Lord put off the human from the mother, which in itself was like that of another man, and thus material, and put on a Human from the Father, which in itself was like His Divine, and thus substantial, so that the Human too became Divine. This is why in the Word of the Prophets the Lord even as to the Human is called Jehovah, and God; and in the Word of the Evangelists, Lord, God, Messiah or Christ, and the Son of God in whom we must believe, and by whom we are to be saved. [3] As from His birth the Lord had a human from the mother, and as He by successive steps put it off, it follows that while He was in the world He had two states, the one called the state of humiliation or emptying out [exinanitio], and the other the state of glorification or unition with the Divine called the Father. He was in the state of humiliation at the time and in the degree that He was in the human from the mother; and in that of glorification at the time and in the degree that He was in the Human from the Father. In the state of humiliation He prayed to the Father as to one who was other than Himself; but in the state of glorification He spoke with the Father as with Himself. In this latter state He said that the Father was in Him and He in the Father, and that the Father and He were one. But in the state of humiliation He underwent temptations, and suffered the cross, and prayed to the Father not to forsake Him. For the Divine could not be tempted, much less could it suffer the cross. From what has been said it is now evident that by means of temptations and continual victories in them, and by the passion of the cross which was the last of the temptations, the Lord completely conquered the hells, and fully glorified His Human, as has been shown above. [4] That the Lord put off the human taken from the mother, and put on a Human from the Divine in Himself called the Father, is evident also from the fact that whenever He addressed His mother directly, He did not call her Mother, but Woman. Only three times in the Evangelists do we read that He thus addressed or spoke of her, twice calling her Woman, and once not recognizing her as His mother. Of the two occasions when He called her Woman we read in John:
The mother of Jesus said unto Him, They have no wine. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what [belongs] to Me, and to thee? Mine hour is not yet come (2:3, 4). When from the cross, Jesus sees His mother, and the disciple standing by whom He loved, He saith to His mother, Woman, behold thy son; and then He saith to the disciple, Behold thy mother (19:26, 27). And of the one occasion when He did not recognize her, in Luke:
It was told Jesus by certain who said, Thy mother and Thy brethren stand without, desiring to see Thee. Jesus answering said unto them, My mother and My brethren are these, who hear the Word of God, and do it (8:20, 21; Matt. 12: 46-49; Mark 3:31-35). In other places Mary is called His "mother," but not from His own mouth. [5] The same inference is confirmed by the fact that the Lord did not admit that He was the son of David For we read in the Evangelists:
Jesus asked the Pharisees, saying, What think ye of Christ? whose son is He? They say unto Him, The Son of David. He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call Him Lord, saying, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit Thou on My right hand till I make Thine enemies Thy footstool? If then David calls Him Lord, how is He his son? And no one was able to answer Him a word (Matt. 12:41-46; Mark 12:35-37; Luke 20:41-44; Ps. 110:1). From what has been said it is evident that in respect to the glorified Human the Lord was the son neither of Mary nor of David. [6] Of what quality was His glorified Human, He showed to Peter, James, and John when transfigured before them:
That His face shone as the sun, and His raiment was like the light and then a voice out of the cloud said, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, hear ye Him (Matt. 17:1-8; Mark 9:2-8; Luke 9:28-36). The Lord was also seen by John as the sun shining in his strength (Rev. 1:16). [7] That the Lord's Human was glorified, is evident from what is said about His glorification in the Evangelists:
The hour is come that the Son of man should be glorified. Jesus said, Father, glorify Thy name: then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I both have glorified it and will glorify it again (John 12:23, 28). As the Lord was glorified by successive steps, it is said "I both have glorified it, and will glorify it again." Again in the same Evangelist:
After Judas had gone out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in Him: God shall also glorify Him in Himself, and shall straightway glorify Him (John 13:31, 32). Jesus said, Father, the hour is come; glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son may also glorify Thee (John 17:1, 5). And in Luke:
Behooved it not the Christ to suffer this, and to enter into His glory? (Luke 24:26). These things are said concerning His Human. [8] The reason the Lord said "God is glorified in Him," and "God shall glorify Him in Himself," and also "Glorify Thy Son that Thy Son may also glorify Thee," is that the unition was reciprocal, being that of the Divine with the Human and of the Human with the Divine. On this account He said also, "I am in the Father, and the Father in Me" (John 14:10, 11); and "All Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine" (John 17:10); so that the unition was plenary. It is the same with all unition-unless it is reciprocal, it is not full. Such therefore must also be the uniting of the Lord with man, and of man with the Lord. As He teaches:
In that day ye shall know that ye are in Me, and I in you (John 14:20). Abide in Me, and I in you; he that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit (John 15:4, 5). [9] As the Lord's Human was glorified, that is, made Divine, He rose again after death on the third day with His whole body, which does not take place with any man; for a man rises again solely as to the spirit, and not as to the body. In order that men may know, and no one doubt, that the Lord rose again with His whole body, He not only said so through the angels in the sepulcher, but also showed Himself to His disciples in His human body, saying to them when they believed that they saw a spirit:
See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; handle Me and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see Me have; and when He had thus spoken, He showed them His hands and His feet (Luke 24:39, 40 John 20:20). And He said to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold My hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into My side; and be not faithless but believing; then said Thomas, My Lord and my God (John 20:27, 28). [10] In order to evince still further that He was not a spirit but a Man, the Lord said to His disciples, Have ye here any meat? And they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish, and of a honeycomb; and He took it and did eat before them (Luke 24:41-43). As His body was no longer material, but Divine substantial, He came in to His disciples when the doors were shut (John 20:19, 26); and after He had been seen He became invisible (Luke 24:31). Being such, the Lord was then taken up, and sat at the right hand of God; as we read:
It came to pass that while Jesus blessed His disciples, He was parted from them, and carried up into heaven (Luke 24:51). After He had spoken unto them, He was carried up into heaven, and sat at the right hand of God (Mark 16:19). To "sit at the right hand of God," signifies Divine omnipotence. [11] As the Lord ascended into heaven, and sat at the right hand of God (by which is signified Divine omnipotence) with the Divine and the Human united into a one, it follows that His human substance or essence is just as is His Divine substance or essence. To think otherwise would be like thinking that His Divine was taken up into heaven and sat at the right hand of God, but not His Human together with it, which is contrary to Scripture, and also to the Christian Doctrine, which is that in Christ God and Man are like soul and body, and to separate these is contrary to sound reason. This unition of the Father with the Son, or of the Divine with the Human, is meant also in the following:
I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world; again I leave the world, and go to the Father (John 16:28). I go away, and come to Him that sent Me (John 7:33; 16:5, 16; 17:11, 13; 20:17). If then ye shall see the Son of man ascending where He was before (John 6:62). No one hath ascended into heaven but He that came down from heaven (John 3:13). Every man who is saved ascends into heaven, but not of himself. He ascends by the Lord's aid. The Lord alone ascended of Himself.
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