B. Perhaps they will say to this (for I am pointing out |270 [their reply]), "Are we then to admit that he too who is forth of the seed of David is forth of the Essence of God the Father? ,,
A. Yet how hath not such a question exceeding worthlessness? and it is incongruous to the might of the mystery and to them who delight in the truth. B. Tell me how.
A. Do not divide, saying that he who is forth of the seed of David is other than the One Christ and Son and Lord: for right utterance wills that the Only-Begotten Son Who hath His Being forth of God the Father is Himself, and none other, him who is forth of David after the flesh. Let them not therefore of their boundless stupidity say that as the Word Who came down out of heaven is not by nature David's Son, thus neither is he who is forth of the seed of David Son of God by Nature. For the Word Who by Nature and in truth beamed forth of the Father, having assumed flesh and blood, as I just now said, hath remained the Same, that is, by Nature and truly Son of the Father, being One Only and not as if one with another, that His Person may be conceived of as One. For thus gathering unto union true and above mind and speech things which by the count of their nature had been sundered unto unlikeness, we shall advance on the unerring path of the faith. For we say that One and the Same Christ Jesus is forth of God the Father as God the Word, forth of the seed of Divine David after the flesh. Do not I seem to you to have most rightly considered these things?
B. Surely.
A. I will ask the opponents something else too.
B. What is that?
A. Are they not assured that the Only-Begotten God the Word hath His Being from forth God the Father and do they not affirm that the man taken (as they say) by connection is made from forth the seed of Divine David?
B. So they say.
A. The Word therefore being God will most assuredly surpass both in Nature and in glory him who is forth of |271 the seed of David and will overpass to the extent of the difference of the natures. Or if it be not as I say, why do they sever and allot to the one the right to the glory, and bring in the other as recipient, and as gaining what he is by way of a prize and in the light of a largess? but less full surely and inferior is the receiver to the giver and to him who gives the glory that which is participant of the glory from him.
B. I suppose that they too would say that most vast is the difference between God and men.
but less full surely and inferior is the receiver to the giver and to him who gives the glory that which is participant of the glory from him. B. I suppose that they too would say that most vast is the difference between God and men.
A. Then how does the all-wise Paul, the priest of the Divine mysteries, he that hath indwelling Him Who is preached, and who speaketh in the Spirit: how does he both call Him that after the flesh is of the Jews, God and say that He is blessed for ever, amen? what is there above God Who is over all? what will a man behold in the Word Who is forth of the Father greater than he is who after the flesh is of the Jews if he be a son other than He and separate and not truly so?
B. But he who is forth of the seed of David was admitted (they say) by connection and, seeing that the Word being God indwelt him, he shares His Dignity and His Honour: and this the most holy Paul will teach writing of him that he was made subject to the Father unto death, yea the death of the cross, wherefore God also super-exalted him and gave him a name which is above every name: and this name is God.
A. Do they then say that to him that is of the seed of David separately and as to another son apart by himself has been given by God the name which is above every name?
B. Yea (they say), for to the Only-Begotten Who is God and forth of God by Nature, how could that be given which He hath?
A. Therefore, if the receiving is not put respecting Him, let accurate investigation be made from what the Divine Paul himself hath written: For let each one of yourselves be of the mind which was also in Christ Jesus Who being in the form of God held not the being Equal to God a thing to seize 26, |272 yet did He empty Himself taking bondman's form, made in likeness of men, and found in fashion as a man He abased Himself made subject unto death, yea the death of the cross: wherefore God also super-exalted Him and gave Him the 27 name which is above every name. If 28 therefore it is, according to them, the man that is forth of the seed of David conceived of separately and by himself who received the name that is above all, let them shew him pre-existing in the Form of God, and not holding the being equal to God a matter for robbery and moreover taking bondman's form, as though that is he had it not and was not so ere he took it: albeit as themselves say and choose to think, himself is the bondman's form. Then how can he take it as though he had it not? how too will a man be conceived of as made in likeness of men, and be found in fashion as a man? The force of the ideas then will turn them round even against their will to know the truth.
B. What truth?
A. God the Word Who is in the Form of God the Father, the Impress of His Person, Who is in all Equal to Him Who begat Him, hath emptied Himself.
B. And what is the emptying 29?
A. The being in assumption of flesh and in bondman's form, the likeness to us of Him Who is not as we in His own Nature but is over the whole creation. Thus hath |273 He abased Himself, lowering Himself economically into the measures of the human nature; yet was He even so God, as having not by gift That which comes to Him by Nature. Therefore He also said to God the Father Which is in Heaven, Father glorify Me with the glory which I had before the world was, with Thee. For I do not suppose that they will say that he is asking for the glory which was before the world as being his own, he [I mean] who in the last times of the world was born of the seed of David, if so be he is son by himself other than He Who is so by Nature and truly: but this utterance will rather be a most God-befitting one. For it needed, it needed that He should be co-fashioned in the measures of the manhood and should have the Excellence of the God-befitting Dignity Unimpaired and Essentially in Himself just as it is in the Father too. For how will that be true, There shall he in thee no new god, if according to them a man is made god by connection with the Word and is declared co-enthroned and sharer of the Father's Dignity? b. You say well.
A. How is one to conceive of that which is wisely spoken by voice of Paul, For even though there be many gods both in heaven and on earth yet to us is One God the Father from Whom are all things and we from Him, and One Lord Jesus Christ through Whom are all things and we through Him? For there being One Lord Jesus Christ and Paul having full well affirmed that through Him all things have been brought to their birth, what shall we do, noble sirs, when ye distinguish from the assumed man as ye call him, the Word from forth God the Father? which are we to say was the Creator of all?
B. The Son by Nature from forth God the Father, i. e., the Only-Begotten.
For there being One Lord Jesus Christ and Paul having full well affirmed that through Him all things have been brought to their birth, what shall we do, noble sirs, when ye distinguish from the assumed man as ye call him, the Word from forth God the Father? which are we to say was the Creator of all? B. The Son by Nature from forth God the Father, i. e. , the Only-Begotten.
A. Yet does the priest to us of the Divine Mysteries say that through Jesus Christ were all things brought to being, and that He is One and Only. I will recall that when investigating the name Christ we said that it introduces to us the declaration of anointing: for on account of having |274 been anointed would any be called christ 30. Either therefore let them say that the Word from forth God the Father has been anointed in His proper Nature and that He was in need of sanctification through the Spirit and of participation from Him, or let them teach how He is to be conceived of as Christ Who has never been anointed, and how the Only-Begotten Word of God will be called separately Jesus, although blessed Gabriel says to the holy Virgin, Fear not Mary, for lo thou shalt conceive in thy womb and shalt bear a Son and shalt call His Name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins.
B. Do we then say that all things have been made through a man and that he who in the last times of the world hath birth of a woman is Creator of heaven and earth and in short of all things that are in them?
A. Do thou too say, for I will ask: Has not the Word been made flesh? has He not been called son of man? took He not bondman's form? emptied He not Himself, made in likeness of men and found in fashion as man? If therefore they deny the Economy, the Divine Disciples will withstand them saying, And WE saw and testify that the Father hath sent the Son Saviour of the world: whoso shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God God abideth in him and he in God, and again, Herein is known 31 the Spirit of God, every spirit which confesseth that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God and every spirit which does not confess Jesus is not from God. Besides what sense has it, to conceive of a man that he has come in flesh? to one who is external to flesh and who is of Nature not ours, will rather |275 belong the being made in flesh also and therewith coming into this world together with remaining what He is. Hence even though He have been made man, there is nothing to hinder our conceiving that through Him were all things brought into being, in that He is conceived of as God and co-eternal with the Father. For the Word being God has not been changed, even though He have assumed flesh ensouled with a reasonable soul, not connecting a man with Himself, as they say who innovate the Faith, but Himself made flesh as I said, i. e., man: for thus will the having been anointed befit Him nor meet with any objection; and He will be called Jesus too, being Himself in truth He Who underwent birth in the flesh from forth a woman. For thus hath He saved His own people, not as a man connected with God but as God made in the likeness of the imperilled, in order that in Him first the human race might be re-formed to what it was in the beginning: for all things were new in Him.
B. Hence we must refuse to think or to say that a man has been connected with God the Word and been made partaker of His Dignity and that he possesses the sonship as a grace.
A. Most entirely: for the sense of the sacred Scriptures acknowledges it not, but it is the invention rather of a mind loving novelty and feeble and weak and unable to see the depth of the mystery: for where has anything of this kind been said by the holy Scripture? for the Divine Paul stating full clearly the Mystery of the Incarnation of the Only-Begotten, says, For since the little ones have partaken of blood and flesh, He too likewise partook of the same in order that through death He might bring to nought him that has the power of death, i. e. the devil, and elsewhere, For the impossibility of the law wherein it was weak through the flesh God sending His own Son in likeness of flesh of sin and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the ordinance of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not |276 according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. But we say that there has partaken of blood and flesh according to the mind befitting the inspired writers----not he who is in flesh and blood of his proper nature and cannot be otherwise but----He Who is not so and is of other Nature than ours; and that He has been made both from forth a woman and in likeness of flesh of sin Who is for our sakes as we together with being above us too in that He is conceived of as God. For the Word has been made flesh, yet not flesh of sin: but in likeness of flesh of sin did He converse with them on the earth as man and has been made in likeness as we, yet not along with us under sin but removed from knowing transgression (for the Same was God alike and Man): but they who bear away (I know not how) from the Only-Begotten the so august and admirable Economy, connect with Him a man by way of accident, embellished with honours from without and adorned with glory not his; and no true God but partner and partaker with God, and son falsely so named, saviour that is himself saved, redeemer who is redeemed: albeit the blessed Paul has written thus, For the saving grace of God appeared to all men, in order that denying impiety and worldly lusts we might live soberly and religiously in the present life, awaiting the blessed hope and manifestation of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ.
B. Yea, they say: for seeing that He was altogether vouchsafed connection with God the Word, he too was called great God albeit made of the seed of David.
A. For shame, what madness: affirming that they are wise they became foolish, as it is written. For they transform (as I said) the force of the mystery of Christ into all that is opposite; and their saying that he has been vouchsafed will be nought else than declaring that he is mere man and in ill counsel severing him into an utter diversity, so that a pair of sons be conceived of, to be worshipped, whereof One is so by Nature and truly, the other adopted and bastard and having nothing that is his own, that to him too along with ourselves it may be said, For what hast |277 thou that thou receivedst not: and then whither will the all-wise Paul go who says, For the Son of God Christ Jesus Who was preached among you through me and Silvanus and Timothy was not Yes and No but in Him was Yes? For how was He not Yes and No, if He is said to be God and is not God? if the names SON and LORD are falsely attributed to Him? and if He be thus as they say, it will belong to Him to have to say, But by the grace of God I am what I am. For that which belongs not by nature but is from without and introduced and given by another, will not belong to the recipient but to Him who imparts it and bestows it. And how did He also say, I am the Truth, if there is nothing true about Him? haply too He was comprehended by the darkness, if He lies. But He did not sin neither was guile found in His mouth, as it is written. b. No surely.
A. And where is the emptiness? and of whom will it be conceived to have happened? for one cannot see any one emptied but on the contrary being filled albeit he has not fulness in his own nature: for he would not have needed what was another's and it would have been superfluous to him to have received, if he had had, of his own, self-completeness and sufficiency unto every thing, but of Christ's fulness did all WE receive, and the preaching of the inspired will not lie. For full is Christ and nothing whatever is given to Him so far as He is conceived of as, and is, God, even though to receive have been made His by reason of the measure of the manhood and in that He became as we, to whom it will be said full rightly, For what hast thou that thou receivedst not?
B. Yea, he says, the Word from forth God the Father is One Christ and Son and Lord, he who is forth of David's seed being connected with Him.
A. But, most excellent sirs, may one say to them, he who has another connected with him will not be conceived of as one, how could he? but as one with one, i.e. with another, and these are full surely two. But He will be conceived to be in truth One Son, if we say that the Same is God the |278 Word Divinely begotten from God, and in marvellous manner man and from a woman after the flesh.
But if setting apart and severing him that is from the seed of David, they dismiss him from being in truth God and Son and say rather that he is partner in sonship and partaker of glory not his own, not idly (as I suppose) shall we find the accusations against Him by the Jews to have been made. For they said, For a good work we stone Thee not but for blasphemy because THOU being man makest Thyself God.
B. And indeed they do say that both Very God and Son is the One Christ, i. e., the Word out of God taking by connection him who is of David's seed.
A. But if the Word out of God the Father is not He Who is also according to the flesh from a woman, but is Other with other 32, how will ho be called Christ who has not been anointed as we already said?
B. Therefore if he who is of the seed of David is none other than the Word from forth God the Father, let him be called also before time: then how does the all-wise Paul, repelling the opinion, demand as it were with a question, and say, Jesus Christ yesterday and to-day, is he the same for ever too? Or in another way too: for Jesus, he says, who is yesterday and to-day, will be the same for ever too, i. e., recent and yesterday and to-day, albeit God the Word co-existeth with His own Father.
A. They do wrong exceedingly, turning aside the truth unto that which in their unwisdom seems good to them and corrupting the accuracy of the sacred Scriptures. If now one say that Christ Jesus is also before time, he will not miss of the truth, if the Word which is before time is One Son and Lord, Who in the last times underwent birth after the flesh of a woman. And that the Word made man |279 as we has not been changed, the Spirit-clad has shewn saying, Jesus Christ yesterday and to-day, the Same too for ever. And yesterday indicates past time, to-day present time, for ever that which is future and to come.
But if they think that they have thought out something clever, in taking yesterday and to-day to mean recent, asserting and saying, He that is yesterday and to-day how will he be also for ever, WE too will transfer the force of the question unto the direct opposite: The Word which is for ever how will He take to Himself Yesterday and to-day, if Christ is One and has not been divided, as says the Divine Paul? For that thus He would be known by us, you will know hence also. For although seen in the flesh and having entered on the measures of the human nature, He has testified to Himself His Eternal Being saying, Verily I say to you, Before Abraham was I am, and again, If I told you the things of earth and ye believe not, how will ye believe if I tell you those of Heaven? and no one hath gone up into Heaven except He which descended from heaven, the Son of man. For as Word Which ever is and before the ages, come down from heaven, and then the Same appearing man as we; as One Christ and Lord even when He was made flesh, does He say these things.
B. Another argument too has been discovered by them, it is this: they say that he which is of the seed, of David, ought so to be called son of God as the Word Which is forth of God the Father is said to be son of David: for neither is so by nature 33.
A. Now let the mode of the true Union come in, that so the Word be believed to have been made flesh, i. e. man, and therefore son of David not falsely but as from forth him according to the flesh, having remained too what He was, i. e. God out of God. And verily the priests of the gospel preachings, knowing that the Same is God alike and man, have told us of Him. It is written of the blessed Baptist that, On the morrow he seeth Jesus coming to him and |280 saith, Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world: this it is of whom I said, After me cometh a Man which has been made before me because He is prior to me, and I knew Him not, but in order that He should be manifested to Israel, therefore came I baptizing in water. Understand therefore how he saying, a Man, and calling Him a Lamb, says that none other is He who taketh away the sin of the world, and hath allotted to Him this great and truly vast and God-befitting Dignity. And he says that He is before and prior to him, albeit made after him, I mean according to the time of the generation after the flesh. For if Emmanuel is late-born as man, yet was He before every time as God. His therefore is both the recent humanly and the Eternal Divinely: hence the all-excellent Peter too, looking on the Word not bare nor without flesh, but appearing in flesh and blood, clearly and unerringly 34 made his tribute of faith in Him, saying, THOU art the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and heard in reply, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona, because flesh and blood revealed it not to thee, but My Father which is in Heaven. But were not the Mystery deep, and God in the flesh, but [only] a man having according to them the sonship by grace, how should he have needed an Initiator 35 so great, that no one of them on the earth revealed it to the disciple, but that he had the Father Himself as his Instructor in this?
And the Divine Disciples too, seeing Him once traversing 36 the expanse of the sea, were astonished at the miracle and confessed the Faith, saying, Truly Thou art the Son of God. Yet if he is bastard and falsely-called and has from adoption that he is son, let them accuse the disciples of falsehood, and that when they sware it. For they have added Truly, affirming that He is the Son of God the Father.
B. You speak most excellently. |281
Yet if he is bastard and falsely-called and has from adoption that he is son, let them accuse the disciples of falsehood, and that when they sware it. For they have added Truly, affirming that He is the Son of God the Father. B. You speak most excellently. |281
A. How too has the Son of man His own angels 37, and shines forth in the glory of His Father? for He says, The Son of Man is about to come in the glory of His Father 38 with His angels, and again. And the Son of Man will send His Angels. And if they disbelieve yet, even seeing Him crowned in God-befitting glory and dignities so splendid and supreme, they shall hear Him say, If ye believe Me not believe My works, and again, If I do not the works of My Father, believe Me not 39. For the beholding in a man the excellency of the unspeakable glory, supplied not as Another's nor in the light of a favour, but His very own: how will it not persuade us that He was God in likeness as we and truly Son of God Who is over all?
B. He affirmed (he says) that His were the angels, and He was made the worker of these signs, the Word indwelling Him and having imparted to Him His own glory and operation: for it is written, Jesus of Nazareth how God anointed Him with the Holy Ghost and power, Who went about doing good and healing all that are oppressed by the devil. Anointed therefore both with power and with the Spirit, was He a wonder-worker 40.
A. Then, since the Word being God, both Holy and having Essentially and by Nature All-Might, will never need either power from another or an imparted holiness: who now is He Who has been anointed with power and the Holy Ghost?
B. They will perhaps say, The man who is assumed by connection.
A. He therefore is Jesus Christ by himself and separately, of Whom too the all-wise Paul says, Yet to us One God |282 the Father from Whom all things and we from Him and One Lord Jesus Christ through Whom all things and we through Him. How then (tell me) are all things through a man? why is he ranked as Son with the Father and that immediately, no one intervening? and wherever shall we put the Only-Begotten when we have brought into His place the man; and that (as he says) inwrought by Him and honoured because of Him?
Has not their argument outstepped what is reasonable, is it not borne beyond bound, and as having utterly missed of the truth, will it not reasonably incur laughter?
B. The Word of God (he says) has been called man in some such way as this: as the man who was assumed by Him was born in Bethlehem of Judaea, but is called a Nazarene because he dwelt at Nazareth 41, so too God the Word is called man because He dwelt in man.
A. O understanding senile and mind unstrung and knowing how to stutter and nought else! Rouse ye, ye drunkards, from their wine, let one say to the opponents: why do ye violence to the truth and, turning aside the force of the Divine doctrines, are borne forth of the King's way? The Word (as it seems) has no longer been made flesh, according to the Scriptures, but rather a dweller in man, and it were meet that He should be called, of-man, not man, just as he who dwelt at Nazareth was called, of-Nazareth, not Nazareth. And I think that there is nothing at all to hinder, if they think that their foolish invention is right, that together with the Son, the Father and also the Holy Ghost should be called man: for the fulness of the Holy and Consubstantial Trinity dwelleth in us through the Spirit. And verily Paul saith, Do ye not know that ye are God's Temple and the Spirit of God dwelleth in you, yea, |283 and Christ Himself, If a man love Me he will keep My word, and My Father will love him and we will come to him and make Our Abode with him. Yet the Father has never been called man, nor yet has the Holy Ghost, by reason of indwelling in us: but those men laugh at the Mystery of the Incarnation and twist round unto what is discordant, the doctrines of the Church which are so right and worthy of being heard.
But let our argument proceed again on its course, bidding farewell to their vomit. For if, because of the Word being in him, he have been made a worker of signs, they perchance say that he is one of the holy Prophets, for [the Word] has wrought Divine signs through the hands of the saints too: but if they say that the Son is in these, they lower Him into the measure of Prophets or Apostles.
B. Yea, they say, for has He not been called Prophet 42 and Apostle?
A. You are not wrong; for Moses said to them of the race of Israel, A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up to you out of your brethren, as me: the Divine Paul too has written, Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High priest of our confession Jesus.
Let them tell then, for I will ask: Would the grace of Prophecy or the being vouchsafed apostolic prerogative, and being called High Priest too, be an honour to a man?
B. Yes.
Let them tell then, for I will ask: Would the grace of Prophecy or the being vouchsafed apostolic prerogative, and being called High Priest too, be an honour to a man? B. Yes.
A. Yet they would say that to Christ in that He is conceived of as God these things are petty and not worthy of receiving, even though through these very things He is seen emptied and receiving them with the manhood. But as being God by Nature and Lord in truth, He took bondman's form, made therein and assuming our estate, so, both giving the Spirit of Prophecy and ordaining Apostles and establishing Priests, He was made like in all things to His brethren: for thus was He named, Prophet, Apostle, High Priest. |284
B. But even though they grant that He was a Prophet, they say that He was not so as one of the Prophets, but that He was placed far above their measure 43. For they had the grace meted to them and accruing to them in time, He was full of the Godhead even straightway from His very Birth, for the Word being God was with Him.
A. It was then in the amount of grace and in length of time that Christ has surpassed the holy Prophets which were before Him, and it is this which is His special privilege. The point for investigation is whether He was a Prophet at all, and not His having more or less or even excelling, seeing that in His being a Prophet and in His not passing beyond our measure does His low estate consist, even though He be conceived of as this from the beginning, just as was the holy Baptist too, of whom the blessed angel says, And he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost even from his mother's womb. How then was the one a servant, the Other All-glorious in the dignity of Lord? And of himself blessed John says, He that is of the earth of the earth he speaketh, but of Emmanuel, He that cometh from above is superior to all.
B. Yet (will they perchance say) the Word which hath beamed forth of God the Father is above, yea and superior to all; and they are afraid to allot to Him what belong to man, lest haply He be wronged thereby and brought down to dishonour. Therefore they affirm that He took a man and connected with Himself this person in regard to whom what belong to man might have place and be spoken of, and no damage should accrue to the Nature of the Word Himself.
A. Hence he who is assumed will confessedly be conceived of and said to be other than He. But we will not follow their fatuity nor make them definers and innovators 44 of our Faith, neglecting the sacred Scripture and |285 dishonouring the Tradition from forth the holy Apostles and Evangelists: nor, for that a mind weak and most empty of learning has taken up its abode in them, and one that cannot look into the depth of the mystery, let us also go astray, sharing their unlearning and refusing to go the straight way of the truth. But we know that the most holy Paul hath written that we ought to throw down reasonings and every height which reareth itself against the knowledge of God and to reduce captive every thought unto the obedience of Christ.
But now, can you tell whereat they are offended and in Jewish wise stumble at the stone of offence?
B. I can, for how should I not? they are very many, but they shall be told one by one.
They say therefore that Christ has been sanctified by the Father: for it has been written, And John witnessed saying, I have seen the Spirit descending out of heaven and It abode on Him and I did not know Him but He who sent me to baptize in water, He said to me, Upon Whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and abiding upon Him, This is He Who baptizes with the Holy Ghost; and I have seen and have witnessed that this is the Son of God: Paul too hath written of Him, For He Who sanctifieth and the sanctified are all out of One. For the Word being God and Holy by Nature will by no means be sanctified; it remains therefore to say that the man assumed by Him in the way of connection has been sanctified.
A. How then does He Who has been baptized and Who received the open Descent of the Spirit, baptize with the Holy Ghost and perform what belong to and beseem the Divine Nature alone? for He is the Bestower of holiness. And in proof of this the Incarnate Word breathed, as a bodily act, His own proper good, upon the holy Apostles saying, Receive ye the Holy Ghost, whosesoever sins ye remit they have been remitted, whosesoever ye retain they have been retained. And how has the divine Baptist, most clearly indicating Him Who has been sanctified, borne witness |286 that This is the Son of God, alone and with the article? For the initiator of the world should, if he knew that it was another son beside Him Who is truly Son, have signified the Truth, saying clearly, This is he who by connection with the Son Who is by Nature and in truth has been made son by gift and grace: but he said nothing of the kind but, knowing that He is One and the Same, both Word from forth of God the Father, and from forth the seed of David according to the flesh, says that He was sanctified, as man, and again sanctifies, in that He is conceived of as God: for He was (as I said) this and that in the Same. If therefore He have not been made man, if He have not been born after the flesh, from a woman, let us drive away from Him what belong to man: but if it is true that lowering Himself unto emptiness He hath been made as we, why do they part from Him the things through, which He will be conceived of as emptied, with utter ill-counsel undoing the fair scheme of the Economy with flesh?
B. If therefore He be said both, to have received glory and been made Lord and to be exalted by the Father, to be set King also, shall you attribute these too to God the Word and will you not full surely be damaging His glory?
A. That the Nature of God the Word has been filled with true glory, Royalty and Lordship, how can one doubt? and that He is firmly to be conceived of as being in heights the most God-befitting? but since He appeared as man to whom all things are a gift and imparted: therefore He, Full and giving to all from out His own fulness, in human wise receives, making our poverty His own: and in Christ was an unwonted and strange marvel, in servant's form Lordship, in human mean estate God-befitting glory, that which is under the yoke (as to the measure of manhood) crowned with the dignities of Royalty, and in Supremest Excellences that which is low. For the Only-Begotten hath been made man, not in order that He might remain in the |287 measure of the emptying, but in order that taking along therewith what is its. He might thus too be known to be God by Nature and might ennoble because of Himself the nature of man, rendering it participate of holy and Divine dignities. And we shall find the saints themselves too calling the Son even when He was made man, the glory of God the Father, and King and Lord. For Esaias somewhere says, As if a man gleaneth an olive-tree, thus shall they glean them, and when the vintage ceaseth, these shall shout with their voice, and they that are left in the earth shall rejoice together with the glory of the Lord, and again another of the saints says, Shine o Jerusalem for thy light is come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee: lo darkness and gloom shall cover the earth hut upon thee shall the Lord appear and the glory of the Lord shall he seen on thee: and James His disciple says, Brethren, have not in respect of persons the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ of glory, the Divine Peter again, If ye are reproached for Christ, ye are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God hath rested upon you.
B. Enough, good sir, of such testimonies: but tell us how we ought to understand what is written of Christ, Who in the days of His flesh having offered supplications and entreaties with mighty cry and tears to Him that is able to save Him from death and, heard for His fear, although Son, learned obedience from the things which He suffered and, perfected, became author to them that obey Him of salvation indissoluble; I will add to what I said, this too, My God, My God, why forsookest Thou Me? for they say that such things are incongruous to God the Word and I would say that they come very far short of His inherent Excellence.
A. I myself too know that these things would not befit the Word which is sprung forth of God the Father, if the mode of the Economy be put aside 45 and if we do not admit |288 that He have been made flesh according to the Scriptures: but since we rest firmly on this, and the doubting one whit abont it involves a charge of impiety, come let us view closely, as far as we may, the depth of the economy.
The Word therefore from forth of God the Father appeared in likeness of us, to aid in countless ways our human condition and to shew full well the path that leads us to everything that is admirable. It was then necessary that we should learn, when temptation attacks them who are in peril for the love of God, what sort of people they ought to be who have chosen to live a life and conversation noble and excellent; whether they should be seen by their Saviour remiss and falling back into negligence and out of due season revelling and spreading themselves out for delight: or intent unto prayer and bathed in tears and thirsting for aid from Him and for manliness, if He should be pleased that we should also suffer. It needed besides what we should know to our profit, whither the goal of obedience ends and through what prizes it goes, what and how great the reward of endurance. Christ therefore became a pattern of such things, and hereto the divine Peter confirms us saying, For what renown if sinning and buffeted ye endure? but if well-doing ye endure, this is thank from God, because Christ too died for us, leaving us 46 an ensample that ye should follow His steps. Hence the Word of God no longer bare and imparticipate in the measures of the emptying but in the days of His flesh has been made a pattern to us; in that then without any blame He could use the measures of the human nature and prolong His prayer and shed the tear 47 and seem now both to need a Saviour and |289 to learn obedience, albeit Son. For the Spirit-clad was as it were astonished at the Mystery, that being by Nature and truly Son and Eminent in the glories of the Godhead He let Himself down unto low estate, so as to undergo the meanness of our human poverty. Yet was the pattern (as I said) comely and helpful, so as one might learn hence, and that full easily, that we ought not to hasten another road, when the season calls us to manliness. And indeed Christ said at one time, And fear not them that slay the body but cannot slay the soul, but rather fear Him Who can destroy both soul and body in Hell, at another again, If any man will come after Me let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. The duty of following Him, what else is it than that we must be all-manly against temptations, and with that, ask the aid that is from above not negligently nor remissly but using rather intensest prayers and letting fall from our eyes the tear of godly fear?
B. You say well.
A. If moreover He say, My God My God why forsookest Thou Me, how will they understand it?
The duty of following Him, what else is it than that we must be all-manly against temptations, and with that, ask the aid that is from above not negligently nor remissly but using rather intensest prayers and letting fall from our eyes the tear of godly fear? B. You say well. A. If moreover He say, My God My God why forsookest Thou Me, how will they understand it?
B. They would deem, as I suppose, that these are the words of the man who is assumed.
A. Of one who has broken down and who considers the |290 onslaught of the trial as not to be borne, as intolerable, or how?
B. Of one who is distraught (as appears) out of human faint-heartedness: since to the disciples too He said, Exceeding sorrowful is My Soul unto death, and fell down before the Father Himself saying, Father, if it be possible, let this Cup pass from Me, yet not as I will but as THOU.
A. And verily this is nothing else than what we said just now, Who in the days of His flesh having offered both supplications and entreaties to Him Who could save Him from death with a mighty cry and tears. If any think that Christ had come down to this point of faint-heartedness and that He was sorrowful and very heavy, holding it intolerable to suffer, overcome with fear and mastered by weakness, he clearly accuses Him of not being God, and shews that to no purpose, as it seems, did He rebuke Peter.
B. How do you say?
A. For Christ said, See we are going up to Jerusalem and the Son of man will be betrayed into the hands of sinners, and they shall mock Him and crucify Him, and the third day He shall rise. He being pious, says, [God be] propitious to Thee, Lord, this shall not be to Thee. And what said Christ to him? Get thee behind Me satan, thou art an offence to Me, because thou dost not think the things of God but the things of men. And yet how did the disciple miss of what is fitting, in wanting the trial to be taken away from his Master, if it were insufferable to Him and by no means tolerable but rather lowering unto impotence and apt to shiver in pieces Him Who charged His disciples to be stout against the fear of death and to count suffering nothing, so that the good-pleasure of God should be accomplished by them?
And I wonder that they, saying that he has been connected with the Only-Begotten, and declaring him partaker of the Divine dignities, subject him to the fear of death, that so he may be seen to be bare man as we are and to have gained nothing from the Divine Dignities. |291
B. What then is the plan of the Economy herein?
A. Clearly mystical and deep and to be marvelled at by them who know aright the mystery of Christ. For view I pray, the words which beseem the emptying and are not incongruous to the measures of the manhood, how they were uttered in due and needful season, that He Who is over all creation might be seen to have been made in every respect as we. Hereto will follow again this also.
B. What?
A. Seeing that we have been made accursed because of the transgression in Adam and forsaken of God have fallen under the snare of death, and that all things have been made new in Christ, and a return of our condition to what it was in the beginning [has taken place]; need was it that the second Adam which is out of Heaven, He Who is superior to all sin, the All-holy and Undefiled second first-fruits of our race, Christ, should free from sentence the nature of men and call again upon it the good favour that is from above and from the Father and undo the forsaking 48 through His Obedience and entire subjection. For He did no sin, and the race of man in Him has gained the riches of spotlessness and entire blamelessness, so that it at length may with boldness cry out, My God my God why forsookest Thou me?
For consider that the Only-Begotten having been made man, gave forth such words as one of us and in behalf of our whole nature, as though He said 49, The first man hath |292 transgressed, he slipped down into disobedience, he heeded not the command given him, by the wiles of the dragon he was carried off into wilfulness: therefore fall rightly has he been subjected unto decay and has become subject to doom, but Thou didst plant Me a second beginning to them on the earth, I am called, Second Adam. In Me Thou seest the race of man purged, achieving sinlessness, holy, all-pure. Give now the good things of Thy Clemency, undo the forsaking, rebuke decay and let wrath reach its period. I have conquered Satan himself too who of old prevailed, for he found in Me no whit of what was his.
Such then, as I think, is the meaning of the Saviour's words; for He was inviting the good favour of the Father not on Himself but on us rather. For as the [fruits] of wrath passed through as from the first root, I mean Adam, unto the whole nature of man (for death hath reigned from Adam unto Moses over them too which sinned not after the likeness of Adam's transgression): thus too will the [fruits] from our second first-fruits, Christ, pass through unto the whole human race. And the all-wise Paul will be our warrant, saying, For if by the transgression of one man the many died, much more by the righteousness of the One shall the many live, and again, For as in Adam all die so too in Christ shall all be quickened.
B. Unwise therefore and utterly incongruous to the holy Scriptures is it both to deem and to say that the man assumed used human expressions as forsaken by the Word which was connected with him.
A. Blasphemy, my friend, and a proof of the uttermost |293 stupefaction, and that full clear, will this be, yet is it not incongruous to those who understand not to think aright. For since they sever and divide utterly both words and facts and have allotted the one to the Only-Begotten alone and by Himself, the other as it were to a son other than He and from a woman, therefore have they missed of the straight and most unerring way and of clearly knowing the mystery of Christ.
B. We must not then divide either words or facts, when the Gospel and Apostolic preachings are brought forward?
A. By no means, as far as pertains to two persons and hypostases severed from one another and diverging altogether apart and separately: for in that there is One Son, the Word made Man for our sakes, I would say that all are His, both words and facts, both the God-befitting and besides the human.
B. Hence even if He be said to be weary from the journey 50. to be hungry and to share in sleep: will it be fit (tell me) to allot to God the Word things thus mean and abased?
A. The Word still bare and not yet Incarnate and ere He descended unto the emptying, it will by no means befit (for you deem aright), but to Him made man and emptied what hurt can this inflict on Him? for as we say that His flesh was made His own 51, so again His are the weaknesses of the flesh through the Economic appropriation of them and after the mode of the emptying, for He was made like in all things to His brethren, without sin alone. And marvel not that we say that He has made the weaknesses |294 of the flesh His own along with the flesh: whence to Himself again hath He allotted the contumelies too from without, which were put upon Him by the frowardness of the Jews, saying through the voice of the Psalmist, They parted My garments among themselves and upon My vesture they cast the lot, and again, All that see Me sneered at Me, they spake with their lips, they wagged the head.
B. Hence though He say for example, He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father, I and the Father are One, and to the Jews, Why are ye seeking to kill Me, a man Who have told you the truth which I heard of God, shall we allow that the words both one and other belong to One and the Same?
A. Most certainly, for Christ has never been divided, but is believed to be One and Only and Very Son by all who worship Him. For the Image of the Invisible God, the Brightness of the glory of the Person of the Father, the Impress of His Essence, took bondman's form, not as though connecting a man to Himself, as they say, but rather Himself made in that form, yet even so abiding in likeness to God the Father. And the all-wise Paul hath written, For it is God Who said that the light should shine forth of darkness, Who shone in our hearts unto the illumining of the knowledge of His glory in the Face of Christ Jesus. For view how it is in the Person of Christ that the illumining 52 of the Divine and Ineffable glory of God the Father shines forth: for the Only-Begotten albeit made man shews in Himself the glory of the Father, for This Alone and none other is conceived of and called Christ 53. Else let our opponents teach us how one can behold in a mere man the illumining or the knowledge of the Divine glory? for not in the form of man shall we see God: yet in the Word Alone Which has been made as we and made Man and hath even |295 thus remained by Nature and truly Son, might one in wondrous wise see this too, in that He is conceived of as God. And verily the steward of His Mysteries, having called Him Christ Jesus as having been made as we and Incarnate, knows that He is so together with being God by Nature and in truth: for he writes after this wise, More boldly in part I have written to you, as reminding you because of the grace given me by God that I should be a minister of Christ Jesus, ministering the Gospel of God 54, Zacharias too prophesieth to his own child, I mean the Baptist, And thou, little one, shalt be called the prophet of the Most High, for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare a people for Him: and the Divine Baptist pointed out the Most High and Lord saying, See the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world: This is He of whom I said, After me cometh a Man who has been made before me because He was prior to me. Is it then lawful to doubt that One and Only and Truly Son is the Word forth of God the Father together with the flesh united to Him and that not without soul, as some say, but ensouled with reasonable soul and in all respects One Person with it?
B. I would not doubt it in the least, for One Lord, One faith, One Baptism. But if Jesus be said to advance in stature and wisdom and grace, who is it that has been made in these? for the Word Who is forth of God the Father being full and Perfect in Himself, what and whereunto will He take accession or advance? being Himself Wisdom, He will not be said to be recipient of wisdom 55. We must enquire then, they say, to whom these things belong.
A. We must then (it is like) bring in another son and lord, because some cannot reach the depth of the holy Scriptures. The wise Evangelist therefore, having first brought in that The Word has been made fleshy sets Him forth Economically |296 charging His own flesh to proceed by the paths of its own nature; and it belongs to human nature to advance in stature and wisdom, I may say in grace also, in that the understanding too that is in each springs upward conjointly with the measures of the body: for it is one in babes, other again in those that are now children and upwards. For it were not impossible or impracticable to the Word from forth of the Father as God, to rear on high even from the very swaddling-clothes the body which was united to Him and to bring it up to the measure of perfect stature; I will say too that to shew forth admirable wisdom even in His baby-state would have been both easy and without obstacle to Him, yet would it have savoured of wonderworking and been incongruous to the plan of the Economy; for the Mystery was performed noiselessly. He permitted therefore economically the measures of human nature to prevail in His own case, for this too will have been arranged in the meet order of the likeness to usward, whose advance is by little and little to what is greater, as the season calls us to accession of stature and of understanding not out of harmony therewith.
All-Perfect therefore, and un-lacking of ought whatever, and too of increase, is the "Word from forth the Father, as God: yet makes He His own what is ours seeing He has been made as we: yet we know that He is even so above us as God. And verily Paul dares, albeit knowing that He has been made flesh, looking at the Excellences of the Godhead, in places to say that He is not even man: he writes to them of Galatia, Paul an apostle not from men nor through man but through Jesus Christ, and elsewhere too, I declare to you the Gospel which was gospelled by me that it is not after man, for neither did I receive it from man nor was I taught it, but through revelation of Jesus Christ.
B. We must therefore adapt to Him both the being said to progress in wisdom and stature and grace, just as [we do] the hungering and being weary and the like: and perhaps even if He be said to suffer and to have been |297 quickened by the Father, we shall allot to Him these things too.
A. Yes, for we say that His are the human by an Economic appropriation, and along with the flesh that which is its: seeing that no other son beside Him is conceived of by us, but the Lord Himself hath saved us, giving His own Blood a ransom for the life of all; for we were bought with a price, not with things corruptible silver or gold but with the Precious Blood as of a Lamb Immaculate and without blemish,, Christ, Who offered Himself in our behalf for an odour of a sweet smell to God the Father. And hereto will be our warrant Paul most learned in the law, who hath written, Be therefore imitators of God as beloved children, and walk in love as Christ too loved us and delivered Himself for us an offering and sacrifice to God for an odour of a sweet smell. But since Christ hath been made a sweet smell for us shewing in Himself the nature of man in possession of sinlessness, we have had confidence through Him and in Him with God the Father Which is in Heaven: for it is written, Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holy in the blood of Christ, which He inaugurated for us, a new and living way through the veil, that is, through His flesh. Understand therefore how he says that His is the Blood and His the flesh, which he also calls the veil and with good reason, in order that whatever in the temple the sacred veil used to effect, concealing full well the holy of holies, somewhat of the same might the flesh too of the Lord be conceived of as doing, not permitting the marvellous and choice Excellence and glory of God the Word to it united, to be seen by any bare so to say and unhidden. And verily some imagined that Christ was Elias or one of the Prophets, but the Jews, not a whit understanding the mystery respecting Him, railing said, Is not this the carpenter's son 56? how saith He now, I have come down from heaven? for invisible by Nature is the Godhead, yet was He seen of those on earth in likeness with us Who in His own Nature is not visible, and the Lord God appeared to |298 us. And this I think the Divine David teaches saying, God shall come manifestly, our God, and shall not be passed over in silence.
B. You think aright, but they maintain that these things are not so, far from it. For in no wise do they choose to attribute the suffering on the cross to the Word Who sprang from God, but they say that He prepared the man who was connected with Him in equal honour, to undergo the contumelies of the Jews and the sufferings on the cross, yea and death itself and that he became the captain of our salvation, in the might of the Word Who was co-with him coming back to life and doing to nought the power of death.
A. Will they then be able out of the Holy Scriptures to prove to us that their account hereof is true? or do they innovate the Faith, uttering things out of their heart and not out of the mouth of the Lord, as it is written, or haply unable to say, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of Christ through which the world hath been crucified to me and I to the world?
B. Yea, they say, for the all-wise Paul confirms us hereto having written thus, For it became Him because of Whom all things and through Whom all things, bringing many sons to glory, to perfect through sufferings the Captain of their salvation. For He (they say) in Whom are all things and throughb Whom all things will be none other than the Word Which sprang from forth of God. He therefore perfected through sufferings the captain of our salvation, i. e. him from forth the seed of David.
A. We have therefore been redeemed by God no more (for how or whence could we?) but by another's blood, and some counterfeit man and falsely-called son hath died for us, and the august and mighty mystery of the Only-Begotten was then idle talk and quackery, and neither hath He been made man, but we will register as our saviour and redeemer, not Him but that other rather, who hath given his own blood for us. Yet the most holy Paul hath written to b The Syriac translation transposes in and through |299 some, It was therefore necessary that the patterns of the things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these; for not into sanctuaries made with hands, figures of the true, entered Christ, but into Heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us, nor that oftentimes He should offer Himself as the High Priest entereth into the sanctuary yearly with another's blood, since He must needs often have suffered from the foundation of the world; but now once in the completion of the ages hath He been manifested for the abolition of sin through His sacrifice. Hence the type hath, that certain make their entry with another's blood and are cleansed: the reality, i. e. the Truth, will surely possess what is better, i. e., that Jesus does this, entering with His own blood, not into any temporary tabernacle and made with hands, as it were in shadow and type, but into that which is above and true, into Heaven: for it was necessary that the patterns of the things in the heavens should be purified with these (i. e. with the typical and another's) but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
We must therefore necessarily seek for in Christ what is superior to the types, I mean the truth, which is in His own Blood.
B. You say right.
e. with the typical and another's) but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. We must therefore necessarily seek for in Christ what is superior to the types, I mean the truth, which is in His own Blood. B. You say right.
A. But since they set up against us the Apostle's saying, as though it were put forth of a common man, come let us say, taking from the beginning of what is written unto a sufficient close of it. It is written therefore, But we behold Jesus Who has been some little abased below the angels because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honour: for it beseemed Him because of Whom all things and through Whom all things, bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the Captain of their salvation through sufferings: for the Sanctifier and the sanctified are out of one, all of them, for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brothers saying, I will declare Thy Name to My brothers, and again, Behold I and the children which God gave Me. Since therefore the children have partalcen of blood and flesh, He too likewise |300 shared the same, in order that through death He might do to nought him that hath the power of death, i.e., the devil, and might rid those who in fear of death through all their life were subject to bondage: for not I suppose of angels taketh He hold but of Abraham's seed He taketh hold, whence He ought in all things to be likened to His brothers. See, see and that most clearly, saying that He has been abased below the Angels because of the suffering of death, yet has been crowned therefore with honour and glory, he makes evident Who it is of Whom he is discoursing, the Only-Begotten: for he says that He has partaken of blood and flesh like us, and that He took hold not of angels but of Abraham's seed. For it beseemed God the Father because of Whom all things and through Whom all things, to perfect the Son Who had descended to emptying and become man, having taken bondman's form, through sufferings 57 in that He consecrates His own flesh a Ransom for the life of all. For Christ hath been sacrificed for us, the spotless Victim, and by One offering hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified, re-forming man's nature into what it was in the beginning: for all things in Him are new.
For that God the Father hath given His own Son for us, no less will the all-wise Paul be our warrant, writing of . Him, Who spared not His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how will He not with Him too bestow on us all things? and we say that the own Son of God is the Word Who beamed forth of His Essence, and that He has been given for us, not still bare and without flesh but when He was made flesh. And His being said to suffer is free from any blame, for He suffered not in the nature of the Godhead but in His own flesh: for God the Father as I said above, made Him Who knew not sin sin for us, in order that we might be made the righteousness of God with 58 Him.
B. Do we therefore conceive that He was made sin, or |301 rather because He was made like to them who are under sin, is He therefore said to be sin?
A. You say right: as therefore He made Him Who knew not sin sin for us in order that WE might be made the righteousness of God in Him (for the nature of man has been justified in Him): so Him Who knows not death (for the Word is Life and lifegiving) He caused to suffer in the flesh, though He remained external to suffering in that He is conceived of as God, in order that we might live through Him and in Him. Hence also the suffering of Christ has been named, 'the likeness of death.' It is written therefore, For if we have been co-planted in the likeness of His death so shall we be too of His resurrection: for the Word was living, even while His holy flesh was tasting death in order that, death worsted and decay trodden down, the might of the resurrection might come unto the whole human race. For it is true, that as in Adam all die so too in Christ all shall be quickened. Since, how do we say that the Mystery of the Economy with flesh of the Only-Begotten aided man's nature, unless the Word being God has been made flesh? unless He Who is above all the creation lowered Himself unto emptying and hath come down to be in our estate? unless that have been made the body of Life which is subject to decay in order that it might become superior to death and decay?
B. We say therefore that the Word which is forth of God the Father Himself suffered in the flesh for us?
unless He Who is above all the creation lowered Himself unto emptying and hath come down to be in our estate? unless that have been made the body of Life which is subject to decay in order that it might become superior to death and decay? B. We say therefore that the Word which is forth of God the Father Himself suffered in the flesh for us?
A. Surely, if Paul is true in saying of Him, Who is the Image of the Invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, because in Him were created all things, visible and invisible, whether thrones or lordships or governments or authorities; all things have been created through Him and unto Him: and He is before all things, and all things consist in Him, and He is the Head of the Body, the Church, Who is the beginning, the first-born from the dead, in order that He may become in all pre-eminent. For see, see, he says and that full clearly, that the Image of the Invisible God, the first-born of all creation, both visible and invisible, through Whom all |302 things and in Whom all things, has been given a Head to the Church, and that He is First-born from the dead too. For He makes His own, as I said, the properties of His own flesh, and endured the cross, despising the shame. For we do not say that a man simply, honoured (I know not how) by connection with Him, has been given for us, but it is the Lord of glory Himself Which was crucified for us (for had they known, he says, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory): but He hath suffered for our sake and in our behalf in the flesh, according to the Scriptures, Who according to the flesh is of the Jews, Who is over all God and blessed for ever Amen. For thus hath the most holy Paul written, His herald and apostle and who hath Christ in him.
And tell me this besides, how they would understand what has been said by Christ to the woman out of Samaria, YE worship ye know not what, WE worship what we know, for salvation is from forth the Jews? albeit there hath saved us, not elder, not angel, but the Lord Himself, not with another's death and the mediation of a mere man but, with His own Blood. Hence, with good reason, said the all-wise Paul, One who disregards Moses' law dieth without compassion at the hands of two or three witnesses: of how much worser punishment, suppose ye, shall be be accounted worthy who trampled on the Son of God and accounted common the blood of the covenant and insulted the Spirit of grace in Whom he was sanctified 59? But if it be not the precious Blood of the in truth Son Incarnate but of some spurious one other than he and one that possesses the sonship of favour, how do they say that it is not common?
Therefore even though He be said to have suffered in the flesh, freedom from suffering even thus is kept to Him 60 in that He is conceived of as God. Therefore the |303 Divine Peter too says that Christ once for our sins died for us, the Righteous for the unrighteous, in order that He might bring us to God, put to death in the flesh, quickened in the Spirit. For why, might one I suppose say, did the Spirit-clad say not simply or indefinitely that He suffered, but added, in the flesh? for he knew, he knew that of God was he speaking. Therefore he hath allotted to Him impassibility in that He is conceived of as God, most skilfully adding, in the flesh, in respect to which suffering exists.
B. Yet they say that it savours of the marvellous and inclines much to the incredible, that we should have to say that the Same both suffers and does not suffer 61. For either surely He hath as God not suffered or if He is said to have suffered, how will He be God? hence he who suffered will be said to be only he which is from forth the seed of David.