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TOPIC: Post-Nicene Fathers Vol 08 (Other Topics in this Collection)
SUBJECT: 28.01.02 St. Basil On the Spirit Pt 2
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15. If they really conceive of a kind of degradation of the Son in relation to the Father, as though He were in a lower place, so that the Father sits above, and the Son is thrust off to the next seat below, let them confess what they mean. We shall have no more to say. A plain statement of the view will at once expose its absurdity. They who refuse to allow that the Father pervades all things do not so much as maintain the logical sequence of thought in their argument. The faith of the sound is that God fills all things;hyperlink but they who divide their up and down between the Father and the Son do not remember even the word of the Prophet: "If I climb up into heaven thou art there; if I go down to hell thou art there also."hyperlink Now, to omit all proof of the ignorance of those who predicate place of incorporeal things, what excuse can be found for their attack upon Scripture, shameless as their antagonism is, in the passages "Sit thou on my right hand "hyperlink and "Sat down on the right hand of the majesty of God"?hyperlink The expression "right hand" does not, as they contend, indicate the lower place, but equality of relation; it is not understood physically, in which case there might be something sinister about God,hyperlink but Scripture puts before us the magnificence of the dignity of the Son by the use of dignified language indicating the seat of honour. It is left then for our opponents to allege that this expression signifies inferiority of rank. Let them learn that "Christ is the power of God and wisdom of God,"hyperlink and that "He is the image of the invisible God "hyperlink and "brightness of his glory,"hyperlink and that "Him hath God the Father sealed,"hyperlink by engraving Himself on Him.hyperlink
Now are we to call these passages, and others like them, throughout the whole of Holy Scripture, proofs of humiliation, or rather public proclamations of the majesty of the Only Begotten, and of the equality of His glory with the Father? We ask them to listen to the Lord Himself, distinctly setting forth the equal dignity of His glory with the Father, in His words, "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father;"hyperlink and again, "When the Son cometh in the glory of his Father;"hyperlink that they "should honour the Son even as they henour the Father;"hyperlink and, "We beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father;"hyperlink and "the only begotten God which is in the bosom of the Father."hyperlink Of all these passages they take no account, and then assign to the Son the place set apart for His foes. A father's bosom is a fit and becoming seat for a son, but the place of the footstool is for them that have to be forced to fall.hyperlink
We have only touched cursorily on these proofs, because our object is to pass on to other points. You at your leisure can put together the items of the evidence, and then contemplate the height of the glory and the preeminence of the power of the Only Begotten. However, to the well-disposed bearer, even these are not insignificant, unless the terms "right hand" and "bosom" be accepted in a physical and derogatory sense, so as at once to circumscribe God in local limits, and invent form, mould, and bodily position, all of which are totally distinct from the idea of the absolute, the infinite, and the incorporeal. There is moreover the fact that what is derogatory in the idea of it is the same in the case both of the Father and the Son; so that whoever repeats these arguments does not take away the dignity of the Son, but does incur the charge of blaspheming the Father; for whatever audacity a man be guilty of against the Son he cannot but transfer to the Father. If he assigns to the Father the upper place by way of precedence, and asserts that the only begotten Son sits below, he will find that to the creature of his imagination attach all the consequent conditions of body. And if these are the imaginations of drunken delusion and phrensied insanity, can it be consistent with true religion for men taught by the Lord himself that "He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father"hyperlink to refuse to worship and glorify with the Father him who in nature, in glory, and in dignity is conjoined with him? What shall we say? What just defence shall we have in the day of the awful universal judgment of all-creation, if, when the Lord clearly announces that He will come "in the glory of his Father;"hyperlink when Stephen beheld Jesus standing at the right hand of God;hyperlink when Paul testified in the spirit concerning Christ "that he is at the right hand of God;"hyperlink when the Father says, "Sit thou on my right hand;"hyperlink when the Holy Spirit bears witness that he has sat down on "the right hand of the majesty"hyperlink of God; we attempt to degrade him who shares the honour and the throne, from his condition ofequality, to a lower state?hyperlink Standing and sitting, I apprehend, indicate the fixity and entire stability of the nature, as Baruch, when he wishes to exhibit the immutability and immobility of the Divine mode of existence, says, "For thou sittest for ever and we perish utterly."hyperlink Moreover, the place on the right hand indicatesin my judgmentequality of honour. Rash, then, is the attempt to deprive the Son of participation in the doxology, as though worthy only to be ranked in a lower place of honour.
Chapter VII
Against those who assert that it is not proper for "with whom" to be said of the Son, and that the proper hrase is "through whom."
16. But their contention is that to use the phrase" with him" is altogether strange and unusual, while "through him" is at once most familiar in Holy Scripture, and very common in the language of the brotherhood.hyperlink What is our answer to this? We say, Blessed are the ears that have not heard you and the hearts that have been kept from the wounds of your words. To you, on the other hand, who are lovers of Christ,hyperlink I say that the Church recognizes both uses, and deprecates neither as subversive of the other. For whenever we are contemplating the majesty of the nature of the Only Begotten, and the excellence of His dignity, we bear witness that the glory is with the Father; while on the other hand, whenever we bethink us of His bestowalhyperlink on us of good gifts, and of oar accesshyperlink to, and admission into, the household of God,hyperlink we confess that this grace is effected for us through Him and byhyperlink Him.
It follows that the one phrase "with whom" is the proper one to be used in the ascription of glory, while the other, "through whom," is specially appropriate in giving of thanks. It is also quite untrue to allege that the phrase "with whom" is unfamiliar in the usage of the devout. All those whose soundness of character leads them to hold the dignity of antiquity to be more honourable than mere new-fangled novelty, and who have preserved the tradition of their fathershyperlink unadulterated, alike in town and in country, have employed this phrase. It is, on the contrary, they who are surfeited with the familiar and the customary, and arrogantly assail the old as stale, who welcome innovation, just as in dress your lovers of display always prefer some utter novelty to what is generally worn. So you may even still see that the language of country folk preserves the ancient fashion, while of these, our cunning expertshyperlink in Iogomachy, the language bears the brand of the new philosophy.
What our fathers said, the same say we, that the glory of the Father and of the Son is common; wherefore we offer the doxology to the Father with the Son. But we do not rest only on the fact that such is the tradition of the Fathers; for they too followed the sense of Scripture, and started from the evidence which, a few sentences back, I deduced from Scripture and laid before you. For "the brightness" is always thought of with "the glory,"hyperlink "the image" with the archetype,hyperlink and the Son always and everywhere together with the Father; nor does even the close connexion of the names, much less the nature of the things, admit of separation.
Chapter VIII
In how many ways "Through whom "is used; and in what sense "with whom" is more suitable. Explanation of how the Son receives a commandment, and how late is sent.
17. When, then, the apostle "thanks God through Jesus Christ,"hyperlink and again says that "through Him" we have "received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations,"hyperlink or "through Him have access unto this grace wherein we stand and rejoice,"hyperlink he sets forth the boons conferred on us by the Son, at one time making the grace of the good gifts pass through from the Father to us, and at another bringing us to the Father through Himself. For by saying "through whom we have received grace and apostleship,"hyperlink he declares the supply of the good gifts to proceed from that source; and again in saying "through whom we have had access,"hyperlink he sets forth our acceptance and being made "of the household of God"hyperlink through Christ. Is then the confession of the grace wrought by Him to usward a detraction from His glory? Is it not truer to say that the recital of His benefits is a proper argument for glorifying Him? It is on this account that we have not found Scripture describing the Lord to us by one name, nor even by such terms alone as are indicative of His godhead and majesty. At one time it uses terms descriptive of His nature, for it recognises the "name which is above every name,"hyperlink the name of Son,hyperlink and speaks of true Son,hyperlink and only begotten God,hyperlink and Power of God,hyperlink and Wisdom,hyperlink and Word.hyperlink Then again, on account of the divers mannershyperlink wherein grace is given to us, which, because of the riches of His goodness,hyperlink according to his manifoldhyperlink wisdom, he bestows on them that need, Scripture designates Him by innumerable other titles, calling Him Shepherd,hyperlink Kinghyperlink Physician,hyperlink Bridegroom,hyperlink Way,hyperlink Door,hyperlink Fountain,hyperlink Bread,hyperlink Axe,hyperlink and Rock.hyperlink And these, titles do not set forth His nature, but, as I have remarked, the variety of the effectual working which, out of His tender-heartedness to His own creation, according to the peculiar necessity of each, He bestows upon them that need. Them that have fled for refuge to His ruling care, and through patient endurance have mended their wayward ways,hyperlink He calls "sheep," and confesses Himself to be, to them that hear His voice and refuse to give heed to strange teaching, a "shepherd." For "my sheep, He says, "hear my voice." To them that have now reached a higher stage and stand in need of righteous royalty,hyperlink He is a King. And in that, through the straight way of His commandments, He leads men to good actions, and again because He safely shuts in all who through faith in Him betake themselves for shelter to the blessing of the higher wisdom,hyperlink He is a Door.So He says, "By me if any man enter in, ... he shall go in and out and shall find pastare."hyperlink Again, because to the faithful He is a defence strong, unshaken, and harder to break than any bulwark, He is a Rock. Among these titles, it is when He is styled Door, or Way, that the phrase "through Him" is very appropriate and plain. As, however, God and Son, He is glorified with and together withhyperlink the Father, in 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, to the glory of God the Father."hyperlink Wherefore we use both terms, expressing by the one His own proper dignity, and by the other His grace to usward.
18. For "through Him" comes every succour to our souls, and it is in accordance with each kind of care that an appropriate title has been devised. So when He presents to Himself the blameless soul, not having spot or wrinkle,hyperlink like apure maiden, He is called Bridegroom, but whenever He receives one in sore plight from the devil's evil strokes, healing it in the heavy infirmity of its sins, He is named Physician. And shall this His care for us degrade to meanness oar thoughts of Him? Or, on the contrary, shall it smite us with amazement at once at the mighty power and love to manhyperlink of the Saviour, in that He both endured to suffer with ushyperlink in our infirmities, and was able to come down to our weakness? For not heaven and earth and the great seas, not the creatures that live in the water and on dry land, not plants, and stars, and air, and seasons, not the vast variety in the order of the universe,hyperlink so well sets forth the excellency of His might as that God, being incomprehensible, should have been able, impassibly, through flesh, to have come into close conflict with death, to the end that by His own suffering He might give us the boon of freedom from suffering.hyperlink The apostle, it is true, says, "In all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us."hyperlink But in a phrase of this kind there is no suggestion of any lowly and subordinate ministry,hyperlink but rather of the succour rendered "in the power of his might."hyperlink For He Himself has bound the strong man and spoiled his goods,hyperlink that is, us men, whom our enemy had abused in every evil activity, and made "vessels meet for the Master's use "hyperlink us who have been perfected for every work through the making ready of that part of us which is in our own control.hyperlink Thus we have had our approach to the Father through Him, being translated from "the power of darkness to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light."hyperlink We must not, however, regard the oeconomyhyperlink through the Son as a compulsory and subordinate ministration resulting from the low estate of a slave, but rather the voluntary solicitude working effectually for His own creation in goodness and in pity, according to the will of God the Father. For we shall be consistent with true religion if in all that was and is from tithe to time perfected by Him, we both bear witness to the perfection of His power, and in no case put it asunder from the Father's will. For instance, whenever the Lord is called the Way, we are carried on to a higher meaning, and not to that which is derived from the vulgar sense of the word. We understand by Way that advancehyperlink to perfection which is made stage by stage, and in regular order, through the works of righteousness and" the illumination of knowledge;"hyperlink ever longing after what is before, and reaching forth unto those things which remain,hyperlink until we shall have reached the blessed end, the knowledge of God, which the Lord through Himself bestows on them that have trusted in Him. For our Lord is an essentially good Way, where erring and straying are unknown, to that which is essentially good, to the Father. For "no one," He says, "cometh to the Father but ["by" A.V.] through me."hyperlink Such is our way up to God "through the Son."
19. It will follow that we should next in order point out the character of the provision of blessings bestowed on us by the Father "through him." Inasmuch as all created nature, both this visible world and all that is conceived of in the mind, cannot hold together without the care and providence of God, the Creator Word, the Only begotten God, apportioning His succour according to the measure of the needs of each, distributes mercies various and manifold on account of the many kinds and characters of the recipients of His bounty, but appropriate to the necessities of individual requirements. Those that are confined in the darkness of ignorance He enlightens: for this reason He is true Light.hyperlink Portioning requital in accordance with the desert of deeds, He judges: for this reason He is righteous Judge.hyperlink "For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment to the Son."hyperlink Those that have lapsed from the lofty height of life into sin He raises from their fall: for this reason He is Resurrection.hyperlink Effectually working by the much of His power and the will of His goodness He does all things. He shepherds; He enlightens; He nourishes; He heals; He guides; He raises up; He calls into being things that were not; He upholds what has been created. Thus the good things that come from God reach us "through the Son," who works in each case with greater speed than speech can utter. For not lightnings, not light's course in air, is so swift; not eyes' sharp turn, not the movements of our very thought. Navy by the divine energy is each one of these in speed further surpassed than is the slowest of all living creatures outdone in motion by birds, or even winds, or the rush of the heavenly bodies: or, not to mention these, by our very thought itself. For what extent of time is needed by Him who "upholds all things by the word of His power, "hyperlink and works not by bodily agency, nor requires the help of hands to form and fashion, but holds in obedient following and unforced consent the nature of all things that are? So as Judith says, "Thou hast thought, and what things thou didst determine were ready at hand."hyperlink On the other hand, and test we should ever be drawn away by the greatness of the works wrought to imagine that the Lord is without beginning,hyperlink what saith the Self-Existent?hyperlink "I live through [by, A.V.] the Father, "hyperlink and the power of God; "The Son hath power [can, A.V.] to do nothing of himself. "hyperlink And the self-complete Wisdom? I received "a commandment what I should say and what I should speak."hyperlink Through all these words He is guiding us to the knowledge of the Father, and referring our wonder at all that is brought into existence to Him, to the end that "through Him" we may know the Father. For the Father is not regarded from the difference of the operations, by the exhibition of a separate and peculiar energy; for whatsoever things He sees the Father doing, "these also doeth the Son likewise; "hyperlink but He enjoys our wonder at all that comes to pass out of the glory which comes to Him from the Only Begotten, rejoicing in the Doer Himself as well as in the greatness of the deeds, and exalted by all who acknowledge Him as Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, "through whom [by whom, A.V.] are all things, and for whom are all things."hyperlink Wherefore, saith the Lord, "All mine are thine,"hyperlink as though the sovereignty over created things were conferred on Him, and "Thine are mine," as though the creating Cause came thence to Him. We are not to suppose that He used assistance in His action, or yet was entrusted with the ministry of each individual work by detailed commission, a condition distinctly menial and quite inadequate to the divine dignity. Rather was the Word full of His Father's excellences; He shines forth from the Father, and does all things according to the likeness of Him that begat Him. For if in essence He is without variation, so also is He without variation in power.hyperlink And of those whose power is equal, the operation also is in all ways equal. And Christ is the power of God, and the wisdom of God.hyperlink And so "all things are made through [by, A.V.] him,"hyperlink and "all things were created through [by, A.V.] him and for him,"hyperlink not in the discharge of any slavish service, but in the fulfilment of the Father's will as Creator.
Footnotes
88 Fa/tasi/a is the philosophic term for imagination or presentation, the mental faculty by which the object made apparent, fa/ntasma, becomes apparent, fai/netai. AAristotle, de An. III. iii. 20 defines it as "a movement of the mind generated by sensation." Fancy, which is derived from fintasi/a (fai/nw, VBHA=shine) has acquired a slightly different meaning in some usages of modern speech.
89 Eph. iv. 10.
90 Ps. cxxxix. 7, P.B.
91 Ps. cx. 1.
92 Heb. I. 3, with the variation of "of God" for "on high."
93 I know of no better way of conveying the sense of the original skai=oosj than by thus introducing the Latin sinister, which has the double meaning of left and ill-omened. It is to the credit of the unsuperstitious character of English speaking people that while the Greek skai=ooj and a'ooiuteoo/j, the Latin sinister, and laevus, the French gauche, and the German link, all have the meaning of awkward and unlucky as well as simply on the left hand, the English left (though probably derived from lift=weak) has lost all connotation but the local one.
94 1 Cor. I. 24
95 Col. i. 15.
96 Heb I. 3.
97 John vi. 27.
98 The more obvious interpretation of e'sfa/gisen in John vi. 27, would be sealed with a mark of approval, as in the miracle just performed. cf. Bengel, "sigillo id quod genuinum est commendatur, et omne quod non genuinum est excluditur." But St. Basil explains "sealed" by "stamped with the image of His Person," an interpretation which Alfred rejects. St. Basil at the end of Chapter xxvi. of this work, calls our Lord the xarakth/r kai\ i'so/tupoj sfragi/j, i.e., "express image and seal graven to the like" of the Father. St. Athanasius (Ep. I. ad Serap. xxiii.) writes, "The seal has the form of Christ the sealer, and in this the sealed participate, being formed according to it." cf. Gal. iv. 19, and 2 Pet. I. 4.
99 John xiv. 9.
100 Mark viii. 38.
101 John v. 23.
102 John i. 14.
103 John i. 18. "Only begotten God" is here the reading of five mss. of Basil. The words are wanting in one codex. In Chapter viii. of this work St. Basil distinctly quotes Scripture as calling the Son "only begotten Good." (Chapter viii. Section 17.) But in Chapter xi. Section 27, where he has been alleged to quote John I. 18, with the reading "Only begotten SON" (e.g., Alfred), the ms. authority for his text is in favour of "Only begotten God." O<,< is the reading _. b.c. r,x, of A. On the comparative weight of the textual and patristic evidence vide Bp. Westcott in loc.
104 cf. Ps. cx. 1.
105 John v. 23.
106 Matt. xvi. 27.
107 Acts vii. 55.
108 Rom. viii. 34.
109 Ps. cx. 1.
110 Heb. viii. 1.
111 Mr. Johnston well points out that these five testimonies are not cited fortuitously, but "in an order which carries the reader from the future second coming, through the present session at the right hand, back to the ascension in the past."
112 Baruch iii. 3, lxx.
113 The word a'delfo/thj is in the New Testament peculiar to S. Peter (1 Peter ii. 17, and v. 9); it occurs in the Epistle of St. Clement to the Corinthians, Chap. ii.
114 Filo/xristoi. The word is not common, but occurs in inscriptions. cf. Anth. Pal. I. x. 13.
o'pqh\n pi/stin e!xousa filoxri/stoio menoinh=j.
115 xorhgi/a. cf. the use of the cognate verb in 1 Pet. iv. 11. e'c i'sxu/ooj h!j xorhgei/ o' qeo/j.
116 prosagwgh/. cf. Eph. ii. 18.
117 oi'kei/wsin proo\j to\n Qeo/n. cf. oi'kei=oi tou= Qeou= in Eph. ii. 19.
118 e'/.
119 cf. Gal. I. 14.
120 The verb, e'ntri/bomai, appears to be used by St. Basil, if he wrote e'ntetrimme/nwn in the sense of to be e'ntribh/j or versed in a thing (cf. Soph. Ant. 177) - a sense not illustrated by classical usage. But the reading of the Moscow ms. (m) e'nteqramme/nwn, "trained in."" "nurtured in," is per se much more probable. The idea of the country folk preserving the good old traditions shews the change of circumstances in St. Basil's day from those of the 2d c., when the "pagani" or villagers were mostly still heathen, and the last to adopt the novelty of Christianity. cf. Pliny's Letter to Trajan (Ep. 96), "neque civitates tantum sed vicos etiam atque agros superstitionis istius contagio pervagata est."
121 Heb. I. 1. cf. Aug. Ep. ii. ad Serap.: "The Father is Light, and the Son brightness and true light."
122 2 Cor. iv. 4.
123 Rom. i. 8.
124 Rom. i. 5.
125 Rom. v. 2.
126 Rom. i. 5.
127 Rom. v. 2.
128 cf. Eph. ii. 19.
129 Phil. ii. 9.
130 Twoo mss., those in the B. Museum and at Viena, read here Ihso/=. In Ep. 210 §4, St. Basil writes that the name above every name is au'to\ to\ kalei=sqai au'to\n Uion tou= Qeou=.
131 cf. Matt. xiv. 33, and xxvii. 54.
132 John I. 11.
133 1 Cor. I. 24, and possibly Rom. i. 16, if with D. we read gospel of Christ.
134 1 Cor. i. 24.
135 e.g. John i. 1. cf. Ps. cvii. 20; Wisdom ix. 1, xviii. 15; Ecclesiasticus xliii. 20.
136 To\ polu/tropon. cf. Heb. i. 1.
137 To\n pplou=ton th=j a'gaqoo/thtooj. cf. Rom ii. 4, toou= plou/tou th=j xrhsto/thtooj.
138 Eph. iii. 10.
139 e.g., John x. 12,
140 e.g., Matt. xxi 5.
141 e.g., Matt. ix. 12.
142 e.g., Matt. ix. 15.
143 e.g., John xiv. 6.
144 e.g., John x. 9.
145 cf. Rev. xxi. 6.
146 e.g., John vi. 21.
147 cf. Matt. ii. 10.
148 e.g., 1 Cor. x. 4.
149 I translate here the reading of the Parisian Codex called by the Benedictine Editors iRegius Secundus, too\ eu'meta/bolon katwrqwko/taaj. The harder reading, to\ eu'meta\doton, which may be rendered "have perfected their readiness to distribute," has the best manuscript authority, but it is barely intelligible; and the Benedictine Editors are quite right in calling attention to the fact that the point in question here is not the readiness of the flock to distribute (cf. 1 Tim. vi. 18), but their patient following of their Master. The Benedictine Editors boldly propose to introduce a word of no authority to\ a'meta\bolon, rendering qui per patientiam animam immutabilem praebuerunt. The reading adopted above is supported by a passage in Ep. 244, where St. Basil is speaking of the waywardness of Eustathius, and seems to fit in best with the application of the passage to the words of our Lord, "have fled for refuge to his ruling care," corresponding with "the sheep follow him, for they know his voice" (St. John x. 4), and "have mended their wayward ways," with "'a stranger will they not follow," v. 5. Mr. Johnston, in his valuable note, compares Origen's teaching on the Names of our Lord.
150 So three mss. Others repeat epiotaoi/a translated "ruling care" above. e!nnoomoj is used by Plato for "lawful" and "law-abiding." (Legg. 921 C. and Rep. 424 E.) In 1 Cor. ix. 21, A.V. renders "under the law."
151 To\ th=j gnw/sewj a'gaqo/n: possibly "the good of knowledge of him."
152 John x. 9.
153 cf. note on page 3, on meta/ and so/n.
154 Phil. ii. 10, 11.
155 Eph. v. 29.
156 filanqrwpia occurs twice in the N.T. (Acts xxviii. 2, and Titus iii. 4) and is in the former passage rendered by A.V. "kindness," in the latter by "love to man." The filanqrwpi/a of the Maltese barbarians corresponds with the lower classical sense of kindliness and courtesy. The love of God in Christ to man introduces practically a new connotation to the word and its cognates.
157 Or to sympathize with our infirmities.
158 poikilh diako/smhsij. diako/smhsij was the technical term of the Pythagorean philosophy for the orderly arrangement of the universe (cf. Arist. Metaph. I. v. 2. h' o!lh diako/smhsij"); Pythagoras being credited with the first application of the word ko/smoj to the universe (Plut. 2, 886 c.) So mendus in Latin, whence Augustine's oxymoron, "O munde immunde!" On the scriptural use of ko/smoj and a'iw/n vide Archbp. Trench's New Testament Synonyms, p. 204.
159 I Hom. on Ps. lxv. Section 5, St. Basil describes the power of God the Word being most distinctly shewn in the oeconomy of the incarnation and His descent to the lowliness and the infirmity of the manhood. cf. Ath. on the Incarnation, sect. 54, "He was made man that we might be made God; and He manifested Himself by a body that we might receive the idea of the unseen Father; and He endured the insolence of men that we might inherit immortality. For while He Himself was in no way injured, being impassible and incorruptible and the very Word and God, men who were suffering, and for whose sakes He endured all this, He maintained and preserved in His own impassibility."
160 Rom. viii. 37.
161 u'phresi/a. Lit. "under-rowing." The cognate u'phre/thj is the word used in Acts xxvi. 16, in the words of the Saviour to St. Paul, "to make thee a minister," and in 1 Cor. iv. 1, "Let a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ."
162 Eph. vi. 10.
163 cf. Matt. xii. 29.
164 2 Tim. ii. 21.
165 This passage is difficult to render alike from the variety of readings and the obscurity of each. I have endeavoured to represent the force of the Greek e'k th=j e'toimasi/aj tou= e'f0 h 9mi=n. understanding by "to\ e'f0 h 9mi=n," practically, "our free will." cf. the enumeration of what is e'f0 h'mi/n, within our own control, in the Enchiridion of Epicetus, Chap. I. "Within our own control are impulse, desire inclination." On Is. vi. 8, "Here am I; send me," St. Basil writes, "He did not add ''I will go;' for the acceptance of the message is within our control (e'f h 9mi=n), but to be made capable of going is of Him that gives the grace, of the enabling God." The Benedictine translation of the text is "per liberi arbitrii nostri praeparationem." But other readings are (I) th=j e'f0 h 9mi=/, "the preparation which is in our own control;;:: (ii) th=j e 9toimasi/aj au'tou=, "His preparation;" and (iii) the Syriac represented by "arbitrio suo."
166 Col. i. 12, 13.
167 cf. note on page 7.
168 prokooph/: cf. Luke ii. 52, where it is said that our Lord proe/kopte, i.e., "continued to cut His way forward."
169 1 Cor. iv. 6, R.V. marg.
170 There seems to be here a recollection, though not a quotation, of Phil. iii. 13.
171 John xiv. 6.
172 John i. 9.
173 2 Tim. iv. 8.
174 John v. 22.
175 John xi. 25.
176 Heb. i. 3.
177 Judith ix. 5 and 6.
178 a#narnoj. This word is used in two senses by the Fathers. (I) In the sense of a'i/diooj or eternal, it is applied (a) to the Trinity in unity. e.g., Quaest. Misc., . v. 442 (Migne Ath. iv. 783), attributed to Athanasius, ko/uo\n h 9 ou'sia . koino\n to a!narxon. (b) To the Son. e.g., Greg. Naz. Orat. xxix. 490, e'a\n th\n a'po\ xro/non noh=j a'rxh\n kai\ a!naooxooj oo 9 ui/oo\j, ouk a!rxitai ga\o a'po\ oO 9 xroo/nwn despoo/thj. (ii) In the sense of a/naitioj, ""causeless," "originis principio carens," it is applied to the Father alone, and not to the Son. So Gregory of Nazianzus, in the oration quoted above, o 9 ui/o\j, e'a\n w 9j ai!tion to\n pate/ra lamba/nhj, oou'k a!/arxoj, "the Son, if you understand the Father as cause, is not without beginning." a!rxh ga\r ui/oou= parh\r w 9j a !Itioj. "For the Father, as cause, is Beginning of the Son." But, though the Son in this sense was not a!narxooj, He was said to be begotten a'na/rxwj. So Greg. Naz. (Hom. xxxvii. 590) to\ i!dion o!noma tou= a'na/rxwwj gennhqe/ntoj, nioj. Cf. the Letter of Alexander of Alexandria to Alexander of Constantinople. Theod. Ecc. Hist. i. 3. th\n a!narxon au'tw= paru\ tou= patro\j gennhsin o'nati/ qe/taj. cf. Hooker, Ecc. Pol. v. 54. "by the gift of eternal generation Christ hat received of the Father one and in number the self-same substance which the Father hath of himself unreceived from any other. For every beginning is a father unto that which cometh of it; and every offspring is a son unto that out of which it groweth. Seeing, therefore, the Father alone is originally that Deity which Christ originally is not (for Christ is God be being of God, light by issuing out of light), it followeth hereupon that whatsoever Christ hath common unto him with his heavenly Father, the same of necessity must be given him, but naturally and eternally given." So Hillary De Trin. xii. 21. Ubi auctor eternus est, ibi et nativatis aeternitas est: quia sicut nativitas ab auctore est, ita et ab aeterno auctoroe aeterna nativitas est." And Augustine De Trin. v. 15, "Naturam praestat filio SINE INITIO generatio."
179 h 9 au'toozwh/.
180 John vi. 57.
181 John v. 19.
182 John xii. 49.
183 John v. 19.
184 Heb. ii. 10. cf. Rom xi. 36, to which the reading of two manuscripts more distinctly assimilates the citation. The majority of commentators refer Heb. ii. 10, to to the Father, but Theodoret understands it of the Son, and the argument oof St. Basil necessitates the same application.
185 John xvii. 10.
186 a'paralla/ktwj e!xei. cf. Jas. I. 17. par0 w= ou'k e!ni parallagh/. The word a'para/llaktoj was at first used by the Catholic bishops at Nicaea, as implying o 9moou/sioj. /Vide Athan. De Decretis, § 20, in Wace and Schaff's ed., p. 163.
187 1 Cor. i. 24.
188 John i. 3.