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Dist. 1

Book III: On the Incarnation of the Word · Distinction 1

Textus Latinus
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DISTINCTIO I.

Cum venit igitur plenitudo temporis, ut ait Apostolus1, misit Deus Filium suum, factum de muliere, factum sub lege, ut eos qui sub lege erant redimeret, ut adoptionem filiorum Dei reciperemus. Tempus autem plenitudinis dicitur tempus gratiae, quod ab adventu Salvatoris exordium sumsit. Hoc est tempus miserendi et annus benignitatis, in quo gratia et veritas per Iesum Christum facta est: gratia, quia per caritatem impletur quod in Lege praecipiebatur; veritas, quia per Christi adventum exhibetur atque perficitur humanae redemptionis sponsio facta ab antiquo. « Filii ergo missio est ipsa incarnatio2 ». Eo enim missus est, quod in forma hominis mundo visibilis apparuit, de quo supra3 sufficienter dictum est.

Cap. I.

Quare Filius carnem assumsit, non Pater vel Spiritus sanctus.

Diligenter vero est annotandum, quare Filius, non Pater vel Spiritus sanctus, est incarnatus. Solus namque Filius hominem assumsit. Quod utique ordine congruo atque alto Dei sapientia fecit consilio, ut Deus, qui in sapientia sua mundum condiderat, secundum illud4: Omnia in sapientia fecisti, Domine, in eadem quae in caelis sunt et quae in terris restauraret. Haec est mulier evangelica, quae accendit lucernam et drachmam decimam, quae perdita fuerat, reperit5, Sapientia scilicet Patris, quae testam humanae infirmitatis lumine suae divinitatis accendit perditumque hominem reparavit, nomine regis et imagine insignitum. — Ideo etiam Filius missus est, et non Pater, quia congruentius mitti debebat qui est ab alio, quam qui est a nullo; Filius autem a Patre est, Pater vero a nullo est. Ut enim ait Augustinus in libro de Trinitate6: « Non enim habet de quo sit ». « Sicut ergo Pater genuit, Filius genitus est, ita congrue Pater misit, Filius missus est ». « Ab illo enim convenienter mittitur Dei Verbum, cuius est verbum. Ab illo mittitur, de quo natum est. Mittitur quod genitum est. Pater vero, qui misit, a nullo est ». Ideoque Pater missus non est, ne, si mitteretur, ab alio esse putaretur. — Missus est ergo primo Filius, quia a solo Patre est; deinde etiam Spiritus sanctus, qui est a Patre et Filio. Sed Filius solus in carne missus est, non Spiritus sanctus, sicut nec Pater. Quod ideo factum est, ut qui erat in divinitate Dei Filius in humanitate fieret hominis filius. Non Pater vel Spiritus sanctus carnem induit, ne alius in divinitate esset Filius, alius in humanitate, et ne idem esset Pater et Filius, si Deus Pater de homine nasceretur. Unde in Ecclesiasticis dogmatibus7: « Non Pater carnem assumsit neque Spiritus sanctus, sed Filius tantum, ut qui erat in divinitate Dei Filius, ipse fieret in homine hominis filius, ne filii nomen ad alterum transiret, qui non esset aeterna nativitate filius. Dei ergo Filius hominis factus est filius, natus secundum veritatem naturae ex Deo Dei Filius, et secundum veritatem naturae ex homine hominis filius, ut veritas geniti non adoptione, non appellatione, sed in utraque nativitate filii nomen nascendo haberet, et esset verus Deus et verus homo unus filius. Non ergo duos Christos neque duos filios, sed Deum et hominem unum filium, quem propterea et unigenitum dicimus, manentem in duabus substantiis, sicut ei naturae veritas contulit, non confusis naturis neque immixtis, sicut Timotheani volunt, sed societate unitis ». — Ecce habes, quare Filius, non Pater vel Spiritus sanctus, carnem assumserit.

Cap. II.

Utrum Pater vel Spiritus sanctus potuerit incarnari.

Si vero quaeritur, utrum Pater vel Spiritus sanctus incarnari potuerit, vel etiam modo possit, sane responderi potest8, et potuisse olim et posse nunc carnem sumere et hominem fieri tam Patrem quam Spiritum sanctum. Sicut enim Filius homo factus est, ita Pater vel Spiritus sanctus potuit et potest.

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Cap. III.

An Filius, qui tantum carnem accepit, aliquid fecerit, quod non Pater vel Spiritus sanctus.

Sed forte aliqui dicent: cum indivisa sint opera Trinitatis, si Filius carnem assumsit, tunc Pater et Spiritus sanctus; quia, si Filius carnem assumsit, nec hoc fecit Pater vel Spiritus sanctus, non omne quod facit Filius, facit Pater et Spiritus sanctus; at omnia simul Pater et Filius et amborum Spiritus pariter et concorditer operantur. — Ad quod dicimus, quia nihil operatur Filius sine Patre et Spiritu sancto, sed una est horum trium operatio indivisa et indissimilis9; et tamen Filius, non Pater vel Spiritus sanctus, carnem assumsit. Ipsam tamen carnis assumtionem Trinitas operata est, sicut Augustinus dicit in libro de Fide ad Petrum10: « Reconciliati sumus per solum Filium secundum carnem, sed non soli Filio secundum deitatem. Trinitas enim nos sibi reconciliavit, per hoc quod solum Verbum-carnem ipsa Trinitas fecit ». Trinitas igitur carnis assumtionem fecit, sed Verbo, non Patri vel Spiritui sancto. Si enim Pater sibi, et Filius sibi, vel Pater Filio, et Filius Patri carnis assumtionem operatus esset, iam non eadem operatio esset utriusque, sed divisa. Sed sicut inseparabilis et indivisa est unitas substantiae trium, ut ait Augustinus in libro de Trinitate11, ita et operatio; « non tamen eandem Trinitatem natam de Virgine, crucifixam et sepultam catholici tractatores docuerunt, sed tantummodo Filium; nec eandem Trinitatem in specie columbae descendisse super Iesum, sed tantum Spiritum sanctum; nec eandem dixisse de caelo: Tu es Filius meus, sed tantum Patris vocem fuisse ad Filium factam, quamvis Pater et Filius et Spiritus sanctus, sicut inseparabiles sunt, ita et inseparabiliter operentur. Haec et mea fides est, quoniam haec est catholica fides ». — Licet igitur solus Filius carnem assumserit, ipsam tamen incarnationem cum Patre et Spiritu sancto operatus est.

English Translation
p. 6

DISTINCTIO I.

When the fullness of time came, as the Apostle says1, God sent his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, that he might redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons of God. Now the time of fullness is called the time of grace, which took its beginning from the coming of the Savior. This is the time of mercy and the year of kindness, in which grace and truth were made through Jesus Christ: grace, because through charity is fulfilled what was commanded in the Law; truth, because through Christ's coming is exhibited and perfected the pledge of human redemption made of old. « The mission of the Son, therefore, is the incarnation itself2 ». For he was sent in that he appeared visible to the world in the form of a man, concerning which enough has been said above3.

Cap. I.

Why the Son assumed flesh, not the Father or the Holy Spirit.

But it must be diligently noted why the Son, not the Father or the Holy Spirit, was incarnate. For the Son alone assumed man. This indeed God's wisdom did with a fitting order and by lofty counsel, so that God, who had founded the world in his wisdom, according to that text4: You have made all things in wisdom, O Lord, might in that same [wisdom] restore the things that are in the heavens and that are on the earth. This is the woman of the Gospel, who lighted a lamp and found the tenth drachma, which had been lost5 — namely the Wisdom of the Father, who with the light of his divinity kindled the earthen shell of human infirmity and repaired lost man, marked with the name and image of the king. — Therefore also the Son was sent, and not the Father, because it was more fitting that he who is from another should be sent, than he who is from no one; but the Son is from the Father, while the Father is from no one. For as Augustine says in the book On the Trinity6: « For he does not have [one] from whom he is ». « As, therefore, the Father begot, the Son was begotten, so fittingly the Father sent, the Son was sent ». « For the Word of God is fittingly sent by him whose word it is. He is sent by him from whom he is born. That which is begotten is sent. But the Father, who sent, is from no one ». And therefore the Father was not sent, lest, if he were sent, he should be thought to be from another. — The Son, therefore, was sent first, because he is from the Father alone; then also the Holy Spirit, who is from the Father and the Son. But the Son alone was sent in the flesh, not the Holy Spirit, just as neither the Father. This was done so that he who was in divinity the Son of God might in humanity become the son of man. The Father or the Holy Spirit did not put on flesh, lest one be the Son in divinity, another in humanity, and lest the Father and the Son be the same, if God the Father were born of a man. Hence in the Ecclesiastical Dogmas7: « Not the Father assumed flesh, nor the Holy Spirit, but the Son alone, so that he who was in divinity the Son of God might himself become in man the son of man, lest the name of son should pass to another who was not son by eternal nativity. The Son of God, therefore, was made son of man, born according to the truth of nature from God the Son of God, and according to the truth of nature from man the son of man, so that the truth of the begotten one might possess the name of son by being born, not by adoption, not by appellation, but in each nativity, and might be true God and true man, one son. Therefore not two Christs nor two sons, but God and man one son, whom for that reason we also call only-begotten, remaining in two substances, as the truth of nature conferred upon him, the natures not confused nor commingled, as the Timotheans wish, but united by fellowship ». — Behold, you have why the Son, not the Father or the Holy Spirit, assumed flesh.

Cap. II.

Whether the Father or the Holy Spirit could have been incarnate.

But if it is asked whether the Father or the Holy Spirit could have been incarnate, or even can be now, it can soundly be answered8 that both the Father and the Holy Spirit could of old, and can now, take flesh and become man, as much as [the Son]. For just as the Son was made man, so the Father or the Holy Spirit could and can [be].

p. 7

Cap. III.

Whether the Son, who alone received flesh, did anything which the Father or the Holy Spirit did not.

But perhaps some will say: since the works of the Trinity are undivided, if the Son assumed flesh, then [so did] the Father and the Holy Spirit; for if the Son assumed flesh, and the Father or the Holy Spirit did not do this, then not everything that the Son does does the Father and the Holy Spirit [do]; yet the Father and the Son and the Spirit of both operate all things together, equally and concordantly. — To which we say that the Son operates nothing without the Father and the Holy Spirit, but there is one operation of these three, undivided and not-dissimilar9; and yet the Son, not the Father or the Holy Spirit, assumed flesh. Nevertheless the Trinity wrought the assumption of flesh itself, as Augustine says in the book On the Faith, to Peter10: « We were reconciled through the Son alone according to the flesh, but not to the Son alone according to the deity. For the Trinity reconciled us to itself, by this, that the Trinity itself made the Word-flesh alone ». The Trinity, therefore, made the assumption of flesh, but for the Word, not for the Father or for the Holy Spirit. For if the Father had wrought the assumption of flesh for himself, and the Son for himself, or the Father for the Son, and the Son for the Father, then the operation of both would no longer be the same, but divided. But just as the unity of substance of the three is inseparable and undivided, as Augustine says in the book On the Trinity11, so also is the operation; « yet the catholic teachers have not taught that the same Trinity was born of the Virgin, crucified, and buried, but only the Son; nor that the same Trinity descended in the form of a dove upon Jesus, but only the Holy Spirit; nor that the same [Trinity] said from heaven: You are my Son, but that it was only the voice of the Father made to the Son — although the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, just as they are inseparable, so also operate inseparably. This also is my faith, since this is the catholic faith ». — Although, therefore, the Son alone assumed flesh, nevertheless he wrought the incarnation itself together with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

Apparatus Criticus
  1. Gal. 4, 4. Vulgata At ubi venit. Cod. D Quando venit. In fine textus cod. E et Erf. et edd., excepta 9, ut in adoptionem... reciperemur. Deinde respicitur Ps. 101, 14; Ps. 64, 12; et Ioan. 1, 17.
    Gal. 4:4. The Vulgate [reads] But when [the fullness] came. Codex D [reads] When it came. At the end of the text, codex E and the Erfurt [codex] and the editions, except the 9th, [read] that we might be received into adoption... Then there is reference to Ps. 101:14; Ps. 64:12; and John 1:17.
  2. August., in Ioan. Tract. 40. n. 6.
    Augustine, On John, Tractate 40, n. 6.
  3. Libr. I. d. XV. c. 2. — Supra pro mundo cod. E in mundo.
    Book I, dist. XV, ch. 2. — Above, for to the world codex E [reads] in the world.
  4. Psalm. 103, 24, deinde respicitur Eph. 1, 10. — Verba in eadem edd., excepta 1, transponunt in finem propositionis.
    Psalm 103:24, then there is reference to Eph. 1:10. — The words in that same the editions, except the 1st, transpose to the end of the proposition.
  5. Luc. 15, 8. seqq. Tota haec expositio sumta est ex Gregor., Hom. 34. in Evang. n. 6, qui inter alia dicit: Lucerna quippe lumen in testa est; lumen vero in testa est divinitas in carne, de qua videlicet testa sui corporis dicit ipsa Sapientia (Ps. 21, 16.): Exaruit velut testa virtus mea. Quia enim testa in igne solidatur, eius virtus sicut testa exaruit.
    Luke 15:8 ff. This whole exposition is taken from Gregory, Homily 34 on the Gospels, n. 6, who among other things says: For a lamp is light in an earthen vessel; but the light in the earthen vessel is the divinity in the flesh, concerning which earthen vessel of his body Wisdom itself says (Ps. 21:16): My strength is dried up like a potsherd. For because an earthen vessel is hardened in fire, his strength was dried up like a potsherd.
  6. Libr. IV. c. 20. n. 28. 29. et iterum 28. — Paulo superius pro a nullo est codd. et ed. 6 a nullo alio est. — Quod sequitur sumtum est ex Hugone II. de Sacram. p. I. c. 2.
    Book IV, ch. 20, nn. 28, 29, and again 28. — A little above, for is from no one the codices and the 6th edition [read] is from no other. — What follows is taken from Hugh [of St. Victor], On the Sacraments II, part I, ch. 2.
  7. Cap. 2. Timotheani vocantur sic a Timotheo, Eutychiano.
    Ch. 2. The Timotheans are so called from Timothy, the Eutychian.
  8. Vat. posset, cod. B et edd. 3, 4, 5, 7, 9 possit.
    The Vatican [edition reads] could, codex B and editions 3, 4, 5, 7, 9 [read] can.
  9. Ed. 1 bene indivisibilis, cod. C non dissimilis. Quoad doctrinam Vide Augustini librum contra Sermonem Arianorum c. 4. n. 4.
    The 1st edition rightly [reads] indivisible, codex C [reads] not dissimilar. As to the doctrine, see Augustine's book Against an Arian Sermon, ch. 4, n. 4.
  10. Cap. 2. n. 23.
    [Fulgentius, On the Faith, to Peter,] ch. 2, n. 23.
  11. Libr. I. c. 5. n. 8, et IV. c. 21. n. 30. Respicitur Matth. 3, 12; 17, 5; Marc. 1, 11. Post Filius meus codd. A C D adiiciunt dilectus. In fine post quoniam edd., excepta 1, addunt quidem, et codd. B C D pro quoniam habent quando, ed. 5 quando quidem.
    Book I, ch. 5, n. 8, and IV, ch. 21, n. 30. Reference is made to Matt. 3:12; 17:5; Mark 1:11. After my Son codices A, C, D add beloved. At the end, after since the editions, except the 1st, add indeed, and codices B, C, D for since have when, the 5th edition since indeed.
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