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Dist. 4

Book III: On the Incarnation of the Word · Distinction 4

Textus Latinus
p. 96

DISTINCTIO IV.

Cap. I. Quare Spiritui sancto tribuatur incarnatio, cum sit opus Trinitatis.

Cum vero incarnatio Verbi, sicut in superioribus1 tractatum est, operatio vere sit Patris et Filii et Spiritus sancti, investigatione dignum nobis videtur, quare in Scriptura Spiritui sancto hoc opus saepius attribuatur2, et de ipso Christus conceptus et natus memoretur. — Non enim ideo operatio incarnationis Spiritui sancto saepius attribuitur, quod eam ipse solus sine Patre ac Filio fecerit, sed quia Spiritus sanctus est caritas et donum Patris et Filii3, et inaestimabili Dei caritate Verbum caro factum est, et ineffabili Dei dono Filius Dei sibi univit formam servi. Non igitur frequens denominatio Spiritus sancti ab illo opere Patrem vel Filium secludit, sed potius, uno nominato, tres intelliguntur, sicut saepe fit in aliis operibus. Unde Augustinus, super hoc movens quaestionem, in hunc modum eandem determinat in Enchiridio4 ita inquiens: «Cum illam creaturam, quam Virgo concepit et peperit, quamvis ad solam personam Filii pertinentem tota Trinitas fecerit — neque enim separabilia sunt opera Trinitatis — cur in ea facienda Spiritus sanctus solus nominatus est? An et quando unus Trium in aliquo opere nominatur, universa operari Trinitas intelligitur? Ita vere est et exemplis doceri potest». — Audistis propositam quaestionem eiusdemque solutionem vel expositionem.

Cap. II. Quare dicatur Christus conceptus et natus de Spiritu sancto.

«Sed non est in hoc diutius immorandum. Illud enim movet, quomodo dictus est Christus natus de Spiritu sancto, cum filius nullo modo sit Spiritus sancti5». — «Nunquid dicturi sumus, patrem hominis Christi esse Spiritum sanctum, ut Deus Pater Verbum genuerit, Spiritus sanctus hominem, ex qua utraque substantia Christus unus esset et Dei Patris filius secundum Verbum, et Spiritus sancti filius secundum hominem, quod eum Spiritus sanctus tanquam pater eius de Matre Virgine genuisset? Quis hoc dicere audebit, cum hoc ita sit absurdum, ut nullae fidelium aures id valeant sustinere»? «Proinde cum fateamur Christum natum de Spiritu sancto ex Maria Virgine, quomodo non sit filius Spiritus sancti, et sit filius Virginis, cum et de illo et de illa sit natus, explicare difficile est. Procul dubio non sic de illo ut de patre, sic autem de illa ut de matre natus est». — «Non est autem concedendum, quidquid de aliqua re nascitur, continuo eiusdem rei filium nuncupandum. Ut enim omittam, aliter de homine nasci filium, aliter capillum, pediculum, lumbricum, quorum nihil est filius; ut ergo haec omittam, quoniam tantae rei deformiter comparantur, certe qui nascuntur ex aqua et Spiritu sancto6 non aquae filios eos recte dixerit quispiam, sed dicuntur filii Dei Patris et matris Ecclesiae. Sic ergo de Spiritu sancto natus est Christus, nec tamen filius est Spiritus sancti; sicut e converso non omnes qui dicuntur alicuius filii, consequens est, ut de illo etiam nati esse dicantur, ut illi qui adoptantur. Dicuntur etiam filii gehennae non ex illa nati, sed in illam praeparati». «Cum itaque de aliquo nascatur aliquid, et non ita, ut sit filius; nec rursus omnis qui dicitur filius, de illo sit natus, cuius dicitur filius; profecto modus iste, quo natus est Christus de Maria filius, et de Spiritu sancto non filius, insinuat nobis gratiam Dei, qua homo nullis meritis praecedentibus, in ipso exordio naturae suae, quo esse coepit, Verbo Dei copularetur in tantam personae unitatem, ut idem esset Filius Dei, qui Filius hominis, et Filius hominis, qui Filius Dei; et sic in naturae humanae susceptione fieret quodam modo ipsa gratia illi homini naturalis, qua nullum possit admittere peccatum. Quae gratia ideo per Spiritum sanctum est significata, quia ipse proprie sic est Deus, ut sit etiam Dei donum». «Per hoc ergo, quod de Spiritu sancto esse nativitas Christi dicitur, quid aliud quam ipsa gratia demonstratur, qua homo mirabili et ineffabili modo Verbo Dei est adiunctus atque concretus7 et divina gratia corporaliter repletus»?

Potest etiam dici Christus secundum hominem ideo natus de Spiritu sancto, quia eum fecit. In quantum enim homo est, et ipse factus est, ut ait Apostolus8. Conceptus ergo et natus de Spiritu sancto dicitur, non quod Spiritus sanctus fuerit Virgini pro semine, non enim de substantia Spiritus sancti semen partus accepit, sed quia per gratiam Dei et operationem Spiritus sancti de carne Virginis est assumtum quod Verbo Dei est unitum. Et in Evangelio9 secundum hanc intelligentiam legitur de Maria, quod inventa est in utero habens de Spiritu sancto. Cuius dicti rationem Ambrosius insinuans in secundo libro de Spiritu sancto10 ait: «Quod ex aliquo est aut ex substantia, aut ex potestate eius est: ex substantia, sicut Filius, qui a Patre, et Spiritus sanctus, qui a Patre Filioque procedit; ex potestate autem, sicut ex Deo omnia. Quomodo ergo

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in utero habuit Maria ex Spiritu sancto? Si quasi ex substantia, ergo Spiritus in carnem et ossa conversus est. Non utique. Si vero quasi ex operatione et potestate eius Virgo concepit, quis neget Spiritum sanctum dominicae incarnationis auctorem»?

Cap. III. Quare Apostolus dicit Christum factum, quem nos fatemur natum.

Sed quaeri potest, cum nos Salvatorem natum profiteamur, cur Apostolus eum factum dicat ex semine David, alio loco, factum ex muliere11, cum aliud sit fieri, aliud nasci. Aliquid ergo significavit hoc dicto. Quia enim non humano semine concreta est caro Domini in utero Virginis et corpus effecta, sed effectu et virtute Spiritus sancti; ideo Apostolus dicit factum, non natum. Aliud est enim semine admixto et sanguinis coagulo generare, aliud est non permixtione, sed virtute procreare. Possunt homines generare filios12, sed non facere. — Ecce, quare dixit Apostolus factum, et non natum, ne eius scilicet nativitas, quae fuit sine viri semine, nostrae similis putaretur, quae conficitur seminum commixtione. Ideo autem, cum factum diceret Apostolus, addidit ex semine David, quia, etsi non intercessit semen hominis in conceptione Virginis, tamen, quia ex ea carne Christus formatus est, quae constat ex semine, recte dicitur, quia factus est13.

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English Translation
p. 96

DISTINCTION IV.

Chap. I. Why the incarnation is attributed to the Holy Spirit, although it is the work of the Trinity.

But since the incarnation of the Word, as was treated in what precedes,1 is truly the operation of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, it seems to us worthy of investigation why in Scripture this work is more often attributed to the Holy Spirit,2 and Christ is recorded to have been conceived and born of him. — For the operation of the incarnation is not attributed more often to the Holy Spirit because he alone did it without the Father and the Son, but because the Holy Spirit is the charity and the gift of the Father and of the Son,3 and by the inestimable charity of God the Word was made flesh, and by the ineffable gift of God the Son of God united to himself the form of a servant. Therefore the frequent denomination of the Holy Spirit from that work does not exclude the Father or the Son, but rather, when one is named, the three are understood, as often happens in other works. Hence Augustine, raising a question about this, settles it in this manner in the Enchiridion,4 saying thus: «Since the whole Trinity made that creature which the Virgin conceived and bore — although it pertains to the person of the Son alone — for the operations of the Trinity are not separable — why in making it was the Holy Spirit alone named? Or even when one of the Three is named in some work, is the whole Trinity understood to operate? So it truly is, and it can be taught by examples». — You have heard the question proposed and its solution or exposition.

Chap. II. Why Christ is said to be conceived and born of the Holy Spirit.

«But we must not delay longer on this. For this is what moves [the question]: how is Christ said to be born of the Holy Spirit, since he is in no way the son of the Holy Spirit?5» — «Are we then to say that the father of the man Christ is the Holy Spirit, so that God the Father begot the Word, the Holy Spirit the man, so that from these two substances Christ would be one and the son of God the Father according to the Word, and the son of the Holy Spirit according to the man, in that the Holy Spirit had begotten him as his father of the Virgin Mother? Who will dare to say this, since it is so absurd that no ears of the faithful can endure it?» «Hence, since we confess that Christ was born of the Holy Spirit from the Virgin Mary, how he is not the son of the Holy Spirit, and yet is the son of the Virgin, since he was born both of him and of her, is difficult to explain. Without doubt he was not born of him as of a father, but of her as of a mother». — «But it is not to be granted that whatever is born from any thing is forthwith to be called the son of that same thing. For — to omit that a son is born of a man in one way, and a hair, a louse, a worm in another, none of which is a son; so, to omit these things, since they are unbecomingly compared to so great a matter — certainly those who are born of water and the Holy Spirit6 no one would rightly call sons of the water, but they are called sons of God the Father and of mother Church. So then Christ was born of the Holy Spirit, and yet is not the son of the Holy Spirit; just as conversely not all who are called the sons of someone, are consequently said to have been born of him, as those who are adopted. They are also called sons of gehenna not as born of it, but as prepared for it». «Since therefore something is born from someone, and yet not so as to be his son; nor again is everyone who is called a son born of him whose son he is called; assuredly this manner, by which Christ was born the son of Mary, and not the son of the Holy Spirit, intimates to us the grace of God, by which the man, with no preceding merits, in the very beginning of his nature, by which he began to be, was joined to the Word of God in so great a unity of person that he should be the same Son of God who is the Son of man, and the Son of man who is the Son of God; and so in the assumption of the human nature that very grace would become in a certain way natural to that man, by which he could admit no sin. Which grace is for this reason signified through the Holy Spirit, because he is properly so God as also to be the gift of God». «Through this, then, that the nativity of Christ is said to be of the Holy Spirit, what else is shown than that very grace by which the man was, in a wonderful and ineffable manner, joined to and bound together with7 the Word of God and bodily filled with divine grace»?

It can also be said that Christ according to his humanity is for this reason born of the Holy Spirit, because he made him. For inasmuch as he is man, he himself was also made, as the Apostle says.8 He is therefore said to be conceived and born of the Holy Spirit, not that the Holy Spirit was to the Virgin in place of seed, for it was not from the substance of the Holy Spirit that she received the seed of her offspring, but because by the grace of God and the operation of the Holy Spirit there was assumed from the flesh of the Virgin that which was united to the Word of God. And in the Gospel,9 according to this understanding, it is read of Mary, that she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. The reason for this saying Ambrose intimates in the second book On the Holy Spirit,10 saying: «What is from anything is either of its substance or of its power: of its substance, as the Son, who [proceeds] from the Father, and the Holy Spirit, who proceeds from the Father and the Son; of its power, however, as all things are from God. How then

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did Mary conceive in her womb of the Holy Spirit? If as it were of his substance, then the Spirit was converted into flesh and bones. By no means. But if the Virgin conceived as it were of his operation and power, who would deny that the Holy Spirit is the author of the Lord's incarnation?»

Chap. III. Why the Apostle says that Christ was made, whom we confess to have been born.

But it can be asked, since we profess the Savior to have been born, why the Apostle says he was made of the seed of David, and in another place, made of a woman,11 since to be made is one thing and to be born another. He therefore signified something by this word. For since the flesh of the Lord was not formed in the womb of the Virgin of human seed and made a body, but by the effect and power of the Holy Spirit; therefore the Apostle says made, not born. For to generate by seed admixed and the clot of blood is one thing, to procreate not by mixture but by power is another. Men can generate sons,12 but not make them. — See, why the Apostle said made, and not born: namely, lest his nativity, which was without the seed of a man, should be thought like ours, which is brought about by the commingling of seeds. But for this reason, when the Apostle said made, he added of the seed of David: because, although the seed of a man did not intervene in the conception of the Virgin, nevertheless, since Christ was formed from that flesh which is constituted of seed, it is rightly said that he was made.13

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Apparatus Criticus
  1. Dist. I. c. ult.
    Distinction I, last chapter.
  2. Vat. cum cod. A et pluribus edd. tribuatur.
    The Vatican edition, with codex A and several editions, reads tribuatur [let it be attributed].
  3. Cfr. I. Sent. d. XVII. c. 4. et ibid. c. 4. — Pro inaestimabili Vat. cum pluribus edd. ineffabili. In seqq. respicitur Ioan. 1, 14, et Phil. 2, 7.
    Cf. I Sent., d. XVII, c. 4, and ibid., c. 4. — For inaestimabili [inestimable] the Vatican edition, with several editions, reads ineffabili [ineffable]. In what follows reference is made to John 1:14 and Phil. 2:7.
  4. Cap. 38. n. 12. Pro An et edd. cum suo cod. C etiam, refragante etiam originali.
    Chapter 38, n. 12. For An et [Or even] the editions, with their codex C, read etiam [also], the original also disagreeing.
  5. Ibid.; seq. locus ibid. paulo superius; tertius locus ibid. infra; quartus c. 39. n. 12; quintus c. 40. n. 12; ultimus c. 37. n. 11. et c. 41. n. 13.
    Ibid.; the next passage is ibid., a little above; the third passage ibid., below; the fourth, c. 39, n. 12; the fifth, c. 40, n. 12; the last, c. 37, n. 11, and c. 41, n. 13.
  6. Ioan. 3, 5. Infra verba filii gehennae respiciunt Matth. 23, 15.
    John 3:5. Below the words sons of gehenna refer to Matt. 23:15.
  7. Edd. 1, 8 concreatus, Vat. cum aliis edd. connexus, refragantibus codd. A B C D et originali.
    Editions 1 and 8 read concreatus [co-created], the Vatican edition with other editions connexus [connected], the codices A B C D and the original disagreeing.
  8. Rom. 1, 3; Gal. 4, 4. Quoad ea quae sequuntur, cfr. Explanatio Symboli ad Damasum (inter opera Hieronymi).
    Rom. 1:3; Gal. 4:4. As to what follows, cf. the Exposition of the Creed to Damasus (among the works of Jerome).
  9. Matth. 1, 18; Luc. 1, 27.
    Matt. 1:18; Luke 1:27.
  10. Cap. 5. n. 42 seq., quo loco ante et Spiritus sanctus edd., exceptis 1, 8, addunt vel ex Patre.
    Chapter 5, n. 42 ff., in which place, before and the Holy Spirit, the editions, except 1 and 8, add or from the Father.
  11. Locc. iam citt. Rom. 1, 3; Gal. 4, 4. — Paulo inferius pro concreta edd. 1, 8 concepta, aliae congregata, refragantibus codd. A B C D et ed. 6.
    The passages already cited, Rom. 1:3; Gal. 4:4. — A little below, for concreta [formed] editions 1 and 8 read concepta [conceived], others congregata [gathered], the codices A B C D and edition 6 disagreeing.
  12. Codd. A B C D adiiciunt homines; paulo superius post generare ... sunt edd., exceptis 1, 8, addunt enim. Deinde pro viri semine edd. eaedem virili semine.
    The codices A B C D add homines [men]; a little above, after generare ... the editions, except 1 and 8, add enim [for]. Then for viri semine [the seed of a man] the same editions read virili semine [virile seed].
  13. Quae praecedunt sunt in Glossa ad Rom. 1, 3, sumta ex August., Exposit. inchoata Epistolae ad Rom. n. 4.
    What precedes is found in the Gloss on Rom. 1:3, taken from Augustine, Unfinished Exposition of the Epistle to the Romans, n. 4. ---
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