Jesus Christ had Mary as his mother on earth. That dispensa- (continued)
FAITH AND THE CREED 359 considerately to his beloved disciple. Nor should we be moved by the other passage where, when it was announced to him that his mother and brethren were present, he replied: "Who is my mother? and who are my brethren?" (Matt. 12:48). Rather he would teach us that if our parents hinder the ministry which is ours to minister the Word of God to the brethren, we ought not to recognize them. Anyone who thinks that he had no mother on earth because he said, "Who is my mother?" must also necessarily think that the aposdes had no fathers on earth, because he bade them "call no man your father upon the earth; for one is your Father, which is in heaven" (Matt. 23:9).
10. Nor should our faith be lessened by any reference to "a woman's internal organs," as if it might appear that we must reject any such generation of our Lord, because sordid people think that sordid. "The foolishness of God is wiser than men" (I Cor. 1 :25); and "to the pure all things are pure" (Tit. 1:15), as the apostle truly says. Those who think in this way ought to observe that the rays of the sun, which indeed they do not praise as a creature of God but adore as actually God, are poured over evil-smelling drains and other horrible things and do their natural work there without being made foul by any contamination, though visible light is by nature more closely related to visible filth. How much less could the Word of God, who is neither visible nor corporeal, have been polluted by the body of a woman when he assumed human flesh along with a human soul and spirit, within which the majesty of the Word was hidden away from the weakness of the human body? It is manifest that the Word of God could never have been contaminated by the human body, which does not even contaminate the human soul. The soul is not soiled by contact with the body when it rules and animates the body, but only when it lusts after the perishable goods of the body. If these [Manichees] would only avoid stains upon their souls, they would rather fear such lies and sacrilegious doctrines.
V, 1 1 . But our Lord's humility in being born on our behalf was only a small part. In addition, he deigned to die for mortals.
"He humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross" (Phil. 2:8); lest any of us, even if he could shake off the fear of death, should dread a kind of death which men think most shameful. Accordingly, we believe in him who was crucified under Pontius Pilate, and buried. The name of the judge had to be added to mark the date. And when we confess faith in his burial we remember the new tomb which