Conceived by the Holy Ghost, Born of the Virgin Mary.
apply our endeavour better. Let us serve Him diligently, and with all our heart; let us worship and reverence Him from the heart. For both this is our duty, and He is worthy of these things.
Conceived by the Holy Ghost, Born of the Virgin Mary.
This blessed God and man, Jesus Christ, who (as we have heard before from the holy oracles) is our lawful Lord, is eternal in terms of divine essence—yesterday, today, and forever (as it is written in the 13th chapter to the Hebrews). Yet, in respect of His human nature,
He was not without beginning. Therefore, we say that He was made, as Paul tells the Galatians: He was sent from God, born of a woman, and placed under the law. To the Romans also, it is stated: He was born of the seed of David, according to the flesh. And lest we should either be in doubt concerning this procreation, or else judge it inappropriately, faith directs us to these two facts and binds us to them: the first is that He was conceived by the Holy Ghost, and the second, that He was born of the Virgin Mary, both of which we especially confess. This is distinctly written by the Evangelists to help us understand that He, even according to the flesh, was free from the curse and from sin. It most plainly appears that all the descendants of Adam were so subject to the curse and sin that there was no place for any to be exempted.
To exempt Christ, according to the flesh, from the common fall of all mankind, so that He might retain His own nature, the wisdom of God decreed through a wonderful counsel that the man who was to be assumed in the unity of the person should have both a divine and human beginning. For this reason, as it had been foretold by the angel to Mary, the Holy Ghost descended into her, and by the
principal power thereof, the blood, now purified by His grace, created a unique and perfect man. This man, the merciful God, even
God, who was the Word from everlasting, miraculously took upon Himself. Thus, the womb of the Virgin Mary, the holy mother, was the divine furnace, where the Holy Ghost, from a well-purified matter, fashioned this singular body, which was a most obedient instrument of a noble soul. By this means, all the old blemishes of Adam were alienated from Christ, although His body, concerning the nature and form of creation, was not much different from the body of Adam. For our first parent, Adam, was also marvellously and by divine power created from the earth, without customary seed.
Certainly, there is no need for prolonged discussion to show how much Christ, in terms of His manhood, excelled Adam in all excellent gifts of nature, seeing that the order and circumstances of His nativity are described: namely, His humble and lowly state of poverty, which nevertheless had a glorious and renowned testimony from the majesty of God and from angelic nature.
The divine condescension and humanity of Christ, emphasizing the transformative impact of His nature on believers.
Therefore, moving beyond these matters, we shall devote our entire discussion to this beneficial reflection: that whoever is regenerated by Christ must recall the magnitude and nature of God's love towards us, who did not disdain our foul and unclean nature; but, having cleansed it, clothed Himself with it to make us partakers of His divine nature. It is indeed true that the devil, with his lying spirit, fabricated stories, and idolaters attempted to convince others that the gods they worshipped sometimes took human form; however, not with the intention of sanctifying our nature, but rather to defile it with infinite and beastly filth. Thus, none of these appearances, as
recorded in the writings of the poets, bring anything else with them, seeing they both shamefully pollute the body and allure minds to evil through such infamous examples. For if one were to model their life on these examples, they would also unleash their lusts into adultery, fornication, and other abhorrent offences. In contrast, the Divine
Word has purified our nature by bestowing divine gifts upon it. This applies not only to the man whom it assumed but to all those who, united with Him in true faith, are members of Him. And this heavenly Word (which is Christ), being secretly hidden beneath that nature, is so adorned with justice, patience, temperance, prudence, wisdom, and submission of the mind, displaying such perfect examples of exceptional righteousness, etc., that His life alone, if duly considered, is sufficient guidance to live well.
Wherefore, let dissolute and wanton Christians depart; let them deem it trivial to live impurely, let them undervalue the nature and members which Christ, by assuming, has sanctified; let them disregard that noble example of holiness and righteousness which Christ demonstrated while living in the flesh; let them also stop reflecting in their deeds the participation in the divine nature they have obtained in Christ. Undoubtedly, this was not the purpose God intended when He became man, nor did He, upon this consideration, live among us for 33 years. Therefore, it is fitting for the children of God to lead a divine life, seeing their nature has been made divine.
But the life of brute beasts and of men should be left to those who, in their disbelief, have remained mere men; or who, through their wicked acts, have degenerated and transformed, as it were, into brute beasts. From this, we also derive comfort if ever we are troubled by the frailties of the flesh, finding them burdensome and lamenting that we are subject to human infirmities; namely, if we truly believe that Christ endured these infirmities on our behalf: for by this means, they will seem far lighter to us than their nature allows.