Chapter 1 (11): 1. Why In Scripture The Incarnation, Which Is The Work Of The
14 | THE SENTENCES, BOOK 3
scarcely be subjected to human gaze; but in those days which Augustine recalls, it had become complete and observable.
5. HOW HE WHO WAS EVERYWHERE WAS IN THE VIRGIN.—JOHN OF
DAMASCUS. And so, as John says: "The Word was made flesh, and did not abandon its own incorporeality; and it was entirely made flesh, and it was entirely uncircumscribed. In respect to its body, it is made less and contracts; in respect to its divinity, it is uncircumscribed, the flesh not being coextensive with the uncircumscribed divinity."'' "And so he was in all things and over all things, and he existed in the womb of his holy
Mother; but he was in her by the act of the incarnation."""
DISTINCTION IV
Chapter 1 (11)
1. WHY IN SCRIPTURE THE INCARNATION, WHICH IS THE WORK OF THE
TRINITY, IS MORE OFTEN ATTRIBUTED TO THE HOLY SPIRIT, AND [CHRIST]
IS EVEN SAID TO HAVE BEEN CONCEIVED AND BORN OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
But since the incarnation of the Word, as was discussed above,' is truly the operation of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, it seems to us worthy of investigation why in Scripture this work is more often attributed to the Holy Spirit, and Christ is said to have been conceived and born of the Holy Spirit—For the work of the incarnation is more often attributed to the Holy Spirit not because he did it alone, without the Father and the Son, but because the Holy Spirit is the charity and gift of Father and Son: it was in God's ineffable charity that God's Word was made flesh,' and it was by God's inestimable gift that the Son of God joined to himself the form of a servant.' And so the frequent mention of the Holy Spirit does not exclude the Father or the Son from that work; it is rather the case that, by the naming of the one, the three are understood, as often happens with reference to other works.
2. AUGUSTINE: THE STATING OF THE QUESTION. Hence Augustine, raising a question with regard to this, determines it in the following way in the Enchiridion, saying: "That creature which the Virgin conceived and bore, although it pertained to the person of the Son alone, was nevertheless the work of the whole Trinity. Since this is so, and the works of the Trinity are not severable, why is the Holy Spirit alone named in making
_ John of Damascus, De fide orthodoxa, bk 3 c7.
"Ibid.
'Dist. 1 ¢3 n2.
2Chaine 1, 14.
Cie avi, 2. 7.