Chapter 2 (27)
38 | THE SENTENCES, BOOK 3
which it does not have as to divinity——And yet it appears that it can be proved that it was born of the Virgin, for if for God to be born of the Virgin is this: namely to take on human form in the Virgin's womb, since the divine nature has been said above to have taken human form,' it appears that it must be said to have been born.
2. And concerning this, Augustine, in the book On Faith to Peter, speaks as follows: "The eternal and divine nature could not be conceived temporally and be born from human nature, unless, according to the taking of human truth, the ineffable divinity took into itself a true conception and birth in time. So the eternal God is truly conceived and born of the Virgin in time."'—It appears to be indicated by this authority that the divine nature is born and conceived of the Virgin; but if the words are diligently noted, it is seen to treat rather of the person: which without doubt must be said to be born of the Father and the Mother.
Chapter 2 (27) ON THE TWOFOLD BIRTH OF CHRIST, WHO WAS BORN TWICE. It is also usual to ask whether Christ ought to be said to have been begotten twice, since he is called son of God and of man.—To which it can be said that Christ was born twice, and had two nativities. Hence Augustine, in the book On Faith to Peter: "God the Father, from his own nature, begot God the Son, equal and coeternal with himself. And this same only-begotten God was born twice: once from the Father, once from the Mother. For God the Word was born of the Father, and the Word made flesh was born of the Mother. And so one and the same Son of God is born before time, and is born in time; and each birth, namely the divine and the human, is of the one
Son of God."'—JOHN OF DAMASCUS. John too says of this: "We revere the two nativities of Christ: one from the Father before time," which is
"beyond cause and reason and time and nature; and one in the last times, for us, and like us, and above us. For us, because for our salvation; like us, because he was a man born of woman and in the [usual] time from conception," namely nine months; "above us, because it was not by seed, but by the Holy Spirit and the holy Virgin, transcending the law of conception."'—From these words, it is clearly apparent that there were two nativities of Christ, and that he was born twice.
"Dist. 5 cl nn5-10.
*Fulgentius, De fide ad Petrum, c2 n14.
'Fulgentius, De fide ad Petrum, c2 nn10-11.
*John of Damascus, De fide orthodoxa, bk 3 c7.
Distinction IX | 39
DISTINCTION IX
Chapter | (28)
1. ON THE ADORATION OF CHRIST'S HUMANITY: WHETHER THE SAME
ADORATION IS TO BE EXTENDED TO HIS HUMANITY AND TO HIS DIVINITY.
Moreover, it is necessary to investigate whether the flesh and soul of Christ must be adored by one and the same adoration as the Word, namely that which is called /atria. But Jatria is understood as the service or worship due to the Creator alone;' if it is extended to the soul or flesh of Christ, since the soul of Christ or his flesh is only a creature, that which is due to the Creator alone is extended to the creature. The charge of idolatry is made against one who does such a thing.
2. SOME SAY THAT IT IS NOT TO BE ADORED BY THE SAME ADORATION.
And so it seems to some that the flesh or soul of Christ is not to be adored by the adoration which is /atria, but by the one which is dulia.2—ON THE KINDS OF DULIA. Of the latter, they say that there are two kinds or modes. For there is one kind of dulia which may be extended to any creature; and there is another kind which may be extended to the humanity of Christ alone, and not'to any creature, because the humanity of Christ is to be venerated and loved above all other creatures, and yet not so much as to extend to it the worship due to the divinity. This worship consists in love, the offer of sacrifice, and reverence: it is called 'piety' in Latin, and in Greek theosebia, that is, the worship of God; or eusebia, that is, good worship.'
3. THE VIEW OF OTHERS, WHO HAND DOWN THAT THE SAME ADORATION
IS TO BE EXTENDED TO BOTH. But it pleases others that Christ's humanity is to be adored in one adoration with the Word: not for its own sake, but for the sake of him whose foot-stool it is, to whom it is united; not the mere or naked humanity itself, but with the Word to whom it is united; nor for its own sake, but it is to be adored for the sake of the Word. Nor is the one who does this liable to the charge of idolatry because he does not serve the creature alone, nor for its own sake; he serves the Creator with and in his humanity.
4. JOHN OF DAMASCUS. Concerning this, John speaks as follows:
"There are two natures of Christ by reason and manner of their difference, but united according to the hypostasis. And so Christ is one, perfect God and perfect man, whom we adore with the Father and the Spirit in one adoration with his untainted flesh; we do not say that the flesh is not to be
'Cf., e.g., Augustine, De Trinitate, bk 1 c6 n13.
*Cf. Augustine, Quaestiones in Heptateuchum, bk | q61; bk 2 q94.
3Cf. Augustine, Enchiridion, c2.
40 | THE SENTENCES, BOOK 3
adored: for it is adored in the one hypostasis of the Word, which hypostasis was begotten; we do not extend veneration to what was created.
For we do not adore it as naked flesh, but as united to the divinity into the one hypostasis of the Word of God in whom the two natures come together. I fear to touch the coal because of the fire which is joined to the wood. I worship both natures of my Christ because of the divinity which is joined to the flesh. For I do not posit a fourth person in the Trinity, but I confess the one person of the Word and his flesh."* By these words, it seems to be indicated that the humanity of Christ is to be adored in one adoration with the Word.
5. AUGUSTINE. Augustine too speaks of this, commenting on the Lord's words: Do not let your heart be troubled; he says as follows: "The heretics say that the Son is not God by nature, but a created thing. To them it is to be answered that, if the Son is not God by nature, but a creature, then he is not to be worshipped at all, nor to be adored as God, since the Apostle says: They worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator.® But they will reply to this and say: Why is it that, although you do not deny his flesh to be a created thing, yet you adore it together with his divinity, and you serve it no less than his divinity? I adore the Lord's flesh, or rather the perfect humanity in Christ, because it has been taken up by the divinity and it has been united to the Godhead: so that I may confess the Son of God not as being two different things, but one and the same God and man. Indeed, if you severed the man from God, I would not under any circumstance believe in him nor serve him. If one finds the royal purple or diadem lying about, will he presume to adore them? But when the king has put them on, one who refused to adore them along with the king incurs the danger of death. So also, if anyone refused to adore in Christ the Lord his humanity—not alone or naked, but united to his divinity—namely the one Son, true God and true man, he will die eternally."
6. The same on Psalm 98, where it says: Adore his foot-stool, for it is holy:§ "It is to be known that in Christ there is earth, that is, flesh; which is adored without impiety. For he took on earth from earth, because flesh is from the earth, and he took flesh from the flesh of Mary. This flesh, which is taken by the Word of God, is adored by us without impiety because no one eats of his flesh without first adoring it; but one who adores it gazes not upon the earth, but rather upon him whose foot-stool it is and "John of Damascus, De fide orthodoxa, bk 3 c8.
*Jnal4ets SROM lo 'Pseudo-Augustine, De verbis Domini, sermon 58 or sermon 246, nS.
We, Oks Sk
Distinction X | 41 tor whose sake he adores it.""—By these authorities, the solution to the above inquiry is revealed.
DISTINCTION X
Chapter | (29)
1. WHETHER CHRIST, ACCORDING TO HIS BEING A MAN, IS A PERSON OR
ANYTHING. It is also usual for some to ask whether Christ, according to his being a man, is a person, or even is anything.
2. ARGUMENTATION ON EACH SIDE OF THE QUESTION. There are arguments on each side of the question. That he is a person, they argue with the following reasons: If he is anything according to his being man, then he is either a person, or a substance, or something else. But he is not something else, so he is either a person or a substance. But if he is a substance, then he is either a rational one or an irrational one; but he is not an irrational substance, so he is a rational one. But if, according to his being man, he is a rational substance, then he is a person, because this is the definition of a person: "A rational substance of individual nature."! And so, if he is anything according to his being man, then he is a person according to his being man.—But conversely, if, according to his being man, he is a person, then either he is the third person in the Trinity or some other person; but he is not some other person; and so he is the third person in the Trinity. But if, according to his being man, he is the third person in the Trinity, then he is God.
3. Because of these and other unsuitable conclusions, some say that Christ, according to his being man, is not a person or anything else, unless perhaps 'according' is expressive of the unity of the person. For 'according' has a manifold function: at times it expresses the condition or property of the divine or human nature, at times the unity of the person; at times it denotes habit, at times a cause. Let the reader diligently ponder the reason for the distinction and store it in the innermost recess of his memory, lest his understanding of it be confused when the term occurs in regard to Christ.
4, ALTHOUGH CHRIST, ACCORDING TO HIS BEING MAN, IS SAID TO BE A
RATIONAL SUBSTANCE, YET IT DOES NOT THEREFORE FOLLOW THAT, AC-
CORDING TO HIS BEING MAN, HE IS A PERSON. And yet, what was adduced in the above argumentation does not follow: that if Christ, according to his being man, is a rational substance, therefore he is a person. Indeed,
*Augustine, Enarrationes in Psalmos, on Ps. 98, n9.
'Boethius, as above, dist. 5 c3 n2.