Chapter 4 (53): 1. Whether Christ Could Have Had Those Things Without Any
Distinction XVIII | 75 and in the same was the name given to him, so that the only-begotten Son of God be named with the very form of a servant.'' "That name was given to him as man which he already had as God." And so he took this name through grace that, as a man or while subsisting in the form of a servant, that is, in soul and flesh, he should be named and be God.
3. IN WHAT SENSE IS THIS TO BE TAKEN. But did he merit this? For it was said above that this man did not merit so great a good.° How then is it said here that 'because of obedience, this name was given to him'?—This is to be taken according to that manner of speaking, so very frequent in Scripture, by which a thing is said to be done when it becomes known. "Truly, after the resurrection, what was before was now made manifest, so that men and demons might know it."' And so, after the resurrection, God granted to him the manifesting of that name, but he merited it by the obedience of his passion; because he obeyed in suffering, he was exalted in his rising again, and through this the name was made manifest.—He made use of this same manner of speaking even after the resurrection, when he said: All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me:* it was not that he then first took it, but that the power which he had had before was made manifest at that time.
4. AMBROSE: THAT THE NAME WAS GIVEN TO GOD, NOT TO A MAN. But
Ambrose says that that name was given to God, not to a man;' and according to the surface of the words, he seems to contradict Augustine. But it is not in opposition in its meaning, even though it sounds discordant. For Ambrose understands that statement as concerning the natural gift, by which the Father, eternally begetting, gave to the Son the name which is above all other names, namely to be God by nature, because he begot from all eternity the Son, who is full and co-equal God. And yet the Apostle says that this name was given to Christ because of the obedience of his passion; but this is.to be taken according to the manner of speaking discussed above.
Chapter 4 (53)
1. WHETHER CHRIST COULD HAVE HAD THOSE THINGS WITHOUT ANY
MERIT. If we ask whether Christ, without any merit, could have had that glory of immortality and impassibility and that manifesting of the name of God, it may rightly be said that he could have taken as glorious a human
'Augustine, Contra Maximinum, bk | cS.
*Ibid., bk 2 c2.
°See above, dist. 6 c2 nn4, 6-7.
7Ordinary gloss, on Phil. 2, 9.
5Mt. 28, 18.
*Ambrosiaster, on Phil. 2, 9.