almighty, and in Jesus Christ his only Son, our Lord. If the only Son, then equal
142 SAINT A UGUSTINE - SERMONS for making visible things and invisible things; great in the great things, and not small in the least things; in a word, he is almighty for making whatever he has wished to make.
I mean, let me tell you how many things he can't do. He can't die, he can't sin, he can't lie, he can't be deceived or mistaken; so many things he can't do, and if he could do them he wouldn't be almighty. So believe in him and confess him; For with the heart one believes unto justice, but with the mouth one makes confession unto salvation (Rom 10:10). That's why, once you have believed, you must confess, when you give back the Symbol.11 So receive now what you are to retain, and afterward to give back, and never to forget.
Christ, the only Son of the Father, was made flesh
3. What's next? And in Jesus Christ. I believe, you say, in God the Father almighty, and in Jesus Christ his only Son, our Lord. If the only Son, then equal to the Father; if the only Son, then of the same substance as the Father; if the only Son, then almighty with the Father; if the only Son, then co-eternal with the Father. All this in himself, and with himself, and with the Father.12
What for our sakes? What's in it for us? Who was born of the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary. There you have how he came, and who, and to whom; by the virgin Mary, in whom not the man she was married to but the Holy Spirit acted; he made her fruitful while she remained chaste, and he preserved her intact. So that's the way in which the Lord Christ was clothed with flesh, the way the one who made man was made man; by taking on what he was not, not by losing what he was.
The Word, you see, was made flesh, and dwelt among us (Jn 1:14). Not "the Word was turned into flesh," but remaining the Word, by receiving flesh, though always invisible he became visible when he wished, and dwelt among us. What's
"among us"? Among human beings; he became one of a number of human beings; one, and "only." "Only," for the Father; and for us, what? And for us the only savior; and for us the only redeemer; because nobody besides him is our redeemer; a redeemer, not with gold, not with silver, but with his own blood.
Crucified—buried in the flesh
4. So let us take a look at that commercial transaction of his by which we were bought. You see, after it says in the Symbol, Born of the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary, what now did he suffer for us? It continues, Under Pontius Pilate crucified and buried. What? The only Son of God, our Lord, crucified? The only Son of God, our Lord, buried? The man was crucified, God wasn't changed, God wasn't killed; and yet, as man, God was killed. For if they had known, says the apostle, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory (1 Cor 2:8). He both showed that he was the Lord of glory, and confessed that he was crucified. Because if someone even tears your tunic without harming your skin, he does you an injury, and you don't shout on behalf of your clothes,