Sermons to the People 117.1–117.16

Augustine of Hippo · Sermons to the People · ca. 391-430 · Hippo Regius · 15 passages

Latin text: PL 38 (Latin text: Migne, PL 38, digitized by Open Greek and Latin (patrologia_latina-dev, University of Leipzig), CC BY-SA 4.0).English: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), public domain (CC0). Compare: NPNF 1/6: Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament (R. G. MacMullen, ed., 1888).

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Chapter 117

117.1PL 38:407

Capitulum Evangelii quod lectum est, fratres dilectissimi, purum oculum cordis inquirit. Dominum enim nostrum Jesum Christum accepimus secundum divinitatem ad condendam universam creaturam, secundum humanitatem ad reparandam lapsam creaturam, evangelizante Joanne. In ipso autem Evangelio qualis ct quantus vir Joannes fuerit, invenimus, ut ex dignitate dispensatoris intelligatur quanti pretii sit Verbum, quod per talem dici potuit: imo quam nullius pretii sit quod superat omnia. Pretio enim aut comparatur res venalis, aut subjicitur, aut excedit eam. Quando tanto quisque comparat quanto valet, aequatur pretium rei quae comparatur: quando vilius, subjicitur ei: quando carius, superat eam. Verbo autem Dei nec aequari aliquid potest, nec ad mutationem subjici, nec superponi aliquid. Subjici enim omnia possunt Verbo Dei, quia omnia per ipsum facta sunt: non tamen subjiciuntur, quasi pretium sint Verbi, ut quisque del aliquid, ut illud accipiat. Tamen si dici potest, et admittit nomen hoc ratio aliqua vel loquendi consuetudo, pretium comparandi Verbi ipse comparator est, qui se ipsum pro se ipso dederit huic Verbo. Itaque quando aliquid emimus, quacrimus aliquid quod demus, ut habeamus rem dato pretio quam volumus emere. Et extra nos est quod damus; et si apud nos erat, fit extra nos illud quod damus, ut sit apud nos illud quod comparamus. Quidquid pretii invenerit qui emit aliquid, necesse est ut tale inveniat, ut det quod habet, et accipiat quod non habet; maneat tamen ille a quo abscedit pretium, et accedat illud pro quo dat pretium. Qui autem vult comparare Verbum hoc, qui vult habere, non quaerat extra se ipsum quod det, se ipsum det. Quod cum fecerit, non se amittit, sicut amittit pretium, quando aliquid emit.

The passage of the Gospel that has been read, dearly beloved brothers, calls for a pure eye of the heart. For we have received our Lord Jesus Christ, according to his divinity for founding the whole creation, according to his humanity for restoring the fallen creation, through the preaching of John. In that Gospel we find what kind of man and how great John was, so that from the dignity of the steward it may be understood of how great a price is the Word that could be spoken through such a man: or rather, of how no price is that which surpasses all things. For a thing for sale is either matched by its price, or the price falls below it, or exceeds it. When someone buys at as much as it is worth, the price equals the thing bought; when more cheaply, the price falls below it; when more dearly, it surpasses it. But to the Word of God nothing can be equal, nor can anything be put beneath it in exchange, nor anything set above it. For all things can be put beneath the Word of God, because all things were made through him; yet they are not put beneath him as if they were the price of the Word, so that someone gives something in order to receive him. Yet if it can be said, and if some reason or usage of speech admits the term, the price for acquiring the Word is the acquirer himself, who gives himself in exchange for himself to this Word. So when we buy something, we look for something to give, so that, having given the price, we may have the thing we want to buy. And what we give is outside us; and if it was with us, what we give becomes outside us, so that what we acquire may be with us. Whatever price someone finds who buys something, he must find something such that he gives what he has and receives what he does not have; yet he from whom the price departs remains, and that for which he gives the price comes to him. But whoever wants to acquire this Word, whoever wants to have it, let him not look outside himself for something to give: let him give himself. And when he has done this, he does not lose himself, as he loses the price when he buys something.

John 1:1–3 (allusion, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: The Word of God, preached by John, cannot be bought for any price except oneself, and one who gives himself to the Word does not lose himself.

The reading is John 1:1–3. Migne’s marginal heading (“At what price the Word of God is to be acquired so as to be understood”) was removed by the importer.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; OCR slips): quod per talcm dici potuit → quod per talem dici potuit; Verbo aulem Dei nec aequari aliquid potest, nee ad mutationem subjici → Verbo autem Dei nec aequari aliquid potest, nec ad mutationem subjici; Subjici enim omnia possunt Verbo Dci → Subjici enim omnia possunt Verbo Dei; quasi prelium sint Verbi → quasi pretium sint Verbi; pretium comparandi Verbi ipse comparator cst, qui se ipsum pro se ipso dcderit → pretium comparandi Verbi ipse comparator est, qui se ipsum pro se ipso dederit; ne cesse est ut tale inveniat, ut deL quod habet → necesse est ut tale inveniat, ut det quod habet.

Topics: Christology

Cite (SBL): Augustine, Serm. 117.1 (PL 38:407; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sermones/117-1/#p-117-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Migne's Patrologia Latina 38 (Maurist text; digital text, Open Greek and Latin; corrections logged). Sermons outside 51–147 have no public-domain English and were re-read against the Latin; sermons 51–147 were compared section by section with NPNF¹ 6 (MacMullen, 1888).

117.2PL 38:407

Verbum ergo Dei propositum est omnibus: comparent qui possunt; possunt autem qui pie voluerint. In illo enim Verbo pax: et pax in terra hominibus bonae voluntatis ( Luc. II, 14). Ergo qui vult comparare, det se ipsum. Quasi pretium est hoc Verbi, si dici aliquo modo potest, quando nec se perdit qui dat, et acquirit Verbum pro quo se dat, et se ipsum in Verbo acquirit cui se dat. Et quid dat Verbo? Non aliquid ab ipso alienum, pro quo se dat; sed quod per ipsum Verbum factum est, hoc ei redditur ut reficiatur. Omnia per ipsum facta sunt. Si omnia, utique et homo. Si coelum, si terra, si mare, si omnia quae in ipsis sunt, si universa creatura; utique ille manifestius. qui ad imaginem Dei factus per Verbum factus est homo.

So the Word of God is set before all: let those acquire it who can; and those can who will it devoutly. For in that Word there is peace: “and peace on earth to men of good will.” So whoever wants to acquire it, let him give himself. This is as it were the price of the Word, if it can be said in any way: when the one who gives does not lose himself, and gains the Word for which he gives himself, and gains himself in the Word to which he gives himself. And what does he give the Word? Not something foreign to it, for which he gives himself; but what was made through the Word itself is given back to it, so as to be remade. “All things were made through him.” If all things, then man too. If heaven, if earth, if sea, if all that is in them, if the whole creation: then more evidently he who, made in the image of God, was made man through the Word.

Luke 2:14 (quotation, high confidence) · John 1:3 (quotation, high confidence) · Gen 1:27 (allusion, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Whoever gives himself for the Word gains both the Word and himself, giving back to the Word the human being made through it in God’s image, so as to be remade.

Migne’s marginal heading (“The price of the Word is man himself”) was removed by the importer. Quotations: Luke 2:14; John 1:3; Gen 1:27.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; divided word): Ergo qui vult comparare, deL se ipsum. → Ergo qui vult comparare, det se ipsum.; si dici aliquo uiodo potest → si dici aliquo modo potest; et se ipsum in Verbo ac. quirit cui se dat → et se ipsum in Verbo acquirit cui se dat; sed quod per ipsum Verbnm factum est → sed quod per ipsum Verbum factum est.

Topics: Christology

Cite (SBL): Augustine, Serm. 117.2 (PL 38:407; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sermones/117-1/#p-117-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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117.3PL 38:407–408

Non modo, fratres, tractamus, quomodo possit intelligi quod dictum est. In principio erat Verbum, et Verbum erat apud Deum, et Deus erat Verbum. Ineffabiliter potest intelligi: non verbis hominis fit ut intelligatur. Verbum Dei tractamus, et dicimus quare non intelligatur. Non nunc dicimus ut intelligatur, sed dicimus quid impediat ne intelligatur. Est enim forma quaedam, forma non formata, sed forma omnium formatorum: forma incommutabilis, sine lapsu, sine defectu, sine tempore, sine loco, superans omnia, existens omnibus et fundamentum quoddam in quo sint, et fastigium sub quo sint. Si dicis quia omnia in illo sunt, non mentiris. Dictum est enim ipsum Verbum Sapientia Dei: habemus autem scriptum, Omnia in Sapientia fecisti. Ergo in illo sunt omnia: et tamen quia Deus est, sub illo sunt omnia. Dicimus quam incomprehensibile sit quod lectum est: tamen lectum est, non ut comprehenderetur ab homine, sed ut doleret homo quia non comprehendit, et inveniret unde impeditur a comprehensione, et removeret ea, et inhiaret perceptioni incommutabilis Verbi, ipse ex deteriore in melius commutatus. Non enim Verbum proficit aut crescit accedente cognitore: sed integrum, si permanseris; integrum, si recesseris; integrum. cum redieris; manens in se, et innovans omnia. Ergo est forma omnium rerum, forma infabricata, sine tempore, ut diximus, et sine spatiis locorum. Quidquid enim loco capitur, circumscribitur. Forma circumscribitur finibus, habet metas unde ct quousque sit. Deinde quod loco capitur et mole quadam et spatio distenditur, minus est in parte, quam in toto. Faciat Deus ut intelligatis. Quotidie autem de corporibus, quæ ante oculos nostros sunt, quae videmus, quae tangimus, inter quae sumus, possumus judicare corpus quodlibet in loco habere formam. Omne autem quod spatium loci occupat, minus est in parte quam in toto. Pars corporis humani, verbi gratia, brachium: utique minus est brachium quam totum corpus. Et si minus est brachium, breviorem locum occupat. Item caput, quia pars est corporis, in minore loco est, et minus est quam totum corpus, cui caput est. Sic omnia quæ sunt in loco, minora sunt in parte quam in toto. Nihil tale de illo Verbo sentiamus, nihil tale cogitemus. Non de suggestione carnis spiritualia imaginemur. Non est ille Sermo, non est ille Deus minor in parte quam in toto.

We are not now discussing, brothers, how what was said can be understood: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” It can be understood ineffably: it is not by man’s words that it comes to be understood. We are discussing the Word of God, and saying why it is not understood. We are not now speaking so that it may be understood, but saying what hinders it from being understood. For it is a certain form, a form not formed, but the form of all things formed: an unchangeable form, without lapse, without defect, without time, without place, surpassing all things, existing for all things both as a kind of foundation in which they are and a roof under which they are. If you say that all things are in it, you do not lie. For the Word itself is called the Wisdom of God; and we have it written: “In wisdom you have made all things.” So all things are in him: and yet, because he is God, all things are under him. We are saying how incomprehensible is what was read: yet it was read, not so that it might be comprehended by man, but so that man might grieve that he does not comprehend, and find what hinders him from comprehending, and remove it, and long for the perception of the unchangeable Word, himself changed from worse to better. For the Word does not advance or grow when a knower comes to it: but it is whole if you remain; whole if you withdraw; whole when you return; abiding in itself and making all things new. So it is the form of all things, a form not fashioned, without time, as we said, and without spaces of place. For whatever is held by a place is circumscribed. A form is circumscribed by limits; it has bounds from where and to where it is. Then, what is held by a place and extended by some bulk and space is less in a part than in the whole. May God grant that you understand. Every day, from the bodies that are before our eyes, which we see, which we touch, among which we are, we can judge that any body has form in a place. And everything that occupies a space of place is less in a part than in the whole. A part of the human body, for example, is the arm: surely the arm is less than the whole body. And if the arm is less, it occupies a smaller place. Likewise the head, because it is part of the body, is in a smaller place, and is less than the whole body of which it is the head. So all things that are in place are less in the part than in the whole. Let us feel nothing like this about that Word; let us think nothing like this. Let us not imagine spiritual things at the prompting of the flesh. That Word is not, that God is not, less in a part than in the whole.

John 1:1 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Cor 1:24 (allusion, high confidence) · Ps 104:24 (103:24 Vulg.) (quotation, high confidence) · Rev 21:5 (echo, medium confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: The Word is the unformed form of all things, beyond time and place, unchanged whether we approach or depart; unlike bodies, which are less in their parts than in the whole, the Word is not less in a part than in the whole.

Migne’s marginal headings (“The Word of God a certain form not formed. A form without time and place”) were removed by the importer. The digital text runs Migne’s paragraphs 3 and 4 together in this staged section; paragraph 4 begins at “Every day, from the bodies”; its chapter mark and heading (“3. — 4. Not less in a part than in the whole”) are removed by a correction. Quotations: John 1:1; 1 Cor 1:24 (Wisdom of God); Ps 104:24 (103:24 Vulg.); Rev 21:5 (cf. Wis 7:27).

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (Migne's chapter mark, paragraph number, and marginal heading left in the text; OCR slip; OCR slip and stray mark; OCR slips; stray footnote number; stray mark): Non modo 1. fratres, tractamus → Non modo, fratres, tractamus; Verbum Dei tractamus, etdicimus quare non intelligatur. Non nunc dicimus ut intelligatur, sed dicimus quid impediat ne inte'ligatur. → Verbum Dei tractamus, et dicimus quare non intelligatur. Non nunc dicimus ut intelligatur, sed dicimus quid impediat ne intelligatur.; superans omnia, existens2 omnibus → superans omnia, existens omnibus; Dictuu est enim ipsum Verbum I Sapientia Dei → Dictum est enim ipsum Verbum Sapientia Dei; et removeret ea, et inhiarct perceptioni → et removeret ea, et inhiaret perceptioni; sed integrum I, si perrnanseris → sed integrum, si permanseris; Forma circumscribitur finibus \ habet metas → Forma circumscribitur finibus, habet metas; Faciat Deus ut intelligatis. CAPU1 III. — 4. Non minor in parte quam in toto. Quotidie autem → Faciat Deus ut intelligatis. Quotidie autem; Et si minus est brachium I, breviorem locum occupat. → Et si minus est brachium, breviorem locum occupat.; Non de suggestione carnis spiritualia Imaginemur. → Non de suggestione carnis spiritualia imaginemur..

Extrabiblical texts: Wis 7:27 (Wisdom of Solomon [in RC, EO, ETH canons]; echo)

Topics: Christology, Trinity

Cite (SBL): Augustine, Serm. 117.3 (PL 38:407–408; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sermones/117-1/#p-117-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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117.5PL 38:408

Sed non potes tale aliquid cogitare. Magis pia est talis ignorantia, quam praesumpta scientia. Loquimur enim de Deo. Dictum est, Et Deus erat Verbum. De Deo loquimur, quid mirum si non comprehendis? Si enim comprehendis, non est Deus. Sit pia confessio ignorantiæ magis, quam temeraria professio scientiæ. Attingere aliquantum mente Deum; magna beatitudo est: comprehendere autem, omnino impossibile. Ad mentem Deus pertinet, intelligendus est: ad oculos corpus, videndum est. Sed corpus oculo comprehendere te putas? Omnino non potes. Quidquid enim aspicis, non totum aspicis. Cujus hominis faciem vides, dorsum non vides eo tempore quo faciem vides: et quando dorsum vides, eo tempore faciem non vides. Non sic ergo vides, ut comprehendas: sed quando aspicis aliam partem, quam non videras, nisi memoria tecum faciat ut memineris te vidisse unde recedis, nunquam te dixeris aliquid vel in superficie comprehendisse. Tractas quod vides, versas huc atque illuc, vel ipse circuis ut totum videas. Uno ergo aspectu totum videre non potes. Et quamdiu versas ut videas, partes, vides: et contexendo quia vidisti alias partes, videris totum inspicere. Non autem hic oculorum visus, sed memoriæ vivacitas intelligitur. Quid ergo de illo Verbo, fratres, dici potest? Ecce de corporibus dicimus subjacentibus oculis nostris, non illa possunt comprehendere aspectu: quis ergo oculus cordis comprehendit Deum? Sufficit ut attingat, si purus est oculus. Si autem attingit, tactu quodam attingit incorporeo et spirituali, non tamen comprehendit; et hoc, si purus est. Et homo fit beatus contingendo corde illud quod semper beatum manet: et est illud ipsa beatitudo perpetua, et unde fit homo vivus, vita perpetua; unde fit homo sapiens, sapientia perfecta; unde homo fit illuminatus, lumen sempiternum est. Et vide quemadmodum tu contingendo efficeris quod non eras, non illud quod contingis facis esse quod non erat. Hoc dico, Deus non crescit ex cognitore, sed cognitor ex cognitione Dei. Ne putemus, fratres charissimi, quia beneficium praestamus Deo, quia diximus pretium nos dare quodam modo. Non enim unde augeatur, illi damus, qui et te lapso integer est, et te redeunte integer manet, paratus videri ut beatificet conversos, et aversos puniat cæcitate. Vindicat enim primo in anima aversa a se, exordio poenarum, ipsa caecitate. Qui enim se avertit a lumine vero, id est, a Deo, jam caecus efficitur. Nondum sentit poenam, sed jam habet.

But you cannot think anything of this kind. Such ignorance is more devout than presumptuous knowledge. For we are speaking of God. It was said, “And the Word was God.” We are speaking of God: what wonder if you do not comprehend? For if you comprehend, it is not God. Let there be a devout confession of ignorance rather than a rash profession of knowledge. To touch God a little with the mind is great blessedness; but to comprehend him is altogether impossible. God belongs to the mind; he is to be understood: the body belongs to the eyes; it is to be seen. But do you think you comprehend a body with the eye? You cannot at all. For whatever you look at, you do not look at the whole. When you see a man’s face, you do not see his back at the time you see his face; and when you see his back, you do not see his face at that time. So you do not see in such a way as to comprehend: but when you look at another part which you had not seen, unless memory with you makes you remember that you saw the part you are leaving, you would never say you had comprehended anything even on the surface. You handle what you see, turn it this way and that, or walk around it yourself so as to see the whole. So you cannot see the whole in one look. And as long as you turn it so as to see, you see parts: and by putting together that you have seen other parts, you seem to look at the whole. But here what is understood is not the sight of the eyes but the liveliness of memory. What, then, can be said of that Word, brothers? See, we are speaking of bodies lying before our eyes, and they cannot comprehend them by looking: what eye of the heart, then, comprehends God? It is enough if it touches him, if the eye is pure. But if it touches, it touches by a kind of incorporeal and spiritual touch, yet it does not comprehend; and this, if it is pure. And man becomes blessed by touching with the heart that which remains ever blessed: and that is blessedness itself, everlasting; and that from which man becomes alive is everlasting life; that from which man becomes wise is perfect wisdom; that from which man becomes enlightened is everlasting light. See how you, by touching, are made what you were not; you do not make what you touch be what it was not. I say this: God does not grow from the knower, but the knower from the knowledge of God. Let us not think, dearest brothers, that we confer a benefit on God because we said that in a way we give a price. For we give nothing by which he may be increased, he who is whole when you fall away and remains whole when you return, ready to be seen so as to make blessed those who turn to him, and to punish with blindness those who turn away. For he punishes first in the soul turned away from him, as the beginning of its punishments, with blindness itself. For whoever turns away from the true light, that is, from God, is already made blind. He does not yet feel the punishment, but he already has it.

John 1:1 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 5:8 (echo, medium confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Devout ignorance is better than presumptuous knowledge, for God cannot be comprehended, any more than the eye grasps a whole body at once; the pure heart can only touch him and is made blessed thereby, while God gains nothing, and those who turn from him are already punished with blindness.

The staged text notes that the paragraph number jumps from 3 to 5; paragraph 4 is inside 117.3 (see there). The opening words are Migne’s marginal headings (“In divine matters devout ignorance is better than presumptuous knowledge. God incomprehensible to the eye of the heart. By knowing God man becomes blessed. God does not grow from our knowledge”), left in the text and removed by a correction. Quotation: John 1:1. The maxim “if you comprehend, it is not God” is Augustine’s.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (Migne's marginal headings left in the text; OCR slip; OCR slips; joined words; stray footnote number; stray mark): In rebus divinis pia ignorantia melior quam præsumpta scientia. Oculo cordis Deus incomprehensibilis. Dei cognitione fit homo beatus. Deus ex notra cognitione non crescit. Sed non potes → Sed non potes; Sit pia confessio ignoranlije magis → Sit pia confessio ignorantiæ magis; ad oculos corpus, videndum est 4. → ad oculos corpus, videndum est.; dorsum non vides eo tempore quo fucicm vides: et quando dorsum vides, eo tempore faeicm non vidcs. Non sic ergo vides, ut com - prehendas → dorsum non vides eo tempore quo faciem vides: et quando dorsum vides, eo tempore faciem non vides. Non sic ergo vides, ut comprehendas; tactuquodam attingit incorporeo → tactu quodam attingit incorporeo; E'vide quemadmodum tu contingendo → Et vide quemadmodum tu contingendo; paratus videri 1ut beatificet conversos → paratus videri ut beatificet conversos; exordio poenarum I, ipsa caecitate → exordio poenarum, ipsa caecitate.

Cite (SBL): Augustine, Serm. 117.5 (PL 38:408; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sermones/117-1/#p-117-5). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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117.6PL 38:408–409

Itaque Verbum Dei, fratres charissimi, incorporaliter, inviolabiliter, incommutabiliter; sine temporali nativitate, natum tamen intelligamus a Deo. Putamusne possumus aliquo modo persuadere quibusdam infidelibus non abhorrere a vero, quod dicitur a nobis fide catholica, quæ contraria est Arianis, a quibus Ecclesia Dei saepe tentata est, cum carnales homines id facilius accipiunt quod videre consueverunt? Ausi sunt enim quidam dicere, Major est Pater Filio, ct præcedit eum tempore: id est, major est Filio Pater, et minor est Patre Filius, et a Patre in tempore præceditur. Et sic disputant: Si natus est, utique crat Pater antequam Filius illi esset natus. Attendite: adsit ipse nobis, adjuvantibus orationibus vestris, et pia intentione excipere cupientibus quod ipse donaverit, quod ipse suggesserit; adsit nobis, ut possimus quoquo modo explicare quod coepimus. Tamen, fratres, ante dico, si non potuero ego explicare, non rationem putetis, sed hominem defecisse. Itaque vos hortor et deprecor ut oretis: adsit misericordia Dei, et ita rem a nobis dici faciat, ut vos audire oportet, et nos dicere. Hoc ergo illi dicunt: Si Filius Dei est, natus est. Hoc fatemur. Non enim esset Filius si natus non esset. Manifestum est, admittit fides, approbat Ecclesia catholica, verum est. Adjungunt deinde: Si natus est Patri Filius, erat Pater antequam ei Filius nasceretur. Hoc respuit fides, respuunt aures catholicæ; anathematur, extra est qui hoc sapit, non pertinet ad participationem societatemque sanctorum. Ergo, ait, rationem mihi redde, quomodo et Filius potuit nasci Patri, et coævus esse ei a quo natus est?

So let us understand the Word of God, dearest brothers, as born of God incorporeally, inviolably, unchangeably, without a temporal birth, yet born. Do we think we can in some way persuade certain unbelievers that what we say by the Catholic faith, which is opposed to the Arians, by whom the church of God has often been assailed, is not far from the truth, when fleshly people more easily accept what they are used to seeing? For some have dared to say: “The Father is greater than the Son, and precedes him in time”: that is, the Father is greater than the Son, and the Son is less than the Father and is preceded by the Father in time. And they argue thus: “If he was born, surely the Father existed before the Son was born to him.” Attend: may he himself be with us, as your prayers help us and you desire with devout attention to receive what he grants, what he suggests; may he be with us, so that we may in some way explain what we have begun. Yet, brothers, I say beforehand: if I cannot explain it, do not think that reason has failed, but the man. So I urge and beseech you to pray: may God’s mercy be with us, and cause the matter to be spoken by us as you ought to hear and we to speak. This, then, is what they say: “If he is the Son of God, he was born.” We admit this. For he would not be the Son if he had not been born. It is plain; faith admits it; the Catholic Church approves it; it is true. They add next: “If the Son was born to the Father, the Father existed before the Son was born to him.” This faith rejects, Catholic ears reject; it is anathematized; whoever thinks this is outside, he does not belong to the fellowship and society of the saints. “Then,” he says, “give me an account of how the Son could both be born to the Father and be coeval with him by whom he was born.”

John 14:28 (allusion, medium confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Against the Arians, who argue that a born Son must be later and lesser than his Father, the Catholic faith holds that the Word was born of God without a temporal birth, and Augustine asks for prayer as he undertakes to explain how a Son can be born and yet coeternal.

Migne’s marginal heading (“The Word asserted to be coeternal with the Father, against the Arians”) was removed by the importer. Anti-Arian polemic and Trinitarian statements translated as written. “Coeval” renders coævus (the digital text reads “coæpvus”).

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; OCR slips): natum tamen inlelligamus a Deo → natum tamen intelligamus a Deo; Putamusne possumus aliquo modo persuadcre → Putamusne possumus aliquo modo persuadere; et pia intentione excipere cupicntibus → et pia intentione excipere cupientibus; adsit nobis, ut possimus. quoquo modo explicare quod coepimus. Tamt n, fratres → adsit nobis, ut possimus quoquo modo explicare quod coepimus. Tamen, fratres; adsit misericordia Dei. et ita rem a nobis dici faciat → adsit misericordia Dei, et ita rem a nobis dici faciat; Adjungunt deindc: → Adjungunt deinde:; et coæpvus esse ei a quo natus est? → et coævus esse ei a quo natus est?.

Topics: Trinity, Christology, Heresy

Cite (SBL): Augustine, Serm. 117.6 (PL 38:408–409; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sermones/117-1/#p-117-6). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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117.7PL 38:409

Et quid facimus, fratres, quando carnalibus spiritualia insinuamus: si tamen et nos ipsi non carnales sumus, quando carnalibus ista spiritualia intimamus, homini assuefacto nativitate terrena, et videnti istius creaturae ordinem, ubi successus et decessus, gignentes et genitos ætate distinguit? Post patrem enim nascitur filius, patri utique morituro successurus. Hoc in hominibus, hoc in aliis animantibus invenimus, parentes priores tempore, filios tempore posteriores. Hac consuetudine videndi, carnalia transferre illi ad spiritualia cupiunt, et intentione carnalium facilius seducuntur. Non enim ratio audientium sequitur talia prædicantes, sed consuetudo, quæ etiam ipsos involvit, ut talia prædicarent. Et quid facimus nos? Silebimus? Utinam liceret. Forsitan enim silendo aliquid dignum de re ineffabili cogitaretur. Nam quidquid potest fari, non est ineffabile. Ineffabilis est autem Deus. Si enim raptum se dicit usque in tertium cœlum apostolus Paulus, et dicit se audisse ineffabilia verba; quanto magis ipse ineffabilis, qui talia demonstravit, quæ fari non possit cui demonstrata sunt? Itaque, fratres, melius erat si possemus tacere, et dicere: Hoc habet fides, sic credimus: non potes capere, parvulus es: patienter tolerandum, donec pennas nutrias; ne cum volare implumis volueris, non sit illa aura libertatis, sed casus temeritatis. Quid illi contra? O si haberet quod diceret, diceret mihi! Deficienti ista excusatio est. Victus est veris a, qui respondere non vult. Ille cui hoc dicitur, si non respondeat, etsi in se ipso victus non est, vincitur tamen in titubantibus fratribus. Audiunt enim fratres infirmi, et putant revera non esse quod dicatur: et forsitan verum putant, non esse quod dicatur, non tamen non esse quod sentiatur. Homo enim nihil potest dicere, quod non etiam sentire possit: potest etiam aliquid sentire, quod dicere non possit.

And what do we do, brothers, when we instill spiritual things into fleshly people (if indeed we ourselves are not fleshly) when we convey these spiritual things to fleshly people, to a man accustomed to earthly birth and seeing the order of this creation, where succession and departure distinguish begetters and begotten by age? For a son is born after his father, to succeed his father, who of course will die. This we find in men, this in other living things: parents earlier in time, children later in time. By this habit of seeing, they want to transfer fleshly things to spiritual ones, and by attending to fleshly things they are more easily led astray. For it is not the reason of the hearers that follows those who preach such things, but habit, which has entangled the preachers themselves too, so that they preach such things. And what do we do? Shall we keep silent? Would that it were allowed. For perhaps by keeping silent something worthy of the ineffable thing might be thought. For whatever can be spoken is not ineffable. But God is ineffable. For if the apostle Paul says he was caught up to the third heaven, and says he heard ineffable words, how much more is he ineffable who showed such things, which the one to whom they were shown could not speak? So, brothers, it would be better if we could keep silent and say: “This is what faith holds; so we believe: you cannot grasp it, you are a little one; you must bear it patiently until you grow your wings; lest, when you want to fly unfledged, it be not the air of freedom but the fall of rashness.” What does he say to this? “Oh, if he had anything to say, he would say it to me! This excuse belongs to one who has failed. He is beaten by the truth who will not answer.” He to whom this is said, if he does not answer, even if he is not beaten in himself, is yet beaten in the wavering brothers. For the weak brothers hear, and think that there really is nothing to be said: and perhaps they think truly that there is nothing that can be said, but not that there is nothing that can be thought. For a man can say nothing that he cannot also think: but he can think something that he cannot say.

2 Cor 12:2–4 (allusion, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Fleshly people transfer the order of human generation to God; it would be better to keep silent about the ineffable, but silence would let weak brothers think the Arians unanswerable.

Migne’s marginal heading (“It is difficult to instill divine things into fleshly people”) was removed by the importer. Allusion: 2 Cor 12:2–4. The sentence “Victus est veris a, qui respondere non vult” is garbled in the digital text; translated by sense (“beaten by the truth”).

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; OCR slip and stray footnote number; OCR slips; stray mark): quando carnalibus ista spiritualia intimanius → quando carnalibus ista spiritualia intimamus; filios tempore posteriorcs. Hac consuetudine videndi1, → filios tempore posteriores. Hac consuetudine videndi,; quæ etiam ipsos insolvit, ut talia prædicarent → quæ etiam ipsos involvit, ut talia prædicarent; aliquid dignum de re inefTabili cogitaretur → aliquid dignum de re ineffabili cogitaretur; patienter tolerandum I, donec pennas nutrias → patienter tolerandum, donec pennas nutrias; Quid illi contra? 0 si habcret quod diceret, diceret mihi! → Quid illi contra? O si haberet quod diceret, diceret mihi!.

Topics: Trinity, Heresy

Cite (SBL): Augustine, Serm. 117.7 (PL 38:409; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sermones/117-1/#p-117-7). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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117.8PL 38:409

Tamen servata illius majestatis ineffabilitate, ne cum aliquas similitudines contra illos dederimus, putet nos aliquis per istas similitudines jam pervenisse ad id quod ncc dici nec cogitari a parvulis potest (certe et si potest ab aliquibus majoribus, potest ex parte, potest in ænigmate, potest per speculum; nondum autem facie ad faciem); demus et nos aliquas similitudines adversus illos, unde illi refellantur, non unde illud captatur. Etenim cum dicimus valde posse fieri, posse intelligi, ut et natus sit et coæternus sit ei a quo natus est, ut hoc refellant et quasi falsum esse demonstrent, similitudines nobis dant. Unde? De creatura: et dicunt nobis, Homo utique erat antequam generaret filium, major est filio suo: et equus erat antequam generaret filium, et ovis, ct cætera animalia. Similitudines adhibent de creaturis.

Yet, keeping the ineffability of that majesty intact, lest, when we give some likenesses against them, anyone think that through these likenesses we have already reached what cannot be said or thought by little ones (certainly, even if it can be by some greater ones, it can be in part, it can be in a riddle, it can be through a mirror; but not yet face to face): let us too give some likenesses against them, by which they may be refuted, not by which that reality is grasped. For when we say that it can very well happen, and be understood, that he was born and is coeternal with him by whom he was born, to refute this and as it were show it false, they give us likenesses. From where? From creation. And they say to us: “A man certainly existed before he begot a son; he is greater than his son: and a horse existed before it begot its foal, and a sheep, and the other animals.” They bring likenesses from creatures.

1 Cor 13:12 (allusion, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Without claiming to grasp the ineffable, Augustine will offer likenesses to refute the Arians, who argue from creatures that every parent exists before its offspring.

Migne’s marginal heading (“8. Likenesses to be used to refute the Arians”) was removed by the importer. Allusion: 1 Cor 13:9, 12.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; OCR slips): ne cum aliquas similitudines contra illos dcderimus → ne cum aliquas similitudines contra illos dederimus; nondum autem facie ad facicm → nondum autem facie ad faciem; Homo utique erat aniequam generaret filium, major est tilio suo v et equus → Homo utique erat antequam generaret filium, major est filio suo: et equus; Similitudines adhibent de crcaturis. → Similitudines adhibent de creaturis..

Topics: Trinity, Heresy

Cite (SBL): Augustine, Serm. 117.8 (PL 38:409; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sermones/117-1/#p-117-8). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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117.9PL 38:409

Quid, nobis laborandum est, ut et nos inveniamus similitudines earum rerum quas astruimus? Quid? si non invenirem, non recte possem dicere, Nativitas Creatoris fortasse similitudinem in creatura non habet? Quanto enim superat ea quæ hic sunt in eo quod ibi est, tanto superat ea quæ hic nascuntur in eo quod ibi natus est. Omnia per Deum hic sunt: et quid tamen est comparandum Deo? Sic omnia quæ hic nascuntur, illo efficiente nascuntur. Et sic forsitan non invenitur aliqua similitudo nativitatis ejus, quomodo non invenitur et substantiae ejus, ct immutabilitatis, divinitatis, majestatis ejus. Quid enim simile hic inveniri potest? Si ergo forsitan nec nativitatis similitudo inveniatur, numquid inde oppressus sum, quia non inveni similitudines Creatori omnium, in crcatura cupiens invenire quod esset simile Creatori?

What, must we labor to find likenesses too for the things we assert? What? If I did not find them, could I not rightly say, “Perhaps the birth of the Creator has no likeness in the creature”? For as much as what is there surpasses the things here, so much does he who was born there surpass the things born here. All things here are through God: and yet what is to be compared with God? So all things born here are born by his working. And so perhaps no likeness of his birth is found, just as none is found of his substance, his unchangeableness, his divinity, his majesty. For what like it can be found here? If, then, perhaps no likeness of his birth is found, am I therefore crushed because I have not found likenesses for the Creator of all, wishing to find in the creature what would be like the Creator?

Notes and citation

Summary: Augustine notes that the Creator’s birth may have no likeness in creation, just as his substance and majesty have none, so failing to find one would not defeat his case.

Migne’s marginal heading (“Likenesses do not support our faith about the Word”) was removed by the importer.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip): in eo quod ibi natus e t. → in eo quod ibi natus est.; illo efficiente nascuniur → illo efficiente nascuntur; Si ergo forsitan nuc nativitatis similitudo inveniatur → Si ergo forsitan nec nativitatis similitudo inveniatur.

Topics: Trinity

Cite (SBL): Augustine, Serm. 117.9 (PL 38:409; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sermones/117-1/#p-117-9). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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117.10PL 38:409–410

Et revera, fratres, non sum inventurus temporales similitudines, quas æternitati possim comparare. Sed et tu quas invenisti, quid sunt? Quid enim invenisti? Quia pater major est tempore quam filius: et ideo vis ut Filius Dei tempore minor sit quam Pater æternus, quia invenisti minorem filium patre temporali. Da mihi æternum patrem hic, et invenisti similitudinem. Filium minorem invenis patre in tempore, filium temporalem minorem patre temporali. Numquid invenisti mihi filium temporalem minorem æterno patre? Quia ergo in æternitate stabilitas est, in tempore autem varietas; in æternitate omnia stant, in tempore alia accedunt, alia succedunt: potes invenire minorem filium in varietate temporis succedentem patri, quia etiam patri suo ipse successit non æterno patri temporalis. Quid ergo possumus, fratres mei, in creatura invenire coæternum, quando in creatura nihil invenimus æternum? Inveni æternum patrem in creatura, et invenio coæternum filium. Si autem non invenis æternum, et vincunt se in tempore; sufficit ut ad similitudinem inveniamus coævum. Aliud est enim coæternum, aliud coaevum. Coaevos quotidie dicimus eos qui eamdem habent mensuram temporum: non alter ab altero præceditur tempore, ambos tamen esse coepisse, quos dicimus coaevos. Si potuerimus invenire coaevum quod nascitur ei a quo nascitur; si possunt inveniri coævi duo generans et generatus: hic invenimus coæva, ibi intelligamus coæterna. Si hic invenero genitum ex co esse coepisse ex quo coepit generator, intelligimus certe Filium Dei ex eo esse non coepisse, ex quo non cœpit generator. Ecce fortasse, fratres, invenimus aliquid in creatura, quod de alia re nascatur, et tamen ex eo tempore esse incipiat, ex quo cœpit illud unde nascitur. Hoc ex eo ex quo illud coepit, illud ex eo ex quo illud non coepit. Hoc ergo coævum, illud coaeternum.

And truly, brothers, I am not going to find temporal likenesses that I can compare with eternity. But what are those you have found? For what have you found? That a father is greater in time than a son: and so you want the Son of God to be less in time than the eternal Father, because you have found a son less than a temporal father. Give me an eternal father here, and you have found a likeness. You find a son less than his father in time, a temporal son less than a temporal father. Have you found me a temporal son less than an eternal father? Since, then, in eternity there is stability, but in time variety; in eternity all things stand, in time some come and others succeed: you can find a son less than his father, succeeding his father in the variety of time, because his father too succeeded his own father, a temporal one, not an eternal father. What, then, my brothers, can we find coeternal in creation, when in creation we find nothing eternal? Find an eternal father in creation, and I find a coeternal son. But if you do not find an eternal one, and one surpasses the other in time, it is enough that, for a likeness, we find something coeval. For coeternal is one thing, coeval another. Every day we call coeval those who have the same measure of time: one is not preceded by the other in time, though both are said to have begun, those we call coeval. If we can find something coeval which is born, with that from which it is born; if two can be found coeval, begetter and begotten: here we find things coeval, there let us understand things coeternal. If here I find the begotten to have begun to be from the time the begetter began, we certainly understand that the Son of God did not begin to be from the time the begetter did not begin. See, perhaps, brothers, we find something in creation which is born of another thing and yet begins to be from the time that from which it is born began. This, from the time that that began; that, from the time that that did not begin. So this is coeval, that coeternal.

Notes and citation

Summary: The Arians’ examples show only temporal sons later than temporal fathers; a likeness can be found instead in things coeval, begotten and begetter beginning together, which point to the Son coeternal with the eternal Father.

The opening words “Coævum et coæternum” (“Coeval and coeternal”) are Migne’s marginal heading left in the text; not translated.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (Migne's marginal heading left in the text; OCR slips; OCR slip; OCR slips): Coævum. et coæternum. Et revera, fratres, non sum inventurus temporales sirnilitudiues → Et revera, fratres, non sum inventurus temporales similitudines; Da mihi æternum patrem hie, et invenisti similitudinem. → Da mihi æternum patrem hic, et invenisti similitudinem.; quia eliam patri suo ipse successit → quia etiam patri suo ipse successit; Si autem non invenis arternum, ct vincunt se in tcmpore; sufficit ut ad similitudinem inveniamus cosevum. → Si autem non invenis æternum, et vincunt se in tempore; sufficit ut ad similitudinem inveniamus coævum.; non alter ab altero prærceditur tempore, anibos tamen esse coepisse → non alter ab altero præceditur tempore, ambos tamen esse coepisse; Si potucrimus invenire coaevum quod nascitur ei a quo nascitur; si possunt inveniri COæVI duo generans ct generatus → Si potuerimus invenire coaevum quod nascitur ei a quo nascitur; si possunt inveniri coævi duo generans et generatus; intelligiinus certe Filium Dei → intelligimus certe Filium Dei; Hoc ergo coa'vum, illud coaeternum. → Hoc ergo coævum, illud coaeternum..

Topics: Trinity

Cite (SBL): Augustine, Serm. 117.10 (PL 38:409–410; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sermones/117-1/#p-117-10). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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117.11PL 38:410

Arbitror Sanctitatem vestram jam intellexisse quod dico, non posse comparari temporalia æternis; sed posse ex aliqua tenui et parva similitudine coæva coæternis. Inveniamus itaque coæva, et de Scripturis admoneamur ad has similitudines. Legimus in Scripturis de ipsa Sapientia, Candor est enim lucis æternæ. Item legimus, Speculum sine macula Dei majestatis ( Sap. VII, 26 ). Ipsa Sapientia dicta est candor lucis æternæ, dicta est imago Patris: hinc capiamus similitudinem, ut inveniamus coæva, ex quibus intelligamus coæterna. O Ariane, si invenero genitorem non præcedere tempore illud quod genuit, si genitum non esse minorem tempore illo a quo generatus est; justum est ut concedas mihi posse ista coæterna inveniri in Creatore, quando coæva in creatura inveniri potuerunt. Jam quidem aliquibus fratribus hoc occurrere puto. Nam prævenerunt aliqui ex quo dixi, Candor eat enim lucis æternae. Ignis enim lucem fundit, lux ab igne funditur. Quid a quo existat, si quæramus, quotidie cum lucernam accendimus, admonemur rei cujusdam invisibilis et inenarrabilis, ut lucerna aliqua intelligentiæ nostræ in ista nocte sæculi possit accendi. Attende eum qui lucernam accendit. Non accensa lucerna, nondum est ignis, nondum est et fulgor qui ab igne exit. Interrogo autem ego, et dico: Fulgor ab igne existit, an ignis a fulgore? Omnis anima mihi respondet: voluit enim Deus inseminare omni animae initia intellectus, initia sapientiæ: omnis mihi anima respondet, et nemo dubitat, quod splendor ille de igne existit, non ignis de splendore. Ponamus ergo ignem patrem illius splendoris: quia jam praelocuti sumus coaeva nos quærere, non coæterna. Si lucernam accendere cupio, nondum est ibi ignis, nondum et ille splendor: mox autem ut accendero, simul cum igne et splendor existit. Da hic mihi ignem sine splendore, et credo tibi Patrem fuisse sine Filio.

I think your Holiness has already understood what I am saying: that temporal things cannot be compared with eternal things; but that, by some thin and small likeness, coeval things can be compared with coeternal ones. So let us find coeval things, and let us be prompted to these likenesses by the Scriptures. We read in the Scriptures of Wisdom itself: “For she is the brightness of eternal light.” Again we read: “The spotless mirror of God’s majesty.” Wisdom itself has been called the brightness of eternal light, has been called the image of the Father: let us take a likeness from this, so as to find coeval things from which to understand coeternal ones. O Arian, if I find that the begetter does not precede in time what it begot, if the begotten is not less in time than that by which it was begotten, it is right that you grant me that such coeternal things can be found in the Creator, since coeval things could be found in the creature. Already, I think, this occurs to some brothers. For some have run ahead since I said, “For she is the brightness of eternal light.” For fire sheds light; light is shed by fire. If we ask which exists from which, every day when we light a lamp we are reminded of a certain invisible and unspeakable thing, so that some lamp of our understanding may be lit in this night of the world. Look at someone lighting a lamp. Before the lamp is lit, there is not yet fire, and not yet the brightness that comes from the fire. But I ask and say: does the brightness come from the fire, or the fire from the brightness? Every soul answers me (for God willed to sow in every soul the beginnings of understanding, the beginnings of wisdom); every soul answers me, and no one doubts, that that splendor comes from the fire, not the fire from the splendor. Let us suppose, then, the fire as the father of that brightness: for we have already said beforehand that we are seeking coeval things, not coeternal ones. If I want to light a lamp, there is not yet fire there, nor yet that splendor: but as soon as I have lit it, the splendor exists together with the fire. Give me here fire without splendor, and I will believe you that the Father was without the Son.

Heb 1:3 (allusion, high confidence) · Col 1:15 (allusion, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Scripture calls Wisdom the brightness of eternal light; just as the brightness of a lamp comes from the fire yet exists together with it, the begotten need not be later than the begetter.

The opening words are Migne’s marginal headings (“In coeval things there is some likeness of the Word coeternal with God. Fire and light are coeval”), left in the text and removed by a correction. Quotations: Wis 7:26 (an extrabiblical text); Heb 1:3; Col 1:15. Anti-Arian argument translated as written.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (Migne's marginal headings left in the text; OCR slip; OCR slips): In coævis similitudo quædam Verbi coæterni Deo. Ignis et lux coæva. Arbitror Sanctitatem → Arbitror Sanctitatem; sed posse ex aliqna tenui et parva similitudine co:rva coæternis, luveniamus itaque coæva → sed posse ex aliqua tenui et parva similitudine coæva coæternis. Inveniamus itaque coæva; Candor eat enim lucis æternæ. bem legimus, Speculum sine macula → Candor est enim lucis æternæ. Item legimus, Speculum sine macula; 0 Ariane, si invenero genitorem → O Ariane, si invenero genitorem; rei cujusdam invisibilis et incnarrabilis, ut lucerna aliqua intelligentiæ nostræ in isia nocte sæculi possit accendie Attende → rei cujusdam invisibilis et inenarrabilis, ut lucerna aliqua intelligentiæ nostræ in ista nocte sæculi possit accendi. Attende; Interrogo autcm ego, ct dico → Interrogo autem ego, et dico; Omnis anima mihi respoudet → Omnis anima mihi respondet; coaeva nos quærere, non con'terna → coaeva nos quærere, non coæterna; mor autem ut accendero, simul cum igne et splendorexistit. Da hic milii ignem sine splendore, et credo libi → mox autem ut accendero, simul cum igne et splendor existit. Da hic mihi ignem sine splendore, et credo tibi.

Extrabiblical texts: Wis 7:26 (Wisdom of Solomon [in RC, EO, ETH canons]; quotation)

Topics: Trinity, Heresy

Cite (SBL): Augustine, Serm. 117.11 (PL 38:410; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sermones/117-1/#p-117-11). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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117.12PL 38:410

Attendite: dicta est ut potuit a nobis tanta res dici, Domino adjuvante intentionem orationis vestræ et præparationem cordis vestri, excepistis quantum capere potuistis. Illa tamen ineffabilia sunt. Nihil dignum putetis dictum, vel eo ipso quo coæva coaeternis comparantur, temporalia semper manentibus, exstinguibilia immortalibus. Sed quia dictus est Filius et imago Patris, accipiamus et hinc aliquam similitudinem in rebus longe differentibus, ut prælocuti sumus. Imago existit de speculo hominis intuentis speculum. Non nobis potest suffragari ad evidentiam rei hujus, quam explicare utcumque conamur. Etenim dicitur mihi: Ille qui attendit speculum, jam utique erat, et jam natus erat. Existit imago mox ut aspector exstiterit. Nam ille qui inspicit, erat et antequam accederet ad speculum. Quid ergo inveniemus, unde possimus eruere talem similitudinem, sicut eruimus de igne et splendore? Faciamus a minimo. Facile nostis quemadmodum aqua corporum sæpe reddat imagines. Hoc dicimus; quando quisque vel transit super aquam vel stat, videt ibi imaginem suam. Ponamus ergo aliquid natum super aquam, vel ut virgultum aut herbam, nonne cum imagine sua nascitur? Mox ut incipit existere, incipit cum illo existere imago ejus, non praecedit nascendo imaginem suam: non mihi ostenditur natum esse aliquid super aquam, et postea apparuisse imaginem ejus, cum illud sine imagine prius appareret; sed nascitur cum imagine sua: et tamen imago ab illo, non illud ab imagine. Nascitur ergo cum imagine sua, et simul esse incipiunt virgultum et imago ejus. Numquid non fateris imaginem esse de illo virgulto, non virgultum de imagine genitum? Ergo de illo virgulto confiteris imaginem. Itaque et generans, et quod genitum est, simul esse cœperunt. Ergo coaeva sunt. Si semper virgultum, semper et imago de virgulto. Quod autem de alio est, utique natum est. Potest ergo semper esse generans, et semper cum illo quod de illo natum est. Ibi enim æstuabamus, ibi laborabamus, quomodo intelligeretur sempiterna nativitas. Ergo filius Dei secundum hoc dicitur, quod et Pater est, quod habet de quo sit: non secundum hoc, quod prior esset Pater, et postea Filius. Semper Pater, semper Filius de Patre. Et quia quidquid de aliquo est, natum est; semper igitur Filius natus. Semper Pater, semper de illo imago; quomodo imago illa virgulti de virgulto nata est, et si semper virgultum, semper nata esset et imago de virgulto. Non potuisti invenire coæterna genita æternis genitoribus, et invenisti coæva nata temporalibus gignentibus. Intelligo coæternum Filium natum aeterno gignenti. Quod enim est temporali coævum, hoc est æterno coaeternum.

Attend: it has been said as far as so great a thing could be said by us, the Lord helping through the attention of your prayer and the preparation of your heart; you have received as much as you could grasp. Yet those things are ineffable. Think nothing worthy has been said, if only because coeval things are compared with coeternal ones, temporal things with things ever abiding, extinguishable things with immortal ones. But since the Son is also called the image of the Father, let us take some likeness from this too, in things far different, as we said before. An image arises from a mirror when a man looks into the mirror. This cannot help us toward the clarity of the matter we are trying in some way to explain. For it is said to me: “That man who looks into the mirror certainly already existed, and had already been born. The image arises as soon as the one looking appears. For the one who looks existed even before he came to the mirror.” What, then, shall we find from which we can draw such a likeness as we drew from the fire and the splendor? Let us begin from the least. You easily know how water often gives back images of bodies. We say this: when someone either passes over water or stands by it, he sees his image there. So let us suppose something growing over water, like a shrub or a plant: is it not born together with its image? As soon as it begins to exist, its image begins to exist with it; it does not precede its image in being born: it is not shown to me that something was born over the water and afterward its image appeared, as though it appeared first without an image; but it is born with its image: and yet the image is from it, not it from the image. So it is born with its image, and the shrub and its image begin to be together. Do you not admit that the image is from that shrub, not the shrub begotten from the image? So you confess the image to be from that shrub. And so both the begetter and what is begotten began to be together. So they are coeval. If the shrub were always there, the image too would always be from the shrub. And what is from another is certainly born. So the begetter can always be, and always with it what is born of it. For there we were in a sweat, there we were laboring, over how an everlasting birth could be understood. So the Son of God is so called in that the Father also is, in that he has one from whom he is: not in that the Father was earlier and the Son later. Always the Father, always the Son from the Father. And because whatever is from another is born, the Son is therefore always born. Always the Father, always the image from him; as that image of the shrub was born from the shrub, and if the shrub were always there, the image too would always be born from the shrub. You could not find coeternal offspring of eternal begetters, and you have found coeval offspring of temporal begetters. I understand the coeternal Son born of the eternal begetter. For what is coeval with the temporal is coeternal with the eternal.

Col 1:15 (allusion, high confidence) · 2 Cor 4:4 (allusion, medium confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: The Son is also called the Father’s image; as the reflection of a shrub growing over water is born with the shrub and yet comes from it, so the Son is always born from the Father, coeternal with him.

Migne’s marginal heading (“Other coeval things: the image and the thing from which it arises”) was removed by the importer. Allusions: Col 1:15; 2 Cor 4:4. Trinitarian argument translated as written.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; OCR slips; stray footnote number): Attendite: dicta est ut potuit a nobis tanta rcs dici → Attendite: dicta est ut potuit a nobis tanta res dici; Ilia tamen ineffabilia sunt. → Illa tamen ineffabilia sunt.; Etenim dicitur mihi: Ute qui attendit speculum → Etenim dicitur mihi: Ille qui attendit speculum; Existit imago mox ut aspeclor exstiterit. → Existit imago mox ut aspector exstiterit.; Quid ergo invenicmus, unde possimus eruere → Quid ergo inveniemus, unde possimus eruere; Faciamus a minimo 1.-Facile nostis → Faciamus a minimo. Facile nostis; sed nascitur CUM imagine sua: et tamcn imago ab illo → sed nascitur cum imagine sua: et tamen imago ab illo; simul esse incipiunt virgultum ct imago ejus. Numquid nAn fateris → simul esse incipiunt virgultum et imago ejus. Numquid non fateris; Ibi enim æstuabamus, ihi laborabamus → Ibi enim æstuabamus, ibi laborabamus; quod et Palcr est, quod habet do quo sit: non secudum hoc → quod et Pater est, quod habet de quo sit: non secundum hoc; et invenisti coæva nata temporalibus gignenlibus → et invenisti coæva nata temporalibus gignentibus.

Topics: Trinity

Cite (SBL): Augustine, Serm. 117.12 (PL 38:410; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sermones/117-1/#p-117-12). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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117.13PL 38:410–411

Hic jam modicum est quod advertatis, fratres, propter blasphemias. Semper enim dicitur, Ecce dedisti similitudines sed splendor qui funditur de igne, minus lucet quam ipse ignis; et imago virgulti minus utique habet proprietatem, quam illud virgultum unde imago est. Habent ista similitudinem, sed non habent omnimodam aequalitatem: quare non videntur esse ejusdem substantiæ. Quid ergo dicemus, si dicat aliquis: Talis est ergo Filius ad Patrem, qualis ad ignem splendor, et imago ad virgultum? Ecce intellexi aeternum Patrem, intellexi coaeternum Filium: tamen sicut effusum splendorem minus igne lucentem, aut sicut effusam imaginem minus quam virgultum existentem dicimus? Non: sed aequalitas omnimoda est. Non credo, ait, quia non invenisti similitudinem. Sed crede Apostolo, quia potuit videre quod dixi. Ait enim: Non rapinam arbitratus eat esse æqualis Deo ( Philipp. II, 6 ). Æqualitas omni modo conjungitur. Et quid dixit? Non rapinam. Quare? Quia illud est rapina, quod alienum est.

Here now there is a small point for you to notice, brothers, because of blasphemies. For it is always said: “See, you have given likenesses: but the splendor that is shed from the fire shines less than the fire itself; and the image of the shrub certainly has less of the reality than the shrub of which it is the image. These things have likeness, but they do not have complete equality: so they do not seem to be of the same substance.” What, then, shall we say if someone says: “So the Son is to the Father as the splendor to the fire and the image to the shrub? See, I have understood the eternal Father, I have understood the coeternal Son; yet do we say he is like shed splendor shining less than the fire, or like a shed image existing less than the shrub?” No: but the equality is complete. “I do not believe it,” he says, “because you have not found a likeness.” But believe the apostle, because he could see what I have said. For he says: “He did not count it robbery to be equal with God.” Equality is joined in every way. And what did he say? “Not robbery.” Why? Because robbery is what belongs to another.

Phil 2:6 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: The likenesses fail because light shines less than its fire and a reflection is less than its object, but the Son is fully equal to the Father, as Paul says he did not count equality with God robbery.

Migne’s marginal heading (“In the likenesses offered there is inequality”) was removed by the importer. Quotation: Phil 2:6. Trinitarian argument translated as written.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; OCR slips; OCR slips and stray mark; joined words; stray mark): Hic jam modicum est I quod advertatis → Hic jam modicum est quod advertatis; minus utique habet proprietatem, qnam illud virgultum → minus utique habet proprietatem, quam illud virgultum; Habent ista similitndinem → Habent ista similitudinem; Quid ergodicemus, si dicat aliquis → Quid ergo dicemus, si dicat aliquis; intellexi coacternum Fi. lium tamen sicut effusum splendorem minus igne lucentem, aut sicut effusam imaginem minus quam virgultum existentem dicinlus? → intellexi coaeternum Filium: tamen sicut effusum splendorem minus igne lucentem, aut sicut effusam imaginem minus quam virgultum existentem dicimus?; Non: sed aequalitas omnimoda cst. Non credo, ait, quia non invenisti similitudincm. Sed crede Apostolo, quia potuit videre quod dixi I. → Non: sed aequalitas omnimoda est. Non credo, ait, quia non invenisti similitudinem. Sed crede Apostolo, quia potuit videre quod dixi..

Topics: Trinity, Christology

Cite (SBL): Augustine, Serm. 117.13 (PL 38:410–411; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sermones/117-1/#p-117-13). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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117.14PL 38:411

Tamen ex duabus istis collationibus et generibus duobus, similitudinem fortassis invenimus in creatura, quomodo intelligamus Filium et coæternum Patri et nequaquam minorem. Sed non illud possumus invenire in uno genere similitudinum: jungamus ambo genera. Quomodo ambo genera? Unum unde ipsi dant similitudines, et alterum unde nos dedimus. Dederunt enim illi similitudines ex his quae nascuntur in tempore, et præceduntur tempore ab eis a quibus nascuntur, sicut homo de homine. Major ille tempore prior natus: sed tamen homo et homo, id est ejusdem substantiæ. Homo enim hominem generat, et equus equum, et pecus pecudem. Ad eamdem substantiam generant ista; sed non ad idem tempus. Diversa sunt tempore; sed non sunt diversa natura. Quid ergo hic laudamus in ista nativitate? Certe æqualitatem naturæ. Quid autem deest? Æqualitas temporis. Teneamus hic unum quod laudatur, id est, æqualitatem naturae. In illo autem genere similitudinum, quod nos dedimus de splendore ignis et de imagine virgulti, aequalitatem naturae non invenis, invenis coævitatem. Quid hic laudamus? Coaevitatem. Quid deest? Æqualitas naturæ. Conjunge quæ laudas. In creaturis enim deest aliquid quod laudas, in Creatore deesse nihil potest: quia quod invenis in creatura, a Creatore artifice processit. Quid ergo in coævis? nonne hoc Deo dandum quod ibi laudas? Quod autem deest non tribuendum majestati, in qua nullus defectus est. Ecce offero tibi genitis coaeva gignentia: laudas ibi coævitatem, sed disparilitatem reprehendis. Quod reprehendis, noli tribuere Deo; quod laudas, tribue: et tribuis illi ex isto genere similitudinum pro coævitate coæternitatem, ut coæternus sit natus cum eo a quo natus sit. De alio autem similitudinum genere, quæ et ipsa creatura Dei est, et debet laudare Creatorem, quid ibi laudas? Æqualitatem naturae. Jam propter illam distinctionem dederas coæternitatem; da propter istam, aequalitatem, et perfecta est nativitas ejusdem substantiæ. Quid enim dementius, fratres mei, quam ut in aliquo laudem creaturam, quod non sit in Creatore? Laudo in homine aequalitatem naturæ, et non credo in eo qui fecit hominem? Quod de homine natum est, homo est; et quod de Deo natum est, non id erit quod ille de quo natum est? Non versor in operibus quae Deus non fecit. Laudent ergo Creatorem omnia opera sua. Invenio hic coævum, cognosco ibi coæternum. Hic æqualitatem invenio naturæ. ibi intelligo aequalitatem substantiæ. Totum ergo ibi quod hic ex partibus singulis et rebus singulis invenitur. Totum ergo ibi simul, et non hoc solum quod in creaturis: totum invenio ibi, sed tanquam in Creatore, tanto amplius, quod hæc visibilia, illa invisibilia; haec temporalia, illa æterna; hæc commutabilia, illa incommutabilia; haec corruptibilia, illa incorruptibilia. Postremo in ipso homine ea quæ invenimus homo et. homo, duo homines sunt: ibi Pater et Filius unus Deus.

Yet from these two comparisons and two kinds of likeness we may perhaps find a likeness in creation by which to understand the Son as coeternal with the Father and in no way less. But we cannot find it in one kind of likeness: let us join both kinds. How both kinds? The one from which they themselves give likenesses, and the other from which we have given ours. For they have given likenesses from things born in time and preceded in time by those from whom they are born, like man from man. The one born first is greater in time: but still man and man, that is, of the same substance. For man begets man, and horse horse, and beast beast. These beget to the same substance, but not to the same time. They are different in time, but not different in nature. What, then, do we praise here in this birth? Certainly the equality of nature. What is lacking? Equality of time. Let us hold here the one thing that is praised, that is, equality of nature. But in that kind of likeness which we gave, from the splendor of fire and the image of the shrub, you do not find equality of nature; you find coevalness. What do we praise here? Coevalness. What is lacking? Equality of nature. Join what you praise. For in creatures something you praise is lacking; in the Creator nothing can be lacking: because what you find in the creature proceeded from the Creator, the artisan. What, then, in coeval things? Is not what you praise there to be given to God? But what is lacking is not to be attributed to the majesty in which there is no defect. See, I offer you begetters coeval with their offspring: you praise the coevalness there, but you find fault with the inequality. What you find fault with, do not attribute to God; what you praise, attribute: and you attribute to him, from this kind of likeness, coeternity in place of coevalness, so that he who is born is coeternal with him by whom he was born. And from the other kind of likeness, which itself too is God’s creation and ought to praise the Creator, what do you praise there? Equality of nature. Already because of that distinction you had given coeternity; give, because of this one, equality, and the birth of the same substance is complete. For what is madder, my brothers, than to praise in the creature something that is not in the Creator? Do I praise in man equality of nature, and not believe it in him who made man? What is born of man is man; and what is born of God, will it not be what he is of whom it was born? I am not dealing with works that God did not make. So let all his works praise the Creator. I find here something coeval; I recognize there something coeternal. Here I find equality of nature; there I understand equality of substance. So all is there which here is found in single parts and single things. So all is there together, and not only what is in creatures: I find all there, but as in the Creator, so much more fully, in that these are visible, those invisible; these temporal, those eternal; these changeable, those unchangeable; these corruptible, those incorruptible. Finally, in man himself, where we find man and man, they are two men: there the Father and the Son are one God.

Ps 145:10 (144:10 Vulg.) (allusion, medium confidence) · John 3:6 (echo, medium confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Combining the two kinds of likeness, human generation (same nature, different time) and light from fire (same time, unequal nature), and attributing to God what is praiseworthy in each, gives a Son coeternal and equal in substance with the Father, one God with him.

The opening words are Migne’s marginal heading (“The coeternity and equality of the Son of God from two kinds of likeness put together”), left in the text and removed by a correction. Allusion: Ps 145:10 (144:10 Vulg.). Trinitarian argument translated as written.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (Migne's marginal heading left in the text; OCR slips; OCR slip; OCR slips): Filii Dci coæternitas et æqualitas ex duobus collatis similitudinum generibus. Tamen ex duabus istis collationibus et gencribns duobus, similitudinem fortassis invenimus in crcatura, quomodo intelligamus Filium et coalternum Patr! et nequaquam minorem. → Tamen ex duabus istis collationibus et generibus duobus, similitudinem fortassis invenimus in creatura, quomodo intelligamus Filium et coæternum Patri et nequaquam minorem.; Ad camdem substantiam generant ista → Ad eamdem substantiam generant ista; Certe æqualilatem natura. Quid autem deest Ą Æqualitas temporis. Tencamus hic unum quod laudatur → Certe æqualitatem naturæ. Quid autem deest? Æqualitas temporis. Teneamus hic unum quod laudatur; æqualitatem naturae. hi illo autem genere similitudinum → æqualitatem naturae. In illo autem genere similitudinum; Quid deest? Æqualitas, naturæ. Conjunge qUa? laudas. Iii creaturis enim deest aliquid quod laudas → Quid deest? Æqualitas naturæ. Conjunge quæ laudas. In creaturis enim deest aliquid quod laudas; Qnod antem deest non tribuendum majestati → Quod autem deest non tribuendum majestati; et tribuis illi ex isto genere similitudinum pro coxvitate coæternitatem, ut coæternus sit natus cum eo a quo natas sit. De alio autem similitudinum gencre → et tribuis illi ex isto genere similitudinum pro coævitate coæternitatem, ut coæternus sit natus cum eo a quo natus sit. De alio autem similitudinum genere; et perfecta est nativitas ejusdem substanti:e → et perfecta est nativitas ejusdem substantiæ; et non credo in eo qui fecit huminem? Quod de homine natum est, homo est; et quod de Dco natum est → et non credo in eo qui fecit hominem? Quod de homine natum est, homo est; et quod de Deo natum est; Invenio hic coævum, cognosco ibi coæteruum. → Invenio hic coævum, cognosco ibi coæternum..

Topics: Trinity, Heresy

Cite (SBL): Augustine, Serm. 117.14 (PL 38:411; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sermones/117-1/#p-117-14). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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117.15PL 38:411

Domino Deo nostro gratias ago inenarrabiles, quod ex hoc loco scrupulosissimo et laboriosissimo infirmitatem meam liberare dignatus est, petentibus vobis. Ante omnia tamen servate hoc, quidquid de creatura potuimus colligere, aut sensu corporis, aut cogitatione animi, inenarrabiliter transcendere Creatorem. Sed vis illum mente contingere? Purga mentem, purga cor tuum. Mundum fac oculum, unde illud quidquid est, possit attingi. Mundum fac oculum cordis: Beati enim mundo corde, quoniam ipsi Deum videbunt. Non autem mundato corde, quid potuit misericordius procurari aut donari ab eo, nisi ut illud Verbum, de quo tanta ct tam multa diximus, et nihil dignum diximus; nisi ut illud Verbum, per quod facta sunt omnia, fieret quod nos sumus, ut attingere possimus illud quod non sumus? Non enim Deus sumus: sed possumus mente vel cordis acie interiore videre Deum. Peccatis acies nostrae obtritæ, obtusae, infirmitate dejectæ cupiunt videre: sed in spe sumus, in re nondum sumus. Filii Dei sumus. Hoc ait Joannes, qui ait, In principio erat Verbum, et Verbum erat apud Deum, et Deus erat Verbum: qui supra pectus Domini discumbebat, qui secreta ista de sinu illius cordis hauriebat: ipse ait, Dilectissimi, filii Dei sumus; et nondum apparuit quid erimus: scimus quia cum apparuerit, similes ei erimus, quoniam videbimus eum sicuti est. Hoc nobis promittitur.

I give unspeakable thanks to the Lord our God that, at your request, he has deigned to free my weakness from this most difficult and laborious passage. Above all, however, keep this: whatever we have been able to gather from creation, either by bodily sense or by thought of the mind, the Creator transcends unspeakably. But do you want to touch him with the mind? Cleanse your mind, cleanse your heart. Make your eye clean, by which that, whatever it is, can be touched. Make clean the eye of the heart: “For blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” But for the heart not yet cleansed, what more merciful thing could be provided or given by him, than that that Word, of which we have said so much and so many things, and have said nothing worthy; than that that Word, through which all things were made, should become what we are, so that we might be able to reach what we are not? For we are not God: but we can see God with the mind or the inner sight of the heart. Our sight, worn and dulled by sins, cast down by weakness, longs to see: but we are in hope, not yet in reality. We are children of God. This John says, who says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”; who reclined on the Lord’s breast, who drank these secrets from the bosom of that heart: he says, “Beloved, we are children of God; and it has not yet appeared what we shall be: we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.” This is promised us.

Matt 5:8 (quotation, high confidence) · John 1:3 (allusion, high confidence) · John 1:14 (allusion, high confidence) · John 1:1 (quotation, high confidence) · John 13:23 (allusion, high confidence) · 1 John 3:2 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: The Creator transcends every likeness and can be seen only by a cleansed heart; for those not yet cleansed, the Word became what we are, and John promises that we shall see him as he is.

The opening words “Cordis oculus mundandus ut videatur Deus” (“The eye of the heart must be cleansed so that God may be seen”) are Migne’s marginal heading left in the text; not translated. Quotations: Matt 5:8; John 1:1, 3, 14; John 13:23; 1 John 3:2.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (Migne's marginal heading left in the text; OCR slip; OCR slips): Cordis oculus mundandus ut videatur Deus. Domino Deo nostro → Domino Deo nostro; Sed vis ilium mente contingere? → Sed vis illum mente contingere?; Mundum fac oculurn cordis → Mundum fac oculum cordis; Non antem mundato corde, quid potuit misericordius procurari aut donari ab eo, nisi ut illuil Verbum → Non autem mundato corde, quid potuit misericordius procurari aut donari ab eo, nisi ut illud Verbum; per quod facia sunt omnia, ficret quod nos sumus → per quod facta sunt omnia, fieret quod nos sumus; Non enim Deus summ: → Non enim Deus sumus:; et Deux erat Verbum → et Deus erat Verbum.

Topics: Christology, Eschatology

Cite (SBL): Augustine, Serm. 117.15 (PL 38:411; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sermones/117-1/#p-117-15). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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117.16PL 38:411–412

Sed ut perveniamus, si nondum possumus videre Verbum Deum, audiamus Verbum carnem: quia carnales facti sumus, audiamus Verbum carnem factum. Ideo enim venit, ideo suscepit infirmitatem nostram, ut possis firmam locutionem capere Dei portantis infirmitatem tuam. Et vere dictum est lac. Lac enim dat parvulis, ut cibum sapientiæ det majoribus. Lactare patienter, ut avide pascaris. Quomodo enim fit etiam lac, quo lactantur infantes? Nonne esca erat in mensa? Sed invalidus est infans ad comedendam escam, quae in mensa est: quid facit mater? Incarnat escam, et conficit lac de ipsa. Conficit nobis quod capere possimus. Sic Verbum caro factum est, ut lacte parvuli nutriremur, qui ad cibum quidem eramus infantes. Verum hoc interest, quia quando cibum mater incarnatum lac facit, cibus in lac convertitur: incommutabiliter autem manens Verbum carnem assumpsit, ut esset quodam modo contextum. Quod est, non corrupit, non commutavit, ut per habitum tuum tibi loqueretur, non in hominem transmutatus atque conversus Inconvertibilis enim et incommutabilis, et omnino inviolabilis manens, factus est quod tu ad te, quod ipse ad Patrem.

But so that we may arrive, if we cannot yet see the Word as God, let us hear the Word as flesh: since we have become fleshly, let us hear the Word made flesh. For this is why he came, why he took up our weakness: so that you might grasp the firm speech of God bearing your weakness. And it is truly called milk. For he gives milk to little ones, so as to give the food of wisdom to the grown. Be suckled patiently, so that you may be fed eagerly. For how is the milk made with which infants are suckled? Was not the food on the table? But the infant is too weak to eat the food that is on the table: what does the mother do? She makes the food into flesh, and makes milk from it. She makes for us what we can take. So the Word was made flesh, so that we little ones, who were infants with respect to solid food, might be nourished with milk. But there is this difference: when the mother makes food into flesh as milk, the food is turned into milk; but the Word, remaining unchangeably, took on flesh, so as to be in a way woven together with it. What he is, he did not corrupt, did not change, so as to speak to you through your own condition, not transformed and turned into a man. For remaining unconvertible and unchangeable and wholly inviolable, he became what you are to yourself, while remaining what he is to the Father.

John 1:14 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Cor 3:1–2 (allusion, high confidence) · Heb 5:12–14 (allusion, medium confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Those who cannot yet see the Word as God should hear the Word made flesh, given like milk to infants, as a mother turns food into milk; but the Word took flesh without being changed.

The opening words “Verbum incarnatione quasi lac factum, ut a nobis caperetur” (“The Word made as it were milk by the incarnation, so as to be taken by us”) are Migne’s marginal heading left in the text; not translated. Allusions: John 1:14; 1 Cor 3:1–2; Heb 5:12–14. The last sentence (“factus est quod tu ad te, quod ipse ad Patrem”) is compressed in the Latin; translated by sense. Christological statement translated as written.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (Migne's marginal heading left in the text; stray mark; divided word; OCR slip; OCR slips): Verbum incarnatione quasi lac factum, ut a nobis caperetur. Sed ut perveniamus, si nondum possumus videre Verbum Deum I, audiamus Verbum car nem → Sed ut perveniamus, si nondum possumus videre Verbum Deum, audiamus Verbum carnem; Et vcre dictum est lac. Lac enim dat parvulis, ut cibum sapientine det majoribus. Lactare paticnter → Et vere dictum est lac. Lac enim dat parvulis, ut cibum sapientiæ det majoribus. Lactare patienter; Sic Verbum carc factum est → Sic Verbum caro factum est; ut esset quodam modo contextum, Quod ost, non corrupit → ut esset quodam modo contextum. Quod est, non corrupit; factus est quod lu ad te, quod ipse ad Patrem → factus est quod tu ad te, quod ipse ad Patrem.

Topics: Christology

Cite (SBL): Augustine, Serm. 117.16 (PL 38:411–412; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sermones/117-1/#p-117-16). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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