Commentary on Luke (Greek fragments) 1.2–2.7.3

“Those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the Word” (1:2). By calling the apostles eyewitnesses of the Word who subsists and lives, he agrees with John, who says that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and that his glory was seen, glory as of the Only-begotten from the Father. For through the flesh the Word became visible, since the flesh was visible, tangible and solid, though in himself he cannot be seen. And again John in his Epistle: “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life; and the life was made manifest.” Do you not hear that he calls the life tangible? This is so that you may understand that the Son became man, visible according to the flesh but invisible according to the Godhead. “He will be great, and will be called Son of the Most High” (1:32). For the Son who has appeared from the one who begot him may rightly be understood as equal to him in glory, holding equal measure in every respect whatever. For it is not that, because he became man by the economy, he fell short of himself in anything at all; his own nature suffered no wrong from his coming to be in our condition for our sake, since the Word of God is unchangeable by nature. For this reason he is named God and Most High and Lord, even by the voice of angels.

“For no word will be impossible with God” (1:37). Some again raise the question whether the God of all can make things that have already happened and been done never to have happened, according to the saying, “No word will be impossible with him.” We do not mean, they say, as though they had not been done, but that they had never happened at all: for example, whether he can make a prostitute a virgin from her mother’s womb, so that she neither ever was a prostitute nor could be called one, since what is impossible with men is possible with God. To them we will say that we ought to look for God’s power as great and admirable when what is done is not unworthy of the divine glory. It does not follow that, because he can do all things, he should be seen as the worker of absurdities. For we recognize that it is absurd to say, “Can God make himself not to be God, or capable of sin, or not good, or not life, or not just?” We must therefore refuse with all our strength questions as absurd as these. Why, then, can God not make the woman who has committed fornication never to have been a prostitute? Because he cannot make falsehood truth; and this is no charge of weakness but a proof of a nature that does not endure to undergo anything unbefitting it; and falsehood is wholly foreign to God. For to make the woman who committed fornication never to have committed it is a lie. But, as I said, questions so foolish and so full of absurdity ought not to be admitted at all; nor should one be ignorant of the divine nature, or rather of what belongs peculiarly to that nature.

“Blessed is the fruit of your womb” (1:42). Do you not hear David too singing, “Behold, the inheritance of the Lord is sons, the reward of the fruit of the womb”? For the inheritance of the Lord are those adopted to him as sons through faith, who are also the reward of Christ, who became the fruit of the virgin womb, according to the saying, “Ask of me, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance.” “He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thought of their heart,” and so on (1:51).

The arm hints at the Word who sprang from her. By the proud he means the wicked demons who fell with their ruler through self-exaltation; and the wise men of the Greeks who did not accept the seeming foolishness of the preaching; and the Jews who would not believe, who were scattered because they thought thoughts unworthy of the Son of God. And by the mighty he means the scribes and Pharisees, who pursued the first seats. — But it is more fitting to understand these words of the accursed demons; for when the Lord came to dwell among us he scattered them as they behaved insolently toward the world under heaven, and he brought those they had taken captive over to obedience to himself.

For all these things followed the prophecy: “He has brought down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted the lowly” (1:52). The scattered demons and the devil, and the wise men of the Greeks (as I said), and the Pharisees and scribes, thought great things of themselves; but he brought these down, and exalted those who humbled themselves under his mighty hand, giving them authority to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and bringing to nothing the counsels against us of those proud in mind. The Jews too were once proud of their dominion, but they were brought down through unbelief; while those from the nations, being obscure and of no account, were exalted through faith. “He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty” (1:53).

By the hungry he means the human race; for all were starving except the Jews alone, and these were rich in the giving of the law and in the teaching of the holy prophets; for theirs is the giving of the law, the adoption, the worship, the promises. But these, overfed and greatly puffed up by their rank, because they did not come humbly to him who became man, were sent away empty, carrying nothing away, neither faith, nor knowledge, nor hope of good things. For they have fallen from the earthly Jerusalem and have been estranged from the life and glory to come, since they did not receive the Author of life but even crucified the Lord of glory, and they forsook the fountain of living water and despised the bread that came down from heaven. Therefore there came upon them the famine most grievous of all, and a thirst more bitter than every thirst; for it was not a famine of bread for the body, nor a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the word of the Lord. But those from the nations, hungering and thirsting and their souls wasting away in evils, filled themselves with spiritual good things because they received the Lord;

for the good things of the Jews passed over to them. “He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy” (1:54). He helped Israel—not Israel according to the flesh, which prides itself on the bare name, but Israel according to the spirit, which has kept the force of the title, that is, those who look to him and believe and are adopted as sons through the Son himself; just as the word and the promise were given to the prophets and patriarchs of old. But this can also be applied to Israel according to the flesh; for many tens of thousands of them believed. “And he remembered his mercy, as he promised to Abraham” (1:55). And he brought to fulfilment what he had said to him: “In your seed shall all the tribes of the earth be blessed.” This promise was being fulfilled, since from her was to be born the common Saviour, Christ, who is the seed of Abraham, in whom the nations are blessed. “For he takes hold of the seed of Abraham,” as the Apostle says; and so he fulfilled the promise to the fathers. “He has raised up a horn of salvation for us” (1:69). The horn is taken not only for power but also for kingship; and Christ is both, the Saviour who rose for us from the family and lineage of David; for he is the King of those who reign and the invincible power of the Father.

“To show mercy” (1:72). Christ is mercy and righteousness; for through him we have received mercy and have been justified, having washed off the stains of our wickedness—through faith, that is, faith in him.

“And you, child, will be called prophet of the Most High” (1:76). But consider this too: the Most High is Christ, whom John preceded both in his birth and in his preaching. What then will those say who diminish his Godhead? And how do they not choose to understand that the words “And you will be called prophet of the Most High” were spoken by Zechariah because the other prophets too were his—that is, as God’s? “To shine on those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death” (1:79).

To those under the law, then, and in Judea, the Baptist was a lamp, going before Christ, and of him God had spoken in advance: “I have prepared a lamp for my Christ.” The law too prefigured him, commanding that the lamp in the first tabernacle be kept unquenched. But the Jews, after rejoicing in him for a short time—running to his baptism and admiring his life—at once laid him to sleep in death, all but quenching the ever-shining lamp. That is why the Saviour said of him: “He was the lamp that burned and shone, and you were willing to rejoice for an hour in his light.” “To guide our feet into the way of peace” (1:79).

For the world under heaven was going astray, worshipping the creature instead of the Creator, and it was blackened by the darkness of ignorance; and a kind of night, falling on the minds of all, did not let them see the one who is God by nature and in truth. But the Lord of all rose like a light and a sun for those of Israel.

“And it came to pass in those days,” and so on (2:1). … and necessarily the evangelist noted the time of our Saviour’s birth. For so that we might learn that there was no longer a king from the tribe of David among those of Israel, but that their rulers had failed, he fittingly records the decrees of Caesar, who now held Judea too under his sceptre along with the others; for so he commanded the census to be made.

“Because he was of the house and family of David” (2:4). The book of the holy Gospels traced the genealogy to Joseph, and through him showed that the Virgin too was of David’s tribe, since the divine law ordained that marriages be made within the same tribe. And the interpreter of the heavenly doctrines, the great apostle Paul, plainly declares the truth, testifying that the Lord arose from Judah. — The natures brought together into true unity are different, but from both there is one God and Son; not as though the difference of the natures were abolished by the union, for there has come about a union of two natures; therefore we confess one Christ, one Son, one Lord. In accordance with this understanding of the union without confusion we proclaim the holy Virgin Mother of God, because God the Word was made flesh and became man, and from the very conception united to himself the temple taken from her … having his descent from the house of David. For we see that two natures came together with one another in an unbreakable union, without confusion and without division; for the flesh is flesh and not Godhead, even though it became God’s flesh; and likewise the Word is God and not flesh, even though he made the flesh his own by the economy. But even though the natures of those that have come together into unity are different and unequal to each other, yet the one from both is one alone; and the one Lord Jesus Christ is not to be divided into a man separately and God separately, but we say that one and the same is Christ Jesus, who knows the difference of the natures and keeps them unconfused with one another. “With Mary his betrothed wife, who was with child” (2:5).

The holy evangelist says that Mary was betrothed to Joseph, showing that the conception took place while there was betrothal only, and that the birth of Emmanuel was wonderful and did not follow the laws of human nature; for the holy Virgin did not give birth by receiving the deposit of human seed. And what is the reason for this? Christ, the firstfruits of all, the second Adam according to the Scriptures, was born of the Spirit, so that he might pass the grace on to us also; for we too were to be called no longer children of men but rather of God, having obtained the new birth through the Spirit first in Christ, so that he might be first in all things, as the all-wise Paul says. Most providentially the time of the census sent the holy Virgin to Bethlehem, so that we might see another prophecy fulfilled; for it is written, as we said: “And you, Bethlehem, house of Ephrathah, are the least among the thousands of Judah; from you shall come forth for me one to be ruler in Israel.” — To those who say, “If the Virgin gave birth in the flesh, she was corrupted; and if she was not corrupted, she gave birth only in appearance,” we say: The prophet says that the Lord the God of Israel entered and went out, and the gate remains shut. And if the Word became flesh without confusion, conceived entirely without seed, he was born without corruption.

“And she brought forth her firstborn son” (2:7). What kind of firstborn? He now says firstborn not of the first among brothers, but of one who is both first and only; for this too is one of the senses of “firstborn,” since Scripture sometimes calls the only one “first,” as in: “I am God, the first, and after me there is no other.” So to show that the Virgin did not bear a mere man, he added “the firstborn”; for she had no other son, remaining a virgin, but only the Father’s own, of whom God the Father cries out through the voice of David: “And I will make him firstborn, high above the kings of the earth.” The all-wise Paul too mentions this, saying: “And when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, ‘And let all the angels of God worship him.’” How then did he enter the world? For he is outside it, not locally but rather by nature, since he is other by nature than all who are in the world. But he entered it by becoming man and being counted a part of it through the incarnation. For although he is Only-begotten as God, since he became our brother he was for that reason named firstborn, so that, having become the firstfruits of the adoption of human beings, he might enable us too to become sons of God. So take “firstborn” as said of the economy; for according to the Godhead he is Only-begotten. Again, he is Only-begotten inasmuch as he is the Word from the Father, having no brothers by nature and not ranked with anyone else; for the Son of God, consubstantial with the Father, is one and alone; but he is firstborn because of his condescension to creatures. When he is named Only-begotten, no reason is attached for his being so called, but it is said absolutely: “the only-begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father.” But when the divine Scriptures call him firstborn, they at once add both those of whom he is firstborn and the reason why he has this name. For they say “firstborn among many brothers” and “firstborn from the dead”: the first because he became like us in all things apart from sin, the second because he was the first to raise his own flesh to incorruption. He is Only-begotten by nature, since he alone is from the Father, God from God, alone from alone, God shining forth from God, and light from light; but firstborn for our sake, so that, since he is called firstborn of the things made, these may be preserved through him. For if he must permanently be firstborn, those of whom he is firstborn will certainly remain. But if, according to Eunomius, he is called firstborn from God as the first begotten of many, then since he is also firstborn of the Virgin, he would be first before another from her too; but if he has been called firstborn of Mary as the only one, not as born before others, then he is firstborn from God too, not as the first of many but as the only one begotten. Again, if it is agreed that first things are the causes of second things, and God and the Son of God was first, then the Son is the cause of those who are called sons, since they received the name from him. So he who is the cause of the second sons may justly be called firstborn, not as having existed first among them, but as having first become for them the cause of the title “son.” And just as calling the Father first—“I,” he says, “am first, and I am after these things”—will by no means compel us to think him of one kind with those after him, so, even if the Son is called first of creation, or firstborn before all creation, he will by no means be one of the things made. But as the Father, showing himself to be the beginning of all things, said, “I am first,” so the Son too is called first of creation; for through him all things came to be, and he is the beginning of all creatures, as Creator and Maker.

“And laid him in a manger” (2:7). … man, who had become like the beasts; therefore he is laid in a manger as in the place of fodder, so that we, changing our beastlike life, may be brought back to the understanding that befits a human being; and that we who were beastlike in soul, coming to the manger as to our own table, may find there no longer hay but the bread from heaven, the body of life. “And there were shepherds in the same region living out in the fields” (2:8). To shepherds first is revealed the mystery hymned by the angels; for they bore the type of those who would shepherd the churches. They had to be the first to hear “on earth peace,” because the spiritual shepherds too were to proclaim peace to the whole fullness of the Church. Further, the persons of the shepherds and the joy given them through the revelation clearly signify that the good shepherd had come for the straying sheep; for nothing is known to gladden shepherds so much as finding a lost animal of the flock—which belonged to no one else to find but Christ the chief shepherd. Then, since Bethlehem is interpreted “house of bread,” where were the shepherds to hasten after the proclamation of peace but to the spiritual house of the heavenly bread, that is, the Church, in which the bread that came down from heaven and gives life to the world is mystically offered every day? Shepherds became the firstfruits of those initiated; and again the type looks to the truth; for Christ makes himself manifest to spiritual shepherds, so that they may proclaim him to the others, just as indeed the shepherds of that time were taught by the holy angels, and ran and told the others. Angels, then, begin the proclamations about him, and glorify as God the one wonderfully born of a woman according to the flesh; for the Lord of all was God in our form, that he might undo the curse laid on the first woman; for it was said to her, “In pain you shall bear children.” Since women bear children for death, they have had the sting of grief; but since a woman has borne according to the flesh Emmanuel, who is life, the power of the curse has been undone, and the bearing of children in grief by mothers on earth has been extinguished together with death. Would you learn another reason for the matter? Remember the most wise Paul writing about Christ: “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” What then is meant by saying that the Son was sent in the likeness of sinful flesh? The law of sin lurks in the members of our flesh, and with it the disordered movement of our innate desires; but the Word of God, having become man, had a flesh that was holy and truly all-pure; it was in the likeness of our flesh, yet no longer like it in that respect; for he was entirely free of the defilements implanted in our bodies, of the movement and inclination that carries us off to what is unlawful. This, then, is the reason for the Saviour’s incarnation.

“And she wrapped him in swaddling clothes” (2:7). When you see an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes, do not halt your mind at his birth according to the flesh, but leap up to the contemplation of his glory that befits God. Go up to heaven: there you will behold him in the highest heights, possessing the supreme glory; you will see him seated on a throne high and lifted up; you will hear the seraphim singing his praise and saying that heaven and earth are full of his glory. And this came about on earth too; for the glory of God shone around the shepherds, and there was a multitude of the heavenly host glorifying Christ. Very many holy prophets were born at various times, but none of them was ever glorified by the voice of angels; for they were men, and true servants of God in our measure. But Christ is not so; for he is God and Lord and the one who sends the holy prophets, and, as the Psalmist says, “Who among the clouds will be equal to the Lord, and who will be likened to the Lord among the sons of God?” For to us, who are under the yoke and in natural servitude, the name of sonship has been given by him by way of grace; but Christ is the truth, that is, the Son of God the Father by nature, even when he became flesh; for he remained what he was, though he took on what he was not. That what I say is true, the prophet Isaiah will again confirm, saying: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel. Butter and honey shall he eat; before he knows how to choose evil things, he will choose the good. For before the child knows good or evil, he refuses wickedness, to choose the good.” Yet is it not plain to all that a newborn, fresh infant, which because of its age and size cannot yet understand anything, is incapable of discerning an evil from a good thing? It knows nothing at all. But in Christ, the Saviour of all, there was a great and extraordinary wonder; for he ate butter and honey while still an infant. By “butter” the prophet means the Virgin’s milk, because it did not come from softness, pleasure and laxity, but was firm and solid, and had not the bitterness of sin but the sweetness of honey, since all the things of God are sweeter than honey and the honeycomb. — As soon as Christ was born, the power of the devil was despoiled. He was worshipped in Damascus and had very many there who bowed down to him; but at the time of the holy Virgin’s childbirth the strength of his tyranny too was shattered, and those of the nations were caught in the net for the knowledge of the truth. — For it is the custom of the divinely inspired Scripture to call the God of all by various names, and sometimes to devise his titles from the things done at particular times; and this has been kept in the case of Christ himself, for he is true God. The saying “Quickly despoil, swiftly plunder” would show it. — … for the cross became his, through which he has reigned over the world under heaven, if indeed it is true that he became obedient to the Father unto death, the death of the cross. — Observe, beloved, and understand that those sanctified through faith did not go out into the customs of the nations; rather, those who were called entered into theirs. Wild beasts eat flesh—wolf and lion, bear and leopard—while tame animals eat grass—kids, lambs and calves. But the wild beasts, he says, will feed with the tame and eat their food. Therefore the tame did not go over to the habits of the wild, but the wild, as I said, passed over to the habits of the tame. They were changed, then, from a savage temper to the gentleness that befits saints; they were transformed through Christ, and the wolves became lambs; for he it was who tamed them and joined, as I said, the two peoples in a mind dear to God. This the hierophant Moses proclaimed long ago, saying: “Rejoice, you nations, with his people; ascribe greatness to the Lord our God.” … For being God ineffably made flesh, he alone knew the good and was free of the wickedness that is among men; and this belongs to the essence that is above all; for to be good by nature, firmly and unchangeably, would befit it alone, as its own: “For no one is good but one, God,” according to the voice of the Saviour himself. So do not see the one lying in the manger simply as an infant, but see him who is rich as God in our poverty, and for that reason glorified even by the holy angels themselves. And such was their hymn: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will among men.” For the angels and all the powers above, keeping the order assigned them, are at peace with God; for in no way do they transgress what seems good to him, but they stand firm in righteousness and holiness. But we wretched ones, setting our own desires against the will of the Master, had come to be in the rank of his enemies. This was undone through Christ; for he himself is our peace, and he joined us through himself to God the Father, taking out of the way the sin that made enmity, justifying by faith, and calling near those who were far off; and in another way too, by creating the two peoples into one new man, making peace, and reconciling both in one body to the Father. For God the Father was pleased to sum up all things in him, to join things below with those above, and to make a single flock of those in heaven and those on earth. Christ, then, has become for us peace and good will.