Twelve Chapters on the Faith

[Title:] In which an anathema is also set down, and [an explanation?] for each …

If anyone says that the body of Christ is uncreated, and does not confess that he, the uncreated God the Word of God, showed forth his incarnation and becoming man from created humanity, as it is written, [let him be anathema]. Explanation. How could the body be called uncreated? For the uncreated is impassible, invulnerable, intangible. But Christ, risen from the dead, showed the print of the nails, the wound of the lance, and the touching of his body, having entered … but so that he might show both the working of the Godhead and the truth of the body. … Being God, he was recognized as man by nature; and …

If anyone says that the flesh of Christ is [of the same essence] with the Godhead, and does not confess that he, existing in the form of God, God before the ages, also emptied himself and took the form of a servant, as it is written, let him be anathema. How could flesh that came after time be called of the same essence with the timeless Godhead? For that is called of the same essence which is the same in nature and in … without variation.

If anyone says that Christ assumed a perfect man [as one of the prophets, and does not confess that he], in the incarnation from [the Virgin], became man, born in Bethlehem and brought up in Nazareth, showing growth in stature and a counting of years, and witnessed to by the Father, “This is my beloved Son,” as it is written, let him be anathema. Explanation. How could it be said that Christ assumed a perfect man, as one of the prophets, when the Lord himself became man by the incarnation from the Virgin? Therefore it is written that “the first man is from the earth, earthy.” But since the one formed from the earth went away into the earth, the second man, having come to be, went up into the heavens. And there is said to be the first Adam and the last Adam. And as it is confessed that the second is from the first according to the flesh (and therefore Christ is both man and Son of man), so it is said that the second is the Savior of the first, for whose sake he came down from heaven. And since the Word came down from heaven and, having become man, [went up] into the heavens, for this reason he is also said [to be] from heaven …

If anyone says that Christ was [born] of the seed of a man … from a virgin, as all men are, and does not confess that he was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and of Mary the holy Virgin, and became man of the seed of David, as it is written, [let him be anathema]. For how could anyone say that Christ was born … from a virgin, when the holy Gospel and the angel brought the good news to Mary, and the Virgin said, “How shall this be to me, since I do not know a man?” Therefore he says: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore also the holy one born of you will be called Son of the Most High.” And to Joseph he says: “Do not fear to take Mary your wife; for what is begotten in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bear a son, and they will call his name Jesus; for he will save his people from their sins.”

[If anyone says that the Son of God who is before the ages is one,] and the one in the last times another, and does not confess that the one before the ages is the same as the one in the last times, as it is written, let him be anathema. Explanation. How could it be said that the Son of God before the ages is one, and the one in the last times another, when the Lord himself says, “Before Abraham came to be, I am,” and, “I came forth from the Father and have come, and I go again to my Father”?

If anyone says, “The one who suffered is one, and the one who did not suffer is another,” and does not confess that the impassible and unchangeable God the Word suffered unchangeably in his own flesh, as it is written, let him be anathema. How could it be said that the one who suffered is one, and the one who did not suffer is another, when the Lord himself says, “The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be killed, and on the third day rise from the dead”; and, “When you see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Father”; and, “When the Son of Man comes in the glory of the Father”?

If anyone says that Christ is saved, and does not confess him the Savior of the world and the light of the world, [as it is written, let him be anathema]. How could anyone say that Christ is saved, when the Lord himself says, “I am the life,” and, “I came that they may have life,” and, “He who believes in me shall not see death … but shall see life”?

If anyone says that Christ is a perfect man separately and God the Word separately, and does not confess one Lord Jesus Christ, as it is written, let him be anathema. Explanation. How could anyone say that Christ is a perfect man separately and God the Word separately, when the Lord himself says, “Why do you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth which I heard from the Father?” For it was not a man that he gave for us; but God the Word, having become man for our sake, gave himself up for us. Therefore he says, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it.” But he spoke of the temple of his body.

If anyone says that Christ is changeable or alterable, and does not confess him unchangeable in spirit, though corruptible in the flesh, let him be anathema. [Explanation.] How could anyone say that Christ is changeable or alterable, when the Lord himself says, “I am, and I do not change”; and again, “Neither was his soul left in Hades, nor his flesh …”

If anyone says that Christ assumed a part of man, and does not confess him in our likeness in all things, without sin, let him be anathema. How could anyone say that Christ assumed a part of man, when the Lord himself says, “I lay down my life, that I may take it again, for the sheep”; and, “My flesh is true food, and the blood is true drink”; and, “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life”?

If anyone says that the body of the Lord is soulless or mindless, and does not confess that he is perfect in [all things], one and the same man, [let him be anathema]. Explanation. How could anyone say that the body of the Lord Christ was soulless and mindless? For trouble, grief, and distress are not marks of soulless flesh, nor of a mindless soul, nor of the unchangeable Godhead, nor the display of a mere appearance, nor the defeat of human weakness; but the Word made in himself the display of our passions, having accepted what is capable of suffering, as it is written that “he took our infirmities and bore our diseases.” For trouble, grief, and distress are diseases of the soul; but toil and sleep and …

If anyone says that Christ was manifested to the world in appearance only, and does not confess that he has come in the flesh, [as it is written, let him be anathema]. How could anyone say that Christ was manifested to the world in appearance only, he who was born in Bethlehem, brought for the circumcision of the flesh, carried in the arms of Simeon, brought up to twelve years of age and subject to his parents, baptized in the Jordan, nailed to the cross, and risen from the dead? Therefore, even if it is said (and it is said), “He was troubled in spirit,” “he was grieved in soul,” “he was wounded in body,” he sets down the names of the passions that belong to our constitution, in order also to show that he was born a man in the world and lived among men in our likeness, without sin. For he was born in Bethlehem in a manner befitting God, according to the flesh, while the heavenly angels recognized him as their own Master and sang hymns to God wrapped in swaddling clothes in a manger, saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, among …” … sitting in the midst of the teachers and amazing them with his wisdom beyond the time of his bodily age, as the gospel account relates. In … not … but bestowing a share in sanctification. In the desert he was tempted, not as one subject to temptation, but [taking up] our temptations at the challenge of the tempter … in order to show the tempter …, not putting forward a divine struggle, but displaying his own flesh as victorious over passion, death, and corruption: so that, through the very flesh by which sin entered into the world, and through sin death reigned over all men, through that same flesh in our likeness sin might be condemned in the flesh, and the tempter, the overseer of sin, might be conquered, and death be [brought down] from reigning, and corruption be abolished in the burial of the body, and the firstfruits of the resurrection be shown forth, and the beginning of righteousness be established in the world through faith, and the kingdom of heaven be [preached] to men … For this grace let us glorify the Father, who gave his only-begotten Son for the life of the world. Let us glorify the Holy Spirit, who works, who gives us life, who supplies the gifts for fellowship with God. And let us not busy ourselves over the word of the gospel with dry words, sowing endless questions and battles about words, and making rough the smooth and most straight word of the faith … ; let us love peace, show concord, keep unity, cultivate love, with which God is well pleased. Just as it is not for us to know times or seasons which the Father has fixed by his own authority, but we must believe that there will be an end of time, and a manifestation of the age to come, and a revelation of judgment, and the coming of the Son of God, and a requital of works, and the inheritance of the kingdom of heaven; so it is not for us to know how the Son of God became man, for this mystery is great, as it is written: “Who will declare his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.” But we must believe that … and that he was seen on earth and lived among men according to the Scriptures, in our likeness, without sin; and that he died for us and rose from the dead, as it is written; and that he was taken up into the heavens and sat down at the right hand of the Father, whence he will come to judge the living and the dead, [as] it is written; lest, while we battle about words with one another, some should blaspheme the word of the faith, and the saying come upon us, “Because of you my name …”