On the Trinity 11

But lest, from our asserting that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God the Creator, was manifested in the substance of a real body, we should seem to have given a hand to, or supplied material for argument to, other heretics who in this place maintain that he was only and solely a man, and therefore wish to prove him a bare and solitary man, we do not so speak of the substance of his body as to say that he was merely a man; but rather, since the divinity of the Word was mingled in that very union, we hold that he is also God according to the Scriptures. For it is a great danger to call the Savior of the human race, the Lord and Prince of the whole world, to whom all things have been handed over and all granted by his Father, through whom all things were established, all created, all ordered, the King of all ages and times, the Prince of all the angels, before whom there is nothing except the Father, only a man, and to deny him divine authority in these things. For this insult of the heretics will overflow even onto God the Father himself, if God the Father could not beget God the Son. But the blindness of heretics will set no prescription against the truth. Nor, because they hold one thing about Christ and do not hold another, see one thing and do not see the other, will that which they do not see be snatched from us by means of that which they see. For they consider the frailties in him as of a man, but do not reckon the powers in him as of God; they recall the weaknesses of the flesh, but shut out the powers of the divinity. If this proof from the weaknesses of Christ succeeds so far as to prove him a man from his weaknesses, the proof of divinity gathered in him from his mighty works will succeed so far as to assert that he is also God from his works. For if the sufferings show human frailty in him, why should the works not assert divine power in him? Lest, if this does not succeed in asserting him God from his mighty works, neither should the sufferings succeed in showing him to be also man from them. For whatever law is laid down for either side will be found to hold for both. For there will be a danger that he cannot be shown a man from his sufferings either, if he cannot also be proved God from his mighty works. One must not, then, lean to one side and flee from the other, since whoever excludes one portion of the truth will not hold the complete truth.

For Scripture announces Christ as God just as much as it announces God himself as man; it has described Jesus Christ as man just as much as it has also described Christ the Lord as God. For it does not set him forth as the Son of God only, but also of man; nor does it speak of him only as of man, but is accustomed to present him also as of God: so that, since he is from both, he is both; lest, if he were only one, he could not be the other. For just as nature itself has prescribed that he must be believed to be man who is from man, so the same nature prescribes that he must be believed to be God who is from God: lest, if he were not also God, though he is from God, he would no longer be man either, though he was from man; and so both would be endangered in each, since the one is convicted of having lost credibility through the other. Let those, then, who read that Christ Jesus, the son of man, is man, read also that the same one has been called both God and the Son of God. For just as, as man, he is of Abraham, so, as God, he is also before Abraham himself. And just as, as man, he is the son of David, so, as God, he is called David's Lord. And just as, as man, he was made under the law, so, as God, he is declared Lord of the sabbath. And just as, as man, he undergoes sentence, so, as God, he is found to hold judgment over the living and the dead. And just as, as man, he is born after the world, so, as God, he is said to have existed before the world. And just as, as man, he was begotten of the seed of David, so, as God, the world is said to have been established through him. And just as, as man, he comes after many, so, as God, he is before all. And just as, as man, he is lower than others, so, as God, he is greater than all. And just as, as man, he ascended into heaven, so, as God, he had earlier come down from there. And just as, as man, he goes to the Father, so, as the Son obedient to the Father, he will come down from there. So if the lowly things in him prove his human frailty, the majestic things in him affirm his divine power. For it is a danger, when you read both, to have believed not both but only one. Therefore, since both are read in Christ, let both be believed, so that faith may be true only if it is also complete. For if, of the two, one ceases to be held by faith and only one, and that the lesser, is taken up to be believed, then, the rule of truth having been thrown into confusion, this rashness will not have brought salvation, but in place of salvation will have kindled a great danger of death from the loss of faith.