Sermon 186

SERMO 186

On the Birth of the Lord

Mary, the virgin mother.

Let us rejoice, brothers: let nations be glad and exult. This day has not been consecrated for us by this visible sun, but by the invisible Creator of it; when the Virgin Mother, with fruitful womb and intact genitals, brought forth Him made visible for us, by whom even the invisible was created. Conceiving as a virgin, giving birth as a virgin, pregnant as a virgin, a mother as a virgin, a perpetual virgin. Why do you marvel at these things, O man? It was fitting for God to be born in this way, since He deigned to be man. He made her such, who was made from her. For before He was made, He existed: and because He was omnipotent, He could be made while remaining what He was. He made Himself a mother while He was with the Father: and when He was made from the mother, He remained with the Father. How could God cease to exist when He began to be man, who granted to His mother that she should not cease to be a virgin when she gave birth? Hence, the Word made flesh did not cease to be the Word by perishing into flesh; but flesh came to the Word, so that it should not perish: that as man is soul and flesh, so Christ would be God and man. The same God who is man, and who is God is the same man: not by confusion of nature, but by unity of person. Finally, He who is the Son of God, co-eternal with the Father, always from the Father, the same began to be the son of man from the Virgin. Thus, humanity is added to the divinity of the Son; and yet, the Trinity does not become a quaternity, but remains a Trinity.

He who was God became man.

Therefore, let not the opinion of some less attentive to the rule of faith and to the oracles of divine Scriptures creep up on you. For they say: He who is the Son of Man has become the Son of God; but He who is the Son of God has not become the son of man. In saying this, they attended to what is true; but they were not able to speak truly. For what did they attend to, except that human nature could be changed for the better, but divine nature could not be changed for the worse? This is true: but also in this way, that is, with divinity not being changed for the worse, nonetheless the Word was made flesh. For the Gospel does not say: "Flesh was made Word"; but it says: The Word was made flesh. But the Word is God; because the Word was God. And what is flesh, except man? For the flesh of man is not without a soul in Christ. Hence He says: My soul is sorrowful even to death. Therefore, if the Word is God, and man is flesh, what else is it: The Word was made flesh; except that He who was God was made man? And thus He who was the Son of God was made the son of man by the assumption of the inferior, not by the conversion of the superior; by taking on what He was not, not by losing what He was. For how would we confess in the Rule of Faith, that we believe in the Son of God who was born of the Virgin Mary, if it was not the Son of God, but a son of man who was born of the Virgin Mary? For what Christian would deny that a son of man was born from that woman? But yet, God was made man, and thus man was made God. For the Word was God, and the Word was made flesh. Therefore, it must be confessed that He who was the Son of God, in order to be born of the Virgin Mary, having taken the form of a servant, was made the son of man, remaining what He was, taking on what He was not: beginning to be whereunto He is less than the Father, and always remaining in that which He and the Father are one.

The Son of God is the same as the son of man through the incarnation.

For if he who is always the Son of God, is not himself made the son of man, how does the Apostle say concerning him: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God; but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man? For it is not another, but he himself in the form of God equal to the Father, who is certainly the only-begotten Son of God, who made himself of no reputation, being made in the likeness of men. Neither is it another, but the same one in the form of God equal to the Father, who humbled himself, not another, but himself being made obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. All of this the Son of God did, only in that form in which he is the son of man. Again, if he who is always the Son of God is not himself made the son of man, how does the Apostle say to the Romans: Set apart for the Gospel of God, which he had promised through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures concerning his Son, who was made of the seed of David according to the flesh? Behold the Son of God, who certainly always was, was made of the seed of David according to the flesh, which he was not before. Again, if he who is the Son of God is not himself made the son of man, how did God send his Son made of a woman? By which name in the Hebrew language, virgin honor is not denied, but the female sex is shown. For who is sent by the Father, if not the only-begotten Son of God? How then made of a woman, except that the same one who was with the Father the Son of God, being sent became the son of man? Born of the Father without a day of time, born of the mother on this day. For he chose this day which he created, in which he would be created, just as he was made of the mother whom he made. For even the day from which henceforth the increase of light is received signifies the work of Christ, by which our inner man is renewed day by day. For to the eternal Creator in a created time that day ought to be birth, to which the temporal creature would correspond.