Sermon 229G

You have heard what the Lord said to His disciples after His resurrection, now no longer to die, and taking away the fear of death for those who are to die ...

The Son is equal to the Father, but together with the Father they are not two but one God.

For Christ is God, nor can those deny this who do not wish to confess that He is of the same substance with the Father; they confess Him to be God, but deny that He is equal; therefore, they make two gods. But we say that the Son is equal to the Father in such a way that if it should be individually asked of us whether the Father is God, we would acknowledge that He is God; whether the Son is God, we would acknowledge that He is God; whether these are Father and Son gods, or God, we would acknowledge that He is God. Weak and human minds do not grasp this; this great and divine matter, since speech is about God, human frailty cannot comprehend; but it can believe, so that later it may become capable of understanding. For it was said to the Lord: Show us the Father, and it is enough for us. He who was saying this did not recognize the Father in the Son; for he saw what the Jews could crucify; he did not see the One whom the Jews offended while hidden. And he thought that the whole of Christ was what he beheld with his eyes; and therefore, it did not suffice for him, because he did not see the whole. And because he believed there was nothing more in Christ, he therefore sought the Father, in whom they might find satisfaction. As if to say: We know You, indeed we see You; but we still desire something greater. Show us the Father, and it is enough for us; for there will be nothing further to seek, once we have learned of the Father. And He, desiring to show Himself equal to the Father, said: Have I been with you so long, and you do not know me?

And yet the Father and the Son are two.

Philip, he who has seen me has seen the Father. What does it mean: He who has seen me has seen the Father, if not because you do not see me since you think the Father is greater? He who has seen me has seen the Father. You believe that the Father alone is enough for you, but this is because you have not yet seen me. Show us the Father, and it suffices for us. See me, and I am enough for you. And yet he said this to someone who was seeing and not seeing; seeing the form of a servant, not seeing the form of God. For if he saw the form of God, he would see the Son equal to the Father; because being in the form of God, he did not consider it robbery to be equal with God. Because it was by nature, it was not robbery. For whom it was robbery, he fell; and from where he fell, thence he threw down. For the devil wished to share the very robbery with the man he cast down, so that he might have a companion in punishment, whom he wished to have as a partner in sin. What else did he say to men, but: Taste, and your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as gods? This is robbery. This pride is robbery; it is usurpation, not acceptance. For if we do not usurp, we shall be by grace what we by pride shall not be; for it pertains to grace: I have said: You are gods, and all of you are children of the Most High. But I have said: what I have said, that He works. But what kind of gods are men, what kind of gods? Equals of the angels of God. This has been promised; let us seek no more; for we shall not be equal to God, but made equal to the angel; on earth we see the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit as we believe in them, so we see them. Since therefore it was much for Philip to see what the Lord said (for he was still burdened by a corruptible body; it had not yet come to pass what the Apostle says: We see now through a glass in a riddle, but then face to face) since it was much for him to think of what he heard from the Lord: He who has seen me has seen the Father... Consider that it was not said in vain, has seen the Father. He did not say: He who has seen me has seen the Father; lest he might give occasion to the Sabellians, who are called Patripassians, who say that the same one is the Father who is the Son; but when he wills, he is the Father; when he wills, he is the Son. Lest he should give occasion to this other error, he did not say: He who has seen me has seen the Father, but, has seen the Father as well: thus both the Father and the Son. Therefore the Father and the Son, two. What two? If you ask me, the Father and the Son are two.

The Catholic faith navigates the middle course between the errors of Sabellius and Arius.

Whatever you say again, I will answer again. Father and Son, what? Gods? No, two. What then? One God. I do not understand, he says. The Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Father: they are two. The Father is God, the Son is God: and are they not two gods? I do not understand. What then shall I say to you who does not understand? Hear the Prophet: Unless you believe, you will not understand. You do not understand in order to believe; but you believe in order to understand; faith is necessary, understanding is the reward. Unless you believe, you will not understand. Nevertheless, hear the Lord Himself, that you may learn what to believe. If you loved me, you would rejoice, because I go to the Father; for the Father is greater than I. Now it almost appears that someone understands. Behold, he says, now I understand. The Father is greater than I. The form of a servant speaks: seek the form of God. Therefore, He said this. If you loved me, you would rejoice, because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. Now that you see me here, you see me where I am lesser. Therefore, when you see me here where I am lesser, if you love me, follow me there where I am equal. Do you wonder because the Son is lesser than the Father in the form of a servant? I tell you that He is even lesser than Himself, for He emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant. But if you understand that it was said about Him: He was made a little lower than the angels; therefore, if you have adapted yourself to the form of a servant, do not remain there, rise up from there, confess Christ equal to the Father. Why do you gladly hear: The Father is greater than I? More gladly hear: I and the Father are one. Behold the catholic faith, navigating as it were between Scylla and Charybdis, as one navigates in that strait between Sicily and Italy; on one side shipwrecking rocks, on the other side a ship-devouring whirlpool. If it runs into the rocks, it is broken; if it falls into the whirlpool, it is swallowed. So also Sabellius: He said, there is one, not two, Father and Son. Observe the shipwreck. Likewise Arius: There are two, one greater, the other lesser, not of equal substance. Observe the whirlpool. Navigate between both, and follow the straight path. For it is not without reason that Catholics are called orthodox: orthodox in Greek, rectum in Latin. Therefore, if you hold the straight line, you will incur neither Scylla nor Charybdis. Therefore, hold onto, I and the Father are one.

The love of the faithful is a figure of unity in the Trinity.

I and the Father: let the Arian hear "one," and let Sabellius hear "we are." What you hear: "one," you will avoid Charybdis; what you hear: "we are," you will save yourself from Scylla. Say "we are one," and you will navigate correctly. Behold, we have heard: "we are one"; one, because of the same substance; one, because not of dissimilar and unequal nature; one, because of the highest equality, no discrepancy, no diversity. Behold why: one; why: we are? Because the Father and the Son are one God. Why then is there one God, not "we are"? For the one God is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, one God; they are three, and one God. The Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Father, the Holy Spirit is neither the Father nor the Son, but the Spirit of the Father and the Son: and all of this is one God. Why one God? Because of such great love there, such great peace, such concord, no discord. Now I tell you to believe what you cannot understand unless you believe. How many souls were there, tell me, in the Acts of the Apostles, who believed when they beheld the miracles of the Apostles? I speak of those Jews who crucified the Lord, who brought bloody hands, who had sacrilegious ears, whose tongue was compared to a sword: Their teeth were weapons and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword. Yet because Christ poured out prayer for them, not without cause, and not without cause said: Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do; from that same number many believed; and, as we read: They believed that day, it is said: Three thousand souls. Behold, there are thousands of souls, and behold, so many thousands of souls; and yet the Holy Spirit came upon them, through whom love is spread in our hearts. And what is said of so many souls? They had one soul and one heart. So many souls, one soul; not by nature, but by grace. If so many souls were made one soul by that grace coming from above, do you marvel that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is one God? Therefore, my brothers, hold the strongest and most whole and catholic faith. When you hear or read in the Scriptures, where the Father is shown greater, recall the form of a servant; but where you read that the Father and the Son are one, believe the divinity.

How could Christ die?

And if you are not capable of thinking, still hold on to faith; it leads, it causes your good works to be accepted by God. For everything that is not from faith is sin. Someone says to you: Christ is dead? Confess that He is dead, but in the flesh. And who is dead? The only Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ. So, did the divinity die? The divinity did not die. Therefore, is Christ not dead? Christ, who is God, is dead. How is God Christ dead if the divinity does not die? Just as the Apostles died in the flesh, but not in the soul. Therefore, where the Apostle died in the flesh, thus Christ died in the flesh. Yet Christ died; although He could die in the part that could die, He could not die in the divinity. For in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Where is death? Nowhere. In the beginning the Word was not made, just as in the beginning God made heaven and earth: the Word made this. What was in the beginning? Therefore, the Word was, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Seek death, and you will not find it; there is no place, there is no origin, there is no person. There is no place because it is not among the hands of the Jews; there is no source because it does not have flesh and blood; there is no person, for He is God, equal to the Father. Where, then, is the death? The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.