33b Appendix 3 (Continued)
CERTAIN POSITIONS OF THE SAME ZANCHIUS Of Some Principal Articles of our Christian Faith, Against Divers Heresies at Sundry Times Disputed on, Partly at Heidelberg, Partly at Newstade. (Contiuned) A Question out of 1 John 4:3.
St. John describing antichrist, saith, "And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the (true human) flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist." And seeing that Christ, never laid aside that flesh which He once took, but carried it with Him up in to heaven, and shall return again in the clouds in the same, apparent unto all men, to judge the quick and the dead. The question is, of what spirit they are, and by what name to be called, who make no doubt with the old heretics, to forge [?] for our Lord Jesus Christ, I know not what kind of invisible flesh, uncircumscribed, unpalpable, whole, and in His whole substance, forsoth [forsooth ?] really existing in all places, in heaven, in the stars, in the air, in the earth, under the earth, in hell, in all the several parts of the world, and the parcels of the parts, yea, and in the least parcels of the parcels, against Scripture and against the sound agreement of the whole catholic church. Of the Dispensation of Salvation by Christ. Out of the First Chapter of the Ephesians. Year 1580.
1. Our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom we were elected unto salvation, not only once redeemed us by His own blood, having obtained remission of sins, and gotten the victory; but doth also daily dispense and communicate unto His, the grace of redemption and salvation (vv. 7-8).
2. For it belongeth to a perfect Redeemer, not only by paying the ransom to redeem, but also to make the redemption known to them that be redeemed, and to deliver them quite out of the hands of the tyrant into freedom; as it also belongeth to a good head to impart the life, sense, and motion which it hath, unto the members.
3. Now Christ useth to dispense this grace of salvation by the Word of truth, that is, by the gospel of our salvation, with which we join the sacraments as seals and instruments of salvation (v. 13).
4. For by the gospel He makes known unto us the mystery of His divine will concerning our salvation through Christ, and concerning the gathering together, as well those that are in heaven, as these that are on earth, and concerning the knitting of them to one Head Christ (vv. 9-10).
5. Neither doth He only make known unto us the mystery of salvation by the gospel, but also effectually calleth and draweth us to Himself, and to the communion of Himself and so to the participation of redemption and salvation (v. 13).
6. For by the preaching of the gospel, He useth to stir up faith in our hearts; whereby we believe in Him and are received into His communion (v. 13; Romans 10:1-21).
7. For He giveth us His Holy spirit, by which He regenerateth us, and sealeth us with the express image of God, to the full possession of an eternal inheritance (v. 13).
8. By the same Spirit He stirreth up, worketh, and leadeth us, to the study of a holy life, and good works.
9. And if it so be, we fall into sin (such is our frailty) He lifteth us up by repentance given unto us, and maketh us more assured of forgiveness; and by that means, through the same Spirit as it were a pledge, He more and more daily confirmeth us in that assurance of salvation (v. 14).
10. And these benefits Christ bestoweth on us, never utterly forsaking us, till He hath brought us by His grace, and singular love towards us, from the first redemption, which is our redemption from the guilt and servitude of sin, and from the power of the devil, to the other redemption, namely the full liberty which consisteth in the perfect assuring and full possession of the heavenly inheritance.
11. But our Lord Jesus as He is our Redeemer and the Head of the whole church (v. 22), according to both the natures, so also He communicateth eternal life and salvation, not only as He is God but also as He is man, according to that same--Believe my son, "thy sins be forgiven thee." And immediately after, "But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house" --where each nature worketh that which is proper to it, with communion of the other.
12. For as the natures are so united within themselves in one person, that yet there is made no change nor confusion among themselves, or among their proprieties, so also the actions are so the actions of one and the same person, that yet they are truly distinguished betwixt themselves. And so distinguished, that those which proceed from the one nature, and are proper thereunto, they, although they be done with the communion of the other, yet it is not lawful to say that they be done by the other, or that Christ doth them according to the other nature.
13. Wherefore like as we allow the fathers, when they say that Christ’s actions in redeeming and saving us were and are done by God and man, so also we greatly commend that famous saying of Leo the Bishop of Rome in his epistle to Flavianus, and we teach that it is with a stedfast faith to be holden--namely, "Each form worketh with communion of the other that which is proper to itself; as, the Word working that which is proper to the Word and the flesh performing that which is proper to the flesh."
14. For He suffered for us, died, and was buried, according to the flesh. But He gave the grace of deserving and redeeming to His suffering, by which He redeemed us, according to His deity; but all these He willed, according to both the natures.
15. Also He rose from the dead, and ascended in a visible and local ascension into heaven, exalted above all angels according to His humanity (vv. 20-21); yet He wrought the same resurrection, ascension, and exaltation, according to His divinity, but He willed it according to the will of both the natures.
16. Like as then we believe that Christ redeemed us according to both the natures, according to that God purchased His Church by His own blood, so also we doubt not but the same Christ sitteth at His Father’s right hand, and resteth in the heavenly places, governing all things with His Father; and dispenseth and communicateth the grace of redemption and everlasting salvation to the whole church which is His body, and to every member, according to both His natures--the Word working that which is proper to the Word, and the flesh that which belongeth to the flesh.
17. For although He useth the ministry of the Word and sacraments by men to the imparting of salvation unto us, yet the same Christ, both as He is God and as He is man, is properly the very same which calleth us, giveth unto us faith and repentance, and He justifieth, regenerateth, quickeneth, and bringeth into eternal life all that believe, by the working of the power of His might.
18. For this cause also our faith, whereby we take hold of salvation in Christ and eternal life, must not respect and rely upon either the one or the other nature of Christ severally, but on whole Christ Himself, as the Ephesians were said to have faith "in the Lord Jesus".
19. Whereon it followeth that who so do deny either the one or the other nature in Christ, or divide the one from the other, or confound them both together, so that they acknowledge Him not for true God and true man in all things (sin excepted) like unto us, and embrace Him not for such, and therefore for a true and perfect Redeemer, they can never be made partakers of redemption and eternal salvation.
20. For as he that believeth in Christ, such as He is, hath life eternal; so he that believeth not, cannot have it. Of Those Things Which are Spoken of our Lord Jesus Christ, After the Union; and in What Sort They are Spoken. Out of the First Chapter of Ephesians. Positions. Anno 1582.
1. The apostle writeth that Christ was raised from the dead and therefore He truly di in another place, The Lord of glory was , yea, we often read, how the Son of man was delivered unto death. But in all these enunciations, the speech is ever of the same person, namely the Son of God incarnate. Therefore the person of Christ which is in these propositions the subject, or that whereof another thing is spoken, is used to be signified by three kinds of names: Namely, by those which betoken the divine nature only, and that sometime in respect of the essence, sometime in respect of the hypostasy or persons, as, The Lord of glory, the only begotten Son of God; or which betoken in like sort the human nature only, as, Man, the son of Mary; or which betoken both natures together, as, Christ, Immanuel, God incarnate.
2. We add hereunto that Christ’s very person is signified by those names also which are taken from the offices of a Mediator--as these: A Mediator; a Redeemer; a Savior; a High Priest; an Advocate, and such like. But these may be referred to the third kind, because by them are showed and made known both the natures in one person.
3. The concrete names which have denomination of the natures, as Man of the humanity, and God of the deity, when in speaking of Christ they be the subjects, or the first part of the enunciation or sentence, they have two significations--one formal (as the schools say) and the other material--of which, by the former is meant the very nature; by the other, the person, which hath such a nature, whereof it taketh denomination.
4. For as names in the abstract do signify only the nature and propriety, which is in a thing so all names in the concrete do betoken both the nature and quality, which is in the thing, and the hypostasis, wherein it is; as (for examples sake) the name of just betokeneth both justice wherewith one is made just, and him, which is just, both together.
5. Therefore by these subject names which having their denominations from the natures do show the person of Christ--sometimes is declared the propriety of the natures, sometime the unity of the person; and therefore the subjects must be understood and expounded according to the diversities of the predicates that is of those things, which are spoken thereof.
6. In this proposition, the Son of God is eternal, the subject (namely the Son of God) must be expounded according to the propriety of the nature. But in this, the only begotten Son of God suffered, the subject (the only begotten Son of God) must be understood according to the unity of the person. For He suffered, which was not only man, but also God; yet the Deity remaining unpassible.
7. We deny not, but many times are found words in the abstract, which are the subjects, as, (the light) came into the world; as also some which are predicates, as Christ is (the light of the world, our righteousness, our peace), but these stand in stead of concretives, as the light came into the world, that is, He which lighteneth us. Wherefore for the manner of such like words, they are to be referred to some of the foresaid three kinds.
8. Furthermore there are three kinds of attributes which use to be spoken of the same person of Christ, God and man, by what name soever it be signified. For some are proper to the divine nature, and therefore cannot really be communicated to the other nature--as, to be impassible, eternal, immeasurable. Some are proper to the human nature, and therefore cannot altogether indeed by communicated to the other nature--as to be made, to be finite, and passible. And other some proper to the whole person consisting of both natures, and therefore common to both natures together, as to be a Mediator, a Redeemer, a Savior.
9. To this third kind pertain those actions which the Greek fathers called the actions of God and man, or actions divine and human, because in the works of our redemption, each form worketh not the property of the other, but of itself, yet with the communion of the other, the Word working that which belongeth to the Word, and the flesh performing that which belongeth to the flesh.
10. Of these three kinds of attributes, we find in ourselves an example not unlike. For in a man, some things are proper only to the soul--as to be immortal, to understand, to will; some things to the body only--as to be mortal, palpable, heavy; some things common to them both--as be such works to the performance whereof, each part worketh that which is proper to it, with communion of the other, as to write, to speak, to run, and to do whatsoever is done by the ministry of the body, yet not without the virtue and guidance of the soul.
11. Now of this which hath been said of the divers subjects and predicates, there followeth a diversity also of predication. Every predication therefore of Christ is either proper and simple, or else improper and figurative.
12. The proper and simple predication falleth two ways: One is, when those things which are proper to one nature, they are predicated or said of the person of Christ, being expressed by a name either denominated of the same nature, or proper to the person, as, this our God or Christ is omnipotent, and everywhere present; also, this man, or Christ, suffered and died. The other is, when such things as are proper to the whole person, they are said also of the whole person signified by a name, that containeth both the natures, such as these are that belong to the office of a Mediator, and the honor of an Head, as, Christ, Immanuel, God incarnate, redeemed us, sanctified us, saved us, is a King, to be worshipped, which are said therefore to be proper to the person, because they can be severally applied to neither of the natures. Now all such be proper and simple propositions because in all which are of the same kind, the predicates be coupled with the subjects in all those things which are of the very same kind.
13. The improper and figurative predication is likewise twofold: One, when as these things which are proper to the whole person, either belonging to the office of a Mediator, or to the honor of an Head, the same are said of one of the natures signified either by an abstractive or a concretive name--as, the flesh quickeneth, the blood washeth from sin, God redeemed the Church, the Mediator of God and men, man, etc. The other, when that which is proper to one nature is said of the other nature signified by a name which is concretive, and which betokeneth the person--as, God suffered and died; man when He was on earth, was also at the same time in heaven.
14. For in those improper propositions of the latter sort, the proprieties of diverse kinds are coupled as words concretive, and therefore God is unproperly [improperly] said to suffer, inasmuch as the name God in its own proper signification doth betoken the divine essence which cannot suffer. But in respect of the person being meant, which is also man, it is a true (though an improper) proposition, and therefore these things are said of the whole person by a synechdoche, whereas indeed they agree not to the same, but only in respect of one nature.
15. This latter form of an improper speech we call the community of proprieties, as the Greeks do, which Theodoret expounding calleth the community of names; and Damascene, the ? oope of retribution.
16. For with them ? ? was a concretive word signifying the propriety of some nature. And ? ? or ? ? was, when as the ? ? or proprieties of one nature, were mutually and reciprocally spoken of the concrete name of the other nature, which name did signify the person. So that it is mere folly, to think that the fathers when they spake of the communication of the Idiomes, that they meant to speak of any real powering or communication of the essential proprieties of one nature, into the other, seeing they write plainly, "the unity maketh the names common, but never maketh the things common."
17. For if our talk be of the natures themselves, which are in Christ, Theodoret with other fathers teacheth us that we must so speak, as we do not say, that those which are proper to the one nature are in very deed common to the other, but that we give to either of them alone, that which belongeth to it. Even as that which belongeth to the soul, we give it not to the body, and contrariwise. But if we speak of the person, we must so frame our speech, that we may declare those things which are proper to each nature to be truly and indeed common to the whole person, even as also we give to the whole man really and in truth, as well those things which belong to the soul, as to the body.
Now his very words after his bringing in of the similitude of the soul and the body and the whole man follow thus. So we must speak of Christ. And when we speak of the natures in Christ we must give to each of them those things which do befit each; and we must know what things are proper to the divinity and what to the humanity. But when as we speak of the person, we must make those things which are proper to the nature common, and must fit these very same to our Savior Christ; and we must call Him both God and man; both the Son of God and the Son of man; both the son of David and the Lord of David; both the seed of Abraham and the Creator of Abraham; and so of all the rest. The same doctrine he also confirmeth out of Amphilochius [?], bishop of Iconium, and out of other fathers, in many places in his dialogues.
18. Damascene also to expound the same matter, to wit, how the same things which belong to one nature should be communicated to the other, namely in person, writeth thus: "The Word doth appropriate unto itself those things which belong to man. For those things which pertain to His holy flesh be His; and He doth (by a manner of mutual predication) impart those things which are proper to Himself, unto the flesh, by reason of the being of the parts mutually one within the other, and their hypostatical or personal union."
19. Out of which place it evidently appeareth, first, that those things which are of the flesh are no less given to the Word than the things of the Word to the flesh; then, that they which belong to the Word, are given to the flesh after no other manner, then they which pertain to the flesh are given to the Word. Lastly, that this manner of giving is called the manner of mutual predication, not simply and in the abstractive names of the natures, but in the concretive noting the person.
20. Moreover what this manner of predication is, and why it is so called, the same Damascene expoundeth in the fourth chapter both by example, and by the cause in these words: "This manner of mutual predication is, when those things which are proper to one nature, are spoken of the other nature, by reason of the hypostatical identity or personal union of them both; and for that the one nature is in the other--for example we may say of Christ, this our God was seen upon the earth and conversed with men; and this man is uncreated, not subject to passion, not circumscribed in any place." And the examples added do manifestly show how one nature doth attribute those things which are proper unto itself to the other, and for what cause. For God, (in that, by this name is meant the divine essence) was not seen on earth; but only, in that the person is meant by it, which is both God and man.
21. Therefore we mislike [?] not that received description of the communicating of proprieties. The communication of the proprieties, is a predication, wherein the propriety agreeable to one nature, is given to the person in a name concrete; because these two natures, the Word and the human nature taken, are one existence or person.
22. Thus therefore we judge that the communication of the properties may not amiss be defined. The communication of the proprieties is a predication, or a manner of speech, wherein the propriety (that is the concrete name signifying the propriety of one nature) is spoken really of Christ’s person signified by the name of the other nature; and is spoken (only in word) of the other nature, in the concrete, by reason of the conjunction of the natures and the personal union thereof.
23. But we say it is all one to be predicated or said of the person signified by the concrete name of the other nature; and to be said of the concrete name of the other nature signifying the person; as also the propriety, and the concrete name signifying the propriety of the one nature, are in this matter alone.
24. For this question was propounded by the fathers against the heretics, not so much about the things themselves, as about the manners of speaking, which the Holy Scripture useth speaking of Jesus Christ, when sometime it sayeth, The Lord of glory was crucified; sometime, The Son of man when He was on earth, was also in heaven; and other such like, namely, how such phrases should be understood.
25. For none of any sound judgment ever doubted but as the natures, so also the essential proprieties of both the natures, remained distinct, whole, and unconfounded in the person of Jesus Christ after the union, so as (for example sake) neither the Deity was made passible and local, nor the humanity impassible, and uncircumscribed; as some heretics falsifying the Scriptures have blasphemed.
26. Now the very foundation of this whole exposition was the true and near uniting of the two natures within themselves, and a meeting of them into one and the same person unspeakably made without conversion, without confusion, without division, without separation.
27. For Damascene declaring this after he had taught, how those things which are of the flesh are given to the Word, and likewise how the things of the Word are communicated to the flesh, namely, according to this manner of predication; he adjoineth the cause thereof, saying, "by reason of the meeting together of the parties one with the other; and the hypostatical or personal union;" and in the fourth chapter, "This is the manner (saith he) of mutual predication, when as one nature doth give the proprieties of one nature to the other which it doth in respect of the personal identity, and the joining of the natures one with the other."
Now this joining of the natures one with the other is the very union that is an inward, absolute and most perfect, uniting them together. As Damascene both elsewhere, and especially in his fourth book, and 19th chapter, expoundeth it saying, "But the divine nature once going through the flesh, gave unto the flesh also, an unspeakable going to the divine nature, which we call the union."
29. We ourselves add, that this union is also the final cause of this form of speaking, because therefore this reciprocal predication is delivered in the Holy Scripture, that the true unity of the natures in one person of Jesus Christ might be showed; which is the cause, why these verbal predications can by no means be said to be vain or to no purpose, seeing they have great use, showing how the two natures are united into one person without confusion.
30. Moreover, this same communication of the proprieties (for example, in this proposition God was crucified,) we say to be both verbal, and real, in divers respects. For in that, by this concrete word, (God) is meant a person, which is not only God, but also man; it is a real predication. For because He was man, therefore He truly and indeed died. But as the Deity is meant by the formal signification, (as they speak) or as God simply is meant thereby, it is a verbal predication, and that a true one. For God is truly said to have died, by reason of the person together meant; and that, which is God indeed died not, nor could die, although He which is God did truly die.
31. These things thus declared, it is easy to judge of the divers enunciations, which be true and which false, and in what manner of predication each one is to be taken. Neither one nature nor the proprieties thereof can by any means, neither in the abstractive name nor in the concretive, be predicated or spoken of the other nature signified in the abstractive. For it is as false to say, The human nature, or the humanity, is God, as to say, The humanity is the Deity. And as false to say, The humanity is immeasurable and infinite, as to say, the humanity is very immeasurableness or infiniteness. Therefore in all the Scriptures is no such kind of speech to be found.
32. Neither can one nature or the proprieties thereof be spoken in the abstract, or the other nature signified either in an abstractive or concretive name. For both these propositions are false. God is the humanity, and, the Deity is the humanity.
33. Of either of the natures signified by what name soever, the things that are proper thereunto may truly be spoken, and that of them both in the concrete; but of the divine in the abstract also, by reason of the simplicity thereof. For this proposition is as true and proper, the Deity is omnipotent, as this God is omnipotent, yea, even omnipotency itself. And again, humanity and a man is mutable.
34. Of the person expressed by the proper name and that name, which noteth both the natures, or by a name signifying the office of a Mediator; as well the things which are proper to the one or to the other, or to both the natures together, may truly and properly be spoken: as, Christ is omnipotent, also, Christ is man, Christ died. Also, Christ is a Redeemer, a Mediator. Also, the Mediator, is God, is man, is immortal, died, redeemed us.
35. Of the person signified by a name of one nature, the things which are proper thereunto may truly and properly be spoken: as, This God or only begotten Son of God, is eternal and omnipotent. Also, This man, or, the Son of man, was born in the last days, died.
36. Those things which are proper to the whole person, cannot be spoken (but by a Synechdoche, a part taken for the whole) of one nature signified either by an abstractive or concretive name, as, The flesh quickeneth, God redeemed His Church.
37. Wherefore this saying of Leo, "Each form worketh that which belongeth to itself," we with Damas. say, to be all one, with this, (and that properly) "Christ worketh according to each forme."
38. So where John said, His blood washeth us from sin; and Christ saith, "My flesh is meat indeed;" also where it is said to quicken, and that, it is to be worshipped--those words are put for concretives, namely, the flesh of Christ, for Christ incarnate; and the blood of Christ, for Christ by His blood.
39. For He which said, he that "eateth my flesh...hath eternal life," the same said, "he that eateth me...he shall live by me." And he which wrote, His blood washeth us from sin, the same expounding himself saith, Christ shall wash us from our sins by His blood. And they which taught that Christ’s flesh was to be worshipped, they also expressed the cause, namely, not because it was flesh, but because it was flesh of God, and therefore that Christians do worship not flesh properly, but God incarnate.
40. Of the person signified by the name of the one nature, the things that belong to the other nature may indeed truly and really be spoken, but yet improperly, and figuratively, by communication of the proprieties, as, The Son of man is both in heaven and on earth at once. Also, The only begotten, and Lord of glory was crucified.
41. Hereof followeth another--of the one nature signified in a concretive name, the things proper to the other may truly be spoken, by reason of the person together noted, yet not really, but only in respect of the name: As, God (taken in the formal signification) died; man is eternal.
42. Wherefore we say that those things are predicated or spoken, by communication of the proprieties which being proper to one of the natures, are made common also to the other in the concrete, by the mutual manner of predication--namely while they are really attributed to the person, whereof each nature is a part.
43. For seeing Christ most truly and really is both God and man, we doubt not to say, and with the whole church to teach, that He suffered, namely (for example sake) according to the one nature, and suffered not, namely according to the other.
44. And seeing the Scripture saith, both that God is immortal, and also that the same died and was crucified--we teach that in the former speech the name of God is taken essentially, in the latter hypostatically or personally, and therefore that both these are true in the speech concerning Christ; but that both of them are spoken of the same in a diverse manner of predication.
45. Whatsoever things we read to have been really given to Christ in time after the union, the same may truly and really be spoken of the person, in respect of the humanity, and therefore also of the humanity itself; but it is to be understood, that they cannot be spoken in respect of the divinity, and being signified by a concrete name, but only by communication of the proprieties. An example of the first: The Spirit of wisdom shall rest upon him, etc (Isaiah 11:1-16); an example of the other: He hath given unto Him (His Son, who is from heaven, whom the Father sent) His spirit above measure (John 3:1-36). For He (as He is the only begotten Son) cannot be said to have really received the Spirit, but only by communication of the proprieties.
46. But the things which we confess were given after this manner, were not the essential proprieties of God but only gifts of creation, and (as they call them) habitual graces which belong partly to the perfection of Christ’s human nature--partly to the perfecting of the office of a Mediator; partly to the honor of the Head of the Church.
47. For the essential proprieties of God are united most really with the human nature in the same person, but they are not really communicated to it, in its own very essence.
48. For (to omit almost infinite of other reasons and testimonies of the apostles and ancient fathers) what things Christ received as man, in the essence of His human nature, He received the same, that He might as being Head derive them into His members--as Athanasius and Cyril are witnesses--seeing He therefore sanctified Himself, that we also might be sanctified--and the oil was poured upon Aaron’s head, that it might run down on all his members even to the skirts of his clothing.
49. And who (except a mad man) would say that the essential proprieties of God are derived unto us.
50. The cause also why Christ as He is God, cannot be said to have received gifts of creation, is by Cyril assigned to be this: "Because as God He needed them not." Therefore, if also, as He is man, He received the essential proprieties of God, really communicated unto Him, He cannot then be said to have received the created gifts of the Holy Ghost. For to that end serveth a finite power in Him which is indued with an infinite power really communicated unto Him.
FINIS.