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Translated by Ch. Browne and J. Swallow.
Gregory Theologian Bilingual Anthology, Resources Online and in Print
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72 Pages
Page 7
If, however, they rely on the passage, The Word was made Flesh and dwelt among us, [4707] and because of this erase the noblest part of Man (as cobblers do the thicker part of skins) that they may join together God and Flesh, it is time for them to say that God is God only of flesh, and not of souls, because it is written, "As Thou hast given Him power over all Flesh," [4708] and "Unto Thee shall all Flesh come;" [4709] and "Let all Flesh bless His holy Name," [4710] meaning every Man. Or, again, they must suppose that our fathers went down into Egypt without bodies and invisible, and that only the Soul of Joseph was imprisoned by Pharaoh, because it is written, "They went down into Egypt with threescore and fifteen Souls," [4711] and "The iron entered into his Soul," [4712] a thing which could not be bound. They who argue thus do not know that such expressions are used by Synecdoche, declaring the whole by the part, as when Scripture says that the young ravens call upon God, [4713] to indicate the whole feathered race; or Pleiades, Hesperus, and Arcturus [4714] are mentioned, instead of all the Stars and His Providence over them.
Moreover, in no other way was it possible for the Love of God toward us to be manifested than by making mention of our flesh, and that for our sake He descended even to our lower part. For that flesh is less precious than soul, everyone who has a spark of sense will acknowledge. And so the passage, The Word was made Flesh, seems to me to be equivalent to that in which it is said that He was made sin, [4715] or a curse [4716] for us; not that the Lord was transformed into either of these, how could He be? But because by taking them upon Him He took away our sins and bore our iniquities. [4717] This, then, is sufficient to say at the present time for the sake of clearness and of being understood by the many. And I write it, not with any desire to compose a treatise, but only to check the progress of deceit; and if it is thought well, I will give a fuller account of these matters at greater length.
But there is a matter which is graver than these, a special point which it is necessary that I should not pass over. I would they were even cut off that trouble you, [4718] and would reintroduce a second Judaism, and a second circumcision, and a second system of sacrifices. For if this be done, what hinders Christ also being born again to set them aside, and again being betrayed by Judas, and crucified and buried, and rising again, that all may be fulfilled in the same order, like the Greek system of cycles, in which the same revolutions of the stars bring round the same events? For what the method of selection is, in accordance with which some of the events are to occur and others to be omitted, let these wise men who glory in the multitude of their books shew us.
[4707] John i. 14.
[4708] Ib. xvii. 2.
[4709] Ps. lxv. 2.
[4710] Ib. cxlv. 21.
[4711] Acts vii. 14.
[4712] Ps. cv. 18.
[4713] Ps. cxlvii. 8.
[4714] Job. ix. 9.
[4715] 2 Cor. v. 21.
[4716] Gal. iii. 13.
[4717] Isa. liii. 7 LXX.
[4718] Galat. v. 12.
Reference address : https://elpenor.org/gregory-nazianzen/letters.asp?pg=7
