Dialogues (Eranistes) · Part 16

Eran.--Agreed.

Orth.--Consider now too this point. The divine Apostle calls the Son the image of the Father; for he says "Who is the image of the invisible God?"

Eran.--What then; has not the Son all the qualities of the Father?

Orth.--He is not Father. He is not uncaused. He is not unbegotten.

Eran.--If He were He would not be Son.

Orth.--Then does not what I said hold good; the image has not all the qualities of the archetype?

Eran.--True.

Orth.--Thus too the divine Apostle said that Melchisedec is made like unto the Son of God.

Eran.--Suppose we grant that he is without Father and without Mother and without descent, as you have said. But how are we to understand his having neither beginning of days nor end of life?

Orth.--The holy Moses when writing the ancient genealogy tells us how Adam being so many years old begat Seth, and when he had lived so many years he ended his life. So too he writes of Seth, of Enoch, and of the rest, but of Melchisedec he mentions neither beginning of existence nor end of life. Thus as far as the story goes he has neither beginning of days nor end of life, but in truth and reality the only begotten Son of God never began to exist and shall never have an end.

Eran.--Agreed.

Orth.--Then, so far as what belongs to God and is really divine is concerned, Melchisedec is a type of the Lord Christ; but as far as the priesthood is concerned, which belongs rather to man than to God, the Lord Christ was made a priest after the order of Melchisedec. For Melchisedec was a high priest of the people, and the Lord Christ for all men has made the right holy offering of salvation.

Eran.--We have spent many words on this matter.

Orth.--Yet more were needed, as you know, for you said the point was a difficult one.

Eran.--Let us return to the question before us.

Orth.--What was the question?

Eran.--On my remarking that Christ must not be called man, but only God, you yourself besides many other testimonies adduced also the well known words of the Apostle which he has used in his epistle Timothy--"One God, one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time."

Orth.--I remember from what point we diverged into this digression. It was when I had said that the name of mediator exhibits the two natures of the Saviour, and you said that Moses was called a mediator though he was only a man and not God and man. I was therefore under the necessity of following up these points to show that the type has not all the qualities of the archetype. Tell me, then, whether you allow that the Saviour ought also to be called man.

Eran.--I call Him God, for He is God's Son.

Orth.--If you call him God, because you have learnt that he is God's Son, call him also man, for he often called Himself "Son of Man."

Eran.--The name man does not apply to Him in the same way as the name God.

Orth.--As not really belonging to Him or for some other reason?

Eran.--God is his name by nature; man is the designation of the Incarnation.

Orth.--But are we to look on the Incarnation as real, or as something imaginary and false?

Eran.--As real.

Orth.--If then the grace of the Incarnation is real, and what we call Incarnation is the divine Word's being made man, then the name man is real; for after taking man's nature He is called man.

Eran.--Before His passion He was styled man, but afterward He was no longer so styled.

Orth.--But it was after the Passion and the Resurrection that the divine Apostle wrote the Epistle to Timothy wherein he speaks of the Saviour Christ as man, and writing after the Passion and the Resurrection to the Corinthians he exclaims "For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead." And in order to make his meaning clear he adds, "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." And after the Passion and the Resurrection the divine Peter, in his address to the Jews, called Him man. And after His being taken up into heaven, Stephen the victorious, amid the storm of stones, said to the Jews, "Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God." Are we to suppose ourselves wiser than the illustrious heralds of the truth?

Eran.--I do not suppose myself wiser than the holy doctors, but I fail to find the use of the name.

Orth.--How then could you persuade them that deny the incarnation of the Lord, Marcionists, I mean, and Manichees, and all the rest who are thus unsound, to accept the teaching of the truth, unless you adduce these and similar proofs with the object of shewing that the Lord Christ is not God only but also man?

Eran.--Perhaps it is necessary to adduce them.

Orth.--Why not then teach the faithful the reality of the doctrine? Are you forgetful of the apostolic precept enjoining us to be "ready to give an answer." Now let us look at the matter in this light. Does the best general engage the enemy, attack with arrows and javelins, and endeavour to break their column all alone, or does he also arm his men, and marshal them, and rouse their hearts to play the man?

Eran.--He ought rather to do this latter.

Orth.--Yes; for it is not the part of a general to expose his own life, and take his place in the ranks, and let his men go fast asleep, but rather to keep them awake for their work at their post.

Eran.--True.

Orth.--This is what the divine Paul did, for in writing to them who had made profession of their faith he said, "Take unto you the whole armour of God that ye be able to stand against the wiles of the Devil." And again, "Stand therefore with your loins girt about with truth," and so on. Bear in mind too what we have already said, that a physician supplies what nature lacks. Does he find the cold redundant? He supplies the hot, and so on with the rest; and this is what the Lord does.

Eran.--And where will you show that the Lord has done this?

Orth.--In the holy gospels.

Eran.--Show me then and fulfil your promise.

Orth.--What did the Jews consider our Saviour Christ?