Dialogues (Eranistes) · Part 35

Eran.--Then a body won our salvation for us.

Orth.--Yes; but not a mere man's body, but that of our Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God. If you regard this body as insignificant and of small account, how can you hold its type to be an object of worship and a means of salvation? and how can the archetype be contemptible and insignificant of that of which the type is adorable and honourable?

Eran.--I do not look on the body as of small account, but I object to dividing it from the Godhead.

Orth.--We, my good sir, do not divide the union but we regard the peculiar properties of the natures, and I am sure that in a moment you will take the same view.

Eran.--You talk like a prophet.

Orth.--No; not like a prophet, but as knowing the power of truth. But now answer me this. When you hear the Lord saying "I and my Father are one," and "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father," do you say that this refers to the flesh or to the Godhead?

Eran.--How can the flesh and the Father possibly be of one substance?

Orth.--Then these passages indicate the Godhead?

Eran.--True.

Orth.--And so with the text, "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was God," and the like.

Eran.--Agreed.

Orth.--Again when the divine Scripture says, "Jesus therefore being wearied with his journey sat thus on the well," of what is the weariness to be understood, of the Godhead or of the body?

Eran.--I cannot bear to divide what is united.

Orth.--Then it seems you attribute the weariness to the divine nature?

Eran.--I think so.

Orth.--But then you directly contradict the exclamation of the prophet "He fainteth not neither is weary; there is no searching of His understanding. He giveth power to the faint and to them that have no might he increaseth strength." And a little further on "But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary and they shall walk and not faint." Now how can He who bestows upon others the boon of freedom from weariness and want, possibly be himself subject to hunger and thirst?

Eran.--I have said over and over again that God is impassible, and free from all want, but after the incarnation He became capable of suffering.

Orth.--But did He do this by admitting the sufferings in His Godhead, or by permitting the passible nature to undergo its natural sufferings and by suffering proclaim that what was seen was no unreality, but was really assumed of human nature? But now let us look at the matter thus: we say that the divine nature was uncircumscribed.

Eran.--Aye.

Orth.--And uncircumscribed nature is circumscribed by none.

Eran.--Of course not.

Orth.--It therefore needs no transition for it is everywhere.

Eran.--True.

Orth.--And that which needs no transition needs not to travel.

Eran.--That is clear.

Orth.--And that which does not travel does not grow weary.

Eran.--No.

Orth.--It follows then that the divine nature, which is uncircumscribed, and needs not to travel, was not weary.

Eran.--But the divine Scripture says that Jesus was weary, and Jesus is God; "And our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things."

Orth.--But the exact expression of the divine Scripture is that Jesus "was wearied" not "is wearied." We must consider how one and the other can be applied to the same person.

Eran.--Well; try to point this out, for you are always for forcing on us the distinction of terms.

Orth.--I think that even a barbarian might easily make this distinction. The union of unlike natures being conceded, the person of Christ on account of the union receives both; to each nature its own properties are attributed; to the uncircumscribed immunity from weariness, to that which is capable of transition and travel weariness. For travelling is the function of the feet; of the muscles to be strained by over exercise.

Eran.--There is no controversy about these being bodily affections.

Orth.--Well then; the prediction which I made, and you scoffed at, has come true; for look; you have shewn us what belongs to manhood, and what belongs to Godhead.

Eran.--But I have not divided one son into two.

Orth.--Nor do we, my friend; but giving heed to the difference of the natures, we consider what befits godhead, and what is proper to a body.

Eran.--This distinction is not the teaching of the divine Scripture; it says that the Son of God died. So the Apostle;--"For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son." And he says that the Lord was raised from the dead for "God" he says "raised the Lord from the dead."

Orth.--And when the divine Scripture says "And devout men carried Stephen to his burial and made great lamentation over him" would any one say that his soul was committed to the grave as well as his body?

Eran.--Of course not.

Orth.--And when you hear the Patriarch Jacob saying "Bury me with my Fathers," do you suppose this refers to the body or to the soul?