Chapter 14

§ 1.

Moreover, that not in opposition to the very substance of flesh and blood did the Apostle say that it inherits not the Kingdom of God,¹ we know, in that the same Apostle has every where used the term Flesh and Blood in regard of the Lord Jesus Christ, partly to establish His human nature (for He called Himself Son of Man:) partly again to confirm the salvation of our flesh. For if the flesh could not be saved, by no means had the Word of God been made flesh. And if the blood of the just were not to be required, by no means would the Lord have had blood. But because from the beginning blood hath a voice, the Lord said unto Cain, when he had slain his brother,² The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto Me. And that their blood was to be required, He told Noe and the rest: For your blood also,³ the blood of your souls, it will I require at the hand of all beasts. And again, He who shall shed⁴ a man’s blood,⁵ for his blood shall he be shed. And in like manner the Lord also said unto those who were to shed His blood,⁶ There shall be required all the righteous blood which is shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel, unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the Temple and the Altar: verily I say unto you, all these things shall come upon this generation. Here He signifies, that there would be a gathering up of the bloodshedding of all the righteous men and Prophets from the beginning into His own self, and an inquisition for their blood by Himself. But this would not be required, except it were also to be saved: neither would the Lord have gathered all this up into Himself, unless He Himself also had been made Flesh and Blood in that archetypal formation of His, saving finally in Himself that which originally had perished in Adam.

§ 2.

But if the Lord was incarnate with a view to some other purpose,⁷ and took flesh of another substance, it follows that He did not gather up [Himself as⁸] Man into Himself; moreover He cannot even be called flesh at all. For that was truly made flesh, which was derived from the first formation out of clay. But if He was to have His material of another substance, then the Father would from the beginning have so wrought, that the mass thereof should be formed of another substance. But now, that which he was who had perished, namely Man, that the saving Word became; by His own Self effecting Communion with him, and diligent search after his salvation. But that which had perished, had blood and flesh. For the Lord, taking clay out of the earth, formed Man: and for his sake was the whole arrangement about the Lord’s coming. He therefore had Himself also Flesh and Blood: gathering up as He was in Himself not some other creation, but that original one of the Father; seeking out that which had perished. And therefore the Apostle in the Epistle to the Colossians saith,⁹ And ye having been some time alienated, and enemies to His mind in wicked works, but now reconciled in the Body of His Flesh by His Death, to present you holy and chaste and without blame in His sight.—“Reconciled,” saith he, “in the Body of His Flesh:” i.e., the Righteous Flesh hath reconciled that flesh which was holden in sin, and hath brought it into friendship with God.

§ 3.

Whoever then saith that so far was the Lord’s flesh different from our flesh, in that It sinned not, neither was guile found in His Soul,¹⁰ whereas we are sinners;—he saith true. But if he devise another substance of our Lord’s Flesh, then will his statement about Reconciliation no longer hang together. For that only is reconciled, which at one time was in enmity. But if our Lord brought with Him flesh of another substance, then no longer was the same thing reconciled to God, which by transgression had become hostile. But now by Man’s participation of Himself our Lord hath reconciled him to God the Father: reconciling us unto Himself by the Body of His Flesh, and redeeming us by His own Blood; as saith the Apostle to the Ephesians,¹¹ In whom we have had redemption through His Blood, the Remission of sins: And again to the same, Ye,¹² saith he, who were sometime afar off, are made nigh by the Blood of Christ.¹³ And again, In His own flesh abolishing enmities, the Law of Commandments¹⁴ in ordinances. And in the whole Epistle too the Apostle clearly beareth witness, that by the Flesh of our Lord and His Blood we are saved.

§ 4.

Wherefore, if Flesh and Blood are the things which cause us to have life, not literally concerning flesh and blood is it affirmed, that they cannot possess the Kingdom of God; but of the aforesaid carnal doings, which turning man away towards sin, deprive him of life. And therefore in the Epistle to the Romans he saith,¹⁵ Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it; neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God, as persons alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. With the same members then, wherewith we were serving sin, and bringing forth fruit unto death,—with those same members he willeth us to serve righteousness, to bring forth fruit unto life.

Remembering then, dearly beloved, that by the Flesh of our Lord thou art redeemed, and by His Blood reclaimed¹⁶; and holding the Head,¹⁷ from which the whole body of the Church, being framed together,¹⁸ hath increase,—i.e., the coming of the Son of God in the Flesh:¹⁹—both owning Him God, and steadily receiving His Human Nature:—using moreover these proofs which are of the Scriptures;—thou dost with ease overturn, as we have shewn, all the heretical opinions, since invented.