THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST

Behold, O ye Arians, and acknowledge hence the truth.  The Psalmist speaks of us all as fellows or partakers of the Lord, but were he one of things which come out of nothing and of things generated he himself had been one of those who partake.  But since he hymned him as the eternal God, saying, “Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever,” and has declared that all other things partake of him, what conclusion must we draw, but that he is distinct from generated things, and he only the Father’s veritable word, radiance, and wisdom, which all things generate partake, being sanctified by him in the Spirit?  And, therefore, he is here “anointed,” not that he may become God, for he was so even before; nor that he may become king, for he had the kingdom eternally, existing as God’s image, as the sacred oracle shows; but in our behalf is this written, as before.  For the Israelitish kings, upon their being anointed, then became kings, not being so before, as David, as Ezekias, as Josias, and the rest; but the Savior, on the contrary, being God, and ever ruling in the Father’s kingdom, and being himself the Dispenser of the Holy Ghost, nevertheless is here said to be anointed, that, as before, being said as man to be anointed with the Spirit, he might provide for us more, not only exaltation and resurrection, but the indwelling and intimacy of the Spirit.  And signifying this, the Lord himself hath said by his own mouth, in the Gospel according to John:  “I have sent them into the world, and for their sakes do I sanctify myself, that they may be sanctified in the truth.”  In saying this, he has shown that he is not the sanctified, but the Sanctifier; for he is not sanctified by other, but himself sanctifies himself, that we may be sanctified in the truth.  He who sanctifies himself is Lord of sanctification.  How, then, does this take place?  What does he mean but this?  “I, being the Father’s Word, I give to myself, when become man, the Spirit; and myself, become man, do I sanctify in him, that henceforth in me, who am truth (for ’Thy Word is Truth’), all may be sanctified.”

If, then, for our sake, he sanctifies himself, and does this when he becomes man, it is very plain that the Spirit’s descent on him in Jordan was a descent upon us, because of his bearing our body.  And it did not take place for promotion to the Word, but again for our sanctification, that we might share his anointing, and of us it might be said, Know ye not that ye are God’s temple, and the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?  For when the Lord, as man, was washed in Jordan, it was we who were washed in him and by him.  And when he received the Spirit, we it was who, by him, were made recipients of it.  And, moreover, for this reason, not as Aaron, or David, or the rest, was he anointed with oil, but in another way, above all his fellows, “with the oil of gladness,” which he himself interprets