Augustine, Sermones 186-193 (Classis II, de Tempore)

Sermon 186. On the Nativity of the Lord, 3.

Chapter I. — 1. Christ brought forth by a virgin's childbirth. By the Incarnation He did not cease to be God. Let us rejoice, brethren: let the nations be glad and exult. This day has been hallowed for us not by this visible sun, but by its invisible Creator; when the Virgin Mother, with fruitful womb and with her virginal integrity unimpaired, brought forth Him made visible for us, by Whom, invisible, she too was created. A virgin conceiving, a virgin bearing, a virgin with child, a virgin delivered, a virgin perpetual. Why do you marvel at these things, O man? It was fitting that God should be born thus, when He deigned to be man. He made her such, Who was made from her. For before He was made, He was: and because He was almighty, He could be made while remaining what He was. He made for Himself a mother while He was with the Father: and when He was made from a mother, He remained in the Father. How should He cease to be God when He began to be man, He Who granted to her who bore Him that she should not cease to be a virgin when she gave birth? Accordingly, that the Word was made flesh does not mean that the Word gave way to flesh by perishing; rather the flesh came to the Word, lest it itself should perish: so that, just as man is soul and flesh, so Christ should be God and man. The same Who is God is man, and He Who is God is the same Who is man: not by confusion of nature, but by unity of person. In short, He Who as Son of God is co-eternal with the One Who begets Him, always from the Father, the same began to be son of man from the Virgin. And thus humanity was added to the divinity of the Son; and yet there was not made a quaternity of persons, but the trinity remains.

Chapter II. — 2. Without change to the Word, the same was made Son of God and son of man. The rule of faith, the creed. Let there not, then, creep in upon you the opinion of certain people who pay too little attention to the rule of faith and to the oracles of the divine Scriptures. For they say: He Who is son of man was made Son of God; but He Who is Son of God was not made son of man. In saying this they had in view what is true; but they were not able to express the truth. For what did they have in view, except that human nature could be changed for the better, but the divine could not be changed for the worse? This is true: but even so, that is, with the divinity in no way changed for the worse, the Word nevertheless was made flesh. For the Gospel does not say, The flesh was made Word; but it says, The Word was made flesh. And the Word is God; for the Word was God (John 1:14). And what is flesh, if not man? For in Christ the flesh of man was not without a soul. Hence He says, My soul is sorrowful even unto death (Matt.

26:38). If, then, the Word is God, and the flesh is man, what else is "The Word was made flesh" but "He Who was God was made man"? And by this He Who was the Son of God was made the son of man, by the taking up of the lower, not by the conversion of the higher; by receiving what He was not, not by losing what He was. For how should we confess in the Rule of faith that we believe in the Son of God Who was born of the Virgin Mary, if not the Son of God but a son of man was born of the Virgin Mary? For what Christian would deny that a son of man was born of that woman? But nevertheless [he confesses] God made man, and thus man made God. For the Word was God, and the Word was made flesh. It must therefore be confessed that He Who was the Son of God, in order to be born of the Virgin Mary, having taken the form of a servant, was made the son of man, remaining what He was, taking up what He was not, beginning to be that in which He is less than the Father, and ever remaining in that in which He and the Father are one.

Chapter III. — 3. That the Son of God is the same as the son of man by the incarnation. For if He Who is ever the Son of God was not Himself made the son of man, how does the Apostle say of Him: "Who, though He was in the form of God, did not think it robbery to be equal to God; but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, made in the likeness of men, and found in fashion as a man"? For it was not another, but He Himself, equal to the Father in the form of God, Who is assuredly the only-begotten Son of God, Who "emptied Himself, made in the likeness of men". Nor was it another, but the very same, equal to the Father in the form of God, Who "humbled", not another, but "Himself, made obedient unto death, even the death of the cross" (Phil. 2:6–7). All of which the Son of God did not do except in that form in which He is the son of man. Again, if He Who is ever the Son of God was not Himself made the son of man, how does the Apostle say to the Romans: "Set apart for the Gospel of God, which He had promised beforehand through His Prophets in the holy Scriptures concerning His Son, Who was made to Him of the seed of David according to the flesh" (Rom. 1:1–3)? Behold, the Son of God, which He assuredly always was, was made of the seed of David according to the flesh, which He was not. Again, if He Who is the Son of God was not Himself made the son of man, how did "God send His Son, made of a woman" (Gal. 4:4)? By which name, according to the Hebrew tongue, the glory of virginity is not denied, but the female sex is indicated. For who was sent by the Father but the only-begotten Son of God? How then was He made of a woman, unless because the very same Son of God Who was with the Father, being sent, was made the son of man? Born of the Father without a day of time, born of His mother on this day. For this day which He created He chose as the day on which He Himself would be created, just as He was made of a mother whom He made. For this very day too, from which the day henceforth receives an increase of light, signifies the work of Christ, by Whom our inner man is renewed from day to day (2 Cor. 4:16). For to the eternal Creator, created in time, that day had to be His birthday, with which a temporal creature would accord.

Sermon 187. On the Lord's Nativity, 4.

Chapter I. — 1. The wondrous agreement of conflicting attributes in the infant Christ. My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord: of that Lord through Whom all things were made, and Who was made among all things; Who is the revealer of the Father, the creator of His mother; the Son of God from the Father without a mother, the son of man from a mother without a father; the great Day of the angels, small in the day of men; the Word, God before all times, the Word, flesh at the fitting time; the maker of the sun, made under the sun; ordering all the ages from the bosom of the Father, consecrating this present day from the womb of His mother; remaining there, coming forth from here; the maker of heaven and earth, risen on earth beneath heaven; ineffably wise, wisely an infant; filling the world, lying in a manger; ruling the stars, sucking at the breasts; so great in the form of God, so small in the form of a servant, that neither was that greatness diminished by this smallness, nor this smallness overwhelmed by that greatness. For when He took up human limbs, He did not abandon the divine works; nor did He cease to reach from end to end mightily and to order all things sweetly (Wis. 8:1); when, clothed in the weakness of the flesh, He was received into the virginal womb, not enclosed in it; so that neither was the food of wisdom withdrawn from the angels, and we might taste how sweet the Lord is.

Chapter II. — 2. That the Word did not withdraw from the Father by His coming into the flesh is shown by a comparison. Why do we marvel at this in the Word of God, when this speech which we bring forth flows so freely into the senses that the hearer both receives it and does not enclose it? For unless it were received, it would instruct no one; if it were enclosed, it would not come to others. And indeed this speech is divided into words and syllables; yet you do not take separate particles of it as of food for the belly, but all of you hear the whole, and each of you takes in the whole. Nor do we fear, while we speak, that one by hearing may consume the whole, and another may have nothing to take; rather we wish you to be so attentive, cheating no one's ear and mind, that each of you may hear the whole and leave the whole for the rest to hear. Nor does this happen at alternate times, so that when the speech that is spoken has first entered you, it goes out from you in order to be able to enter another; but it comes to all at once, and reaches each one whole. And if the whole could be held in memory, just as you all came to hear the whole, so each of you would go back with the whole. How much more could the Word of God, through Whom all things were made, and Who, remaining in Himself, makes all things new; Who is neither shut in by places, nor stretched out by times, nor varied by short and long pauses, nor woven of sounds, nor ended by silence; how much more could so great and such a Word make His mother's womb fruitful by the body He assumed, and not depart from the bosom of the Father? come forth from here to human eyes, from there enlighten angelic minds? go forth from here to the earth, from there stretch out the heavens? from here become man, from there make men?

Chapter III. — 3. The Word not changed by the incarnation. Let no one therefore believe that the Son of God was converted and changed into the son of man; but rather let us believe that, the divine substance not being consumed and the human substance being perfectly assumed, the Son of God, remaining [the Son of God], was made the son of man. For it is not the case that, because it was said, The Word was God, and The Word was made flesh (John 1:1, 14), the Word was made flesh in such a way that He ceased to be God: since in that very flesh, in that the Word was made flesh, Emmanuel was born, God with us (Matt. 1:23). Just as the word which we bear in our heart becomes a voice when we bring it forth with the mouth, and yet it is not changed into that voice, but, while it remains whole, the voice in which it may go forth is taken up, so that there both remains within what may be understood, and sounds without what may be heard: yet this same thing is brought forth in sound which had sounded before in silence; and so the word, when it becomes a voice, is not changed into the voice; but, remaining in the light of the mind and having assumed the voice of the flesh, it goes forth to the hearer, and does not desert the one who thinks it. [I mean] not when the voice itself, which is either of Greek or of Latin or of any other language whatever, is thought in silence: but when, before all diversity of languages, the very thing which is to be said is still, in the chamber of the heart, in a certain manner naked to the one who understands, and, that it may go forth from there, is clothed with the voice of the speaker. Nevertheless both of these, both what is thought in understanding and what sounds in speaking, are changeable and unlike: neither will the former remain when you have forgotten, nor the latter when you have fallen silent: but the Word of the Lord remains for ever, and remains unchangeably.

Chapter IV. — 4. The incarnate Word is God and man. And when He assumed flesh in time, in order to go forth into our temporal life, He did not lose eternity in the flesh, but even bestowed immortality on the flesh. Thus He Himself, as a bridegroom coming forth from His chamber, rejoiced as a giant to run the way (Ps. 18:6). Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but that for our sake He might become what He was not, He emptied Himself; not losing the form of God, but taking the form of a servant: and through this He was made in the likeness of men; not by His own substance; but in habit found as a man (Phil. 2:6–7). For this whole that we are, whether in soul or in body, is our nature, but His habit: we, unless we were this, would not be; He, if He were not this, would assuredly be God. And when He began to be this which He was not, He was made man while remaining God: so that not one of these, but both, might most truly be said; both on account of His being made man, For the Father is greater than I (John 14:28); and on account of His remaining God, I and the Father are one (John 10:30). For if the Word were converted into flesh, that is, God changed into man, nothing would be true except, The Father is greater than I; because God is greater than man: but that other would be false, I and the Father are one; because God and man are not one. But perhaps He could have said: I and the Father are not one, but we were one. For what was and has ceased to be, assuredly is not, but was. But now, both on account of the true form of a servant, which He had received, He said truly, The Father is greater than I; and on account of the true form of God, in which He remained,