"Book IX. After a summary (§ 1) of the results already obtained, Hilary returns, in § 2, to certain of the
Arian proof-texts, and warns his readers that their life depends on the recognition in Christ of
true God and
true man, for it is this twofold
nature which makes Him the Mediator (§ 3). Universal analogy and our consciousness of the capacity to rise to the life in God convince us of these two
natures in Him, Who makes this rise possible (§ 4). But
heresy lays hold of words spoken by Christ Incarnate, appropriate to His humility as Man, and assigns them to Him in His previous state; thus they make Him deny His
true Godhead. But His utterances before the Incarnation, during His life on earth, and after His return to
glory, must be carefully distinguished (§§ 5, 6). Hilary now examines the aims and achievements of Christ Incarnate, and shows that His work for men was a Divine work, accomplished by Him for us only because He was throughout both
God and
Man, the two
natures in Him being inseparable (§§ 7-14). After reaching this conclusion from a general survey of
Christ's life on earth, he examines in the light of it the
Arian arguments from isolated words. They assert that Christ refused to be called
Good or
Master. He refused neither title, and yet declared that both belong to God only (§§ 15-18). And, indeed, He could not have associated Himself more closely than He did with the
Father, while yet He kept His Person distinct (§ 19). The Father Himself bears
witness to the Son; and the
sin and loss of the
Jews is this, that, seeing the Father's works done by Christ, they did not see in Him the Son (§§ 20, 21). The
honour and
glory of Christ is inseparable from that of God (§§ 22, 23). The Scribe did well to confess the Divine unity, but was still outside the Kingdom because He did not
believe in Christ as God (§§ 24-27). Next, the
Arian argument from the words,
This is life eternal, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ Whom You have sent, is refuted by comparison with cognate passages (§§ 28-35). For, indeed, if the Father be the only
true God, the Son must also be the only
true God (§ 36). That Divine nature which is common to Father and Son is subject to no limitations, and the
eternal generation can be illustrated by no analogy of
created things (§ 37). Christ took humanity, and, since the Father's nature did not share in this, the unity was so far impaired. But humanity has been raised in Christ to
God; and this could only be because His unity in the Divine nature with the Father was perfect. Otherwise the flesh which Christ took could not have entered into the Divine
glory (§ 38). There is but one
glory of Father and of Son; the Son sought in the Incarnation not
glory for the Word but for the flesh (§§ 39, 40). The
glory of Father and Son is one; in that unity the Son bestows, as well as receives,
glory (§§ 41, 42), and this
glory, common to Both, is evidence that the Divine nature also is common to Both (§ 42). Again, the
Arians allege the words,
The Son can do nothing of Himself, which Hilary shows, by an examination of the context, to be a support of the
Catholic cause (§§ 43-46). The Son does the Father's work, not under compulsion as an inferior, but because They are One. His
will is free, yet in perfect harmony with that of the
Father, because of their unity of nature (§§ 47-50). The
Arians also appeal to the text,
The Father is greater than I. The Father is, in fact, greater, first as being the Unbegotten, and secondly inasmuch as the Son has condescended to the state of
man, yet without forfeiting His Godhead (§ 51). But He is not greater in nature than the
Son, Who is His Image; or rather, the Begetter is the greater, while the
Son, as the Begotten, is not less than He, for, although begotten, He had no beginning of
existence (§§ 52-57). Next, the allegation of
ignorance, based on St.
Mark xiii. 32, and therefore of difference in nature from God Omniscient is refuted (§§ 58-62), both by express statements of Scripture and by a consideration of the Divine character. It is only in figurative senses that God is stated in the
Old Testament sometimes to come to
know, sometimes to be
ignorant of, particular facts (§§ 63, 64). And so it is with Christ; His
ignorance is but a wise and merciful concealment of
knowledge (§§ 65-67). Yet the
Arians, though they admit that
Christ, being superior to
man,
knows all the secrets of humanity, assert that He cannot penetrate the
mysteries of God (§ 68)."
CHURCH FATHERS: On the Trinity, Book IX (Hilary of Poitiers)