Dialogues ("Eranistes" or "Polymorphus")

Eran.— The words of the Prophet fit in admirably with those of the apostle.

Orth.— So again the divine apostle, reminding us of the blessing of Judah, and pointing out how it received its fulfilment exclaims “For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah.” So too the Prophet Micah and the evangelist Matthew. For the former spoke his prediction, and the latter connects the prophecy with his narrative. What is extraordinary is that he says that the open enemies of the truth plainly told Herod that the Christ is born in Bethlehem, for it is written, he says, “And thou Bethlehem in the land of Judah art not the least among the Princes of Judah for out of you shall come a Governor who shall rule my people Israel.” Now let us subjoin what the Jews in their malignity omitted and so made the witness imperfect. For the prophet, after saying “Out of you shall he come forth unto me that is to be Ruler in Israel” adds “Whose goings forth have been of old, from everlasting.”

Eran.— You have done well in adducing the whole evidence of the Prophet, for he points out that He who was born in Bethlehem was God.

Orth.— Not God only but also Man; Man as sprung from Judah after the flesh and born in Bethlehem; and God as existing before the ages. For the words “Out of you shall he come forth unto me that is to be Ruler,” show his birth after the flesh which has taken place in the last days; while the words “Whose goings forth have been of old, from everlasting” plainly proclaim His existence before the ages. In like manner also the divine apostle in his Epistle to the Romans bewailing the change to the worse of the ancient felicity of the Jews, and calling to mind their divine promises and legislation, goes on to say “Whose are the fathers, and of whom concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all God blessed for ever Amen,” and in this same passage he exhibits Him both as Creator of all things and Lord and Ruler as God and as sprung from the Jews as man.

Eran.— Well; you have explained these passages, what should you say to the prophecy of Jeremiah? For this proclaims him to be God only.

Orth.— Of what prophecy do you speak?

Eran.— “This is our God and there shall none other be accounted of in comparison to him— he has found out all the way of knowledge, and has given it unto Jacob his servant and to Israel his beloved. Afterward did he show himself upon earth and conversed with men.”

In these words the Prophet speaks neither of the flesh, nor of manhood, nor of man, but of God alone.

Orth.— What then is the good of reasoning? Do we say that the Divine nature is invisible? Or do we dissent from the Apostle when he says “Immortal, invisible, the only God.”

Eran.— Indubitably the Divine nature is invisible.

Orth.— How then was it possible for the invisible nature to be seen without a body? Or do you not remember those words of the apostle in which he distinctly teaches the invisibility of the divine nature? He says “Whom no man has seen nor can see.” If therefore the Divine Nature is invisible to men, and I will add too to Angels, tell me how he who cannot be seen or beheld was seen upon earth?

Eran.— The Prophet says he was seen on the earth.

Orth.— And the apostle says “Immortal, invisible, the only God” and “Whom no man has seen and can see.”

Eran.— What then? Is the Prophet lying?

Orth.— God forbid. Both utterances are the words of the Holy Ghost.

Eran.— Let us inquire then how the invisible was seen.

Orth.— Do not, I beg you, bring in human reason. I shall yield to scripture alone.

Eran.— You shall receive no argument unconfirmed by Holy Scripture, and if you bring me any solution of the question deduced from Holy Scripture I will receive it, and will in no wise gainsay it.

Orth.— You know how a moment ago we made the word of the evangelist clear by means of the testimony of the apostle; and that the divine apostle showed us how the Word became Flesh, saying plainly “for verily He took not on Him the nature of angels but He took on Him the seed of Abraham.” The same teacher will teach us how the divine Word was seen upon the earth and dwelt among men.

Eran.— I submit to the words both of apostles and of prophets. Show me then in accordance with your promise the interpretation of the prophecy.

Orth.— The divine apostle, writing to Timothy, also says “without controversy great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.”

It is therefore plain that the divine nature is invisible, but the flesh visible, and that through the visible the invisible was seen, by its means working wonders and unveiling its own power, for with the hand He fashioned the sense of seeing and healed him that was blind from birth. Again He gave the power of hearing to the deaf, and loosed the fettered tongue, using his fingers for a tool and applying his spittle like some healing medicine. So again when He walked upon the sea He displayed the almighty power of the Godhead. Fitly, therefore, did the apostle say “God was manifest in the flesh.” For through it appeared the invisible nature beheld by its means by the angel hosts, for “He was seen,” he says, “of angels.”

The nature then of bodiless beings has shared with us the enjoyment of this boon.

Eran.— Then did not the angels see God before the manifestation of the Saviour?

Orth.— The apostle says that He “was made manifest in the flesh and seen of angels.”

Eran.— But the Lord said, “Take heed that you despise not one of these little ones, for I say unto you that their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.”

Orth.— But the Lord said again, “Not that any man has seen the Father save he which is of God, he has seen the Father.” Wherefore the evangelist plainly exclaims, “No man has seen God at any time,” and confirms the word of the Lord, for he says, “The only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father He has declared Him,” and the great Moses, when he desired to see the invisible nature, heard the Lord God saying, “There shall no man see me and live.”

Eran.— How then are we to understand the words, “Their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven”?

Orth.— Just as we commonly understand what is said about men who have been supposed to see God.

Eran.— Pray make this plainer, for I do not understand. Can God be seen of men also?

Orth.— Certainly not.

Eran.— Yet we hear the divine scripture saying God appeared unto Abraham at the oak of Mamre; and Isaiah says “I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up,” and the same thing is said by Micah, by Daniel and Ezekiel. And of the lawgiver Moses it is related that “The Lord spoke to Moses face to face as a man speaks unto his friend,” and the God of the universe Himself said, “With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently and not in dark speeches.” What then shall we say; did they behold the divine nature?

Orth.— By no means, for God Himself said, “There shall no man see me and live.”

Eran.— Then they who say that they have seen God are liars?

Orth.— God forbid— they saw what it was possible for them to see.

Eran.— Then the loving Lord accommodates his revelation to the capacity of them that see Him?

Orth.— Yes; and this He has shown through the Prophet, “for I,” He says, “have multiplied visions and by the hands of the Prophets was made like.”

He does not say “was seen” but “was made like.” And making like does not show the very nature of the thing seen. For even the image of the emperor does not exhibit the emperor's nature, though it distinctly preserves his features.

Eran.— This is obscure and not sufficiently plain. Was not then the substance of God seen by them who beheld those revelations?

Orth.— No; for who is mad enough to dare to say so?