CONCERNING TEE TRINITY. 351
because He is the Son of God? And if by the apostle
Christ is called"the first-bornof every creature,"1how
could He be the first-bornof every creature,unlessbecause
according to His divinitythe Word proceeded from the
Father before every creature? And unlessthe hereticsre
ceive it thus,they willbe constrainedto show that Christ
the man was the first-bornof every creature;which they
willnot be ableto do. Either,therefore,He isbeforeevery
creature,thatHe may be the first-bornof everycreature,and
He isnot man only,becauseman isaftereverycreature; or
He is man only,and He isafterevery creature. And how
is He the first-bornof every creature,except becausebeing
thatWord which isbeforeeverycreature; and therefore,the
first-bornof every creature,He becomes fleshand dwellsin
us, that is,assumes that man's naturewhich isafterevery
creature,and so dwells with him and in him, in us, that
neitherishumanity taken away from Christ,nor His divinity
denied ? For if He isonly beforeevery creature,humanity
istaken away from Him ; but ifHe isonlyman, thedivinity
which is beforeevery creatureis interferedwith. Both of
these,therefore,are leagued togetherin Christ,and both
are conjoined,and both are finkedwith one another. And
rightly,as there is in Him something which excelsthe
creature,the agreement of the divinityand the humanity
seems to be pledged in Him : for which reason He who is
declaredas made the " Mediator between God and man "3 is
revealedto have associatedin Himself God and man. And
if the same apostlesaysof Christ,that" having put off the
flesh,He spoiledpowers,they being openly triumphed over
in Himself,"3he certainlydid not without a meaning pro
pound thatthe fleshwas put off,unlessbecause he wished it
to be understoodthatit was again put on alsoat the resur
rection. Who, therefore,isHe thatthus put offand put on
[theflesh]? Let the hereticsseek out. For we know that
the Word of God was investedwith the substanceof flesh,
and thatHe againwas divestedof the same bodilymaterial,
which again He took up in the resurrectionand resumed as
1 Col.i.15. s 1 Tim.ii.5. 3Col.ii.15.