XXI. These names however are still common to
Him Who is above us, and to Him Who came for our sake. But others
are peculiarly our own, and belong to that nature which He
assumed. So He is called Man, not only that through His Body He
may be apprehended by embodied creatures, whereas otherwise this would
be impossible because of His incomprehensible nature; but also that by
Himself He may sanctify humanity, and be as it were a leaven to the
whole lump; and by uniting to Himself that which was condemned may
release it from all condemnation, becoming for all men all things that
we are, except sin;—body, soul, mind and all through which death
reaches—and thus He became Man, who is the combination of all
these; God in visible form, because He retained that which is perceived
by mind alone. He is Son of Man, both on account of Adam, and of
the Virgin from Whom He came; from the one as a forefather, from the
other as His Mother, both in accordance with the law of generation, and
apart from it. He is Christ, because of His Godhead. For
this is the Anointing of His Manhood, and does not, as is the case with
all other Anointed Ones, sanctify by its action, but by the Presence in
His Fulness of the Anointing One; the effect of which is that That
which anoints is called Man, and makes that which is anointed
God. He is The Way, because He leads us through Himself; The
Door, as letting us in; the Shepherd, as making us dwell in a place of
green pastures, Ps. xxiii. 2. and bringing us up
by waters of rest, and leading us there, and protecting us from wild
beasts, converting the erring, bringing back that which was lost,
binding up that which was broken, guarding the strong, and bringing
them together in the Fold beyond, with words of pastoral
knowledge. The Sheep, as the Victim: The Lamb, as being
perfect: the Highpriest, as the Offerer; Melchisedec, as without
Mother in that Nature which is above us, and without Father in ours;
and without genealogy above (for who, it says, shall declare His
generation?) and moreover, as King of Salem, which means Peace, and
King of Righteousness, and as receiving tithes from Patriarchs, when
they prevail over powers of evil. They are the titles of the
Son. Walk through them, those that are lofty in a godlike manner;
those that belong to the body in a manner suitable to them; or rather,
altogether in a godlike manner, that thou mayest become a god,
ascending from below, for
His sake Who came down from on high for ours. In all and above
all keep to this, and thou shalt never err, either in the loftier or
the lowlier names; Jesus Christ is the Same yesterday and to-day in the
Incarnation, and in the Spirit for ever and ever.
Amen.