4. He is called Christ, not as having been anointed by men’s hands,
but eternally anointed by the Father to His High-Priesthood on behalf
of men The reading of the
earlier Editions ὑπὲρ
ἀνθρώπων is free from
all difficulty, and so the more likely to have been substituted for
what is at first sight more difficult ὑπὲρ
ἄνθρωπον, the reading
of Cod. Coislin. adopted by the Benedictine and subsequent
Editors. The idea of a super-human Priesthood to which the Son in
His Divine nature was anointed by the Father from eternity is repeated
by Cyril in § 14 of this Lecture, and in Cat. xi. 1, 14. See
Index, “Priesthood,” and the reference there given to a
fuller consideration of the subject in the Introduction.. He is called
Dead, not as having abode among the dead, as all in Hades, but as being
alone free among the dead Ps. lxxxviii. 5.. He is
called Son of Man, not as having had His generation from earth, as each
of us, but as coming upon the clouds To Judge Both
Quick and Dead John v. 27. Comparing what Cyril says here
with Cat. iv. 15, and xv. 10, we see that he means to explain why
Christ is called the “Son of Man” when “He cometh
again from heaven,” and “no more from earth.”
The preceding clause refers to His first coming in the flesh, as
differing in the manner of His conception and birth from other men.. He is
called Lord, not improperly as those who are
so called among men, but as having a natural and eternal
Lordship Cf. Athanas.
(c. Arian. II. xv. 14), “That very Word who was by nature
Lord, and was then made man, hath by means of a servant’s form
been made Lord of all and Christ.”. He is called
Jesus by a fitting name, as having the
appellation from His salutary healing. He is called Son, not as advanced by adoption, but as naturally
begotten. And many are the titles of our Saviour; lest,
therefore, His manifold appellations should make thee think of many
sons, and because of the errors of the heretics, who say that Christ is
one, and Jesus another, and the Door another, and so on Cf. Irenæus (III.
xvi. 8): “All therefore are outside the Dispensation, who
under pretence of knowledge understand that Jesus was one, and Christ
another, and the Only-begotten another (from whom again is the Word),
and the Saviour another.” The Cerinthians, Ebionites,
Ophites, and Valentinians are mentioned by Irenæus as thus
separating the Christ from Jesus., the Faith secures thee beforehand, saying
well, In One Lord Jesus Christ: for
though the titles are many, yet their subject is one.