55. Mark how the two verbs differ in their
import: “A Child is born, a Son is given.”
Though born of the Father, yet is He not born, but given to us,
forasmuch as the Son is not for our sakes, but we for the
Son’s. For indeed He was not born to us, being born before
us, and the maker of all things created: nor is He now brought to
life for the first time, Who was always, and was in the
beginning; S. John i. 1. on the other
hand, that which before-time was not is born to us. Again we find
it thus recorded, how that the angel, when he spoke to the shepherds,
said that He had been born: “Who is this day born to us a
Saviour, Who is Christ the Lord, in the city of David.” S. Luke ii. 11. To us, then, was born that which was
not before—that is, a child of the Virgin, a body from
Mary—for this was made after man had been created, whereas [the
Godhead] was before us.