15. If they really conceive of a kind of
degradation of the Son in relation to the Father, as though He were in
a lower place, so that the Father sits above, and the Son is thrust off
to the next seat below, let them confess what they mean. We shall
have no more to say. A plain statement of the view will at once
expose its absurdity. They who refuse to allow that the Father
pervades all things do not so much as maintain the logical sequence of
thought in their argument. The faith of the sound is that God
fills all things; Eph. iv. 10. but they who divide
their up and down between the Father and the Son do not remember even
the word of the Prophet: “If I climb up into heaven thou
art there; if I go down to hell thou art there also.” Ps. cxxxix. 7, P.B. Now, to omit all proof of the ignorance
of those who predicate place of incorporeal things, what excuse can be
found for their attack upon Scripture, shameless as their antagonism
is, in the passages “Sit thou on my right hand” Ps. cx. 1. and “Sat down on the right hand of the
majesty of God”? Heb. i. 3, with the variation of “of
God” for “on high.” The expression
“right hand” does not, as they contend, indicate the lower
place, but equality of relation; it is not understood physically, in
which case there might be something sinister about God, I know of no
better way of conveying the sense of the original σκαῖος than by
thus introducing the Latin sinister, which has the double
meaning of left and ill-omened. It is to the credit of the
unsuperstitious character of English speaking people that while the
Greek σκαῖος and
ἀριστερός,
the Latin sinister and lævus, the French
gauche, and the German link, all have the meaning of awkward and
unlucky as well as simply on the left hand, the English
left (though probably derived from lift=weak) has lost all
connotation but the local one. but Scripture puts before us the magnificence
of the dignity of the Son by the use of dignified language indicating
the seat of honour. It is left then for our opponents to allege
that this expression signifies inferiority of rank. Let them
learn that “Christ is the power of God and wisdom of
God,” 1 Cor. i. 24. and that “He is
the image of the invisible God” Col. i. 15. and
“brightness of his glory,” Heb. i. 3. and
that “Him hath God the Father sealed,” John vi. 27.
by engraving Himself on Him. The more obvious
interpretation of ἐσφράγισεν
in John vi.
27, would be
sealed with a mark of approval, as in the miracle just
performed. cf. Bengel, “sigillo id
quod genuinum est commendatur, et omne quod non genuinum est
excluditur.” But St. Basil explains
“sealed” by “stamped with the image of His
Person,” an interpretation which Alfred rejects. St.
Basil at the end of Chapter xxvi. of this work, calls our Lord
the χαρακτὴρ
καὶ
ἰσότυπος
σφραγίς,
i.e., “express image and seal graven to the
like” of the Father. St. Athanasius (Ep. i. ad Serap.
xxiii.) writes, “The seal has the form of Christ the
sealer, and in this the sealed participate, being formed
according to it.” cf. Gal.
iv. 19, and 2 Pet. i. 4.