9. And that thou mayest learn more exactly
that in the Divine Scriptures it is not by any means the natural father
only that is called father, hear what Paul says:—For though ye
should have ten thousand tutors in Christ, yet have ye not many
fathers: for in Christ Jesus I begat you through the
Gospel 1 Cor. iv. 15.. For Paul was
father of the Corinthians, not by having begotten them after the flesh,
but by having taught and begotten them again after the Spirit.
Hear Job also saying, I was a father of the needy Job xxix. 16.: for he called himself a father, not as
having begotten them all, but as caring for them. And God’s
Only-begotten Son Himself, when nailed in His flesh to the tree at the
time of crucifixion, on seeing Mary, His own Mother according to the
flesh, and John, the most beloved of His disciples, said to him,
Behold! thy mother, and to her, Behold! thy Son John xix. 26, 27.: teaching her the parental affection
due to him φιλοστοργία
might be applied to the mutual affection of mother and son, but the
context shews that it refers here to parental love only; see Polybius,
V. § 74, 5; Xenoph. Cyrop. I. § 3, 2., and indirectly
explaining that which is said in Luke, and His father and His mother
marvelled at Him Luke ii. 33.: words which
the tribe of heretics snatch up, saying that He was begotten of a man
and a woman. For like as Mary was called the mother of John,
because of her parental affection, not from having given him birth, so
Joseph also was called the father of Christ, not from having begotten
Him (for he knew her not, as the Gospel says, until she had
brought forth her first-born Son Matt. i. 25.), but because
of the care bestowed on His nurture.