Chapter XXIII.
He continues the same argument to show that Christ had
no need of another’s glory as He had a glory of His own.
But
to end let us see the
addition with which you sum up your preceding blasphemies. Your words
are, “Who gave such
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glory to
Christ?” You name glory in order to degrade Him. For by the
assertion that the Lord was endowed with glory, in saying that He
received it you blasphemously imply that He stood in need of it. For
your perverse notion suggests that the generosity of the giver shows
the need of the receiver. O miserable impiety of yours! and where is
that which Divinity itself once foretold of the Lord Jesus Christ
ascending into heaven? Saying: “Lift up your heads, and the King
of glory
shall come
in.”
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And when He
(after the fashion of Divine utterances) had made answer to Himself as
if in the character of an inquirer: “Who is the King of
glory?” at once He adds: “The Lord strong and mighty, the
Lord mighty in battle:” showing under the figure of a battle
fought, the victory of the Lord in His triumph. Then when, to complete
the exposition of it, He had repeated the words of the utterance quoted
above, He showed by the following conclusion the majesty of the Lord as
He entered heaven, saying “The Lord of hosts, He is the King of
glory.” On purpose that the fact of His taking a body might not
interfere with the glory of His mighty Divinity, He taught that the
same Person was Lord of hosts and King of heavenly glory, whom He had
previously proclaimed Victor in the battle below. Go now
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and say that the glory was given to the
Lord, when both prophecy has said that He was the King of glory, and He
Himself also has testified of Himself as follows: “When the Son
of man shall come in His glory.”
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Refute it, if you can, and contradict this; viz., that whereas He
testifies that He has glory of His own, you say that He has received
Another’s. Although we maintain that He has His own glory, in
such a way that we do not deny that His very property of glory is
common to Him with the Father and the Holy Ghost. For whatever God
possesses belongs to the Godhead: and the kingdom of glory belongs to
the Son of God in such a way that it is not kept back from belonging to
the entire Godhead.
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Tantam
Petschenig.
Tamen
Gazæus.
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Ps. xxiii.
(xxiv.) 7
.
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I nunc
Petschenig. The text is however doubtful. One
ms.
reading is
In hunc
, and another
jam
nunc
.
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S.
Matt. xxv. 31
.