A Commentary on the Apostles' Creed 12
12 Section 12 PL 21, 351
12. But they say, perhaps, If it was possible to God that a virgin should conceive, it was possible also that she should bring forth, but they think it unmeet that a being of so great majesty should enter the world in such wise, that even though there had been no defilement from intercourse with man, there should yet be the unseemliness attendant upon the act of delivery. To which let us reply briefly, meeting them on their own level. If a person should see a little child in the act of being suffocated in a quagmire, and himself, a great man and powerful, should go into the mire, just at its verge, so to say, to rescue the dying child; would you blame this man as defiled for having stepped into a little mire, or would you praise him as merciful, for having preserved the life of one that was perishing? But the case supposed is that of an ordinary man. Let us return to the nature of Him Who was born. How much, think you, is the nature of the Sun inferior to him? How much beyond doubt, the Creature to the Creator? Consider now if a ray of the sun alights upon a quagmire, does it receive any pollution from it? or is the sun the worse for shedding his light upon foul objects? Fire, too, how far inferior is its nature to the things of which we are speaking? Yet no substance, whether foul or vile, is believed to pollute fire if applied to it. When the case is plainly thus with regard to material things, do you suppose that aught of pollution and defilement can befall that supereminent and incorporeal nature, which is above all fire and all light? Then, lastly, note this also: we say that man was created by God out of the clay of the earth. But if God is thought to be defiled in seeking to recover His own work, much more must He be thought so in making that work originally. And it is idle to ask why He passed through what is repugnant to our sense of modesty, when you cannot tell why He made what is so repugnant. And therefore it is not nature but general estimation that has made us think these things to be such. Otherwise, all things that are in the body, being formed from one and the same clay, are distinguished from one another only in their uses and natural offices.
Sed dicunt fortassis, quia possibile si fuerat Deo, ut virgo conciperet, possibile etiam fuerat ut pareret: sed indignum eis videri, ut tanta illa majestas per genitales feminae transiret egressus: ubi quamvis nulla fuerit ex viri commistione contagio, fuit tamen 75 ipsius puerperii obscoenae attrectationis injuria. Pro quo paulisper eis secundum sensum suum respondeamus. Si quis videat parvulum in profundo coeni necari, et ipse cum sit vir magnus et potens, extremum (ut ita dixerim) ingrediatur coenum, ut parvulum liberet morientem, pollutusne a te accusabitur hic vir, qui paululum calcaverit luti, an ut misericors laudabitur, quod vitam contulerit morituro? Sed haec etiam de communi homine dicta sint. Redeamus nunc ad naturam ejus, qui natus est. Quantum putas natura solis illo inferior est? quantum creatura sine dubio creatore. Intuere nunc, si solis radius in coeni alicujus voraginem demittatur, nunquidnam aliquid inde pollutionis acquirit? aut obscoenorum illustratio, solis ducitur in injuriam? Ignis quoque quanto natura est inferior his de quibus sermo est? Et nulla materia, vel obscoena, vel turpis adhibita ei, ignem polluisse creditur. Cum [Al. add. ergo] haec ita esse in rebus materialibus constet, tu in illa supereminenti et incorporea natura, quae super omnem ignem, et super omne lumen est, pollutionis aliquid putas ac [Al. aut] obscoenitatis incidere? Tum deinde etiam ad [Al. tacetur ad] illud adverte. Nos hominem a Deo creatum de terrae limo dicimus. Quod si obscoenitas Deo reputatur opus suum requirenti, multo magis ei reputabitur opus istud ab initio fabricanti. Et superfluum est dicere, cur per obscoena transierit, cum non possis dicere, cur obscoena condiderit. Et ideo obscoena haec esse, non natura, sed observantia docuit. Caeterum omnia quae sunt in corpore, ex uno eodemque luto 76 formata, usibus tantum et officiis naturalibus distinguuntur.
Sed nec illud quidem absolutione vacare hujus quaestionis omittamus, quod substantia Dei, quae omnino est incorporea, inseri corporibus, vel capi ab eis principaliter non potest, nisi aliqua sit media substantia spiritualis, quae capax divini spiritus possit esse. Verbi gratia, ut si dicamus, lux omnia quidem membra corporis illustrare potest, a nullo tamen eorum nisi a solo oculo capi potest. Solus est enim oculus qui capax est [Al. sit] lucis. Et Filius ergo Dei nascitur ex Virgine, non principaliter soli carni sociatus, sed anima inter carnem Deumque media generatus. Anima ergo media, et in secreta rationabilis spiritus arce Verbum Dei capiente, absque ulla quam suspicaris injuria, Deus est natus ex Virgine. Et ideo nihil ibi turpe putandum est, ubi sanctificatio spiritus inerat, et anima, quae erat Dei capax, particeps fiebat etiam carnis. Nihil ibi ducas impossibile, ubi aderat virtus altissimi. Nihil de humana fragilitate cogites, ubi plenitudo inerat divinitatis.