Cyril of Jerusalem, Lecture 11, Part A

Cyril of Jerusalem

Lecture 11, Part A

https://www.swrktec.org/catechism

“God, who at sundry times and in various manners spoke in times past unto the Fathers by the Prophets, has in these last days spoken unto us by His Son.” — Hebrews 1:1

Summary: There is, at last, only One True Christ, Who, is the complete and perfect expressed Word and Wisdom of God: “for in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.”[i]  This is what the Spirit teaches; so, we need not busy ourselves with religious teachings and wild philosophical speculations about God[ii] that are not found in Scripture.

Preview: 1.  We must hope, not in the many “called” or figurative Christs; but, in the One True Christ, the One having the dignity of eternal Priesthood from the Father, the Only-Begotten: as our profession of Faith[iii] guards us.  2.  Jesus, the natural Son of God, without brother, is called Only-Begotten, because of [His] dignity of Godhead, and [eternal] generation from the Father.[iv]  3.  “Our Lord Jesus Christ … became man; He was not mere man by nature; which Peter blurts out, and Christ blesses as Truth.  4.  Any doubts are clarified by the words, “but a Son eternally begotten by an inscrutable and incomprehensible generation.”  Others received [adopted] sonship; but, He, not receiving sonship, was Son of the Father before all ages.  5.  So the word, generation, in the genealogies refers [only] to His flesh: son of Abraham, son of David.  But, as Son by the standard of Godhead, without time, place, or genealogical descent.  6.  “Believe thou therefore on Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, and a Son Only-Begotten”; gift of God’s love for the world; source of life; glory of the Father; before whom devils tremble.  7.  “He is then the Son of God by nature and not by adoption”: timelessly perfect and complete, without origin, by eternal begetting; not by an imperfect progression.  8.  So, unlike human generation; as when Abraham begot Isaac: for God was not without a Son previously.  9.  Not like a teacher begets disciples, by adoption of grace, by the will of God[v], by water and the Spirit: for at Jesus’ baptism He says, “This is My Son,” not, “This has now become My Son.”  10.  Nor as mind begets word, dispersing into air, thus ending; but, as Word [the person] “substantially existing and living; not spoken”; but, speaking.  11.  Nor as wisdom that man can understand; but, as [Wisdom] that only God Himself knows, between Father and Son[vi]: for all creation is ignorant of such Wisdom.  Thus, man should not be downcast over his ignorance of things that even Angels cannot explain.  12.  The curiosity of bold men amazes, insofar as they are ignorant of created angelic ranks; yet, attempt to scrutinize the Creator of Angels.  The Holy Ghost knows all the deep things of God; yet, has not written of them in Scripture: “why do we busy ourselves about what is not written?”

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[i] Colossians 2:9

[ii] St. Cyril does not reject legitimate secular studies here: agriculture, art, mathematics, music, poetry, science, and may others.  What he rejects are wild cataphatic assertions about the Godhead which can only be described apophatically, as a confession of ignorance.  Others, taking The Creed as a declaration of what we know, rather than a confession of what we do not know, have made The Creed into and instrument of dictatorship and oppression: committing terrible atrocities, a "Jehovian Terror", justified by false understanding.

[iii] We believe that St. Cyril intends The Nicene Creed (325), or perhaps even Then Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed (381).  We believe that St. Cyril (313-386) was instrumental in the formation of this revised creed; especially, since his lectures on the Holy Spirit will show a more well-developed view than that put into words around 325.

[iv] We have added words of clarification; yet, these are not our mere opinion: for what else can these sentences mean, other than that Christ possesses all the fullness of the Godhead, Godhood, or nature of God by eternal generation.  There is no need for these statements at all if they do not indicate the complete and perfect Deity of Christ by eternal generation from the Father.

[v] John 1:12-13; 1 Corinthians 4:15

[vi] St. Cyril was around twelve when The Creed was first presented.  He was about twenty-two when he was ordained deacon (circa 335).  There is every reason to believe that he is following the sequential structure of The Creed here.  He does not discuss the details of the Godhead of the Spirit, such as Wisdom: for that topic, has yet to be treated in The Creed.  The Spirit, of course, fully shares in the Wisdom that God alone is able to comprehend.