Christ, the Yes to God’s Promises

…obscure, but rather simple and true, saying, “Our word to you was not yes and no” (2 Corinthians 1:18). That is, he was not at war with himself or sick with inconsistency, praising a thing at one time and blaming it at another, but he spoke the truth in his preaching. So “God is faithful” (2 Corinthians 1:18), that is, free of falsehood and true.

The learned men of the Greeks will hold differing opinions about the gods they believe in, saying both yes and no; for truth is not among them, but rather falsehood. That is why they are tossed about by differing opinions. But He who is truly and by nature the Son of God Almighty, how could He become yes and no? …

Necessarily, then, the Son who is from Him by nature, “who was proclaimed among you by us, by me and Silvanus and Timothy, was not yes and no” (2 Corinthians 1:19). For every word about Him spoken through the voice of those who spoke for God has proved true. And “as many as are the promises of God,” he says, “in Him is the Yes” (2 Corinthians 1:20); that is, in Him we have received from God the Father every bounty and every promise. And this is “in the Yes,” that is, in truth; for these things have come to their fulfillment through Christ. For “death has been swallowed up in victory” (1 Corinthians 15:54), the power of corruption has been overthrown, and weakness too will cease, and dishonor besides (1 Corinthians 15:43), just as the most wise Paul also said in his first letter.

We have also been declared heirs and sharers of the very kingdom of the saints. For He in whom is the Yes will Himself say to us at the divine judgment seat, “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34). By nature we are servants; but through Him we have been called from slavery to the dignity of the free, from corruption to incorruption, and we have been set free from serving the devil.

Every promise of God through Christ, then, has the Yes alone; the No, which is denial, is altogether inadmissible, for He Himself is the Truth (John 14:6). From this he also shows, of this One in particular, that He is God by nature. For if He would not break the promises, but will rather bring them to fulfillment for the saints, though it is God the Father who distributes the good things, how could He not be Son by nature and in truth, and God from God, He in whom, without falsehood, is “every good gift and every perfect gift” (James 1:17)?

That the word is free of falsehood he confirms further, saying, “Therefore through Him also is the Amen to God, for glory through us” (2 Corinthians 1:20). For since He is the Mediator (1 Timothy 2:5), through whom alone the Father can be approached, and in whom is every spiritual gift, surely through Him every prayer will also reach its fulfillment; and this is the Amen. The Son Himself has taught us this, saying to the holy apostles, “In that day you will ask Me nothing. Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask the Father anything, He will give it to you in My name. Until now you have asked nothing in My name; ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full” (John 16:23–24). Through Him, then, is the Amen to God the Father, for glory through us. For it is our custom to close every prayer in the name of Christ.

That He Himself would not lack the glory that befits Him we shall see without effort, when the blessed Jacob prophesies, “Judah, may your brothers praise you” (Genesis 49:8), for Christ sprang from the tribe of Judah according to the flesh (Hebrews 7:14); and when the prophet Isaiah says, “I saw the Lord of hosts sitting on a throne, high and lifted up” (Isaiah 6:1), with the seraphim standing around Him, calling Him holy, naming Him Lord of hosts, and saying that heaven and earth are full of His glory (Isaiah 6:2–3). And that it was the Son Himself whom he beheld, the wise John will show when he says, “Isaiah said these things because he saw His glory …