Christological nature and the incarnation

The Spirit worked again, and it did so in a divinely fitting manner, giving itself to those who believe in Him.

In this, God and man were the same person, and the one who acknowledges the sandal is not worthy to untie it, let alone be compared to the divine essence.

As it is written in the second Psalm, 'You are my Son; I have today begotten you' (Psalm 2:7).

Cyril explains that the Son, who alone knows the Father and is known by the Father alone, is the Wisdom and the Word of God, and the Angel of the great counsel, and that He clearly explains to us the mystery of the economy with flesh through the voice of the prophet.

The Son, being by nature and truly the Son of God, and having taken on the essence of God and the Father, became flesh, that is, man, according to the voice of John, and He has become a brother to those on earth, having undergone birth according to the flesh with us.

Although He is eternal and has always co-existed with the Father, He became flesh, and as the unique Son, He is seen by the Father, who says, 'You are my Son; I have today begotten you.'

This statement shows the manifest confession, namely the exaltation, and the phrase 'You are my Son' establishes His eternal nature, while the phrase 'I have today begotten you' reveals His birth according to the flesh, which He willingly underwent through the Holy Virgin, and by which He is also named Theotokos.

We must beware, lest what is said in the prophets comes upon us: 'Behold, the scorners, and marvel, and be vanished…'

Cyril says, 'Behold, the scorners, and look upon; and how the rough thing is cut off.'

The Lord warns us that what was said to others should not come upon us.

For the Lord has commanded us, 'I have set you as a light to the Gentiles, that you might be for salvation unto the ends of the earth' (Acts 13:47).

Christ shone upon the Gentiles, leaving under the heavens a light infused with divinity, so that the divine nature and the higher realms might be beheld by eyes of pure intellect, and the ways of spiritual worship might be established.

When the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard this, they tore their garments and leaped into the crowd, shouting and crying out.

It is the custom of the Jews to tear their garments at blasphemies against God, as Caiaphas did when Christ called Himself the Son of God, shouting aloud and saying, 'He has blasphemed!'!

The godly disciples Paul and Barnabas also did this in Lycaonia, where they became known; for some had wandered from the passion, and the matter was paradoxical to those watching, and the observers desired to offer sacrifices to them as signs of divinity, saying, 'The gods, having been made like unto men, have come to us.'

They called Barnabas Zeus and Paul Hermes, because he was, as they said, the leader of the word.