Twelve Chapters on the Faith · §4 · Gregory Thaumaturgus

Christ was born of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin, not of a man's seed

Gregory condemns the view that Christ was conceived from a man's seed, and answers from the angel's words to Mary and to Joseph.

If anyone says that Christ was begotten of the Virgin from the seed of a man, as all other men are born, and does not confess that he was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and of holy Mary the Virgin, and became man from the seed of David (Romans 1:3), as it is written, let him be anathema.

How can it be said that Christ was begotten of the Virgin from the seed of a man, when the holy Gospel and the angel himself testify that the Virgin Mary said, “How will this happen to me, since I do not know a man?” (Luke 1:34) That is why the one who brought the news to Mary said, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the holy one who is born of you will be called Son of the Most High” (Luke 1:35). And to Joseph he says, “Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for what has been begotten in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and they will call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:20–21).

Latin

Si quis dicat ex semine viri genitum esse Christum de Virgine, sicut omnes alii nascuntur homines; et non confitetur ipsum ex Spiritu sancto, et ex sancta Maria virgine incarnatum, et factum hominem ex semine David, sicut scriptum est; anathema sit. Quomodo dici potest ex semine viri genitus Christus ex Virgine; cum sanctum Evangelium, et ipse Angelus testentur, Mariam Virginem dixisse: Quomodo fiet mihi istud; quoniam virum non cognosco? Ideo et qui nuntiavit Mariae, dixit: Spiritus sanctus superveniet in te, et virtus Altissimi obumbrabit tibi. Quamobrem et quod natum est ex te sanctum, vocabitur filius Altissimi. Et Iosepho dicit: Ne timeas accipere Mariam coniugem tuam. Quod enim in ea natum est, ex Spiritu sancto est: pariet vero filium, et vocabunt nomen eius Iesum. Ipse enim salvum faciet populum suum a peccatis eorum.

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About this text

Gregory Thaumaturgus, Twelve Chapters on the Faith, in a fresh English translation: twelve brief condemnations of false teaching about Christ, each with a short explanation, ending with praise of the Father and the Holy Spirit and a warning against quarrels over words.

Gregory Thaumaturgus (c. 213–c. 270) wrote this treatise to defend the orthodox understanding of Christ against positions that either deny the createdness of Christ's body or confuse his flesh with his divinity. The work is organized as a series of chapters, each of which anathematizes a specific error and briefly argues against it.

The first two chapters set out two claims. First, Christ's body is created, not uncreated, because what is uncreated cannot suffer, be wounded, or be touched, yet the risen Christ showed the nails and the wound made by the lance, and his body able to be touched, to the disciples, entering through closed doors. Second, Christ's flesh is not consubstantial with the divinity, since consubstantiality means identity of nature and eternal existence, whereas the flesh exists in time. In both cases Gregory affirms that Christ is truly God and truly man: when he was otherwise God, he was recognized as man; and when he was truly man, God was nevertheless demonstrated from his own works. The other ten chapters condemn, in turn, the views that Christ was a man taken up like one of the prophets, that he was conceived from a man's seed, that the Son before the ages and the Son of the last times are two, that the one who suffered was someone other than the Word, that Christ was saved rather than the Savior, that he is divided into a perfect man and God the Word, that he is changeable, that he took only part of a man, that his body lacked soul or mind, and that he came only in appearance. The work closes with praise of the Trinity and a warning against quarrels over words.

A reader will meet Christ as the central figure, presented as true God and true man, whose body is created and whose divinity is eternal. Gregory cites Philippians 2:6-7 on Christ emptying himself and taking the form of a servant, and he alludes to resurrection appearances involving the nails, the lance wound, a body able to be touched, and entering through closed doors.

English translated from the Latin column of the Opera omnia print (Paris, 1622) for all twelve chapters; Chapters III-XII were read from the page images (printed pp. 3-8, PDF pp. 27-32). Vossius's scholia are left out; marginal variants are noted, not adopted. In Chapter IX the print reads 'corruptible in flesh' where its margin gives 'incorruptible'; the printed reading is translated. ANF 6 was consulted only as a sense check for Chapters I-II.

Printed text used

Translated from Opera omnia, Greek and Latin (Paris: Sonnius, Morel and Cramoisy, 1622), page images (Latin column (Greek damaged) · Capita I-XII (Chapters III-XII read from the page images, printed pp. 3-8))
Also checked Archive DjVu machine-read text (Latin/Greek mixed machine-read text)
Translated from Latin Capita I-II (Latin)

Where the prints differ

Cap. I interpretatio — machine-read text of clavorum / lancea / palpandum / clausis ianuis restored from the facing column and the John 20 scene; not invented doctrine.

We have not yet re-checked this work against its source. We made this study translation with AI help. No scholar has yet certified it as faithful and complete. Open Latin on any section, or the Latin source link, to see the source text. It is not a critical edition.

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