The Economy of Christ's Speech

For the saying, 'When he shall subject all things to him, then he shall subject himself,' would imply a time when he was not subject, if it refers to the present; but according to your heretical logic, he is always in subjection and never resists the Father, making the saying redundant. Through ten thousand words you present subjection to him, and do you again store up his subjection for another time?

If you hear Christ saying, 'I came not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me,' you immediately raise the horn of impiety and say, 'See how he is subjected to the Father!' If you hear him saying, 'I speak of myself nothing; the Father gave me a commandment, what shall I say and what shall I speak,' you immediately seize the word, arguing as if Christ has no authority but is subjected. If you hear him saying, 'I judge no one, there is one who seeks and judges,' you instantly snatch subjection through the word.

Thus, through all things you demonstrate him subjected; for what reason, acting ungratefully, do you introduce a hypothesis and say, 'I follow the word and not the meaning,' as if he who is always subjected will then subject himself? What then does the meaning intend? The apostle's goal everywhere is to vanish the manifold error, to cast out the stance of the unstable nature, and to exile the underlying thought of those who think badly. He demonstrates, therefore, a subjection not established by force, not compelled, not slavish, but one harmonizing the concord of worth.

But let none of you, brother, be seized by the aforementioned arguments—that 'I speak of myself nothing, the Father gave me a commandment, what shall I say and what shall I speak'—lest you take up what is combatantively said according to the heretics into church dogma, miswriting the meaning of the proclamation. Just as the word previously argued for us regarding the apostolic meaning, that the apostles do not proclaim all things dogmatically, but set forth some dogmatically and others economically, so I find even this source of truth: the Lord of the apostles and prophets does not speak dogmatically regarding his own worth, but economically, sympathizing with the weakness of the people. For tell me, brother, when the Lord of the truth says...

If I were to testify about myself, my testimony would not be true; should I then follow the word? Should I insult the dignity through the divine economy? Yet, even though I do not wish to be ungrateful, the Master forgives me; for he will cast away the bad opinion from me if I follow the word poorly. He seizes my voice as if the holy things were theologizing in a different way, as if they were simply mixing things together and insulting the dignity. For he says, 'Since I descended to the Jews and said, If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true,' have you snatched the word into blasphemy? Did you not hear me saying elsewhere, 'Even if I testify about myself, my testimony is true'?

What then, brothers? Does truth oppose itself? Far from it. Rather, it speaks one way toward the companions of the truth, and another way toward those distanced from the truth, not changing itself, but conforming to the intentions of the hearers. Why then does he say to the Jews, 'I do not speak from myself; the Father gave me a command, what shall I say and what shall I speak?' It is because they judged him to be an enemy to the Mosaic law and opposed to the Father who honors the Sabbath through the law, and it seemed in appearance that the new covenant opposes the old arrangement. Therefore, desiring to show that he does not oppose God nor preach against the law, he says, 'I do not speak from myself, as you imply, but he who worships among you gave me a command, teaching them only once, that if you write these things down, you do not write my teaching, but you strike against the God confessed by you.'

Therefore, brothers, so pitifully, so humbly, and so lowliness do I grasp the word of Christ, as if receiving the voice in a slave's rank: 'I do nothing of myself; the Father gave commands to me, what shall I say and what shall I speak.' But do you see to what depth of impiety I arrive by assuming this? For I make him not only lower than the Father, but also less than the apostles. And how? Listen. Paul says, 'Concerning virgins, I have no command from the Lord, but I give an opinion.' Paul speaks without a command; can Christ not speak anything of himself? Concerning virgins...