Chapter 10.—In What Manner Christ Shall Deliver Up the Kingdom to God, Even the Father. The Kingdom Having Been Delivered to God, Even the Father, Christ Will Not Then Make Intercession for Us.

20. Our Lord Jesus Christ, therefore, will so deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father, Himself not being thence excluded, nor the Holy Spirit, when He shall bring believers to the contemplation of God, wherein is the end of all good actions, and everlasting rest, and joy which never will be taken from us. For He signifies this in that which He says: “I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice; and your joy no man taketh from you.”101    John xvi. 22 Mary, sitting at the feet of the Lord, and earnestly listening to His word, foreshowed a similitude of this joy; resting as she did from all business, and intent upon the truth, according to that manner of which this life is capable, by which, however, to prefigure that which shall be for eternity. For while Martha, her sister, was cumbered about necessary business, which, although good and useful, yet, when rest shall have succeeded, is to pass away, she herself was resting in the word of the Lord. And so the Lord replied to Martha, when she complained that her sister did not help her: “Mary hath chosen the best part, which shall not be taken away from her.”102    Luke x. 30–42 He did not say that Martha was acting a bad part; but that “best part that shall not be taken away.” For that part which is occupied in the ministering to a need shall be “taken away” when the need itself has passed away. Since the reward of a good work that will pass away is rest that will not pass away. In that contemplation, therefore, God will be all in all; because nothing else but Himself will be required, but it will be sufficient to be enlightened by and to enjoy Him alone. And so he in whom “the Spirit maketh intercession with groanings which cannot be uttered,”103    Rom. viii. 26 says, “One thing have I desired of the Lord, that I will seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to contemplate the beauty of the Lord.”104    Ps. xxvii. 4 For we shall then contemplate God, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, when the Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father, so as no longer to make intercession for us, as our Mediator and Priest, Son of God and Son of man;105    [The redeemed must forever stand in the relation of redeemed sinners to their Redeemer. Thus standing, they will forever need Christ’s sacrifice and intercession in respect to their past sins in this earthly state. But as in the heavenly state they are sinless, and are incurring no new guilt, it is true that they do not require the fresh application of atoning blood for new sins, nor Christ’s intercession for such. This is probably what Augustin means by saying that Christ “no longer makes intercession for us,” when he has delivered up the kingdom to God. When the Mediator has surrendered his commission, he ceases to redeem sinners from death, while yet he continues forever to be the Head of those whom he has redeemed, and their High Priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek (Heb. vii. 17.)—W.G.T.S.] but that He Himself too, in so far as He is a Priest that has taken the form of a servant for us, shall be put under Him who has put all things under Him, and under whom He has put all things: so that, in so far as He is God, He with Him will have put us under Himself; in so far as He is a Priest, He with us will be put under Him.106    1 Cor. xv. 24–28 And therefore as the [incarnate] Son is both God and man, it is rather to be said that the manhood in the Son is another substance [from the Son], than that the Son in the Father [is another substance from the Father]; just as the carnal nature of my soul is more another substance in relation to my soul itself, although in one and the same man, than the soul of another man is in relation to my soul.107    [The animal soul is different in kind from the rational soul though both constitute one person; while the rational soul of a man is the same in kind with that of another man. Similarly, says Augustin, there is a difference in kind between the human nature and the divine nature of Christ, though constituting one theanthropic person, while the divine nature of the Son is the same in substance with that of the Father, though constituting two different persons, the Father and Son.—W.G.T.S.]

21. When, therefore, He “shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father,”—that is, when He shall have brought those who believe and live by faith, for whom now as Mediator He maketh intercession, to that contemplation, for the obtaining of which we sigh and groan, and when labor and groaning shall have passed away,—then, since the kingdom will have been delivered up to God, even the Father, He will no more make intercession for us. And this He signifies, when He says: “These things have I spoken unto you in similitudes;108    Proverbs—A.V. but the time cometh when I shall no more speak unto you in similitudes,109    Proverbs—A.V. but I shall declare110    Show—A.V. to you plainly of the Father:” that is, they will not then be “similitudes,” when the sight shall be “face to face.” For this it is which He says, “But I will declare to you plainly of the Father;” as if He said I will plainly show you the Father. For He says, I will “declare” to you, because He is His word. For He goes on to say, “At that day ye shall ask in my name; and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you: for the Father Himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God. I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father.”111    John xvi. 25–28 What is meant by “I came forth from the Father,” unless this, that I have not appeared in that form in which I am equal to the Father, but otherwise, that is, as less than the Father, in the creature which I have taken upon me? And what is meant by “I am come into the world,” unless this, that I have manifested to the eyes even of sinners who love this world, the form of a servant which I took, making myself of no reputation? And what is meant by “Again, I leave the world,” unless this, that I take away from the sight of the lovers of this world that which they have seen? And what is meant by “I go to the Father,” unless this, that I teach those who are my faithful ones to understand me in that being in which I am equal to the Father? Those who believe this will be thought worthy of being brought by faith to sight, that is, to that very sight, in bringing them to which He is said to “deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father.” For His faithful ones, whom He has redeemed with His blood, are called His kingdom, for whom He now intercedes; but then, making them to abide in Himself there, where He is equal to the Father, He will no longer pray the Father for them. “For,” He says, “the Father Himself loveth you.” For indeed He “prays,” in so far as He is less than the Father; but as He is equal with the Father, He with the Father grants. Wherefore He certainly does not exclude Himself from that which He says, “The Father Himself loveth you;” but He means it to be understood after that manner which I have above spoken of, and sufficiently intimated,—namely, that for the most part each Person of the Trinity is so named, that the other Persons also may be understood. Accordingly, “For the Father Himself loveth you,” is so said that by consequence both the Son and the Holy Spirit also may be understood: not that He does not now love us, who spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all;112    Rom. viii. 32 but God loves us, such as we shall be, not such as we are, for such as they are whom He loves, such are they whom He keeps eternally; which shall then be, when He who now maketh intercession for us shall have “delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father,” so as no longer to ask the Father, because the Father Himself loveth us. But for what deserving, except of faith, by which we believe before we see that which is promised? For by this faith we shall arrive at sight; so that He may love us, being such, as He loves us in order that we may become; and not such, as He hates us because we are, and exhorts and enables us to wish not to be always.

CAPUT X.

20. Quomodo Christus tradet regnum Deo et Patri. Tradito regno Deo et Patri, Christus jam non interpellabit pro nobis. Tradet itaque regnum Deo et Patri Dominus noster Jesus Christus, non se inde separato, nec Spiritu sancto, quando perducet credentes ad contemplationem Dei, ubi est finis omnium bonarum actionum, et requies sempiterna, et gaudium quod nunquam auferetur a nobis. Hoc enim signat in eo quod ait: Iterum videbo vos, et gaudebit cor vestrum, et gaudium vestrum nemo auferet a vobis (Id. XVI, 22). Hujus gaudii similitudinem praesignabat Maria sedens ad pedes Domini, et intenta in verbum ejus; quieta scilicet ab omni actione, et intenta in veritatem secundum quemdam modum, cujus capax est ista vita, quo tamen praefiguraret illud quod futurum est in aeternum. Martha quippe sorore sua in necessitatis actione conversante, quamvis bona et utili, tamen, cum requies successerit, transitura, ipsa requiescebat in verbo Domini. Et ideo Dominus conquerenti Marthae quod eam soror non adjuvaret, respondit: Maria optimam partem elegit, quae non auferetur ab ea (Luc. X, 39-42). Non partem malam dixit quod agebat Martha; sed istam optimam quae non auferetur. Illa enim quae in ministerio indigentiae est, cum indigentia ipsa transierit, auferetur. Boni quippe operis transituri merces est requies permansura. In illa igitur contemplatione Deus erit omnia in omnibus; quia nihil ab illo aliud requiretur, sed solo ipso illustrari perfruique sufficiet. Ideoque ille in quo Spiritus interpellat gemitibus inenarrabilibus (Rom. VIII, 26), Unam, inquit, petii a Domino, hanc requiram; ut inhabitem in domo Domini per omnes dies vitae meae, ut contempler delectationem Domini (Psal. XXVI, 4). Contemplabimur enim Deum Patrem et Filium et Spiritum sanctum, cum mediator Dei et hominum homo Christus Jesus tradiderit regnum Deo et Patri, ut jam non interpellet pro nobis mediator et sacerdos noster, Filius Dei et Filius hominis; sed et ipse in quantum sacerdos est assumpta propter nos servi forma, subjectus sit ei qui illi subjecit omnia, et cui subjecit omnia; ut in quantum Deus est, cum illo nos subjectos habeat, in quantum sacerdos, nobiscum illi subjectus sit (I Cor. XV, 24-28). Quapropter cum Filius sit et Deus et homo, alia substantia homo potius in Filio quam Filius in Patre: sicut 0835 caro animae meae, alia substantia est ad animam meam, quamvis in uno homine, quam anima alterius hominis ad animam meam.

21. Cum ergo tradiderit regnum Deo et Patri, id est, cum credentes et viventes ex fide, pro quibus nunc mediator interpellat, perduxerit ad contemplationem, cui percipiendae suspiramus et gemimus, et cum transierit labor et gemitus, jam non interpellabit pro nobis tradito regno Deo et Patri. Hoc significans ait, Haec vobiscum locutus sumin similitudinibus: veniet hora, quando jam non in similitudinibus loquar vobis, sed manifeste de Patre nuntiabo vobis; id est, jam non erunt similitudines, cum visio fuerit facie ad faciem. Hoc est enim quod ait, sed manifeste de Patre nuntiabo vobis; ac si diceret, manifeste Patrem ostendam vobis. Nuntiabo quippe ait, quia Verbum ejus est. Sequitur enim et dicit: Illa die in nomine meo petetis, et non dico vobis quia ego rogabo Patrem: ipse enim Pater amat vos, quia vos me amastis, et credidistis quia a Deo exivi. Exivi a Patre, et veni in hunc mundum: iterum relinquo mundum, et vado ad Patrem (Joan. XVI, 25-28). Quid est, A Patre exivi; nisi, non in ea forma qua aequalis sum Patri, sed aliter, id est, in assumpta creatura minor apparui? Et quid est, Veni in hunc mundum; nisi, formam servi, quam me exinaniens accepi, etiam peccatorum qui mundum istum diligunt, oculis demonstravi? Et quid est, Iterum relinquo mundum; nisi, ab aspectu dilectorum mundi aufero quod viderunt? Et quid est, Vado ad Patrem; nisi, doceo me sic intelligendum a fidelibus meis, quomodo aequalis sum Patri? Hoc qui credunt, digni habebuntur perduci a fide ad speciem, id est ad ipsam visionem, quo perducens dictus est tradere regnum Deo et Patri. Fideles quippe ejus quos redemit sanguine suo, dicti sunt regnum ejus, pro quibus nunc interpellat: tunc autem illic eos sibi faciens inhaerere, ubi aequalis est Patri, non jam rogabit Patrem pro eis. Ipse enim, inquit, Pater amat vos. Ex hoc enim rogat, quo minor est Patre: quo vero aequalis est, exaudit cum Patre. Unde se ab eo quod dixit, Ipse enim Pater amat vos, utique ipse non separat; sed secundum ea facit intelligi quae supra commemoravi, satisque insinuavi, plerumque ita nominari unamquamque in Trinitate personam, ut et aliae illic intelligantur. Sic itaque dictum est, Ipse enim Pater amat vos, ut consequenter intelligatur et Filius et Spiritus sanctus: non quia modo nos non amat, qui proprio Filio non pepercit, sed pro nobis omnibus tradidit eum (Rom. VIII, 32); sed tales nos amat Deus, quales futuri sumus, non quales sumus. Quales enim amat, tales in aeternum conservat: quod tunc erit, cum tradiderit regnum Deo et Patri, qui nunc interpellat pro nobis, ut jam non roget Patrem, quia ipse Pater amat nos. Quo autem merito, nisi fidei, qua credimus antequam illud quod promittitur videamus? Per hanc enim perveniemus ad speciem, ut tales amet, quales amat ut simus; non quales odit quia 0836 sumus , et hortatur ac praestat ne tales esse semper velimus.