Novatian, On the Trinity

What if in another place also we read in like manner that God was described as an angel? For when, to his wives Leah and Rachel, Jacob complained of the injustice of their father, and when he told them that he desired now to go and return into his own land, he moreover interposed the authority of his dream; and at this time he says that the angel of God had said to him in a dream, “Jacob, Jacob. And I said,” says he, “What is it? Lift up thine eyes, said He, and see, the he-goats and the rams leaping upon the sheep, and the she-goats are black and white, and many-coloured, and grizzled, and speckled: for I have seen all that Laban hath done to thee. I am God, who appeared to thee in the place of God, where thou anointedst for me there the standing stone, and there vowedst a vow unto me: now therefore arise, and go forth from this land, and go unto the land of thy nativity, and I will be with thee.”151 Gen. xxxi. 11–13. If the Angel of God speaks thus to Jacob, and the Angel himself mentions and says, “I am God, who appeared unto thee in the house of God,” we see without any hesitation that this is declared to be not only an angel, but God also; because He speaks of the vow directed to Himself by Jacob in the place of God, and He does not say, in my place. It is then the place of God, and He also is God. Moreover, it is written simply in the place of God, for it is not said in the place of the angel and God, but only of God; and He who promises those things is manifested to be both God and Angel, so that reasonably there must be a distinction between Him who is called God only, and Him who is declared to be not God simply, but Angel also. Whence if so great an authority cannot here be regarded as belonging to any other angel, that He should also avow Himself to be God, and should bear witness that a vow was made to Him, except to Christ alone, to whom not as angel only, but as to God, a vow can be vowed; it is manifest that it is not to be received as the Father, but as the Son, God and Angel.152 [Eccles. v. 6. A striking text when compared with the “Angel of the Covenant” (Angelus Testamenti, Vulgate), Mal. iii. 1.] Moreover, if this is Christ, as it is, he is in terrible risk who says that Christ is either man or angel alone, withholding from Him the power of the divine name,—an authority which He has constantly received on the faith of the heavenly Scriptures, which continually say that He is both Angel and God. To all these things, moreover, is added this, that in like manner as the divine Scripture has frequently declared Him both Angel and God, so the same divine Scripture declares Him also both man and God, expressing thereby what He should be, and depicting even then in figure what He was to be in the truth of His substance. “For,” it says, “Jacob remained alone; and there wrestled with him a man even till daybreak. And He saw that He did not prevail against him; and He touched the broad part of Jacob’s thigh while He was wrestling with him and he with Him, and said to him, Let me go, for the morning has dawned. And he said, I will not let Thee go, except Thou bless me. And He said, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. And He said to him, Thy name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name; because thou hast prevailed with God, and thou art powerful with men.”153 Gen. xxxii. 24–27. [Vol. iv. 390, this series.] And it adds, moreover: “And Jacob called the name of that place the Vision of God: for I have seen the Lord face to face, and my soul has been made safe. And the sun arose upon him. Afterwards he crossed over the Vision of God, but he halted upon his thigh.”154 Gen. xxxii. 30, 31. A man, it says, wrestled with Jacob. If this was a mere man, who is he? Whence is he? Wherefore does he contend and wrestle with Jacob? What had intervened? What had happened? What was the cause of so great a dispute as that, and so great a struggle? Why, moreover, is Jacob, who is found to be strong enough to hold the man with whom he is wrestling, and asks for a blessing from Him whom he is holding, asserted to have asked therefore, except because this struggle was prefigured as that which should be between Christ and the sons of Jacob, which is said to be completed in the Gospel? For against this man Jacob’s people struggled, in which struggle Jacob’s people was found to be the more powerful, because against Christ it gained the victory of its iniquity: at which time, on account of the crime that it committed, hesitating and giving way, it began most sorely to halt in the walk of its own faith and salvation; and although it was found the stronger, in respect of the condemnation of Christ, it still needs His mercy, still needs His blessing. But, moreover, the man who wrestled with Jacob says, “Moreover, thy name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name;” and if Israel is the man who sees God, the Lord was beautifully showing that it was not only a man who was then wrestling with Jacob, but God also. Certainly Jacob saw God, with whom he wrestled, although he was holding the man in his own struggle. And in order that there might still be no hesitation, He Himself laid down the interpretation by saying, “Because thou hast prevailed with God, and art powerful with men.” For which reason the same Jacob, perceiving already the force of the Mystery, and apprehending the authority of Him with whom he had wrestled, called the name of that place in which he had wrestled, the Vision of God. He, moreover, superadded the reason for his interpretation being offered of the Vision of God: “For I have seen,” said he, “God face to face, and my soul has been saved.” Moreover, he saw God, with whom he wrestled as with a man; but still indeed he held the man as a conqueror, though as an inferior he asked a blessing as from God. Thus he wrestled with God and with man; and thus truly was that struggle prefigured, and in the Gospel was fulfilled, between Christ and the people of Jacob, wherein, although the people had the mastery, yet it proved to be inferior by being shown to be guilty. Who will hesitate to acknowledge that Christ, in whom this type of a wrestling was fulfilled, was not man only, but God also, since even that very type of a wrestling seems to have proved Him man and God? And yet, even after this, the same divine Scripture justly does not cease to call the Angel God, and to pronounce God the Angel. For when this very Jacob was about to bless Manasseh and Ephraim, the sons of Joseph, with his hands placed across on the heads of the lads, he said, “The God which fed me from my youth even unto this day, the Angel who delivered me from all evils, bless these lads.”155 Gen. xlviii. 14, 15. Even to such a point does he affirm the same Being to be an Angel, whom he had called God, as in the end of his discourse, to express the person of whom he was speaking as one, when he said156 Benedicat. “bless these lads.” For if he had meant the one to be understood as God, and the other as an angel, he would have comprised the two persons in the plural number; but now he defined the singular number of one person in the blessing, whence he meant it to be understood that the same person is God and Angel. But yet He cannot be received as God the Father; but as God and Angel, as Christ He can be received. And Him, as the author of this blessing, Jacob also signified by placing his hands crossed upon the lads, as if their father was Christ, and showing, from thus placing his hands, the figure and future form of the passion.157 [A very beautiful patristic idea of the dim vision of the cross to which the Fathers were admitted, but which they understood not, even when they predicted it. 1 Pet. x. 11.] Let no one, therefore, who does not shrink from speaking of Christ as an Angel, thus shrink from pronouncing Him God also, when he perceives that He Himself was invoked in the blessing of these lads, by the sacrament of the passion, intimated in the type of the crossed hands, as both God and Angel.

CAPUT XIX. al. XXVII. Quod etiam Jacob apparuerit Deus Angelus, nempe Dei Filius.

Quid si et alio in loco similiter legimus Deum Angelum 0923A positum? Nam cum apud uxores suas Liam atque Rachel Jacob de patris illarum iniquitate quereretur, et cum referret quod jam in terram propriam remeare et reverti cuperet, somnii quoque sui interponebat auctoritatem, quo tempore refert sibi Angelum Dei per somnium dixisse (Gen. XXXI, 11-13): Jacob, Jacob. Et ego, inquit, dixi: Quid est? Aspice, inquit, oculis tuis, et vide hircos et arietes ascendentes super oves et capras variatos albos, et varios et cineritios et aspersos. Vidi enim quaecumque tibi Laban fecit. Ego sum Deus qui visus sum tibi in Loco Dei, ubi unxisti mihi illic stantem lapidem, et vovisti mihi illic votum. Nunc ergo surge, et proficiscere de terra hac, et vade in terram nativitatis tuae, et ero tecum. Si Angelus Dei loquitur haec ad Jacob, atque ipse Angelus 0923B infert, dicens: Ego sum Deus qui visus sum tibi in Loco Dei: non tantummodo hunc Angelum, sed et Deum positum sine ulla haesitatione conspicimus, quique sibi votum refert ab Jacob destinatum esse in Loco Dei, et noc dicit in Loco meo. Est ergo Locus Dei, est et hic Deus. Sed enim ibi simpliciter est in Loco Dei positum; neque enim dictum est in Loco Angeli et Dei, sed tantummodo Dei: hic autem qui ista promittit, Deus atque Angelus esse perhibetur; ut merito distinctio sit inter eum qui tantummodo Deus dicitur, et inter eum qui non Deus simpliciter, sed et Angelus pronuntiatur. Ex quo si nullius alterius Angeli potest heic accipi tanta auctoritas, ut Deum quoque se esse fateatur, et votum sibi factum esse testetur, nisi tantummodo Christi; cui, non quia Angelo tantum, sed 0923C quia Deo, votum voveri potest: manifestum est non Patrem accipi posse, sed Filium, Deum et Angelum. Hic autem si Christus est, sicuti est; vehementer periclitatur, qui aut hominem Christum, aut Angelum tantummodo dicit, subtracta illi divini nominis potestate; quam ex Scripturarum coelestium fide frequenter accepit, quae illum et Angelum frequenter et Deum dicunt. His omnibus etiam illud accedit, ut quomodo illum et Angelum frequenter et Deum posuit Scriptura divina, sic illum et hominem ponat et Deum, exprimens eadem Scriptura divina quod erat futurus, et depingens jam tum in imagine quod habebat esse in substantiae veritate. Remansit enim, inquit, Jacob solus, et luctabatur homo cum eo usque in mane: et vidit quoniam non potest adversus eum, 0923D et tetigit latitudinem femoris Jacob, cum in eum luctaretur et ipse cum eo, et dixit ei: dimitte me, ascendit enim lucifer. Et ille dixit. Non te dimittam, nisi me benedixeris. Et dixit: Quod est nomen tuum? Et 0924A ille dixit, Jacob. Dixitque ei: Non vocabitur jam nunc nomen tuum Jacob, sed Israel erit nomen tuum: quia invaluisti cum Deo, et cum hominibus potens es (Gen. XXXII, 24-27). Et adhuc adjicit (Gen. XXXII, 30, 31): Et vocavit Jacob nomen loci illius, Visio Dei. Vidi enim Deum facie ad faciem, et salva facta est anima mea. Ortusque est ei sol: mox transivit Visionem Dei; ipse vero claudicabat femore suo. Homo, inquit, luctabatur cum Jacob. Si homo solitarius, quis est iste? Unde est? Quare cum Jacob contendit atque luctatur? Quid intercesserat? Quid factum fuerat? Quae ratio contentionis istius tantae, tantique certaminis? Quare praeterea Jacob, qui ad tenendum hominem cum quo luctabatur fortir invenitur, et benedictionem ab eo quem detinebat postulat quia jam lucifer 0924B oritur, ideo postulasse reperitur; nisi quoniam praefigurabatur contentio haec inter Christum et filios Jacob futura, quae in Evangelio dicitur perfecta? Contra hunc enim hominem colluctatus est populus Jacob, in qua colluctatione potentior populus est Jacob repertus; quippe cum adversus Christum iniquitatis suae victoriam sit consecutus, quo in tempore, propter facinus quod admisit, incessu fidei propriae et salutis claudicare gravissime incertus et lubricus coepit: qui, quamvis superior damnando Christum repertus, eget tamen ipsius misericordia, eget tamen ipsius benedictione. Sed enim hic homo qui cum Jacob luctatus est: Non, inquit, vocabitur etiam nunc nomen tuum Jacob, sed Israel erit nomen tuum. Ac si Israel est homo videns Deum; eleganter ostendebat Dominus 0924C quod non tantum homo esset qui colluctabatur tunc cum Jacob, sed et Deus. Videbat utique Deum Jacob cum quo colluctabatur, quamvis hominem ipsius in colluctatione retineret. Et ut nulla adhuc posset esse dubitatio, interpretationem ipse posuit dicendo: Quia invaluisti cum Deo, et cum hominibus potens es. Ob quam causam hic idem Jacob intelligens jam vim sacramenti et pervidens auctoritatem ejus cum quo luctatus fuisset, nomen loci illius in quo colluctatus est, vocavit Visionem Dei. Superstruxit praeterea causas ad interpretationem Visionis Dei porrigendam. Vidi enim, inquit, Deum facie ad faciem, et salva facta est anima mea. Vidit autem Deum cum quo colluctatus est quasi cum homine: sed et hominem quidem quasi victor tenuit; benedictionem autem quasi, 0924D a Deo ut inferior, postulavit. Ita cum Deo et cum homine colluctatus fuit: ac sic colluctatio haec ibi quidem praefigurata est; in Evangelio autem inter Christum et populum Jacob perfecta est: in qua quamvis 0925A populus superior inventus sit, minor repertus est dum nocens comprobatus est. Quis dubitabit Christum in quo haec colluctationis figura completa est, non hominem tantum, sed et Deum agnoscere; quandoquidem hominem illum et Deum etiam figura ipsa colluctationis videatur comprobasse? Et tamen etiam post haec aeque non cessat eadem Scriptura divina Angelum Deum dicere, et Deum Angelum pronuntiare. Nam (Gen. XLVIII, 14, 15) cum Manassen atque Ephrem filios Joseph benedicturus esset hic ipse Jacob; transversis super capita puerorum manibus collocatis, Deus, inquit, qui pascit me a juventute mea usque in hunc diem, Angelus qui liberavit me ex omnibus malis, benedicat pueros hos. Usque adeo autem eumdem Angelum ponit quem Deum dixerat, ut 0925B singulariter in exitu sermonis sui posuerit personam de qua loquebatur, dicendo benedicat pueros hos. Si enim alterum Deum, alterum Angelum voluisset intelligi, plurali numero duas personas complexus fuisset: nunc unius personae singularem numerum in benedictione deposuit, ex quo eumdem Deum atque Angelum intelligi voluit. Sed enim Deus Pater accipi non potest: Deus autem et Angelus, Christus accipi potest. Quem ut hujus benedictionis auctorem etiam transversas super pueros manus Jacob ponendo significavit, quasi pater illorum esset Christus ex quo manus ponere figuram et formam futuram passionis ostendens. Nemo igitur Christum, sicut Angelum non dubitat dicere, ita etiam Deum haesitet pronuntiare, cum hunc eumdem , et puerorum 0925C horum benedictionem, per Sacramentum passionis digestum in figura manuum, et Deum et Angelum intelligat invocatum fuisse.