Sermo 6
The Spirit Needs No Body
The supreme Spirit needs no bodily instrument or service, acting by a single spiritual nod, teaching without a tongue and running without feet.
So that the next discourse may follow on from the one before it, hold on to the point already made — that the gift above, the one and only supreme and boundless Spirit, doesn't need any bodily instrument or bodily service for anything he wills to do or to have done. Let us therefore confidently grant to God alone — just as we grant him immortality — that he is also incorporeal: because he alone among spirits so far transcends the whole bodily nature that in whatever body, in whatever work, he needs nothing, content with a single spiritual nod whenever he wills, for whatever he wills to be done.1 That majesty alone — not for its own sake, not for the sake of another — needs the work of a bodily instrument: that majesty at whose omnipotent decree every work stands ready at once, every lofty thing bows down, every opposing thing yields, every created thing favors his will, even with no bodily or spiritual comfort intervening or assisting.2 He teaches or warns without a tongue; he offers or holds without hands; without feet he runs and hurries to those who are perishing.
Hidden Benefits, Forgotten Giver
Former generations received God's benefits without recognizing him, and humanity descended into attributing gifts to nature, fortune, demons, and even herbs.
He kept on doing these things, and when earlier generations experienced them, people received his attentive kindnesses — yet the one who was kind remained hidden from them. He indeed reached powerfully from one end to the other; yet, arranging all things gently, he was not perceived by people. And they rejoiced over the good things of the Lord; and they did not at all know the Lord of hosts, because he judged all things with tranquility. From him they were, but not with him; through him they lived, but not by him; from him they were wise, but not in him — estranged, ungrateful, senseless. From this it finally came about that what they were, what they lived by, and what they were wise by, they did not attribute to their Creator, but ascribed to nature — or at least to something else. What was more foolish still: many people ascribed many things to fortune, and also to their own effort and ability. How much the seductive spirits have claimed for themselves; how much has been given to the sun and the moon; how much has been attributed to lands and waters; how much has even been assigned to the handmade and crafted works of mortals! To herbs, shrubs, and the tiniest, most worthless seeds, people offered worship as though they were divine powers.
God Comes Forth in the Flesh
Lamenting Israel's exchange of glory for a calf, God graciously pitches his tent in the sun, offering flesh so that the wise might become truly wise.
Alas! Have people really lost and exchanged their glory for the likeness of a calf eating hay? God took pity on their wanderings, and coming forth graciously from a shady, thick mountain, he set his tent in the sun. He offered flesh to the wise — flesh through which they might learn to be wise and spiritual. For while he does works in flesh and through flesh — works not of the flesh but of God — ruling over nature, overcoming foolish fortune, making the wisdom of humans and demons' tyranny foolish, he clearly shows himself to be the one through whom those same things were done before, when they were done. In flesh, I say, and through flesh, he powerfully and openly worked wonders, spoke wholesome words, suffered unworthy things — clearly showing that he is the one who, powerfully but invisibly, had founded the ages, wisely governed them, and kindly protected them. Finally, while he preaches the gospel to the ungrateful and gives signs to unbelievers, he prays for his own crucifiers — doesn't he clearly declare himself to be the one who, from his Father, makes his sun rise daily on good and evil alike, and rains on the just and the unjust? This is what he himself used to say: 'If I do not do the works of my Father, don't believe me.'✦
The Works of the Incarnate Word
Christ teaches on the mountain, heals by touch, forgives the penitent woman, and walks on water, fulfilling what the Psalms had long foretold.
See, he opens the mouth of his own flesh, teaching his disciples on the mountain—he who in silence teaches the angels in heavenly places. See, at the touch of his bodily hand leprosy is healed, blindness is put to flight, hearing is restored, the mute tongue is loosed, the disciple who was nearly drowned is raised up; and he is unmistakably recognized by the one to whom David had said long before: You open your hand and fill every living creature with blessing; and again: As you open your hand, all things will be filled with goodness. See, lying near his bodily feet and repenting, the sinful woman hears: Your sins are forgiven you, and she recognizes him about whom she had read in writings from long ago: The devil will go out before his feet. Where sin is truly forgiven, there without any doubt the devil is driven out of the sinner's heart. Hence he speaks of all penitents everywhere: Now is the judgment of the world, now the prince of this world will be cast out; namely, that God may forgive the sin of the one humbly confessing, and that the devil may lose the dominion he had seized in the human heart.✦
Walking on Waves, Kissing Feet
Christ walks on waves with fleshly feet, fulfilling the Psalm, yet the carnal cannot perceive this spiritual work, so God makes justification tangible through the kiss of his feet.
Finally, he walks on the waves with fleshly feet—he who, before he was yet clothed in flesh, the Psalmist had already sung of: "Your life is in the sea, and your paths in the great waters"—which means: You trample the swelling hearts of the proud and restrain the unruly desires of the carnal, justifying the impious and humbling the proud.✦ This, however, happens invisibly, and so the carnal person does not perceive by whom it is done. That's why he also adds: "And your footsteps will not be known."✦ Because of this, the Father says to the Son again: "Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet"—that is: Until I subject all who despise you to your will, whether unwilling and wretched, or willing and blessed.✦ Therefore, because flesh couldn't perceive this work of the Spirit (the natural person doesn't perceive the things that are of the Spirit of God), it was necessary that by resting bodily upon bodily feet, and by kissing those same feet with bodily lips, a sinful woman might perceive the forgiveness of sins; and so that transformation of the right hand of the Most High, by which he wondrously but invisibly justifies the impious, might become known even to the carnal.✦✦
The Two Feet of Christ
Scripture speaks of God's feet standing, walking, and running; these feet, head and humanity joined, signify mercy and judgment united in the one assumed man.
But those spiritual feet of God, which a penitent person must first kiss in spirit, I must not pass over. I know your curiosity, which nothing encrusted by its own will escapes entirely. Nor should it lead you to scorn learning with what feet Scripture so frequently commemorates God — now, indeed, to stand, so that there: 'We will adore in the place where his feet stood'; now, however, to walk, so that there: 'I will dwell in them, and I will walk among them'; now even to run, according to that word: 'He exulted like a giant to run the way.' If it has seemed right to the Apostle to refer the head of Christ to his deity, I think it also seems fitting to us that the feet pertain to his humanity — of which let us call one mercy, the other judgment. These two terms are known to you, and from very many places in Scripture both together, if you reflect on it, present themselves. Because God assumed the foot of mercy in the flesh to which he united himself, the Epistle to the Hebrews teaches, testifying that Christ was tempted in all things by way of likeness, without sin, so that he might become merciful. Why — does not that other foot, which is called judgment, equally pertain to the man assumed, and does not God himself, as man, openly signify this, where he affirms that power to execute judgment has been given to him by the Father, because he is the Son of Man?
Mercy and Truth Met Together
The invisible Emmanuel now passes through faithful minds spiritually, and the bridegroom's legs of mercy and truth, set on gold, fulfill the Song of Songs.
So these two feet, joined fittingly under the one head of deity — born of a woman, made under the law — the invisible Emmanuel has appeared on earth and lived among us.✦✦✦ In these he passes through even now, doing good and healing everyone oppressed by the devil — but spiritually, invisibly.✦ By these feet, I say, he walks through the devoted minds of the faithful, unceasingly surveying and examining their hearts and deepest parts.✦✦ But see to it — these may not be the bridegroom's legs that the bride so magnificently commends in what follows, comparing them (unless I'm mistaken) to marble columns set on golden bases.✦ How beautifully this fits together: for in the incarnate Wisdom of God — symbolized by gold — mercy and truth have met each other; and indeed, all the Lord's ways are mercy and truth.✦✦
Kissing Both Feet
The faithful soul bears the footprints of fear and hope, kissing both the foot of judgment and the foot of mercy, for either alone brings despair or false security.
Happy the mind to which the Lord Jesus has once fixed both feet! From two signs recognize the one who is of this kind: she must carry with her, impressed by divine footprints. They themselves are fear and hope: the one representing the image of judgment, the other of mercy. Rightly is God well pleased with those who fear him and with those who hope in his mercy: since fear is the beginning of wisdom, and hope its progress; for love claims completion for itself.✦✦ Since this is so, the fruit is not small in this first kiss, which is received at the feet; only take care that you are not cheated out of either of them. Furthermore, if you are now pierced by the pain of sin and by the fear of judgment, you have pressed your lips to the footprint of truth and of judgment. But if you temper fear and pain by contemplating the goodness of God and by the hope of obtaining pardon, know also how to embrace the foot of mercy. Otherwise, to kiss one without the other is not helpful: because the memory of judgment alone throws you headlong into the abyss of despair, and a deceptive assent to mercy produces the worst kind of security.
A Singer Between Fear and Mercy
The preacher confesses his own oscillation between terror at judgment and slackness in mercy, resolving to sing of both until mercy silences misery forever.
It has even been granted to me, wretched as I am, to sit at the Lord Jesus' feet from time to time, and now one, now the other, to embrace them with all the devotion I'm capable of, insofar as his kindness has deigned to admit me. But if, forgetting mercy, I clung to judgment a little longer, prodded by my conscience, then at once, struck down by incredible fear and wretched confusion, and surrounded by a dark horror, trembling from the depths I cried out this one thing: Who knows the power of your wrath, and can count up your anger as your fear deserves? But if, leaving that behind, I were to hold more firmly to the foot of mercy, I'd be dissolved by such great carelessness and negligence on the contrary, so that immediately my prayer would grow lukewarm, my action sluggish, my laughter readier, my talk less guarded, and, in short, the whole condition of my inner and outer self would seem more inconstant. And so, taught by experience as by a teacher, I will sing to you, Lord, not judgment alone now, or mercy alone, but mercy and judgment together alike. Forever I will not forget these justifications of yours; both together will be singable to me in the place of my pilgrimage, until mercy, superexalted above judgment, silences misery, and my glory alone sings to you concerning everything else, and I am pierced with compunction no more.
Read the original Latin
Ut praecedenti sequens sermo cohaereat, tenetisne datum superius, solum summum et incircumscriptum Spiritum ad omne quod facere vel fieri vult, corporis instrumento sive obsequio non egere? Demus ergo securi veram soli Deo, sicut immortalitatem, ita et incorporeitatem: quod solus spirituum universam corpoream naturam eo usque transcendat, ut quocunque corpore in quocunque opere non indigeat, solo, spirituali nutu, cum vult, ad quaecunque vult agenda contentus. Sola igitur est quae nec propter se, nec propter alium, (sola) corporei instrumenti opus habet illa maiestas, cuius omnipotenti arbitrio incunctanter praesto est omne opus, omne altum inclinat, omne adversum cedit, omne creatum favet, etiam nullo interveniente vel subveniente solatio corporali, sive spirituali. Docet vel monet sine lingua; praebet vel tenet sine manibus; sine pedibus currit et succurrit pereuntibus.
Actitabat ista et cum patribus prioribus saeculis; experiebantur homines sedula beneficia, sed latebat eos benficus. Ille quidem attingebat a fine usque ad finem fortiter; sed disponens omnia suaviter, non sentiebatur ab hominibus. Et gaudebant de bonis Domini; et Dominum sabaoth, eo quod cum tranquillitate iudicaret omnia omnino nesciebant. Ab ipso erant, sed non cum ipso; per ipsum vivebant, sed non ipsi; ex ipso sapiebant, sed non ipsum, alienati, ingrati, insensati. Hinc demum factum est, ut quod erant, quod vivebant, quod sapiebant, non auctori tribuerent, sed naturae ascriberent, aut certe. quod insipientius erat, fortunae; propriae quoque industriae atque virtuti multi multa arrogabant. Quanta sibi usurparunt seductorii spiritus, quanta soli et lunae data sunt; quanta terris et aquis attributa, quanta etiam manufactis fabrilibusque mortalium deputata operibus! Herbis, arbustis, minutissimis vilissimisque seminibus pro numinibus deferebatur.
Heu! sic homines perdiderunt et commutaverunt gloriam suam in similitudinem vituli comedentis fenum? Quorum Deus miseratus errores, de monte umbroso et condenso dignanter egrediens, in sole posuit tabernaculum suum. Obtulit carnem sapientibus carnem, per quam discerent sapere et spiritum. Nam dum in carne et per carnem facit opera, non carnis, sed Dei, naturae utique imperans, superansque fortunam, stultam faciens sapientiam hominum, daemonumque debellans tyrannidem; manifeste ipsum se indicat esse, per quem eadem et ante fiebant quando fiebant. In carne, inquam, et per carnem potenter ac patenter operatus mira, locutus salubria, passus indigna, evidenter ostendit, quia ipse sit qui potenter, sed invisibiliter saecula condidisset, sapienter regeret, benigne protegeret. Denique dum evangelizat ingratis, signa praebet infidelibus, pro suis crucifixoribus orat: nonne liquido ipsum se esse declarat, qui eum Patre suo quotidie oriri facit solem suum super bonos et malos, pluit super iustos et iniustos? Hoc enim est quod ipse aiebat: Si non facio opera Patris mei, nolite credere.
En aperit os carnis suae docens in monte discipulos, qui in silentio angelos in coelestibus docet. En ad tactum corporeae manus curatur lepra, fugatur caecitas, auditus reparatur, lingua muta resolvitur, discipulus prope mersus erigitur; et is indubitanter agnoscitur, cui dixerat longe ante David: Aperis tu manum tuam, et imples omne animal benedictione; et item: Aperiente te manum tuam, omnia implebuntur bonitate. En secus corporales pedes iacens ac poenitens audit peccatrix: Remittuntur tibi peccata tua, et recognoscit eum, de quo ex multis retro temporibus scriptum legerat: Egredietur diabolus ante pedes eius. Ubi nempe peccatum remittitur, ibi procul dubio diabolus de corde peccatoris expellitur. Hinc universaliter de cunctis poenitentibus dicit: Nunc iudicium est mundi, nunc princeps huius mundi eiicietur foras : quod scilicet humiliter confitenti remittat Deus peccatum; et diabolus eum, quem in hominis corde invaserat, amittat principatum.
Denique ambulat super undas carnalibus pedibus, cui necdum carne vestito iam Psalmista praecinuerat: In mari vita tua, et semitae tuae in aguis multis; quod est: Conculcas corda tumentia superborum, et fluxa desideria carnalium comprimis, iustificans impios, et superbos humilians. Quod tamen quia invisibiliter fit, carnalis non sentit a quo fit. Unde et subdit: Et vestigia tua non cognoscentur. Hinc rursus Pater ad Filium: Sede, inquit, a dextris meis, donec ponam inimicos tuos scabellum pedum tuorum; hoc est: Donec omnes qui te contemnunt, tuae voluntati subiiciam, sive invitos et miseros, sive voluntarios et beatos. Itaque hoc opus Spiritus quia caro non percipiebat (animalis quippe homo non percipit ea quae sunt Spiritus Dei, opus fuit ut corporalibus pedibus corporaliter incubans, et corporalibus labiis pedes eosdem deosculans, veniam peccatorum peccatrix perciperet; sicque illa mutatio dexterae Excelsi, qua mirabiliter, sed invisibiliter iustificat impium, etiam carnalibus innotesceret.
Verum illos spirituales pedes Dei, quos primo loco spiritualiter osculari poenitentem oportet, praeterire me non oportet. Novi ego curiositatem vestram, quae nil sua voluntate incrustatum omnino praetereat. Nec vero ducendum contemptui, nosse, quibus scriptura pedibus tam frequenter Deum commemorat, nunc quidem stare, ut ibi: Adorabimus in loco ubi steterunt pedes eius; nunc vero ambulare, ut ibi: Et habitabo in illis, et deambulabo in eis ; nunc etiam currere, iuxta illud: Exsultavit ut gigas ad currendam viam. Si recte Apostolo visum est caput Christi referre ad Deitatem; puto et nobis non incongrue videri pedes ad hominem pertinere; quorum alterum misericordiam, alterum iudicium nominemus. Nota sunt vobis duo ista vocabula; et de plerisque Scripturae locis ambo pariter, si cogitatis, occurrunt. Quia vero misericordiae pedem Deus in carne, cui se univit, assumpserit, docet epistola ad Haebraeos, tentatum perhibens per omnia Christum pro similitudine absque peccato, ut misericors fieret. Quid illum alterum, qui iudicium nuncupatus est, nonne ad hominem aeque assumptum et ipsum pertinere ipse Deus homo aperte significat, ubi datam sibi perhibet a Patre potestatem iudicium facere, quia Filius hominis est?
His duobus ergo pedibus apte sub uno divinitatis capite concurrentibus, natus ex muliere, factus sub lege invisibilis Emmanuel, in terris visus est, et cum hominibus conversatus est. His certe pertransit et nunc, benefaciendo et sanando omnes oppressos a diabolo, sed spiritualiter, sed invisibiliter. His, inquam, pedibus devotas perambulat mentes, incessanter lustrans, scrutansque corda et renes fidelium. Vide autem ne forte haec illa sint sponsi crura, quae sponsa tam magnifice commendat in consequentibus, comparans ea, ni fallor, columnis marmoreis, fundatis super bases aureas. Pulchre omnino; quoniam quidem in incarnata Dei Sapientia, quae auro designatur, misericordia et veritas obviaverunt sibi; denique universae viae Domini misericordia et veritas.
Felix mens, cui semel Dominus Iesus utrumque infixerit pedem! A duobus signis cognoscite eam quae huiusmodi est, quae secum necesse est referat divinis impressa vestigiis. Ipsa sunt timor et spes; ille iudicii, ista misericordiae repraesentans imaginem. Merito beneplacitum est Deo super timentes eum, et in eis qui sperant super misericordia eius : cum timor initium sit sapientiae; spes, profectus: nam consummationem sibi charitas vindicat. Quae cum ita sint, non parvus fructus est in primo hoc osculo, quod ad pedes accipitur; tantum curato ut neutro frauderis illorum. Porro enim si iam dolore peccati, et iudicii timore compungeris, veritatis iudiciique vestigio labia impressisti. Quod si timorem doloremque divinae intuitu bonitatis, et spe consequendae indulgentiae temperas, etiam misericordiae pedem amplecti te noveris. Alioquin alterum sine altero osculari non expedit; quia et recordatio solius iudicii in barathrum desperationis praecipitat, et misericordiae fallax assentatio pessimam generat securitatem.
Datum est et mihi misero nonnunquam sedere secus pedes Domini Iesu; et modo hunc, modo illum tota devotione complecti, in quantum me sua benignitas dignabatur admittere. At si quando miserationis oblitus, stimulante conscientia, iudicio paulo diutius inhaererem, mox metu incredibili ac miserabili confusione deiectus, et tenebroso circumfusus horrore, hoc solum palpitans de profundis clamabam: Quis novit potestatem irae tuae, et prae timore tuo iram tuam dinumerare? Quod si eo relicto pedem misericordiae plus tenere contingeret, tanta econtrario incuria et negligentia dissolvebar, ut confestim et oratio tepidior, et actio pigrior, et risus promptior, et sermo incautior, et omnis denique utriusque hominis status inconstantior appareret. Proinde magistra instructus experientia, non iudicium iam solum, aut solam misericordiam; sed misericordiam pariter et iudicium cantabo tibi, Domine. In aeternum non obliviscar iustificationes istas; cantabiles mihi erunt ambae pariter in loco peregrinationis meae, quousque misericordia superexaltata iudicio, miseria conticescat, ac sola cantet tibi de caetero gloria mea, et non compungar.
Scripture echoes
- ↩John.10.37 — If I am not doing the works of my Father, do not believe me.
- ↩John.12.31 — Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out.
- ↩Ps.77.19;Ps.77.20 — Your voice in the whirlwind—lightning lit up the world; the earth trembled and shook. Ps.77.20 — Your way was through the sea, and your path through the great waters, yet your footprints were not known.
- ↩Ps.77.19;Ps.77.20 — Your voice in the whirlwind—lightning lit up the world; the earth trembled and shook. Ps.77.20 — Your way was through the sea, and your path through the great waters, yet your footprints were not known.
- ↩Ps.110.1;Ps.110.1 — The LORD says to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool." Ps.110.1 — The LORD says to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool."
- ↩1Cor.2.14 — But the natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he is not able to understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
- ↩Ps.77.10;Ps.77.11 — Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he in anger shut up his mercies? Selah Ps.77.11 — And I said, "This is my infirmity — that the right hand of the Most High has changed."
- ↩Gal.4.4 — But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law,
- ↩1Tim.3.16 — And confessedly, great is the mystery of godliness: who was revealed in flesh, justified in spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.
- ↩John.1.14 — And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only-begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
- ↩Acts.10.38 — Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, because God was with him.
- ↩Ps.26.2 — Examine me, O LORD, and test me; refine my kidneys and my heart.
- ↩Jer.17.10 — I, the LORD, search the heart, test the kidneys, and give to each person according to their ways, according to the fruit of their deeds.
- ↩Song.5.15 — His legs are pillars of marble, set upon bases of fine gold; his appearance is like Lebanon, choice as the cedars.
- ↩Ps.85.10 — Surely his salvation is near to those who fear him, that glory may dwell in our land.
- ↩Ps.25.10 — All the ways of the LORD are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies.
- ↩Prov.9.10;Ps.111.10 — The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. Ps.111.10 — The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the LORD; good understanding belongs to all who do his works. His praise endures forever.
- ↩1Cor.13.13 — And now faith, hope, and love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Notes
- 1 ↩spirituali nutu rendered 'a single spiritual nod' to capture the immediacy of divine action without bodily means; the Latin ablative absolute solo... nutu conveys self-sufficiency.
- 2 ↩The parenthetical (sola) is retained from the Latin to preserve the author's emphatic repetition; incunctanter rendered 'at once' / 'without delay' to capture the immediacy of divine readiness.
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