{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/ecf/210/2100231.htm","path":"chr/ecf/210/2100231.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/210/2100231.htm","text":"The preceding quotation from Solomon\u2019s Proverbs receives further explanation.\n59. Perchance you will ask how I came to cite, as referring to the Incarnation of Christ, the place, \u201cThe Lord created Me,\u201d seeing that the creation of the universe took place before the Incarnation of Christ? But consider that the use of holy Scripture is to speak of things to come as though already past, and to make intimation of the union of two natures, Godhead and Manhood, in Christ, lest any should deny either His Godhead or His Manhood.\n60. In Isaiah, for example, you may read: \u201cA Child is born unto us, and a Son is given unto us;\u201d so here also [in the Proverbs] the prophet sets forth first the creation of the flesh, and joined thereto the declaration of the Godhead, that you might know that Christ is not two, but One, being both begotten of the Father before the worlds, and in the last times 2221 created of the Virgin. And thus the meaning is: I, Who am begotten before the worlds, am He Who was created of mortal woman, created for a set purpose.\n61. Again, immediately before the declaration, \u201cThe Lord created Me,\u201d He says, \u201cI will tell of the things which are from eternity,\u201d and before saying, \u201cHe begat,\u201d He premised, \u201cIn the beginning, before He made the earth, before all hills.\u201d In its extent, the preposition \u201cbefore\u201d reaches back into the past without end or limit, and so \u201cBefore Abraham was, I am,\u201d 2222 clearly need not mean \u201cafter Adam,\u201d just as \u201cbefore the Morning Star\u201d 2223 need not mean \u201cafter the angels.\u201d But when He said \u201cbefore,\u201d He intended, not that He was included in any one\u2019s existence, but that all things are included in His, for thus it is the custom of Holy Writ to show the eternity of God. Finally, in another passage you may read: \u201cBefore the mountains were brought forth, or ever the earth and the world were made, Thou art from everlasting to everlasting.\u201d 2224\n62. Before all created things, then, is the Son begotten; within all and for the good of all is He made; begotten of the Father, above the Law, 2225 brought forth of Mary, under the Law. 2226\n1 Pet. 1:21, Heb. 1:1, 2, Gal. 4:4.\n251:2222\nS. John viii. 58.\n251:2223 251:2224 251:2225\nS. Mark ii. 28.\n251:2226","title":"Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Ser. II, Vol. X: Dogmatic...","type":"page"}