Lactantius — Divine Institutes 4.12
Descending therefore from heaven, that holy Spirit of God chose a holy virgin into whose womb he would enter. And she, filled after drinking in the divine Spirit, conceived, and without any touch of a man the virgin womb suddenly swelled. And if it is known to all that certain animals are accustomed to conceive by wind and breeze, why does anyone think it strange when we say a virgin was made heavy by the Spirit of God, to whom whatever he wills is easy? This could indeed seem unbelievable, unless the prophets had sung that it would be so many ages beforehand. Solomon in the nineteenth Ode says the virgin’s womb was weakened and received a fetus. Likewise Isaiah: “For this reason God himself will give you a sign: behold, a virgin will receive in the womb and will bear a son, and you will call his name Emmanuel.” What can be said more openly than this? The Jews who killed him used to read these things. If anyone thinks we invent them, let him ask them—let him take them from those enemies especially: testimony for proving the truth is firm enough when it is offered by the enemies themselves.
Yet he was never called Emmanuel, but Jesus, which in Latin means “saving” or “savior,” because he came as salvation-bringer to all the nations; but by this name the prophet declared that God was about to come to humans in flesh. For Emmanuel means “God with us,” namely because, when he was born through the virgin, humans ought to confess that God was with them—that is, on earth and in mortal flesh. Whence David in Psalm 84: “Truth has sprung from the earth,” because God, in whom truth is, received an earthly body, that he might open the way of salvation to the earthly. Isaiah again speaks of the savior sprouting from the earth, and of the boy born whose name is “messenger of great counsel.” For he was sent by God the Father to reveal to all the nations under heaven the holy mystery of the one and true God, taken away from the faithless people who often offended against God.
Daniel also spoke beforehand: “I was watching in a vision of the night: and behold, coming in the clouds of heaven as a son of man…” How then do the Jews both confess and hope for the Christ of God, whom they had rejected because he was born from a human? For God has so arranged that the same Christ come twice to the earth—once that he may announce the one God to the nations, then again that he may reign. The prophet has comprised both comings: “Behold, coming in the clouds of heaven as a son of man.” He did not say “as Son of God,” but “as son of man,” to show that he would put on flesh on earth, teach justice, reveal the truth, be punished with death so as to conquer the underworld, and at last rise and go to the Father, lifted in a cloud. David also: “The Lord said to my Lord: Sit at my right…” Even now he has perpetual power as the nations venerate his name; and afterward, when he comes again in clarity and power, he will judge every soul.
Latin
Descendens itaque de caelo sanctus ille spiritus dei sanctam uirginem cuius utero se insinuaret elegit. at illa diuino spiritu hausto repleta concepit et sine ullo adtactu uiri repente uirginalis uterus intumuit. quodsi animalia quaedam uento et aura concipere solere omnibus notum est, cur quisquam mirum putet, cum dei spiritu, cui facile est quidquid uelit, grauatam esse uirginem dicimus? quod sane incredibile posset uideri, nisi hoc futurum ante multa saecula prophetae cecinissent. Solomon in ode undeuicesima ita dicit: infirmatus est uterus uirginis et accepit fetum, et grauata est et facta est in multa miseratione mater uirgo. item propheta Esaias, cuius uerba sunt haec: propter hoc dabit deus ipse uobis signum: ecce uirgo accipiet in uterum et pariet filium, et uocabitis nomen eius Emmanuel. quid hoc manifestius dici potest? legebant ista Iudaei qui eum necauerunt. si quis nos haec fingere arbitratur, ab his requirat, ab his potissimum sumat: satis firmum testimonium est ad probandam ueritatem quod ab ipsis perhibetur inimicis. Emmanuel autem numquam uocitatus est, sed Iesus, qui latine dicitur salutaris siue saluator, quia cunctis gentibus salutifer uenit: sed propheta declarauit hoc nomine quod deus ad homines in carne uenturus esset. Emmanuel enim significat \'nobiscum deus\', scilicet quia illo per uirginem nato confiteri homines oportebat deum secum esse id est in terra et in carne mortali. unde Dauid in psalmo LXXXIIII ueritas inquit de terra orta est, quia deus, in quo ueritas est, terrenum corpus accepit, ut terrenis uiam salutis aperiret. item Esaias ipse: ipsi autem non crediderunt et exacerbauerunt spiritum sanctum et conuersus est eis ad inimicitiam. et ipse expugnauit et recordatus est dierum saeculi, qui suscitauit de terra pastorem ouium. quis autem futurus esset ille pastor, declarauit alio loco dicens: exsultent caeli desuper et nubes induant iustitiam, aperiatur terra. et pullulet saluator. ego enim dominus deus creaui eum. saluator uero est, ut supra diximus, Iesus. sed et alio loco idem propheta sic praedicauit: ecce natus est uobis puer, et datus est uobis filius, cuius imperium super umeros eius: et uocatum est nomen eius \'magni consilii nuntius\'. idcirco enim missus est a deo patre, ut uniuersis gentibus quae sub caelo sunt singularis et ueri dei sanctum mysterium reuelaret ablatum perfido populo, qui aduersus deum saepe deliquit. Daniel quoque similia praelocutus est. uidebam inquit in uisu noctis: et ecce in nubibus caeli ut filius hominis ueniens et usque ad uetustum dierum peruenit. et qui adsistebant, obtulerunt eum: et datum est ei regnum et honor et imperium, et omnes populi tribus linguae seruient ei, et potestas eius aeterna, quae numquam transibit et regnum eius non corrumpetur.
quomodo igitur Iudaei et conStentur et sperant Christum dei, qui hunc idcirco reprobauerant, quia ex homine natus est? nam cum ita sit a deo constitutum, ut idem Christus bis adueniat in terram, semel ut unum deum gentibus nuntiet, deinde rursus ut regnet, quomodo in secundum eius aduentum credunt qui in primum non crediderunt? atquin propheta utrosque aduentus eius paucis uerbis comprehendit. ecce inquit in nubibus caeli ut filius hominis ueniens. non dixit ut filius dei, sed ut filius hominis, ut ostenderet quod carne indui haberet in terra, ut suscepta hominis figura et condicione mortali doceret homines iustitiam et cum mandatis dei functus ueritatem gentibus reuelasset, multaretur etiam morte, ut inferos quoque uinceret ac resignaret atque ita demum resurgens ad patrem proficisceretur in nube sublatus. adiecit enim propheta et ait: et usque ad anticum dierum peruenit et oblatus est ei. anticum dierum appellauit deum summum, cuius aetas et origo non potest conprehendi, quia solus a saeculis fuit, ut erit semper in saecula. Christum autem post passionem ac resurrectionem ascensurum esse ad deum patrem Dauid in psalmo CVIIII contestatus est his uerbis: dixit dominus domino meo: sede ad dexteram meam, quoadusque ponam inimicos tuos subpedaneum pedu m tuorum. qui propheta cum rex esset, quem appellare dominum suum posset qui sederet ad dexteram dei nisi Christum filium dei, qui est rex regum et dominus dominorum? quod Esaias apertius ostendit dicens: sic dicit dominus deus Christo domino meo, cuius tenui dexteram obaudire ante eum gentes, et fortitudinem regum disrumpam, aperiam ante illum portas et ciuitates non cludentur. ego ante te ibo et montes deplanabo, et fores aereas conteram et seras ferreas confringam. et dabo tibi thensauros absconditos et inuisibiles, ut scias quia ego dominus deus, qui uoco nomen tuum. denique ob uirtutem ac fidem, quam deo eihibuit in terra, datum est ei regnum et honor et imperium et omnes populi tribus linguae seruiunt ei, et potestas eius aeterna, quae numquam transibit, et regnum eius non corrumpetur. quod quidem duobus modis intellegitur, quia et nunc habet perpetuam potestatem, cum omnes gentes et omnes linguae nomen eius uenerantur, maiestatem confitentur, doctrinam secuntur, uirtutem imitantur, habet imperium atque honorem, cum omnes tribus terrae praeceptis eius obtemperant, et idem postea, cum rursus aduenerit in claritate ac potestate, at omnem animam iudicet et iustos restituat ad uitam, tunc uere totia= terrae regimen obtinebit: tunc sublato de rebus humanis omni malo aureum saeculum at poetae uocant, id est iustum ac pacificum tempus orietur. sed haec uberius in ultimo libro disseremus, cum de secundo aduentu loquemur: nunc de primo ut coepimus< explicemus.