Baptized into Christ; boast in the cross; seated at the right hand; Christ in the heart
But we are baptized into Father and Son and Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19) — so how have we been baptized into Christ if he is not true Son, though there is one Son by nature? Yet we have been baptized into him. Therefore he is God as one Son and one Lord according to the economic union, the Word having become flesh.
“But then, not knowing God, you were enslaved to beings that by nature are not gods; now that you know God — or rather are known by God — how can you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements?” (Galatians 4:8–9) If we have come to know God by confessing Christ, and say we have been known by God as known to him, how is Christ not God?
“But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” (Galatians 6:14) Blessed David sings, “I will boast in God my Savior.” (Habakkuk 3:18) The saying is wise and holy: we ought not to glory in a human being, but in God. How then does Paul say he boasts in the cross of Christ? He ought rather to do that in God. Yet the Spirit-bearer boasts in the death of Christ; so he knows him to be true God who suffered for us in the flesh.
From Ephesians, concerning God the Father: “according to the working of the might of his strength, which he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above every rule and authority…” (Ephesians 1:19–21) See: the Father has seated the one raised from the dead at his right hand. Does a human as we are, and nothing more, sit with the nature above all things? Or — what is true — is he God who became human, consubstantial with the Father insofar as he shone forth from him, and who took on the human economically, and is for that reason crowned with divine glory?
“Therefore remember that you once Gentiles in the flesh… that at that time you were without Christ… having no hope and without God in the world.” (Ephesians 2:11–12) If the nations, while they did not have Christ, remained in atheism before the world, and once they have him they are no longer without God, how then is Christ not God?
“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father… that he may grant you… to be strengthened through his Spirit in the inner human being, that Christ may dwell through faith in your hearts.” (Ephesians 3:14–17) The name Christ Jesus, as we have often said, everywhere signifies the Word who shone forth from God in human form. How then does he dwell in our hearts through faith unless he is understood as God — the Word having united the flesh to himself, who also dwells in us in a divine way?
Greek
βαπτιζόμενοι δὲ εἰς Πατέρα καὶ Υἱὸν καὶ Ἅγιον Πνεῦμα, πῶς εἰς Χριστὸν βεβαπτίσμεθα, εἴπερ ἐστὶν οὐχ Υἱὸς ἀληθής, καίτοι τοῦ κατὰ φύσιν ἑνὸς ὄντος Υἱοῦ; ἀλλὰ μὴν εἰς αὐτὸν βεβαπτίσμεθα. Θεὸς οὖν ἄρα ἐστὶν ὡς Υἱὸς εἷς καὶ Κύριος εἷς καθ’ ἕνωσιν οἰκονομικήν, σαρκὸς γεγονότος τοῦ Λόγου.
«Ἀλλὰ τότε μὲν οὐκ εἰδότες Θεὸν ἐδουλεύσατε τοῖς φύσει μὴ οὖσι θεοῖς· νυνὶ δὲ γνόντες Θεόν, μᾶλλον δὲ γνωσθέντες ὑπὸ Θεοῦ, πῶς ἐπιστρέφετε πάλιν ἐπὶ τὰ ἀσθενῆ καὶ πτωχὰ στοιχεῖα;» εἰ Θεὸν ἐγνώκαμεν ὁμολογοῦντες Χριστόν, καὶ ἐγνῶσθαί φαμεν ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ γνωσθέντες αὐτῷ, πῶς οὐ Θεὸς ὁ Χριστός;
«Ἐμοὶ δὲ μὴ γένοιτο καυχᾶσθαι εἰ μὴ ἐν τῷ σταυρῷ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, δι’ οὗ ἐμοὶ κόσμος ἐσταύρωται κἀγὼ τῷ κόσμῳ.» ὁ μακάριος ψάλλει Δαυίδ· «Καυχήσομαι ἐπὶ τῷ Θεῷ τῷ σωτῆρί μου.» ἔστι δὲ σοφὸς καὶ ἁγιοπρεπὴς ὁ λόγος· οὐ γὰρ ἐν ἀνθρώπῳ κατασεμνύνεσθαι χρὴ μᾶλλον ἡμᾶς, ἀλλ’ ἐπὶ Θεῷ. πῶς οὖν ὁ Παῦλος ἐν τῷ σταυρῷ τοῦ Χριστοῦ καυχᾶσθαί φησιν; ἔδει γὰρ μᾶλλον ἐπὶ Θεῷ τοῦτο δρᾶν. ἀλλ’ ὁ πνευματοφόρος ἐν θανάτῳ Χριστοῦ καυχᾶσθαί φησιν· οἶδεν οὖν ἄρα Θεὸν ὄντα καὶ ἀληθῆ καὶ δι’ ἡμᾶς παθόντα σαρκί.
Ἐκ τῆς πρὸς Ἐφεσίους. περὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Πατρός φησι· «κατὰ τὴν ἐνέργειαν τοῦ κράτους τῆς ἰσχύος αὐτοῦ, ἣν ἐνήργηκεν ἐν τῷ Χριστῷ ἐγείρας αὐτὸν ἐκ νεκρῶν καὶ καθίσας ἐν δεξιᾷ αὐτοῦ ἐν τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις ὑπεράνω πάσης ἀρχῆς καὶ ἐξουσίας…» ἰδοὺ δὴ τὸν ἐγηγερμένον ἐκ νεκρῶν κεκάθικεν ὁ Πατὴρ ἐν δεξιᾷ αὐτοῦ. ἄρα οὖν συνεδρεύει τῇ ὑπὲρ πάντα φύσει καθ’ ἡμᾶς νοούμενος ἄνθρωπος καὶ ἕτερον οὐδέν; ἢ ὅπερ ἐστὶν ἀληθές, ὡς Θεὸς ἐνανθρωπήσας καὶ ὑπάρχων μὲν ὁμοούσιος τῷ Πατρὶ καθὸ πέφηνεν ἐξ αὐτοῦ, προσλαβὼν δὲ τὸ ἀνθρώπινον οἰκονομικῶς, αὐτὸς καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τῇ θείᾳ δόξῃ κατεστεμμένος;
«Διὸ μνημονεύετε ὅτι ποτὲ ὑμεῖς τὰ ἔθνη ἐν σαρκί… ὅτι ἦτε τῷ καιρῷ ἐκείνῳ χωρὶς Χριστοῦ… ἐλπίδα μὴ ἔχοντες καὶ ἄθεοι ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ.» εἰ Χριστὸν οὐκ ἔχοντα τὰ ἔθνη διετέλουν ἐν ἀθεότητι κατὰ τὸν κόσμον, ἐπειδὴ δὲ αὐτὸν ἐσχήκασιν οὐ μεμενήκασιν ἄθεοι, πῶς ἄρα οὐ Θεὸς ὁ Χριστός;
«Τούτου χάριν κάμπτω τὰ γόνατά μου πρὸς τὸν Πατέρα… ἵνα δῴη ὑμῖν… κραταιωθῆναι διὰ τοῦ Πνεύματος αὐτοῦ εἰς τὸν ἔσω ἄνθρωπον, κατοικῆσαι τὸν Χριστὸν διὰ τῆς πίστεως ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις ὑμῶν.» τὸ Χριστὸς Ἰησοῦς ὄνομα, καθὸ πλειστάκις εἰρήκαμεν, ἀνθρωπείᾳ μορφῇ τὸν ἐκ Θεοῦ πεφηνότα Λόγον σημαίνει πανταχοῦ. πῶς οὖν ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις ἡμῶν κατοικεῖ διὰ τῆς πίστεως, εἰ μὴ νοεῖται Θεός, ἑνώσαντος ἑαυτῷ τὴν σάρκα τοῦ Λόγου, ὃς καὶ θεϊκῶς ἐν ἡμῖν κατοικεῖ;