Son Of Man And God

Sed dicas forsitan gratiam hanc Domini nostri Iesu Christi, de qua Apostolus scribit, non cum ipso natam, sed postea ei illapsu divinitatis infusam; quia et homo ipse a te Dominus noster Iesus Christus, quem solitarium dicis, non cum Deo natus, sed postea a Deo dicatur assumptus, ac per hoc totum, homini illi gratiam quando et divinitatem datam? Neque nos aliud dicimus quam quod divina gratia cum divinitate descenderit, quia et divina gratia Dei sit et largitio quodammodo ipsius divinitatis ac donum munificentia gratiarum. Temporis ergo inter nos forsitan putetur magis quam rei esse distantia, quia divinitatem quam nos cum Domino Iesu Christo natam, tu postea dicas infusam. Sed illud est quod natam cum Domino divinitatem negans, nec postea fideliter confiteri potes, quia non potest una eademque res in parte esse impia, et in parte probari pia, et eadem in portione fidei et in portione esse perfidiae. Primum ergo illud a te requiro: Dominum nostrum Iesum Christum, qui ex Maria virgine natus est, hominis tantum filium, an etiam Dei dicas Filium? Nos enim, id est, catholicorum omnium fides, nos, inquam, omnes utrumque hoc et credimus, et intelligimus, et scimus, et confitemur, quod et hominis est filius, quia ex homine natus est, et Dei Filius, quia ex Divinitate conceptus. Tu ergo utrumque hoc, id est Dei Filium atque hominis, an tantum hominis esse asseris? Si tantum hominis, reclamant tibi apostoli, reclamant prophetae, reclamat denique ipse per quem est facta conceptio Spiritus sanctus. Obruitur impudentissimum os tuum cunctis divinorum apicum testimoniis; obruitur sacris voluminibus sanctis testibus; obruitur denique ipso Dei Evangelio, quasi divina manu. Et Gabriel ille magnus, qui in Zacharia vocem incredulam virtute verbi sui coercuit, multo magis in te blasphemam atque impiam suo ipso ore damnavit, dicens ad Mariam virginem Dei matrem: Spiritus, inquit, sanctus veniet in te, et virtus Altissimi obumbrabit tibi. Ideo et quod nascetur ex te sanctum, vocabitur Filius Dei. Vides quod ut secundum carnem hominis fieret filius Iesus Christus, ante est Filius Dei praedicatus? Paritura enim Dominum virgo Maria, sancto in se Spiritu descendente et virtute Altissimi cooperante concepit. Ac per hoc intelligis quod Domini Salvatorisque nostri inde est origo, unde conceptus; et cum descendente in Virginem totius Divinitatis plenitudine natus sit, filius esse hominis non poterat, nisi prius Dei Filius fuisset, et ideo missus ad annuntiandam sacri ortus nativitatem angelus Dei, cum sacramentum conceptionis ante dixisset, partui ipsi nomen imposuit, dicens: Ideo et quod nascetur ex te sanctum, vocabitur Filius Dei (hoc est, illius Filius nuncupabitur quo generante est generatus). Dei ergo Filius Iesus Christus, quia et a divinitate genitus, et a divinitate conceptus. Si autem Dei Filius, ergo indubitanter Deus; si autem Deus, ergo gratia Dei non carens, neque enim ea re umquam caruit quam ipse fecit. Gratia enim et veritas per Iesum Christum facta est. Sanctus Ioannes Cassianus, De Incarnatione Christi, Contra Nestorium Haereticum, Liber II, Caput VI Source: Migne PL 50.43b-47a

But perhaps you will say this grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, of which the Apostle writes, was not born with Him, but was afterwards infused into Him by the descent of Divinity, because the man Jesus Christ our Lord, whom you alone call a mere man, was not born with God, but afterwards was assumed by God, and by this alone grace was given to the man, at the same time as the Divinity. We do not say anything else but that Divine grace descended with the Divinity, for the Divine grace of God is a certain bestowal of actual Divinity and a gift of the abundance of graces. Perhaps then it may be thought that the difference between us is a matter of time rather than of something essential, because you say that the Divinity which for us was born with Jesus Christ was infused afterwards. But denying that Divinity was born with the Lord you cannot afterwards make a confession according to the faith, for it is not possible that one and the same thing be adjudged in part impious and in part pious, and for the same thing to have a share in faith and a share in faithlessness. Firstly then I ask you: Do you say that our Lord Jesus Christ, who was born of the Virgin Mary is only the Son of man, or that He is the Son of God as well? For we, that is, all who hold the Catholic faith, we, I say, all believe and understand and know and confess that He is both, that He is Son of man because He is born of mankind and Son of God because conceived of Divinity. Do you then admit both, that is, Son of God and Son of man, or only of man? If only of man then the Apostles cry out against you, the Prophets cry out, and finally the Holy Spirit Himself, by whom the conception was performed. That most shameless mouth of yours is stopped by all the witnesses of the Divine decrees, it is stopped by the sacred writings of holy witnesses, it is stopped by the very Gospel of God, as by a Divine hand. And great Gabriel who restrained the incredulous voice of Zacharias by the power of his word, 1 much more strongly has condemned the blasphemy and impiety in you by his own mouth saying to the Virgin Mary, the mother of God: 'The Holy Spirit shall come upon you, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow you, therefore that which is holy which shall be born of you, shall be called the Son of God.' 2 Do you see how Jesus Christ, that He might be of man according to the flesh, is first proclaimed to be the Son of God? For that the Virgin Mary bring forth the Lord she conceived by the descent of the Holy Spirit upon her and the cooperation of the power of the Most High. And by this you should see that the origin of our Lord and Saviour is from there, where He was conceived, and since He was born by the descent of the fullness of the whole Divinity upon the Virgin, He could not be the Son of man unless He was first the Son of God. And thus the angel of God sent to announce the nativity of the sacred birth, when he had spoken of the mystery of the conception, added a word about His birth, saying: 'therefore that which is holy, which shall be born of you, shall be called the Son of God,' that is, He shall be called the Son of Him from whom He was begotten. Therefore Jesus Christ is the Son of God, because He was begotten by the Divinity and conceived by Him. And if He is the Son of God, then undoubtedly He is God, and if God, then He does not lack the grace of God, nor indeed was He ever lacking in that which He Himself made. For grace and truth were made through Jesus Christ. Saint John Cassian, On the Incarnation Of Christ, Against Nestorius, Book 2, Chap 6 1 Lk 1.18-20 2 Lk 1.35