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| Martin Luther Disputation On the Divinity and Humanity of Christ IntraText CT - Text |
The Theses - Theological Disputation
[ETML:S:paragrafo]1. This is the catholic faith, that we confess one Lord Jesus
Christ, true God and man.
[ETML:S:paragrafo]2. From this truth of the double substance and the unity of the
person follows the communication of attributes [communicatio idiomatum], as
it is called.
[ETML:S:paragrafo]3. So that those things which pertain to man are rightly said of
God, and, on the other hand, those things which pertain to God are said of
man.
[ETML:S:paragrafo]4. It is true to say: This man created the world, and this God
suffered, died, was buried, etc.
[ETML:S:paragrafo]5. But these are not correct in the abstract (as it is said) of
human nature [in abstractis humanae naturae].
[ETML:S:paragrafo]6. For it cannot be said, Christ is thirsty, a servant, dead;
therefore he is thirst, servitude, death.
[ETML:S:paragrafo]7. Wherefore this [statement] too is condemned: Christ is
humanity, even though it is said: Christ is divinity.
[ETML:S:paragrafo]8. Even though man and humanity are otherwise synonyms, as are God
and divinity.
[ETML:S:paragrafo]9. In the divine predicates or attributes there is not a difference
of this kind between the concrete and the abstract.
[ETML:S:paragrafo]10. Even though both the scriptures and many fathers do not
distinguish between the concrete and the abstract in many predicates of human
nature.
[ETML:S:paragrafo]11. The Symbol [the _Te Deum_ ] proclaims, "When thou tookest man
upon thee to deliver him" [Tu ad liberandum suscepturus hominem], and
Augustine often does the same.
[ETML:S:paragrafo]12. Although the normal way of speaking (as it seems) would be:
"When thou tookest humanity, or human nature upon thee to deliver it."
[ETML:S:paragrafo]13. Thus some are not afraid to say: Christ is a creature, since a
errantly it is said that Christ was created.
[ETML:S:paragrafo]14. And John 1 says: "The Word was made flesh," when in our
judgment it would have been better said, "The Word was incarnate," or "made
fleshly."
[ETML:S:paragrafo]15. It is rightly taught, that in this matter the manner of
speaking preserved in the scriptures and in the orthodox fathers should
prevail.
[ETML:S:paragrafo]16. Or rather, many things are allowed even to the fathers who are
agreed to be orthodox, which we should not imitate.
[ETML:S:paragrafo]17. Wherefore in this matter we should beware of etymology,
analogy, [logical] consequence, and examples.
[ETML:S:paragrafo]18. Just as in grammar certain heteroclite nouns and irregular
verbs are not subject to etymology, analogy, or example.
[ETML:S:paragrafo]19. And generally, in every sort of subject and art, practice often
dictates against the rule.
[ETML:S:paragrafo]20. Nonetheless it is certain that with regard to Christ [in
Christo] all words receive a new signification, though the thing signified is
the same [in eadem re significata].
[ETML:S:paragrafo]21. For "creature" in the old usage of language [veteris linguae
usu] and in other subjects signifies a thing separated from divinity by
infinite degrees [infinitis modis].
[ETML:S:paragrafo]22. In the new use of language it signifies a thing inseparably
joined with divinity in the same person in an ineffable way [ineffabilibus
modis].
[ETML:S:paragrafo]23. Thus it must be that the words man, humanity, suffered, etc.,
and everything that is said of Christ, are new words.
[ETML:S:paragrafo]24. Not that it signifies a new or different thing, but that it
signifies in a new and different way [nove et aliter], unless you want to
call this too a new thing.
[ETML:S:paragrafo]25. Schwenkfeld and his frog-and-mouse warriors [batarchomyomachis]
foolishly scoff [when we say] that Christ according to his humanity is called
a creature.
[ETML:S:paragrafo]26. A man without learning [or] training, and moreover without
common sense, does not know how to distinguish between words with more than
one meaning [vocabula aequivoca].
[ETML:S:paragrafo]27. For those who say that Christ is a creature according to the
old use of language, that is, by himself [separatam], were never Christians.
[ETML:S:paragrafo]28. But rather everyone vehemently denies that Christ is a creature
in this way, which the Arians taught.
[ETML:S:paragrafo]29. It is clear, therefore, that Schwenkfeld is barking into an
empty darkness [in vacuum chaos] against his own dreams of the creature in
Christ.
[ETML:S:paragrafo]30. And forgetting himself, the man concedes that God was made
flesh, though he has not yet dared to deny that flesh is a creature.
[ETML:S:paragrafo]31. But Eutyches dwells hidden in such heretics, ready someday to
deny that the Word was made flesh.
[ETML:S:paragrafo]32. They make a show of conceding that the Word was made flesh,
ready someday to deny it, when the theater is darkened, after it is denied
that there is a creature in Christ.
[ETML:S:paragrafo]33. In these ineffable matters, therefore, this [rule] must be
kept, that we interpret the teachings of the fathers (as is necessary) in a
suitable way [commode].
[ETML:S:paragrafo]34. It is wicked, when you know that the sense of someone's
teaching is Christian [pium] and sound, to make up an error out of words
ineptly spoken.
[ETML:S:paragrafo]35. For there were never any fathers or doctors who never spoke in
an improper way, if you want to scoff at their teachings.
[ETML:S:paragrafo]36. [Coelius] Sedulius, the very Christian poet, writes: "The
blessed author of the world / Put on a lowly servant's form" [Beatus auctor
seculi servile corpus induit], and so through the entire church.
[ETML:S:paragrafo]37. Although nothing more heretical could be said than that human
nature is the clothing of divinity.
[ETML:S:paragrafo]38. For clothing and a body do not constitute one person, as God
and man constitute one person.
[ETML:S:paragrafo]39. And yet Sedulius' thought was very Christian [piissime], as his
other hymns abundantly prove.
[ETML:S:paragrafo]40. For the same reason that common saying would be heretical: The
whole Trinity worked the incarnation of the Son, as two girls dress a third,
while she at the same time dresses herself.
[ETML:S:paragrafo]41. Thus certain scholastics, who think that the union
[habitudinem] of divinity and humanity is like the union [unioni] of form
with matter, could not be defended.
[ETML:S:paragrafo]42. Others on the other hand [who think that] the union
[habitudinem] is similar to [the union of] matter to form, speak much more
ineptly, if they are strictly judged.
[ETML:S:paragrafo]43. Nor could that [image] be maintained, in which the divinity is
compared to fire and the humanity to iron, even though it is a very beautiful
image.
[ETML:S:paragrafo]44. Nor could that [image] be tolerated which Athanasius puts
forward: "As the reasonable soul and flesh is one man, so God and man is one
Christ."
[ETML:S:paragrafo]45. For all deny that Christ is "composed" [of two natures] though
they affirm that he is "constituted."
[ETML:S:paragrafo]46. But none have spoken more awkwardly [insulsius] than the
Nominalists [Moderni], as they are called, who of all men wish to seem to
speak most subtly and properly.
[ETML:S:paragrafo]47. These say that the human nature was sustained or "supposited"
by the divine nature, or by a divine supposite.
[ETML:S:paragrafo]48. This is said monstrously and nearly forces God as it were to
carry or bear the humanity.
[ETML:S:paragrafo]49. But all of them think [sapiunt] in a correct and catholic way,
so that they are to be pardoned their inept way of speaking.
[ETML:S:paragrafo]50. For they wished to utter something ineffable, and then every
image limps and never (as they say) runs on all four feet.
[ETML:S:paragrafo]51. If [anyone] is not pleased by this or does not understand it,
that Christ according as he is a man is a creature [Christus secundum quod
homo est creatura], the grammarian consoles him.
[ETML:S:paragrafo]52. Let him who has learned to discuss the same matter in various
ways be commanded to speak as simply as possible.
[ETML:S:paragrafo]53. As the Ethiopian is white according to [secundum] his teeth,
the grammarian could speak otherwise thus: The Ethiopian is white with
respect to his teeth [albus dentibus], or "white of tooth" [alborum dentium].
[ETML:S:paragrafo]54. But if this is unpleasing, let him say: The Ethiopian has
white teeth, or the teeth in the Ethiopian are white, or, most simply, the
Ethiopian's teeth are white.
[ETML:S:paragrafo]55. Since in all these forms of speech the author wishes to signify
the same thing, it is useless to seek an argument over words.
[ETML:S:paragrafo]56. Thus since these forms of speech--Christ according as he is a
man [secundum quod homo], or according to his humanity [secundum
humanitatem], or with respect to his humanity [humanitate], or by his
humanity [per humanitatem], or in his humanity [in humanitate]--mean nothing
else than that he has a creature or has assumed a human creature, or, what is
simplest, the humanity of Christ is a creature, the false logicians
[pravilogicales] are to be condemned, who give different meanings to
different grammatical forms of expression of the same matter.
[ETML:S:paragrafo]57. Therefore heresy lies in meaning [sensu], and not in words, as
St. Jerome rightly said when he was provoked by his calumniators.
[ETML:S:paragrafo]58. Otherwise Moses would be the greatest of heretics, for he
recounts the Decalogue itself in different forms in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy
5.
[ETML:S:paragrafo]59. On the other hand, anyone with a wicked meaning, even if he
shall speak aptly and brandish the Scripture itself, is not to be tolerated.
[ETML:S:paragrafo]60. For Christ did not permit the demons to speak when they
testified that he was the Son of God, as if they were transfiguring
themselves into angels of light.
[ETML:S:paragrafo]61. Such is the simplicity and the goodness of the Holy Spirit,
that his agents [homines sui], when they speak falsely according to grammar,
speak the truth according to the sense.
[ETML:S:paragrafo]62. Such is the craftiness and the wickedness of Satan, that his
agents [homines sui], while they speak truly according to grammar, that is,
as to the words, speak lies according to theology, that is, according to the
sense.
[ETML:S:paragrafo]63. Here it may be said: If you are lying, even in what you say
truly, you lie; on the other hand, if you are speaking the truth, even in
what you say falsely, you speak the truth.
[ETML:S:paragrafo]64. This is what it means to be a heretic: one who understands the
Scriptures otherwise than the Holy Spirit demands.