67. And He said well led captivity captive. For the victory of Christ is the victory of liberty, which won grace for all, and inflicted wrong on none. So in the setting free of all no one is captive. And because in the time of the Lord's passion wrong alone had no part, which had made captive all of whom it had gained possession, captivity itself turning back upon itself was made captive, not now attached to Belial but to Christ, to serve Whom is liberty. For he who is called in the Lord as a servant is the Lord's freedman. 1 Corinthians 7:22
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For He led forth those who were held in captivity by death, as He Himself had foretold, when He said, When I shall be lifted up from the earth I shall draw all unto Me. To this the
Gospel bears
witness, when it says, The graves were opened, and many bodies of
saints which slept arose, and appeared unto many, and entered into the
holy City, that city, doubtless, of which the Apostle says, Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the Mother of us all. As also he says again to the Hebrews, It became Him, for Whom are all things, and by Whom are all things, Who had brought many sons into
glory, to make the Author of their
salvation perfect through suffering. Sitting, therefore, on the right hand of
God in the highest heavens, He placed there that
human flesh, made perfect through sufferings, which had fallen to death by the lapse of the first man, but was now restored by the
virtue of the resurrection. Whence also the Apostle says, Who has raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places. For He was the potter, Who, as the
Prophet Jeremiah teaches, took up again with His hands, and formed anew, as it seemed
good to Him, the vessel which had fallen from His hands and was broken in pieces. And it seemed
good to Him that the mortal and corruptible body which He had assumed, this body raised from the rocky sepulchre and rendered
immortal and incorruptible, He should now place not on the earth but in heaven, and at His Father's right hand. The Scriptures of the
Old Testament are full of these
mysteries. No Prophet, no Lawgiver, no Psalmist is silent, but almost every one of the sacred pages speaks of them. It seems superfluous, therefore, to linger in collecting testimonies; yet we will cite some few, remitting those who desire to drink more largely to the well-springs of the divine volumes themselves.
31. He Ascended into Heaven, and Sits on the Right Hand of the Father: from Thence He Shall Come to Judge the Quick and the Dead. These clauses follow with suitable brevity at the end of this part of the Creed which treats of the Son. What is said is plain, but the question is how and in what sense it is to be understood. For to ascend, and to sit, and to come, unless you understand the words in accordance with the dignity of the divine nature, appear to point to something of human weakness. For having consummated what was to be done on earth, and having recalled souls from the captivity of hell, He is spoken of as ascending up to heaven, as the Prophet had foretold, Ascending up on high He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men, those gifts, namely, which Peter, in the Acts of the Apostles, spoke of concerning the Holy Ghost, Being therefore by the right hand of God exalted, He has shed forth this gift which you do see and hear. He gave the gift of the Holy Ghost to men, because the captives, whom the devil had before carried into hell through sin, Christ by His resurrection from death recalled to heaven. He ascended therefore into heaven, not where God the Word had not been before, for He was always in heaven, and abode in the Father, but where the Word made flesh had not been seated before. Lastly, since this entrance within the gates of heaven seemed new to its ministers and princes, they say to one another, on seeing the nature of flesh penetrating into the secret recesses of heaven, as David full of the Holy Ghost, declares, Lift up your gates, you princes, and be lifted up ye everlasting gates, and the King of glory shall enter in. Who is the King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Which words are spoken not with reference to the power of the divine nature, but with reference to the novelty of flesh ascending to the right hand of God. The same David says elsewhere, God has ascended jubilantly, and the Lord with the sound of the trumpet. For conquerors are wont to return from battle with the sound of the trumpet. Of Him also it is said, Who builds up His ascent in heaven. And again, Who has ascended above the cherubims, flying upon the wings of the winds.
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