Against Heresies: Book III

THOSE: therefore, who claim that He took nothing from the Virgin are greatly mistaken, since, by denying the inheritance of the flesh, they also reject the analogy between Him and Adam. For if the one who came from the earth had formation and substance from both the hand and craftsmanship of God, but the other did not from the hand and craftsmanship of God, then He who was made in the image and likeness of the former did not maintain the analogy of man, and He must appear as an inconsistent piece of work, lacking a way to show His wisdom.

But this is to say that He appeared to be a man when He was not, and was made man while taking nothing from man. For if He did not receive the substance of flesh from a human being, He was neither made man nor the Son of man; and if He was not made what we were, He did nothing significant in what He suffered and endured.

But everyone agrees that we are composed of a body taken from the earth and a soul receiving spirit from God.

Therefore, this is what the Word of God became, recapitulating in Himself His own creation; and for this reason, He calls Himself the Son of man and blesses “the meek, because they shall inherit the earth.” The Apostle Paul, moreover, in the Epistle to the Galatians, states plainly, “God sent His Son, made of a woman.” And again, in that to the Romans, he says, “Concerning His Son, who was made of the seed of David according to the flesh, who was predestinated as the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord.”

FURTHERMORE: unnecessary in that case is His descent into Mary; for why did He enter her if He were to take nothing from her? Additionally, if He had taken nothing from Mary, He would never have used those kinds of food that come from the earth, which nourish the body taken from the earth; nor would He have hungered while fasting those forty days, like Moses and Elias, unless His body was in need of its proper nourishment; nor would John, His disciple, have said, when writing about Him, “But Jesus, being tired from the journey, was sitting [to rest];” nor would David have predicted of Him beforehand, “They have added to the grief of my wounds;” nor would He have wept over Lazarus, or sweated great drops of blood; nor have said, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful;” nor, when His side was pierced, would blood and water have come out. For all these are signs of the flesh that was taken from the earth, which He had summed up in Himself, bringing salvation to His own creation.

Luke shows that the genealogy tracing our Lord's lineage back to Adam includes seventy-two generations. This connects the end with the beginning, suggesting that Jesus encompasses in Himself all nations spread from Adam onward, along with all languages and generations of humanity, including Adam himself. Thus, Paul referred to Adam as "the figure of Him that was to come," because the Word, the Creator of all things, had pre-arranged the future salvation of the human race through the Son of God. God destined that the first man would have a natural, physical nature so that he might be redeemed by the spiritual One. Since there existed a pre-existing saving Being, it was necessary for those who could be saved to come into existence, ensuring the purpose of the Savior.

IN LINE WITH THIS PLAN: Mary the Virgin is found obedient, saying, "Behold the servant of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word." But Eve was disobedient; for she did not obey even when she was a virgin. And just as she, having a husband, Adam, but being nevertheless still a virgin (for in Paradise "they were both naked, and were not ashamed," since they, having been created a short time before, had no understanding of having children: for it was necessary that they should first reach adulthood, and then multiply from that time onward), became disobedient, she was the cause of death for both herself and the entire human race.

Likewise did Mary, having a man engaged to her, and being nevertheless a virgin, by being obedient, become the cause of salvation for both herself and the whole human race. Because of this, the law calls a woman engaged to a man, the wife of him who had engaged her, even though she was still a virgin; this reveals the connection back from Mary to Eve because what is joined together could not be separated other than by reversing the process by which these bonds were formed, so that the former ties be undone by the latter, allowing the latter to set the former free again.

And it has actually happened that the first agreement is undone by the second tie, but the second tie takes the place of the first which has been undone. For this reason, the Lord declared that the first shall truly be last, and the last first. The prophet also indicates the same, saying, "instead of fathers, children have been born to you." For the Lord, having been born "the First-born of the dead," and receiving into His care the ancient fathers, has regenerated them into the life of God, He having become the beginning of those that live, just as Adam became the beginning of those who die.

Therefore, Luke starts the genealogy with the Lord and traces it back to Adam, showing that it was He who regenerated them into the Gospel of life, not they Him.

Thus, the knot of Eve's disobedience was untied by the obedience of Mary. For what the virgin Eve had bound fast through unbelief, this did the virgin Mary free through faith.