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Gaius Marius Victorinus

Nicene & Post-Nicene · AD 325–500 · d. AD 370 · 220 passages across 12 books

Commentary

1–20 of 220
Genesis 1:26

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

Moses says what was said by God: “Let us make man according to our image and likeness.” God says that. He says “let us make” to a co-operator, necessarily to Christ. And he says “according to the image.” Therefore man is not the image of God, but he is “according to the image.” For Jesus alone is the image of God, but man is “according to the image,” that is, image of the image. But he says “according to our image.” Therefore both Father and Son are one image.

Against Arius 1A.20

Genesis 2:4-6

These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,

Christ is that spring of which the prophet says, “It irrigates and waters the whole earth.” But Christ irrigates the whole universe, both visible and invisible; with the spring of life he waters the substance of everything that exists. Yet insofar as he is life, he is Christ; insofar as he waters, he is the Holy Spirit; insofar as he is the power of vitality, he is Father and God; but the whole is one God.

Against Arius Ia.47

Exodus 33:20

And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.

No one sees the power itself alone, for “no one has ever seen God.” And since power is life in repose and knowledge in repose but life and knowledge are actions, if someone were to see God he must die, because the life and knowledge of God remain in themselves and are not in act. But every act is exterior. Indeed, for us to live is to live externally [in a body]; to see God is therefore a death. “No one,” says the Scripture, “has ever seen God and lived.” Indeed, like is seen by like. External life therefore must be forgotten, knowledge must be forgotten, if we wish to see God, and this for us is death.

Against Arius 3.3.1

Psalms 60:11-12

Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man.

Would a man who was only a man say this of himself? For if a person says this, he blasphemes, and “God does not hear sinners.” But indeed Christ says that God hears him. He is therefore neither sinner nor mere man. It has also been said, “Vain is the hope in man.” And it is said, “As for us we hope in our God.”Christ is therefore God, not coming from any other substance; “the Father is living, and I live because of the Father,” and, “I am the bread of life; the one who eats this will live for all time.” All the statements signify one substance. And that is why Jesus says that he is from above who says this: “If therefore you will see the Son of man ascending, where was he before?”

Against Arius Ia 2.1.B.7

Proverbs 8:22

The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old.

Solomon says, “You have made me above your ways.” For, concerning spiritual generation, he immediately adds, “He has begotten me before all things.”

Letter to Candidus 4:29

Isaiah 40:5

And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

But when he took on flesh, he took on the universal logos of flesh. For he triumphed over the powers of all flesh in the flesh, and thus he came to the aid of all flesh, as is said in Isaiah, “all flesh will see the salvation of God,” and in the psalms, “All flesh will come to you.”

Against Arius 3:3

Isaiah 43:10

Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.

If Christ is Son, Christ is certainly after God. But after God there is nothing comparable to him. Christ is therefore not comparable to God; or if he is not after God, certainly he is with God; for in no way can he be before God; therefore he is consubstantial (homoousion) … substance as substance, especially if it is a homogeneous substance that is realized in two or more individuals, which is said to be identical substance, not similar.

Against Arius 2:1.1

Isaiah 45:14

Thus saith the LORD, The labour of Egypt, and merchandise of Ethiopia and of the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over unto thee, and they shall be thine: they shall come after thee; in chains they shall come over, and they shall fall down unto thee, they shall make supplication unto thee, saying, Surely God is in thee; and there is none else, there is no God.

But consider this also in relation to the homoousion [that the Son is of the same essence as the Father], how the Spirit says to Isaiah, “God is in you, and there is no God outside of you.”

Against Arius 1A.27

Isaiah 53:8

He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.

Those who do not understand the manner of begetting may mislead you when they say, “Who can speak of the birth of the Lord?” First, “who” or still more “no one” does indeed seem to signify men. Only the Holy Spirit can grasp or explain this manner of begetting. That is why we ourselves with the permission of God the Father and of Jesus Christ our Lord have set it forth. Certainly it is not a hopeless enterprise, but we have described it as by a miracle. Next, supposing that the manner of begetting is unknown, we speak of substance when we say that the Father and Son are of the same essence (homoousios).

On the Necessity of Accepting Homoousion 4

Jeremiah 23:22

But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.

What if these formulas also are scriptural, and of these two formulas, one is used with such clearness that one knows it has not been invented by me but has already been authorized by sacred Scripture? David, who sings hymns in the book of Psalms, which is called the key of all the mysteries, in the thirty-fifth psalm chants a psalm to God, sings praise to God in this way: “For in you is the source of life. In your light we shall see the light.” Do we think that that is addressed to God or to Christ or to both? Because to both, it is rightly addressed, for in the Father is the Son, and in the Son is the Father. But if it is addressed to God the Father, it will be this: “If they had stood in my substance, they would have also seen my Word.” But if it is addressed to the Son, it will be this: “Whoever has seen me, has seen the Father also.”

Against Arius 2:12

Romans 2:5

But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;

Without doubt this is said of Christ, for he himself will judge.

Against Arius 1A.17

Romans 8:6

For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

“To set the mind on the Spirit is life.” For error, imprudence and ignorance are impassioned, self-rebellious, self-contradictory. And because of this “to set the mind on the flesh,” which is imprudence, is death, because it does not know God. Therefore, “to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.”

Against Arius 3.C.1

1 Corinthians 2:2

For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.

It was the incarnate Word who accomplished the mystery of our salvation. It was he who freed us and redeemed us. We believe in him who is our Savior through the cross and through his resurrection from the dead.

Against Arius 1A

1 Corinthians 15:28

And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.

Therefore God is also Being, both existing and substance, although he is above all that because he is the Father of all. We should not be afraid to use the word substance of God, because when words are lacking to describe the highest realities, it is not inappropriate for us to take terms borrowed from what we do know and understand and use them in this special sense.

Against Arius 2.2.2

Galatians 1:1

Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;)

His reason for saying “through Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead” is that what God does he does through Christ. And so that people would not say, “How did you learn from Christ?” since Paul had not previously been a follower of Christ and Christ was dead, he said that God raised Christ from the dead. By this he implies that it is Christ himself, who taught him, who has been raised from the dead—raised, that is, by the power of God the Father.

Epistle to the Galatians 1.1.1

Galatians 1:2

And all the brethren which are with me, unto the churches of Galatia:

Whereas he was accustomed to call himself simply Paul the apostle to the Romans and Corinthians, in order to startle the Galatians and reprove them for a grave error he has joined with himself all the brothers who were with him, saying that they themselves were writing to the Galatians, making them feel the shame of thinking contrary to everyone, so as to give more weight to his own injunctions and the gospel that he preaches.

Epistle to the Galatians 1.1.1

Galatians 1:11

But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man.

Possibly because the Savior himself is not a man [merely], as some think. Nor because he is sent in the form of a man is he therefore a man but God in a mystery taking flesh to overcome the flesh.… If “from a man” means one thing, “after the manner of man” will mean another. And again if “I did not receive from a man” is one thing. “not after the manner of man” will be another. Therefore “after the manner of man” can be understood to mean “so that you may understand in a corporeal manner,” seeing that the argument received is that “which I did not receive from man.”

Epistle to the Galatians 1.1.11

Galatians 1:13

For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it:

The point of telling this about himself is to show that he did not learn from a man or through man but from God and Jesus Christ. The aim of this is to prevent the Galatians from entertaining another opinion or supposing that anything needs to be added to the gospel.

Epistle to the Galatians 1.1.13-14

Galatians 1:15

But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace,

The God who caused me to be born, who separated me from my mother’s womb, also called me through his grace. For no one knows God except one who has been called.

Epistle to the Galatians 1.1.15-16

Galatians 1:18

Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days.

For if the foundation of the church was laid in Peter, to whom all was revealed, as the gospel says, Paul knew that he ought to see Peter. When he speaks of seeing Peter, it is as one to whom Christ had committed so much authority, not as one from whom he was to learn anything.… “How,” [he implies], “could I learn this great knowledge of God from Peter in such a short time?”

Epistle to the Galatians 1.1.18

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