Gregory of Nyssa — Commentary on Scripture

Isaiah 9:6

For we too say plainly that the prophet, wishing to make manifest the mystery concerning Christ, called the self-existent “Angel,” that the meaning of the words might not be referred to the Father, as it would have been if the title of “Existent” alone had been found throughout the discourse. But just as our word is the revealer and messenger (or “angel”) of the movements of the mind, even so we affirm that the true Word that was in the beginning, when he announces the will of his Father, is styled “angel” (or “messenger”), a title given to him on account of the operation of conveying the message. And as the sublime John, having previously called him “Word,” so introduces the further truth that the Word was God, that our thoughts might not at once turn to the Father, as they would have done if the title of God had been put first. So too does the mighty Moses, after first calling him “Angel,” teach us in the words that follow that he is none other than the self-existent himself, that the mystery concerning the Christ might be foreshown, by the Scripture assuring us by the name Angel t…

For we too say plainly that the prophet, wishing to make manifest the mystery concerning Christ, called the self-existent “Angel,” that the meaning of the words might not be referred to the Father, as it would have been if the title of “Existent” alone had been found throughout the discourse. But just as our word is the revealer and messenger (or “angel”) of the movements of the mind, even so we affirm that the true Word that was in the beginning, when he announces the will of his Father, is styled “angel” (or “messenger”), a title given to him on account of the operation of conveying the message. And as the sublime John, having previously called him “Word,” so introduces the further truth that the Word was God, that our thoughts might not at once turn to the Father, as they would have done if the title of God had been put first. So too does the mighty Moses, after first calling him “Angel,” teach us in the words that follow that he is none other than the self-existent himself, that the mystery concerning the Christ might be foreshown, by the Scripture assuring us by the name Angel that the Word is the interpreter of the Father’s will, and, by the title of the “self-existent,” of the closeness of relation subsisting between the Son and the Father. And if Eunomius should bring forward Isaiah also as calling him “the ‘angel’ of mighty counsel,” not even so will he overthrow our argument. For there, in clear and incontrovertible terms, there is indicated by the prophecy the dispensation of his humanity; for “unto us,” he says, “a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name is called the angel of mighty counsel.” … For as the “angel” (or “messenger”) gives information from someone, even so the Word reveals the thought within, the seal shows by its own stamp the original mold, and the image by itself interprets the beauty of that whereof it is the image, so that in their signification all these terms are equivalent to one another. For this reason the title angel is placed before that of the “self-existent,” the son being termed “angel” as the exponent of his Father’s will, and the “existent” as having no name that could possibly give a knowledge of his essence, but transcending all the power of names to express.

AGAINST EUNOMIUS 11:3

Isaiah 28:16

Jacob, hastening to seek a bride, met Rachel unexpectedly at the well. And a great stone lay upon the well, which a multitude of shepherds were [accustomed] to roll away when they came together and then gave water to themselves and to their flocks. But Jacob alone rolls away the stone and waters the flocks of his spouse. The thing is, I think, a dark saying, a shadow of what should come. For what is the stone that is laid but Christ? For of him Isaiah says, “And I will lay in the foundations of Zion a costly stone, precious, elect”; and Daniel likewise, “A stone was cut out but not by hand,” that is, Christ was born without a man.

ON THE BAPTISM OF CHRIST

Isaiah 29:13

For speaking in this way or in that is not the cause of the thought within us, but the hidden conception of the heart supplies the motive for such and such words, “for from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” We make the words interpret the thought; we do not by a reverse process gather the thought from the words. Should both be at hand, a person may certainly be ready in both, in clever thinking and clever expression; but if the one should be wanting, the loss to the illiterate is slight, if the knowledge in his soul is perfect in the direction of moral goodness. “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.” What is the meaning of that? That the right attitude of the soul toward the truth is more precious than the propriety of phrases in the sight of God, who hears the “groanings that cannot be uttered.” Phrases can be used in opposite senses; the tongue readily serving, at his will, the intention of the speaker; but the disposition of the soul, as it is, so is it seen by him who sees all secrets.

AGAINST EUNOMIUS 1:37

Isaiah 35:1

And “the excellence of Carmel” is given to the soul that bears the likeness to the desert, that is, the grace bestowed through the Spirit. For since Elijah dwelt in Carmel, and the mountain became famous and renowned by the virtue of him who dwelt there, and since moreover John the Baptist, illustrious in the spirit of Elijah, sanctified the Jordan, therefore the prophet foretold that “the excellence of Carmel” should be given to the river.

ON THE BAPTISM OF CHRIST

Isaiah 35:1

And where shall we place that oracle of Isaiah, which cries to the wilderness, “Be glad, O thirsty wilderness. Let the desert rejoice and blossom as a lily, and the desolate places of Jordan shall blossom and shall rejoice”? For it is clear that it is not to places without soul or sense that he proclaims the good tidings of joy, but he speaks, by the figure of the desert, of the soul that is parched and unadorned.

ON THE BAPTISM OF CHRIST

Isaiah 35:1

And “the glory of Lebanon,” from the similitude of its lofty trees, he transfers to the river. For as great Lebanon presents a sufficient cause of wonder in the very trees that it brings forth and nourishes, so is the Jordan glorified by regenerating people and planting them in the paradise of God. And of them, as the words of the psalmist say, ever blooming and bearing the foliage of virtues, “the leaf shall not wither,” and God shall be glad, receiving their fruit in due season, rejoicing, like a good planter, in his own works.

ON THE BAPTISM OF CHRIST

Isaiah 40:12

For this cause [God] comprehends in himself all the intelligible creation, that all things may remain in existence controlled by his encompassing power.

AGAINST EUNOMIUS 2:11

Isaiah 41:4

“I, the Lord, the first, and with the last; I am he.” There is no “God” “before” God, nor can we call “God” that which is “after” God. (For that which is after God is the creation, and that which is before God is nothing, and nothing is not God, or, one should rather say, that which is “before” God is God in his eternal blessedness, defined in contradistinction to nothing.) … For if it is the Father who speaks in this way, he bears witness to the Son that he is not “after” himself. For if the Son is God and whatever is “after” the Father is not God, it is clear that the saying bears witness to the truth that the Son is in the Father and not after the Father. If, [however,] one were to grant that this statement is of the Son, the phrase “no other has been before me” will be a clear allusion that he whom we contemplate “in the Beginning” is apprehended together with the eternity of the Beginning.

AGAINST EUNOMIUS 5:1

Isaiah 41:10

For to none other than to God does it belong to implant courage in the fearful, saying to the fainthearted, “Fear not, for I am with you, be not dismayed,” as says the psalmist, “Yes, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.”

AGAINST EUNOMIUS 2:15

Isaiah 42:8

[Eunomius says,] Receiving glory from the Father, not sharing glory with the Father, for the glory of the Almighty is incommunicable, as [the Lord] has said, “I will not give my glory to another.” Who is that “other” to whom God has said that he will not give his glory? The prophet is speaking of the adversary of God, yet Eunomius refers the prophecy to the only-begotten God himself! For when the prophet, speaking in the person of God, had said, “I will not give my glory to another,” he added, “neither my praise to graven images.”

AGAINST EUNOMIUS 2:10

Isaiah 44:6

“I am the first, and hereafter am I, and no God was before me, and no God shall be after me.” For knowing more perfectly than all others the mystery of the religion of the gospel, this great prophet foretold even that marvelous sign concerning the virgin, and gave us the good tidings of the birth of the Child and clearly pointed out to us that name of the Son. He, in a word, by the Spirit includes in himself all the truth, in order that the characteristic of the divine nature, whereby we discern that which really is from that which came into being, might be made as plain as possible to all. [Isaiah] utters this saying in the person of God: “I am the first, and hereafter am I, and before me no God has been, and after me is none.”

AGAINST EUNOMIUS 5:1

Isaiah 51:2

For the divine voice says somewhere in the prophecy of Isaiah, “Consider Abraham, your father, and Sarah, who gave you birth.” Scripture gives this admonition to those who wander outside virtue. Just as at sea those who are carried away from the direction of the harbor bring themselves back on a course by a clear sign, on seeing either a beacon light raised up high or some mountain peak coming into view, in the same way Scripture by the example of Abraham and Sarah may guide again to the harbor of the divine will those adrift on the sea of life with a pilotless mind.

LIFE OF MOSES, PROLOGUE 11

Isaiah 59:5

For in the cobweb there is the appearance of something woven but no substantiality in the appearance, for he who touches it touches nothing substantial. As the spider’s threads break with the touch of the finger, just such is the unsubstantial texture of idle phrases, “Not dividing his own essence by begetting and being at once begetter and begotten.” … Who is so distracted, who is so demented, as to make the statement against which Eunomius is doing battle? For the church believes that the true Father is truly Father of his own Son, as the apostle says, and not of a Son alien from him.

AGAINST EUNOMIUS 2:7

Isaiah 60:8

Typically, under the leadership of the law (for Moses was a type of the law that was coming) Israel passes dry over that sea, while the Egyptian who crosses in its track is overwhelmed. Each fares according to the disposition that he carries with him; one walks lightly enough, the other is dragged into the deep water. For virtue is a light and buoyant thing, and all who live in its way “fly like clouds,” as Isaiah says, “and as doves with their young ones”; but sin is a heavy affair, “sitting,” as another of the prophets says, “on a talent of lead.” If, however, this reading of the history appears to any forced and inapplicable and the miracle at the Red Sea does not present itself to him as written for our profit, let him listen to the apostle: “Now all these things happened to them for types, and they are written for our admonition.”

ON VIRGINITY 18

Isaiah 66:2

The prophet says in the person of the Father, “My hand made all these things,” meaning by “hand” in his dark saying, the power of the Only Begotten. Now the apostle says that all things are of the Father and that all things are by the Son, and the prophetic spirit in a way agrees with the apostolic teaching, which itself also is given through the Spirit.

AGAINST EUNOMIUS 7:1