INTRODUCTION.

There is, however, one point where Gregory's teaching requires to be read with caution. If his language were taken according to its strict grammatical sense, it might sometimes be interpreted to mean that in the Incarnate Saviour, a human person coexisted with the Eternal Word who had come down into our flesh, or had in some way been substituted for Him. The principal passages to which this caution refers are the following:

III.18: "Bring the higher aspects to the divinity and the nature that is superior to passions and body, but the lower aspects to the composite [nature], and to Him who for your sake was emptied and became flesh, or, to put it no worse, became man." Original: τὰ μὲν ὑψηλότερα πρόσαγε τῇ θεότητι καὶ τῇ κρείττονι φύσει παθῶν καὶ σώματος, τὰ δὲ ταπεινότερα τῷ συνθέτῳ, καὶ τῷ διὰ σὲ κενωθέντι καὶ σαρκωθέντι, οὐδὲν δὲ χεῖρον εἰπεῖν, καὶ ἀνθρωπισθέντι.

Here, the danger is not great. No one could doubt that "the one who was emptied" (ὁ κενωθείς) and "the one who became man" (ὁ ἀνθρωπισθείς) is the same person to whom the "divinity" (θεότης) belongs. But the contrast drawn is not exact. Strictly, Gregory ought to have said "the lower aspects [belong] to the flesh" or "to the humanity," or something similar. The effect of the contrast actually drawn is to suggest that in the process of incarnation, the personality was changed, or that a new personality was established. The true doctrine of the unchanged personality could not, however, be more clearly stated than in the words which commence the section following:

III.19: "[The man, the lower God,] was mingled with God, and became one, the superior nature triumphing, that I might become as much God as He became man." Original: [ἄνθρωπος, ὁ κάτω θεός,] συνεκεράθη θεῷ, καὶ γέγονεν εἷς, τοῦ κρείττονος ἐκνικήσαντος, ἵνα γένωμαι τοσοῦτον θεός, ὅσον ἐκεῖνος ἄνθρωπος.