Annotation XLIV

”For I too am a man set under authority.” — Matthew 8:9

On the Trinity.

The author of the Opus imperfectum, homily 22, here adds an altogether Arian exposition, by which he destroys the equality of the Son and the Father, in these words: “See in what way — the Spirit suggesting [it] — he [the centurion] depicted in himself the mystery of the Father and the Son. Was it not enough, for confessing Christ’s power, to say only this: ‘And I am a man having soldiers under me; and I say to this one, Go, and he goes; and to another, Come, and he comes’? — since Christ too has under him angels, to whom he gives the command of going and returning. What need, then, was there to add, ‘And I too am a man set under authority,’ except that he might most fully show Christ’s dignity in himself? — that is: ‘I am under the authority of another; yet I have the authority of commanding those who are under me. For I am not hindered from commanding inferiors because I am [myself] under superiors; but I am commanded by those under whom I am, while I command those who are under me. So you too, although you be under the Father’s authority, yet have the authority of commanding your angels; nor are you hindered from commanding inferiors because you [yourself] have a superior. For you are commanded by the Father as a lesser, yet you command the angels as a greater.’” — But perhaps the heretic says, wishing to show the Father and the Son [to be] one or equal: “This passage is not to be understood thus, but so: If I, set under authority, can command those under my authority, how much more can you, who are under no one’s authority, command those whom you have in [your] authority?” But the text does not admit this perverse interpretation; for he did not say, “If I, a man, [were] in authority,” but thus: “For I too am a man under authority.” He made no difference of comparison between himself and Christ, but introduced a relation of likeness.