The Damascene
On Dec. 4th, the holy Church rejoices to commemorate St. John of Damascus. There is no question that Martin Chemnitz relied heavily on this last of the great eastern dogmaticians in his Two Natures in Christ. He was not ignorant of his blindspots, of course, which all of us tend to share with our own age (in St. John’s case, he was a bit more dogmatic about various Marian doctrines than the Scriptures and earlier tradition warrant; particularly the questions about her death). Still, here are a few quotes from the great father worth pondering that can lead you to realize why Chemnitz so valued his theological acumen over all…
“It is impossible either to say or fully to understand anything about God beyond what has been divinely proclaimed to us, whether told or revealed, by the sacred declarations of the Old and New Testaments.” On the Orthodox Faith, Book I:2
“Well done, O Christ, O Wisdom and Power and Word of God, and God almighty! What should we resourceless people give Thee in return for all things? For all things are Thine and Thou askest nothing of us but that we be saved. Even this Thou hast given us, and by Thy ineffable goodness Thou art grateful to those who accept it. Thanks be to Thee who hast given being and grace of well-being and who by Thy ineffable condescension hast brought back to this state those who fell from it!” - On the Orthodox Faith, Book IV:4.
“The body which is born of the holy Virgin is in truth body united with divinity, not that the body which was received up into the heavens descends, but that the bread itself and the wine are changed into God's body and blood. But if you enquire how this happens, it is enough for you to learn that it was through the Holy Spirit, just as the Lord took on Himself flesh that subsisted in Him and was born of the holy Mother of God through the Spirit. And we know nothing further save that the Word of God is true and energises and is omnipotent, but the manner of this cannot be searched out.” – On the Orthodox Faith, Book IV:16*
*And Luther seems to riff on this thought in AE 36:341: “Now how does the Mother come to this? She has no husband and her womb is entirely enclosed. Yet she conceives in her womb a real, natural child with flesh and blood. Is there not more of a miracle here than in the bread and wine? Where does it come from? The angel Gabriel brings the word: ‘Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a Son.’ And with these words Christ comes not only into her heart, but into her womb, as she hears, grasps, and believes it. No one can say otherwise, than that the power comes through the Word. As one cannot deny the fact that she thus becomes pregnant through the Word, and no one knows how it comes about, so it is in the sacrament also. For as soon as Christ says ‘This is my body,’ His body is present through the Word and the power of the Holy Spirit.”
