14. О том, что Владыка восприял на Себя совершенное человеческое естество

That is why the Lord calls Himself both man and Son of man. He repeatedly told the apostles: “The Son of man is about to be betrayed into the hand of mankind” (Luke 9:44), “and they will kill Him... and on the third day he will rise again” (Mark 9:31); and to those who intended to follow Him he said: “Foxes have wounds, and birds of heaven have nests; but the Son of man has no place to bow his head” (Luke 9:58). He spoke openly to the Jews: “What are you seeking to kill Me, the man who speaks the truth to you, even as you have heard” from My Father? (John 8:40) And the divine Apostle cries out: “there is one... God, and one mediator for God and men” (1 Tim. 2:5); and again: “before death is by man, the resurrection of the dead is by man” (1 Cor. 15:21). For this reason, of course, the Lord is called both the seed of Abraham and the son of David. Since the God of all promised to Abraham to bless all nations in his seed, and gave this promise to Isaac and Jacob, the divine Apostle in the Epistle to the Galatians rightly said: “To Abraham he made vows, and to his seed” (Gal. 3:16), and showing whom he called the seed, he added: “He does not say: and by seed, as many, but as one: and to your seed, who is Christ” (Gal. 3:16); and in the Epistle to the Hebrews he said this: “He does not receive from the angel..., but from the seed of Abraham: therefore he must be like the brethren in everything, so that the high priest may be merciful and faithful to those who come to God” (Heb. 2:16-17). And Patriarch Jacob gave the blessing received from God of all kinds to Judah, saying: “The prince will not fail from Judah, nor the leader from his feet, until the hope of the tongues will come to him” (Gen. 49:10). And the prophet Micah resumes the prophecy, saying: “And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are no less than the least among the rulers of Judah:” “For from you will come forth an Elder for me, from the beginning from the days of the world” (Mic. 5:2; Matt. 2:6). And the divine Apostle also indicated the end of the prophecies and added: “It is clear that our Lord has risen from the tribe of Judah” (Heb. 7:14). The king and prophet David received this promise from the God of all, for God said to him: “I will prepare your seed forever, and I will build your throne for generations and generations” (Ps. 88, 5); and again: “And I will set his seed for the age of the century, and his throne as the days of heaven” (Ps. 89:30); and in a few words: “I have sworn one oath concerning My holy one, if I lie to David: his seed shall endure forever, and his throne shall be like the sun before Me, and like the moon perfect forever: and a faithful witness in heaven” (Ps. 89:36–38). This promise was again renewed by the undeceitful Lord through the prophet Isaiah. For he says: “a rod will come out of the root of Jesse, and a flower will arise from its root: and the Spirit of God will rest on Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and strength, the Spirit of knowledge and piety: the Spirit of the fear of God will fill Him” (Is. 11: 1-3); and the words that follow have the same meaning. And again: “and the root of Jesse will arise, and the nations will trust in Him; and His honor will rest” (Is. 11:10). And in another place he says: “And I bequeath to you an everlasting covenant, O faithful saint of David” (Isa. 55:3). For I will fulfill what I promised to David, and through his Seed I will save the world, because My promise is sure and not false. Showing the truth of these promises, the evangelist Matthew at the very beginning of Scripture preaches to the universe that the “hope of the tongues” has flourished, for he said: “the book of the kindred of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham” (Matthew 1:1), because the promises of the seed were given to both. And the divine Apostle, writing to the Romans, at the beginning of the letter showed the fulfillment of the promise given to David, for he says: “Paul the servant of Jesus Christ, called an Apostle, was chosen for the gospel of God, which His prophets first promised in the Scriptures... concerning His Son, who was of the seed of David according to the flesh” (Rom. 1:1-3). Having added: “according to the flesh,” he made it clear that our Lord Jesus Christ is the eternal God. And he called Him the son of David according to human nature. And teaching this more clearly, the Apostle added: “the named Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, from the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead” (Rom. 1:4), that is, having risen from the dead and filled the Apostles with the spirit of grace, the Lord revealed Himself to be God by the miracles performed through them, because in His name the Apostles performed great miracles. In the middle of the letter, having reminded the Jews of the blessings bestowed of old, the Apostle added: “whose fathers, and from whom is Christ according to the flesh, who is God above all” (Rom. 9:5). And in one Person he showed the difference between two natures, calling the Lord both born in the flesh of the Jews, and as God existing above all and blessed God forever. And he commands blessed Timothy, saying: “Remember the Lord Jesus Christ, who was raised from the dead, from the seed of David, according to my gospel: in him I suffered even to the point of being bound, as an evildoer” (2 Tim. 2:8-9). And in every scripture one can find a lot of evidence preaching about the kinship of the Savior with us according to the flesh. But those presented by us sufficiently show that the Lord took upon Himself perfect human nature, and therefore was called the son of David, the son of Abraham, the son of man, man, Adam, Jacob and Israel. For He, both perfect God and perfect man, gave perfect salvation to people. You might be interested in: