Pints With Aquinas - 67: What is the incarnation? (Also 8 heresies get slammed!)

Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to Pines with Aquinas, episode 67. I'm Matt Fradd. This episode of Pines with Aquinas has been sponsored by Holy Apostles College and Seminary. If you're looking for an amazing online Catholic college that you won't have to sell your firstborn to afford, you need to go right now to holyapostles.edu. I'm doing postgraduate studies there in philosophy, and I can just say, you know, from first-hand experience, the professors are fantastic. It's very challenging. You have great interactions online with fellow students. You'll love it, you'll love it, you'll love it. holyapostles.edu. All right, today, we're going to be talking about the Incarnation. We'll be looking at two analogies Aquinas gives for the Incarnation, and then we'll be looking at eight heresies regarding the Incarnation. Aquinas goes through them all, and he shows why Scripture refutes those heresies, the Incarnation. Aquinas goes through them all and he shows

Starting point is 00:00:45 why Scripture refutes those heresies and why certain lines have been added into the Nicene Creed to also refute those heresies. Enjoy the show. So good to have you back here at Pints with Aquinas. This is the show where you and I pull up a barstool next to the angelic doctor, not angelic doctor, that's not a word, angelic doctor, to discuss theology and philosophy. August 1st today, and that means one cool thing is about to happen. I am going to release a new comic strip

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Starting point is 00:02:21 If you're not there, join us and start discussing theology and philosophy as it pertains to the church and Aquinas. Today, we want to talk about the Incarnate. By the way, did you like last week's show? Wasn't that fun? If you haven't listened to last week's show, in which I play some segments of Ricky Gervais talking about atheism, God, knowledge, etc. And then I had Trent Horn respond to him. Absolutely amazing. So, if you haven't checked that out, be sure to go listen to it. But today, we're going to be talking about that part of the Creed where we say, He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. Now, today, I'd like to be reading from the Aquinas Catechism. This book, the Aquinas Catechism published by Sophia Press, and you should get it, by the way, it's terrific, contains sermons by St. Thomas Aquinas on the Creed. And today, we're going to share two analogies that Aquinas uses to help us understand the Incarnation, and then share with you eight heresies concerning the Inc. That is eight mistaken ways of

Starting point is 00:03:27 thinking about it. So, this is going to be pretty text heavy today. So, I'll try to make it interesting. But, you know, if it's not interesting, maybe that's not my fault. Maybe that's your fault. That's all I'm saying. That is all I'm saying. It's funny when I take my kids to church. If I ever have one of them say to me, Dad, I'm bored, I always tell him, only boring people get bored. Are you boring? All right, here we go. Here's what Aquinas says, as we have shown a Christian must believe, not only that Christ is the Son of God, but also that he became man. Thus, St. John, is the Son of God, but also that he became man. Thus, St. John, having said many subtle things about the Word of God that are hard to understand, isn't that awesome? Aquinas realizes it's hard to

Starting point is 00:04:11 understand. Goes on to tell us of the incarnation saying, and the Word was made flesh. All right, so here are two analogies that Aquinas uses to illustrate the incarnation. The first is the spoken word, and the second is the written word. So, first the spoken word. He says, In the first place, without doubt, nothing is more like the word of God than the unvoiced word that is conceived in man's heart. Now, the word conceived in the heart is unknown to all except the one who conceives it. It is first known to others when the voice gives utterance to it. Thus, the word of God, while yet in the bosom of the Father, was known to the Father alone. But when he was clothed with flesh, as a word is clothed with the voice, then he was first made manifest and known.

Starting point is 00:05:10 And that's why we read, afterwards he was seen on earth and conversed with men. That's a really cool analogy, hey? So if I'm thinking something right now, you ready? Alright, I'm thinking of something. It's totally random and you have no idea what it is. And there is absolutely no way that you will know what it is unless I, to use Aquinas' phrase there, I love that, clothe that inner thought with flesh, that is with the voice. Here's what I was thinking of, potato salad. That's no way near as cool as the second person of the blessed

Starting point is 00:05:39 trinity. But the point remains that you don't know what I have within my heart until I voice it. And no one knew of the second person of the blessed Trinity until he was made flesh. Here's another analogy, the second one, and that is the written word. Aquinas writes, another example lies in the fact that although the voiced word is known through hearing, it is not seen or touched. But when it is written, it is both seen and touched. In like manner, the word of God became both visible and tangible when he was, as it were, written on our flesh. Just as the parchment on which the King's word is written is called the King's word. So the man united to God's word in unity of person is called the word of God. Take thee a great book and write in it with a man's pen. That's from Isaiah. And therefore

Starting point is 00:06:43 the holy apostle said, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. So, take my lame example of potato salad a moment ago. I can say it, and you could thereby know it in a sense, but you can't touch it, right? You can't experience it in the way that you can if it's written down. And so the word of God became both visible and tangible when he was, Aquinas says, written on our flesh. All right, let's take a quick break. And when we come back, we'll look at eight errors people have believed about the incarnation. My name is Gomer, and I'm the co-host of Catching Foxes. Foxes. Foxes. Catching Foxes. Foxes. I would like to tell you about something more important than my podcast.

Starting point is 00:07:28 What? Pints with Aquinas. Pint, pint, p-p-p-p-pints with Aquinas. Matt Fradd actually wrote a book on 50-plus deep thoughts from the angelic doctor. Pints with Aquinas. Here's the deal. Beer is easily lovable, but medieval monastic philosophers, they can be quite intimidating. Yet in this short, pithy book, and I don't use that word often.

Starting point is 00:07:51 In fact, I never use the word pithy, but I'm going to use it here, and you're going to agree with me. Matt Fradd made the greatest mind in the history of the church as easily accessible as your favorite beer. You'll laugh. You'll cry. Well, you won't cry, but you'll laugh, and you'll discover that this old school philosopher's wisdom is just as relevant today as it was back then. So do yourself a favor, get a copy of this enlightening, pithy little book from Amazon right now. And when it arrives, pour yourself a frothy pint and dig in. You'll be glad you did. Okay, welcome back to Pints with Aquinas. We are going to take a look at eight heresies regarding the Incarnation. And here's what's really cool about this.

Starting point is 00:08:33 Often when we read the Creed, say the Nicene Creed, we don't really fully understand why every word and every line was added in there. Sometimes it is just to express the faith that we have in Christ and salvation and so forth. But much of the Creed is also there to refute common misunderstandings. So, we're going to look at eight of those misunderstandings today about the Incarnation. And Aquinas is going to go through them all, attributing each error to a particular heretic or heretical group. And he's going to do two things. He's going to show why Scripture refutes this false opinion.

Starting point is 00:09:16 And then he's going to show why the creed then states something in a specific way, which is, as I said, to make sure that heresy gets sort of snuffed out or refuted nice and clearly. Okay, so let's have a look at them. The first error that Aquinas addresses is that of Origen. Now, Origen was an ecclesiastical writer in the third century. Although he's not usually referred to as a church father, my understanding is that Pope Benedict once referred to him or categorized him as a church father. Origen is probably most famous because it was said that he castrated himself. Not funny, actually. In response to Matthew 19.12, where Christ says that some are made eunuchs of the kingdom of heaven. There's some dispute about that. Others have said that he was actually forcibly castrated. Anyway, Origen held a view that isn't correct. He said that Christ was born

Starting point is 00:10:17 and came to the world in order to not just save men, but to save demons also. And he asserted that all the demons would be saved, including Satan, at the end of the world. And now, Aquinas refutes this by pointing to scripture. He says, this is contrary to holy scripture, for it said, depart from me, ye accursed, into everlasting fire that was prepared for the devil and his angels. And then Aquinas says this, therefore, in order to exclude this, the following clause was added for us men and for our salvation, thus stressing God's love for us. Now, when he says added, he's referring to the Nicene Creed, which is a longer creed than the Apostles' Creed.

Starting point is 00:10:56 But it's interesting, isn't it, that these lines were added for these ends so that people would be clear about this so that we can refute the specific heresy, we will say, for us men and for our salvation. And yet, I imagine most times, maybe you've never considered that when you've read the Creed, that this was saying, for us men, you know, parentheses, thereby saying, not for the demons, you know, and for our salvation. Okay? The next heresy or error of the incarnation that Aquinas addresses is from the third century bishop, Photinus, sorry, fourth century bishop. Photinus admitted, and this is what Aquinas writes, Photinus admitted that Christ was born of the Virgin Mary, but asserted that he was a mere man who, by leading a good life and doing God's will,

Starting point is 00:11:46 mere man, who by leading a good life and doing God's will, merited to become a son of God, even as other holy men. And against this, it is said, I came down from heaven, not to do my will, but the will of him who sent me. Now it goes without saying that he would not have come down from there unless he had been there. And if he were a mere man, he would not have been in heaven. And we read, He came down from heaven. The third heresy is from the Manichaeans. You've probably heard of the Manichaeans. This was an early church heresy. It was a dualistic heresy. That means it believed

Starting point is 00:12:25 in a good God or a good spirit and an evil spirit that were having it out. And the good spirit was responsible for the spiritual and the bad spirit, I guess you'd say, is responsible for the matter. So it's not surprising then that they denied that this God would come in the flesh. Here's what Aquinas says, the Manichaeans said that although the son of God always existed and came down from heaven, yet he had flesh not really, but only apparently, but this is false, since it was unbecoming for the teacher of truth to have anything false about him. Therefore, since he had flesh ostensibly, he really had it. Thus it is said, handle and see for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as you see me have. That's from the gospel of Luke after Christ rises from the dead.

Starting point is 00:13:19 Then Aquinas writes, therefore, in order to exclude this, meaning this heresy, the Nicene Creed says, and he took flesh. The fourth heresy is from Ebion, who was said to be an early church Christian who founded a movement called the Ebionites. He was of Jewish nationality, and he said that Christ was born of the Blessed Virgin from sexual intercourse and came about by way of male seed. Aquinas says this is false since the angel said, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And then he says, therefore, the Holy Fathers excluded this by adding, quote, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Don't you just love Aquinas? Oh my gosh. I mean, I just love his simplicity. It's like, okay, here are eight heresies. Here's how scripture contradicts that

Starting point is 00:14:10 heresy. And here's why the, you know, the church fathers in the Nicene Creed added this bit in the creed to refute and to do away with that heresy. Love it, love it, love it, love it. Okay. The fifth error that we're going to be dealing with comes from Valentin or Valentinus, not to be confused with St. Valentine's Day. Valentin, he lived during the second century and he was a Gnostic theologian. Here's what Aquinas has to say about his error. Valentin, while confessing that Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit, taught that the Holy Spirit fashioned a heavenly body, which he placed in the Virgin's womb. This was Christ's body. Thus, the Blessed Virgin's cooperation was reduced to her serving as a place for Christ's body. Hence, Valentin said that Christ's body passed through the Blessed Virgin

Starting point is 00:15:02 as through a channel. But this is false, because the angel said, the Holy One that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And the apostle says, when the fullness of time came, God sent his Son made of a woman. For this reason, they added, and when he, of course, again, when he's saying added, he's referring to the Nicene Creed, they added born of the Virgin Mary. The sixth error that Aquinas addresses is that of Arius and Allopanarius. These were two early Christians. You've certainly heard of Arius, I'm sure, the Arian heresy that would emphasize the divinity of the father over that of the son. You may have also seen some pretty funny memes where St. Nicholas, yes, Father Christmas or Santa Claus, it shows him saying,

Starting point is 00:15:54 it's time to punch heretics and chew bubble gum, and I'm all out of bubble gum. Well, the reason for that is at the Council of Nicaea, St. Nicholas actually slapped or punched Arius in the face, which is pretty cool if you ask me. Anyway, these shared a heresy and they said that though Christ was the word of God born of the Virgin Mary, he had no soul or mind, that was more Apollinarius, but the Godhead in lieu thereof. But this is contrary to scripture for Christ said, now is my soul troubled and my soul is sorrowful even unto death. The Holy Fathers excluded this by adding and became man because a man is composed of a soul and a body. So Christ had whatever a man can have except sin. Isn't that a great line there? Christ had whatever a man can have except sin. Go tweet that and hashtag plants with Aquinas. Okay. The seventh error we look at is from Eutychius, who was a

Starting point is 00:16:58 early church priest. He maintained that the divine and human natures were mixed together so as to form one nature in Christ that is neither purely divine nor purely human. Aquinas says this is false, since in that case, he would not be a man. And this would be contrary to the words, and became man. That's pretty cool. All right. So the eighth and final error we're going to look at is that of Nestorius. By the way, we should say that it was Eutychius' he vehemently disagreed with Nestorius. And we're going to see what Nestorius believed now, Nestorianism taught. But what happened with Eutychius is that he went the complete opposite direction. But here's what Nestorius said. The error, well, here's what Aquinas says of Nestorius. The era of Nestorius also stands condemned. For he said that the son

Starting point is 00:17:50 of God was united to man solely by indwelling. But this is false because then he would not be a man, but in a man. That he became man eight errors about the incarnation. You know, it's funny, like you might be listening to this, and maybe if you're not familiar with theology, maybe you don't read a lot of it, you might be tempted to think that this is all just sort of, I don't know, stuff, you know, and unnecessary stuff. But the thing is, if you get Christ wrong, you get everything wrong. I mean, this is why it was so important that at the Council of Ephesus, they declared Mary to be truly Theotokos, the mother of God, right? Why is that important? Well, it's important not for Mary's sake, but for Christ's

Starting point is 00:18:45 sake. If Mary is not the mother of God, then to whom did she give birth? We spoke about this in a previous episode. But that Marian dogma, being the Theotokos, safeguards Christ, who was a divine person and had two natures. So, I hope you were blessed by today's episode. You won't be hearing from me next week. I'm looking forward to spending some time in the studio, recording a whole new batch of Pints with Aquinas episodes for you. If you haven't yet supported Pints with Aquinas on Patreon, please consider doing that.

Starting point is 00:19:21 If everyone would just donate $2 a month, right? $2 a month, $24 a year to this podcast, we would be set to jet. So thanks to all of you who are supporting the show on Pints with Aquinas. And if you haven't yet reviewed Pints with Aquinas on iTunes, be sure to do that. Please join our Facebook group called Pints with Aquinas. We've got well over a thousand members now chatting about all sorts of stuff over there. Visit our website, pintswithaquinas.com and be sure to share that new awesome comic we just released. God bless you guys. Thanks so much for listening. my whole life to carry you to carry you and i would give my whole life to carry you

Pints With Aquinas - 67: What is the incarnation? (Also 8 heresies get slammed!)

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