The Origin of Men, Angels, and Heavenly Bodies

Now, as to the expression he uses, “Some people say,” I think what I have said before has made it clear that when he says “some people say” or “another says,” and does not argue against the opinions brought in this way, it is he himself who is this ‘someone’ or ‘other.’ And this is proved by the many cases I have pointed out where he expresses opinions agreeing with these without bringing in any such person. So we must consider in each case whether he expresses any disagreement with the ‘other.’ For instance, an opinion is put forward that the stars and the other things in heaven are reasoning beings and capable of sinning. We must see, then, what his own opinion is on this point. Turn to his note in this book on the passage, “He must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.” Some way down you will find these words: [a] “It may be observed that no one is without sin; that even the stars are not clean in his sight; and that every creature trembles at the coming of the Creator. That is why it is not only things on earth but also things in heaven that are said to have been cleansed by our Savior’s cross.” [c]

Again, on the opinion that men are called children of wrath because they are in this body of humiliation, or body of death, he says, commenting on the words, “We were children of wrath, even as others” (in the Commentary on Ephesians, on this verse, some way down): [d] “We must hold that men are by nature children of wrath because of this ‘body of humiliation’ and ‘body of death,’ and because ‘the heart of man is inclined to evil from his youth.’” [e]

Again, on the opinion that the soul is created first and the body fashioned afterward, he says (at the same passage, a long way down): “And notice carefully that he does not say, ‘We are his forming and fashioning,’ but, ‘We are his making.’ For ‘fashioning’ points to man’s origin from the mud of the earth, but ‘making’ to his origin according to the image and likeness of God. And this distinction is confirmed by the words of the hundred and eighteenth Psalm, ‘Your hands have made me and fashioned me.’ ‘Making’ comes first; ‘fashioning’ comes after.” [f]

Are there any other things he wants us to condemn? He has only to name them, and we can draw them out of his own books, or rather from the bottom of his own heart. For instance, we are to condemn as a pestilent claim that the nature of human souls and of angels is the same. But let us see what his own opinion is on this point, as given in the books which he specially puts before us as containing the pattern of his profession and his rule of faith. Turn to the passage, “He came and preached peace to those who were far off and to those who were near.” His comment first explains the words as referring to Jews and Gentiles, and then goes on: [g] “This has been said following the common Latin translation. But if anyone reads the words of the apostle where he says of Christ, ‘Making peace through the blood of his cross for those who are on earth and for those who are in heaven,’ and the rest of what is said in that place, he will not think that ‘those far off’ means us, who are called the spiritual Israel, and that ‘those who are near’ means the Jews, who are called merely ‘Israel according to the flesh.’ “He will change the whole meaning of the passage and apply it to the angels and the heavenly powers and to human souls, taking it to mean that Christ by his blood joined together things on earth and things in heaven which had been at odds before; that he brought back the sheep which had grown sick on the mountains to be with the rest, and put the lost coin back among those which had been safe before.” [h]