The Letter to the Romans Shows That Christ Was Always God

And so, since it is clear from the testimony above that God sent his own Son, and that he who was always the Son of God became the Son of man, let us see whether the same apostle gives any other testimony of the same kind elsewhere, so that the truth, already clear enough in itself, may be made clearer still by the light of a double testimony. The same apostle, then, says: “God sent his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh.” [a]

You see that the apostle certainly did not use these words by chance or at random, since he repeated what he had already said once. Indeed, chance or thoughtlessness could not be found in him, since the fullness of divine counsel and speech had made its home in him. What, then, does he say? “God sent his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh.” He says the same thing again and repeats it: “God sent his own Son.” O renowned and excellent teacher! He knew that the whole mystery of the catholic faith is contained in this. And so, that it might be believed that the Lord was born in the flesh and that the Son of God was sent into this world, he makes the same proclamation again and again: “God sent his own Son.”

Nor should we wonder that he who was specially sent to preach the coming of God made this announcement, since even before the law the giver of the law himself proclaimed it, saying: “I beg you, O Lord, provide another whom you may send”; or, as it stands still more clearly in the Hebrew text: “I beg you, O Lord, send whom you will send.” It is clear that the holy prophet, feeling in himself a longing for the whole human race, prayed to God the Father as though with the voices of all mankind, when he said, “I beg you, O Lord, send whom you will send.” He was asking God to send as quickly as possible the one who was to be sent by the Father for the redemption and salvation of all.

“God,” then, he says, “sent his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh.” When he says that he was sent in the flesh, he does well to exclude from him the sin of the flesh. For he says, “God sent his own Son in the likeness of the flesh of sin,” so that we may know that though the flesh was truly taken, there was no true sin; and that as far as the body is concerned we should understand that there was reality, but as far as sin is concerned, only the likeness of sin. For though all flesh is sinful, he had flesh without sin. He had in himself the likeness of sinful flesh while he was in the flesh, but he was free from what is truly sin, because he was without sin. And that is why he says: “God sent his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh.”