Monday, April 29, 2024

Marius Victorinus Teaching Infused Righteousness in his Commentary on Ephesians 1:8

  

With good cause [is it said] God poured out upon us. For an angel will remain in the state of being an angel, and the same with other beings (whether they are counted among the elements or with matter or among the heavenly lights or in other things of this sort), all of which have been produced and generated by God. But the soul amongst all of these has merited more from God, both the greatest gift and great riches, when knowing God—albeit by means of the will of God infused in it by Jesus Christ—the soul, accepted among the sons of God, is granted to be bear to God and to the Son, that is, to Jesus Christ. Still, [all this comes about] through Christ himself, as the soul, made out as a co-heir of eternity and majesty, is granted the name and position of son. (Marius Victorinus, Commentary on Ephesians, Book 1, in Metaphysics and Morals in Marius Victorinus' Commentary on the Letter to the Ephesians [trans. Stephen Andrew Cooper; Series V Philosophy vol. 155; New York: Peter Lang, 1995], 53-54)