An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith.
Concerning the Appropriation.
Chapter XXV.—Concerning the Appropriation.
It is to be observed that there are two appropriations: one that is natural and essential, and one that is personal and relative. The natural and essential one is that by which our Lord in His love for man took on Himself our nature and all our natural attributes, becoming in nature and truth man, and making trial of that which is natural: but the personal and relative appropriation is when any one assumes the person of another relatively, for instance, out of pity or love, and in his place utters words concerning him that have no connection with himself. And it was in this way that our Lord appropriated both our curse and our desertion, and such other things as are not natural: not that He Himself was or became such, but that He took upon Himself our personality and ranked Himself as one of us. Such is the meaning in which this phrase is to be taken: Being made a curse for our sakes.
Edition and rights
NPNF2-09. Hilary of Poitiers, John of Damascus. Historical English edition; series volume first published 1899.
S. D. F. Salmond, translator of John of Damascus
Ancient work and historical English translation: public domain in the United States (published before 1931). Copyright rules vary by country. This is a historical source transcription, not an official Church edition. Modern website material is not reproduced.
Historical footnotes and publisher introductions are omitted. Author-written openings are retained. Paragraph whitespace is normalized. Transcriptions can contain errors; this is not a critical edition. Attribution follows the historical edition, not universal scholarly agreement.
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Source section: iii.iv.iii.xxv · Text SHA-256: b7eca49cccc817ae1b9b028afd36f3f1450edc1aa500fd047c39fe88dfc459d6