Gregory of Nyssa

In his own words on Ephesians

• Ephesians 2:3

  The divine Scripture knows how to use the word "Son" in both senses, so that in some cases such an appellation is derived from nature, in others it is adventitious and artificial. For when it speaks of "sons of men," or "sons of rams," it marks the essential relation of that which is begotten to that from which it has its being: but when it speaks of "sons of power," or "children of God," it presents to us that kinship which is the result of choice. And, moreover, in the opposite sense, too, the same persons are called "sons of Eli," and "sons of Belial," the appellation of "sons" being easily adapted to either idea. For when they are called "sons of Eli," they are declared to have natural relationship to him, but in being called "sons of Belial," they are reproved for the wickedness of their choice, as no longer emulating their father in their life, but addicting their own purpose to sin. In the case, then, of this lower nature of ours, and of the things with which we are concerned, by reason of human nature being equally inclined to either side (I mean, to vice and to virtue), it is in our power to become sons either of night or of day, while our nature yet remains, so far as the chief part of it is concerned, within its proper limits. For neither is he who by sin becomes a child of wrath alienated from his human generation, nor does he who by choice addicts himself to good reject his human origin by the refinement of his habits, but, while their nature in each case remains the same, the differences of their purpose assume the names of their relationship.

  AGAINST EUNOMIUS 3.1.116

• Ephesians 2:16

  Since then it was impossible that our life, which had been estranged from God, should of itself return to the high and heavenly place, for this cause, as saith the Apostle, He Who knew no sin is made sin for us, and frees us from the curse by taking on Him our curse as His own, and having taken up, and, in the language of the Apostle, "slain" in Himself "the enmity" which by means of sin had come between us and God,-(in fact sin was "the enmity")-and having become what we were, He through Himself again united humanity to God. For having by purity brought into closest relationship with the Father of our nature that new man which is created after God, in Whom dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, He drew with Him into the same grace all the nature that partakes of His body and is akin to Him.

  Against Eunomius, Book 12

• Ephesians 3:18

  The great Paul, who was instructed by those ineffable words which he heard, having been initiated in the mysteries within the paradise, clarifies this mystery for us, as he hinted in part through his words to the Ephesians, saying: "That you may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God." Therefore, the divine eye of the Apostle did not perceive the form of the cross in vain, but clearly showed through it that, having cast off all the scales of ignorance from the eyes, one sees purely the truth of beings; for he saw that this form, divided into four extensions from the central union, signifies the power and providence that was made manifest in it, which pervades all. For this reason, he uniquely names each extension with specific terms, calling the downward extension from the center "depth" and the upward extension "height," while the extensions stretching out laterally from the union on either side he calls "breadth" and "length," as if to say that on one side of the center is breadth and on the other is length. By these terms, it seems to me, he clearly indicates in his discourse that there is nothing in existence that is not utterly sustained by the divine nature, the heavenly, the earthly, and everything stretching out to the ends of existence from every lateral direction; for through the height, it signifies what is above, through the depth, what is below, and with the length and breadth, the extremities in between, held by the power that controls everything.

  ON THE THREE DAYS

• Ephesians 4:6

  One God contains all and guides all as is fitting and is in all. This one saying of Paul suffices by itself to express everything succinctly, when he says that God is "over all and through all and in all."

  REFUTATION OF EUNOMIUS'S CONFESSION OF FAITH 169

• Ephesians 4:8-9

  The Enemy, therefore, beholding in Him such power, saw also in Him an opportunity for an advance, in the exchange, upon the value of what he held. For this reason he chooses Him as a ransom for those who were shut up in the prison of death. But it was out of his power to look on the unclouded aspect of God; he must see in Him some portion of that fleshly nature which through sin he had so long held in bondage. Therefore it was that the Deity was invested with the flesh, in order, that is, to secure that he, by looking upon something congenial and kindred to himself, might have no fears in approaching that supereminent power; and might yet by perceiving that power, showing as it did, yet only gradually, more and more splendour in the miracles, deem what was seen an object of desire rather than of fear... His choosing to save man is a testimony of his goodness; His making the redemption of the captive a matter of exchange exhibits His justice, while the invention whereby He enabled the Enemy to apprehend that of which he was before incapable, is a manifestation of supreme wisdom... For since, as has been said before, it was not in the nature of the opposing power to come in contact with the undiluted presence of God, and to undergo His unclouded manifestation, therefore, in order to secure that the ransom in our behalf might be easily accepted by him who required it, the Deity was hidden under the veil of our nature, that so, as with ravenous fish, the hook of the Deity might be gulped down along with the bait of flesh, and thus, life being introduced into the house of death, and light shining in darkness, that which is diametrically opposed to light and life might vanish; for it is not in the nature of darkness to remain when light is present, or of death to exist when life is active.

  The Great Catechism, Chapter XXIII-XXIV

• Ephesians 4:8-9

  What shall we learn of the three days' time? [...] This one hath loosed the oath of death, this one hath comforted the firstborn of the dead, in this one the iron gates of death are broken down, in this one the brass of the rod of hell are broken. Now the prison of death is opened, now the prisoners are declared to be released... As the ruler of darkness could not approach the presence of the Light unimpeded, had he not seen in Him something of flesh, then, as soon as he saw the God-bearing flesh and saw the miracle performed through it by the Deity, he hoped that if he came to take hold of the flesh through death, then he would take hold of all the power contained in it. Therefore, having swallowed the bait of the flesh, he was pierced by the hook of the Deity and thus the dragon was transfixed by the hook.

  Of the three days between the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus (De tridui inter mortem et resurrectionem domini nostri Jesu), Section 3

• Ephesians 4:24

  The divine apostle more clearly sets before us by his own words when he charges us, "Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ," and also where (using the same word) he says, "Put on the new man which after God is created." For if the garment of salvation is one, and that is Christ, one cannot say that "the new man, which after God is created," is any other than Christ, but it is clear that he who has "put on Christ" has "put on the new man which after God is created." For actually He alone is properly named "the new man," Who did not appear in the life of man by the known and ordinary ways of nature, but in His case alone creation, in a strange and special form, was instituted anew.

  AGAINST EUNOMIUS 3.1.52