Translator's Note: This translation renders the Latin text of St. Cyril's commentary into English, preserving the theological precision and patristic exegetical style. Biblical citations follow traditional versification; references to column numbers (e.g., 43.739) correspond to the Patrologia Graeca edition. St. Cyril interprets Isaiah's "Suffering Servant" prophecy as a clear foretelling of Christ's incarnation, passion, and redemptive work, emphasizing both His divine nature and His voluntary humiliation for humanity's salvation. Translated by Qwen.
Isaiah 52:13–15
"Behold, my servant shall understand, and shall be exalted and glorified exceedingly. Many shall be astonished at him: so shall his visage be marred among men, and his form among the sons of men. So shall many nations be amazed at him, and kings shall shut their mouths: for they to whom it was not told concerning him shall see, and they who have not heard shall understand."
Manifestly, in these words, God the Father speaks concerning our common Savior, Christ. "Behold," He says, "my servant shall understand." By "servant," understand "Son" or "servant"—for the Word of God, who is Lord of all, took the form of a servant, and descended to the measure and limit of humanity. For He did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but emptied Himself, being made in the likeness of men, and found in appearance as a man; He humbled Himself. Therefore, He became man, submitting Himself to this abasement; and then He was also called "servant" when He had assumed the form of a servant.
But "He shall understand," He says—that is, He shall do and speak all things with divine intelligence and wisdom. And the work of divine wisdom is beyond astonishment. Yet those who did not understand His glory—what else was it but that the only-begotten Word of God became flesh, and that together with the inhabitants of the earth He became poor, so that through His poverty we might be enriched; so that we, believing in Him, might wash away the defilements of sin, since the Mosaic law was not sufficient or adequate for taking away sins; so that by the death of His flesh He might abolish death, destroy destruction, and refashion those held by death unto immortality; so that He might make man, the inhabitant of earth, a citizen of heaven; so that He might join to God the Father him who was once a fugitive; so that He might proclaim liberty to captives, sight to the blind, and heal the brokenhearted; so that He might empty Hades and strip Satan of his empire and tyranny over all?
"He shall understand, therefore," He says, "my servant." For nothing was done without intelligence, nothing without wisdom, for our sake. Indeed, "He made all things in wisdom," according to the voice of the Psalmist [Ps. 104:24]. For this reason, He says, "He shall be exalted on high and greatly glorified." For He is celebrated by us as Lord, and we call Him Savior and Redeemer—which we believe to be true.
But so that the word of God the Father may be true and entirely beyond reproach, He necessarily introduces what follows: "Just as many shall be astonished at you, so shall your visage be marred among men, and your glory among men." For those who recognized His appearing and desired to perceive with the eyes of their soul the greatness of His divine authority are astonished at this dispensation. Such was the prophet Habakkuk, saying: "O Lord, I have heard Your report and was afraid; I considered Your works and was amazed" [Hab. 3:2]. But the unfaithful and ignorant remained; these cast upon Him ignominy and disgrace, impiously calling Him a Samaritan, a glutton, a drunkard, born of fornication, and moreover, a sinner.
Therefore, "just as many shall be astonished at you, so also shall your visage be marred among men, and your glory among men." Moreover, just as this shall come to pass, so also "many nations shall marvel at you, and kings shall shut their mouths." For the Jews, though most audacious and deserving of no account, nevertheless dared to mock Him and frequently to attack Him with unrestrained tongue, even uttering blasphemous words. But many kings, as fearing God and as offering glory to the King of the universe, shall shut their mouths—that is, they shall speak nothing inappropriate, nor utter anything that could undermine the glory of Christ.
Furthermore, that the divine, holy, and saving proclamation—that is, the evangelical message—is by no means from those by whom His visage is reviled, but rather from those who shut their mouths and magnified His glory, He shows when He says: "For they to whom it was not told concerning Him shall see, and they who have not heard shall understand." For these things concerning Christ were announced to the Israelites both from the Law and from the prophets, but not to the Gentiles. Yet these, He says, "shall see His salvation more," and "they who have by no means heard these mysteries shall understand them"—namely, those who believed. For faith is the root and nurturer of knowledge, and as it were an entrance unto piety and unto...
Isaiah 53:1
"O Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? We have announced before Him as a child, as a root in a thirsty land."
Concerning our common Savior Christ, there is always frequent discourse among the holy prophets; nor have they ceased to admonish, but have clearly proclaimed in their own times that the Word of God would come in human form and work miracles divinely. Moreover, He does that here also, calling those who have gone astray into the right way and justifying the ungodly by faith.
However, those descended from the blood of Israelites were helped very little, laboring greatly in disobedience—so much so that when they ought to have embraced the prediction and gathered life-giving knowledge and entrusted it to their hearts, on the contrary they insulted the mystagogues most sharply, saying: "Speak to us other things, and announce to us another error" [cf. Isa. 30:10]. Indeed, the prophet Jeremiah, as if wearied by the immense cruelty of the Jews, says thus: "Woe is me, my mother, why have you borne me, a man of strife and contention in all the earth? I have not profited, nor has anyone profited me; my strength has failed because of those who curse me" [Jer. 15:10].
In sum, the entire choir of saints, speaking as it were concerning Jerusalem, says: "We have healed Babylon, and she is not healed; let us forsake her, and let each of us go to his own land, for her judgment has reached to heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies" [Jer. 51:9]. Here he names Jerusalem "Babylon," as one who strives to imitate her and differs in nothing from the region of the Gentiles—at least as regards dissolute living, and because she was unwilling to hold the Law in honor and esteem, nor to embrace the benefit of prophetic instruction.
These verses also have this sense: For he accuses the Israelites as having declined altogether into disobedience, and says: "Who has believed our report?" For, he says, "O Lord, we have been initiated and instructed by You in the mysteries, and we have learned the discourse concerning the humanity, and we have received this hearing—but no one has believed, nor has Your arm been made manifest to anyone"—the arm, I mean, of the Lord God of all. Moreover, divinely inspired Scripture is accustomed to name the Son as the "arm of God and the Father," as has often been demonstrated.
But as if someone were to object and say: "You, O prophets, have received the hearing through the Spirit and have been enriched with knowledge of the mystery—have you then proclaimed the mystery to others?" Certainly, they reply, we have announced it, and we have as it were borne witness, saying: "We shall be before Him as a field, as a root in a thirsty land," irrigating us, of course, with divine and hidden discourses.
[Col. 43.741] For the Only-Begotten, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge [Col. 2:3]—formerly, indeed, all the earth was like some arid and unfruitful land, as it were thirsty and not having cultivated fruits. But when it was enriched by Christ with spiritual rain, and by the aid of the Holy Spirit, we have blossomed forth as a root—that is, as beautiful and flourishing vegetation. Indeed, someone from the holy prophets also said to us: "And all nations shall call you blessed, for you shall be a desirable land," says the Lord Almighty [Mal. 3:12]. He calls it "desirable" as fruitful and most fertile—for it was pleasing to the husbandmen.
Moreover, that the land which was once thorny, arid, and lacking water has been changed into a most fruitful land, so that it has been made rich with spiritual fertility, He will declare, speaking through Isaiah, the God of all: "as a field"—that is, as a flowery and fruit-bearing acre—"and there shall come up instead of the nettle the cypress, and instead of the brier the myrtle shall come up" [Isa. 55:13]. For the nettle and the brier are of the genus of thorns, and uncultivated and thirsty land always nourishes these; but the myrtle and cypress excel in gardens. Therefore, He says, the thorn having been extirpated, the most fragrant plants shall then blossom forth; the thirsty land shall be turned into a watery one, with God saying: "I will turn the wilderness into pools of water, and the thirsty land into water-channels. I will put in the land that lacks water the cedar, and the box, and the myrtle, and the cypress, and the poplar" [Isa. 41:18–19].
Therefore, we who believe in Him have announced that Christ shall be in His sight—that is, we shall be seen by Him—as a field, as a root, that is, as vegetation in a land once thirsty, which has been made watery by Him.
Isaiah 53:2
"He has no form nor comeliness; and we saw Him, and He had no form nor beauty. But His form was dishonored and failing beyond all men."
What then does the prophet say in these words, or to what sense shall we accommodate these sayings? Come, let us consider again, as far as is permitted. For he confesses and announces—that is, he has fully and plainly foretold that He would come in His own time.
But perhaps someone will say to these things: "What then? Did the Word of God come from heaven adorned with divine glory? Did He also appear to the inhabitants of the earth shining with inaccessible light? Could His face not be beheld on account of the preeminence of glory?" Indeed, when He descended upon Mount Sinai in the appearance of fire, there were darkness and cloud and tempest, and fire flashing from above, and smoke, and many other things were to be seen which inspired the utmost fear and trembling, so that the sight was intolerable to the beholders. For the Israelites requested a mediator, saying to excellent Moses: "You speak to us, and let not God speak to us, lest we die" [Ex. 20:19].
"It is not therefore wonderful," he says, "if you have foretold that He appeared to the inhabitants of the earth not endowed with a sight-worthy glory, nor tolerable to anyone." What then do the prophets say? They boldly meet the objection and say: "Not without reason, not without cause, was this unbelief and defection." "He has no form nor glory," for, he says, He was not in divine form and glory. For He emptied Himself, being constituted in the likeness of men, and found in appearance as a man; He humbled Himself.
Moreover, we say these things not having this tradition by hearing alone, but having contemplated with our eyes Him who is proclaimed: "We saw Him, and He had neither form nor beauty"—beauty, I mean, divine. "But His form was dishonored." For human things are small and abject and altogether dishonored, in comparison with the divine and supreme excellence and illustrious beauty of a nature surpassing all. As He was called "comely in beauty beyond the sons of men" [Ps. 45:2] with regard to His divine nature.
He adds something greater: "More dishonored than all men"—namely, His form. It is as if they were saying: There are certain among men who shine as it were with the splendor of dignities, who are exalted as it were by the retinue and company of riches, and are prominent, or who are established in earthly dignity in some other way—but Emmanuel was not among these, but in a humble and abject condition, so that He seemed inferior to other men.
[Col. 43.743] And indeed the word is true. For He was not born of the holy Virgin Mother from wealth, but conducted Himself in every kind of humility, so that He might elevate what is humble and render what is dishonored desirable. Otherwise, being God and Lord and King of the universe, what need did He have of human splendor?
Isaiah 53:3
"A man placed in a stroke, and knowing how to bear infirmity, because His face is turned away; He was despised and not esteemed."
When they had said, "We saw Him, and He had no form nor beauty," they openly set forth in what state and habit and appearance they saw Him whom they proclaim. For, they say, He is like a man afflicted with a stroke, yet nobly bearing infirmity—that is, affliction, or that which He suffered unjustly. For perhaps they beheld the sad countenance of the Savior, as one who was troubled and as it were dismayed—namely, being now about to suffer death on the tree, when He also said at one time, "Now My soul is troubled" [John 12:27], and again at another time, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death" [Matt. 26:38]. And what shall I say? "Father, save Me from this hour; but for this cause I came unto this hour" [John 12:27].
And one of the holy evangelists also said that, when the time of the passion was approaching, He began to be sorrowful and overwhelmed with grief [Matt. 26:37]. For although by nature He was God, the Only-Begotten Word of the Father, in whom neither perturbations nor sorrow nor anything else of that sort could fall, nevertheless He accommodated Himself to our nature and showed Himself free from all anguish, declaring Himself in every way like unto us when temptation was pressing—not as some suppose, appearing on earth as a shadow and phantom, but as a man.
"Turned away," that is, "confused, despised, and not esteemed." For Pilate sent Jesus to Herod; but he, as Scripture says, "set Him at naught" and sent Him back [Luke 23:11]. For he did not esteem Jesus. His face was also despised, with spittle cast upon Him, and Pilate's soldiers striking Him and saying, "Prophesy to us, Christ: who is he who struck You?" [Luke 22:64]. He was also despised in another way, undergoing blows and punishments and the slaps of servants. Indeed, He said through the voice of Isaiah: "I gave My back to those who strike, and My cheeks to those who slap; I did not turn My face away from the shame of spitting" [Isa. 50:6].
Therefore, as I said, the divine prophets see through vision—namely, through the Holy Spirit—the Son, or His face, not at all free from human sadness, with the time now pressing in which it was necessary for Him to suffer, so that by the death of His own flesh He might abolish death and take away the sin of the world; and they saw that He truly existed. "His face is turned away," he says.
Isaiah 53:4–6
"This one bears our sins and suffers pain for us; and we accounted Him to be in labor, and in stroke, and in affliction. But He was wounded for our sins, and made weak for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon Him; by His bruise we were healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; each one has gone astray in his own way, and the Lord delivered Him up for our iniquities."
[Col. 43.744] Our Lord Jesus Christ endured the cross, despised with ignominy, and became obedient to the Father unto death, and sustained the impiety of the Jews, so that—as I have already said—He might take away the sin of the world, since the literal observance of the Law or the worship of the Law contributed nothing to this end. For it was not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins [Heb. 10:4]. He suffered outside the gate, so that, as Paul says, He might sanctify the people with His own blood [Heb. 13:12]. For He suffered not for Himself—for that is far from the truth—but for the whole earth under heaven.
And the most wise Paul also bears witness, writing concerning God the Father: "He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not also with Him freely give us all things?" [Rom. 8:32]. He himself also says through the lyre of the Psalmist to the Father and God in heaven: "Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You have prepared for Me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure. Then I said, 'Behold, I come; in the scroll of the book it is written of Me, that I should do Your will, O God; I have desired it'" [Ps. 40:6–8; Heb. 10:5–7].
For since the worship of the Law was of little benefit to the inhabitants of the earth for taking away sins—for the slayings of oxen and the butchering of sheep were not pleasing to God—He offered Himself for us as a sweet-smelling savor [Eph. 5:2], the true Lamb who takes away the sin of the world [John 1:29]. Then, having endured the death of the flesh, He liberated the whole orb under heaven both from death and from sin. For One suffered in place of all, for all, that He might rule and reign over all.
Paul also confirms this again, writing: "For to this end Christ died and lived, that He might rule over both the dead and the living" [Rom. 14:9]. And again: "One died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died for them and was raised" [2 Cor. 5:15].
Rightly therefore the prophet says: "This one, placed in a stroke, knowing how to bear infirmities, having His face turned away, despised and not esteemed, bears our sins and suffers pain for us; and we accounted Him to be in labor, and in stroke, and in affliction."
[Col. 43.745] Observe for me again with what artistry the prophetic discourse proceeds in this place. For the person of those who were ignorant of Christ's mystery is feigned—those who supposed that He suffered for this reason, that He might pay the penalties for His own sins. "For we accounted Him," he says, "to be in labor, and in stroke, and in affliction"—that is, we supposed that this had happened to Him divinely, that He should suffer on account of certain sins, and for this reason that He should be engaged in labor, and in stroke, and in affliction.
But the matter is by no means so; rather, "He was wounded for our sins, and made weak for our iniquities." He then gives other reasons whence it is manifest that He suffered for the sake of our salvation and life, He who knew no sin [2 Cor. 5:21]. For formerly we were at enmity and strife with God, resisting His holy laws and not subjected to the yoke of obedience, and refusing to serve Him. But it was necessary, he says, that we who had fallen into such audacity should be chastised with the rod, that ceasing from vices we might break off the enmity and make peace with God, by submitting our neck to Him and doing what pleases Him.
But this chastisement, he says, which ought to have been inflicted rather upon sinners, that they might cease to wage war against God, fell upon Him Himself. And that, I think, is: "The chastisement of our peace was upon Him." But he explains the sense of these words more plainly, soon adding: "By His bruise we were healed." For He suffered, as I said, for us.
[Col. 43.746] "For all we like sheep have gone astray; each one has gone astray in his own way, and the Lord delivered Him up for our sins." Therefore, we have gone astray; we have fallen away from the living God, pursuing our own pleasures. But the Lord of all—that is, God the Father—on account of our sins delivered Him up, that He might absolve us from punishment and preserve those who believe.
Christ Himself, not ignorant of this, says: "For God so loved the world that He gave His Only-Begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life" [John 3:16].
Isaiah 53:7–8
"And He, because of His affliction, does not open His mouth. Like a sheep He was led to the slaughter, and like a lamb before the shearer is dumb, so He does not open His mouth. In His humiliation His judgment was taken away. Who shall declare His generation? For His life is taken away from the earth; because of the iniquities of my people He was led to death."
[Col. 43.747] The meaning of these words is surely clear, but let us speak of each part individually, lest anything perhaps seem obscure to anyone. For our Lord Jesus Christ was judged by the rulers of the Jews. Then certain accusers came forward, slandering Him and affirming that certain things had been said by Him against the divine majesty. But to these Christ responded nothing, as one who knew that a defense would profit nothing at all. For He was called to judgment by enemies. For He was by no means ignorant that they would use a more inflamed impulse of mind against Him if He were to say that He was the Son of God and the Savior and Redeemer of the world. Therefore He was silent then both before them and when judged before Pilate, and spoke few words and scarcely at all, that He might render their sin inexcusable.
For the cruel and impious Caiaphas interrogated Him, saying: "I adjure You by the living God that You tell us: are You the Christ, the Son of God?" To which He immediately replied: "From now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven" [Matt. 26:63–64]. Pilate also interrogated Him whether He was the King of Israel. To these things Christ answered: "You say it" [Matt. 27:11]. Hence Pilate consented to the madness of the Jews, and having ordered Jesus to be scourged, he commanded his soldiers to lead Him away among criminals [Luke 23:32], that He might suffer death on the cross.
Therefore it is true, just as the prophet says: "Because of His affliction, He does not open His mouth." For having suffered infinite things after He was seized—enduring insults and spitting and the slaps of impious ministers and other things by which it is likely one afflicted might be offended—He was led to Pilate. Yet "because of His affliction," he says, "He does not open His mouth," but "like a sheep He was led to the slaughter, and like a lamb before the shearer is dumb."
For at the proper time sheep are led away to be sheared, and the shepherds apply shears to them. And although they sometimes suffer, even when the blade touches their skins, they endure, they are silent, and they do not leap upon those who do this. So Christ, being reviled, did not return reviling; suffering, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges justly [1 Pet. 2:23].
Therefore it is true that "in His humiliation His judgment was taken away." For because He appeared to them as someone contemptible and very lowly, they rendered a facile verdict or judgment against Him. Which indeed certain judges do, who have very little regard for exact sentence and truth, and who judge rather from the person than from the facts. For if he who is called into judgment is someone illustrious in the world, they are found to be exact and keen inquisitors, and then perhaps even resisting the truth, they endeavor to devise from every quarter kinds of support and assistance. But when someone ignoble is brought forward, then, then they are precipitate, audacious, and without any hesitation pronounce a capital sentence against him.
"His judgment was taken away in humiliation," he says. Since therefore He appeared to certain ones among the Jews, or to the judges, as plainly humble, the prophet, contemplating in his soul the magnitude of the nobility which was in Him, and that God had been seen by the inhabitants of the earth in our form, almost shaking his head laments those who rendered judgment against Him, and says: "Who shall declare His generation?" For, he says, "not as you suppose have you been harsh and unjust judges against a plebeian and vile man, but rather against One whose generation or origin no speech of yours can explain to you."
[Col. 43.748] Moreover, you shall understand this in two ways. For the Word of God was born of God the Father, and the manner of His birth can be comprehended neither by speech nor by intelligence. For He was not generated corporeally, but as is fitting for a nature that falls under intelligence and is incorporeal. For light shone forth from light, and life arose from life. And we undoubtedly believe that He was truly begotten from the substance of God the Father, but how, it is not within our power either to express or to conceive.
But when He was God by nature, He humbled Himself that for our sake He might undergo emptying, and took the form of a servant, and endured to be born of a woman according to the flesh—yet not following the laws of human birth. For He was not born of a man and a woman, but His birth was rather mystical and extraordinary and above us and nearly ineffable. For it was said to the holy Virgin: "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore also that holy One who will be born will be called the Son of God" [Luke 1:35].
Moreover, since this mystery of His carnal nativity is believed to have occurred above the condition of His nature, therefore the prophet says: "Who shall declare His generation?" "Because His life is taken away from the earth." He says "is taken away" for "is lifted up," and His life is more sublime than earthly men—that is, His conduct and His life in the flesh. For He alone of all, although He appeared as a man of our condition, did not commit sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth [1 Pet. 2:22], since no one of mortals on earth has accomplished this. For there is no one among us at all who is free from blame.
His life—that is, the essence of the Only-Begotten—is also lifted up in another way and is above all mortals, when He is understood apart from the flesh and before He was made man like unto us. Therefore, just as His carnal generation surpasses every opinion and nature, so also His life and manner and rule of living exceeds the measure of mortal men and greatly preeminent.
Moreover, as if someone were to say against these things: "How is He who knew no sin subjected to a sentence of death, and reckoned among the iniquitous?" For He was condemned as a sinner. God the Father almost anticipates this and says: "Because of the iniquities of my people He was led to death." For either He says this: "For the sin of my people, willing, He submitted to the sentence of death"; or perhaps that: "Because, indeed," he says, "those who were inflamed against my people were most iniquitous, therefore the snares of their cruelty and slaughter fell upon Him, and so He was led to death."
[Col. 43.749] Truly both this and that are so. For He died that He might abolish the sin of mortals, and together with it destroy death arising from it. He also died in another way, with the Jews acting unjustly against Him in that death. For although they recognized that He was the heir, they said among themselves: "Come, let us kill Him, and seize His inheritance for ourselves" [Matt. 21:38].
Isaiah 53:9
"And I will give the wicked for His burial, and the rich for His death; because He committed no iniquity, nor was deceit found in His mouth."
In these words He seems to wish to signify and show to be true what we have already said: that because those who were inflamed against the people of God were most impious and iniquitous, for this reason Christ was dragged to death. For, he says, "since they raged impiously against Him and killed the Prince of Life, rashly exercising impiety even against Him who preserves, hence and indeed very deservedly, 'the wicked and the rich,' he says, 'I will give for His burial and for His death into the hands of enemies.'"
[Col. 43.750] For the Jews sinned in two ways: both because they killed the Lord, and because they calumniated His burial. But in what way shall we speak of this? For He was buried after He had undergone the death of the flesh, and yet He rose again on the third day, with a certain earthquake having been stirred up in the tomb, so that the guarding soldiers perceived the matter and went to the rulers of the Jews and announced it—and the resurrection itself. But they, just as the evangelist reports, gave many pieces of silver to the soldiers that they should say that His disciples had come by night and stolen Him [Matt. 28:12–13]. And this report has been spread abroad among the Jews down to the present day.
Therefore, on account of these two crimes, God the Father accuses those who impiously prevaricated, and calls them "wicked" and "rich": "wicked," because they calumniated and killed Jesus for vain reasons; "rich," because with money they persuaded the satellites of Pilate to calumniate the venerable and great mystery of the resurrection. It is also likely that in another way they were called "rich"—namely, this discourse subtly hints at and tacitly rebukes them for this reason: that they laid snares for Christ so that they might possess riches unjustly accumulated, by not judging rightly and by greedily despoiling whomever they could.
For He said concerning them through the voice of Isaiah: "Your princes are disobedient, companions of thieves; they love bribes, they pursue rewards; they do not judge for the orphans, and they do not attend to the judgment of the widow" [Isa. 1:23]. They also wished that the word of faith should not be received, thinking that with the cessation of the legal worship they ought to fall away from the gains and emoluments of the priesthood. For they received the firstfruits and tithes and collected even the smallest things exactly and precisely. Indeed, Christ reproached them for this, saying: "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith" [Matt. 23:23].
They were also convicted as greedy in another respect: for, as I said above, transferring the Lord's portion to themselves, they laid snares for the Lord of the vineyard. Moreover, that God gave the wicked and the rich for the death and burial of Christ by just judgment, He openly demonstrates, soon adding: "Because He committed no iniquity, nor was deceit found in His mouth."
What discourse then will defend the Jews on the day of judgment? For God the Father openly testified concerning the Son that He was free from blame. "For neither was deceit"—that is, falsehood—"found in His mouth, nor did He commit iniquity." Therefore, neither by deed nor by word was He a transgressor of the Law, and He attained to the summit of all purity. But these men lied and bore witness against Him, saying to Pilate at one time: "This man stirs up the people and forbids giving tribute to Caesar" [Luke 23:2]; and again at another time: "If this man were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered Him to you" [John 18:30].
Therefore they strive against the testimony of the Father, arraigning Him who is irreproachable and just with untrue accusations; for this reason they were delivered to enemies. "Because the Lord wills to cleanse him from the stroke" [Isa. 53:10 LXX]. For indeed, if those who raged against Him had not paid the penalty, it is likely that some, suspecting, would say and think that Christ was condemned by holy judgment and verdict, as one who was guilty of the crime that was charged against Him. But when punishment has been inflicted and due penalty imposed upon those who were impious toward Him, He is cleansed from the stroke. For God would not have been angry, nor would He have despised His people, nor would He have sent upon them extreme calamities, unless they had denied the Holy and Just One, assailing Him with calumnies, and fastening Him to the wood, and having been more inhuman than all inhumanity.
Isaiah 53:10–12
"If you shall give your soul for sin, you shall see a long-lived seed. And the Lord wills to take away from the pain of His soul, to show Him light, and to form Him with understanding, to justify the Just One who serves many well, and He Himself shall remit their sins. Therefore He shall possess many, and He shall divide the spoils of the strong; because His soul was delivered to death, and He was reckoned among the iniquitous, and He Himself bore the sins of many, and because of their sins He was delivered up."
[Col. 43.751] The Israelites having been accused, as those who unjustly killed the Giver and Bestower of Life and the Dispenser of the salvation of all, He turns His discourse to the gathering of the Gentiles, and thus addresses them: "If you shall give your soul for sin, you shall see a long-lived seed."
It is as if He were to say openly: Christ laid down His soul for us; with His own blood He redeemed us; despised with ignominy, He endured the cross, that He might procure salvation for us. If therefore you wish to render recompense, if as it were in place of a debt you have placed obedience and subjected your neck to His yoke, then your soul shall see a long-lived seed—that is, you shall be companions of those who are reserved for long life, namely, the saints, who have been enriched with the hope of eternal life.
For among the Greeks there was no account or care of the resurrection of the dead, nor even yet is faith given to the mystery; indeed, they almost assert that this breath in our nostrils is smoke, which when extinguished, all things fall back into ashes, and this spirit will be dispersed like empty air. But among the pupils of the Church the hope is unshaken: the resurrection of those who sleep. And God promises this to the Gentiles, if indeed they are willing to offer the recompense of their souls to Christ, who was willing to suffer for their sin.
[Col. 43.752] Moreover, Paul will declare what our debt is of this sort, saying: "For one died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died for them and was raised" [2 Cor. 5:15]. Therefore we owe Him our life. And so He says: "If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me" [Matt. 16:24]. But he who denies himself will no longer live a voluptuous life, but one that is understood to be Christ's—that is, holy and irreproachable—as indeed the divine Paul, who wrote expressly: "For I through the Law died to the Law, that I might live to God. With Christ I have been crucified; yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me. And the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not reject the grace of God" [Gal. 2:19–21].
See therefore in what way he gave himself for sin, consecrating as it were to Him who suffered for him his own life. For we have heard Christ saying to His familiars: "He who loves father or mother above Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter above Me is not worthy of Me" [Matt. 10:37]. For indeed, a person's mother and father were to him the beginning and cause of his bodily existence; but the God and Father of all regenerated those held by death and withered like herbs unto immortality through Christ in the Spirit, and made them stronger so as not to be corrupted, and crowned them with long-lasting and infinite life. Therefore, with this love toward Him, not without cause is that reverence toward parents inferior; but to love Christ with the whole soul and heart, and to obey His nod and holy oracles—this is to give for sin, and at the same time to retain right and blameless faith in Him.
"Your soul shall see," therefore, he says, "a long-lived seed." For the Lord wills "to take away the labor of His soul," that is, to exchange the sadness of the cross for joy, by showing to Him those who have been translated into light who formerly were darkness—that is, those who formerly had gone astray—to whom also the most wise Paul writes in his Epistle, saying: "For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord" [Eph. 5:8].
[Col. 43.753] "He wills to form with understanding." But what this is, the most wise Paul will teach, when he says: "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord" [2 Cor. 3:18]. For those who are engaged in sins and worship the creature rather than the Creator have a deformed heart in some way and a most foul mind. To a certain one therefore it was said through the voice of Jeremiah: "Behold, your eyes and your heart are not pure" [Jer. 22:17]. But when they embrace faith in Christ, they are transformed intelligibly unto His divine and excellent beauty.
Indeed, the most wise Paul writes to certain ones: "My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you" [Gal. 4:19]. Moreover, God the Father wills "with understanding"—that is, with His divine wisdom—to form those who believe in Him, and to render them conformable to Himself through sanctification in the Spirit. For, he says, "whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son" [Rom. 8:29]. And God is said to have created in Himself one new man from two peoples [Eph. 2:15].
And I think God the Father wills "to justify the Just One who serves many well, and He Himself shall remit their sins." Moreover, the "Just One well serving many" cannot, as I think, be understood as anyone other than our Lord Jesus Christ. For He did not come to be served, as He Himself says, but rather to serve by the dispensation of His incarnation [Matt. 20:28]. Hence it seemed good to the blessed Paul to call Him a minister. For he says concerning the Law and the New Testament: "For if the ministry of condemnation had glory"—for the person of Moses had been made glorious—"much more does the ministry of righteousness exceed in glory" [2 Cor. 3:9].
[Col. 43.754] Therefore the Just and irreproachable Christ, well serving many—for He received as His possession all the Gentiles, who had been like a possession of Satan, not that the Word of God might help His own nature, but bestowing this upon us and as it were performing a certain ministry in us, by which indeed we have been saved. Moreover, He is justified when He removes that suspicion by which He seemed to be evil and to have suffered death on the tree justly—both because the Israelites paid the penalties for their impiety toward Him, and because He rules over the orb of the earth and over all the Gentiles who run to Him.
For that He has a powerful ministry, this economy of the incarnation shows, when He says: "And He Himself shall remit their sins." For that He might turn away sin from the world, He Himself assumed it upon Himself, and One died for all, who in place of all therefore served many. When He says "many," He signifies the Gentiles. For there was one people, Israel. But because, he says, "He Himself bore their sins," therefore "He shall possess many, and shall divide the spoils of the strong."
Here by "many" understand those from the Gentiles—for they were more in infinite parts than the Israelites; by "the strong," understand either the holy apostles, or even all simply who are powerful in Christ and endowed with spiritual manliness, to whom, as to those conquering Satan, He distributed the spoils. For He distributes to the saints with a rich hand the aids of spiritual gifts. "For to one," he says, "is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge, and prophecy, and discernments of spirits, and gifts of healings" [1 Cor. 12:8–9].
Moreover, we attribute the power of speech to the holy apostles, and we say that He who possessed many divided these things to the holy mystagogues. For some were called to the knowledge of our common Savior Christ by the divine Peter; others through the mystagogy of Paul or some other of the holy apostles were led to the light of truth. Therefore the Savior divided among them as it were certain spoils—that is, the plunder of war—the conversion and calling of those who formerly had gone astray.
[Col. 43.755] Moreover, that it was necessary for Him who died for all to be seen as Lord of all, he persuades, saying: "Because His soul was delivered to death, and He was reckoned among the iniquitous, and He Himself bore sins, and because of their iniquities He was delivered up."
CONTINUE
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