CHRISTIANS ON CHRIST’S OT APPEARANCES
In this post I reference some early and later medieval fathers, saints, theologians, etc., who take the view that the God whom the patriarchs and prophets such as Abraham and Moses was the Lord Jesus Christ in his prehuman existence. Some of these writers also taught that Christ is the divine Angel of the Old Testament. All emphasis will be mine.
Ephrem The Syrian
“Although Abraham ran from the tent toward them as if toward strangers, he ran to receive those strangers with love. His love for strangers was thus proved by the haste with which he ran to meet those strangers. Therefore, the Lord, who had just appeared to him at the door of the tent, now appeared to Abraham clearly in one of the three.” (Ephrem The Syrian on Genesis 18:2)
“Abraham then fell down and worshipped Him, seeking from Him in whom majesty dwelt that He vouchsafe to enter his house and bless his dwelling. ‘If I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant.’ God did not oppose him, for He said, ‘Do as you have said.’ Then Abraham ran to Sarah [telling her] to make three measures of wheat and then he ran to the herd to get a fatted calf.” (The Fathers of the Church: St. Ephrem the Syrian, Commentary on the 1st BK Torah, Sec. XV)
On hearing this, the good man was awestruck at the greatness of the one speaking to him, and said, “‘Tell me your name.’ He replied, ‘Why do you ask my name?’ And he blessed him.” Keep within your limits, he is saying, and don’t trespass beyond them. Do you want to enjoy a blessing from me? Here, I grant you this one: “He blessed him,” the text says, remember. “Jacob called that place Sight of God: ‘I saw God face to face, and my spirit survived.’” Do you see how much confidence he gained from the vision he had? That is to say, my spirit [510] survived, he is saying, which had almost perished from fear. Since I was privileged to see God face to face, “‘my spirit survived.’ Now, the sun rose on him as he passed the Sight of God.”
Do you see how the Lord shows considerateness for our human limitations in all he does and in arranging everything in a way that gives evidence of his characteristic love? Don’t be surprised, dearly beloved, at the extent of his considerateness; rather, remember that with the patriarch as well, when he was sitting by the oak tree, he came in human form as the good man’s guest in the company of the angels, giving us a premonition from on high at the beginning THAT HE WOULD ONE DAY TAKE HUMAN FORM to liberate all human nature by this means from the tyranny of the devil and lead us to salvation. At that time, however, since it was the very early stages, he appeared to each of them IN THE GUISE OF AN APPARITION, as he says himself through the inspired author, “I multiplied visions and took various likenesses in the works of the inspired authors.”
But when he deigned to take on the form of a slave and receive our first fruits, he donned our flesh, NOT IN APPEARANCE OR IN SEEMING, but in reality. He brought himself to undergo all our experiences, to be born of a woman, to become an infant, to be wrapped in swaddling clothes, to be fed at the breast, and to undergo everything for this purpose, that the truth of the divine plan might be given credence and the mouths of heretics be stopped. For this purpose he slept in a boat, took journeys, suffered hardship, and endured every other human experience, so that he might succeed in giving everyone the certitude that comes from experience. Hence, he appeared before the tribunal, was crucified, suffered death of the most shameful kind, and was laid in a tomb, so that the details of the divine plan might in every way be made clear. (Commentary on Genesis, Book IV, Homily 58)
St. Cyril of Alexandria
It is clear that it says God appeared to him, truly being three men in appearance, the Holy Abraham approaching from afar speaking not as if to three: “Lords, if indeed I have found grace in your sight, pass not by your son,” but calling upon the threefold Lord in a singular fashion, as if to one, so that they might turn aside to him, he asked “When?” and as one appearing in three, even as from one persona, they replied, “Where is Sarah your wife?” and responded, “I will come when the time is ripe.” (Contra Julianum, Book I)
Primasius
The Bishop of Hadrumetum (circa A.D. 551) identified the Angel of Revelation 20:1-2 as the Lord Jesus Christ. This implies that since
We understand the angel coming down from heaven to be our Lord, Jesus Christ, who is called the angel of great counsel. He visited the region of those who are mortal, for as one who is stronger he wished to bind the strong one, so that he might make vessels of mercy out of those who had earlier been vessels of wrath. And he accomplished this through that work that he had promised before when he said, “No one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his wares, unless he first binds the strong man,” that is, the devil. The key of the bottomless pit is the depth of the divine judgments, for “the judgments of God are a great deep.”4 Indeed, to him alone is it known who from the mass of sinners are to be called out into the full number of the elect. (Commentary on the Apocalypse, 20.1–2. CCL 92:271–72)
Since Primasius could affirm that Christ functions as God’s Angel in his pos-resurrected glorified state, where he continues to be a Man with a glorified physical body, then I see no reason why he would have had a problem with Christ appearing as God’s Angel in his prehuman existence.
Aurelius Prudentius Clemens
Has not the power to grasp His majesty? We have the sacred word of mighty John, Who witness bears that God cannot be seen.4 He is the Father, whom no piercing eye With burning glance has ever yet discerned, Who put not on the form of man, nor veiled His Godhead under human mien or mode. Thou must, blasphemer, spurn the book divine, Or else the Father’s might was never seen, Which cannot mingle with the things of earth. And yet the Father’s image may be seen, Which has appeared at times to human eyes, Which our dim sight, though watery and dull, Has had the power through mist and cloud to reach. Who so of men is said to have seen God HAS SEEN THE SON who is by Him begot; The Son proceeding from the Father showed Himself to man IN FORMS THAT HE COULD GRASP. For pure Godhead comes not within our view Unless IT VEILS ITSELF IN EARTHLY FORM. This Deity DID ABRAHAM BEHOLD, Sire of a noble race and host to Christ, Who deigned in threefold shape to visit earth.5) This, too, did Jacob meet with wrestling arms.6 The giver of the law divine, himself, Who, bidden to approach, stood face to face With God and friendly words exchanged with Him,7 Knew that he looked on Christ in fleshly guise. But bolder then, he revelation sought Not granted unto man and hopeless strove To see Christ’s majesty devoid of flesh.
At last, when he had with his present Lord Conversed at length in easy fellowship, He prayed: ‘O gracious Lord, let me know Thee.’8 God answered: ‘Not myself, but my one Son The just shall see.’9 Could He have made more clear The Word cannot be seen except in earthly form, That though the Father man cannot behold, The Word may when He wills reveal Himself To human eyes, and oft assumes the shape OF MAN OR ANGEL that He may be seen? It was the Word, breathed from the Father’s mouth, Who of the Virgin took a mortal frame. The human form that not yet in the flesh Appeared to Moses wore a brow like ours, Since God, who would by power of the Word Assume a body, made the face the same. Flames rose and seemed to burn the thorny bush.10 God moved amid the branches set with spines, And tresses of the flames swayed harmlessly,11 That He might shadow forth His Son’s descent Into our thorny members sin infests With teeming briers and fills with bitter woes. For tainted at its root that noxious shrub Had sprouted from its baneful sap a crop Of evil shoots beset with many thorns. The sterile branches suddenly grew bright As God enkindled with His mighty power The leafy boughs, nor harmed the tangled briers. He touched the scarlet berries, blood-red fruits, And grazed the twigs that grew from deadly wood, For stains of sin are washed away by blood Shed by the tortured bush with cruel pangs.
4 John 1.18; 6.46.
5 Gen. 18.
6 Gen. 32.24.
7 Exod. 33.11
8 Exod. 33.18
9 Exod. 33.23 (Fathers of the Church Patristic Series: Prudentius Poems, translated by M. Clement Eagan, C.C.V.I. [The Catholic University of America Press, 1965], Volume 2)
Peter Damian
“Tell us therefore, Jew, as you deny the Trinity and consequently are unaware of unity, if, as you assert, God is one in person, to whom did he say: ‘Let us make man to our image and likeness’? For if there were one person in the Godhead, he would not have said ‘let us make,’ but ‘let me make.’ If there were three substances, he would not have used the singular “our image,” but rather ‘our images.’ Therefore, while ‘let us make’ asserts Trinity and ‘our image’ indicates unity, it is clearly obvious that the essentially one God consists of three persons.
“[Moses said in Gen. 11.5] The Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the sons of Adam were building. And shortly after that he added: ‘Come, let us go down and there confuse their language.’9
“You see, therefore, that ‘the Lord came down’ expresses the one divine essence; but ‘Come, let us go down’ teaches that there are three persons.10 Also ask Abraham why when seeing three men he adored one? Thus it was written: ‘The Lord appeared to him in the valley of Mamre, as he sat in the entrance of his tent, while the day was growing hot’; and then he added: ‘When he looked up, three men appeared to him standing nearby.’11 Notice that although he first said: ‘The Lord appeared to him‘; when the event was described, it was not said: ‘a man appeared to him,’ but ‘three men appeared to him.’ It is here clearly demonstrated that he who appeared to him is one in divine substance and is threefold in person. Abraham’s words likewise give evidence of this when he says: ‘Sir,’ he said, ‘if I have found favor in your sight, do not go past your servant. But let me bring a little water and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree.’12
“… The prophet Isaiah also clearly and thoroughly taught this Trinity of persons and unity of nature when he reported seeing Seraphim who cried out: ‘Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Hosts.’13 To show the Trinity of persons, ‘holy’ is pronounced three times. But to indicate that the substance of the Trinity is one, he speaks of the Lord of hosts, and not the Lords of hosts.14
“(10) Take note, then, Jew, as we page through almost all the books of your law, that we quite clearly discover the unity of the divine essence and the Trinity of persons.” (Randy Engel, Study Guide #8: “Let Your Life Always be A Witness”, “Saint Peter’s Letter 1: On The Arguments of the Jews Against the Blessed Trinity,” pp. 4-5)
“(38) So again we might let Daniel stand forth as a witness and present what he knows of Christ. But first let him report what king Nebuchadnezzar saw after he commanded the three young men to be thrown into the fiery furnace. ‘But see four men,’ he says, ‘unfettered and unhurt, walking in the fire, and the fourth looks like the Son of God.’15 Here then, Jew, you have the Son of God; why try any further to deny the Son of God? Speak!
“Answer me! What can be said more sharply or more clearly of the Son of God than to call him the Son of God? But if you are unable to object, and can find no escape, surrender and humbly give yourself up to the winner, and admit that you have been defeated and thoroughly beaten.
“(39) Now, then, let Daniel tell us what he saw of Christ, the Son of God: ‘I saw a vision during the night, and there was one like the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, and he came to the Ancient of Days, and was presented before him. And he gave him dominion and glory, and kingship: and all nations and peoples and tongues shall serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not be taken away, and his kingship shall not be destroyed.16 And again in the eighth vision, the same Daniel said: “Know, listen and understand,” he says: ‘From the utterance of the word that Jerusalem was to be rebuilt, until Christ the leader, there shall be seven weeks, and the walls (shall be rebuilt) in dangerous times. And after sixty weeks [usually written sixty-two] Christ shall be slain, and a people who shall deny him shall not be his.’17” (Ibid., pp. 5-6)
And:
“… Then let the other arguments and other examples from your sacred Scriptures succeed and let testimony be offered up as evidence to prove the true deity of Christ from your very own lawgiver, Moses. I say approach, then, holy Moses, you singular friend of God,4 you whom God himself says that he knew by name,5 you who were given to the Jews in a veil but who were revealed to us,6 approach a people that no longer belongs to God, but come arrayed against the enemies of God, and expose to them just as to us the deity of the Son of God: ‘The Lord,’ he says, ‘rained down brimstone and fire upon Sodom and Gomorrah from the Lord out of heaven.’7 Who is the Lord, O Jews, who rained down brimstone and fire out of heaven from another Lord? You have already heard David saying: ‘The Lord said to [my] Lord,’ so listen as well to Moses saying: ‘The Lord rained down from the Lord.’…
“From these passages it is clear that ‘the Lord rained down from the Lord’19 was not said about any of them. For the angels are not called lords, the ‘spirits of the administrator’20 are not called lords, but he alone, he truly, he perfectly is called Lord who said through Moses, O Jews, to your fathers: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God the Lord is one.’21 Surely he is the one God, he is the one Lord of whom our apostle, even though you do not believe him, said: ‘One God the Father from whom are all things and One Lord Jesus Christ through whom are all things.’22 Your Scripture, when it says, ‘The Lord rained down from the Lord,’23 says this about this Lord the Father, about this Lord the Son. Plainly the Lord rained down from the Lord, the Son from the Father, God from God, who, just as it has to be the case that God exists from God, just as it has to be the case that the Lord exists from the Lord, so too he has to exist from him essentially, to recompense the just, punish sinners, glorify the good, and condemn the profane. He did this even then when ‘he rained brimstone and fire from the Lord of heaven upon Sodom and Gomorrah.’24 For the words ‘to rain,’ ‘to shower,’ ‘to thunder,’ and the like are not appropriate for any creature but indicate only the Author of creation, who produces them when he wills and produces them as he wills. The words of the Book of Kings also suggest this: ‘The Lord sent thunder (voces) and rains on that day.’25 And one reads in the text of the Psalms too: ‘The Lord thundered from heaven and the Most High gave his voice (vox).’26 And in Exodus: ‘The whole people saw the thunder (voces) and lamps and the sound of the trumpet and the smoking mountain.’27 Observe then, O Jews, that Christ is called Lord and God in your Scriptures. Do not deny that he is Lord, do not deny that he is also God, lest perhaps he rain down brimstone and fire from the Lord from heaven upon you blasphemers just as upon the impious, and fulfill in you what one reads in the psalm: ‘He will rain snares upon sinners; fire, brimstone, and storms of winds will be the portion of their cup.’28…”
4. Cf. Ex 33.11.
5. Cf. Ex 33.17.
6. Cf. Ex 34.33–34; cf. 2 Cor 3.14–16.
7. Gn 19.24.
13. Ps 77.49.
19. Gn 19.24.
20. Heb 1.14. Note the Vulg. reads administratorii spiritus, the ministering spirits.
21. Dt 6.4; cf. Mk 12.29.
22. Cf. 1 Cor 8.6. (Against the Inveterate Obduracy of Jews , pp. 71-73)
St. Hildegard
Hildegard definitely believed that one of the three men who appeared to Abraham was the Lord God, and no mere created angelic medium.
18:2 When he lifted up his eyes. How the Lord appeared to Abraham is explained this way: When he lifted up his eyes, he appeared, etc. The Lord appeared to him unexpectedly. Standing near (that is, next to) him. Abraham did not see where they came from, but when he lifted his eyes he suddenly discovered them standing next to him.
18:3 “My Lord, if I find favor.” He met and bowed to three men, but he spoke to only one of them, thinking it was enough to ask one of them. Or perhaps they appeared in such a fashion that one of them — the one whom Abraham humbly addressed — seemed to have greater prominence and authority.45 This one spoke while the others were silent, and he stayed behind while directing the others to go to Sodom. He spoke with Abraham, and suddenly, when the discussion was finished, he departed. And he is called “Lord” while the other two are called “angels” in the following: “Two angels went to Sodom” (Gen. 19:1).
18:10 “When I return and come to you at this time.” He had said earlier: “This time in another year” (Gen. 17:21), referring to the future. Therefore it should be understood that the Lord would appear to him on that date or shortly afterward. Unless perhaps it should be understood in this way:
When he said, “at this time” — if the Lord appeared to Abraham in the spring — the boy would be born in spring in a future year, although not in the same month, but in the second or third month after, but nevertheless he would be born in spring.47 “If life attends me.” He speaks in the manner of humans who talk in this way. “I will come to you, in a future year, if I am alive.”
18:21 “I will go down.” It is not chiefly to judge the alien sins. For the Lord, who is not able to be wrong, wished to prove Sodom’s sins before judging them. The Lord often descended, frequently mingling among lesser beings.
18:22 And the two angels turned themselves from there and departed to Sodom while the Lord remained with Abraham.- (Commentary on Genesis 18)
FURTHER READING
63 Church Father Quotes on the Angel of the Lord
Taylor Marshall & The Angel of God
The Council of Antioch on Christ’s Divinity
IRENAEUS, CLEMENT & JESUS AS THE ANGEL
ATHANASIUS ON THE ANGEL OF GOD
HILARY ON JESUS BEING THE ANGEL
ST. AMBROSE ON JESUS AS GOD’S ANGEL
AUGUSTINE ON JESUS BEING THE ANGEL OF YHVH
POPE LEO & AQUINAS ON THE ANGEL OF GOD