Chapter 208 — That Christ had a true body, not one from heaven, against Valentinus

Valentinus admitted that Christ had a real body. However, he insisted that our Lord did not take flesh from the Blessed Virgin, but rather brought down with him a body formed of celestial matter. This body passed through the Virgin without receiving anything from her, like water through a canal.

This view also contradicts the truth of Scripture. In Romans 1:3 the Apostle says that God’s Son was descended from David according to the flesh. And in Galatians 4:4 St. Paul writes: God sent forth his Son, born of woman. Matthew likewise relates: And Jacob begot Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ (Matt 1:16). A little later Matthew refers to her as Christ’s mother, when his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph. None of this would be true if Christ had not received his flesh from the Virgin. Accordingly, the doctrine that Christ brought with him a celestial body is false.

But what the Apostle states in 1 Corinthians 15:47, namely, that the second man was from heaven, heavenly, should be understood in the sense that he came down from heaven in his divinity, not according to the substance of his body.

Moreover, there would be no reason why the Son of God, bringing his body from heaven, should have entered the Virgin’s womb, if he were to receive nothing from her. Such a procedure would seem to be a kind of deceit if, by coming forth from his Mother’s womb, he were to intimate that he had received from her a body which in fact he had not received. Since, therefore, all falsehood is foreign to Christ, we must acknowledge without reservation that he came forth from the Virgin’s womb in such a way that he really took his flesh from her.