# “He was wrapped in swaddling bands” by Gregory of Nazianzus (A.D. 330-390)

- Link: https://tollelege.net/2021/12/15/he-was-wrapped-in-swaddling-bands-by-gregory-of-nazianzus/
- Published: 2021-12-15T12:00:28-06:00
- Author: tollelege

“He was begotten (**Matt. 1:16**)— yet He was already begotten (**Ps. 2:7; Acts 
13:33; Heb. 1:5, 5:5**)— of a woman (**Gal. 4:4**).

And yet she was a virgin (**Matt. 1:23; Isa 7:14; Luke 1:34–35; Matt. 1:20**). That
it was from a woman makes it human, that she was a virgin makes it divine.

On earth He has no father (**Matt. 1:20**), but in heaven no mother (**Ps. 2:7)**.
All this is part of His Godhead.

He was carried in the womb (**Luke 1:31**), but acknowledged by a prophet as yet
unborn himself, who leaped for joy at the presence of the Word for whose sake he
had been created (**Luke 1:41**).

He was wrapped in swaddling bands (**Luke 2:7, 12**), but at the Resurrection He
unloosed the swaddling bands of the grave (**John 20:6-7**).

He was laid in a manger (**Luke 2:7, 16**), but was extolled by angels, disclosed
by a star and adored by Magi (**Matt. 2:2, 7, 9–11**).

Why do you take offense at what you see, instead of attending to its spiritual significance?

He was exiled into Egypt (**Matt. 2:13-14**), but He banished the Egyptian idols(**
Jude 5**).

He had ‘no form or beauty’ for the Jews (**Isa. 53:2**), but for David He was ‘fairer
than the children of men’ (**Psalm 45:2**) and on the mount He shines forth, becoming
more luminous than the Sun (**Matt. 17:2**), to reveal the future mystery.”

–Gregory of Nazianzus, [_On God and Christ: The Five Theological Orations and Two Letters to Cledonius,_](https://amzn.to/2vX0MV2)
ed. John Behr, trans. Frederick Williams and Lionel Wickham, Popular Patristics 
Series (Crestwood, NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2002), 86–87.

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