Expositio super symbolum Nicenum
Alan of Lille (1120–1202)
A commentary on the Nicene Creed by Alan.
Prologus I: Expositio super symbolum Nicenum.
Caput I: Credo in unum Deum.
Caput II: Patrem.
Caput III: Omnipotentem.
Caput IV: Factorem caeli et terrae, visibilium omnium et invisibilium.
Caput V: Et in unum Dominum.
Caput VI: Iesum Christum.
Caput VII: Filium Dei unigenitum.
Caput VIII: Et ex Patre natum ante omnia saecula.
Caput IX: Deum de Deo, lumen de lumine, Deum verum de Deo vero.
Caput X: Genitum, non factum.
Caput XI: Consubstantialem Patri.
Caput XII: Per quem omnia facta sunt.
Caput XIII: Qui propter nos homines et propter nostram salutem descendit de caelis.
Caput XIV: Et incarnatus est de Spiritu Sancto ex Maria Virgine, et homo factus est.
And was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and was made man.
Since this preposition "of" (de) sometimes denotes material cause — as when it is said: God formed man from the slime of the earth1 — sometimes the origin of a nativity — as when it is said that the Son was born of the Father — here it denotes authority, so that the Son is said to have been incarnate of the Holy Spirit, that is, by the work of the Holy Spirit, so that it denotes not matter but authority. This is said against the heretic who taught that Christ was born of male seed.
Of the Virgin Mary.
Here this preposition "of" (ex) denotes matter, because the Son of God took flesh from the virginal flesh, and shaped it into the form of a human body and united it to himself. This is said against the Manichaean, who asserted that Christ took on a phantom body.
And was made man.
Not that some man began to be the Son of God, but that he himself began to be man, that is, of human nature. All these things pertain to one article, because if he was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and of the Virgin Mary, it is manifest that he is man. Likewise, if born of the Virgin Mary, it is manifest that he was born by the work of the Holy Spirit.
The same is contained in the third article of the apostolic symbol, where it is said: "who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary."