ACC ~ 1 Timothy 3 v16b

WONDERFUL IS THE MYSTERY. GREGORY OF NYSSA: We hold it necessary to honor, even as the Father is honored, the God who was manifested by the cross. They [the Eunomians] find the passion a hindrance to glorifying the Only-Begotten God equally with the Father that begat him. … Eunomius makes the suffering of the cross to be a sign of divergence in essence, in the sense of inferiority, considering, I know not how, the surpassing act of power, by which he was able to perform this, to be an evidence of weakness. He fails to perceive the fact that, while nothing which moves according to its own nature is looked upon as surprisingly wonderful, all things that overpass the limitations of their own nature become especially the objects of admiration. Indeed, to them every ear is turned, every mind is attentive, in wonder at the marvel. And hence it is that all who preach the word point out the wonderful character of the mystery in this respect—that “God was manifested in the flesh,” that “the light shined in the darkness,” “the Life tasted death”—and all such declarations which the heralds of the faith are prone to make. By these is increased the marvelous character of him who manifested the superabundance of his power by means external to his own nature. AGAINST EUNOMIUS 5.3.

THE WORD BECOME FLESH. AUGUSTINE: But when the fullness of time came, Wisdom was sent in the flesh, not to fill angels nor to be an angel, except insofar as she announced the Father’s plan which was also her own. She was sent not to be with men and in men, for this too had been done before, both in the Fathers and in the prophets, but that the Word itself might become flesh, that is, that it might become a man. This future mystery, when revealed, would likewise be the salvation of those wise and saintly men, who had been born of women before he himself was born of a virgin, and ever since it has been accomplished and preached, it is the salvation of all who believe, hope and love. ON THE TRINITY 4.20.27.

1 Tim