neither man nor God, but a mixture of God and man, held a middle place.
His heresy found many supporters, though it was promptly met by Gregory
Nazianzen, who showed that the term "flesh" is used in Scripture to
denote the whole human nature, and that when Christ became incarnate He
took upon Him the complete nature of humanity, untainted by sin. Only
thus could He be qualified to become man's Saviour, for only a perfect
man can be a full and complete Redeemer. Man's spirit, his most noble
element, stands in need of redemption as well as his body, for all its
faculties are corrupted by sin.

In affirming that Jesus descended into hell, this clause of the Creed
declares that He possessed the complete nature of humanity; that His
true body died, and that His reasonable soul departed to Hades.


SECTION 2.--THE THIRD DAY HE ROSE AGAIN FROM THE DEAD[128]


On the morning of the first day of the week, thenceforth hallowed as the
Lord's Day--the Christian Sabbath--the soul of Jesus left Hades, and
once more and for ever entered the body, and formed with it the
perfected humanity of the "Word made flesh." The resurrection of Jesus
is a well-attested fact of history. The close-sealed, sentinelled
sepulchre, the broken seal, the stone rolled away, the trembling guard,
the empty tomb, and the many appearances of Jesus to the women, the
disciples, the brethren, and last of all to Saul of Tarsus, prove that
He had risen.[129]

The Resurrection was a fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy. Peter thus
interprets Psalm xvi. 10, "For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell;