There is a paradox in this last statement which we must now examine. The Word was not hedged in by His body, nor did His presence in the body prevent His being present elsewhere as well. When He moved His body He did not cease also to direct the universe by His Mind and might. No. The marvelous truth is, that being the Word, so far from being Himself contained by anything, He actually contained all things Himself. In creation He is present everywhere, yet is distinct in being from it; ordering, directing, giving life to all, containing all, yet is He Himself the Uncontained, existing solely in His Father.
So also, while He was in a human body and Himself gave it life, He fittingly gave life to the universe as well. He was present in all things and yet outside the whole. And although He was made known from the body through His works, He was no less manifest through the activity of the whole universe.
The soul can contemplate, by its thoughts, things outside its own body, but it cannot act outside its body or move by its presence things far away from it. A human being never moves or transfers distant things merely by thinking about them. Nor, if someone sits in his house and thinks about the heavens, does he thereby move the sun or turn the heavens. He sees these things moving and existing, but he has no power to produce their activity.
The Word of God in the human being was not like this. He was not bound to the body; rather, He Himself governed it. Thus He was in the body, was also present in all things, was outside created beings, and rested in the Father alone.
And this was the wonder: as a human being He lived a human life; as the Word He gave life to all things; and as the Son He dwelt with the Father. Therefore, even when the Virgin gave birth to Him, He Himself underwent no change; nor was He defiled by being in the body. Rather, He also sanctified the body.
For even though He is present in all things, He does not partake of them. Instead, all things receive life and nourishment from Him.
For if the sun, which He made and which we see moving through heaven, is not defiled by touching earthly bodies and is not hidden by darkness, but instead enlightens and purifies them, how much less was the all-holy Word of God—the Maker and Lord of the sun—defiled when He was made known in a body. Rather, because He is incorruptible, He gave life to and purified the body, though it was mortal in itself. For, Scripture says, "He committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth."