The Word is God from eternity; the man born of woman is his temple
Eustathius opens his treatise by distinguishing the eternal divine Word from the man whom the Word fashioned and wore, arguing that only the man was born of a woman.
If the Word received a beginning of generation from the time when he passed through his mother's womb and wore the bodily frame, then it follows that he came from a woman. But if the Word was God from the beginning with the Father, and we say that all things were made through him, then the one who exists and is the cause of all generated things did not come from a woman. Rather, he is by nature self-sufficient God, boundless, incomprehensible. What came from a woman is the man, the one formed in the virginal womb by the Holy Spirit.
For the pure and undefiled temple, properly speaking, is the tent around the Word according to the man, where God visibly pitched his tent and dwelt. And we do not say this from mere likelihood. The natural Son of God, foretelling the destruction and resurrection of the temple, equips us by teaching beyond doubt when he says to the murderous Jews, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up" (John 2:19).
So when the Word had built the man as a temple and wore him, he visited human beings in a body and displayed all kinds of wonders invisibly, and he sent out the apostles as heralds of the eternal kingdom.
For Paul did not say that we are conformed to the Son of God, but conformed to the image of his Son, showing that the Son is one thing and his image another. The Son, bearing the divine marks of the Father's excellence, is the image of the Father; for when like offspring are born from like parents, the children appear as true images of their begetters. But the man whom he wore is the image of the Son, as images are painted from unlike colors: some are handmade by art, while others come into being by nature and likeness. Besides, the very law of truth dictates this. For the incorporeal Spirit of Wisdom is not conformed to bodily human beings; rather, the man given body by the Spirit is the imprint, bearing members equal in number to all other human beings and clothed in the same form as each of them.
That he means the body is conformed to human bodies, he teaches us more clearly when writing to the Philippians: "Our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform the body of our humiliation to be conformed to the body of his glory" (Philippians 3:20-21). If he transforms the lowly body of human beings and makes it conformed to his own body, then the slander of the opponents has been shown to be stale on every side.
Greek
Oratio in illud: Dominus creavit me initium viarum suarum (fragmenta) Ο ΛΟΓΟΣ Ο ΕΙΣ ΤΟ· ΚΥΡΙΟΣ ΕΚΤΙΣΕ ΜΕ ΑΡΧΗΝ Ο∆ΩΝ ΑΥΤΟΥ 18 Εἰ μὲν οὖν ἀρχὴν τῆς γεννήσεως εἴληφεν ὁ Λόγος, ἀφ' οὗ διὰ τῆς μητρῴας διοδεύσας γαστρὸς τὰς σωματικὰς ἐφόρεσεν ἁρμονίας, συνέστηκεν ὅτι γέγονεν ἐκ γυναικός. Εἰ δὲ Λόγος καὶ Θεὸς ἦν ἀνέκαθεν παρὰ τῷ Πατρὶ καὶ τὰ σύμπαντα δι' αὐτοῦ γεγενῆσθαί φαμεν, οὐκ ἄρα γέγονεν ἐκ γυναικὸς ὁ ὢν, καὶ τοῖς γεννητοῖς ἅπασιν αἴτιος ὤν· ἀλλ' ἔστι τὴν φύσιν Θεὸς αὐτάρκης, ἄπειρος, ἀπερινόητος· ἐκ γυναικὸς δὲ γέγονεν ἄνθρωπος, ὁ ἐν τῇ παρθενικῇ μήτρᾳ Πνεύματι παγεὶς ἁγίῳ. 19 Ναὸς γὰρ κυρίως ὁ καθαρὸς καὶ ἄχραντος, ἡ κατὰ τὸν ἄνθρωπόν ἐστι περὶ τὸν Λόγον σκηνὴ, ἔνθα προφανῶς σκηνώσας ᾤκησεν ὁ Θεός. Καὶ ταῦτα οὐκ ἐκ τῶν εἰκότων φαμέν· τούτου γὰρ ὁ φύσει τοῦ Θεοῦ Υἱὸς, τὴν λύσι καὶ ἀνάστασιν προαγορεύων τοῦ νεὼ, ἀναμφιβόλως ἡμᾶς διδάσκων ἐφοδιάζει, τοῖς μιαιφόνοις φάσκων Ἰουδαίοις· λύσατε τὸν ναὸν τοῦτον, καὶ ἐν τρισὶν ἡμέραις ἐγερῶ αὐτόν. 20 Ὁπηνίκα οὖν τὸν ἄνθρωπον ναουργήσας ἐφόρεσεν ὁ Λόγος, σώματι μὲν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἐπιφοιτῶν, παντοδαπὰς ἀοράτως θαυματουργίας ἐπεδείκνυτο, τοὺς δὲ ἀποστόλους κήρυκας τῆς ἀϊδίου βασιλείας ἐξέπεμπε. 21 Οὐ γὰρ εἶπεν ὁ Παῦλος συμμόρφους τοῦ Υἱοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἀλλὰ συμμόρφους τῆς εἰκόνος τοῦ Υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ, ἄλλο μέν τι δεικνύων τὸν Υἱὸν εἶναι, ἄλλο δὲ τὴν εἰκόνα αὐτοῦ. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ Υἱὸς, τὰ θεῖα τῆς πατρῴας ἀρετῆς γνωρίσματα φέρων, εἰκών ἐστι τοῦ Παρτός· ἐπειδὴ καὶ ὅμοιοι ἐξ ὁμοίων γεννώμενοι, εἰκόνες οἱ τικτόμενοι φαίνονται τῶν γεννητόρων ἀληθεῖς. Ὁ δὲ ἄνθρωπος ὃν ἐφόρεσεν, εἰκών ἐστι τοῦ Υἱοῦ, τοῦ καὶ ἐξ ἀνομοίων κηρογραφεῖσθαι χρωμάτων εἰκόνας· καὶ τὰς μὲν εἶναι θέσει χειροτεύκτους, τὰς δὲ φύσει καὶ ὁμοιότητι γεγενημένας. Ἄλλως τε καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ τῆς ἀληθείας τοῦθ' ὑπαγορεύει θεσμός. Οὐ γὰρ τὸ ἀσώματον τῆς Σοφίας Πνεῦμα σύμμορφον τοῖς σωματικοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἐστίν, ἀλλ' ὁ τῷ Πνεύματι σωματοποιηθεὶς ἄνθρωπος χαρακτὴρ, ὁ τοῖς· ἄλλοις ἅπασι ἰσάριθμα μέλη φορῶν, καὶ τὴν ὁμοίαν ἑκάστοις περιβεβλημένος ἰδέαν. 22 Ὅτι δὲ τὸ σῶμα λέγει σύμμορφον τοῖς ἀνθρωπίνοις εἶναι, σαφέστερον ἡμᾶς διδάσκει Φιλιππησίοις ἐπιστέλλων· Ἡμῶν τὸ πολίτευμα, φησίν, ἐν οὐρανοῖς ὑπάρχει, ἐξ οὗ καὶ σωτῆρα ἀπεκδεχόμεθα Κύριον Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν, ὃς μετασχηματίσει τὸ σῶμα τῆς ταπεινώσεως ἡμῶν, εἰς τὸ γενέσθαι αὐτὸ σύμμορφον τῷ σώματι τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ. Εἰ δὲ τὸ ταπεινὸν μετασχηματίζων τῶν ἀνθρώπων σῶμα, σύμμορφον τῷ ἰδίῳ σώματι κατασκευάζει, ἕωλος πανταχόθεν ἀποδέδεικται ἡ τῶν ἐναντίων συκοφαντία.