The Word was not confined within the body, nor was He absent elsewhere because He was in a body. He did not move the body while leaving the universe empty of His activity and providence. Rather—and this is most remarkable—because He is the Word, He was not contained by anything but Himself contained all things. Just as He is present throughout creation yet distinct from the universe in essence, He is in all things by His own powers, ordering everything, extending His providence over all things in all places, and giving life to each thing and to all things together. He contains the whole universe without being contained, but is wholly and in every respect in His Father alone.
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 thought things outside its own body, but it cannot act outside the body or move distant things by its presence. A person does not move or transport 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 them moving and existing, but he cannot make them do so.
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."