Defining Orthodoxy in Hilary of Poitiers' Commentarium in Matthaeum

Despite the fact that Hilary had not yet heard of the Nicene creed before going into exile (356), most scholars have argued that the bishop did possess an awareness of the "Arian" disputes in the West. In answer to the question of whether the commentary underwrites this awareness, I shall demonstrate that Hilary, like the vast majority of western bishops of that time, knew nothing about these controversies such that it affected his theology and exegesis. At the same time, he does evidence concern over contemporary subordinationist interpretations of Christ whose views stemmed from a "logos-sarx" incarnational theology present throughout the West in the third and fourth centuries.