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| Chapter XIV
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Chapter XIV.
Again Celsus proceeds: “If you should
tell them that Jesus is not the Son of God, but that God is the Father
of all, and that He alone ought to be truly worshipped, they would not
consent to discontinue their worship of him who is their leader in the
sedition. And they call him Son of God, not out of any extreme
reverence for God, but from an extreme desire to extol Jesus
Christ.” We, however, have learned who the Son of God is,
and know that He is “the brightness of His glory, and the express
image of His person,” and “the breath of the power of God,
and a pure influence flowing from the glory of the Almighty;”
moreover, “the brightness of the everlasting light, the unspotted
mirror of the power of God, and the image of His
goodness.”4870
We know,
therefore, that He is the Son of God, and that God is His father.
And there is nothing extravagant or unbecoming the character of God in
the doctrine that He should have begotten such an only Son; and no one
will persuade us that such a one is not a Son of the unbegotten God and
Father. If Celsus has heard something of certain persons holding
that the Son of God is not the Son of the Creator of the universe, that
is a matter which lies between him and the supporters of such an
opinion. Jesus is, then, not the leader of any seditious
movement, but the promoter of peace. For He said to His
disciples, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto
you;” and as He knew that it would be men of the world, and not
men of God, who would wage war against us, he added, “Not as the
world giveth peace, do I give peace unto you.”4871
And even although we are oppressed in
the world, we have confidence in Him who said, “In the world ye
shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the
world.” And it is He whom we call Son of God—Son of
that God, namely, whom, to quote the words of Celsus, “we most
highly reverence;” and He is the Son who has been most highly
exalted by the Father. Grant that there may be some individuals
among the multitudes of believers who are not in entire agreement with
us, and who incautiously assert that the Saviour is the Most High God;
however, we do not hold with them, but rather believe Him when He says,
“The Father who sent Me is greater than I.”4872
We would not therefore make Him whom
we call Father inferior—as Celsus accuses us of doing—to
the Son of God.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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