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| Of Christ the Son of God.
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Demonstration
XVII.—Of
Christ the Son of God.
1. (This is) a reply against the Jews, who blaspheme the people gathered from among the Gentiles; for they say
thus, “Ye worship and serve a man who was begotten, a son of man
who was crucified, and ye call a son of men, God. And though God
has no son, ye say concerning this crucified Jesus, that He is the Son
of God.” And they bring forward as an argument, that God
said:—“I am God and there is none else beside
Me.”1039
And again
he said:—“Thou shalt not worship another
God.”1040
Therefore,
(say they), ye are opposing God in that ye call a man, God.
2. Concerning these things, my beloved, so far as
I, in my insignificance, can comprehend, I will instruct thee about
them, that while we grant to them that He is man, and (while) we at the
same time honour Him and call Him God and Lord, yet it is not in any
novel fashion, that we have so called Him, nor that we have applied to
Him a novel name, which they themselves did not employ. Yet it is
a sure thing with us, that Jesus our Lord is God, the Son of God, and
the King, the King’s Son, Light of light, Creator and Counsellor,
and Guide, and the Way, and Redeemer, and Shepherd, Gatherer, and the
Door, and the Pearl, and the Lamp; and by many (such) names is He
surnamed. But we shall leave aside all (the rest) of them, and
prove concerning Him, that He Who came from God is the Son of God, and
(is) God.
3. For the venerated name of Godhead has been applied also to righteous men, and they have been held worthy to
be called by it. And the men with whom God was well pleased, them
He called, My sons, and My friends. When He chose Moses His
friend and His beloved and made him chief and teacher and priest unto
his people he called him God. For He said to him:—I have
made thee a God unto Pharaoh.1041
And He
gave him His priest for a prophet, And Aaron thy brother shall speak
for thee unto Pharaoh, and thou shalt be unto him as a God, and he
shall be unto thee an interpreter.1042
Thus not alone to the evil Pharaoh
did He make Moses God, but also unto Aaron, the holy priest, He made
Moses God.
4. Again, hear concerning the title Son of God, by which we have called Him. They say that “though God
has no son, ye make that crucified Jesus, the firstborn son of
God.” Yet He called Israel “My
first-born,” when He sent to Pharaoh through Moses and said
to him, Israel is My first-born; I have said unto thee, let My Son
go to serve Me, and if thou art not willing to let (him) go, lo! I will
slay thy son, thy firstborn.1043
And
also through the Prophet1044
He testified concerning this, and reproved them and said to the people, Out of
Egypt have I called My son. As I called them, so they went and
worshipped Baal and offered incense to the graven images. And
Isaiah said1045
concerning them, Children have I reared and brought up, and they have rebelled
against Me. And again it is written, Ye are the children
of the Lord your God.1046
And about
Solomon He said, He shall be to Me a son, and I will be to him a
Father.1047
So also we
call the Christ, the Son of God, for through Him we have gained the
knowledge of God; even as He called Israel My firstborn son, and as He said concerning Solomon, He shall be to Me a son. And we call
Him God, even as He surnamed Moses by His own Name. And also
David said concerning them:—Ye are Gods and children of the
Highest, all of you.1048
And when
they amended not themselves, therefore He said concerning
them:—As men shall ye die, and as one of the princes shall ye
fall.1049
5. For the name of Divinity is given for the highest honour in the world, and with whomsoever God is well pleased,
He applies it to him. But however, the names of God are many and
are venerable, as He delivered His names to Moses, saying to
him:—I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and the
God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. This is My Name for ever, and
this is My memorial unto generations.1050
And He called His name Ahiyah ashar
Ahiyah, El Shaddai and Adonai Sabaoth.1051
| 1051 Gen. xvii. 1; Exod. iii. 14; Jer. xxxii. 18. The Hebrew
has “Jehovah Sabaoth.” | By these names is God called. The
great and honourable name of Godhead He withheld not from His
righteous ones; even as, though He is the great King, without grudging
He applied the great and honourable name of Kingship to men who are His
creatures.
6. For by the mouth of His prophet God called the heathen King Nebuchadnezzar, King of Kings. For
Jeremiah said:—Every people and kingdom that shall not put his
neck into the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar, King of Kings, My servant, with
famine and with sword and with pestilence will I visit that
people.1052
Though He is
the great King, He grudges not the name of Kingship to men. And
(so), though He is the great God, yet He grudged not the name of
Godhead to the sons of flesh. And though all fatherhood is His,
He has called men also fathers. For He said to the
congregation:—Instead of thy fathers, shall be thy
children.1053
And though
authority is His, He has given men authority one over another.
And while worship is His unto honour, He has yet allowed it in the
world, that one man should honour another. For even though a man
should do worship1054
before the wicked
and the heathen and them that refuse grace, yet is he not
censured by God. And concerning worship He commanded His people,
Thou shalt not worship the sun or the moon or all the hosts of
heaven; and also ye shall not desire to worship any creature that is
upon the earth.1055
Behold the
grace and the love of our good Maker, that He did not grudge to men the
name of Godhead and the name of worship, and the name of Kingship, and
the name of authority; because He is the Father of the created things
that are over the face of the world, and He has honoured and exalted
and glorified men above all creatures. For with His holy hands He
fashioned them; and of His Spirit He breathed into them, and a
dwelling-place did He become unto them from of old.1056
| 1056 Gen. ii. 7 ; Ps. xc. 1. | In them doth He abide and amongst them
doth He walk. For He said through the prophet, I will dwell in
them, and walk in them.1057
Furthermore
also the Prophet Jeremiah said:—Ye are the temple of the Lord,
if ye make fair your ways and your deeds.1058
And of old David
said:—Thou, Lord, hast been a dwelling-place unto us for
generations; before the mountains were conceived and before the earth
travailed, and before the world was framed; from age to age Thou art
God.1059
7. How dost thou understand this? For
one prophet says:—Lord, Thou hast been our
dwelling-place. And another said:—I will dwell in
them and walk in them. First, He became to us a
dwelling-place, and afterwards He dwelt and walked in us. For the
wise both things are true and simple. For David
says:—Thou, Lord, hast been our dwelling-place for
generations, before the mountains were conceived and before the earth
travailed, and before the world was framed. And thou knowest,
my beloved, that all created things that are above and that are beneath were created first, and after them all, man. For when God
determined to create the world with all its goodly things, first He
conceived and fashioned man in His mind; and after that Adam was
conceived in His thought, then He conceived the created things; as he
said:—Before the mountains were conceived and the earth
travailed; because man is older and more ancient in conception than
the creatures, but in birth the creatures are older and more ancient
than Adam. Adam was conceived and dwelt in the thought of God;
and while in conception he (man) was held in His (God’s) mind, He
(God) by the word of His mouth created all the creatures. And
when He had finished and adorned the world, when nothing was lacking in
it, then He brought forth Adam from His thoughts, and fashioned man by
His hands; and Adam saw the world completed. And He (God) gave
him authority over all that He had made, just as a man who has a son
and desires to make for him a marriage feast, betroths to him a wife
and builds for him a house, and prepares and adorns all that is needed
for his son; then he makes the marriage feast and gives his son
authority over his house. So after the conception of Adam, He
brought him forth and gave him authority over all his creation.
Concerning this the Prophet said:—Thou, Lord, hast been our
habitation for generations, before the mountains were conceived, and
before the earth travailed and before the world was framed. From
age unto age Thou art the Lord. That no one should suppose
that there is another God, either before or afterwards, he
said:—From age and unto age, just as Isaiah
said:—I am the first and I am the last.1060
And after that God brought forth Adam
from within His thought, He fashioned him, and breathed into him of His
Spirit, and gave him the knowledge of discernment, that he might
discern good from evil, and might know that God made him. And
inasmuch as man knew his Maker, God was formed and conceived within his
thought, and he became a temple for God his Maker, as it is written,
Ye are the temple of God. And (so) He Himself
said:—I will dwell in them and walk in them. But as
for the sons of Adam, who do not recognise their Maker, He is not
formed within them, and does not dwell in them, and is not conceived in
their thought; but they are accounted before Him as the beasts, and as
the rest of the creatures.
8. Now by these things the stubborn will be
convinced, that it is nothing strange that we call Christ the Son of
God. For behold, He (God) conceived all men and brought them
forth from His thoughts. And they will be forced to own that the
name of Godhead also belongs to Him (Christ), for He (God) associated
the righteous also in the name of God. And as to this, that we
worship Jesus through Whom we have known God, let them be ashamed,
inasmuch as they fall down and worship and honour even the heathen of
the unclean Gentiles, if they possess authority; and (for this) there
is no blame. And this honour of worship God has given to the sons
of Adam, that by it they might honour one another—especially
those who excel and are worthy of honour amongst them. For if
they worship, and honour with the name of worship, the
heathen—those who in their heathen wickedness deny even the name
of God—and yet do not worship them as their maker, as though they
worshipped them alone, and so do not sin; how much more does it become
us to worship and honour Jesus, Who converted our stubborn minds from
all worship of vain error, and taught us to worship and serve and
minister to the one God, our Father and our Maker. And (taught
us) to know that the kings of the world call themselves Gods by the
name of the great God, and are infidels and force men to infidelity,
and men fall down and worship before them and serve and honour them,
like carven images and idols, yet the law never censured these, and
there is no sin. As Daniel also used to do worship to
Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon,
the infidel and compeller to infidelity, and was not censured.
Joseph also gave worship to Pharaoh, and it is not written that it was
a sin for him. But as for us, we are certain that Jesus is God,
the Son of God, and through Him we know His Father, and (have) all of
us (turned away) from all other worship. Therefore it is
impossible for us to repay Him Who bore these things for us. But
by worship let us pay Him honour in return for His affliction that was
on our behalf.
9. Furthermore, we must prove that this Jesus was beforehand promised from ancient times in the Prophets, and
was called the Son of God. David said:—Thou art My Son;
today have I begotten Thee.1061
Again he
said:—In the glories of holiness, from the womb, from of old,
have I begotten thee, a child.1062
And
Isaiah said:—Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given,
and His government was upon His shoulder, and His Name shall be called
Wonderful, and Counsellor, and mighty God of the ages, and Prince of
peace. And to the increase of His government and to His peace
there is no end.1063
Therefore
tell me, O wise doctor of Israel, who is He that was born and whose
name was called Child and Son and Wonderful and
Counsellor, the mighty God of the ages, and Prince of
peace, to the increase of whose government and to whose
peace (he said), there is no end? For if we call
Christ the Son of God, David taught us (this); and that we call Him
God, this we learned from Isaiah. And His government was laid
upon His shoulder; for He bare His cross, and went out from
Jerusalem. And that He was born as a child, Isaiah again
said:—Lo, the virgin shall conceive and bear; and His name
shall be called Immanuel, which is, our God with us.1064
10. And if thou shouldest say that Christ has not yet come, I will grant this also to thy contentiousness.
For it is written that when He shall come, the Gentiles shall expect
Him.1065
Lo! I, one of
the Gentiles, have heard that Christ is to come. And when as yet
He had not come, I beforehand have believed on Him; and through Him I
worship the God of Israel. When He comes, will He then blame me
because before His coming I beforehand believed on Him? But, thou
fool, the prophets suffer thee not to say that Christ has not yet come;
for Daniel confutes thee,1066
saying:—After sixty-two weeks shall Messiah come and shall be
slain. And in His coming shall the Holy City be laid waste, and
her end shall be with a flood. And until the accomplishment of
the things that are determined, shall she continue in
desolation. Thou expectest and hopest that, at the coming of
Christ, Israel shall be gathered together from all regions, and
Jerusalem shall be built up and inhabited. But Daniel testifies
that, when Christ comes and is slain, Jerusalem shall be destroyed, and
shall continue in desolation until the accomplishment of the things
which are determined, forever. And concerning the suffering of
Christ, David said:—They pierced my hands and my feet, and all
my bones cried out. They gazed and looked upon me, and divided my
garments amongst them, and upon my vesture did they cast the
lot.1067
And Isaiah
said:—Lo! My servant shall be known and shall be revealed and
shall be lifted up, so that many shall be astonished at Him. As
for this man, His visage shall be marred more than that of man, and His
aspect more than that of the sons of men.1068
And he said:—He will
purify many nations, and kings shall be amazed at Him.1069
And he said in that
passage:—He came up as a little child before Him, and as a
root from the dry ground.1070
And in the
end of the passage he said:—He shall be slain for our sins; He
shall be humiliated for our iniquity; the chastisement of our peace is
upon Him, and by His bruises shall we be healed.1071
By what wounds were men healed?
David was not slain; for he died in a good old age, and was buried in Bethlehem. And if they should say that it is spoken of Saul, for
Saul was killed in the mountains of Gilboa in the battle with the
Philistines, and if they should say that they pierced his hands and
his feet, when they fastened up his body on the wall of Bethshan;
yet it does not fitly apply to Saul. When the limbs of Saul were
pierced, his bones were not conscious of suffering, because he was
dead. It was after Saul died, that they hanged his body and those
of his sons on the wall of Bethshan. But when David said, They
pierced my hands and my feet, and all my bones cried out, he said
in the next verse:—O God, abide for my help, and deliver my
soul from the sword.1072
Now Christ
was delivered from the sword, and ascended from out of Sheol, and
revived and rose the third day, and so God abode for His
help. But Saul called upon the Lord and He did not answer
him; and he asked through the Prophets, but no answer was given to
him. And he disguised himself and inquired by soothsayers, and
learned from thence. He was worsted before the Philistines, and
he slew himself with his own sword, when he saw that the battle had
overcome him. Moreover in this passage David said:—I
will declare Thy name unto my brethren, and in the midst of the
congregation will I glorify Thee.1073
How can these things apply to
Saul? And again David said:—Thou didst not give Thy holy
one to see corruption.1074
But all
these things fitly apply to Christ. When He came to them, they
did not receive Him; but wickedly judged Him by false witness.
And He was hung upon the tree by His hands, and they pierced His hands
and His feet with the nails which they fastened in him; and all His
bones cried out. And on that day a great prodigy happened.
namely, that the light became dark in the middle of the day, as
Zechariah prophesied, saying:—The day shall be known unto the
Lord. It shall not be daytime, and it shall not be night; and at
the evening time there shall be light.1075
Now what is the day that was
distinguished by the prodigy, that it was neither daytime nor night,
and that at the evening time there was light? Evidently the day
on which they crucified Him, for in the midst of that day there came
darkness, and at the evening time there was light. And again he
said:—That day there shall be cold and frost.1076
| 1076 Zech. xiv. 6. So in Peshitto; also in
Septuagint. Cp. margin of Revised Version. | —As thou knowest, on that day on
which they crucified Him, it was cold, and they had made them a fire to
warm themselves when Simon came and stood with them. And again he
said:—The spear shall arise against the shepherd, and against
the man, My friend;1077
| 1077 This is so read in one Syriac ms.; for “the
sheep, my friends,” which the other gives. | and it shall
smite the shepherd, and the sheep of his flock shall be scattered; and
I will turn back My hand upon the pastor.1078
| 1078 Zech. xiii. 7; S. Matt. xxvi. 31; S. Mark xiv.
27. | And furthermore David said
concerning His Passion:—For My meat they gave gall, and for My
thirst did they give Me vinegar to drink.1079
—Again he said in that
passage:—They have persecuted Him Whom Thou hast smitten; and
have added to the affliction of Him that was slain. For they
added many (afflictions) to Him, much that was not written concerning
Him, cursings and revilings, such as the Scripture could not reveal,
for their revilings were hateful. But, however, the Lord was
pleased to humiliate Him and afflict Him.1080
And He was slain for our
iniquity,1081
and was humiliated for our sins, and was made sin in His own
person.1082
11. We worship those mercies, and bow the knee
before the Majesty of His Father, Who converted our worship to
Him. We call Him God, just as Moses (was called God); and
Firstborn, and Son, just as Israel (was called); and Jesus (Joshua),
just as Joshua the son of Nun was so called; and Priest like Aaron, and King, like David; and great
Prophet, like all the Prophets; and Shepherd, like the shepherds who
tended and guided Israel. And so did He call children as He
said:—Strange children shall hearken unto Me.1083
And He has made us brothers unto
Himself, He said:—I will declare Thy name unto My
brethren.1084
And we
have become friends unto Him, as He said to His disciples:—I
have called you friends,1085
even as His Father called Abraham My friend.1086
And He said unto us:—I am
the good Shepherd, the Door, the Way, the Vine, the Sower, the
Bridegroom, the Pearl, the Lamp, the Light, the King, God, Saviour, and
Redeemer. And by many names is He surnamed.
12. This brief argument have I written unto thee, my beloved, that thou mayest make defence against the Jews,
concerning this that they say, that God has no son, and concerning this
that we call Him God, the Son of God, King, and Firstborn of all
creatures.1087
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