Chapter 6

§ 1.

Neither therefore the Lord, nor the Holy Ghost, nor the Apostles, would at any time have named him who was not God,¹ God in the definite and absolute sense of the word, had He not been truly God: nor would they have called any one in his proper person Lord, but Him Who rules over all, God the Father, and His Son, Who received from His Father the dominion of all creation, as it is in the saying,² The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit Thou on My Right Hand, until I make Thine enemies the footstool of Thy Feet. For it signifies that the Father spoke to the Son: giving Him the inheritance of the Gentiles,³ and subduing under Him all enemies. The Father then being really Lord, and the Son being really Lord, well hath the Holy Ghost marked them with the title of Lord.

And again in the destruction of Sodom the Scripture saith,⁴ And the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrha fire and brimstone from the Lord out of Heaven.⁵ For here it is meant that the Son, Who also conversed with Abraham, received power from the Father to judge the Sodomites for their iniquity.

The same is the tenor of the following:⁶ Thy Throne, O God, is for ever; a rod of guidance is the rod of Thy Kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity, therefore God, Thy God, hath anointed Thee. Thus hath the Spirit sealed both with the title of God, as well Him Who is anointed, the Son, and Him Who anoints, i.e., the Father.

⁷And again, God stood in the congregation of Gods, and in the midst He judgeth among Gods. He speaketh of the Father and the Son, and of those who have received Adoption: now these are the Church. For this is the congregation of God, which God, i.e., the Son, did by Himself gather together.⁸ Concerning whom again He saith, The God of Gods, the Lord, hath spoken, and called the world. What God?⁹ He of Whom he said, God will come evidently, even our God, and will not keep silence: i.e., the Son, Who in His Manifestation cometh unto men; Who saith, I openly appeared unto them who seek Me not.¹⁰ And of what Gods?¹¹ Those to whom He saith, I said, Ye are Gods, and all children of the Most High: to those namely, who have won the grace of Adoption,¹² whereby we cry, Abba Father.

§ 2.

No one therefore besides, as I said before, is named God, or entitled Lord,¹³ except Him Who is God and Lord of all; Who said also to Moses, I am that I am: And thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you:¹⁴—and His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, Who makes the believers in His Name Sons of God.¹⁵ And again, where the Son is speaking to Moses, I am come down, saith He, to deliver this people. For it is He Himself Who came down, and went up, for the salvation of men. By the Son, therefore, Who is in the Father, and hath in Him the Father, He Who IS, is declared to be God; the Father bearing witness to the Son, and the Son announcing the Father.¹⁶ As Esaias also saith: Both I, saith he, am witness, saith the Lord, and My Servant Whom I have chosen, that ye may know, and believe, and understand, that I am He.

§ 3.

But when Scripture names those who are not Gods, it does not,¹⁷ as I said before, signify that they are altogether Gods, but with some addition, and indication whereby they are shewn not to be Gods.¹⁸ As in David: The Gods of the Heathen are images of Demons.¹⁹ And, Strange Gods ye shall not follow. For by saying, the Gods of the Heathen, (now the Heathen know not the true God), and by naming them strange Gods, he hath taken away their being as Gods. But in that which stands in his own person, he saith of them, They are indeed, so he speaks, images of devils.²⁰ And Esaias, Confounded be all they that blaspheme God, and grave things without profit; and I am witness, saith the Lord. He hath taken away their being as Gods, but the term alone he uses for this purpose, that we may know what he is speaking of. And the very same doth Jeremias also:²¹ The Gods, saith he, which made not Heaven and Earth, let them perish from the earth, which is under the Heaven. Thus by adding their perdition, he signifies them not to be Gods. And Elias again, all Israel being convoked to Mount Carmel, willing to turn them from idolatry, saith unto them,²² How long will ye halt upon both thighs²³2? If the Lord God is one, come after Him. And again over the burnt offering thus he speaks to the Priests of the Idols,²⁴ Ye shall call upon the name of your Gods, and I will call upon the Name of the Lord my God; and the God Who will hear this day, He is God. The Prophet, I say, in so expressing himself, while he proves those not to be Gods, who among these were thought to be Gods: he turns them towards that God, Who was both believed by him, and was truly God; on Whom also he was calling in prayer, O Lord God of Abraham,²⁵ God of Isaac, and God of Jacob, hear me this day; and let all this people understand, that Thou art God of Israel.

§ 4.

And I therefore call on Thee, O Lord God of Abraham, and God of Isaac, and God of Jacob and Israel,²⁶ Who art the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ: O God Who by the multitude of Thy mercy hast been well pleased in us, that we may know Thee;—Who hast made Heaven and Earth, Who art Lord of all, Who art the only and true God, over Whom is no other God;—by our Lord Jesus Christ do Thou bestow the command also of the Holy Spirit: Grant to every one who reads this writing, to acknowledge Thee, that Thou art the only God; and to be strengthened in Thee, and to withdraw from all heresy, all godless, all impious opinions.²⁷

§ 5.

And the Apostle Paul too, saying, For if ye did service to those which were not Gods,²⁸ now that ye know God or rather are known of God, hath separated those who were not, from Him Who is God. And again, speaking of Antichrist,²⁹ who opposeth (so he speaks) and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; he means those who are called Gods by such as are ignorant of God, i.e., the idols. For as the Father of all is called God, and is so; so not above Him shall the Antichrist be exalted but above those who are called Gods, and are not so.³⁰ And for the truth of this, Paul himself saith, Now we know that an idol is nothing, and that there is no God but one. For though there be that are called Gods, whether in Heaven or on Earth, to us there is but one God, the Father, of Whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom are all things, and we by Him. Thus he hath distinguished and separated those who are called Gods, and are not so, from the one God the Father, of Whom are all things; and in his own person he did most earnestly confess one Lord Jesus Christ. But as to the saying, Whether in Heaven or in Earth; it is not as they expound it, that he speaks of the framers of the world, but it resembles what was spoken by Moses:³¹ Thou shalt not make to thyself any likeness to be a God, of whatsoever things are in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, or in the waters under the earth. And what those are, which are in Heaven, He Himself explains:³² Lest at any time, saith he, looking up to Heaven, and seeing the Sun and the Moon and the Stars, and all the garnishing of Heaven, thou erringly adore them and serve them. And Moses too himself being a man of God, though he were given to be a God before Pharaoh,³³ yet is he not named truly Lord, nor is he styled God by the Prophets;³⁴ but Moses, the faithful servant and slave of God,—so he is called by the Spirit, and truly he was so.