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Fourth in the series of the Trinity in the Old Testament

Fourth in the series of the Trinity in the Old Testament

The dogma of the Trinity and of the divine and human nature of Jesus is so interwoven that proving the existence of Jesus and of the Trinity in the Old Testament is more or less the same.

(Romans 1:1-4 AMP)  FROM PAUL, a bond servant of Jesus Christ (the Messiah) called to be an apostle, (a special messenger) set apart to [preach] the Gospel (good news) of and from God,

Which He promised in advance [long ago] through His prophets in the sacred Scriptures–

[The Gospel] regarding His Son, Who as to the flesh (His human nature) was descended from David, And [as to His divine nature] according to the Spirit of holiness was openly designated the Son of God in power [in a striking, triumphant and miraculous manner] by His resurrection from the dead, even Jesus Christ our Lord (the Messiah, the Anointed One).

Before moving to more examples of the Trinity in the Old Testament the question of the Jews reaction to Jesus reveals their understanding of Old Testament scripture and their reaction to the claims of Christ. Does Jesus say that they still believe in the God of the Old Testament? In their reactions and Jesus response rejecting Jesus meant rejecting God. The gospel of John gives two examples of Jesus and their response to His claim of son ship and deity. In both instances they hated Him and tried to kill him.

The first reference is: John 8:37-59 The Jews state their monotheism especially in v. 41: “we have one Father, God”. Jesus’ answer follows immediately: “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God. I did not come of Myself, instead He send Me” (v. 42). In vv. 54-55 Jesus says: “It is My Father that honours Me, of whom you say that He is your God. Yet you have not known Him … but I know Him”. He claims that Abraham rejoiced about the days of Jesus and that He was, before Abraham ever lived (vv. 56-58). Against the Jewish “Abraham is our father” (v. 39) Jesus claims: “you are of your father, the devil” (v. 44).

In John 5:17-47 Jesus proclaims His divine Sonship. The Jews understood that Jesus made himself “equal with God” (v. 18). Within His long statement about the relationship between Father and Son Jesus says: “He who does not honour the Son, does not honour the Father who sent Him” (v. 23). Later He states: “And you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe” (v. 38). Jesus immediately connects this with their understanding of the Old Testament: “You search the Scripture, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they that testify of Me” (v. 39). And finally He brings the whole question down to Moses, the lawgiver: “Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you: Moses, in whom you put your hope. For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me” (v. 45-46).IN Luke 24:43-49 he states similarly that the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms speak about him.[1]

Just compare the opposite example. People like Simeon, Hannah, John the Baptist or His disciples were Jews believing in the Yahweh of the Old Testament. Proof? They accepted Jesus as Messiah as soon as they met him for the first time, some of them even when he was still a baby.The New Testament frequently states that the Old Testament taught and believed in the second person of the Trinity. John says in John 12:41 that Isaiah saw Jesus on the throne (Isaiah 6) and Paul believed that Jesus was with Israel in the desert (1 Corinthians 4:10), just to name some examples.

Is the real Jesus present in the Old Testament?

Did Jesus actually act in the Old Testament?

Was He part of what the believing Jews believed?

Was He promised to act for the first time in history or was He acting in history already and only promised as the Messiah and God coming in the flesh?

Perhaps one reason is that the personal name of the incarnate God, ‘Jesus’, is not used in the Old Testament, although the Hebrew equivalent ‘Yeshua’, meaning ‘salvation’, is very often used as a personal name for the Messiah, the salvation of the world.

Compare

Genesis 49:18, Psalms 9:14, 91:14-16, Isaiah 12:2-3, Isaiah 62:11, Habakkuk 3:13

Matthew 1:21, Luke 2:29-30

The New Testament reveals that no one ever saw or heard from the Father. The verses listed below in the table below show that Jesus is the only revelation of God.

Matthew 11:27 John 1:18, 5:37, 6:46 1Timothy 6:16 1John 4:12

Is this only true for the New Testament? Or take the question the other way round: If no man, including Old Testament men ever saw or heard God, who else did the Old Testament saints see and hear? From the New Testament the only answer can be that the revelation came through the Holy Spirit in Jesus Christ. Now we understand, why John says that Isaiah saw Jesus on the throne. Isaiah saw “the glory of God”, one of the names of Jesus in the Old Testament.

(John 1:14 HCSB)  The Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We observed His glory, the glory as the One and Only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

The Son and Spirit have been revealed in the Old Testament, then it follows the Father is reveled as well.

Did the Father act in the Old Testament?

Who is sending them both?

Who are they speaking with if not the Father?

The Shema Deuteronomy 6:4 has been addressed several times, but this is probably the best application I have seen:

The Old Testament confession

……But we only want to take a deeper look at the confession of Israel in Deuteronomy 6:4 : “Hear Israel, the Lord our God is one God”. Some translations say “is God alone”. But the word “one” does not have this meaning[2]. (The word for “alone” is ‘yachid’) This confession is not mainly directed against having several gods. The word ‘echad‘ “is a compound unity noun – that is to say, a noun which demonstrates oneness or unity, but at the same time contains several entities[3] (see Geneses 1:5, 2:24, Numbers 13:23 Ezra 2:64, Jeremiah 32:38-39). In German we can translate “ist ein einiger Gott” (is a God being one). I believe that this confession is a confession against monistic monotheism! God is one consisting of several. Was this confession necessary? Was there ever a danger that Israel thought that Yahweh was two Gods? Yes. If you see them worshipping the Angel of Yahweh, the commander of Gods army, and listening to the voice out of the cloud of glory etc., it was necessary to reaffirm that this was not the result of polytheism, but of triunity.[4]

A major distinction between Jews, Muslims and others that see God as a Unitarian God as one who existed before creation, he only can love creation, they only can speak about how God deals with creation. Therefore they only know actions of God with no proof that God cannot deal otherwise. From a Trinitarian Christian perspective we not only know what He does but what He is from eternity to eternity.  For example the Muslim asks Allah daily that he may accept Mohammed. How do we explain that God never changes without the Trinity? In the Trinity, obedience exists without any force: love and law are identical. Our ability to communicate, love, respect each other and working to a goal outside of ourselves come from the Trinity. But the Trinity existed, before the world was created. So loving, talking, helping, listening and being obedient exist eternally. God does not need men to exist or to be good. In a monad God there can be only power and will no love is available, for an extreme example: in Islam power and will are being exercised daily through the violence they execute. The German word ‘Dreieinigkeit’ (three-oneness, triunity) shows very well that Trinity has two enemies: the ‘one’ stands against polytheism, the ‘three’ against monistic monotheism. Polytheism will vitiate biblical faith as much as non-trinitarian monotheism.

Why such confusion about the Triunity of God? If this same God, can create the world ex-nihilo, create man, send His son in the flesh who died and rose again; why is the Trinity so hard for some to accept? The Trinity is the only unique distinction between Christianity and every other belief system in the world. The truth of the Trinity is seen in its opponent’s ferocious attack. Where else do Muslims, Mormons, Sikhs, Hindu’s, Jehovah Witnesses and atheists share information and join in attack using the same arguments? If the Trinity was not Biblical why does the enemy spend so much of his resources attacking it?  Finally in the end days Satan creating false miracles, his presence as an angel of light is revealed and last but by no means unimportant the unholy Trinity is thrust upon the final scene in God’s revelation of the end times. Finally millions if not billions have trusted in the Triune nature of God for salvation, did they all perish with a false belief? Has God allowed this doctrine to carry on through the disciples, the early church fathers and the reformation right into the modern church without correcting it? Salvation is a work of God..initiated by the Father, accomplished by the Son, applied by the Spirit.

The Son is glorified by the Spirit; the Father is glorified by the Son; again the Son has His glory from the Father; and the Only-begotten thus becomes the glory of the Spirit. IN like manner faith completes the circle, and glorifies the Son by means of the Spirit, and the Father by means of the Son. Worship of any of the three is worship of all three and thus worship of the one.[5]

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[1] From Trinity in the Old Testament and Dialogue with Jews and Muslims by Dr. Thomas Schirrmacher

[2] See e.g. the discussion in Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenbergs Christology of the Old Testament (newly reprinted)

[3] Stanley Rosenthal, “The Tri-Unity of God in the Old Testament”, The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry, Collingswood, USA, 1978, p. 4-5 (especially the examples 5-6)

[4] From Trinity in the Old Testament and Dialogue with Jews and Muslims by Dr. Thomas Schirrmacher

[5] “Perichoresis in the Greek Father” StVlad ThQ 35 (1991) :53-65

Trust How and Obey Who?

First Peter was written to Christians who were experiencing various forms of persecution, men and women whose stand for Jesus Christ made them aliens and strangers in the midst of a pagan society. Peter exhorted these Christians to steadfast endurance and exemplary behavior. The warmth of his expressions combined with his practical instructions make this epistle a unique source of encouragement for all believers who live in conflict with their culture.

Though Peter could be called “unschooled” and though Greek was not his native tongue, he was by no means ordinary. The Jewish leaders saw Peter as unschooled simply because he had not been trained in rabbinical tradition, not because he was illiterate. Luke also recorded (Act_4:13) that these same leaders were astonished by Peter’s confidence and the power of his Spirit-controlled personality. Peter’s public ministry spanned more than 30 years and took him from Jerusalem to Rome. He lived and preached in a multilingual world. It is reasonable to believe that after three decades Peter could have mastered the language of the majority of those to whom he ministered.

This epistle exerted a wide influence on early Christian writings. The letters of Polycarp, Clement, and Irenaeus (to name only a few) show that the early church unquestionably accepted the authenticity of 1 Peter. The letter’s content and the witness of church history support beyond any reasonable doubt the simple affirmation made in 1Pe_1:1. The letter indeed comes from “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ.”

Date

Peter wrote this epistle apparently just before or shortly after the beginning of Nero’s persecution of the church in a.d. 64. Since Peter referred to the government as still functioning (an institution which commends those who do right and punishes those who do wrong; 1Pe_2:13-14), some believe that the church was not yet facing an organized Roman persecution. Evidently repressive laws had not yet been enacted specifically against Christians. It was still possible for Peter’s readers to “honor the king” (1Pe_2:17). The persecution and suffering that Peter did refer to was primarily social and religious and not legal. A hostile pagan society would slander, ridicule, discriminate against, and even inflict physical abuse on those whose lifestyles had radically changed because of their faith in Christ.

However, Peter seemed to indicate that greater persecution was imminent. He assured his readers (1Pe_1:6) that they could rejoice though they “may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.” Peter exhorted them to prepare, to be self-controlled (1Pe_1:13), possibly to suffer as Christians according to God’s will (1Pe_4:19). So perhaps Nero’s severe persecution had already begun in Rome and was spreading to the provinces to which Peter was writing. This would place the date of the letter in late a.d. 64 or early 65.

(1Pe 1:6 ESV)  In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials,

(1Pe 1:7 ESV)  so that the tested genuineness of your faith–more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire–may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

The times were difficult to say the least. Christians then as now were severally restricted in how they express their beliefs. Morality has plummeted to a new low. Divorce is rampant. Love and commitment have been given a new meaning. Crime is more violent than ever. Sensuality is the primary selling tool in advertising. Sexual promiscuity is the norm among the young and younger. We live in a materialistic culture investing all our energies on achieving and our resources on acquiring. Temptations to yield to former lusts are at times overwhelming.

How can we stand when so many are falling?

(1Pe 1:13-16 AMP)  So brace up your minds; be sober (circumspect, morally alert); set your hope wholly and unchangeably on the grace (divine favor) that is coming to you when Jesus Christ (the Messiah) is revealed. [Live] as children of obedience [to God]; do not conform yourselves to the evil desires [that governed you] in your former ignorance [when you did not know the requirements of the Gospel]. But as the One Who called you is holy, you yourselves also be holy in all your conduct and manner of living. For it is written, You shall be holy, for I am holy. [Lev. 11:44, 45.]

What is wooing us away from following Christ’s example?

(1Pe 2:1-3 CEV)  Stop being hateful! Quit trying to fool people, and start being sincere. Don’t be jealous or say cruel things about others. Be like newborn babies who are thirsty for the pure spiritual milk that will help you grow and be saved. You have already found out how good the Lord really is.

(1Pe 2:11-12 GNB)  I appeal to you, my friends, as strangers and refugees in this world! Do not give in to bodily passions, which are always at war against the soul.  Your conduct among the heathen should be so good that when they accuse you of being evildoers, they will have to recognize your good deeds and so praise God on the Day of his coming.

Are we living Christ in our relationships even if it means personal pain for us being an example?

(1Pe 3:1-12 CEV)  If you are a wife, you must put your husband first. Even if he opposes our message, you will win him over by what you do. No one else will have to say anything to him, because he will see how you honor God and live a pure life. Don’t depend on things like fancy hairdos or gold jewelry or expensive clothes to make you look beautiful. Be beautiful in your heart by being gentle and quiet. This kind of beauty will last, and God considers it very special. Long ago those women who worshiped God and put their hope in him made themselves beautiful by putting their husbands first. For example, Sarah obeyed Abraham and called him her master. You are her true children, if you do right and don’t let anything frighten you.  If you are a husband, you should be thoughtful of your wife. Treat her with honor, because she isn’t as strong as you are, and she shares with you in the gift of life. Then nothing will stand in the way of your prayers.  Finally, all of you should agree and have concern and love for each other. You should also be kind and humble. Don’t be hateful and insult people just because they are hateful and insult you. Instead, treat everyone with kindness. You are God’s chosen ones, and he will bless you. The Scriptures say, “Do you really love life? Do you want to be happy? Then stop saying cruel things and quit telling lies.  Give up your evil ways and do right, as you find and follow the road that leads to peace. The Lord watches over everyone who obeys him, and he listens to their prayers. But he opposes everyone who does evil.”

Are we willing to leave circumstances and influences that harm our Christian witness and drag us down?

(1Pe 4:1-5 CEV)  Christ suffered here on earth. Now you must be ready to suffer as he did, because suffering shows that you have stopped sinning. It means you have turned from your own desires and want to obey God for the rest of your life. You have already lived long enough like people who don’t know God. You were immoral and followed your evil desires. You went around drinking and partying and carrying on. In fact, you even worshiped disgusting idols.  Now your former friends wonder why you have stopped running around with them, and they curse you for it. But they will have to answer to God, who judges the living and the dead.

Are you praying dangerous prayers and in the habit of forgiving others of truly hurtful words and actions?

(1Pe 4:7-11 CEV)  Everything will soon come to an end. So be serious and be sensible enough to pray. Most important of all, you must sincerely love each other, because love wipes away many sins. Welcome people into your home and don’t grumble about it.  Each of you has been blessed with one of God’s many wonderful gifts to be used in the service of others. So use your gift well. If you have the gift of speaking, preach God’s message. If you have the gift of helping others, do it with the strength that God supplies. Everything should be done in a way that will bring honor to God because of Jesus Christ, who is glorious and powerful forever. Amen.

Trusting and obeying God having faith in His promises brings joy and happiness to God. We have a promise that Heaven will be our reward but we also have it here and now. This life is training for the next as well as setting our place in the Heavenly Places. We are promised a mansion, rewards, banquets, music, singing, and joy beyond knowing, perfect bodies, no pain, no sorrow, complete peace and most of all perfect love. If our average age is 80 years on this earth, compared to eternity this is but a vapor that is barely seen. We have very little time to prepare and invite others to join us. Our starting point is love, “they will know we are Christians by our love!”

(1Pe 4:17-19 CEV)  God has already begun judging his own people. And if his judgment begins with us, imagine how terrible it will be for those who refuse to obey his message. The Scriptures say, “If good people barely escape, what will happen to sinners and to others who don’t respect God?” If you suffer for obeying God, you must have complete faith in your faithful Creator and keep on doing right.

(1Pe 1:17-21 CEV)  You say that God is your Father, but God doesn’t have favorites! He judges all people by what they do. So you must honor God while you live as strangers here on earth. You were rescued from the useless way of life that you learned from your ancestors. But you know that you were not rescued by such things as silver or gold that don’t last forever. You were rescued by the precious blood of Christ, that spotless and innocent lamb. Christ was chosen even before the world was created, but because of you, he did not come until these last days. And when he did come, it was to lead you to have faith in God, who raised him from death and honored him in a glorious way. That’s why you have put your faith and hope in God.

Footnote:

[A.D. 110-165.] Justin was a Gentile, but born in Samaria, near Jacob’s well. He must have been well educated: he had travelled extensively, and he seems to have been a person enjoying at least a competence. After trying all other systems, his elevated tastes and refined perceptions made him a disciple of Socrates and Plato. So he climbed towards Christ. As he himself narrates the story of his conversion, it need not be anticipated here. What Plato was feeling after, he found in Jesus of Nazareth. The conversion of such a man marks a new era in the gospel history. The sub-apostolic age begins with the first Christian author, — the founder of theological literature. It introduced to mankind, as the mother of true philosophy, the despised teaching of those Galileans to whom their Master had said, “Ye are the light of the world.”

Justin Martyr was born in Flavia Neapolis, a city of Samaria, the modern Nablous. The date of his birth is uncertain, but may be fixed about A.D. 114. His father and grandfather were probably of Roman origin. Before his conversion to Christianity he studied in the schools of the philosophers, searching after some knowledge which should satisfy the cravings of his soul. At last he became acquainted with Christianity, being at once impressed with the extraordinary fearlessness which the Christians displayed in the presence of death, and with the grandeur, stability, and truth of the teachings of the Old Testament. From this time he acted as an evangelist, taking every opportunity to proclaim the gospel as the only safe and certain philosophy, the only way to salvation. It is probable that he travelled much. We know that he was some time in Ephesus, and he must have lived for a considerable period in Rome. Probably he settled in Rome as a Christian teacher. While he was there, the philosophers, especially the Cynics, plotted against him, and he sealed his testimony to the truth by martyrdom.

The principal facts of Justin’s life are gathered from his own writings. There is little clue to dates. It is agreed on all hands that he lived in the reign of Antoninus Pius, and the testimony of Eusebius and most credible historians renders it nearly certain that he suffered martyrdom in the reign of Marcus Aurelius. The Chronicon Paschale gives as the date 165 A.D.

Epistle of Marcus Aurelius to the Senate, in Which He Testifies That the Christians Were the Cause of His Victory.⁸²

The Emperor Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, Germanicus, Parthicus, Sarmaticus, to the People of Rome, and to the sacred Senate greeting: I explained to you my grand design, and what advantages I gained on the confines of Germany, with much labour and suffering, in consequence of the circumstance that I was surrounded by the enemy; I myself being shut up in Carnuntum by seventy-four cohorts, nine miles off. And the enemy being at hand, the scouts pointed out to us, and our general Pompeianus showed us that there was close on us a mass of a mixed multitude of 977,000 men, which indeed we saw; and I was shut up by this vast host, having with me only a battalion composed of the first, tenth, double and marine legions. Having then examined my own position, and my host, with respect to the vast mass of barbarians and of the enemy, I quickly betook myself to prayer to the gods of my country. But being disregarded by them, I summoned those who among us go by the name of Christians. And having made inquiry, I discovered a great number and vast host of them, and raged against them, which was by no means becoming; for afterwards I learned their power. Wherefore they began the battle, not by preparing weapons, nor arms, nor bugles; for such preparation is hateful to them, on account of the God they bear about in their conscience. Therefore it is probable that those whom we suppose to be atheists, have God as their ruling power entrenched in their conscience. For having cast themselves on the ground, they prayed not only for me, but also for the whole army as it stood, that they might be delivered from the present thirst and famine. For during five days we had got no water, because there was none; for we were in the heart of Germany, and in the enemy’s territory. And simultaneously with their casting themselves on the ground, and praying to God (a God of whom I am ignorant), water poured from heaven, upon us most refreshingly cool, but upon the enemies of Rome a withering⁸³ hail. And immediately we recognised the presence of God following on the prayer — a God unconquerable and indestructible. Founding upon this, then, let us pardon such as are Christians, lest they pray for and obtain such a weapon against ourselves. And I counsel that no such person be accused on the ground of his being a Christian. But if any one be found laying to the charge of a Christian that he is a Christian, I desire that it be made manifest that he who is accused as a Christian, and acknowledges that he is one, is accused of nothing else than only this, that he is a Christian; but that he who arraigns him be burned alive. And I further desire, that he who is entrusted with the government of the province shall not compel the Christian, who confesses and certifies such a matter, to retract; neither shall he commit him. And I desire that these things be confirmed by a decree of the Senate. And I command this my edict to be published in the Forum of Trajan, in order that it may be read

Non Biblical Source for the Trinity: Justin Mytar

hap. CXXVI. — The Various Names of Christ According to Both Natures. It Is Shown That He Is God, and Appeared to the Patriarchs.

“But if you knew, Trypho,” continued I, “who He is that is called at one time the Angel of great counsel,²⁸⁵ and a Man by Ezekiel, and like the Son of man by Daniel, and a Child by Isaiah, and Christ and God to be worshipped by David, and Christ and a Stone by many, and Wisdom by Solomon, and Joseph and Judah and a Star by Moses, and the East by Zechariah, and the Suffering One and Jacob and Israel by Isaiah again, and a Rod, and Flower, and Corner-Stone, and Son of God, you would not have blasphemer Him who has now come, and been ₂₆₃ born, and suffered, and ascended to heaven; who shall also come again, and then your twelve tribes shall mourn. For if you had understood what has been written by the prophets, you would not have denied that He was God, Son of the only, unbegotten, unutterable God. For Moses says somewhere in Exodus the following: ‘The Lord spoke to Moses, and said to him, I am the Lord, and I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, being their God; and my name I revealed not to them, and I established my covenant with them.’ (Exo_6:2) And thus again he says, ‘A man wrestled with Jacob,’ (Gen_32:24, Gen_32:30) and asserts it was God; narrating that Jacob said, ‘I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.’ And it is recorded that he called the place where He wrestled with him, appeared to and blessed him, the Face of God (Peniel). And Moses says that God appeared also to Abraham near the oak in Mature, when he was sitting at the door of his tent at mid-day. Then he goes on to say: ‘And he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, three men stood before him; and when he saw them, he ran to meet them.’ (Gen_18:2) After a little, one of them promises a son to Abraham: ‘Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall. I of a surety bear a child, and I am old? Is anything impossible with God? At the time appointed I will return, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son. And they went away from Abraham.’ (Gen_18:13) Again he speaks of them thus: ‘And the men rose up from thence, and looked toward Sodom.’ (Gen_18:16) Then to Abraham He who was and is again speaks: ‘I will not hide from Abraham, my servant, what I intend to do.’” (Gen_18:17) And what follows in the writings of Moses I quoted and explained; “from which I have demonstrated,” I said, “that He who is described as God appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, and the other patriarchs, was appointed under the authority of the Father and Lord, and ministers to His will.” Then I went on to say what I had not said before: “And so, when the people desired to eat flesh, and Moses had lost faith in Him, who also there is called the Angel, and who promised that God would give them to satiety, He who is both God and the Angel, sent by the Father, is described as saying and doing these things. For thus the Scripture says: ‘And the Lord said to Moses Will the Lord’s hand not be sufficient? thou shall know now whether my word shall conceal thee or not.’ (Num_11:23) And again, in other words, it thus says: ‘But the Lord spoke unto me, Thou shalt not go over this Jordan: the Lord thy God, who goeth before thy face, He shall cut off the nations.’ (Deu_31:2)

Chap. CXXVII. — These Passages of Scripture Do Not Apply to the Father, but to the Word.

“These and other such sayings are recorded by the lawgiver and by the prophets; and I suppose that I have stated sufficiently, that wherever²⁸⁶ God says, ‘God went up from Abraham,’ (Gen_18:22) or, ‘The Lord spake to Moses,’ (Exo_6:29) and ‘The Lord came down to behold the tower which the sons of men had built,’ (Gen_11:5) or when ‘God shut Noah into the ark,’ (Gen_7:16) you must not imagine that the unbegotten God Himself came down or went up from any place. For the ineffable Father and Lord of all neither has come to any place, nor walks, nor sleeps, nor rises up, but remains in His own place, wherever that is, quick to behold and quick to hear, having neither eyes nor ears, but being of indescribable might; and He sees all things, and knows all things, and none of us escapes His observation; and He is not moved or confined to a spot in the whole world, for He existed before the world was made. How, then, could He talk with any one, or be seen by any one, or appear on the smallest portion of the earth, when the people at Sinai were not able to look even on the glory of Him who was sent from Him; and Moses himself could not enter into the tabernacle which he had erected, when it was filled with the glory of God; and the priest could not endure to stand before the temple when Solomon conveyed the ark into the house in Jerusalem which he had built for it? Therefore neither Abraham, nor Isaac, nor Jacob, nor any other man, saw the Father and ineffable Lord of all, and also of Christ, but [saw] Him who was according to His will His Son, being God, and the Angel because He ministered to His will; whom also it pleased Him to be born man by the Virgin; who also was fire when He conversed with Moses from the bush. Since, unless we thus comprehend the Scriptures, it must follow that the Father and Lord of all had not been in heaven when what Moses wrote took place: ‘And the Lord rained upon Sodom fire and brimstone from the Lord out of heaven;’ (Gen_19:24) and again, when it is thus said by David: ‘Lift up your gates, ye rulers; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting gates; and the King of glory shall enter;’ (Psa_24:7) and again, when He says: ‘The Lord says to my Lord, Sit at My right hand, till I make Thine enemies Thy footstool.’ (Psa_110:1) ₂₆₄

Chap. CXXVIII. — The Word Is Sent Not as an Inanimate Power, but as a Person Begotten of the Father’s Substance.

“And that Christ being Lord, and God the Son of God, and appearing formerly in power as Man, and Angel, and in the glory of fire as at the bush, so also was manifested at the judgment executed on Sodom, has been demonstrated fully by what has been said.” Then I repeated once more all that I had previously quoted from Exodus, about the vision in the bush, and the naming of Joshua (Jesus), and continued: “And do not suppose, sirs, that I am speaking superfluously when I repeat these words frequently: but it is because I know that some wish to anticipate these remarks, and to say that the power sent from the Father of all which appeared to Moses, or to Abraham, or to Jacob, is called an Angel because He came to men (for by Him the commands of the Father have been proclaimed to men); is called Glory, because He appears in a vision sometimes that cannot be borne; is called a Man, and a human being, because He appears strayed in such forms as the Father pleases; and they call Him the Word, because He carries tidings from the Father to men: but maintain that this power is indivisible and inseparable from the Father, just as they say that the light of the sun on earth is indivisible and inseparable from the sun in the heavens; as when it sinks, the light sinks along with it; so the Father, when He chooses, say they, causes His power to spring forth, and when He chooses, He makes it return to Himself. In this way, they teach, He made the angels. But it is proved that there are angels who always exist, and are never reduced to that form out of which they sprang. And that this power which the prophetic word calls God, as has been also amply demonstrated, and Angel, is not numbered [as different] in name only like the light of the sun but is indeed something numerically distinct, I have discussed briefly in what has gone before; when I asserted that this power was begotten from the Father, by His power and will, but not by abscission, as if the essence of the Father were divided; as all other things partitioned and divided are not the same after as before they were divided: and, for the sake of example, I took the case of fires kindled from a fire, which we see to be distinct from it, and yet that from which many can be kindled is by no means made less, but remains the same.

Chap. CXXIX. — That Is Confirmed from Other Passages of Scripture.

“And now I shall again recite the words which I have spoken in proof of this point. When Scripture says,’ The Lord rained fire from the Lord out of heaven,’ the prophetic word indicates that there were two in number: One upon the earth, who, it says, descended to behold the cry of Sodom; Another in heaven, who also is Lord of the Lord on earth, as He is Father and God; the cause of His power and of His being Lord and God. Again, when the Scripture records that God said in the beginning, ‘Behold, Adam has become like one of Us,’ (Gen_3:22) this phrase, ‘like one of Us,’ is also indicative of number; and the words do not admit of a figurative meaning, as the sophists endeavour to affix on them, who are able neither to tell nor to understand the truth. And it is written in the book of Wisdom: ‘If I should tell you daily events, I would be mindful to enumerate them from the beginning. The Lord created me the beginning of His ways for His works. From everlasting He established me in the beginning, before He formed the earth, and before He made the depths, and before the springs of waters came forth, before the mountains were settled; He begets me before all the hills.’” (Pro_8:22) When I repeated these words, I added: “You perceive, my hearers, if you bestow attention, that the Scripture has declared that this Offspring was begotten by the Father before all things created; and that which is begotten is numerically distinct from that which begets, any one will admit.”