2. Now they seek to exhibit the foundation for their dogma by citing the word in the law, “I am the God of your fathers: ye shall have no other gods beside me;”7    Ex. iii. 6 and xx. 3. and again in another passage, “I am the first,” He saith, “and the last; and beside me there is none other.”8    Isa. xliv. 6. Thus they say they prove that God is one. And then they answer in this manner: “If therefore I acknowledge Christ to be God, He is the Father Himself, if He is indeed God; and Christ suffered, being Himself God; and consequently the Father suffered, for He was the Father Himself.” But the case stands not thus; for the Scriptures do not set forth the matter in this manner. But they make use also of other testimonies, and say, Thus it is written:  “This is our God, and there shall none other be accounted of in comparison of Him. He hath found out all the way of knowledge, and hath given it unto Jacob His servant (son), and to Israel His beloved. Afterward did He show Himself upon earth, and conversed with men.”9    Baruch iii. 35–38. [Based on Prov. viii., but so remarkable that Grotius presumptuously declared it an interpolation. It reflects canonical Scripture, but has no canonical value otherwise.] You see, then, he says, that this is God, who is the only One, and who afterwards did show Himself, and conversed with men.” And in another place he says, “Egypt hath laboured; and the merchandise of Ethiopia and the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over unto thee, (and they shall be slaves to thee); and they shall come after thee bound with manacles, and they shall fall down unto thee, because God is in thee; and they shall make supplication unto thee: and there is no God beside thee. For Thou art God, and we knew not; God of Israel, the Saviour.”10    Isa. xlv. 14. Do you see, he says, how the Scriptures proclaim one God? And as this is clearly exhibited, and these passages are testimonies to it, I am under necessity, he says, since one is acknowledged, to make this One the subject of suffering. For Christ was God, and suffered on account of us, being Himself the Father, that He might be able also to save us.  And we cannot express ourselves otherwise, he says; for the apostle also acknowledges one God, when he says, “Whose are the fathers, (and) of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever.”11    Rom. ix. 5.

[2] οἳ καὶ δεῖξαι βούλονται σύστασιν τῷ δόγματι λέγοντες, Εἶπεν ἐν νόμῳ, Ἐγὼ εἰμὶ ὁ Θεὸς τῶν πατέρων ὑμῶν: οὐκ ἔσονται ὑμῖν θεοὶ ἕτεροι πλὴν ἐμοῦ. καὶ πάλιν ἐν ἑτέρῳ, Ἐγώ, φησίν, πρῶτος καὶ ἐγὼ ἔσχατος καὶ μετ' ἐμὲ οὔκ ἐστιν οὐδείς. οὕτω φάσκουσιν συνιστᾶν ἕνα Θεόν. οἳ ἀποκρίνονται λέγοντες, Εἰ οὖν Χριστὸν ὁμολογῶ Θεόν, αὐτὸς ἄρα ἐστὶν ὁ Πατήρ, εἰ γάρ ἐστιν ὁ Θεός. ἔπαθεν δὲ Χριστὸς αὐτὸς ὢν Θεός. ἆρα οὖν ἔπαθεν Πατήρ; [Πατὴρ] γὰρ αὐτὸς ἦν. ἀλλ' οὐχ οὕτως ἔχει. οὐδὲ γὰρ οὕτως αἱ γραφαὶ διηγοῦνται. χρῶνται δὲ καὶ ἑτέραις μαρτυρίαις λέγοντες, Οὕτω γέγραπται, Οὗτος ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν: οὐ λογισθήσεται ἕτερος πρὸς αὐτόν. ἐξηῦρεν πᾶσαν ὁδὸν ἐπιστήμης καὶ ἔδωκεν αὐτὴν Ἰακὼβ τῷ παιδὶ αὐτοῦ καὶ Ἰσραὴλ τῷ ἠγαπημένῳ ὑπ' αὐτοῦ. μετὰ ταῦτα ἐπὶ γῆς ὤφθη καὶ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις συνανεστράφη. Ὁρᾷς οὖν, φησίν, ὅτι οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ Θεὸς ὁ μόνος ὢν καὶ ὕστερον ὀφθεὶς καὶ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις συναναστραφείς. [Ἐν] ἑτέρῳ δέ, φησίν, λέγει, Ἐκοπίασεν Αἴγυπτος καὶ ἐμπόρια Αἰθιόπων καὶ οἱ Σαβαεὶμ ἄνδρες ὑψηλοὶ ἐπὶ σὲ διαβήσονται καί σοι δοῦλοι ἔσονται καὶ πορεύσονται ὀπίσω σου δεδεμένοι ἐν χειροπέδαις καὶ ἐν σοὶ προσκυνήσουσιν, ὅτι ἐν σοὶ ὁ Θεός ἐστιν, καὶ ἐν σοὶ προσεύξονται καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν Θεὸς πλὴν σοῦ. σὺ γὰρ ἦς ὁ Θεὸς καὶ οὐκ ᾔδειμεν, ὁ Θεὸς τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ σωτήρ. Ὁρᾷς, φησίν, πῶς ἕνα Θεὸν κηρύσσουσιν αἱ γραφαί, τούτου ἐμφανοῦς δεικνυμένου. Τούτων οὕτως μαρτυρουμένων ἀνάγκην, φησίν, ἔχω, ἑνὸς ὁμολογουμένου, τοῦτον ὑπὸ πάθος φέρειν. 〚καὶ〛 Χριστὸς γὰρ ἦν Θεὸς καὶ ἔπασχεν δι' ἡμᾶς, αὐτὸς ὢν Πατήρ, ἵνα καὶ σῶσαι ἡμᾶς δυνηθῇ. ἄλλο δέ, φησίν, οὐ δυνάμεθα λέγειν. καὶ γὰρ ὁ ἀπόστολος ἕνα Θεὸν ὁμολογεῖ λέγων, Ὧν οἱ πατέρες, ἐξ ὧν ὁ Χριστὸς τὸ κατὰ σάρκα, ὁ ὢν ἐπὶ πάντων Θεὸς εὐλογητὸς εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας.