Chapter V.—Denunciation of false teachers.

Whosoever, therefore, declares that there is but one God, only so as to take away the divinity of Christ, is a devil,22 Comp. John vi. 70. Some read, “the son of the devil.” and an enemy of all righteousness. He also that confesseth Christ, yet not as the Son of the Maker of the world, but of some other unknown23 Or, “that cannot be known.” being, different from Him whom the law and the prophets have proclaimed, this man is an instrument of the devil. And he that rejects the incarnation, and is ashamed of the cross for which I am in bonds, this man is antichrist.24 Comp. 1 John ii. 22, 1 John iv. 3; 2 John 7. Moreover, he who affirms Christ to be a mere man is accursed, according to the [declaration of the] prophet,25 Jer. xvii. 5. since he puts not his trust in God, but in man. Wherefore also he is unfruitful, like the wild myrtle-tree.