1. Some others are secretly introducing another doctrine, who have become disciples of one Noetus, who was a native of Smyrna, (and) lived not very lo

 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 b

 3. In this way, then, they choose to set forth these things, and they make use only of one class of passages just in the same one-sided manner that T

 4. Let us, as I said, see how he is confuted, and then let us set forth the truth. Now he quotes the words, “Egypt has laboured, and the merchandise o

 5. But what is meant, says he, in the other passage: “This is God, and there shall none other be accounted of in comparison of Him?” That said he righ

 6. Let us look next at the apostle’s word: “Whose are the fathers, of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever.

 7. If, again, he allege His own word when He said, “I and the Father are one,” let him attend to the fact, and understand that He did not say, “I and

 8. Many other passages, or rather all of them, attest the truth. A man, therefore, even though he will it not, is compelled to acknowledge God the Fat

 9. There is, brethren, one God, the knowledge of whom we gain from the Holy Scriptures, and from no other source. For just as a man, if he wishes to b

 10. God, subsisting alone, and having nothing contemporaneous with Himself, determined to create the world. And conceiving the world in mind, and will

 11. And thus there appeared another beside Himself. But when I say another ,

 12. Acting then in these (prophets), the Word spoke of Himself. For already He became His own herald, and showed that the Word would be manifested amo

 13. Now Jeremiah says, “Who hath stood in the counsel of the Lord, and hath perceived His Word?”

 14. These things then, brethren, are declared by the Scriptures. And the blessed John, in the testimony of his Gospel, gives us an account of this eco

 15. But some one will say to me, You adduce a thing strange to me, when you call the Son the Word. For John indeed speaks of the Word, but it is by a

 16. And these indeed are testimonies bearing on the incarnation of the Word and there are also very many others. But let us also look at the subject

 17.  These testimonies are sufficient for the believing who study truth, and the unbelieving credit no testimony. For the Holy Spirit, indeed, in the

 18. Thus then, too, though demonstrated as God, He does not refuse the conditions proper to Him as man,

15. But some one will say to me, You adduce a thing strange to me, when you call the Son the Word. For John indeed speaks of the Word, but it is by a figure of speech. Nay, it is by no figure of speech.79 For while thus presenting this Word that was from the beginning, and has now been sent forth, he said below in the Apocalypse, “And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and He that sat upon him (was) Faithful and True; and in righteousness He doth judge and make war.  And His eyes (were) as flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns; and He had a name written that no man knew but He Himself. And He (was) clothed in a vesture dipped in blood:  and His name is called the Word of God.”80 See then, brethren, how the vesture sprinkled with blood denoted in symbol the flesh, through which the impassible Word of God came under suffering, as also the prophets testify to me. For thus speaks the blessed Micah:  “The house of Jacob provoked the Spirit of the Lord to anger.  These are their pursuits. Are not His words good with them, and do they walk rightly? And they have risen up in enmity against His countenance of peace, and they have stripped off His glory.”81 That means His suffering in the flesh. And in like manner also the blessed Paul says, “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak, God, sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be shown in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”82 What Son of His own, then, did God send through the flesh but the Word,83 whom He addressed as Son because He was to become such (or be begotten) in the future? And He takes the common name for tender affection among men in being called the Son. For neither was the Word, prior to incarnation and when by Himself,84 yet perfect Son, although He was perfect Word, only-begotten. Nor could the flesh subsist by itself apart from the Word, because it has its subsistence85 in the Word.86 Thus, then, one perfect Son of God was manifested.

[15] ἀλλ' ἐρεῖ μοί τις, Ξένον μοι φέρεις Λόγον λέγων Υἱόν. Ἰωάννης μὲν γὰρ λέγει Λόγον, ἀλλ' ἄλλως ἀλληγορεῖ. οὐκ ἄλλως ἀλληγορεῖ. οὕτως γὰρ δεικνύων τὸν Λόγον τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦτον ὄντα ἀπ' ἀρχῆς καὶ νῦν ἀπεσταλμένον, ὑποβὰς ἐν τῇ Ἀποκαλύψει ἔφη, Καὶ εἶδον τὸν οὐρανὸν ἠνεῳγμένον καὶ ἰδοὺ ἵππος λευκὸς καὶ ὁ καθήμενος ἐπ' αὐτοῦ πιστὸς καὶ ἀληθινὸς καὶ ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ κρίνει καὶ πολεμεῖ: οἱ δ' ὀφθαλμοὶ αὐτοῦ φλὸξ πυρός, διαδήματα πολλὰ ἐπὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτοῦ, ἔχων ὄνομα γεγραμμένον ὃ οὐδεὶς οἶδεν εἰ μὴ αὐτός, καὶ περιβεβλημένος ἱμάτιον ῥεραντισμένον αἵματι, καὶ κέκληται τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ ὁ Λόγος τοῦ Θεοῦ. ὁρᾶτε, οὖν, ἀδελφοί, πῶς ἐν συμβόλῳ τὸ ἱμάτιον τὸ ῥεραντισμένον αἵματι τὴν σάρκα διηγήσατο, δι' ἧς καὶ ὑπὸ πάθος ἦλθεν ὁ ἀπαθὴς τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος, καθὼς μαρτυροῦσί μοι οἱ προφῆται. λέγει γὰρ οὕτως ὁ μακάριος Μιχαίας, Οἶκος Ἰακὼβ παρώργισε πνεῦμα Κυρίου: ταῦτα τὰ ἐπιτηδεύματα αὐτοῖς ἐστιν: οὐχ οἱ λόγοι αὐτοῦ καλοὶ μετ' αὐτῶν καὶ ὀρθοὶ πορεύονται, καὶ αὐτοὶ ἀνέστησαν εἰς ἔχθραν, κατὰ πρόσωπον τῆς εἰρήνης αὐτοῦ τὴν δόξαν ἐξέδειραν αὐτοῦ. τοῦτ' ἐστὶν τὸ σαρκὶ παθεῖν αὐτόν. ὡσαύτως καὶ ὁ μακάριος Παῦλος λέγει, Τὸ γὰρ ἀδύνατον τοῦ νόμου, ἐν ᾧ ἠσθένει, ὁ Θεὸς τὸν ἑαυτοῦ Υἱὸν πέμψας ἐν ὁμοιώματι σαρκὸς ἁμαρτίας, κατέκρινεν τὴν ἁμαρτίαν ἐν τῇ σαρκί, ἵνα τὸ δικαίωμα τοῦ νόμου φανερωθῇ ἐν ἡμῖν τοῖς μὴ κατὰ σάρκα περιπατοῦσι, ἀλλὰ κατὰ πνεῦμα. ποῖον οὖν Υἱὸν ἑαυτοῦ ὁ Θεὸς διὰ τῆς σαρκὸς κατέπεμψεν ἀλλ' ἢ τὸν Λόγον, ὃν Υἱὸν προσηγόρευε διὰ τὸ μέλλειν αὐτὸν γενέσθαι; καὶ τὸ κοινὸν ὄνομα τῆς εἰς ἀνθρώπους φιλοστοργίας ἀναλαμβάνει Υἱὸς καλούμενος. οὔτε γὰρ ἄσαρκος καὶ καθ' ἑαυτὸν ὁ Λόγος τέλειος ἦν Υἱός, καίτοι τέλειος, Λόγος ὤν, μονογενής: οὔθ' ἡ σὰρξ καθ' ἑαυτὴν δίχα τοῦ Λόγου ὑποστῆναι ἠδύνατο διὰ τὸ ἐν Λόγῳ τὴν σύστασιν ἔχειν. οὕτως οὖν εἷς Υἱὸς τέλειος Θεοῦ ἐφανερώθη.