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he might rely on what is written, where it says: Let all the house of Israel know that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. First, the testimony has nothing to do with the matter in question. For having promised to show from the saints that the Son was called a creature, he provides testimony about God the Father, that He made. For he would not say this, that it is permissible for him in discourses on such great matters to invent certain derivations and formations of names. For if we will be held accountable for an idle word on the day of judgment, surely innovating on such great matters will not be left to us without accountability. For perhaps we have been taught by the divine word what is fitting to be said of God the Father; but what is not fitting for the Only-begotten, the Holy Spirit has shown through what it has passed over in silence. How then is it safe, by altering the word, “He made,” to call the creator of all things a creature? For if such an appellation were fitting for him, it would not have been passed over in silence by the Spirit. But in the case of creation, we have found the appellation of “creature” derived from “He made”; but in the case of the Son of God, not so. For in the beginning God made the heaven and the earth; and again, I meditated on the works of your hands; and, For his invisible things from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made. Thus Scripture, employing the name where it is useful, in the case of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, as not being fitting for the greatness of his glory, has passed it over in silence. But now, it is not ashamed to call the Lord of glory an axe, and a cornerstone, and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense, and other such things in which there does not seem to be much that is complimentary to those who do not grasp the meaning of the names; but it has nowhere at all named him a creature. And yet this man says that he has taken this name from the saints themselves, so that by his slanders he may envelop not only his contemporaries, but also the saints who lived long ago. But apart from the fact that one ought not to dare such things because of the danger, and to refashion the names of the Lord on his own authority; still the Apostle's thought does not present to us the pre-eternal subsistence of the Only-begotten, 29.577 which is our present subject. For he is not speaking clearly about the very essence of the Word of God, who was in the beginning with God, but about the one who emptied himself in the form of a servant, and was made like the body of our lowliness, and was crucified out of weakness. And this is known to everyone who has paid even a little attention to the intent of the apostolic expression, that he is not handing down to us a manner of theology, but is indicating the discourses of the economy. For, he says, God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified, with the demonstrative word almost leaning manifestly upon his human and visible nature. But he transfers the word “made” to the eternal generation of the Only-begotten. And not even this shames him, that “Lord” is a name not of essence, but of authority. Therefore the one who said, “God has made him both Lord and Christ,” speaks of the rule and dominion over all things entrusted to him by the Father, not of his coming into being. These things, therefore, we will demonstrate a little later, when we refute him for adducing testimonies from Scripture contrary to the will of the Spirit; but for now let us proceed to what follows in the argument. What then does this name mean to him? And why does he attempt to call the creator of all things a creature? Having deluded himself with a counterfeit sophism, he thinks that with the differences in names a variation of essence is also manifested. And yet who in his right mind would agree with this argument, that for things whose names are different, it is necessary that their essences also be different? For of Peter and Paul, and simply of all men, the names indeed
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ἀναγεγραμμένῃ ἐπιστηρίζοιτο, ἔνθα φησί· Γινωσκέτω πᾶς οἶκος Ἰσραὴλ, ὅτι Κύριον αὐτὸν καὶ Χριστὸν ἐποίησεν ὁ Θεὸς, τοῦτον τὸν Ἰησοῦν, ὃν ὑμεῖς ἐσταυρώσατε· πρῶτον μὲν οὐδὲν οἰκεῖον ἔχει τῷ ζητουμένῳ ἡ μαρτυρία. Ἐπαγγειλάμενος γὰρ δείξειν παρὰ τῶν ἁγίων εἰρῆσθαι ποίημα τὸν Υἱὸν, τὴν μαρτυρίαν παρέχεται περὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Πατρὸς, ὅτι ἐποίησεν. Οὐ γὰρ ἐκεῖνό γε ἂν εἴποι, ὅτι ἔξεστιν αὐτῷ ἐν τοῖς περὶ τῶν τηλικούτων λόγοις παραγωγάς τινας καὶ παρασχημαστισμοὺς τῶν ὀνο μάτων ἐπινοεῖν. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ ἀργοῦ λόγου εὐθύ νας ὑφέξομεν ἐν ἡμέρᾳ τῆς κρίσεως, ἦ πού γε τὸ περὶ τῶν τηλικούτων καινοτομεῖν ἀνεύθυνον ἡμῖν ἀφεθή σεται. Τάχα γάρ που τὸ μὲν ὡς πρέπον ἐπὶ Θεοῦ καὶ Πατρὸς λέγεσθαι παρὰ τοῦ θείου δεδιδάγμεθα λόγου· τὸ δὲ οὐχ ἁρμόζον τῷ Μονογενεῖ δι' ὧν ἀπ εσιώπησε τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον ἐνεδείξατο. Πῶς οὖν ἀσφαλὲς τὴν, Ἐποίησε, φωνὴν μεταῤῥυθμίζοντα, ποίημα λέγειν τὸν ποιητὴν τῶν ὅλων; Εἰ γὰρ ἔπρεπεν αὐτῷ προσηγορία τοιαύτη, οὐκ ἂν ἐσιωπήθη παρὰ τοῦ Πνεύματος. Ἀλλ' ἐπὶ μὲν τῆς κτίσεως εὕρομεν ἀπὸ τοῦ, Ἐποίησε, τὴν τοῦ ποιήματος προσηγορίαν μεταληφθεῖσαν· ἐπὶ δὲ τοῦ Υἱοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ οὐκέτι. Ἐν ἀρχῇ γὰρ ἐποίησεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν· καὶ πάλιν· Ἐν τοῖς ποιήμασι τῶν χειρῶν σου ἐμελέτων· καὶ, Τὰ γὰρ ἀόρατα αὐτοῦ ἀπὸ κτίσεως κόσμου τοῖς ποι ήμασι νοούμενα καθορᾶται. Οὕτως ἐφ' ὧν ἐστι χρήσιμον τὸ ὄνομα παραλαμβάνουσα ἡ Γραφὴ, ἐπὶ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν καὶ Σωτῆρος Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὡς οὐ πρέπον τῷ μεγαλείῳ τῆς δόξης, παρεσιώπησε. Νῦν δὲ ἀξίνην μὲν καὶ λίθον ἀκρογωνιαῖον, καὶ λίθον προσκόμματος, καὶ πέτραν σκανδάλου, καὶ τοιαῦτα ἕτερα ἐν οἷς οὐ πολὺ δοκεῖ τὸ εὔφημον εἶναι τοῖς μὴ καθικνουμένοις τῆς σημασίας τῶν ὀνομάτων, τὸν Κύριον τῆς δόξης προσαγορεύειν οὐκ ἐπαισχύνεται· ποίημα δὲ οὐδαμοῦ τὸ παράπαν ὠνόμασε. Καίτοι γε οὗτος παρ' αὐτῶν εἰληφέναι τῶν ἁγίων τὸ ὄνομα τοῦτό φησιν, ἵνα ταῖς συκοφαντίαις μὴ μόνον τοὺς κατ' αὐτὸν περιβάλῃ, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς πάλαι ποτὲ γενομένους ἁγίους. Ἄνευ δὲ τοῦ μὴ χρῆναι διὰ τὸ ἐπικίνδυνον τοῖς τοιούτοις ἐπιτολμᾷν, καὶ τὰ τοῦ Κυρίου ὀνόματα παρ' ἑαυτοῦ μεταπλάττειν· ἔτι οὐδὲ ἡ τοῦ Ἀποστό λου διάνοια τὴν πρὸ αἰῶνος ὑπόστασιν τοῦ Μονογε 29.577 νοῦς ἡμῖν παρίστησι, περὶ ἧς ὁ λόγος ἐν τῷ παρόντι. Οὐδὲ γὰρ περὶ τῆς οὐσίας αὐτῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγου, τοῦ ἐν ἀρχῇ ὄντος πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν, ἀλλὰ περὶ τοῦ κενώσαντος ἑαυτὸν ἐν τῇ τοῦ δούλου μορφῇ, καὶ γε νομένου συμμόρφου τῷ σώματι τῆς ταπεινώσεως ἡμῶν, καὶ σταυρωθέντος ἐξ ἀσθενείας, σαφῶς δια λέγεται. Καὶ τοῦτο παντὶ γνώριμον τῷ καὶ μικρὸν ἐπιστήσαντι τῆς ἀποστολικῆς λέξεως τῷ βουλήματι, ὅτι οὐχὶ θεολογίας ἡμῖν παραδίδωσι τρόπον, ἀλλὰ τοὺς τῆς οἰκονομίας λόγους παραδηλοῖ. Κύριον γὰρ, φησὶ, καὶ Χριστὸν αὐτὸν ὁ Θεὸς ἐποίησε, τοῦτον τὸν Ἰησοῦν ὃν ὑμεῖς ἐσταυρώσατε, τῇ δεικτικῇ φωνῇ μονονουχὶ πρὸς τὸ ἀνθρώπινον αὐτοῦ καὶ ὁρώμενον πᾶσι προδήλως ἐπερειδόμενος. Ὁ δὲ τὴν, ἐποίησεν, φωνὴν εἰς τὴν ἀρχῆθεν γέννησιν τοῦ Μονογενοῦς μεταφέρει. Καὶ οὐδὲ ἐκεῖνο αὐτὸν δυσωπεῖ, ὅτι τὸ, Κύριος, οὐκ οὐσίας ἐστὶν, ἀλλ' ἐξου σίας ὄνομα. Ὥστε ὁ εἰπὼν, Κύριον αὐτὸν καὶ Χρι στὸν ὁ Θεὸς ἐποίησε, τὴν κατὰ πάντων ἀρχὴν καὶ δεσποτείαν λέγει τὴν παρὰ τοῦ Πατρὸς ἐπιτρα πεῖσαν αὐτῷ, οὐ τὴν εἰς τὸ εἶναι πάροδον αὐτοῦ διηγεῖται. Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν μικρὸν ὕστερον ἐπιδείξο μεν, ὅταν ἐλέγχωμεν αὐτὸν παρὰ τὸ βούλημα τοῦ Πνεύματος τὰς ἐκ τῆς Γραφῆς μαρτυρίας παρατιθέ μενον· νυνὶ δὲ ἐπὶ τὰ συνεχῆ τοῦ λόγου προΐωμεν. Τί οὖν αὐτῷ βούλεται τὸ ὄνομα τοῦτο; καὶ τί δή ποτε ποίημα προσαγορεύειν τὸν ποιητὴν τῶν ὅλων ἐπιχειρεῖ; Σοφίσματι κιβδήλῳ παρακρουσάμενος ἑαυ τὸν, οἴεται ταῖς τῶν ὀνομάτων διαφοραῖς καὶ τῆς οὐσίας παραλλαγὴν συνεκφαίνεσθαι. Καίτοι τίς ἂν τῷ λόγῳ τούτῳ σωφρονῶν πρόσ θοιτο, ὅτι ὧν τὰ ὀνόματά ἐστι διάφορα, τούτων παρ ηλλάχθαι καὶ τὰς οὐσίας ἀνάγκη; Πέτρου γὰρ καὶ Παύλου, καὶ ἁπαξαπλῶς ἀνθρώπων πάντων προσ ηγορίαι μὲν