Chapter III.

Forasmuch as God is One, the Son of God is God, good and true.

33. Yet what think ye, who deny the goodness and true Godhead of the Son of God, though it is written that there is no God but One?280    1 Cor. viii. 4. For although there be gods so-called, would you reckon Christ amongst them which are called gods, but are not, seeing that eternity is of His Essence, and that beside Him there is none other that is good and true God, forasmuch as God is in Him;281    S. John xvii. 22, 23. whilst it follows from the very nature of the Father, that after Him there is no other true God, because God is One, neither confounding [the Persons of] the Father and Son, as the Sabellians do, nor, like the Arians, severing the Father and the Son. For the Father and the Son, as Father and Son, are distinct persons, but they admit no division of their Godhead.

CAPUT III.

Filium Dei Deum bonum ac verum esse, cum Deus unus sit.

33. [Alias cap. II.] Sed quid vobis videtur, qui bonum et verum Deum Dei Filium denegatis; cum scriptum sit quod nullus Deus, nisi unus (I Cor. VIII, 4)? Nam etsi sunt qui dicantur dii, an inter eos Christum annumeratis, qui dicuntur, et non sunt? Cum speciale sit ejus, ut semper sit: et praeter ipsum bonus et verus alius Deus non sit; quoniam in ipso est Deus: speciale autem etiam Patris sit, ut post ipsum verus alius Deus non sit; quia unus Deus, nec juxta 0566B Sabellianos Patrem Filiumque confundens, nec juxta Arianos Patrem Filiumque secernens. Pater enim et Filius distinctionem habent, ut Pater et Filius; separationem divinitatis non habent.