Chapter IV.

The omnipotence of the Son of God, demonstrated on the authority of the Old and the New Testament.

34. Seeing, then, that the Son of God is true and good, surely He is Almighty God. Can there be yet any doubt on this point? We have already cited the place where it is read that “the Lord Almighty is His Name.”282    Bk. I. ch. i. Because, then, the Son is Lord, and the Lord is Almighty, the Son of God is Almighty.

35. But hear also such a passage as you can build no doubts upon:283    No doubts, because (1) the meaning of the passage is plain; (2) it is taken from an inspired Book. “Behold, He cometh,” saith the Scripture, “with the clouds, and every eye shall see Him, and they which pierced Him, and all the tribes of the earth shall mourn because of Him. Yea, amen. I am Alpha and Omega, saith the Lord God, Who is, and Who was, and Who is to come, the Almighty.”284    Rev. i. 8. Whom, I ask, did they pierce? For Whose coming hope we but the Son’s? Therefore, Christ is Almighty Lord, and God.

36. Hear another passage, your sacred Majesty,—hear the voice of Christ. “Thus saith the Lord Almighty: After His glory285    The quotation is from Zech. ii. 8—“after His glory.” Lat.—“Post honorem.” LXX.—ὀπίσω δόξης. Vulg.—“Post gloriam.” A.V.—“ After the glory.” hath He sent me against the nations which have made spoil of you, forasmuch as he that toucheth you is as he that toucheth the pupil of His eye. For lo, I lay my hand upon them which despoiled you, and I will save you, and they shall be for a spoil, which made spoil of you, and they shall know that the Lord Almighty hath sent Me.” Plainly, He Who speaks is the Lord Almighty, and He Who hath sent is the Lord Almighty. By consequence, then, almighty power appertains both to the Father and to the Son; nevertheless, it is One Almighty God, for there is oneness of Majesty.

37. Moreover, that your most excellent Majesty may know that it is Christ which hath spoken as in the Gospel, so also in the prophet, He saith by the mouth of Isaiah, as though foreordaining the Gospel: “I Myself, Who spake, am come,”286    Isa. lii. 6. The Vulg. agrees with St. Ambrose. The A.V. has—“They shall know in that day that I am He that doth speak: behold, it is I.” R.V. margin—“here I am.” that is to say, I, Who spake in the Law, am present in the Gospel.

38. Elsewhere, again, He saith: “All things that the Father hath are Mine.”287    S. John xvi. 25. What meaneth He by “all things”? Clearly, not things created, for all these were made by the Son, but the things that the Father hath—that is to say, Eternity, Sovereignty, Godhead, which are His possession, as begotten of the Father. We cannot, then, doubt that He is Almighty, Who hath all things that the Father hath (for it is written: “All things that the Father hath are Mine”).

CAPUT IV.

Omnipotentem esse Dei Filium prisci novique foederis auctoritate demonstratur.

34. [Alias cap. III.] Itaque cum verus et bonus Dei Filius, utique omnipotens Deus Dei Filius: num hinc quoque dubitari potest? Supra (lib. I, cap. 1) diximus lectum quia Dominus omnipotens nomen est ei. Ergo quia Filius Dominus, Dominus autem omnipotens; omnipotens est Dei Filius.

35. Sed accipe etiam eam de qua dubitare nequeas, 0566C lectionem: Ecce venit, inquit, cum nubibus, et videbit eum omnis oculus, et qui eum compunxerunt: et plangent se super eum omnes tribus terrae. Etiam, amen. Ego sum Α et Ω, dicit Dominus Deus, qui est, et qui erat, et qui venturus est omnipotens (Apoc. I, 7, 8). Quem igitur compunxerunt, et quem speramus esse venturum, nisi Filium? Ergo omnipotens Dominus et Deus Christus est.

36. Accipe aliud, sancte Imperator, et accipe Christum loquentem: Haec dicit Dominus omnipotens: Post honorem misit me super gentes, quae 477 depraedaverunt vos; quoniam qui tangit vos, quasi qui tangit pupillam oculi ejus. Quia ecce ego injicio manum meam super eos, qui depraedaveruntvos, et eruam vos; et erunt in praedam, qui depraedaverunt vos, et scient quia 0566D Dominus omnipotens misit me (Zacchar. II, 8, 9). Utique qui dicit: Dominus est omnipotens: et qui misit, Dominus est omnipotens. Ergo et Patris et Filii omnipotentia: sed tamen Deus unus omnipotens; quia unitas potestatis est.

37. Atque ut scias, Imperator auguste, Christum esse, qui locutus est et in propheta et in Evangelio, tamquam in praedestinatione Evangelii per Esaiam 0567A dicit: Ipse qui loquebar, adsum (Esai. LII, 6), hoc est: Adsum in Evangelio, qui loquebar in Lege.

38. Deinde alibi: Omnia quae Pater habet, mea sunt (Joan. XVI, 25). Quae sunt omnia? Non utique locutus est de creatis; haec enim omnia facta sunt per Filium: sed ea quae Pater habet, id est, aeternitatem, majestatem, divinitatem, quae nascendo possedit. Ergo eum qui omnia habet, quae Pater habet (scriptum est enim: Omnia quae Pater habet, mea sunt), omnipotentem esse dubitare non possumus.