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it should be, or not. Therefore, so that he may not say this, I think it is consistent to show him also saying the same things as the aforementioned holy ones: 'Hear,' he says, 'my people, and I will speak to you; Israel, and I will testify to you. If you listen to me, there will be in 2.19.21 you no new god, nor will you worship a foreign god. For I am the Lord your God.' He who shows himself and says, 'I am,' is it not clear that he is saying there is only one God, that is, himself? 2.20.1 All these things and even more than these Marcellus put forward for the denial of the Son of God, not reckoning through lack of knowledge that such teaching was offered to them because of the hardness of heart of the Jewish people. For it was not possible for the Holy Spirit through the prophets of God to deliver to people imperfect in their minds the complete 2.20.2 doctrine of godliness. Thus, at least, he legislated for them to perform sacrifices and circumcision of the body and observance of the Sabbath and abstinence from such foods and purifications of bodies and bodily blessings, yes, and promises of a land flowing with 'milk and honey,' but not of the kingdom of heaven. But our Savior and Lord, when asked how, when Moses had commanded to give a bill of divorce and for a man who wished to to send away his wife, he himself ordained the opposite, gave a general explanation, saying, 'Moses for your hard- 2.20.3 -ness of heart wrote this; but from the beginning it has not been so.' He would have said the same, then, if someone had asked why on earth Moses and the prophets after him, while exhorting to worship one God, did not teach them the knowledge of the Son; for those who were continually being led astray by the polytheistic error were not able to receive the evangelical grace. Therefore, because of their hardness of heart, they gave the teaching concerning one God, for the time being instructing them by turning them away from the belief that there are many gods and leading them to the introduction of the one. 2.20.4 Thus Moses delivered an incomplete teaching to those of his time on account of the imperfection of their understanding, so that he made no mention of the creation of angels in the account of the creation of the world, although the prophets after him mentioned not only angels, but also divine powers and holy spirits and the super-celestial ministers of God, about whom Daniel, teaching, said, 'a thousand thousands served him, and ten thousand ten thousands stood before 2.20.5 him.' But Moses delivered the accounts of all these things in silence, although he was not in ignorance of them, but had already received accurate knowledge of everything by the divine Spirit; nevertheless, he in no way made mention of them in the 2.20.6 account of the creation of the world as having been made by God. And one could state no other cause for this than that it was the hardness of heart of the people, just as the Savior himself taught. And you might learn of countless other things in the constitution of the universe from the readings of the New Testament that are not mentioned at all in the writing of Moses; so he did not mention principalities, nor authorities, nor world-rulers, nor spiritual forces 'of wickedness,' against which the divine apostle says our struggle 2.20.7 is. What then? Since the accounts of these things cannot be found clearly either in Moses or in the other prophets, must we disbelieve the apostle? Or when the same one again mentions the order of the greater beings, saying that Christ is seated 'at the right hand' of God 'far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not 2.20.8 only in this age but also in the one to come,' and again when he names thrones and dominions and principalities and authorities, saying 'for in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities,' is it not right to accept these things because neither Moses nor the other prophets had previously spoken about them? Or shall we say the same about these things as well, that those who are 'stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and in

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εἶναι προσήκει εἴτε καὶ μή. οὐκοῦν ἵνα μὴ τοῦτο λέγῃ, ἀκόλουθον ἡγοῦμαι καὶ αὐτὸν ἐπιδεῖξαι αὐτῷ τὰ αὐτὰ τοῖς προειρημένοις ἁγίοις λέγοντα· «ἄκουσον,» φησὶν «λαός μου, καὶ λαλήσω σοι· Ἰσραήλ, καὶ διαμαρτύρομαί σοι. ἐὰν ἀκούσῃς μου, οὐκ ἔσται ἐν 2.19.21 σοὶ θεὸς πρόσφατος, οὐδὲ προσκυνήσεις θεῷ ἀλλοτρίῳ. ἐγὼ γάρ εἰμι κύριος ὁ θεός σου». ὁ αὑτὸν ἐπιδεικνὺς καὶ λέγων «ἐγώ εἰμι», οὐ δῆλός ἐστιν ἕνα θεὸν μόνον εἶναι λέγων, τουτέστιν ἑαυτόν; 2.20.1 ταῦτα πάντα Μάρκελλος καὶ ἔτι τούτων πλείονα ἐπὶ ἀρνήσει τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ συνεφόρει, δι' ἀνεπιστημοσύνην οὐ λογισάμενος ὅτι πρὸς τὴν σκληροκαρδίαν τοῦ Ἰουδαίων λαοῦ ἡ τοιαύτη αὐτοῖς παρείχετο διδασκαλία. οὐδὲ γὰρ οἷόν τε ἦν τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον διὰ τῶν προφητῶν τοῦ θεοῦ ἀνθρώποις ἀτελέσιν τὰς φρένας ἐντελῆ 2.20.2 παραδοῦναι τὸν τῆς θεοσεβείας λόγον. οὕτω γοῦν αὐτοῖς καὶ θυσίας ἐπιτελεῖν ἐνομοθέτει καὶ σώματος περιτομὴν καὶ σαββάτου φυλακὴν καὶ τοιωνδὶ βρωμάτων ἀποχὴν καὶ καθάρσια σωμάτων σωματικάς τε εὐλογίας, ναὶ μὴν καὶ γῆς ῥεούσης «γάλα καὶ μέλι» ἀλλ' οὐ βασιλείας οὐρανῶν ἐπαγγελίας. ὁ δὲ σωτὴρ καὶ κύριος ἡμῶν ἐρωτηθεὶς πῶς Μωσέως προστάξαντος διδόναι βιβλίον ἀποστασίου καὶ ἀπολύειν τὴν ἑαυτοῦ γυναῖκα τὸν βουλόμενον αὐτὸς τἀναντία διατάττοι τὸν λόγον ἀπέδωκεν καθολικὸν φήσας «Μωσῆς πρὸς τὴν σκληρο2.20.3 καρδίαν ὑμῶν ἔγραψεν· ἀπ' ἀρχῆς δὲ οὐ γέγονεν οὕτως». ταὐτὸν οὖν εἶπεν ἂν καὶ εἴ τις ἤρετο, τί δήποτε θεὸν ἕνα σέβειν παρακελευόμενοι Μωσῆς καὶ οἱ μετ' αὐτὸν προφῆται οὐκ ἐδίδασκον αὐτοὺς τὴν περὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ γνῶσιν· οὐ γὰρ οἷοί τε ἦσαν οἱ συνεχῶς ἀπαγόμενοι τῇ πολυθέῳ πλάνῃ τὴν εὐαγγελικὴν παραδέχεσθαι χάριν. διὸ πρὸς τὴν σκληροκαρδίαν αὐτῶν τὴν περὶ ἑνὸς θεοῦ διδασκαλίαν ἐποιοῦντο, τέως παιδαγωγοῦντες αὐτοὺς διὰ τοῦ ἀποτρέπειν μὲν τοῦ πολλοὺς εἶναι νομίζειν θεοὺς ἐπάγειν δὲ ἐπὶ τὴν εἰσαγωγὴν τοῦ ἑνός. 2.20.4 οὕτω δὲ Μωσῆς ἀτελῆ τὴν διδασκαλίαν τοῖς κατ' αὐτὸν παρεδίδου διὰ τὸ ἀτελὲς αὐτῶν τῆς φρονήσεως, ὡς μηδεμίαν αὐτὸν μνήμην ποιήσασθαι ἀγγέλων κτίσεως ἐν τῷ τῆς κοσμοποιίας λόγῳ, καίτοι τῶν μετὰ ταῦτα προφητῶν οὐ μόνον ἀγγέλων μνημονευσάντων, ἀλλὰ καὶ θείων δυνάμεων καὶ πνευμάτων ἁγίων τῶν τε ὑπερουρανίων θεοῦ λειτουργῶν, περὶ ὧν ὁ ∆ανιὴλ διδάσκων ἔλεγεν «χίλιαι χιλιάδες ἐλειτούργουν αὐτῷ, καὶ μύριαι μυριάδες παρειστήκεισαν ἔμπροσθεν 2.20.5 αὐτοῦ». ἀλλὰ γὰρ τούτων ἁπάντων σιωπῇ παρέδωκε τοὺς λόγους Μωσῆς καίπερ οὐκ ὢν αὐτῶν ἐν ἀγνοίᾳ, πάντων δὲ τὴν ἀκριβῆ γνῶσιν προειληφὼς τῷ θείῳ πνεύματι· πλὴν οὐδαμῶς αὐτῶν ἐν τῇ 2.20.6 κοσμοποιίᾳ ὡς πρὸς τοῦ θεοῦ γενομένων ἐποιήσατο μνήμην. καὶ τούτου τὴν αἰτίαν οὐδ' ἑτέραν εἴποι ἄν τις ἢ τὴν σκληροκαρδίαν τοῦ λαοῦ γεγενῆσθαι, ὥσπερ οὖν αὐτὸς ἐδίδαξεν ὁ σωτήρ. καὶ ἄλλα δὲ μυρία εἶναι ἐν τῇ τοῦ παντὸς συστάσει μάθοις ἂν ἐκ τῶν τῆς καινῆς διαθήκης ἀναγνωσμάτων οὐδ' ὅλως ἐν τῇ Μωσέως φερόμενα γραφῇ· οὐκ οὖν ἐμνημόνευσεν ἀρχῶν οὐδ' ἐξουσιῶν οὐδὲ κοσμοκρατόρων οὐδὲ πνευματικῶν «τῆς πονηρίας», πρὸς ἃ τὴν πάλην ἡμῖν 2.20.7 συνεστάναι φησὶν ὁ θεῖος ἀπόστολος. τί οὖν; ἐπεὶ μήτε παρὰ Μωσεῖ μήτε παρὰ τοῖς λοιποῖς προφήταις σαφῶς ἔστιν εὑρεῖν τοὺς περὶ τούτων λόγους, ἀπιστητέον τῷ ἀποστόλῳ; ἢ ἐπειδὰν τοῦ τῶν κρειττόνων τάγματος ὁ αὐτὸς πάλιν μνημονεύῃ λέγων τὸν Χριστὸν «ἐν δεξιᾷ» τοῦ θεοῦ καθέζεσθαι «ὑπεράνω πάσης ἀρχῆς καὶ ἐξουσίας καὶ δυνάμεως καὶ κυριότητος καὶ παντὸς ὀνόματος ὀνομαζομένου οὐ 2.20.8 μόνον ἐν τῷ αἰῶνι τούτῳ ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι», καὶ αὖθις ἐπειδὰν ὀνομάζῃ θρόνους καὶ κυριότητας καὶ ἀρχὰς καὶ ἐξουσίας λέγων «ἐν αὐτῷ γὰρ ἐκτίσθη τὰ πάντα τὰ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς καὶ τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, τὰ ὁρατὰ καὶ τὰ ἀόρατα, εἴτε θρόνοι εἴτε κυριότητες εἴτε ἀρχαὶ εἴτε ἐξουσίαι», ἆρ' οὐ προσήκει ταῦτα παραδέχεσθαι διὰ τὸ μήτε Μωσέα μήτε τοὺς λοιποὺς προφήτας περὶ τούτων προειληφέναι; ἢ ταὐτὸν καὶ περὶ τούτων ἐροῦμεν, ὡς οὐχ οἷοί τε ἦσαν τοὺς περὶ τούτων πιστεύεσθαι λόγους οἱ «σκληροτράχηλοι καὶ ἀπερίτμητοι τῇ καρδίᾳ καὶ τοῖς