Chapter I.—On the Authority of the Gospels.
Chapter II.—On the Order of the Evangelists, and the Principles on Which They Wrote.
Chapter IV.—Of the Fact that John Undertook the Exposition of Christ’s Divinity.
Chapter IX.—Of Certain Persons Who Pretend that Christ Wrote Books on the Arts of Magic.
Chapter XIII.—Of the Question Why God Suffered the Jews to Be Reduced to Subjection.
Chapter XVII.—In Opposition to the Romans Who Rejected the God of Israel Alone.
Chapter XIX.—The Proof that This God is the True God.
Chapter XXII.—Of the Opinion Entertained by the Gentiles Regarding Our God.
Chapter XXIII.—Of the Follies Which the Pagans Have Indulged in Regarding Jupiter and Saturn.
Chapter XXVIII.—Of the Predicted Rejection of Idols.
Chapter XXXI.—The Fulfilment of the Prophecies Concerning Christ.
Chapter XXXIV.—Epilogue to the Preceding.
Chapter VI.—On the Position Given to the Preaching of John the Baptist in All the Four Evangelists.
Chapter VII.—Of the Two Herods.
Chapter XII.—Concerning the Words Ascribed to John by All the Four Evangelists Respectively.
Chapter XIII.—Of the Baptism of Jesus.
Chapter XIV.—Of the Words or the Voice that Came from Heaven Upon Him When He Had Been Baptized.
Chapter XVI.—Of the Temptation of Jesus.
Chapter XVII.—Of the Calling of the Apostles as They Were Fishing.
Chapter XVIII.—Of the Date of His Departure into Galilee.
Chapter XIX.—Of the Lengthened Sermon Which, According to Matthew, He Delivered on the Mount.
Chapter XXI.—Of the Order in Which the Narrative Concerning Peter’s Mother-In-Law is Introduced.
Chapter XXIX.—Of the Two Blind Men and the Dumb Demoniac Whose Stories are Related Only by Matthew.
Chapter XVII.—Of the Harmony of the Four Evangelists in Their Notices of the Draught of Vinegar.
Chapter X.—Of the Evangelist John, and the Distinction Between Him and the Other Three.
Chapter XV.—An Explanation of the Circumstance That, According to the Evangelist John, John the Baptist Says, “I Knew Him Not;” While, According to the Others, It is Found that He Did Already Know Him.
32. Again, the account of the dove given in the Gospel according to John does not mention the time at which the incident happened, but contains a statement of the words of John the Baptist as reporting what he saw. In this section, the question rises as to how it is said, “And I knew Him not: but He that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on Him, the same is He which baptizeth with the Holy Spirit.”315 John i. 33. For if he came to know Him only at the time when he saw the dove descending upon Him, the inquiry is raised as to how he could have said to Him, as He came to be baptized, “I ought rather to be baptized of Thee.”316 Matt. iii. 14. For the Baptist addressed Him thus before the dove descended. From this, however, it is evident that, although he did know Him [in a certain sense] before this time,—for he even leaped in his mother’s womb when Mary visited Elisabeth,317 Luke i. 41.—there was yet something which was not known to him up to this time, and which he learned by the descending of the dove,—namely, the fact that He baptized in the Holy Spirit by a certain divine power proper to Himself; so that no man who received this baptism from God, even although he baptized some, should be able to say that that which he imparted was his own, or that the Holy Spirit was given by him.
CAPUT XV. Quomodo secundum Joannem Evangelistam dicat Joannes Baptista, Ego non noveram eum; cum secundum alios inveniatur quod jam noverat eum.
32. Quod autem secundum Joannem de columba dicitur, non quando factum est narratur, sed verba Joannis Baptistae referuntur commemorantis quid viderit. In quo quaeritur, quemadmodum dictum sit, Et ego non noveram eum, sed qui misit me baptizare in aqua, ille mihi dixit, Super quem videris Spiritum descendentem et manentem super eum, hic est qui baptizat in Spiritu sancto (Joan I, 33). Si enim tunc eum cognovit, cum columbam vidit descendentem super eum, quaerendum est quomodo dixerit venienti ut baptizaretur, Ego magis a te debeo baptizari (Matth. III, 14): hoc enim ei dixit antequam columba descenderet. Ex quo apparet, quamvis eum jam nosset (nam etiam in utero matris exsultavit, cum ad Elisabeth Maria venisset (Luc. I, 41), aliquid tamen in eo quod nondum noverat, columbae descensione didicisse, quod ipse scilicet baptizaret in Spiritu sancto propria quadam et divina potestate: ut nullus homo qui accepisset a Deo Baptismum, etiamsi aliquem baptizaret, posset dicere suum esse quod traderet, vel a se dari Spiritum sanctum.