But what is our author’s meaning, and what is the object of this argument of his? For no one need imagine that, for lack of something to say, in order that he may seem to extend his discourse to the utmost, he has indulged in all this senseless twaddle. Its very senselessness is not without a meaning, and smacks of heresy. For to say that the most honourable names are applied to the weakest things, though not having by nature an equal apportionment of dignity, secretly paves the way, as it were, for the blasphemy to follow, that he may teach his disciples this; that although the Only-begotten is called God, and Wisdom, and Power, and Light, and the Truth, and the Judge, and the King, and God over all, and the great God, and the Prince of peace, and the Father of the world to come, and so forth, His honour is limited to the name.

Ἀλλὰ τί βούλεται τῷ λογογράφῳ τὰ εἰρημένα καὶ πρὸς τίνα βλέπει σκοπὸν ὁ λόγος αὐτῷ; μὴ γὰρ δὴ τοῦτό τις ὑπονοείτω ὅτι δι' ἀπορίαν ῥημάτων, ὡς ἂν μάλιστα δόξειεν εἰς πλάτος ἐκτείνειν τὸν λόγον, ἀδιανοήτοις τισὶν ἐμβατταρίζων τὴν φλυαρίαν ἐξέτεινεν. ἀλλ' ἔχει τι καὶ τὸ ἀνόητον τῶν εἰρημένων ὡς πρὸς τὴν αἵρεσιν ὕποπτον. τὸ γὰρ εἰπεῖν « τὰ τιμιώτατα τῶν ὀνομάτων καὶ τοῖς ἀσθενεστάτοις » ἐπιλέγεσθαι, κἂν μὴ ἰσομοιροῦντα τύχῃ κατὰ τὴν φύσιν τοῦ ἀξιώματος, κατασκευή τίς ἐστιν αὐτῷ κατὰ τὸ λεληθὸς τῇ βλασφημίᾳ τὴν ἀκολουθίαν ὑπευτρεπίζουσα: ὡς ἂν τοῦτο παρ' αὐτοῦ μάθοιεν οἱ τὰ ἐκείνου μανθάνοντες, ὅτι κἂν θεὸς ὁ μονογενὴς ὀνομάζηται καὶ σοφία καὶ δύναμις καὶ φῶς καὶ ἀλήθεια καὶ κριτὴς καὶ βασιλεὺς καὶ ἐπὶ πάντων θεὸς καὶ μέγας θεὸς καὶ ἄρχων εἰρήνης καὶ πατὴρ τοῦ μέλλοντος αἰῶνος καὶ πάντα τὰ τοιαῦτα, μέχρις ὀνόματος μόνον ἐστὶν ἡ τιμή.