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our power, judged against God’s, is nothing, and our life against His life, and all other things of ours judged against those in Him are as nothing before Him, as the prophecy says; so also our word, judged against the truly existing Word, is nothing. 2.1.236 For this was not in the beginning, but was constructed along with our nature, nor is it considered in its own hypostasis, but as the teacher says somewhere, it vanishes with the sound of the tongue, nor is it possible to conceive of any work of this word, but it has its hypostasis in voice and letter alone; but the Word from God is God, a Word who was in the beginning and remains forever, through whom all things exist and are held together, and He presides over the universe and has all authority over things in heaven and on earth, being life and truth and righteousness and light and every good thing and sustaining 2.1.237 all things in being. Since, therefore, the Word conceived in relation to God is of such a nature and so great, this man offers to God as something great the word composed of nouns and verbs and conjunctions, ignorant that just as He who bestowed on our nature the practical power is not said to create each of our works—but rather, He gave the power to nature, and by us a house and a pedestal and a sword and a plow are made, and whatever life happens to need, of which each is indeed our work, but has reference to our own Cause who created our nature to be receptive of all knowledge—so also the power of speech is the work of Him who made our nature such, but the invention of each word for the need of the meaning of the subjects 2.1.238 was devised by ourselves. And the proof is that many of the things said are considered to be altogether shameful and unseemly, for which no one in his right mind would suppose God to be the inventor; so that even if some of our customary words are spoken by the divine scripture from the person of God, it must be known that the Holy Spirit speaks to us from our own things, just as we also learned in the history of the Acts that each one received the teaching in his own dialect in which he was born, perceiving the power of the words through the words familiar to him. 2.1.239 And that these things are true, one might learn better by examining the Levitical legislation more diligently. For there it mentions such names as frying pan and wafer and fine flour and the like in the mystical rites, symbolically and enigmatically suggesting certain doctrines beneficial to the soul, and it names certain measures according to the custom of that time, saying a certain ephah 2.1.240 and a nebel and a hin and many such things; did He then make and name these designations, or from the beginning so ordain that they be and be called, so as to call such a seed grain, and to name its kernel fine flour, and to call the superficial and membranous and spread-out parts of cakes wafers, and command such a vessel, in which the liquid of the dough is baked and dried, to be named a frying pan, and to designate such a quantity of liquid by the name of a hin or a nebel, and the drier fruits to be measured by the omer? 2.1.241 This is nonsense and Jewish vanity, which has fallen far from the greatness of Christians, to think that the great and highest God, who is beyond every name and thought, who by the power of his will alone holds all things, and brings them into being, and preserves them in being, that He sits like some grammarian meticulously working out 2.1.242 the positions of such names. But just as we, by making signs and gesturing with our hands, indicate to the deaf what is to be done—not because we ourselves do not have our own voice when we do this, but because guidance through words is altogether useless to those who cannot hear—so also, since human nature is in a way deaf and hears none of the high things, we say that the grace of God spoke in many parts and in many ways in the prophets, according to what is for us easy to grasp and familiar

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ναμις ἡ καθ' ἡμᾶς πρὸς τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ κρινομένη τὸ μηδέν ἐστι καὶ ἡ ζωὴ πρὸς τὴν ζωὴν καὶ τὰ ἄλλα πάντα τὰ ἡμέτερα πρὸς τὰ ἐν ἐκείνῳ κρινόμενα ὡς οὐδὲν ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ, καθὼς ἡ προφητεία φησίν, οὕτως καὶ ὁ ἡμέτερος λόγος πρὸς τὸν ὄντως ὄντα λόγον κρινόμενός ἐστιν οὐδέν. 2.1.236 οὗτος μὲν γὰρ ἐν ἀρχῇ οὐκ ἦν, ἀλλὰ τῇ ἡμετέρᾳ συγκατε σκευάσθη φύσει, οὔτε κατ' ἰδίαν θεωρεῖται ὑπόστασιν, ἀλλ' ὥς φησί που ὁ διδάσκαλος τῷ ψόφῳ τῆς γλώσσης συνα φανίζεται, οὔτε τι ἔργον ἔστι τούτου νοῆσαι τοῦ λόγου, ἀλλ' ἐν μόνῃ φωνῇ καὶ γράμματι τὴν ὑπόστασιν ἔχει· ὁ δὲ ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ λόγος θεός ἐστι, λόγος ἐν ἀρχῇ ὢν καὶ εἰσαεὶ διαμένων, δι' οὗ τὰ πάντα ἔστι καὶ συνέστηκε, καὶ τοῦ παντὸς ἐπιστατεῖ καὶ πᾶσαν ἔχει τὴν ἐξουσίαν τῶν ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ τῶν ἐπὶ γῆς, ζωὴ καὶ ἀλήθεια καὶ δικαιοσύνη καὶ φῶς καὶ πᾶν ἀγαθὸν ὢν καὶ πάντα τὰ ἐν τῷ εἶναι 2.1.237 διακρατῶν. τοιούτου τοίνυν ὄντος καὶ τοσούτου τοῦ λόγου τοῦ περὶ τὸν θεὸν νοουμένου οὗτος τὸν ἐν ὀνόμασι καὶ ῥή μασι καὶ συνδέσμοις συναπαρτιζόμενον λόγον ὥς τι μέγα χαρίζεται τῷ θεῷ, ἀγνοῶν ὅτι ὥσπερ ὁ τὴν πρακτικὴν τῇ φύσει ἡμῶν χαρισάμενος δύναμιν οὐ τὰ καθ' ἕκαστον ἡμῶν ἔργα δημιουργεῖν λέγεται, ἀλλ' ὁ μὲν ἔδωκε τῇ φύσει τὴν δύναμιν, ἐνεργεῖται δὲ παρ' ἡμῶν οἰκία καὶ βάθρον καὶ ῥομφαία καὶ ἄροτρον καὶ ὅτουπερ ἂν ὁ βίος τύχῃ δεόμενος, ὧν τὰ καθ' ἕκαστόν ἐστι μὲν ἔργα ἡμέτερα, εἰς δὲ τὸν ἡμῶν αὐτῶν αἴτιον τὴν ἀναφορὰν ἔχει τὸν δεκτικὴν πάσης ἐπιστήμης τὴν φύσιν ἡμῶν δημιουργήσαντα, οὕτως καὶ ἡ τοῦ λόγου δύναμις ἔργον μέν ἐστι τοῦ τοιαύτην ἡμῶν πε ποιηκότος τὴν φύσιν, ἡ δὲ τῶν καθ' ἕκαστον ῥημάτων εὕρεσις πρὸς τὴν χρείαν τῆς τῶν ὑποκειμένων σημασίας 2.1.238 παρ' ἡμῶν αὐτῶν ἐπενοήθη. τεκμήριον δὲ ὅτι πολλὰ τῶν λεγομένων αἰσχρά τε καὶ ἀπρεπῆ παντάπασιν εἶναι νενό μισται, ὧν οὐκ ἄν τις τῶν νοῦν ἐχόντων εὑρετὴν τὸν θεὸν ὑπολάβοι· ὥστε κἂν ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ θεοῦ λέγηταί τινα παρὰ τῆς θείας γραφῆς τῶν ἡμῖν συνήθων ῥημάτων, γνω στέον ὅτι τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον ἐκ τῶν ἡμετέρων ἡμῖν δια λέγεται, καθάπερ καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς τῶν Πράξεων ἱστορίας ἐμά θομεν ὅτι ἕκαστος ἐν τῇ ἰδίᾳ διαλέκτῳ ἐν ᾗ ἐγεννήθη τὴν διδασκαλίαν ἐδέχετο, διὰ τῶν γνωρίμων αὐτῷ ῥημάτων τῆς δυνάμεως ἐπαΐων τῶν λόγων. 2.1.239 Καὶ ὅτι ἀληθῆ ταῦτα, μᾶλλον ἄν τις μάθοι φιλοπονώ τερον τὴν Λεϋιτικὴν νομοθεσίαν κατεξετάζων. τηγάνου γὰρ ἐκεῖ καὶ λαγάνου καὶ σεμιδάλεως καὶ τοιούτων μέμνηται ὀνομάτων ἐν ταῖς μυστικαῖς ἱερουργίαις συμβολικῶς καὶ δι' αἰνίγματος ψυχωφελῆ τινα δόγματα ὑφηγούμενος, καὶ μέτρα τινὰ κατονομάζει κατὰ τὴν τότε συνήθειαν ὕφι τι λέγων 2.1.240 καὶ νέβελ καὶ ἲν καὶ πολλὰ τοιαῦτα· ἆρα ποιήσας τὰς προσηγορίας ταύτας καὶ ὀνομάσας, ἢ τὴν ἀρχὴν οὕτω δια ταξάμενος γίνεσθαί τε καὶ λέγεσθαι, ὥστε τὸ μὲν τοιοῦτον σπέρμα σῖτον εἰπεῖν, τούτου δὲ τὴν ἐντεριώνην ὀνομάσαι σεμίδαλιν, καὶ τὰ ἐπιπόλαια καὶ ὑμενώδη καὶ διηπλωμένα τῶν πεμμάτων λάγανα προσειπεῖν καὶ τὸ τοιόνδε σκεῦος, ἐν ᾧ τὸ ὑγρὸν τοῦ φυράματος ἐξοπτᾶται καὶ ἐξικμάζεται, τή γανον ὀνομασθῆναι προστάξαι τοῦ τε ὑγροῦ τὴν τοσήνδε ποσότητα τῷ τοῦ ἲν ἢ τῷ τοῦ νέβελ ὀνόματι διαγορεύειν καὶ τοὺς ξηροτέρους καρποὺς διαμετρεῖσθαι τῷ γόμορ; 2.1.241 φλυαρία ταῦτα καὶ ματαιότης Ἰουδαϊκὴ πάμπολυ τῆς τῶν Χριστιανῶν μεγαλοφυΐας ἐκπεπτωκυῖα, τὸ οἴεσθαι τὸν μέγαν καὶ ὕψιστον καὶ ὑπὲρ πᾶν ὄνομά τε καὶ νόημα θεόν, τὸν μόνῃ τῇ τοῦ βουλήματος δυνάμει τὸ πᾶν διακρατοῦντα καὶ εἰς γένεσιν ἄγοντα καὶ ἐν τῷ εἶναι διατηροῦντα, τοῦτον ὥς τινα γραμματιστὴν τὰς τοιάσδε τῶν ὀνομάτων θέσεις δια 2.1.242 λεπτουργοῦντα καθῆσθαι. ἀλλ' ὥσπερ τοῖς κωφοῖς διασχη ματιζόμενοι καὶ χειρονομοῦντες τὸ πρακτέον ὑποσημαίνομεν, οὐχὶ τῷ μὴ ἔχειν ἰδίαν αὐτοὶ φωνὴν ὅταν τοῦτο ποιῶμεν, ἀλλὰ τῷ παντάπασιν ἄχρηστον εἶναι τοῖς οὐκ ἀκούουσι τὴν διὰ τῶν ῥημάτων ὑφήγησιν, οὕτω καὶ τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύ σεως κωφευούσης τρόπον τινὰ καὶ οὐδενὸς τῶν ὑψηλῶν ἐπαϊούσης τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ χάριν φαμὲν πολυμερῶς καὶ πολυ τρόπως ἐν τοῖς προφήταις λαλοῦσαν, κατὰ τὸ ἡμῖν εὐσύν οπτόν τε καὶ σύνηθες