§2. He also ingeniously shows from the passage of the Gospel which speaks of “Good Master,” from the parable of the Vineyard, from Isaiah and from Paul, that there is not a dualism in the Godhead of good and evil, as Eunomius’ ally Marcion supposes, and declares that the Son does not refuse the title of “good” or “Existent,” or acknowledge His alienation from the Father, but that to Him also belongs authority over all things that come into being.

Not even Marcion himself, the patron of your opinions, supports you in this. It is true that in common with you he holds a dualism of gods, and thinks that one is different in nature from the other, but it is the more courteous view to attribute goodness to the God of the Gospel. You however actually separate the Only-begotten God from the nature of good, that you may surpass even Marcion in the depravity of your doctrines. However, they claim the Scripture on their side, and say that they are hardly treated when they are accused for using the very words of Scripture. For they say that the Lord Himself has said, “There is none good but one, that is, God922    Presumably the quotation from the unknown author, if completed, would run, “as that of being begotten is associated with the essence of the Son.”    Cf. S. Matt. xix. 17..” Accordingly, that misrepresentation may not prevail against the Divine words, we will briefly examine the actual passage in the Gospel. The history regards the rich man to whom the Lord spoke this word as young—the kind of person, I suppose, inclined to enjoy the pleasures of this life—and attached to his possessions; for it says that he was grieved at the advice to part with what he had, and that he did not choose to exchange his property for life eternal. This man, when he heard that a teacher of eternal life was in the neighbourhood, came to him in the expectation of living in perpetual luxury, with life indefinitely extended, flattering the Lord with the title of “good,”—flattering, I should rather say, not the Lord as we conceive Him, but as He then appeared in the form of a servant. For his character was not such as to enable him to penetrate the outward veil of flesh, and see through it into the inner shrine of Deity. The Lord, then, Who seeth the hearts, discerned the motive with which the young man approached Him as a suppliant,—that he did so, not with a soul intently fixed upon the Divine, but that it was the man whom he besought, calling Him “Good Master,” because he hoped to learn from Him some lore by which the approach of death might be hindered. Accordingly, with good reason did He Who was thus besought by him answer even as He was addressed923    If the property of not being begotten is “associated with” the essence, it clearly cannot be the essence, as Eunomius elsewhere maintains it to be: hence the phrase which he here adopts concedes S. Gregory’s position on this point.    i.e.as man, and not as God.. For as the entreaty was not addressed to God the Word, so correspondingly the answer was delivered to the applicant by the Humanity of Christ, thereby impressing on the youth a double lesson. For He teaches him, by one and the same answer, both the duty of reverencing and paying homage to the Divinity, not by flattering speeches but by his life, by keeping the commandments and buying life eternal at the cost of all possessions, and also the truth that humanity, having been sunk in depravity by reason of sin, is debarred from the title of “Good”: and for this reason He says, “Why callest Thou Me good?” suggesting in His answer by the word “Me” that human nature which encompassed Him, while by attributing goodness to the Godhead He expressly declared Himself to be good, seeing that He is proclaimed to be God by the Gospel. For had the Only-begotten Son been excluded from the title of God, it would perhaps not have been absurd to think Him alien also from the appellation of “good.” But if, as is the case, prophets, evangelists, and Apostles proclaim aloud the Godhead of the Only-begotten, and if the name of goodness is attested by the Lord Himself to belong to God, how is it possible that He Who is partaker of the Godhead should not be partaker of the goodness too? For that both prophets, evangelists, disciples and apostles acknowledge the Lord as God, there is none so uninitiated in Divine mysteries as to need to be expressly told. For who knows not that in the forty-fourth924    1 Tim. i. 7.    Ps. xlv. 7, 8. (The Psalm is the 44th in the LXX. numeration, and is so styled by S. Gregory.) Psalm the prophet in his word affirms the Christ to be God, anointed by God? And again, who of all that are conversant with prophecy is unaware that Isaiah, among other passages, thus openly proclaims the Godhead of the Son, where he says: “The Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over unto thee, and shall be servants unto thee: they shall come after thee bound in fetters, and in thee shall they make supplication, because God is in thee, and there is no God beside thee; for thou art God925    Cf. Is. xlv. 14, 15 (LXX.)..” For what other God there is Who has God in Himself, and is Himself God, except the Only-begotten, let them say who hearken not to the prophecy; but of the interpretation of Emmanuel, and the confession of Thomas after his recognition of the Lord, and the sublime diction of John, as being manifest even to those who are outside the faith, I will say nothing. Nay, I do not even think it necessary to bring forward in detail the utterances of Paul, since they are, as one may say, in all men’s mouths, who gives the Lord the appellation not only of “God,” but of “great God” and “God over all,” saying to the Romans, “Whose are the fathers, and of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came, Who is over all, God blessed for ever926    Rom. ix. 5.,” and writing to his disciple Titus, “According to the appearing of Jesus Christ the great God and our Saviour927    Cf. Tit. ii. 13. The quotation is not verbal; and here the rendering of the A.V. rather obscures the sense which it is necessary for S. Gregory’s argument to bring out.,” and to Timothy, proclaims in plain terms, “God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit928    1 Tim. iii. 16 (reading Θεός, or, if the citation is to be considered as verbal, ὁ Θεός)..” Since then the fact has been demonstrated on every side that the Only-begotten God is God929    Reading τοῦ Θεὸν εἶναι τὸν μονογενῆ Θεὸν for τοῦ Θεοῦ εἶναι κ.τ.λ. The reading of the texts does not give the sense required for the argument., how is it that he who says that goodness belongs to God, strives to show that the Godhead of the Son is alien from this ascription, and this though the Lord has actually claimed for Himself the epithet “good” in the parable of those who were hired into the vineyard? For there, when those who had laboured before the others were dissatisfied at all receiving the same pay, and deemed the good fortune of the last to be their own loss, the just judge says to one of the murmurers930    Compare with what follows S. Matt. xx. 13, 15. S. Gregory seems to be quoting from memory; his Greek is not so close to that of S. Matthew as the translation to the A.V., “Friend, I do thee no wrong: did I not agree with thee for a penny a day? Lo, there thou hast that is thine931    Cf. S. Matt. xxv. 25, from which this phrase is borrowed, with a slight variation.: I will bestow upon this last even as upon thee. Have I not power to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil because I am good?” Of course no one will contest the point that to distribute recompense according to desert is the special function of the judge; and all the disciples of the Gospel agree that the Only-begotten God is Judge; “for the Father,” He saith, “judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son932    S. John v. 22.” But they do not set themselves in opposition933    This seems a sense etymologically possible for καθίστανται with a genitive, a use of which Liddell and Scott give no instances. The statement must of course be taken as that of the adversaries themselves. to the Scriptures. For they say that the word “one” absolutely points to the Father. For He saith, “There is none good but one, that is God.” Will truth then lack vigour to plead her own cause? Surely there are many means easily to convict of deception this quibble also. For He Who said this concerning the Father spake also to the Father that other word, “All Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine, and I am glorified in them934    S. John xvii. 10..” Now if He says that all that is the Father’s is also the Son’s, and goodness is one of the attributes pertaining to the Father, either the Son has not all things if He has not this, and they will be saying that the Truth lies, or if it is impious to suspect the very Truth of being carried away into falsehood, then He Who claimed all that is the Father’s as His own, thereby asserted that He was not outside of goodness. For He Who has the Father in Himself, and contains all things that belong to the Father, manifestly has His goodness with “all things.” Therefore the Son is Good. But “there is none good,” he says, “but one, that is God.” This is what is alleged by our adversaries: nor do I myself reject the statement. I do not, however, for this cause deny the Godhead of the Son. But he who confesses that the Lord is God, by that very confession assuredly also asserts of Him goodness. For if goodness is a property of God, and if the Lord is God, then by our premises the Son is shown to be God. “But,” says our opponent, “the word ‘one’ excludes the Son from participation in goodness.” It is easy, however, to show that not even the word “one” separates the Father from the Son. For in all other cases, it is true, the term “one” carries with it the signification of not being coupled with anything else, but in the case of the Father and the Son “one” does not imply isolation. For He says, “I and the Father are one935    Cf. S. John x. 30.” If, then, the good is one, and a particular kind of unity is contemplated in the Father and the Son, it follows that the Lord, in predicating goodness of “one,” claimed under the term “one” the title of “good” also for Himself, Who is one with the Father, and not severed from oneness of nature.

οὐδὲ Μαρκίων ὑμᾶς, ὁ τῶν ὑμετέρων δογμάτων προστάτης, κατὰ τοῦτο τὸ μέρος ἐπανωρθώσατο; ᾧ κοινὸν μὲν πρὸς τὸ ὑμέτερον φρόνημα τῶν θεῶν ἡ δυὰς καὶ τὸ παρηλλάχθαι κατὰ τὴν φύσιν ἑκάτερον πρὸς τὸν ἕτερον οἴεσθαι, φιλανθρωπότερον δὲ τὸ τὴν ἀγαθότητα τῷ θεῷ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου προσμαρτυρεῖν: ὑμεῖς δὲ καὶ τῆς τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ φύσεως τὸν μονογενῆ θεὸν ἀφορίζετε, ὡς ἂν καὶ τὸν Μαρκίωνα τῇ κακίᾳ τοῦ δόγματος ὑμῶν παραδράμοιτε.
Ἀλλ' ἀντιλαμβάνονται τῶν γεγραμμένων καὶ οὔ φασι δίκαια πάσχειν ὑπὲρ τῶν τῆς γραφῆς ῥημάτων κατηγορούμενοι. αὐτὸν γὰρ λέγουσιν εἰρηκέναι τὸν κύριον τὸ Οὐδεὶς ἀγαθὸς εἰ μὴ εἷς ὁ θεός. οὐκοῦν ὡς ἂν μὴ καὶ κατὰ τῶν θείων ῥημάτων ἡ συκοφαντία τὴν ἰσχὺν ἔχοι, αὐτὸν τὸν εὐαγγελικὸν λόγον ἐν ὀλίγῳ διαληψόμεθα. νέον οἶδε τοῦτον ἡ ἱστορία τὸν πλούσιον πρὸς ὅν φησι τὴν φωνὴν ταύτην ὁ κύριος, ἀπολαυστικὸν οἶμαί τινα τῶν κατὰ τὸν βίον ἡδέων καὶ φιλοκτήμονα. λυπεῖσθαι γὰρ αὐτόν φησι πρὸς τὴν συμβουλὴν τῆς τῶν προσόντων αὐτῷ ἀποκτήσεως καὶ μὴ ἑλέσθαι τῶν κτημάτων τὴν ζωὴν ἀνταλλάξασθαι. οὗτος ἐπειδή τινα ζωῆς αἰωνίας ἐπιδεδημηκέναι διδάσκαλον ἤκουσεν, ἐλπίδι τοῦ εἰς ἀεὶ τρυφήσειν παρατεινομένης αὐτῷ τῆς ζωῆς εἰς ἀτέλεστον προσῄει θωπεύων τῇ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ προσηγορίᾳ τὸν κύριον, μᾶλλον δὲ οὐχὶ τὸν νοούμενον κύριον, ἀλλὰ τὸν φαινόμενον ἐν τῇ τοῦ δούλου μορφῇ. οὐ γὰρ τοιοῦτος ἦν οἷος διασχεῖν τὸ καταπέτασμα τῆς σαρκὸς καὶ διϊδεῖν ἰσχύσαι τὸ τῆς θεότητος ἄδυτον. ὁ τοίνυν τὰς καρδίας ὁρῶν κύριος εἶδε πρὸς ὅ τι βλέπων ὁ νέος ἱκέτευεν, ὅτι οὐχὶ πρὸς τὸ θεῖον εἶχε τὴν ψυχὴν ἀτενίζουσαν, ἀλλὰ τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἐλιπάρει διδάσκαλον ἀγαθὸν ὀνομάζων διὰ τὴν ἐλπίδα τοῦ μαθεῖν τὸ τοιοῦτον μάθημα, δι' οὗ κωλυθήσεσθαι προσεδόκα τὸν θάνατον. οὐκοῦν εἰκότως ὁ παρακληθεὶς παρ' αὐτοῦ οὗτος καὶ ἀποκρίνεται. τῆς γὰρ ἐντεύξεως οὐ πρὸς τὸν θεὸν λόγον γεγενημένης, ἀκολούθως καὶ ἡ ἀπόκρισις ἐκ τοῦ ἀνθρωπίνου πρὸς τὸν ἱκετεύσαντα γίνεται, διπλῆν ἐπάγουσα τῷ νέῳ τὴν παίδευσιν. διδάσκει γὰρ κατὰ ταὐτὸν ὅτι τε τῷ βίῳ προσήκει καὶ οὐχὶ ῥημάτων εὐφημίᾳ θεραπεύειν τὸ θεῖον ἐν τῷ τὰς ἐντολὰς ποιεῖν καὶ τῶν προσόντων πάντων ὠνεῖσθαι τὴν αἰώνιον ζωήν, καὶ ὅτι τὸ ἀνθρώπινον ἐν πονηρίᾳ διὰ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν γενόμενον ἀποκέκριται τῆς κυρίας τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ κλήσεως: καὶ διὰ τοῦτό φησι: Τί με λέγεις ἀγαθόν; διὰ τοῦ εἰπεῖν „ἐμὲ„ τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην φύσιν τὴν περὶ αὐτὸν ὑποδεικνύων τῷ λόγῳ, τῇ δὲ θεότητι προσμαρτυρήσας τὴν ἀγαθότητα ἑαυτὸν ἄντικρυς ἀγαθὸν ἀπεφήνατο τὸν ἀληθῶς ὑπὸ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου θεὸν κηρυσσόμενον. εἰ μὲν γὰρ ἀπεσχοινίζετο τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ προσηγορίας ὁ μονογενὴς υἱός, οὐκ ἦν ἄτοπον ἴσως τὸ ἀλλότριον αὐτὸν καὶ τῆς τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ προσηγορίας οἴεσθαι. εἰ δὲ δὴ καὶ προφῆται καὶ εὐαγγελισταὶ καὶ ἀπόστολοι διαβοῶσι τοῦ μονογενοῦς τὴν θεότητα, μαρτυρεῖται δὲ παρ' αὐτοῦ τοῦ κυρίου τῷ θεῷ προσήκειν τὸ τῆς ἀγαθότητος ὄνομα, πῶς οὐ κοινωνεῖ τῆς ἀγαθότητος ὁ κοινωνῶν τῆς θεότητος; ὅτι γὰρ καὶ προφῆται θεὸν ὁμολογοῦσι τὸν κύριον καὶ εὐαγγελισταὶ καὶ μαθηταὶ καὶ ἀπόστολοι, οὐδεὶς οὕτω τῶν θείων ἀμύητος ὡς λόγῳ δεῖσθαι περὶ τούτων μαθεῖν. τίς γὰρ οὐκ οἶδεν ἐν τῇ τετάρτῃ καὶ τεσσαρακοστῇ ψαλμῳδίᾳ ὅτι θεὸν παρὰ θεοῦ χριόμενον τὸν Χριστὸν ὁ προφήτης διακηρύσσει τῷ λόγῳ; καὶ πάλιν τὸν Ἠσαΐαν οὕτω προδήλως βοῶντα τοῦ υἱοῦ τὴν θεότητα τίς ἀγνοεῖ τῶν καθωμιληκότων τῇ προφητείᾳ, ἐν οἷς μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων καὶ τοῦτό φησιν ὅτι Σεβωεὶμ ἄνδρες ὑψηλοὶ ἐπὶ σὲ διαβήσονται καὶ σοὶ ἔσονται δοῦλοι καὶ ὀπίσω σου ἀκολουθήσουσι δεδεμένοι χειροπέδαις καὶ ἐν σοὶ προσεύξονται, ὅτι ἐν σοὶ ὁ θεὸς καὶ οὐκ ἔστι θεὸς πλὴν σοῦ: σὺ γὰρ εἶ ὁ θεός. τίς γὰρ ἄλλος θεὸς ὁ ἐν ἑαυτῷ θεὸν ἔχων καὶ αὐτὸς ὢν θεὸς πλὴν τοῦ μονογενοῦς, εἰπάτωσαν οἱ τῆς προφητείας ἀνήκοοι: τὴν δὲ τοῦ Ἐμμανουὴλ ἑρμηνείαν καὶ τὴν τοῦ Θωμᾶ μετὰ τὴν ἐπίγνωσιν ὁμολογίαν τήν τε τοῦ Ἰωάννου μεγαλοφωνίαν ὡς πρόδηλον οὖσαν καὶ τοῖς ἔξω τῆς πίστεως σιωπήσομαι. ἀλλ' οὐδὲ τὰς Παύλου φωνὰς δι' ἀκριβείας οἶμαι δεῖν παρατίθεσθαι πᾶσιν οὔσας σχεδὸν διὰ στόματος, ὃς οὐ μόνον θεόν, ἀλλὰ καὶ μέγαν θεὸν καὶ ἐπὶ πάντων θεὸν ὀνομάζει τὸν κύριον, πρὸς μὲν Ῥωμαίους λέγων ὅτι Ὧν οἱ πατέρες καὶ ἐξ ὧν ὁ Χριστὸς τὸ κατὰ σάρκα, ὁ ὢν ἐπὶ πάντων θεὸς εὐλογητὸς εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας, πρὸς δὲ τὸν μαθητὴν ἑαυτοῦ Τίτον γράφων Κατὰ τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν τοῦ μεγάλου θεοῦ καὶ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, Τιμοθέῳ δὲ διαρρήδην βοᾷ ὅτι Ὁ θεὸς ἐφανερώθη ἐν σαρκί, ἐδικαιώθη ἐν πνεύματι. πανταχόθεν τοίνυν ἀποδειχθέντος τοῦ θεὸν εἶναι τὸν μονογενῆ υἱὸν πῶς ὁ θεῷ προσήκειν τὴν ἀγαθότητα λέγων τῆς ἐπωνυμίας ταύτης ἀλλοτρίαν ἀποδείκνυσι τοῦ υἱοῦ τὴν θεότητα, καὶ ταῦτα αὐτοῦ τοῦ κυρίου τὸ ἀγαθὸν ἑαυτῷ προσμαρτυροῦντος ἐν τῇ περὶ τῶν μεμισθωμένων εἰς τὸν ἀμπελῶνα παραβολῇ; ἐκεῖ γὰρ τῶν προκεκμηκότων δυσανασχετούντων τῇ τῶν μισθωμάτων ἰσομοιρίᾳ καὶ ζημίαν κρινόντων ἰδίαν τῶν τελευταίων τὴν εὐπραγίαν, φησὶ πρός τινα τῶν χαλεπαινόντων ὁ δίκαιος κριτὴς ὅτι Ἑταῖρε, οὐκ ἀδικῶ σε: οὐχὶ δηναρίου συνεφώνησά σοι τὴν ἡμέραν; ἰδοὺ ἔχεις τὸ σόν: θέλω δὲ καὶ τῷ ἐσχάτῳ χαρίσασθαι ὥσπερ καὶ σοί. μὴ οὐκ ἔχω ἐξουσίαν ἐν τοῖς ἐμοῖς ποιεῖν ὃ θέλω; ἢ ὁ ὀφθαλμός σου πονηρός, ὅτι ἐγὼ ἀγαθός εἰμι; πάντως δὲ οὐδεὶς περὶ τούτου φιλονεικήσει, ὅτι ἡ τοῦ κατ' ἀξίαν διανομὴ ἴδιον τοῦ κριτοῦ ἔργον ἐστί: κριτὴν δὲ τὸν μονογενῆ θεὸν εἶναι πάντες οἱ μαθηταὶ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου συντίθενται. Ὁ γὰρ πατήρ, φησί, κρίνει οὐδένα, ἀλλὰ τὴν κρίσιν πᾶσαν δέδωκε τῷ υἱῷ. ἀλλ' οὐκ ἀφίστανται τῶν γεγραμμένων. φασὶ γὰρ τὴν τοῦ ἑνὸς προσθήκην κυρίως εἰς τὸν πατέρα βλέπειν. οὐδεὶς γάρ, φησίν, ἀγαθὸς εἰ μὴ εἷς ὁ θεός. ἆρ' οὖν ἀτονήσει πρὸς συνηγορίαν ἑαυτῆς ἡ ἀλήθεια; ἢ πολλαχόθεν ἔστιν ἐν εὐκολίᾳ πολλῇ καὶ τοῦτον ἐξελέγξαι τὸν παραλογισμὸν τῆς ἀπάτης; ὁ γὰρ ταῦτα περὶ τοῦ πατρὸς εἰπὼν κἀκεῖνα πρὸς τὸν πατέρα φησὶν ὅτι Πάντα τὰ ἐμὰ σά ἐστι καὶ τὰ σὰ ἐμὰ καὶ δεδόξασμαι ἐν αὐτοῖς. εἰ δὲ πάντα τὰ τοῦ πατρὸς τοῦ υἱοῦ φησιν εἶναι, ἓν δὲ τῶν ἐν τῷ πατρὶ θεωρουμένων ἡ ἀγαθότης, ἢ πάντα οὐκ ἔχει, εἴπερ τοῦτο οὐκ ἔχει, καὶ ψεύδεσθαι φήσουσι τὴν ἀλήθειαν, ἢ εἴπερ ἀθέμιτον καθυπονοεῖσθαι τὴν ὄντως ἀλήθειαν ὡς εἰς ψεῦδος ἐκφερομένην, ὁ πάντα τὰ τοῦ πατρὸς ἑαυτοῦ λέγων οὐδὲ τῆς ἀγαθότητος ἐκτὸς εἶναι συνωμολόγησεν. ὁ γὰρ ἐν ἑαυτῷ τὸν πατέρα ἔχων καὶ τὰ τοῦ πατρὸς ἐμπεριειληφὼς πάντα, μετὰ πάντων δηλονότι καὶ τὴν ἀγαθότητα ἔχει. οὐκοῦν ἀγαθὸς ὁ υἱός.
Ἀλλ' οὐδείς, φησίν, ἀγαθός, εἰ μὴ εἷς ὁ θεός: τοῦτο παρὰ τῶν ἐναντίων προφέρεται. οὐδὲ αὐτὸς ἀποβάλλω τὸν λόγον, οὐ μὴν ἀρνοῦμαι διὰ τοῦτο τοῦ υἱοῦ τὴν θεότητα. ὁ δὲ ὁμολογῶν θεὸν εἶναι τὸν κύριον καὶ τὸ ἀγαθὸν αὐτῷ πάντως διὰ τῆς ὁμολογίας ταύτης συνεμαρτύρησεν. εἰ γὰρ ἴδιον θεοῦ ἡ ἀγαθότης, θεὸς δὲ ὁ κύριος, ἀγαθὸς ἄρα διὰ τῶν τεθέντων ὁ υἱὸς ἀναπέφηνεν. ἀλλά, φησί, τοῦ ἑνὸς ἡ λέξις ἀποκρίνει τὸν υἱὸν τῆς τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ κοινωνίας. ἀλλὰ ῥᾴδιον δεῖξαι ὅτι οὐδὲ τὸ ἓν τοῦτο διαχωρίζει τοῦ υἱοῦ τὸν πατέρα. ἐπὶ μὲν γὰρ τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων τὸ ἓν ἀσυνδύαστον ἔχει τὴν σημασίαν, ἐπὶ δὲ τοῦ πατρός τε καὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ τὸ ἓν οὐκ ἐν μονότητι καθορᾶται. Ἐγὼ γάρ, φησί, καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ἕν ἐσμεν. εἰ οὖν εἷς μὲν ὁ ἀγαθός, ἑνότης δέ τις ἐν τῷ υἱῷ καὶ τῷ πατρὶ θεωρεῖται, ἄρα ὁ κύριος τῷ ἑνὶ μαρτυρήσας τὴν ἀγαθότητα καὶ ἑαυτῷ διὰ τοῦ ἑνὸς τὴν ἐπωνυμίαν ταύτην προσεμαρτύρησε τῷ ἓν ὄντι πρὸς τὸν πατέρα καὶ οὐκ ἀπορρηγνυμένῳ τῆς κατὰ φύσιν ἑνότητος.