21. They are not, therefore, acquitted of blame for not recognising the testimony; for the works of Christ are the Father’s testimony concerning Him. Nor can they plead ignorance of the testimony on the ground that they had not heard the voice of the Testifier, nor seen His form, nor had His word abiding in them. For immediately after the words, Ye have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form, and ye have not His word abiding in you, He points out why the voice was not heard, nor the form seen, and the word did not abide in them, though the Father had testified concerning Him: For Whom He sent, Him ye believe not; that is, if they had believed Him, they would have heard the voice of God, and seen the form of God, and His word would have been in them, since through the unity of Their nature the Father is heard and manifested and possessed in the Son. Is He not also the expression of the Father, since He was sent from Him? Does He distinguish Himself by any difference of nature from the Father, when He says that the Father, testifying of Him, was neither heard, nor seen, nor understood, because they did not believe in Him, Whom the Father sent? The Only-begotten God does not, therefore, separate Himself from God when He confesses God the Father; but, proclaiming by the word “Father” His relationship to God, He includes Himself in the honour due to God.

21. Judaei Patrem non viderunt aut audierunt, quia Christo non crediderunt. Hinc natura utriusque una. ---Non sunt itaque extra reatum non cogniti sibi testimonii; cum opus Christi testimonium de eo Patris sit. Neque in eo, quod testantis vocem non audierint, et figuram non viderint, et verbum ejus manens non habuerint, idcirco sine testimonii sunt conscientia. Ad id enim quod dictum est: Neque vocem ejus audistis, neque figuram ejus vidistis, et verbum ejus non habetis in vobis manens (Job V, 37 et 38); ut cum testatus de eo Pater fuisset, causa tamen neque vocis auditae, neque visae figurae, et 0297B verbi in his non manentis posset intelligi, continuo subjecit, 274 Quoniam quem misit ille, huic vos non creditis (Ibid. 38): se credito, et vocem Dei audiendam, et figuram Dei videndam, et verbum ejus in his qui crederent inesse demonstrans; cum per naturae unitatem in se Pater et loqueretur, et videretur, et haberetur. Numquid non et Patrem significat, cum missus ab eo est? Numquid se per aliquam naturae differentiam a Patre discernit, cum hinc Pater testans de eo, neque auditus, neque visus sit, nec intellectus sit, quia misso a Patre sibi non creditum sit? Non se ergo unigenitus Deus a Deo separat, patrem Deum confitens: sed per significationem patris Deo patre demonstrato, se quoque in Dei honore constituit.