43. But perhaps the godless unbeliever meets the pious believer with the assertion that we cannot understand of the true God a confession of powerlessness, such as, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He hath seen the Father doing522    St. John v. 19.. If the twofold anger523    Ib. 18. The Jews sought the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also called God His own Father, making Himself equal with God. of the Jews had not demanded a twofold answer, it would indeed have been a confession of weakness, that the Son could do nothing of Himself, except what He had seen the Father doing. But Christ was answering in the same sentence the double charge of the Jews, who accused Him of violating the Sabbath, and of making Himself equal with God by calling God His Father. Do you think, then, that by fixing attention upon the form of His reply you can withdraw it for the substance? We have already treated of this passage in another book524    Book vii. 15 ff.; yet as the exposition of the faith gains rather than loses by repetition, let us ponder once more on the words, since the occasion demands it of us.

43. Objectum III contra Filii deitatem.---Sed forte piae huic fidei nostrae, impiae perfidiae tuae occurrat assertio; ut aliena 292 ab intelligentia Dei 0316A veri sit haec necessitatis confessio: Amen, amen dico vobis, non potest Filius ab se facere quidquam, nisi quod viderit Patrem facientem (Joan. V, 19). Nisi duplicem responsionem duplex Judaeorum indignatio exigit; sit haec plane infirmitatis professio, nihil ab se facere Filium posse, nisi quod viderit Patrem facientem. Quod si Judaeis et violati sabbati reatum objicientibus, et aequalitatem in Christo Dei per professum sibi Deum patrem non ferentibus, sub eodem dicto ad utrumque responsum est; putasne per confessionem responsionis posse dictorum oculi veritatem? Et quamquam in alio libello (Lib. VII, n. 7) tractatus hic a nobis locus fuerit: tamen quia non modo non obest, sed etiam ad religionem proficit, fidem retractari, eumdem ipsum, quia causa 0316B postulat, revolvamus.