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But instead of "I am wisdom" it is understood, and as the wisdom of the wise is a son, substance of substance, so the image of the substance is similar; wherefore also "image" was understood as "of the invisible God," the wisdom which is the Son. And we have all the words equating: instead of "of the wise one" it is "God," instead of "of the wisdom" it is "image," instead of "beginning" it is "first," instead of "begets" it is "offspring," and for the whole together we say, instead of "He created me the beginning of his ways for his works and begets me" it is "the firstborn of all creation," instead of "He established me" it is "in him were created," and instead of "through me" it is "all things through him and unto him." 3.278 It is clear, therefore, that those who hear "image" of the son "of the invisible God" and thus shamelessly attempt to sophistically reason away the likeness in substance of the Son to the Father are refuted in all things by their failings † not only Paul, but also besides him John, truly a son of thunder, who with his own great voice, as if from certain clouds of the riddles of wisdom, has released to us the pious understanding of the Son in like manner. 8. For see that what he himself was taught by wisdom, these things he has delivered in the gospel preached by him to us. For when wisdom said, "He created me the beginning of his ways," he set forth "in the beginning" by saying, "In the beginning was the Word;" and instead of "He created me," "and the Word was God," so that we might not understand the Word uttered, but God the Word begotten impassibly from the Father in a firm hypostasis; and instead of "I was with him," "was with God;" and instead of "through me are the things from eternity," "All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made;" and instead of "He established," "what was made, in him was life," to which is equal, "in him were all things created;" and instead of "the Word became flesh," "Wisdom has built her house;" and instead of "I was with him, fitting together," "The Son can do nothing of himself, unless he sees the Father doing something; for whatever that one does, these things the Son also does in like manner," so as to have it by the mouth of two or three witnesses * for a proof of the Son's likeness in substance to the Father. For one says the wisdom of the wise is a son, another says the Word of God is the only-begotten God, and another says the Son of God is the image, so that the Word of God and the wisdom and the image is like in all things, as has been said before, and is proclaimed by all to be the Son of God and the Father in substance. And still more, the Word of God brings us like Thomas to the touching of the activity of the likeness in substance, saying, "As the Father has life in himself, so also he has given to the Son 3.279 to have life in himself." For if "as the Father has" is not understood as in another—for the Father is not one thing, and the life in him another, so that the one might be understood as having, and the other as being had; but the Father himself is life incompositely, and as he has it, so he has given to the Son also to have it, clearly incompositely as the Father, it is evident that having it thus, since he does not have it unbegottenly nor compositely, he has all things likewise in substance and incompositely as the Father; it being clear that the like can never be the same as that to which it is like, * a proof is "being made in the likeness of men," that the Son of God became man, but was not in all things the same as a man, and being in "the likeness of sinful flesh" became subject to the passions which are the causes of sin in the flesh, we mean hunger and thirst and the rest, but did not become in the identity of sinful flesh; so that also from the apostolic testimonies the likeness in substance of the Son to the Father is proclaimed. 9. For as being made in the likeness of men he was both man and not in all respects man, man in that he took on human flesh, since "the Word became flesh," but not being a man, since he was not born in the same way as men—for not from seed and union—so also the Son before the ages is God insofar as he is the Son of God, as he is man insofar as he is the Son of man, not

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ἀλλ' ἀντὶ τοῦ «ἐγὼ ἡ σοφία» παρείληπται, καὶ ὡς ἡ σοφία τοῦ σοφοῦ υἱός, οὐσία οὐσίας, οὕτως ἡ εἰκὼν οὐσίας ὁμοία ἐστί· διὸ καὶ «εἰκὼν» ἐνοήθη «τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ ἀοράτου», ἡ σοφία ὅς ἐστιν υἱός. καὶ ἔχομεν ἐξισαζούσας τὰς λέξεις πάσας, ἀντὶ μὲν «τοῦ σοφοῦ» τὸ «θεός», ἀντὶ δὲ «τῆς σοφίας» τὸ «εἰκών», ἀντὶ δὲ τοῦ «ἀρχή» τὸ «πρῶτος», ἀντὶ δὲ τοῦ «γεννᾷ» τὸ «τόκος», ἀντὶ δὲ ὅλου ὁμοῦ φαμεν, ἀντὶ δὲ τοῦ «ἀρχὴν ὁδῶν αὐτοῦ ἔκτισέ με εἰς ἔργα αὐτοῦ καὶ γεννᾷ με» τὸ «πρωτότοκος πάσης κτίσεως», ἀντὶ δὲ τοῦ «ἐθεμελίωσέ με» τὸ «ἐν αὐτῷ ἐκτίσθη», ἀντὶ δὲ τοῦ «δι' ἐμοῦ» τὸ «πάντα δι' αὐτοῦ καὶ εἰς αὐτόν». 3.278 φανερὸν οὖν ὡς τοὺς «εἰκόνα» ἀκούοντας τὸν υἱὸν «τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ ἀοράτου» καὶ οὕτως ἀναιδῶς σοφίζεσθαι τὴν κατ' οὐσίαν ὁμοιότητα τοῦ υἱοῦ πρὸς πατέρα ἐπιχειροῦντας τοῖς πᾶσιν ἐλέγχει παραπεσόντας † οὐ Παῦλός γε μόνος, ἀλλά γε πρὸς τούτου Ἰωάννης, ὁ υἱὸς ὄντως βροντῆς, τῇ οἰκείᾳ μεγαλοφωνίᾳ ὥσπερ ἔκ τινων νεφελῶν τῶν τῆς σοφίας αἰνιγμάτων τὴν εὐσεβῆ ἡμῖν ἔννοιαν τοῦ υἱοῦ κατὰ τὸν ὅμοιον τρόπον ἀνῆκεν. 8. Ὅρα γὰρ ὅτι καὶ αὐτὸς ἃ ἐδιδάχθη παρὰ τῆς σοφίας, ταῦτα ἐν τῷ παρ' αὐτοῦ κηρυχθέντι ἡμῖν εὐαγγελίῳ παραδέδωκε. τῆς γὰρ σοφίας εἰπούσης «ἔκτισέ με ἀρχὴν ὁδῶν αὐτοῦ» τὸ «ἐν ἀρχῇ» ἐξέθετο εἰπὼν «ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος», ἀντὶ δὲ τοῦ «ἔκτισέ με» τὸ «καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος», ἵνα μὴ τὸν ἐν προφορᾷ, ἀλλὰ τὸν ἐν ὑποστάσει παγίᾳ ἀπαθῶς ἐκ πατρὸς γεγεννημένον θεὸν λόγον νοήσωμεν, ἀντὶ δὲ τοῦ «ἤμην παρ' αὐτῷ» τὸ «ἦν πρὸς θεόν», ἀντὶ δὲ τοῦ «δι' ἐμοῦ τὰ ἀπ' αἰῶνος», τὸ «πάντα δι' αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο, καὶ χωρὶς αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο οὐδὲ ἕν», ἀντὶ δὲ τοῦ «ἐθεμελίωσε» τὸ «ὃ γέγονεν, ἐν αὐτῷ ζωὴ ἦν», ᾧ ἴσον τὸ «ἐν αὐτῷ ἐκτίσθη τὰ πάντα», ἀντὶ δὲ τοῦ «ὁ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο» τὸ «ἡ σοφία ᾠκοδόμησεν ἑαυτῇ οἶκον», ἀντὶ δὲ τοῦ «ἤμην παρ' αὐτῷ ἁρμόζουσα» τὸ «οὐ δύναται ὁ υἱὸς ποιεῖν ἀφ' ἑαυτοῦ οὐδέν, ἐὰν μή τι βλέπῃ τὸν πατέρα ποιοῦντα· ἃ γὰρ ἂν ἐκεῖνος ποιῇ, ταῦτα καὶ ὁ υἱὸς ὁμοίως ποιεῖ», ὡς ἔχειν τὴν ἐπὶ στόματος δύο καὶ τριῶν μαρτύρων * εἰς ἀπόδειξιν τῆς κατ' οὐσίαν πρὸς πατέρα τοῦ υἱοῦ ὁμοιότητος. ὁ μὲν γὰρ τοῦ σοφοῦ τὴν σοφίαν υἱόν, ὁ δὲ τοῦ θεοῦ τὸν λόγον μονογενῆ θεόν, ὁ δὲ τοῦ θεοῦ τὸν υἱὸν εἰκόνα φησίν, ὡς τὸν θεοῦ λόγον καὶ τὴν σοφίαν καὶ τὴν εἰκόνα ὅμοιον ἐκ πάντων, καθὰ προείρηται, καὶ κατ' οὐσίαν υἱὸν τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ πατρὸς τοῖς πᾶσι κηρύττεσθαι. ἔτι δὲ μᾶλλον ὡς τὸν Θωμᾶν ἡμᾶς τῇ ψηλαφίᾳ τῆς ἐνεργείας τῆς κατ' οὐσίαν ὁμοιότητος ὁ τοῦ θεοῦ λόγος προσάγει λέγων «ὡς ὁ πατὴρ ἔχει ζωὴν ἐν ἑαυτῷ, οὕτω καὶ τῷ υἱῷ δέδωκε 3.279 ζωὴν ἔχειν ἐν ἑαυτῷ». εἰ γὰρ τὸ «ὡς ὁ πατὴρ ἔχει» οὐχ ὡς ἐν ἄλλῳ νοεῖται οὐ γὰρ ἄλλο μέν ἐστιν ὁ πατήρ, ἄλλο δὲ ἡ ζωὴ ἡ ἐν αὐτῷ, ἵνα τὸ μὲν ἔχον, τὸ δὲ ἐχόμενον νοῆται· ἀλλ' αὐτὸς ἀσυνθέτως ἐστὶ ζωὴ ὁ πατήρ, καὶ ὡς ἔχει αὐτός, οὕτω δέδωκε ἔχειν καὶ τῷ υἱῷ, δηλονότι ἀσυνθέτως ὡς ὁ πατήρ, φανερὸν ὅτι οὕτως ἔχων, ἐπεὶ μὴ ἀγεννήτως ἔχει μηδὲ συνθέτως, ἔχει ὁμοίως πάντα κατ' οὐσίαν καὶ ἀσυνθέτως ὡς ὁ πατήρ· δήλου ὄντος ὅτι τὸ ὅμοιον οὐδέποτε ταὐτὸν εἶναι δύναται οὗ ἐστιν ὅμοιον, * ἀπόδειξιν τὸ «ἐν ὁμοιώματι ἀνθρώπων γενόμενον» τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ θεοῦ ἄνθρωπον μὲν γενέσθαι, μὴ κατὰ πάντα δὲ ταὐτὸν γενέσθαι ἀνθρώπῳ, καὶ ἐν «ὁμοιώματι σαρκὸς ἁμαρτίας» γενόμενον γενέσθαι μὲν ἐν τοῖς πάθεσι τοῖς αἰτίοις τῆς ἐν σαρκὶ ἁμαρτίας, πείνης φαμὲν καὶ δίψης καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν, μὴ γενέσθαι δὲ ἐν ταυτότητι τῆς σαρκὸς ἁμαρτίας· ὥστε καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ἀποστολικῶν μαρτυριῶν καὶ τὴν κατ' οὐσίαν ὁμοιότητα τοῦ υἱοῦ πρὸς πατέρα κηρύττεσθαι. 9. Ὡς γὰρ ἐν ὁμοιώματι ἀνθρώπων γενόμενος καὶ ἄνθρωπος ἦν καὶ οὐ κατὰ πάντα ἄνθρωπος, ἄνθρωπος μὲν τῷ καὶ σάρκα ἀναλαβεῖν ἀνθρωπίνην, ἐπειδὴ «ὁ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο», οὐκ ἄνθρωπος δὲ ὤν, ἐπεὶ οὐχ ὁμοίως ἀνθρώποις ἐγεννήθη οὐ γὰρ ἐκ σπορᾶς καὶ συνδυασμοῦ, οὕτω καὶ ὁ πρὸ αἰώνων υἱὸς θεὸς μὲν καθὸ υἱὸς θεοῦ, ὡς ἄνθρωπος καθὸ υἱὸς ἀνθρώπου, οὐ