"For we ourselves also know that angels are called gods by the Scriptures, -- as, for instance, He who spake at the bush, and wrestled with Jacob, -- and the name is likewise applied to Him who is born Emmanuel, and who is called the mighty God. [1297] Yea, even Moses became a god to Pharaoh, though in reality he was a man. The same is the case also with the idols of the Gentiles. But we have but one God, one who made creation and arranged the universe, whose Son is the Christ. Obeying Christ, [1298] we learn to know what is false from the Scriptures. Moreover, being furnished by our ancestors with the truths of the Scriptures, we know that there is only one who has made the heavens and the earth, the God of the Jews, and of all who choose to worship Him. Our fathers, with pious thought, setting down a fixed belief in Him as the true God, handed down this belief to us, that we may know that if any thing is said against God, it is a falsehood. I shall add this remark over and above what I need say: If the case be not as I have said, then may I, and all who love the truth, incur danger in regard to the praise of the God who made us." Footnotes: [1297] Isaiah 9:6. [1298] Lit., "whom obeying:" the "whom" might refer to God. |