1. Some others are secretly introducing another doctrine, who have become disciples of one Noetus, who was a native of Smyrna, (and) lived not very lo

 2. Now they seek to exhibit the foundation for their dogma by citing the word in the law, “I am the God of your fathers: ye shall have no other gods b

 3. In this way, then, they choose to set forth these things, and they make use only of one class of passages just in the same one-sided manner that T

 4. Let us, as I said, see how he is confuted, and then let us set forth the truth. Now he quotes the words, “Egypt has laboured, and the merchandise o

 5. But what is meant, says he, in the other passage: “This is God, and there shall none other be accounted of in comparison of Him?” That said he righ

 6. Let us look next at the apostle’s word: “Whose are the fathers, of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever.

 7. If, again, he allege His own word when He said, “I and the Father are one,” let him attend to the fact, and understand that He did not say, “I and

 8. Many other passages, or rather all of them, attest the truth. A man, therefore, even though he will it not, is compelled to acknowledge God the Fat

 9. There is, brethren, one God, the knowledge of whom we gain from the Holy Scriptures, and from no other source. For just as a man, if he wishes to b

 10. God, subsisting alone, and having nothing contemporaneous with Himself, determined to create the world. And conceiving the world in mind, and will

 11. And thus there appeared another beside Himself. But when I say another ,

 12. Acting then in these (prophets), the Word spoke of Himself. For already He became His own herald, and showed that the Word would be manifested amo

 13. Now Jeremiah says, “Who hath stood in the counsel of the Lord, and hath perceived His Word?”

 14. These things then, brethren, are declared by the Scriptures. And the blessed John, in the testimony of his Gospel, gives us an account of this eco

 15. But some one will say to me, You adduce a thing strange to me, when you call the Son the Word. For John indeed speaks of the Word, but it is by a

 16. And these indeed are testimonies bearing on the incarnation of the Word and there are also very many others. But let us also look at the subject

 17.  These testimonies are sufficient for the believing who study truth, and the unbelieving credit no testimony. For the Holy Spirit, indeed, in the

 18. Thus then, too, though demonstrated as God, He does not refuse the conditions proper to Him as man,

6. Let us look next at the apostle’s word: “Whose are the fathers, of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever.”28    Rom. ix. 5. This word declares the mystery of the truth rightly and clearly. He who is over all is God; for thus He speaks boldly, “All things are delivered unto me of my Father.”29    Matt. xi. 27. He who is over all, God blessed, has been born; and having been made man, He is (yet) God for ever. For to this effect John also has said, “Which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.”30    Apoc. i. 8. And well has he named Christ the Almighty. For in this he has said only what Christ testifies of Himself. For Christ gave this testimony, and said, “All things are delivered unto me of my Father;”31    Matt. xi. 27. [Compare John v. 22.] and Christ rules all things, and has been appointed32    [Strictly scriptural as to the humanity of Messiah, Heb. i. 9.]Almighty by the Father.  And in like manner Paul also, in setting forth the truth that all things are delivered unto Him, said, “Christ the first-fruits; afterwards they that are Christ’s at His coming. Then cometh the end, when He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when He shall have put down all rule, and all authority, and power. For He must reign, till He hath put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For all things are put under Him. But when He saith, All things are put under Him, it is manifest that He is excepted which did put all things under Him. Then shall He also Himself be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.”33    1 Cor. xv. 23–28. If, therefore, all things are put under Him with the exception of Him who put them under Him, He is Lord of all, and the Father is Lord of Him, that in all there might be manifested one God, to whom all things are made subject together with Christ, to whom the Father hath made all things subject, with the exception of Himself. And this, indeed, is said by Christ Himself, as when in the Gospel He confessed Him to be His Father and His God. For He speaks thus: “I go to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God.”34    John xx. 17. If then, Noetus ventures to say that He is the Father Himself, to what father will he say Christ goes away according to the word of the Gospel?  But if he will have us abandon the Gospel and give credence to his senselessness, he expends his labour in vain; for “we ought to obey God rather than men.”35    Acts v. 29; iv. 19.

[6] ὃ δὲ λέγει ὁ ἀπόστολος, Ὧν οἱ πατέρες, ἐξ ὧν ὁ Χριστὸς τὸ κατὰ σάρκα, ὁ ὢν ἐπὶ πάντων Θεὸς εὐλογητὸς εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας, καλῶς διηγεῖται καὶ λαμπρὸν τὸ τῆς ἀληθείας μυστήριον. οὗτος ὢν ἐπὶ πάντων, Θεός ἐστιν. λέγει γὰρ οὕτω μετὰ παρρησίας, Πάντα μοι παραδέδοται ὑπὸ τοῦ Πατρός. ὁ ὢν ἐπὶ πάντων Θεὸς εὐλογητὸς γεγέννηται, καὶ ἄνθρωπος γενόμενος Θεός ἐστιν εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας. οὕτως γὰρ καὶ Ἰωάννης εἶπεν, Ὁ ὢν καὶ ὁ ἦν καὶ ὁ ἐρχόμενος, ὁ Θεὸς ὁ παντοκράτωρ. καλῶς εἶπεν παντοκράτορα Χριστόν. τοῦτο γὰρ εἶπεν ὅπερ καὶ αὐτῷ μαρτυρήσει ὁ Χριστός. μαρτυρῶν γὰρ Χριστὸς ἔφη, Πάντα μοι παραδέδοται παρὰ τοῦ Πατρός. καὶ πάντων κρατεῖ: παντοκράτωρ παρὰ Πατρὸς κατεστάθη Χριστός. ἤδη δὲ καὶ Παῦλος, δεικνὺς ὅτι πάντα αὐτῷ παραδέδοται, οὕτως ἔφη, Ἀπαρχὴ Χριστός, ἔπειτα οἱ τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐν τῇ παρουσίᾳ αὐτοῦ, εἶτα τὸ τέλος, ὅταν παραδιδῷ τὴν βασιλείαν τῷ Θεῷ καὶ Πατρί, ὅταν καταργήσῃ πᾶσαν ἀρχὴν καὶ πᾶσαν ἐξουσίαν καὶ δύναμιν. δεῖ γὰρ αὐτὸν βασιλεύειν ἄχρι οὗ θῇ πάντας τοὺς ἐχθροὺς ὑπὸ τοὺς πόδας αὐτοῦ. ἔσχατος ἐχθρὸς καταργεῖται ὁ θάνατος. ὅταν δὲ εἴπῃ, πάντα ὑποτέτακται αὐτῷ, δῆλον ὅτι ἐκτὸς τοῦ ὑποτάξαντος αὐτῷ τὰ πάντα. τότε καὶ αὐτὸς ὑποταγήσεται τῷ ὑποτάξαντι αὐτῷ τὰ πάντα, ἵνα ᾖ ὁ Θεὸς πάντα ἐν πᾶσιν. εἰ οὖν τὰ πάντα ὑποτέτακται αὐτῷ ἐκτὸς τοῦ ὑποτάξαντος, 〚καὶ〛 πάντων κρατεῖ: αὐτοῦ δὲ ὁ Πατήρ, ἵνα ἐν πᾶσιν εἷς Θεὸς φανῇ, ᾧ τὰ πάντα ὑποτάσσεται ἅμα Χριστῷ, ᾧ τὰ πάντα Πατὴρ ὑπέταξε παρὲξ ἑαυτοῦ. τοῦτο γὰρ Χριστὸς ἔφη, ὡς ἐν τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ καὶ Πατέρα ἴδιον καὶ Θεὸν ὡμολόγησεν. λέγει γὰρ οὕτως, Ὑπάγω πρὸς τὸν Πατέρα μου καὶ Πατέρα ὑμῶν, καὶ Θεόν μου καὶ Θεὸν ὑμῶν. εἰ οὖν Νοητὸς τολμᾷ λέγειν αὐτὸν εἶναι τὸν Πατέρα, 〚καὶ〛 πρὸς ποῖον Πατέρα ἐρεῖ πορεύεσθαι Χριστὸν κατὰ τὴν εὐαγγελικὴν φωνήν; εἰ δὲ ἀξιοῖ καταλείψαντος ἡμᾶς τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τῇ αὐτοῦ ἀφροσύνῃ πιστεύειν, μάτην κάμνει. Πειθαρχεῖν γὰρ δεῖ Θεῷ μᾶλλον ἢ ἀνθρώποις.