The Apostle Paul Calls Him God

But let us pass over these things, which cannot possibly be set out in full, because there would be no end to telling them, just as the blessings he gives are without limit. It is time for us to consult the apostle Paul, the strongest and clearest witness to him; for he can tell us everything about God in the most trustworthy way, because God always spoke from within him. He, then, the chosen teacher of the nations, who was sent to destroy the errors of pagan superstition, bears his witness to the grace and coming of our Lord God in this way: “The grace of God and our Savior,” he says, “appeared to all people, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly desires, we should live soberly and justly and godly in this world, looking for the blessed hope and the coming of the glory of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ.” [a]

He says that “the grace of God our Savior appeared.” He does well to use a word suited to show the arrival of a new grace and a new birth. For by saying “appeared,” he pointed to the approach of a new grace and birth, since from then on the gift of a new grace began to appear, from the moment God appeared as born into the world. So by using the right word, one exactly suited to it, he shows the light of this new grace almost as if he were pointing to it with his finger. For a thing is most properly said to appear when a sudden light shows it. So we read in the Gospel that the star appeared to the wise men in the East; and in Exodus: “There appeared to Moses,” it says, “an angel in a flame of fire in the bush.” In all these, and in other visions in Holy Scripture, Scripture chose to use this word in particular, so that it might speak of something as “appearing” when it shone out with an unusual light. So the apostle too, knowing well the coming of the heavenly grace that appeared at the approach of the holy birth, pointed to it by using a term that belongs to a bright appearance. He did so expressly in order to say that it appeared, since it shone with the splendor of a new light. “The grace of God our Savior,” then, “appeared.”

Surely you cannot raise any quibble here about the names being ambiguous, so as to say that “Christ” is one and “God” another, or to divide “the Savior” from the glory of his name, and separate “the Lord” from the divinity? Look: here the vessel of God speaks from God, and testifies by the clearest statement that the grace of God appeared from Mary. And so that you may not deny that God appeared from Mary, he at once adds the name of Savior. He does it on purpose, so that you may believe that the one born of Mary is God, since you cannot deny that he was born a Savior, in keeping with this passage: “For to you is born this day a Savior.” What an excellent teacher of the Gentiles, truly given to them by God! For he knew that this wild heretical folly would arise, which would turn the names of God into material for argument and would not hesitate to slander God out of his own titles. So, precisely so that the heretic might not separate the title of Savior from the divinity, he put the name of God first. Then the name of God, standing first, would claim as his all the names that followed, and no one could imagine that in what followed Christ was spoken of as a mere man, since by the very first word used he had taught that he was God.

“Looking,” says the same apostle, “for the blessed hope and the coming of the glory of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ.” That teacher of divine wisdom certainly saw that plain and simple teaching would not by itself be enough to meet the crafty tricks of the devil’s cunning, unless he fortified the holy preaching of the faith with a defense of the utmost care. So although he had used the name of God the Savior above, he adds “Jesus Christ” here. He did this in case you might think the name of Savior alone was not enough to point you to our Lord Jesus Christ, and might fail to understand that the God whom you acknowledge as God the Savior is the same Jesus Christ. What, then, does he say? He says: “Looking for the blessed hope and the coming of the glory of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ.” Nothing is missing here among the titles of our Lord: you see God, and the Savior, and Jesus, and Christ. But when you see all these, you see that they all belong to God. For you have heard of him as God, but as Savior as well. You have heard of him as God, but as Jesus as well. You have heard of him as God, but as Christ as well. What the divinity has joined and united together cannot be separated by this variety of titles; for whichever of them you look for, you will find them all there. The Savior is God, Jesus is God, Christ is God. In all that you hear, though the titles used are many, they belong to one Person in power. For since the Savior is God, and Jesus is God, and Christ is God, it is easy to see that all these, though they are different names, are united in majesty. And when you hear quite plainly that one and the same Person is called God in each case, you can surely see clearly that in all these cases only one God is spoken of.

So you can no longer try to make out a difference of power from the different names given to the Lord, or a difference of Person from the variety of titles. You cannot say, “Christ was born of Mary, but God was not,” for an apostle declares that God was. You cannot say that Jesus was born of Mary but God was not, for an apostle testifies that God was. You cannot say, “The Savior was born, but God was not,” for an apostle upholds the fact that God was. There is no way of escape for you. Whichever of the Lord’s titles you take, the one you speak of is God. You have nothing to say, nothing to assert, nothing to invent in your wicked falsehood. In your ungodly unbelief you can refuse to believe; but in your blasphemy you have nothing to deny.