Worse Than the Devil’s Doubt

Yet he certainly knew that the Lord Jesus Christ was born of Mary. He knew that he was wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger, that at the start of his human life his childhood was that of a poor person, and that his infancy lacked the proper comforts of a cradle. Further, he did not doubt that he had true flesh and was born a true man. Why, then, did this not seem enough for him to feel secure? Why did he not believe that he could not be God, when he knew him to be truly man? Learn, then, you wretched madman; learn, you lunatic, you cruel sinner; learn, I beg you, even from the devil, to lessen your blasphemy. He said, “If you are the Son of God.” You say, “You are not the Son of God.” You deny what he asked about. No one has ever yet been found, except you, to outdo the devil in blasphemy. What he confessed was possible in the Lord’s case, you do not believe was possible. [a]