Demonstration 17: On Christ the Son of God

This is a reply to the Jews, who blaspheme the people gathered from among the Gentiles. For they say this: “You worship and serve a man who was born, a son of man who was crucified, and you call a son of men God. And though God has no son, you say of this crucified Jesus that he is the Son of God.” And they bring forward as an argument that God said, “I am God, and there is no other besides me,” and again he said, “You shall not worship another god.” “So,” they say, “you are opposing God when you call a man God.” [a] About these things, my beloved, I will instruct you as far as I, in my insignificance, can understand them. We grant them that he is a man, and at the same time we honor him and call him God and Lord; yet it is not in any new fashion that we have called him so, nor have we given him a new name that they themselves did not use. Yet it is certain to us that Jesus our Lord is God, the Son of God, and the King, the King’s Son, Light of Light, Creator and Counselor, and Guide, and the Way, and Redeemer, and Shepherd, Gatherer, and the Door, and the Pearl, and the Lamp; and he is called by many such names. But we will leave all the rest aside and prove about him that he who came from God is the Son of God, and is God.

For the revered name of Godhead has been given also to righteous men, and they have been counted worthy to be called by it. The men with whom God was well pleased he called “my sons” and “my friends.” When he chose Moses, his friend and his beloved, and made him chief and teacher and priest to his people, he called him God. For he said to him, “I have made you a God to Pharaoh.” And he gave him his priest as a prophet: “And Aaron your brother will speak for you to Pharaoh, and you will be to him as a God, and he will be to you an interpreter.” So it was not only to the wicked Pharaoh that he made Moses a God; he made Moses a God to Aaron, the holy priest, as well. [b] Hear again about the title “Son of God,” by which we have called him. They say: “Though God has no son, you make that crucified Jesus the firstborn son of God.” Yet God called Israel “my firstborn” when he sent to Pharaoh through Moses and said to him: “Israel is my firstborn. I have told you, let my son go to serve me; and if you are not willing to let him go, look, I will kill your son, your firstborn.” Through the prophet too he testified about this, and reproved them, and said to the people: “Out of Egypt I called my son. As I called them, so they went off and worshiped Baal and burned incense to the carved images.” And Isaiah said of them: “I have raised children and brought them up, and they have rebelled against me.” And again it is written: “You are the children of the Lord your God.” And about Solomon he said: “He will be a son to me, and I will be a father to him.” So we too call Christ the Son of God, for through him we have come to know God, just as God called Israel “my firstborn son,” and as he said of Solomon, “He will be a son to me.” And we call him God, just as God called Moses by the name that is God’s own. David also said of them: “You are gods, and children of the Most High, all of you.” And because they did not mend their ways, he said of them: “You will die like men, and fall like one of the princes.” [c] For the name of divinity is given as the highest honor in the world, and God bestows it on whomever he is well pleased with. The names of God, however, are many and revered, as he handed down his names to Moses, saying to him: “I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. This is my name forever, and this is my memorial for generations.” And he called his name Ahiyah ashar Ahiyah, El Shaddai, and Adonai Sabaoth. By these names God is called. The great and honored name of Godhead he did not withhold from his righteous ones; just as, though he is the great King, he gave the great and honored name of kingship without grudging to men who are his creatures. [f]

For by the mouth of his prophet God called the pagan king Nebuchadnezzar “King of Kings.” Jeremiah said: “Every people and kingdom that will not put its neck into the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar, King of Kings, my servant, I will visit that people with famine and with sword and with plague.” Though he is the great King, he does not begrudge men the name of kingship. And so, though he is the great God, he did not begrudge the sons of flesh the name of Godhead. Though all fatherhood is his, he has called men fathers too. For he said to the congregation, “Instead of your fathers will be your children.” Though authority is his, he has given men authority over one another. And though worship belongs to him, for his honor, he has still allowed it in the world that one man should honor another. For even if a man does worship before the wicked and the pagans and those who refuse grace, he is not blamed by God. And about worship he commanded his people: “You shall not worship the sun or the moon or all the hosts of heaven; and you shall not desire to worship any creature that is on the earth.” See the grace and the love of our good Maker: he did not begrudge men the name of Godhead, or the name of worship, or the name of kingship, or the name of authority. For he is the Father of the created things that are on the face of the world, and he has honored and exalted and glorified men above all creatures. With his holy hands he formed them, and from his Spirit he breathed into them, and from of old he became a dwelling place for them. In them he lives, and among them he walks. For he said through the prophet, “I will dwell in them, and walk in them.” The prophet Jeremiah also said, “You are the temple of the Lord, if you make your ways and your deeds good.” And long ago David said: “You, Lord, have been a dwelling place for us for generations, before the mountains were conceived, and before the earth was in labor, and before the world was framed; from age to age you are God.” [h] How do you understand this? For one prophet says, “Lord, you have been our dwelling place,” and another said, “I will dwell in them and walk in them.” First he became a dwelling place for us, and afterward he lived and walked in us. To the wise, both are true and simple. For David says: “You, Lord, have been our dwelling place for generations, before the mountains were conceived, and before the earth was in labor, and before the world was framed.” And you know, my beloved, that all the created things above and below were created first, and after them all, man. For when God decided to create the world with all its good things, he first conceived and formed man in his mind; and after Adam was conceived in his thought, he then conceived the created things, as he said, “Before the mountains were conceived and the earth was in labor.” For man is older and more ancient than the creatures in conception, but in birth the creatures are older and more ancient than Adam. Adam was conceived and lived in the thought of God; and while man was held in God’s mind in conception, God created all the creatures by the word of his mouth. And when he had finished and adorned the world, so that nothing was lacking in it, then he brought Adam out of his thoughts and formed man with his hands, and Adam saw the world completed. And God gave him authority over all he had made. It is like a man who has a son and wants to hold a wedding feast for him: he betroths a wife to him and builds him a house, and prepares and adorns everything his son needs; then he holds the wedding feast and gives his son authority over his house. So after the conception of Adam, God brought him forth and gave him authority over all his creation. About this the prophet said: “You, Lord, have been our habitation for generations, before the mountains were conceived, and before the earth was in labor, and before the world was framed. From age to age you are the Lord.” So that no one should suppose there is another God, either before or after, he said, “From age to age,” just as Isaiah said, “I am the first and I am the last.” And after God brought Adam out from within his thought, he formed him, and breathed into him from his Spirit, and gave him the knowledge of discernment, so that he might tell good from evil and know that God made him. And because man knew his Maker, God was formed and conceived within his thought, and man became a temple for God his Maker, as it is written, “You are the temple of God.” And God himself said, “I will dwell in them and walk in them.” But as for the sons of Adam who do not recognize their Maker, he is not formed within them, and does not dwell in them, and is not conceived in their thought; they are counted before him like the beasts and the rest of the creatures. [m]

Now by these things the stubborn will be convinced that it is nothing strange for us to call Christ the Son of God. For see, God conceived all men and brought them forth from his thoughts. And they will be forced to admit that the name of Godhead also belongs to Christ, since God gave the righteous a share in the name of God. As for our worshiping Jesus, through whom we have known God, let them be ashamed; for they themselves fall down and worship and honor even pagans of the unclean Gentiles, if they hold authority, and there is no blame in that. God has given the sons of Adam this honor of worship so that by it they might honor one another, especially those among them who excel and are worthy of honor. For if they worship the pagans, and honor with the name of worship those who in their pagan wickedness deny even the name of God, and yet do not worship them as their Maker, as though worshiping them alone, and so do not sin, how much more is it fitting for us to worship and honor Jesus! He turned our stubborn minds from all the worship of empty error, and taught us to worship and serve and minister to the one God, our Father and our Maker. He taught us also to know that the kings of the world call themselves gods by the name of the great God, and are unbelievers and force men into unbelief, and men fall down and worship before them and serve and honor them like carved images and idols; yet the law never blamed those who worshiped them, and there is no sin in it. So Daniel used to do worship to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, an unbeliever who forced others into unbelief, and he was not blamed. Joseph also gave worship to Pharaoh, and it is not written that this was a sin for him. But as for us, we are certain that Jesus is God, the Son of God, and that through him we know his Father, and all of us have turned away from every other worship. So it is impossible for us to repay him who bore these things for us; but by worship let us pay him honor in return for the affliction he bore on our behalf. Further, we must prove that this Jesus was promised beforehand from ancient times in the prophets, and was called the Son of God. David said, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you.” Again he said, “In the glories of holiness, from the womb, from of old, I have begotten you, a child.” And Isaiah said: “To us a child is born, to us a Son is given, and his government was upon his shoulder; and his name will be called Wonderful, and Counselor, and mighty God of the ages, and Prince of peace. And of the increase of his government and of his peace there is no end.” So tell me, you wise teacher of Israel: who is he who was born, and whose name was called Child and Son and Wonderful and Counselor, the mighty God of the ages, and Prince of peace, of the increase of whose government and of whose peace, he said, there is no end? If we call Christ the Son of God, David taught us this; and that we call him God, we learned from Isaiah. And his government was laid upon his shoulder, for he carried his cross and went out from Jerusalem. And that he was born as a child, Isaiah again said: “Look, the virgin will conceive and give birth, and his name will be called Immanuel, which is, our God with us.” [n]

And if you should say that Christ has not yet come, I will grant even this to your love of argument. For it is written that when he comes, the Gentiles will look for him. Look, I, one of the Gentiles, have heard that Christ is to come. And while he had not yet come, I believed in him beforehand, and through him I worship the God of Israel. When he comes, will he blame me because I believed in him beforehand, before his coming? But, you fool, the prophets do not let you say that Christ has not yet come, for Daniel refutes you when he says: “After sixty-two weeks the Messiah will come and will be killed. And at his coming the holy city will be laid waste, and her end will be with a flood. And until the completion of the things that are decreed, she will remain in desolation.” You expect and hope that at the coming of Christ, Israel will be gathered from all regions, and Jerusalem will be rebuilt and inhabited. But Daniel testifies that when Christ comes and is killed, Jerusalem will be destroyed, and will remain in desolation until the completion of the things that are decreed, forever. And about the suffering of Christ, David said: “They pierced my hands and my feet, and all my bones cried out. They stared and looked at me, and divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.” And Isaiah said: “Look, my servant will be known and will be revealed and will be lifted up, so that many will be astonished at him. As for this man, his appearance will be marred more than any man’s, and his form more than the sons of men.” And he said, “He will purify many nations, and kings will be amazed at him.” And he said in that passage, “He came up like a little child before him, and like a root from dry ground.” And at the end of the passage he said: “He will be killed for our sins; he will be humbled for our iniquity; the chastisement of our peace is upon him, and by his bruises we will be healed.” By what wounds were men healed? David was not killed, for he died at a good old age and was buried in Bethlehem. And suppose they should say it was spoken of Saul, since Saul was killed on the mountains of Gilboa in the battle with the Philistines, and suppose they should say that his hands and his feet were pierced when they fastened his body to the wall of Beth-shan: still it does not properly fit Saul. When the limbs of Saul were pierced, his bones felt no suffering, because he was dead. It was after Saul died that they hung his body and the bodies of his sons on the wall of Beth-shan. But when David said, “They pierced my hands and my feet, and all my bones cried out,” he said in the next verse, “O God, stay to help me, and deliver my soul from the sword.” Now Christ was delivered from the sword, and came up out of Sheol, and came back to life and rose on the third day; and so God stayed to help him. But Saul called on the Lord, and he did not answer him. He inquired through the prophets, but no answer was given him. And he disguised himself and inquired of soothsayers, and learned from them. He was beaten by the Philistines, and he killed himself with his own sword when he saw that the battle had overcome him. Moreover, in this passage David said, “I will declare your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will glorify you.” How can these things apply to Saul? And again David said, “You did not let your holy one see corruption.” But all these things properly fit Christ. When he came to them, they did not receive him, but judged him wickedly by false witness. And he was hung on the tree by his hands, and they pierced his hands and his feet with the nails they drove into him, and all his bones cried out. And on that day a great wonder happened: the light grew dark in the middle of the day, as Zechariah prophesied, saying: “The day will be known to the Lord. It will be neither daytime nor night, and at evening time there will be light.” Now what is the day that was marked out by the wonder, so that it was neither daytime nor night, and at evening time there was light? Clearly the day on which they crucified him; for in the middle of that day darkness came, and at evening time there was light. And again he said, “On that day there will be cold and frost.” As you know, on the day they crucified him it was cold, and they had made themselves a fire to warm themselves when Simon came and stood with them. And again he said: “The spear will rise against the shepherd, and against the man, my friend; and it will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of his flock will be scattered; and I will turn my hand back upon the shepherd.” And further, David said about his suffering: “For my food they gave me gall, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.” Again he said in that passage: “They have persecuted him whom you have struck, and have added to the affliction of him who was slain.” For they added many afflictions to him, much that was not written about him, curses and insults such as the Scripture could not reveal, for their insults were hateful. But even so, the Lord was pleased to humble him and afflict him. And he was killed for our iniquity, and was humbled for our sins, and was made sin in his own person. [q]

We worship those mercies, and bow the knee before the majesty of his Father, who turned our worship to him. We call him God, as Moses was called; and Firstborn and Son, as Israel was called; and Jesus, as Joshua the son of Nun was called; and Priest, like Aaron; and King, like David; and great Prophet, like all the prophets; and Shepherd, like the shepherds who tended and guided Israel. So too he called men children, as he said, “Foreign children will listen to me.” And he has made us brothers to himself, as he said, “I will declare your name to my brothers.” And we have become his friends, as he said to his disciples, “I have called you friends,” just as his Father called Abraham “my friend.” And he said to us: “I am the good Shepherd, the Door, the Way, the Vine, the Sower, the Bridegroom, the Pearl, the Lamp, the Light, the King, God, Savior, and Redeemer.” And he is called by many names. [z] I have written this brief argument to you, my beloved, so that you may make a defense against the Jews concerning what they say, that God has no son, and concerning our calling him God, the Son of God, King, and Firstborn of all creatures. [ab]