Against Heresies: Book III

THEREFORE: neither the Lord, nor the Holy Spirit, nor the apostles would have ever called someone who was not God, definitely and absolutely, as God, unless he was truly God; nor would they have called anyone in his own person Lord, except for God the Father who rules over all, and His Son, who has received dominion from His Father over all creation, as this passage says: “The said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.” Here the Scripture presents to us the Father addressing the Son; He who gave Him the inheritance of the heathen, and subjected all His enemies to Him.

Since the Father is truly Lord, and the Son is truly Lord, the Holy Spirit appropriately designated them with the title of Lord. And again, referring to the destruction of the Sodomites, Scripture says, “Then the rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah fire and brimstone from the out of heaven.” For it points out here that the Son, who had also been speaking with Abraham, had received the power to judge the Sodomites for their wickedness. And this following text declares the same truth: “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; the scepter of Your kingdom is a right scepter.

You have loved righteousness and hated iniquity: therefore God, Your God, has anointed You.” For the Spirit designates both by the name of God—both Him who is anointed as Son, and Him who does the anointing, that is, the Father. And again: “God stood in the congregation of the gods; He judges among the gods.” Here, He refers to the Father and the Son, and those who have received the adoption; these are the Church. For she is the synagogue of God, which God—that is, the Son Himself—has gathered to Himself.

Of whom He speaks again: “The God of gods, the Lord has spoken, and has called the earth.” Who is meant by God? He of whom He has said, “God shall come openly, our God, and shall not keep silent;” that is, the Son, who came manifested to men and said, “I have openly appeared to those who did not seek Me.” But of which gods does He speak? Of those to whom He says, “I have said, You are gods, and all sons of the Most High.” No doubt, to those who have received the grace of the adoption, by which we cry, Abba Father.

2. Therefore, as I have already stated, no one else is named as God or is called Lord except Him who is God and Lord of all, who also said to Moses, "And this is what you shall say to the children of Israel: He who is, has sent me to you;" and His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who makes those that believe in His name the sons of God. And again, when the Son speaks to Moses, He says, "I have come down to deliver this people." For it is He who descended and ascended for the salvation of men. Therefore, God has been declared through the Son, who is in the Father, and has the Father in Himself—He who is, the Father bearing witness to the Son, and the Son announcing the Father. As Isaiah also says, "I too am witness," he declares, "says the God, and the Son whom I have chosen, that you may know, and believe, and understand that I am."

When the Scripture refers to them as [gods] that are not real gods, it does not, as I have already mentioned, describe them as gods in every sense, but with a certain additional meaning that shows they are not gods at all.

FOR EXAMPLE: with David: "The gods of the heathen are idols of demons;" and, "You shall not follow other gods." By saying "the gods of the heathen"—while the heathen do not know the true God—and calling them "other gods," he denies their claim to be regarded as gods entirely.

But regarding their true nature, he speaks of them, "for they are," he says, "the idols of demons." And Isaiah: "Let all who blaspheme God and carve useless things be ashamed; even I am witness, says God.” He removes them from the category of gods, but uses the word alone for the purpose that we may understand whom he speaks of. Jeremiah also says the same: "The gods that have not made the heavens and earth, let them perish from the earth which is under the heaven." By noting their destruction, he shows them to be no gods at all.

Elijah, too, when all Israel was gathered at Mount Carmel, wishing to turn them from idolatry, says to them, "How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him." And again, at the offering, he addresses the idolatrous priests: "You will call upon the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the Lord my God; and the one who answers by fire, He is God." By this, the prophet shows that these gods, which were thought to be so among those men, are no gods at all.

He directed them to the God he believed in, who was truly God; whom he invoked, exclaiming, "God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob, hear me today, and let all this people know that You are the God of Israel."

THEREFORE: I also call upon you, God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob and Israel, who is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the God who, through the abundance of Your mercy, has shown favor to us, that we should know You, who made heaven and earth, who rules over all, who is the only and true God, above whom there is no other God; grant, through our Lord Jesus Christ, the governing power of the Holy Spirit; give to every reader of this book the knowledge that You alone are God, to be strengthened in You, and to avoid every heretical, godless, and impious doctrine.

5. The Apostle Paul also says, “For even though you have served those which are no gods; you now know God, or rather, are known by God,” making a clear distinction between those that were not gods and Him who is God. Again, speaking of the Antichrist, he states, “who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped.” Here, he points out those who are called gods by those who do not know God, meaning idols.

For the Father of all is called God and truly is; and the Antichrist will be elevated, not above Him, but above those which are referred to as gods, but are not. Paul himself affirms this is true: “We know that an idol is nothing, and that there is no other God but one. For even though there are those called gods, whether in heaven or on earth; yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and we exist through Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we exist through Him.” He makes a distinction between those that are called gods, but are not, and the one God the Father, from whom all things come, and he firmly confesses, in his own words, one Lord Jesus Christ.

In the clause “whether in heaven or on earth,” he is not speaking of the creators of the world, as some teachers interpret; rather, he means, like Moses said, “You shall not make for yourself any image of God, of anything in heaven above, or on the earth beneath, or in the waters under the earth.” He explains what is meant by the things in heaven: “Lest when,” he says, “looking towards heaven, and observing the sun, the moon, the stars, and all the decoration of heaven, you fall into error and worship them.” Moses himself, being a man of God, was indeed appointed as a god before Pharaoh; but he is not properly called Lord, nor referred to as God by the prophets, but is described by the Spirit as “Moses, the faithful minister and servant of God,” which he truly was.