Against Heresies: Book V

IN THE FOUR PRECEDING BOOKS: my very dear friend, which I presented to you, I have exposed all the heretics and brought their doctrines to light, refuting those who have devised irreligious opinions. I have accomplished this by citing something unique from each of these men's doctrines as they expressed in their writings, as well as using arguments of a more general nature applicable to them all. I have pointed out the truth and shown the teachings of the Church, which the prophets proclaimed (as I have already demonstrated), but which Christ brought to perfection, and the apostles have handed down.

The Church, having received these truths and preserving them in their integrity throughout the world, has passed them on to her children.

Moreover, having addressed all the questions the heretics propose to us, and having explained the doctrine of the apostles and clearly presented many of the things that were said and done by the Lord in parables, I will endeavor, in this fifth book of the entire work on the exposure and refutation of falsely called knowledge, to provide proofs from the rest of the Lord's doctrine and the apostolic letters.

I do this in compliance with your request, as you asked of me (since I have indeed been given a place in the ministry of the word), and labor using every means in my power to assist you against the contradictions of the heretics. I also aim to reclaim the wanderers and convert them to the Church of God, strengthening the minds of the new believers so that they may steadfastly preserve the faith they have received, safeguarded by the Church in its integrity, ensuring they are not led astray by those who seek to teach them false doctrines and lead them away from the truth.

It is essential for you, however, and all who may read this writing, to carefully review what I have already said, so you may gain an understanding of the subjects I am challenging. This way, you will be able to refute them legitimately and be prepared to receive the proofs brought against them, discarding their doctrines as filth through celestial faith; but following the only true and steadfast Teacher, the Word of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, who, through His immense love, became what we are, so that He might bring us to be what He Himself is.

WE COULD NOT HAVE LEARNED THE THINGS OF GOD IN ANY OTHER WAY UNLESS OUR MASTER: existing as the Word, had become man. No other being could reveal the things of the Father to us, except His own true Word. Who else “knew the mind of the Lord” or “has become His counselor?” We could only have learned by seeing our Teacher and hearing His voice with our own ears so that by imitating His works and doing His words we could have communion with Him, gaining growth from the perfect One, who is before all creation.

We—who were recently created by the only best and good Being, the one who has the gift of immortality, having been formed in His likeness (predestined, according to the Father's foresight, that we, who previously did not exist, might come into being), and made the first-fruits of creation—have received the blessings of salvation in the times known beforehand, according to the service of the Word, who is perfect in all things, as the mighty Word, and true man, who redeemed us by His own blood in a reasonable manner, giving Himself as a redemption for those who had been taken captive.

Although the apostasy unjustly ruled over us, despite us being naturally the property of the all-powerful God, it alienated us unnaturally, making us its disciples. The Word of God, powerful and just in all things, rightly opposed that apostasy and reclaimed His property, not by force, as the apostasy initially seized dominion over us by greedily taking what was not its own, but through persuasion, as fitting for a God who counsels and does not resort to force to achieve His desires, so that neither justice would be violated nor God's ancient creation be destroyed.

Since the Lord has redeemed us through His own blood, exchanging His soul for our souls and His flesh for our flesh, and has poured out the Spirit of the Father for the union and communion of God and man—truly and enduringly granting us immortality through communion with God—all the doctrines of the heretics are overturned.

THOSE WHO ARGUE THAT HE ONLY APPEARED AS THOUGH IN MERE APPEARANCE ARE INDEED MISTAKEN: These events happened in actual reality, not just in appearance. If He merely seemed human without actually being human, the Holy Spirit couldn't have rested upon Him, as this did happen, and the Spirit is invisible. In that case, He wouldn't have been truthful, for He wouldn't be what He appeared to be. I've already noted that Abraham and the other prophets saw Him in a prophetic way, foretelling in visions what was to come. If such a being has now appeared outwardly different from His real essence, then a prophetic vision has been given to people, and we must anticipate another advent where He will truly be as He was seen in prophecy. I've also demonstrated that claiming He only appeared outwardly without receiving anything from Mary is the same. He wouldn't have genuinely possessed flesh and blood, by which He redeemed us, unless He embodied the ancient form of Adam. Therefore, the followers of Valentinus are mistaken in their teaching, as they seek to exclude the flesh from salvation and disregard what God has created.

THE EBIONITES ARE ALSO MISGUIDED: as they do not accept by faith the union of God and man into their soul. They remain stuck in the old ways of natural birth, not understanding that the Holy Spirit came upon Mary and the power of the Most High overshadowed her.

Consequently, what was conceived is holy, the Son of the Most High God the Father of all, who brought about the incarnation and revealed a new type of generation. Just as through the first generation we inherited death, through this new generation we might inherit life.

Thus, they reject the mixture of heavenly wine, wishing it to be merely worldly water, not accepting God to unite with Him. They remain in the state of Adam, who was defeated and expelled from Paradise, failing to realize that at the beginning, when Adam was formed, the breath of life from God animated man and made him rational by uniting with what was created. Similarly, at the end of times, the Word of the Father and the Spirit of God united with the ancient substance of Adam’s formation, made man living and complete, capable of receiving the perfect Father.

As we all died in the natural Adam, so in the spiritual we may all be made alive. Adam never escaped God’s hands, to whom the Father said, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness.” For this reason, in the last times, not by the flesh's will, nor by man's will, but by the Father's good pleasure, His hands formed a living man so that Adam might be recreated after the image and likeness of God.

AND THOSE WHO CLAIM THAT GOD CAME TO CLAIM THINGS THAT WERE NOT HIS OWN: as if desiring someone else’s property, are also mistaken. They suggest that He aimed to deliver the man, who was created by another, to a God who neither made nor formed anything, and who lacked the true creation of people from the start. Their depiction of Him coming for others' possessions lacks righteousness, and He could not have truly redeemed us by His own blood if He did not genuinely become man, restoring to His own creation what was originally said—that man was made in the image and likeness of God. He did not seize someone else's property by trickery but righteously and graciously claimed what was His own. In terms of our rebellion, He justly redeems us from it by His blood, but regarding us who have been redeemed, He does this graciously. We have given Him nothing beforehand, nor does He require anything from us, as if He needed it; rather, we need to be united with Him. This is why He graciously gave Himself, to gather us into the embrace of the Father.

2. Those who despise the entire plan of God and reject the salvation of the flesh, treating its regeneration with contempt, are utterly mistaken. If the flesh does not attain salvation, then the Lord did not redeem us with His blood, nor is the cup of the Eucharist a communion of His blood, nor the bread we break a communion of His body. Blood can only come from veins and flesh, along with everything else that makes up the substance of a person, just as the Word of God was truly made. He redeemed us by His own blood, as His apostle states, "In whom we have redemption through His blood, even the remission of sins." Since we are His members, we are also nourished by the creation (which He Himself grants us, as He causes His sun to rise and sends rain when He wishes). He has recognized the cup (a part of creation) as His blood, from which He nourishes our blood; and the bread (also part of creation) He has established as His body, from which He nourishes our bodies.

WHEN: therefore, the mixed cup and the made bread receive the Word of God, and the Eucharist of the blood and body of Christ is formed, from which the substance of our flesh is grown and sustained, how can they claim that the flesh is incapable of receiving the gift of God, which is eternal life, when this flesh is nourished from the body and blood of the Lord and is a part of Him? Just as the blessed Paul states in his letter to the Ephesians, that “we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones.” He does not speak of some spiritual and invisible person, for a spirit does not have bones or flesh; but he is referring to the arrangement by which the Lord became an actual man, consisting of flesh, and nerves, and bones,—that flesh which is nourished by the cup that is His blood, and grows from the bread that is His body.

And just as a branch from the vine planted in the ground bears fruit in its season, or as a grain of wheat falling into the earth and breaking down, rises with abundant growth by the Spirit of God, who holds all things, and then, through the wisdom of God, serves human use, and having received the Word of God, becomes the Eucharist, which is the body and blood of Christ; so also our bodies, being nourished by it, and laid in the earth, and decomposing there, shall rise at their appointed time, the Word of God giving them resurrection to the glory of God, even the Father, who freely grants immortality to this mortal, and incorruption to this corruptible, because the strength of God is perfected in weakness, so that we may never become proud, as if we had life from ourselves, and be lifted against God, our minds becoming ungrateful; but learning by experience that we have eternal life from the surpassing power of this Being, not from our own nature, we may neither undervalue the glory that surrounds God as He is, nor be ignorant of our own nature, but come to understand what God can accomplish, and what benefits man receives, and thus never stray from the true understanding of things as they are, concerning both God and man.

And might it be the case, perhaps, as I have previously suggested, that for this purpose God allowed our return to the common dust of mortality, that we, being taught by every means, may be precise in all things for the future, being unaware neither of God nor of ourselves?

THE APOSTLE PAUL HAS: moreover, clearly pointed out that humans have been left to their own weaknesses so that, being uplifted, they might not fall away from the truth. Thus he says in the second letter to the Corinthians: "And to prevent me from being lifted up by the greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given to me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to beat me. I asked the Lord three times to take it away from me.

But he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you; for strength is made perfect in weakness.

Therefore, I will gladly take pride in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me." What then? (as some may ask) Did the Lord want His apostles to undergo such suffering and endure such weakness? Yes, it was so; the word says it. For strength is made perfect in weakness, making him a better person who, through his weakness, becomes familiar with the power of God.

How could a person have learned that they are naturally weak and mortal, while God is immortal and powerful, unless they had learned through experience what exists in both? There is nothing wrong with learning about one's weaknesses through endurance; rather, it even has the beneficial effect of preventing one from having an undue opinion of their own nature.

But being lifted up against God and taking His glory for oneself, making a person ungrateful, has brought much evil upon them.

Thus, I say, a person must learn both things through experience, so they may not lack truth and love towards themselves or their Creator.

But the experience of both gives them true knowledge about God and humanity, and increases their love towards God.

Now, where there is an increase of love, a greater glory is achieved by the power of God for those who love Him.

THOSE MEN: therefore, dismiss the power of God and do not consider what the word declares when they focus on the weakness of the flesh, but do not consider the power of Him who raises it from the dead. For if He does not bring life to what is mortal and does not transform the perishable into imperishable, He is not a God of power.

But that He is powerful in all these aspects, we ought to realize from our beginning, since God, taking dust from the earth, formed man.

And surely it is much more difficult and unbelievable to create from non-existent bones, nerves, veins, and the rest of man’s structure, and to make man a living and rational being, than to restore what was once created and then returned to dust for the reasons already mentioned, having thus passed into those elements from which man, who had no previous existence, was formed. For He who initially created being from nothing, just when He wished, shall much more restore those who previously existed when it is His will that they should inherit the life granted by Him.

And that the flesh shall also be found capable of receiving the power of God, which at the beginning received the skillful touches of God; so that one part became the eye for seeing, another the ear for hearing, another the hand for touching and working, another the sinews stretched out everywhere, holding the limbs together, another the arteries and veins as channels for blood and air, another the various internal organs, and another the blood, which is the bond linking soul and body.

But why go on like this? Numbers would fail to express the countless parts in the human body, which was made solely by the great wisdom of God.

But those things which share in the skill and wisdom of God also share in His power.

THE FLESH: therefore, is not devoid of participation in the constructive wisdom and power of God.

But if the power of Him who gives life is made perfect in weakness—that is, in the flesh—let them tell us, when they argue the incapacity of flesh to receive the life given by God, whether they say these things as living people now, and sharers of life, or admit that, having no part in life at all, they are currently dead.

And if they really are dead, how is it that they move, speak, and do other actions that are not those of the dead, but of the living? But if they are now alive, and if their whole body shares in life, how can they claim that the flesh is not qualified to share in life, when they admit that they have life now? It's like if someone were to take a sponge full of water or a torch on fire and declare that the sponge could not possibly partake of the water, or the torch of the fire.

In this same way, these people, by claiming they are alive and carry life in their bodies, contradict themselves later when they say these bodies can't receive life.

But if the present temporary life, which is so much less than eternal life, can still manage to enliven our mortal bodies, why shouldn't eternal life, which is much more powerful, enliven the flesh, which has already interacted with and been used to sustaining life? For that the flesh can truly share in life is shown by the fact that it is alive; for it lives on as long as it is God’s will for it to do so.

It is clear, too, that God has the power to give life to it, since He grants life to us who are alive. And, therefore, since the Lord has the power to infuse life into what He has created, and since the flesh is capable of being made alive, what remains to prevent its sharing in incorruption, which is a blissful and eternal life granted by God?

PEOPLE WHO PRETEND THAT THERE IS ANOTHER FATHER BEYOND THE CREATOR AND CALL HIM THE GOOD GOD ARE DECEIVING THEMSELVES: They present this Father as weak, worthless, and negligent, if not actually malicious and envious because they claim that our bodies are not given life by him. They say that things known to be immortal, like the spirit and soul, are given life by the Father, but that the body, which is given life in no different way than by God granting it life, is left without life.

This means they must admit that their Father is either weak and powerless or envious and malicious. Since the Creator actually gives life to our mortal bodies and promises their resurrection as the prophets have shown, who is truly more powerful, stronger, or genuinely good? Is it the Creator who gives life to the whole person, or is it their so-called Father? He pretends to give life to things naturally immortal, to which life is inherent, but doesn't benevolently give life to those things that need his help to live, leaving them to fall under the power of death.

So, does their Father not give them life even though he can, or does he lack the power? If he cannot, then he is not powerful or more perfect than the Creator, who provides what He cannot.

But if he chooses not to give life when he has the power, then he is shown to be not a good Father but an envious and malicious one.

IF: again, they point to any reason why their Father doesn't give life to bodies, then that reason must appear superior to the Father, since it stops Him from showing His grace; and His grace will thus be shown to be weak due to that reason they mention. Now, everyone must understand that bodies are capable of receiving life. For they live to the extent that God wishes them to live; and because of this, the [heretics] cannot claim that [these bodies] are completely incapable of receiving life. If, therefore, due to necessity or any other reason, those [bodies] capable of sharing in life are not made alive, their Father would be a slave to necessity and that reason, and not a free agent, having His will under His own control.

IN ORDER TO UNDERSTAND THAT BODIES CONTINUED TO EXIST FOR A LONG TIME: as long as it was God's will for them to thrive, let these heretics read the Scriptures. They will find that our ancestors lived to seven hundred, eight hundred, and nine hundred years old, and that their bodies lasted as long as God wanted them to live.

But why mention these men? Enoch, when he pleased God, was taken up in the same body in which he pleased Him, foreshadowing the ascension of the just.

Elijah, too, was taken up while still in his natural form, showing in prophecy the assumption of the spiritual and that nothing prevented their bodies from being taken up. It was by the same hands that formed them at the beginning that they received this translation and assumption. In Adam, the hands of God became accustomed to organizing, guiding, and sustaining His own creation, placing it where He pleased. Where was the first man placed? Certainly in paradise, as the Scripture states, "And God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He placed the man whom He had formed." Later, when man proved disobedient, he was cast out into this world.

Therefore, the elders who were disciples of the apostles tell us that those who were translated were taken to that place (for paradise has been prepared for righteous people, those with the Spirit; where Paul the apostle, when caught up, heard words unspeakable in our current condition), and there they who have been translated will remain until the completion of all things, as a prelude to immortality.

IF: however, anyone thinks it impossible that people could live for such a long time, or that Elias was not taken up in the flesh but that his flesh was consumed in the fiery chariot, let them remember how Jonah, after being thrown into the sea and swallowed by the whale, was safely brought back to land by the command of God. Similarly, when Ananias, Azarias, and Mishael were thrown into the furnace heated seven times over, they were unharmed, and not even the smell of fire was on them.

As the hand of God was with them, performing miraculous feats beyond human nature, it is no wonder that God also did something wonderful for those who were taken up, in accordance with His will, even the Father's. As the Scripture shows, King Nebuchadnezzar said, “Did we not throw three men bound into the fire? And look, I see four walking in the midst of the fire, and the fourth looks like the Son of God.” Neither the nature of any created thing nor the weakness of the flesh can stand against the will of God.

For God isn't subject to created things, but created things are subject to God; everything obeys His will. Thus the Lord says, “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.” Even though it might seem unbelievable and impossible to people today, who are unaware of God's plan, for someone to live for so many years, those who lived before us did indeed live to such ages, and those who were taken up continue to live as a proof of the future length of days.

Even though it might seem impossible that people could emerge unharmed from the whale’s belly and the fiery furnace, they did, led out by the hand of God to display His power. Likewise, now, although some, not knowing God's power and promise, might oppose their own salvation, thinking it impossible for God to grant them eternal life, the doubt of such people will not negate God's faithfulness.

NOW GOD WILL BE GLORIFIED IN HIS CREATION: shaping it to be like His own Son. Through the Father's hands, meaning through the Son and the Holy Spirit, humans, not just a part of humans, were made in God's likeness. Although the soul and spirit are part of a human, they do not make up the entire person; the complete human is the union of the soul receiving the Spirit of the Father and the blending of that physical nature formed in God's image.

This is why the apostle states, "We speak wisdom among those who are perfect," referring to those who have received the Spirit of God and who speak in all languages through the Spirit of God, just as he did. Similarly, we also hear many members in the Church who have prophetic gifts, speaking all kinds of languages through the Spirit and revealing hidden truths for the common good and declaring God's mysteries. The apostle calls these people "spiritual" because they share in the Spirit, not because their flesh has been stripped away and they have become purely spiritual.

If someone removes the fleshly substance, which is God's workmanship, and considers only the purely spiritual, such a being would not be a spiritual person but just the spirit of a human or the Spirit of God. When the spirit, united with the soul, joins with God's workmanship, the person becomes spiritual and complete due to the Spirit's outpouring, making them in God's image and likeness.

However, if the Spirit is missing from the soul, the person remains carnal and incomplete, possessing the image of God but not the likeness through the Spirit, making them imperfect.

Additionally, if someone removes the image and the handiwork, they cannot understand this as being a human, but just a part of a human, or something else. The flesh formed is not a complete human on its own, just the body of a human and part of a human. The soul alone is not a human but a part of a human as well. The spirit, too, is not a human, as it is called the spirit, not a human; the mixture and union of all these make up the complete human.

For this reason, the apostle clarifies that the saved person is both a complete person and a spiritual one, saying in the first Epistle to the Thessalonians, "Now the God of peace sanctify you completely, and may your spirit, soul, and body be preserved whole without fault at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ." What was his purpose in praying for these three—soul, body, and spirit—to be preserved until the Lord's coming, unless he knew about their future reintegration and union and their shared salvation? He declares that the "perfect" are those who present these three parts to the Lord without fault.

Thus, the perfect are those who have the Spirit of God within them, keeping their souls and bodies blameless, holding on to faith in God, and practicing righteousness with their neighbors.

THEREFORE: he also says that this handiwork is "the temple of God," declaring: "Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy that person; for the temple of God is holy, which temple you are." Here he clearly states that the body is the temple where the Spirit resides. As the Lord also refers to Himself, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." It is said that "He spoke this about the temple of His body." The apostle acknowledges our bodies to be a temple, even the temple of Christ, saying to the Corinthians, "Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot?" He speaks not about another spiritual being, as such a being would have nothing to do with a harlot, but declares "our body," meaning the flesh that remains holy and pure, to be "the members of Christ." But when it becomes one with a harlot, it becomes the members of a harlot.

For this reason, he said, "If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy that person." How then is it not the greatest blasphemy to claim that the temple of God, in which the Spirit of the Father dwells, and the members of Christ do not partake of salvation but are led to destruction? Also, regarding our bodies being raised not from their own substance but by the power of God, he says to the Corinthians, "Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body.

But God has both raised up the Lord and will raise us up by His own power."

In the same way that Christ rose in the substance of flesh and showed His disciples the marks of the nails and the wound in His side (which are the signs of the flesh that rose from the dead), it is said, "He will also raise us up by His own power." To the Romans, he says, "But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also make your mortal bodies alive." What, then, are mortal bodies? Can they be souls? No, because souls are incorporeal when compared to mortal bodies; for God "breathed into man's face the breath of life, and man became a living soul." The breath of life is an incorporeal thing.

CERTAINLY: they cannot claim that the breath of life is mortal.

Therefore, David says, "My soul also shall live to Him," as if its essence were immortal. Nor can they say that the spirit is the mortal body. What then is there to which we can apply the term "mortal body," if not the thing that was formed, that is, the flesh, of which it is also said that God will make it alive? For it is the flesh that dies and decomposes, not the soul or the spirit.

To die means to lose vital power, to become breathless, lifeless, devoid of motion, and to decompose into the components from which it first acquired its substance.

But this does not happen to the soul, for it is the breath of life; nor to the spirit, for the spirit is simple and not composite, so it cannot decompose and is itself the life of those who receive it. We must conclude that death refers to the flesh, which, after the soul departs, becomes lifeless and breathless, decomposing gradually into the earth from which it was taken.

This, then, is what is mortal. And it is this of which he also says, "He shall also quicken your mortal bodies." Therefore, in relation to this, he says in the first Epistle to the Corinthians: "So too is the resurrection of the dead: it is sown in corruption, it rises in incorruption." He declares, "That which you sow cannot be quickened unless it first dies."

BUT WHAT IS IT THAT: like a grain of wheat, is planted in the ground and decays, if not the bodies that are buried, which are also like seeds planted? For this reason, it is said, "It is sown in dishonor, it rises in glory." For what is more unworthy than dead flesh? Or, on the other hand, what is more glorious than that same flesh when it rises and partakes of incorruption? "It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power," signifying its own weakness, as it returns to the earth; but it is revived by the power of God, who raises it from the dead. "It is sown a natural body, it rises a spiritual body." He clearly teaches that this language refers not to the soul or spirit but to bodies that have turned into corpses. These are natural bodies, which partake of life but succumb to death when they lose it; then, rising through the Spirit’s power, they become spiritual bodies, possessing eternal life through the Spirit. "For now," he says, "we know in part, and we prophesy in part, but then face to face." This is also what Peter has said: "Whom not having seen, you love; though now you do not see him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable." For our face shall see the face of the Lord and shall rejoice with indescribable joy—when it beholds its own Delight.

BUT WE NOW RECEIVE A CERTAIN PORTION OF HIS SPIRIT: moving toward perfection, and preparing us for incorruption, gradually becoming accustomed to receive and bear God; which the apostle also calls "an earnest," meaning a part of the honor promised to us by God, when he says in the Epistle to the Ephesians, "In whom you also, having heard the word of truth, the Gospel of your salvation, believed and were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance." This earnest, dwelling in us, makes us spiritual even now, and the mortal is overcome by immortality. "For you," he says, "are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you." This does not happen by casting away the flesh, but by imparting the Spirit.

For those to whom he was writing were not without flesh, but they were those who had received the Spirit of God, "by which we cry, Abba, Father." If, therefore, at present, having the earnest, we cry, "Abba, Father," what will it be like when, upon rising again, we see Him face to face; when all our members will break out into a continuous hymn of triumph, glorifying Him who raised them from the dead, and gave the gift of eternal life? If the earnest, bringing man into itself, already causes him to cry, "Abba, Father," what will the complete grace of the Spirit achieve, which will be given to men by God? It will make us like Him, and fulfill the will of the Father; for it will make man after the image and likeness of God.

THOSE PEOPLE: then, who have the earnest of the Spirit and are not enslaved by the lusts of the flesh, but are guided by the Spirit and walk in all things according to reason, the apostle rightfully calls "spiritual," because the Spirit of God dwells in them. Now, spiritual people will not be incorporeal spirits, but the union of flesh and spirit, receiving the Spirit of God, forms the spiritual person. However, those who reject the Spirit's guidance and are slaves to fleshly lusts, living lives contrary to reason, and who recklessly pursue their own desires without seeking the Divine Spirit, live like swine and dogs. These people, the apostle rightly calls "carnal," because they think only of carnal things.

FOR THIS REASON: the prophets also compare them to irrational animals because of the irrationality of their behavior, saying, “They have become like horses raging for females, each one neighing after his neighbor's wife.” And again, “Man, when he was in honor, was made like unto cattle.” This indicates that, due to his own fault, he is likened to cattle by emulating their irrational life. Similarly, we also commonly refer to men of this kind as cattle and irrational beasts.

THE LAW HAS FIGURATIVELY PREDICTED ALL THESE: describing humans through various animals: whatever, it says in Scripture, has a split hoof and ruminates is declared clean; but whatever lacks one or both of these qualities is regarded as unclean. So, who are the clean? Those who advance by faith steadily towards the Father and the Son, signified by the steadiness of those that divide the hoof; they meditate day and night on the words of God to be adorned with good works, signifying the ruminants.

The unclean, however, are those that neither divide the hoof nor ruminate; that is, those who have neither faith in God nor meditate on His words: this is the abomination of the Gentiles. As for those animals that chew the cud but do not have a split hoof and are themselves unclean, they figuratively represent the Jews, who certainly have the words of God but lack steadfast faith in the Father and the Son; therefore, they are an unstable generation.

Animals with a single, un-split hoof slip easily, but those with a split hoof are more sure-footed, as the cleft hooves support each other. Similarly, those who have a split hoof but do not ruminate are unclean: this indicates all heretics and those who neither meditate on the words of God nor are adorned with righteousness; to whom also the Lord says, "Why do you call Me Lord, Lord, and not do the things I say?" Such people claim belief in the Father and the Son but do not properly meditate on God’s words nor engage in righteous works; instead, they lead lives like swine and dogs, indulging in filthiness, gluttony, and recklessness.

Justly, then, the apostle calls all such people "carnal" and "animal," referring to those who, due to their own unbelief and indulgence, do not receive the Divine Spirit, expelling the life-giving Word as they foolishly follow their own desires. The prophets also referred to them as beasts of burden and wild beasts; custom has also viewed them as cattle and irrational creatures; and the law has declared them unclean.

AMONG THE OTHER TRUTHS PROCLAIMED BY THE APOSTLE: there is also this one: "Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God." This is the passage that all the heretics use to support their folly, attempting to annoy us and to argue that the handiwork of God is not saved. They do not consider this fact: there are three parts that, as I have shown, make up the complete person—flesh, soul, and spirit. One of these indeed preserves and shapes the person—this is the spirit; another is united and formed—that is the flesh; and then there is the one between these two—that is the soul, which sometimes follows the spirit and is uplifted by it, but at other times sympathizes with the flesh and falls into carnal lusts. Those who do not have that which saves and forms us into eternal life shall be, and shall be called, merely flesh and blood; for these are the ones who do not have the Spirit of God within them. Therefore, people like this are referred to by the Lord as "dead," for He says, "Let the dead bury their dead," because they do not have the Spirit that gives life to man.

ON THE OTHER HAND: all those who fear God and trust in His Son’s arrival, and who establish the Spirit of God in their hearts through faith, shall be rightly called “pure,” “spiritual,” and “those living to God,” because they possess the Spirit of the Father, who purifies man and raises him up to the life of God. For just as the Lord has testified that “the flesh is weak,” He also says that “the spirit is willing.” This latter is capable of accomplishing its own intentions. Therefore, if anyone uses the eager willingness of the Spirit as a kind of catalyst to the weakness of the flesh, it inevitably follows that what is strong will overcome the weak, so that the weakness of the flesh will be absorbed by the strength of the Spirit; and the person in whom this happens cannot be carnal, but spiritual, because of the communion with the Spirit. This is why the martyrs offer their testimony and scorn death, not because of the weakness of the flesh, but because of the readiness of the Spirit. For when the weakness of the flesh is absorbed, it reveals the Spirit as powerful; and again, when the Spirit absorbs the weakness of the flesh, it takes the flesh as part of itself, and from both of these, a living man is formed—living because he partakes of the Spirit, but still a man because of the substance of flesh.

THE FLESH: therefore, when without the Spirit of God, is dead, lacking life, and cannot inherit the kingdom of God: it is like irrational blood, similar to water poured out upon the ground. And so he says, “As is the earthy, such are they that are earthy.” But where the Spirit of the Father is, there is a living person; there is the rational blood preserved by God for avenging those that shed it; there is the flesh inhabited by the Spirit, forgetful of what belongs to it, and adopting the quality of the Spirit, being made to conform to the Word of God. For this reason, the apostle declares, “As we have borne the image of him who is of the earth, we shall also bear the image of Him who is from heaven.” What, then, is the earthly? That which was created. And what is the heavenly? The Spirit. As he says, when we were without the heavenly Spirit, we formerly walked in the oldness of the flesh, not obeying God; now let us, receiving the Spirit, walk in newness of life, obeying God. Therefore, as without the Spirit of God we cannot be saved, the apostle urges us through faith and pure conversation to preserve the Spirit of God, so that we do not become without the Divine Spirit and lose the kingdom of heaven; and he proclaims that flesh and blood, on their own, cannot inherit the kingdom of God.

IF: however, we must speak precisely, we would say that the flesh does not inherit, but is inherited; as the Lord declares, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the earth by inheritance;” as if in the future kingdom, the earth, from which the substance of our flesh originates, is to be possessed by inheritance. This is the reason He desires the temple (meaning, the flesh) to be clean, so that the Spirit of God may take delight in it, as a groom with a bride.

Just as the bride cannot wed, but is wedded, when the groom comes and takes her, so also the flesh cannot by itself inherit the kingdom of God; but it can be taken as an inheritance into the kingdom of God. For a living person inherits the goods of the deceased; and it is one thing to inherit, another to be inherited. The former commands, wields power over, and manages the inherited items at his discretion; but the latter are under control, are directed, and are governed by the one who has obtained the inheritance.

What, then, is it that lives? Doubtlessly, the Spirit of God. What are the possessions of the deceased? Certainly the various parts of the man, which decay in the earth.

But these are inherited by the Spirit when they are transferred into the kingdom of heaven. For this reason, too, Christ died, so that the Gospel covenant being revealed and known to the entire world, might first of all set free His servants; and then afterward, as I have already shown, might make them heirs of His property, when the Spirit possesses them by inheritance.

For the one who lives inherits, but the flesh is inherited. In order that we may not lose life by losing the Spirit that possesses us, the apostle, encouraging us to stay connected with the Spirit, has reasoned, in those words previously mentioned, “That flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.” Just as if he were to say, “Do not be mistaken; for unless the Word of God dwells with you, and the Spirit of the Father is within you, and if you live frivolously and carelessly as if you were only this, namely, mere flesh and blood, you cannot inherit the kingdom of God.”

THIS TRUTH: therefore, he declares, so we do not reject the engrafting of the Spirit while indulging the flesh. "But you, being a wild olive tree," he says, "have been grafted into the good olive tree, and made a partaker of the fatness of the olive tree." Just as when the wild olive is grafted, if it remains in its original state, that is, a wild olive, it is "cut off and cast into the fire"; but if it adapts to the graft and transforms into the good olive tree, it becomes a fruit-bearing olive, planted, as if in a king’s park (paradise): likewise, men, if they truly progress by faith toward better things, receive the Spirit of God, and bring forth its fruit, shall be spiritual, as being planted in the paradise of God.

But if they cast out the Spirit and remain in their original state, preferring the flesh over the Spirit, then it is right to say of people like this, "Flesh and blood shall not inherit the kingdom of God," just as one might say the wild olive is not welcomed into the paradise of God. The apostle admirably illustrates our nature and God’s universal plan in his discussion about flesh and blood and the wild olive. For just as the good olive, if neglected for a time, becomes wild and woody, it turns into a wild olive; or if the wild olive is carefully tended and grafted, it naturally returns to its former fruit-bearing condition: so men also, when they become careless and produce as their fruit the desires of the flesh like woody growth, are made, by their own fault, unfruitful in righteousness.

For when men sleep, the enemy sows the seeds of tares; and for this reason, the Lord commanded His disciples to be watchful. And again, those who are not bringing forth the fruits of righteousness and are, as it were, overgrown and lost among brambles, if they are diligent and receive the word of God as a graft, return to the original nature of man—that which was created after the image and likeness of God.

Just as the grafted wild olive doesn't lose its wood but changes the quality of its fruit and gets a new name, becoming a fruit-bearing olive, so too does a person, when grafted by faith and receiving the Spirit of God, not lose their physical nature but change the quality of their deeds. They receive a new name, showing they have improved, becoming a spiritual individual. If the wild olive is not grafted, it remains useless to its owner and is cut down and burned, because it doesn't bear fruit.

SIMILARLY: if a person does not receive the Spirit through faith, they remain in their old state and, being mere flesh and blood, cannot inherit the kingdom of God.

Thus, the apostle rightly states, “Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God,” and, “Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” These words don't reject the body but show that the Spirit must be infused into it. For this reason, he says, “This mortal must put on immortality, and this corruptible must put on incorruption.” He further clarifies, “But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.” He explains further, “The body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit dwelling in you.” And again in the Epistle to the Romans, he says, “For if you live after the flesh, you shall die.” He doesn't forbid them from living in the flesh—he was in the flesh himself when he wrote this—but he warns against the desires of the flesh, which bring death.

Therefore, he continues, “But if you, through the Spirit, put to death the deeds of the body, you shall live. For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.”

THE APOSTLE: anticipating the wicked speeches of unbelievers, has specified the works he calls carnal. He clarifies this to leave no room for doubt for those who might twist his meaning, saying in the Epistle to the Galatians: "Now the works of the flesh are clearly shown, which include adulteries, fornications, uncleanness, luxuriousness, idolatries, witchcrafts, hatreds, contentions, jealousies, wraths, emulations, animosities, irritable speeches, dissensions, heresies, envyings, drunkenness, carousings, and the like; of which I warn you, as I have warned you before, that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." Thus, he explains to his listeners more explicitly what he means by "Flesh and blood shall not inherit the kingdom of God." For those who do these things, since they indeed walk after the flesh, do not have the power of living unto God.

He then tells us the spiritual actions that give life, which is the engrafting of the Spirit; saying, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, goodness, kindness, faith, meekness, self-control, chastity: against these there is no law." Therefore, he who has progressed to better things and has brought forth the fruit of the Spirit is saved completely because of the communion of the Spirit; likewise, he who has persisted in the aforementioned works of the flesh, being truly regarded as carnal, because he did not receive the Spirit of God, shall not inherit the kingdom of heaven.

The same apostle also testifies, saying to the Corinthians, "Do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be mistaken," he says: "neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor revilers, nor rapacious persons, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And this you indeed were; but you have been washed, you have been sanctified, you have been justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God." He clearly shows how a person goes to destruction if they continue to live according to the flesh; and conversely, he points out how they are saved.

Now he states that the things which save are the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Spirit of our God.

SINCE: in that passage, he discusses those acts of the flesh which exist without the Spirit and lead to death for those who do them, he proclaimed at the end of his letter, aligning with what he had already expressed, “And as we have borne the image of him who is of the earth, we shall also bear the image of Him who is from heaven. For this I say, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.” Now, what he means by “as we have borne the image of him who is of the earth” is similar to what has been stated, “And such indeed you were; but you have been washed, but you have been sanctified, but you have been justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God.” So, when did we bear the image of him who is of the earth? Clearly, it was when those actions, referred to as “works of the flesh,” were carried out in us.

And again, when do we bear the image of the heavenly? Clearly, when he says, “You have been washed,” it is by believing in the name of the Lord and receiving His Spirit.

Now, we have washed away not the substance of our body or the image of our initial formation, but our former empty behavior. In these members, therefore, in which we were heading towards destruction by doing the works of corruption, in these very members we are made alive by doing the works of the Spirit.

FOR JUST AS THE FLESH IS CAPABLE OF CORRUPTION: it is also capable of incorruption; and just as it is subject to death, it is also open to life. These two states replace each other; both cannot exist in the same place, as one forces out the other, and the presence of one eliminates the other. If, then, when death takes hold of a man, it drives life away and proves him to be dead, much more does life, when it takes control of the man, drive out death and restore him as living to God. For if death brings mortality, why shouldn't life, when it arrives, make man alive? Just as the prophet Esaias says, “Death was devoured when it prevailed.” And again, “God has wiped away every tear from every face.” Thus, that former life is expelled because it was not given by the Spirit, but by the breath.

THE BREATH OF LIFE: which made man a living being, is one thing, and the life-giving Spirit is another, which made him spiritual. This is why Isaiah said, “This is what the Lord says, who made heaven and established it, who founded the earth and all that is in it, and gave breath to the people on it, and Spirit to those walking on it.” He shows that breath is indeed given to all people on earth, but the Spirit belongs only to those who overcome earthly desires.

Therefore, Isaiah himself, distinguishing between these things, exclaims again, “For the Spirit shall go forth from Me, and I have made every breath.” He attributes the Spirit as belonging uniquely to God, who, in the last times, pours it upon the human race through the adoption of sons, but shows that breath was common throughout creation and identifies it as something created. What has been made is different from the maker. The breath is temporary, but the Spirit is eternal.

The breath grows stronger for a short time and lasts for a while; after that, it leaves, abandoning its former dwelling without breath.

But when the Spirit fills a person completely, it stays and never leaves. “But what is spiritual is not first,” says the apostle, speaking as if about us humans; “but what is physical comes first, then what is spiritual,” according to logic. It was necessary that a human being should first be made and that this being should receive the soul; afterward, it could receive the fellowship of the Spirit.

Therefore, “the first Adam was made” by the Lord “a living soul, the second Adam a life-giving spirit.” As the one who was made a living soul lost life when he turned to evil, so also, when the same person turns back to good and receives the life-giving Spirit, they will find life.

FOR IT IS NOT ONE THING THAT DIES AND ANOTHER THAT IS BROUGHT TO LIFE: just as it is not one thing that is lost and another that is found, but the Lord came seeking that same sheep which was lost. What was it that was dead? Undoubtedly, it was the substance of the flesh, the same that had lost the breath of life and had become lifeless and dead. This same was what the Lord came to bring to life, so that as in Adam we all die, being of an earthly nature, in Christ we may all live, being spiritual, not discarding God's handiwork, but the lusts of the flesh, and receiving the Holy Spirit; as the apostle says in the Epistle to the Colossians: "Put to death, therefore, your earthly nature." And he explains what these are: "Fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil desire; and covetousness, which is idolatry." The laying aside of these is what the apostle preaches, and he declares that those who do such things, being merely flesh and blood, cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven.

For their soul, tending toward what is worse and descending to earthly lusts, has become a partaker in the same designation which belongs to these lusts, namely, "earthly," which, when the apostle commands us to lay aside, he says in the same Epistle, "Cast off the old man with his deeds." But when he says this, he does not remove the ancient formation of man; otherwise, it would be necessary for us to rid ourselves of it by committing suicide.

THE APOSTLE HIMSELF: who was formed in a womb and born from it, wrote to us and admitted in his Epistle to the Philippians that "to live in the flesh was the fruit of his work," expressing himself in this way. The ultimate outcome of the Spirit's work is the salvation of the flesh. What other visible outcome is there of the invisible Spirit than making the flesh mature and capable of incorruption? If he says, "To live in the flesh, this is the result of labor for me," he certainly did not dismiss the substance of flesh in the passage where he said, "Put off the old man with his works." Instead, he indicates that we should abandon our former way of living, which grows old and becomes corrupt. This is why he continues to say, "And put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge, after the image of Him who created him." Thus, when he says "which is renewed in knowledge," he shows that the same man who was once ignorant, specifically of God, is renewed by the knowledge that pertains to Him. For the knowledge of God renews man. And when he says "after the image of the Creator," he presents the idea of the same man being restored, who was initially made in the likeness of God.

THE APOSTLE HIMSELF STATES IN THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS THAT HE WAS THE SAME PERSON WHO HAD BEEN BORN FROM THE WOMB: from the ancient substance of flesh: "But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by His grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles," it was not, as I have already noted, one person who had been born from the womb and another who preached the Gospel of the Son of God.

Rather, it was the same individual who was once ignorant and used to persecute the Church. When the revelation was made to him from heaven and the Lord spoke with him, as I mentioned in the third book, he preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was crucified under Pontius Pilate. His former ignorance was replaced by his new knowledge, just as the blind men whom the Lord healed lost their blindness but received perfect vision in the same eyes with which they previously could not see.

The darkness was simply driven away by the power of vision, while the substance of the eyes was retained, so that, by means of those eyes through which they were once blind, they could give thanks to Him who restored their sight. In the same way, the man with the withered hand and all who were healed did not change the parts of their bodies that had come from the womb at birth but simply received them anew in a healthy state.

FOR THE MAKER OF ALL THINGS: the Word of God, who also formed man from the beginning, when He found His creation harmed by wickedness, performed all kinds of healing on it. At times, He did so for each individual part, as it is found in His own creation; and at other times, He restored man completely, making him perfect for Himself for the resurrection. What was His purpose in healing different parts of the flesh and restoring them to their original condition if those parts healed by Him were not able to obtain salvation? For if it was merely a temporary benefit that He provided, He granted nothing of importance to those who were healed by Him. Or how can they argue that the flesh is incapable of receiving the life that comes from Him, when it received healing from Him? For life is brought about through healing, and incorruption through life. Therefore, He who gives healing also grants life; and He who gives life also encompasses His creation with incorruption.

Let our opponents—those who speak against their own salvation—inform us on this point: The deceased daughter of the high priest; the widow’s dead son, who was being carried out to burial near the city gate; and Lazarus, who had been in the tomb for four days—in what bodies did they rise again? Certainly, in the same ones in which they had died. For if it were not in the very same bodies, then those same individuals who had died did not rise again.

THE SCRIPTURE SAYS: “The Lord took the hand of the dead man and said to him, Young man, I say to you, Arise. And the dead man sat up, and He commanded that something should be given him to eat; and He delivered him to his mother.” Again, He called Lazarus with a loud voice, saying, “Lazarus, come forth;” and the one who was dead came forth, bound with bandages, feet and hands.” This symbolized a man who had been bound in sins.

And therefore, the Lord said, “Loose him, and let him go.” Just as those who were healed were made whole in the very parts that had previously been afflicted, and the dead rose in the same bodies, their limbs and bodies receiving health and life granted by the Lord—who demonstrates eternal things through temporary ones, and shows that He alone can extend both healing and life to His creation, so that His words about its future resurrection may also be believed—so at the end, when the Lord speaks with “the last trumpet,” the dead shall be raised, as He declares: “The hour will come in which all the dead in the tombs will hear the voice of the Son of man, and will come forth; those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.”

VAIN AND TRULY MISERABLE ARE THOSE WHO CHOOSE NOT TO SEE WHAT IS SO OBVIOUS AND CLEAR: but avoid the light of truth, blinding themselves like the tragic Œdipus. Like those unskilled in wrestling, when they compete with others, holding on tightly to some part of their opponent's body, they actually fall because of what they grasp. Yet when they fall, they imagine they are victorious, simply because they stubbornly kept their grip on the part they grabbed at first, and besides falling, they become subjects of ridicule. This is similar to the heretics’ favorite saying: "Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God." By taking two expressions of Paul's without understanding the apostle's meaning or critically examining the force of the terms, they cling to the mere expressions themselves and, as a result of their influence, bring about their own downfall, undermining the entire dispensation of God as much as they can.

3. They will claim that this passage refers strictly to the flesh itself, not to fleshly works, as I have indicated, thus suggesting that the apostle is contradicting himself. For immediately afterward, in the same Epistle, he decisively states regarding the flesh: “For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So, when this mortal has put on immortality, then the saying that is written will come to pass: Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your sting? O death, where is your victory?” These words will be appropriately said at the time when this mortal and corruptible flesh, which is subject to death and is oppressed by a certain dominion of death, rising up into life, will put on incorruption and immortality.

FOR THEN: indeed, death will truly be vanquished when that flesh, which is held down by it, emerges from under its dominion. And again, to the Philippians he says: “But our citizenship is in heaven, from where we also look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus, who will transform the body of our humiliation to be conformed to the body of His glory, just as He is able according to the working of His own power.” What, then, is this “body of humiliation” that the Lord will transform to conform to “the body of His glory?” Clearly, it is this body made of flesh, which is indeed humbled when it falls into the earth.

Its transformation occurs in such a way that, while it is mortal and corruptible, it becomes immortal and incorruptible, not due to its own inherent nature but through the mighty working of the Lord, who can bestow immortality on the mortal and incorruption on the corruptible.

Therefore, he says, “that mortality may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has also given us the guarantee of the Spirit.” He uses these words clearly in reference to the flesh; for the soul is not mortal, nor is the spirit.

What is mortal will be swallowed up by life when the flesh is dead no longer, but remains living and incorruptible, praising God, who has prepared us for this very thing.

Therefore, so that we may be prepared for this, he appropriately says to the Corinthians, “Glorify God in your body.” Now God is the one who brings about immortality.

HE STATES CLEARLY AND WITHOUT ANY DOUBT TO THE CORINTHIANS THAT HE IS REFERRING TO THE BODY OF FLESH AND NOTHING ELSE: "Always carrying in our body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be shown in our body. For we who live are continually given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our mortal flesh." He mentions that the Spirit engages with the flesh in the same Epistle, "You are the letter of Christ, delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts." If, then, fleshly hearts can partake of the Spirit now, it is not surprising that they will receive life from the Spirit in the resurrection.

The apostle talks about this resurrection in the Epistle to the Philippians: "Being conformed to His death, if somehow I may attain to the resurrection from the dead." In what other mortal flesh can life be shown if not in the same flesh that is put to death because of the confession of God? As he himself says, "If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for human reasons, what benefit is it to me if the dead are not raised? If the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised.

If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is in vain, and your faith is in vain. We are also false witnesses about God, because we've testified that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise if the dead are not raised. If the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised.

But if Christ has not been raised, your faith is in vain, and you are still in your sins. Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.

If our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are to be pitied more than all people.

But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep; for as death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man."

IN ALL THESE PASSAGES: therefore, as I have already said, these people must either claim that the apostle expresses opinions that contradict himself regarding the statement, “Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God;” or, on the other hand, they will be forced to make distorted and twisted interpretations of all the passages, so as to overturn and change the meaning of the words. For what sensible thing can they say if they try to interpret otherwise what he writes: “For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality;” and, “That the life of Jesus may be made manifest in our mortal flesh;” and all the other passages in which the apostle clearly and plainly declares the resurrection and incorruption of the flesh? And thus they will be compelled to put a false interpretation on passages like these, those who do not choose to understand one correctly.

SINCE THE APOSTLE HAS NOT DECLARED AGAINST THE ESSENCE OF FLESH AND BLOOD: saying it cannot inherit the kingdom of God, the same apostle has consistently used the term "flesh and blood" regarding the Lord Jesus Christ. This is partly to assert His human nature (as He referred to Himself as the Son of man) and partly to affirm the salvation of our flesh. For if the flesh were not able to be saved, the Word of God would not have become flesh in any way.

And if the blood of the righteous were not to be accounted for, the Lord would certainly not have had blood in His being. Since blood has spoken since the world's beginning, God said to Cain, after he had killed his brother, “The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me.” And as their blood will be accounted for, He said to those with Noah, “For your lifeblood I will require a reckoning, from every beast;” and again, “Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed.” Similarly, the Lord said to those who would later shed His blood, “All righteous blood shall be required that is shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom you killed between the temple and the altar.

Truly I say to you, All these things shall come upon this generation.” He thus indicates the culmination in His own person of the shedding of blood from the beginning, of all the righteous people and prophets, and that through Himself there would be a reckoning for their blood. Now this blood could not be required unless it also had the capacity to be saved; nor would the Lord have summed up these things in Himself unless He had become flesh and blood in the manner of the original formation of man, saving in His own person at the end what had perished in Adam at the beginning.

BUT IF THE LORD BECAME INCARNATE FOR ANY OTHER PURPOSE AND TOOK FLESH FROM ANY OTHER SUBSTANCE: then He has not truly encompassed human nature in His own person, nor in that case can He be called flesh. For flesh has genuinely been made to consist of a transmission from that which was originally molded from the dust. If it had been necessary for Him to derive the material of His body from another substance, the Father would have originally molded the material from a different substance than He did.

However, the situation is that the Word has saved what was truly created, namely humanity that had perished, accomplishing through Himself the communion that should be held with it, and seeking its salvation.

But what had perished had flesh and blood. For the Lord, taking dust from the earth, molded man; and it was for his sake that all the unfolding of the Lord’s coming occurred. He Himself, therefore, had flesh and blood, summarizing in Himself not something else, but the original handiwork of the Father, seeking what had perished.

For this reason, the apostle, in the Epistle to the Colossians, says, “And although you were formerly alienated and enemies in your mind by evil works, yet now you have been reconciled in the body of His flesh, through His death, to present yourselves holy, blameless, and without fault in His sight.” He says, “You have been reconciled in the body of His flesh,” because the righteous flesh has reconciled that flesh which was under bondage to sin and brought it into friendship with God.

IF: then, anyone claims that in this respect the flesh of the Lord was different from ours because it did not commit sin and there was no deceit in His soul, while we, on the other hand, are sinners, he is stating the truth. But if he suggests that the Lord had a different kind of flesh, the statements about reconciliation will not align with that person. For reconciliation involves restoring what was previously in conflict. Now, if the Lord had taken flesh from a different substance, He would not have reconciled to God that which had become hostile through transgression. But now, through union with Himself, the Lord has reconciled humanity to God the Father, by reconciling us to Himself with the body of His own flesh and redeeming us with His own blood, as the apostle says to the Ephesians, "In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins;" and again to the same, he says, "You who were formerly far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ;" and again, "By abolishing in His flesh the hostilities, [even] the law of commandments contained in ordinances." In every letter, the apostle clearly testifies that through the flesh of our Lord and through His blood, we have been saved.

IF: then, flesh and blood are the things that grant us life, it has not been stated about flesh and blood, in the literal sense of the words, that they cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Instead, these words refer to the sinful deeds previously mentioned, which lead people to sin and deprive them of life. For this reason, he says in the Epistle to the Romans: "Do not let sin reign in your mortal body to be under its control; neither offer your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God." In these same members, then, in which we once served sin and produced fruit leading to death, He wants us to be obedient to righteousness, so that we may produce fruit leading to life. Remember, my dear friend, that you have been redeemed by the flesh of our Lord and renewed by His blood; and by "holding the Head, from which the whole body of the Church, being joined together, grows"—that is, acknowledging the coming in the flesh of the Son of God and His divinity, and steadfastly looking to His human nature, while also using these proofs from Scripture—you easily refute, as I have shown, all those heretical ideas that were devised later.

1. Now, the One who created man in the beginning promised him a second birth after his return to dust, as Isaiah declares: “The dead shall rise again, and those in the tombs shall arise, and those in the earth shall rejoice. For the dew from You brings them health.” And again: “I will comfort you, and you shall be comforted in Jerusalem; you shall see, and your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like the grass; and the hand of the Lord shall be known to those who worship Him.” Ezekiel also speaks as follows: “And the hand of the Lord came upon me, and the Lord led me in the Spirit, and set me down in the midst of the plain, which was full of bones. And He made me pass by them around, and behold, there were many upon the surface of the plain, very dry. And He said to me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I said, Lord, You who have made them know. And He said to me, Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, You dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord to these bones, Behold, I will cause the spirit of life to come upon you, and I will lay sinews on you, and bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put my Spirit in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the Lord. I prophesied as the Lord commanded me. And as I was prophesying, behold, an earthquake, and the bones came together, each to its own joint. I looked, and saw that sinews and flesh had grown upon them, and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them. He said to me, Prophesy to the breath, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord, Come from the four winds and breathe on these dead, that they may live. So I prophesied as the Lord commanded me, and the breath entered them, and they lived, standing on their feet, a great multitude.” Again, he says, “Thus says the Lord, Behold, I will open your graves, and cause you to come out from them, and bring you into the land of Israel. You shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring my people out of them; and I will put my Spirit in you, and you shall live. I will place you in your land, and you shall know that I am the Lord. I have spoken, and I will do it, says the Lord.” We see that the Creator is shown to give life to our dead bodies, promising resurrection and rising from graves and tombs, and granting them immortality as well (He says, “For like the tree of life, so shall their days be”), showing Himself to be the only God who accomplishes these things, and as the good Father, graciously giving life to those who do not have life from themselves.

AND FOR THIS REASON: the Lord most clearly revealed Himself and the Father to His disciples, so they wouldn’t seek another God besides Him who made man and gave him the breath of life. This was to prevent people from becoming so mad as to invent another Father above the Creator.

Thus, He healed by a word all those who were weak because of sin; to them, He said, “Behold, you are made whole, sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you,” pointing out that because of disobedience, infirmities have come upon men.

To the man who had been blind from birth, however, He gave sight not by a word, but by an outward action. He did this intentionally, to show God's hand, the same hand that originally shaped man.

Therefore, when His disciples asked why the man was born blind, whether it was his own fault or his parents’, He answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.” The work of God is the shaping of man.

As Scripture says, He made man through a process: “And the Lord took clay from the earth and formed man.” For this reason, the Lord spat on the ground, made clay, and smeared it on the man’s eyes, showing the original shaping of man and revealing the hand of God to those who can understand by what hand man was formed from dust. What the artisan, the Word, did not form in the womb (the blind man’s eyes), He then provided publicly, so the works of God might be revealed in him.

This was done so we would not seek another hand by which man was formed, nor another Father, knowing that this hand of God, which formed us in the beginning and forms us in the womb, has in the last times sought us who were lost, reclaiming His own, joyfully carrying the lost sheep on His shoulders and restoring it to the fold of life.

NOW THAT THE WORD OF GOD FORMS US IN THE WOMB: He says to Jeremiah, "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; and before you came forth from the belly, I sanctified you and appointed you a prophet among the nations." Paul also says similarly, "But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, that I might declare Him among the nations." Therefore, as we are formed in the womb by the Word, this same Word formed the visual power in the man who had been blind from birth, showing clearly who it is that fashions us in secret, since the Word Himself had been revealed to people.

This also declares the original formation of Adam, the manner in which he was created, and by what hand he was fashioned, indicating the whole from a part. For the Lord who formed the visual powers is He who made the whole man, fulfilling the will of the Father. And since man, regarding the formation after Adam, having fallen into transgression, needed the laver of regeneration, the Lord said to the man upon whom He had given sight, after smearing his eyes with clay, "Go to Siloam and wash;" thus restoring to him both his perfect confirmation and that regeneration which occurs through the laver.

For this reason, when he was washed, he came back seeing, that he might both know Him who had fashioned him, and that people might learn to know Him who has given them life.

ALL THE FOLLOWERS OF VALENTINUS: therefore, lose their argument when they claim that man was not made from this earth, but from a fluid and scattered substance. For it is evident from the earth, from which the Lord formed eyes for that man, that man was also made at the beginning. It would be inconsistent for the eyes to be formed from one source and the rest of the body from another, just as it would be inconsistent for one being to fashion the body and another the eyes. However, the very same one who formed Adam at the beginning, with whom the Father also spoke, saying, "Let Us make man in Our image and likeness," revealed Himself to men in these last times, creating eyes for the man who had been blind in the body he inherited from Adam. Therefore, the Scripture, indicating what would happen, says that when Adam hid himself because of his disobedience, the Lord came to him in the evening, called him, and said, "Where are you?" This means that in the last times, the very same Word of God came to call man, reminding him of his actions, in which he had been hidden from the Lord. Just as God spoke to Adam in the evening, searching for him, so in the last times, through the same voice, He has sought out his descendants and visited them.

AND SINCE ADAM WAS MOLDED FROM THIS EARTH TO WHICH WE BELONG: the Scripture tells us that God said to him, "By the sweat of your face you shall eat your bread until you return to the dust from where you were taken." If then, after death, our bodies return to any other substance, it follows that from it also they have their substance. But if it is into this very earth, it is clear that it was also from it that man's frame was created; as the Lord clearly showed, when from this very substance He formed eyes for the man to whom He gave sight. And thus the hand of God was plainly shown, by which Adam was fashioned, and we too have been formed. Since there is one and the same Father, whose voice from the beginning to the end is present with His handiwork, and the substance from which we were formed is clearly declared through the Gospel, we should therefore not seek after another Father besides Him, nor look for another substance from which we have been formed, besides what was mentioned beforehand and shown by the Lord; nor another hand of God besides that which, from the beginning to the end, forms us and prepares us for life, and is present with His handiwork, and perfects it after the image and likeness of God.

AND THEN: again, this Word was revealed when the Word of God became man, connecting Himself to man, and man to Himself, so that through his likeness to the Son, man might become precious to the Father. For long ago, it was said that man was created in the image of God, but it was not actually shown; for the Word was still invisible, after whose image man was created, which is why he easily lost the likeness. However, when the Word of God became flesh, He confirmed both of these: for He truly showed the image, as He became what was His image; and He re-established the likeness in a secure way, by connecting man to the invisible Father through the visible Word.

AND NOT BY THE MENTIONED THINGS ALONE HAS THE LORD SHOWN HIMSELF: but also through His passion. For eliminating the disobedience of man which occurred at the beginning because of a tree, "He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross;" correcting that disobedience caused by a tree through the obedience demonstrated on the tree of the cross. Now, He would not have come to eliminate, by means of the same image, the disobedience incurred against our Maker if He had proclaimed another Father. But since it was by these things that we disobeyed God and did not trust His word, He also brought about obedience and agreement concerning His Word through these same means; by these actions, He clearly reveals God Himself, whom we had offended in the first Adam, when he did not obey His commandment. In the second Adam, however, we are reconciled, being made obedient even unto death. For we were indebted to no one other than Him, whose commandment we had broken at the beginning.

NOW THIS BEING IS THE CREATOR: who is, with respect to His love, the Father; but with respect to His power, He is Lord; and with respect to His wisdom, our Maker and Fashioner. By transgressing His commandment, we became His enemies.

Therefore, in the last times, the Lord has restored us to friendship through His incarnation, becoming “the Mediator between God and men,” indeed propitiating for us the Father against whom we had sinned, and canceling our disobedience by His own obedience, also giving us the gift of communion with, and submission to, our Maker.

For this reason, He has taught us to say in prayer, “And forgive us our debts,” since indeed He is our Father, whose debtors we were, having transgressed His commandments.

But who is this Being? Is He some unknown one, a Father who gives no commandment to anyone? Or is He the God who is proclaimed in the Scriptures, to whom we were debtors, having transgressed His commandment? The commandment was given to man by the Word. For Adam, it is said, “heard the voice of the God.” Rightly then does His Word say to man, “Your sins are forgiven you;” He, the same one against whom we had sinned in the beginning, grants forgiveness of sins in the end.

But if indeed we had disobeyed the command of another, and it was a different being who said, “Your sins are forgiven you,” such a one is neither good, nor true, nor just. For how can he be good, who does not give from what belongs to himself? Or how can he be just, who takes away the goods of another? And in what way can sins truly be forgiven, unless He against whom we have sinned has Himself granted forgiveness “through the bowels of mercy of our God,” in which “He has visited us” through His Son?

AND THEREFORE: when He healed the man with paralysis, the evangelist says, "The people, upon seeing it, glorified God who gave such power to men." Which God, then, did the bystanders glorify? Was it truly that unknown Father invented by the heretics? And how could they glorify one who was completely unknown to them? It is clear, therefore, that the Israelites glorified Him who has been proclaimed as God by the law and the prophets, who is also the Father of our Lord.

Therefore, He taught people, through the evidence of their senses from the signs He performed, to give glory to God. If He had come from another Father, and people glorified a different Father when they witnessed His miracles, He would have made them ungrateful to the Father who had sent the gift of healing.

However, as the only-begotten Son had come for humanity's salvation from Him who is God, He stirred up the unbelievers by the miracles He regularly performed to give glory to the Father.

To the Pharisees, who did not accept the coming of His Son and consequently did not believe in the forgiveness of sins granted by Him, He said, "That you may know that the Son of Man has power to forgive sins." After saying this, He commanded the paralyzed man to take up the bed he was lying on and go to his house. By this act, He confounded the unbelievers and showed that He Himself is the voice of God, by which humanity received commandments, which they broke and became sinners, for the paralysis was a consequence of sin.

THEREFORE: by forgiving sins, He indeed healed humanity, while also revealing who He was. For if no one can forgive sins except God alone, and the Lord forgave them and healed people, it is clear that He Himself was the Word of God made the Son of man, receiving from the Father the power to forgive sins; because He was human, and because He was God, so that as a man He suffered for us, and as God He might have compassion on us and forgive our debts, which made us debtors to God our Creator. And so David said beforehand, "Blessed are those whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord has not counted sin;" indicating the forgiveness of sins that comes with His coming, by which "He has destroyed the record" of our debt and "nailed it to the cross;" so that just as through a tree we became debtors to God, through a tree we may also obtain the forgiveness of our debt.

THIS IDEA HAS BEEN CLEARLY ILLUSTRATED BY MANY OTHERS: especially through Elisha the prophet. When his fellow prophets were cutting wood to build a tabernacle, the iron head of an axe became loose and fell into the Jordan River, where they couldn't find it. When Elisha arrived at the scene and learned what happened, he threw a piece of wood into the water. After doing this, the iron part of the axe floated up, and they retrieved what they had lost.

Through this action, the prophet indicated that the sure word of God, which we had carelessly lost due to a tree, and could not find again, would be given back to us through the dispensation of a tree, namely, the cross of Christ. John the Baptist likens the word of God to an axe when he says, "But now the axe is laid to the root of the trees." Jeremiah also mentions similarly, "The word of God cleaves the rock like an axe." This word, which was hidden from us, was revealed by the means of a tree, as I have mentioned before.

Just as we lost it through a tree, through a tree it was made known to everyone, revealing its height, length, breadth, and depth. As one of our predecessors noted, "Through the spreading of the hands of a divine person, gathering the two peoples to one God." These were two hands because there were two peoples scattered to the ends of the earth, but there was one head in the middle, as there is but one God, who is above all, through all, and in us all.

AND SUCH AN IMPORTANT DISPENSATION HE DID NOT BRING ABOUT USING THE CREATIONS OF OTHERS: but by His own; not through things created out of ignorance and defect, but through those that had their substance from the wisdom and power of His Father. For He was neither unrighteous, to covet what belonged to another, nor needy, unable to give life to His own through His own means, and use His own creation for the salvation of man.

Indeed, the creation could not have sustained Him [on the cross] if He had sent forth what was merely the result of ignorance and defect.

We have repeatedly shown that the incarnate Word of God was hung on a tree, and even the heretics acknowledge that He was crucified. How, then, could the result of ignorance and defect sustain Him who holds the knowledge of all things and is true and perfect? Or how could that creation, hidden from the Father and distant from Him, have sustained His Word? And if this world were made by the angels (it doesn't matter whether we consider their ignorance or awareness of the Supreme God), when the Lord declared, “For I am in the Father, and the Father in Me,” how could this work of the angels have borne being burdened with both the Father and the Son? How could that creation beyond the Pleroma have contained Him who contains the full Pleroma? Since all these things are impossible and lack proof, the preaching of the Church is alone true when it declares that His own creation supported Him, subsisting by the power, skill, and wisdom of God; which is sustained in an invisible manner by the Father, but visibly bore His Word: and this is the true Word.

THE FATHER SUPPORTS BOTH CREATION AND HIS OWN WORD AT THE SAME TIME: and the Word carried by the Father bestows the Spirit upon all, as the Father desires. To some, He gives what is made in the manner of creation, but to others, He gives in the manner of adoption, which is what comes from God, namely generation. Thus, one God the Father is acknowledged, who is above all, through all, and in all. The Father is truly above all and is the Head of Christ; the Word works through all things and is Himself the Head of the Church, while the Spirit dwells in us all. The Spirit is the living water that the Lord gives to those who rightly believe in Him, love Him, and know that “there is one Father, who is above all, through all, and in us all.”

John, the disciple of the Lord, also testifies to these truths in the Gospel, saying: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that has been made.” He further speaks of the Word, saying: “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, yet the world did not recognize Him. He came to His own, but His own did not receive Him. However, to all who did receive Him, He gave the power to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.” Moreover, speaking of the Word’s human nature, John said: “And the Word became flesh and lived among us.” He continues, “We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

John clearly indicates, for those willing to listen, that there is one God, the Father over all, and one Word of God, who works through all things and made all things according to the Father’s will. This world belongs to Him and was made by Him, not by angels, nor by apostasy, defect, ignorance, or by any power of Prunicus, whom some call “the Mother,” nor by any other creator ignorant of the Father.

THE CREATOR OF THE WORLD IS TRULY THE WORD OF GOD: and this is our Lord, who in the last times became human, existing in this world, and who invisibly contains all created things, and is inherent in the entire creation, since the Word of God governs and arranges everything; and so He came to His own visibly, and became flesh, and was crucified, that He might unite all things in Himself. “And His own peculiar people did not receive Him,” as Moses declared this among the people: “And your life shall be hanging before your eyes, and you will not believe your life.” Those who did not receive Him did not receive life. “But to as many as received Him, He gave the power to become the sons of God.” For He has power from the Father over everything, since He is the Word of God, and truly human, communicating with invisible beings in the way of the intellect, and establishing a law observable to the senses, so that all things should continue each in their own order; and He reigns openly over visible things and those related to humans; and brings in just and worthy judgment upon all; as David, clearly pointing to this, says, “Our God shall openly come, and will not keep silent.” Then he also shows the judgment brought by Him, saying, “A fire shall burn before Him, and a strong tempest shall rage around Him.

He shall call upon the heaven above, and the earth, to judge His people.”

THE LORD WAS CLEARLY COMING TO HIS OWN AND SUSTAINING THEM THROUGH CREATION: which He supports, and He was reversing the disobedience connected with a tree through His own obedience on the tree, thus undoing the deception that misled the virgin Eve, who was engaged to a man. This was joyfully announced through the truth spoken by the angel to the Virgin Mary, who was also engaged to a man. Just as the former was led astray by the word of an angel and fled from God after disobeying His command, the latter received the news through an angelic message that she would bear God, being obedient to His word. While the former disobeyed God, the latter chose to be obedient, so that the Virgin Mary might become the advocate for the virgin Eve. Thus, as humanity fell into the captivity of death by a virgin, it is redeemed by a virgin; virginal disobedience is countered by virginal obedience. Similarly, the sin of the first-created man is corrected by the First-begotten, and the serpent's deception is overcome by the innocence of the dove, breaking the chains that bound us to death.

THE HERETICS: who are all unlearned and ignorant of God’s plans, and not familiar with the way He took on human nature, blind themselves to the truth and actually speak against their own salvation. Some of them propose another Father apart from the Creator; others claim that the world and its substance were made by certain angels; some others declare that it was completely separated by Horos from the one they identify as the Father—that it emerged by itself and was born from itself. Additionally, some of them reject the Lord’s appearance in the flesh because they do not accept His incarnation; others, ignoring the arrangement that He should be born of a virgin, assert that He was begotten by Joseph. Furthermore, some claim that neither their soul nor their body can receive eternal life, but only the inner man. Moreover, they assert that this inner man is the understanding within them, which they consider the only thing to ascend to “the perfect.” Others, as I mentioned in the first book, believe that while the soul is saved, their body does not share in the salvation that comes from God. In that book, I have also presented the theories of all these men, and in the second, I have highlighted their weaknesses and inconsistencies.

THESE HERETICS CAME MUCH LATER THAN THE BISHOPS TO WHOM THE APOSTLES ENTRUSTED THE CHURCHES: a point I've thoroughly demonstrated in the third book. Therefore, it's only natural that these mentioned heretics, being blind to the truth and straying from the right path, would follow various directions; hence, their doctrine is scattered without unity or coherence. In contrast, the path of those in the Church spans the whole world, as it holds the sure tradition from the apostles, showing us that the faith of all is one and the same. All accept one God the Father, believe in the same plan regarding the incarnation of the Son of God, recognize the same gift of the Spirit, adhere to the same commandments, maintain the same form of church structure, anticipate the same coming of the Lord, and await the same salvation of the whole person—soul and body. Certainly, the Church's preaching is true and steadfast, presenting the same way of salvation throughout the world. For the Church is entrusted with the light of God; thus, the wisdom of God, through which she saves everyone, "is declared in its going forth; it speaks faithfully in the streets, is preached on the tops of the walls, and speaks continually in the city gates." The Church spreads the truth everywhere and is like the seven-branched candlestick that bears the light of Christ.

THOSE: therefore, who abandon the preaching of the Church, question the knowledge of the holy presbyters, not considering how much more important a religious man in a humble position is compared to a blasphemous and shameless sophist. All the heretics are like this, and those who think they have discovered something beyond the truth. By following these mentioned paths, they go on variously, inconsistently, and foolishly, not consistently holding the same opinions about the same things. Like the blind leading the blind, they will deservedly fall into the ditch of ignorance on their path, always seeking and never finding the truth.

We should, therefore, avoid their doctrines and be careful not to suffer any harm from them. Instead, we should seek refuge with the Church, be nurtured in her embrace, and be nourished with the Lord’s Scriptures. For the Church has been planted as a garden in this world; therefore, the Spirit of God says, “You may freely eat from every tree of the garden,” meaning we should partake of every Scripture of the Lord; but we must not eat with prideful minds or engage with heretical discord.

These individuals claim they possess the knowledge of good and evil, and they elevate their own impious minds above the God who created them. They, therefore, form opinions on matters beyond the bounds of understanding. For this reason, the apostle says, “Do not be wise beyond what is appropriate, but be wise prudently,” so we are not cast out from the paradise of life by consuming the "knowledge" of these individuals, which claims to know more than it should. Into this paradise, the Lord has brought those who obey His call, "summing up in Himself all things which are in heaven and on earth;" but the things in heaven are spiritual, while those on earth pertain to human nature.

He recapitulated these things in Himself: by uniting man to the Spirit and causing the Spirit to dwell in man. He Himself is made the head of the Spirit and gives the Spirit to be the head of man: for through Him (the Spirit) we see, and hear, and speak.

IN HIS WORK OF RECAPITULATION: He has summed up all things, both fighting against our enemy and crushing the one who, in the beginning, led us captive in Adam. He trampled on the enemy's head, as you can see in Genesis when God said to the serpent, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your descendants and her descendant; He shall be on the watch for your head, and you for His heel.” From that time, the One to be born of a woman, specifically from the Virgin, in the likeness of Adam, was prophesied to keep watch for the serpent's head.

This is the descendant mentioned by the apostle in the Epistle to the Galatians, "that the law of works was established until the descendant came to whom the promise was made." This is made even clearer in the same Epistle, where it says, "But when the fullness of time came, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman." For indeed, the enemy would not have been justly defeated unless a man born of a woman conquered him. It was through a woman that the enemy initially gained the upper hand over humanity, setting himself as humanity's adversary.

Therefore, the Lord declares Himself to be the Son of man, embodying the original man from whom the woman was fashioned, so that as our kind was led down to death through a defeated man, we might rise to life again through a victorious one; and as through a man death claimed victory over us, so again by a man we may claim victory over death.

THE LORD WOULD NOT HAVE TAKEN ON HIMSELF THAT ANCIENT AND PRIMARY ENMITY AGAINST THE SERPENT: fulfilling the promise of the Creator and following His command, if He had come from a different Father.

But since He is the same one who created us at the beginning and sent His Son at the end, the Lord did follow His command, being born of a woman, both defeating our adversary and perfecting man in the image and likeness of God. For this reason, He did not use any other source to confound him than the words of the law and used the Father's commandment to help destroy and confuse the apostate angel.

After fasting for forty days, like Moses and Elijah, He became hungry, first to show He was a real and tangible man—because it's human to be hungry when fasting—and second, to give His opponent a chance to attack Him. Just as in the beginning the enemy persuaded man to disobey God’s commandments with food, even though man wasn't hungry, in the end, he failed to persuade the hungry Christ to take food. When tempting Him, he said, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become bread.” But the Lord repelled him with the law's commandment, saying, “It is written, Man does not live by bread alone.” He did not comment on the enemy's words, “If you are the Son of God,” but by acknowledging His humanity, He baffled His adversary and weakened his first attack with His Father's words.

Thus, the corruption of man in paradise, where both parents ate, was undone by the Lord’s lack of food in this world. Being defeated by the law, the enemy tried another assault by quoting a commandment himself. He took Jesus to the highest point of the temple and said, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written, God shall give His angels charge over you, and they will bear you up, lest you hit your foot against a stone.” Here, he hid a falsehood under Scripture, as all heretics do.

Indeed, it was written that God gave His angels charge over Him, but no Scripture said, “throw yourself down.” This persuasion came from the devil himself. The Lord refuted him with the law, saying, “It is written again, You shall not tempt the Lord your God,” highlighting that it is man's duty not to tempt God, and regarding Himself, declared He would not tempt His God. The pride in the serpent was nullified by the humility in Christ, and the devil was conquered twice by Scripture when he was exposed as suggesting things against God's commandment, proving himself the enemy of God.

Having been defeated, he gathered all his power for falsehood and showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the world, saying, as Luke relates, “All these I will give you, for they have been delivered to me, and to whom I will, I give them, if you will worship me.” The Lord, exposing him, said, “Depart, Satan; for it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve.” By revealing his true name, He showed who He was.

The Hebrew word "Satan" means an apostate.

Thus, defeating him for the third time, He rejected him as being defeated by the law; and that violation of God’s commandment that happened in Adam was undone by the precept of the law, which the Son of Man observed, without transgressing God’s commandment.

WHO: then, is this Lord God to whom Christ bears witness, whom no one should test, whom all should worship, and serve Him alone? It is, without any doubt, that God who also gave the law. For these things were predicted in the law, and through the words of the law, the Lord showed that the law does indeed declare the Word of God from the Father; and the rebellious angel of God is exposed by its words, revealing his true nature, and is defeated by the Son of man who keeps the commandment of God.

For as in the beginning he lured man to disobey his Maker’s law, thus bringing him under his control; his power lies in disobedience and rebellion, and with these, he bound man to himself.

However, it was necessary that through man himself, the rebellious angel should be conquered and bound with the same chains with which he had bound man, so that man, being freed, might return to his Lord, leaving behind the chains by which he had been bound, which is sin.

For when Satan is bound, man is set free; as “no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods unless he first binds the strong man.” The Lord, therefore, exposes Satan as speaking against the word of the God who made all things and defeats him through the commandment. The law is God’s commandment. The Man proves him to be a lawbreaker and a rebel against God. After the Man did this, the Word securely bound him as a fugitive from Himself, and took away his possessions—namely, those people he held in bondage and whom he unjustly used for his purposes.

And justly is he led captive, who had unjustly led men into bondage; while man, who had been held captive in the past, was rescued from the grip of his captor, according to the tender mercy of God the Father, who had compassion on His own creation and granted it salvation, restoring it through the Word—that is, through Christ—so that man might learn by real evidence that he receives incorruptibility not by himself, but by the free gift of God.

THUS: the Lord clearly shows that it was the true Lord and the one God who had been revealed by the law; for the one whom the law proclaimed as God, Christ identified as the Father, whom the disciples of Christ alone should serve. Through the statements of the law, He completely confounded our adversary; and the law instructs us to praise God the Creator, and to serve Him alone. Because of this, we must not look for another Father besides Him, or above Him, since there is one God who justifies the circumcision by faith, and the uncircumcision through faith.

For if there were any other perfect Father above Him, Christ would not have defeated Satan by means of His words and commandments. One ignorance cannot be eliminated by another ignorance, just as one defect cannot be corrected by another defect. If, therefore, the law results from ignorance and defect, how could the statements within it nullify the ignorance of the devil and conquer the strong man? For a strong man can be defeated neither by an inferior nor by an equal, but only by one with greater power.

But the Word of God is superior above all, as loudly proclaimed in the law: “Hear, O Israel, your God is one God;” and, “You shall love your God with all your heart;” and, “Him shall you adore, and Him alone shall you serve.” Then in the Gospel, overturning the apostasy with these expressions, He both overcame the strong man by His Father’s voice, and He acknowledges the commandment of the law to express His own thoughts, when He says, “You shall not tempt your God.” For He did not confuse the adversary by citing anyone else, but by using the words of His own Father, and thus overcame the strong man.

HE TAUGHT BY HIS COMMANDMENT THAT WE WHO HAVE BEEN SET FREE SHOULD: when hungry, take the food given by God; and that when placed in the exalted position of every grace that can be received, we should not be lifted up with pride either by trusting in works of righteousness or by being adorned with super-eminent gifts of service, nor should we test God, but should feel humility in all things, and remember the saying, "You shall not test your God." As the apostle also taught, saying, "Do not concern yourselves with high things, but be content with lowly things," we should not be ensnared by riches, worldly glory, or present desires, but should understand that we must "worship your God, and serve Him alone," and ignore him who falsely promises things not his own, when he says, "All these will I give you, if, falling down, you will worship me." For he himself admits that to adore him and do his will is to fall from the glory of God.

And in what thing either pleasant or good can that person who has fallen take part in? Or what else can such a person hope for or expect, except death? For death is the closest companion to him who has fallen. Hence it follows that he will not give what he has promised. For how can he make grants to him who has fallen? Moreover, since God rules over men and him too, and without the will of our Father in heaven not even a sparrow falls to the ground, it follows that his claim, "All these things are delivered to me, and to whomsoever I will I give them," comes from him when puffed up with pride.

For creation is not subjected to his power, since he is himself just one among created things. Nor will he give away the rule over men to men; but all other things and all human affairs are arranged according to God the Father’s will. Besides, the Lord declares that "the devil is a liar from the beginning, and the truth is not in him." If then he is a liar and the truth is not in him, he certainly did not speak the truth, but a lie, when he said, "For all these things are delivered to me, and to whomsoever I will I give them."

HE WAS ALREADY USED TO LYING ABOUT GOD TO LEAD PEOPLE ASTRAY: At the beginning, when God had given man many things to eat but commanded him not to eat from just one tree, as Scripture tells us that God said to Adam: “You may eat from every tree in the garden; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you must not eat: for on the day you eat from it, you will surely die.” The serpent, lying against the Lord, tempted man, saying to the woman: “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” And when she exposed the lie and clearly stated the command as God had said, “We may eat from the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You must not eat from the tree in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die,’” the serpent, having learned from the woman the command of God, used his cunning and ultimately deceived her with a lie, saying, “You will not surely die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like gods, knowing good and evil.” In the first place, then, in the garden of God, he argued about God as if God were not present, because he was ignorant of God's greatness.

Then, after learning from the woman that God had said they would die if they ate from the tree, he spoke his third lie, “You will not surely die.” The truthfulness of God and the serpent's deceit were proven by the outcome, as death came upon those who ate. Along with the fruit, they fell under the power of death because they ate in disobedience, and disobedience to God brings death.

Therefore, as they became subject to death, they were handed over to it from that moment.

THEREFORE: on the day they ate, they also died and became bound to death, since it was one of the days of creation. It is written, "There was evening, and there was morning, one day." On the same day they ate, they died. According to the sequence and progression of the days—first, second, third—if anyone carefully examines which of the seven days Adam died, they will discover it through the Lord's plan. By summing up the entire human race from beginning to end, He also gathered up its death.

It is evident that the Lord agreed to death on the day Adam disobeyed God and died. Adam died the same day he ate. God had said, "On the day you eat of it, you will surely die." The Lord, by including Himself on this day, underwent His suffering on the day before the Sabbath, known as the sixth day of creation, when humanity was made. In doing so, He offered a new creation through His suffering, a creation out of death.

Some claim Adam died in the thousandth year since "a day of the Lord is as a thousand years," and he died within those years, fulfilling the consequence of his sin. Whether we focus on disobedience as death, or that they were handed over to death and became indebted to it, or the fact that they ate and died on the same day, which is the day of preparation or the sixth day of the feast, on which the Lord also suffered; or whether we note that Adam didn't live past a thousand years but died within that limit, it follows that in all these meanings, God is indeed true.

Those who tasted the tree died, and the serpent is shown to be a liar and a murderer, as the Lord said of him: "For he is a murderer from the beginning, and the truth is not in him."

AS THE DEVIL LIED AT THE BEGINNING: he also lied at the end when he said, "All these are given to me, and I give them to whomever I will." It is not he who has appointed the kingdoms of this world, but God; for "the heart of the king is in the hand of God." The Word also says through Solomon, "By me, kings reign, and princes administer justice. By me, chiefs are raised up, and by me, kings rule the earth." Paul the apostle also speaks on this subject: "Be subject to all the higher powers; for there is no power but of God: now those which exist have been ordained by God." And again, referring to them, he says, "For he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is the minister of God, an avenger for wrath to the one who does evil." Now, he spoke these words not regarding angelic powers or invisible rulers—as some dare to interpret the passage—but about actual human authorities, as he clarifies when he says, "For this reason, pay taxes too, for they are God’s ministers, serving this very purpose." The Lord also confirmed this when He did not do what the devil tempted Him to do but instead directed that taxes should be paid to the tax collectors for Himself and Peter, because "they are the ministers of God, serving this very purpose."

SINCE PEOPLE: by turning away from God, became so enraged as to see their own brothers as enemies, and engaged fearlessly in all kinds of disorderly behavior, including murder and greed; God placed upon humanity the fear of man, as they did not acknowledge the fear of God. This was so that, being subject to human authority and restrained by their laws, they might attain some level of justice and practice mutual forbearance out of fear of the sword visible before them, as the apostle says: “For he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is the minister of God, the avenger for wrath upon those who do evil.” For this reason too, magistrates themselves, acting justly and lawfully, shall not be questioned or punished for their conduct. But whatever actions undermine justice, done unjustly, impiously, illegally, and tyrannically, in these they too shall perish; for the just judgment of God applies to all, without deficiency. Earthly authority, therefore, has been established by God for the benefit of nations, and not by the devil, who never rests, and does not desire even peaceful nations. Under human authority, people may avoid destroying each other like fishes, and through the establishment of laws, excessive wickedness among nations may be restrained. Viewed from this perspective, those who collect taxes from us are “God’s ministers, serving for this very purpose.”

Since "the powers that be are ordained of God," it's clear that the devil lied when he claimed, "These are given to me, and I give them to whoever I want." By the law of the same Being who brings people into existence, kings are appointed to govern those who are living under their rule. Some of these rulers are provided for the correction and benefit of their subjects and for maintaining justice; others are given to inspire fear, punishment, and rebuke. Others, according to what the people deserve, are for deception, disgrace, and pride, while the just judgment of God, as I mentioned before, affects everyone equally. The devil, being the fallen angel, can only do what he did at the beginning: deceive and lead humans into disobeying God's commandments, gradually darkening the hearts of those who try to serve him, leading them to forget the true God and to worship him as God.

JUST AS IF SOMEONE: being an apostate, seized another man’s territory in a hostile manner and harassed its inhabitants to claim the glory of a king among those ignorant of his apostasy and robbery; similarly, the devil, one of the angels placed over the spirit of the air, as the Apostle Paul stated in his Epistle to the Ephesians, became envious of man and turned apostate from the divine law, for envy is foreign to God. And as his apostasy was exposed by man, and man became the means of examining his intentions, he has committed himself with increasing determination against man, envying his life and wishing to involve him in his apostate power. The Word of God, the Maker of all things, conquered him through human nature, revealing him as an apostate, and has instead placed him under the power of man. For He says, “Behold, I give you the power to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy,” so that, just as he gained dominion over man through apostasy, his apostasy might lose its power as man turns back to God.

AND NOT ONLY FROM THE DETAILS ALREADY MENTIONED: but also through the events that will occur during the time of Antichrist, it is shown that he, being an apostate and a thief, wants to be worshiped as God, and that, even though he is just a slave, he wishes to be proclaimed as a king. For he (Antichrist), endowed with all the power of the devil, will come, not as a righteous or legitimate king under God, but as an impious, unjust, and lawless one; as an apostate, wicked and murderous; as a thief, concentrating in himself all satanic apostasy, and setting aside idols to convince people that he himself is God, elevating himself as the only idol, having within him the many errors of the other idols.

He does this so that those who now worship the devil through many abominations may serve him through this one idol. The apostle speaks of him in the second Epistle to the Thessalonians: "Unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped; so that he sits in the temple of God, showing himself as if he were God." The apostle therefore clearly points out his apostasy and that he elevates himself above all that is called God or worshiped—that is, above every idol—for these are indeed called so by people but are not truly gods; and that he will try in a tyrannical manner to present himself as God.

MOREOVER: the apostle has also pointed out, as I have shown in many ways, that the temple in Jerusalem was made by the direction of the true God. The apostle himself, speaking personally, clearly called it the temple of God. I have shown in the third book that no one is called God by the apostles when speaking personally, except Him who truly is God, the Father of our Lord, by whose directions the temple in Jerusalem was constructed for the purposes I have already mentioned; in this temple, the enemy shall sit, attempting to show himself as Christ, as the Lord also declares: “But when you see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains; and he who is on the rooftop should not come down to take anything out of his house: for there will be great hardship, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, nor ever shall be.”

DANIEL ALSO: anticipating the end of the last kingdom, namely the ten last kings, among whom the kingdom will be divided, and upon whom the son of perdition will come, states that ten horns will emerge from the beast, and another small horn will arise among them, and three of the former will be uprooted before it. He says: "And, look, eyes were in this horn like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things, and its appearance was more imposing than its companions.

I was watching, and this horn made war against the saints and prevailed against them, until the Ancient of Days came and granted judgment to the saints of the most high God, and the time came, and the saints took possession of the kingdom." Then, further on, in the interpretation of the vision, it was said to him: "The fourth beast will be the fourth kingdom on earth, which will exceed all other kingdoms, and devour the whole earth, and trample it down, and break it into pieces.

And its ten horns are ten kings who will arise; and after them, another will arise who will surpass all before him in evil deeds, and will overthrow three kings; and he will speak words against the most high God, and wear out the saints of the most high God, and intend to change times and laws; and everything will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time," that is for three years and six months, during which time he will rule over the earth.

The Apostle Paul also speaks of him, in the second Epistle to the Thessalonians, declaring the reason for his coming, and says: "And then the wicked one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will slay with the breath of His mouth and destroy by the brightness of His coming; whose coming is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and deceptive wonders, and with all deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth to be saved.

For this reason, God will send them a powerful delusion, that they may believe a lie; that all may be judged who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness."

THE LORD ALSO SPOKE TO THOSE WHO DID NOT BELIEVE IN HIM: “I have come in my Father’s name, and you have not received Me; when another comes in his own name, you will receive him,” referring to the Antichrist as “the other,” because he is separated from the Lord. This is also the unjust judge, whom the Lord mentioned as one “who feared not God, nor regarded people,” to whom the widow turned in her forgetfulness of God—that is, the earthly Jerusalem—to be avenged of her adversary.

He will also do this in the time of his kingdom: he will move his kingdom into that city and will sit in the temple of God, leading those who worship him astray, as if he were Christ. Daniel also says about this: “And he shall desolate the holy place; and sin has been given as a sacrifice, and righteousness cast away on the earth, and he has acted and gone on prosperously.” The angel Gabriel, when explaining this vision, says about this person: “Towards the end of their kingdom, a king of a most fierce appearance shall arise, one understanding dark questions and exceedingly powerful, full of wonders; he shall corrupt, direct, influence, and put strong men down, including the holy people; and his yoke shall be like a wreath around their neck; deceit shall be in his hand, and he shall be proud in his heart: he shall also ruin many by deceit, leading many to destruction, crushing them like eggs in his hand.” He then indicates the duration of his tyranny, during which the saints who offer a pure sacrifice to God shall be persecuted: “And in the middle of the week,” he says, “the sacrifice and offering shall be taken away, and the abomination of desolation shall be brought into the temple: until the end of the time, the desolation shall be complete.” Three years and six months make up the half-week.

FROM ALL THESE PASSAGES: it is shown to us not only the details of the apostasy and the actions of the one who embodies every satanic error but also that there is one and the same God the Father, who was declared by the prophets and revealed by Christ. For if what Daniel prophesied about the end has been confirmed by the Lord when He said, "When you shall see the abomination of desolation, which has been spoken of by Daniel the prophet," and the angel Gabriel gave the interpretation of the visions to Daniel and he is the archangel of the Creator, who also announced to Mary the visible coming and incarnation of Christ, then one and the same God is clearly indicated, who sent the prophets, promised the Son, and called us to know Him.

IN A CLEARER WAY: John in the Apocalypse has shown the Lord’s disciples what will happen in the last times and about the ten kings who will arise. The existing empire will be divided among them. He explains what the ten horns seen by Daniel are, telling us this is what was said to him: “The ten horns you saw are ten kings, who have not yet received a kingdom but will receive power as kings for one hour with the beast.

They have a single purpose and give their power and authority to the beast. These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them because He is the Lord of lords and the King of kings.” It is clear that among these rulers, the one who is to come will kill three and bring the rest under his control, and he will be the eighth among them. They will lay Babylon waste, burn her with fire, give their kingdom to the beast, and drive the Church into exile.

Afterward, they will be destroyed by the coming of our Lord. The Lord states that the kingdom must be divided and thus come to ruin: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.” Therefore, the kingdom, the city, and the house must be divided into ten. For this reason, He has already foreshadowed the coming partition and division. Daniel also specifies that the end of the fourth kingdom is represented by the toes of the image seen by Nebuchadnezzar, on which the stone cut without hands fell.

Daniel himself says: “The feet were part iron, part clay, until the stone was cut out without hands and struck the image on the iron and clay feet, shattering them to pieces, all the way to the end.” Then, he interprets: “As you saw the feet and toes, partly of clay and partly of iron, the kingdom will be divided. There will be a root of iron in it, as you saw iron mixed with baked clay. The toes were partly iron, partly clay.” The ten toes are these ten kings among whom the kingdom will be divided.

Some will be strong and active; others will be sluggish and useless, unable to agree, as Daniel says: “Part of the kingdom will be strong, and part will break away. As you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, there will be mixtures among the human race, but no unity, just as iron cannot combine with pottery.” Since an end will come, he says: “In the days of these kings, the God of heaven will raise up a kingdom that will never decay, and His kingdom will not be left to another people.

It will break and scatter all kingdoms and will be exalted forever. As you saw that the stone was cut without hands from the mountain and broke the baked clay, iron, brass, silver, and gold, God has shown the king what will happen after these events; the dream is true, and the interpretation is reliable.”

IF: therefore, the great God revealed future events through Daniel and confirmed them by His Son; and if Christ is the stone that is cut out without hands, who will destroy temporary kingdoms and introduce an eternal one, which is the resurrection of the just, as it is declared, "The God of heaven shall raise up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed,"—let those who are thus refuted understand, who reject the Creator and do not agree that the prophets were sent beforehand from the same Father from whom also the Lord came, but who claim that prophecies originated from diverse powers.

For the things predicted by the Creator through all the prophets has Christ fulfilled in the end, serving His Father’s will and completing His plans regarding the human race. Let those who blaspheme the Creator, whether by openly expressed words like the followers of Marcion, or by twisting the meaning of Scripture, like those of Valentinus and all falsely called Gnostics, be recognized as agents of Satan by all who worship God; through whose agency Satan now, and not before, has been shown to speak against God, even Him who has prepared eternal fire for every kind of apostasy.

For he did not dare to blaspheme his Lord openly by himself; just as in the beginning he led man astray through the serpent, hiding as it were from God.

Truly, Justin noted: Before the Lord’s appearance, Satan never dared to blaspheme God, as he did not yet know his own sentence, because it was hidden in parables and allegories; but after the Lord’s appearance, when he clearly learned from the words of Christ and His apostles that eternal fire has been prepared for him since he turned away from God of his own free will, and likewise for all unrepentant continuing in the apostasy, he now blasphemes, through such men, the Lord who brings judgment upon him as being already condemned, and blames his Maker for his apostasy, not his own free choice.

Just as it is with those who break the laws, when punishment catches up to them: they blame those who make the laws, not themselves. In the same way do those men, filled with a satanic spirit, bring countless accusations against our Creator, who has given us the spirit of life and established a law suited for all; and they will not admit that the judgment of God is just.

Therefore, they imagine some other Father who neither cares about nor governs our affairs, even one who approves of all sins.

IF THE FATHER DOES NOT EXERCISE JUDGMENT: then it follows that judgment does not belong to Him, or He agrees with everything that happens. If He does not judge, then everyone will be equal and considered in the same state. The coming of Christ would then be pointless, even absurd, because He would have no judicial power. For “He came to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;” and when two are in one bed, He will take one and leave the other; and of two women grinding at the mill, He will take one and leave the other.

At the end time, He will tell the reapers to gather the tares first, bind them in bundles, and burn them with unquenchable fire, but to collect the wheat into the barn, and to invite the lambs into the kingdom prepared for them, but to send the goats into everlasting fire, which has been prepared by His Father for the devil and his angels. And why is this? Has the Word come for the downfall and resurrection of many? Certainly for the downfall of those who do not believe Him, to whom He has warned of a greater damnation on judgment-day than that of Sodom and Gomorrah; but for the resurrection of believers, and those who do the will of His Father in heaven.

If the coming of the Son comes indeed to all, but with the purpose of judging and separating the believing from the unbelieving, since those who believe do His will by their own choice, and the disobedient do not agree with His doctrine by their own choice, it is clear that His Father has made everyone in the same state, each person having a choice of their own and a free understanding, and that He cares for all things and oversees everything, “making His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sending rain on the just and the unjust.”

TO EVERYONE WHO CONTINUES IN THEIR LOVE FOR GOD: He grants communion with Him. Communion with God is life and light and the enjoyment of all the benefits He has in store.

But to those who choose to depart from God, He enforces the separation they have willingly chosen. Separation from God is death, and separation from light is darkness; it means losing all the benefits He offers. Those who abandon these things through apostasy, finding themselves without any good, experience every kind of punishment.

God does not punish them directly, but the punishment comes upon them because they lack all that is good. Good things are eternal and endless with God, so losing these is eternal and never-ending. It's like the case of a flood of light: those who have blinded themselves, or been blinded by others, are forever deprived of the enjoyment of light. The light hasn't caused their blindness; their blindness has brought disaster upon them. That's why the Lord said, “He who believes in Me is not condemned,” meaning they are not separated from God, because they are united with God through faith.

On the other hand, He says, “He who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God,” meaning he has separated himself from God by choice. “This is the condemnation: light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light. Everyone who does evil hates the light and doesn't come to the light, so their deeds won't be exposed.

But whoever does truth comes to the light, so their deeds can be seen as being done in God.”

SINCE IN THIS WORLD SOME PEOPLE TURN TO THE LIGHT AND UNITE WITH GOD THROUGH FAITH: while others avoid the light and separate from God, the Word of God comes to prepare a suitable place for both. For those who are in the light, it provides the enjoyment of it and the good things within; but for those in darkness, they will share in its calamities. For this reason, He says that those on the right hand are invited into the kingdom of heaven, while those on the left will be sent into eternal fire because they have deprived themselves of all good.

2. And for this reason the apostle says: “Because they did not receive the love of God, to be saved, God will also send them the effects of error, so they may believe a lie, and be judged for not believing the truth, but approving unrighteousness.” When he (Antichrist) comes, he willingly embodies the rebellion and does all he wants according to his will and choice, sitting in the temple of God, so his followers may worship him as the Christ; he will deservedly “be cast into the lake of fire” [this will happen by divine appointment], as God, by His foresight, knew all this would occur and, at the right time, sends such a man, “so they may believe a lie, and be judged for not believing the truth, but approving unrighteousness;” whose arrival John describes in the Apocalypse: “And the beast I saw was like a leopard, his feet like a bear's, and his mouth like a lion's; and the dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority.

ONE OF HIS HEADS SEEMED MORTALLY WOUNDED: but his deadly wound was healed, and the whole world was in awe of the beast. They worshipped the dragon for giving power to the beast; and worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like this beast, and who can fight against him? And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemy, and authority was given to him for forty-two months. He opened his mouth to blaspheme God, His name, His tabernacle, and those who live in heaven.

And he was given power over every tribe, people, language, and nation. All who live on earth worshipped him, [everyone] whose name was not in the Lamb's book of life, slain from the world's foundation. If anyone has ears, let them hear. If anyone is to be taken captive, they will go into captivity. If anyone kills with the sword, they must be killed with the sword. Here is the endurance and the faith of the saints.” After this, he similarly describes his armor-bearer, called a false prophet: “He spoke like a dragon, exercised all the power of the first beast in his sight, and caused the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.

He will perform great wonders, even bringing fire down from heaven to earth in the sight of people, leading the earth's inhabitants astray.” Let no one think he performs these wonders by divine power, but by magic. We shouldn’t be surprised, for with demons and apostate spirits serving him, he uses them to perform wonders, misleading the earth's inhabitants. John adds: “And he will order an image of the beast to be made, and will give breath to the image so it will speak; and he will cause death to those who will not worship it.” He also says: “And he will cause a mark to be put on the forehead and right hand, so no one can buy or sell unless they have the mark of the beast’s name or number; and the number is six hundred and sixty-six,” that is, six times a hundred, six times ten, and six units. [He gives this] as a summary of the entire apostasy over six thousand years.

FOR IN AS MANY DAYS AS THIS WORLD WAS MADE: in so many thousand years shall it be concluded. And for this reason, Scripture says: “Thus the heaven and the earth were finished, and all their adornment. And God brought to a conclusion on the sixth day the works that He had made; and God rested on the seventh day from all His works.” This is an account of things formerly created, as it is also a prophecy of what is to come. For the day of the Lord is as a thousand years; and in six days, created things were completed: it is evident, therefore, that they will come to an end at the six thousandth year.

AND THEREFORE: throughout all time, humanity, having been shaped at the beginning by the hands of God, that is, the Son and the Spirit, is made in the image and likeness of God: the chaff, which is the apostasy, being cast away; but the wheat, meaning those who bear fruit for God in faith, being gathered into the barn. For this reason, tribulation is necessary for those who are saved, so that, having been broken down, refined, and seasoned by the patience of the Word of God, and set on fire for purification, they may be prepared for the royal banquet. As one of our people said when he was condemned to the wild beasts because of his testimony regarding God: “I am the wheat of Christ, and am ground by the teeth of the wild beasts, that I may be found the pure bread of God.”

IN THE PREVIOUS BOOKS: I have explained the reasons why God allowed these things to be made and pointed out that all such things were created for the benefit of human nature, which is saved and maturing toward immortality through its own free will and power, making it more prepared and suited for eternal subjection to God. Therefore, creation is designed for humanity's needs; humans were not made for the sake of creation, but creation for the sake of humans. However, those nations that did not, of their own accord, lift their eyes to heaven, nor gave thanks to their Maker, nor wished to see the light of truth, are justly regarded by the word “as waste water from a sink, and as the turning-weight of a balance—in fact, as nothing;” useful to the just to the extent that stubble helps wheat grow, and its straw, when burned, is used for working gold. Therefore, when the Church is suddenly taken up at the end, it is said, “There shall be tribulation such as has not been since the beginning, neither shall be.” For this is the final contest of the righteous, in which, when they overcome, they are crowned with incorruption.

IN THIS BEAST: when he arrives, all kinds of iniquity and every deceit are gathered, so that all apostate power, flowing into and confined within him, may be cast into the furnace of fire.

Therefore, it is fitting that his name bears the number six hundred and sixty-six, since he embodies all the wickedness that occurred before the flood due to the apostasy of the angels. Noah was six hundred years old when the flood came upon the earth, sweeping away the rebellious world because of that infamous generation in Noah's time.

The Antichrist also embodies every error of false idols since the flood, along with the killing of the prophets and the destruction of the just. The image set up by Nebuchadnezzar was sixty cubits tall and six cubits wide; Ananias, Azarias, and Mishaell, who refused to worship it, were thrown into a furnace of fire, prophetically indicating the wrath against the righteous that will arise towards the end times. That image, in its entirety, prefigured this man’s arrival, decreeing that he alone should be worshipped by all men.

Thus, the six hundred years of Noah, during which the flood occurred because of apostasy, and the dimensions of the image for which these just men were thrown into the fiery furnace, indicate the number of the name of that man in whom the entire apostasy of six thousand years, unrighteousness, wickedness, false prophecy, and deception are concentrated; for these reasons, a cataclysm of fire will also come upon the earth.

GIVEN THE STATE OF THE MATTER: and this number being found in all the most respected and ancient copies of the Apocalypse, with testimony from those who saw John directly, reason suggests that the beast's name, calculated according to the Greek system by the value of the letters, amounts to six hundred and sixty-six. The number of tens matches the hundreds, and the hundreds match the units. The digit six throughout represents the complete recurrence of apostasy from the beginning, through intermediary periods, to the end.

Some have mistakenly altered the middle number in the name, subtracting fifty, so instead of six tens, they claim there is but one. This likely happened due to copying errors, common when numbers are expressed by letters, as the Greek letter for sixty could easily be mistaken for iota. Some accepted this reading without examining it, and in their simplicity used this number representing one ten; others, lacking experience, tried to find a name that matched the incorrect number. Those who did this innocently and without ill intent can be assumed to receive God's pardon.

However, those who seek vainglory by asserting that names with the false number should be accepted, and who claim their discovered name is that of the future figure, will not avoid loss, for they mislead themselves and others. It is a loss to stray from the truth and believe what is not, and a punishment awaits those who add or remove anything from Scripture, to which such a person is subject.

Additionally, a significant danger looms for those who wrongly claim to know the Antichrist's name.

If they propose one number and the Antichrist arrives with another, they could easily be deceived, thinking him not to be the awaited one to guard against.

THESE MEN: therefore, ought to learn what the situation actually is and return to the true number of the name, so they are not counted among false prophets. By knowing the certain number declared by Scripture, which is six hundred sixty-six, let them first wait for the division of the kingdom into ten. Then, when these kings are reigning and beginning to organize their affairs and advance their kingdom, let them learn to recognize that the one who will come claiming the kingdom for himself, and will terrify the men we have spoken of, having a name containing the mentioned number, is truly the abomination of desolation. The apostle also confirms this: “When they shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction shall come upon them.” Jeremiah not only points out his sudden coming but also indicates the tribe from which he shall come, where he says, “We shall hear the voice of his swift horses from Dan; the whole earth shall be moved by the voice of the neighing of his galloping horses: he shall also come and devour the earth, and all its abundance, the city also, and those who dwell therein.” This is also why this tribe is not counted in the Apocalypse with those who are saved.

IT IS THEREFORE MORE CERTAIN AND LESS RISKY TO WAIT FOR THE PROPHECY TO BE FULFILLED THAN TO MAKE GUESSES AND SEARCH FOR ANY NAMES THAT MIGHT COME UP: since many names can be found with the mentioned number; and the question will still remain unanswered. For if many names are found with this number, it will be asked which name the coming man will have. I don't say this because there is a lack of names containing that number, but out of fear of God and zeal for the truth.

The name Evanthas contains the required number, but I do not make any claims about it.

Also, Lateinos has the number six hundred and sixty-six and is a very probable solution because it is the name of the last kingdom seen by Daniel. The Latins are the ones currently in power; however, I will not boast about this coincidence. Teitan, with the first syllable written with the two Greek vowels e and i, among all the names found among us, is rather credible.

It has the predicted number, is composed of six letters, each syllable containing three letters, and the word itself is ancient and not commonly used; for among our kings we find none with the name Titan, nor do any of the idols worshipped publicly among the Greeks and barbarians have this name. Among many people, this name is considered divine, so that even the sun is called "Titan" by those who currently rule. This word also conveys a sense of vengeance and deserved punishment because Antichrist claims to vindicate the oppressed.

Besides this, it is an ancient name, credible, of royal dignity, and further, a name belonging to a tyrant. Since this name "Titan" has so much to recommend it, there is a strong probability that, from among the many suggested names, we might infer that he who is to come could be called "Titan." However, we will not take the risk of stating positively the name of Antichrist; for if it were necessary for his name to be clearly revealed now, it would have been disclosed by the one who saw the apocalyptic vision.

For that was seen not very long ago, but almost in our day, toward the end of Domitian's reign.

BUT HE REVEALS THE NUMBER OF THE NAME NOW: so that when this man comes we may avoid him, knowing who he is: the name, however, is withheld, because it is not worthy of being announced by the Holy Spirit. For if it had been revealed by Him, he (Antichrist) might possibly continue for a long time. But now as “he was, and is not, and shall ascend out of the abyss, and goes into perdition,” as one who has no existence; thus his name has not been revealed, for the name of that which does not exist is not announced. But when this Antichrist has devastated everything in this world, he will rule for three years and six months, and sit in the temple at Jerusalem; and then the Lord will come from heaven in the clouds, in the glory of the Father, sending this man and those who follow him into the lake of fire; but bringing for the righteous the times of the kingdom, that is, the rest, the sacred seventh day; and restoring to Abraham the promised inheritance, in which kingdom the Lord declared that “many coming from the east and from the west will sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

SINCE SOME PEOPLE CONSIDERED ORTHODOX GO BEYOND THE INTENDED PLAN FOR THE EXALTATION OF THE JUST AND ARE IGNORANT OF THE WAYS THEY ARE PREPARED FOR INCORRUPTION: they hold heretical beliefs. Heretics, who despise God's handiwork and deny the salvation of their flesh, disregard God's promise and surpass God altogether with their beliefs, claiming that immediately after death they will ascend above the heavens and the Demiurge, and go to the Mother (Achamoth) or to the Father they have fabricated.

Those who reject the resurrection of the whole person and try to exclude it from Christian teaching, is it any wonder if they are ignorant of the resurrection plan? They fail to understand that if their views were true, the Lord Himself, whom they claim to believe in, did not rise again on the third day; instead, He would have left His body on earth and ascended immediately after dying on the cross.

However, He stayed among the dead for three days, as the prophet says: “And the Lord remembered His dead saints who previously slept in the land of sepulcher; and He descended to them to rescue and save them.” The Lord Himself says, “As Jonah was three days and nights in the belly of the whale, so shall the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth.” The apostle also says, “But when He ascended, what does it mean but that He also descended into the lower parts of the earth?” David, too, prophesied of Him, saying, “And you have delivered my soul from the nethermost hell.” Upon rising again on the third day, He told Mary, who was the first to see and worship Him, “Do not touch Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My disciples and tell them, I ascend to My Father and your Father.”

IF: then, the Lord followed the law of the dead to become the firstborn from the dead, and remained until the third day "in the lower parts of the earth;" then afterward rose in the flesh, even showing the marks of the nails to His disciples, and then ascended to the Father;—[if all these things happened, I say], how must these people not be confused, who claim that "the lower parts" refer to this world of ours, but that their inner self, leaving the body here, ascends into the super-celestial place? For as the Lord "went away in the midst of the shadow of death," where the souls of the dead were, yet afterward rose in the body, and after the resurrection was taken up [into heaven], it is clear that the souls of His disciples also, for whom the Lord underwent these things, shall go away into the invisible place assigned to them by God, and remain there until the resurrection, awaiting that event; then receiving their bodies, and rising wholly, that is bodily, just as the Lord rose, they shall come into the presence of God. "For no disciple is above the Master, but every one that is perfect shall be as his Master." Just as our Master did not immediately depart, ascending [to heaven], but awaited the time of His resurrection set by the Father, which was also shown through Jonas, and rising again after three days was taken up [to heaven]; so should we also await the time of our resurrection set by God and foretold by the prophets, and, rising, be taken up, as many as the Lord shall deem worthy of this [privilege].

Since certain orthodox people's beliefs are influenced by heretical teachings, they lack understanding of God's plans, the mystery of the resurrection of the righteous, and the earthly kingdom that marks the beginning of incorruption. This kingdom allows those who are worthy to gradually share in the divine nature. It is important to inform them that the righteous must first receive the promised inheritance that God made to the ancestors. They will reign in it when they rise again to see God in this renewed creation, and judgment will occur afterward. It is fitting that in the very creation where they labored or suffered in many ways, they should receive the reward for their suffering. In the creation where they were killed because of their love for God, they should be brought back to life; and in the creation where they were subjected to servitude, they should reign. For God is abundant in all things, and everything belongs to Him. Therefore, it is proper for the creation itself, once restored to its original state, to be under the unrestricted rule of the righteous. The apostle clarified this in the Epistle to the Romans, when he said: "For the creation eagerly awaits the revelation of the sons of God. The creation was subjected to futility, not by its own choice, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be freed from the bondage of corruption into the glorious freedom of the sons of God."

2. So, the promise of God, which He gave to Abraham, remains steadfast. For He said: “Lift up your eyes, and look from this place where you are now, towards the north and south, and east and west. For all the earth you see, I will give to you and your descendants, forever.” And again He says, “Arise, and walk through the length and breadth of the land, since I will give it to you;” yet he did not receive an inheritance in it, not even a footstep, but was always a stranger and a pilgrim there.

UPON THE DEATH OF SARAH HIS WIFE: when the Hittites were willing to give him a place to bury her, he declined it as a gift and bought the burial place (paying four hundred talents of silver) from Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite.

Thus, he waited patiently for the promise of God, and was unwilling to seem to receive from men what God had promised to give him, when He said again to him: “I will give this land to your descendants, from the river of Egypt to the great river Euphrates.” If, then, God promised him the inheritance of the land, yet he did not receive it during all the time of his stay there, it must be that together with his descendants, those who fear God and believe in Him, he shall receive it at the resurrection of the just.

For his descendants are the Church, which receives the adoption to God through the Lord, as John the Baptist said: “For God is able from the stones to raise up children to Abraham.” The apostle also says in the Epistle to the Galatians: “But you, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of the promise.” And again, in the same Epistle, he clearly states that those who have believed in Christ receive Christ, the promise to Abraham, by saying, “The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his descendant.

He does not say, "And to descendants," as if referring to many, but as to one, "And to your descendant," which is Christ.” And again, confirming his previous words, he says, “Even as Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. Know therefore, that those who are of faith are the children of Abraham.

But the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, declared to Abraham beforehand, That in you shall all nations be blessed.

So then, those who are of faith shall be blessed with faithful Abraham.” Thus, those who are of faith shall be blessed with faithful Abraham, and these are the children of Abraham. Now God promised the earth to Abraham and his descendants; yet neither Abraham nor his descendants, those who are justified by faith, now receive any inheritance in it; but they shall receive it at the resurrection of the just. For God is true and faithful; and for this reason He said, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”

FOR THIS REASON: when about to undergo His sufferings, so He might announce to Abraham and those with him the good news of the inheritance being made available, Christ, after He had given thanks while holding the cup, drank from it and gave it to the disciples, saying to them: “Drink all of it: this is My blood of the new covenant, which will be shed for many for the remission of sins. But I tell you, I will not drink from this vine again until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” Thus, He will renew the inheritance of the earth and reorganize the mystery of the glory of His sons, as David says, “He who has renewed the face of the earth.” He promised to drink from the fruit of the vine with His disciples, indicating both the inheritance of the earth, in which the new fruit of the vine is consumed, and the resurrection of His disciples in the flesh. For the new flesh that rises again is the same that also received the new cup. He cannot be understood as drinking from the fruit of the vine while settled with His disciples above in a super-celestial place; nor are those who drink it without flesh, for drinking what flows from the vine pertains to flesh, not spirit.

AND FOR THIS REASON THE LORD DECLARED: “When you make a dinner or a supper, do not invite your friends, nor your neighbors, nor your relatives, in case they invite you back and repay you. Instead, invite the lame, the blind, and the poor, and you shall be blessed, because they cannot repay you, but you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.” And again He says, “Whoever has left lands, or houses, or parents, or siblings, or children for My sake, shall receive a hundred times as much in this world, and in the world to come, shall inherit eternal life.” For what are the hundred-fold rewards in this world, the meals given to the poor, and the suppers for which a return is made? These are to take place in the times of the kingdom, that is, on the seventh day, which has been sanctified, in which God rested from all the works He created, which is the true Sabbath of the righteous, during which they shall not be engaged in any earthly work; but will have a table prepared for them by God, providing them with all kinds of dishes.

Isaac's blessing for his younger son Jacob holds the same meaning when he says, "Behold, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed." However, "the field is the world." Therefore, he added, "God give you the dew of heaven and the richness of the earth, plenty of grain and wine. Let the nations serve you, and may kings bow down to you; be lord over your brother, and may your father's sons bow to you.

CURSED BE ANYONE WHO CURSES YOU: and blessed be anyone who blesses you." If anyone does not see these things as relating to the appointed kingdom, he must face much contradiction, like the Jews, who are in absolute confusion. For not only did the nations not serve Jacob in this life, but even after receiving the blessing, he himself served his uncle Laban the Syrian for twenty years after leaving his home.

Moreover, he was not made lord over his brother but instead bowed to his brother Esau upon returning from Mesopotamia to his father and offered many gifts to him.

Furthermore, Jacob did not inherit much grain and wine here; he migrated to Egypt due to the famine in the land he lived in and became subject to Pharaoh, who was ruling over Egypt at that time.

Therefore, the predicted blessing undoubtedly pertains to the times of the kingdom, when the righteous will reign upon rising from the dead; when creation, having been renewed and freed, will yield an abundance of all kinds of food from the dew of heaven and the fertility of the earth.

As the elders who saw John, the disciple of the Lord, related, they heard from him how the Lord taught about these times, saying: The days will come when vines will grow with each having ten thousand branches, each branch having ten thousand twigs, and each twig ten thousand shoots, and each shoot ten thousand clusters, and every cluster will have ten thousand grapes. When pressed, each grape will yield twenty-five metretes of wine. When any saint picks a cluster, another will cry out, "I am a better cluster, take me; bless the Lord through me." Similarly, the Lord declared that a grain of wheat would produce ten thousand ears, each ear having ten thousand grains, and every grain would yield ten pounds of clear, pure, fine flour.

All other fruit-bearing trees, seeds, and grasses would produce in similar proportions. All animals, feeding only on the earth's produce, will become peaceful and harmonious with each other and be perfectly subject to man in those days.

4. These things are documented in writing by Papias, the listener of John and a companion of Polycarp, in his fourth book; he compiled five books in total. He adds, "Now these things are credible to believers." He mentions that when the traitor Judas questioned them and asked, "How can things about to bring forth so abundantly be done by the Lord?" the Lord replied, "Those who live in these times will see." When prophesying about these times, Isaiah says: "The wolf will live with the lamb, and the leopard will rest with the goat; the calf, the bull, and the lion will eat together, and a little boy will lead them. The ox and the bear will graze together, and their young will be safe together; and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will put his hand into the viper's nest, and they will do no harm nor cause any damage on my holy mountain." And he repeats, "Wolves and lambs will graze together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, and the serpent will eat dust as if it were bread; and they will neither harm nor trouble anything on my holy mountain, says the Lord."

I KNOW THAT SOME PEOPLE TRY TO APPLY THESE WORDS TO THE SITUATION OF WILD MEN FROM DIFFERENT NATIONS AND VARIOUS HABITS WHO COME TO BELIEVE: and when they believe, live in harmony with the righteous. While this is true now regarding some people from various nations joining the harmony of the faith, in the resurrection of the just, these words will also apply to the animals mentioned. For God is rich in all things. When creation is restored, it is right that all animals should obey and be subject to humans and return to the diet initially given by God (as they were originally in obedience to Adam), which is the produce of the earth. However, another occasion should be sought to show that the lion will then eat straw. This indicates the large size and rich quality of the fruits. For if the lion eats straw at that time, the wheat itself must be of such quality that its straw would serve as suitable food for lions.

THEN: Isaiah himself has clearly stated that there will be joy of this nature at the resurrection of the just, when he says: “The dead shall rise again; those who are in the tombs shall arise, and those who are in the earth shall rejoice. For the dew from You is health to them.” Ezekiel also says this: “Behold, I will open your tombs, and will bring you out of your graves; when I will draw my people from the sepulchres, and I will put breath in you, and you shall live; and I will place you on your own land, and you shall know that I am the Lord.” And again he speaks thus: “These things says the Lord, I will gather Israel from all nations where they have been driven, and I shall be sanctified in them in the sight of the sons of the nations: and they shall dwell in their own land, which I gave to my servant Jacob.

And they shall dwell in it in peace; and they shall build houses, and plant vineyards, and dwell in hope, when I shall cause judgment to fall among all who have dishonored them, among those who surround them; and they shall know that I am the Lord their God, and the God of their fathers.” I have shown earlier that the church is the seed of Abraham; and for this reason, that we may know that He who in the New Testament “raises up from the stones children unto Abraham,” is He who will gather, according to the Old Testament, those who shall be saved from all the nations, Jeremiah says: “Behold, the days come, says the Lord, that they shall no more say, The Lord lives, who led the children of Israel from the north, and from every region where they had been driven; He will restore them to their own land which He gave to their fathers.”

THE ENTIRE CREATION: according to God's will, will obtain a great increase so that it can bring forth and sustain fruits as we have mentioned. Isaiah declares: "And on every high mountain and every prominent hill, there will be water running everywhere on that day when many shall perish and walls shall fall. The light of the moon will be like the light of the sun, seven times brighter than day, when He heals the anguish of His people and removes the pain of His stroke." The "pain of the stroke" refers to the death inflicted at the beginning upon disobedient man in Adam, which the Lord will heal when He raises us from the dead and restores the inheritance of the fathers.

Isaiah also says: "And you shall be confident in the Lord, and He will cause you to pass over the whole earth and feed you with the inheritance of Jacob your father." The Lord declared: "Happy are those servants whom the Lord finds watching when He comes. Truly I say to you, He will gird Himself, have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them. If He comes in the evening watch and finds them so, blessed are they because He will have them sit down and minister to them; or if it is in the second or third watch, blessed are they." John also says the same in the Apocalypse: "Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection." Isaiah has also declared the time when these events will occur, saying: "And I said, Lord, how long? Until the cities are wasted without inhabitants, and the houses without people, and the earth becomes a desert.

After these things, the Lord will remove us far away, and those who remain will multiply on the earth." Daniel also says: "The kingdom, dominion, and greatness of those under heaven will be given to the saints of the Most High God, whose kingdom is everlasting, and all dominions will serve and obey Him." And so that the promise is not understood as referring to this time, it was declared to the prophet: "And come, and stand in your lot at the end of the days."

NOW: the promises were not just announced to the prophets and the fathers, but also to the Churches from the nations, whom the Spirit calls "the islands." This is because they are set in the midst of chaos, endure the storm of blasphemies, serve as a safe harbor for those in danger, and are a refuge for those who love the heights of heaven and strive to avoid Bythus, which means the depth of error. Jeremiah declares: “Hear the word of the Lord, nations, and declare it to the distant isles; say that the Lord will scatter Israel, He will gather him, and keep him like one tending his flock of sheep.

For the Lord has redeemed Jacob and saved him from a stronger hand. And they shall come and rejoice on Mount Zion, and they shall come to what is good, to a land of wheat, wine, fruits, animals, and sheep; and their soul shall be like a tree bearing fruit, and they shall hunger no more. At that time, the virgins will rejoice with the young men, the old men will also be glad, and I will turn their sorrow into joy; I will make them rejoice, elevate them, and satisfy the souls of the priests, the sons of Levi; and my people will be satisfied with my goodness.” In the preceding book, I have shown that all the disciples of the Lord are Levites and priests, who used to profane the Sabbath in the temple yet are blameless.

Such promises clearly indicate the feasting of creation in the kingdom of the righteous, which God promises to serve Himself.

4. Then again, speaking of Jerusalem and of Him reigning there, Isaiah declares, “Thus says the Lord, Happy is he who has seed in Zion and servants in Jerusalem. Behold, a righteous king shall reign, and princes shall rule with judgment.” Regarding the foundation on which it shall be rebuilt, he says: “Behold, I will lay in order for you a carbuncle stone, and sapphire for your foundations; and I will lay your ramparts with jasper, and your gates with crystal, and your wall with choice stones: and all your children shall be taught of God, and great shall be the peace of your children; and in righteousness shall you be built up.” And yet again he says the same thing: “Behold, I make Jerusalem a rejoicing, and my people a joy; for the voice of weeping shall no longer be heard in her, nor the voice of crying.

ALSO: there shall not be any immature one there, nor an old man who does not fulfill his time: for the youth shall be a hundred years old; and the sinner shall die a hundred years old, yet shall be accursed. And they shall build houses and inhabit them themselves; and shall plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them themselves, and shall drink wine. And they shall not build, and others inhabit; neither shall they prepare the vineyard, and others eat.

For as the days of the tree of life shall be the days of the people in you; for the works of their hands shall endure.”

IF ANYONE TRIES TO ALLEGORIZE THESE PROPHECIES: they won't be consistent in all aspects and will be contradicted by the teachings of the very expressions in question. For example: “When the cities of the Gentiles are desolate, so they aren't inhabited, and the houses are without people, and the land is left desolate.” “For, behold,” says Isaiah, “the day comes past remedy, full of fury and wrath, to lay waste the city of the earth, and to root sinners out of it.” And he also says, “Let him be taken away so he doesn't see the glory of God.” When these things happen, he says, “God will remove men far away, and those that remain will multiply on the earth.” “And they will build houses and live in them: and plant vineyards and eat from them.” These and other words were clearly spoken about the resurrection of the just, which occurs after the coming of Antichrist and the destruction of all nations under his rule.

In this time of resurrection, the righteous will reign on earth, growing stronger by witnessing the Lord: and through Him, they will become accustomed to sharing in the glory of God the Father, and will enjoy in the kingdom interaction and communion with the holy angels, and union with spiritual beings. This includes those whom the Lord finds in the flesh, waiting for Him from heaven, and who have suffered tribulation, as well as those who escaped the power of the Wicked one.

It's about them that the prophet says: “And those who are left will multiply on the earth.” Jeremiah the prophet pointed out that as many believers as God has prepared for this purpose, to multiply those left on earth, will be under the rule of the saints to serve this Jerusalem, and that His kingdom will be in it, saying, “Look around Jerusalem towards the east, and see the joy which comes to you from God Himself. Behold, your sons will come whom you have sent forth: they will come in a band from the east even to the west, by the word of that Holy One, rejoicing in the splendor that is from your God.

O Jerusalem, take off your robe of mourning and affliction, and put on the beauty of eternal splendor from your God. Gird yourself with the double garment of that righteousness from your God; place the mitre of eternal glory on your head. For God will show your glory to the whole earth under heaven. For your name will forever be called by God Himself, the peace of righteousness and glory to him who worships God. Arise, Jerusalem, stand on high, and look towards the east, and see your sons from the rising of the sun, even to the west, by the Word of that Holy One, rejoicing in the very remembrance of God.

For the footmen have left you while they were taken by the enemy. God will bring them back to you, carried with glory as the throne of a kingdom. For God has decreed that every high mountain will be brought low, and the eternal hills, and that the valleys be filled, so that the surface of the earth is smooth, so that Israel, the glory of God, may walk safely. The woods will also make shady places, and every sweet-smelling tree will be for Israel itself by the command of God.

For God will go before with joy in the light of His splendor, with the mercy and righteousness that come from Him.”

2. Now since these things are as they are, they cannot be understood in reference to super-celestial matters; "for God," it is said, "will show to the whole earth under heaven your glory." But in the times of the kingdom, the earth has been restored by Christ to its original state, and Jerusalem rebuilt after the pattern of the heavenly Jerusalem, of which the prophet Isaiah says, "Behold, I have etched your walls upon my hands, and you are always in my sight." Similarly, the apostle, writing to the Galatians, says, "But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother." He does not refer to an erratic Æon, or any power that left the Pleroma, or to Prunicus, but to the Jerusalem that has been depicted on God's hands.

IN REVELATION: John saw this new Jerusalem coming down upon the new earth. After the times of the kingdom, he says, "I saw a great white throne, and the One sitting on it, from whose presence the earth and heaven fled, and there was found no place for them." He also describes the events of the general resurrection and the judgment, mentioning "the dead, great and small." "The sea," he says, "gave up the dead it held, and death and hell delivered up the dead they contained; and the books were opened.

Moreover," he says, "the book of life was opened, and the dead were judged based on what was written in the books, according to their deeds; and death and hell were cast into the lake of fire, the second death." This is what is called Gehenna, which the Lord referred to as eternal fire. "And if anyone," it is said, "was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire." After this, he says, "I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and earth had passed away; there was also no more sea.

And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from heaven, like a bride adorned for her husband." "And I heard," it is said, "a loud voice from the throne, saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with men, and He will live with them; they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death will be no more, nor sorrow, nor crying, nor pain, because the former things have passed away." Isaiah also declares the same: "For there shall be a new heaven and a new earth; and there shall be no remembrance of the former, nor shall the heart consider them, but they shall find joy and exultation in it." This is what the apostle mentioned: "For the form of this world is passing away." Similarly, the Lord declared, "Heaven and earth will pass away." When these things pass away, John, the Lord’s disciple, says that the new Jerusalem above will then descend, as a bride adorned for her husband; this is the dwelling place of God, in which God will live with men.

The former Jerusalem is an image of this—that Jerusalem on the former earth where the righteous are prepared for incorruption and trained for salvation. Moses received the pattern of this dwelling on the mountain; everything is steadfast, true, and substantial, having been made by God for the righteous to enjoy. Just as God truly raises up man, so man truly rises from the dead, not allegorically, as I have repeatedly shown. As he rises truly, he shall also truly be prepared for incorruption and progress in the times of the kingdom, to receive the glory of the Father.

Then, when all things are made new, he shall truly dwell in the city of God. For it is said, “He who sits on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And the Lord says, Write this, for these words are faithful and true. And He said to me, They are done.” And this is the truth of the matter.

SINCE THERE ARE REAL PEOPLE: there must also be a real establishment so they do not vanish among non-existent things, but progress among things that actually exist. The substance and essence of creation are not destroyed (because faithful and true is He who established it), but "the fashion of the world passes away;" meaning those things where transgression has occurred, as mankind has grown old in them. Therefore, this current form has been made temporary, with God foreknowing all things, as I pointed out in the previous book and shown the cause of the creation of this world of temporary things as much as possible. But when this present form of things passes away, and humankind is renewed and flourishes in an incorruptible state, preventing them from becoming old, then there will be a new heaven and new earth, where the new humanity will remain continually, always engaging with God. And since these things will continue forever without end, Isaiah declares, "For as the new heavens and the new earth which I do make continue in my sight, so shall your descendants and your name remain," says the Lord. According to the elders, those who are deemed worthy of a place in heaven will go there; others will enjoy the delights of paradise, and others will possess the splendor of the city, for everywhere the Saviour will be seen according to how worthy they are to see Him.

THEY SAY: moreover, that there is a distinction between the dwelling places of those who produce a hundred-fold, those who produce sixty-fold, and those who produce thirty-fold. The first will be taken up into the heavens, the second will dwell in paradise, and the last will inhabit the city. This is why the Lord declared, "In My Father’s house are many mansions." For everything belongs to God, who provides everyone with a fitting dwelling-place, just as His Word says, a share is given to each by the Father, according to each person's worthiness.

This is the couch on which the guests will recline, having been invited to the wedding. The presbyters, the apostles' disciples, assert that this is the progression and arrangement of those who are saved, and that they advance through stages like this. They ascend through the Spirit to the Son, and through the Son to the Father. In due time, the Son will yield His work to the Father, just as the apostle said, "For He must reign until He has put all enemies under His feet.

The last enemy that will be destroyed is death." For during the kingdom's times, the righteous person on the earth will forget to die. "But when He says, All things shall be subdued unto Him, it is clear that He is excepted who put all things under Him. And when all things shall be subdued unto Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all."

John clearly foresaw the first "resurrection of the just" and the inheritance in the kingdom of the earth, and what the prophets have prophesied about this aligns with his vision. The Lord also taught these things when He promised to share the mixed cup new with His disciples in the kingdom. The apostle also confirmed that creation will be freed from the bondage of corruption, to enter into the liberty of the children of God. In all these matters, the same God the Father is revealed, who created man and promised the inheritance of the earth to the fathers, who released creation from bondage at the resurrection of the just, and fulfills the promises for the kingdom of His Son. He subsequently bestows in a fatherly way things that no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and that have not entered into the heart of man. For there is one Son who fulfilled His Father’s will, and one human race in which the mysteries of God are accomplished, "which the angels desire to look into." They cannot fully understand the wisdom of God by which His creation, confirmed and united with His Son, is brought to completion. This is so that His offspring, the First-begotten Word, might come down to what has been created, and be contained by Him. Conversely, the creation should contain the Word, ascend to Him, surpass the angels, and be made in the image and likeness of God.