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Dialogue with Trypho
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Chapter 124: Christians are God's Children.
WHEN I NOTICED THAT THEY WERE UPSET BECAUSE I SAID WE ARE THE SONS OF GOD: I anticipated their questions and said, “Listen, gentlemen, to how the Holy Spirit speaks about this people, saying they are all sons of the Highest; and how this Christ will be present in their gathering, judging all people. The words are spoken by David, and according to your version, they go like this: ‘God stands in the assembly of gods; He judges among the gods.
How long will you judge unjustly and favor the wicked? Defend the orphan and the poor, and do justice to the humble and needy. Rescue the needy, and save the poor from the hand of the wicked. They neither know nor understand; they walk in darkness: all the foundations of the earth shall be shaken. I said, You are gods, and all of you are children of the Most High.
But you will die like men, and fall like any prince.
Rise, O God! judge the earth, for You shall inherit all nations.’ But in the version of the Seventy, it is written, ‘Behold, you die like men, and fall like one of the princes,’ to show the disobedience of people—meaning Adam and Eve—and the fall of one of the princes, i.e., the one called the serpent, who fell greatly because he deceived Eve.
However, my point here is not to focus on this aspect, but to prove to you that the Holy Spirit reproaches people because they were made like God, free from suffering and death, as long as they followed His commandments, and were considered worthy of being called His sons, but they, like Adam and Eve, bring death upon themselves; you may interpret the Psalm as you prefer, yet it demonstrates that all people are considered worthy of becoming “gods,” and having the power to become sons of the Highest; and will each be judged and condemned like Adam and Eve.
Now I have shown extensively that Christ is called God.