Against Praxeas

Consider, therefore, how many passages in this very Gospel already present their binding authority to you, even before Philip asked this question, and before any discussion on your part. First of all, there immediately comes to hand the opening of John's Gospel. It shows us what He was before He became flesh. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him nothing was made." John 1:1-3 Now, since these words cannot be taken in any other way than as they are written, they clearly show that there is One who was from the beginning, and also One with whom He always was: one, the Word of God; the other, God. Although the Word is also God, He is God regarded as the Son of God, not as the Father. There is One through whom all things were made, and Another by whom all things were made. But in what sense we call Him Another, we have already often explained. In calling Him Another, we must mean that He is not identical. He is not identical, yet not as if separate. He is Other by divine arrangement, not by division. Therefore, He who became flesh was not the very same as He from whom the Word came. "His glory was seen, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father." John 1:14 Notice: not "as of the Father." He alone declared what was in the bosom of the Father. The Father did not reveal the secrets of His own bosom. For this is preceded by another statement: "No man has seen God at any time." Then again, when John the Baptist designates Him as "the Lamb of God," John 1:29 he is not described as being Himself the same as Him whose beloved Son He is. He is certainly always the Son of God, yet not Himself the one of whom He is the Son. Nathanael at once recognized this in Him, John 1:49 just as Peter did on another occasion: "You are the Son of God." Matthew 16:16 And He Himself affirmed that they were right in their convictions. For He answered Nathanael, "Because I said, I saw you under the fig tree, do you therefore believe?" John 1:50 In the same way, He pronounced Peter blessed, since flesh and blood had not revealed it to him. That is, he had not perceived the Father, but the Father who is in heaven had revealed it. Matthew 16:17 By asserting all this, He established the distinction between the two Persons: the Son then on earth, whom Peter had confessed to be the Son of God; and the Father in heaven, who had revealed to Peter what he had discovered, that Christ was the Son of God. When He entered the temple, He called it His Father's house, John 2:16 speaking as the Son. In His address to Nicodemus He says, "So God loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16 And again: "For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." John 3:17-18 Moreover, when John the Baptist was asked what he happened to know of Jesus, he said, "The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand. He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him." John 3:35-36 Whom, indeed, did He reveal to the woman of Samaria? Was it not the Messiah who is called Christ? John 4:25 And so He showed, of course, that He was not the Father, but the Son. Elsewhere also He is expressly called the Christ, the Son of God, John 20:31 and not the Father. Therefore He says, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent me, and to finish His work." John 4:34 While to the Jews He says, concerning the healing of the helpless man, "My Father works until now, and I work." John 5:17 "My Father" and "I" — these are the Son's words. And for this very reason the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, not only because He broke the Sabbath, but also because He said that God was His Father, thus making Himself equal with God. Then He answered them and said, "The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever things He does, these also the Son does likewise. For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does. And He will also show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel. For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He will. For the Father judges no man, but has committed all judgment to the Son, that all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who has sent the Son. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my words, and believes in Him who sent me, has everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but has passed from death to life. Truly I say to you, that the hour is coming, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and when they have heard it, they shall live. For as the Father has eternal life in Himself, so also He has given to the Son to have eternal life in Himself. And He has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of man." John 5:19-27 That is, according to the flesh, even as He is also the Son of God through His Spirit. Afterward He goes on to say, "But I have greater witness than that of John; for the works which the Father has given me to finish — those very works bear witness of me that the Father has sent me. And the Father Himself, who has sent me, has also borne witness of me." John 5:36-37 But He immediately adds, "You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form," thus affirming that in former times it was not the Father, but the Son, who used to be seen and heard. Then at last He says, "I have come in my Father's name, and you have not received me." It was therefore always the Son of whom we read under the title of the Almighty and Most High God, and King, and Lord. Also, to those who asked what they should do to work the works of God, John 6:29 He answered, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent." He also declares Himself to be the bread which the Father sent from heaven. And He adds that all whom the Father gave Him should come to Him, and that He Himself would not cast them out, because He had come down from heaven not to do His own will, but the will of the Father. And the will of the Father was that everyone who saw the Son, and believed in Him, should receive everlasting life, and the resurrection at the last day. No man indeed was able to come to Him unless the Father drew him. Whereas everyone who had heard and learned from the Father came to Him. John 6:37-45 He then goes on expressly to say, "Not that any man has seen the Father," thus showing us that men were instructed and taught through the Word of the Father. Then, when many departed from Him, and He turned to the apostles and asked whether they also would go away, what was Simon Peter's answer? "To whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we believe that You are the Christ." Tell me now, did they believe Him to be the Father, or the Christ of the Father?