Demonstration 17: On the Messiah, that he is the Son of God

Demonstration 17: On the Messiah, that he is the Son of God A composition of words against the Jews who blaspheme against the people from among the peoples. For thus they say: that you worship and serve a born man, and a son of man who was crucified, and you call a son of man God. And when there is no son for God, they say concerning him: "Behold, this crucified Jesus, is he then the Son of God?" And they give a proof, that God said: "I am God, and there is no other besides me." And again he said: "Do not worship another god." So then, do you not stand against God? And do you call a headman God? Concerning these things, then, my beloved, as much as I am able and as my insignificance can attain, I shall persuade you concerning them, that even when it is said that he is a son of man, and his honor and his appellation are called God and Lord, it is not a foreign appellation that is called him, nor is a foreign name placed upon him, which they themselves did not use. However, it is true for us that Jesus our Lord is God, Son of God; and King, Son of King; Light from Light; Creator and Ruler; Guide and Way; Savior and Shepherd; Baptizer and Door; Pearl and Lamp; and he is called by many names. But let all these be set aside, and let it be established concerning him that he is the Son of God, and he is God who came from God. For the honored name of divinity was also placed upon righteous sons of men, and they were worthy to be called by it; and sons of men whom God loved, he called them sons and friends. He called Moses his friend and beloved, when he chose him and made him head and teacher and priest for his people; he called him God. For he said to him: "I have made you a god to Pharaoh"; and he gave him his priestly office, the prophet; and Aaron your brother spoke with you before Pharaoh, and you shall be a god to him, and he shall be your interpreter. It was not only to the wicked Pharaoh that he made Moses a god.

But also, the holy priest Aharon made a god for Moses. Again, hear concerning the Son of God, whom you call, and you say that since God has no son, you make for yourselves this crucified Jesus a firstborn son for God. For he called Israel my firstborn son, when he sent to Pharaoh through Moses and said to him: My firstborn son is Israel. I told you to send my son and he will serve me, but if you are unwilling to send him, behold, I have killed your firstborn son. And also through the prophet he testified concerning this and rebuked you, and said to the people: You called a calf from Egypt my son, just as you called you. Thus you went and worshipped Baal and set up idols with incense. And Isaiah said concerning you: You have grown and exalted among the peoples, and you have entered into me. And again it is written: You are the peoples of the Lord your God. And concerning Solomon he said: He will be a son to me, and I will be a father to him. And also Haggai called this Messiah the Son of God, through whom God is known, just as he called Israel my firstborn son, and just as he said concerning Solomon: He will be a son to me, and he called him God. Just as he called Moses by his own name, and also David said concerning you: I said you are gods, and all of you are sons of the Most High. And when they did not succeed, then he said concerning you: Like sons of men you will die, and like one of the great ones you will fall. For the name of divinity was given as a great honor in the world, and to whomever God wished, he placed it in him. However, the names of God are many and honored, just as he gave his names to Moses and said to him: I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. That name is eternal, and that remembrance is for generations. And he called his name "I am that I am," El Shaddai, and "Adonai," "Sabaoth." By these names God was called.

And when he gave the great and honored name of divinity, he did not withhold it even from his righteous ones. And when he was a great king, he gave the great and honored name of kingship, and he did not begrudge it to the sons of men, the creation of his hands. For Nebuchadnezzar, the wicked king, called himself by the mouth of his servant a god, king of kings. For the Aramean says: Every people and kingdom that did not enter the service of Nebuchadnezzar, king of kings, my servant, by the sword, by the spear, and by death, I commanded against that people. And when he was a great king, he did not withhold the name of kingship from the sons of men. And when he is the great God, he did not withhold the name of divinity from the sons of flesh. And when all fatherhood is his, he also called the sons of men fathers. For he said to the Church: "Let your sons be for you instead of your fathers." And when authority is his, he gave authority to the sons of men, one over another. And when worship is his, for the sake of honor, as a man honors his fellow in the world, he gave it. For indeed, the son of man worships even the wicked and the evil, and those who by his goodness deny, it is not withheld from God. And concerning worship, he commanded his people not to worship the sun, nor the moon, nor all the powers of the heavens, nor even all the creatures on the earth, that they should be stirred to worship. And see his goodness and his mercy, the good Creator, that he did not withhold from the sons of men the name of divinity, and he gave the name of worship, and he gave the name of kingship, and he gave the name of authority, because he is the father of the creatures on the face of the world, and from all his creation he honored, exalted, and praised the sons of men, because with his holy hands he fashioned them, and from his spirit he breathed into them, and he was a dwelling place for them from the beginning, and in them he dwelt and in them he walked. For the prophet said: "I will dwell in them and walk in them." And again, the Aramean prophet also said: "The temple of the Lord is the sons of men, if you make straight your ways and your deeds.

And again, earlier, David said: "The Lord was a dwelling-place for me, for the generations, before the mountains were fixed, and before the earth was formed, and before the world was established, and from eternity to eternity, you are God." And how will this be understood by you, that one prophet said, "The Lord was a dwelling-place for me," and another said, "He dwelt in me and walked in me"? For first he was a dwelling-place for me, and afterwards he dwelt in me and walked. And to the wise, both are true and simple. For David said, "The Lord was a dwelling-place for me, for the generations, before the mountains were fixed, and before the earth was formed, and before the world was established." And know, my beloved, that all creatures, above and below, were created first, and at the end, all of them, the head. For when God considered making the world with all its powers, from the beginning he conceived and formed Adam within his thought. And after Adam was conceived in his thought, then he conceived the creatures, as it is said: "Before the mountains were fixed, and the earth, the birth, was formed." Because the man was elder and first in conception among the creatures, and in birth, the creatures were elder and first before Adam. Adam was conceived and dwelt in the thought of God. And when he was held in conception in his thought, by his word he created all the creatures. And when he finished and completed the world, with nothing lacking in it, then he gave birth to Adam from his thought, and fashioned the son of man with his hands. And Adam saw the world when it was established, and he set him over all that he had made, like a man who has a son, and desires to make a wedding feast for him: he procures a wife for him, and seeks a house for him, and prepares and arranges everything that is needed for his son, and then he makes the wedding feast, and sets his son over his house. And after the conception of Adam, he gave birth to him and set him over all his creation. Concerning this the prophet said:

The Lord was a dwelling-place for me, for the generations, before the mountains were fixed, and before the earth was formed, and before the world was established, and from eternity to eternity the Lord is, that no one should think that there is another God, or before, or after. He said: from eternity to eternity, as Isaiah said: "I am the first and I am the last." And after God created Adam from within his thought, he formed him and breathed into him from his spirit, and gave him the knowledge of discernment to distinguish good from evil, and that he might know that God made him, and that he might know his maker. God was fashioned and fixed within the thought of the son of man, and he became a temple for God his maker, as it is written that the temple of God is the sons of men. And he said: "I will dwell in them and walk in them." But in the sons of Adam who do not know their maker, he is not fashioned within them, nor does he dwell in them, nor is he fixed in their thought, but they are considered as beasts before him, and as the rest of creation. For from these the types of the Gentiles were formed, who do not deny this which is called the Son of God, the Messiah. For behold, all the sons of Israel, he fixed and created them from his thought, and it is established that also the name of divinity is upon him, that he also placed upon his righteous ones the name of God. And they worship Jesus, through whom they know God. They are ashamed that even the wicked, who hold power, from the unclean nations, they separate and worship and honor, and there is no wickedness in that they give this honor of worship to the sons of Adam, that they honor one another, and even to those who are greater and honor them. For if the wicked worship and honor in the name of worship, and those who in their wickedness even deny in the name of God, they do not worship as their maker, as if they alone have no sins.

It is not for you to worship and honour Jesus, who has enlightened the minds of the nations, with all the vain worshippers of error. And I will make known that you should worship, serve, and minister to one God, the Father and Creator. And you should know that the kings of the world called themselves gods in the name of the great God, and they were deniers and blasphemers. And they bowed down and worshipped before them, and served and honoured them, like the idols and images which have no head of law at all. And there is no sin, as also Daniel worshipped Nebuchadnezzar, the denier and blasphemer, and was not reproached. And Joseph worshipped Pharaoh, and it is not written that he had sin. But truly it is not for you that Jesus is God the Son of God, and in him you know his Father, and all of you with all the worshippers. Therefore there is no way for you to repay what these have suffered for your sake, except by worship you repay him honour in return for his affliction which he suffered for your sake. Again, it is not for you to doubt that this Jesus was proclaimed from the beginning among the prophets, and was called the Son of God. David said, "My son you are, and I this day have begotten you." Again he said, "In the splendours of holiness from the beginning, from the beginning I have begotten you, O youth." And Isaiah said, "A child is born for you, and a son is given to you, and his authority is upon his shoulder, and his name is called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God of the worlds, and Ruler of peace, to increase his authority, and to his peace there is no end." Therefore tell me, O wise teacher of Israel, who is it that is born and is called by the name Child and Son, and Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God of the worlds, and Ruler of peace, to increase his authority, and to his peace he said there is no end? For if David called the Messiah the Son of God, and Isaiah called him God, you have heard that his authority was given upon his shoulder, that he took his cross and went out from Jerusalem, and that a child is born; Isaiah again said.

Behold, the virgin will conceive and give birth, and his name will be called 'Emmanuel,' which is 'God is with us.' And if you say that the Messiah has not yet come, I will bring you this as well, to your shame. For it is written that the nations will hope in him. Behold, I have heard from the nations that the Messiah has come, and before he came, I believed in him, and through him I worship God of Israel, lest when he comes, he find me not having believed in him before his coming. But you are foolish; the prophets do not allow you to say that the Messiah has not yet come. For Daniel silences you and says that after sixty-two weeks the Messiah will come and be killed, and at his coming the holy city will be destroyed, and its end will be by the sword, and until the completion of the weeks it will rest in ruin. For you hope and expect that at the coming of the Messiah, Israel will be gathered from all regions, and Jerusalem will be built and inhabited. But Daniel testifies that when the Messiah comes and is killed, Jerusalem will be laid waste and rest in ruin until the completion of the weeks forever. And concerning the suffering of the Messiah, David said: 'My hands and feet are pierced, and all my bones cry out; they have dug and seen me, and divided my garments among themselves, and cast lots for my clothing.' And Isaiah said: 'Behold, my servant is known, revealed, and exalted, so that many will marvel at him. He is a destroyer; they saw him with men, and he was received by the sons of men.' And he said that many nations and kings will marvel at him, and he said in the passage: 'He rose like a shoot before them, and like a root from dry land.' And he said at the end of the passage: 'He is killed because of his sins, and humbled because of iniquity; the rebellion of Solomon came upon him, and by his ointments he was healed; by the ointments with which the sons of Jesse were healed, David was not killed.

because he died a good old age, and was buried in Beth-Lehem. And if they say about Saul, that Saul died on the mountains of Gilboa in the battle with the Philistines, and if they say that his hands and feet were cut off when they fixed his body to the wall of Beth-Shan, for Saul did not feel when his limbs were broken and his bones were shattered, because he was dead. And after Saul died, they hung his body and the bodies of his sons on the wall of Beth-Shan. And when David said, 'My hands and feet are broken, and all my bones are shattered,' he said after that word, 'Who will help me to be crowned, and to be saved from the sword?' For the Messiah was saved from the sword, and ascended from the pit of Sheol, and lived, and rose on the third day, and God crowned him to help him. And Saul called to the Lord, and he did not answer him; and he asked by the prophets, and no word was given to him; and he inquired by the Urim and Thummim, and learned; and he was condemned before the Philistines, and killed himself with his sword, when he saw that his army was defeated. And he said in that word of David, 'I will proclaim your name to my brothers, and in the midst of the church I will praise you.' These things about Saul, how can they be fulfilled? And again David said, 'I did not give your mercy to see destruction.' But all these things were fulfilled for the Messiah, when he came to them and they did not receive him, and they judged him unjustly, with false testimony, and he was hung on a tree by their hands, and his hands and feet were broken with the nails they fixed in him, and all his bones were shattered. And on that very day there was a great wonder, that the light was darkened at midday, as Zechariah testified and said, 'A day that is known to the Lord, neither day nor night, and at evening there will be light.' What then is the day that was distinguished by a wonder, so that it was neither day nor night, and at evening there was light? But it is the day on which they crucified him, when there was darkness at midday.

and at evening there was light. And again he said that that day was a day of rejoicing and gladness, as you know, for on that day when they crucified him, he was called, and they placed upon him the crown of thorns, when Simon came and stood with them. And again he said that a spear would be placed against the shepherd, and against the beloved sheep, and it would strike the shepherd, and the lambs of his flock would be scattered. And he turned his hands against the young ones. And David again said concerning his suffering, that they put bitter things in my food, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. Again he said in that passage: Why do you persecute me? And they added to the pain of the slain one; for they added many things to him, as if they were not written about him: curses and mockeries, which even a book cannot reveal, so great were their mockeries. But the Lord willed his humiliations and his sufferings, and he was killed because of iniquity, and he humbled himself because of his sins, and sin was placed upon himself. Now, you worship these mercies, and you bend your knees before the greatness of his Father, to whom you also bowed. You called him God like Moses, and firstborn and son like Israel, and Jesus like Jesus son of Nun, and priest like Aaron, and king like David, and great prophet like all the prophets, and shepherd like the shepherds who pastured and led Israel. And you called him by names, as he said: By names and surnames they will hear me. And you made him brothers, as he said: I will proclaim your name to my brothers. And you became his mercies, as he said to his disciples: I have called you my mercies, as his father called Abraham his mercy. And he said to you: I am the good shepherd, and the door, and the way, and the vine, and the seed, and the wheat, and the pearl, and the lamp, and the light, and the king, and God, and the life-giver, and the savior. And he was covered by many names. Now, I have written a little persuasion for you, my beloved, that you may go out in spirit against the Jews.

Concerning those who say that there is no Son for God, and concerning those who call him God the Son of God, and King, and Firstborn of all creation. The end of the demonstration on the Son of God.