Fourth Century Christianity

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That the Divine Scriptures know how to call the Monad “Lord” and “God” has already been made clear from what was previously said, through that which God said to his servant Moses. “And God again said to Moses, ‘This is what you will say to the children of Israel: “The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you”’” (Ex 3:15). You see how he points here to one person to us and calls the same person “Lord” and “God.” Again in the same way Scripture says, “And the Lord spoke all these words, saying, ‘I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the Land of Egypt, from the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods besides me’” (Ex 20:1-3). You hear how through the pronoun he proclaims that there is only one God. And again a little later he says, “I am the Lord your God,” saying that he is Lord and God. And what do we learn from the other Scriptures? He says, “And you will know today, without turning from it in your understanding, that the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below, and there is no one besides him” (Deut 4:39). And again in the same book of Deuteronomy he says, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Deut 6:4,5). And again in the same book he says, “See! See that it is I. There is no god but me. I kill and I make alive. I strike down and I heal” (Deut 32:39). Therefore, how did Asterius, who pretends to “follow the Holy Scriptures simply and reverently,” not know the portion of Scripture which says that “the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below” and that “there is no other god besides” him and that he “is one” and that “there is no other apart from” him.

Translated by Brandon Rogers under the supervision of Prof. Glen L. Thompson, revised AMJ

Last updated: 8-29-2012

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