{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/ecf/008/0081058.htm","path":"chr/ecf/008/0081058.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/008/0081058.htm","text":"Chapter VI.\u2014Simon Appeals to the Old Testament to Prove that There are Many Gods.\n\u201cFor instance, in the very first words of the law, He evidently speaks of them as being like even unto Himself. For thus it is written, that, when the first man received a commandment from God to eat of every tree that was in the garden, 1255 but not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the serpent having persuaded them by means of the woman, through the promise that they would become gods, made them look up; 1256 and then, when they had thus looked up, God said, 1257 \u2018Behold, Adam is become as one of us.\u2019 When, then, the serpent said, 1258 \u2018Ye shall be as gods,\u2019 he plainly speaks in the belief that gods exist; all the more as God also added His testimony, saying, \u2018Behold, Adam is become as one of us.\u2019 The serpent, then, who said that there are many gods, did not speak falsely. Again, the scripture, 1259 \u2018Thou shalt not revile the gods, nor curse the rulers of thy people,\u2019 points out many gods whom it does not wish even to be cursed. But it is also somewhere else written, 1260 \u2018Did another god dare to enter and take him a nation from the midst of another nation, as did I the Lord God?\u2019 When He says, \u2018Did another God dare?\u2019 He speaks on the supposition that other gods exist. And elsewhere: 1261 \u2018Let the gods that have not made the heavens and the earth perish;\u2019 as if those who had made them were not to perish. And in another place, when it says, 1262 \u2018Take heed to thyself lest thou go and serve other gods whom thy fathers knew not,\u2019 it speaks as if other gods existed whom they were not to follow. And again: 1263 \u2018The names of other gods shall not ascend upon thy lips.\u2019 Here it mentions many gods whose names it does not wish to be uttered. And again it is written, 1264 \u2018Thy God is the Lord, He is God of gods.\u2019 And again: 1265 \u2018Who is like unto Thee, O Lord, among the Gods?\u2019 And again: 1266 \u2018God is Lord of gods.\u2019 And again: 1267 \u2018God stood in the assembly of gods: He judgeth among the gods.\u2019 Wherefore I wonder how, when there are so many passages in writing which testify that there are many gods, you have asserted that we ought neither to say nor to think that there are many. 1268 Finally, if you have anything to say against what has been spoken so distinctly, say it in the presence of all.\u201d\n\u03c0\u03b1\u03c1\u03b1\u03b4\u03b5\u03af\u03c3\u1ff3, \u201cparadise.\u201d Gen. 2:16, 17.\n313:1256\n\u1f00\u03bd\u03b1\u03b2\u03bb\u03ad\u03c8\u03b1\u03b9. It signifies either to look up, or to recover one\u2019s sight. Possibly the second meaning is the one intended here, corresponding to the words of our version: \u201cThen your eyes shall be opened.\u201d\n313:1257 313:1258 313:1259 313:1260 313:1261 313:1262 313:1263\nJosh. xxiii. 7, LXX.\n313:1264 313:1265 313:1266 313:1267 313:1268\n[Comp. Recognitions, ii. 39.\u2014R.]","title":"Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol VIII: Pseudo-Clementine Literatu...","type":"page"}