{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/ecf/008/0081068.htm","path":"chr/ecf/008/0081068.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/008/0081068.htm","text":"Chapter XVI.\u2014The Unbegotten and the Begotten Necessarily Different from Each Other.\n\u201cIn addition to this, it is the peculiarity of the Father not to have been begotten, but of the Son to have been begotten; but what is begotten cannot be compared with that which is unbegotten or self-begotten.\u201d And Simon said: \u201cIs it not the same on account of its origin?\u201d 1300 And Peter said: \u201cHe who is not the same in all respects as some one, cannot have all the same appellations applied to him as that person.\u201d And Simon said: \u201cThis is to assert, not to prove.\u201d And Peter said: \u201cWhy, do you not see that if 1301 the one happens to be self-begotten or unbegotten, they cannot be called the same; nor can it be asserted of him who has been begotten that he is of the same substance as he is who has begotten him? 1302 Learn this also: The bodies of men have immortal souls, which have been clothed with the breath of God; and having come forth from God, they are of the same substance, but they are not gods. But if they are gods, then in this way the souls of all men, both those who have died, and those who are alive, and those who shall come into being, are gods. But if in a spirit of controversy you maintain that these also are gods, what great matter is it, then, for Christ to be called God? for He has only what all have.\nThe word \u03b3\u03ad\u03bd\u03b5\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2, \u201carising, coming into being,\u201d is here used, not \u03b3\u03ad\u03bd\u03bd\u03b7\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2, \u201cbegetting.\u201d The idea fully expressed is: \u201cIs not that which is begotten identical in essence with that which begets it?\u201d\n316:1301\nWe have inserted \u03b5\u1f30. The passage is amended in various ways; this seems to be the simplest.\n316:1302\n[The very ancient variant in John i. 18, \u201cGod only begotten,\u201d indicates the distinction between the Unbegotten God and the Son. Even the Arians use the phrase, \u201cOnly-begotten God.\u201d\u2014R.]","title":"Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol VIII: Pseudo-Clementine Literature.: Chapter XVI","type":"page"}