{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/ecf/210/2100264.htm","path":"chr/ecf/210/2100264.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/210/2100264.htm","text":"The Arians openly take sides with the heathen in attacking the words: \u201cHe that believeth on Me, believeth not on Me,\u201d etc. The true meaning of the passage is unfolded; and to prevent us from believing that the Lord forbade us to have faith in Him, it is shown how He spoke at one time as God, at another as Man. After bringing forward examples of various results of that faith, he shows that certain other passages also must be taken in the same way.\n118. Last of all, to show that they are not Christians, they deny that we are to believe on Christ, saying that it is written: \u201cHe that believeth on Me, believeth not on Me, but on Him that sent Me.\u201d 2673 I was awaiting this confession; why did you delude me with your quibbles? I knew I had to contend with heathens. Nay, they indeed are converted, but ye are not. If they believe, that the sacrament [of Baptism] is safe; ye have received it, and destroyed it, or perchance it has never been received, but was unreal 2674 from the first.\n119. It is written, they say: \u201cHe that believeth on Me, believeth not on Me, but on Him that sent Me.\u201d But see what follows, and see how the Son of God wishes to be seen; for it continues: \u201cAnd he that seeth Me, seeth Him that sent Me,\u201d 2675 for the Father is seen in the Son. Thus, He has explained what He had spoken earlier, that he who confesses the Father believes on the Son. For he who knows not the Son, neither knows the Father. For every one that denies the Son has not the Father, but he that confesses the Son has both the Father and the Son. 2676\n120. What, then, is the meaning of \u201cBelieveth not on Me\u201d? That is, not on that which you can perceive in bodily form, nor merely on the man whom you see. For He has stated that we are to believe not merely on a man, but that thou mayest believe that Jesus Christ Himself is both God and Man. Wherefore, for both reasons He says: \u201cI came not from Myself;\u201d 2677 and again: \u201cI am the beginning, of which also I speak to you.\u201d 2678 As Man He came not from Himself; as Son of God He takes not p. 300 His beginning from men; but \u201cI am,\u201d He says, \u201cMyself \u2018the beginning of which also I speak to you.\u2019 Neither are the words which I speak human, but divine.\u201d\n121. Nor is it right to believe that He denied we were to believe on Him, since He Himself said: \u201cThat whosoever believeth on Me should not abide in darkness;\u201d 2679 and in another place again: \u201cFor this is the will of My Father that sent Me, that every one that seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, may have eternal life;\u201d 2680 and again: \u201cYe believe in God, believe also in Me.\u201d 2681\n122. Let no one, therefore, receive the Son without the Father, because we read of the Son. The Son hath the Father, but not in a temporal sense, nor by reason of His passion, nor owing to His conception, nor by grace. I have read of His Generation, I have not read of His Conception. And the Father says: \u201cI have begotten;\u201d 2682 He does not say: \u201cI have created.\u201d And the Son calls not God His Creator in the eternity of His divine Generation, but Father.\n123. He represents Himself also now in the character of man, now in the majesty of God; now claiming for Himself oneness of Godhead with the Father, now taking upon Him all the frailty of human flesh; now saying that He has not His own doctrine, and now that He seeks not His own will; now pointing out that His testimony is not true, and now that it is true. For He Himself has said: \u201cIf I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true.\u201d 2683 Later on He says: \u201cIf I bear witness of Myself, My witness is true.\u201d 2684\n124. And how is Thy testimony, Lord Jesus, not true? Did not he who believed it, though he hung upon the cross, and paid the penalty for the crime he owned to, cast aside the deserts of the robber and gain the reward of the innocent? 2685\n125. Was Paul deceived, who received his sight, because he believed; 2686 which sight he had lost, before he believed?\n126. And did Joshua, the son of Nun, err in recognizing the leader of the heavenly host? 2687 But after he believed, he forthwith conquered, being found worthy to triumph in the battle of faith. Again, he did not lead forth his armed ranks into the fight, nor did he overthrow the ramparts of the enemy\u2019s walls, with battering rams or other engines of war, but with the sound of the seven trumpets of the priests. Thus the blare of the trumpet and the badge of the priest brought a cruel war to an end.\n127. A harlot saw this; and she who in the destruction of the city lost all hope of any means of safety, because her faith had conquered, bound a scarlet thread in her window, and thus uplifted a sign of her faith and the banner of the Lord\u2019s Passion; 2688 so that the semblance of the mystic blood, which should redeem the world, might be in memory. So, without, the name of Joshua was a sign of victory to those who fought; within, the semblance of the Lord\u2019s Passion was a sign of salvation to those in danger. Wherefore, because Rahab understood the heavenly mystery, the Lord says in the Psalm: \u201cI will be mindful of Rahab and Babylon that know Me.\u201d 2689\n128. How, then, is Thy testimony not true, O Lord, except it be given in accordance with the frailty of man? For \u201cevery man is a liar.\u201d 2690\n129. Lastly, to prove that He spoke as man, He says: \u201cThe Father that sent Me, He beareth witness of Me.\u201d 2691 But His testimony as God is true, as He Himself says: \u201cMy record is true: for I know whence I come, and whither I go, but ye know not whence I come, and whither I go. Ye judge after the flesh.\u201d 2692 They judge then not after the Godhead but after the manhood, who think that Christ had not the power of bearing witness.\n130. Therefore, when thou hearest: \u201cHe that believeth, believeth not on Me;\u201d or: \u201cThe Father that sent Me, He gave Me a commandment;\u201d 2693 thou hast now learnt whither thou oughtest to refer those words. Lastly, He shows what the commandment is, saying: \u201cI lay down My life, that I may take it again. No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself.\u201d 2694 Thou seest, then, what is said so as to show He had full power to lay down or to take up His life; as He also said: \u201cI have power to lay it down, and I have power again to take it up. This commandment have I received of My Father.\u201d 2695\n131. Whether, then, a command, or, as some Latin manuscripts have it, a direction was given, it was certainly not given to Him as God, but as incarnate man, with reference to the victory He should gain in undergoing His Passion.\nS. John xii. 44.\n299:2674\nIt would seem that the form of words was sometimes changed by Arians, in which case there would be of course no valid baptism.\n299:2675\nS. John xii. 45.\n299:2676 299:2677\nS. John vii. 28.\n299:2678\nS. John viii. 25.\n300:2679\nS. John xii. 46.\n300:2680\nS. John vi. 40.\n300:2681\nS. John xiv. 1.\n300:2682 300:2683\nS. John v. 31.\n300:2684\nS. John vii. 14.\n300:2685\nS. Luke xxiii. 41.\n300:2686 300:2687 300:2688 300:2689 300:2690 300:2691\nS. John viii. 18.\n300:2692 300:2693\nS. John xii. 49.\n300:2694\nS. John x. 17.\n300:2695\nS. John x. 18.","title":"Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Ser. II, Vol. X: Dogmatic...","type":"page"}