Against Praxeas 21

See, then, how many passages even in the Gospel lay down the law for you before Philip's question and before any argument of yours. And first of all, John the evangelist's very preface shows at once what he was before who was to become flesh: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God; he was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him nothing was made.” For if these words may not be taken otherwise than as they are written, then beyond doubt one is shown who was from the beginning, and another with whom he was; one the Word of God, another God (though the Word too is God, but as Son of God, not as Father); one through whom are all things, another from whom are all things. How we say “another” we have already often stated: in saying “another” we must mean “not the same,” but “not the same” not as though separated; other by arrangement, not by division. It was he, then, who was made flesh, not the one whose Word he was. His glory was seen as of the only-begotten from the Father, not as of the Father. It was the only-begotten who declared the bosom of the Father; the Father did not declare his own bosom. For it goes before: “No one has ever seen God.” He too is pointed out by John as the Lamb of God, not the one whose Lamb he is called. Certainly always the Son of God, but not the one whose Son he is. This Nathanael at once perceived about him, as Peter too did elsewhere: “You are the Son of God.” And he himself confirms that they perceived it rightly, answering Nathanael, “Because I said, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe?” and declaring Peter blessed, to whom flesh and blood had not revealed what he had perceived, but the Father who is in heaven. By this saying he established the distinction of both persons: of the Son on earth, whom Peter had recognized as the Son of God, and of the Father in heaven, who had revealed to Peter what he had recognized. When he went into the temple, he called it his Father's house, as the Son. When he speaks to Nicodemus: “For God so loved the world,” he says, “that he gave his only-begotten Son, that everyone who believes in him may not perish but have eternal life.” And again: “For God did not send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him; he who believes in him is not judged; he who does not believe in him is already judged, because he has not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God.” And John, when some asked him about Jesus, why he baptized, said: “The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand; he who believes in the Son has eternal life; he who does not believe in the Son of God will not see God, but the wrath of God will remain on him.” Whom did he show to the Samaritan woman? If the Messiah, who is called Christ, then certainly he showed himself as the Son, not the Father, he who elsewhere too is called Christ, the Son of God, not the Father. Then to the disciples: “It is my food,” he says, “to do the will of him who sent me, and to complete his work.” And to the Jews about the healing of the paralytic: “My Father is working until now, and I am working.” “My Father” and “I,” says the Son. In fact, for this reason the Jews wanted all the more to kill him, not only because he broke the Sabbath but because he called God his Father, making himself equal to God. Then he said to them: “The Son can do nothing of himself, unless he sees the Father doing it; for whatever he does, the Son also does likewise. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he does, and he will show him greater works than these, so that you may marvel. For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so the Son also gives life to whom he will. For the Father does not judge, but has given all judgment to the Son, so that all may honor the Son as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent the Son. Amen, amen, I say to you: he who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and does not come into judgment, but passes from death to life. Amen I say to you that the hour will come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and when they hear it they will live. For as the Father has eternal life in himself, so he has given the Son to have eternal life in himself, and has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man”: through the flesh, that is, as he is also Son of God through his Spirit. He adds further: “But I have a greater testimony than John's; for the works which the Father has given me to accomplish, these very works bear witness about me that the Father has sent me; and the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me.” And by adding, “You have never heard his voice or seen his form,” he confirms that in former times it was not the Father but the Son who was seen and heard. In fact he says, “I have come in my Father's name, and you have not received me.” So the Son was always in the name of God, the King, the Lord Almighty, and the Most High. And to those who asked what they ought to do, he answered, “That you believe in him whom God has sent.” He declares too that he is the bread which the Father gave from heaven; that all that the Father gives him comes to him, and he will not cast it out, because he had come down from heaven not to do his own will but the Father's; and that the Father's will is that whoever sees the Son and believes in him should obtain life and resurrection; that no one can come to him unless the Father draws him; and that everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to him; adding here too, “not that anyone has seen the Father,” to show that it is the Father's Word through which they are taught. And when many went away from him, and he offered his apostles the chance to go away too, if they wished, what did Simon Peter answer? “To whom shall we go? You have the words of life, and we believe that you are the Christ.” That he was the Father, or the Father's?