The Unity of Christ's Divinity

He spoke to Philip. For he himself confesses, saying, "The Father is in me, and I am in the Father" (John 14:10). That he has not spoken this merely or aimlessly is evident also from another apostolic saying: "one" is he who said, "one Lord, one faith, one baptism" (Ephesians 4:5), and "one God" he said, "and Father, who is over all and through all and in all" (1 Corinthians 8:6). You see that the concord does not fail even there, but the same thing has suffered even there. For having said "one Lord," he again said "one God," so that whenever he mentions the one Lord, he includes the Father, and whenever he speaks concerning the Father, he testifies that the Word is not outside Him.

If you wish to hear something else of the same prophecy confirming one God for us, he says, "I am God first, and I am the one who is to come" (Isaiah 43:10). For the "I" is indicative of a single person, for the two sayings signify one person to us. For having said "I," the "am" follows, so that through these two parts of the word, both the pronoun and the verb, the unity of the divinity is testified. If other testimony were required, I would immediately provide you with the same prophet saying, "I am first, and I am after these things, and besides me there is no God" (Isaiah 45:5).

If Asterius, having supposed the Son of the Father to be divided, assumes him to be a son of a man, being stumbled by the human flesh which He took for our sakes, let him show us this saying; for the said saying is of one person even there. Who then is he who says, "There is no God besides me"? Let him hear also another prophecy saying, "There is no just one and savior besides me" (Isaiah 43:11).

If it is thought that there are two gods, it is necessary for him to confess that the other is not just, nor a savior. But if he is not just nor a savior, how can he still be God? For he appears to be the one who is just and a savior.

And again he says, 'Before me no other came, and with me no other shall be; I am God, and no savior shall be besides me.' If one wishes to hear another prophetic word, perhaps regarding him and those similarly disputing about divinity as he spoke, let him hear Isaiah saying, 'Repent, you wanderers, turn to the heart, and remember the former things from eternity, for I am God and there is none besides me' (Isaiah 43:10). He did not say, 'I am God,' so that he might clearly demonstrate a single God existing through the addition of the article.

And what of the prophet Hosea? Does he not himself testify to the same things, saying, 'I brought you up out of Egypt' and 'you shall know no god besides me, and no savior is besides me' (Hosea 13:4)? And again Malachi says, 'Did not one God create you?' and 'Is not one Father of all you?' (Malachi 2:10). But Asterios will say that David said nothing about this, even though being older than the other prophets according to Moses, and because of this he is in doubt, whether it is proper to suppose two gods existing as divided substances or not.

I think, however, that in order not to say this, it would follow for him to show him the same things with the aforementioned holy ones saying: 'Listen,' he says, 'my people, and I will speak to you; Israel, and I testify to you. If you listen to me, there shall not be among you a near god, nor shall you worship a foreign god. For I am the Lord your God.' In demonstrating himself and saying, 'I am,' is it not clear that he is saying there is only one God, that is, himself?

What then? If we do not consider the unity to be indivisible by power through the Spirit, shall we not sin, clearly being taught by the word, 'You shall worship the Lord your God and to him alone you shall serve'? The same is also proclaimed through the Gospel according to Mark; for a certain scribe having come to him and inquiring what is the first of the commandments, he answered him thus, having said, 'First of all: Hear, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your...'