The Son is true God, born man from the Virgin, and the Highest who saves
Marcellus is closing his treatise by piling up Scripture to show that the one born from the Virgin and seen in human weakness is the same true God, the Highest, who saves.
And for her sake turn again to the height: “The Lord will judge the peoples” (Psalm 7:9). The Apostle also says elsewhere: “He suffered out of weakness, but lives by the power of God” (2 Corinthians 13:4). Now the Son is the power of God, who suffered out of weakness—that is, out of the fleshly entanglement—and begged off the suffering as a man, yet lives through his own power. And when the Lord says in the Gospel according to John, “This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:3), the same John elsewhere calls the Son the true God. For he says, “We know that the Son of God has come, and he has given us understanding so that we may know the true God, and we are in the true one, in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life” (1 John 5:20). So the Son is true God both before he became man and after he became mediator of God and men, the man Jesus Christ. For this is what “Jesus Christ whom he sent” means: the one united to the Father according to the Spirit, but to us according to the flesh, and in this way mediating between God and men—the one who is not only man but also God, as Jeremiah also says: “This is our God; no other will be reckoned beside him. He discovered the whole way of knowledge and gave it to Jacob his servant and to Israel whom he loved. After these things he appeared on the earth and lived together with men” (Baruch 3:36-38). And when did he live together with men, except when he was born together with them from a woman, and grew up together with them, and grew, and ate together with them? And elsewhere he says: “His heart is deep beyond all, and he is a man, and who will know him?” And Isaiah likewise says: “A child was born to us, and a Son was given to us, whose rule came to be upon his shoulder. And his name is called Angel of Great Counsel, Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Ruler, Prince of Peace, Father of the age to come” (Isaiah 9:6). And elsewhere he says: “Behold, the Virgin will conceive and bear a son, and they will call his name Emmanuel, which translated means God with us” (Isaiah 7:14). So the one born from the Virgin is God, and became man from Mary the Mother of God. And again elsewhere he says: “And we saw him, and he had no form or beauty” (Isaiah 53:2). For before this he had seen him in his divine and glorious form, seated on a high and exalted throne, when the seraphim glorified him, saying, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts” (Isaiah 6:3). And after these things he sees him having taken the form of a servant and having come to be in the likeness of men. Therefore he says: “We saw him, and he had no form or beauty, but his form was dishonored and failing beyond all the sons of men. A man in affliction, and knowing how to bear weakness. For his face was turned away; he was dishonored and not esteemed. He bears our weaknesses and suffers pain for us. And we considered him to be in toil and affliction and mistreatment. But he was wounded for our sins, and he was weakened for our iniquities” (Isaiah 53:2-5). And elsewhere he says about him: “Behold, our God renders judgment and will repay. He himself will come and save us. Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will hear. Then the lame will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute will be clear” (Isaiah 35:4-6). And again elsewhere he says: “Not an angel, not a messenger, but the Lord himself saved us” (Isaiah 63:9). And David says: “Mother Zion will say: Man and man was born in her, and the Most High himself founded her” (Psalm 87:5). For this man who was born in her is himself the Most High, as he says in another psalm: “And let them know that your name is Lord; you alone are Most High over all the earth” (Psalm 83:18). We have written these things in part so that, as the Apostle said, “we may no longer be infants, tossed about and carried around by every wind of teaching in the craftiness of men, in their cunning toward the scheming of error” (Ephesians 4:14).
Greek
Καὶ ὑπὲρ ταύτης εἰς ὕψος ἐπίστρεψον· Κύριος κρινεῖ λαούς. Λέγει δὲ καὶ ὁ Ἀπόστολος ἀλλαχοῦ· Ἔπαθεν ἐξ ἀσθενείας, ζῇ δὲ ἐκ δυνάμεως Θεοῦ. Δύναμις δέ ἐστι Θεοῦ ὁ Υἱὸς, παθὼν ἐξ ἀσθενείας, τουτέστιν, ἐκ τῆς σαρκικῆς συμπλοκῆς· καὶ παραιτούμενος τὸ πάθος, ὡς ἄνθρωπος· ζῶν δὲ διὰ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ δυνάμεως. Καὶ ὅτε λέγει ὁ Κύριος ἐν τῷ κατὰ Ἰωάννην Εὐαγγελίῳ· Αὕτη δέ ἐστιν ἡ αἰώνιος ζωὴ, ἵνα γινώσκωσί σε τὸν μόνον ἀληθινὸν Θεὸν, καὶ ὃν ἀπέστειλας Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν· ἀλλαχοῦ ὁ αὐτὸς Ἰωάννης τὸν Υἱὸν λέγει ἀληθινὸν Θεόν· Οἴδαμεν γὰρ, φησὶν, ὅτι ὁ Υἱὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ ἥκει· καὶ δέδωκεν ἡμῖν διάνοιαν, ἵνα γινώσκωμεν τὸν ἀληθινὸν Θεὸν, καὶ ἐσμὲν ἐν τῷ ἀληθινῷ ἐν τῷ Υἱῷ αὐτοῦ Ἰησοῦ Χριστῷ. Οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ ἀληθινὸς Θεὸς, καὶ ζωὴ ἡ αἰώνιος. Ὥστε ἀληθινὸς Θεός ἐστιν ὁ Υἱὸς, καὶ πρὸ τοῦ γενέσθαι αὐτὸν ἄνθρωπον, καὶ μετὰ τὸ γενέσθαι μεσίτην Θεοῦ καὶ ἀνθρώπων, ἄνθρωπον Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν. Τοῦτο γάρ ἐστι, καὶ ὃν ἀπέστειλεν Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν, τὸν ἡνωμένον Πατρὶ κατὰ Πνεῦμα, ἡμῖν δὲ κατὰ σάρκα, καὶ οὕτω μεσιτεύσαντα Θεῷ καὶ ἀνθρώποις· τὸν μὴ μόνον ἄνθρωπον, ἀλλὰ καὶ Θεὸν τὸν αὐτὸν ὄντα, καθὼς καὶ Ἱερεμίας λέγει· Οὗτος ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν, οὐ λογισθήσεται ἕτερος πρὸς αὐτόν. Ἐξεῦρε πᾶσαν ὁδὸν ἐπιστήμης· καὶ ἔδωκεν αὐτὴν Ἰακὼβ τῷ παιδὶ αὐτοῦ, καὶ Ἰσραὴλ τῷ ἠγαπημένῳ ὑπ' αὐτοῦ. Μετὰ ταῦτα ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ὤφθη καὶ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις συνανεστράφη. Πότε δὲ συνανεστράφη τοῖς ἀνθρώποις, εἰ μὴ ὅτε συνεγεννήθη μετ' αὐτῶν ἐκ γυναικὸς, καὶ συνενηπίασε, καὶ συνηύξησε, καὶ 1025 συνέφαγε; Καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ λέγει· Βαθεῖα ἡ καρδία αὐτοῦ παρὰ πάντας· καὶ ἄνθρωπός ἐστι, καὶ τίς γνώσεται αὐτόν; Ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ Ἡσαΐας λέγει, ὅτι Παιδίον ἐγεννήθη ἡμῖν, καὶ Υἱὸς ἐδόθη ἡμῖν, οὗ ἡ ἀρχὴ ἐγενήθη ἐπὶ τοῦ ὤμου αὐτοῦ. Καὶ καλεῖται τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ Μεγάλης βουλῆς ἄγγελος, θαυμαστὸς, σύμβουλος, Θεὸς ἰσχυρὸς, ἐξουσιαστὴς, ἄρχων εἰρήνης, πατὴρ τοῦ μέλλοντος αἰῶνος. Καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ λέγει· Ἰδοὺ ἡ Παρθένος ἐν γαστρὶ λήψεται, καὶ τέξεται υἱὸν, καὶ καλέσουσι τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ Ἐμμανουὴλ, ὅ ἐστι μεθερμηνευόμενον Μεθ' ἡμῶν ὁ Θεός. Θεὸς οὖν ἐστιν ὁ γεννηθεὶς ἐκ Παρθένου, καὶ γενόμενος ἄνθρωπος ἐκ Μαρίας τῆς Θεοτόκου. Καὶ πάλιν ἀλλαχοῦ λέγει· Καὶ εἴδομεν αὐτὸν, καὶ οὐκ εἶχεν εἶδος, οὐδὲ κάλλος. Ἦν γὰρ αὐτὸν πρὸ τούτου θεωρήσας ἐν τῇ θεϊκῇ καὶ ἐνδόξῳ αὐτοῦ μορφῇ, καθήμενον ἐπὶ θρόνου ὑψηλοῦ καὶ ἐπηρμένου, ὅτε καὶ οἱ σεραφὶμ ἐδοξολόγουν αὐτὸν, λέγοντες· Ἅγιος, ἅγιος, ἅγιος Κύριος Σαβαώθ. Καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα ὁρᾷ αὐτὸν δούλου μορφὴν λαβόντα, καὶ ἐν ὁμοιώματι ἀνθρώπου γενόμενον. Διὰ τοῦτο λέγει· Εἴδομεν αὐτὸν, καὶ οὐκ εἶχεν εἶδος, οὐδὲ κάλλος· ἀλλὰ τὸ εἶδος αὐτοῦ ἄτιμον, καὶ ἐκλεῖπον παρὰ πάντας τοὺς υἱοὺς τῶν ἀνθρώπων. Ἄνθρωπος ἐν πληγῇ ὢν, καὶ εἰδὼς φέρειν μαλακίαν. Ὅτι ἀπέστραπται τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ· ἠτιμάσθη καὶ οὐκ ἐλογίσθη· οὗτος τὰς μαλακίας ἡμῶν φέρει, καὶ περὶ ἡμῶν ὀδυνᾶται. Καὶ ἡμεῖς ἐλογισάμεθα αὐτὸν εἶναι ἐν πόνῳ, καὶ πληγῇ, καὶ ἐν κακώσει. Αὐτὸς δὲ ἐτραυματίσθη διὰ τὰς ἁμαρτίας ἡμῶν· καὶ μεμαλάκισται διὰ τὰς ἀνομίας ἡμῶν. Καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ λέγει περὶ αὐτοῦ· Ἰδοὺ ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν κρίσιν ἀνταποδίδωσι, καὶ ἀνταποδώσει. Αὐτὸς ἥξει καὶ σώσει ἡμᾶς. Τότε ἀνοιχθήσονται ὀφθαλμοὶ τυφλῶν, καὶ ὦτα κωφῶν ἀκούσονται. Τότε ἁλεῖται ὡς ἔλαφος ὁ χωλὸς, καὶ τρανὴ ἔσται γλῶσσα μογιλάλων. Καὶ πάλιν ἀλλαχοῦ λέγει· Οὐκ ἄγγελος, οὐδὲ πρέσβυς, ἀλλ' αὐτὸς ὁ Κύριος ἔσωσεν 10271028 ἡμᾶς. Ὁ δὲ Δαβὶδ λέγει· Μήτηρ Σιὼν ἐρεῖ· Ἄνθρωπος καὶ ἄνθρωπος ἐγεννήθη ἐν αὐτῇ, καὶ αὐτὸς ἐθεμελίωσεν αὐτὴν ὁ Ὕψιστος. Οὗτος γὰρ ὁ ἄνθρωπος ὁ γεννηθεὶς ἐν αὐτῇ, αὐτός ἐστιν ὁ Ὕψιστος, καθὼς ἐν ἄλλῳ ψαλμῷ λέγει· Καὶ γνώτωσαν, ὅτι ὄνομά σοι Κύριος· σὺ μόνος Ὕψιστος ἐπὶ πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν. Ταῦτα δὲ ἀπὸ μέρους ἐγράψαμεν, ἵνα, καθὼς εἶπεν ὁ Ἀπόστολος, Μηκέτι ὦμεν νήπιοι κλυδωνιζόμενοι καὶ περιφερόμενοι παντὶ ἀνέμῳ τῆς διδασκαλίας ἐν τῇ κυβείᾳ τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ἐν τῇ πανουργίᾳ πρὸς τὴν μεθοδείαν τῆς πλάνης.