Chapter CXXVII.—These passages of Scripture do not apply to the Father, but
to the Word.
“These and other such sayings are recorded by the lawgiver and by the prophets; and I
suppose that I have stated sufficiently, that wherever684 God says, ‘God went up from Abra-
ham,’685 or, ‘The Lord spake to Moses,’686 and ‘The Lord came down to behold the tower
which the sons of men had built,’687 or when ‘God shut Noah into the ark,’688 you must
not imagine that the unbegotten God Himself came down or went up from any place. For
the ineffable Father and Lord of all neither has come to any place, nor walks, nor sleeps, nor
rises up, but remains in His own place, wherever that is, quick to behold and quick to hear,
having neither eyes nor ears, but being of indescribable might; and He sees all things, and
knows all things, and none of us escapes His observation; and He is not moved or confined
to a spot in the whole world, for He existed before the world was made. How, then, could
He talk with any one, or be seen by any one, or appear on the smallest portion of the earth,
when the people at Sinai were not able to look even on the glory of Him who was sent from
Him; and Moses himself could not enter into the tabernacle which he had erected, when it
was filled with the glory of God; and the priest could not endure to stand before the temple
when Solomon conveyed the ark into the house in Jerusalem which he had built for it?
Therefore neither Abraham, nor Isaac, nor Jacob, nor any other man, saw the Father and
ineffable Lord of all, and also of Christ, but [saw] Him who was according to His will His
Son, being God, and the Angel because He ministered to His will; whom also it pleased Him
to be born man by the Virgin; who also was fire when He conversed with Moses from the
bush. Since, unless we thus comprehend the Scriptures, it must follow that the Father and
Lord of all had not been in heaven when what Moses wrote took place: ‘And the Lord rained
upon Sodom fire and brimstone from the Lord out of heaven;’689 and again, when it is thus
said by David: ‘Lift up your gates, ye rulers; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting gates; and the
King of glory shall enter;’690 and again, when He says: ‘The Lord says to my Lord, Sit at My
right hand, till I make Thine enemies Thy footstool.’691
684 ὅταυ πον instead of ὅταν μου.
685 Gen. xviii. 22.
686 Ex. vi. 29.
687 Gen. xi. 5.
688 Gen. vii. 16.
689 Gen. xix. 24.
690 Ps. xxiv. 7.
691 Ps. cx. 1.
Chapter CXXVII.—These passages of Scripture do not apply to the Father, but to the Word.
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Chapter CXXVII.—These passages of Scripture do not apply to the Father,…