5.  If then thou hear the Gospel saying, The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham Matt. i. 1., understand “according to the flesh.”  For He is the Son of David at the end of the ages Heb. ix. 26., but the Son of God Before All Ages, without beginning See § 4, note 3..  The one, which before He had not, He received; but the other, which He hath, He hath eternally as begotten of the Father.  Two fathers He hath:  one, David, according to the flesh, and one, God, His Father in a Divine manner Θεϊκῶς..  As the Son of David, He is subject to time, and to handling, and to genealogical descent:  but as Son according to the Godhead τὸ μὲν κατὰ τὸν Δαβίδ.…τὸ δὲ κατὰ τὴν Θεότητα., He is subject neither to time nor to place, nor to genealogical descent:  for His generation who shall declare Isa. liii. 8.  Compare § 7, below.?  God is a Spirit John iv. 24.; He who is a Spirit hath spiritually begotten, as being incorporeal, an inscrutable and incomprehensible generation.  The Son Himself says of the Father, The Lord said unto Me, Thou art My Son, to-day have I begotten Thee Ps. ii. 7..  Now this to-day is not recent, but eternal:  a timeless to-day, before all ages.  From the womb, before the morning star, have I begotten Thee Ps. cx. 3.  “From the womb of the morning thou hast the dew of thy youth” (R.V.).  There is a remarkable various reading in Codd. Roe, Casaub.  Τό εἶ σύ, ἄχρονον καὶ ἀΐδιον· τὸ δὲ σήμερον πρόσφατον, ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ ἀΐδιον, οἰκειουμένου τοῦ Πατρὸς καὶ τὴν κάτω γέννησιν.  Καὶ πάλιν λέγει· ᾽Εκ γαστρὸς πρὸ ἑωσφόρου γεγέννηκά σε· τοῦτο μόνον τῆς Θεότητος· Πίστευσον, κ.τ.λ   The words “Thou art My Son,” are thus referred to the eternal generation, and “This day” to the birth in time:  whereas in the received text, followed in our translation, σήμερον refers to the timeless and eternal generation of the Son.  The former interpretation of Ps. ii. 7 is found in many Fathers, as for example in Tertullian (adv. Prax. vii. xi.), and Methodius (Conviv. Virg. VIII. cap. ix.):  “He says ‘Thou art,’ and not ‘Thou hast become,’ shewing that He had not recently attained to the position of Son.…But the expression, ‘This day have I begotten Thee,’ signifies that He willed that existing already before the ages in heaven He should also be begotten for the world, that is that He who was before unknown should be made known.’  The same interpretation was held by many Fathers, some referring σήμερον to the Nativity, as Cyprian (adv. Judæos Testim. ii. 8), others to the Baptism (Justin M. Dialog. cap. lxxxviii.; Tertullian. adv. Marcion. iv. 22).  Athanasius (c. Arian. iv. § 27), has a long discussion on the question whether Ps. cx. 3, ἐκ γαστρὸς πρὸ ἑωσφόρου γεγέννηκά σε, refers to the eternal generation of the Son, or to His Nativity..