58. Even as the Child, then, is born not
unto all, but unto the faithful: so the Son is given to the
faithful and not to the unbelieving. He is given to us, not to
the Photinians; for they affirm that the Son of God was not given unto
us, but was born and first began to exist amongst us. To us is He
given, not to the Sabellians, who will not hear of a Son being given,
maintaining that Father and Son are one and the same. Unto us is
He given, not unto the Arians, in whose judgment the Son was not given
for salvation, but sent over subject and inferior, to whom, moreover,
He is no “Counsellor,” inasmuch as they hold that He knows
nought of the future, no Son, since they believe not in His eternity,
though of the Word of God it is written: “That which was in
the beginning;” and again: “In the beginning was the
Word.” S. John i. 1, 2. To return
to the passage we set before us to discuss. “In the
beginning,” saith the Scripture, “before He made the earth,
before He made the deeps, before He brought forth the springs of water,
before all the hills He begat Me.” Prov. viii. 23 ff.