36. The true method of our enquiry demands
that we should begin with him, through whom God first manifested
Himself to the world, that is, with Moses, by whose mouth God the
Only-begotten thus declared Himself; See, see that I am God, and
there is no God beside Me Deut. xxxii. 39.. That
godless heresy must not assign these words to God, the unbegotten
Father, is clear by the sense of the passage and by the evidence of the
Apostle who, as we have already stated Book iv. §
33.,
has taught us to understand this whole discourse as spoken by God the
Only-begotten. The Apostle also points out the words, Rejoice,
O ye nations, with His people Deut. xxxii. 43 (Rom. xv. 10). as those of
the Son, and in corroboration further cites this:—And there
shall be a root of Jesse, and One that shall arise to rule the nations;
in Him shall the nations trust Isai. xi. 10 (Rom. xv. 12).. Thus
Moses by the words, Rejoice, O ye nations, with His people
indicates Him Who said, There is no God beside Me; and the
Apostle refers the same words to our Lord Jesus Christ, God the
Only-begotten, in Whose rising as a king from the root of Jesse,
according to the flesh, the hope of the Gentiles rests. And
therefore we must now consider the meaning of these words, that we, who
know that they were spoken by Him, may ascertain in what sense He spoke
them.