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ANF Pseudo-Clementine The Clementine Homilies
“For instance, in the very first words of the law, He evidently speaks of them as being like even unto Himself. For thus it is written, that, when the first man received a commandment from God to eat of every tree that was in the garden,[1255] but not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the serpent having persuaded them by means of the woman, through the promise that they would become gods, made them look up;[1256] and then, when they had thus looked up, God said,[1257] ‘Behold, Adam is become as one of us.’ When, then, the serpent said,[1258] ‘Ye shall be as gods,’ he plainly speaks in the belief that gods exist; all the more as God also added His testimony, saying, ‘Behold, Adam is become as one of us.’ The serpent, then, who said that there are many gods, did not speak falsely. Again, the scripture,[1259] ‘Thou shalt not revile the gods, nor curse the rulers of thy people,’ points out many gods whom it does not wish even to be cursed. But it is also somewhere else written,[1260] ‘Did another god dare to enter and take him a nation from the midst of another nation, as did I the Lord God?’ When He says, ‘Did another God dare?’ He speaks on the supposition that other gods exist. And elsewhere:[1261] ‘Let the gods that have not made the heavens and the earth perish;’ as if those who had made them were not to perish. And in another place, when it says,[1262] ‘Take heed to thyself lest thou go and serve other gods whom thy fathers knew not,’ it speaks as if other gods existed whom they were not to follow. And again:[1263] ‘The names of other gods shall not ascend upon thy lips.’ Here it mentions many gods whose names it does not wish to be uttered. And again it is written,[1264] ‘Thy God is the Lord, He is God of gods.’ And again:[1265] ‘Who is like unto Thee, O Lord, among the Gods?’ And again:[1266] ‘God is Lord of gods.’ And again:[1267] ‘God stood in the assembly of gods: He judgeth among the gods.’ Wherefore I wonder how, when there are so many passages in writing which testify that there are many gods, you have asserted that we ought neither to say nor to think that there are many.[1268] Finally, if you have anything to say against what has been spoken so distinctly, say it in the presence of all.”
And Peter said: “I shall reply briefly to what you have said. The law, which frequently speaks of gods, itself says to the Jewish multitude,[1269] ‘Behold, the heaven of heavens is the Lord’s thy God, with all that therein is;’ implying that, even if there are gods, they are under Him, that is, under the God of the Jews. And again:[1270] ‘The Lord thy God, He is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath, and there is none other except Him.’ And somewhere else the Scripture says to the Jewish multitude,[1271] ‘The Lord your God is God of gods;’ so that, even if there are gods, they are under the God of the Jews. And somewhere else the Scripture says in regard to Him,[1272] God, the great and true, who regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward, He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow.’ The Scripture, in calling the God of the Jews great and true, and executing judgment, marked out the others as small, and not true. But also somewhere else the Scripture says,[1273] ‘As I live, saith the Lord, there is no other God but me. I am the first, I am after this; except me there is no God.’ And again:[1274] ‘Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.’ And again:[1275] ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is one Lord.’ And many passages besides seal with an oath that God is one, and except Him there is no God. Whence I wonder how, when so many passages testify that there is one God, you say that there are many.”
And Simon said: “My original stipulation with you was that I should prove from the Scriptures that you were wrong in maintaining that we ought not to speak of many gods.” Accordingly I adduced many written passages to show that the divine Scriptures themselves speak of many gods.” And Peter said: “Those very Scriptures which speak of many gods, also exhorted us, saying, ‘The names of other gods shall not ascend upon thy lips.’[1276] Thus, Simon, I did not speak contrary to what was written.” And Simon said: “Do you, Peter, listen to what I have to say. You seem to me to sin in speaking against them,[1277] when the Scripture says,[1278] ‘Thou shalt not revile the gods, nor curse the rulers of thy people.’” And Peter said: “I am not sinning, Simon, in pointing out their destruction according to the Scriptures; for thus it is written:[1279] ‘Let the gods who did not make the heavens and the earth perish.’ And He said thus, not as though some had made the heavens and were not to perish, as you interpreted the passage. For it is plainly declared that He who made them is one in the very first part of Scripture:[1280] ‘In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And it did not say, ‘the gods.’ And somewhere else it says,[1281] ‘And the firmament showeth His handiwork.’ And in another place it is written,[1282] ‘The heavens themselves shall perish, but Thou shalt remain for ever.’”
And Simon said: “I adduced clear passages from the Scriptures to prove that there are many gods; and you, in reply, brought forward as many or more from the same Scriptures, showing that God is one, and He the God of the Jews. And when I said that we ought not to revile gods, you proceeded to show that He who created is one, because those who did not create will perish. And in reply to my assertion that we ought to maintain that there are gods, because the Scriptures also say so, you showed that we ought not to utter their names, because the same Scripture tells us not to utter the names of other gods. Since, then, these very Scriptures say at one time that there are many gods, and at another that there is only one; and sometimes that they ought not to be reviled, and at other times that they ought; what conclusion ought we to come to in consequence of this, but that the Scriptures themselves lead us astray?”
And Peter said: “They do not lead astray, but convict and bring to light the evil disposition against God which lurks like a serpent in each one. For the Scriptures lie before each one like many divers types. Each one, then, has his own disposition like wax, and examining the Scriptures and finding everything in them, he moulds his idea of God according to his wish, laying upon them, as I said, his own disposition, which is like wax.[1283] Since, then, each one finds in the Scriptures whatever opinion he wishes to have in regard to God, for this reason he, Simon, moulds from them the forms[1284] of many gods, while we moulded the form of Him who truly exists, coming to the knowledge of the true type from our own shape.[1285] For assuredly the soul within us is clothed with His image for immortality. If I abandon the parent of this soul, it also will abandon me to just judgment, making known the injustice by the very act of daring;[1286] and as coming from one who is just, it will justly abandon me; and so, as far as the soul is concerned, I shall, after punishment, be destroyed, having abandoned the help that comes from it. But if there is another god, first let him put on another form, another shape, in order that by the new shape of the body I may recognise the new god. But if he should change the shape, does he thereby change the substance of the soul? But if he should change it also, then I am no longer myself, having become another both in shape and in substance. Let him, therefore, create others, if there is another. But there is not. For if there had been, he would have created. But since he has not created, then let him, as nonexistent, leave him who is really existent.[1287] For he is nobody,[1288] except only in the opinion of Simon. I do not accept of any other god but Him alone who created me.”
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