Wednesday, September 7, 2011

I Am the Lord, Who Does All These Things

Isaiah 45:5-7
I am the Lord, and there is no other,
        besides me there is no God;
I equip you, though you do not know me,
        that people may know, from the rising of the sun
        and from the west, that there is none besides me;
I am the Lord, and there is no other.
I form light and create darkness,
I make well-being and create calamity,
I am the Lord, who does all these things.

After chiding the pagans for their many gods, Arnobius asks how they can be sure there is not one God who is over all these things making them seem to be under the influence of many deities.  And since they do not trust Christians, let them ask the other nations who have finally come to some conception of a supreme god.  Then they might finally understand.


Or, if you refuse to believe this on account of its novelty, how can you know whether there is not some one being, who comes in place of all whom you invoke, and substituting himself in all parts of the world, shows to you the appearance of many gods and powers?

"Who is that one?" someone will ask.

We may perhaps, being instructed by truthful authors, be able to say; but, lest you should be unwilling to believe us, let my opponent ask the Egyptians, Persians, Indians, Chaldeans, Armenians, and all the others who have seen and become acquainted with these things in the esoteric arts.  Then, indeed, you will learn who is the One God, or who the very many under Him are, who pretend to be gods, and make sport of men’s ignorance.

Arnobius of Sicca, The Case against the Pagans, Book IV, cap. 13

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