Novatian, On the Trinity 19
Consider another passage where we similarly read of God, an angel being presented. When Jacob was complaining to his wives Leah and Rachel about their father's injustice, and when he reported that he already desired to return and go back to his own land, he also brought forward the authority of his dream. At that time he relates that the angel of God said to him through a dream: 'Jacob.' And he says, 'I answered.' 'What is it?' He says, 'Look with your eyes and see the he-goats and rams mounting the ewes and she-goats — streaked, white, varied, ash-colored, and spotted.' (Genesis 31:10-13) 'For I have seen everything Laban has done to you. I am the God who appeared to you in the place of God, where you anointed a standing stone for me and vowed a vow to me there. Now therefore arise, depart from this land, go to the land of your birth, and I will be with you.' If the angel of God speaks these words to Jacob, and the angel himself adds, saying, 'I am the God who appeared to you in the place of God,' we perceive not only this angel but God presented without any hesitation. For he reports that a vow from Jacob was destined for the place of God, and he does not say, 'in my place.' Therefore there is a place of God, and here God is present as well. But there the place of God is simply presented; for it was not said, 'in the place of the angel and of God,' but only 'of God.' Here, however, the one who promises these things is declared to be both God and angel; so that a proper distinction exists between the one who is called only God, and the one who is not called simply God but also angel. From this it follows that if no other angel can possess such great authority as to confess himself God and testify that a vow was made to him — except only Christ, to whom a vow can be vowed not because he is an angel but because he is God — then it is clear that the Father cannot be accepted here, but the Son, God and angel. But if this one is Christ, as he is, then whoever calls Christ either a mere man or only an angel is in grave danger, stripping him of the power of the divine name which he frequently received from the faith of the heavenly scriptures, which frequently call him both angel and God. To all these points this is added: just as divine scripture frequently presents him as both angel and God, so it presents him as both man and God, expressing what he was going to be, and depicting even then in an image what he had to be in the truth of substance. For Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until morning.
Latin
Quid si et alio in loco similiter legimus deum angelum positum? nam cum apud uxores suas Liam atque Rachel Iacob de patris illarum iniquitate quereretur, et cum referret quod iam in terram propriam remeare et reuerti cuperet, somnii quoque sui interponebat auctoritatem, quo tempore refert sibi angelum dei per somnium dixisse: acod, Lacob. et ego, inquit, dixi?: quid est? aspice, inquit, oculis tuis, et uide hircos et arietes ascendentes super oues et capras uariatos albos et uarios et cinericios et aspersos. vidi enim quaecumque tibi Laban fecit. ego sum deus qui uisus sum tibi in loco dei, ubi unxisti mihi illic stantem lapidem, et uouisti mihi illic uotum. nunc ergo surge, et proficiscere de terra hac, et uade in terram natiuitatis tuae, et ero tecum. si angelus dei loquitur haec ad Iacob, atque ipse angelus infert, dicens: ego sum deus qui uisus sum tibi in loco dei, non tantummodo hunc angelum sed et deum positum sine ulla haesitatione conspicimus, quippe sibi uotum refert ab Iacob destinatum esse in loco dei, et non dicit ‘fin loco meo.” est ergo locus dei, est et hic deus. sed enim ibi simpliciter est zz loco dei positum; neque enim dictum est ‘‘in loco angeli et dei,” sed tantummodo “dei.” hic autem qui ista promittit, deus atque angelus esse perhibetur; ut merito distinctio sit inter eum qui tantummodo deus dicitur, et inter eum qui non deus simpliciter sed et angelus pronuntiatur. ex quo si nullius alterius angeli potest hic accipi tanta auctoritas, ut deum quoque se esse fateatur et uotum sibi factum esse testetur, nisi tantummodo Christi, cui, non quia angelo tantum, sed quia deo, uotum uoueri potest, manifestum est non patrem accipi posse, sed filium, deum et angelum. hic autem si Christus est, sicuti est, uehementer periclitatur, qui aut hominem Christum aut angelum tantummodo dicit, subtracta illi diuini nominis potestate, quam ex scripturarum caelestium fide frequenter accepit, quae illum et angelum frequenter et deum dicunt. His omnibus etiam illud accedit, ut quo modo illum et angelum frequenter et deum posuit scriptura diuina, sic illum et hominem ponat et deum exprimens eadem scriptura diuina quod erat futurus, et depingens iam tum in imagine quod habebat esse in substantiae ueritate. remansit enim, inquit, Iacob solus, et luctabatur homo cum eo usque in mane: