Novatian, On the Trinity 16

If Christ is only a man, how can he say: 'And everyone who sees and believes in me will not die eternally'? Yet the one who believes in a solitary and naked man is pronounced cursed; but the one who believes in Christ is not cursed, but is said to be one who will not die forever. From this it follows: if Christ is only a man, as the heretics want, how can whoever believes in him avoid eternal death, when the one who trusts in a man is held to be cursed? Or if the believer in Christ is not cursed but rather destined for the attainment of eternal life, as it is written, then Christ is not only a man but also God; for the one who believes in him both sets aside the danger of curse and advances to the fruit of righteousness. If Christ is only a man, how can he say that the Paraclete will take from his own what he will announce? For the Paraclete does not receive anything from a man, but imparts knowledge to men; the Paraclete does not learn future things from a man, but instructs men about future things. If the Paraclete were to receive from Christ-as-man what he is to announce, then Christ would be deceiving and misleading us in this very passage, since a man could give nothing to the Paraclete from whom the man himself must receive. But Christ does not deceive us, any more than he deceives, and the Paraclete has received from Christ what he will announce. Since the Paraclete has received from Christ what he announces, Christ is therefore greater than the Paraclete; for the Paraclete would not receive from Christ unless he were lesser than Christ. The fact that the Paraclete is lesser than Christ and receives from him what he proclaims proves that Christ is also God. This is a great testimony to Christ's divinity, since the Paraclete, found to be lesser than Christ, takes from him what he hands on to others. If Christ were only a man, then Christ would receive from the Paraclete what he would say, not the Paraclete from Christ.

If Christ is only a man, why did he lay down for us such a rule of belief, saying: 'This is eternal life, that they may know you, the one and true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent' (John 17:3)? If he had not wished to be understood as God also, why did he add 'whom you have sent, Jesus Christ'? For if he had not wished to be understood as God, he would have added 'whom you have sent, the man Jesus Christ.' But he did not add this, and Christ did not present himself to us as only a man, but joined himself to God, so that through this conjunction he might be understood as God, as he is. Therefore it must be believed, according to the prescribed rule, in the Lord, the one true God, and in the one whom he sent, Jesus Christ, consequently; for he would not have joined himself to the Father, as we said, unless he also wished to be understood as God. He would have separated himself from the Father if he had not wished himself to be understood as God. For he would have placed himself among men only, if he knew himself to be only a man, and he would not have joined himself to God if he did not also know himself to be God. Now he is silent about the man, because no one doubts that he is a man, and he joins himself to God deservedly, so that he might set a formula of his divinity for believers.

If Christ is only a man, how can he say: 'Now glorify me, Father, with the glory that I had with you before the world existed' (John 17:5)? If he had glory with God before the world existed and held splendor with the Father, then he existed before the world; for no one can have something unless he himself existed before, he who holds it. But Christ has glory before the institution of the world; therefore he existed before the institution of the world. For unless he existed before the institution of the world, he could not have had glory before the institution of the world, since he himself did not exist. Yet a man could not have had glory before the institution of the world, who came after the world; but Christ had it: therefore he was before the world. He is therefore not only a man, who was before the world; he is God, since he was before the world and held glory before the world. Let this not be called predestination, since it is not established. Let those who think this add it. But woe to those who add, just as to those who subtract, what is established. It cannot be said that what cannot be added is possible. Therefore, with predestination, which is not established, set aside, Christ existed in substance before the institution of the world. For he is the Word through whom all things were made, and without whom nothing was made. And even if it is said that he is glorious in predestination, and that predestination existed before the institution of the world, the order is preserved, and before this there will be a great number of men in glory; for Christ will be understood to be lesser through this destination than the rest, to whom he is posterior. Glory was in predestination, and Christ, who is the last, received this predestination in glory; for before this predestination of Christ in glory, Adam is seen to have been predestined, and Abel, and Enoch, and Noah, and Abraham, and the rest. For since with God the order of all persons and things is settled, before this predestination of Christ in glory many will be said to have been predestined, and in this way Christ will be found to be lesser than other men, who are better, greater, and more ancient than the angels themselves. Either all these things must be abolished, so that Christ's divinity may be taken away, or if these things cannot be abolished, Christ's own divinity must be restored to him by the heretics.