Sayings from another sect
Then, I think, again throwing everything into confusion, he brings from another sect the saying “How is it that many are around the well and no one goes into the well?”, and “Why, when you are travelling so long a road, do you lack courage? It escapes your notice,” and “For I have courage and a sword.” We who belong to the Church that bears the name of Christ alone say that none of these things is true.
Having said these things first, he seems to be consistent with himself in saying things that have nothing to do with us. For our purpose is not to worship some God of our own supposing, but the Maker of this universe and of anything else whatever that is neither perceived by the senses nor pointed out. As for those who walk “another way” and “other paths” (Homer, Odyssey 9.261), who deny this Maker and have given themselves to a novel fiction, a God in name only, as though he were greater than the Creator, that is their own affair; and so it is for anyone, if there is such a person, who says that the Son is stronger than and lord over “the God who rules.”
We have already given the account that seems right to us on the saying that one must not “serve two masters” (Matthew 6:24). There we also showed that no faction around Jesus the Lord can be shown to exist among those who confess that they have risen above every lord and serve as Lord only the Son of God, the Word of God.
Greek
Εἶτ᾿ οἶμαι πάλιν φύρων τὰ πράγματα ἀπὸ ἄλλης αἱ (ρέσ) εως φέρει τὸ „ (πῶς) πολλοὶ περὶ τὸ φρέαρ, καὶ οὐδεὶς εἰς τὸ φρέαρ“; καὶ τὸ „διὰ τί τοσαύτην (ἀν) ύων ὁδὸν ἄτολμος εἶ; λανθάνει σε“ καὶ τὸ „πάρεστι γάρ μοι θάρσος καὶ μάχαιρα“· (ὧ) ν ἡμεῖς οὐδὲν, οἱ ἀπὸ τῆς ἐπωνύμου Χριστοῦ ἐκκλησίας μόνου, φαμὲν εἶναι ἀλη (θές.) ταῦτα δὴ προειπὼν δοκεῖ ἀκόλουθα ἑαυτῷ λέγειν τὰ οὐδὲν ὄντα πρὸς ἡμᾶς. ἡμῖν μὲν γὰρ τὸ προκείμενόν ἐστιν οὐκ ἐξ ὑποθέσεώς τινα σέβειν θεὸν ἀλλὰ τὸν τοῦδε τοῦ παντὸς καὶ ἄλλου οὑτινοσοῦν μὴ αἰσθητοῦ μηδὲ δεικνυμένου δημιουργόν· εἴσονται δὲ οἱ „ἄλλην ὁδὸν“ καὶ „ἄλλα κέλευθα“ βαδίζοντες καὶ τοῦτον μὲν ἀρνούμενοι καινοειδεῖ δὲ ἀναπλάσματι καὶ ὀνόματι μόνον θεοῦ ἑαυτοὺς ὡς μείζονι τοῦ δημιουργοῦ ἐπιδεδωκότες, καὶ εἴ τις ἄρ᾿ ἐστὶ λέγων ἰσχυρότερον εἶναι τὸν υἱὸν καὶ κύριον „τοῦ κρατοῦντος θεοῦ.“ ἀποδεδώκαμεν δὲ τὸν φαινόμενον ἡμῖν λόγον εἰς τὸ μὴ δεῖν „δυσὶ κυρίοις δουλεύειν,“ ὅτε καὶ παρεστήσαμεν μηδεμίαν στάσιν περὶ τὸν Ἰησοῦν καὶ κύριον ἀποδείκνυσθαι δύνασθαι ἐν τοῖς ὁμολογοῦσιν ὑπεραναβεβηκέναι μὲν πάντα κύριον μόνῳ δὲ κυρίῳ δουλεύειν τῷ υἱῷ τοῦ θεοῦ λόγῳ θεοῦ.