Chapter XXXVIII.--Simon's Creed.
Then Peter: "Are not you making use of long preambles, as you accused us of doing, because you have no truth to bring forward? For if you have, begin without circumlocution, if you have so much confidence. And if, indeed, what you say be displeasing to any one of the hearers, he will withdraw; and those who remain shall be compelled by your assertion to approve what is true. Begin, therefore, to expound what seemeth to you to be right." Then Simon said: "I say that there are many gods; but that there is one incomprehensible and unknown to all, and that He is the God of all these gods." Then Peter answered: "This God whom you assert to be incomprehensible and unknown to all, can you prove His existence from the Scriptures of the Jews, [630] which are held to be of authority, or from some others of which we are all ignorant, or from the Greek authors, or from your own writings? Certainly you are at liberty to speak from whatever writings you please, yet so that you first show that they are prophetic; for so their authority will be held without question."
[630] [In both the Recognitions and the Homilies the contest turns upon the monotheistic teaching of the Old Testament and the supreme Deity of Jehovah. This is rightly regarded as an evidence of Ebionitic origin. But Gnostic elements enter again and again.--R.]
Chapter XXXIX.--Argument for Polytheism.
Then Simon said: "I shall make use of assertions from the law of the Jews only. For it is manifest to all who take interest in religion, that this law is of universal authority, yet that every one receives the understanding of this law according to his own judgment. For it has so been written by Him who created the world, that the faith of things is made to depend upon it. Whence, whether any one wishes to bring forward truth, or any one to bring forward falsehood, no assertion will be received without this law. Inasmuch, therefore, as my knowledge is most fully in accordance with the law, I rightly declared that there are many gods, of whom one is more eminent than the rest, and incomprehensible, even He who is God of gods. But that there are many gods, the law itself informs me. For, in the first place, it says this in the passage where one in the figure of a serpent speaks to Eve, the first woman, On the day ye eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, ye shall be as gods,' [631] that is, as those who made man; and after they have tasted of the tree, God Himself testifies, saying to the rest of the gods, Behold, Adam is become as one of us;' [632] thus, therefore, it is manifest that there were many gods engaged in the making of man. Also, whereas at the first God said to the other gods, Let us make man after our image and likeness;' [633] also His saying, Let us drive him out;' [634] and again, Come, let us go down, and confound their language;' [635] all these things indicate that there are many gods. But this also is written, Thou shalt not curse the gods, nor curse the chief of thy people;' [636] and again this writing, God alone led them, and there was no strange god with them,' [637] shows that there are many gods. There are also many other testimonies which might be adduced from the law, not only obscure, but plain, by which it is taught that there are many gods. [638] One of these was chosen by lot, that he might be the god of the Jews. But it is not of him that I speak, but of that God who is also his God, whom even the Jews themselves did not know. For he is not their God, but the God of those who know him."
[631] Gen. iii. 5.
[632] Gen. iii. 22.
[633] Gen. i. 26.
[634] Gen. iii. 22.
[635] Gen. xi. 7.
[636] Exod. xxii. 28.
[637] Deut. xxxii. 12.
[638] [Compare Homily XVI. 6.--R.]
Chapter XL.--Peter's Answer.
When Peter had heard this, he answered: "Fear nothing, Simon: for, behold, we have neither shut our ears, nor fled; but we answer with words of truth to those things which you have spoken falsely, asserting this first, that there is one God, even the God of the Jews, who is the only God, the Creator of heaven and earth, who is also the God of all those whom you call gods. If, then, I shall show you that none is superior to Him, but that He Himself is above all, you will confess that your error is above all." [639] Then Simon said: "Why, indeed, though I should be unwilling to confess it, would not the hearers who stand by charge me with unwillingness to profess the things that are true?"
[639] [The reply of Peter here is of a higher character than that given in the Homilies (see iii. 40, etc.). Indeed, the report of the entire discussion in the Recognitions shows a superior conception of the Apostle.--R.]