The Witness of God is Greater
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Note:
Marco Conti errs in placing (1John 5:8), the reference is clearly is the heavenly - (1 John 5:7) - not the earthly witnesses, (1 John 5:8). However, denying the obvious reference is the standard delusion pushed by the textual critics, as explained in the invisible allegory posts. The verse is clearly 1 John 5:7, there is no invisible allegory involved!
Thanks to the BVDB contras for pointing out that within a book quote the number should not be changed without explanation
. Beyond that, Conti, or his editor, erred on two of the John 10:30 quotes. So those are fixed below, and I added “SA:” where I corrected the verse number.
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Potamius, Bishop of Lisbon (circa 355-366 AD)
Potamius (first known bishop of Lisbon - Ulyssipona) an ecclesiastic of Spanish birth, flourished as bishop of Lisbon in the middle of the 4th century; and if the first of the pieces mentioned below be genuine, he must, in the early part of his career, have been a champion of the Catholic faith. Subsequently, however, he was a zealous Arian, and it is believed that he drew up the document known in ecclesiastical history as The Second Sirmian Creed. The writings usually ascribed to Potamieus are, Epistola ad Athanasiulm Episcopun Alexandrinum de Consubstactialitate Filii Dei, in some MSS. entitled Epistola Potainii ad Athanasium ab Aritais (impetitum?) posquam in Concilio Ariminensi subscripserunt, composed in the year A.D. 355, while the opinions of the author were yet orthodox.
(Potimus. The Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature. James Strong and John McClintock; Harper and Brothers; NY; 1880.
www.biblicalcyclopedia.com/P/potamius.html
HITS:
● Letter to
Athanasius the Bishop of Alexandria on the consubstantiality of the Son of God. You must justly admit that, when your poisonous desire of impure slander was inflamed, the venerable fathers transfixed you with pious arrows in that holier council. Here also it is clearly shown that you held before you fetters of malicious distortion, since the Savoir says: "I have come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of him who sent him." (John 6:38) What do you answer, serpent? Is it really possible that you seek to obfuscate the brightness of this [PAGE 138] pure profession, which they consider to be a very small problem? The occasion has a bearing on the matter. The Lord our Savior appeared to mankind as a human being, since he had clothed himself with a human body. Therefore, he said: "I have come down from heaven not to do my own will." (John 6:38) He denied the exercise of the humanity that was in him. Therefore, he cries out in order to proclaim in himself the predecessor whom he remembers as
his Father and begetter. Since the Son is named second, therefore he who precedes is greater: but, because
"these three are one" (SA: 1John 5:7), the substance of him who sends and of him who is sent, in the context of the unity of the Godhead, is one: "I and the Father are one." (John 10:30), and "He sees me, sees the Father." (John 14:9) and, as the Savoir himself said to the Apostles: "I have been so long with you and yet you do not know the Father." (John 14:9)
(Potamius of Lisbon. "Letter to Athanasius the Bishop of Alexandria on the consubstantiality of the Son of God" in the life and works of Potamius of Lisbon edited and translated by
Marco Conti, 1998, p. 136)
○ Latin: Epistola ad Athanasium Episcopum Alexandrinum de Consubstantialitate Filii Dei. Bene quod te antiquitas patrum in synodo sanctiori, voluntate viperea impurae virositatis inflata, castis etiam te transfixere missilibus. Nam et hic doceris calumniandi pedicas praetendisse, quod Salvator ait (Ioan. VI, 38) : Non veni opera mea facere, sed eius qui misit me. Quid dicis serpens? Numquid in hac luce tenebras infundis simplici huic professioni, quam quaestiunculam putant? Tempus in causa est: Salvator apud homines, quia hominum corpus induerat, videbatur in corpore; ideo dixit: Non veni facere opera mea: hominis in se negavit officia? (1417D)
Clamat ergo, ut illum ordinatorem in se praedicet, quem in se sibi meminit auctorem Patrem; quia Filius sequitur vocabulo, ita maior est ille qui praevenit; sed et mittentis et missi, quia tres unum sunt, de divinitatis unitate una substantia est
: Ego et Pater unum sumus. Et (John 10:30) : qui me videt, videt et Patrem. Et ipse Salvator ad Apostolos: Tanto tempore, inquit, vobiscum sum, et Patrem non nostis?
(Potamius Ulyssiponensis, Tractatus, Migne Latina, PL 8, 1416C-1417D)
● Letter on the Substance of the
Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
3. With good reason
John asserts: 'and the three of them are one' (SA: 1 John 5:7) 'Substance ' is the expression of a single entity. In fact the substance of a thing is the totality of that through which a thing exists. Thus 'substance' will set a certain condition under a certain authority, or shows that a certain condition is subjected to it. As a consequence 'substance' is that through which the perplexity of faith is resigned and the unity of the Trinity is bound together.
(Potamius of Lisbon. "Letter on the Substance of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit" in the life and works of Potamius of Lisbon edited and translated by Marco Conti, 1998, p. 150)
○ Latin: Epistula de Substantia Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti.
3. Merito
Iohannes ait: 'Et tres unum sunt'. Substantia singularis vocabuli nomen est. Est enim substantia rei one illud per quod est res. Substantia enim, aut sub aliquo statuet, aut aliquem subesse sibi docet statum. Merito ergo substantia est, per quam fidei perplexitas redditur et Trinitatis unitas catenatur.
(Potamius of Lisbon. "Epistula de Substantia Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti" in the life and works of Potamius of Lisbon edited and translated by Marco Conti, 1998, p. 151)
● Letter on the Substance of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
10. And now, if you agree, since we have burst out from the spring of the Trinity, let us examine again, like keen investigators, the innermost nature of the 'substance', from which the spring gushes and flows out. Thus the Savior proclaimed: 'The Father and I are one' (John 10:30).
Likewise John says: "And the three of them are one' (SA: 1 John 5:7). And David also: "For this purpose God has anointed you, your God' (Psalm 44:8) he says - that is, the God to whom David's words, the half of your part of which he is the whole. 'Yours' - he says - that is devoted to you, to whom your yourself should be made over. He is 'yours' to whom the words are spoken, or 'his' who comes, or 'of him' whom he frequently meets.'Your God', he says, to whom you certainly belong, with whom you are associated thanks to unity, or who, from his 'substance', is associated with you. But since the power of the Father is the Son, the power itself pertains to its 'substance', because 'substance' cannot exist without power. With good reason the 'substance' of the Father and the Son is one.
(Potamius of Lisbon. "Letter on the Substance of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit" in the life and works of Potamius of Lisbon edited and translated by Marco Conti, 1998, p. 156)
○ Latin: Epistula de Substantia Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti. 10. Nunc ergo, si placet, quia de Trinitatis fonte prorupimus, et venas substantiae unde fons scaturit et profluit curiosi indicis relegamus. Nam sic Salvator intonuit: 'Ego et Pater unum sumus' (Iohn 10:30).
Ut et Iohannes: 'Et tres', inquit, 'unum sunt' (SA: 1 John 5:7). Et David: 'Propterea unxit te deus deus tuus' (Ps. 44:8), inquit, hoc est, cui tu deberis. Tuus, inquit, videbitur; tuus, inquit, patris tuae dimidium, cuius est totus. Tuus inquit, hoc est, tibi deditus, cui ipse sis mancipatus. Tuus cui dicitur, aut suus est qui advenit, aut ipsius est iste cui frequenter occurrit. 'Deus tuus', inquit, scilicet cuius es, ad quem pertines unitate, aut qui ex substantia pertinet ad te. Sed quia virtus Patris est Filius, virtus ipsa ad substantiam pertinet suam, quia sin virtute non potest esse substantia. Merito una Patris et Filii substantia est.
(Potamius of Lisbon. "Epistula de Substantia Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti" in the life and works of Potamius of Lisbon edited and translated by Marco Conti, 1998, p. 157)
● Letter on the Substance of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
19. What the Son made, the Father caused. What the Father wanted, the Son fulfilled. The Father ordered all that the Son commanded. The will of the Father is everything for which the Son feels compassion: in fact the Word of God, Christ, that is the power of the Father, has put everything into effect. That is why the Father has made all that the Son has ordered. Indeed the Father with his power, when the Son descended to the underworld, through the Son and his self-same power, broke the adamantine bars of hell, and with the word of power evoked the dead men from the bowels of the abyss, and with the flaming sword of his mouth, according to the judgement delivered by his Christ, exiled the devil. This is one substance, this is the invisible and eternal majesty, this is the everlasting unity of the undivided Trinity.
As John says: 'And the three of them are one' (SA: 1John 5:7). And Peter implores 'three tabernacles' (Mark. 9:4), and 'every word is confirmed by three witnesses' (Matthew 18:16).
(Potamius of Lisbon. "Letter on the Substance of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit" in the life and works of Potamius of Lisbon edited and translated by Marco Conti, 1998, p. 162)
○ Latin: Epistula de Substantia Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti. 19. Quod Filius fecit, Pater operatus est. Quod Pater voluit implevit et Filius. Pater iussit quicquid Filius imperavit. Patris voluntas est quicquid Filius miseretur: omnia enim verbum dei, Christus, hoc est virtus Patris, exercuit, inde est, quod Pater fecit quicquid Filius ordinavit. Pater enim virtute sua, descendente ad inferos Filio, per filium eademque virtute adamantinas tartari seras infregit, et verbo virtutis de secretis barathri mortuos evocavit, et diabolum flammea oris romphea Christi sui per sententiam exulavit. Haec est una substantia, haec invisibilis et aeterna maiestas, haec indiscissae Trinitatis unitas sempiterna.
Ut Iohannes ait: 'Et tres unum sunt' (SA: 1 John 5:7). Et 'tria tabernacula' Petrus exorat (Mark 9:4), et 'tribus testibus verbum omne consistit (Matthwe 18:16).
(Potamius of Lisbon. "Epistula de Substantia Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti" in the life and works of Potamius of Lisbon edited and translated by Marco Conti, 1998, p. 163)
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