For she is the synagogue of God, which God—that is, the
Son Himself—has gathered by Himself. Of whom He again speaks: “The God of gods,
the Lord hath spoken, and hath called the earth.” Who is meant by God? He of
whom He has said, “God shall come openly, our God, and shall not keep silence;”
that is, the Son, who came manifested to men who said, “I have openly appeared
to those who seek Me not.” But of what gods [does he speak]? [Of those] to whom
He says, “I have said, Ye are gods, and all sons of the Most High.” To those,
no doubt, who have received the grace of the “adoption, by which we cry, Abba
Father.” (Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.6.1)
AUGUSTINE: [T]hat this is the opinion either of all or
the best of the Platonists can be ascertained by their writings. And regarding
the name itself, if they see fit to call such blessed and immortal creatures
gods, this need not give rise to any serious discussion between us, since in
our own Scriptures we read … [in Ps 95:3], “He is a great King above all gods.”
And where it is said, “He is to be feared above all gods,” the reason is
forthwith added, for it follows, “for all the gods of the nations are idols,
but the Lord made the heavens” [see 1Ch 16:25–26]. He said, “above all gods,”
but added, “of the nations;” that is to say, above all those whom the nations
count gods, in other words, demons. By them he is to be feared with that terror
in which they cried to the Lord [in Mk 1:24], “Hast Thou come to destroy us?”
But where it is said, “the God of gods,” it cannot be understood as the god of
the demons; and far be it from us to say that “great King above all gods” means
“great King above all demons.” CITY OF GOD 9.23. (Ancient Faith Study Bible,
ed. James Stuart Bell [Nashville, Tenn.: Holman Bibles, 2019], 720; Augustine is
commenting on Psa 136:2)
They
shall walk from virtue: the God of gods shall be seen in Sion.
Initially virtue lay in the Law, and now there is virtue in grace; but the
virtue which redeems is more joyful than the virtue which judges. May He who
gave both grant that, since we sinners do not deserve to obtain blessings
through the Law, He may deign to bestow forgiveness on us through grace. But
the Christian must realise that he must walk from virtue to virtue, so that he
does not relax into idleness. Next comes: The
God of gods shall be seen in Sion. See how he says that the two forms of
virtue merge in the one Person of Christ, for He who gave the Law and grace was
seen at Jerusalem on Mount Sion. It has just been explained in Psalm 81 how we
are to interpret: God of gods; divine
Scripture never stops calling holy men gods. The phrase God of gods is like
King of kings and Lord of lords. He said: He
shall be seen, not “He is known”; the second is a universal experience, but
the first was the privilege of a few. (Cassiodorus, Cassiodorus:
Explanation of the Psalms, ed. Walter J. Burghardt and Thomas Comerford
Lawler, 3 vols. [trans. P. G. Walsh; Ancient Christian Writers; New York:
Paulist Press, 1991], 2:317)
2. Confess to the God
of gods, for his mercy endureth for ever. In the previous psalm, he made
the hearts of Gentiles quake by deriding their statues; now he reveals the
greatness and the nature of the almighty Lord by proclaiming His most glorious
majesty, so that He may be regarded as God not in the sense that an angel is so
called, or as a man of virtues is often so described, but as the God of gods to
whom no-one like is found. A creature can be given the title of god for his
outstanding distinction, as we read in Psalm 81: I have said you are gods, and all of you sons of the most High. And
again, in Exodus: I have appointed thee
god for Pharaoh. But only the holy Trinity can be called God of gods.
3. Confess to the
Lord of lords, for his mercy endureth for ever. This statement is similar
to the previous one. He is called Lord of
lords as He was called God of gods.
We call the holy angels lords, but only He whom all things serve is Lord of
lords. He is also the Holy of holies, King of kings, the inexpressibly lofty
Peak of all powers. Who could doubt that He is above all things, when His
controlling power both creates all things and contains the universe? (Cassiodorus,
Cassiodorus: Explanation of the Psalms, ed. Walter J. Burghardt and
Thomas Comerford Lawler, 3 vols. [trans. P. G. Walsh; Ancient Christian Writers
[New York: Paulist Press, 1991], 3:352–353)
The saints must be honored as
friends of Christ and children and heirs of God, as John the Theologian and
Evangelist says: ‘But as many as received him, he gave them the power to be
made the sons of God.’ Therefore they are no longer servants, but sons: and if
sons, heirs also, heirs indeed of God and joint heirs with Christ.’ And again,
in the holy Gospels the Lord says to the Apostles: ‘You are my friends … I will
not now call you servants: for the servant knoweth not what his lord doth.’
Furthermore, if the Creator and Lord of all is called both King of kings and
Lord of lords and God of gods, then most certainly the saints, too, are both
gods and lords and kings. God both is and is said to be their God and Lord and
King. ‘For I am,’ He said to Moses, ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and
the God of Jacob,’ and God appointed Moses the God of Pharao. However, I say
that they are gods, lords, and kings not by nature, but because they have ruled
over and dominated sufferings, and because they have kept undebased the
likeness of the divine image to which they were made—for the image of the king
is also called a king, and, finally, because they have freely been united to
God and receiving Him as a dweller within themselves have through association
with Him become by grace what He is by nature. How, then, should these not be
honored who have been accounted servants, friends, and sons of God? For the
honor shown the more sensible of one’s fellow servants gives proof of one’s
love for the common Master.. (John
Damascene, An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, chapter 15, in John
Damascene, Writings, ed. Hermigild Dressler [trans. Frederic H. Chase,
Jr.; The Fathers of the Church 37; Washington, D. C.: The Catholic University
of America Press, 1958], 367)
Further Reading:
Refuting Matthew Paulson on the use of "God of gods": Origen's Commentary on John cf. Ben C. Blackwell on Irenaeus's use of the phrase "God of Gods" in Against Heresies 3.6.1-3; The Ontological Existence of "gods" and "lords" in Origen, Contra Celsum; Andrey A. Romanov on the ontological existence of "gods" and "lords" in the expression "God of god and Lord of lords" in Deuteronomy 10:17
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