This, then, the divine apostle also teaches, saying: "according to the stewardship of God given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God, the mystery hidden from the ages and from the generations — but now has been manifested to his saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." You see how the Son of God was a mystery hidden formerly, but now manifested.
For this reason the prophets of God, by the prophetic Spirit, spoke of him theologically in a mystical manner, while the multitude of the Jewish nation remained in ignorance of the hidden mystery. Hence they were taught to know one God, because they were being continually swept away into polytheistic error, but they did not know that God was Father of the only-begotten Son; for this mystery was being kept in reserve for the church gathered from the Gentiles.
granted to it as a special grace, for in him, according to the apostle, are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Through so many testimonies, then, the Word of God, who was in the beginning with God, has been shown not merely to have been called "Word," as Marcellus supposes, but also Son, and only-begotten, and Light, and Bread, and Jesus, and Christ, and Lord, and High Priest, and Brightness, and Exact Representation, and Image, and Firstborn of all creation, and Fountain of life, and Truth, and River, and Righteousness, and Sun of Righteousness, and Wisdom, and Tree of Life, and Lord, and God, and Beloved, and Priest, and Arm, and Righteousness, and Salvation. And being all these things, and pre-existing the flesh, he was so named, as the Scriptures cited have shown.
For what reason, then, does Marcellus pass over all these things and take his stand upon "Word" alone, not proceeding also to the remaining titles, but asserting that he is only "the Word" of God, a signifying Word, at one time at rest in silence within God, at another speaking or acting solely by way of activity — is it because he is outright Sabellianizing and does not believe in the Son of God, nor recognize the mystery that pre-existed of old but was made manifest only to the church of Christ through his grace?
But if he should say that the mystery unknown was this: that the Word has God within himself and makes use of the Word (for this is what seems to Marcellus himself, who writes in this very manner: "For what else was the mystery that was hidden but that which pertains to the Word? For this mystery was so hidden beforehand in God that none of the former people clearly knew the things pertaining to the Word") — if, then, he should say this, let him learn that even every one of the Jews who did not acknowledge the Christ of God would confess that God has the Word and is not without reason.
And this even Sabellius himself, and every Greek and barbarian who posits that there is a God, would say without dispute; for as soon as one says "God," one also conceives him to be wise and rational and powerful and just and good. What mystery, then, was hidden, that is confessed by all? For who would not say that in God there is wisdom and power and life and light and truth and righteousness and word and everything that is good and noble? Rather, that he himself is all these things, and whatever is higher and greater than these and unknown to us — for a self-taught nature compels every human being to confess these things concerning God. From this we are also taught that the Son is all these things.
inasmuch as he is the only-begotten Son and heir of the Father, and possesses all things that the Father also possesses. Wherefore he is said to be "in the form of God" and "the image of God," according to the divine apostle, who says: "who, being in the form of God, did not consider being equal with God a thing to be grasped," and again, "who is the image of God."
It was not, then, the fact that God is rational that constituted the mystery hidden from the ages and from the generations, nor is it this that has now been manifested — a thing known to all men by natural conceptions. But rather, if one should ask, "what mystery, then?" the apostle answers, "but now has been manifested," saying: "to his saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you."
Christ, then, was the mystery — evidently the Son of God. Wherefore the prophets of God formerly glorified him mystically under various titles, hiding the unspeakable secret and, by his grace, storing up his revelation to all for a later time. When, therefore, after so many testimonies of the Scriptures, Marcellus insists that the Word who was "in the beginning," before assuming the flesh, was nothing other than "Word," and was styled by no other name, but that he obtained various titles only when the Word became flesh, being before this nothing other than "Word" — how would he not be convicted as ignorant and without understanding of the divine writings? But since this has now been established, come then, let us henceforth observe, as it were, a new Sabellius come back to life.