John 10:30; 1 John 5:7
Same Divine Power of all 3The Lord warns, saying,
He who is not with me is against me, and he who gathers not with me scatters.Matthew 12:30 He who breaks the peace and the concord of Christ, does so in opposition to Christ; he who gathers elsewhere than in the Church, scatters the Church of Christ. The Lord says,I and the Father are one;John 10:30 and again it is written of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,And these three are one.1 John 5:7 And does any one believe that this unity which thus comes from the divine strength and coheres in celestial sacramentsTreatise 1, sec.6
Notice how Cyprian grounds the unity of the Trinity in their “divine strength,” showing that their oneness lies in the sharing of the same power. His citation of 1 John 5:7 further indicates that this verse was not an interpolation but original to the Epistle of John.
Jesus is YHWH of Lev 7:20
Returning from the altars of the devil, they draw near to the holy place of the Lord, with hands filthy and reeking with smell, still almost breathing of the plague-bearing idol-meats; and even with jaws still exhaling their crime, and reeking with the fatal contact, they intrude on the body of the Lord, although the sacred Scripture stands in their way, and cries, saying,
Every one that is clean shall eat of the flesh; and whatever soul eats of the flesh of the saving sacrifice, which is the Lord’s, having his uncleanness upon him, that soul shall be cut off from his people.Leviticus 7:20 Also, the apostle testifies, and says,You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of devils; you cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table and of the table of devils.1 Corinthians 10:21 He threatens, moreover, the stubborn and Lord unworthily, is guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 1 Corinthians 11:27Treatise 3, sec.15
Notice how he identifies the “LORD” (YHWH in Hebrew) as the same Lord mentioned in 1 Corinthians 10:21, which refers to Jesus.
Jesus is the Omniscient and Omnipresent YHWH
27. Nor let those persons flatter themselves that they need repent the less, who, although they have not polluted their hands with abominable sacrifices, yet have defiled their conscience with certificates. That profession of one who denies, is the testimony of a, Christian disowning what he had been. He says that he has done what another has actually committed; and although it is written,
You cannot serve two masters,Matthew 6:24 he has served an earthly master in that he has obeyed his edict; he has been more obedient to human authority than to God. It matters not whether he has published what he has done with less either of disgrace or of guilt among men. Be that as it may, he will not be able to escape and avoid God his judge, seeing that the Holy Spirit says in the Psalms,Your eyes saw my substance, that it was imperfect, and in Your book shall all men be written (Psalm 139:16).And again:Man sees the outward appearance, but God sees the heart.1 Samuel 16:7 The Lord Himself also forewarns and prepares us, saying,And all the churches shall know that I am He which searches the reins and the heart.Revelation 2:23 He looks into the hidden and secret things, and considers those things which are concealed; nor can any one evade the eyes of the Lord, who says,I am a God at hand, and not a God afar off. If a man be hidden in secret places, shall not I therefore see him? Do not I fill heaven and earth?Jeremiah 23:23 He sees the heart and mind of every person; and He will judge not alone of our deeds, but even of our words and thoughts. He looks into the minds, and the wills, and conceptions of all men, in the very lurking-places of the heart that is still closed up
Treatise 3, sec.27
4. But let our speech and petition when we pray be under discipline, observing quietness and modesty. Let us consider that we are standing in God’s sight. We must please the divine eyes both with the habit of body and with the measure of voice. For as it is characteristic of a shameless man to be noisy with his cries, so, on the other hand, it is fitting to the modest man to pray with moderated petitions. Moreover, in His teaching the Lord has bidden us to pray in secret — in hidden and remote places, in our very bed-chambers — which is best suited to faith, that we may know that God is everywhere present, and hears and sees all, and in the plenitude of His majesty penetrates even into hidden and secret places, as it is written,
I am a God at hand, and not a God afar off. If a man shall hide himself in secret places, shall I not then see him? Do not I fill heaven and earth?Jeremiah 23:23-24 And again:The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.Proverbs 15:3 And when we meet together with the brethren in one place, and celebrate divine sacrifices with God’s priest, we ought to be mindful of modesty and discipline — not to throw abroad our prayers indiscriminately, with unsubdued voices, nor to cast to God with tumultuous wordiness a petition that ought to be commended to God by modesty; for God is the hearer, not of the voice, but of the heart. Nor need He be clamorously reminded, since He sees men’s thoughts, as the Lord proves to us when He says,Why do you think evil in your hearts?Matthew 9:4 And in another place:And all the churches shall know that I am He that searches the hearts and reins.Revelation 2:23
Treatise 4, sec.4
Therefore of this mercy and grace the Word and Son of God is sent as the dispenser and master, who by all the prophets of old was announced as the enlightener and teacher of the human race. He is the power of God, He is the reason, He is His wisdom and glory; He enters into a virgin; being the holy Spirit, He is endued with flesh; God is mingled with man. This is our God, this is Christ, who, as the mediator of the two, puts on man that He may lead them to the Father. What man is, Christ was willing to be, that man also may be what Christ is. (Treatise 6, sec.11)
12. And the Jews knew that Christ was to come, for He was always being announced to them by the warnings of prophets. But His advent being signified to them as twofold — the one which should discharge the office and example of a man, the other which should avow Him as God — they did not understand the first advent which preceded, as being hidden in His passion, but believe in the one only which will be manifest in power. But that the people of the Jews could not understand this, was the desert of their sins. They were so punished by their blindness of wisdom and intelligence, that they who were unworthy of life, had life before their eyes, and saw it not. (Treatise 6, sec.12)
Jesus is YHWH the Judge
21. But since I know, beloved brethren, that very many are eager, either on account of the burden or the pain of smarting wrongs, to be quickly avenged of those who act harshly and rage against them, we must not withhold the fact in the furthest particular, that placed as we are in the midst of these storms of a jarring world, and, moreover, the persecutions both of Jews or Gentiles, and heretics, we may patiently wait for the day of (God’s) vengeance, and not hurry to revenge our suffering with a querulous haste, since it is written,
Wait upon me, says the Lord, in the day of my rising up for a testimony; for my judgment is to the congregations of the nations, that I may take hold on the kings, and pour out upon them my fury.Zephaniah 3:8 The Lord commands us to wait, and to bear with brave patience the day of future vengeance; and He also speaks in the Apocalypse, saying,Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for now the time is at hand for them that persevere in injuring to injure, and for him that is filthy to be filthy still; but for him that is righteous to do things still more righteous, and likewise for him that is holy to do things still more holy.Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to render to every man according to his deeds.Revelation 22:10-12 Whence also the martyrs, crying out and hastening with grief breaking forth to their revenge, are bidden still to wait, and to give patience for the times to be fulfilled and the martyrs to be completed.And when He had opened,says he,the fifth seal, I saw under the altar of God the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for their testimony; and they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, do You not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And there were given to them each white robes; and it was said to them that they should rest yet for a little season, until the number of their fellow-servants and brethren is fulfilled, who afterwards shall be slain after their example.Revelation 6:9-1122. But when shall come the divine vengeance for the righteous blood, the Holy Spirit declares by Malachi the prophet, saying,
Behold, the day of the Lord comes, burning as an oven; and all the aliens and all the wicked shall be stubble; and the day that comes shall burn them up, says the Lord.Malachi 4:1 And this we read also in the Psalms, where the approach of God the Judge is announced as worthy to be reverenced for the majesty of His judgment:God shall come manifest, our God, and shall not keep I silence; a fire shall burn before Him, and round about Him a great tempest. He shall call the heaven above, and the earth beneath, that He may separate His people. Gather His saints together unto Him, who establish His covenant in sacrifices; and the heavens shall declare His righteousness, for God is the Judge.(Psalm 50:3-6) And Isaiah foretells the same things, saying:For, behold, the Lord shall come like a fire, and His chariot as a storm, to render vengeance in anger; for in the fire of the Lord they shall be judged, and with His sword shall they be wounded.Isaiah 66:15-16 And again:The Lord God of hosts shall go forth, and shall crumble the war to pieces; He shall stir up the battle, and shall cry out against His enemies with strength, I have held my peace; shall I always hold my peace?Isaiah 42:13-1423. But who is this that says that he has held his peace before, and will not hold his peace for ever? Surely it is He who was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and as a lamb before its shearer is without voice, so He opened not His mouth. Surely it is He who did not cry, nor was His voice heard in the streets. Surely He who was not rebellious, neither contradicted, when He offered His back to stripes, and His cheeks to the palms of the hands; neither turned away His face from the foulness of spitting. Surely it is He who, when He was accused by the priests and elders, answered nothing, and, to the wonder of Pilate, kept a most patient silence. This is He who, although He was silent in His passion, yet by and by will not be silent in His vengeance. This is our God, that is, not the God of all, but of the faithful and believing; and He, when He shall come manifest in His second advent, will not be silent. For although He came first shrouded in humility, yet He shall come manifest in power.
24. Let us wait for Him, beloved brethren, our Judge and Avenger, who shall equally avenge with Himself the congregation of His Church, and the number of all the righteous from the beginning of the world. Let him who hurries, and is too impatient for his revenge, consider that even He Himself is not yet avenged who is the Avenger. God the Father ordained His Son to be adored; and the Apostle Paul, mindful of the divine command, lays it down, and says:
God has exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name, that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things heavenly, and things earthly, and things beneath.Philippians 2:9-10 And in the Apocalypse the angel withstands John, who wishes to worship him, and says:Do it not; for I am your fellow-servant, and of your brethren. Worship Jesus the Lord.How great is the Lord Jesus, (Rev 22:8-9) and how great is His patience, that He who is adored in heaven is not yet avenged on earth! Let us, beloved brethren, consider His patience in our persecutions and sufferings; let us give an obedience full of expectation to His advent; and let us not hasten, servants as we are, to be defended before our Lord with irreligious and immodest eagerness. Let us rather press onward and labour, and, watching with our whole heart, and steadfast to all endurance, let us keep the Lord’s precepts; so that when that day of anger and vengeance shall come, we may not be punished with the impious and sinners, but may be honoured with the righteous and those that fear God.
(Treatise 9, sec.21-24, cf. also sec.28)
In the Wisdom of Solomon:
In every place the eyes of God look upon the good and evil.Also in Jeremiah:I am a God at hand, and not a God afar off. If a man should be hidden in the secret place, shall I not therefore see him? Do not I fill heaven and earth? Says the Lord.Also in the first of Kings:Man looks on the face, but God on the heart.Also in the Apocalypse:And all the churches shall know that I am the searcher of the reins and heart; and I will give to every one of you according to his works.Also in the eighteenth Psalm:Who understands his faults? Cleanse me from my secret sins, O Lord.Also in the second Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians:We must all be manifested before the tribunal of Christ, that every one may bear again the things which belong to his own body, according to what he has done, whether good or evil.
(Treatise 12, Book 3, sec.56)
It is clear Jesus is identified with YHWH Himself. Cyprian strings together Old Testament passages that originally speak about YHWH’s coming judgment—Malachi 4:1 (“the day of YHWH”), Psalm 50 (“God shall come manifest… a fire shall burn before Him”), and Isaiah 66:15–16 and 42:13–14 (YHWH of Hosts coming in fire and battle). In their original contexts, these describe YHWH alone. Yet Cyprian explicitly identifies the coming Judge of those texts with the one “led as a sheep to the slaughter”—the crucified Christ—who was silent in His passion but will not be silent in His vengeance. He then reinforces this by citing Philippians 2:9–10, where every knee bows to Jesus (an echo of Isaiah’s language about YHWH), and interprets Revelation 22:8–9 as the angel refusing worship precisely because worship belongs to God alone whom he identifies here as “Jesus the Lord.” The cumulative effect is unmistakable: the Old Testament YHWH who comes in fiery judgment is, for Cyprian, none other than Jesus in His second advent.
Treatise 12, Book 2
Jesus is the Wisdom of God
In Solomon in the Proverbs:
The Lord established me in the beginning of His ways, into His works: before the world He founded me. In the beginning, before He made the earth, and before He appointed the abysses, before the fountains of waters gushed forth, before the mountains were settled, before all the hills, the Lord begot me. He made the countries, and the uninhabitable places, and the uninhabitable bounds under heaven. When He prepared the heaven, I was present with Him; and when He set apart His seat. When He made the strong clouds above the winds, and when He placed the strengthened fountains under heaven, when He made the mighty foundations of the earth, I was by His side, ordering them: I was He in whom He delighted: moreover, I daily rejoiced before His face in all time, when He rejoiced in the perfected earth.Also in the same in Ecclesiasticus:I went forth out of the mouth of the Most High, first-born before every creature:I made the unwearying light to rise in the heavens, and I covered the whole earth with a cloud: I dwelt in the high places, and my throne in the pillar of the cloud: I compassed the circle of heaven, and I penetrated into the depth of the abyss, and I walked on the waves of the sea, and I stood in all the earth; and in every people and in every nation I had the pre-eminence, and by my own strength I have trodden the hearts of all the excellent and the humble: in me is all hope of life and virtue: pass over to me, all you who desire me.Also in the eighty-eighth Psalm:And I will establish Him as my first-born, the highest among the kings of the earth. I will keep my mercy for Him for ever, and my faithful covenant for Him; and I will establish his seed for ever and ever. If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments; if they profane my judgments, and do not observe my precepts, I will visit their wickednesses with a rod, and their sins with scourges; but my mercy will I not scatter away from them.Also in the Gospel according to John, the Lord says:And this is life eternal, that they should know You, the only and true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent. I have glorified You on the earth: I have finished the work which You gave me to do. And now, glorify me with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was made.Also Paul to the Colossians:Who is the image of the invisible God, and the first-born of every creature.Also in the same place:The first-born from the dead, that He might in all things become the holder of the pre-eminence.In the Apocalypse too:I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.I will give unto Him that is thirsting from the fountain of the water of life freely.That He also is both the wisdom and the power of God, Paul proves in his first Epistle to the Corinthians.Because the Jews require a sign, and the Creeks seek after wisdom: but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews indeed a stumbling-block, and to the Gentiles foolishness; but to them that are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
(Treatise 12, sec.3)
Jesus is the Word of God
In the forty-fourth (44 LXX) Psalm:
My heart has breathed out a good Word.I tell my works to the King.Also in the thirty-second Psalm:By the Word of God were the heavens made fast; and all their strength by the breath of His mouth.Also in Isaiah:A Word completing and shortening in righteousness, because a shortened word will God make in the whole earth.Also in the cvith Psalm:He sent His Word, and healed them.Moreover, in the Gospel according to John:In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made that was made. In Him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.Also in the Apocalypse:And I saw the heaven opened, and lo, a white horse; and he who sate upon him was called Faithful and True, judging rightly and justly; and He made war. And He was covered with a garment sprinkled with blood; and His name is called the Word of God.
Jesus is the Arm of YHWH
In Isaiah:
Is God’s Hand not strong to save? Or has He made His ear heavy, that He cannot hear? But your sins separate between you and God; and on account of your sins He turns His face away from you, that He may not pity. For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with sins. Moreover, your lips have spoken wickedness, and your tongue meditates unrighteousness. No one speaks truth, nor is there true judgment: they trust in vanity, and speak emptiness, who conceive sorrow, and bring forth wickedness.Also in the same place:Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom is the Arm of God revealed?Also in the same:Thus says the Lord, Heaven is my throne, and the earth is the support of my feet. What house will you build unto me? Or what is the place for my rest? For all these things has mine hand made.Also in the same:O Lord God,Your Arm is high, and they knew it not; but when they know it, they shall be confounded.Also in the same:The Lord has revealed His Arab that holy Arm, in the sight of all nations; all nations, even the ends of the earth, shall see salvation from God.Also in the same place:Behold, I have made you as the wheels of a thrashing chariot, new and turned back upon themselves;and you shall thrash the mountains, and shall beat the bills small, and shall make them as chaff, and shall winnow them; and the wind shall seize them, and the whirlwind shall scatter them: but you shall rejoice in the saints of Israel; and the poor and needy shall exult. For they shall seek water, and there shall be none. For their tongue shall be dry for thirst. I the Lord God, I the God of Israel, will hear them, and will not forsake them; but I will open rivers in the mountains, and fountains in the midst of the fields. I will make the wildernesses watery groves, and a thirsty land into watercourses. I will establish in the land of drought the cedar-tree and the box-tree, and the myrtle and the cypress, and the elm and the poplar, that they may see and acknowledge, and know and believe together, that the Hand of the Lord has done these things, and the Holy One of Israel has shown them.
(Treatise 12, sec.4)
Jesus is the Angel of God and God
In Genesis, to Abraham:
And the Angel of the Lord called him from heaven, and said to him, Abraham, Abraham! And he said, Here am I. And He said, Lay not your hand upon the lad, nor do anything unto him. For now I know that you fear your God, and hast not spared your son, your beloved son, for my sake.Also in the same place, to Jacob:And the Angel of the Lord spoke unto me in dreams, I am God, whom you saw in the place of God where you anointed me a pillar of stone, and vowed to me a vow.Also in Exodus:But God went before them by day indeed in a pillar of cloud, to show them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire.And afterwards, in the same place:And the Angel of God moved forward, which went before the army of the children of Israel.Also in the same place:Lo, I send my Angel before your face, to keep you in the way, that He may lead you into the land which I have prepared for you. Observe Him, and obey Him, and be not disobedient to Him, and He will not be wanting to you.For my Name is in Him.Whence He Himself says in the Gospel:I came in the name of my Father, and you received me not. When another shall come in his own name, him you will receive.And again in the cxviith Psalm:Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.Also in Malachi:My covenant of life and peace was with Levi; and I gave him fear, that he should fear me, that he should go from the face of my name. The law of truth was in his mouth, and unrighteousness was not found in his lips. In the peace of the tongue correcting, he walked with us, and turned many away from unrighteousness. Because the lips of the priests shall keep knowledge, and they shall seek the law at His mouth; for He is the Angel of the Almighty.
(Treatise 12, sec.5)
Jesus is God
In Genesis:
And God said to Jacob, Arise, and go up to the place of Bethel, and dwell there; and make there an altar to that God who appeared to you when you fled from the face of your brother Esau.Also in Isaiah:Thus says the Lord, the God of Sabaoth, Egypt is wearied; and the merchandise of the Ethiopians, and the tall men of the Sabeans, shall pass over unto You, and shall be Your servants; and shall walk after You bound with chains; and shall worship You, and shall pray to You, because God is in You, and there is no other God beside You. For You are God, and we knew it not, O God of Israel, our Saviour. They shall all be confounded and fear who oppose You, and shall fall into confusion.Likewise in the same:The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight the paths of our God. Every channel shall be filled up, and every mountain and bill shall be made low, and all crooked places shall be made straight, and rough places plain; and the glory of the Lord shall be seen, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God, because the Lord has spoken it.Moreover, in Jeremiah: This is our God, and no other shall be esteemed beside Him, who has found all the way of knowledge, and has given it to Jacob His son, and to Israel His beloved. After this He was seen upon earth, and He conversed with men. Also in Zechariah God says:And they shall cross over through the narrow sea, and they shall smite the waves in the sea, and they shall dry up all the depths of the rivers; and all the haughtiness of the Assyrians shall be confounded, and the sceptre of Egypt shall be taken away. And I will strengthen them in the Lord their God, and in His name shall they glory, says the Lord.Moreover, in Hosea the Lord says:I will not do according to the anger of mine indignation, I will not allow Ephraim to be destroyed: for I am God, and there is not a holy man in you: and I will not enter into the city; I will go after God.Also in the forty-fourth Psalm:Your throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of Your kingdom. You have loved righteousness, and hated iniquity: wherefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness above Your fellows.So, too, in the forty-fifth Psalm:Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, and I will be exalted in the earth.Also in the eighty-first Psalm:They have not known, neither have they understood: they will walk on in darkness.Also in the sixty-seventh Psalm:Sing unto God, sing praises unto His name: make a way for Him who goes up into the west: God is His name.Also in the Gospel according to John:In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word.Also in the same:The Lord said to Thomas, Reach hither your finger, and behold my hands: and be not faithless, but believing. Thomas answered and said to Him, My Lord and my God. Jesus says unto him, Because you have seen me, you have believed: blessed are they who have not seen, and yet have believed.Also Paul to the Romans:I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren and my kindred according to the flesh: who are Israel-ires: whose are the adoption, and the glory, and the covenant, and the appointment of the law, and the service (of God), and the promises; whose are the fathers,of whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is God over all, blessed for evermore.Also in the Apocalypse:I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end I will give to him that is thirsty, of the fountain of living water freely. He that overcomes shall possess these things, and their inheritance; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.Also in the eighty-first Psalm:God stood in the congregation of gods, and judging gods in the midst.And again in the same place:I have said, You are gods; and you are all the children of the Highest: but you shall die like men.But if they who have been righteous, and have obeyed the divine precepts, may be called gods, how much more is Christ, the Son of God, God! Thus He Himself says in the Gospel according to John:Is it not written in the law, that I said, You are gods? If He called them gods to whom the word of God was given, and the Scripture cannot be relaxed, say to Him whom the Father has sanctified and sent into the world, that you blaspheme because I said, I am the Son of God? But if I do not the works of my Father, believe me not; but if I do, and you will not believe me, believe the works, and know that the Father is in me, and I in Him.Also in the Gospel according to Matthew:And you shall call His name Emmanuel, which is, being interpreted, God with us.In Isaiah:
Be comforted, you weakened hands; and you weak knees, be strengthened. You who are of a timorous heart, fear not. Our God will recompense judgment, He Himself will come, and will save us. Then shall be opened the eves of the blind, and the ears of the deaf shall hear. Then the lame man shall leap as a stag, and the tongue of the dumb shall be intelligible; because in the wilderness the water is broken forth, and the stream in the thirsty land.Also in that place: Not an elder nor an angel, but the Lord Himself shall deliver them; because He shall love them, and shall spare them, and He Himself shall redeem them. Also in the same place:I the Lord God have called You in righteousness, that I may hold Your hand, and I will comfort You; and I have given You for a covenant of my people, for a light of the nations; to open the eyes of the blind, to bring forth them that are bound from chains, and those who sit in darkness from the prison-house. I am the Lord God, that is my name. I will not: give any glory to another, nor my powers to given images.Also in the twenty-fourth Psalm:Show me Your ways, Lord, and teach me Your paths, and lead me unto Your truth, and teach me; for You are the God of my salvation.Whence, in the Gospel according to John, the Lord says:I am the light of the world. He that will follow me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.Moreover, in that according to Matthew, the angel Gabriel says to Joseph:Joseph, you son of David, fear not to take unto you Mary your wife. For that which shall be born to her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and you shall call His name Jesus; for He shall save His people from their sins.Also in that according to Luke:And Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who has foreseen redemption for His people, and has raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David.Also in the same. place, the angel said to the shepherds:Fear not; for, behold, I bring you tidings that unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ Jesus.(Treatise 12, sec.6-7)
Joshua 5:13; Exodus 3:1-6 is Jesus
The mystery of this matter was shown in Jesus the son of Nave, when he was bidden to put his shoes from off him, doubt less because he himself was not the bridegroom. For it was in the law, that whoever should refuse marriage should put off his shoe, but that he should be shod who was to be the bridegroom:
And it happened, when Jesus was in Jericho, he looked around with his eyes, and saw a man standing before his face, and holding a javelin in his hand, and said, Are you for us or for our enemies? And he said, I am the leader of the host of the Lord; now draw near. And Jesus fell on his rice to the earth, and said to him, Lord, what do You command unto Your servant. And the leader of the Lord’s host said, Loose your shoe from your feet, for the place whereon you stand is holy ground.Also, in Exodus, Moses is bidden to put off his shoe, because he, too, was not the bridegroom:And there appeared unto him the angel of the Lordin a flame of fire out of a bush; and he saw that the bush burned with fire, but the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, I will pass over and see this great sight, why the bush is not consumed. But when He saw that he drew near to see, the Lord God called him from the bush, saying, Moses, Moses. And he said, What is it? And He said, Draw not near hither, unless you have loosed your shoe from off your feet; for the place on which you stand is holy ground. And He said to him, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.
(Treatise 12, sec.19)
Jesus is King YHWH
In Zechariah:
Tell the daughter of Zion, Behold, your King comes unto you: just, and having salvation; meek, sitting upon an as that has not been tamed.Also in Isaiah:Who will declare to you that eternal place? He that walks in righteousness, and holds back his hands from gifts; stopping his ears. that he may not hear the judgment of blood; and closing his eyes, that he may not see unrighteousness: this man shall dwell in the lofty cavern of the strong rock; bread shall be given him, and his water shall be sure.You shall see the King with glory.Likewise in Malachi:I am a great King, says the Lord, and my name is illustrious among the nations.Also in the second Psalm:But I am established as a King by Him upon His holy hill of Zion, announcing His empire.Also in the twenty-first Psalm:All the ends of the world shall be reminded, and shall turn to the Lord: and all the countries of the nations shall worship in Your sight. For the kingdom is the Lord’s: and He shall rule over all nations.Also in the twenty-third Psalm:Lift up your gates, you princes; and be lifted up, you everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord strong in battle. Lift up your gates, O you princes; and be lifted up, you everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory.Also in the forty-fourth Psalm:My heart has breathed forth a good discourse: I tell my works to the king: my tongue is the pen of a writer intelligently writing. You are lovely in beauty above the children of men: grace is shed forth on Your lips, because God has blessed You forever. Be girt with Your sword on Your thigh, O most mighty. To Your honour and to Your beauty both attend, and direct Yourself, and reign, because of truth, and meekness, and righteousness.Also in the fifth Psalm:My King, and my God, because unto You will I pray. O Lord, in the morning You shall hear my voice; in the morning I will stand before You, and will contemplate You.Also in the ninety-sixth Psalm:The Lord has reigned; let the earth rejoice; let the many isles be glad.Moreover, in the forty-fourth Psalm:The queen stood at your right hand in a golden garment; she is clothed in many colors. Hear, O daughter, and see, and incline your ear, and forget your people and your father’s house; for the King has desired your beauty, for He is your Lord God.Also in the seventy-third Psalm:But God is our King before the world; He has wrought salvation in the midst of the earth.Also in the Gospel according to Matthew:And when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judah in the days of Herod the king, behold, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, Where is He who is born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the east, and have come to worship Him.Also, according to John, Jesus said:My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would be in trouble, that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now is my kingdom not from hence. Pilate said, Are you a king, then? Jesus answered, You say that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I might bear testimony to the truth. Every one that is of the truth hears my voice.
(Treatise 12, sec.29. cf. sec.30)
Treatise 12, Book 3
Jesus is the Most High God
In Isaiah:…
Break your bread to the hungry, and bring the houseless poor into your dwelling. If you see the naked, clothe him; and despise not them of your own seed in your house. Then shall your seasonable light break forth, and your garments shall quickly arise; and righteousness shall go before you: and the glory of God shall surround you. Then you shall cry out, and God shall hear you; while you are yet speaking, He shall say, Here I am.Concerning this same thing in Job:I have preserved the needy from the hand of the mighty; and I have helped the orphan, to whom there was no helper. The mouth of the widow blessed me, since I was the eye of the blind; I was also the foot of the lame, and the father of the weak.Of this same matter in Tobit:And I said to Tobias, My son, go and bring whatever poor man you shall find out of our brethren, who still has God in mind with his whole heart. Bring him hither, and he shall eat my dinner together with me. Behold, I attend you, my son, until you come.Also in the same place:All the days of your life, my son, keep God in mind, and transgress not His precepts. Do justice all the days of your life, and do not walk in the way of unrighteousness; because if you act truly, there will be respect of your works. Give alms of your substance, and turn not your face from any poor man. So shall it come to pass that the face of God shall not be turned away from you. Even as you have, my son, so do: if you have abundant substance, give the more alms therefrom; if you have little, communicate even of that little. And do not fear when you give alms: you lay up for yourself a good reward against the day of need; because alms delivers from death, and does not suffer to go into darkness.Alms is a good office for all who do it in the sight of the most high God.On this same subject in Solomon in Proverbs:He that has pity on the poor lends unto the Lord.Also in the same place:He that gives to the poor shall never want; but he who turns away his eye shall be in much penury.Also in the same place:Sins are purged away by almsgiving and faith.Again, in the same place:If your enemy hunger, feed him; and if he thirst, give him to drink: for by doing this you shall scatter live coals upon his head...Of this same thing in the fortieth Psalm:Blessed is he who considers over the poor and needy: in the evil day God will deliver him... in the same place:When the Son of man shall come in His majesty, and all the angels with Him, then He shall sit on the throne of His glory: and all nations shall be gathered together before Him; and He shall separate them one from another, even as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats: and He shall place the sheep on the right hand, but the goats on the left hand. Then shall the King say unto them that are on His right hand, Come, you blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave me to eat: I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink: I was a stranger, and you took me in: naked, and you clothed me: I was sick, and you visited me: I was in prison, and you came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer Him, and say, Lord, when saw we You a stranger, and took You in: naked, and clothed You? And when saw we You sick, and in prison, and came to You? And the King, answering, shall say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it unto me...
(Treatise 13, sec.
When Cyprian shifts to Matthew 25, the judge who sits on the throne and separates the nations is Jesus. And that judge says, “You did it to me.” So acts done to the poor are rendered directly to Christ. In other words, when Tobit says almsgiving is done before “the Most High God”, that is the Son of Man.
Genesis 19:24 – The Son
In the Gospel according to John:
The Father judges nothing, but has given all judgment unto the Son, that all may honour the Son as they honour the Father. He who honours not the Son, honours not the Father who has sent Him.Also in the seventy-first Psalm:O God, give the king Your judgment, and Your righteousness to the king’s son, to judge Your people in righteousness.Also in Genesis:And the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrha sulphur, and fire from heaven from the Lord.
(Treatise 12, sec.33)
God = Spirit and Angel
Exodus:
And the whole of Mount Sinai smoked, because God had come down upon it in fire.Also in the Acts of the ApostlesAnd suddenly there was made a sound from heaven, as if a vehement blast were borne along, and it filled the whole of that place in which they were sitting. And there appeared to them cloven tongues as if of fire, which also settled upon each of them; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost.Also in the sacrifices, whatsoever God accounted accepted, fire descended from heaven, which consumed what was sacrificed. In Exodus:The angel of the Lord appeared in a flame of fire from the bush.
Notice here how Cyprian is proving that God comes down in fire and appeals to 2 examples: the Holy Spirit as tongues of fire in Acts 2 and the Angel of the Lord in Exodus 3. There’s the Trinity.