And to mention one especially remarkable sign of the Savior’s divinity: what mere man, magician, tyrant, or king was ever able by himself to take so much upon himself—to fight against all idolatry, the whole army of demons, all magic, and all Greek wisdom while these were still strong, flourishing, and astonishing everyone, and to stand against them all at once—as our Lord, the true Word of God, has done? Invisibly exposing each person’s error, He alone carries all people away from all of them as spoils, so that those who once worshiped idols now trample them underfoot, those renowned for magic burn their books, and the wise prefer the interpretation of the Gospels above everything else.
They abandon those they formerly worshiped, while the One they mocked as crucified they now worship as Christ, confessing Him to be God. Their so-called gods are driven away by the sign of the Cross, while the crucified Savior is proclaimed throughout the world as God and Son of God. The gods worshiped among the Greeks are condemned by the Greeks themselves as shameful, while those who receive Christ’s teaching live more chastely than those gods.
If these and similar deeds are human works, let anyone who wishes show comparable works by people of former times and persuade us. But if they are clearly not human works but God’s, why are unbelievers so impious that they fail to recognize the Master who accomplished them?
Their condition is like that of someone who fails to recognize God the Maker from the works of creation. For if they had known His divinity from His power over all things, they would also have known that Christ’s works through the body were not human, but belonged to the Savior of all, the Word of God. Had they known this, as Paul says, “they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.”