Late 2nd Century Testimony to Christ’s Deity

The Christian additions to the Siblyline Oracles are dated from the late 2^nd century AD, and serve as further witness to the widespread belief in the Deity of Christ. All emphasis will be mine.

Sibylline Oracles (Orac.+Sibyl.) 

Book VIII.

§ 8.320 And brimstone flow. But for all mortals thenShall there a sign be, a distinguished seal,The Wood among believers, and the horn Fondly desired, the life of pious men, But it shall be stumbling block of the world, Giving illumination to the elect By water in twelve springs; and there shall rule A shepherding iron rod. This one who nowIs in acrostics which give signs of God Thus written openly, the Saviour is, Immortal King, who suffered for our sake;Him Moses typified when he stretched out Holy arms, conquering Amalek by faith, That the people might know him to be elect And honorable before his Father God, The rod of David and the very stone Which he indeed aid promise, and in which He that believes shall have eternal life. For not in glory, but as mortal man Shall he come to creation, pitiable,

§ 8.340 Unhonored, without seemly form, to give Hope to the pitiable; and he will give Fair form to mortal flesh, and heavenly faith To those without faith, and he'll give fair form To the man who was fashioned from the first By the holy hands of God, and whom by guile The serpent led astray unto the fate Of death to go and knowledge to receive Of good and evil, so that leaving God He serves the ways of mortals. For at first Receiving him as fellow-counsellor From the beginning the Almighty said: "Let both of US, O Son, make mortal tribes —Stamping them with the impress of our image;I now by my hands, and thou by the Word In after time shalt for our form provide That we may jointly cause it to arise."Keeping in mind this purpose he shall come To the creation, to a holy virgin Bringing the likeness antitypical,

§ 8.360 Baptizing with water by the elders' hands, And by the Word accomplishing all things, And healing every sickness. By his word He winds shall he make cease, and with his foot Shall calm the raging sea, walking thereon In peaceful faith. And from five loaves of bread And a fish of the sea live thousand men Shall he fill in the desert, and then taking All the remaining fragments for the hopeOf peoples shall he fill twelve baskets full. And the souls of the blessed he shall call, And love the pitiable, who, being mocked, Beaten, and whipped, shall evil do for good Desiring poverty. He who perceives All things and sees all things and hears all things Shall search the heart and bare it to conviction;For of all things is he himself the ear And mind and sight, and Word that maketh forms To whom all things submit, and he preserves Them that are dead and every sickness heals.

§ 8.380 Into the hands of lawless men, at last,And faithless he shall come, and they will give To God rude buffetings with impure handsAnd poisonous spittle with polluted mouths. And he to whips will openly give then His holy back; [for he unto the world A holy virgin shall himself commit.] And silent he will be when buffeted Lest anyone should know whose son he is Or whence he came, that he may talk to the dead. And he shall also wear a crown of thorns; For of thorns is the crown an ornament Elect, eternal. They shall pierce his side With a reed that they may fulfill their law; For of reeds shaken by another spirit Were nourished inclinations of the soul, Of anger and revenge. But when these things Shall be accomplished, of the which I spoke,Then unto him shall every law be loosed Which from the first by the decrees of men

§ 8.400 Was given because of disobedient people. He'll spread his hands and measure all the world.But gall for food and vinegar to drink They gave him; this inhospitable board They'll show him. But the curtain of the temple Shall be asunder rent and in midday There shall be for three hours dark, monstrous night. For it was no more pointed out again How to serve secret temple and the law, Which had been covered with the world's displays, When the Eternal came himself on earth.And into Hades shall he come announcing Hope unto all the saints, the end of ages And the last day, and having fallen asleep The third day he shall end the lot of death; Then from the dead departing he shall come To light, the first to show forth to the elect Beginning of resurrection, and wash off By means of waters of immortal spring Their former wickedness, that, being born

§ 8.420 From above, they might be no more enslaved To the unlawful customs of the world. And first then openly unto his own Shall he as Lord in flesh be visible,As he before was, and in hands and feet Exhibit four marks fixed in his own limbs, Denoting east and west and south and north; For of the world so many royal powers Shall against our Exemplar consummate The deed so lawless and condemnable. Daughter of Zion, holy one, rejoice,Who hast suffered many things; thy king himself Mounted upon a foal is hastening on; Behold, meek he shall come, that he may lift Our slavish yoke, so grievous to be borne Lying upon our neck, and may annul Our godless laws and bonds compulsory. Know thou thy God himself, who is God's Son; Him glorify and hold within thy heart, From thy soul love him and extol his name.

Further Reading

MORE ANCIENT WITNESSES TO CHRIST’S DEITY