And that Christ being the Lord, and ever God the Son of God, and appearing by His power in olden time as man and angel, appeared also in the glory of fire, as in the bush, so also at the judgement that was done to Sodom, has been demonstrated in several of my utterances.
Then I proceeded to relate again all that I had even already written from Exodus, both about the vision at the bush, and the surnaming of the name of Joshua (Jesus), and I continued:
Yet do not think, Sirs, that I am over-wordy when I say all this so often. It is because I know that there are even some who wish to anticipate my explanation, and to assert that the power which was from the Father of the universe and appeared to Moses or to Abraham or to Jacob was called Angel when He came forth unto men, since by that power are the messages from the Father carried to men; and (was called) Glory, since He appears sometimes in an appearance that cannot be reckoned by space; and was called sometimes a man and a human being, since He makes His appearance in the fashion of such forms as the Father wills. And they call Him Word (Logos), since He also bears to men the discourses that come from the Father.
But (they assert) that this power can never be cut off or separated from the Father, in the same way that, as they say, the light of the sun on earth cannot be cut off or separated, though the sun is in heaven. And when the sun sets the light is borne away with it. So the Father, they affirm, makes, when He will, His power to spring forward, and, when He will, He draws it back again into Himself. They teach that in this way He also made the angels.
But that therefore angels are, and ever remain, without being resolved again into that out of which they came into existence, has been demonstrated. And that this power, which the word of prophecy, as has likewise been demonstrated at length, calls both God and Angel, is not numbered (as second) by name only, as is the light of the sun, but is something different in actual number, I have already proved in what I have briefly stated. For I said that that power has been born of the Father, by His power and will, but not by cutting off, as though the being of the Father were divided, as all other things, when they are divided and cut off, are not the same as they were before they were cut off. And I brought forward for the sake of example the fact that we see the fires kindled from a fire are separate existences from it, though that from which many can be kindled is in no wise diminished, but remains the same.