Now they who had been dispersed by the persecution that arose on occasion of Stephen, went about as far as Phenice and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to none, but to the Jews only.†20 But some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who, when they were entered into Antioch, spoke also to the Greeks, preaching the Lord Jesus.21 And the hand of the Lord was with them: and a great number believing, were converted to the Lord.22 And the tidings came to the ears of the church that was at Jerusalem, touching these things: and they sent Barnabas as far as Antioch.†23 Who, when he was come, and had seen the grace of God, rejoiced: and he exhorted them all with purpose of heart to continue in the Lord.24 For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith. And a great multitude was added to the Lord.25 And Barnabas went to Tarsus to seek Saul: whom, when he had found, he brought to Antioch.26 And they conversed there in the church a whole year; and they taught a great multitude, so that at Antioch the disciples were first named Christians.†
For the sons of Core, a psalm of a canticle. The foundations thereof are in the holy mountains:2 The Lord loveth the gates of Sion above all the tabernacles of Jacob.3 Glorious things are said of thee, O city of God.4 I will be mindful of Rahab and of Babylon knowing me. Behold the foreigners, and Tyre, and the people of the Ethiopians, these were there.5 Shall not Sion say: This man and that man is born in her? and the Highest himself hath founded her.6 The Lord shall tell in his writings of peoples and of princes, of them that have been in her.7 The dwelling in thee is as it were of all rejoicing.
Pass now, pray, to the others who were saved by repentance. Perhaps even among the women someone will say, "I have committed fornication and adultery. I have defiled my body with every excess. Can there be salvation for me?" Fix your eyes, woman, on Rahab, and look for salvation for yourself too. For if she who openly and publicly practiced fornication was saved through repentance, will not she whose fornication preceded the gift of grace be saved by repentance and fasting? For observe how she was saved. She said only this: "Since the Lord, your God, is God in heaven above and on earth below." "Your God," she said, for she did not dare call him her God, because of her wantonness. If you want scriptural testimony of her salvation, you have it recorded in the Psalms: "I will think of Rahab and Babylon among those who know me." O the great loving-kindness of God, which is mindful even of harlots in Scripture. He did not say merely, "I shall think of Rahab and Babylon," but added, "among those who know me." The salvation procured by repentance is open to men and women alike.
And it was the feast of the dedication at Jerusalem: and it was winter.23 And Jesus walked in the temple, in Solomon’s porch.24 The Jews therefore came round about him, and said to him: How long dost thou hold our souls in suspense? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly.†25 Jesus answered them: I speak to you, and you believe not: the works that I do in the name of my Father, they give testimony of me.26 But you do not believe, because you are not of my sheep.27 My sheep hear my voice: and I know them, and they follow me.28 And I give them life everlasting; and they shall not perish for ever, and no man shall pluck them out of my hand.29 That which my Father hath given me, is greater than all: and no one can snatch them out of the hand of my Father.†30 I and the Father are one.
(viii. de Trin. c. 5) The heretics, since they cannot gainsay these words, endeavour by an impious lie to explain them away. They maintain that this unity is unanimity only; a unity of will, not of nature; i. e. that the two are one, not in that they are the same, but in that they will the same. But they are one, not by any economy merely, but by the nativity of the Son’s nature, since there is no falling off of the Father’s divinity in begetting Him. They are one whilst the sheep that are not plucked out of the Son’s hand, are not plucked out of the Father’s hand: whilst in Him working, the Father worketh; whilst He is in the Father, and the Father in Him. This unity, not creation but nativity, not will but power, not unanimity but nature accomplisheth. But we deny not therefore the unanimity of the Father and Son; for the heretics, because we refuse to admit concord in the place of unity, accuse us of making a disagreement between the Father and Son. We deny not unanimity, but we place it on the ground of unity. The Father and Son are one in respect of nature, honour, and virtue: and the same nature cannot will different things.
(de Trin. vii. c. 22) This is the speech of conscious power. Yet to shew, that though of the Divine nature He hath His nativity from God, He adds, My Father which gave Me them is greater than all. He does not conceal His birth from the Father, but proclaims it. For that which He received from the Father, He received in that He was born from Him. He received it in the birth itself, not after it; though He was born when He received it.
(vii. de Trin. c. 22) The hand of the Son is spoken of as the hand of the Father, to let thee see, by a bodily representation, that both have the same nature, that the nature and virtue of the Father is in the Son also.
About CSB. A personal translation of the New Testament, rendered directly from the public-domain Greek in a literary style — not a scholarly critical edition, and not for liturgical or doctrinal authority. It is one reader's work, offered for enjoyment; where it matters, weigh it against an established translation. (Placeholder text — final wording to come.)