from the apostles before me, who were always with Jesus Christ,[1]
5. That our Lord Jesus Christ was born of Mary[2] of the seed of David,[3] the Father having sent the spirit from heaven into her,
6. That he come into this world and save all flesh by his own flesh and that he raise us in the flesh from the dead, as he has presented himself to us as its type.
7. And that man is created by his Father,
8. Wherefore, also, when being lost, he was sought by him, to become alive by the adoption of sons.
9. For the almighty God,[4] maker of heaven and earth, first sent the prophets to the Jews to deliver them from their sins.
10. For he wished to save the house of Israel; therefore he took from the spirit of Christ and poured it out upon the prophets, who proclaimed the true worship[5] at many times.
11. For the wicked prince, who would be God himself, laid his hands on them and killed them and bound all flesh of man through the lust.[6]
12. But the almighty God, being just, and not wishing to cast off his creature,[7] had mercy.
13. And sent his Spirit into Mary[8]
14. Who believed with all her heart and conceived by the Holy Ghost, that Jesus could come into the world,[9]
15. That the evil one [fettered] by the same flesh, by which he wrought, be convinced.[10]
- ↑ Some: with our Lord Jesus Christ.
- ↑ Armenian: of the Virgin Mary.
- ↑ One authority: David after the flesh. Ephræm and Armenian read: David, according to the promises of the Holy Spirit.
- ↑ In the Armenian: God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
- ↑ Ephræm and Armenian: worship and the birth of Christ.
- ↑ One authority: lust to his will, and the consummation of the world hastened the judgment.
- ↑ Six lines are here wanting in the Coptic.
- ↑ Some authorities add: in Galilee.
- ↑ Harnack considers this clause as a later addition and omits it.
- ↑ Some authorities read: convinced, that he is not God.
