Chapter II.—Cautions against false doctrine.

Chapter II.—Cautions against false doctrine.

I have learned that certain of the ministers of Satan have wished to disturb you, some of them asserting that Jesus was born [only¹¹⁸¹] in appearance, was crucified in appearance, and died in appearance; others that He is not the Son of the Creator, and others that He is Himself God over all.¹¹⁸² Others, again, hold that He is a mere man, and others that this flesh is not to rise again, so that our proper course is to live and partake of a life of pleasure, for that this is the chief good to beings who are in a little while to perish. A swarm of such evils has burst in upon us.¹¹⁸³ But ye have not “given place by subjection to them, no, not for one hour.”¹¹⁸⁴ For ye are the fellow-citizens as well as the disciples of Paul, who “fully preached the Gospel from Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum,”¹¹⁸⁵ and bare about “the marks of Christ” in his flesh.¹¹⁸⁶