d? There is none good, save one, even God;" Mark
xiii. 32, "Of that day, or that hour, knoweth no one, not even the
angels in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father." Texts such as these
can only be met by a reference to other texts, such as John iii. 16,
where God is said to have given His only begotten Son to suffer death
upon the Cross.

[1] Alcuin contra Felicem, ii. sec. 12.

[2] Alcuin (_ibid.,_ i. sec. 13) also answers: "If Christ be
the adopted Son of God, because as man, he could not be of
God's substance: then must he also be Mary's adopted son in
respect to his Deity. But then Mary cannot be the mother of
God." But this Alcuin thinks an impious conclusion. Cp. also
Contra Felic., vii. sec. 2.

[3] Contra Felic, iii. sec. 2.

[4] Cp. 1 Corinth, xi. 3, "The Head of Christ is God." This
position of dependence was due, says Felix, "ad ignobilitatem
beatae Virginis, quae se ancillam Dei humili voce protestatur."

[5] Cp. Elipandus' "Confession of Faith": "... per istum Dei
simul et hominis Filium, adoptivum humanitate et nequaquam
adoptivum Divinitate ... qui est Deus inter Deos (John x. 35)
... quia, si conformes sunt omnes sancti huic Filio Dei
secundum gratiam, profecto et cum adoptione (sunt) adoptivi, et
cum advocato advocati, et cum Christo Christi, et _cum servo
servi_."

[6] Cf. Acts iii. 13.

[7] Koran, iv. v. 170.

[8] Koran, xliii. v. 59.

Conceiving, then, that it was logically necessary to speak of Christ the
Man as Son of God by adoption, Felix yet admits that this adoption,
though the same in kind[1] as that which enables _us_ to cry Abba,
Father, yet was more excellent in degree, and even perhaps specifically
higher. It differed also from man's adoption in not being entered into
at baptism, since Christ's baptism was only the point at which His
adoption was outwardly made manifest by signs of miraculous power, which
continued till the resurrection. Christ's adoption--according to Felix,
was assumed at His conception, "His humanity developing in accordance
with its own laws, but in union with the Logos."[2] It will be seen
that though Felix wished to keep clear the distinction between Christ as
God, and as Man, yet he did not carry this separation so far as to
acknowledge two persons in Christ. "The Adoptionists acknowledged the
unity of Persons, but meant by this a juxtaposition of two distinct
persona