4.

He will judge also the Ebionites; [for] how can they be saved unless it was God who wrought out their salvation upon earth? Or how shall man pass into God, unless God has [first] passed into man? And how shall he (man) escape from the generation subject to death, if not by means ¹ of a new generation, given in a wonderful and unexpected manner (but as a sign of salvation) by God--[I mean] that regeneration which flows from the virgin through faith? ² Or how shall they receive adoption from God if they remain in this [kind of] generation, which is naturally possessed by man in this world? And how could He (Christ) have been greater than Solomon, ³ or greater than Jonah, or have been the Lord of David, ⁴ who was of the same substance as they were? How, too, could He have subdued ⁵ him who was stronger than men, ⁶ who had not only overcome man, but also retained him under his power, and conquered him who had conquered, while he set free mankind who had been conquered, unless He had been greater than man who had thus been vanquished? But who else is superior to, and more eminent than, that man who was formed after the likeness of God, except the Son of God, after whose image man was created? And for this reason He did in these last days ⁷ exhibit the similitude; [for] the Son of God was made man, assuming the ancient production [of His hands] into His own nature, ⁸ as I have shown in the immediately preceding book.