So if you claim that the Messiah is God because the miracles were performed in his name, what distinction is there between you and those who say that Elijah is God, since the miracles were wrought by his power?

And if you say, “The beam on which, according to your account, the Messiah was crucified was placed against a dead man and he came to life, and this proves that he is God,” we reply: What difference is there between you and those who insist that Elisha is God? Their argument is based on the fact that the Book of Kings recounts how a man died and his people carried him to the graveyard. While they were among the tombs, they caught sight of enemies who meant to harm them, so they flung the corpse from their shoulders and hurried back to the city. The place where they threw the dead man happened to be Elisha’s grave; when the corpse touched the dust of Elisha’s tomb, the man revived and walked into the city. If, then, you maintain that the Messiah is God because the wood on which he is said to have been crucified touched a dead man who then lived, Elisha must also be God, for the dust of his grave clung to a dead man and he too lived.

And if you say that the Messiah had no human father, we answer: that is indeed the case, yet the marvel of a birth does not establish divinity or lordship, for the power in