Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume VIII/Pseudo-Clementine Literature/The Clementine Homilies/Homily XVI/Chapter 8

Chapter VIII.&#8212;Simon and Peter Continue the Discussion.

And Simon said:&#160; &#8220;My original stipulation with you was that I should prove from the Scriptures that you were wrong in maintaining that we ought not to speak of many gods.&#8221;&#160; Accordingly I adduced many written passages to show that the divine Scriptures themselves speak of many gods.&#8221;&#160; And Peter said:&#160; &#8220;Those very Scriptures which speak of many gods, also exhorted us, saying, &#8216;The names of other gods shall not ascend upon thy lips.&#8217; &#160; Thus, Simon, I did not speak contrary to what was written.&#8221;&#160; And Simon said:&#160; &#8220;Do you, Peter, listen to what I have to say.&#160; You seem to me to sin in speaking against them, when the Scripture says, &#8216;Thou shalt not revile the gods, nor curse the rulers of thy people.&#8217;&#8221;&#160; And Peter said:&#160; &#8220;I am not sinning, Simon, in pointing out their destruction according to the Scriptures; for thus it is written: &#160; &#8216;Let the gods who did not make the heavens and the earth perish.&#8217;&#160; And He said thus, not as though some had made the heavens and were not to perish, as you interpreted the passage.&#160; For it is plainly declared that He who made them is one in the very first part of Scripture: &#160; &#8216;In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.&#160; And it did not say, &#8216;the gods.&#8217;&#160; And somewhere else it says, &#8216;And the firmament showeth His handiwork.&#8217;&#160; And in another place it is written, &#8216;The heavens themselves shall perish, but Thou shalt remain for ever.&#8217;&#8221;