"Fragment preserved by Eusebius, Hist. Eccles. VII. xxx. 4 and 6 (A-NP
VI. 170-171).
26 THE BOYHOOD CONSCIOUSNESS OF CHRIST

Paul held that the Son or Logos (merely the impersonal wisdom of
God) dwelt in the man Christ as we live in houses. The time when
the Son or Logos first came to the man Jesus was, he thought, not
at the baptism, but at His very birth. This opinion seems to have
been held also by Beryllus, bishop of Bostra (about 240), who,
denying Christ's preexistence, said that "He did not possess
Divinity, but that the divine paternity only took up its abode in
Him." »

All these early views, implying a denial of the Fathers' inter-
pretation of Luke ii. 49, were heretical. They were condemned by
synods; they were refuted by orthodox writers.^ The fact that
the Church looked upon these views as heretical intimates that the
contrary view was regarded as orthodox. It is an indirect indica-
tion that the view of the early Church concerning Luke ii. 49, was
the one expressed by the Fathers in their comments on the passage.
