Tertullian

“ I am, moreover, astonished when he says that “a candle is not usually hidden,” [11] who had hidden himself—a greater and more needful light—during so long a time; and when he promises that “everything shall be brought out of its secrecy and made manifest,” [12] who hitherto has kept his god in obscurity, waiting (I suppose) until Marcion be born. We now come to the most strenuously-plied argument of all those who call in question the Lord’s nativity. They say that He testifies Himself to His not having been born, when He asks, “Who is my mother, and who are my brethren?” ”

“ If by the Creator it be taken away, by Him also shall it be given. If by Marcion’s god it be given, by Marcion’s god also will it be taken away. Now, for whatever reason He threatens the “deprivation,” it will not be the work of a god who knows not how to threaten, because incapable of anger. ”

“ For tell me now, does a mother live on contemporaneously [19] with her sons in every case? Have all sons brothers born for them? [20] May a man rather not have fathers and sisters (living) , or even no relatives at all? But there is historical proof [21] that at this very time [22] a census had been taken in Judæa by Sentius Saturninus, [23] which might have satisfied their inquiry respecting the family and descent of Christ. ”