Arians use the words of Scripture, Athanasius acknowledges, but they use them only as a cloak and disguise to deceive and seduce. They are like the devil their father, who used Scriptural language to tempt Eve and attempted to tempt Jesus by quoting Scripture.
What’s the difference between faithful use of Scriptural words and deceitful use of Scriptural words? For Athanasius, the difference lies in the character of the speaker. Arians don’t mean what they say because they don’t speak “from an upright mind.” Had they expounded the Christian faith with appeals to the orthodox fathers, their use of Scripture would be taken seriously, since the “character of the men is sincere and incapable of fraud.”
Behind this characterization of Arians is an implicit theory of language, one that locates meaning not in words (only) but in the character of the person speaking. ”Is it true?” is a question not only for the proposition but for the proposer.
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