Caterpillar theology
Joel 2:25 plays a strangely prominent role in the Arian controversy.  In the NASB translation, the Lord promises to “make up to you for the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the creeping locust, the stripping locust and the gnawing locust, my great army which I sent among you.”
In the Greek translations of the fourth century, “great army” was rendered “great power” and one of the locust species was translated as “caterpillar.”  The Arians used Joel’s statement about “great power” to relativize 1 Corinthians 1:24, a favorite text of Athanasius’: Sure, they reasoned, Christ is the “power of God” but caterpillars are “great powers” too, so the Son is not particularly unique.
Peter Leithart
Peter J. Leithart is President of Theopolis Institute. He is the author of numerous books on theology, literature, and culture, including Theopolitan, Defending Constantine, and Baptized Body.
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