IRENAEUS AGAINST HERESIES
BOOK IV.
PREFACE.
1. By transmitting to thee, my very dear friend, this fourth book of the work which is [entitled] The
Detection and Refuation of False Knowledge, I shall, as I have promised, add weight, by means of
the words of the Lord, to what I have already advanced; so that thou also, as thou hast requested,
mayest obtain from me the means of confuting all the heretics everywhere, and not permit them,
beaten back at all points, to launch out further into the deep of error, nor to be drowned in the sea
of ignorance; but that thou, turning them into the haven of the truth, mayest cause them to attain
their salvation.
2. The man, however, who would undertake their conversion, must possess an accurate
knowledge of their systems or schemes of doctrine. For it is impossible for any one to heal the sick,
if he has no knowledge of the disease of the patients. This was the reason that my predecessors--
much superior men to myself, too--were unable, notwithstanding, to refute the Valentinians
satisfactorily, because they were ignorant of these men's system;(1) which I have with all care
delivered to thee in the first book in which I have also shown that their doctrine is a recapitulation
of all the heretics. For which reason also, in the second, we have had, as in a mirror, a sight of
their entire discomfiture. For they who oppose these men (the Valentinians) by the right method,
do [thereby] oppose all who are of an evil mind; and they who overthrow them, do in fact
overthrow every kind of heresy.
3. For their system is blasphemous above all [others], since they represent that the Maker and
Framer, who is one God, as I have shown, was produced from a defect or apostasy. They utter
blasphemy, also, against our Lord, by cutting off and dividing Jesus from Christ, and Christ from
the Saviour, and again the Saviour from the Word, and the Word from the Only-begotten. And
since they allege that the Creator originated from a defect or apostasy, so have they also taught that
Christ and the Holy Spirit were emitted on account of this defect, and that the Saviour was a
product of those Aeons who were produced from a defect; so that there is nothing but blasphemy to
be found among them. In the preceding book, then, the ideas of the apostles as to all these points
have been set forth, [to the effect] that not only did they, "who from the beginning were eye-
witnesses and ministers of the word"(2) of truth, hold no such opinions, but that they did also
preach to us to shun these doctrines,(3) foreseeing by the Spirit those weak-minded persons who
should be led astray.(4)
4. For as the serpent beguiled Eve, by promising her what he had not himself,(5) so also do these
men, by pretending [to possess] superior knowledge, and [to be acquainted with] ineffable
mysteries; and, by promising that admittance which they speak of as taking place within the
Pleroma, plunge those that believe them into death, rendering them apostates from Him who made
them. And at that time, indeed, the apostate angel, having effected the disobedience of mankind by
means of the serpent, imagined that he escaped the notice of the Lord; wherefore God assigned him
the form(6) and name [of a serpent]. But now, since the last times are [come upon us], evil is
spread abroad among men, which not only renders them apostates, but by many machinations does
[the devil] raise up blasphemers against the Creator, namely, by means of all the heretics already
mentioned. For all these, although they issue forth from diverse regions, and promulgate different
[opinions], do nevertheless concur in the same blasphemous design, wounding [men] unto death,
by teaching blasphemy against God our Maker and Supporter, and derogating from the salvation of
man. Now man is a mixed organization of soul and flesh, who was formed after the likeness of
God, and moulded by His hands, that is, by the Son and Holy Spirit, to whom also He said, "Let Us
make man."(1) This, then, is the aim of him who envies our life, to render men disbelievers in their
own salvation, and blasphemous against God the Creator. For whatsoever all the heretics may have
advanced with the utmost solemnity, they come to this at last, that they blaspheme the Creator, and
disallow the salvation of God's workmanship, which the flesh truly is; on behalf of which I have
proved, in a variety of ways, that the Son of God accomplished the whole dispensation [of mercy],
and have shown that there is none other called God by the Scriptures except the Father of all, and
the Son, and those who possess the adoption.
CHAP. I.--THE LORD ACKNOWLEDGED BUT ONE GOD AND FATHER.
1. Since, therefore, this is sure and stedfast, that no other God or Lord was announced by the
Spirit, except Him who, as God, rules over all, together with His Word, and those who receive the
Spirit of adoption,(2) that is, those who believe in the one and true God, and in Jesus Christ the
Son of God; and likewise that the apostles did Of themselves term no one else as God, or name [no
other] as Lord; and, what is much more important, [since it is true] that our Lord [acted likewise],
who did also command us to confess no one as Father, except Him who is in the heavens, who is
the one God and the one Father;--those things are clearly shown to be false which these deceivers
and most perverse sophists advance, maintaining that the being whom they have themselves
invented is by nature both God and Father; but that the I Demiurge is naturally neither God nor
Father, but is so termed merely by courtesy (verbo tenus), because of his ruling the creation, these
perverse mythologists state, setting their thoughts against God; and, putting aside the doctrine of
Christ, and of themselves divining falsehoods, they dispute against the entire dispensation of God.
For they maintain that their Aeons, and gods, and fathers, and lords, are also still further termed
heavens, together with their Mother, whom they do also call "the Earth," and "Jerusalem," while
they also style her many other names.
2. Now to whom is it not clear, that if the Lord had known many fathers and gods, He would not
have taught His disciples to know [only] one God,(3) and to call Him alone Father? But He did the
rather distinguish those who by word merely (verbo tenus) are termed gods, from Him who is truly
God, that they should not err as to His doctrine, nor understand one [in mistake] for another. And
if He did indeed teach us to call one Being Father and God, while He does from time to time
Himself confess other fathers and gods in the same sense, then He will appear to enjoin a different
course upon His disciples from what He follows Himself. Such conduct, however, does not bespeak
the good teacher, but a misleading and invidious one. The apostles, too, according to these men's
showing, are proved to be transgressors of the commandment, since they confess the Creator as
God, and Lord, and Father, as I have shown--if He is not alone God and Father. Jesus, therefore,
will be to them the author and teacher of such transgression, inasmuch as He commanded that one
Being should be called Father,(4) thus imposing upon them the necessity of confessing the Creator
as their Father, as has been pointed out.
CHAP.II.--PROOFS FROM THE PLAIN TESTIMONY OF MOSES, AND OF THE OTHER
PROPHETS, WHOSE WORDS ARE THE WORDS OF CHRIST, THAT THERE IS BUT ONE
GOD, THE FOUNDER OF THE WORLD, WHOM OUR LORD PREACHED, AND WHOM HE
CALLED HIS FATHER.
1. Moses, therefore, making a recapitulation of the whole law, which he had received from the
Creator (Demiurge), thus speaks in Deuteronomy: "Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and
hear, O earth, the words of my mouth."(5) Again, David saying that his help came from the Lord,
asserts: "My help is from the LORD, who made heaven and earth."(6) And Esaias confesses that
words were uttered by God, who made heaven and earth, and governs them. He says: "Hear, O
heavens; and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken."(7) And again: "Thus saith the LORD
God, who made the heaven, and stretched it out; who established the earth, and the things in it;
and who giveth breath to the people upon it, and spirit to them who walk therein."(8)
2. Again, our Lord Jesus Christ confesses this same Being as His Father, where He says: "I
confess to thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth."(1) What Father will those men have us to
understand [by these words], those who are most perverse sophists of Pandora? Whether shall it be
Bythus, whom they have fabled of themselves; or their Mother; or the Only-begotten? Or shall it be
he whom the Marcionites or the others have invented as god (whom I indeed have amply
demonstrated to be no god at all); or shall it be (what is really the case) the Maker of heaven and
earth, whom also the prophets proclaimed,--whom Christ, too, confesses as His Father,--whom also
the law announces, saying: "Hear, O Israel; The Lord thy God is one God?"(2)
3. But since the writings (litera) of Moses are the words of Christ, He does Himself declare to the
Jews, as John has recorded in the Gospel: "If ye had believed Moses, ye would have believed Me:
for he wrote of Me. But if ye believe not his writings, neither will ye believe My words."(3) He thus
indicates in the cleareat manner that the writings of Moses are His words. If, then, [this be the case
with regard] to Moses, so also, beyond a doubt, the words of the other prophets are His [words], as I
have pointed out. And again, the Lord Himself exhibits Abraham as having said to the rich man,
with reference to all those who were still alive: "If they do not obey Moses and the prophets,
neither, if any one were to rise from the dead and go to them, will they believe him."(4)
4. Now, He has not merely related to us a story respecting a poor man and a rich one; but He has
taught us, in the first place, that no one should lead a luxurious life, nor, living in worldly
pleasures and perpetual feastings, should be the slave of his lusts, and forget God. "For there was,"
He says, "a rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen, and delighted himself with
splendid feasts."(5)
Of such persons, too, the Spirit has spoken by Esaias: "They drink wine with [the
accompaniment of] harps, and tablets, and psalteries, and flutes; but they regard not the works of
God, neither do they consider the work of His hands."(6) Lest, therefore, we should incur the same
punishment as these men, the Lord reveals [to us] their end; showing at the same time, that if they
obeyed Moses and the prophets, they would believe in Him whom these had preached, the Son of
God, who rose from the dead, and bestows life upon us; and He shows that all are from one
essence, that is, Abraham, and Moses, and the prophets, and also the Lord Himself, who rose from
the dead, in whom many believe who are of the circumcision, who do also hear Moses and the
prophets announcing the coming of the Son of God. But those who scoff [at the truth] assert that
these men were from another essence, and they do not know the first-begotten from the dead;
understanding Christ as a distinct being, who continued as if He were impassible, and Jesus, who
suffered, as being altogether separate [from Him].
5. For they do not receive from the Father the knowledge of the Son; neither do they learn who
the Father is from the Son, who teaches clearly and without parables Him who truly is God. He
says: "Swear not at all; neither by heaven, for it is God's throne; nor by the earth, for it is His
footstool; neither by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King."(7) For these words are evidently
spoken with reference to the Creator, as also Esaias says: "Heaven is my throne, the earth is my
footstool."(8) And besides this Being there is no other God; otherwise He would not be termed by
the Lord either" God" or" the great King;" for a Being who can be so described admits neither of
any other being compared with nor set above Him. For he who has any superior over him, and is
under the power of another, this being never can be called either "God" or "the great King."
6. But neither will these men be able to maintain that such words were uttered in an ironical
manner, since it is proved to them by the words themselves that they were in earnest. For He who
uttered them was Truth, and did truly vindicate His own house, by driving out of it the changers of
money, who were buying and selling, saying unto them: "It is written, My house shall be called the
house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves."(9) And what reason had He for thus doing
and saying, and vindicating His house, if He did preach another God? But [He did so], that He
might point out the transgressors of His Father's law; for neither did He bring any accusation
against the house, nor did He blame the law, which He had come to fulfil; but He reproved those
who were putting His house to an improper use, and those who were transgressing the law. And
therefore the scribes and Pharisees, too, who from the times of the law had begun to despise God,
did not receive His Word, that is, they did not believe on Christ. Of these Esaias says: "Thy princes
are rebellious, companions of thieves, loving gifts, following after rewards, not judging the
fatherless, and negligent of the cause of the widows."(10) And Jeremiah, in like manner:
"They," he says, "who rule my people did not know me; they are senseless and imprudent children;
they are wise to do evil, but to do well they have no knowledge."(1)
7. But as many as feared God, and were anxious about His law, these ran to Christ, and were all
saved. For He said to His disciples: "Go ye to the sheep of the house of Israel,(2) which have
perished." And many more Samaritans, it is said, when the Lord had tarried among. them, two
days, "believed because of His words, and said to the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy
saying, for we ourselves have heard [Him], and know that this man is truly the Saviour of the
world."(3) And Paul likewise declares, "And so all Israel shall be saved;"(4) but he has also said,
that the law was our pedagogue [to bring us] to Christ Jesus.(5) Let them not therefore ascribe to
the law the unbelief of certain [among them]. For the law never hindered them from believing in
the Son of God; nay, but it even exhorted them(6) so to do, saying(7) that men can be saved in no
other way from the old wound of the serpent than by believing in Him who, in the likeness of sinful
flesh, is lifted up from the earth upon the tree of martyrdom, and draws all things to Himself,(8)
and vivifies the dead.
CHAP. III.--ANSWER TO THE CAVILS OF THE GNOS TICS. WE ARE NOT TO SUPPOSE
THAT THE TRUE GOD CAN BE CHANGED, OR COME TO AN END BECAUSE THE
HEAVENS, WHICH ARE HIS THRONE AND THE EARTH, HIS FOOTSTOOL, SHALL PASS
AWAY.
1. Again, as to their malignantly asserting that if heaven is indeed the throne of God, and earth
His footstool, and if it is declared that the heaven and earth shall pass away, then when these pass
away the God who sitteth above must also pass away, and therefore He cannot be the God who is
over all; in the first place, they are ignorant what the expression means, that heaven is [His] throne
and earth [His] footstool. For they do not know what God is, but they imagine that He sits after the
fashion of a man, and is contained within bounds, but does not contain. And they are also
unacquainted with [the meaning of] the passing away of the heaven and earth; but Paul was not
ignorant of it when he declared, "For the figure of this world passeth away."(9) In the next place,
David explains their question, for he says that when the fashion of this world passes away, not only
shall God remain, but His servants also, expressing himself thus in the 101st Psalm: "In the
beginning, Thou; O LORD, hast founded the earth, and the heavens are the works of Thy hands.
They shall perish, but Thou shalt endure, and all shall wax old as a garment; and as a vesture Thou
shalt change them, and they shall be changed: but Thou art the same, and Thy years shall not fail.
The children of Thy servants shall continue, and their seed shall be established for
ever;"(10))pointing out plainly what things they are that pass away, and who it is that doth endure
for ever God, together with His servants. And in like manner Esaias says: "Lift up your eyes to the
heavens, and look upon the earth beneath; for the heaven has been set together as smoke, and the
earth shall wax old like a garment, and they who dwell therein shall die in like manner. But my
salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not pass away."(11)
CHAP. IV.--ANSWER TO ANOTHER OBJECTION, SHOWING THAT THE DESTRUCTION
OF JERUSALEM, WHICH WAS THE CITY OF THE GREAT KING, DIMINISHED NOTHING
FROM THE SUPREME MAJESTY' AND POWER OF GOD, FOR THAT THIS DESTRUCTION
WAS PUT IN EXECUTION BY THE MOST WISE COUNSEL OF THE SAME GOD.
1. Further, also, concerning Jerusalem and the Lord, they venture to assert that, if it had been
"the city of the great King,"(12) it would not have been deserted.(13) This is just as if any one
should say, that if straw were a creation of God, it would never part company with the wheat; and
that the vine twigs, if made by God, never would be lopped away and deprived of the clusters. But
as these [vine twigs] have not been originally made for their own sake, but for that of the fruit
growing upon them, which being come to maturity and taken away, they are left behind, and those
which do not conduce to fructification are lopped off altogether; so also [was it with] Jerusalem,
which had in herself borne the yoke of bondage (under which man was reduced, who in former
times was not subject to God when death was reigning, and being subdued, became a fit subject for
liberty), when the fruit of liberty had come, and reached maturity, and been reaped and stored in
the barn, and when those which had the power to produce fruit had been carried away from her
[i.e., from Jerusalem], and scattered throughout all the world. Even as Esaias saith, "The children
of Jacob shall strike root, and Israel shall flourish, and the whole world shall be filled with his
fruit."(1) The fruit, therefore, having been sown throughout all the world, she (Jerusalem) was
deservedly forsaken, and those things which had formerly brought forth fruit abundantly were
taken away; for from these, according to the flesh, were Christ and the apostles enabled to bring
forth fruit. But now these are no longer useful for bringing forth fruit. For all things which have a
beginning in time must of course have an end in time also.
2. Since, then, the law originated with Moses, it terminated with John as a necessary
consequence. Christ had come to fulfil it: wherefore "the law and the prophets were" with them
"until John."(2) And therefore Jerusalem, taking its commencement from David,(3) and fulfilling
its own times, must have an end of legislation(4) when the new covenant was revealed. For God
does all things by measure and in order; nothing is unmeasured with Him, because nothing is out
of order. Well spake he, who said that the unmeasurable Father was Himself subjected to measure
in the Son; for the Son is the measure of the Father, since He also comprehends Him. But that the
administration of them (the Jews) was temporary, Esaias says: "And the daughter of Zion shall be
left as a cottage in a vineyard, and as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers."(5) And when shall these
things be left behind? Is it not when the fruit shall be taken away, and the leaves alone shall be left,
which now have no power of producing fruit?
3. But why do we speak of Jerusalem, since, indeed, the fashion of the whole world must also
pass away, when the time of its disappearance has come, in order that the fruit indeed may be
gathered into the garner, but the chaff, left behind, may be consumed by fire? "For the day of the
Lord cometh as a burning furnace, and all sinners shall be stubble, they who do evil things, and the
day shall burn them up."(6) Now, who this Lord is that brings such a day about, John the Baptist
points out, when he says of Christ, "He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire, having
His fan in His hand to cleanse His floor; and He will gather His fruit into the garner, but the chaff
He will burn up with unquenchable fire."(7) For He who makes the chaff and He who makes the
wheat are not different persons, but one and the same, who judges them, that is, separates them.
But the wheat and the chaff, being inanimate and irrational, have been made such by nature. But
man, being endowed with reason, and in this respect like to God, having been made free in his will,
and with power over himself, is himself the cause to himself, that sometimes he becomes wheat,
and sometimes chaff. Wherefore also he shall be justly condemned, because, having been created a
rational being, he lost the true rationality, and living irrationally, opposed the righteousness of
God, giving himself over to every earthly spirit, and serving all lusts; as says the prophet, "Man,
being in honour, did not understand: he was assimilated to senseless beasts, and made like to
them."(8)
CHAP. V.--THE AUTHOR RETURNS TO HIS FORMER ARGUMENT, AND SHOWS THAT
THERE WAS BUT ONE GOD ANNOUNCED BY THE LAW AND PROPHETS, WHOM
CHRIST CONFESSES AS HIS FATHER, AND WHO, THROUGH HIS WORD, ONE LIVING
GOD WITH HIM, MADE HIMSELF KNOWN TO MEN IN BOTH COVENANTS.
1. God, therefore, is one and the same, who rolls up the heaven as a book, and renews the face of
the earth; who made the things of time. for man, so that coming to maturity in them, he may
produce the fruit of immortality; and who, through His kindness, also bestows [upon him] eternal
things, "that in the ages to come He may show the exceeding riches of His grace;"(9) who was
announced by the law and the prophets, whom Christ confessed as His Father. Now He is the
Creator, and He it is who is God over all, as Esaias says, "I am witness, saith the LORD God, and
my servant whom I have chosen, that ye may know, and believe, and understand that I AM. Before
me there was no other God, neither shall be after me. I am God, and besides me there is no
Saviour. I have proclaimed, and I have saved."(10) And again: "I myself am the first God, and I am
above things to come."(11) For neither in an ambiguous, nor arrogant, nor boastful manner, does
He say these things; but since it was impossible, without God, to come to a knowledge of God, He
teaches men, through His Word, to know God. To those, therefore, who are ignorant of these
matters, and on this account imagine that they have discovered another Father, justly does one say,
"Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God."(12)
2. For our Lord and Master, in the answer which He gave to the Sadducees, who say that there
is no resurrection, and who do therefore dishonour God, and lower the credit of the law, did both
indicate a resurrection, and reveal God, saying to them, "Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor
the power of God." "For, touching the resurrection of the dead," He says, "have ye not read that
which was spoken by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of
Jacob?(1) And He added, "He is not the God of the dead, but of the living; for all live to Him." By
these arguments He unquestionably made it clear, that He who spake to Moses out of the bush, and
declared Himself to be the God of the fathers, He is the God of the living. For who is the God of the
living unless He who is God, and above whom there is no other God? Whom also Daniel the
prophet, when Cyrus king of the Persians said to him, "Why dost thou not worship Bel?"(2) did
proclaim, saying, "Because I do not worship idols made with hands, but the living God, who
established the heaven and the earth and has dominion over all flesh." Again did he say, "I will
adore the Lord my God, because He is the living God." He, then, who was adored by the prophets
as the living God, He is the God of the living; and His Word is He who also spake to Moses, who
also put the Sadducees to silence, who also bestowed the gift of resurrection, thus revealing [both]
truths to those who are blind, that is, the resurrection and God [in His true character]. For if He be
not the God of the dead, but of the living, yet was called the God of the fathers who were sleeping,
they do indubitably live to God, and have not passed out of existence, since they are children of the
resurrection. But our Lord is Himself the resurrection, as He does Himself declare, "I am the
resurrection and the life."(3) But the fathers are His children; for it is said by the prophet: "Instead
of thy fathers, thy children have been made to thee."(4) Christ Hi'mself, therefore, together with the
Father, is the God of the living, who spake to Moses, and who was also manifested to the fathers.
3. And teaching this very thing, He said to the Jews: "Your father Abraham rejoiced that he
should see my day; and he saw it, and was glad"(5) What is intended? "Abraham believed God, and
it was imputed unto him for righteousness."(6) In the first place, [he believed] that He was the
maker of heaven and earth, the only God; and in the next place, that He would make his seed as the
stars of heaven. This is what is meant by Paul, [when he says,] "as lights in the world."(7)
Righteously, therefore, having left his earthly kindred, he followed the Word of God, walking as a
pilgrim with the Word, that he might [afterwards] have his abode with the Word.
4. Righteously also the apostles, being of the race of Abraham, left the ship and their father, and
followed the Word. Righteously also do we, possessing the same faith as Abraham, and taking up
the cross as Isaac did the wood? follow Him. For in Abraham man had learned beforehand, and
had been accustomed to follow the Word of God. For Abraham, according to his faith, followed the
command of the Word of God, and with a ready mind delivered up, as a sacrifice to God, his only-
begotten and beloved son, in order that God also might be pleased to offer up for all his seed His
own beloved and only-begotten Son, as a sacrifice for our redemption.
5. Since, therefore, Abraham was a prophet and saw in the Spirit the day of the Lord's coming,
and the dispensation of His suffering, through whom both he himself and all who, following the
example of his faith, trust in God, should be saved, he rejoiced exceedingly. The Lord, therefore,
was not unknown to Abraham, whose day he desired to see;(9) nor, again, was the Lord's Father,
for he had learned from the Word of the Lord, and believed Him; wherefore it was accounted to
him by the Lord for righteousness. For faith towards God justifies a man; and therefore he said, "I
will stretch forth my hand to the most high God, who made the heaven and the earth."(10) All
these truths, however, do those holding perverse opinions endeavour to overthrow, because of one
passage, which they certainly do not understand correctly.
CHAP. VI.--EXPLANATION OF THE WORDS OF CHRIST, "NO MAN KNOWETH THE
FATHER, BUT THE SON," ETC.; WHICH WORDS THE HERETICS MISINTERPRET. pROOF
THAT, BY THE FATHER REVEALING THE SON, AND BY THE SON BEING REVEALED,
THE FATHER WAS NEVER UNKNOWN.
1. For the Lord, revealing Himself to His disciples, that He Himself is the Word, who imparts
knowledge of the Father, and reproving the Jews, who imagined that they, had [the knowledge of]
God, while they nevertheless rejected His Word, through whom God is made known, declared,
"No man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and
he to whom the Son has willed to reveal [Him]."(11) Thus hath Matthew set it down, and Luke in
like manner, and Mark(1) the very same; for John omits this passage. They, however, who would
be wiser than the apostles, write [the verse] in the following manner: "No man knew the Father,
but the Son; nor the Son, but the Father, and he to whom the Son has willed to reveal [Him];" and
they explain it as if the true God were known to none prior to our Lord's advent; and that God who
was announced by the prophets, they allege not to be the Father of Christ.
a. But if Christ did then [only] begin to have existence when He came [into the world] as man,
and [if] the Father did remember [only] in the times of Tiberius Caesar to provide for [the wants of]
men, and His Word was shown to have not always coexisted with His creatures; [it may be
remarked that] neither then was it necessary that another God should be proclaimed, but [rather]
that the reasons for so great carelessness and neglect on His part should be made the subject of
investigation. For it is fitting that no such question should arise, and gather such strength, that it
would indeed both change God, and destroy our faith in that Creator who supports us by means of
His creation. For as we do direct our faith towards the Son, so also should we possess a firm and
immoveable love towards the Father. In his book against Marcion, Justin(2) does well say: "I would
not have believed the Lord Himself, if He had announced any other than He who is our framer,
maker, and nourisher. But because the only-begotten Son came to us from the one God, who both
made this world and formed us, and contains and administers all things, summing up His own
handiwork in Himself, my faith towards Him is steadfast, and my love to the Father immoveable,
God bestowing both upon us."
3. For no one can know the Father, unless through the Word of God, that is, unless by the Son
revealing [Him]; neither can he have knowledge of the Son, unless through the good pleasure of
the Father. But the Son performs the good pleasure of the Father; for the Father sends, and the Son
is sent, and comes. And His Word knows that His Father is, as far as regards us, invisible and
infinite; and since He cannot be declared [by any one else], He does Himself declare Him to us;
and, on the other hand, it is the Father alone who knows His own Word. And both these truths has
our Lord declared. Wherefore the Son reveals the knowledge of the Father through His own
manifestation. For the manifestation of the Son is the knowledge of the Father; for all things are
manifested through the Word. In order, therefore, that we might know that the Son who came is He
who imparts to those believing on Him a knowledge of the Father, He said to His disciples:(3) "No
man knoweth the Son but the Father, nor the Father but the Son, and those to whomsoever the Son
shall reveal Him;" thus setting Himself forth and the Father as He [really] is, that we may not
receive any other Father, except Him who is revealed by the Son.
4. But this [Father] is the Maker of heaven and earth, as is shown from His words; and not he,
the false father, who has been invented by Marcion, or by Valentinus, or by Basilides, or by
Carpocrates, or by Simon, or by the rest of the "Gnostics," falsely so called. For none of these was
the Son of God; but Christ Jesus our Lord [was], against whom they set their teaching in
opposition, and have the daring to preach an unknown God. But they ought to hear [this] against
themselves: How is it that He is unknown, who is known by them? for, whatever is known even by
a few, is not unknown. But the Lord did not say that both the Father and the Son could not be
known at all (in tatum), for in that case His advent would have been superfluous. For why did He
come hither? Was it that He should say to us, "Never mind seeking after God; for He is unknown,
and ye shall not find Him;" as also the disciples of Valentinus falsely declare that Christ said to
their AEons? But this is indeed vain. For the Lord taught us that no man is capable of knowing
God, unless he be taught of God; that is, that God cannot be known without God: but that this is
the express will of the Father, that God should be known. For they shall know(4) Him to
whomsoever the Son has revealed Him.
5. And for this purpose did the Father reveal the Son, that through His instrumentality He might
be manifested to all, and might receive those righteous ones who believe in Him into incorruption
and everlasting enjoyment (now, to believe in Him is to do His will); but He shall righteously shut
out into the darkness which they have chosen for themselves, those who do not believe, and who do
consequently avoid His light. The Father therefore has revealed Himself to all, by making His
Word visible to all; and, conversely, the Word has declared to all the Father and the Son, since He
has become visible to all. And therefore the righteous judgment of God [shall fall] upon all who,
like others, have seen, but have not, like others, believed.
6. For by means of the creation itself, the Word reveals God the Creator; and by means of the
world [does He declare] the Lord the Maker of the world; and by means of the formation [of man]
the Artificer who formed him; and by the Son that Father who begat the Son: and these things do
indeed address all men in the same manner, but all do not in the same way believe them. But by the
law and the prophets did the Word preach both Himself and the Father alike [to all]; and all the
people heard Him alike, but all did not alike believe. And through the Word Himself who had been
made visible and palpable, was the Father shown forth, although all did not equally believe in Him;
but all saw the Father in the Son: for the Father is the invisible of the Son, but the Son the visible
of the Father. And for this reason all spake with Christ when He was present [upon earth], and they
named Him God. Yea, even the demons exclaimed, on beholding the Son: "We know Thee who
Thou art, the Holy One of God."' And the devil looking at Him, and tempting Him, said: "If Thou
art the Son of God;"(2)--all thus indeed seeing and speaking of the Son and the Father, but all not
believing [in them].
7. For it was fitting that the truth should receive testimony from all, and should become [a
means of] judgment for the salvation indeed of those who believe, but for the condemnation of
those who believe not; that all should be fairly judged, and that the faith in the Father and Son
should be approved by all, that is, that it should be established by all [as the one means of
salvation], receiving testimony from all, both from those belonging to it, since they are its friends,
and by those having no connection with it, though they are its enemies. For that evidence is true,
and cannot be gainsaid, which elicits even from its adversaries striking a testimonies in its behalf;
they being convinced with respect to the matter in hand by their own plain contemplation of it, and
bearing testimony to it, as well as declaring it.(4) But after a while they break forth into enmity,
and become accusers [of what they had approved], and are desirous that their own testimony should
not be [regarded as] true. He, therefore, who was known, was not a different being from Him who
declared "No man knoweth the Father," but one and the same, the Father making all things subject
to Him; while He received testimony from all that He was very man, and that He was very God,
from the Father, from the Spirit, from angels, from the creation itself, from men, from apostate
spirits and demons, from the enemy, and last of all, from death itself. But the Son, administering
all things for the Father, works from the beginning even to the end, and without Him no man can
attain the knowledge of God. For the Son is the knowledge of the Father; but the knowledge of the
Son is in the Father, and has been revealed through the Son; and this was the reason why the Lord
declared: "No man knoweth the Son, but the Father; nor the Father, save the Son, and those to
whomsoever the Son shall reveal [Him]."(5) For "shall reveal" was said not with reference to the
future alone, as if then [only] the Word had begun to manifest the Father when He was born of
Mary, but it applies indifferently throughout all time. For the Son, being present with His own
handiwork from the beginning, reveals the Father to all; to whom He wills, and when He wills, and
as the Father wills. Wherefore, then, in all things, and through all things, there is one God, the
Father, and one Word, and one Son, and one Spirit, and one salvation to all who believe in Him.
CHAP. VII.--RECAPITULATION OF THE FOREGOING ARGUMENT, SHOWING THAT
ABRAHAM, THROUGH THE REVELATION OF THE WORD, KNEW THE FATHER, AND
THE COMING OF THE SON OF GOD. FOR THIS CAUSE, HE REJOICED TO SEE THE DAY
OF CHRIST, WHEN THE PROMISES MADE TO HIM SHOULD BE FULFILLED. THE FRUIT
OF THIS REJOICING HAS FLOWED TO POSTERITY, VIZ., TO THOSE WHO ARE
PARTAKERS IN THE FAITH OF ABRAHAM, BUT NOT TO THE JEWS WHO REJECT THE
WORD OF GOD.
1. Therefore Abraham also, knowing the. Father through the Word, who made heaven and
earth, confessed Him to be God; and having learned, by an announcement [made to him], that the
Son of God would be a man among men, by whose advent his seed should be as the stars of heaven,
he desired to see that day, so that he might himself also embrace Christ; and, seeing it through the
spirit of prophecy, he rejoiced.(6) Wherefore Simeon also, one of his descendants, carried fully out
the rejoicing of the patriarch, and said: "Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace. For
mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all people: a light
for the revelation of the Gentiles,(1) and the glory of the people Israel."(2) And the angels, in like
manner, announced tidings of great joy to the shepherds who were keeping watch by night.(3)
Moreover, Mary said, "My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my
salvation;"(4)--the rejoicing of Abraham descending upon those who sprang from him,--those,
namely, who were watching, and who beheld Christ, and believed in Him; while, on the other
hand, there was a reciprocal rejoicing which passed backwards from the children to Abraham, who
did also desire to see the day of Christ's coming. Rightly, then, did our Lord bear witness to him,
saying, "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day; and he saw it, and was glad."
2. For not alone upon Abraham's account did He say these things, but also that He might point
out how all who have known God from the beginning, and have foretold the advent of Christ, have
received the revelation from the Son Himself; who also in the last times was made visible and
passable, and spake with the human race, that He might from the stones raise up children unto
Abraham, and fulfil the promise which God had given him, and that He might make his seed as the
stars of heaven,(5) as John the Baptist says: "For God is able from these stones to raise up children
unto Abraham."(6) Now, this Jesus did by drawing us off from the religion of stones, and bringing
us over from hard and fruitless cogitations, and establishing in us a faith like to Abraham. As Paul
does also testify, saying that we are children of Abraham because of the similarity of our faith, and
the promise of inheritance.(7)
3. He is therefore one and the same God, who called Abraham and gave him the promise. But He
is the Creator, who does also through Christ prepare lights in the world, [namely] those who
believe from among the Gentiles. And He says, "Ye are the light of the world;"(8) that is, as the
stars of heaven. Him, therefore, I have rightly shown to be known by no man, unless by the Son,
and to whomsoever the Son shall reveal Him. But the Son reveals the Father to all to whom He
wills that He should be known; and neither without the goodwill of the Father nor without the
agency of the Son, can any man know God. Wherefore did the Lord say to His disciples, "I am the
way, the truth, and the life and no man cometh unto the Father but by Me. If ye had known Me, ye
would have known My Father also: and from henceforth ye have both known Him, and have seen
Him."(9) From these words it is evident, that He is known by the Son, that is, by the Word.
4. Therefore have the Jews departed from God, in not receiving His Word, but imagining that
they could know the Father [apart] by Himself, without the Word, that is, without the Son; they
being ignorant of that God who spake in human shape to Abraham,(10) and again to Moses,
saying, "I have surely seen the affliction of My people in Egypt, and I have come down to deliver
them."(11) For the Son, who is the Word of God, arranged these things beforehand from the
beginning, the Father being in no want of angels, in order that He might call the creation into
being, and form man, for whom also the creation was made; nor, again, standing in need of any
instrumentality for the framing of created things, or for the ordering of those things which had
reference to man; while, [at the same time,] He has a vast and unspeakable number of servants. For
His offspring and His similitude(12) do minister to Him in every respect; that is, the Son and the
Holy Spirit, the Word and Wisdom; whom all the angels serve, and to whom they are subject. Vain,
therefore, ark those who, because of that declaration, "No man knoweth the Father, but the
Son,"(13) do introduce another unknown Father.
CHAP. VIII.--VAIN AttEMPTS OF MARCION AND HIS FOLLOWERS, WHO EXCLUDE
ABRAHAM FROM THE SALVATION BESTOWED BY CHRIST, WHO LIBERATED NOT
ONLY ABRAHAM, BUT THE SEED OF ABRAHAM, BY FULFILLING AND NOT
DESTROYING THE LAW WHEN HE HEALED ON THE SABBATH-DAY.
1. Vain, too, is [the effort of] Marcion and his followers when they [seek to] exclude Abraham
from the inheritance, to whom the Spirit through many men, and now by Paul, bears witness, that
"he believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness."(14) And the Lord [also bears
witness to him,] in the first place, indeed, by raising up children to him from the stones, and
making his seed as the stars of heaven, saying, "They shall come from the east and from the west,
from the north and from the south, and shall recline with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob in the
kingdom of heaven;"(15) and then again by saying to the Jews, "When ye shall see Abraham, and
Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of heaven, but you yourselves cast out."(1)
This, then, is a clear point, that those who disallow his salvation, and frame the idea of another
God besides Him who made the promise to Abraham, are outside the kingdom of God, and are
disinherited from [the gift of] incorruption, setting at naught and blaspheming God, who
introduces, through Jesus Christ, Abraham to the kingdom of heaven, and his seed, that is, the
Church, upon which also is conferred the adoption and the inheritance promised to Abraham.
2. For the Lord vindicated Abraham's posterity by loosing them from bondage and calling them
to salvation, as He did in the case of the woman whom He healed, saying openly to those who had
not faith like Abraham, "Ye hypocrites,(2) doth not each one of you on the Sabbath-days loose his
ox or his ass, and lead him away to watering? And ought not this woman, being a daughter of
Abraham, whom Satan hath bound these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath-
days?"(3) It is clear therefore, that He loosed and vivified those who believe in Him as Abraham
did, doing nothing contrary to the law when He healed upon the Sabbath-day. For the law did not
prohibit men from being healed upon the Sabbaths; [on the contrary,] it even circumcised them
upon that day, and gave command that the offices should be performed by the priests for the
people; yea, it did not disallow the healing even of dumb animals. Both at Siloam and on frequent
subsequent(4) occasions, did He perform cures upon the Sabbath; and for this reason many used to
resort to Him on the Sabbath-days. For the law commanded them to abstain from every servile
work, that is, from all grasping after wealth which is procured by trading and by other worldly
business; but it exhorted them to attend to the exercises of the soul, which consist in reflection, and
to addresses of a beneficial kind for their neighbours' benefit. And therefore the Lord reproved
those who unjustly blamed Him for having healed upon the Sabbath-days. For He did not make
void, but fulfilled the law, by performing the offices of the high priest, propitiating God for men,
and cleansing the lepers, healing the sick, and Himself suffering death, that exiled man might go
forth from condemnation, and might return without fear to his own inheritance.
3. And again, the law did not forbid those who were hungry on the Sabbath-days to take food
lying ready at hand: it did, however, forbid them to reap and to gather into the barn. And therefore
did the Lord say to those who were blaming His disciples because they plucked and ate the ears of
corn, rubbing them in their hands, "Have ye not read this, what David did, when himself was an
hungered; how he went into the house of God, and ate the shew-bread, and gave to those who were
with him; which it is not lawful to eat, but for the priests alone?"(5) justifying His disciples by the
words of the law, and pointing out that it was lawful for the priests to act freely. For David had
been appointed a priest by God, although Saul persecuted him. For all the righteous possess the
sacerdotal rank.(6) And all the apostles of the Lord are priests, who do inherit here neither lands
nor houses, but serve God and the altar continually. Of whom Moses also says in Deuteronomy,
when blessing Levi, "Who said unto his father and to his mother, I have not known thee; neither
did he acknowledge his brethren, and he disinherited his own sons: he kept Thy commandments,
and observed Thy covenant."(7) But who are they that have left father and mother, and have said
adieu to all their neighbours, on account of the word of God and His covenant, unless the disciples
of the Lord? Of whom again Moses says, "They shall have no inheritance, for the Lord Himself is
their inheritance."(8) And again, "The priests the Levites shall have no part in the whole tribe of
Levi, nor substance with Israel; their substance is the offerings (fructifications) of the Lord: these
shall they eat."(9) Wherefore also Paul says, "I do not seek after a gift, but I seek after fruit."(10)
To His disciples He said, who had a priesthood of the Lord,(11) to whom it was lawful when
hungry to eat the ears of corn,(12) "For the workman is worthy of his meat."(13) And the priests in
the temple profaned the Sabbath, and were blameless. Wherefore, then, were they blameless?
Because when in the temple they were not engaged in secular affairs, but in the service of the Lord,
fulfilling the law, but not going beyond it, as that man did, who of his own accord carded dry wood
into the camp of God, and was justly stoned to death.(14) "For every tree that bringeth not forth
good fruit shall be hewn down, and cast into the fire;"(15) and "whosoever shall defile the temple
of God, him shall God defile."(16)
CHAP. IX.--THERE IS BUT ONE AUTHOR, AND ONE END TO BOTH COVENANTS.
1. All things therefore are of one and the same substance, that is, from one and the same God; as
also the Lord says to the disciples "Therefore every scribe, which is instructed unto the kingdom of
heaven, is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things
new and old."(1) He did not teach that he who brought forth the old was one, and he that brought
forth the new, another; but that they were one and the same. For the Lord is the good man of the
house, who rules the tire house of His Father; and who delivers a law suited both for slaves and
those who are as yet undisciplined; and gives fitting precepts to those that are free, and have been
justified by faith, as well as throws His own inheritance open to those that are sons. And He called
His disciples "scribes" and "teachers of the kingdom of heaven;" of whom also He elsewhere says to
the Jews: "Behold, I send unto you wise men, and scribes, and teachers; and some of them ye shall
kill, and persecute from city to city."(2) Now, without contradiction, He means by those things
which are brought forth from the treasure new and old, the two covenants; the old, that giving of
the law which took place formerly; and He points out as the new, that manner of life required by
the Gospel, of which David says, "Sing unto the LORD a new song;"(3) and Esaias, "Sing unto the
LORD a new hymn. His beginning (initium), His name is glorified from the height of the earth:
they declare His powers in the isles."(4) And Jeremiah says: "Behold, I will make a new covenant,
not as I made with your fathers"(5) in Mount Horeb. But one and the same householder produced
both covenants, the Word of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, who spake with both Abraham and Moses,
and who has restored us anew to liberty, and has multiplied that grace which is from Himself.
2. He declares: "For in this place is One greater than the temple."(6) But [the words] greater and
less are not applied to those things which have nothing in common between themselves, and are of
an opposite nature, and mutually repugnant; but are used in the case of those of the same substance,
and which possess properties in common, but merely differ in number and size; such as water from
water, and light from light, and grace from grace. Greater, therefore, is that legislation which has
been given in order liberty than that given in order to bondage; and therefore it has also been
diffused, not throughout one nation [only], but over the whole world. For one and the same Lord,
who is greater than the temple, greater than Solomon, and greater than Jonah, confers gifts upon
men, that is, His own presence, and the resurrection from the dead; but He does not change God,
nor proclaim another Father, but that very same one, who always has more to measure out to those
of His household. And as their love towards God increases, He bestows more and greater [gifts]; as
also the Lord said to His disciples: "Ye shall see greater things than these."(7) And Paul declares:
"Not that I have already attained, or that I am justified, or already have been made perfect. For we
know in part, and we prophesy in part; but when that which is perfect has come, the things which
are in part shall be done away."(8) As, therefore, when that which is perfect is come, we shall not
see another Father, but Him whom we now desire to see (for "blessed are the pure in heart: for they
shall see God"(9)); neither shall we look for another Christ and Son of God, but Him who [was
born] of the Virgin Mary, who also suffered, in whom too we trust, and whom we love; as Esaias
says: "And they shall say in that day, Behold our LORD God, in whom we have trusted, and we
have rejoiced in our salvation;"(10) and Peter says in his Epistle: "Whom, not seeing, ye love; in
whom, though now ye see Him not, ye have believed, ye shall rejoice with joy unspeakable;"(11)
neither do we receive another Holy Spirit, besides Him who is with us, and who cries, "Abba,
Father;"(12) and we shall make increase in the very same things [as now], and shall make
progress, so that no longer through a glass, or by means of enigmas, but face to face, we shall enjoy
the gifts of God;--so also now, receiving more than the temple, and more than Solomon, that is, the
advent of the Son of God, we have not been taught another God besides the Framer and the Maker
of all, who has been pointed out to us from the beginning; nor another Christ, the Son of God,
besides Him who was foretold by the prophets.
3. For the new covenant having been known and preached by the prophets, He who was to carry
it out according to the good pleasure of the Father was also preached; having been revealed to men
as God pleased; that they might always make progress through believing in Him, and by means of
the [successive] covenants, should gradually attain to perfect salvation.(1) For there is one salvation
and one God; but the precepts which form the man are numerous, and the steps which lead man to
God are not a few. It is allowable for an earthly and temporal king, though he is [but] a man, to
grant to his subjects greater advantages at times: shall not this then be lawful for God, since He is
[ever] the same, and is always willing to confer a greater [degree of] grace upon the human race,
and to honour continually with many gifts those who please Him? But if this be to make progress,
[namely,] to find out another Father besides Him who was preached from the beginning; and again,
besides him who is imagined to have been discovered in the second place, to find out a third other,-
-then the progress of this man will consist in his also proceeding from a third to a fourth; and from
this, again, to another and another: and thus he who thinks that he is always making progress of
such a kind, will never rest in one God. For, being driven away from Him who truly is [God], and
being turned backwards, he shall be for ever seeking, yet shall never find out God;(2) but shall
continually swim in an abyss without limits, unless, being converted by repentance, he return to the
place from which he had been cast out, confessing one God, the Father, the Creator, and believing
[in Him] who was declared by the law and the prophets, who was borne witness to by Christ, as He
did Himself declare to those who were accusing His disciples of not observing the tradition of the
elders: "Why do ye make void the law of God by reason of your tradition? For God said, Honour
thy father and mother; and, Whosoever curseth father or mother, let him die the death."(3) And
again, He says to them a second time: "And ye have made void the word of God(4) by reason of
your tradition;" Christ confessing in the plainest manner Him to be Father and God, who said in
the law, "Honour thy father and mother; that it may be well with thee."(5) For the true God did
confess the commandment of the law as the word of God, and called no one else God besides His
own Father.
CHAP. X. -- THE OLD TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES, AND THOSE WRITTEN BY MOSES IN
PARTICULAR, DO EVERYWHERE MAKE MENTION OF THE SON OF GOD, AND
FORETELL HIS ADVENT AND PASSION. FROM THIS FACT IT FOLLOWS THAT THEY
WERE INSPIRED BY ONE AND THE SAME GOD.
1. Wherefore also John does appropriately relate that the Lord said to the Jews: "Ye search the
Scriptures, in which ye think ye have eternal life; these are they which testify of me. And ye are not
willing to come unto Me, that ye may have life."(6) How therefore did the Scriptures testify of Him,
unless they were from one and the same Father, instructing men beforehand as to the advent of His
Son, and foretelling the salvation brought in by Him? "For if ye had believed Moses, ye would also
have believed Me; for he wrote of Me;"(7) [saying this,] no doubt, because the Son of God is
implanted everywhere throughout his writings: at one time, indeed, speaking with Abraham, when
about to eat with him; at another time with Noah, giving to him the dimensions [of the ark]; at
another; inquiring after Adam; at another, bringing down judgment upon the Sodomites; and
again, when He becomes visible,(8) and directs Jacob on his journey, and speaks with Moses from
the bush.(9) And it would be endless to recount [the occasions] upon which the Son of God is
shown forth by Moses. Of the day of His passion, too, he was not ignorant; but foretold Him, after a
figurative manner, by the name given to the passover;(10) and at that very festival, which had been
proclaimed such a long time previously by Moses, did our Lord suffer, thus fulfilling the passover.
And he did not describe the day only, but the place also, and the time of day at which the sufferings
ceased,(11) and the sign of the setting of the sun, saying: "Thou mayest not sacrifice the passover
within any other of thy cities which the LORD God gives thee; but in the place which the LORD
thy God shall choose that His name be called on there, thou shalt sacrifice the passover at even,
towards the setting of the sun."(12)
2. And already he had also declared His advent, saying, "There shall not fail a chief in Judah,
nor a leader from his loins, until He come for whom it is laid up, and He is the hope of the nations;
binding His foal to the vine, and His ass's colt to the creeping ivy. He shall wash His stole in wine,
and His upper garment in the blood of the grape; His eyes shall be more joyous than wine,(1) and
His teeth whiter than milk."(2) For, let those who have the reputation of investigating everything,
inquire at what time a prince and leader failed out of Judah, and who is the hope of the nations,
who also is the vine, what was the ass's colt [referred to as] His, what the clothing, and what the
eyes, what the teeth, and what the wine, and thus let them investigate every one of the points
mentioned; and they shall find that there was none other announced than our Lord, Christ Jesus.
Wherefore Moses, when chiding the ingratitude of the people, said, "Ye infatuated people, and
unwise, do ye thus requite the LORD?"(3) And again, he indicates that He who from the beginning
founded and created them, the Word, who also redeems and vivifies us in the last times, is shown
as hanging on the tree, and they will not believe on Him. For he says, "And thy life shall be
hanging before thine eyes, and thou wilt not believe thy life."(4) And again, "Has not this same one
thy Father owned thee, and made thee, and created thee?"(5)
CHAP. XI. --THE OLD PROPHETS AND RIGHTEOUS MEN KNEW BEFOREHAND OF THE
ADVENT OF CHRIST, AND EARNESTLY DESIRED TO SEE AND HEAR HIM, HE
REVEALING HIMSELF IN THE SCRIPTURES BY THE HOLY GHOST, AND WITHOUT ANY
CHANGE IN HIMSELF, ENRICHING MEN DAY BY DAY WITH BENEFITS, BUT
CONFERRING THEM IN GREATER ABUNDANCE ON LATER THAN ON FORMER
GENERATIONS.
1. But that it was not only the prophets and many righteous men, who, foreseeing through the
Holy Spirit His advent, prayed that they might attain to that period in which they should see their
Lord face to face, and hear His words, the Lord has made manifest, when He says to His disciples,
"Many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not
seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them."(6) In what way,
then, did they desire both to hear and to see, unless they had foreknowledge of His future advent?
But how could they have foreknown it, unless they had previously received foreknowledge from
Himself? And how do the Scriptures testify of Him, unless all things had ever been revealed and
shown to believers by one and the same God through the Word; He at one time conferring with His
creature, and at another pro-pounding His law; at one time, again, reproving, at another exhorting,
and then setting free His servant, and adopting him as a son (in filium); and, at the proper time,
bestowing an incorruptible inheritance, for the purpose of bringing man to perfection? For He
formed him for growth and increase, as the Scripture says: "Increase and multiply."(7)
2. And in this respect God differs from man, that God indeed makes, but man is made; and truly,
He who makes is always the same; but that which is made must receive both beginning, and
middle, and addition, and increase. And God does indeed create after a skilful manner, while, [as
regards] man, he is created skilfully. God also is truly perfect in all things, Himself equal and
similar to Himself, as He is all light, and all mind, and all substance, and the fount of all good; but
man receives advancement and increase towards God. For as God is always the same, so also man,
when found in God, shall always go on towards God. For neither does God at any time cease to
confer benefits upon, or to enrich man; nor does man ever cease from receiving the benefits, and
being enriched by God. For the receptacle of His goodness, and the instrument of His glorification,
is the man who is grateful to Him that made him; and again, the receptacle of His just judgment is
the ungrateful man, who both despises his Maker and is not subject to His Word; who has promised
that He will give very much to those always bringing forth fruit, and more [and more] to those who
have the Lord's money. "Well done," He says, "good and faithful servant: because thou hast been
faithful in little, I will appoint thee over many things; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."(8) The
Lord Himself thus promises very much.
3. As, therefore, He has promised to give very much to those who do now bring forth fruit,
according to the gift of His grace, but not according to the changeableness of "knowledge;" for the
Lord remains the same, and the same Father is revealed; thus, therefore, has the one and the same
Lord granted, by means of His advent, a greater gift of grace to those of a later period, than what
He had granted to those under the Old Testament dispensation. For they indeed used to hear, by
means of [His] servants, that the King would come, and they rejoiced to a certain extent, inasmuch
as they hoped for His coming; but those who have beheld Him actually present, and have obtained
liberty, and been made partakers of His gifts, do possess a greater amount of grace, and a higher
degree of exultation, rejoicing because of the King's arrival: as also David says, "My soul shall
rejoice in the LORD; it shall be glad in His salvation."(1) And for this cause, upon His entrance
into Jerusalem, all those who were in the way(2) recognised David their king in His sorrow of soul,
and spread their garments for Him, and ornamented the way with green boughs, crying out with
great joy and gladness, "Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed is He that cometh in the name of the
Lord: hosanna in the highest."(3) But to the envious wicked stewards, who circumvented those
under them, and ruled over those that had no great intelligence,(4) and for this reason were
unwilling that the king should come, and who said to Him, "Hearest thou what these say?" did the
Lord reply, "Have ye never read, Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings hast Thou perfected
praise?"(5)--thus pointing out that what had been declared by David concerning the Son of God,
was accomplished in His own person; and indicating that they were indeed ignorant of the meaning
of the Scripture and the dispensation of God; but declaring that it was Himself who was announced
by the prophets as Christ, whose name is praised in all the earth, and who perfects praise to His
Father from the mouth of babes and sucklings; wherefore also His glory has been raised above the
heavens.
4. If, therefore, the self-same person is present who was announced by the prophets, our Lord
Jesus Christ, and if His advent has brought in a fuller [measure of] grace and greater gifts to those
who have received Him, it is plain that the Father also is Himself the same who was proclaimed by
the prophets, and that the Son, on His coming, did not spread the knowledge of another Father, but
of the same who was preached from the beginning; from whom also He has brought down liberty to
those who, in a lawful manner, and with a willing mind, and with all the heart, do Him service;
whereas to scoffers, and to those not subject to God, but who follow outward purifications for the
praise of men (which observances had been given as a type of future things, -- the law typifying, as
it were, certain things in a shadow, and delineating eternal things by temporal, celestial by
terrestrial), and to those who pretend that they do themselves observe more than what has been
prescribed, as if preferring their own zeal to God Himself, while within they are full of hypocrisy,
and covetousness, and all wickedness, -- [to such] has He assigned everlasting perdition by cutting
them off from life.
CHAP.XII.--IT CLEARLY APPEARS THAT THERE WAS BUT ONE AUTHOR OF BOTH THE
OLD AND
THE NEW LAW, FROM THE FACT THAT CHRIST CONDEMNED TRADITIONS AND
CUSTOMS REPUGNANT TO THE FORMER, WHILE HE CONFIRMED ITS MOST
IMPORTANT PRECEPTS, AND TAUGHT THAT HE WAS HIMSELF THE END OF THE
MOSAIC LAW.
1. For the tradition of the elders themselves, which they pretended to observe from the law, was
contrary to the law given by Moses. Wherefore also Esaias declares: "Thy dealers mix the wine
with water,"(6) showing that the elders were in the habit of mingling a watered tradition with the
simple command of God; that is, they set up a spurious law, and one contrary to the[true] law; as
also the Lord made plain, when He said to them, "Why do ye transgress the commandment of God,
for the sake of your tradition?"(7) For not only by actual transgression did they set the law of God
at nought, mingling the wine with water; but they also set up their own law in opposition to it,
which is termed, even to the present day, the pharisaical. In this [law] they suppress certain things,
add others, and interpret others, again, as they think proper, which their teachers use, each one in
particular; and desiring to uphold these traditions, they were unwilling to be subject to the law of
God, which prepares them for the coming of Christ. But they did even blame the Lord for healing
on the Sabbath-days, which, as I have already observed, the law did not prohibit. For they did
themselves, in one sense, perform acts of healing upon the Sabbath-day, when they circumcised a
man [on that day]; but they did not blame themselves for transgressing the command of God
through tradition and the aforesaid pharisaical law, and for not keeping the commandment of the
law, which is the love of God.
2. But that this is the first and greatest commandment, and that the next [has respect to love]
towards our neighbour, the Lord has taught, when He says that the entire law and the prophets
hang upon these two commandments. Moreover, He did not Himself bring down [from heaven] any
other commandment greater than this one, but renewed this very same one to His disciples, when
He enjoined them to love God with all their heart, and others as themselves. But if He had
descended from another Father, He never would have made use of the first and greatest
commandment of the law; but He would undoubtedly have endeavoured by all means to bring down
a greater one than this from the perfect Father, so as not to make use of that which had been given
by the God of the law. And Paul in like manner declares, "Love is the fulfilling of the law:"(1) and
[he declares] that when all other things have been destroyed, there shall remain "faith, hope, and
love; but the greatest of all is love;"(2) and that apart from the love of God, neither knowledge
avails anything,(3) nor the understanding of mysteries, nor faith, nor prophecy, but that without
love all are hollow and vain; moreover, that love makes man perfect; and that he who loves God is
perfect, both in this world and in that which is to come. For we do never cease from loving God;
but in proportion as we continue to contemplate Him, so much the more do we love Him.
3. As in the law, therefore, and in the Gospel [likewise], the first and greatest commandment is,
to love the Lord God with the whole heart, and then there follows a commandment like to it, to
love one's neighbour as one's self; the author of the law and the Gospel is shown to be one and the
same. For the precepts of an absolutely perfect life, since they are the same in each Testament, have
pointed out [to us] the same God, who certainly has promulgated particular laws adapted for each;
but the more prominent and the greatest [commandments], without which salvation cannot [be
attained], He has exhorted [us to observe] the same in both.
4. The Lord, too, does not do away with this [God], when He shows that the law was not derived
from another God, expressing Himself as follows to those who were being instructed by Him, to the
multitude and to His disciples: "The scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. All, therefore,
whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say,
and do not. For they bind heavy burdens, and lay them upon men's shoulders; but they themselves
will not so much as move them with a finger."(4) He therefore did not throw blame upon that law
which was given by Moses, when He exhorted it to be observed, Jerusalem being as yet in safety;
but He did throw blame upon those persons, because they repeated indeed the words of the law, yet
were without love. And for this reason were they held as being unrighteous as respects God, and as
respects their neighbours. As also Isaiah says: "This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their
heart is far from Me: howbeit in vain do they worship Me, teaching the doctrines and the
commandments of men."(5) He does not call the law given by Moses commandments of men, but
the traditions of the eiders themselves which they had invented, and in upholding which they made
the law of God of none effect, and were on this account also not subject to His Word. For this is
what Paul says concerning these men: "For they, being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going
about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of
God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth."(6) And how is
Christ the end of the law, if He be not also the final Cause of it? For He who has brought in the end
has Himself also wrought the beginning; and it is He who does Himself say to Moses, "I have
surely seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt, and I have come down to deliver
them;"(7) it being customary from the beginning with the Word of God to ascend and descend for
the purpose of saving those who were in affliction.
5. Now, that the law did beforehand teach mankind the necessity of following Christ, He does
Himself make manifest, when He replied as follows to him who asked Him what he should do that
he might inherit eternal life: "If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments."(8) But upon the
other asking "Which?"" again the Lord replies: "Do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal,
do not bear false witness, hon-our father and mother, and thou shalt love thy neighbour as
thyself,"--setting as an ascending series (velut gradus) before those who wished to follow Him, the
precepts of the law, as the entrance into life; and What He then said to one He said to all. But when
the former said, "All these have I done" (and most likely he had not kept them, for in that case the
Lord would not have said to him, "Keep the commandments"), the Lord, exposing his
covetousness, said to him, "If thou wilt be perfect, go, sell all that thou hast, and distribute to the
poor; and come, follow me;" promising to those who would act thus, the portion belonging to the
apostles (apostolorum partem). And He did not preach to His followers another God the Father,
besides Him who was proclaimed by the law from the beginning; nor another Son; nor the Mother,
the enthymesis of the AEon, who existed in suffering and apostasy; nor the Pleroma of the thirty
AEons, which has been proved vain, and incapable of being believed in; nor that fable invented by
the other heretics. But He taught that they should obey the commandments which God enjoined
from the beginning, and do away with their former covetousness by good works,(9) and follow after
Christ. But that possessions distributed to the poor do annul former covetousness, Zaccheus made
evident, when he said, "Behold, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have defrauded any
one, I restore fourfold."(1)
CHAP. XIII.--CHRIST DID NOT ABROGATE THE NATURAL PRECEPTS OF THE LAW,
BUT RATHER FULFILLED AND EXTENDED THEM. HE REMOVED THE YOKE AND
BONDAGE OF THE OLD LAW, SO THAT MANKIND, BEING NOW SET FREE, MIGHT
SERVE GOD WITH THAT TRUSTFUL PIETY WHICH BECOMETH SONS.
1. And that the Lord did not abrogate the natural [precepts] of the law, by which man(2) is
justified, which also those who were justified by faith, and who pleased God, did observe previous
to the giving of the law, but that He extended and fulfilled them, is shown from His words. "For,"
He remarks, "it has been said to them of old time, Do not commit adultery. But I say unto you, That
every one who hath looked upon a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her
already in his heart."(3) And again: "It has been said, Thou shalt not kill. But I say unto you, Every
one who is angry with his brother without a cause, shall be in danger of the judgment."(4) And, "It
hath been said, Thou shalt not forswear thyself. But I say unto you, Swear not at all; but let your
conversation be, Yea, yea, and Nay, nay."(5) And other statements of a like nature. For all these do
not contain or imply an opposition to and an overturning of the [precepts] of the past, as Marcion's
followers do strenuously maintain; but [they exhibit] a fulfilling and an extension of them, as He
does Himself declare: "Unless your righteousness shall exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees, ye
shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven."(6) For what meant the excess referred to? In the first
place, [we must] believe not only in the Father, but also in His Son now revealed; for He it is who
leads man into fellowship and unity with God. In the next place, [we must] not only say, but we
must do; for they said, but did not. And [we must] not only abstain from evil deeds, but even from
the desires after them. Now He did not teach us these things as being opposed to the law, but as
fulfilling the law, and implanting in us the varied righteousness of the law. That would have been
contrary to the law, if He had commanded His disciples to do anything which the law had
prohibited. But this which He did command--namely, not only to abstain from things forbidden by
the law, but even from longing after them--is not contrary to [the law], as I have remarked, neither
is it the utterance of one destroying the law, but of one fulfilling, extending, and affording greater
scope to it.
2. For the law, since it was laid down for those in bondage, used to instruct the soul by means of
those corporeal objects which were of an external nature, drawing it, as by a bond, to obey its
commandments, that man might learn to serve God. But the Word set free the soul, and taught that
through it the body should be willingly purified. Which having been accomplished, it followed as
of course, that the bonds of slavery should be removed, to which man had now become accustomed,
and that he should follow God without fetters: moreover, that the laws of liberty should be
extended, and subjection to the king increased, so that no one who is convened should appear
unworthy to Him who set him free, but that the piety and obedience due to the Master of the
household should be equally rendered both by servants and children; while the children possess
greater confidence [than the servants], inasmuch as the working of liberty is greater and more
glorious than that obedience which is rendered in [a state of] slavery.
3. And for this reason did the Lord, instead of that [commandment], "Thou shalt not commit
adultery," forbid even concupiscence; and instead of that which runs thus, "Thou shalt not kill," He
prohibited anger; and instead of the law enjoining the giving of tithes, [He told us] to share(7) all
our possessions with the poor; and not to love our neighbours only, but even our enemies; and not
merely to be liberal givers and bestowers, but even that we should present a gratuitous gift to those
who take away our goods. For "to him that taketh away thy coat," He says, "give to him thy cloak
also; and from him that taketh away thy goods, ask them not again; and as ye would that men
should do unto you, do ye unto them:"(8) so that we may not grieve as those who are unwilling to
be defrauded, but may rejoice as those who have given willingly, and as rather conferring a favour
upon our neighbours than yielding to necessity. "And if any one," He says, "shall compel thee [to
go] a mile, go with him twain;"(9) so that thou mayest not follow him as a slave, but may as a free
man go before him, showing thyself in all things kindly disposed and useful to thy neighbour, not
regarding their evil intentions, but performing thy kind offices, assimilating thyself to the Father,
"who maketh His sun to rise upon the evil and the good, and sendeth rain upon the just and
unjust."(1) Now all these [precepts], as I have already observed, were not the injunctions] of one
doing away with the law, but of one fulfilling, extending, and widening it among us; just as if one
should say, that the more extensive operation of liberty implies that a more complete subjection and
affection towards our Liberator had been implanted within us. For He did not set us free for this
purpose, that we should depart from Him (no one, indeed, while placed out of reach of the Lord's
benefits, has power to procure for himself the means of salvation), but that the more we receive His
grace, the more we should love Him. Now the more we have loved Him, the more glory shall we
receive from Him, when we are continually in the presence of the Father.
4. Inasmuch, then, as all natural precepts are common to us and to them (the Jews), they had in
them indeed the beginning and origin; but in us they have received growth and completion. For to
yield assent to God, and to follow His Word, and to love Him above all, and one's neighbour as
one's self (now man is neighbour to man), and to abstain from every evil deed, and all other things
of a like nature which are common to both [covenants], do reveal one and the same God. But this is
our Lord, the Word of God, who in the first instance certainly drew slaves to God, but afterwards
He set those free who were subject to Him, as He does Himself declare to His disciples: "I will not
now call you servants, for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth; but I have called you
friends, for all things which I have heard from My Father I have made known."(2) For in that
which He says, "I will not now call you servants," He indicates in the most marked manner that it
was Himself who did originally appoint for men that bondage with respect to God through the law,
and then afterwards conferred upon them freedom. And in that He says, "For the servant knoweth
not what his lord doeth," He points out, by means of His own advent, the ignorance of a people in a
servile condition. But when He terms His disciples "the friends of God," He plainly declares
Himself to be the Word of God, whom Abraham also followed voluntarily and under no
compulsion (sine vinculis), because of the noble nature of his faith, and so became "the friend of
God."(3) But the Word of God did not accept of the friendship of Abraham, as though He stood in
need of it, for He was perfect from the beginning ("Before Abraham was," He says, "I am"(4)), but
that He in His goodness might bestow eternal life upon Abraham himself, inasmuch as the
friendship of God imparts immortality to those who embrace it.
CHAP. XIV.--IF GOD DEMANDS OBEDIENCE FROM MAN, IF HE FORMED MAN,
CALLED HIM AND PLACED HIM UNDER LAWS, IT WAS MERELY FOR MAN'S
WELFARE; NOT THAT GOD STOOD IN NEED OF MAN, BUT THAT HE GRACIOUSLY
CONFERRED UPON MAN HIS FAVOURS IN EVERY POSSIBLE MANNER.
1. In the beginning, therefore, did God form Adam, not as if He stood in need of man, but that
He might have [some one] upon whom to confer His benefits. For not alone antecedently to Adam,
but also before all creation, the Word glorified His Father, remaining in Him; and was Himself
glorified by the Father, as He did Himself declare, "Father, glorify Thou Me with the glory which I
had with Thee before the world was."(5) Nor did He stand in need of our service when He ordered
us to follow Him; but He thus bestowed salvation upon ourselves. For to follow the Saviour is to be
a partaker of salvation, and to follow light is to receive light. But those who are in light do not
themselves illumine the light, but are illumined and revealed by it: they do certainly contribute
nothing to it, but, receiving the benefit, they are illumined by the light. Thus, also, service
[rendered] to God does indeed profit God nothing, nor has God need of human obedience; but He
grants to those who follow and serve Him life and in-corruption and eternal glory, bestowing
benefit upon those who serve [Him], because they do serve Him, and on His followers, because they
do follow Him; but does not receive any benefit from them: for He is rich, perfect, and in need of
nothing. But for this reason does God demand service from men, in order that, since He is good
and merciful, He may benefit those who continue in His service. For, as much as God is in want of
nothing, so much does man stand in need of fellowship with God. For this is the glory of man, to
continue and remain permanently in God's service. Wherefore also did the Lord say to His
disciples, "Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you;"(6) indicating that they did not glorify
Him when they followed Him; but that, in following the Son of God, they were glorified by Him.
And again, "I will, that where I am, there they also may be, that they may behold My glory;"(7) not
vainly boasting because of this, but desiring that His disciples should share in His glory: of whom
Esaias also says, "I will bring thy seed from the east, and will gather thee from the west; and I will
say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring My sons from far, and My
daughters from the ends of the earth; all, as many as have been called in My name: for in My glory
I have prepared, and formed, and made him."(1) Inasmuch as then, "wheresoever the carcase is,
there shall also the eagles be gathered together,"(2) we do participate in the glory of the Lord, who
has both formed us, and prepared us for this, that, when we are with Him, we may partake of His
glory.
2. Thus it was, too, that God formed man at the first, because of His munificence; but chose the
patriarchs for the sake of their salvation; and prepared a people beforehand, teaching the
headstrong to follow God; and raised up prophets upon earth, accustoming man to bear His Spirit
[within him], and to hold communion with God: He Himself, indeed, having need of nothing, but
granting communion with Himself to those who stood in need of it, and sketching out, like an
architect, the plan of salvation to those that pleased Him. And He did Himself furnish guidance to
those who beheld Him not in Egypt, while to those who became unruly in the desert He
promulgated a law very suitable [to their condition]. Then, on the people who entered into the good
land He bestowed a noble inheritance; and He killed the fatted calf for those converted to the
Father, and presented them with the finest robe.(3) Thus, in a variety of ways, He adjusted the
human race to an agreement with salvation. On this account also does John declare in the
Apocalypse, "And His voice as the sound of many waters."(4) For the Spirit [of God] is truly [like]
many waters, since the Father is both rich and great. And the Word, passing through all those
[men], did liberally confer benefits upon His subjects, by drawing up in writing a law adapted and
applicable to every class [among them].
3. Thus, too, He imposed upon the [Jewish] people the construction of the tabernacle, the
building of the temple, the election of the Levites, sacrifices also, and oblations, legal monitions,
and all the other service of the law. He does Himself truly want none of these things, for He is
always full of all good, and had in Himself all the odour of kindness, and every perfume of sweet-
smelling savours, even before Moses existed. Moreover, He instructed the people, who were prone
to turn to idols, instructing them by repeated appeals to persevere and to serve God, calling them to
the things of primary importance by means of those which were secondary; that is, to things that
are real, by means of those that are typical; and by things temporal, to eternal; and by the carnal to
the spiritual; and by the earthly to the heavenly; as was also said to Moses, "Thou shalt make all
things after the pattern of those things which thou sawest in the mount."(5) For during forty days
He was learning to keep [in his memory] the words of God, and the celestial patterns, and the
spiritual images, and the types of things to come; as also Paul says: "For they drank of the rock
which followed them: and the rock was Christ."(6) And again, having first mentioned what are
contained in the law, he goes on to say: "Now all these things happened to them in a figure; but
they were written for our admonition, upon whom the end of the ages is come." For by means of
types they learned to fear God, and to continue devoted to His service.
CHAP.XV.--AT FIRST GOD DEEMED IT SUFFICIENT TO INSCRIBE THE NATURAL LAW,
OR THE DECALOGUE, UPON THE HEARTS OF MEN; BUT AFTERWARDS HE FOUND IT
NECESSARY TO BRIDLE, WITH THE YOKE OF THE MOSAIC LAW, THE DESIRES OF
THE JEWS, WHO WERE ABUSING THEIR LIBERTY; AND EVEN TO ADD SOME SPECIAL
COMMANDS, BECAUSE OF THE HARDNESS OF THEIR HEARTS.
1. They (the Jews) had therefore a law, a course of discipline, and a prophecy of future things.
For God at the first, indeed, warning them by means of natural precepts, which from the beginning
He had implanted in mankind, that is, by means of the Decalogue (which, if any one does not
observe, he has no salvation), did then demand nothing more of them. As Moses says in
Deuteronomy, "These are all the words which the Lord spake to the whole assembly of the sons of
Israel on the mount, and He added no more; and He wrote them on two tables of stone, and gave
them to me."(7) For this reason [He did so], that they who are willing to follow Him might keep
these commandments. But when they turned themselves to make a calf, and had gone back in their
minds to Egypt, desiring to be slaves instead of free-men, they were placed for the future in a state
of servitude suited to their wish,--[a slavery] which did not indeed cut them off from God, but
subjected them to the yoke of bondage; as Ezekiel the prophet, when stating the reasons for the
giving of such a law, declares: "And their eyes were after the desire of their heart; and I gave them
statutes that were not good, and judgments in which they shall not live."(8)
Luke also has recorded that Stephen, who was the first elected into the diaconate by the apostles,(1)
and who was the first slain for the testimony of Christ, spoke regarding Moses as follows: "This
man did indeed receive the commandments of the living God to give to us, whom your fathers
would not obey, but thrust [Him from them], and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt,
saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go before us; for we do not know what has happened to [this]
Moses, who led us from the land of Egypt. And they made a calf in those days, and offered
sacrifices to the idol, and were rejoicing in the works of their own hands. But God turned, and gave
them up to worship the hosts of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets:(2) O ye house
of Israel, have ye offered to Me sacrifices and oblations for forty years in the wilderness? And ye
took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of the god Remphan,(3) figures which ye made to
worship them;"(4) pointing out plainly, that the law being such, was not given to them by another
God, but that, adapted to their condition of servitude, [it originated] from the very same [God as we
worship]. Wherefore also He says to Moses in Exodus: "I will send forth My angel before thee; for I
will not go up with thee, because thou art a stiff-necked people."(5)
2. And not only so, but the Lord also showed that certain precepts were enacted for them by
Moses, on account of their hardness [of heart], and because of their unwillingness to be obedient,
when, on their saying to Him, "Why then did Moses command to give a writing of divorcement,
and to send away a wife?" He said to them, "Because of the hardness of your hearts he permitted
these things to you; but from the beginning it was not so;"(6) thus exculpating Moses as a faithful
servant, but acknowledging one God, who from the beginning made male and female, and
reproving them as hard-hearted and disobedient. And therefore it was that they received from
Moses this law of divorcement, adapted to their hard nature. But why say I these things concerning
the Old Testament? For in the New also are the apostles found doing this very thing, on the ground
which has been mentioned, Paul plainly declaring, But these things I say, not the Lord."(7) And
again: "But this I speak by permission, not by commandment."(8) And again: "Now, as concerning
virgins, I have no commandment from the Lord; yet I give my judgment, as one that hath obtained
mercy of the Lord to be faithful."(9) But further, in another place he says: "That Satan tempt you
not for your incontinence."(10) If, therefore, even in the New Testament, the apostles are found
granting certain precepts in consideration of human infirmity, because of the incontinence of some,
lest such persons, having grown obdurate, and despairing altogether of their salvation, should
become apostates from God,--it ought not to be wondered at, if also in the Old Testament the same
God permitted similar indulgences for the benefit of His people, drawing them on by means of the
ordinances already mentioned, so that they might obtain the gift of salvation through them, while
they obeyed the Decalogue, and being restrained by Him, should not revert to idolatry, nor
apostatize from God, but learn to love Him with the whole heart. And if certain persons, because of
the disobedient and ruined Israelites, do assert that the giver (doctor) of the law was limited in
power, they will find in our dispensation, that "many are called, but few chosen;"(11) and that
there are those who inwardly are wolves, yet wear sheep's clothing in the eyes of the world (foris);
and that God has always preserved freedom, and the power of self-government in man,(12) while at
the same time He issued His own exhortations, in order that those who do not obey Him should be
righteously judged (condemned) because they have not obeyed Him; and that those who have
obeyed and believed on Him should be honoured with immortality.
CHAP. XVI.--PERFECT RIGHTEOUSNESS WAS CONFERRED NEITHER BY
CIRCUMCISION NOR BY ANY OTHER LEGAL CEREMONIES. THE DECALOGUE,
HOWEVER, WAS NOT CANCELLED BY CHRIST, BUT IS ALWAYS IN FORCE: MEN
WERE NEVER RELEASED FROM ITS COMMANDMENTS.
1. Moreover, we learn from the Scripture itself, that God gave circumcision, not as the completer
of righteousness, but as a sign, that the race of Abraham might continue recognisable. For it
declares: "God said unto Abraham, Every male among you shall be circumcised; and ye shall
circumcise the flesh of your foreskins, as a token of the covenant between Me and you."(13) This
same does Ezekiel the prophet say with regard to the Sabbaths: "Also I gave them My Sabbaths, to
be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord, that sanctify them."(14)
And in Exodus, God says to Moses: "And ye shall observe My Sabbaths; for it shall be a sign
between Me and you for your generations."(1) These things, then, were given for a sign; but the
signs were not unsymbolical, that is, neither unmeaning nor to no purpose, inasmuch as they were
given by a wise Artist; but the circumcision after the flesh typified that after the Spirit. For "we,"
says the apostle, "have been circumcised with the circumcision made without hands."(2) And the
prophet declares, "Circumcise the hardness of your heart."(3) But the Sabbaths taught that we
should continue day by day in God's service.(4) "For we have been counted," says the Apostle Paul,
"all the day long as sheep for the slaughter;"(5) that is, consecrated [to God], and ministering
continually to our faith, and persevering in it, and abstaining from all avarice, and not acquiring or
possessing treasures upon earth.(6) Moreover, the Sabbath of God (requietio Dei), that is, the
kingdom, was, as it were, indicated by created things; in which [kingdom], the man who shall have
persevered in serving God (Deo assistere) shall, in a state of rest, partake of God's table.
2. And that man was not justified by these things, but that they were given as a sign to the
people, this fact shows,--that Abraham himself, without circumcision and without observance of
Sabbaths, "believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness; and he was called the
friend of God."(7) Then, again, Lot, without circumcision, was brought out from Sodom, receiving
salvation from God. So also did Noah, pleasing God, although he was uncircumcised, receive the
dimensions [of the ark], of the world of the second race [of men]. Enoch, too, pleasing God,
without circumcision, discharged the office of God's legate to the angels although he was a man,
and was translated, and is preserved until now as a witness of the just judgment of God, because the
angels when they had transgressed fell to the earth for judgment, but the man who pleased [God]
was translated for salvation.(8) Moreover, all the rest of the multitude of those righteous men who
lived before Abraham, and of those patriarchs who preceded Moses, were justified independently of
the things above mentioned, and without the law of Moses. As also Moses himself says to the
people in Deuteronomy: "The LORD thy God formed a covenant in Horeb. The LORD formed not
this covenant with your fathers, but for you."(9)
3. Why, then, did the Lord not form the covenant for the fathers? Because "the law was not
established for righteous men."(10) But the righteous fathers had the meaning of the Decalogue
written in their hearts and souls,(11) that is, they loved the God who made them, and did no injury
to their neighbour. There was therefore no occasion that they should be cautioned by prohibitory
mandates (correptoriis literis),(12) because they had the righteousness of the law in themselves. But
when this righteousness and love to God had passed into oblivion, and became extinct in Egypt,
God did necessarily, because of His great goodwill to men, reveal Himself by a voice, and led the
people with power out of Egypt, in order that man might again become the disciple and follower of
God; and He afflicted those who were disobedient, that they should not contemn their Creator; and
He fed them with manna, that they might receive food for their souls (uti rationalem acciperent
escam); as also Moses says in Deuteronomy: "And fed thee with manna, which thy fathers did not
know, that thou mightest know that man cloth not live by bread alone; but by every word of God
proceeding out of His mouth doth man live."(13) And it enjoined love to God, and taught just
dealing towards our neighhour, that we should neither be unjust nor unworthy of God, who
prepares man for His friendship through the medium of the Decalogue, and likewise for agreement
with his neigbbour,--matters which did certainly profit man himself; God, however, standing in no
need of anything from man.
4. And therefore does the Scripture say, "These words the Lord spake to all the assembly of the
children of Israel in the mount, and He added no more;"(14) for, as I have already observed, He
stood in need of nothing from them. And again Moses says: "And now Israel, what cloth the LORD
thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him,
and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul?"(15) Now these things did
indeed make man glorious, by supplying what was wanting to him, namely, the friendship of God;
but they profited God nothing, for God did not at all stand in need of man's love. For the glory of
God was wanting to man, which he could obtain in no other way than by serving God. And
therefore Moses says to them again: "Choose life, that thou mayest live, and thy seed, to love the
LORD thy God, to hear His voice, to cleave unto Him; for this is thy life, and the length of thy
days."(1) Preparing man for this life, the Lord Himself did speak in His own person to all alike the
words of the Decalogue; and therefore, in like manner, do they remain permanently with us,(2)
receiving by means of His advent in the flesh, extension and increase, but not abrogation.
5. The laws of bondage, however, were one by one promulgated to the people by Moses, suited
for their instruction or for their punishment, as Moses himself declared: "And the LORD
commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments."(3) These things, therefore, which
were given for bondage, and for a sign to them, He cancelled by the new covenant of liberty. But
He has increased and widened those laws which are natural, and noble, and common to all,
granting to men largely and without grudging, by means of adoption, to know God the Father, and
to love Him with the whole heart, and to follow His word unswervingly, while they abstain not only
from evil deeds, but even from the desire after them. But He has also increased the feeling of
reverence; for sons should have more veneration than slaves, and greater love for their father. And
therefore the Lord says, "As to every idle word that men have spoken, they shall render an account
for it in the day of judgment."(4) And, "he who has looked upon a woman to lust after her, hath
committed adultery with her already in his heart;"(5) and, "he that is angry with his brother
without a cause, shall be in danger of the judgment."(6) [All this is declared,] that we may know
that we shall give account to God not of deeds only, as slaves, but even of words and thoughts, as
those who have truly received the power of liberty, in which [condition] a man is more severely
tested, whether he will reverence, and fear, and love the Lord. And for this reason Peter says "that
we have not liberty as a cloak of maliciousness,"(7) but as the means of testing and evidencing
faith.
CHAP. XVII.--PROOF THAT GOD DID NOT APPOINT THE LEVITICAL DISPENSATION
FOR HIS OWN SAKE, OR AS REQUIRING SUCH SERVICE; FOR HE DOES, IN FACT, NEED
NOTHING FROM MEN.
1. Moreover, the prophets indicate in the fullest manner that God stood in no need of their
slavish obedience, but that it was upon their own account that He enjoined certain observances in
the law. And again, that God needed not their oblation, but [merely demanded it], on account of
man himself who offers it, the Lord taught distinctly, as I have pointed out. For when He perceived
them neglecting righteousness, and abstaining from the love of God, and imagining that God was
to be propitiated by sacrifices and the other typical observances, Samuel did even thus speak to
them: "God does not desire whole burnt-offerings and sacrifices, but He will have His voice to be
hearkened to. Behold, a ready obedience is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of
rams."(8) David also says: "Sacrifice and oblation Thou didst not desire, but mine ears hast Thou
perfected;(9) burnt-offerings also for sin Thou hast not required."(10) He thus teaches them that
God desires obedience, which renders them secure, rather than sacrifices and holocausts, which
avail them nothing towards righteousness; and [by this declaration] he prophesies the new
covenant at the same time. Still clearer, too, does he speak of these things in the fiftieth Psalm:
"For if Thou hadst desired sacrifice, then would I have given it: Thou wilt not delight in burnt-
offerings. The .sacrifice of God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart the Lord will not
despise."(11) Because, therefore, God stands in need of nothing, He declares in the preceding
Psalm: "I will take no calves out of thine house, nor he-goats out of thy fold. For Mine are all the
beasts of the earth, the herds and the oxen on the mountains: I know all the fowls of heaven, and
the various tribes(12) of the field are Mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is
Mine, and the fulness thereof. Shall I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?"(13) Then,
lest it might be supposed that He refused these things in His anger, He continues, giving him (man)
counsel: "Offer unto God the sacrifice of praise, and pay thy vows to the Most High; and call upon
Me in the day of thy trouble, and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me;"(14) rejecting,
indeed, those things by which sinners imagined they could propitiate God, and showing that He
does Himself stand in need of nothing; but He exhorts and advises them to those things by which
man is justified and draws nigh to God. This same declaration does Esaias make: "To what purpose
is the multitude of your sacrifices unto Me? saith the Lord. I am full."(1) And when He had
repudiated holocausts, and sacrifices, and oblations, as likewise the new moons, and the sabbaths,
and the festivals, and all the rest of the services accompanying these, He continues, exhorting them
to what pertained to salvation: "Wash you, make you clean, take away wickedness from your hearts
from before mine eyes: cease from your evil ways, learn to do well, seek judgment, relieve the
oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow; and come, let us reason together, saith the
LORD."
2. For it was not because He was angry, like a man, as many venture to say, that He rejected
their sacrifices; but out of compassion to their blindness, and with the view of suggesting to them
the true sacrifice, by offering which they shall appease God, that they may receive life from Him.
As He elsewhere declares: "The sacrifice to God is an afflicted heart: a sweet savour to God is a
heart glorifying Him who formed it."(2) For if, when angry, He had repudiated these sacrifices of
theirs, as if they were persons unworthy to obtain His compassion, He would not certainly have
urged these same things upon them as those by which they might be saved. But inasmuch as God is
merciful, He did not cut them off from good counsel. For after He had said by Jeremiah, "To what
purpose bring ye Me incense from Saba, and cinnamon from a far country? Your whole burnt-
offerings and sacrifices are not acceptable to Me;"(3) He proceeds: "Hear the word of the Lord, all
Judah. These things saith the LORD, the God of Israel, Make straight your ways and your doings,
and I will establish you in this place. Put not your trust in lying words, for they will not at all profit
you, saying, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, it is [here]."(4)
3. And again, when He points out that it was not for this that He led them out of Egypt, that they
might offer sacrifice to Him, but that, forgetting the idolatry of the Egyptians, they should be able
to hear the voice of the Lord, which was to them salvation and glory, He declares by this same
Jeremiah: "Thus saith the LORD; Collect together your burnt-offerings with your sacrifices and eat
flesh. For I spake not unto your fathers nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of
Egypt, concerning burnt-offerings or sacrifices: but this word I commanded them, saying, Hear My
voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be My people; and walk in all My ways whatsoever I
have commanded you, that it may be well with you. But they obeyed not, nor hearkened; but
walked in the imaginations of their own evil heart, and went backwards, and not forwards."(5) And
again, when He declares by the same man, "But let him that glorieth, glory in this, to understand
and know that I am the LORD, who doth exercise loving-kindness, and righteousness, and
judgment in the earth;"(6) He adds, "For in these things I delight, says the LORD," but not in
sacrifices, nor in holocausts, nor in oblations. For the people did not receive these precepts as of
primary importance (principaliter), but as secondary, and for the reason already alleged, as Isaiah
again says: "Thou hast not [brought to] Me the sheep of thy holocaust, nor in thy sacrifices hast
thou glorified Me: thou hast not served Me in sacrifices, nor in [the matter of] frankincense hast
thou done anything laboriously; neither hast thou bought for Me incense with money, nor have I
desired the fat of thy sacrifices; but thou hast stood before Me in thy sins and in thine
iniquities."(7) He says, therefore, "Upon this man will I look, even upon him that is humble, and
meek, and who trembles at My words."(8) "For the fat and the fat flesh shall not take away from
thee thine unrighteousness."(9) "This is the fast which I have chosen, saith the LORD. Loose every
band of wickedness, dissolve the connections of violent agreements, give rest to those that are
shaken, and cancel every unjust document. Deal thy bread to the hungry willingly, and lead into
thy house the roofless stranger. If thou hast seen the naked, cover him, and thou shalt not despise
those of thine own flesh and blood (domesticos seminis tui). Then shall thy morning light break
forth, and thy health shall spring forth more speedily; and righteousness shall go before thee, and
the glory of the LoRD shall surround thee: and whilst thou an yet speaking, I will say, Behold, here
I am."(10) And Zechariah also, among the twelve prophets, pointing out to the people the will of
God, says: "These things does the LORD Omnipotent declare: Execute true judgment, and show
mercy and compassion each one to his brother. And oppress not the widow, and the orphan, and
the proselyte, and the poor; and let none imagine evil against your brother in his heart."(11) And
again, he says: "These are the words which ye shall utter. Speak ye the truth every man to his
neighbour, and execute peaceful judgment in your gates, and let none of you imagine evil in his
heart against his brother, and ye shall not love false swearing: for all these things I hate, saith the
LORD Almighty."(1) Moreover, David also says in like manner: "What man is there who desireth
life, and would fain see good days? Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips that they speak no
guile. Shun evil, and do good: seek peace, and pursue it."(2)
4. From all these it is evident that God did not seek sacrifices and holocausts from them, but
faith, and obedience, and righteousness, because of their salvation. As God, when teaching them
His will in Hosea the prophet, said, "I desire mercy rather than sacrifice, and the knowledge of God
more than burnt-offerings."(3) Besides, our Lord also exhorted them to the same effect, when He
said, "But if ye had known what [this] meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not
have condemned the guiltless."(4) Thus does He bear witness to the prophets, that they preached
the truth; but accuses these men (His hearers) of being foolish through their own fault.
5. Again, giving directions to His disciples to offer to God the first-fruits(5) of His own, created
things--not as if He stood in need of them, but that they might be themselves neither unfruitful nor
ungrateful--He took that created thing, bread, and gave thanks, and said, "This is My body."(6)
And the cup likewise, which is part of that creation to which we belong, He confessed to be His
blood, and taught the new oblation of the new covenant; which the Church receiving from the
apostles, offers to God throughout all the world, to Him who gives us as the means of subsistence
the first-fruits of His own gifts in the New Testament, concerning which Malachi, among the
twelve prophets, thus spoke beforehand: "I have no pleasure in you, saith the LORD Omnipotent,
and I will not accept sacrifice at your hands. For from the rising of the sun, unto the going down
[of the same], My name is glorified among the Gentiles, and in every place incense is offered to My
name, and a pure sacrifice; for great is My name among the Gentiles, saith the LORD
Omnipotent;"(7)--indicating in the plainest manner, by these words, that the former people [the
Jews] shall indeed cease to make offerings to God, but that in every place sacrifice shall be offered
to Him, and that a pure one; and His name is glorified among the Gentiles.(8)
6. But what other name is there which is glorified among the Gentiles than that of our Lord, by
whom the Father is glorified, and man also? And because it is [the name] of His own Son, who was
made man by Him, He calls it His own. Just as a king, if he himself paints a likeness of his son, is
right in calling this likeness his own, for both these reasons, because it is [the likeness] of his son,
and because it is his own production; so also does the Father confess the name of Jesus Christ,
which is throughout all the world glorified in the Church, to be His own, both because it is that of
His Son, and because He who thus describes it gave Him for the salvation of men. Since, therefore,
the name of the Son belongs to the Father, and since in the omnipotent God the Church makes
offerings through Jesus Christ, He says well on both these grounds, "And in every place incense is
offered to My name, and a pure sacrifice." Now John, in the Apocalypse, declares that the
"incense" is "the prayers of the saints."(9)
CHAP. XVIII.--CONCERNING SACRIFICES AND OBLATIONS, AND THOSE WHO TRULY
OFFER THEM.
1. The oblation of the Church, therefore, which the Lord gave instructions to be offered
throughout all the world, is accounted with God a pure sacrifice, and is acceptable to Him; not that
He stands in need of a sacrifice from us, but that he who offers is himself glorified in what he does
offer, if his gift be accepted. For by the gift both honour and affection are shown forth towards the
King; and the Lord, wishing us to offer it in all simplicity and innocence, did express Himself thus:
"Therefore, when thou offerest thy gift upon the altar, and shalt remember that thy brother hath
ought against thee, leave thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother,
and then return and offer thy gift."(10) We are bound, therefore, to offer to God the first-fruits of
His creation, as Moses also says, "Tho | | |
