(NOTE: The electronic text obtained from The Electronic Bible Society was
not completely corrected. EWTN has corrected all discovered errors.)
Transliteration of Greek words: All phonetical except: w = omega; h serves
three puposes: 1. = Eta; 2. = rough breathing, when appearing intially
before a vowel; 3. = in the aspirated letters theta = th, phi = ph, chi =
ch. Accents are given immediately after their corresponding vowels: acute =
' , grave = `, circumflex = ^. The character ' doubles as an apostrophe,
when necessary.
IRENAEUS OF LYONS
AGAINST HERESIES
BOOK III.
PREFACE.
THOU hast indeed enjoined upon me, my very dear friend, that I should
bring to light the Valentinian doctrines, concealed, as their votaries
imagine; that I should exhibit their diversity, and compose a treatise in
refutation of them. therefore have undertaken--showing that they spring
from Simon, the father of all heretics--to exhibit both their doctrines and
successions, and to set forth arguments against them all. Wherefore, since
the conviction of these men and their exposure is in many points but one
work, I have sent unto thee [certain] books, of which the first comprises
the opinions of all these men, and exhibits their customs, and the
character of their behaviour. In the second, again, their perverse
teachings are cast down and overthrown, and, such as they really are, laid
bare and open to view. But in this, the third book I shall adduce proofs
from the Scriptures, so that I may come behind in nothing of what thou hast
enjoined; yea, that over and above what thou didst reckon upon, thou mayest
receive from me the means of combating and vanquishing those who, in
whatever manner, are propagating falsehood. For the love of God, being rich
and ungrudging, confers upon the suppliant more than he can ask from it.
Call to mind then, the things which I have stated in the two preceding
books, and, taking these in connection with them, thou shalt have from me a
very copious refutation of all the heretics; and faithfully and strenuously
shalt thou resist them in defence of the only true and life-giving faith,
which the Church has received from the apostles and imparted to her sons.
For the Lord of all gave to His apostles the power of the Gospel, through
whom also we have known the truth, that is, the doctrine of the Son of God;
to whom also did the Lord declare: "He that heareth you, heareth Me; and he
that despiseth you, despiseth Me, and Him that sent Me."(1)
CHAP. I.--THE APOSTLES DID NOT COMMENCE TO PREACH THE GOSPEL, OR TO PLACE
ANYTHING ON RECORD, UNTIL THEY WERE ENDOWED WITH THE GIFTS AND POWER OF THE
HOLY SPIRIT. THEY PREACHED ONE GOD ALONE, MAKER OF HEAVEN AND EARTH.
1. WE have learned from none others the plan of our salvation, than
from those through whom the Gospel has come down to us, which they did at
one time proclaim in public, and, at a later period, by the will of God,
handed down to us in the Scriptures, to be the ground and pillar of our
faith.(2) For it is unlawful to assert that they preached before they
possessed "perfect knowledge," as some do even venture to say, boasting
themselves as improvers of the apostles. For, after our Lord rose from the
dead, [the apostles] were invested with power from on high when the Holy
Spirit came down [upon them], were filled from all [His gifts], and had
perfect knowledge: they departed to the ends of the earth, preaching the
glad tidings of the good things [sent] from God to us, and proclaiming the
peace of heaven to men, who indeed do all equally and individually possess
the Gospel of God. Matthew also issued a written Gospel among the
Hebrews(3) in their own dialect, while Peter and Paul were preaching at
Rome, and laying the foundations of the Church. After their departure,
Mark, the disciple and interpreter of Peter, did also hand down to us in
writing what had been preached by Peter. Luke also, the companion of Paul,
recorded in a book the Gospel preached by him. Afterwards, John, the
disciple of the Lord, who also had leaned upon His breast, did himself
publish a Gospel during his residence at Ephesus in Asia.
2. These have all declared to us that there is one God, Creator of
heaven and earth, announced by the law and the prophets; and one Christ the
Son of God. If any one do not agree to these truths, he despises the
companions of the Lord; nay more, he despises Christ Himself the Lord; yea,
he despises the Father also, and stands self-condemned, resisting and
opposing his own salvation, as is the case with all heretics.
CHAP. II.--THE HERETICS FOLLOW NEITHER SCRIPTURE NOR TRADITION.
1. When, however, they are confuted from the Scriptures, they turn
round and accuse these same Scriptures, as if they were not correct, nor of
authority, and [assert] that they are ambiguous, and that the truth cannot
be extracted from them by those who are ignorant of tradition. For [they
allege] that the truth was not delivered by means of written documents, but
viva voce: wherefore also Paul declared, "But we speak wisdom among those
that are perfect, but not the wisdom of this world."(1) And this wisdom
each one of them alleges to be the fiction of his own inventing, forsooth;
so that, according to their idea, the truth properly resides at one time in
Valentinus, at another in Marcion, at another in Cerinthus, then afterwards
in Basilides, or has even been indifferently in any other opponent,(2) who
could speak nothing pertaining to salvation. For every one of these men,
being altogether of a perverse disposition, depraving the system of truth,
is not ashamed to preach himself.
2. But, again, when we refer them to that tradition which originates
from the apostles, [and] which is preserved by means of the succession of
presbyters in the Churches, they object to tradition, saying that they
themselves are wiser not merely than the presbyters, but even than the
apostles, because they have discovered the unadulterated truth. For [they
maintain] that the apostles intermingled the things of the law with the
words of the Saviour; and that not the apostles alone, but even the Lord
Himself, spoke as at one time from the Demiurge, at another from the
intermediate place, and yet again from the Pleroma, but that they
themselves, indubitably, unsulliedly, and purely, have knowledge of the
hidden mystery: this is, indeed, to blaspheme their Creator after a most
impudent manner! It comes to this, therefore, that these men do now
consent neither to Scripture nor to tradition.
3. Such are the adversaries with whom we have to deal, my very dear
friend, endeavouring like slippery serpents to escape at all points.
Where- fore they must be opposed at all points, if per- chance, by
cutting off their retreat, we may succeed in turning them back to the
truth. For, though it is not an easy thing for a soul under the influence
of error to repent, yet, on the other hand, it is not altogether impossible
to escape from error when the truth is brought alongside it.
CHAP. III.--A REFUTATION OF THE HERETICS, FROM THE FACT THAT, IN THE
VARIOUS CHURCHES, A PERPETUAL SUCCESSION OF BISHOPS WAS KEPT UP.
1. It is within the power of all, therefore, in every Church, who may
wish to see the truth, to contemplate clearly the tradition of the apostles
manifested throughout the whole world; and we are in a position to reckon
up those who were by the apostles instituted bishops in the Churches, and
[to demonstrate] the succession of these men to our own times; those who
neither taught nor knew of anything like what these [heretics] rave about.
For if the apostles had known hidden mysteries, which they were in the
habit of imparting to "the perfect" apart and privily from the rest, they
would have delivered them especially to those to whom they were also
committing the Churches themselves. For they were desirous that these men
should be very perfect and blameless in all things, whom also they were
leaving behind as their successors, delivering up their own place of
government to these men; which men, if they discharged their functions
honestly, would be a great boon [to the Church], but if they should fall
away, the direst calamity.
2. Since, however, it would be very tedious, in such a volume as this,
to reckon up the successions of all the Churches, we do put to confusion
all those who, in whatever manner, whether by an evil self-pleasing, by
vainglory, or by blindness and perverse opinion, assemble in unauthorized
meetings; [we do this, I say,] by indicating that tradition derived from
the apostles, of the very great, the very ancient, and universally known
Church founded and organized at Rome by the two most glorious apostles,
Peter and Paul; as also [by pointing out] the faith preached to men, which
comes down to our time by means of the successions of the bishops. For it
is a matter of necessity that every Church should agree with this Church,
on account of its preeminent authority,(3) that is, the faithful
everywhere, inasmuch as the apostolical tradition has been preserved
continuously by those [faithful men] who exist everywhere.
3. The blessed apostles, then, having founded and built up the Church,
committed into the hands of Linus the office of the episcopate. Of this
Linus, Paul makes mention in the Epistles to Timothy. To him succeeded
Anacletus; and after him, in the third place from the apostles, Clement was
allotted the bishopric. This man, as he had seen the blessed apostles, and
had been conversant with them, might be said to have the preaching of the
apostles still echoing [in his ears], and their traditions before his eyes.
Nor was he alone [in this], for there were many still remaining who had
received instructions from the apostles. In the time of this Clement, no
small dissension having occurred among the brethren at Corinth, the Church
in Rome despatched a most powerful letter to the Corinthians, exhorting
them to peace, renewing their faith, and declaring the tradition which it
had lately received from the apostles, proclaiming the one God, omnipotent,
the Maker of heaven and earth, the Creator of man, who brought on the
deluge, and called Abraham, who led the people from the land of Egypt,
spake with Moses, set forth the law, sent the prophets, and who has
prepared fire for the devil and his angels. From this document, whosoever
chooses to do so, may learn that He, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
was preached by the Churches, and may also understand the apostolical
tradition of the Church, since this Epistle is of older date than these men
who are now propagating falsehood, and who conjure into existence another
god beyond the Creator and the Maker of all existing things. To this
Clement there succeeded Evaristus. Alexander followed Evaristus; then,
sixth from the apostles, Sixtus was appointed; after him, Telephorus, who
was gloriously martyred; then Hyginus; after him, Pius; then after him,
Anicetus. Sorer having succeeded Anicetus, Eleutherius does now, in the
twelfth place from the apostles, hold the inheritance of the episcopate. In
this order, and by this succession, the ecclesiastical tradition from the
apostles, and the preaching of the truth, have come down to us. And this is
most abundant proof that there is one and the same vivifying faith, which
has been preserved in the Church from the apostles until now, and handed
down in truth.
4. But Polycarp also was not only instructed by apostles, and conversed
with many who had seen Christ, but was also, by apostles in Asia, appointed
bishop of the Church in Smyrna, whom I also saw in my early youth, for he
tarried [on earth] a very long time, and, when a very old man, gloriously
and most nobly suffering martyrdom,(1) departed this life, having always
taught the things which he had learned from the apostles, and which the
Church has handed down, and which alone are true. To these things all the
Asiatic Churches testify, as do also those men who have succeeded Polycarp
down to the present time,--a man who was of much greater weight, and a more
stedfast witness of truth, than Valentinus, and Marcion, and the rest of
the heretics. He it was who, coming to Rome in the time of Anicetus caused
many to turn away from the aforesaid heretics to the Church of God,
proclaiming that he had received this one and sole truth from the
apostles,--that, namely, which is handed down by the Church.(2) There are
also those who heard from him that John, the disciple of the Lord, going to
bathe at Ephesus, and perceiving Cerinthus within, rushed out of the bath-
house without bathing, exclaiming, "Let us fly, lest even the bath-house
fall down, because Cerinthus, the enemy of the truth, is within." And
Polycarp himself replied to Marcion, who met him on one occasion, and said,
"Dost thou know me?" "I do know thee, the first-born of Satan." Such was
the horror which the apostles and their disciples had against holding even
verbal communication with any corrupters of the truth; as Paul also says,
"A man that is an heretic, after the first and second admonition, reject;
knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of
himself."(3) There is also a very powerful(4) Epistle of Polycarp written
to the Philippians, from which those who choose to do so, and are anxious
about their salvation, can learn the character of his faith, and the
preaching of the truth. Then, again, the Church in Ephesus, founded by
Paul, and having John remaining among them permanently until the times of
Trajan, is a true witness of the tradition of the apostles.
CHAP. IV.--THE TRUTH IS TO BE FOUND NOWHERE ELSE BUT IN THE CATHOLIC
CHURCH, THE SOLE DEPOSITORY OF APOSTOLICAL DOCTRINE. HERESIES ARE OF RECENT
FORMATION, AND CANNOT TRACE THEIR ORIGIN UP TO THE APOSTLES.
1. Since therefore we have such proofs, it is not necessary to seek the
truth among others which it is easy to obtain from the Church; since the
apostles, like a rich man [depositing his money] in a bank, lodged in her
hands most copiously all things pertaining to the truth: so that every man,
whosoever will, can draw from her the water of life.(1) For she is the
entrance to life; all others are thieves and robbers. On this account are
we bound to avoid them, but to make choice of the thing pertaining to the
Church with the utmost diligence, and to lay hold of the tradition of the
truth. For how stands the case? Suppose there arise a dispute relative to
some important question(2) among us, should we not have recourse to the
most ancient Churches with which the apostles held constant intercourse,
and learn from them what is certain and clear in regard to the present
question? For how should it be if the apostles themselves had not left us
writings? Would it not be necessary, [in that case,] to follow the course
of the tradition which they handed down to those to whom they did commit
the Churches?
2. To which course many nations of those barbarians who believe in
Christ do assent, having salvation written in their hearts by the Spirit,
without paper or ink, and, carefully preserving the ancient tradition,(3)
believing in one God, the Creator of heaven and earth, and all things
therein, by means of Christ Jesus, the Son of God; who, because of His
surpassing love towards His creation, condescended to be born of the
virgin, He Himself uniting man through Himself to God, and having suffered
under Pontius Pilate, and rising again, and having been received up in
splendour, shall come in glory, the Saviour of those who are saved, and the
Judge of those who are judged, and sending into eternal fire those who
transform the truth, and despise His Father and His advent. Those who, in
the absence of written documents,(4) have believed this faith, are
barbarians, so far as regards our language; but as regards doctrine,
manner, and tenor of life, they are, because of faith, very wise indeed;
and they do please God, ordering their conversation in all righteousness,
chastity, and wisdom. If any one were to preach to these men the inventions
of the heretics, speaking to them in their own language, they would at once
stop their ears, and flee as far off as possible, not enduring even to
listen to the blasphemous address. Thus, by means of that ancient tradition
of the apostles, they do not suffer their mind to conceive anything of the
[doctrines suggested by the] portentous language of these teachers, among
whom neither Church nor doctrine has ever been established.
3. For, prior to Valentinus, those who follow Valentinus had no
existence; nor did those from Marcion exist before Marcion; nor, in short,
had any of those malignant-minded people, whom I have above enumerated, any
being previous to the initiators and inventors of their perversity. For
Valentinus came to Rome in the time of Hyginus, flourished under Pius, and
remained until Anicetus. Cerdon, too, Marcion's predecessor, himself
arrived in the time of Hyginus, who was the ninth bishop.(5) Coming
frequently into the Church, and making public confession, he thus remained,
one time teaching in secret, and then again making public confession; but
at last, having been denounced for corrupt teaching, he was
excommunicated(6) from the assembly of the brethren. Marcion, then,
succeeding him, flourished under Anicetus, who held the tenth place of the
episcopate. But the rest, who are called Gnostics, take rise from Menander,
Simon's disciple, as I have shown; and each one of them appeared to be both
the father and the high priest of that doctrine into which he has been
initiated. But all these (the Marcosians) broke out into their apostasy
much later, even during the intermediate period of the Church.
CHAP. V. -- CHRIST AND HIS APOSTLES, WITHOUT ANY FRAUD, DECEPTION, OR
HYPOCRISY, PREACHED THAT ONE GOD, THE FATHER, WAS THE FOUNDER OF ALL
THINGS. THEY DID NOT ACCOMMODATE THEIR DOCTRINETO THE PREPOSSESSIONS OF
THEIR HEARERS.
1. Since, therefore, the tradition from the apostles does thus exist in
the Church, and is permanent among us, let us revert to the Scrip-rural
proof furnished by those apostles who did also write the Gospel, in which
they recorded the doctrine regarding God, pointing out that our Lord Jesus
Christ is the truth,(7) and that no lie is in Him. As also David says,
prophesying His birth from a virgin, and the resurrection from the dead,
"Truth has sprung out of the earth."(8) The apostles, likewise, being
disciples of the truth, are above all falsehood; for a lie has no
fellowship with the truth, just as darkness has none with light, but the
presence of the one shuts out that of the other. Our Lord, therefore, being
the truth, did not speak lies; and whom He knew to have taken origin from a
de-feet, He never would have acknowledged as God, even the God of all, the
Supreme King, too, and His own Father, an imperfect being as a perfect one,
an animal one as a spiritual, Him who was without the Pleroma as Him who
was within it. Neither did His disciples make mention of any other God, or
term any other Lord, except Him, who was truly the God and Lord of all, as
these most vain sophists affirm that the apostles did with hypocrisy frame
their doctrine according to the capacity of their hearers, and gave answers
after the opinions of their questioners,--fabling blind things for the
blind, according to their blindness; for the dull according to their
dulness; for those in error according to their error. And to those who
imagined that the Demiurge alone was God, they preached him; but to those
who are capable of comprehending the unnameable Father, they did declare
the unspeakable mystery through parables and enigmas: so that the Lord and
the apostles exercised the office of teacher not to further the cause of
truth, but even in hypocrisy, and as each individual was able to receive
it!
2. Such [a line of conduct] belongs not to those who heal, or who give
life: it is rather that of those bringing on diseases, and increasing
ignorance; and much more true than these men shall the law be found, which
pronounces every one accursed who sends the blind man astray in the way.
For the apostles, who were commissioned to find out the wanderers, and to
be for sight to those who saw not, and medicine to the weak, certainly did
not address them in accordance with their opinion at the time, but
according to revealed truth. For no persons of any kind would act properly,
if they should advise blind men, just about to fall over a precipice, to
continue their most dangerous path, as if it were the right one, and as if
they might go on in safety. Or what medical man, anxious to heal a sick
person, would prescribe in accordance with the patient's whims, and not
according to the requisite medicine? But that the Lord came as the
physician of the sick, He does Himself declare saying, "They that are whole
need not a physician, but they that are sick; I came not to call the
righteous, but sinners to repentance."(1) How then shall the sick be
strengthened, or how shall sinners come to repentance? Is it by persevering
in the very same courses? or, on the contrary, is it by undergoing a great
change and reversal of their former mode of living, by which they have
brought upon themselves no slight amount of sickness, and many sins? But
ignorance, the mother of all these, is driven out by knowledge. Wherefore
the Lord used to impart knowledge to His disciples, by which also it was
His practice to heal those who were suffering, and to keep back sinners
from sin. He therefore did not address them in accordance with their
pristine notions, nor did He reply to them in harmony with the opinion of
His questioners, but according to the doctrine leading to salvation,
without hypocrisy or respect of person.
3. This is also made clear from the words of the Lord, who did truly
reveal the Son of God to those of the circumcision--Him who had been
foretold as Christ by the prophets; that is, He set Himself forth, who had
restored liberty to men, and bestowed on them the inheritance of
incorruption And again, the apostles taught the Gentiles that they should
leave vain stocks and stones, which they imagined to be gods, and worship
the true God, who had created and made all the human family, and, by means
of His creation, did nourish, increase, strengthen, and preserve them in
being; and that they might look for His Son Jesus Christ, who redeemed us
from apostasy with His own blood, so that we should also be a sanctified
people, -- who shall also descend from heaven in His Father's power, and
pass judgment upon all, and who shall freely give the good things of God to
those who shall have kept His commandments. He, appearing in these last
times, the chief cornerstone, has gathered into one, and united those that
were far off and those that were near;(2) that is, the circumcision and the
uncircumcision, enlarging Japhet, and placing him in the dwelling of
Shem.(3)
CHAP. VI -- THE HOLY GHOST, THROUGHOUT THE OLD TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES, MADE
MENTION OF NO OTHER GOD OR LORD, SAVE HIM WHO IS THE TRUE GOD.
1. Therefore neither would the Lord, nor the Holy Spirit, nor the
apostles, have ever named as God, definitely and absolutely, him who was
not God, unless he were truly God; nor would they have named any one in his
own person Lord, except God the Father ruling over all, and His Son who has
received dominion from His Father over all creation, as this passage has
it: "The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit Thou at my right hand, until I make
Thine enemies Thy footstool."(4) Here the [Scripture] represents to us the
Father addressing the Son; He who gave Him the inheritance of the heathen,
and subjected to Him all His enemies. Since, therefore, the Father is truly
Lord, and the Son truly Lord, the Holy Spirit has fitly designated them by
the title of Lord. And again, referring to the destruction of the
Sodomites, the Scripture says, "Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon
Gomorrah fire and brimstone from the LORD out of heaven."(5) For it here
points out that the Son, who had also been talking with Abraham, had
received power to judge the Sodomites for their wickedness. And this [text
following] does declare the same truth: "Thy throne, O God; is for ever and
ever; the sceptre of Thy kingdom is a right sceptre. Thou hast loved
righteousness, and hated iniquity: therefore God, Thy God, hath anointed
Thee."(1) For the Spirit designates both [of them] by the name, of God --
both Him who is anointed as Son, and Him who does anoint, that is, the
Father. And again: "God stood in the congregation of the gods, He judges
among the gods."(2) He [here] refers to the Father and the Son, and those
who have received the adoption; but these are the Church. For she is the
synagogue of God, which God--that is, the Son Himself--has gathered by
Himself. Of whom He again speaks: "The God of gods, the Lord hath spoken,
and hath called the earth."(3) Who is meant by God? He of whom He has
said, "God shall come openly, our God, and shall not keep silence; "(4)
that is, the Son, who came manifested to men who said, "I have openly
appeared to those who seek Me not."(5) But of what gods [does he speak]?
[Of those] to whom He says, "I have said, Ye are gods, and all sons of the
Most High."(6) To those, no doubt, who have received the grace of the
"adoption, by which we cry, Abba Father."(7)
2. Wherefore, as I have already stated, no other is named as God, or is
called Lord, except Him who is God and Lord of all, who also said to Moses,
"I AM THAT I AM. And thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel: He who
is, hath sent me unto you;"(8) and His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who makes
those that believe in His name the sons of God. And again, when the Son
speaks to Moses, He says, "I am come down to deliver this people."(9) For
it is He who descended and ascended for the salvation of men. Therefore God
has been declared through the Son, who is in the Father, and has the Father
in Himself -- He who is, the Father bearing witness to the Son, and the Son
announcing the Father. -- As also Esaias says, "I too am witness," he
declares, "saith the LORD God, and the Son whom I have chosen, that ye may
know, and believe, and understand that I am."(10)
3. When, however, the Scripture terms them [gods] which are no gods, it
does not, as I have already remarked, declare them as gods in every sense,
but with a certain addition and signification, by which they are shown to
be no gods at all. As with David: "The gods of the heathen are idols of
demons;"(11) and, "Ye shall not follow other gods"(12) For in that he says
"the gods of the heathen"-- but the heathen are ignorant of the true God --
and calls them "other gods," he bars their claim [to be looked upon] as
gods at all. But as to what they are in their own person, he speaks
concerning them; "for they are," he says, "the idols of demons." And
Esaias: "Let them be confounded, all who blaspheme God, and carve useless
things;(13) even I am witness, saith God."(14) He removes them from [the
category of] gods, but he makes use of the word alone, for this [purpose],
that we may know of whom he speaks. Jeremiah also says the same: "The gods
that have not made the heavens and earth, let them perish from the earth
which is under the heaven."(15) For, from the fact of his having subjoined
their destruction, he shows them to be no gods at all. Elias, too, when all
Israel was assembled at Mount Carmel, wishing to turn them from idolatry,
says to them, "How long halt ye between two opinions?(16) If the LORD be
God,(17) follow Him."(18) And again, at the burnt-offering, he thus
addresses the idolatrous priests: "Ye shall call upon the name of your
gods, and I will call on the name of the LORD my God; and the Lord that
will hearken by fire,(19) He is God." Now, from the fact of the prophet
having said these words, he proves that these gods which were reputed so
among those men, are no gods at all. He directed them to that God upon whom
he believed, and who was truly God; whom invoking, he exclaimed, "LORD God
of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob, hear me to-day, and let all
this people know that Thou art the God of Israel."(20)
4. Wherefore I do also call upon thee, LORD God of Abraham, and God of
Isaac, and God of Jacob and Israel, who art the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the God who, through the abundance of Thy mercy, hast had a favour
towards us, that we should know Thee, who hast made heaven and earth, who
rulest over all, who art the only and the true God, above whom there is
none other God; grant, by our Lord Jesus Christ, the governing power of the
Holy Spirit; give to every reader of this book to know Thee, that Thou art
God alone, to be strengthened in Thee, and to avoid every heretical, and
godless, and impious doctrine.
5. And the Apostle Paul also, saying, "For though ye have served them
which are no gods; ye now know God, or rather, are known of God,"(1) has
made a separation between those that were not [gods] and Him who is God.
And again, speaking of Antichrist, he says, "who opposeth and exalteth
himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped."(2) He points
out here those who are called gods, by such as know not God, that is,
idols. For the Father of all is called God, and is so; and Antichrist shall
be lifted up, not above Him, but above those which are indeed called gods,
but are not. And Paul himself says that this is true: "We know that an idol
is nothing, and that there is none other God but one. For though there be
that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth; yet to us there is but
one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we through Him; and one
Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by Him."(3) For he has
made a distinction, and separated those which are indeed called gods, but
which are none, from the one God the Father, from whom are all things, and,
he has confessed in the most decided manner in his own person, one Lord
Jesus Christ. But in this [clause], "whether in heaven or in earth," he
does not speak of the formers of the world, as these [teachers] expound it;
but his meaning is similar to that of Moses, when it is said, "Thou shalt
not make to thyself any image for God, of whatsoever things are in heaven
above, whatsoever in the earth beneath, and whatsoever in the waters under
the earth."(4) And he does thus explain what are meant by the things in
heaven: "Lest when," he says, "looking towards heaven, and observing the
sun, and the moon, and the stars, and all the ornament of heaven, falling
into error, thou shouldest adore and serve them."(5) And Moses himself,
being a man of God, was indeed given as a god before Pharaoh;(6) but he is
not properly termed Lord, nor is called God by the prophets, but is spoken
of by the Spirit as "Moses, the faithful minister and servant of God,"(7)
which also he was.
CHAP. VII. -- REPLY TO AN OBJECTION FOUNDED ON THE WORDS OF ST. PAUL (2
Cor. IV. 5). ST. PAUL OCCASIONALLY USES WORDS NOT IN THEIR GRAMMATICAL,
SEQUENCE.
1. As to their affirming that Paul said plainly in the Second [Epistle]
to the Corinthians, "In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds
of them that believe not,"(8) and maintaining that there is indeed one god
of this world, but another who is beyond all principality, and beginning,
and power, we are not to blame if they, who give out that they do
themselves know mysteries beyond God, know not how to read Paul. For if any
one read the passage thus--according to Paul's custom, as I show elsewhere,
and by many examples, that he uses transposition of words --"In whom God,"
then pointing it off, and making a slight interval, and at the same time
read also the rest [of the sentence] in one [clause], "hath blinded the
minds of them of this world that believe not," he shall find out the true
[sense]; that it is contained in the expression, "God hath blinded the
minds of the unbelievers of this world." And this is shown by means of the
little interval [between the clause]. For Paul does not say, "the God of
this world," as if recognising any other beyond Him; but he confessed God
as indeed God. And he says, "the unbelievers of this world," because they
shall not inherit the future age of incorruption. I shall show from Paul
himself, how it is that God has blinded the minds of them that believe not,
in the course of this work, that we may not just at present distract our
mind from the matter in hand, [by wandering] at large.
2. From many other instances also, we may discover that the apostle
frequently uses a transposed order in his sentences, due to the rapidity of
his discourses, and the impetus of the Spirit which is in him. An example
occurs in the [Epistle] to the Galatians, where he expresses himself as
follows: "Wherefore then the law of works?(9) It was added, until the seed
should come to whom the promise was made; [and it was] ordained by angels
in the hand of a Mediator."(10) For the order of the words runs thus:
"Wherefore then the law of works? Ordained by angels in the hand of a
Mediator, it was added until the seed should come to whom the promise was
made," -- man thus asking the question, and the Spirit making answer. And
again, in the Second to the Thessalonians, speaking of Antichrist, he says,
"And then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus Christ(11)
shall slay with the Spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy him(11) with the
presence of his coming; [even him] whose coming is after the working of
Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying wonders."(12) Now in these
[sentences] the order of the words is this: "And then shall be revealed
that wicked, whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power,
and signs, and lying wonders, whom the Lord Jesus shall slay with the
Spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the presence of His coming."
For he does not mean that the coming of the Lord is after the working of
Satan; but the coming of the wicked one, whom we also call Antichrist. If,
then, one does not attend to the [proper] reading [of the passage], and if
he do not exhibit the intervals of breathing as they occur, there shall be
not only incongruities, but also, when reading, he will utter blasphemy, as
if the advent of the Lord could take place according to the working of
Satan. So therefore, in such passages, the hyperbaton must be exhibited by
the reading, and the apostle's meaning following on, preserved; and thus we
do not read in that passage, "the god of this world," but, "God," whom we
do truly call God; and we hear [it declared of] the unbelieving and the
blinded of this world, that they shall not inherit the world of life which
is to come.
CHAP. VIII. -- ANSWER TO AN OBJECTION, ARISING FROM THE WORDS OF CHRIST
(MATT. VI. 24). GOD ALONE IS TO BE REALLY CALLED GOD AND LORD, FOR HE IS
WITHOUT BEGINNING AND END.
1. This calumny, then, of these men, having been quashed, it is clearly
proved that neither the prophets nor the apostles did ever name another
God, or call [him] Lord, except the true and only God. Much more [would
this be the case with regard to] the Lord Himself, who did also direct us
to "render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things
that are God's;"(1) naming indeed Caesar as Caesar, but confessing God as
God. In like manner also, that [text] which says, "Ye cannot serve two
masters,"(2) He does Himself interpret, saying, "Ye cannot serve God and
mammon;" acknowledging God indeed as God, but mentioning mammon, a thing
having also an existence. He does not call mammon Lord when He says, "Ye
cannot serve two masters;" but He teaches His disciples who serve God, not
to be subject to mammon, nor to be ruled by it. For He says, "He that
committeth sin is the slave of sin."(3) Inasmuch, then, as He terms those
"the slaves of sin" who serve sin, but does not certainly call sin itself
God, thus also He terms those who serve mammon "the slaves of mammon," not
calling mammon God. For mammon is, according to the Jewish language, which
the Samaritans do also use, a covetous man, and one who wishes to have more
than he ought to have. But according to the Hebrew, it is by the addition
of a syllable (adjunctive) called Mamuel,(4) and signifies gulosum, that
is, one whose gullet is insatiable. Therefore, according to both these
things which are indicated, we cannot serve God and mammon.
2. But also, when He spoke of the devil as strong, not absolutely so,
but as in comparison with us, the Lord showed Himself under every aspect
and truly to be the strong man, saying that one can in no other way "spoil
the goods of a strong man, if he do not first bind the strong man himself,
and then he will spoil his house."(5) Now we were the vessels and the house
of this [strong man] when we were in a state of apostasy; for he put us to
whatever use he pleased, and the unclean spirit dwelt within us. For he was
not strong, as opposed to Him who bound him, and spoiled his house; but as
against those persons who were his tools, inasmuch as he caused their
thought to wander away from God: these did the Lord snatch from his grasp.
As also Jeremiah declares, "The LORD hath redeemed Jacob, and has snatched
him from the hand of him that was stronger than he."(6) If, then, he had
not pointed out Him who binds and spoils his goods, but had merely spoken
of him as being strong, the strong man should have been unconquered. But he
also subjoined Him who obtains and retains possession; for he holds who
binds, but he is held who is bound. And this he did without any comparison,
so that, apostate slave as he was, he might not be compared to the Lord:
for not he alone, but not one of created and subject things, shall ever be
compared to the Word of God, by whom all things were made, who is our Lord
Jesus Christ.
3. For that all things, whether Angels, or Archangels, or Thrones, or
Dominions, were both established and created by Him who is God over all,
through His Word, John has thus pointed out. For when he had spoken of the
Word of God as having been in the Father, he added, "All things were made
by Him, and without Him was not anything made."(7) David also, when he had
enumerated [His] praises, subjoins by name all things whatsoever I have
mentioned, both the heavens and all the powers therein: "For He commanded,
and they were created; He spake, and they were made." Whom, therefore, did
He command? The Word, no doubt, "by whom," he says, "the heavens were
established, and all their power by the breath of His mouth."(8) But that
He did Himself make all things freely, and as He pleased, again David says,
"But our God is in the heavens above, and in the earth; He hath made all
things whatsoever He pleased."(1) But the things established are distinct
from Him who has established them, and what have been made from Him who has
made them. For He is Himself uncreated, both without beginning and end, and
lacking nothing. He is Himself sufficient for Himself; and still further,
He grants to all others this very thing, existence; but the things which
have been made by Him have received a beginning. But whatever things had a
beginning, and are liable to dissolution, and are subject to and stand in
need of Him who made them, must necessarily in all respects have a
different term [applied to them], even by those who have but a moderate
capacity for discerning such things; so that He indeed who made all things
can alone, together with His Word, properly be termed God and Lord: but the
things which have been made cannot have this term applied to them, neither
should they justly assume that appellation which belongs to the Creator.
CHAP. IX. -- ONE AND THE SAME GOD, THE CREATOR OF HEAVEN AND EARTH, IS HE
WHOM THE PROPHETS FORETOLD, AND WHO WAS DECLARED BY THE GOSPEL. PROOF OF
THIS, AT THE OUTSET, FROM ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL.
1. This, therefore, having been clearly demonstrated here (and it shall
yet be so still more clearly), that neither the prophets, nor the apostles,
nor the Lord Christ in His own person, did acknowledge any other Lord or
God, but the God and Lord supreme: the prophets and the apostles confessing
the Father and the Son; but naming no other as God, and confessing no other
as Lord: and the Lord Himself handing down to His disciples, that He, the
Father, is the only God and Lord, who alone is God and ruler of all; -- it
is incumbent on us to follow, if we are their disciples indeed, their
testimonies to this effect. For Matthew the apostle -- knowing, as one and
the same God, Him who had given promise to Abraham, that He would make his
seed as the stars of heaven,(2) and Him who, by His Son Christ Jesus, has
called us to the knowledge of Himself, from the worship of stones, so that
those who were not a people were made a people, and she beloved who was not
beloved(3) --declares that John, when preparing the way for Christ, said to
those who were boasting of their relationship [to Abraham] according to the
flesh, but who had their mind tinged and stuffed with all manner of evil,
preaching that repentance which should call them back from their evil
doings, said, "O generation of vipers, who hath shown you to flee from the
wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruit meet for repentance. And think
not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham [to our] father: for I say
unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto
Abraham."(4) He preached to them, therefore, the repentance from
wickedness, but he did not declare to them another God, besides Him who
made the promise to Abraham; he, the forerunner of Christ, of whom Matthew
again says, and Luke likewise, "For this is he that was spoken of from the
Lord by the prophet, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye
the way of the Lord, make straight the paths of our God. Every valley shall
be filled, and every mountain and hill brought low; and the crooked shall
be made straight, and the rough into smooth ways; and all flesh shall see
the salvation of God."(5) There is therefore one and the same God, the
Father of our Lord, who also promised, through the prophets, that He would
send His forerunner; and His salvation -- that is, His Word -- He caused to
be made visible to all flesh, [the Word] Himself being made incarnate, that
in all things their King might become manifest. For it is necessary that
those [beings] which are judged do see the judge, and know Him from whom
they receive judgment; and it is also proper, that those which follow on to
glory should know Him who bestows upon them the gift of glory.
2. Then again Matthew, when speaking of the angel, says, "The angel of
the Lord appeared to Joseph in sleep."(6) Of what Lord he does himself
interpret: "That it may be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the
prophet, Out of Egypt have I called my son."(7) "Behold, a virgin shall
conceive, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name
Emmanuel; which is, being interpreted, God with us."(8) David likewise
speaks of Him who, from the virgin, is Emmanuel: "Turn not away the face of
Thine anointed. The LORD hath sworn a truth to David, and will not turn
from him. Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy seat."(9) And again:
"In Judea is God known; His place has been made in peace, and His dwelling
in Zion."(10) Therefore there is one and the same God, who was proclaimed
by the prophets and announced by the Gospel; and His Son, who was of the
fruit of David's body, that is, of the virgin of [the house of] David, and
Emmanuel; whose star also Balaam thus prophesied: "There shall come a star
out of Jacob, and a leader shall rise in Israel."(1) But Matthew says that
the Magi, coming from the east, exclaimed "For we have seen His star in the
east, and are come to worship Him;"(2) and that, having been led by the
star into the house of Jacob to Emmanuel, they showed, by these gifts which
they offered, who it was that was worshipped; myrrh, because it was He who
should die and be buried for the mortal human met; gold, because He was a
King, "of whose kingdom is no end;"(3) and frankincense, because He was
God, who also "was made known in Judea,"(4) and was "declared to those who
sought Him not."(5)
3. And then, [speaking of His] baptism, Matthew says, "The heavens were
opened, and He saw the Spirit of God, as a dove, coming upon Him: and lo a
voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well
pleased."(6) For Christ did not at that time descend upon Jesus, neither
was Christ one and Jesus another: but the Word of God--who is the Saviour
of all, and the ruler of heaven and earth, who is Jesus, as I have already
pointed out, who did also take upon Him flesh, and was anointed by the
Spirit from the Father--was made Jesus Christ, as Esaias also says, "There
shall come forth a rod from the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise from
his root; and the Spirit of God shall rest upon Him: the spirit of wisdom
and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge
and piety, and the spirit of the fear of God, shall fill Him. He shall not
judge according to glory,(7) nor reprove after the manner of speech; but He
shall dispense judgment to the humble man, and reprove the haughty ones of
the earth."(8) And again Esaias, pointing out beforehand His unction, and
the reason why he was anointed, does himself say, "The Spirit of God is
upon Me, because He hath anointed Me: He hath sent Me to preach the Gospel
to the lowly, to heal the broken up in heart, to proclaim liberty to the
captives, and sight to the blind; to announce the acceptable year of the
Lord, and the day of vengeance; to comfort all that mourn."(9) For inasmuch
as the Word of God was man from the root of Jesse, and son of Abraham, in
this respect did the Spirit of God rest upon Him, and anoint Him to preach
the Gospel to the lowly. But inasmuch as He was God, He did not judge
according to glory, nor reprove after the manner of speech. For "He needed
not that any should testify to Him of man,(10) for He Himself knew what was
in man."(11) For He called all men that mourn; and granting forgiveness to
those who had been led into captivity by their sins, He loosed them from
their chains, of whom Solomon says, "Every one shall be holden with the
cords of his own sins."(12) Therefore did the Spirit of God descend upon
Him, [the Spirit] of Him who had promised by the prophets that He would
anoint Him, so that we, receiving from the abundance of His unction, might
be saved. Such, then, [is the witness] of Matthew.
CHAP. X.--PROOFS OF THE FOREGOING, DRAWN FROM THE GOSPELS OF MARK AND LUKE.
1. Luke also, the follower and disciple of the apostles, referring to
Zacharias and Elisabeth, from whom, according to promise, John was born,
says: "And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the
commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless."(13) And again, speaking
of Zacharias: "And it came to pass, that while he executed the priest's
office before God in the order of his course, according to the custom of
the priest's office, his lot was to burn incense; "(14) and he came to
sacrifice, "entering into the temple of the Lord."(15) Whose angel Gabriel,
also, who stands prominently in the presence of the Lord, simply,
absolutely, and decidedly confessed in his own person as God and Lord, Him
who had chosen Jerusalem, and had instituted the sacerdotal office. For he
knew of none other above Him; since, if he had been in possession of the
knowledge of any other more perfect God and Lord besides Him, he surely
would never--as I have already shown--have confessed Him, whom he knew to
be the fruit of a defect, as absolutely and altogether God and Lord. And
then, speaking of John, he thus says: "For he shall be great in the sight
of the Lord, and many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord
their God. And he shall go before Him in the spirit and power of Elias, to
make ready a people prepared for the Lord."(16) For whom, then, did he
prepare the people, and in the sight of what Lord was he made great? Truly
of Him who said that John had something even "more than a prophet,"(17) and
that "among those born of women none is greater than John the Baptist;" who
did also make the people ready for the Lord's advent, warning his fellow-
servants, and preaching to them repentance, that they might receive
remission from the Lord when He should be present, having been convened to
Him, from whom they had been alienated because of sins and transgressions.
As also David says, "The alienated are sinners from the womb: they go
astray as soon as they are born."(1) And it was on account of this that he,
turning them to their Lord, prepared, in the spirit and power of Elias, a
perfect people for the Lord.
2. And again, speaking in reference to the angel, he says: "But at that
time the angel Gabriel was sent from God, who did also say to the virgin,
Fear not, Mary; for thou hast found favour with God."(2) And he says
concerning the Lord: "He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the
Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father
David: and He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of His
kingdom there shall be no end."(3) For who else is there who can reign
uninterruptedly over the house of Jacob for ever, except Jesus Christ our
Lord, the Son of the Most High God, who promised by the law and the
prophets that He would make His salvation visible to all flesh; so that He
would become the Son of man for this purpose, that man also might become
the son of God? And Mary, exulting because of this, cried out, prophesying
on behalf of the Church, "My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath
rejoiced in God my Saviour. For He hath taken up His child Israel, in
remembrance of His mercy, as He spake to our fathers, Abraham, and his seed
for ever."(4) By these and such like [passages] the Gospel points out that
it was God who spake to the fathers; that it was He who, by Moses,
instituted the legal dispensation, by which giving of the law we know that
He spake to the fathers. This same God,. after His great goodness, poured
His compassion upon us, through which compassion "the Day-spring from on
high hath looked upon us, and appeared to those who sat in darkness and the
shadow of death, and has guided our feet into the way of peace;"(5) as
Zacharias also, recovering from the state of dumbness which he had suffered
on account of unbelief, having been filled with a new spirit, did bless God
in a new manner. For all things had entered upon a new phase, the Word
arranging after a new manner the advent in the flesh, that He might win
back(6) to God that human nature (hominem) which had departed from God; and
therefore men were taught to worship God after a new fashion, but not
another god, because in truth there is but "one God, who justifieth the
circumcision by faith, and the uncircumcision through faith."(7) But
Zacharias prophesying, exclaimed, "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for
He hath visited and redeemed His people, and hath raised up an horn of
salvation for us in the house of His servant David; as He spake by the
mouth of His holy prophets, which have been since the world begun;
salvation from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; to
perform the mercy [promised] to our fathers, and to remember His holy
covenant, the oath which He sware to our father Abraham, that He would
grant unto us, that we, being delivered out of the hand of our enemies,
might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him, all
our days."(8) Then he says to John: "And thou, child, shalt be called the
prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to
prepare HiS ways; to give knowledge of salvation to His people, for the
remission of their sins."(9) For this is the knowledge of salvation which
was wanting to them, that of the Son of God, which John made known, saying,
"Behold the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world. This is He
of whom I said, After me cometh a man who was made before me;(10) because
He was prior to me: and of His fulness have all we received."(11) This,
therefore, was the knowledge of salvation; but [it did not consist in]
another God, nor another Father, nor Bythus, nor the Pleroma of thirty
Aeons, nor the Mother of the (lower) Ogdoad: but the knowledge of salvation
was the knowledge of the Son of God, who is both called and actually is,
salvation, and Saviour, and salutary. Salvation, indeed, as follows: "I
have waited for Thy salvation, O Lord."(12) And then again, Saviour:
"Behold my God, my Saviour, I will put my trust in Him."(13) But as
bringing salvation, thus: "God hath made known His salvation (salutare) in
the sight of the heathen."(14) For He is indeed Saviour, as being the Son
and Word of God; but salutary, since [He is] Spirit; for he says: "The
Spirit of our countenance, Christ the Lord."(15) But salvation, as being
flesh: for "the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us."(16) This
knowledge of salvation, therefore, John did impart to those repenting, and
believing in the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world.
3. And the angel of the Lord, he says, appeared to the shepherds,
proclaiming joy to them: "For(1) there is born in the house of David, a
Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. Then [appeared] a multitude of the
heavenly host, praising God, and saying, Glory in the highest to God, and
on earth peace, to men of good will." (2) The falsely-called Gnostics say
that these angels came from the Ogdoad, and made manifest the descent of
the superior Christ. But they are again in error, when saying that the
Christ and Saviour from above was not born, but that also, after the
baptism of the dispensational Jesus, he, [the Christ of the Pleroma,]
descended upon him as a dove. Therefore, according to these men, the angels
of the Ogdoad lied, when they said, "For unto you is born this day a
Saviour, who is Christ the Lord, in the city of David." For neither was
Christ nor the Saviour born at that time, by their account; but it was he,
the dispensational Jesus, who is of the framer of the world, the
[Demiurge], and upon whom, after his baptism, that is, after [the lapse of]
thirty years, they maintain the Saviour from above descended. But why did
[the angels] add, "in the city of David," if they did not proclaim the glad
tidings of the fulfilment of God's promise made to David, that from the
fruit of his body there should be an eternal King? For the Framer
[Demiurge] of the entire universe made promise to David, as David himself
declares: "My help is from God, who made heaven and earth;"(3) and again:
"In His hand are the ends of the earth, and the heights of the mountains
are His. For the sea is His, and He did Himself make it; and His hands
founded the dry land. Come ye, let us worship and fall down before Him, and
weep in the presence of the Lord who made us; for He is the Lord our
God."(4) The Holy Spirit evidently thus declares by David to those hearing
him, that there shall be those who despise Him who formed us, and who is
God alone. Wherefore he also uttered the foregoing words, meaning to say:
See that ye do not err; besides or above Him there is no other God, to whom
ye should rather stretch out [your hands], thus rendering us pious and
grateful towards Him who made, established, and [still] nourishes us. What,
then, shall happen to those who have been the authors of so much blasphemy
against their Creator? This identical truth was also what the angels
[proclaimed]. For when they exclaim, "Glory to God in the highest, and in
earth peace," they have glorified with these. words Him who is the Creator
of the highest, that is, of super-celestial things, and the Founder of
everything on earth: who has sent to His own handiwork, that is, to men,
the blessing of His salvation from heaven. Wherefore he adds: "The
shepherds returned, glorifying God for all which they had heard and seen,
as it was told unto them."(5) For the Israelitish shepherds did not glorify
another god, but Him who had been announced by the law and the prophets,
the Maker of all things, whom also the angels glorified. But if the angels
who were from the Ogdoad were accustomed to glorify any other, different
from Him whom the shepherds [adored], these angels from the Ogdoad brought
to them error and not truth.
4. And still further does Luke say in reference to the Lord: "When the
days of purification were accomplished, they brought Him up to Jerusalem,
to present Him before the Lord, as it is written in the law of the Lord,
That every male opening the womb shall be called holy to the Lord; and that
they should offer a sacrifice, as it is said in the law of the Lord, a pair
of turtle-doves, or two young pigeons:"(6) in his own person most clearly
calling Him Lord, who appointed the legal dispensation. But "Simeon," he
also says, "blessed God, 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, and the glory of Thy people Israel."(7) And "Anna"(8) also, "the
prophetess," he says, in like manner glorified God when she saw Christ,
"and spake of Him to all them who were looking for the redemption of
Jerusalem."(9) Now by all these one God is shown forth, revealing to men
the new dispensation of liberty, the covenant, through the new advent of
His Son.
5. Wherefore also Mark, the interpreter and follower of Peter, does
thus commence his Gospel narrative: "The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus
Christ, the Son of God; as it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send My
messenger before Thy face, which shall prepare Thy way.(10) The voice of
one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make the
paths straight before our God." Plainly does the commencement of the Gospel
quote the words of the holy prophets, and point out Him at once, whom they
confessed as God and Lord; Him, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
had also made promise to Him, that He would send His messenger before His
face, who was John, crying in the wilderness, in "the spirit and power of
Elias,"(1)"Prepare ye the way of me Lord, make straight paths before our
God." For the prophets did not announce one and mother God, but one and the
same; under rations aspects, however, and many titles. For varied and rich
in attribute is the Father, as I have already shown in the book
preceding(2) this; and I shall show [the same truth] from the prophets
themselves in the further course of this work. Also, towards the conclusion
of his Gospel, Mark says: "So then, after the Lord Jesus had spoken to
them, He was received up into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God;
"(3) confirming what had been spoken by the prophet: "The LORD said to my
Lord, Sit Thou on My right hand, until I make Thy foes Thy footstool."(4)
Thus God and the Father are truly one and the same; He who was announced by
the prophets, and handed down by the true Gospel; whom we Christians
worship and love with the whole heart, as the Maker of heaven and earth,
and of all things therein.
CHAP. XI--PROOFS IN CONTINUATION, EXTRACTED FROM ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. THE
GOSPELS ARE FOUR IN NUMBER, NEITHER MORE NOR LESS. MYSTIC REASONS FOR THIS.
1. John, the disciple of the Lord, preaches this faith, and seeks, by
the proclamation of the Gospel, to remove that error which by Cerinthus had
been disseminated among men, and a long time previously by those termed
Nicolaitans, who are an offset of that "knowledge" falsely so called, that
he might confound them, and persuade them that there is but one God, who
made all things by His Word; and not, as they allege, that the Creator was
one, but the Father of the Lord another; and that the Son of the Creator
was, forsooth, one, but the Christ from above another, who also continued
impossible, descending upon Jesus, the Son of the Creator, and flew back
again into His Pleroma; and that Monogenes was the beginning, but Logos was
the true son of Monogenes; and that this creation to which we belong was
not made by the primary God, but by some power lying far below Him, and
shut off from communion with the things invisible and ineffable. The
disciple of the Lord therefore desiring to put an end to all such
doctrines, and to establish the rule of truth in the Church, that there is
one Almighty God, who made all things by His Word, both visible and
invisible; showing at the same time, that by the Word, through whom God
made the creation, He also bestowed salvation on the men included in the
creation; thus commenced His teaching in the Gospel: "In the beginning was
the Word, and the Word was with God, and the WOrd was God. The same was in
the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was
nothing made.(5) What was made was life in Him, and the life was the light
of men. And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it
not."(6) "All things," he says, "were made by Him;" therefore in "all
things" this creation of ours is [included], for we cannot concede to these
men that [the words] "all things" are spoken in reference to those within
their Pleroma. For if their Pleroma do indeed contain these, this creation,
as being such, is not outside, as I have demonstrated in the preceding
book;(7) but if they are outside the Pleroma, which indeed appeared
impossible, it follows, in that case, that their Pleroma cannot be "all
things:" therefore this vast creation is not outside [the Pleroma].
2. John, however, does himself put this matter beyond all controversy
on our part, when he says, "He was in this world, and the world was made by
Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own [things], and His own
[people] received Him not."(8) But according to Marcion, and those like
him, neither was the world made by Him; nor did He come to His own things,
but to those of another. And, according to certain of the Gnostics, this
world was made by angels, and not by the Word of God. But according to the
followers of Valentinus, the world was not made by Him, but by the
Demiurge. For he (Soter) caused such similitudes to be made, after the
pattern of things above, as they allege; but the Demiurge accomplished the
work of creation. For they say that he, the Lord and Creator of the plan of
creation, by whom they hold that this world was made, was produced from the
Mother; while the Gospel affirms plainly, that by the Word, which was in
the beginning with God, all things were made, which Word, he says, "was
made flesh, and dwelt among us."(9)
3. But, according to these men, neither was the Word made flesh, nor
Christ, nor the Saviour (Soter), who was produced from [the joint
contributions of] all [the Aeons]. For they will have it, that the Word and
Christ never came into this world; that the Saviour, too, never became
incarnate, nor suffered, but that He descended like a dove upon the
dispensational Jesus; and that, as soon as He had declared the unknown
Father, He did again ascend into the Pleroma. Some, however, make the
assertion, that this dispensational Jesus did become incarnate, and
suffered, whom they represent as having passed through Mary just as water
through a tube; but others allege him to be the Son of the Demiurge, upon
whom the dispensational Jesus descended; while others, again, say that
Jesus was born from Joseph and Mary, and that the Christ from above
descended upon him, being without flesh, and impassible. But according to
the opinion of no one of the heretics was the Word of God made flesh. For
if any one carefully examines the systems of them all, he will find that
the Word of God is brought in by all of them as not having become incarnate
(sine carne) and impassible, as is also the Christ from above. Others
consider Him to have been manifested as a transfigured man; but they
maintain Him to have been neither born nor to have become incarnate; whilst
others [hold] that He did not assume a human form at all, but that, as a
dove, He did descend upon that Jesus who was born from Mary. Therefore the
Lord's disciple, pointing them all out as false witnesses, says, "And the
Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us."(1)
4. And that we may not have to ask, Of what God was the Word made
flesh? he does himself previously teach us, saying, "There was a man sent
from God, whose name was John. The same came as a witness, that he might
bear witness of that Light. He was not that Light, but [came] that he might
testify of the Light."(2) By what God, then, was John, the forerunner, who
testifies of the Light, sent [into the world]? Truly it was by Him, of whom
Gabriel is the angel, who also announced the glad tidings of his birth:
[that God] who also had promised by the prophets that He would send His
messenger before the face of His Son,(3) who should prepare His way, that
is, that he should bear witness of that Light in the spirit and power of
Elias.(4) But, again, of what God was Elias the servant and the prophet? Of
Him who made heaven and earth,(5) as he does himself confess. John,
therefore, having been sent by the founder and maker of this world, how
could he testify of that Light, which came down from things unspeakable and
invisible? For all the heretics have decided that the Demiurge was ignorant
of that Power above him, whose witness and herald John is found to be.
Wherefore the Lord said that He deemed him "more than a prophet."(6) For
all the other prophets preached the advent of the paternal Light, and
desired to be worthy of seeing Him whom they preached; but John did both
announce [the advent] beforehand, in a like manner as did the others, and
actually saw Him when He came, and pointed Him out, and persuaded many to
believe on Him, so that he did himself hold the place of both prophet and
apostle. For this is to be more than a prophet, because, "first apostles,
secondarily prophets; "(7) but all things from one and the same God
Himself.
5. That wine,(8) which was produced by God in a vineyard, and which was
first consumed, was good. None(9) of those who drank of it found fault with
it; and the Lord partook of it also. But that wine was better which the
Word made from water, on the moment, and simply for the use of those who
had been called to the marriage. For although the Lord had the power to
supply wine to those feasting, independently of any created substance, and
to fill with food those who were hungry, He did not adopt this course; but,
taking the loaves which the earth had produced, and giving thanks,(10) and
on the other occasion making water wine, He satisfied those who were
reclining [at table], and gave drink to those who had been invited to the
marriage; showing that the God who made the earth, and commanded it to
bring forth fruit, who established the waters, and brought forth the
fountains, was He who in these last times bestowed upon mankind, by His
Son, the blessing of food and the favour of drink: the Incomprehensible
[acting thus] by means of the comprehensible, and the Invisible by the
visible; since there is none beyond Him, but He exists in the bosom of the
Father.
6. For "no man," he says, "hath seen God at any time," unless "the
only-begotten Son of God, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath
declared [Him]."(11) For He, the Son who is in His bosom, declares to all
the Father who is invisible. Wherefore they know Him to whom the Son
reveals Him; and again, the Father, by means of the Son, gives knowledge of
His Son to those who love Him. By whom also Nathanael, being taught,
recognised [Him], he to whom also the Lord bare witness, that he was "an
Israelite indeed, in whom was no guile."(12) The Israelite recognised his
King, therefore did he cry out to Him, "Rabbi, Thou art the Son of God,
Thou art the King of Israel." By whom also Peter, having been taught,
recognised Christ as the Son of the living God, when [God] said, "Behold My
dearly beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased: I will put my Spirit upon
Him, and He shall show judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not strive, nor
cry; neither shall any man hear His voice in the streets. A bruised reed
shall He not break, and smoking flax shall He not quench, until He send
forth judgment into contention ;(1) and in His name shall the Gentiles
trust."(2)
7. Such, then, are the first principles of the Gospel: that there is
one God, the Maker of this universe; He who was also announced by the
prophets, and who by Moses set forth the dispensation of the law,--
[principles] which proclaim the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and ignore
any other God or Father except Him. So firm is the ground upon which these
Gospels rest, that the very heretics themselves bear witness to them, and,
starting from these [documents], each one of them endeavours to establish
his own peculiar doctrine. For the Ebionites, who use Matthew's Gospel(3)
only, are confuted out of this very same, making false suppositions with
regard to the Lord. But Marcion, mutilating that according to Luke, is
proved to be a blasphemer of the only existing God, from those [passages]
which he still retains. Those, again, who separate Jesus from Christ,
alleging that Christ remained impassible, but that it was Jesus who
suffered, preferring the Gospel by Mark, if they read it with a love of
truth, may have their errors rectified. Those, moreover, who follow
Valentinus, making copious use of that according to John, to illustrate
their conjunctions, shall be proved to be totally in error by means of this
very Gospel, as I have shown in the first book. Since, then, our opponents
do bear testimony to us, and make use of these [documents], our proof
derived from them is firm and true.
8. It is not possible that the Gospels can be either more or fewer in
number than they are. For, since there are four zones of the world in which
we live, and four principal winds,(4) while the Church is scattered
throughout all the world, and the "pillar and ground"(5) of the Church is
the Gospel and the spirit of life; it is fitting that she should have four
pillars, breathing out immortality on every side, and vivifying men afresh.
From which fact, it is evident that the Word, the Artificer of all, He that
sitteth upon the cherubim, and contains all things, He who was manifested
to men, has given us the Gospel under four aspects, but bound together by
one Spirit. As also David says, when entreating His manifestation, "Thou
that sittest between the cherubim, shine forth."(6) For the cherubim, too,
were four-faced, and their faces were images of the dispensation of the Son
of God. For, [as the Scripture] says, "The first living creature was like a
lion,"(7) symbolizing His effectual working, His leadership, and royal
power; the second [living creature] was like a calf, signifying [His]
sacrificial and sacerdotal order; but "the third had, as it were, the face
as of a man,"--an evident description of His advent as a human being; "the
fourth was like a flying eagle," pointing out the gift of the Spirit
hovering with His wings over the Church. And therefore the Gospels are in
accord with these things, among which Christ Jesus is seated. For that
according to John relates His original, effectual, and glorious generation
from the Father, thus declaring, "In the beginning was the Word, and the
Word was with God, and the Word was God."(8) Also, "all things were made by
Him, and without Him was nothing made." For this reason, too, is that
Gospel full of all confidence, for such is His person.(9) But that
according to Luke, taking up [His] priestly character, commenced with
Zacharias the priest offering sacrifice to God. For now was made ready the
fatted calf, about to be immolated for(10) the finding again of the younger
son. Matthew, again, relates His generation as a man, saying, "The book of
the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham;"(11)
and also, "The birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise." This, then, is the
Gospel of His humanity;(12) for which reason it is, too, that [the
character of] a humble and meek man is kept up through the whole Gospel.
Mark, on the other hand, commences with [a reference to] the prophetical
spirit coming down from on high to men, saying, "The beginning of the
Gospel of Jesus Christ, as it is written in Esaias the prophet,"--pointing
to the winged aspect of the Gospel; and on this account he made a
compendious and cursory narrative, for such is the prophetical character.
And the Word of God Himself used to converse with the ante-Mosaic
patriarchs, in accordance with His divinity and glory; but for those under
the law he instituted a sacerdotal and liturgical service.(1) Afterwards,
being made man for us, He sent the gift of the celestial Spirit over all
the earth, protecting us with His wings. Such, then, as was the course
followed by the Son of God, so was also the form of the living creatures;
and such as was the form of the living creatures, so was also the character
of the Gospel.(2) For the living creatures are quadriform, and the Gospel
is quadriform, as is also the course followed by the Lord. For this reason
were four principal (katholikai') covenants given to the human race:(3)
one, prior to the deluge, under Adam; the second, that after the deluge,
under Noah; the third, the giving of the law, under Moses; the fourth, that
which renovates man, and sums up all things in itself by means of the
Gospel, raising and bearing men upon heavenly kingdom.its wings into the
9. These things being so, all who destroy the form of the Gospel are
vain, unlearned, and also audacious; those, [I mean,] who represent the
aspects of the Gospel as being either more in number than as aforesaid, or,
on the other hand, fewer. The former class [do so], that they may seem to
have discovered more than is of the truth; the latter, that they may set
the dispensations of God aside. For Marcion, rejecting the entire Gospel,
yea rather, cutting himself off from the Gospel, boasts that he has part in
the [blessings of] the Gospel.(4) Others, again (the Montanists), that they
may set at nought the gift of the Spirit, which in the latter times has
been, by the good pleasure of the Father, poured out upon the human race,
do not admit that aspect [of the evangelical dispensation] presented by
John's Gospel, in which the Lord promised that He would send the
Paraclete;(5) but set aside at once both the Gospel and the prophetic
Spirit. Wretched men indeed! who wish to be pseudo-prophets, forsooth, but
who set aside the gift of prophecy from the Church; acting like those (the
Encratitae)(6) who, on account of such as come in hypocrisy, hold
themselves aloof from the communion of the brethren. We must conclude,
moreover, that these men (the Montanists) can not admit the Apostle Paul
either. For, in his Epistle to the Corinthians,(7) he speaks expressly of
prophetical gifts, and recognises men and women prophesying in the Church.
Sinning, therefore, in all these particulars, against the Spirit of
God,(8) they fall into the irremissible sin. But those who are from
Valentinus, being, on the other hand, altogether reckless, while they put
forth their own compositions, boast that they possess more Gospels than
there really are. Indeed, they have arrived at such a pitch of audacity, as
to entitle their comparatively recent writing "the Gospel of Truth," though
it agrees in nothing with the Gospels of the Apostles, so that they have
really no Gospel which is not full of blasphemy. For if what they have
published is the Gospel of truth, and yet is totally unlike those which
have been handed down to us from the apostles, any who please may learn, as
is shown from the Scriptures themselves, that that which has been handed
down from the apostles can no longer be reckoned the Gospel of truth. But
that these Gospels alone are true and reliable, and admit neither an
increase nor diminution of the aforesaid number, I have proved by so many
and such [arguments]. For, since God made all things in due proportion and
adaptation, it was fit also that the outward aspect of the Gospel should be
well arranged and harmonized. The opinion of those men, therefore, who
handed the Gospel down to us, having been investigated, from their very
fountainheads, let us proceed also to the remaining apostles, and inquire
into their doctrine with regard to God; then, in due course we shall listen
to the very words of the Lord.
CHAP. XII. --DOCTRINE OF THE REST OF THE APOSTLES.
1. The Apostle Peter, therefore, after the resurrection of the Lord,
and His assumption into the heavens, being desirous of filling up the
number of the twelve apostles, and in electing into the place of Judas any
substitute who should be chosen by God, thus addressed those who were
present: "Men [and] brethren, this Scripture must needs have been
fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost, by the mouth of David, spake before
concerning Judas, which was made guide to them that took Jesus. For he was
numbered with us:(9) ... Let his habitation be desolate, and let no man
dwell therein;(1) and, His bishop-rick let another take;"(2)--thus leading
to the completion of the apostles, according to the words spoken by David.
Again, when the Holy Ghost had descended upon the disciples, that they all
might prophesy and speak with tongues, and some mocked them, as if drunken
with new wine, Peter said that they were not drunken, for it was the third
hour of the day; but that this was what had been spoken by the prophet: "It
shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my
Spirit upon all flesh, and they shall prophesy."(3) The God, therefore, who
did promise by the prophet, that He would send His Spirit upon the whole
human race, was He who did send; and God Himself is announced by Peter as
having fulfilled His own promise.
2. For Peter said, "Ye men of Israel, hear my words; Jesus of Nazareth,
a man approved by God among you by powers, and wonders, and signs, which
God did by Him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: Him, being
delivered by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, by the hands
of wicked men ye have slain, affixing [to the cross]: whom God hath raised
up, having loosed the pains of death; because it was not possible that he
should be holden of them. For David speaketh concerning Him,(4) I foresaw
the Lord always before my face; for He is on my right hand, lest I should
be moved: therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover
also, my flesh shall rest in hope: because Thou wilt not leave my soul in
hell, neither wilt Thou give Thy Holy One to see corruption."(5) Then he
proceeds to speak confidently to them concerning the patriarch David, that
he was dead and buried, and that his sepulchre is with them to this day. He
said, "But since he was a prophet, and knew that God had sworn with an oath
to him, that of the fruit of his body one should sit in his throne;
foreseeing this, he spake of the resurrection of Christ, that He was not
left in hell, neither did His flesh see corruption. This Jesus," he said,
"hath God raised up, of which we all are witnesses: who, being exalted by
the right hand of God, receiving from the Father the promise of the Holy
Ghost, hath shed forth this gift(6) which ye now see and hear. For David
has not ascended into the heavens; but he saith himself, The LORD said unto
my Lord, Sit Thou on My fight hand, until I make Thy foes Thy footstool.
Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made
that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ."(7) And when
the multitudes exclaimed, "What shall we do then?" Peter says to them,
"Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus for the
remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost."(8)
Thus the apostles did not preach another God, or another Fulness; nor, that
the Christ who suffered and rose again was one, while he who flew off on
high was another, and remained impossible; but that there was one and the
same God the Father, and Christ Jesus who rose from the dead; and they
preached faith in Him, to those who did not believe on the Son of God, and
exhorted them out of the prophets, that the Christ whom God promised to
send, He sent in Jesus, whom they crucified and God raised up.
3. Again, when Peter, accompanied by John, had looked upon the man lame
from his birth, before that gate of the temple which is called Beautiful,
sitting and seeking alms, he said to him, "Silver and gold I have none; but
such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise
up and walk. And immediately his legs and his feet received strength; and
he walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and
praising God."(9) Then, when a multitude had gathered around them from all
quarters because of this unexpected deed, Peter addressed them: "Ye men of
Israel, why marvel ye at this; or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though
by our own power we had made this man to walk? The God of Abraham, the God
of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified His
Son, whom ye delivered up for judgment,(10) and denied in the presence of
Pilate, when he wished to let Him go. But ye were bitterly set against(10)
the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you;
but ye killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead,
whereof we are witnesses. And in the faith of His name, him, whom ye see
and know, hath His name made strong; yea, the faith which is by Him, hath
given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. And now,
brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did this wickedness.(10) ... But
those things which God before had showed by the mouth of all the prophets,
that His Christ should suffer, He hath so fulfilled. Repent ye therefore,
and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, and that(11) the times
of refreshing may come to you from the presence of the Lord; and He shall
send Jesus Christ, prepared for you beforehand,(1) whom the heaven must
indeed receive until the times of the arrangement(2) of all things, of
which God hath spoken by His holy prophets. For Moses truly said unto our
fathers, Your Lord God Shall raise up to you a Prophet from your brethren,
like unto me; Him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever He shall say unto
you. And it shall come to pass, that every soul, whosoever will not hear
that Prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people. And all [the
prophets] from Samuel, and henceforth, as many as have spoken, have
likewise foretold of these days. Ye are the children of the prophets, and
of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And
in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. Unto you first,
God, having raised up His Son, sent Him blessing you, that each may turn
himself from his iniquities."(3) Peter, together with John, preached to
them this plain message of glad tidings, that the promise which God made to
the fathers had been fulfilled by Jesus; not certainly proclaiming another
god, but the Son of God, who also was made man, and suffered; thus leading
Israel into knowledge, and through Jesus preaching the resurrection of the
dead,(4) and showing, that whatever the prophets had proclaimed as to the
suffering of Christ, these had God fulfilled.
4. For this reason, too, when the chief priests were assembled, Peter,
full of boldness, said to them, "Ye rulers of the people, and elders of
Israel, if we this day be examined by you of the good deed done to the
impotent man, by what means he has been made whole; be it known to you all,
and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by Him
cloth this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone which was set
at nought of you builders, which is become the head-stone of the corner.
[Neither is there salvation in any other: for] there is none other name
under heaven, which is given to men, whereby we must be saved:"(5) Thus the
apostles did not change God, but preached to the people that Christ was
Jesus the crucified One, whom the same God that had sent the prophets,
being God Himself, raised up, and gave in Him salvation to men.
5. They were confounded, therefore, both by this instance of healing
("for the man was above forty years old on whom this miracle of healing
took place"(6)), and by the doctrine of the apostles, and by the exposition
of the prophets, when the chief priests had sent away Peter and John.
[These latter] returned to the rest of their fellow-apostles and disciples
of the Lord, that is, to the Church, and related what had occurred, and how
courageously they had acted in the name of Jesus. The whole Church, it is
then said, "when they had heard that, lifted up the voice to God with one
accord, and said, Lord, Thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth,
and the sea, and all that in them is; who, through the Holy Ghost,(7) by
the mouth of our father David, Thy servant, hast said, Why did the heathen
rage, and the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood up,
and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against His
Christ. For of a truth, in this city,(8) against Thy holy Son Jesus, whom
Thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and
the people of Israel, were gathered together, to do whatsoever Thy hand and
Thy counsel determined before to be done."(9) These [are the] voices of the
Church from which every Church had its origin; these are the voices of the
metropolis of the citizens of the new covenant; these are the voices of the
apostles; these are voices of the disciples of the Lord, the truly perfect,
who, after the assumption of the Lord, were perfected by the Spirit, and
called upon the God who made heaven, and earth, and the sea,--who was
announced by the prophets,--and Jesus Christ His Son, whom God anointed,
and who knew no other [God]. For at that time and place there was neither
Valentinus, nor Marcion, nor the rest of these subverters [of the truth],
and their adherents. Wherefore God, the Maker of all things, heard them.
For it is said, "The place was shaken where they were assembled together;
and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of
God with boldness"(10) to every one that was willing to believe.(11) "And
with great power," it is added, "gave the apostles witness of the
resurrection of the Lord Jesus,"(12) saying to them, "The God of our
fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye seized and slew, hanging [Him] upon a beam
of wood: Him hath God raised up by His right hand(13) to be a Prince and
Saviour, to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. And we are
in this witnesses of these words; as also is the Holy Ghost, whom God hath
given to them that believe in Him."(1) "And daily," it is said, "in the
temple, and from house to house, they ceased not to teach and preach Christ
Jesus,"(2) the Son of God. For this was the knowledge of salvation, which
renders those who acknowledge His Son's advent perfect towards God.
6. But as some of these men impudently assert that the apostles, when
preaching among the Jews, could not declare to them another god besides Him
in whom they (their hearers(3)) believed, we say to them, that if the
apostles used to speak to people in accordance with the opinion instilled
into them of old, no one learned the truth from them, nor, at a much
earlier date, from the Lord; for they say that He did Himself speak after
the same fashion. Wherefore neither do these men themselves know the truth;
but since such was their opinion regarding God, they had just received
doctrine as they were able to hear it. According to this manner of
speaking, therefore, the rule of truth can be with nobody; but all learners
will ascribe this practice to all [teachers], that just as every person
thought, and as far as his capability extended, so was also the language
addressed to him. But the advent of the Lord will appear superfluous and
useless, if He did indeed come intending to tolerate and to preserve each
man's idea regarding God rooted in him from of old. Besides this, also, it
was a much heavier task, that He whom the Jews had seen as a man, and had
fastened to the cross, should be preached as Christ the Son of God, their
eternal King. Since this, however, was so, they certainly did not speak to
them in accordance with their old belief. For they, who told them to their
face that they were the slayers of the Lord, would themselves also much
more boldly preach that Father who is above the Demiurge, and not what each
individual bid himself believe [respecting God]; and the sin was much less,
if indeed they had not fastened to the cross the superior Saviour (to whom
it behoved them to ascend), since He was impassible. For, as they did not
speak to the Gentiles in compliance with their notions, but told them with
boldness that their gods were no gods, but the idols of demons; so would
they in like manner have preached to the Jews, if they had known another
greater or more perfect Father, not nourishing nor strengthening the untrue
opinion of these men regarding God. Moreover, while destroying the error of
the Gentiles, and bearing them away from their gods, they did not certainly
induce another error upon them; but, removing those which were no gods,
they pointed out Him who alone was God and the true Father.
7. From the words of Peter, therefore, which he addressed in Caesarea
to Cornelius the centurion, and those Gentiles with him, to whom the word
of God was first preached, we can understand what the apostles used to
preach, the nature of their preaching, and their idea with regard to God.
For this Cornelius was, it is said, "a devout man, and one who feared God
with all his house, giving much alms to the people, and praying to God
always. He saw therefore, about the ninth hour of the day, an angel of God
coming in to him, and saying, Thine alms are come up for a memorial before
God. Wherefore send to Simon, who is called Peter."(4) But when Peter saw
the vision, in which the voice from heaven said to him, "What God hath
cleansed, that call not thou common,"(5) this happened [to teach him] that
the God who had, through the law, distinguished between clean and unclean,
was He who had purified the Gentiles through the blood of His Son--He whom
also Cornelius worshipped; to whom Peter, coming in, said, "Of a truth I
perceive that God is no respecter of persons: but in every nation, he that
feareth Him, and worketh righteousness, is acceptable to Him."(6) He thus
clearly indicates, that He whom Cornelius had previously feared as God, of
whom he had heard through the law and the prophets, for whose sake also he
used to give alms, is, in truth, God. the knowledge of the Son was,
however, wanting to him; therefore did [Peter] add, "The word, ye know,
which was published throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee, after the
baptism which John preached, Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with
the Holy Ghost, and with power; who went about doing good, and healing all
that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with Him. And we are
witnesses of all those things which He did both in the land of the Jews and
in Jerusalem; whom they slew, hanging Him on a beam of wood: Him God raised
up the third day, and showed Him openly; not to all the people, but unto
us, witnesses chosen before of God, who did eat and drink with Him after
the resurrection from the dead. And He commanded us to preach unto the
people, and to testify that it is He which was ordained of God to be the
Judge of quick and dead. To Him give all the prophets witness, that,
through His name, every one that believeth in Him does receive remission of
sins."(7) The apostles, therefore, did preach the Son of God, of whom men
were ignorant; and His advent, to those who had been already instructed as
to God; but they did not bring in another god. For if Peter had known any
such thing, he would have preached freely to the Gentiles, that the God of
the Jews was indeed one, but the God of the Christians another; and all of
them, doubtless, being awe-struck because of the vision of the angel, would
have believed whatever he told them. But it is evident from Peter's words
that he did indeed still retain the God who was already known to them; but
he also bare witness to them that Jesus Christ was the Son of God, the
Judge of quick and dead, into whom he did also command them to be baptized
for the remission of sins; and not this alone, but he witnessed that Jesus
was Himself the Son of God, who also, having been anointed with the Holy
Spirit, is called Jesus Christ. And He is the same being that was born of
Mary, as the testimony of Peter implies. Can it really be, that Peter was
not at that time as yet in possession of the perfect knowledge which these
men discovered afterwards? According to them, therefore, Peter was
imperfect, and the rest of the apostles were imperfect; and so it would be
fitting that they, coming to life again, should become disciples of these
men, in order that they too might be made perfect. But this is truly
ridiculous. These men, in fact, are proved to be not disciples of the
apostles, but of their own wicked notions. To this cause also are due the
various opinions which exist among them, inasmuch as each one adopted error
just as he was capable(1) [of embracing it]. But the Church throughout all
the world, having its origin finn from the apostles, perseveres in one and
the same opinion with regard to God and His Son.
8. But again: Whom did Philip preach to the eunuch of the queen of the
Ethiopians, returning from Jerusalem, and reading Esaias the prophet, when
he and this man were alone together? Was it not He of whom the prophet
spoke: "He was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb dumb before
the shearer, so He opened not the month?" "But who shall declare His
nativity? for His life shall be taken away from the earth."(2) [Philip
declared] that this was Jesus, and that the Scripture was fulfilled in Him;
as did also the believing eunuch himself: and, immediately requesting to be
baptized, he said, "I believe Jesus Christ to be the Son of God."(3) This
man was also sent into the regions of Ethiopia, to preach what he had
himself believed, that there was one God preached by the prophets, but that
the Son of this [God] had already made [His] appearance in human nature
(secundum hominem), and had been led as a sheep to the slaughter; and all
the other statements which the prophets made regarding Him.
9. Paul himself also--after that the Lord spoke to him out of heaven,
and showed him that, in persecuting His disciples, he persecuted his own
Lord, and sent Ananias to him that he might recover his sight, and be
baptized-"preached," it is said, "Jesus in the synagogues at Damascus, with
all freedom of speech, that this is the Son of God, the Christ."(4) This is
the mystery which he says was made known to him by revelation, that He who
suffered under Pontius Pilate, the same is Lord of all, and King, and God,
and Judge, receiving power from Him who is the God of all, because He
became "obedient unto death, even the death of the cross."(5) And inasmuch
as this is true, when [preaching to the Athenians on the Areopagus--where,
no Jews being present, he had it in his power to preach God with freedom of
speech--he said to them: "God, who made the world, and all things therein,
He, being Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with
hands; neither is He touched(6) by men's hands, as though He needed
anything, seeing He giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; who
hath made from one blood the whole race of men to dwell upon the face of
the whole earth,(7) predetermining the times according to the boundary of
their habitation, to seek the Deity, if by any means they might be able to
track Him out, or find Him, although He be not far from each of us. For in
Him we live, and move, and have our being, as certain men of your own have
said, For we are also His offspring. Inasmuch, then, as we are the
offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Deity is like unto gold or
silver, or stone graven by art or man's device. Therefore God, winking at
the times of ignorance, does now command all men everywhere to turn to Him
with repentance; because He hath appointed a day, on which the world shall
be judged in righteousness by the man Jesus; whereof He hath given
assurance by raising, Him from the dead."(8) Now in this passage he does
not only declare to them God as the Creator of the world, no Jews being
present, but that He did also make one race of men to dwell upon all the
earth; as also Moses declared: "When the Most High divided the nations, as
He scattered the sons of Adam, He set the bounds of the nations after the
number of the angels of God;"(9) but that people which believes in God is
not now under the power of angels, but under the Lord's [rule]. "For His
people Jacob was made the portion of the Lord, Israel the cord of His
inheritance."(1) And again, at Lystra of Lycia (Lycaonia), when Paul was
with Barnabas, and in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ had made a man to
walk who had been lame from his birth, and when the crowd wished to honour
them as gods because of the astonishing deed, he said to them: "We are men
like unto you, preaching to you God, that ye may be turned away from these
vain idols to [serve] the living God, who made heaven, and earth, and the
sea, and all things that are therein; who in times past suffered all
nations to walk in their own ways, although He left not Himself without
witness, performing acts of goodness, giving you rain from heaven, and
fruitful seasons, filling your hearts with food and gladness."(2) But that
all his Epistles are consonant to these declarations, I shall, when
expounding the apostle, show from the Epistles themselves, in the right
place. But while I bring out by these proofs the truths of Scripture, and
set forth briefly and compendiously things which are stated in various
ways, do thou also attend to them with patience, and not deem them prolix;
taking this into account, that proofs [of the things which are] contained
in the Scriptures cannot be shown except from the Scriptures themselves.
10. And still further, Stephen, who was chosen the first deacon by the
apostles, and who, of all men, was the first to follow the footsteps of the
martyrdom of the Lord, being the first that was slain for confessing
Christ, speaking boldly among the people, and teaching them, says: "The God
of glory appeared to our father Abraham, ... and said to him, Get thee out
of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall
show thee; ... and He removed him into this land, wherein ye now dwell. And
He gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on;
yet He promised that He would give it to him for a possession, and to his
seed after him. ... And God spake on this wise, That his seed should
sojourn in a strange land, and should be brought into bondage, and should
be evil-entreated four hundred years; and the nation whom they shall serve
will I judge, says the Lord. And after that shall they come forth, and
serve me in this place. And He gave him the covenant of circumcision: and
so [Abraham] begat Isaac."(3) And the rest of his words announce the same
God, who was with Joseph and with the patriarchs, and who spake with Moses.
11. And that the whole range of the doctrine of the apostles proclaimed
one and the same God, who removed Abraham, who made to him the promise of
inheritance, who in due season gave to him the covenant of circumcision,
who called his descendants out of Egypt, preserved outwardly by
circumcision--for he gave it as a sign, that they might not be like the
Egyptians--that He was the Maker of all things, that He was the Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ, that He was the God of glory,--they who wish may
learn from the very words and acts of the apostles, and may contemplate the
fact that this God is one, above whom is no other. But even if there were
another god above Him, we should say, upon [instituting] a comparison of
the quantity [of the work done by each], that the latter is superior to the
former. For by deeds the better man appears, as I have already remarked;(4)
and, inasmuch as these men have no works of their father to adduce, the
latter is shown to be God alone. But if any one, "doting about
questions,"(5) do imagine that what the apostles have declared about God
should be allegorized, let him consider my previous statements, in which I
set forth one God as the Founder and Maker of all things, and destroyed and
laid bare their allegations; and he shah find them agreeable to the
doctrine of the apostles, and so to maintain what they used to teach, and
were persuaded of, that there is one God, the Maker of all things. And when
he shall have divested his mind of such error, and of that blasphemy
against God which it implies, he will of himself find reason to acknowledge
that both the Mosaic law and the grace of the new covenant, as both fitted
for the times [at which they were given], were bestowed by one and the same
God for the benefit of the human race.
12. For all those who are of a perverse mind, having been set against
the Mosaic legislation, judging it to be dissimilar and contrary to the
doctrine of the Gospel, have not applied themselves to investigate the
causes of the difference of each covenant. Since, therefore, they have been
deserted by the paternal love, and puffed up by Satan, being brought over
to the doctrine of Simon Magus, they have apostatized in their opinions
from Him who is God, and imagined that they have themselves discovered more
than the apostles, by finding out another god; and [maintained] that the
apostles preached the Gospel still somewhat under the influence of Jewish
opinions, but that they themselves are purer [in doctrine], and more
intelligent, than the apostles. Wherefore also Marcion and his followers
have betaken themselves to mutilating the Scriptures, not acknowledging
some books at all; and, curtailing the Gospel according to Luke and the
Epistles of Paul, they assert that these are alone authentic, which they
have themselves thus shortened. In another work,(1) however, I shall, God
granting [me strength], refute them out of these which they still retain.
But all the rest, inflated with the false name of "knowledge," do certainly
recognise the Scriptures; but they pervert the interpretations, as I have
shown in the first book. And, indeed, the followers of Marcion do directly
blaspheme the Creator, alleging him to be the creator of evils, [but]
holding a more tolerable(2) theory as to his origin, [and] maintaining that
there are two beings, gods by nature, differing from each other,--the one
being good, but the other evil. Those from Valentinus, however, while they
employ names of a more honourable kind, and set forth that He who is
Creator is both Father, and Lord, and God, do [nevertheless] render their
theory or sect more plasphemous, by maintaining that He was not produced
from any one of those Aeons within the Pleroma, but from that defect which
had been expelled beyond the Pleroma. Ignorance of the Scriptures and of
the dispensation of God has brought all these things upon them. And in the
course of this work I shall touch upon the cause of the difference of the
covenants on the one hand, and, on the other hand, of their unity and
harmony.
13. But that both the apostles and their disciples thus taught as the
Church preaches, and thus teaching were perfected, wherefore also they were
called away to that which is perfect--Stephen, teaching these truths, when
he was yet on earth, saw the glory of God, and Jesus on His right hand, and
exclaimed, "Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing
on the right hand of God."(3) These words he said, and was stoned; and thus
did he fulfil the perfect doctrine, copying in every respect the Leader of
martyrdom, and praying for those who were slaying him, in these words:
"Lord, lay not this sin to their charge." Thus were they perfected who knew
one and the same God, who from beginning to end was present with mankind in
the various dispensations; as the prophet Hosea declares: "I have filled up
visions, and used similitudes by the hands of the prophets."(4) Those,
therefore, who delivered up their souls to death for Christ's Gospel--how
could they have spoken to men in accordance with old-established opinion?
If this had been the course adopted by them, they should not have suffered;
but inasmuch as they did preach things contrary to those persons who did
not assent to the truth, for that reason they suffered. It is evident,
therefore, that they did not relinquish the truth, but with all boldness
preached to the Jews and Greeks. To the Jews, indeed, [they proclaimed]
that the Jesus who was crucified by them was the Son of God, the Judge of
quick and dead, and that He has received from His Father an eternal kingdom
in Israel, as I have pointed out; but to the Greeks they preached one God,
who made all things, and Jesus Christ His Son.
14. This is shown in a still clearer light from the letter of the
apostles, which they forwarded neither to the Jews nor to the Greeks, but
to those who from the Gentiles believed in Christ, confirming their faith.
For when certain men had come down from Judea to Antioch--where also, first
of all, the Lord's disciples were called Christians, because of their faith
in Christ--and sought to persuade those who had believed on the Lord to be
circumcised, and to perform other things after the observance of the law;
and when Paul and Barnabas had gone up to Jerusalem to the apostles on
account of this question, and the whole Church had convened together,
Peter thus addressed them: "Men, brethren, ye know how that from the days
of old God made choice among you, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear
the word of the Gospel, and believe. And God, the Searcher of the heart,
bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as to us; and put no
difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Now
therefore why tempt ye God, to impose a yoke upon the neck of the
disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we
believe that, through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are to be
saved, even as they."(5) After him James spoke as follows: "Men, brethren,
Simon hath declared how God did purpose to take from among the Gentiles a
people for His name. And thus(6) do the words of the prophets agree, as it
is written, After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle
of David, which is fallen down; and I will build the ruins thereof, and I
will set it up: that the residue of men may seek after the Lord, and all
the Gentiles, among whom my name has been invoked, saith the Lord, doing
these things.(7) Known from eternity is His work to God. Wherefore I for my
part give judgment, that we trouble not them who from among the Gentiles
are turned to God: but that it be enjoined them, that they do abstain from
the vanities of idols, and from fornication, and from blood; and
whatsoever(1) they wish not to be done to themselves, let them not do to
others."(2) And when these things had been said, and all had given their
consent, they wrote to them after this manner: "The apostles, and the
presbyters, [and] the brethren, unto those brethren from among the Gentiles
who are in Antioch, and Syria, and Cilicia, greeting: Forasmuch as we have
heard that certain persons going out from us have troubled you with words,
subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law; to
whom we gave no such commandment: it seemed good unto us, being assembled
with one accord, to send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and
Paul; men who have delivered up their soul for the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ. We have sent therefore Judas and Silas, that they may declare our
opinion by word of mouth. For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us,
to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things; that ye
abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from fornication;
and whatsoever ye do not wish to be done to you, do not ye to others: from
which preserving yourselves, ye shall do well, walking(3) in the Holy
Spirit." From all these passages, then, it is evident that they did not
teach the existence of another Father, but gave the new covenant of liberty
to those who had lately believed in God by the Holy Spirit. But they
clearly indicated, from the nature of the point debated by them, as to
whether or not it were still necessary to circumcise the disciples, that
they had no idea of another god.
15. Neither [in that case] would they have had such a tenor with regard
to the first covenant, as not even to have been willing to eat with the
Gentiles. For even Peter, although he had been sent to instruct them, and
had been constrained by a vision to that effect, spake nevertheless with
not a little hesitation, saying to them: "Ye know how it is an unlawful
thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company with, or to come unto, one of
another nation; but God hath shown me that I should not call any man common
or unclean. Therefore came I without gainsaying;"(4) indicating by these
words, that he would not have come to them unless he had been commanded.
Neither, for a like reason, would he have given them baptism so readily,
had he not heard them prophesying when the Holy Ghost rested upon them. And
therefore did he exclaim, "Can any man forbid water, that these should not
be baptized, who have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?"(5) He
persuaded, at the same time, those that were with him, and pointed out
that, unless the Holy Ghost had rested upon them, there might have been
some one who would have raised objections to their baptism. And the
apostles who were with James allowed the Gentiles to act freely, yielding
us up to the Spirit of God. But they themselves, while knowing the same
God, continued in the ancient observances; so that even Peter, fearing also
lest he might incur their reproof, although formerly eating with the
Gentiles, because of the vision, and of the Spirit who had rested upon
them, yet, when certain persons came from James, withdrew himself, and did
not eat with them. And Paul said that Barnabas likewise did the same
thing.(6) Thus did the apostles, whom the Lord made witnesses of every
action and of every doctrine--for upon all occasions do we find Peter, and
James, and John present with Him--scrupulously act according to the
dispensation of the Mosaic law, showing that it was from one and the same
God; which they certainly never would have done, as I have already said, if
they had learned from the Lord [that there existed] another Father besides
Him who appointed the dispensation of the law.
CHAP. XIII--REFUTATION OF THE OPINION, THAT PAUL WAS THE ONLY APOSTLE WHO
HAD KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRUTH.
1. With regard to those (the Marcionites) who allege that Paul alone
knew the truth, and that to him the mystery was manifested by revelation,
let Paul himself convict them, when he says, that one and the same God
wrought in Peter for the apostolate of the circumcision, and in himself for
the Gentiles.(7) Peter, therefore, was an apostle of that very God whose
was also Paul; and Him whom Peter preached as God among those of the
circumcision, and likewise the Son of God, did Paul [declare] also among
the Gentiles. For our Lord never came to save Paul alone, nor is God so
limited in means, that He should have but one apostle who knew the
dispensation of His Son. And again, when Paul says, "How beautiful are the
feet of those bringing glad tidings of good things, and preaching the
Gospel of peace,"(8) he shows clearly that it was not merely one, but there
were many who used to preach the truth. And again, in the Epistle to the
Corinthians, when he had recounted all those who had seen God(9) after the
resurrection, he says in continuation, "But whether it were I or they, so
we preach, and so ye believed, "(1) acknowledging as one and the same, the
preaching of all those who saw God(2) after the resurrection from the dead.
2. And again, the Lord replied to Philip, who wished to behold the
Father, "Have I been so long a time with you, and yet thou hast not known
Me, Philip? He that sees Me, sees also the Father; and how sayest thou
then, Show us the Father? For I am in the Father, and the Father in Me; and
henceforth ye know Him, and have seen Him." (3) To these men, therefore,
did the Lord bear witness, that in Himself they had both known and seen the
Father (and the Father is truth). To allege, then, that these men did not
know the truth, is to act the part of false witnesses, and of those who
have been alienated from the doctrine of Christ. For why did the Lord send
the twelve apostles to the lost sheep of the house of Israel,(4) if these
men did not know the truth? How also did the seventy preach, unless they
had themselves previously known the truth of what was preached? Or how
could Peter have been in ignorance, to whom the Lord gave testimony, that
flesh and blood had not revealed to him, but the Father, who is in
heaven?(5) Just, then, as" Paul [was] an apostle, not of men, neither by
man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father,"(6) [so with the rest;] (7)
the Son indeed leading them to the Father, but the Father revealing to them
the Son.
3. But that Paul acceded to [the request of] those who summoned him to
the apostles, on account of the question [which had been raised], and went
up to them, with Barnabas, to Jerusalem, not without reason, but that the
liberty of the Gentiles might be confirmed by them, he does himself say, in
the Epistle to the Galatians: "Then, fourteen years after, I went up again
to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking also Titus. But I went up by revelation,
and communicated to them that Gospel which I preached among the
Gentiles."(8) And again he says, "For an hour we did give place to
subjection,(9) that the truth of the gospel might continue with you." If,
then, any one shall, from the Acts of the Apostles, carefully scrutinize
the time concerning which it is written that he went up to Jerusalem on
account of the forementioned question, he will find those years mentioned
by Paul coinciding with it. Thus the statement of Paul harmonizes with, and
is, as it were, identical with, the testimony of Luke regarding the
apostles.
CHAP. XIV.--IF PAUL HAD KNOWN ANY MYSTERIES UNREVEALED TO THE OTHER
APOSTLES, LUKE, HIS CONSTANT COMPANION AND FELLOW-TRAVELLER, COULD NOT HAVE
BEEN IGNORANT OF THEM; NEITHER COULD THE TRUTH HAVE POSSIBLY LAIN HID FROM
HIM, THROUGH WHOM ALONE WE LEARN MANY AND MOST IMPORTANT PARTICULARS OF THE
GOSPEL HISTORY.
1. But that this Luke was inseparable from Paul, and his fellow-
labourer in the Gospel, he himself clearly evinces, not as a matter of
boasting, but as bound to do so by the truth itself. For he says that when
Barnabas, and John who was called Mark, had parted company from Paul, and
sailed to Cyprus, "we came to Troas;"(10) and when Paul had beheld in a
dream a man of Macedonia, saying, "Come into Macedonia, Paul, and help us,"
"immediately," he says, "we endeavoured to go into Macedonia, understanding
that the Lord had called us to preach the Gospel unto them. Therefore,
sailing from Troas, we directed our ship's course towards Samothracia." And
then he carefully indicates all the rest of their journey as far as
Philippi, and how they delivered their first address: "for, sitting down,"
he says, "we spake unto the women who had assembled;"(11) and certain
believed, even a great many. And again does he say, "But we sailed from
Philippi after the days of unleavened bread, and came to Troas, where we
abode seven days."(12) And all the remaining [details] of his course with
Paul he recounts, indicating with all diligence both places, and cities,
and number of days, until they went up to Jerusalem; and what befell Paul
there,(13) how he was sent to Rome in bonds; the name of the centurion who
took him in charge;(14) and the signs of the ships, and how they made
shipwreck;(15) and the island upon which they escaped, and how they
received kindness there, Paul healing the chief man of that island; and how
they sailed from thence to Puteoli, and from that arrived at Rome; and for
what period they sojourned at Rome. As Luke was present at all these
occurrences, he carefully noted them down in writing, so that he cannot be
convicted of falsehood or boastfulness, because all these [particulars]
proved both that he was senior to all those who now teach otherwise, and
that he was not ignorant of the truth. That he was not merely a follower,
but also a fellow-labourer of the apostles, but especially of Paul, Paul
has himself declared also in the Epistles, saying: "Demas hath forsaken me,
.. and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus to
Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me."(1) From this he shows that he was always
attached to and inseparable from him. And again he says, in the Epistle to
the Colossians: "Luke, the beloved physician, greets you."(2) But surely if
Luke, who always preached in company with Paul, and is called by him "the
beloved," and with him performed the work of an evangelist, and was
entrusted to hand down to us a Gospel, learned nothing different from him
(Paul), as has been pointed out from his words, how can these men, who were
never attached to Paul, boast that they have learned hidden and unspeakable
mysteries?
2. But that Paul taught with simplicity what he knew, not only to those
who were [employed] with him, but to those that heard him, he does himself
make manifest. For when the bishops and presbyters who came from Ephesus
and the other cities adjoining had assembled in Miletus, since he was
himself hastening to Jerusalem to observe Pentecost, after testifying many
things to them, and declaring what must happen to him at Jerusalem, he
added: "I know that ye shall see my face no more. Therefore I take you to
record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all. For I have not
shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. Take heed, therefore,
both to yourselves, and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost has
placed you as bishops, to rule the Church of the Lord,(3) which He has
acquired for Himself through His own blood."(4) Then, referring to the evil
teachers who should arise, he said: "I know that after my departure shall
grievous wolves come to you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves
shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after
them." "I have not shunned," he says, "to declare unto you all the counsel
of God." Thus did the apostles simply, and without respect of persons,
deliver to all what they had themselves learned from the Lord. Thus also
does Luke, without respect of persons, deliver to us what he had learned
from them, as he has himself testified, saying, "Even as they delivered
them unto us, who from the beginning were eye-witnesses and ministers of
the Word."(5)
3. Now if any man set Luke aside, as one who did not know the truth,
he will, [by so acting,] manifestly reject that Gospel of which he claims
to be a disciple. For through him we have become acquainted with very many
and important parts of the Gospel; for instance, the generation of John,
the history of Zacharias, the coming of the angel to Mary, the exclamation
of Elisabeth, the descent of the angels to the shepherds, the words spoken
by them, the testimony of Anna and of Simeon with regard to Christ, and
that twelve years of age He was left behind at Jerusalem; also the baptism
of John, the number of the Lord's years when He was baptized, and that this
occurred in the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar. And in His office of
teacher this is what He has said to the rich: "Woe unto you that are rich,
for ye have received your consolation;"(6) and "Woe unto you that are full,
for ye shall hunger; and ye who laugh now, for ye shall weep;" and, "Woe
unto you when all men shall speak well of you: for so did your fathers to
the false prophets." All things of the following kind we have known through
Luke alone (and numerous actions of the Lord we have learned through him,
which also all [the Evangelists] notice): the multitude of fishes which
Peter's companions enclosed, when at the Lord's command they cast the
nets;(7) the woman who had suffered for eighteen years, and was healed on
the Sabbath-day;(8) the man who had the dropsy, whom the Lord made whole on
the Sabbath, and how He did defend Himself for having performed an act of
healing on that day; how He taught His disciples not to aspire to the
uppermost rooms; how we should invite the poor and feeble, who cannot
recompense us; the man who knocked during the night to obtain loaves, and
did obtain them, because of the urgency of his importunity;(9) how, when
[our Lord] was sitting at meat with a Pharisee, a woman that was a sinner
kissed His feet, and anointed them with ointment, with what the Lord said
to Simon on her behalf concerning the two debtors;(10) also about the
parable of that rich man who stored up the goods which had accrued to him,
to whom it was also said, "In this night they shall demand thy soul from
thee; whose then shall those things be which thou hast prepared?"(11) and
similar to this, that of the rich man, who was clothed in purple and who
fared sumptuously, and the indigent Lazarus;(12) also the answer which He
gave to His disciples when they said, "Increase our faith;"(13) also His
conversation with Zaccheus the publican;(14) also about the Pharisee and
the publican, who were praying in the temple at the same time;(1) also the
ten lepers, whom He cleansed in the way simultaneously;(2) also how He
ordered the lame and the blind to be gathered to the wedding from the lanes
and streets;(3) also the parable of the judge who feared not God, whom the
widow's importunity led to avenge her cause;(4) and about the fig-tree in
the vineyard which produced no fruit. There are also many other particulars
to be found mentioned by Luke alone, which are made use of by both Marcion
and Valentinus. And besides all these, [he records] what [Christ] said to
His disciples in the way, after the resurrection, and how they recognised
Him in the breaking of bread.(5)
4. It follows then, as of course, that these men must either receive
the rest of his narrative, or else reject these parts also. For no persons
of common sense can permit them to receive some things recounted by Luke as
being true, and to set others aside, as if he had not known the truth. And
if indeed Marcion's followers reject these, they will then possess no
Gospel; for, curtailing that according to Luke, as I have said already,
they boast in having the Gospel [in what remains]. But the followers of
Valentinus must give up their utterly vain talk; for they have taken from
that [Gospel] many occasions for their own speculations, to put an evil
interpretation upon what he has well said. If, on the other hand, they feel
compelled to receive the remaining portions also, then, by studying the
perfect Gospel, and the doctrine of the apostles, they will find it
necessary to repent, that they may be saved from the danger [to which they
are exposed].
CHAP. XV.--REFUTATION OF THE EBIONITES, WHO DISPARAGED THE AUTHORITY OF ST.
PAUL, FROM THE WRITINGS OF ST. LUKE, WHICH MUST BE RECEIVED AS A WHOLE.
EXPOSURE OF THE HYPOCRISY, DECEIT, AND PRIDE OF THE GNOSTICS. THE APOSTLES
AND THEIR DISCIPLES KNEW AND PREACHED ONE GOD, THE CREATOR OF THE WORLD.
1. But again, we allege the same against those who do not recognise
Paul as an apostle: that they should either reject the other words of the
Gospel which we have come to know through Luke alone, and not make use of
them; or else, if they do receive all these, they must necessarily admit
also that testimony concerning Paul, when he (Luke) tells us that the Lord
spoke at first to him from heaven: "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me? I
am Jesus Christ, whom thou persecutest; "(6) and then to Ananias, saying
regarding him: "Go thy way; for he is a chosen vessel unto Me, to bear My
name among the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel. For I will
show him, from this time, how great things he must suffer for My name's
sake."(7) Those, therefore, who do not accept of him [as a teacher], who
was chosen by God for this purpose, that he might boldly bear His name, as
being sent to the forementioned nations, do despise the election of God,
and separate themselves from the company of the apostles. For neither can
they contend that Paul was no apostle, when he was chosen for this purpose;
nor can they prove Luke guilty of falsehood, when he proclaims the truth to
us with all diligence. It may be, indeed, that it was with this view that
God set forth very many Gospel truths, through Luke's instrumentality,
which all should esteem it necessary to use, in order that all persons,
following his subsequent testimony, which treats upon the acts and the
doctrine of the apostles, and holding the unadulterated rule of truth, may
be saved. His testimony, therefore, is true, and the doctrine of the
apostles is open and stedfast, holding nothing in reserve; nor did they
teach one set of doctrines in private, and another in public.
2. For this is the subterfuge of false persons, evil seducers, and
hypocrites, as they act who are from Valentinus. These men discourse to the
multitude about those who belong to the Church, whom they do themselves
term "vulgar," and "ecclesiastic."(8) By these words they entrap the more
simple, and entice them, imitating our phraseology, that these [dupes] may
listen to them the oftener; and then these are asked(9) regarding us, how
it is, that when they hold doctrines similar to ours, we, without cause,
keep ourselves aloof from their company; and [how it is, that] when they
say the same things, and hold the same doctrine, we call them heretics?
When they have thus, by means of questions, overthrown the faith of any,
and rendered them uncontradicting hearers of their own, they describe to
them in private the unspeakable mystery of their Pleroma. But they are
altogether deceived, who imagine that they may learn from the Scriptural
texts adduced by heretics, that [doctrine] which their words plausibly
teach.(10) For error is plausible, and bears a resemblance to the truth,
but requires to be disguised; while truth is without disguise, and
therefore has been entrusted to children. And if any one of their auditors
do indeed demand explanations, or start objections to them, they affirm
that he is one not capable of receiving the truth, and not having from
above the seed [derived] from their Mother; and thus really give him no
reply, but simply declare that he is of the intermediate regions, that is,
belongs to animal natures. But if any one do yield himself up to them like
a little sheep, and follows out their practice, and their "redemption,"
such an one is puffed up to such an extent, that he thinks he is neither in
heaven nor on earth, but that he has passed within the Pleroma; and having
already embraced his angel, he walks with a strutting gait and a
supercilious countenance, possessing all the pompous air of a cock. There
are those among them who assert that that man who comes from above ought to
follow a good course of conduct; wherefore they do also pretend a gravity
[of demeanour] with a certain superciliousness. The majority, however,
having become scoffers also, as if already perfect, and living without
regard [to appearances], yea, in contempt [of that which is good], call
themselves "the spiritual," and allege that they have already become
acquainted with that place of refreshing which is within their Pleroma.
3. But let us revert to the same line of argument [hitherto pursued].
For when it has been manifestly declared, that they who were the preachers
of the truth and the apostles of liberty termed no one else God, or named
him Lord, except the only true God the Father, and His Word, who has the
pre-eminence in all things; it shall then be clearly proved, that they (the
apostles) confessed as the Lord God Him who was the Creator of heaven and
earth, who also spoke with Moses, gave to him the dispensation of the law,
and who called the fathers; and that they knew no other. The opinion of the
apostles, therefore, and of those (Marks and Luke) who learned from their
words, concerning God, has been made manifest.
CHAP. XVI.--PROOFS FROM THE APOSTOLIC WRITINGS, THAT JESUS CHRIST WAS ONE
AND THE SAME, THE ONLY BEGOTTEN SON OF GOD, PERFECT GOD AND PERFECT MAN.
1. But(1) there are some who say that Jesus was merely a receptacle of
Christ, upon whom the Christ, as a dove, descended from above, and that
when He had declared the unnameable Father He entered into the Pleroma in
an incomprehensible and invisible manner: for that He was not comprehended,
not only by men, but not even by those powers and virtues which are in
heaven, and that Jesus was the Son, but that(2) Christ was the Father, and
the Father of Christ, God; while others say that He merely suffered in
outward appearance, being naturally impassible. The Valentinians, again,
maintain that the dispensational Jesus was the same who passed through
Mary, upon whom that Saviour from the more exalted [region] descended, who
was also termed Pan,(3) because He possessed the names (vocabula) of all
those who had produced Him; but that [this latter] shared with Him, the
dispensational one, His power and His name; so that by His means death was
abolished, but the Father was made known by that Saviour who had descended
from above, whom they do also allege to be Himself the receptacle of Christ
and of the entire Pleroma; confessing, indeed, in tongue one Christ Jesus,
but being divided in [actual] opinion: for, as I have already observed, it
is the practice of these men to say that there was one Christ, who was
produced by Monogenes, for the confirmation of the Pleroma; but that
another, the Saviour, was sent [forth] for the glorification of the Father;
and yet another, the dispensational one, and whom they represent as having
suffered, who also bore [in himself] Christ, that Saviour who returned into
the Pleroma. I judge it necessary therefore to take into account the entire
mind of the apostles regarding our Lord Jesus Christ, and to show that not
only did they never hold any such opinions regarding Him; but, still
further, that they announced through the Holy Spirit, that those who
should teach such doctrines were agents of Satan, sent forth for the
purpose of overturning the faith of some, and drawing them away from life.
2. That John knew the one and the same Word of God, and that He was the
only begotten, and that He became incarnate for our salvation, Jesus Christ
our Lord, I have sufficiently proved from the word of John himself. And
Matthew, too, recognising one and the same Jesus Christ, exhibiting his
generation as a man from the Virgin,(4) even as God did promise David that
He would raise up from the fruit of his body an eternal King, having made
the same promise to Abraham a long time previously, says: "The book of the
generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham"(5) Then,
that he might free our mind from suspicion regarding Joseph, he says: "But
the birth of Christ(6) was on this wise. When His mother was espoused to
Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy
Ghost." Then, when Joseph had it in contemplation to put Mary away, since
she proved with child, [Matthew tells us of] the angel of God standing by
him, and saying: "Fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which
is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son,
and thou shalt call His name Jesus; for He shall save His people from their
sins. Now this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the
Lord by the prophet: Behold. a virgin shall conceive, and bring forth a
son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel, which is, God with us;" clearly
signifying that both the promise made to the fathers had been accomplished,
that the Son of God was born of a virgin, and that He Himself was Christ
the Saviour whom the prophets had foretold; not, as these men assert, that
Jesus was He who was born of Mary, but that Christ was He who descended
from above. Matthew might certainly have said, "Now the birth of Jesus was
on this wise;" but the Holy Ghost, foreseeing the corrupters [of the
truth], and guarding by anticipation against their deceit, says by Matthew,
"But the birth of Christ was on this wise;" and that He is Emmanuel, lest
perchance we might consider Him as a mere man: for "not by the will of the
flesh nor by the will of man, but by the will of God was the Word made
flesh;"(1) and that we should not imagine that Jesus was one, and Christ
another, but should know them to be one and the same.
3. Paul, when writing to the Romans, has explained this very point:
"Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, predestinated unto the Gospel of God,
which He had promised by His prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning
His Son, who was made to Him of the seed of David according to the flesh,
who was predestinated the Son of God with power through the Spirit of
holiness, by the resurrection from the dead of our Lord Jesus Christ."(2)
And again, writing to the Romans about Israel, he says: "Whose are the
fathers, and from whom is Christ according to the flesh, who is God over
all, blessed for ever."(3) And again, in his Epistle to the Galatians, he
says: "But when the fulness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, made
of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law,
that we might receive the adoption; "(4) plainly indicating one God, who
did by the prophets make promise of the Son, and one Jesus Christ our Lord,
who was of the seed of David according to His birth from Mary; and that
Jesus Christ was appointed the Son of God with power, according to the
Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead, as being the first
begotten in all the creation;(5) the Son of God being made the Son Of man,
that through Him we may receive the adoption,--humanity(6) sustaining, and
receiving, and embracing the Son of God. Wherefore Mark also says: "The
beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God; as it is written
in the prophets."(7) Knowing one and the same Son of God, Jesus Christ, who
was announced by the prophets, who from the fruit of David's body was
Emmanuel, "'the messenger of great counsel of the Father;" through whom God
caused the day-spring and the Just One to arise to the house of David, and
raised up for him an horn of salvation, "and established a testimony in
Jacob;"(9) as David says when discoursing on the causes of His birth: "And
He appointed a law in Israel, that another generation might know [Him,] the
children which should he born from these, and they arising shall themselves
declare to their children, so that they might set their hope in God, and
seek after His commandments."(10) And again, the angel said, when bringing
good tidings to Mary: "He shall he great, and shall be called the Son of
the Highest; and the Lord shall give unto Him the throne of His father
David;"(11) acknowledging that He who is the Son of the Highest, the same
is Himself also the Son of David. And David, knowing by the Spirit the
dispensation of the advent of this Person, by which He is supreme over all
the living and dead, confessed Him as Lord, sitting on the right hand of
the Most High Father.(12)
4. But Simeon also--he who had received an intimation from the Holy
Ghost that he should not see death, until first he had beheld Christ Jesus-
-taking Him, the first-begotten of the Virgin, into his hands, blessed God,
and said, "Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to
Thy word: because mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast
prepared before the face of all people; a light to lighten the Gentiles,
and the glory of Thy people Israel;"(13) confessing thus, that the infant
whom he was holding in his hands, Jesus, born of Mary, was Christ Himself,
the Son of God, the light of all, the glory of Israel itself, and the peace
and refreshing of those who had fallen asleep. For He was already
despoiling men, by removing their ignorance, conferring upon them His own
knowledge, and scattering abroad those who recognised Him, as Esaias says:
"Call His name, Quickly spoil, Rapidly divide."(1) Now these are the works
of Christ. He therefore was Himself Christ, whom Simeon carrying [in his
arms] blessed the Most High; on beholding whom the shepherds glorified God;
whom John, while yet in his mother's womb, and He (Christ) in that of Mary,
recognising as the Lord, saluted with leaping; whom the Magi, when they had
seen, adored, and offered their gifts [to Him], as I have already stated,
and prostrated themselves to the eternal King, departed by another way, not
now returning by the way of the Assyrians. "For before the child shall have
knowledge to cry, Father or mother, He shall receive the power of Damascus,
and the spoils of Samaria, against the king of the Assyrians;"(2)
declaring, in a mysterious manner indeed, but emphatically, that the Lord
did fight with a hidden hand against Amalek.(3) For this cause, too, He
suddenly removed those children belonging to the house of David, whose
happy lot it was to have been born at that time, that He might send them on
before into His kingdom; He, since He was Himself an infant, so arranging
it that human infants should be martyrs, slain, according to the
Scriptures, for the sake of Christ, who was born in Bethlehem of Judah, in
the city of David.(4)
5. Therefore did the Lord also say to His disciples after the
resurrection, "O thoughtless ones, and slow of heart to believe all that
the prophets have spoken! Ought not Christ to have suffered these things,
and to enter into His glory?"(5) And again does He say to them: "These are
the words which I spoke unto you while I was yet with you, that all things
must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses, and in the
prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning Me. Then opened He their
understanding, that they should understand the Scriptures, and said unto
them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise
again from the dead, and that repentance for the remission of sins be
preached in His name among all nations."(6) Now this is He who was born of
Mary; for He says: "The Son of man must suffer many things, and be
rejected, and crucified, and on the third day rise again."(7) The Gospel,
therefore, knew no other son of man but Him who was of Mary, who also
suffered; and no Christ who flew away from Jesus before the passion; but
Him who was born it knew as Jesus Christ the Son of God, and that this same
suffered and rose again, as John, the disciple of the Lord, verities,
saying: "But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might have eternal life in
His name,"(8)--foreseeing these blasphemous systems which divide the Lord,
as far as lies in their power, saying that He was formed of two different
substances. For this reason also he has thus testified to us in his
Epistle: "Little children, it is the last time; and as ye have heard that
Antichrist doth come, now have many antichrists appeared; whereby we know
that it is the last time. They went out from us, but they were not of us;
for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us: but [they
departed], that they might be made manifest that they are not of us. Know
ye therefore, that every lie is from without, and is not of the truth. Who
is a liar, but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? This is
Antichrist."(9)
6. But inasmuch as all those before mentioned, although they certainly
do with their tongue confess one Jesus Christ, make fools of themselves,
thinking one thing and saying another;(10) for their hypotheses vary, as I
have already shown, alleging, [as they do,] that one Being suffered and was
born, and that this was Jesus; but that there was another who descended
upon Him, and that this was Christ, who also ascended again; and they
argue, that he who proceeded from the Demiurge, or he who was
dispensational, or he who sprang from Joseph, was the Being subject to
suffering; but upon the latter there descended from the invisible and
ineffable [places] the former, whom they assert to be incomprehensible,
invisible, and impassible: they thus wander from the truth, because their
doctrine departs from Him who is truly God, being ignorant that His only-
begotten Word, who is always present with the human race, united to and
mingled with His own creation, according to the Father's pleasure, and who
became flesh, is Himself Jesus Christ our Lord, who did also suffer for us,
and rose again on our behalf, and who will come again in the glory of His
Father, to raise up all flesh, and for the manifestation of salvation, and
to apply the rule of just judgment to all who were made by Him. There is
therefore, as I have pointed out, one God the Father, and one Christ Jesus,
who came by means of the whole dispensational arrangements [connected with
Him], and gathered together all things in Himself.(1) But in every respect,
too, He is man, the formation of God; and thus He took up man into Himself,
the invisible becoming visible, the incomprehensible being made
comprehensible, the impassible becoming capable of suffering, and the Word
being made man, thus summing up all things in Himself: so that as in super-
celestial, spiritual, and invisible things, the Word of God is supreme, so
also in things visible and corporeal He might possess the supremacy, and,
taking to Himself the pre-eminence, as well as constituting Himself Head of
the Church, He might draw all things to Himself at the proper time.
7. With Him is nothing incomplete or out of due season, just as with
the Father there is nothing incongruous. For all these things were
foreknown by the Father; but the Son works them out at the proper time in
perfect order and sequence. This was the reason why, when Mary was urging
[Him] on to [perform] the wonderful miracle of the wine, and was desirous
before the time to partake(2) of the cup of emblematic significance, the
Lord, checking her untimely haste, said, "Woman, what have I to do with
thee? mine hour is not yet come"(3)--waiting for that hour which was
foreknown by the Father. This is also the reason why, when men were often
desirous to take Him, it is said, "No man laid hands upon Him, for the
hour of His being taken was not yet come;"(4) nor the time of His passion,
which had been foreknown by the Father; as also says the prophet Habakkuk,
"By this Thou shalt be known when the years have drawn nigh; Thou shalt be
set forth when the time comes; because my soul is disturbed by anger, Thou
shalt remember Thy mercy."(5) Paul also says: "But when the fulness of time
came, God sent forth His Son."(6) By which is made manifest, that all
things which had been foreknown of the Father, our Lord did accomplish in
their order, season, and hour, foreknown and fitting, being indeed one and
the same, but rich and great. For He fulfils the bountiful and
comprehensive will of His Father, inasmuch as He is Himself the Saviour of
those who are saved, and the Lord of those who are under authority, and the
God of all those things which have been formed, the only-begotten of the
Father, Christ who was announced, and the Word of God, who became incarnate
when the fulness of time had come, at which the Son of God had to become
the Son of man.
8. All, therefore, are outside of the [Christian] dispensation, who,
under pretext of knowledge, understand that Jesus was one, and Christ
another, and the Only-begotten another, from whom again is the Word, and
that the Saviour is another, whom these disciples of error allege to be a
production of those who were made Aeons in a state of degeneracy. Such men
are to outward appearance sheep; for they appear to be like us, by what
they say in public, repeating the same words as we do; but inwardly they
are wolves. Their doctrine is homicidal, conjuring up, as it does, a number
of gods, and simulating many Fathers, but lowering and dividing the Son of
God in many ways. These are they against whom the Lord has cautioned us
beforehand; and His disciple, in his Epistle already mentioned, commands us
to avoid them, when he says: "For many deceivers are entered into the
world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a
deceiver and an antichrist. Take heed to them, that ye lose not what ye
have wrought."(7) And again does he say in the Epistle: "Many false
prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God:
Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of
God; and every spirit which separates Jesus Christ is not of God, but is of
antichrist."(8) These words agree with what was said in the Gospel, that
"the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us." Wherefore he again exclaims
in his Epistle, "Every one that believeth that Jesus is the Christ, has
been born of God;"(9) knowing Jesus Christ to be one and the same, to whom
the gates of heaven were opened, because of His taking upon Him flesh: who
shall also come in the same flesh in which He suffered, revealing the
glory of the Father.
9. Concurring with these statements, Paul, speaking to the Romans,
declares: "Much more they who receive abundance of grace and righteousness
for [eternal] life, shall reign by one, Christ Jesus."(10) It follows from
this, that he knew nothing of that Christ who flew away from Jesus; nor did
he of the Saviour above, whom they hold to be impassible. For if, in truth,
the one suffered, and the other remained incapable of suffering, and the
one was born, but the other descended upon him who was born, and left him
gain, it is not one, but two, that are shown forth. But that the apostle
did know Him as one, both who was born and who suffered, namely Christ
Jesus, he again says in the same Epistle: "Know ye not, that so many of us
as were baptized in Christ Jesus were baptized in His death? that like as
Christ rose from the dead, so should we also walk in newness of life."(1)
But again, showing that Christ did suffer, and was Himself the Son of God,
who died for us, and redeemed us with His blood at the time appointed
beforehand, he says: "For how is it, that Christ, when we were yet without
strength, in due time died for the ungodly? But God commendeth His love
towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much
more, then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath
through Him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the
death of His Son; much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His
life."(2) He declares in the plainest manner, that the same Being who was
laid hold of, and underwent suffering, and shed His blood for us, was both
Christ and the Son of God, who did also rise again, and was taken up into
heaven, as he himself [Paul] says: "But at the same time, [it, is] Christ
[that] died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the fight hand
of God."(3) And again, "Knowing that Christ, rising from the dead, dieth no
more:"(4) for, as himself foreseeing, through the Spirit, the subdivisions
of evil teachers [with regard to the Lord's person], and being desirous of
cutting away from them all occasion of cavil, he says what has been already
stated, [and also declares:] "But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus
from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall
also quicken your mortal bodies."(5) This he does not utter to those alone
who wish to hear: Do not err, [he says to all:] Jesus Christ, the Son of
God, is one and the same, who did by suffering reconcile us to God, and
rose from the dead; who is at the right hand of the Father, and perfect in
all things; "who, when He was buffeted, struck not in return; who, when He
suffered, threatened not;"(6) and when He underwent tyranny, He prayed His
Father that He would forgive those who had crucified Him. For He did
Himself truly bring in salvation: since He is Himself the Word of God,
Himself the Only-begotten of the Father, Christ Jesus our Lord.
CHAP. XVII.--THE APOSTLES TEACH THAT IT WAS NEITHER CHRIST NOR THE SAVIOUR,
BUT THE HOLY SPIRIT, WHO DID DESCEND UPON JESUS. THE REASON FOR THIS
DESCENT.
1. It certainly was in the power of the apostles to declare that Christ
descended upon Jesus, or that the so-called superior Saviour [came down]
upon the dispensational one, or he who is from the invisible places upon
him from the Demiurge; but they neither knew nor said anything of the kind:
for, had they known it, they would have also certainly stated it. But what
really was the case, that did they record, [namely,] that the Spirit of God
as a dove descended upon Him; this Spirit, of whom it was declared by
Isaiah, "And the Spirit of God shall rest upon Him,"(7) as I have already
said. And again: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath
anointed Me."(8) That is the Spirit of whom the Lord declares, "For it is
not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you."(9)
And again, giving to the disciples the power of regeneration into God,(10)
He said to them," Go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."(11) For [God] promised,
that in the last times He would pour Him [the Spirit] upon [His] servants
and handmaids, that they might prophesy; wherefore He did also descend upon
the Son of God, made the Son of man, becoming accustomed in fellowship with
Him to dwell in the human race, to rest with human beings, and to dwell in
the workmanship of God, working the will of the Father in them, and
renewing them from their old habits into the newness of Christ.
2. This Spirit did David ask for the human race, saying, "And stablish
me with Thine all-governing Spirit;"(12) who also, as Luke says, descended
at the day of Pentecost upon the disciples after the Lord's ascension,
having power to admit all nations to the entrance of life, and to the
opening of the new covenant; from whence also, with one accord in all
languages, they uttered praise to God, the Spirit bringing distant tribes
to unity, and offering to the Father the first-fruits of all nations.
Wherefore also the Lord promised to send the Comforter,(13) who should join
us to God. For as a compacted lump of dough cannot be formed of dry wheat
without fluid matter, nor can a loaf possess unity, so, in like manner,
neither could we, being many, be made one in Christ Jesus without the water
from heaven. And as dry earth does not bring forth unless it receive
moisture, in like manner we also, being originally a dry tree, could never
have brought forth fruit unto life without the voluntary rain from above.
For our bodies have received unity among themselves by means of that layer
which leads to incorruption; but our souls, by means of the Spirit.
Wherefore both are necessary, since both contribute towards the life of
God, our Lord compassionating that erring Samaritan woman(1)--who did not
remain with one husband, but committed fornication by [contracting] many
marriages--by pointing out, and promising to her living water, so that she
should thirst no more, nor occupy herself in acquiring the refreshing water
obtained by labour, having in herself water springing up to eternal life.
The Lord, receiving this as a gift from His Father, does Himself also
confer it upon those who are partakers of Himself, sending the Holy Spirit
upon all the earth.
3. Gideon,(2) that Israelite whom God chose, that he might save the
people of Israel from the power of foreigners, foreseeing this gracious
gift, changed his request, and prophesied that there would be dryness upon
the fleece of wool (a type of the people), on which alone at first there
had been dew; thus indicating that they should no longer have the Holy
Spirit from God, as saith Esaias, "I will also command the clouds, that
they rain no rain upon it,"(3) but that the dew, which is the Spirit of
God, who descended upon the Lord, should be diffused throughout all the
earth, "the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and
might, the spirit of knowledge and piety, the spirit of the fear of
God."(4) This Spirit, again, He did confer upon the Church, sending
throughout all the world the Comforter from heaven, from whence also the
Lord tells us that the devil, like lightning, was cast down.(5) Wherefore
we have need of the dew of God, that we be not consumed by fire, nor be
rendered unfruitful, and that where we have an accuser there we may have
also an Advocate,(6) the Lord commending to the Holy Spirit His own man,(7)
who had fallen among thieves,(8) whom He Himself compassionated, and bound
up his wounds, giving two royal denaria; so that we, receiving by the
Spirit the image and superscription of the Father and the Son, might cause
the denarium entrusted to us to be fruitful, counting out the increase
[thereof] to the Lord.(9)
4. The Spirit, therefore, descending under the predestined
dispensation, and the Son of God, the Only-begotten, who is also the Word
of the Father, coming in the fulness of time, having become incarnate in
man for the sake of man, and fulfilling all the conditions of human nature,
our Lord Jesus Christ being one and the same, as He Himself the Lord doth
testify, as the apostles confess, and as the prophets announce,--all the
doctrines of these men who have invented putative Ogdoads and Tetrads, and
imagined subdivisions [of the Lord's person], have been proved falsehoods.
These(10) men do, in fact, set the Spirit aside altogether; they understand
that Christ was one and Jesus another; and they teach that there was not
one Christ, but many. And if they speak of them as united, they do again
separate them: for they show that one did indeed undergo sufferings, but
that the other remained impassible; that the one truly did ascend to the
Pleroma, but the other remained in the intermediate place; that the one
does truly feast and revel in places invisible and above all name, but that
the other is seated with the Demiurge, emptying him of power. It will
therefore be incumbent upon thee, and all others who give their attention
to this writing, and are anxious about their own salvation, not readily to
express acquiescence when they hear abroad the speeches of these men: for,
speaking things resembling the [doctrine of the] faithful, as I have
already observed, not only do they hold opinions which are different, but
absolutely contrary, and in all points full of blasphemies, by which they
destroy those persons who, by reason of the resemblance of the words,
imbibe a poison which disagrees with their constitution, just as if one,
giving lime mixed with water for milk, should mislead by the similitude of
the colour; as a man" superior to me has said, concerning all that in any
way corrupt the things of God and adulterate the truth, "Lime is wickedly
mixed with the milk of God."
CHAP. XVIII.--CONTINUATION OF THE FOREGOING ARGUMENT. PROOFS FROM THE
WRITINGS OF ST. PAUL, AND FROM THE WORDS OF OUR LORD, THAT CHRIST AND JESUS
CANNOT BE CONSIDERED AS DISTINCT BEINGS; NEITHER CAN IT BE ALLEGED THAT THE
SON OF GOD BECAME MAN MERELY IN APPEARANCE, BUT THAT HE DID SO TRULY AND
ACTUALLY.
1.(12) As it has been clearly demonstrated that the Word, who existed
in the beginning with God, by whom all things were made, who was also
always present with mankind, was in these last days, according to the time
appointed by the Father, united to His own workmanship, inasmuch as He
became a man liable to suffering, [it follows] that every objection is set
aside of those who say, "If our Lord was born at that time, Christ had
therefore no previous existence." For I have shown that the Son of God did
not then begin to exist, being with the Father from the beginning; but when
He became incarnate, and was made man, He commenced afresh(1) the long line
of human beings, and furnished us, in a brief, comprehensive manner, with
salvation; so that what we had lost in Adam--namely, to be according to the
image and likeness of God--that we might recover in Christ Jesus.
2. For as it was not possible that the man who had once for all been
conquered, and who had been destroyed through disobedience, could reform
himself, and obtain the prize of victory; and as it was also impossible
that he could attain to salvation who had fallen under the power of sin,--
the Son effected both these things, being the Word of God, descending from
the Father, becoming incarnate, stooping low, even to death, and
consummating the arranged plan of our salvation, upon whom [Paul],
exhorting us unhesitatingly to believe, again says, "Who shall ascend into
heaven? that is, to bring down Christ; or who shall descend into the deep?
that is, to liberate Christ again from the dead."(2) Then he continues, "If
thou shall confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in
thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shall be
saved."(3) And he renders the reason why the Son of God did these things,
saying, "For to this end Christ both lived, and died, and revived, that He
might rule over the living and the dead."(4) And again, writing to the
Corinthians, he declares, "But we preach Christ Jesus crucified;"(5) and
adds, "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the
blood of Christ?"(6)
3. But who is it that has had fellowship with us in the matter of food?
Whether is it he who is conceived of by them as the Christ above, who
extended himself through Horos, and imparted a form to their mother; or is
it He who is from the Virgin, Emmanuel, who did eat butter and honey,(7) of
whom the prophet declared, "He is also a man, and who shall know him?"(8)
He was likewise preached by Paul: "For I delivered," he says, "unto you
first of all, that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures;
and that He was buried, and rose again the third day, according to the
Scriptures."(9) It is plain, then, that Paul knew no other Christ besides
Him alone, who both suffered, and was buried, and rose gain, who was also
born, and whom he speaks of as man. For after remarking, "But if Christ be
preached, that He rose from the dead,"(10) he continues, rendering the
reason of His incarnation, "For since by man came death, by man [came] also
the resurrection of the dead." And everywhere, when [referring to] the
passion of our Lord, and to His human nature, and His subjection to death,
he employs the name of Christ, as in that passage: "Destroy not him with
thy meat for whom Christ died."(11) And again: "But now, in Christ, ye who
sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ."(12) And
again: "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a
curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth upon a
tree."(13) And again: "And through thy knowledge shall the weak brother
perish, for whom Christ died;"(14) indicating that the impassible Christ
did not descend upon Jesus, but that He Himself, because He was Jesus
Christ, suffered for us; He, who lay in the tomb, and rose again, who
descended and ascended,--the Son of God having been made the Son of man, as
the very name itself doth declare. For in the name of Christ is implied, He
that anoints, He that is anointed, and the unction itself with which He is
anointed. And it is the Father who anoints, but the Son who is anointed by
the Spirit, who is the unction, as the Word declares by Isaiah, "The Spirit
of the Lord is upon me, because He hath anointed me,"(15)--pointing out
both the anointing Father, the anointed Son, and the unction, which is the
Spirit.
4. The Lord Himself, too, makes it evident who it was that suffered;
for when He asked the disciples, "Who do men say that I, the Son of man,
am?"(16) and when Peter had replied, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the
living God;" and when he had been commended by Him [in these words], "That
flesh and blood had not revealed it to him, but the Father who is in
heaven," He made it clear that He, the Son of man, is Christ the Son of the
living God. "For from that time forth," it is said, "He began to show to
His disciples, how that He must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things
of the priests, and be rejected, and crucified, and rise again the third
day."(1) He who was acknowledged by Peter as Christ, who pronounced him
blessed because the Father had revealed the Son of the living God to him,
said that He must Himself suffer many things, and be crucified; and then He
rebuked Peter, who imagined that He was the Christ as the generality of men
supposed(2) [that the Christ should be], and was averse to the idea of His
suffering, [and] said to the disciples, "If any man will come after Me, let
him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whosoever will
save his life, shall lose it; and whosoever will lose it for My sake shall
save it."(3) For these things Christ spoke openly, He being Himself the
Saviour of those who should be delivered over to death for their confession
of Him, and lose their lives.
5. If, however, He was Himself not to suffer, but should fly away from
Jesus, why did He exhort His disciples to take up the cross and follow
Him,--that cross which these men represent Him as not having taken up, but
[speak of Him] as having relinquished the dispensation of suffering? For
that He did not say this with reference to the acknowledging of the Stauros
(cross) above, as some among them venture to expound, but with respect to
the suffering which He should Himself undergo, and that His disciples
should endure, He implies when He says, "For whosoever will save his life,
shall lose it; and whosoever will lose, shall find it. And that His
disciples must suffer for His sake, He [implied when He] said to the Jews,
"Behold, I send you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them
ye shall kill and crucify."(4) And to the disciples He was wont to say,
"And ye shall stand before governors and kings for My sake; and they shall
scourge some of you, and slay you, and persecute you from city to city."(5)
He knew, therefore, both those who should suffer persecution, and He knew
those who should have to be scourged and slain because of Him; and He did
not speak of any other cross, but of the suffering which He should Himself
undergo first, and His disciples afterwards. For this purpose did He give
them this exhortation: "Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able
to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to send both soul and
body into hell;"(6) [thus exhorting them] to hold fast those professions of
faith which they had made in reference to Him. For He promised to confess
before His Father those who should confess His name before men; but
declared that He would deny those who should deny Him, and would be ashamed
of those who should be ashamed to confess Him. And although these things
are so, some of these men have proceeded to such a degree of temerity, that
they even pour contempt upon the martyrs, and vituperate those who are
slain on account of the confession of the Lord, and who suffer all things
predicted by the Lord, and who in this respect strive to follow the
footprints of the Lord's passion, having become martyrs of the suffering
One; these we do also enrol with the martyrs themselves. For, when
inquisition shall be made for their blood,(7) and they shall attain to
glory, then all shall be confounded by Christ, who have cast a slur upon
their martyrdom. And from this fact, that He exclaimed upon the cross,
"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do,"(8) the long-
suffering, patience, compassion, and goodness of Christ are exhibited,
since He both suffered, and did Himself exculpate those who had maltreated
Him. For the Word of God, who said to us, "Love your enemies, and pray for
those that hate you,"(9) Himself did this very thing upon the cross; loving
the human race to such a degree, that He even prayed for those putting Him
to death. If, however, any one, going upon the supposition that there are
two[Christs], forms a judgment in regard to them, that [Christ] shall be
found much the better one, and more patient, and the truly good one, who,
in the midst of His own wounds and stripes, and the other [cruelties]
inflicted upon Him, was beneficent, and unmindful of the wrongs perpetrated
upon Him, than he who flew away, and sustained neither injury nor insult.
6. This also does likewise meet [the case] of those who maintain that
He suffered only in appearance. For if He did not truly suffer, no thanks
to Him, since there was no suffering at all; and when we shall actually
begin to suffer, He will seem as leading us astray, exhorting us to endure
buffering, and to turn the other(10) cheek, if He did not Himself before
us in reality suffer the same; and as He misled them by seeming to them
what He was not, so does He also mislead us, by exhorting us to endure what
He did not endure Himself. [In that case] we shall be even above the
Master, because we suffer and sustain what our Master never bore or
endured. But as our Lord is alone truly Master, so the Son of God is truly
good and patient, the Word of God the Father having been made the Son of
man. For He fought and conquered; for He was man contending for the
fathers,(11) and through obedience doing away with disobedience completely:
for He bound the strong man,(1) and set free the weak, and endowed His own
handiwork with salvation, by destroying sin. For He is a most holy and
merciful Lord, and loves the human race.
7. Therefore, as I have already said, He caused man (human nature) to
cleave to and to become, one with God. For unless man had overcome the
enemy of man, the enemy would not have been legitimately vanquished. And
again: unless it had been God who had freely given salvation, we could
never have possessed it securely. And unless man had been joined to God, he
could never have become a partaker of incorruptibility. For it was
incumbent upon the Mediator between God and men, by His relationship to
both, to bring both to friendship and concord, and present man to God,
while He revealed God to man.(2) For, in what way could we be partaken of
the adoption of sons, unless we had received from Him through the Son that
fellowship which refers to Himself, unless His Word, having been made
flesh, had entered into communion with us? Wherefore also He passed through
every stage of life, restoring to all communion with God. Those, therefore,
who assert that He appeared putatively, and was neither born in the flesh
nor truly made man, are as yet under the old condemnation, holding out
patronage to sin; for, by their showing, death has not been vanquished,
which "reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after
the similitude of Adam's transgression."(3) But the law coming, which was
given by Moses, and testifying of sin that it is a sinner, did truly take
away his (death's) kingdom, showing that he was no king, but a robber; and
it revealed him as a murderer. It laid, however, a weighty burden upon man,
who had sin in himself, showing that he was liable to death. For as the law
was spiritual, it merely made sin to stand out in relief, but did not
destroy it. For sin had no dominion over the spirit, but over man. For it
behoved Him who was to destroy sin, and redeem man under the power of
death, that He should Himself be made that very same thing which he was,
that is, man; who had been drawn by sin into bondage, but was held by
death, so that sin should be destroyed by man, and man should go forth from
death. For as by the disobedience of the one man who was originally moulded
from virgin soil, the many were made sinners,(4) and forfeited life; so was
it necessary that, by the obedience of one man, who was originally born
from a virgin, many should be justified and receive salvation. Thus, then,
was the Word of God made man, as also Moses says: "God, true are His
works."(5) But if, not having been made flesh, He did appear as if flesh,
His work was not a true one. But what He did appear, that He also was: God
recapitulated in Himself the ancient formation of man, that He might kill
sin, deprive death of its power, and vivify man; and therefore His works
are true.
CHAP. XIX.--JESUS CHRIST WAS NOT A MERE MAN, BEGOTTEN FROM JOSEPH IN THE
ORDINARY COURSE OF NATURE, BUT WAS VERY GOD, BEGOTTEN OF THE FATHER MOST
HIGH, AND VERY MAN, BORN' OF THE VIRGIN.
1. But again, those who assert that He was simply a mere man, begotten
by Joseph, remaining in the bondage of the old disobedience, are in a state
of death having been not as yet joined to the Word of God the Father, nor
receiving liberty through the Son, as He does Himself declare: "If the Son
shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed."(6) But, being ignorant of
Him who from the Virgin is Emmanuel, they are deprived of His gift, which
is eternal life;(7) and not receiving the incorruptible Word, they remain
in mortal flesh, and are debtors to death, not obtaining the antidote of
life. To whom the Word says, mentioning His own gift of grace: "I said, Ye
are all the sons of the Highest, and gods; but ye shall die like men."(8)
He speaks undoubtedly these words to those who have not received the gift
of adoption, but who despise the incarnation of the pure generation of the
Word of God,(9) defraud human nature of promotion into God, and prove
themselves ungrateful to the Word of God, who became flesh for them. For it
was for this end that the Word of God was made man, and He who was the Son
of God became the Son of man, that man, having been taken into the Word,
and receiving the adoption, might become the son of God. For by no other
means could we have attained to incorruptibility and immortality, unless we
had been united to incorruptibility and immortality. But how could we be
joined to incorruptibility and immortality, unless, first, incorruptibility
and immortality had become that which we also are, so that the corruptible
might be swallowed up by incorruptibility, and the mortal by immortality,
that might receive the adoption of sons?
2. For this reason [it is ,said], "Who shall declare His
generation?"(1) since "He is a man, and who shall recognise Him?"(2) But he
to whom the Father which is in heaven has revealed Him,(3) knows Him, so
that he understands that He who "was not born either by the will of the
flesh, or by the will of man,"(4) is the Son of man, this is Christ, the
Son of the living God. For I have shown from the Scriptures,(5) that no one
of the sons of Adam is as to everything, and absolutely, called God, or
named Lord. But that He is Himself in His own right, beyond all men who
ever lived, God, and Lord, and King Eternal, and the Incarnate Word,
proclaimed by all the prophets, the apostles, and by the Spirit Himself,
may be seen by all who have attained to even a small portion of the truth.
Now, the Scriptures would not have testified these things of Him, if, like
others, He had been a mere man. But that He had, beyond all others, in
Himself that pre-eminent birth which is from the Most High Father, and also
experienced that pre-eminent generation which is from the Virgin,(6) the
divine Scriptures do in both respects testify of Him: also, that He was a
man without comeliness, and liable to suffering;(7) that He sat upon the
foal of an ass;(8) that He received for drink, vinegar and gall;(9) that He
was despised among the people, and humbled Himself even to death and that
He is the holy Lord, the Wonderful, the Counsellor, the Beautiful in
appearance, and the Mighty God,(10) coming on the clouds as the Judge of
all men;(11)--all these things did the Scriptures prophesy of Him.
3. For as He became man in order to undergo temptation, so also was He
the Word that He might be glorified; the Word remaining quiescent, that He
might be capable of being tempted, dishonoured, crucified, and of suffering
death, but the human nature being swallowed up in it (the divine), when it
conquered, and endured [without yielding], and performed acts of kindness,
and rose again, and was received up [into heaven]. He therefore, the Son of
God, our Lord, being the Word of the Father, and the Son of man, since He
had a generation as to His human nature from Mary--who was descended from
mankind, and who was herself a human being--was made the Son of man.(12)
Wherefore also the Lord Himself gave us a sign, in the depth below, and in
the height above, which man did not ask for, because he never expected that
a virgin could conceive, or that it was possible that one remaining a
virgin could bring forth a son, and that what was thus born should be" God
with us," and descend to those things which are of the earth beneath,
seeking the sheep which had perished, which was indeed His own peculiar
handiwork, and ascend to the height above, offering and commending to His
Father that human nature (hominem) which had been found, making in His own
person the first-fruits of the resurrection of man; that, as the Head rose
from the dead, so also the remaining pan of the body--[namely, the body] of
every man who is found in life--when the time is fulfilled of that
condemnation which existed by reason of disobedience, may arise, blended
together and strengthened through means of joints and bands(13) by the
increase of God, each of the members having its own proper and fit position
in the body. For there are many mansions in the Father's house,(14)
inasmuch as there are also many members in the body.
CHAP.XX.--GOD SHOWED HIMSELF, BY THE FALL OF MAN, AS PATIENT, BENIGN,
MERCIFUL, MIGHTY TO SAVE. MAN IS THEREFORE MOST UNGRATEFUL, IF, UNMINDFUL
OF HIS OWN LOT, AND OF THE BENEFITS HELD OUT TO HIM, HE DO NOT ACKNOWLEDGE
DIVINE GRACE.
1. Long-suffering therefore was God, when man became a defaulter, as
foreseeing that victory which should be granted to him through the Word.
For, when strength was made perfect in weakness,(15) it showed the kindness
and transcendent power of God. For as He patiently suffered Jonah to be
swallowed by the whale, not that he should be swallowed up and perish
altogether, but that, having been cast out again, he might be the more
subject to God, and might glorify Him the more who had conferred upon him
such an unhoped-for deliverance, and might bring the Ninevites to a lasting
repentance, so that they should be convened to the Lord, who would deliver
them from death, having been struck with awe by that portent which had been
wrought in Jonah's case, as the Scripture says of them, "And they returned
each from his evil way, and the unrighteousness which was in their hands,
saying, Who knoweth if God will repent, and turn away His anger from us,
and we shall not perish?"(16)--so also, from the beginning, did God permit
man to be swallowed up by the great whale, who was the author of
transgression, not that he should perish altogether when so engulphed; but,
arranging and preparing the plan of salvation, which was accomplished by
the Word, through the sign of Jonah, for those who held the same opinion as
Jonah regarding the Lord, and who confessed, and said, "I am a servant of
the Lord, and I worship the Lord God of heaven, who hath made the sea and
the dry land."(1) [This was done] that man, receiving an unhoped-for
salvation from God, might rise from the dead, and glorify God, and repeat
that word which was uttered in prophecy by Jonah: "I cried by reason of
mine affliction to the Lord my God, and He heard me out of the belly of
hell;"(2) and that he might always continue glorifying God, and giving
thanks without ceasing, for that salvation which he has derived from Him,
"that no flesh should glory in the Lord's presence;"(3) and that man should
never adopt an opposite opinion with regard to God, supposing that the
incorruptibility which belongs to him is his own naturally, and by thus not
holding the truth, should boast with empty superciliousness, as if he were
naturally like to God. For he (Satan) thus rendered him (man) more
ungrateful towards his Creator, obscured the love which God had towards
man, and blinded his mind not to perceive what is worthy of God, comparing
himself with, and judging himself equal to, God.
2. This, therefore, was the [object of the] long-suffering of God, that
man, passing through all things, and acquiring the knowledge of moral
discipline, then attaining to the resurrection from the dead, and learning
by experience what is the source of his deliverance, may always live in a
state of gratitude to the Lord, having obtained from Him the gift of
incorruptibility, that he might love Him the more; for "he to whom more is
forgiven, loveth more:"(4) and that he may know himself, how mortal and
weak he is; while he also understands respecting God, that He is immortal
and powerful to such a degree as to confer immortality upon what is mortal,
and eternity upon what is temporal; and may understand also the other
attributes of God displayed towards himself, by means of which being
instructed he may think of God in accordance with the divine greatness. For
the glory of man [is] God, but [His] works [are the glory] of God; and the
receptacle of all His. wisdom and power [is] man. Just as the physician is
proved by his patients, so is God also revealed through men. And therefore
Paul declares, "For God hath concluded all in unbelief, that He may have
mercy upon all;"(5) not saying this in reference to spiritual Aeons, but to
man, who had been disobedient to God, and being cast off from immortality,
then obtained mercy, receiving through the Son of God that adoption which
is [accomplished] by Himself. For he who holds, without pride and boasting,
the true glory (opinion) regarding created things and the Creator, who is
the Almighty God of all, and who has granted existence to all; [such an
one,] continuing in His love(6) and subjection, and giving of thanks, shall
also receive from Him the greater glory of promotion,(7) looking forward to
the time when he shall become like Him who died for him, for He, too, "was
made in the likeness of sinful flesh,"(8) to condemn sin, and to cast it,
as now a condemned thing, away beyond the flesh, but that He might call man
forth into His own likeness, assigning him as [His own] imitator to God,
and imposing on him His Father's law, in order that he may see God, and
granting him power to receive the Father; [being](9) the Word of God who
dwelt in man, and became the Son of man, that He might accustom man to
receive God, and God to dwell in man, according to the good pleasure of the
Father.
3. On this account, therefore, the Lord Himself,(10) who is Emmanuel
from the Virgin,(11) is the sign of our salvation, since it was the Lord
Himself who saved them, because they could not be saved by their own
instrumentality; and, therefore, when Paul sets forth human infirmity, he
says: "For I know that there dwelleth in my flesh no good thing,"(12)
showing that the "good thing" of our salvation is not from us, but from
God. And again: "Wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body
of this death?"(13) Then he introduces the Deliverer, [saying,] "The grace
of Jesus Christ our Lord." And Isaiah declares this also, [when he says:]
"Be ye strengthened, ye hands that hang down, and ye feeble knees; be ye
encouraged, ye feeble-minded; be comforted, fear not: behold, our God has
given judgment with retribution, and shall recompense: He will come
Himself, and will save us."(14) Here we see, that not by ourselves, but by
the help of God, we must be saved.
4. Again, that it should not be a mere man who should save us, nor
[one] without flesh--for the angels are without flesh--[the same prophet]
announced, saying: "Neither an eider,(1) nor angel, but the Lord Himself
will save them because He loves them, and will spare them He will Himself
set them free."(2) And that He should Himself become very man, visible,
when He should be the Word giving salvation, Isaiah again sap: "Behold,
city of Zion: thine eyes shall see our salvation."(3) And that it was not a
mere man who died for us, Isaiah says: "And the holy Lord remembered His
dead Israel, who had slept in the land of sepulture; and He came down to
preach His salvation to them, that He might save them."(4) And Amos (Micah)
the prophet declares the same: "He will turn again, and will have
compassion upon us: He will destroy our iniquities, and will cast our sins
into the depths of the sea."(5) And again, specifying the place of His
advent, he says: "The Lord hath spoken from Zion, and He has uttered His
voice from Jerusalem."(6) And that it is from that region which is towards
the south of the inheritance of Judah that the Son of God shall come, who
is God, and who was from Bethlehem, where the Lord was born [and] will send
out His praise through all the earth, thus(7) says the prophet Habakkuk:
"God shall come from the south, and the Holy One from Mount, Effrem. His
power covered the heavens over, and the earth is full of His praise. Before
His face shall go forth the Word, and His feet shall advance in the
plains."(8) Thus he indicates in clear terms that He is God, and that His
advent was [to take place] in Bethlehem, and from Mount Effrem, which is
towards the south of the inheritance, and that [He is] man. For he says,
"His feet shall advance in the plains:" and this is an indication proper to
man.(9)
CHAP. XXI.--A VINDICATION OF THE PROPHECY IN ISAIAH (VII. 14) AGAINST THE
MISINTERPRETATIONS OF THEODOTION, AQUILA, THE EBIONITES, AND THE JEWS.
AUTHORITY OF THE SEPTUAGINT VERSION. ARGUMENTS IN PROOF THAT CHRIST WAS
BORN OF A VIRGIN.
1. God, then, was made man, and the Lord did Himself save us, giving us
the token of the Virgin. But not as some allege, among those now presuming
to expound the Scripture, [thus:] "Behold, a young woman shall conceive,
and bring forth a son,"(10) as Theodotion the Ephesian has interpreted, and
Aquila of Pontus,(11) both Jewish proselytes. The Ebionites, following
these, assert that He was begotten by Joseph; thus destroying, as far as in
them lies, such a marvellous dispensation of God, and setting aside the
testimony of the prophets which proceeded from God. For truly this
prediction was uttered before the removal of the people to Babylon; that
is, anterior to the supremacy acquired by the Medes and Persians. But it
was interpreted into Greek by the Jews themselves, much before the period
of our Lord's advent, that there might remain no suspicion that perchance
the Jews, complying with our humour, did put this interpretation upon these
words. They indeed, had they been cognizant of our future existence, and
that we should use these proofs from the Scriptures, would themselves never
have hesitated to burn their own Scriptures, which do declare that all
other nations partake of [eternal] life, and show that they who boast
themselves as being the house of Jacob and the people of Israel, am
disinherited from the grace of God.
2. For before the Romans possessed their kingdom,(12) while as yet the
Macedonians held Asia, Ptolemy the son of Lagus, being anxious to adorn the
library which he had founded in Alexandria, with a collection of the
writings of all men, which were [works] of merit, made request to the
people of Jerusalem, that they should have their Scriptures translated into
the Greek language. And they--for at that time they were still subject to
the Macedonians--sent to Ptolemy seventy of their elders, who were
thoroughly skilled in the Scriptures and in both the languages, to carry
out what he had desired.(13) But he, wishing to test them individually, and
fearing lest they might perchance, by taking counsel together, conceal the
truth in the Scriptures, by their interpretation, separated them from each
other, and commanded them all to write the same translation. He did this
with respect to all the books. But when they came together in the same
place before Ptolemy, and each of them compared his own interpretation with
that of every other, God was indeed glorified, and the Scriptures were
acknowledged as truly divine. For all of them read out the common
translation [which they had prepared] in the very same words and the very
same names, from beginning to end, so that even the Gentiles present
perceived that the Scriptures had been interpreted by the inspiration of
God.(1) And there was nothing astonishing in God having done this,--He who,
when, during the captivity of the people under Nebuchadnezzar, the
Scriptures had been corrupted, and when, after seventy years, the Jews had
returned to their own land, then, in the times of Artaxerxes king of the
Persians, inspired Esdras the priest, of the tribe of Levi, to recast(2)
all the words of the former prophets, and to re-establish with the people
the Mosaic legislation.
3. Since, therefore, the Scriptures have been interpreted with such
fidelity, and by the grace of God, and since from these God has prepared
and formed again our faith towards His Son, and has preserved to us the
unadulterated Scriptures in Egypt, where the house of Jacob flourished,
fleeing from the famine in Canaan; where also our Lord was preserved when
He fled from the persecution set on foot by Herod; and [since] this
interpretation of these Scriptures was made prior to our Lord's descent [to
earth], and came into being before the Christians appeared--for our Lord
was bern about the forty-first year of the reign of Augustus; but Ptolemy
was much earlier, under whom the Scriptures were interpreted;--[since these
things are so, I say,] truly these men are proved to be impudent and
presumptuous, who would now show a desire to make different translations,
when we refute them out of these Scriptures, and shut them up to a belief
in the advent of the Son of God. But our faith is stedfast, unfeigned, and
the only true one, having clear proof from these Scriptures, which were
interpreted in the way I have related; and the preaching of the Church is
without interpolation. For the apostles, since they are of more ancient
date than all these [heretics], agree with this aforesaid translation; and
the translation harmonizes with the tradition of the apostles. For Peter,
and John, and Matthew, and Paul, and the rest successively, as well as
their followers, did set forth all prophetical [announce-merits], just
as(3) the interpretation of the elders contains them.
4. For the one and the same Spirit of God, who proclaimed by the
prophets what and of what sort the advent of the Lord should be, did by
these elders give a just interpretation of what had been truly prophesied;
and He did Himself, by the apostles, announce that the fulness of the times
of the adoption had arrived, that the kingdom of heaven had drawn nigh, and
that He was dwelling within those that believe on Him who was born Emmanuel
of the Virgin. To this effect they testify, [saying,] that before Joseph
had come together with Mary, while she therefore remained in virginity,
"she was found with child of the Holy Ghost;"(4) and that the angel Gabriel
said unto her, "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the
Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore also that holy thing which shall
be born of thee shall be called the Son of God;"(5) and that the angel said
to Joseph in a dream, "Now this was done, that it might be fulfilled which
was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, Behold, a virgin shall be with child."(6)
But the elders have thus interpreted what Esaias said: "And the Lord,
moreover, said unto Ahaz, Ask for thyself a sign from the Lord thy God out
of the depth below, or from the height above. And Ahaz said, I will not
ask, and I will not tempt the Lord. And he said, It is not a small thing(7)
for you to weary men; and how does the Lord weary them? Therefore the Lord
himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a
son; and ye shall call His name Emmanuel. Butter and honey shall He eat:
before He knows or chooses out things that are evil, He shall exchange them
for what is good; for before the child knows good or evil, He shall not
consent to evil, that He may choose that which is good."(8) Carefully,
then, has the Holy Ghost pointed out, by what has been said, His birth from
a virgin, and His essence, that He is God (for the name Emmanuel indicates
this). And He shows that He is a man, when He says, "Butter and honey shall
He eat;" and in that He terms Him a child also, [in saying,] "before He
knows good and evil;" for these are all the tokens of a human infant. But
that He "will not consent to evil, that He may choose that which is good,"-
-this is proper to God; that by the fact, that He shall eat butter and
honey, we should not understand that He is a mere man only, nor, on the
other hand, from the name Emmanuel, should suspect Him to be God without
flesh.
5. And when He says, "Hear, O house of David,"(9) He performed the part
of one indicaring that He whom God promised David that He would raise up
from the fruit of his belly (ventris) an eternal King, is the same who was
born of the Virgin, herself of the lineage of David. For on this account
also, He promised that the King should be "of the fruit of his belly,"
which was the appropriate [term to use with respect] to a virgin
conceiving, and not "of the fruit of his loins," nor "of the fruit of his
reins," which expression is appropriate to a generating man, and a woman
conceiving by a man. In this promise, therefore, the Scripture excluded all
virile influence; yet it certainly is not mentioned that He who was born
was not from the will of man. But it has fixed and established "the fruit
of the belly," that it might declare the generation of Him who should be
[born] from the Virgin, as Elisabeth testified when filled with the Holy
Ghost, saying to Mary, "Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the
fruit of thy belly;"(1) the Holy Ghost pointing out to those willing to
hear, that the promise which God had made, of raising up a King from the
fruit of [David's] belly, was fulfilled in the birth from the Virgin, that
is, from Mary. Let those, therefore, who alter the passage of Isaiah
thus, "Behold, a young woman shall conceive," and who will have Him to be
Joseph's son, also alter the form of the promise which was given to David,
when God promised him to raise up, from the fruit of his belly, the horn of
Christ the King. But they did not understand, otherwise they would have
presumed to alter even this passage also.
6. But what Isaiah said, "From the height above, or from the depth
beneath,"(2) was meant to indicate, that "He who descended was the same
also who ascended."(3) But in this that he said, "The Lord Himself shall
give you a sign," he declared an unlooked-for thing with regard to His
generation, which could have been accomplished in no other way than by God
the Lord of all, God Himself giving a sign in the house of David. For what
great thing or what sign should have been in this, that a young woman
conceiving by a man should bring forth,--a thing which happens to all women
that produce offspring? But since an unlooked-for salvation was to be
provided for men through the help of God, so also was the unlooked-for
birth from a virgin accomplished; God giving this sign, but man not working
it out.
7. On this account also, Daniel,(4) foreseeing His advent, said that a
stone, cut out without hands, came into this world. For this is what
"without hands" means, that His coming into this world was not by the
operation of human hands, that is, of those men who are accustomed to
stone-cutting; that is, Joseph taking no part with regard to it, but Mary
alone co-operating with the pre-arranged plan. For this stone from the
earth derives existence from both the power and the wisdom of God.
Wherefore also Isaiah says: "Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I deposit in the
foundations of Zion a stone, precious, elect, the chief, the corner-one, to
be had in honour."(5) So, then, we understand that His advent in human
nature was not by the will of a man, but by the will of God.
8. Wherefore also Moses giving a type, cast his rod upon the earth,(6)
in order that it, by becoming flesh, might expose and swallow up all the
opposition of the Egyptians, which was lifting itself up against the pre-
arranged plan of God;(7) that the Egyptians themselves might testify that
it is the finger of God which works salvation for the people, and not the
son of Joseph. For if He were the son of Joseph, how could He be greater
than Solomon, of greater than Jonah,(8) or greater than David,(9) when He
was generated from the same seed, and was a descendant of these men? And
how was it that He also pronounced Peter blessed, because he acknowledged
Him to be the Son of the living God ?(10)
9. But besides, if indeed He had been the son of Joseph, He could not,
according to Jeremiah, be either king or heir. For Joseph is shown to be
the son of Joachim and Jechoniah, as also Matthew sets forth in his
pedigree.(11) But Jechoniah, and all his posterity, were disinherited from
the kingdom; Jeremiah thus declaring, "As I live, saith the Lord, if
Jechoniah the son of Joachim king of Judah had been made the signet of my
right hand, I would pluck him thence, and deliver him into the hand of
those seeking thy life."(12) And again: "Jechoniah is dishonoured as a
useless vessel, for he has been cast into a land which he knew not. Earth,
hear the word of the Lord: Write this man a disinherited person; for none
of his seed, sitting on the throne of David, shall prosper, or be a prince
in Judah."(13) And again, God speaks of Joachim his father: "Therefore thus
saith the Lord concerning Joachim his father, king of Judea, There shall be
from him none sitting upon the throne of David: and his dead body shall be
cast out in the heat of day, and in the frost of night. And I will look
upon him, and upon his sons, and will bring upon them, and upon the
inhabitants of Jerusalem, upon the land of Judah, all the evils that I have
pronounced against them."(1) Those, therefore, who say that He was begotten
of Joseph, and that they have hope in Him, do cause themselves to be
disinherited from the kingdom, failing tinder the curse and rebuke directed
against Jechoniah and his seed. Because for this reason have these things
been spoken concerning Jechoniah, the [Holy] Spirit foreknowing the
doctrines of the evil teachers; that they may learn that from his seed--
that is, from Joseph--He was not to be born but that, according to the
promise of God, from David's belly the King eternal is raised up, who sums
up all things in Himself, and has gathered into Himself the ancient
formation [of man].(2)
10. For as by one man's disobedience sin entered, and death obtained [a
place] through sin; so also by the obedience of one man, righteousness
having been introduced, shall cause life to fructify in those persons who
in times past were dead.(3) And as the protoplast himself Adam, had his
substance from untilled and as yet virgin soil ("for God had not yet sent
rain, and man had not tilled the ground"(4)), and was formed by the hand of
God, that is, by the Word of God, for "all things were made by Him,"(5) and
the Lord took dust from the earth and formed man; so did He who is the
Word, recapitulating Adam in Himself, rightly receive a birth, enabling Him
to gather up Adam [into Himself], from Mary, who was as yet a virgin. If,
then, the first Adam had a man for his father, and was born of human seed,
it were reasonable to say that the second Adam was begotten of Joseph. But
if the former was taken from the dust, and God was his Maker, it was
incumbent that the latter also, making a recapitulation in Himself, should
be formed as man by God, to have an analogy with the former as respects His
origin. Why, then, did not God again take dust, but wrought so that the
formation should be made of Mary? It was that there might not be another
formation called into being, nor any other which should [require to] be
saved, but that the very same formation should be summed up [in Christ as
had existed in Adam], the analogy having been preserved.
CHAP. XXII.--CHRIST ASSUMED ACTUAL FLESH, CONCEIVED AND BORN OF THE VIRGIN.
1. Those, therefore, who allege that He took nothing from the Virgin do
greatly err, [since,] in order that they may cast away the inheritance of
the flesh, they also reject the analogy [between Him and Adam]. For if the
one [who sprang] from the earth had indeed formation and substance from
both the hand and workmanship of God, but the other not from the hand and
workmanship of God, then He who was made after the image and likeness of
the former did not, in that case, preserve the analogy of man, and He must
seem an inconsistent piece of work, not having wherewith He may show His
wisdom. But this is to say, that He also appeared putatively as man when He
was not man, and that He was made man while taking nothing from man. For if
He did not receive the substance of flesh from a human being, He neither
was made man nor the Son of man; and if He was not made what we were, He
did no great thing in what He suffered and endured. But every one will
allow that we are [composed of] a body taken from the earth, and a soul
receiving spirit from God. This, therefore, the Word of God was made,
recapitulating in Himself His own handiwork; and on this account does He
confess Himself the Son of man, and blesses "the meek, because they shall
inherit the earth."(6) The Apostle Paul, moreover, in the Epistle to the
Galatians, declares plainly, "God sent His Son, made of a woman."(7) And
again, in that to the Romans, he says, "Concerning His Son, who was made of
the seed of David according to the flesh, who was predestinated as the Son
of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection
from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord."(8)
2.(9) Superfluous, too, in that case is His descent into Mary; for why
did He come down into her if He were to take nothing of her? Still further,
if He had taken nothing of Mary, He would never have availed Himself of
those kinds of food which are derived from the earth, by which that body
which has been taken from the earth is nourished; nor would He have
hungered, fasting those forty days, like Moses and Elias, unless His body
was craving after its own proper nourishment; nor, again, would John His
disciple have said, when writing of Him, "But Jesus, being wearied with the
journey, was sitting [to rest];"(10) nor would David have proclaimed of Him
beforehand, "They have added to the grief of my wounds;"(11) nor would He
have wept over Lazarus, nor have sweated great drops of blood; nor have
declared, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful;"(12) nor, when His side was
pierced, would there have come forth blood and water. For all these are
tokens of the flesh which had been derived from the earth, which He had
recapitulated in Himself, bearing salvation to His own handiwork.
3. Wherefore Luke points out that the pedigree which traces the
generation of our Lord back to Adam contains seventy-two generations,
connecting the end with the beginning, and implying that it is He who has
summed up in Himself all nations dispersed from Adam downwards, and all
languages and generations of men, together with Adam himself. Hence also
was Adam himself termed by Paul "the figure of Him that was to come,"(1)
because the Word, the Maker of all things, had formed beforehand for
Himself the future dispensation of the human race, connected with the Son
of God; God having predestined that the first man should be of an animal
nature, with this view, that he might be saved by the spiritual One. For
inasmuch as He had a pre-existence as a saving Being, it was necessary that
what might be saved should also be called into existence, in order that the
Being who saves should not exist in vain.
4. In accordance with this design, Mary the Virgin is found obedient,
saying, "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy
word."(2) But Eve was disobedient; for she did not obey when as yet she was
a virgin. And even as she, having indeed a husband, Adam, but being
nevertheless as yet a virgin (for in Paradise "they were both naked, and
were not ashamed,"(3) inasmuch as they, having been created a short time
previously, had no understanding of the procreation of children: for it was
necessary that they should first come to adult age,(4) and then multiply
from that time onward), having become disobedient, was made the cause of
death, both to herself and to the entire human race; so also did Mary,
having a man betrothed [to her], and being nevertheless a virgin, by
yielding obedience, become the cause of salvation, both to herself and the
whole human race. And on this account does the law term a woman betrothed
to a man, the wife of him who had betrothed her, although she was as yet a
virgin; thus indicating the back-reference from Mary to Eve, because what
is joined together could not otherwise be put asunder than by inversion of
the process by which these bonds of union had arisen; s so that the former
ties be cancelled by the latter, that the latter may set the former again
at liberty. And it has, in fact, happened that the first compact looses
from the second tie, but that the second tie takes the position of the
first which has been cancelled.(6) For this reason did the Lord declare
that the first should in truth be last, and the last first.(7) And the
prophet, too, indicates the same, saying, "instead of fathers, children
have been born unto thee."(8) For the Lord, having been born "the First-
begotten of the dead,"(9) and receiving into His bosom the ancient fathers,
has regenerated them into the life of God, He having been made Himself the
beginning of those that live, as Adam became the beginning of those who
die.(10) Wherefore also Luke, commencing the genealogy with the Lord,
carried it back to Adam, indicating that it was He who regenerated them
into the Gospel of life, and not they Him. And thus also it was that the
knot of Eve's disobedience was loosed by the obedience of Mary. For what
the virgin Eve had bound fast through unbelief, this did the virgin Mary
set free through faith.
CHAP. XXIII.--ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION TO TATIAN, SHOWING THAT IT WAS
CONSONANT TO DIVINE JUSTICE AND MERCY THAT THE FIRST ADAM SHOULD FIRST
PARTAKE IN THAT SALVATION OFFERED TO ALL BY CHRIST.
1. It was necessary, therefore, that the Lord, coming to the lost
sheep, and making recapitulation of so comprehensive a dispensation, and
seeking after His own handiwork, should save that very man who had been
created after His image and likeness, that is, Adam, filling up the times
of His condemnation, which had been incurred through disobedience,--[times]
"which the Father had placed in His own power."(11) [This was necessary,]
too, inasmuch as the whole economy of salvation regarding man came to pass
according to the good pleasure of the Father, in order that God might not
be conquered, nor His wisdom lessened, [in the estimation of His
creatures.] For if man, who had been created by God that he might live,
after losing life, through being injured by the serpent that had corrupted
him, should not any more return to life, but should be utterly [and for
ever] abandoned to death, God would [in that case] have been conquered, and
the wickedness of the serpent would have prevailed over the will of God.
But inasmuch as God is invincible and long-suffering, He did indeed show
Himself to be long-suffering in the matter of the correction of man and the
probation of all, as I have already observed; and by means of the second
man did He bind the strong man, and spoiled his goods,(1) and abolished
death, vivifying that man who had been in a state of death. For at the
first Adam became a vessel in his (Satan's) possession, whom he did also
hold under his power, that is, by bringing sin on him iniquitously, and
under colour of immortality entailing death upon him. For, while promising
that they should be as gods, which was in no way possible for him to be, he
wrought death in them: wherefore he who had led man captive, was justly
captured in his turn by God; but man, who had been led captive, was loosed
from the bonds of condemnation.
2. But this is Adam, if the truth should be told, the first formed man,
of whom the Scripture says that the Lord spake, "Let Us make man after Our
own image and likeness;"(2) and we are all from him: and as we are from
him, therefore have we all inherited his title. But inasmuch as man is
saved, it is fitting that he who was created the original man should be
saved. For it is too absurd to maintain, that he who was so deeply injured
by the enemy, and was the first to suffer captivity, was not rescued by Him
who conquered the enemy, but that his children were,--those whom he had
begotten in the same captivity. Neither would the enemy appear to be as
yet conquered, if the old spoils remained with him. To give an
illustration: If a hostile force had overcome certain [enemies], had bound
them, and led them away captive, and held them for a long time in
servitude, so that they begat children among them; and somebody,
compassionating those who had been made slaves, should overcome this same
hostile force; he certainly would not act equitably, were he to liberate
the children of those who had been led captive, from the sway of those who
had enslaved their fathers, but should leave these latter, who had suffered
the act of capture, subject to their enemies,--those, too, on whose very
account he had proceeded to this retaliation,--the children succeeding to
liberty through the avenging of their fathers' cause, but not(3) so that
their fathers, who suffered the act of capture itself, should be left [in
bondage]. For God is neither devoid of power nor of justice, who has
afforded help to man, and restored him to His own liberty.
3. It was for this reason, too, that immediately after Adam had
transgressed, as the Scripture relates, He pronounced no curse against Adam
personally, but against the ground, in reference to his works, as a certain
person among the ancients has observed: "God did indeed transfer the curse
to the earth, that it might not remain in man."(4) But man received, as the
punishment of his transgression, the toilsome task of tilling the earth,
and to eat bread in the sweat of his face, and to return to the dust from
whence he was taken. Similarly also did the woman [receive] toil, and
labour, and groans, and the pangs of parturition, and a state of
subjection, that is, that she should serve her husband; so that they should
neither perish altogether when cursed by God, nor, by remaining
unreprimanded, should be led to despise God. But the curse in all its
fulness fell upon the serpent, which had beguiled them. "And God," it is
declared, "said to the serpent: Because thou hast done this, cubed art thou
above all cattle, and above all the beasts of the earth."(5) And this same
thing does the Lord also say in the Gospel, to those who are found upon the
left hand: "Depart from me, ye cursed, into ever: lasting fire, which my
Father hath prepared for the devil and his angels;"(6) indicating that
eternal fire was not originally prepared for man, but for him who beguiled
man, and caused him to offend--for him, I say, who is chief of the
apostasy, and for those angels who became apostates along with him; which
[fire], indeed, they too shall justly feel, who, like him, persevere in
works of wickedness, without repentance, and without retracing their steps.
4. [These act](7) as Cain [did, who], when he was counselled by God to
keep quiet, because he had not made an equitable division of that share to
which his brother was entitled, but with envy and malice thought that he
could domineer over him, not only did not acquiesce, but even added sin to
sin, indicating his state of mind by his action. For what he had planned,
that did he also put in practice: he tyrannized over and slew him; God
subjecting the just to the unjust, that the former might be proved as the
just one by the things which he suffered, and the latter detected as the
unjust by those which he perpetrated. And he was not softened even by this,
nor did he stop short with that evil deed; but being asked where his
brother was, he said, "I know not; am I my brother's keeper?" extending and
aggravating [his] wickedness by his answer. For if it is wicked to slay a
brother, much worse is it thus insolently and irreverently to reply to the
omniscient God as if he could battle Him. And for this he did himself bear
a curse about with him, because he gratuitously brought an offering of sin,
having had no reverence for God, nor being put to confusion by the act of
fratricide.(1)
5. The case of Adam, however, had no analogy with this, but was
altogether different. For, having been beguiled by another under the
pretext of immortality, he is immediately seized with terror, and hides
himself; not as if he were able to escape from God; but, in a state of
confusion at having transgressed His command, he feels unworthy to appear
before and to hold converse with God. Now, "the fear of the Lord is the
beginning of wisdom;"(2) the sense of sin leads to repentance, and God
bestows His compassion upon those who are penitent. For [Adam] showed his
repentance by his conduct, through means of the girdle [which he used],
covering himself with fig-leaves, while there were many other leaves, which
would have irritated his body in a less degree. He, however, adopted a
dress conformable to his disobedience, being awed by the fear of God; and
resisting the erring, the lustful propensity of his flesh (since he had
lost his natural disposition and child-like mind, and had come to the
knowledge of evil things), he girded a bridle of continence upon himself
and his wife, fearing God, and waiting for His coming, and indicating, as
it were, some such thing [as follows]: Inasmuch as, he says, I have by
disobedience lost that robe of sanctity which I had from the Spirit, I do
now also acknowledge that I am deserving of a covering of this nature,
which affords no gratification, but which gnaws have retained this clothing
for ever, thus humbling himself, if God, who is merciful, had not clothed
them with tunics of skins instead of fig-leaves. For this purpose, too, He
interrogates them, that the blame might light upon the woman; and again, He
interrogates her, that she might convey the blame to the serpent. For she
related what had occurred. "The serpent," says she, "beguiled me, and I did
eat."(3) But He put no question to the serpent; for He knew that he had
been the prime mover in the guilty deed; but He pronounced the curse upon
him in the first instance, that it might fall upon man with a mitigated
rebuke. For God detested him who had led man astray, but by degrees, and
little by little, He showed compassion to him who had been beguiled.
6. Wherefore also He drove him out of Paradise, and removed him far
from the tree of life, not because He envied him the tree of life, as some
venture to assert, but because He pitied him, [and did not desire] that he
should continue a sinner for ever, nor that the sin which surrounded him
should be immortal, and evil interminable and irremediable. But He set a
bound to his [state of] sin, by interposing death, and thus causing sin to
cease,(4) putting an end to it by the dissolution of the flesh, which
should take place in the earth, so that man, ceasing at length to live to
sin, and dying to it, might begin to live to God.
7. For this end did He put enmity between the serpent and the woman and
her seed, they keeping it up mutually: He, the sole of whose foot should be
bitten, having power also to tread upon the enemy's head; but the other
biting, killing, and impeding the steps of man, until the seed did come
appointed to tread down his head,--which was born of Mary, of whom the
prophet speaks: "Thou shalt tread upon the asp and the basilisk; thou shalt
trample down the lion and the dragon;"(3)--indicating that sin, which was
set up and spread out against man, and which rendered him subject to death,
should be deprived of its power, along with death, which rules [over men];
and that the lion, that is, antichrist, rampant against mankind in the
latter days, should be trampled down by Him; and that He should bind "the
dragon, that old serpent"(6) and subject him to the power of man, who had
been conquered(7) so that all his might should be trodden down. Now Adam
had been conquered, all life having been taken away from him: wherefore,
when the foe was conquered in his turn, Adam received new life; and the
last enemy, death, is destroyed,(8) which at the first had taken possession
of man. Therefore, when man has been liberated, "what is written shall come
to pass, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death sting?"(9) This could
not be said with justice, if that man, over whom death did first obtain
dominion, were not set free. For his salvation is death's destruction. When
therefore the Lord vivifies man, that is, Adam, death is at the same time
destroyed.
8. All therefore speak falsely who disallow his (Adam's) salvation,
shutting themselves out from life for ever, in that they do not believe
that the sheep which had perished has been found.(10) For if it has not
been found, the whole human race is still held in a state of perdition.
False, therefore, is that, man who first started this idea, or rather, this
ignorance and blindness--Tatian.(11) As I have already indicated, this man
entangled himself with all the heretics.(1) This dogma, however, has been
invented by himself, in order that, by introducing something new,
independently of the rest, and by speaking vanity. he might acquire for
himself hearers void of faith, affecting to be esteemed a teacher, and
endeavouring from time to time to employ sayings of this kind often [made
use of] by Paul: "In Adam we all die;"(2) ignorant, however, that "where
sin abounded, grace did much more abound."(3) Since this, then, has been
clearly shown, let all his disciples be put to shame, and let them
wrangle(4) about Adam, as if some great gain were to accrue to them if he
be not saved; when they profit nothing more [by that], even as the serpent
also did not profit when persuading man [to sin], except to this effect,
that he proved him a transgressor, obtaining man as the first-fruits of his
own apostasy.(5) But he did not know God's power.(6) Thus also do those who
disallow Adam's salvation gain nothing, except this, that they render
themselves heretics and apostates from the truth, and show themselves
patrons of the serpent and of death.
CHAP. XXIV.--RECAPITULATION OF THE VARIOUS ARGUMENTS ADDUCED AGAINST
GNOSTIC IMPIETY UNDER ALL ITS ASPECTS. THE HERETICS, TOSSED ABOUT BY EVERY
BLAST OF DOCTRINE, ARE OPPOSED BY THE UNIFORM TEACHING OF THE CHURCH, WHICH
REMAINS SO ALWAYS, AND IS CONSISTENT WITH ITSELF.
1. Thus, then, have all these men been exposed, who bring in impious
doctrines regarding our Maker and Framer, who also formed this world. and
above whom there is no other God and those have been overthrown by their
own arguments who teach falsehoods regarding the substance of our Lord, and
the dispensation which He fulfilled for the sake of His own creature man.
But [it has, on the other hand, been shown], that the preaching of the
Church is everywhere consistent, and continues in an even course, and
receives testimony from the prophets, the apostles, and all the disciples--
as I have proved--through [those in] the beginning, the middle, and the
end,(7) and through the entire dispensation of God, and that well-grounded
system which tends(8) to man's salvation, namely, our faith; which, having
been received from the Church, we do preserve, and which always, by the
Spirit of God, renewing its youth, as if it were some precious deposit in
an excellent vessel, causes the vessel itself containing it to renew its
youth also. For this gift of God has been entrusted to the Church, as
breath was to the first created man,(9) for this purpose, that all the
members receiving it may be vivified; and the [means of] communion with
Christ has been distributed throughout it, that is, the Holy Spirit, the
earnest of incorruption, the means of confirming our faith, and the ladder
of ascent to God. "For in the Church," it is said, "God hath set apostles,
prophets, teachers,"(10) and all the other means through which the Spirit
works; of which all those are not partakers who do not join themselves to
the Church, but defraud themselves of life through their perverse opinions
and infamous behaviour. For where the Church is, there is the Spirit of
God; and where the Spirit of God is, there is the Church, and every kind of
grace; but the Spirit is truth. Those, therefore, who do not partake of
Him, are neither nourished into life from the mother's breasts, nor do they
enjoy that most limpid fountain which issues from the body of Christ; but
they dig for themselves broken cisterns(11) out of earthly trenches, and
drink putrid water out of the mire, fleeing from the faith of the Church
lest they be convicted; and rejecting the Spirit, that they may not be
instructed.
2. Alienated thus from the truth, they do deservedly wallow in all
error, tossed to and fro by it, thinking differently in regard to the same
things at different times, and never attaining to a well-grounded
knowledge, being more anxious to be sophists of words than disciples of the
truth. For they have not been founded upon the one rock, but upon the sand,
which has in itself a multitude of stones. Wherefore they also imagine
many gods, and they always have the excuse of searching [after truth] (for
they are blind), but never succeed in finding it. For they blaspheme the
Creator, Him who is truly God, who also furnishes power to find [the
truth]; imagining that they have discovered another god beyond God, or
another Pleroma, or another dispensation. Wherefore also the light which is
from God does not illumine them, because they have dishonoured and despised
God, holding Him of small account, because, through His love and infinite
benignity, He has come within reach of human knowledge (knowledge, however,
not with regard to His greatness, or with regard to His essence--for that
has no man measured or handled--but after this sort: that we should know
that He who made, and formed, and breathed in them the breath of life, and
nourishes us by means of the creation, establishing all things by His Word,
and binding them together by His Wisdom(1)--this is He who is the only true
God); but they dream of a non-existent being above Him, that they may be
regarded as having found out the great God, whom nobody, [they hold,] can
recognise holding communication with the human race, or as directing
mundane matters: that is to say, they find out the god of Epicurus, who
does nothing either for himself or others; that is, he exercises no
providence at all.
CHAP. XXV.--THIS WORLD IS RULED PROVIDENCE OF ONE GOD, WHO IS BOTH ENDOWED
WITH INFINITE JUSTICE TO PUNISH THE WICKED, AND WITH INFINITE GOODNESS TO
BLESS THE PIOUS, AND IMPART TO THEM SALVATION.
1. God does, however, exercise a providence over all things, and
therefore He also gives counsel; and when giving counsel, He is present
with those who attend to moral discipline.(2) It follows then of course,
that the things which are watched over and governed should be acquainted
with their ruler; which things are not irrational or vain, but they have
understanding derived from the providence of God. And, for this reason
certain of the Gentiles, who were less addicted to [sensual] allurements
and voluptuousness, and were not led away to such a degree of superstition
with regard to idols, being moved, though but slightly, by His providence,
were nevertheless convinced that they should call the Maker of this
universe the Father, who exercises a providence over all things, and
arranges the affairs of our world.
2. Again, that they might remove the rebuking and judicial power from
the Father, reckoning that as unworthy of God, and thinking that they had
found out a God both without anger and [merely] good, they have alleged
that one [God] judges, but that another saves, unconsciously taking away
the intelligence and justice of both deities. For if the judicial one is
not also good, to bestow favours upon the deserving, and to direct reproofs
against those requiring them, he will appear neither a just nor a wise
judge. On the other hand, the good God, if he is merely good, and not one
who tests those upon whom he shall send his goodness, will be out of the
range of justice and goodness; and his goodness will seem imperfect, as not
saving all; [for it should do so,] if it be not accompanied with judgment.
3. Marcion, therefore, himself, by dividing God into two, maintaining
one to be good and the other judicial, does in fact, on both sides, put an
end to deity. For he that is the judicial one, if he be not good, is not
God, because he from whom goodness is absent is no God at all; and again,
he who is good, if he has no judicial power, suffers the same [loss] as the
former, by being deprived of his character of deity. And how can they call
the Father of all wise, if they do not assign to Him a judicial faculty?
For if He is wise, He is also one who tests [others]; but the judicial
power belongs to him who tests, and justice follows the judicial faculty,
that it may reach a just conclusion; justice calls forth judgment, and
judgment, when it is executed with justice, will pass on to wisdom.
Therefore the Father will excel in wisdom all human and angelic wisdom,
because He is Lord, and Judge, and the Just One, and Ruler over all. For He
is good, and merciful, and patient, and saves whom He ought: nor does
goodness desert Him in the exercise of justice,(3) nor is His wisdom
lessened; for He saves those whom He should save, and judges those worthy
of judgment. Neither does He show Himself unmercifully just; for His
goodness, no doubt, goes on before, and takes precedency.
4. The God, therefore, who does benevolently cause His sun to rise upon
all,(4) and sends rain upon the just and unjust, shall judge those who,
enjoying His equally distributed kindness, have led lives not corresponding
to the dignity of His bounty; but who have spent their days in wantonness
and luxury, in opposition to His benevolence, and have, moreover, even
blasphemed Him who has conferred so great benefits upon them.
5. Plato is proved to be more religious than these men, for he allowed
that the same God was both just and good, having power over all things, and
Himself executing judgment, expressing himself thus, "And God indeed, as He
is also the ancient Word, possessing the beginning, the end, and the mean
of all existing things, does everything rightly, moving round about them
according to their nature; but retributive justice always follows Him
against those who depart from the divine law."(5) Then, again, he points
out that the Maker and Framer of the universe is good. "And to the good,"
he says, "no envy ever springs up with regard to anything;"(6) thus
establishing the goodness of God, as the beginning and the cause of the
creation of the world, but not ignorance, nor an erring Aeon, nor the
consequence of a defect, nor the Mother weeping and lamenting, nor another
God or Father.
6. Well may their Mother bewail them, as capable of conceiving and
inventing such things for they have worthily uttered this falsehood against
themselves, that their Mother is beyond the Pleroma, that is beyond the
knowledge of God, and that their entire multitude became(1) a shapeless and
crude abortion: for it apprehends nothing of the truth; it falls into void
and darkness: for their wisdom (Sophia) was void, and wrapped up in
darkness; and Horos did not permit her to enter the Pleroma: for the Spirit
(Achamoth) did not receive them into the place of refreshment. For their
father, by begetting ignorance, wrought in them the sufferings of death. We
do not misrepresent [their opinions on] these points; but they do
themselves confirm, they do themselves teach, they do glory in them, they
imagine a lofty [mystery] about their Mother, whom they represent as having
been begotten without a father, that is, without God, a female from a
female,(2) that is, corruption from error.
7. We do indeed pray that these men may not remain in the pit which
they themselves have dug, but separate themselves from a Mother of this
nature, and depart from Bythus, and stand away from the void, and
relinquish the shadow; and that they, being converted to the Church of God,
may be lawfully begotten, and that Christ may be formed in them, and that
they may know the Framer and Maker of this universe, the only true God and
Lord of all. We pray for these things on their behalf, loving them better
than they seem to love themselves. For our love, inasmuch as it is true, is
salutary to them, if they will but receive it. It may be compared to a
severe remedy, extirpating the proud and sloughing flesh of a wound; for it
puts an end to their pride and haughtiness. Wherefore it shall not weary
us, to endeavour with all our might to stretch out the hand unto them. Over
and above what has been already stated, I have deferred to the following
book, to adduce the words of the Lord; if, by convincing some among them,
through means of the very instruction of Christ, I may succeed in
persuading them to abandon such error, and to cease from blaspheming their
Creator, who is both God alone, and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Taken from "The Early Church Fathers and Other Works" originally published
by Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co. in English in Edinburgh, Scotland beginning in
1867. (ANF 1, Roberts and Donaldson.) The digital version is by The
Electronic Bible Society, P.O. Box 701356, Dallas, TX 75370, 214-407-WORD.
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