IRENAEUS AGAINST HERESIES
BOOK V.
PREFACE.
IN the four preceding books, my very dear friend, which I put forth to thee, all
the heretics have been exposed, and their doctrines brought to light, and these men
refuted who have devised irreligious opinions. [I have accomplished this by adducing]
something from the doctrine peculiar to each of these men, which they have left in
their writings, as well as by using arguments of a more general nature, and applicable
to them all.(1) Then I have pointed out the truth, and shown the preaching of the
Church, which the prophets proclaimed (as I have already demonstrated), but which Christ
brought to perfection, and the apostles have handed down, from whom the Church, receiving
[these truths], and throughout all the world alone preserving them in their integrity (bene), has transmitted them to her sons. Then also--having disposed of all questions
which the heretics propose to us, and having explained the doctrine of the apostles,
and clearly set forth many of those things which were said and done by the Lord in parables--I shall endeavour, in this the fifth book of the entire work which treats
of the exposure and refutation of knowledge falsely so called, to exhibit proofs
from the rest of the Lord's doctrine and the apostolical epistles: [thus] complying
with thy demand, as thou didst request of me (since indeed I have been assigned a place
in the ministry of the word); and, labouring by every means in my power to furnish
thee with large assistance against the contradictions of the heretics, as also to
reclaim the wanderers
and convert them to the Church of God, to confirm at the same time the minds of the
neophytes, that they may preserve stedfast the faith which they have received, guarded
by the Church in its integrity, in order that they be in no way perverted by those
who endeavour to teach
them false doctrines, and lead them away from the truth. It will be incumbent upon
thee, however, and all who may happen to read this writing, to peruse with great
attention what I have already said, that thou mayest obtain a knowledge of the subjects
against which I am contending. For it is thus that thou wilt both controvert them in a
legitimate manner, and wilt be prepared to receive the proofs brought forward against
them, casting away their doctrines as filth by means of the celestial faith; but
following the only true and stedfast Teacher, the Word of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, who
did, through His transcendent love, become what we are, that He might bring us to
be even what He is Himself.
CHAP. I.--CHRIST ALONE IS ABLE TO TEACH DIVINE THINGS, AND TO REDEEM US: HE, THE
SAME, TOOK FLESH OF THE VIRGIN MARY, NOT MERELY IN APPEARANCE, BUT ACTUALLY, BY THE
OPERATION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, IN ORDER TO RENOVATE US. STRICTURES ON THE CONCEITS
OF VALENTINUS AND EBION.
1. FOR in no other way could we have learned the things of God, unless our Master,
existing as the Word, had become man. For no other being had the power of revealing
to us the things of the Father, except His own proper Word. For what other person
"knew the mind of the Lord," or who else "has become His counsellor?"(2) Again, we could
have learned in no other way than by seeing our Teacher, and hearing His voice with
our own ears, that, having become imitators of His works as well as doers of His
words, we may have communion with Him, receiving increase from the perfect One, and from
Him who is prior to all creation. We--who were but lately created by the only best
and good Being, by Him also who has the gift of immortality, having been formed after
527
His likeness (predestinated, according to the prescience of the Father, that we, who
had as yet no existence, might come into being), and made the first-fruits of creation(1)--have
received, in the times known beforehand, [the blessings of salvation] according to the ministration of the Word, who is perfect in all things, as the mighty
Word, and very man, who, redeeming us by His own blood in a manner consonant to reason,
gave Himself as a redemption for those who had been led into captivity. And since
the apostasy tyrannized over us unjustly, and, though we were by nature the property of
the omnipotent God, alienated us contrary to nature, rendering us its own disciples,
the Word of God, powerful in all things, and not defective with regard to His own
justice, did righteously turn against that apostasy, and redeem from it His own property,
not by violent means, as the [apostasy] had obtained dominion over us at the beginning,
when it insatiably snatched away what was not its own, but by means of persuasion,
as became a God of counsel, who does not use violent means to obtain what He desires;
so that neither should justice be infringed upon, nor the ancient handiwork of God
go to destruction. Since the Lord thus has redeemed us through His own blood, giving
His soul for our souls, and His flesh for our flesh,(2) and has also poured out the
Spirit of the Father for the union and communion of God and man, imparting indeed
God to men by means of the Spirit, and, on the other hand, attaching man to God by
His own incarnation, and bestowing upon us at His coming immortality durably and truly, by
means of communion with God,--all the doctrines of the heretics fall to ruin.
2. Vain indeed are those who allege that He appeared in mere seeming. For these
things were not done in appearance only, but in actual reality. But if He did appear
as a man, when He was not a man, neither could the Holy Spirit have rested upon Him,--an occurrence which did actually take place--as the Spirit is invisible; nor, [in that
case], was there any degree of truth in Him, for He was not that which He seemed
to be. But I have already remarked that Abraham and the other prophets beheld Him
after a prophetical manner, foretelling in vision what should come to pass. If, then, such
a being has now appeared in outward semblance different from what he was in reality,
there has been a certain prophetical vision made to men; and another advent of His
must be looked forward to, in which He shall be such as He has now been seen in a prophetic
manner. And I have proved already, that it is the same thing to say that He appeared
merely to outward seeming,
and [to affirm] that He received nothing from Mary. For He would not have been one
truly possessing flesh and blood, by which He redeemed us, unless He had summed
up in Himself the ancient formation of Adam. Vain therefore are the disciples of
Valentinus who put forth this opinion,
in order that they my exclude the flesh from salvation, and cast aside what God has
fashioned.
3. Vain also are the Ebionites, who do not receive by faith into their soul the
union of God and man, but who remain in the old leaven of [the natural] birth, and
who do not choose to understand that the Holy Ghost came upon Mary, and the power
of the Most High did overshadow her:(3) wherefore also what was generated is a holy thing,
and the Son of the Most High God the Father of all, who effected the incarnation
of this being, and showed forth a new [kind of] generation; that as by the former
generation we inherited death, so by this new generation we might inherit life. Therefore do
these men reject the commixture of the heavenly wine,(4) and wish it to be water
of the world only, not receiving God so as to have union with Him, but they remain
in that Adam who had been conquered and was expelled from Paradise: not considering that as,
at the beginning of our formation in Adam, that breath of life which proceeded from
God, having been united to what had been fashioned, animated the man, and manifested
him as a being endowed with reason; so also, in [the times of] the end, the Word of
the Father and the Spirit of God, having become united with the ancient substance
of Adam's formation, rendered man living and perfect, receptive of the perfect Father,
in order that as in the natural [Adam] we all were dead, so in the spiritual we may all
be made alive.(5) For never at any time did Adam escape the harms(6) of God, to whom
the Father speaking, said, "Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness." And
for this reason in the last times (fine), not by the will of the flesh, nor by the will
of man, but by the good pleasure of the Father,(7) His hands formed a living man,
in order that Adam might be created [again] after the image and likeness of God.
CHAP. II.--WHEN CHRIST VISITED US IN HIS GRACE, HE DID NOT COME TO WHAT DID NOT
BELONG TO HIM: ALSO, BY SHEDDING HIS TRUE BLOOD FOR US, AND EXHIBITING TO US HIS
TRUE FLESH IN THE EUCHARIST, HE CONFERRED UPON OUR FLESH THE CAPACITY OF SALVATION.
1. And vain likewise are those who say that
528
God came to those things which did not belong to Him, as if covetous of another's
property; in order that He might deliver up that man who had been created by another,
to that God who had neither made nor formed anything, but who also was deprived from
the beginning of His own proper formation of men. The advent, therefore, of Him whom
these men represent as coming to the things of others, was not righteous; nor did
He truly redeem us by His own blood, if He did not really become man, restoring to
His own handiwork what was said [of it] in the beginning, that man was made after the image
and likeness of God; not snatching away by stratagem the property of another, but
taking possession of His own in a righteous and gracious manner. As far as concerned
the apostasy, indeed, He redeems us righteously from it by His own blood; but as regards
us who have been redeemed, [He does this] graciously. For we have given nothing to
Him previously, nor does He desire anything from us, as if He stood in need of it;
but we do stand in need of fellowship with Him. And for this reason it was that He graciously
poured Himself out, that He might gather us into the bosom of the Father.
2. But vain in every respect are they who despise the entire dispensation of God,
and disallow the salvation of the flesh, and treat with contempt its regeneration,
maintaining that it is not capable of incorruption. But if this indeed do not attain
salvation, then neither did the Lord redeem us with His blood, nor is the cup of the
Eucharist the communion of His blood, nor the bread which we break the communion
of His body.(1) For blood can only come from veins and flesh, and whatsoever else
makes up the substance of man, such as the Word of God was actually made. By His own blood he
redeemed us, as also His apostle declares, "In whom we have redemption through His
blood, even the remission of sins."(2) And as we are His members, we are also nourished
by means of the creation (and He Himself grants the creation to us, for He causes His
sun to rise, and sends rain when He wills(3)). He has acknowledged the cup (which
is a part of the creation) as His own blood, from which He bedews our blood; and
the bread (also a part of the creation) He has established as His own body, from which He
gives increase to our bodies.(4)
3. When, therefore, the mingled cup and the manufactured bread receives the Word
of God, and the Eucharist of the blood and the body of
Christ is made,(5) from which things the substance of our flesh is increased and supported,
how can they affirm that the flesh is incapable of receiving the gift of God, which
is life eternal, which [flesh] is nourished from the body and blood of the Lord, and is a member of Him?--even as the blessed Paul declares in his Epistle to the
Ephesians, that "we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones."(6)
He does not speak these words of some spiritual and invisible man, for a spirit has
not bones nor flesh;(7) but [he refers to] that dispensation [by which the Lord became] an
actual man, consisting of flesh, and nerves, and bones,--that [flesh] which is nourished
by the cup which is His blood, and receives increase from the bread which is His
body. And just as a cutting from the vine planted in the ground fructifies in its season,
or as a corn of wheat falling into the earth and becoming decomposed, rises with
manifold increase by the Spirit of God, who contains all things, and then, through
the wisdom of God, serves for the use of men, and having received the Word of God, becomes
the Eucharist, which is the body and blood of Christ; so also our bodies, being nourished
by it, and deposited in the earth, and suffering decomposition there, shall rise
at their appointed time, the Word of God granting them resurrection to the glory of
God, even the Father, who freely gives to this mortal immortality, and to this corruptible
incorruption,(8) because the strength of God is made perfect in weakness,(9) in order that we may never become puffed up, as if we had life from ourselves, and exalted
against God, our minds becoming ungrateful; but learning by experience that we possess
eternal duration from the excelling power of this Being, not from our own nature,
we may neither undervalue that glory which surrounds God as He is, nor be ignorant
of our own nature, but that we may know what God can effect, and what benefits man
receives, and thus never wander from the true comprehension of things as they are,
that is, both with regard to God and with regard to man. And might it not be the case, perhaps,
as I have already observed, that for this purpose God permitted our resolution into
the common dust of mortality,(10) that we, being instructed by every mode, may be
accurate in all things for the future, being ignorant neither of God nor of ourselves?
529
CHAP. III.--HE POWER AND GLORY OF GOD SHINE FORTH IN THE WEAKNESS OF HUMAN FLESH,
AS HE WILL RENDER OUR BODY A PARTICIPATOR OF THE RESURRECTION AND OF IMMORTALITY,
ALTHOUGH HE HAS FORMED IT FROM THE DUST OF THE EARTH; HE WILL ALSO BESTOW UPON IT
THE ENJOYMENT OF IMMORTALITY, JUST AS HE GRANTS IT THIS SHORT LIFE IN COMMON WITH THE SOUL.
1. The Apostle Paul has, moreover, in the most lucid manner, pointed out that
man has been delivered over to his own infirmity, lest, being uplifted, he might
fall away from the truth. Thus he says in the second [Epistle] to the Corinthians:
"And lest I should be lifted up by the sublimity of the revelations, there was given unto me
a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me. And upon this I besought
the Lord three times, that it might depart from me. But he said unto me, My grace
is sufficient for thee; for strength is made perfect in weakness. Gladly therefore shall
I rather glory in infirmities, that the power of Christ may dwell in me."(1) What,
therefore? (as some may exclaim:) did the Lord wish, in that case, that His apostles
should thus undergo buffering, and that he should endure such infirmity? Even so it was;
the word says it. For strength is made perfect in weakness, rendering him a better
man who by means of his infirmity becomes acquainted with the power of God. For how
could a man have learned that he is himself an infirm being, and mortal by nature, but that
God is immortal and powerful, unless he had learned by experience what is in both?
For there is nothing evil in learning one's infirmities by endurance; yea, rather,
it has even the beneficial effect of preventing him from forming an undue opinion of his
own nature (non aberrare in natura sua). But the being lifted up against God, and
taking His glory to one's self, rendering man ungrateful, has brought much evil upon
him. [And thus, I say, man must learn both things by experience], that he may not be
destitute of truth and love either towards himself or his Creator.(2) But the experience
of both confers upon him the true knowledge as to God and man, and increases his
love towards God. Now, where there exists an increase of love, there a greater glory
is wrought out by the power of God for those who love Him.
2. Those men, therefore, set aside the power of God, and do not consider what
the word declares, when they dwell upon the infirmity of the flesh, but do not take
into consideration the
power of Him who raises it up from the dead. For if He does not vivify what is mortal,
and does not bring back the corruptible to incorruption, He is not a God of power.
But that He is powerful in all these respects, we ought to perceive from our origin,
inasmuch as God, taking dust from the earth, formed man. And surely it is much more
difficult and incredible, from non-existent bones, and nerves, and veins, and the
rest of man's organization, to bring it about that all this should be, and to make
man an animated and rational creature, than to re-integrate again that which had been created
and then afterwards decomposed into earth (for the reasons already mentioned), having
thus passed into those [elements] from which man, who had no previous existence,
was formed. For He who in the beginning caused him to have being who as yet was not,
just when He pleased, shall much more reinstate again those who had a former existence,
when it is His will [that they should inherit] the life granted by Him. And that
flesh shall also be found fit for and capable of receiving the power of God, which at the
beginning received the skilful touches of God; so that one part became the eye for
seeing; another, the ear for hearing; another, the hand for feeling and working;
another, the sinews stretched out everywhere, and holding the limbs together; another, arteries
and veins, passages for the blood and the air;(3) another, the various internal organs;
another, the blood, which is the bond of union between soul and body. But why go [on in this strain]? Numbers would fail to express the multiplicity of parts in
the human frame, which was made in no other way than by the great wisdom of God.
But those things which partake of the skill and wisdom of God, do also partake of
His power.
3. The flesh, therefore, is not destitute [of participation] in the constructive
wisdom and power of God. But if the power of Him who is the bestower of life is made
perfect in weakness--that is, in the flesh--let them inform us, when they maintain
the incapacity of flesh to receive the life granted by God, whether they do say these
things as being living men at present, and partakers of life, or acknowledge that,
having no part in life whatever, they are at the present moment dead men. And if
they really are dead men, how is it that they move about, and speak, and perform those other
functions which are not the actions of the dead, but of the living? But if they are
now alive, and if their whole body partakes of life, how can they venture the assertion that the flesh is not quali-
530
fled to be a partaker of life, when they do confess that they have life at the present
moment? It is just as if anybody were to take up a sponge full of water, or a torch
on fire, and to declare that the sponge could not possibly partake of the water,
or the torch of the fire. In this very manner do those men, by alleging that they are
alive and bear life about in their members, contradict themselves afterwards, when
they represent these members as not being capable of [receiving] life. But if the
present temporal life, which is of such an inferior nature to eternal life, can nevertheless
effect so much as to quicken our mortal members, why should not eternal life, being
much more powerful than this, vivify the flesh, which has already held converse with,
and been accustomed to sustain, life? For that the flesh can really partake of life,
is shown from the fact of it; being alive; for it lives on, as long as it is God's
purpose that it should do so. It is manifest, too, that God has the power to confer
life upon it, inasmuch as He grants life to us who are in existence. And, therefore, since
the Lord has power to infuse life into what He has fashioned, and since the flesh
is capable of being quickened, what remains to prevent its participating in incorruption, which is a blissful and never-ending life granted by God?
CHAP. IV.--THOSE PERSONS ARE DECEIVED WHO FEIGN ANOTHER GOD THE FATHER BESIDES
THE CREATOR OF THE WORLD; FOR HE MUST HAVE BEEN FEEBLE AND USELESS, OR ELSE MALIGNANT
AND FULL OF ENVY, IF HE BE EITHER UNABLE OR UNWILLING TO EXTEND EXTERNAL LIFE TO
OUR BODIES.
1. Those persons who feign the existence of another Father beyond the Creator,
and who term him the good God, do deceive themselves; for they introduce him as a
feeble, worthless, and negligent being, not to say malign and full of envy, inasmuch
as they affirm that our bodies are not quickened by him. For when they say of things which
it is manifest to all do remain immortal, such as the spirit and the soul, and such
other things, that they are quickened by the Father, but that another thing [viz.
the body] which is quickened in no different manner than by God granting [life] to it,
is abandoned by life,--[they must either confess] that this proves their Father to
be weak and powerless, or else envious and malignant. For since the Creator does
even here quicken our mortal bodies, and promises them resurrection by the prophets, as I have
pointed out; who [in that case] is shown to be more powerful, stronger, or truly
good? Whether is it the Creator who vivifies the whole man, or is it their Father,
falsely so called? He feigns to be the quickener of those things which are immortal by nature,
to which things life is always present by their very nature; but he does not benevolently
quicken those things which required his assistance, that they might live, but leaves them carelessly to fall under the power of death. Whether is it the case, then,
that their Father does not bestow life upon them when he has the power of so doing,
or is it that he does not possess the power? If, on the one hand, it is because he
cannot, he is, upon that supposition, not a powerful being, nor is he more perfect than
the Creator; for the Creator grants, as we must perceive, what He is unable to afford.
But if, on the other hand, [it be that he does not grant this] when he has the power of so doing, then he is proved to be not a good, but an envious and malignant Father.
2. If, again, they refer to any cause on account of which their Father does not
impart life to bodies, then that cause must necessarily appear superior to the Father,
since it restrains Him from the exercise of His benevolence; and His benevolence
will thus be proved weak, on account of that cause which they bring forward. Now every
one must perceive that bodies are capable of receiving life. For they live to the
extent that God pleases that they should live; and that being so, the [heretics]
cannot maintain that [these bodies] are utterly incapable of receiving life. If, therefore,
on account of necessity and any other cause, those [bodies] which are capable of
participating in life are not vivified, their Father shall be the slave of necessity
and that cause, and not therefore a free agent, having His will under His own control.
CHAP. V.--THE PROLONGED LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS, THE TRANSLATION OF ELIJAH AND OF
ENOCH IN THEIR OWN BODIES, AS WELL AS THE PRESERVATION OF JONAH, OF SHADRACH, MESHACH,
AND ABEDNEGO, IN THE MIDST OF EXTREME PERIL, ARE CLEAR DEMONSTRATIONS THAT GOD CAN
RAISE UP OUR BODIES TO LIFE ETERNAL.
1. [In order to learn] that bodies did continue in existence for a lengthened
period, as long as it was God's good pleasure that they should flourish, let [these
heretics] read the Scriptures, and they will find that our predecessors advanced
beyond seven hundred, eight hundred, and nine hundred years of age; and that their bodies kept
pace with the protracted length of their days, and participated in life as long as
God willed that they should live. But why do I refer to these men? For Enoch, when
he pleased God, was translated in the same body in which he did please Him, thus pointing
out by anticipation the translation of the just. Elijah, too, was caught up [when
he was yet] in the substance of the [natural] form; thus exhibiting in prophecy the
531
assumption of those who are spiritual, and that nothing stood in the way of their
body being translated and caught up. For by means of the very same hands through
which they were moulded at the beginning, did they receive this translation and assumption.
For in Adam the hands of God had become accustomed to set in order, to rule, and to
sustain His own workmanship, and to bring it and place it where they pleased. Where,
then, was the first man placed? In paradise certainly, as the Scripture declares
"And God planted a garden [paradisum] eastward in Eden, and there He placed the man whom
He had formed."(1) And then afterwards when [man] proved disobedient, he was cast
out thence into this world. Wherefore also the elders who were disciples of the apostles
tell us that those who were translated were transferred to that place (for paradise has
been prepared for righteous men, such as have the Spirit; in which place also Paul
the apostle, when he was caught up, heard words which are unspeakable as regards
us in our present condition(2)), and that there shall they who have been translated remain
until the consummation [of all things], as a prelude to immortality.
2. If, however, any one imagine it impossible that men should survive for such
a length of time, and that Elias was not caught up in the flesh, but that his flesh
was consumed in the fiery chariot, let him consider that Jonah, when he had been
cast into the deep, and swallowed down into the whale's belly, was by the command of God again
thrown out safe upon the land.(3) And then, again, when Ananias, Azarias, and Misael
were cast into the furnace of fire sevenfold heated, they sustained no harm whatever, neither was the smell of fire perceived upon them. As, therefore, the hand of God
was present with them, working out marvellous things in their case--[things] impossible
[to be accomplished] by man's nature--what wonder was it, if also in the case of
those who were translated it performed something wonderful, working in obedience to the
will of God, even the Father? Now this is the Son of God, as the Scripture represents
Nebuchadnezzar the king as having said, "Did not we cast three men bound into the
furnace? and, lo, I do see four walking in the midst of the fire, and the fourth is like
the Son of God."(4) Neither the nature of any created thing, therefore, nor the weakness
of the flesh, can prevail against the will of God. For God is not subject to created things, but created things to God; and all things yield obedience to His will.
Wherefore also the Lord declares, "The things which are impossible with men, are
possible with God."(5) As, therefore, it might seem to the men of the present day,
who are ignorant of God's appointment, to be a thing incredible and impossible that any man
could live for such a number of years, yet those who were before us did live [to
such an age], and those who were translated do live as an earnest of the future length
of days; and [as it might also appear impossible] that from the whale's belly and from
the fiery furnace men issued forth unhurt, yet they nevertheless did so, led forth
as it were by the hand of God, for the purpose of declaring His power: so also now,
although some, not knowing the power and promise of God, may oppose their own salvation,
deeming it impossible for God, who raises up the dead; to have power to confer upon
them eternal duration, yet the scepticism of men of this stamp shall not render the
faithfulness of God of none effect.
CHAP. VI.--GOD WILL BESTOW SALVATION UPON THE WHOLE NATURE OF MAN, CONSISTING OF BODY
AND SOUL IN CLOSE UNION, SINCE THE WORD TOOK IT UPON HIM, AND ADORNED WITH THE GIFTS
OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, OF WHOM OUR BODIES ARE, AND ARE TERMED, THE TEMPLES.
1. Now God shall be glorified in His handiwork, fitting it so as to be conformable
to, and modelled after, His own Son. For by the hands of the Father, that is, by
the Son and the Holy Spirit, man, and not [merely] a part of man, was made in the
likeness of God. Now the soul and the spirit are certainly a part of the man, but certainly
not the man; for the perfect man consists in the commingling and the union of the
soul receiving the spirit of the Father, and the admixture of that fleshly nature
which was moulded after the image of God. For this reason does the apostle declare, "We
speak wisdom among them that are perfect,"(6) terming those persons "perfect" who
have received the Spirit of God, and who through the Spirit of God do speak in all
languages, as he used Himself also to speak. In like manner we do also hear many brethren in
the Church, who possess prophetic gifts, and who through the Spirit speak all kinds
of languages, and bring to light for the general benefit the hidden things of men,
and declare the mysteries of God, whom also the apostle terms "spiritual," they being spiritual
because they partake of the Spirit, and not because their flesh has been stripped
off and taken away, and because they have become purely spiritual. For if any one
take away the sub-
532
stance of flesh, that is, of the handiwork [of God], and understand that which is
purely spiritual, such then would not be a spiritual man but would be the spirit
of a man, or the Spirit of God. But when the spirit here blended with the soul is
united to [God's] handiwork, the man is rendered spiritual and perfect because of the outpouring
of the Spirit, and this is he who was made in the image and likeness of God. But
if the Spirit be wanting to the soul, he who is such is indeed of an animal nature,
and being left carnal, shall be an imperfect being, possessing indeed the image [of God]
in his formation (in plasmate), but not receiving the similitude through the Spirit;
and thus is this being imperfect. Thus also, if any one take away the image and set
aside the handiwork, he cannot then understand this as being a man, but as either some
part of a man, as I have already said, or as something else than a man. For that
flesh which has been moulded is not a perfect man in itself, but the body of a man,
and part of a man. Neither is the soul itself, considered apart by itself, the man; but it
is the soul of a man, and part of a man. Neither is the spirit a man, for it is called
the spirit, and not a man; but the commingling and union of all these constitutes
the perfect man. And for this cause does the apostle, explaining himself, make it clear
that the saved man is a complete man as well as a spiritual man; saying thus in the
first Epistle to the Thessalonians, "Now the God of peace sanctify you perfect (perfectos); and may your spirit, and soul, and body be preserved whole without complaint
to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ."(1) Now what was his object in praying that
these three--that is, soul, body, and spirit-- might be preserved to the coming of
the Lord, unless he was aware of the [future] reintegration and union of the three, and [that
they should be heirs of] one and the same salvation? For this cause also he declares
that those are "the perfect" who present unto the Lord the three [component parts]
without offence. Those, then, are the perfect who have had the Spirit of God remaining
in them, and have preserved their souls and bodies blameless, holding fast the faith
of God, that is, that faith which is [directed] towards God, and maintaining righteous dealings with respect to their neighbours.
2. Whence also he says, that this handiwork is "the temple of God," thus declaring:
"Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in
you? If any man, therefore, will defile the temple of God, him will God destroy:
for the temple of God is holy, which [temple] ye are."(2) Here he manifestly declares
the body to be the temple in which the Spirit dwells. As also the Lord speaks in
reference to Himself, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.
He spake this, however," it is said, "of the temple of His body."(3) And not only does he (the
apostle) acknowledge our bodies to be a temple, but even the temple of Christ, saying
thus to the Corinthians, "Know ye not that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall
I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot?"(4) He speaks
these things, not in reference to some other spiritual man; for a being of such a
nature could have nothing to do with an harlot: but he declares "our body," that
is, the flesh which continues in sanctity and purity, to be "the members of Christ;" but
that when it becomes one with an harlot, it becomes the members of an harlot. And
for this reason he said, "If any man defile the temple of God, him will God destroy."
How then is it not the utmost blasphemy to allege, that the temple of God, in which the
Spirit of the Father dwells, and the members of Christ, do not partake of salvation,
but are reduced to perdition? Also, that our bodies are raised not from their own
substance, but by the power of God, he says to the Corinthians, "Now the body is not for
fornication, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. But God hath both raised
up the Lord, and shall raise us up by His own power."(5)
CHAP. VII.--INASMUCH AS CHRIST DID RISE IN OUR FLESH, IT FOLLOWS THAT WE SHALL BE
ALSO RAISED IN THE SAME; SINCE THE RESURRECTION PROMISED TO US SHOULD NOT BE REFERRED
TO SPIRITS NATURALLY IMMORTAL, BUT TO BODIES IN THEMSELVES MORTAL.
1. In the same manner, therefore, as Christ did rise in the substance of flesh,
and pointed out to His disciples the mark of the nails and the opening in His side(6)
(now these are the tokens of that flesh which rose from the dead), so "shall He also," it is said, "raise us up by His own power."(7) And again to the Romans he says, "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."(8) What, then, are
mortal bodies? Can they be souls? Nay, for souls are incorporeal when put in comparison
with mortal bodies; for God "breathed into the face of man the breath of life, and
man became a living soul." Now the breath of life is an incorporeal
533
thing. And certainly they cannot maintain that the very breath of life is mortal.
Therefore David says, "My soul also shall live to Him,"(1) just as if its substance
were immortal. Neither, on the other hand, can they say that the spirit is the mortal
body. What therefore is there left to which we may apply the term "mortal body," unless
it be the thing that was moulded, that is, the flesh, of which it is also said that
God will vivify it? For this it is which dies and is decomposed, but not the soul
or the spirit. For to die is to lose vital power, and to become henceforth breathless, inanimate,
and devoid of motion, and to melt away into those [component parts] from which also
it derived the commencement of [its] substance. But this event happens neither to the soul, for it is the breath of life; nor to the spirit, for the spirit is simple
and not composite, so that it cannot be decomposed, and is itself the life of those
who receive it. We must therefore conclude that it is in reference to the flesh that
death is mentioned; which [flesh], after the soul's departure, becomes breathless and
inanimate, and is decomposed gradually into the earth from which it was taken. This,
then, is what is mortal. And it is this of which he also says," He shall also quicken
your mortal bodies." And therefore in reference to it he says, in the first [Epistle]
to the Corinthians: "So also is the resurrection of the dead: it is sown in corruption,
it rises in incorruption."(2) For he declares, "That which thou sowest cannot be
quickened, unless first it die."(3)
2. But what is that which, like a grain of wheat, is sown in the earth and decays,
unless it be the bodies which are laid in the earth, into which seeds are also cast?
And for this reason he said, "It is sown in dishonour, it rises in glory."(4) For
what is more ignoble than dead flesh? Or, on the other hand, what is more glorious than
the same when it arises and partakes of incorruption? "It is sown in weakness, it
is raised in power:"(5) in its own weakness certainly, because since it is earth
it goes to earth; but [it is quickened] by the power of God, who raises it from the dead.
"It is sown an animal body, it rises a spiritual body."(6) He has taught, beyond
all doubt, that such language was not used by him, either with reference to the soul
or to the spirit, but to bodies that have become corpses. For these are animal bodies, that
is, [bodies] which partake of life, which when they have lost, they succumb to death;
then, rising through the Spirit's instrumentality, they become spiritual bodies,
so that by the Spirit they possess a perpetual life. "For now," he says, "we know in part,
and we prophesy in part, but then face to face."(7) And this it is which has been
said also by Peter: "Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom now also, not seeing,
ye believe; and believing, ye shall rejoice with joy unspeakable."(8) For our face shall
see the face of the Lord? and shall rejoice with joy unspeakable,--that is to say,
when it shall behold its own Delight.
CHAP. VIII.--THE GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT WHICH WE RECEIVE PREPARE US FOR INCORRUPTION,
RENDER US SPIRITUAL, AND SEPARATE US FROM CARNAL MEN. THESE TWO CLASSES ARE SIGNIFIED
BY THE CLEAN AND UNCLEAN ANIMALS IN THE LEGAL DISPENSATION.
1. But we do now receive a certain portion of His Spirit, tending towards perfection,
and preparing us for incorruption, being little by little accustomed to receive and
bear God; which also the apostle terms "an earnest," that is, a part of the honour which has been promised us by God, where he says in the Epistle to the Ephesians,
"In which ye also, having heard the word of truth, the Gospel of your salvation,
believing in which we have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is
the earnest of our inheritance."(10) This earnest, therefore, thus dwelling in us, renders us
spiritual even now, and the mortal is swallowed up by immortality.(11) "For ye,"
he declares, "are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of
God dwell in you."(12) This, however does not take place by a casting away of the flesh, but
by the impartation of the Spirit. For those to whom he was writing were not without
flesh, but they were those who had received the Spirit of God, "by which we cry,
Abba, Father."(13) If therefore, at the present time, having the earnest, we do cry, "Abba,
Father," what shall it be when, on rising again, we behold Him face to face; when
all the members shall burst out into a continuous hymn of triumph, glorifying Him
who raised them from the dead, and gave the gift of eternal life? For if the earnest, gathering
man into itself, does even now cause him to cry, "Abba, Father," what shall the complete
grace of the Spirit effect, which shall be given to men by God? It will render us like unto Him, and accomplish the will(14) of the Father; for it shall make man
after the image and likeness of God.
534
2. Those persons, then, who possess the earnest of the Spirit, and who are not
enslaved by the lusts of the flesh, but are subject to the Spirit, and who in all
things walk according to the light of reason, does the apostle properly term "spiritual,"
because the Spirit of God dwells in them. Now, spiritual men shall not be incorporeal
spirits; but our substance, that is, the union of flesh and spirit, receiving the
Spirit of God, makes up the spiritual man. But those who do indeed reject the Spirit's
counsel, and are the slaves of fleshly lusts, and lead lives contrary to reason, and
who, without restraint, plunge headlong into their own desires, having no longing
after the Divine Spirit, do live after the manner of swine and of dogs; these men,
[I say], does the apostle very properly term "carnal," because they have no thought of anything
else except carnal things.
3. For the same reason, too, do the prophets compare them to irrational animals,
on account of the irrationality of their conduct, saying, "They have become as horses
raging for the females; each one of them neighing after his neighbour's wife."(1)
And again, "Man, when he was in honour, was made like unto cattle."(2) This denotes that,
for his own fault, he is likened to cattle, by rivalling their irrational life. And
we also, as the custom is, do designate men of this stamp as cattle and irrational
beasts.
4. Now the law has figuratively predicted all these, delineating man by the [various]
animals:(3) whatsoever of these, says [the Scripture], have a double hoof and ruminate,
it proclaims as clean; but whatsoever of them do not possess one or other of these [properties], it sets aside b themselves as unclean. Who then are the clean?
Those who make their way by faith steadily towards the Father and the Son; for this
is denoted by the steadiness of those which divide the hoof; and they meditate day
and night upon the words of God,(4) that they may be adorned with good works: for this is
the meaning of the ruminants. The unclean, however, are those which do neither divide
the hoof nor ruminate; that is, those persons who have neither faith in God, nor
do meditate on His words: and such is the abomination of the Gentiles. But as to those animals
which do indeed chew the cud, but have not the double hoof, and are themselves unclean,
we have in them a figurative description of the Jews, who certainly have the words of God in their mouth, but who do not fix their rooted stedfastness in the Father
and in the Son; wherefore they are an unstable generation. For those animals which
have the hoof all in one piece easily slip; but those which have it divided are more
sure-footed, their cleft hoofs succeeding each other as they advance, and the one hoof
supporting the other. In like manner, too, those are unclean which have the double
hoof but do not ruminate: this is plainly an indication of all heretics, and of those
who do not meditate on the words of God, neither are adorned with works of righteousness;
to whom also the Lord says, "Why call ye Me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which
I say to you?"(5) For men of this stamp do indeed say that they believe in the Father and the Son, but they never meditate as they should upon the things of God, neither
are they adorned with works of righteousness; but, as I have already observed, they
have adopted the lives of swine and of dogs, giving themselves over to filthiness,
to gluttony, and recklessness of all sorts. Justly, therefore, did the apostle call all
such "carnal" and "animal,"(6)--[all those, namely], who through their own unbelief
and luxury do not receive the Divine Spirit, and in their various phases east out
from themselves the life-giving Word, and walk stupidly after their own lusts: the prophets,
too, spake of them as beasts of burden and wild beasts; custom likewise has viewed
them in the light of cattle and irrational creatures; and the law has pronounced
them unclean.
CHAP. IX.--SHOWING HOW THAT PASSAGE OF THE APOSTLE WHICH THE HERETICS PERVERT, SHOULD
BE UNDERSTOOD;VIZ., "FLESH AND BLOOD SHALL NOT POSSESS THE KINGDOM OF GOD."
1. Among the other [truths] proclaimed by the apostle, there is also this one,
"That flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God."(7) This is [the passage]
which is adduced by all the heretics in support of their folly, with an attempt to
annoy us, and to point out that the handiwork of God is not saved. They do not take this
fact into consideration, that there are three things out of which, as I have shown,
the complete man is composed--flesh, soul, and spirit. One of these does indeed preserve
and fashion [the man]--this is the spirit; while as to another it is united and formed--that
is the flesh; then [comes] that which is between these two--that is the soul, which
sometimes indeed, when it follows the spirit, is raised up by it, but sometimes it sympathizes with the flesh, and falls into carnal lusts. Those then, as many as
they be, who have not that which saves and forms [us] into life [eternal], shall
be, and shall be called, [mere] flesh and blood; for these are they
535
who have not the Spirit of God in themselves. Wherefore men of this stamp are spoken
of by the Lord as "dead;" for, says He, "Let the dead bury their dead,"(1) because
they have not the Spirit which quickens man.
2. On the other hand, as many as fear God and trust in His Son's advent, and who
through faith do establish the Spirit of God in their hearts,--such men as these
shall be properly called both "pure," and "spiritual," and "those living to God,"
because they possess the Spirit of the Father, who purifies man, and raises him up to the
life of God. For as the Lord has testified that "the flesh is weak," so [does He
also say] that "the spirit is willing."(2) For this latter is capable of working
out its own suggestions. If, therefore, any one admix the ready inclination of the Spirit to be,
as it were, a stimulus to the infirmity of the flesh, it inevitably follows that
what is strong will prevail over the weak, so that the weakness of the flesh will
be absorbed by the strength of the Spirit; and that the man in whom this takes place cannot
in that case be carnal, but Spiritual, because of the fellowship of the Spirit. Thus
it is, therefore, that the martyrs bear their witness, and despise death, not after
the infirmity of the flesh, but because of the readiness of the Spirit. For when the
infirmity of the flesh is absorbed, it exhibits the Spirit as powerful; and again,
when the Spirit absorbs the weakness [of the flesh], it possesses the flesh as an
inheritance in itself, and from both of these is formed a living man,--living, indeed, because
he partakes of the Spirit, but man, because of the substance of flesh.
3. The flesh, therefore, when destitute of the Spirit of God, is dead, not having
life, and cannot possess the kingdom of God: [it is as] irrational blood, like water
poured out upon the ground. And therefore he says, "As is the earthy, such are they
that are earthy."(3) But where the Spirit of the Father is, there is a living man;
[there is] the rational blood preserved by God for the avenging [of those that shed
it]; [there is] the flesh possessed by the Spirit, forgetful indeed of what belongs
to it, and adopting the quality of the Spirit, being made conformable to the Word of God.
And on this account he (the apostle) declares, "As we have borne the image of him
who is of the earth, we shall also bear the image of Him who is from heaven."(4)
What, therefore, is the earthly? That which was fashioned. And what is the heavenly? The Spirit.
As therefore he says, when we were destitute of the celestial Spirit, we walked in
former times in the oldness of the flesh, not obeying God; so now let us, receiving
the Spirit, walk in newness of life, obeying God. Inasmuch, therefore, as without the
Spirit of God we cannot be saved, the apostle exhorts us through faith and chaste
conversation to preserve the Spirit of God, lest, having become non-participators
of the Divine Spirit, we lose the kingdom of heaven; and he exclaims, that flesh in itself,
and blood, cannot possess the kingdom God.
4. If, however, we must speak strictly, [we would say that] the flesh does not
inherit, but is inherited; as also the Lord declares, "Blessed are the meek, for
they shall possess the earth by inheritance;"(5) as if in the [future] kingdom, the
earth, from whence exists the substance Of our flesh, is to be possessed by inheritance. This
is the reason for His wishing the temple (i.e., the flesh) to be clean, that the
Spirit of God may take delight therein, as a bridegroom with a bride. As, therefore,
the bride cannot [be said] to wed, but to be wedded, when the bridegroom comes and takes
her, so also the flesh cannot by itself possess the kingdom of God by inheritance;
but it can be taken for an inheritance into the kingdom of God. For a living person
inherits the goods of the deceased; and it is one thing to inherit, another to be inherited.
The former rules, and exercises power over, and orders the things inherited at his
will; but the latter things are in a state of subjection, are under order, and are
ruled over by him who has obtained the inheritance. What, therefore, is it that lives?
The Spirit of God, doubtless. What, again, are the possessions of the deceased? The
various parts of the man, surely, which rot in the earth. But these are inherited
by the Spirit when they are translated into the kingdom of heaven. For this cause, too,
did Christ die. that the Gospel covenant being manifested and known to the whole
world, might in the first place set free His slaves; and then afterwards, as I have
already shown, might constitute them heirs of His property, when the Spirit possesses them
by inheritance. For he who lives inherits, but the flesh is inherited. In order that
we may not lose life by losing that Spirit which possesses us, the apostle, exhorting
us to the communion of the Spirit, has said, according to reason, in those words already
quoted, "That flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God." Just as if he were
to say, "Do not err; for unless the Word of God dwell with, and the Spirit of the
Father be in you, and if ye shall live frivolously and carelessly as if ye were this
only, viz., mere flesh and blood, ye cannot inherit the kingdom of God."
536
CHAP. X.--BY A COMPARISON DRAWN FROM THE WILD OLIVE-TREE, WHOSE QUALITY BUT NOT WHOSE
NATURE IS CHANGED BY GRAFTING, HE PROVES MORE IMPORTANT THINGS; HE POINTS OUT ALSO
THAT MAN WITHOUT THE SPIRIT IS NOT CAPABLE OF BRINGING FORTH FRUIT, OR OF INHERITING
THE KINGDOM OF GOD.
1. This truth, therefore, [he declares], in order that we may not reject the engrafting
of the Spirit while pampering the flesh. "But thou, being a wild olive-tree," he
says, "hast been grafted into the good olive-tree, and been made a partaker of the
fatness of the olive-tree." As, therefore, when the wild olive has been engrafted,
if it remain in its former condition, viz., a wild olive, it is "cut off, and cast
into the fire;"(2) but if it takes kindly to the graft, and is changed into the good
olive-tree, it becomes a fruit-bearing olive, planted, as it were, in a king's park (paradiso):
so likewise men, if they do truly progress by faith towards better things, and receive
the Spirit of God, and bring forth the fruit thereof, shall be spiritual, as being planted in the paradise of God. But if they cast out the Spirit, and remain in
their former condition, desirous of being of the flesh rather than of the Spirit,
then it is very justly said with regard to men of this stamp, "That flesh and blood
shall not inherit the kingdom of God;"(3) just as if any one were to say that the wild olive
is not received into the paradise of God. Admirably therefore does the apostle exhibit
our nature, and God's universal appointment, in his discourse about flesh and blood and the wild olive. For as the good olive, if neglected for a certain time, if
left to grow wild and to run to i wood, does itself become a wild olive; or again,
if the wild olive be carefully tended and grafted, it naturally reverts to its former
fruit-bearing condition: so men also, when they become careless, and bring forth for fruit
the lusts of the flesh like woody produce, are rendered, by their own fault, unfruitful
in righteousness. For when men sleep, the enemy sows the material of tares;(4) and for this cause did the Lord command His disciples to be on the watch.(5) And again,
those persons who are not bringing forth the fruits of righteousness, and are, as
it were, covered over and lost among brambles, if they use diligence, and receive
the word of God as a graft,(6) arrive at the pristine nature of man--that which was created
after the image and likeness of God.
2. But as the engrafted wild olive does not certainly lose the substance of its
wood, but changes the quality of its fruit, and receives another name, being now
not a wild olive, but a fruit-bearing olive, and is called so; so also, when man
is grafted in by faith and receives the Spirit of God, he certainly does not lose the substance
of flesh, but changes the quality of the fruit [brought forth, i.e.,] of his works,
and receives another name,(7) showing that he has become changed for the better,
being now not [mere] flesh and blood, but a spiritual man, and is called such. Then, again,
as the wild olive, if it be not grafted in, remains useless to its lord because of
its woody quality, and is cut down as a tree bearing no fruit, and cast into the
fire; so also man, if he does not receive through faith the engrafting of the Spirit, remains
in his old condition, and being [mere] flesh and blood, he cannot inherit the kingdom
of God. Rightly therefore does the apostle declare, "Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God;"(8) and, "Those who are in the flesh cannot please God:"(9)
not repudiating [by these words] the substance of flesh, but showing that into it
the Spirit must be infused.(10) And for this reason, he says, "This mortal must put
on immortality, and this corruptible must put on incorruption."(11) And again he declares,
"But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God
dwell in you."(12) He sets this forth still more plainly, where he says, "The body
indeed is dead, because of sin; but the Spirit is life, because of righteousness. But if the
Spirit of Him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ
from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies, because of His Spirit dwelling
in you."(13) And again he says, in the Epistle to the Romans, "For if ye live after
the flesh, ye shall die."(14) [Now by these words] he does not prohibit them from
living their lives in the flesh, for he was himself in the flesh when he wrote to
them; but he cuts away the lusts of the flesh, those which bring death upon a man. And for
this reason he says in continuation, "But if ye through the Spirit do mortify the
works of the flesh, ye shall live. For whosoever are led by the Spirit of God, these
are the sons of God."
CHAP. XI.--TREATS UPON THE ACTIONS OF CARNAL AND OF SPIRITUAL PERSONS; ALSO, THAT
THE SPIRITUAL CLEANSING IS NOT TO BE REFERRED TO THE SUBSTANCE OF OUR BODIES, BUT
TO THE MANNER OF OUR FORMER LIFE.
1. [The apostle], foreseeing the wicked speeches of unbelievers, has particularized
the
537
works which he terms carnal; and he explains himself, lest any room for doubt be left
to those who do dishonestly pervert his meaning, thus saying in the Epistle to the
Galatians: "Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are adulteries, fornications, uncleanness, luxuriousness, idolatries, witchcrafts,(1) hatreds, contentions jealousies,
wraths, emulations, animosities, irritable speeches, dissensions, heresies, envyings,
drunkenness, carousings, and such like; of which I warn you, as also I have warned you, that they who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God."(2) Thus
does he point out to his hearers in a more explicit manner what it is [he means when
he declares], "Flesh and blood shall not inherit the kingdom of God." For they who
do these things, since they do indeed walk after the flesh, have not the power of living
unto God. And then, again, he proceeds to tell us the spiritual actions which vivify
a man, that is, the engrafting of the Spirit; thus saying, "But the fruit of the
Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, goodness, benignity, faith, meekness, continence,
chastity: against these there is no law."(3) As, therefore, he who has gone forward
to the better things, and has brought forth the fruit of the Spirit, is saved altogether because of the communion of the Spirit; so also he who has continued in the
aforesaid works of the flesh, being truly reckoned as carnal, because he did not
receive the Spirit of God, shall not have power to inherit the kingdom of heaven.
As, again, the same apostle testifies, saying to the Corinthians, "Know ye not that the unrighteous
shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not err," he says: "neither fornicators,
nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor revilers, nor rapacious persons, shall inherit the
kingdom of God. And these ye indeed have been; but ye have been washed, but ye have
been sanctified, but ye have been justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and in the Spirit of our God."(4) He shows in the clearest manner through what things it
is that man goes to destruction, if he has continued to live after the flesh; and
then, on the other hand, [he points out] through what things he is saved. Now he
says that the things which save are the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Spirit of our
God.
2. Since, therefore, in that passage he recounts those works of the flesh which
are without the Spirit, which bring death [upon their doers], he exclaimed at the
end of his Epistle, in accordance with what he had already declared, "And as we have
borne the image of him who is of the earth, we shall also bear the image of Him who is
from heaven. For this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom
of God."(5) Now this which he says, "as we have borne the image of him who is of
the earth," is analogous to what has been declared, "And such indeed ye were; but ye have
been washed, but ye have been sanctified, but ye have been justified in the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God." When, therefore, did we
bear the image of him who is of the earth? Doubtless it was when those actions spoken of as
"works of the flesh" used to be wrought in us. And then, again, when [do we bear]
the image of the heavenly? Doubtless when he says, "Ye have been washed," believing
in the name of the Lord, and receiving His Spirit. Now we have washed away, not the substance
of our body, nor the image of our [primary] formation, but the former vain conversation.
In these members, therefore, in which we were going to destruction by working the works of corruption, in these very members are we made alive by working the works
of the Spirit.
CHAP. XII.--OF THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LIFE AND DEATH; OF THE BREATH OF LIFE AND THE
VIVIFYING SPIRIT: ALSO HOW IT IS THAT THE SUBSTANCE OF FLESH REVIVES WHICH ONCE WAS
DEAD.
1. For as the flesh is capable of corruption, so is it also of incorruption; and
as it is of death, so is it also of life. These two do mutually give way to each
other; and both cannot remain in the same place, but one is driven out by the other,
and the presence of the one destroys that of the other. If, then, when death takes possession
of a man, it drives life away from him, and proves him to be dead, much more does
life, when it has obtained power over the man, drive out death, and restore him as
living unto God. For if death brings mortality, why should not life, when it comes,
vivify man? Just as Esaias the prophet says, "Death devoured when it had prevailed."(6)
And again, "God has wiped away every tear from every face." Thus that former life
is expelled, because it was not given by the Spirit, but by the breath.
2. For the breath of life, which also rendered man an animated being, is one thing,
and the vivifying Spirit another, which also caused him to become spiritual. And
for this reason Isaiah said, "Thus saith the LORD, who made heaven and established
it, who founded the earth and the things therein, and gave breath to the people
538
upon it, and Spirit to those walking upon it;"(1) thus telling us that breath is indeed
given in common to all people upon earth, but that the Spirit is theirs alone who
tread down earthly desires. And therefore Isaiah himself, distinguishing the things
already mentioned, again exclaims, "For the Spirit shall go forth from Me, and I have
made every breath."(2) Thus does he attribute the Spirit as peculiar to God which
in the last times He pours forth upon the human race by the adoption of sons; but
[he shows] that breath was common throughout the creation, and points it out as something
created. Now what has been made is a different thing from him who makes it. The breath,
then, is temporal, but the Spirit eternal. The breath, too, increases [in strength]
for a short period, and continues for a certain time; after that it takes its departure,
leaving its former abode destitute of breath. But when the Spirit pervades the man
within and without, inasmuch as it continues there, it never leaves him. "But that
is not first which is spiritual," says the apostle, speaking this as if with reference
to us human beings; "but that is first which is animal, afterwards that which is
spiritual,"(3) in accordance with reason. For there had been a necessity that, in
the first place, a human being should be fashioned, and that what was fashioned should receive
the soul; afterwards that it should thus receive the communion of the Spirit. Wherefore
also "the first Adam was made" by the Lord "a living soul, the second Adam a quickening spirit."(4) As, then, he who was made a living soul forfeited life when he turned
aside to what was evil, so, on the other hand, the same individual, when he reverts
to what is good, and receives the quickening Spirit, shall find life.
3. For it is not one thing which dies and another which is quickened, as neither
is it one thing Which is lost and another which is found, but the Lord came seeking
for that same sheep which had been lost. What was it, then, which was dead? Undoubtedly it was the substance of the flesh; the same, too, which had lost the breath of life,
and had become breathless and dead. This same, therefore, was what the Lord came
to quicken, that as in Adam we do all die, as being of an animal nature, in Christ
we may all live, as being spiritual, not laying aside God's handiwork, but the lusts of
the flesh, and receiving the Holy Spirit; as the apostle says in the Epistle to the
Colossians: "Mortify, therefore, your members which are upon the earth." And what
these are he himself explains: "Fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence;
and covetousness, which is idolatry."(5) The laying aside of these is what the apostle
preaches; and he declares that those who do such things, as being merely flesh and blood, cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven. For their soul, tending towards
what is worse, and descending to earthly lusts, has become a partaker in the same
designation which belongs to these [lusts, viz., "earthly"], which, when the apostle
commands us to lay aside, he says in the same Epistle, "Cast ye off the old man with his
deeds."(6) But when he said this, he does not remove away the ancient formation [of
man]; for in that case it would be incumbent on us to rid ourselves of its company
by committing suicide.
4. But the apostle himself also, being one who had been formed in a womb, and
had issued thence, wrote to us, and confessed in his Epistle to the Philippians that
"to live in the flesh was the fruit of [his] work;"(7) thus expressing himself. Now
the final result of the work of the Spirit is the salvation of the flesh.(8) For what other
visible fruit is there of the invisible Spirit, than the rendering of the flesh mature
and capable of incorruption? If then [he says], "To live in the flesh, this is the result of labour to me," he did not surely contemn the substance of flesh in that
passage where he said, "Put ye off the old man with his works;"(9) but he points
out that we should lay aside our former conversation, that which waxes old and becomes
corrupt; and for this reason he goes on to say, "And put ye on the new man, that which
is renewed in knowledge, after the image of Him who created him." In this, therefore,
that he says, "which is renewed in knowledge," he demonstrates that he, the selfsame
man who was in ignorance in times past, that is, in ignorance of God, is renewed by that
knowledge which has respect to Him. For the knowledge of God renews man. And when
he says, "after the image of the Creator," he sets forth the recapitulation of the
same man, who was at the beginning made after the likeness of God.
5. And that he, the apostle, was the very same person who had been born from the
womb, that is, of the ancient substance of flesh, he does himself declare in the
Epistle to the Galatians: "But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's
womb, and called me by His grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among
the Gentiles," (10) it was not, as I have already observed, one person who had
539
been born from the womb, and another who preached the Gospel of the Son of God; but
that same individual who formerly was ignorant, and used to persecute the Church,
when the revelation was made to him from heaven, and the Lord conferred with him,
as I have pointed out in the third book,(1) preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of
God, who was crucified under Pontius Pilate, his former ignorance being driven out
by his subsequent knowledge: just as the blind men whom the Lord healed did certainly
lose their blindness, but received the substance of their eyes perfect, and obtained the
power of vision in the very same eyes with which they formerly did not see; the darkness
being merely driven away by the power of vision, while the substance of the eyes
was retained, in order that, by means of those eyes through which they had not seen,
exercising again the visual power, they might give thanks to Him who had restored
them again to sight. And thus, also, he whose withered hand was healed, and all who
were healed generally, did not change those parts of their bodies which had at their birth
come forth from the womb, but simply obtained these anew in a healthy condition.
6. For the Maker of all things, the Word of God, who did also from the beginning
form man, when He found His handiwork impaired by wickedness, performed upon it all
kinds of healing. At one time [He did so], as regards each separate member, as it
is found in His own handiwork; and at another time He did once for all restore man sound
and whole in all points, preparing him perfect for Himself unto the resurrection.
For what was His object in healing [different] portions of the flesh, and restoring
them to their original condition, if those parts which had been healed by Him were not in
a position to obtain salvation? For if it was [merely] a temporary benefit which
He conferred, He granted nothing of importance to those who were the subjects of
His healing. Or how can they maintain that the flesh is incapable of receiving the life which
flows from Him, when it received healing from Him? For life is brought about through
healing, and incorruption through life. He, therefore, who confers healing, the same
does also confer life; and He [who gives] life, also surrounds His own handiwork with
incorruption.
CHAP. XIII.--IN THE DEAD WHO WERE RAISED BY CHRIST WE POSSESS THE HIGHEST PROOF OF
THE RESURRECTION; AND OUR HEARTS ARE SHOWN TO BE CAPABLE OF LIFE ETERNAL, BECAUSE
THEY CAN NOW RECEIVE THE SPIRIT OF GOD.
1. Let our opponents--that is, they who speak against their own salvation--inform
us [as to this point]: The deceased daughter of the high priest;(2) the widow's dead
son, who was being carded out [to burial] near the gate [of the city];(3) and Lazarus, who had lain four days in the tomb,(4)--in what bodies did they rise again? In those
same, no doubt, in which they had also died. For if it were not in the very same,
then certainly those same individuals who had died did not rise again. For [the Scripture] says, "The Lord took the hand of the dead man, and said to him, Young man, I say
unto thee, Arise. And the dead man sat up, and He commanded that something should
be given him to eat; and He delivered him to his mother."(5) Again, He called Lazarus
"with a loud voice, saying, Lazarus, come forth; and he that was dead came forth bound
with bandages, feet and hands." This was symbolical of that man who had been bound
in sins. And therefore the Lord said, "Loose him, and let him depart." As, therefore,
those who were healed were made whole in those members which had in times past been afflicted;
and the dead rose in the identical bodies, their limbs and bodies receiving health,
and that life which was granted by the Lord, who prefigures eternal things by temporal, and shows that it is He who is Himself able to extend both healing and life
to His handiwork, that His words concerning its [future] resurrection may also be
believed; so also at the end, when the Lord utters His voice "by the last trumpet,"(6)
the dead shall be raised, as He Himself declares: "The hour shall come, in which all
the dead which are in the tombs shall hear the voice of the Son of man, and shall
come forth; those that have done good to the resurrection of life, and those that
have done evil to the resurrection of judgment."(7)
2. Vain, therefore, and truly miserable, are those who do not choose to see what
is so manifest and clear, but shun the light of truth, blinding themselves like the
tragic OEdipus. And as those who are not practised in wrestling, when they contend
with others, laying hold with a determined grasp of some part of [their opponent's] body,
really fall by means of that which they grasp, yet when they fall, imagine that they
are gaining the victory, because they have obstinately kept their hold upon that
part which they seized at the outset, and besides falling, become
540
subjects of ridicule; so is it with respect to that [favourite] expression of the
heretics: "Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God;" while taking two expressions
of Paul's, without having perceived the apostle's meaning, or examined critically
the force of the terms, but keeping fast hold of the mere expressions by themselves,
they die in consequence of their influence (<greek>periautas</greek>), overturning
as far as in them lies the entire dispensation of God.
3. For thus they will allege that this passage refers to the flesh strictly so
called, and not to fleshly works, as I have pointed out, so representing the apostle
as contradicting himself. For immediately following, in the same Epistle, he says
conclusively, speaking thus in reference to the flesh: "For this corruptible must put on
incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So, when this mortal shall
have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying which is written,
Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O death, where is thy victory?"(1)
Now these words shall be appropriately said at the time when this mortal and corruptible
flesh, which is subject to death, which also is pressed down by a certain dominion of death, rising up into life, shall put on incorruption and immortality. For
then, indeed, shall death be truly vanquished, when that flesh which is held down
by it shall go forth from under its dominion. And again, to the Philippians he says:
"But our conversation is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord
Jesus, who shall transfigure the body of our humiliation conformable to the body
of His glory, even as He is able (ita ut possit) according to the working of His
own power."(2) What, then, is this "body of humiliation" which the Lord shall transfigure, [so
as to be] conformed to "the body of His glory?" Plainly it is this body composed
of flesh, which is indeed humbled when it falls into the earth. Now its transformation
[takes place thus], that while it is mortal and corruptible, it becomes immortal and incorruptible,
not after its own proper substance, but after the mighty working of the Lord, who
is able to invest the mortal with immortality, and the corruptible with incorruption. And therefore he says,(3) "that mortality may be swallowed up of life. He
who has perfected us for this very thing is God, who also has given unto us the earnest
of the Spirit."(4) He uses these words most manifestly in reference to the flesh;
for the soul is not mortal, neither is the spirit. Now, what is mortal shall be swallowed
up of life, when the flesh is dead no longer, but remains living and incorruptible,
hymning the praises of God, who has perfected us for this very thing. In order, therefore, that we may be perfected for this, aptly does he say to the Corinthians, "Glorify
God in your body."(5) Now God is He who gives rise to immortality.
4. That he uses these words with respect to the body of flesh, and to none other,
he declares to the Corinthians manifestly, indubitably, and free from all ambiguity:
"Always bearing about in our body the dying of Jesus,(6) that also the life of Jesus
Christ might be manifested in our body. For if we who live are delivered unto death
for Jesus' sake, it is that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our mortal
flesh."(7) And that the Spirit lays hold on the flesh, he says in the same Epistle,
"That ye axe the epistle of Christ, ministered by us, inscribed not with ink, but with
the Spirit of the living God, not in tables of stone, but in the fleshly tables of
the heart."(8) If, therefore, in the present time, fleshly hearts are made partakers
of the Spirit, what is there astonishing if, in the resurrection, they receive that life
which is granted by the Spirit? Of which resurrection the apostle speaks in the Epistle
to the Philippians: "Having been made conformable to His death, if by any means I
might attain to the resurrection which is from the dead."(9) In what other mortal flesh,
therefore, can life be understood as being manifested, unless in that substance which
is also put to death on account of that confession which is made of God?--as he has
himself declared, "If, as a man, I have fought with beasts(10) at Ephesus, what advantageth
it me if the dead rise not? For if the dead rise not, neither has Christ risen.
Now, if Christ has not risen, our preaching is vain, and your faith is vain. In that case, too, we are found false witnesses for God, since we have testified that He
raised up Christ, whom [upon that supposition] He did not raise up.(11) For if the
dead rise not, neither has Christ risen. But if Christ be not risen, your faith is
vain, since ye are yet in your sins. Therefore those who have fallen asleep in Christ have
perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are more miserable than
all men. But now Christ has
541
risen from the dead, the first-fruits of those that sleep; for as by man [came] death,
by man also [came] the resurrection of the dead."(1)
5. In all these passages, therefore, as I have already said, these men must either
allege that the apostle expresses opinions contradicting himself, with respect to
that statement, "Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God;" or, on the other
hand, they will be forced to make perverse and crooked interpretations of all the passages,
so as to overturn and alter the sense of the words. For what sensible thing can they
say, if they endeavour to interpret otherwise this which he writes: "For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal put on immortality;"(2) and, "That
the life of Jesus may be made manifest in our mortal flesh;"(3) and all the other
passages in which the apostle does manifestly and clearly declare the resurrection
and incorruption of the flesh? And thus shall they be compelled to put a false interpretation
upon passages such as these, they who do not choose to understand one correctly.
CHAP. XIV.--UNLESS THE FLESH WERE TO BE SAVED, THE WORD WOULD NOT HAVE TAKEN UPON
HIM FLESH OF THE SAME SUBSTANCE AS OURS: FROM THIS IT WOULD FOLLOW THAT NEITHER SHOULD
WE HAVE BEEN RECONCILED BY HIM.
1. And inasmuch as the apostle has not pronounced against the very substance of
flesh and blood, that it cannot inherit the kingdom of God, the same apostle has
everywhere adopted the term "flesh and blood" with regard to the Lord Jesus Christ,
partly indeed to establish His human nature (for He did Himself speak of Himself as the Son
of man), and partly that He might confirm the salvation of our flesh. For if the
flesh were not in a position to be saved, the Word of God would in no wise have become
flesh. And if the blood of the righteous were not to be inquired after, the Lord would
certainly not have had blood [in His composition]. But inasmuch as blood cries out
(vocalis est) from the beginning [of the world], God said to Cain, when he had slain
his brother, "The voice of thy brother's blood crieth to Me."(4) And as their blood will
be inquired after, He said to those with Noah, "For your blood of your souls will
I require, [even] from the hand of all beasts;"(5) and again, "Whosoever will shed
man's blood,(6) it shall be shed for his blood." In like manner, too, did the Lord say to
those who should afterwards shed His blood, "All righteous blood shall be required
which is shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zacharias
the son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. Verily I say
unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation."(7) He thus points out
the recapitulation that should take place in his own person of the effusion of blood
from the beginning, of all the righteous men and of the prophets, and that by means of Himself
there should be a requisition of their blood. Now this [blood] could not be required
unless it also had the capability of being saved; nor would the Lord have summed
up these things in Himself, unless He had Himself been made flesh and blood after the
way of the original formation [of man], saving in his own person at the end that
which had in the beginning perished in Adam.
2. But if the Lord became incarnate for any other order of things, and took flesh
of any other substance, He has not then summed up human nature in His own person,
nor in that case can He be termed flesh. For flesh has been truly made [to consist
in] a transmission of that thing moulded originally from the dust. But if it had been necessary
for Him to draw the material [of His body] from another substance, the Father would
at the beginning have moulded the material [of flesh] from a different substance
[than from what He actually did]. But now the case stands thus, that the Word has
saved that which really was [created, viz.,] humanity which had perished, effecting
by means of Himself that communion which should be held with it, and seeking out
its salvation. But the thing which had perished possessed flesh and blood. For the Lord, taking
dust from the earth, moulded man; and it was upon his behalf that all the dispensation
of the Lord's advent took place. He had Himself, therefore, flesh and blood, recapitulating in Himself not a certain other, but that original handiwork of the Father,
seeking out that thing which had perished. And for this cause the apostle, in the
Epistle to the Colossians, says, "And though ye were formerly alienated, and enemies
to His knowledge by evil works, yet now ye have been reconciled in the body of His flesh,
through His death, to present yourselves holy and chaste, and without fault in His
sight."(8) He says, "Ye have been reconciled in the body of His flesh," because the
righteous flesh has reconciled that flesh which was being kept under bondage in sin,
and brought it into friendship with God.
3. If, then, any one allege that in this respect the flesh of the Lord was different
from ours, because it indeed did not commit sin, neither
542
was deceit found in His soul, while we, on the other hand, are sinners, he says what
is the fact. But if he pretends that the, Lord possessed another substance of flesh,
the sayings respecting reconciliation will not agree with that man. For that thing
is reconciled which had formerly been in enmity. Now, if the Lord had taken flesh from
another substance, He would not, by so doing, have reconciled that one to God which
had become inimical through transgression. But now, by means of communion with Himself,
the Lord has reconciled man to God the Father, in reconciling us to Himself by the
body of His own flesh, and redeeming us by His own blood, as the apostle says to
the Ephesians, "In whom we have redemption through His blood, the remission of sins;"(1)
and again to the same he says, "Ye who formerly were far off have been brought near in
the blood of Christ;"(2) and again, "Abolishing in His flesh the enmities, [even]
the law of commandments [contained] in ordinances."(3) And in every Epistle the apostle
plainly testifies, that through the flesh of our Lord, and through His blood, we have
been saved.
4. If, therefore, flesh and blood are the things which procure for us life, it
has not been declared of flesh and blood, in the literal meaning (proprie) of the
terms, that they cannot inherit the kingdom of God; but [these words apply] to those
carnal deeds already mentioned, which, perverting man to sin, deprive him of life. And for
this reason he says, in the Epistle to the Romans: "Let not sin, therefore, reign
in your mortal body, to be under its control: neither yield ye your members instruments
of unrighteousness unto sin; but yield yourselves to God, as being alive from the dead,
and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God."(4) In these same members,
therefore, in which we used to serve sin, and bring forth fruit unto death, does
He wish us to [be obedient] unto righteousness, that we may bring forth fruit unto life.
Remember, therefore, my beloved friend, that thou hast been redeemed by the flesh
of our Lord, re-established(5) by His blood; and "holding the Head, from which the
whole body of the Church, having been fitted together, takes increase"(6)--that is, acknowledging
the advent in the flesh of the Son of God, and [His] divinity (deum), and looking
forward with constancy to His human nature(7) (hominem), availing thyself also of these proofs drawn from Scripture--thou dost easily overthrow, as I have pointed
out, all those notions of the heretics which were concocted afterwards.
CHAP. XV.--PROOFS OF THE RESURRECTION FROM ISAIAH AND EZEKIEL; THE SAME GOD WHO CREATED
US WILL ALSO RAISE US UP.
1. Now, that He who at the beginning created man, did promise him a second birth
after his dissolution into earth, Esaias thus declares: "The dead shall rise again,
and they who are in the tombs shall arise, and they who are in the earth shall rejoice. For the dew which is from Thee is health to them."(8) And again: "I will comfort
you, and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem: and ye shall see, and your heart shall
rejoice, and your bones shall flourish as the grass; and the hand of the Lord shall
be known to those who worship Him."(9) And Ezekiel speaks as follows: "And the hand of the
LORD came upon me, and the LORD led me forth in the Spirit, and set me down in the
midst of the plain, and this place was full of bones. And He caused me to pass by
them round about: and, behold, there were many upon the surface of the plain very dry. And
He said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live ? And I said, Lord, Thou who hast
made them dost know. And He said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and thou shalt
say to them, Ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. Thus saith the LORD to these bones,
Behold, I will cause the spirit of life to come upon you, and I will lay sinews upon
you, and bring up flesh again upon you, and I will stretch skin upon you, and will
put my Spirit into you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD. And
I prophesied as the Lord had commanded me. And it came to pass, when I was prophesying,
that, behold, an earthquake, and the bones were drawn together, each one to its own
articulation: and I beheld, and, lo, the sinews and flesh were produced upon them,
and the skins rose upon them round about, but there was no breath in them. And He
said unto me, Prophesy to the breath, son of man, and say to the breath, These things
saith the LORD, Come from the four winds (spiritibus), and breathe upon these dead, that
they may live. So I prophesied as the Lord had commanded me, and the breath entered
into them; and they did live, and stood upon their feet, an exceeding great gathering."(10) And again he says, "Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will set your graves open,
and cause you to come out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel;
and ye shall know that I am the LORD,
543
when I shall open your sepulchres, that I may bring my people again out of the sepulchres:
and I will put my Spirit into you, and ye shall live; and I will place you in your
land, and ye shall know that I am the LORD. I have said, and I will do, saith the LORD." (1) As we at once perceive that the Creator (Demiurgo) is in this passage
represented as vivifying our dead bodies, and promising resurrection to them, and
resuscitation from their sepulchres and tombs, conferring upon them immortality also
(He says, "For as the tree of life, so shall their days be"(2)), He is shown to be the only
God who accomplishes these things, and as Himself the good Father, benevolently conferring
life upon those who have not life from themselves.
2. And for this reason did the Lord most plainly manifest Himself and the Father
to His disciples, lest, forsooth, they might seek after another God besides Him who
formed man, and who gave him the breath of life; and that men might not rise to such
a pitch of madness as to feign another Father above the Creator. And thus also He healed
by a word all the others who were in a weakly condition because of sin; to whom also
He said, "Behold, thou art made whole, sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon
thee:"(3) pointing out by this, that, because of the sin of disobedience, infirmities
have come upon men. To that man, however, who had been blind from his birth, He gave
sight, not by means of a word, but by an outward action; doing this not without a
purpose, or because it so happened, but that He might show forth the hand of God, that which
at the beginning had moulded man. And therefore, when His disciples asked Him for
what cause the man had been born blind, whether for his own or his parents' fault,
He replied, "Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents, but that the works of God
should be made manifest in him."(4) Now the work of God is the fashioning of man.
For, as the Scripture says, He made [man] by a kind of process: "And the Lord took
day from the earth, and formed man."(5) Wherefore also the Lord spat on the ground and made
clay, and smeared it upon the eyes, pointing out the original fashioning [of man],
how it was effected, and manifesting the hand of God to those who can understand
by what [hand] man was formed out of the dust. For that which the artificer, the Word, had
omitted to form in the womb, [viz., the blind man's eyes], He then supplied in public,
that the works of God might be manifested in him, in order that we might not be seeking out another hand by which man was fashioned, nor another Father; knowing that this
hand of God which formed us at the beginning, and which does form us in the womb,
has in the last times sought us out who were lost, winning back His own, and taking
up the lost sheep upon His shoulders, and with joy restoring it to the fold of life.
3. Now, that the Word of God forms us in the womb, He says to Jeremiah, "Before
I formed thee in the womb, I knew thee; and before thou wentest forth from the belly,
I sanctified thee, and appointed thee a prophet among the nations." (6) And Paul,
too, says in like manner, "But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's
womb, that I might declare Him among the nations."(7) As, therefore, we are by the
Word formed in the womb, this very same Word formed the visual power in him who had
been blind from his birth; showing openly who it is that fashions us in secret, since the
Word Himself had been made manifest to men: and declaring the original formation
of Adam, and the manner in which he was created, and by what hand he was fashioned,
indicating the whole from a part. For the Lord who formed the visual powers is He who made
the whole man, carrying out the will of the Father. And inasmuch as man, with respect
to that formation which, was after Adam, having fallen into transgression, needed
the layer of regeneration, [the Lord] said to him [upon whom He had conferred sight], after
He had smeared his eyes with the clay, "Go to Siloam, and wash;"(8) thus restoring
to him both [his perfect] confirmation, and that regeneration which takes place by
means of the layer. And for this reason when he was washed he came seeing, that he might
both know Him who had fashioned him, and that man might learn [to know] Him who has
conferred upon him life.
4. All the followers of Valentinus, therefore, lose their case, when they say
that man was not fashioned out of this earth, but from a fluid and diffused substance.
For, from the earth out of which the Lord formed eyes for that man, from the same
earth it is evident that man was also fashioned at the beginning. For it were incompatible
that the eyes should indeed be formed from one source and the rest of the body from
another; as neither would it be compatible that one [being] fashioned the body, and
another the eyes. But He, the very same who formed Adam at the beginning, with whom
also the Father spake, [saying], "Let Us make man after Our image and likeness,"(9)
revealing Himself in these last times to men, formed visual organs (visionem) for
him who had been blind [in
544
that body which he had derived] from Adam. Wherefore also the Scripture, pointing
out what should come to pass, says, that when Adam had hid himself because of his
disobedience, the Lord came to him at eventide, called him forth, and said, "Where
art thou?"(1) That means that in the last times the very same Word of God came to call man,
reminding him of his doings, living in which he had been hidden from the Lord. For
just as at that time God spake to Adam at eventide, searching him out; so in the
last times, by means of the same voice, searching out his posterity, He has visited them.
CHAP. XVI.--SINCE OUR BODIES RETURN TO THE EARTH, IT FOLLOWS THAT THEY HAVE THEIR
SUBSTANCE FROM IT; ALSO, BY THE ADVENT OF THE WORD, THE IMAGE OF GOD IN US APPEARED
IN A CLEARER LIGHT.
1. And since Adam was moulded from this earth to which we belong, the Scripture
tells us that God said to him, "In the sweat of thy face shall thou eat thy bread,
until thou turnest again to the dust from whence thou weft taken."(2) If then, after
death, our bodies return to any other substance, it follows that from it also they have
their substance. But if it be into this very [earth], it is manifest that it was
also from it that man's frame was created; as also the Lord clearly showed, when
from this very substance He formed eyes for the man [to whom He gave sight]. And thus was the
hand of God plainly shown forth, by which Adam was fashioned, and we too have been
formed; and since there is one and the same Father, whose voice from the beginning
even to the end is present with His handiwork, and the substance from which we were formed
is plainly declared through the Gospel, we should therefore not seek after another
Father besides Him, nor [look for] another substance from which we have been formed,
besides what was mentioned beforehand, and shown forth by the Lord; nor another hand
of God besides that which, from the beginning even to the end, forms us and prepares
us for life, and is present with His handiwork, and perfects it after the image and
likeness of God.
2. And then, again, this Word was manifested when the Word of God was made man,
assimilating Himself to man, and man to Himself, so that by means of his resemblance
to the Son, man might become precious to the Father. For in times long past, it was
said that man was created after the image of God, but it was not [actually] shown; for
the Word was as yet invisible, after whose image man was created, Wherefore also
he did easily lose the similitude. When, however, the Word of God became flesh, He
confirmed both these: for He both showed forth the image truly, since He became Himself what
was His image; and He re-established the similitude after a sure manner, by assimilating
man to the invisible Father through means of the visible Word.
3. And not by the aforesaid things alone has the Lord manifested Himself, but
[He has done this] also by means of His passion. For doing away with [the effects
of] that disobedience of man which had taken place at the beginning by the occasion
of a tree, "He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross;"(3) rectifying that
disobedience which had occurred by reason of a tree, through that obedience which
was [wrought out] upon the tree [of the cross]. Now He would not have come to do
away, by means of that same [image], the disobedience which had been incurred towards our Maker
if He proclaimed another Father. But inasmuch as it was by these things that we disobeyed
God, and did not give credit to His word, so was it also by these same that He brought in obedience and consent as respects His Word; by which things He clearly
shows forth God Himself, whom indeed we had offended in the first Adam, when he did
not perform His commandment. In the second Adam, however, we are reconciled, being
made obedient even unto death. For we were debtors to none other but to Him whose commandment
we had transgressed at the beginning.
CHAP. XVII.--THERE IS BUT ONE LORD AND ONE GOD, THE FATHER AND CREATOR OF ALL THINGS,
WHO HAS LOVED US IN CHRIST, GIVEN US COMMANDMENTS, AND REMITTED OUR SINS; WHOSE SON
AND WORD CHRIST PROVED HIMSELF TO BE, WHEN HE FORGAVE OUR SINS.
1. Now this being is the Creator (Demiurgus), who is, in respect of His love,
the Father; but in respect of His power, He is Lord; and in respect of His wisdom,
our Maker and Fashioner; by transgressing whose commandment we became His enemies.
And therefore in the last times the Lord has restored us into friendship through His incarnation,
having become "the Mediator between God and men;"(4) propitiating indeed for us the
Father against whom we had sinned, and cancelling (consolatus) our disobedience by His own obedience; conferring also upon us the gift of communion with, and subjection
to, our Maker. For this reason also He has taught us to say in prayer, "And forgive
us our debts;"(5) since indeed He is our Father, whose debtors we were, having transgressed His commandments. But who is this Being? Is He some unknown one, and a Father
who gives no com-
545
mandment to any one? Or is He the God who is proclaimed in the Scriptures, to whom
we were debtors, having transgressed His commandment? Now the commandment was given
to man by the Word. For Adam, it is said, "heard the voice of the LORD God."(1) Rightly
then does His Word say to man, "Thy sins are forgiven thee;"(2) He, the same against
whom we had sinned in the beginning, grants forgiveness of sins in the end. But if
indeed we had disobeyed the command of any other, while it was a different being
who said, "Thy sins are forgiven thee;"(2) such an one is neither good, nor true, nor just.
For how can he be good, who does not give from what belongs to himself? Or how can
he be just, who snatches away the goods of another? And in what way can sins be truly
remitted, unless that He against whom we have sinned has Himself granted remission "through
the bowels of mercy of our God," in which "He has visited us"(3) through His Son?
2. And therefore, when He had healed the man sick of the palsy, [the evangelist]
says "The people upon seeing it glorified God, who gave such power unto men."(4)
What God, then, did the bystanders glorify? Was it indeed that unknown Father invented
by the heretics? And how could they glorify him who was altogether unknown to them? It
is evident, therefore, that the Israelites glorified Him who has been proclaimed
as God by the law and the prophets, who is also the Father of our Lord; and therefore
He taught men, by the evidence of their senses through those signs which He accomplished,
to give glory to God. If, however, He HimSelf had come from another Father, and men
glorified a different Father when they beheld His miracles, He [in that case] rendered
the mungrateful to that Father who had sent the gift of healing. But as the only-begotten
Son had come for man's salvation from Him who is God, He did both stir up the incredulous
by the miracles which He was in the habit of working, to give glory to the Father; and to the Pharisees, who did not admit the advent of His Son, and who consequently
did not believe in the remission [of sins] which was conferred by Him, He said, "That
ye may know that the Son of man hath power to forgive sins."(5) And when He had said this, He commanded the paralytic man to take up the pallet upon which he was
lying, and go into his house. By this work of His He confounded the unbelievers,
and showed that He is Himself the voice of God, by which man received commandments,
which he broke, and became a sinner; for the paralysis followed as a consequence of sins.
3. Therefore, by remitting sins, He did indeed heal man, while He also manifested
Himself who He was. For if no one can forgive sins but God alone, while the Lord
remitted them and healed men, it is plain that He was Himself the Word of God made
the Son of man, receiving from the Father the power of remission of sins; since He was man,
and since He was God, in order that since as man He suffered for us, so as God He
might have compassion on us, and forgive us our debts, in which we were made debtors
to God our Creator. And therefore David said beforehand, "Blessed are they whose iniquities
are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the LORD has
not imputed sin;"(6) pointing out thus that remission of sins which follows upon
His advent, by which "He has destroyed the handwriting" of our debt, and "fastened it
to the cross;"(7) so that as by means of a tree we were made debtors to God, [so
also] by means of a tree we may obtain the remission of our debt.
3. This fact has been strikingly set forth by many others, and especially through
means of Elisha the prophet. For when his fellow-prophets were hewing wood for the
construction of a tabernacle, and when the iron [head], shaken loose from the axe,
had fallen into the Jordan and could not be found by them, upon Elisha's coming to the
place, and learning what had happened, he threw some wood into the water. Then, when
he had done this, the iron part of the axe floated up, and they took up from the
surface of the water what they had previously lost.(8) By this action the prophet pointed
out that the sure word of God, which we had negligently lost by means of a tree,
and were not in the way of finding again, we should receive anew by the dispensation
of a tree, [viz., the cross of Christ]. For that the word of God is likened to an axe, John
the Baptist declares [when he says] in reference to it, "But now also is the axe
laid to the root of the trees."(9) Jeremiah also says to the same purport: "The word
of God cleaveth the rock as an axe."(10) This word, then, what was hidden from us, did
the dispensation of the tree make manifest, as I have already remarked. For as we
lost it by means of a tree, by means of a tree again was it made manifest to all,
showing the height, the length, the breadth, the depth in itself; and, as a certain man among
our predecessors observed, "Through the extension of the hands of a divine person,(11)
gathering together the two peoples to one God."
546
For these were two hands, because there were two peoples scattered to the ends of
the earth; but there was one head in the middle, as there is but one God, who is
above all, and through all, and in us all.
CHAP. XVIII.--GOD THE FATHER AND HIS WORD HAVE FORMED ALL CREATED THINGS (WHICH THEY
USE) BY THEIR OWN POWER AND WISDOM, NOT OUT OF DEFECT OR IGNORANCE. THE SON OF GOD,
WHO RECEIVED ALL POWER FROM THE FATHER, WOULD OTHERWISE NEVER HAVE TAKEN FLESH UPON
HIM.
1. And such or so important a dispensation He did not bring about by means of
the creations of others, but by His own; neither by those things which were created
out of ignorance and defect, but by those which had their substance from the wisdom
and power of His Father. For He was neither unrighteous, so that He should covet the property
of another; nor needy, that He could not by His own means impart life to His own,
and make use of His own creation for the salvation of man. For indeed the creation
could not have sustained Him [on the cross], if He had sent forth [simply by commission]
what was the fruit of ignorance and defect. Now we have repeatedly shown that the
incarnate Word of God was suspended upon a tree, and even the very heretics do acknowledge that He was crucified. How, then, could the fruit of ignorance and defect sustain
Him who contains the knowledge of all things, and is true and perfect? Or how could
that creation which was concealed from the Father, and far removed from Him, have
sustained His Word? And if this world were made by the angels (it matters not whether we
suppose their ignorance or their cognizance of the Supreme God), when the Lord declared,
"For I am in the Father, and the Father in Me,"(1) how could this workmanship of
the angels have borne to be burdened at once with the Father and the Son? How, again,
could that creation which is beyond the Pleroma have contained Him who contains the
entire Pleroma? Inasmuch, then, as all these things are impossible and incapable
of proof, that preaching of the Church is alone true [which proclaims] that His own creation
bare Him, which subsists by the power, the skill, and the wisdom of God; which is
sustained, indeed, after an invisible manner by the Father, but, on the contrary,
after a visible manner it bore His Word: and this is the true [Word].
2. For the Father bears the creation and His own Word simultaneously, and the
Word borne by the Father grants the Spirit to all as the Father wills.(2) To some
He gives after the manner of creation what is made;(3) but to others [He gives] after
the manner of adoption, that is, what is from God, namely generation. And thus one God the
Father is declared, who is above all, and through all, and in all. The Father is
indeed above all, and He is the Head of Christ; but the Word is through all things,
and is Himself the Head of the Church; while the Spirit is in us all, and He is the living
water,(4) which the Lord grants to those who rightly believe in Him, and love Him,
and who know that "there is one Father, who is above all, and through all, and in
us all."(5) And to these things does John also, the disciple of the Lord, bear witness,
when he speaks thus in the Gospel: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God. This was in the beginning with God. All things were
made by Him, and without Him was nothing made."(6) And then he said of the Word Himself:
"He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not.
To His own things He came, and His own people received Him not. However, as many
as did receive Him, to these gave He power to become the sons of God, to those that believe in
His name."(7) And again, showing the dispensation with regard to His human nature,
John said: "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us."(8) And in continuation
he says, "And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only-begotten by the Father, full
of grace and truth." He thus plainly points out to those willing to hear, that is,
to those having ears, that there is one God, the Father over all, and one Word of
God, who is through all, by whom all things have been made; and that this world belongs
to Him, and was made by Him, according to the Father's will, and not by angels; nor
by apostasy, defect, and ignorance; nor by any power of Prunicus, whom certain of
them also call "the Mother;" nor by any other maker of the world ignorant of the Father.
3. For the Creator of the world is truly the Word of God: and this is our Lord,
who in the last times was made man, existing in this world, and who in an invisible
manner contains all things created, and is inherent in the entire creation, since
the Word of God governs and arranges all
547
things; and therefore He came to His own in a visible(1) manner, and was made flesh,
and hung upon the tree, that He might sum up all things in Himself. "And His own
peculiar people did not receive Him," as Moses declared this very thing among the
people: "And thy life shall be hanging before thine eyes, and thou wilt not believe thy life."(2)
Those therefore who did not receive Him did not receive life. "But to as many as
received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God."(3) For it is He who
has power from the Father over all things, since He is the Word of God, and very man,
communicating with invisible beings after the manner of the intellect, and appointing
a law observable to the outward senses, that all things should continue each in its
own order; and He reigns manifestly over things visible and pertaining to men; and
brings in just judgment and worthy upon all; as David also, clearly pointing to this,
says, "Our God shall openly come, and will not keep silence."(4) Then he shows also
the judgment which is brought in by Him, saying, "A fire shall burn in His sight, and
a strong tempest shall rage round about Him. He shall call upon the heaven from above,
and the earth, to judge His people."
CHAP. XIX.--A COMPARISON IS INSTITUTED BETWEEN THE DISOBEDIENT AND SINNING EVE AND
THE VIRGIN MARY, HER PATRONESS. VARIOUS AND DISCORDANT HERESIES ARE MENTIONED.
1. That the Lord then was manifestly coming to His own things, and was sustaining
them by means of that creation which is supported by Himself, and was making a recapitulation
of that disobedience which had occurred in connection with a tree, through the obedience which was [exhibited by Himself when He hung] upon a tree, [the effects]
also of that deception being done away with, by which that virgin Eve, who was already
espoused to a man, was unhappily misled,--was happily announced, through means of
the truth [spoken] by the angel to the Virgin Mary, who was [also espoused] to a man.(5)
For just as the former was led astray by the word of an angel, so that she fled from
God when she had transgressed His word; so did the latter, by an angelic communication, receive the glad tidings that she should sustain (portaret) God, being obedient
to His word. And if the former did disobey God, yet the latter was persuaded to be
obedient to God, in order that the Virgin Mary might become the patroness(6) (advocata)
of the virgin Eve. And thus, as the human race fell into bondage to death by means
of a virgin, so is it rescued by a virgin; virginal disobedience having been balanced
in the opposite scale by virginal obedience. For in the same way the sin of the first
created man (protoplasti) receives amendment by the correction of the First-begotten,
and the coming of the serpent is conquered by the harmlessness of the dove, those
bonds being unloosed by which we had been fast bound to death.
2. The heretics being all unlearned and ignorant of God's arrangements, and not
acquainted with that dispensation by which He took upon Him human nature (inscii
ejus quoe est secundum hominem dispensationis), inasmuch as they blind themselves
with regard to the truth, do in fact speak against their own salvation. Some of them introduce
another Father besides the Creator; some, again, say that the world and its substance
was made by certain angels; certain others [maintain] that it was widely separated
by Horos(7) from him whom they represent as being the Father--that it sprang forth
(floruisse) of itself, and from itself was born. Then, again, others [of them assert]
that it obtained substance in those things which are contained by the Father, from
defect and ignorance; others still, despise the advent of the Lord manifest [to the senses],
for they do not admit His incarnation; while others, ignoring the arrangement [that
He should be born] of a virgin, main-rain that He was begotten by Joseph. And still
further, some affirm that neither their soul nor their body can receive eternal life,
but merely the inner man. Moreover, they will have it that this [inner man] is that
which is the understanding (sensum) in them, and which they decree as being the only
thing to ascend to "the perfect." Others [maintain], as I have said in the first book,
that while the soul is saved, their body does not participate in the salvation which
comes from God; in which [book] I have also set forward the hypotheses of all these
men, and in the second have pointed out their weakness and inconsistency.
CHAP. XX.--THOSE PASTORS ARE TO BE HEARD TO WHOM THE APOSTLES COMMITTED THE CHURCHES,
POSSESSING ONE AND THE SAME DOCTRINE OF SALVATION; THE HERETICS, ON THE OTHER HAND,
ARE TO BE AVOIDED. WE MUST THINK SOBERLY WITH REGARD TO THE MYSTERIES OF THE FAITH.
1. Now all these [heretics] are of much later date than the bishops to whom the
apostles committed the Churches; which fact I have in the third book taken all pains
to demonstrate. It follows, then, as a matter of course, that these
548
heretics aforementioned, since they are blind to the truth, and deviate from the [right]
way, will walk in various roads; and therefore the footsteps of their doctrine are
scattered here and there without agreement or connection. But the path of those belonging to the Church circumscribes the whole world, as possessing the sure tradition
from the apostles, and gives unto us to see that the faith of all is one and the
same, since all receive one and the same God the Father, and believe in the same
dispensation regarding the incarnation of the Son of God, and are cognizant of the same gift
of the Spirit, and are conversant with the same commandments, and preserve the same
form of ecclesiastical constitution,(1) and expect the same advent of the Lord, and
await the same salvation of the complete man, that is, of the soul and body. And undoubtedly
the preaching of the Church is true and stedfast, in which one and the same way of
salvation is shown throughout the whole world. For to her is entrusted the light
of God; and therefore the "wisdom" of God, by means of which she saves all men, "is declared
in [its] going forth; it uttereth [its voice] faithfully in the streets, is preached
on the tops of the walls, and speaks continually in the gates of the city."(3) For the Church preaches the truth everywhere, and she is the seven-branched candlestick
which bears the light of Christ.
2. Those, therefore, who desert the preaching of the Church, call in question
the knowledge of the holy presbyters, not taking into consideration of how much greater
consequence is a religious man, even in a private station, than a blasphemous and
impudent sophist.(4) Now, such are all the heretics, and those who imagine that they have
hit upon something more beyond the truth, so that by following those things already
mentioned, proceeding on their way variously, in harmoniously, and foolishly, not
keeping always to the same opinions with regard to the same things, as blind men are led
by the blind, they shall deservedly fall into the ditch of ignorance lying in their
path, ever seeking and never finding out the truth.(5) It behoves us, therefore,
to avoid their doctrines, and to take careful heed lest we suffer any injury from them;
but to flee to the Church, and be brought up in her bosom, and be nourished with
the Lord's Scriptures. For the Church has been planted as a garden (paradisus) in
this world; therefore says the Spirit of God, "Thou mayest freely eat from every tree of the
garden,"(6) that is, Eat ye from every Scripture of the Lord; but ye shall not eat
with an uplifted mind, nor touch any heretical discord. For these men do profess
that they have themselves the knowledge of good and evil; and they set their own impious minds
above the God who made them. They therefore form opinions on what is beyond the limits
of the understanding. For this cause also the apostle says, "Be not wise beyond what it is fitting to be wise, but be wise prudently,"(7) that we be not east forth by
eating of the "knowledge" of these men (that knowledge which knows more than it should
do) from the paradise of life. Into this paradise the Lord has introduced those who
obey His call, "summing up in Himself all things which are in heaven, and which are
on earth;"(8) but the things in heaven are spiritual, while those on earth constitute
the dispensation in human nature (secundum hominem est dispositio). These things,
therefore, He recapitulated in Himself: by uniting man to the Spirit, and causing the Spirit
to dwell in man, He is Himself made the head of the Spirit, and gives the Spirit
to be the head of man: for through Him (the Spirit) we see, and hear, and speak.
CHAP. XXI.--CHRIST IS THE HEAD OF ALL THINGS ALREADY MENTIONED. IT WAS FITTING THAT
HE SHOULD BE SENT BY THE FATHER, THE CREATOR OF ALL THINGS, TO ASSUME HUMAN NATURE,
AND SHOULD BE TEMPTED BY SATAN, THAT HE MIGHT FULFIL THE PROMISES, AND CARRY OFF
A GLORIOUS AND PERFECT VICTORY.
1. He has therefore, in His work of recapitulation, summed up all things, both
waging war against our enemy, and crushing him who had at the beginning led us away
captives in Adam, and trampled upon his head, as thou canst perceive in Genesis that
God said to the serpent, "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between
thy seed and her seed; He shall be on the watch for (observabit(9)) thy head, and
thou on the watch for His heel."(10) For from that time, He who should be born of
a woman, [namely] from the Virgin, after the likeness of Adam, was preached as keeping watch
for the head of the serpent. This is the seed of which the apostle says in the Epistle
to the Galatians, "that the law of works was established until the seed should come
to whom the promise was made."(11) This fact is exhibited in a still clearer light
in the same Epistle, where he thus speaks: "But when the fulness of time was come,
God
549
sent forth His Son, made of a woman."(1) For indeed the enemy would not have been
fairly vanquished, unless it had been a man [born] of a woman who conquered him.
For it was by means of a woman that he got the advantage over man at first, setting
himself up as man's opponent. And therefore does the Lord profess Himself to be the Son of
man, comprising in Himself that original man out of whom the woman was fashioned
(ex quo ea quae secundum mulierem est plasmatio facta est), in order that, as our
species went down to death through a vanquished man, so we may ascend to life again through a
victorious one; and as through a man death received the palm [of victory] against
us, so again by a man we may receive the palm against death.
2. Now the Lord would not have recapitulated in Himself that ancient and primary
enmity against the serpent, fulfilling the promise of the Creator (Demiurgi), and
performing His command, if He had come from another Father. But as He is one and
the same, who formed us at the beginning, and sent His Son at the end, the Lord did perform
His command, being made of a woman, by both destroying our adversary, and perfecting
man after the image and likeness of God. And for this reason He did not draw the
means of confounding him from any other source than from the words of the law, and made
use of the Father's commandment as a help towards the destruction and confusion of
the apostate angel. Fasting forty days, like Moses and Elias, He afterwards hungered,
first, in order that we may perceive that He was a real and substantial man--for it belongs
to a man to suffer hunger when fasting; and secondly, that His opponent might have
an opportunity of attacking Him. For as at the beginning it was by means of food
that [the enemy] persuaded man, although not suffering hunger, to transgress God's commandments,
so in the end he did not succeed in persuading Him that was an hungered to take that
food which proceeded from God. For, when tempting Him, he said, "If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread."(2) But the Lord repulsed him
by the commandment of the law, saying, "It is written, Man doth not live by bread
alone."(3) As to those words '[of His enemy,] "If thou be the Son of God," [the Lord]
made no remark; but by thus acknowledging His human nature He baffled His adversary, and
exhausted the force of his first attack by means of His Father's word. The corruption
of man, therefore, which occurred in paradise by both [of our first parents] eating,
was done away with by [the Lord's] want of food in this world.(4) But he, being thus
vanquished by the law, endeavoured again to make an assault by himself quoting a
commandment of the law. For, bringing Him to the highest pinnacle of the temple,
he said to Him, "If thou art the Son of God, cast thyself down. For it is written, That God
shall give His angels charge concerning thee, and in their hands they shall bear
thee up, lest perchance thou dash thy foot against a stone;"(5) thus concealing a
falsehood under the guise of Scripture, as is done by all the heretics. For that was indeed
written, [namely], "That He hath given His angels charge concerning Him;" but "east
thyself down from hence" no Scripture said in reference to Him: this kind of persuasion
the devil produced from himself. The Lord therefore confuted him out of the law, when
He said, "It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the LORD thy God;"(6) pointing
out by the word contained in the law that which is the duty of man, that he should
not tempt God; and in regard to Himself, since He appeared in human form, [declaring] that
He would not tempt the LORD his God.(7) The pride of reason, therefore, which was
in the serpent, was put to nought by the humility found in the man [Christ], and
now twice was the devil conquered from Scripture, when he was detected as advising things
contrary to God's commandment, and was shown to be the enemy of God by [the expression
of] his thoughts. He then, having been thus signally defeated, and then, as it were,
concentrating his forces, drawing up in order all his available power for falsehood,
in the third place "showed Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them,"(8)
saying, as Luke relates, "All these will I give thee,--for they are delivered to
me; and to whom I will, I give them,--if thou wilt fall down and worship me." The Lord
then, exposing him in his true character, says, "Depart, Satan; for it is written,
Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve."(9) He both revealed
him by this name, and showed [at the same time] who He Himself was. For the Hebrew
word "Satan" signifies an apostate. And thus, vanquishing him for the third time,
He spurned him from Him finally as being conquered out of the law; and there was
done away with that infringement of God's commandment which had occurred in Adam, by means of
the precept of the law, which the Son of man ob-
550
served, who did not transgress the commandment of God.
3. Who, then, is this Lord God to whom Christ bears witness, whom no man shall
tempt, whom all should worship, and serve Him alone? It is, beyond all manner of
doubt, that God who also gave the law. For these things had been predicted in the
law, and by the words (sententiam) of the law the Lord showed that the law does indeed declare
the Word of God from the Father; and the apostate angel of God is destroyed by its
voice, being exposed in his true colours, and vanquished by the Son of man keeping
the commandment of God. For as in the beginning he enticed man to transgress his Maker's
law, and thereby got him into his power; yet his power consists in transgression
and apostasy, and with these he bound man [to himself]; so again, on the other hand,
it was necessary that through man himself he should, when conquered, be bound with the same
chains with which he had bound man, in order that man, being set free, might return
to his Lord, leaving to him (Satan) those bonds by which he himself had been fettered, that is, sin. For when Satan is bound, man is set free; since "none can enter a strong
man's house and spoil his goods, unless he first bind the strong man himself."(1)
The Lord therefore exposes him as speaking contrary to the word of that God who made
all things, and subdues him by means of the commandment. Now the law is the commandment
of God. The Man proves him to be a fugitive from and a transgressor of the law,
an apostate also from God. After [the Man had done this], the Word bound him securely
as a fugitive from Himself, and made spoil of his goods,--namely, those men whom he
held in bondage, and whom he unjustly used for his own purposes. And justly indeed
is he led captive, who had led men unjustly into bondage; while man, who had been
led captive in times past, was rescued from the grasp of his possessor, according to the tender
mercy of God the Father, who had compassion on His own handiwork, and gave to it
salvation, restoring it by means of the Word--that is, by Christ--in order that men
might learn by actual proof that he receives incorruptibility not of himself, but by the
free gift of God.
CHAP. XXII.--THE TRUE LORD AND THE ONE GOD IS DECLARED BY THE LAW, AND MANIFESTED
BY CHRIST HIS SON IN THE GOSPEL; WHOM ALONE WE SHOULD ADORE, AND FROM HIM WE MUST
LOOK FOR ALL GOOD THINGS, NOT FROM SATAN.
1. Thus then does the Lord plainly show that it was the true Lord and the one
God who had been set forth by the law; for Him whom the law proclaimed as God, the
same did Christ point out as the Father, whom also it behoves the disciples of Christ
alone to serve. By means of the statements of the law, He put our adversary to utter confusion;
and the law directs us to praise God the Creator (Demiurgum), and to serve Him alone.
Since this is the case, we must not seek for another Father besides Him, or above Him, since there is one God who justifies the circumcision by faith, and the uncircumcision
through faith.(2) For if there were any other perfect Father above Him, He (Christ)
would by no means have overthrown Satan by means of His words and commandments. For one ignorance cannot be done away with by means of another ignorance, any more
than one defect by another defect. If, therefore, the law is due to ignorance and
defect, how could the statements contained therein bring to nought the ignorance
of the devil, and conquer the strong man? For a strong man can be conquered neither by an
inferior nor by an equal, but by one possessed of greater power. But the Word of
God is the superior above all, He who is loudly proclaimed in the law: "Hear, O Israel,
the LORD thy God is one God;" and, "Thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thy heart;"
and, "Him shall thou adore, and Him alone shall thou serve."(3) Then in the Gospel,
casting down the apostasy by means of these expressions, He did both overcome the
strong man by His Father's voice, and He acknowledges the commandment of the law to express
His own sentiments, when He says, "Thou shall not tempt the LORD thy God."(4) For
He did not confound the adversary by the saying of any other, but by that belonging
to His own Father, and thus overcame the strong man.
2. He taught by His commandment that we who have been set free should, when hungry,
take that food which is given by God; and that, when placed in the exalted position
of every grace [that can be received], we should not, either by trusting to works
of righteousness, or when adorned with super-eminent [gifts of] ministration, by any
means be lifted up with pride, nor should we tempt God, but should feel humility
in all things, and have ready to hand [this saying], "Thou shall not tempt the LORD
thy God."(5) As also the apostle taught, saying, "Minding not high things, but consenting
to things of low estate;"(6) that we should neither be ensnared with riches, nor
mundane glory, nor present fancy, but should know that we must "worship the LORD
thy God, and serve Him alone," and
551
give no heed to him who falsely promised things not his own, when he said, "All these
will I give thee, if, falling down, thou wilt worship me." For he himself confesses
that to adore him, and to do his will, is to fall from the glory of God. And in what
thing either pleasant or good can that man who has fallen participate? Or what else
can such a person hope for or expect, except death? For death is next neighbour to
him who has fallen. Hence also it follows that he will not give what he has promised.
For how can he make grants to him who has fallen? Moreover, since God rules over men
and him too, and without the will of our Father in heaven not even a sparrow falls
to the ground,(1) it follows that his declaration, "All these things are delivered
unto me, and to whomsoever I will I give them," proceeds from him when puffed up with pride.
For the creation is not subjected to his power, since indeed he is himself but one
among created things. Nor shall he give away the rule over men to men; but both all
other things, and all human affairs, are arranged according to God the Father's disposal.
Besides, the Lord declares that "the devil is a liar from the beginning, and the
truth is not in him."(2) If then he be a liar and the truth be not in him, he certainly
did not speak truth, but a lie, when he said, "For all these things are delivered to
me, and to whomsoever I will I give them."(3)
CHAP. XXIII.--THE DEVIL IS WELL PRACTISED IN FALSEHOOD, BY WHICH ADAM HAVING BEEN
LED ASTRAY, SINNED ON THE SIXTH DAY OF THE CREATION, IN WHICH DAY ALSO HE HAS BEEN
RENEWED BY CHRIST.
1. He had indeed been already accustomed to lie against God, for the purpose of
leading men astray. For at the beginning, when God had given to man a variety of
things for food, while He commanded him not to eat of one tree only, as the Scripture
tells us that God said to Adam: "From every tree which is in the garden thou shalt eat
food; but from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, from this ye shall not eat:
for in the day that ye shall eat of it, ye shall die by death;"(4) he then, lying
against the Lord, tempted man, as the Scripture says that the serpent said to the woman: "Has
God indeed said this, Ye shall not eat from every tree of the garden?"(5) And when
she had exposed the falsehood, and simply related the command, as He had said, "From
every tree of the garden we shall eat; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the
midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch
it, lest ye die:"(6) when he had [thus] learned from the woman the command of God,
having brought his cunning into play, he finally deceived her by a falsehood, saying, "Ye
shall not die by death; for God knew that in the day ye shall eat of it your eyes
shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil."(7) In the first
place, then, in the garden of God he disputed about God, as if God was not there, for he was
ignorant of the greatness of God; and then, in the next place, after he had learned
from the woman that God had said that they should die if they tasted the aforesaid
tree, opening his mouth, he uttered the third falsehood," Ye shall not die by death." But
that God was true, and the serpent a liar, was proved by the result, death having
passed upon them who had eaten. For along with the fruit they did also fall under
the power of death, because they did eat in disobedience; and disobedience to God entails
death. Wherefore, as they became forfeit to death, from that [moment] they were handed
over to it.
2. Thus, then, in the day that they did eat, in the same did they die, and became
death's debtors, since it was one day of the creation. For it is said, "There was
made in the evening, and there was made in the morning, one day." Now in this same
day that they did eat, in that also did they die. But according to the cycle and progress
of the days, after which one is termed first, another second, and another third,
if anybody seeks diligently to learn upon what day out of the seven it was that Adam
died, he will find it by examining the dispensation of the Lord. For by summing up in
Himself the whole human race from the beginning to the end, He has also summed up
its death. From this it is clear that the Lord suffered death, in obedience to His
Father, upon that day on which Adam died while he disobeyed God. Now he died on the same day
in which he did eat. For God said, "In that day on which ye shall eat of it, ye shall
die by death." The Lord, therefore, recapitulating in Himself this day, underwent
His sufferings upon the day preceding the Sabbath, that is, the sixth day of the creation,
on which day man was created; thus granting him a second creation by means of His
passion, which is that [creation] out of death. And there are some, again, who relegate the death of Adam to the thousandth year; for since "a day of the Lord is as a thousand
years,"(8) he did not overstep the thousand years, but died within them, thus bearing
out the sentence of his sin. Whether, therefore, with respect to disobedience, which is death; whether
552
[we consider] that, on account of that, they were delivered over to death, and made
debtors to it; whether with respect to [the fact that on] one and the same day on
which they ate they also died (for it is one day of the creation); whether [we regard
this point], that, with respect to this cycle of days, they died on the day in which they
did also eat, that is, the day] of the preparation, which is termed "the pure supper,"
that is, the sixth day of the feast, which the Lord also exhibited when He suffered on that day; or whether [we reflect] that he (Adam) did not overstep the thousand
years, but died within their limit,--it follows that, in regard to all these significations,
God is indeed true. For they died who tasted of the tree; and the serpent is proved a liar and a murderer, as the Lord said of him: "For he is a murderer from the
beginning, and the truth is not in him."(1)
CHAP. XXIV.--OF THE CONSTANT FALSEHOOD OF THE DEVIL, AND OF THE POWERS AND GOVERNMENTS
OF THE WORLD, WHICH WE OUGHT TO OBEY, INASMUCH AS THEY ARE APPOINTED OF GOD, NOT
OF THE DEVIL.
1. As therefore the devil lied at the beginning, so did he also in the end, when
he said, "All these are delivered unto me, and to whomsoever I will I give them."(2)
For it is not he who has appointed the kingdoms of this world, but God; for "the
heart of the king is in the hand of God."(3) And the Word also says by Solomon, "By me
kings do reign, and princes administer justice. By me chiefs are raised up, and by
me kings rule the earth."(4) Paul the apostle also says upon this same subject: "Be
ye subject to all the higher powers; for there is no power but of God: now those which are
have been ordained of God."(5) And again, in reference to them he says, "For he beareth
not the sword in vain; for he is the minister of God, the avenger for wrath to him
who does evil."(6) Now, that he spake these words, not in regard to angelical powers,
nor of invisible rulers--as some venture to expound the passage--but of those of
actual human authorities, [he shows when] he says, "For this cause pay ye tribute
also: for they are God's ministers, doing service for this very thing."(7) This also the
Lord confirmed, when He did not do what He was tempted to by the devil; but He gave
directions that tribute should be paid to the tax-gatherers for Himself and Peter;(8)
because "they are the ministers of God, serving for this very thing."
2. For since man, by departing from God, reached such a pitch of fury as even
to look upon his brother as his enemy, and engaged without fear in every kind of
restless conduct, and murder, and avarice; God imposed upon mankind the fear of man,
as they did not acknowledge the fear of God, in order that, being subjected to the authority
of men, and kept under restraint by their laws, they might attain to some degree
of justice, and exercise mutual forbearance through dread of the sword suspended
full in their view, as the apostle says: "For he beareth not the sword in vain; for he is the
minister of God, the avenger for wrath upon him who does evil." And for this reason
too, magistrates themselves, having laws as a clothing of righteousness whenever
they act in a just and legitimate manner, shall not be called in question for their conduct,
nor be liable to punishment. But whatsoever they do to the subversion of justice,
iniquitously, and impiously, and illegally, and tyrannically, in these things shall
they also perish; for the just judgment of God comes equally upon all, and in no case
is defective. Earthly rule, therefore, has been appointed by God for the benefit
of nations,(9) and not by the devil, who is never at rest at all, nay, who does not
love to see even nations conducting themselves after a quiet manner, so that under the fear
of human rule, men may not eat each other up like fishes; but that, by means of the
establishment of laws, they may keep down an excess of wickedness among the nations.
And considered from this point of view, those who exact tribute from us are "God's ministers,
serving for this very purpose."
3. As, then, "the powers that be are ordained of God," it is clear that the devil
lied when he said, "These are delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will, I give
them." For by the law of the same Being as calls men into existence are kings also
appointed, adapted for those men who are at the time placed under their government. Some
of these [rulers] are given for the correction and the benefit of their subjects,
and for the preservation of justice; but others, for the purposes of fear and punishment
and rebuke: others, as [the subjects] deserve it, are for deception, disgrace, and
pride; while the just judgment of God, as I have observed already, passes equally
upon all. The devil, however, as he is the apostate angel, can only go to this length,
as he did at the beginning, [namely] to deceive and lead astray the mind of man into disobeying
the commandments of God, and grad-
553
ually to darken the hearts of those who would endeavour to serve him, to the forgetting
of the true God, but to the adoration of himself as God.
4. Just as if any one, being an apostate, and seizing in a hostile manner another
man's territory, should harass the inhabitants of it, in order that he might claim
for himself the glory of a king among those ignorant of his apostasy and robbery;
so likewise also the devil, being one among those angels who are placed over the spirit
of the air, as the Apostle Paul has declared in his Epistle to the Ephesians,(1)
becoming envious of man, was rendered an apostate from the divine law: for envy is
a thing foreign to God. And as his apostasy was exposed by man, and man became the [means of]
searching out his thoughts (et examinatio sententioe ejus, homo factus est), he has
set himself to this with greater and greater determination, in opposition to man,
envying his life, and wishing to involve him in his own apostate power. The Word of God,
however, the Maker of all things, conquering him by means of human nature, and showing
him to be an apostate, has, on the contrary, put him under the power of man. For
He says, "Behold, I confer upon you the power of treading upon serpents and scorpions,
and upon all the power of the enemy,"(2) in order that, as he obtained dominion over
man by apostasy, so again his apostasy might be deprived of power by means of man
turning back again to God.
CHAP. XXV.--THE FRAUD, PRIDE, AND TYRANNICAL KINGDOM OF ANTICHRIST, AS DESCRIBED BY
DANIEL AND PAUL.
1. And not only by the particulars already mentioned, but also by means of the
events which shall occur in the time of Antichrist is it shown that he, being an
apostate and a robber, is anxious to be adored as God; and that, although a mere
slave, he wishes himself to be proclaimed as a king. For he (Antichrist) being endued with all
the power of the devil, shall come, not as a righteous king, nor as a legitimate
king, [i.e., one] in subjection to God, but an impious, unjust, and lawless one;
as an apostate, iniquitous and murderous; as a robber, concentrating in himself [all] satanic
apostasy, and setting aside idols to persuade [men] that he himself is God, raising
up himself as the only idol, having in himself the multifarious errors of the other
idols. This he does, in order that they who do [now] worship the devil by means of many
abominations, may serve himself by this one idol, of whom the apostle thus speaks
in the second Epistle to the Thessalonians: "Unless there shall come a failing away
first, and the man of sin shall be revealed, the son of perdition, who opposeth and exalteth
himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he sitteth in
the temple of God, showing himself as if he were God." The apostle therefore clearly
points out his apostasy, and that he is lifted up above all that is called God, or
that is worshipped--that is, above every idol--for these are indeed so called by
men, but are not [really] gods; and that he will endeavour in a tyrannical manner
to set himself forth as God.
2. Moreover, he (the apostle) has also pointed out this which I have shown in
many ways, that the temple in Jerusalem was made by the direction of the true God.
For the apostle himself, speaking in his own person, distinctly called it the temple
of God. Now I have shown in the third book, that no one is termed God by the apostles when
speaking for themselves, except Him who truly is God, the Father of our Lord, by
whose directions the temple which is at Jerusalem was constructed for those purposes
which I have already mentioned; in which [temple] the enemy shall sit, endeavouring to
show himself as Christ, as the Lord also declares: "But when ye shall see the abomination
of desolation, which has been spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy
place (let him that readeth understand), then let those who are in Judea flee into
the mountains; and he who is upon the house-top, let him not come down to take anything
out of his house: for there shall then be great hardship, such as has not been from
the beginning of the world until now, nor ever shall be."(3)
3. Daniel too, looking forward to the end of the last kingdom, i.e., the ten last
kings, amongst whom the kingdom of those men shall be partitioned, and upon whom
the son of perdition shall come, declares that ten horns shall spring from the beast,
and that another little horn shall arise in the midst of them, and that three of the
former shall be rooted up before his face. He says: "And, behold, eyes were in this
horn as the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things, and his look was more
stout than his fellows. I was looking, and this horn made war against the saints, and prevailed
against them, until the Ancient of days came and gave judgment to the saints of the
most high God, and the time came, and the saints obtained the kingdom."(4) Then,
further on, in the interpretation of the vision, there was said to him: "The fourth
beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall excel all other kingdoms,
and devour the whole earth, and tread it down, and cut it in pieces. And its ten
horns are ten kings which shall arise; and after them shall arise another, who shall surpass
in evil deeds all that were be-
554
fore him, and shall overthrow three kings; and he shall speak words against the most
high God, and wear out the saints of the most high God, and shall purpose to change
times and laws; and [everything] shall be given into his hand until a time of times
and a half time,"(1) that is, for three years and six months, during which time, when
he comes, he shall reign over the earth. Of whom also the Apostle Paul again, speaking
in the second [Epistle] to the Thessalonians, and at the same time proclaiming the
cause of his advent, thus says: "And then shall the wicked one be revealed, whom the
Lord Jesus shall slay with the spirit of His mouth, and destroy by the presence of
His coming; whose coming [i.e., the wicked one's] is after the working of Satan,
in all power, and signs, and portents of lies, and with all deceivableness of wickedness for
those who perish; because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might
be saved. And therefore God will send them the working of error, that they may believe a lie; that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but gave consent
to iniquity,"(2)
4. The Lord also spoke as follows to those who did not believe in Him: "I have
come in my Father's name, and ye have not received Me: when another shall come in
his own name, him ye will receive,"(3) calling Antichrist "the other," because he
is alienated from the Lord. This is also the unjust judge, whom the Lord mentioned as one "who
feared not God, neither regarded man,"(4) to whom the widow fled in her forgetfulness
of God,--that is, the earthly Jerusalem,--to be avenged of her adversary. Which also he shall do in the time of his kingdom: he shall remove his kingdom into that [city],
and shall sit in the temple of God, leading astray those who worship him, as if he
were Christ. To this purpose Daniel says again: "And he shall desolate the holy place; and sin has been given for a sacrifice,(5) and righteousness been cast away in the
earth, and he has been active (fecit), and gone on prosperously."(6) And the angel
Gabriel, when explaining his vision, states with regard to this person: "And towards
the end of their kingdom a king of a most fierce countenance shall arise, one understanding
[dark] questions, and exceedingly powerful, full of wonders; and he shall corrupt,
direct, influence (faciet), and put strong men down, the holy people likewise; and
his yoke shall be directed as a wreath [round their neck]; deceit shall be in his hand,
and he shall be lifted up in his heart: he shall also ruin many by deceit, and lead
many to perdition, bruising them in his hand like eggs."(7) And then he points out
the time that his tyranny shall last, during which the saints shall be put to flight,
they who offer a pure sacrifice unto God: "And in the midst of the week," he says,
"the sacrifice and the libation shall be taken away, and the abomination of desolation
[shall be brought] into the temple: even unto the consummation of the time shall the
desolation be complete."(8) Now three years and six months constitute the half-week.
5. From all these passages are revealed to us, not merely the particulars of the
apostasy, and [the doings] of him who concentrates in himself every satanic error,
but also, that there is one and the same God the Father, who was declared by the
prophets, but made manifest by Christ. For if what Daniel prophesied concerning the end has
been confirmed by the Lord, when He said, "When ye shall see the abomination of desolation,
which has been spoken of by Daniel the prophet"(9) (and the angel Gabriel gave the interpretation of the visions to Daniel, and he is the archangel of the Creator
(Demiurgi), who also proclaimed to Mary the visible coining and the incarnation of
Christ), then one and the same God is most manifestly pointed out, who sent the prophets, and made promise(10) of the Son, and called us into His knowledge.
CHAP. XXVI.--JOHN AND DANIEL HAVE PREDICTED THE DISSOLUTION AND DESOLATION OF THE
ROMAN EMPIRE, WHICH SHALL PRECEDE THE END OF THE WORLD AND THE ETERNAL KINGDOM OF
CHRIST. THE GNOSTICS ARE REFUTED, THOSE TOOLS OF SATAN, WHO INVENT ANOTHER FATHER
DIFFERENT FROM THE CREATOR.
1. In a still clearer light has John, in the Apocalypse, indicated to the Lord's
disciples what shall happen in the last times, and concerning the ten kings who shall
then arise, among whom the empire which now rules [the earth] shall be partitioned.
He teaches us what the ten horns shall be which were seen by Daniel, telling us that
thus it had been said to him: "And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings,
who have received no kingdom as yet, but shall receive power as if kings one hour
with the beast. These have one mind, and give their strength and power to the beast. These
shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them, because He is the
Lord of lords and the King of kings."(11) It is manifest, therefore, that
555
of these [potentates], he who is to come shall slay three, and subject the remainder
to his power, and that he shall be himself the eighth among them. And they shall
lay Babylon waste, and burn her with fire, and shall give their kingdom to the beast,
and put the Church to flight. After that they shall be destroyed by the coming of our
Lord. For that the kingdom must be divided, and thus come to ruin, the Lord [declares
when He] says: "Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and
every city or house divided against itself shall not stand."(1) It must be, therefore,
that the kingdom, the city, and the house be divided into ten; and for this reason
He has already foreshadowed the partition and division [which shall take place].
Daniel also says particularly, that the end of the fourth kingdom consists in the toes of the
image seen by Nebuchadnezzar, upon which came the stone cut out without hands; and
as he does himself say: "The feet were indeed the one part iron, the other part clay,
until the stone was cut out without hands, and struck the image upon the iron and clay
feet, and dashed them into pieces, even to the end."(2) Then afterwards, when interpreting
this, he says: "And as thou sawest the feet and the toes, partly indeed of clay,
and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided, and there shall be in it a root
of iron, as thou sawest iron mixed with baked clay. And the toes were indeed the
one part iron, but the other part clay."(3) The ten toes, therefore, are these ten
kings, among whom the kingdom shall be partitioned, of whom some indeed shall be strong and
active, or energetic; others, again, shall be sluggish and useless, and shall not
agree; as also Daniel says: "Some part of the kingdom shall be strong, and part shall
be broken from it. As thou sawest the iron mixed with the baked clay, there shall be minglings
among the human race, but no cohesion one with the other, just as iron cannot be
welded on to pottery ware."(4) And since an end shall take place, he says: "And in
the days of these kings shall the God of heaven raise up a kingdom which shall never
decay, and His kingdom shall not be left to another people. It shall break in pieces
and shatter all kingdoms, and shall itself be exalted for ever. As thou sawest that
the stone was cut without hands from the mountain, and brake in pieces the baked clay,
the iron, the brass, the silver, and the gold, God has pointed out to the king what
shall come to pass after these things; and the dream is true, and the interpretation
trustworthy."(5)
2. If therefore the great God showed future things by Daniel, and confirmed them
by His Son; and if Christ is the stone which is cut out without hands, who shall
destroy temporal kingdoms, and introduce an eternal one, which is the resurrection
of the just; as he declares, "The God of heaven shall raise up a kingdom which shall never
be destroyed,"--let those thus confuted come to their senses, who reject the Creator
(Demiurgum), and do not agree that the prophets were sent beforehand from the same
Father from whom also the Lord came, but who assert that prophecies originated from diverse
powers. For those things which have been predicted by the Creator alike through all
the prophets has Christ fulfilled in the end, ministering to His Father's will, and
completing His dispensations with regard to the human race. Let those persons, therefore,
who blaspheme the Creator, either by openly expressed words, such as the disciples
of Marcion, or by a perversion of the sense [of Scripture], as those of Valentinus
and all the Gnostics falsely so called, be recognised as agents of Satan by all those
who worship God; through whose agency Satan now, and not before, has been seen to
speak against God, even Him who has prepared eternal fire for every kind of apostasy.
For he did not venture to blaspheme his Lord openly of himself; as also in the beginning
he led man astray through the instrumentality of the serpent, concealing himself
as it were from God. Truly has Justin remarked:(6) That before the Lord's appearance
Satan never dared to blaspheme God, inasmuch as he did not yet know his own sentence,
because it was contained in parables and allegories; but that after the Lord's appearance,
when he had clearly ascertained from the words of Christ and His apostles that eternal fire has been prepared for him as he apostatized from God of his own free-will,
and likewise for all who unrepentant continue in the apostasy, he now blasphemes,
by means of such men, the Lord who brings judgment [upon him] as being already condemned, and imputes the guilt of his apostasy to his Maker, not to his own voluntary disposition.
Just as it is with those who break the laws, when punishment overtakes them: they
throw the blame upon those who frame the laws, but not upon themselves. In like manner do those men, filled with a satanic spirit, bring innumerable accusations against
our Creator, who has both given to us the spirit of life, and established a law adapted
for all; and they will not admit that the judgment of God is just. Wherefore also
they set about imagining some other Father who neither cares about nor exercises a
providence
556
over our affairs, nay, one who even approves of all sins.
CHAP. XXVII.--THE FUTURE JUDGMENT BY CHRIST. COMMUNION WITH AND SEPARATION FROM THE
DIVINE BEING. THE ETERNAL PUNISHMENT OF UNBELIEVERS.
1. If the Father, then, does not exercise judgment, [it follows] that judgment
does not belong to Him, or that He consents to all those actions which take place;
and if He does not judge, all persons will be equal, and accounted in the same condition.
The advent of Christ will therefore be without an object, yea, absurd, inasmuch as
[in that case] He exercises no judicial power. For "He came to divide a man against
his father, and the daughter against the mother, and the daughter-in-law against
the mother-in-law;"(1) and when two are in one bed, to take the one, and to leave the other;
and of two women grinding at the mill, to take one and leave the other:(2) [also]
at the time of the end, to order the reapers to collect first the tares together,
and bind them in bundles, and burn them with unquenchable fire, but to gather up the wheat
into the barn;(3) and to call the lambs into the kingdom prepared for them, but to
send the goats into everlasting fire, which has been prepared by His Father for the
devil and his angels.(4) And why is this? Has the Word come for the ruin and for the resurrection
of many? For the ruin, certainly, of those who do not believe Him, to whom also He
has threatened a greater damnation in the judgment-day than that of Sodom and Gomorrah;(5) but for the resurrection of believers, and those who do the will of His
Father in heaven. If then the advent of the Son comes indeed alike to all, but is
for the purpose of judging, and separating the believing from the unbelieving, since,
as those who believe do His will agreeably to their own choice, and as, [also] agreeably
to their own choice, the disobedient do not consent to His doctrine; it is manifest
that His Father has made all in a like condition, each person having a choice of
his own, and a free understanding; and that He has regard to all things, and exercises a
providence over all, "making His sun to rise upon the evil and on the good, and sending
rain upon the just and unjust."(6)
2. And to as many as continue in their love towards God, does He grant communion
with Him. But communion with God is life and light, and the enjoyment of all the
benefits which He has in store. But on as many as, according to their own choice,
depart from God. He inflicts that separation from Himself which they have chosen of their
own accord. But separation from God is death, and separation from light is darkness;
and separation from God consists in the loss of all the benefits which He has in
store. Those, therefore, who cast away by apostasy these forementioned things, being in fact
destitute of all good, do experience every kind of punishment. God, however, does
not punish them immediately of Himself, but that punishment falls upon them because
they are destitute of all that is good. Now, good things are eternal and without end with
God, and therefore the loss of these is also eternal and never-ending. It is in this
matter just as occurs in the case of a flood of light: those who have blinded themselves, or have been blinded by others, are for ever deprived of the enjoyment of light.
It is not, [however], that the light has inflicted upon them the penalty of blindness,
but it is that the blindness itself has brought calamity upon them: and therefore
the Lord declared, "He that believeth in Me is not condemned,"(7) that is, is not separated
from God, for he is united to God through faith. On the other hand, He says, "He
that believeth not is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name
of the only-begotten Son of God;" that is, he separated himself from God of his own accord.
"For this is the condemnation, that light is come into this world, and men have loved
darkness rather than light. For every one who doeth evil hateth the light, and cometh not to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh
to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that he has wrought them in God."
CHAP. XXVIII.--THE DISTINCTION TO BE MADE BETWEEN THE RIGHTEOUS AND THE WICKED. THE
FUTURE APOSTASY IN THE TIME OF ANTI-CHRIST, AND THE END OF THE WORLD.
1. Inasmuch, then, as in this world (<greek>aiwni</greek>) some persons betake
themselves to the light, and by faith unite themselves with God, but others shun
the light, and separate themselves from God, the Word of God comes preparing a fit
habitation for both. For those indeed who are in the light, that they may derive enjoyment
from it, and from the good things contained in it; but for those in darkness, that
they may partake in its calamities. And on this account He says, that those upon
the right hand are called into the kingdom of heaven, but that those on the left He will send
into eternal fire for they have deprived themselves of all good.
2. And for this reason the apostle says: "Be-
557
cause they received not the love of God, that they might be saved, therefore God shall
also send them the operation of error, that they may believe a lie, that they all
may be judged who have not believed the truth, but consented to unrighteousness."(1)
For when he (Antichrist) is come, and of his own accord concentrates in his own person
the apostasy, and accomplishes whatever he shall do according to his own will and
choice, sitting also in the temple of God, so that his dupes may adore him as the
Christ; wherefore also shall he deservedly "be cast into the lake of fire:"(2) [this will
happen according to divine appointment], God by His prescience foreseeing all this,
and at the proper time sending such a man, "that they may believe a lie, that they
all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but consented to unrighteousness;" whose
coming John has thus described in the Apocalypse: "And the beast which I had seen
was like unto a leopard, and his feet as of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of
a lion; and the dragon conferred his own power upon him, and his throne, and great might.
And one of his heads was as it were slain unto death; and his deadly wound was healed,
and all the world wondered after the beast. And they worshipped the dragon because
he gave power to the beast; and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto this
beast, and who is able to make war with him? And there was given unto him a mouth
speaking great things, and blasphemy and power was given to him during forty and
two months. And he opened his mouth for blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name and His
tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. And power was given him over every tribe,
and people, and tongue, and nation. And all who dwell upon the earth worshipped him,
[every one] whose name was not written in the book of the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. If any one have ears, let him hear. If any one shall lead into captivity,
he shall go into captivity. If any shall slay with the sword, he must be slain with the sword. Here is the endurance and the faith of the saints."(3) After this he
likewise describes his armour-bearer, whom he also terms a false prophet: "He spake
as a dragon, and exercised all the power of the first beast in his sight, and caused
the earth, and those that dwell therein, to adore the first beast, whose deadly wound
was healed. And he shall perform great wonders, so that he can even cause fire to
descend from heaven upon the earth in the sight of men, and he shall lead the inhabitants
of the earth astray."(4) Let no one imagine that he performs these wonders by divine
power, but by the working of magic. And we must not be surprised if, since the demons
and apostate spirits are at his service, he through their means performs wonders,
by which he leads the inhabitants of the earth astray. John says further: "And he shall
order an image of the beast to be made, and he shall give breath to the image, so
that the image shall speak; and he shall cause those to be slain who will not adore
it." He says also: "And he will cause a mark [to be put] in the forehead and in the fight
hand, that no one may be able to buy or sell, unless he who has the mark of the name
of the beast or the number of his name; and the number is six hundred and sixty-six,"(5) that is, six times a hundred, six times ten, and six units. [He gives this] as a
summing up of the whole of that apostasy which has taken place during six thousand
years.
3. For in as many days as this world was made, in so many thousand years shall
it be concluded. And for this reason the Scripture says: "Thus the heaven and the
earth were finished, and all their adornment. And God brought to a conclusion upon
the sixth day the works that He had made; and God rested upon the seventh day from all His
works."(6) This is an account of the things formerly created, as also it is a prophecy
of what is to come. For the day of the Lord is as a thousand years;(7) and in six
days created things were completed: it is evident, therefore, that they will come to
an end at the sixth thousand year.
4. And therefore throughout all time, man, having been moulded at the beginning
by the hands of God, that is, of the Son and of the Spirit, is made after the image
and likeness of God: the chaff, indeed, which is the apostasy, being cast away; but
the wheat, that is, those who bring forth fruit to God in faith, being gathered into the
barn. And for this cause tribulation is necessary for those who are saved, that having
been after a manner broken up, and rendered fine, and sprinkled over by the patience of the Word of God, and set on fire [for purification], they may be fitted for the
royal banquet. As a certain man of ours said, when he was condemned to the wild beasts
because of his testimony with respect to God: "I am the wheat of Christ, and am ground by the teeth of the wild beasts, that I may be found the pure bread of God."(8)
558
CHAP.XXIX.--ALL THINGS HAVE BEEN CREATED FOR THE SERVICE OF MAN. THE DECEITS, WICKEDNESS,
AND APOSTATE POWER OF ANTICHRIST. THIS WAS PREFIGURED AT THE DELUGE, AS AFTERWARDS
BY THE PERSECUTION OF SHADRACH, MESHACH, AND ABEDNEGO.
1. In the previous books I have set forth the causes for which God permitted these
things to be made, and have pointed out that all such have been created for the benefit
of that human nature which is saved, ripening for immortality that which is [possessed] of its own free will and its own power, and preparing and rendering it more
adapted for eternal subjection to God. And therefore the creation is suited to [the
wants of] man; for man was not made for its sake, but creation for the sake of man.
Those nations however, who did not of themselves raise up their eyes unto heaven, nor returned
thanks to their Maker, nor wished to behold the light of truth, but who were like
blind mice concealed in the depths of ignorance, the word justly reckons "as waste
water from a sink, and as the turning-weight of a balance--in fact, as nothing;"(1)
so far useful and serviceable to the just, as stubble conduces towards the growth
of the wheat, and its straw, by means of combustion, serves for working gold. And
therefore, when in the end the Church shall be suddenly caught up from this, it is said, "There
shall be tribulation such as has not been since the beginning, neither shall be."(2)
For this is the last contest of the righteous, in which, when they overcome they
are crowned with incorruption.
2. And there is therefore in this beast, when he comes, a recapitulation made
of all sorts of iniquity and of every deceit, in order that all apostate power, flowing
into and being shut up in him, may be sent into the furnace of fire. Fittingly, therefore, shall his name possess the number six hundred and sixty-six, since he sums up
in his own person all the commixture of wickedness which took place previous to the
deluge, due to the apostasy of the angels. For Noah was six hundred years old when
the deluge came upon the earth, sweeping away the rebellious world, for the sake of that
most infamous generation which lived in the times of Noah. And [Antichrist] also
sums up every error of devised idols since the flood, together with the slaying of
the prophets and the cutting off of the just. For that image which was set up by Nebuchadnezzar
had indeed a height of sixty cubits, while the breadth was six cubits; on account
of which Ananias, Azarias, and Misael, when they did not worship it, were cast into
a furnace of fire, pointing out prophetically, by what happened to them, the wrath against
the righteous which shall arise towards the [time of the] end. For that image, taken
as a whole, was a prefiguring of this man's coming, decreeing that he should undoubtedly himself alone be worshipped by all men. Thus, then, the six hundred years of
Noah, in whose time the deluge occurred because of the apostasy, and the number of
the cubits of the image for which these just men were sent into the fiery furnace,
do indicate the number of the name of that man in whom is concentrated the whole apostasy
of six thousand years, and unrighteousness, and wickedness, and false prophecy, and
deception; for which things' sake a cataclysm of fire shall also come [upon the earth].
CHAP. XXX.--ALTHOUGH CERTAIN AS TO THE NUMBER OF THE NAME OF ANTICHRIST, YET WE SHOULD
COME TO NO RASH CONCLUSIONS AS TO THE NAME ITSELF, BECAUSE THIS NUMBER IS CAPABLE
OF BEING FITTED TO MANY NAMES. REASONS FOR THIS POINT BEING RESERVED BY THE HOLY
SPIRIT. ANTICHRIST'S REIGN AND DEATH.
1. Such, then, being the state of the case, and this number being found in all
the most approved and ancient copies(3) [of the Apocalypse], and those men who saw
John face to face bearing their testimony [to it]; while reason also leads us to
conclude that the number of the name of the beast, [if reckoned] according to the Greek mode
of calculation by the [value of] the letters contained in it, will amount to six
hundred and sixty and six; that is, the number of tens shall be equal to that of
the hundreds, and the number of hundreds equal to that of the units (for that number which
[expresses] the digit six being adhered to throughout, indicates the recapitulations
of that apostasy, taken in its full extent, which occurred at the beginning, during
the intermediate periods, and which shall take place at the end),--I do not know how it
is that some have erred following the ordinary mode of speech, and have vitiated
the middle number in the name, deducting the amount of fifty from it, so that instead
of six decads they will have it that there is but one. [I am inclined to think that this
occurred through the fault of the copyists, as is wont to happen, since numbers also
are expressed by letters; so that the Greek letter which expresses the number sixty
was easily expanded into the letter Iota of the Greeks.](4) Others then received this
read-
559
ing without examination; some in their simplicity, and upon their own responsibility,
making use of this number expressing one decad; while some, in their inexperience,
have ventured to seek out a name which should contain the erroneous and spurious
number. Now, as regards those who have done this in simplicity, and without evil intent,
we are at liberty to assume that pardon will be granted them by God. But as for those
who, for the sake of vainglory, lay it down for certain that names containing the
spurious number are to be accepted, and affirm that this name, hit upon by themselves,
is that of him who is to come; such persons shall not come forth without loss, because
they have led into error both themselves and those who confided in them. Now, in
the first place, it is loss to wander from the truth, and to imagine that as being the case
which is not; then again, as there shall be no light punishment [inflicted] upon
him who either adds or subtracts anything from the Scripture,(1) under that such
a person must necessarily fall. Moreover, another danger, by no means trifling, shall overtake
those who falsely presume that they know the name of Antichrist. For if these men
assume one [number], when this [Antichrist] shall come having another, they will
be easily led away by him, as supposing him not to be the expected one, who must be guarded
against.
2. These men, therefore, ought to learn [what really is the state of the case],
and go back to the true number of the name, that they be not reckoned among false
prophets. But, knowing the sure number declared by Scripture, that is, six hundred
sixty and six, let them await, in the first place, the division of the kingdom into ten;
then, in the next place, when these kings are reigning, and beginning to set their
affairs in order, and advance their kingdom, [let them learn] to acknowledge that
he who shall come claiming the kingdom for himself, and shall terrify those men of whom we
have been speaking, having a name containing the aforesaid number, is truly the abomination
of desolation. This, too, the apostle affirms: "When they shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction shall come upon them."(2) And Jeremiah does not merely
point out his sudden coming, but he even indicates the tribe from which he shall
come, where he says, "We shall hear the voice of his swift horses from Dan; the whole
earth shall be moved by the voice of the neighing of his galloping horses: he shall also
come and devour the earth, and the fulness thereof, the city also, and they that
dwell therein."(3) This, too, is the reason that this tribe is not reckoned in the
Apocalypse along with those which are saved.(4)
3. It is therefore more certain, and less hazardous, to await the fulfilment of
the prophecy, than to be making surmises, and casting about for any names that may
present themselves, inasmuch as many names can be found possessing the number mentioned;
and the same question will, after all, remain unsolved. For if there are many names
found possessing this number, it will be asked which among them shall the coming
man bear. It is not through a want of names containing the number of that name that
I say this, but on account of the fear of God, and zeal for the truth: for the name Evanthas
(E<greek>U</greek>AN<greek>Q</greek>A<greek>S</greek>) contains the required number,
but I make no allegation regarding it. Then also Lateinos (<greek>L</greek>ATEINO<greek>S</greek>) has the number six hundred and sixty-six; and it is a very probable
[solution], this being the name of the last kingdom [of the four seen by Daniel].
For the Latins are they who at present bear rule:(5) I will not, however, make any
boast over this [coincidence]. Teitan too, (TEITAN, the first syllable being written with the
two Greek vowels <greek>e</greek> and <greek>i</greek>), among all the names which
are found among us, is rather worthy of credit. For it has in itself the predicted
number, and is composed of six letters, each syllable containing three letters; and [the
word itself] is ancient, and removed from ordinary use; for among our kings we find
none bearing this name Titan, nor have any of the idols which are worshipped in public
among the Greeks and barbarians this appellation. Among many persons, too, this name
is accounted divine, so that even the sun is termed "Titan" by those who do now possess
[the rule]. This word, too, contains a certain outward appearance of vengeance, and
of one inflicting merited punishment because he (Antichrist) pretends that he vindicates
the oppressed.(6) And besides this, it is an ancient name, one worthy of credit,
of royal dignity, and still further, a name belonging to a tyrant. Inasmuch, then,
as this name "Titan" has so much to recommend it, there is a strong degree of probability,
that from among the many [names suggested], we infer, that perchance he who is to
come shall be called "Titan." We will not, however, incur the risk of pronouncing
positively as to the name of Antichrist; for if it were necessary that his name should
be distinctly revealed in this present time, it would have been announced by him
who beheld the apocalyptic vision. For that was seen no very long time
560
since, but almost in our day, towards the end of Domitian's reign.
4. But he indicates the number of the name now, that when this man comes we may
avoid him, being aware who he is: the name, however, is suppressed, because it is
not worthy of being proclaimed by the Holy Spirit. For if it had been declared by
Him, he (Antichrist) might perhaps continue for a long period. But now as "he was, and is
not, and shall ascend out of the abyss, and goes into perdition,"(1) as one who has
no existence; so neither has his name been declared, for the name of that which does
not exist is not proclaimed. But when this Antichrist shall have devastated all things
in this world, he will reign for three years and six months, and sit in the temple
at Jerusalem; and then the Lord will come from heaven in the clouds, in the glory
of the Father, sending this man and those who follow him into the lake of fire; but bringing
in for the righteous the times of the kingdom, that is, the rest, the hallowed seventh
day; and restoring to Abraham the promised inheritance, in which kingdom the Lord
declared, that "many coming from the east and from the west should sit down with Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob."(2)
CHAP. XXXI.--THE PRESERVATION OF OUR BODIES IS CONFIRMED BY THE RESURRECTION AND ASCENSION
OF CHRIST: THE SOULS OF THE SAINTS DURING THE INTERMEDIATE PERIOD ARE IN A STATE
OF EXPECTATION OF THAT TIME WHEN THEY SHALL RECEIVE THEIR PERFECT AND CONSUMMATED
GLORY.
1. Since, again, some who are reckoned among the orthodox go beyond the pre-arranged
plan for the exaltation of the just, and are ignorant of the methods by which they
are disciplined beforehand for incorruption, they thus entertain heretical opinions. For the heretics, despising the handiwork of God, and not admitting the salvation
of their flesh, while they also treat the promise of God contemptuously, and pass
beyond God altogether in the sentiments they form, affirm that immediately upon their
death they shall pass above the heavens and the Demiurge, and go to the Mother (Achamoth)
or to that Father whom they have feigned. Those persons, therefore, who disallow
a resurrection affecting the whole man (universam reprobant resurrectionem), and
as far as in them lies remove it from the midst [of the Christian scheme], how can they be
wondered at, if again they know nothing as to the plan of the resurrection? For they
do not choose to understand, that if these things are as they say, the Lord Himself,
in whom they profess to believe, did not rise again upon the third day; but immediately
upon His expiring on the cross, undoubtedly departed on high, leaving His body to
the earth. But the case was, that for three days He dwelt in the place where the
dead were, as the prophet says concerning Him: "And the Lord remembered His dead saints who
slept formerly in the land of sepulture; and He descended to them, to rescue and
save them."(3) And the Lord Himself says, "As Jonas remained three days and three
nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of man be in the heart of the earth."(4) Then
also the apostle says, "But when He ascended, what is it but that He also descended
into the lower parts of the earth?"(5) This, too, David says when prophesying of
Him, "And thou hast delivered my soul from the nethermost hell;"(6) and on His rising again
the third day, He said to Mary, who was the first to see and to worship Him, "Touch
Me not, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to the disciples, and say
unto them, I ascend unto My Father, and unto your Father."(7)
2. If, then, the Lord observed the law of the dead, that He might become the first-begotten
from the dead, and tarried until the third day "in the lower parts of the earth;"(8)
then afterwards rising in the flesh, so that He even showed the print of the nails to His disciples,(9) He thus ascended to the Father;--[if all these things
occurred, I say], how must these men not be put to confusion, who allege that "the
lower parts" refer to this world of ours, but that their tuner man, leaving the body
here, ascends into the super-celestial place? For as the Lord "went away in the midst of
the shadow of death,"(10) where the souls of the dead were, yet afterwards arose
in the body, and after the resurrection was taken up [into heaven], it is manifest
that the souls of His disciples also, upon whose account the Lord underwent these things,
shall go away into the invisible place allotted to them by God, and there remain
until the resurrection, awaiting that event; then receiving their bodies, and rising
in their entirety, that is bodily, just as the Lord arose, they shall come thus into the presence
of God. "For no disciple is above the Master, but every one that is perfect shall
be as his Master."(11) As our Master, therefore, did not at once depart, taking flight [to heaven], but awaited the time of His resurrection prescribed by the Father,
which had been also shown forth through Jonas, and rising again after three days
was taken up [to heaven];
561
so ought we also to await the time of our resurrection prescribed by God and foretold
by the prophets, and so, rising, be taken up, as many as the Lord shall account worthy
of this [privilege].(1)
CHAP. XXXII.--IN THAT FLESH IN WHICH THE SAINTS HAVE SUFFERED SO MANY AFFLICTIONS,
THEY SHALL RECEIVE THE FRUITS OF THEIR LABOURS; ESPECIALLY SINCE ALL CREATION WAITS
FOR THIS, AND GOD PROMISES IT TO ABRAHAM AND HIS SEED.
1. Inasmuch, therefore, as the opinions of certain [orthodox persons] are derived
from heretical discourses, they are both ignorant of God's dispensations, and of
the mystery of the resurrection of the just, and of the [earthly] kingdom which is
the commencement of incorruption, by means of which kingdom those who shall be worthy are
accustomed gradually to partake of the divine nature (capere Deum(2)); and it is
necessary to tell them respecting those things, that it behoves the righteous first
to receive the promise of the inheritance which God promised to the fathers, and to reign
in it, when they rise again to behold God in this creation which is renovated, and
that the judgment should take place afterwards. For it is just that in that very
creation in which they toiled or were afflicted, being proved in every way by suffering, they
should receive the reward of their suffering; and that in the creation in which they
were slain because of their love to God, in that they should be revived again; and
that in the creation in which they endured servitude, in that they should reign. For
God is rich in all things, and all things are His. It is fitting, therefore, that
the creation itself, being restored to its primeval condition, should without restraint
be under the dominion of the righteous; and the apostle has made this plain in the Epistle
to the Romans, when he thus speaks: "For the expectation of the creature waiteth
for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature has been subjected to
vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope; since the
creature itself shall also be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious
liberty of the sons of God."(3)
2. Thus, then, the promise of God, which He gave to Abraham, remains stedfast.
For thus He said: "Lift up thine eyes, and look from this place where now thou art,
towards the north and south, and east and west. For all the earth which thou seest,
I will give to thee and to thy seed, even for ever."(4) And again He says, "Arise, and
go through the length and breadth of the land, since I will give it unto thee;"(5)
and [yet] he did not receive an inheritance in it, not even a footstep, but was always
a stranger and a pilgrim therein.(6) And upon the death of Sarah his wife, when the Hittites
were willing to bestow upon him a place where he might bury her, he declined it as
a gift, but bought the burying-place (giving for it four hundred talents of silver)
from Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite.(7) Thus did he await patiently the promise
of God, and was unwilling to appear to receive from men, what God had promised to
give him, when He said again to him as follows: "I will give this land to thy seed,
from the river of Egypt even unto the great river Euphrates."(8) If, then, God promised
him the inheritance of the land, yet he did not receive it during all the time of
his sojourn there, it must be, that together with his seed, that is, those who fear
God and believe in Him, he shall receive it at the resurrection of the just. For his seed
is the Church, which receives the adoption to God through the Lord, as John the Baptist
said: "For God is able from the stones to raise up children to Abraham."(9) Thus
also the apostle says in the Epistle to the Galatians: "But ye, brethren, as Isaac was,
are the children of the promise."(10) And again, in the same Epistle, he plainly
declares that they who have believed in Christ do receive Christ, the promise to
Abraham thus saying, "The promises were spoken to Abraham, and to his seed. Now He does not
say, And of seeds, as if [He spake] of many, but as of one, And to thy seed, which
is Christ."(11) And again, confirming his former words, he says, "Even as Abraham
believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Know ye therefore, that they which
are of faith are the children of Abraham. But the Scripture, fore-seeing that God
would justify the heathen through faith, declared to Abraham beforehand, That in
thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they which are of faith shall be blessed with
faithful Abraham."(12) Thus, then, they who are of faith shall be blessed with faithful
Abraham, and these are the children of Abraham. Now God made promise of the earth
to Abraham and his seed; yet neither Abraham nor his seed, that is, those who are justified
by faith, do now receive any
562
inheritance in it; but they shall receive it at the resurrection of the just. For
God is true and faithful; and on this account He said, "Blessed are the meek, for
they shall inherit the earth."(1)
CHAP. XXXIII.--FURTHER PROOFS OF THE SAME PROPOSITION, DRAWN FROM THE PROMISES MADE
BY CHRIST, WHEN HE DECLARED THAT HE WOULD DRINK OF THE FRUIT OF THE VINE WITH HIS
DISCIPLES IN HIS FATHER'S KINGDOM, WHILE AT THE SAME TIME HE PROMISED TO REWARD THEM
AN HUNDRED-FOLD, AND TO MAKE THEM PARTAKE OF BANQUETS. THE BLESSING PRONOUNCED BY JACOB
HAD POINTED OUT THIS ALREADY, AS PAPIAS AND THE ELDERS HAVE INTERPRETED IT.
1. For this reason, when about to undergo His sufferings, that He might declare
to Abraham and those with him the glad tidings of the inheritance being thrown open,
[Christ], after He had given thanks while holding the cup, and had drunk of it, and
given it to the disciples, said to them: "Drink ye all of it: this is My blood of the
new covenant, which shall be shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say unto
you, I will not drink henceforth of the fruit of this vine, until that day when I
will drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom."(2) Thus, then, He will Himself renew
the inheritance of the earth, and will re-organize the mystery of the glory of [His]
sons; as David says, "He who hath renewed the face of the earth."(3) He promised
to drink of the fruit of the vine with His disciples, thus indicating both these points:
the inheritance of the earth in which the new fruit of the vine is drunk, and the
resurrection of His disciples in the flesh. For the new flesh which rises again is
the same which also received the new cup. And He cannot by any means be understood as drinking
of the fruit of the vine when settled down with his [disciples] above in a super-celestial
place; nor, again, are they who drink it devoid of flesh, for to drink of that which flows from the vine pertains to flesh, and not spirit.
2. And for this reason the Lord declared, "When thou makest a dinner or a supper,
do not call thy friends, nor thy neighbours, nor thy kinsfolk, lest they ask thee
in return, and so repay thee. But call the lame, the blind, and the poor, and thou
shall be blessed, since they cannot recompense thee, but a recompense shall be made thee
at the resurrection of the just."(4) And again He says, "Whosoever shall have left
lands, or houses, or parents, or brethren, or children because of Me, he shall receive
in this world an hundred-fold, and in that to come he shall inherit eternal life."(5)
For what are the hundred-fold [rewards] in this word, the entertainments given to
the poor, and the suppers for which a return is made? These are [to take place] in
the times of the kingdom, that is, upon the seventh day, which has been sanctified, in which
God rested from all the works which He created, which is the true Sabbath of the
righteous, which they shall not be engaged in any earthly occupation; but shall have
a table at hand prepared for them by God, supplying them with all sorts of dishes.
3. The blessing of Isaac with which he blessed his younger son Jacob has the same
meaning, when he says, "Behold, the smell of my son is as the smell of a full field
which the Lord has blessed."(6) But "the field is the world."(7) And therefore he
added, "God give to thee of the dew of heaven, and of the fatness of the earth, plenty
of corn and wine. And let the nations serve thee, and kings bow down to thee; and
be thou lord over thy brother, and thy father's sons shall bow down to thee: cursed
shall be he who shall curse thee, and blessed shall be he who shall bless thee."(8) If any
one, then, does not accept these things as referring to the appointed kingdom, he
must fall into much contradiction and contrariety, as is the case with the Jews,
who are involved in absolute perplexity. For not only did not the nations in this life serve
this Jacob; but even after he had received the blessing, he himself going forth [from
his home], served his uncle Laban the Syrian for twenty years;(9) and not only was
he not made lord of his brother, but he did himself bow down before his brother Esau,
upon his return from Mesopotamia to his father, and offered many gifts to him.(10)
Moreover, in what way did he inherit much corn and wine here, he who emigrated to
Egypt because of the famine which possessed the land in which he was dwelling, and became
Subject to Pharaoh, who was then ruling over Egypt? The predicted blessing, therefore,
belongs unquestionably to the times of the kingdom, when the righteous shall bear
rule upon their rising from the dead;(11) when also the creation, having been renovated
and set free, shall fructify with an abundance of all kinds of food, from the dew
of heaven, and from the fertility of the earth: as the elders who saw John, the disciple
of the Lord, related that they had heard
563
from him how the Lord used to teach in regard to these times, and say: The days will
come, in which vines shall grow, each having ten thousand branches, and in each branch
ten thousand twigs, and in each true(1) twig ten thousand shoots, and in each one
of the shoots ten thousand dusters, and on every one of the clusters ten thousand grapes,
and every grape when pressed will give five and twenty metretes of wine. And when
any one of the saints shall lay hold of a cluster,(2) another shall cry out, "I am
a better cluster, take me; bless the Lord through me." In like manner [the Lord declared]
that a grain of wheat would produce ten thousand ears, and that every ear should
have ten thousand grains, and every grain would yield ten pounds (quinque bilibres)
of clear, pure, fine flour; and that all other fruit-bearing trees,(3) and seeds and grass,
would produce in similar proportions (secundum congruentiam iis consequentem); and
that all animals feeding [only] on the productions of the earth, should [in those
days] become peaceful and harmonious among each other, and be in perfect subjection to
man.
4. And these things are bone witness to in writing by Papias, the hearer of John,
and a companion of Polycarp, in his fourth book; for there were five books compiled
(<greek>suntetagmena</greek>) by him.(4) And he says in addition, "Now these things
are credible to believers." And he says that, "when the traitor Judas did not give credit
to them, and put the question, 'How then can things about to bring forth so abundantly
be wrought by the Lord?' the Lord declared, 'They who shall come to these [times] shall see.'" When prophesying of these times, therefore, Esaias says: "The wolf also
shall feed with the lamb, and the leopard shall take his rest with the kid; the calf
also, and the bull, and the lion shall eat together; and a little boy shall lead
them. The ox and the bear shall feed together, and their young ones shall agree together;
and the lion shall eat straw as well as the ox. And the infant boy shall thrust his
hand into the asp's den, into the nest also of the adder's brood; and they shall
do no harm, nor have power to hurt anything in my holy mountain." And again he says, in
recapitulation, "Wolves and lambs shall then browse together, and the lion shall
eat straw like the ox, and the serpent earth as if it were bread; and they shall
neither hurt nor annoy anything in my holy mountain, saith the Lord."(5) I am quite aware that
some persons endeavour to refer these words to the case of savage men, both of different
nations and various habits, who come to believe, and when they have believed, act
in harmony with the righteous. But although this is [true] now with regard to some
men coming from various nations to the harmony of the faith, nevertheless in the
resurrection of the just [the words shall also apply] to those animals mentioned.
For God is non in all things. And it is right that when the creation is restored, all the animals
should obey and be in subjection to man, and revert to the food originally given
by God (for they had been originally subjected in obedience to Adam), that is, the
productions of the earth. But some other occasion, and not the present, is [to be sought]
for showing that the lion shall [then] feed on straw. And this indicates the large
size and rich quality of the fruits. For if that animal, the lion, feeds upon straw
[at that period], of what a quality must the wheat itself be whose straw shall serve as
suitable food for lions?
CHAP. XXXIV.--HE FORTIFIES HIS OPINIONS WITH REGARD TO THE TEMPORAL AND EARTHLY KINGDOM
OF THE SAINTS AFTER THEIR RESURRECTION, BY THE VARIOUS TESTIMONIES OF ISAIAH, EZEKIEL,
JEREMIAH, AND DANIEL; ALSO BY THE PARABLE OF THE SERVANTS WATCHING, TO WHOM THE LORD PROMISED THAT HE WOULD MINISTER.
1. Then, too, Isaiah himself has plainly declared that there shall be joy of this
nature at the resurrection of the just, when he says: "The dead shall rise again;
those, too, who are in the tombs shall arise, and those who are in the earth shall
rejoice. For the dew from Thee is health to them."(6) And this again Ezekiel also says:
"Behold, I will open your tombs, and will bring you forth out of your graves; when
I will draw my people from the sepulchres, and I will put breath in you, and ye shall
live; and I will place you on your own land, and ye shall know that I am the LORD."(7)
And again the same speaks thus: "These things saith the LORD, I will gather Israel
from all nations whither they have been driven, and I shall be sanctified in them
in the sight of the sons of the nations: and they shall dwell in their own land, which I gave
to my servant Jacob. And they shall dwell in it in peace; and they shall build houses,
and plant vineyards, and dwell in hope, when I shall cause judgment to fall among
all who have dishonoured them, among those who encircle them round about; and they
shall know that I am the LORD their God, and the God of their fathers."(8) Now I
have shown a short time ago that the church is the seed of Abraham; and for this
reason, that we may know that He who in the New Testament "raises up from the stones children
unto
564
Abraham,"(1) is He who will gather, according to the Old Testament, those that shall
be saved from all the nations, Jeremiah says: "Behold, the days come, saith the LORD,
that they shall no more say, The LORD liveth, who led the children of Israel from
the north, and from every region whither they had been driven; He will restore them to
their own land which He gave to their fathers."(2)
2. That the whole creation shall, according to God's will, obtain a vast increase,
that it may bring forth and sustain fruits such [as we have mentioned], Isaiah declares:
"And there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every prominent hill, water running everywhere in that day, when many shall perish, when walls shall fall.
And the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, seven times that of the
day, when He shall heal the anguish of His people, and do away with the pain of His
stroke."(3) Now "the pain of the stroke" means that inflicted at the beginning upon disobedient
man in Adam, that is, death; which [stroke] the Lord will heal when He raises us
from the dead, and restores the inheritance of the fathers, as Isaiah again says:
"And thou shall be confident in the LORD, and He will cause thee to pass over the whole
earth, and feed thee with the inheritance of Jacob thy father."(4) This is what the
Lord declared: "Happy are those servants whom the Lord when He cometh shall find
watching. Verily I say unto you, that He shall gird Himself, and make them to sit down [to
meat], and will come forth and serve them. And if He shall come in the evening watch,
and find them so, blessed are they, because He shall make them sit down, and minister to them; or if this be in the second, or it be in the third, blessed are they."(5)
Again John also says the very same in the Apocalypse: "Blessed and holy is he who
has part in the first resurrection."(6) Then, too, Isaiah has declared the time when
these events shall occur; he says: "And I said, Lord, how long? Until the cities be wasted
without inhabitant, and the houses be without men, and the earth be left a desert.
And after these things the LORD shall remove us men far away (longe nos faciet Deus
homines), and those who shall remain shall multiply upon the earth."(7) Then Daniel also
says this very thing: "And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of those under
the heaven, is given to the saints of the Most High God, whose kingdom is everlasting, and all dominions shall serve and obey Him."(8) And lest the promise named should
be understood as referring to this time, it was declared to the prophet: "And come
thou, and stand in thy lot at the consummation of the days."(9)
3. Now, that the promises were not announced to the prophets and the fathers alone,
but to the Churches united to these from the nations, whom also the Spirit terms
"the islands" (both because they are established in the midst of turbulence, suffer
the storm of blasphemies, exist as a harbour of safety to those in peril, and are the
refuge of those who love the height [of heaven], and strive to avoid Bythus, that
is, the depth of error), Jeremiah thus declares: "Hear the word of the LORD, ye nations,
and declare it to the isles afar off; say ye, that the LORD will scatter Israel, He
will gather him, and keep him, as one feeding his flock of sheep. For the Lord hath
redeemed Jacob, and rescued him from the hand of one stronger than he. And they shall
come and rejoice m Mount Zion, and shall come to what is good, and into a land of wheat,
and wine, and fruits, of animals and of sheep; and their soul shall be as a tree
bearing fruit, and they shall hunger no more. At that time also shall the virgins
rejoice in the company of the young men: the old men, too, shall be glad, and I will turn
their sorrow into joy; and I will make them exult, and will magnify them, and satiate
the souls of the priests the sons of Levi; and my people shall be satiated with my
goodness."(10) Now, in the preceding book(11) I have shown that all the disciples of the
Lord are Levites and priests, they who used in the temple to profane the Sabbath,
but are blameless.(12) Promises of such a nature, therefore, do indicate in the clearest
manner the feasting of that creation in the kingdom of the righteous, which God promises
that He will Himself serve.
4. Then again, speaking of Jerusalem, and of Him reigning there, Isaiah declares,
"Thus saith the LORD, Happy is he who hath seed in Zion, and servants in Jerusalem.
Behold, a righteous king shall reign, and princes shall rule with judgment"(13) And
with regard to the foundation on which it shall be rebuilt, he says: "Behold, I will
lay in order for thee a carbuncle stone, and sapphire for thy foundations; and I
will lay thy ramparts with jasper, and thy gates with crystal, and thy wall with
choice stones: and all thy children shall be taught of God, and great shall be the peace of thy
children; and in righteousness shalt thou be built up."(14) And yet again
565
does he say the same thing: "Behold, I make Jerusalem a rejoicing, and my people [a
joy]; for the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying.
Also there shall not be there any immature [one], nor an old man who does not fulfil
his time: for the youth shall be of a hundred years; and the sinner shall die a hundred
years old, yet shall be accursed. And they shall build houses, and inhabit them themselves;
and shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them themselves, and shall drink wine. And they shall not build, and others inhabit; neither shall they prepare
the vineyard, and others eat. For as the days of the tree of life shall be the days
of the people in thee; for the works of their hands shall endure."(1)
CHAP. XXXV.--HE CONTENDS THAT THESE TESTIMONIES ALREADY ALLEGED CANNOT BE UNDERSTOOD
ALLEGORICALLY OF CELESTIAL BLESSINGS, BUT THAT THEY SHALL HAVE THEIR FULFILMENT AFTER
THE COMING OF ANTICHRIST, AND THE RESURRECTION, IN THE TERRESTRIAL JERUSALEM. TO
THE FORMER PROPHECIES HE SUBJOINS OTHERS DRAWN FROM ISAIAH, JEREMIAH, AND THE APOCALYPSE
OF JOHN.
1. If, however, any shall endeavour to allegorize [prophecies] of this kind, they
shall not be found consistent with themselves in all points, and shall be confuted
by the teaching of the very expressions [in question]. For example: "When the cities"
of the Gentiles "shall be desolate, so that they be not inhabited, and the houses
so that there shall be no men in them and the land shall be left desolate."(2) "For,
behold," says Isaiah, "the day of the LORD cometh past remedy, full of fury and wrath,
to lay waste the city of the earth, and to root sinners out of it."(3) And again he
says, "Let him be taken away, that he behold not the glory of God."(4) And when these
things are done, he says, "God will remove men far away, and those that are left
shall multiply in the earth."(5) "And they shall build houses, and shall inhabit them themselves:
and plant vineyards, and eat of them themselves."(6) For all these and other words
were unquestionably spoken in reference to the resurrection of the just, which takes place after the coming of Antichrist, and the destruction of all nations under
his rule; in [the times of] which [resurrection] the righteous shall reign in the
earth, waxing stronger by the sight of the Lord: and through Him they shall become
accustomed to partake in the glory of God the Father, and shall enjoy in the kingdom intercourse
and communion with the holy angels, and union with spiritual beings; and [with respect
to] those whom the Lord shall find in the flesh, awaiting Him from heaven, and who have suffered tribulation, as well as escaped the hands of the Wicked one. For it
is in reference to them that the prophet says: "And those that are left shall multiply
upon the earth," And Jeremiah(7) the prophet has pointed out, that as many believers
as God has prepared for this purpose, to multiply those left upon earth, should both
be under the rule of the saints to minister to this Jerusalem, and that [His] kingdom
shall be in it, saying, "Look around Jerusalem towards the east, and behold the joy
which comes to thee from God Himself. Behold, thy sons shall come whom thou hast sent
forth: they shall come in a band from the east even unto the west, by the word of
that Holy One, rejoicing in that splendour which is from thy God. O Jerusalem, put
off thy robe of mourning and of affliction, and put on that beauty of eternal splendour
from thy God. Gird thyself with the double garment of that righteousness proceeding
from thy God; place the mitre of eternal glory upon thine head. For God will show
thy glory to the whole earth under heaven. For thy name shall for ever be called by God Himself,
the peace of righteousness and glory to him that worships God. Arise, Jerusalem,
stand on high, and look towards the east, and behold thy sons from the rising of
the sun, even to the west, by the Word of that Holy One, rejoicing in the very remembrance
of God. For the footmen have gone forth from thee, while they were drawn away by
the enemy. God shall bring them in to thee, being borne with glory as the throne
of a kingdom. For God has decreed that every high mountain shall be brought low, and the eternal
hills, and that the valleys be filled, so that the surface of the earth be rendered
smooth, that Israel, the glory of God, may walk in safety. The woods, too, shall
make shady places, and every sweet-smelling tree shall be for Israel itself by the command
of God. For God shall go before with joy in the light of His splendour, with the
pity and righteousness which proceeds from Him."
2. Now all these things being such as they are, cannot be understood in reference
to super-celestial matters; "for God," it is said, "will show to the whole earth
that is under heaven thy glory." But in the times of the kingdom, the earth has been
called again by Christ [to its pristine condition], and Jerusalem rebuilt after the pattern
of the Jerusalem above, of which the prophet Isaiah says, "Behold, I have depicted
thy walls upon my hands, and thou art always in
566
my sight,"(1) And the apostle, too, writing to the Galatians, says in like manner,
"But the Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all."(2) He
does not say this with any thought of an erratic AEon, or of any other power which
departed from the Pleroma, or of Prunicus, but of the Jerusalem which has been delineated on
[God's] hands. And in the Apocalypse John saw this new [Jerusalem] descending upon
the new earth.(3) For after the times of the kingdom, he says, "I saw a great white
throne, and Him who sat upon it, from whose face the earth fled away, and the heavens;
and there was no more place for them."(4) And he sets forth, too, the things connected
with the general resurrection and the judgment, mentioning "the dead, great and small." "The sea," he says, "gave up the dead which it had in it, and death and hell delivered
up the dead that they contained; and the books were opened. Moreover," he says, "the
book of life was opened, and the dead were judged out of those things that were written in the books, according to their works; and death and hell were sent into the
lake of fire, the second death."(5) Now this is what is called Gehenna, which the
Lord styled eternal fire.(6) "And if any one," it is said, "was not found written
in the book of life, he was sent into the lake of fire."(7) And after this, he says, "I saw
a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and earth have passed away; also
there was no more sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from heaven,
as a bride adorned for her husband." "And I heard," it is said, "a great voice from
the throne, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell
with them; and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them as their
God. And He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more, neither
sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, because the former things
have passed away."(8) Isaiah also declares the very same: "For there shall be a new
heaven and a new earth; and there shall be no remembrance of the former, neither shall
the heart think about them, but they shall find in it joy and exultation."(9) Now
this is what has been said by the apostle: "For the fashion of this world passeth
away."(10) To the same purpose did the Lord also declare, "Heaven and earth shall pass away."(11)
When these things, therefore, pass away above the earth, John, the Lord's disciple,
says that the new Jerusalem above shall [then] descend, as a bride adorned for her
husband; and that this is the tabernacle of God, in which God will dwell with men.
Of this Jerusalem the former one is an image--that Jerusalem of the former earth
in which the righteous are disciplined beforehand for incorruption and prepared for
salvation. And of this tabernacle Moses received the pattern in the mount;(12) and nothing
is capable of being allegorized, but all things are stedfast, and true, land substantial,
having been made by God for righteous men's enjoyment. For as it is God truly who
raises up man, so also does man truly rise from the dead, and not allegorically, as
I have shown repeatedly. And as he rises actually, so also shall he be actually disciplined
beforehand for incorruption, and shall go forwards and flourish in the times of the kingdom, in order that he may be capable of receiving the glory of the Father.
Then, when all things are made new, he shall truly dwell in the city of God. For
it is said, "He that sitteth on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And
the Lord says, Write all this; for these words are faithful and true. And He said to me, They
are done."(13) And this is the truth of the matter.
CHAP. XXXVI.--MEN SHALL BE ACTUALLY RAISED: THE WORLD SHALL NOT BE ANNIHILATED; BUT
THERE SHALL BE VARIOUS MANSIONS FOR THE SAINTS, ACCORDING TO THE RANK ALLOTTED TO
EACH INDIVIDUAL. ALL THINGS SHALL BE SUBJECT TO GOD THE FATHER, AND SO SHALL HE BE
ALL IN ALL.
1. For since there are real men, so must there also be a real establishment (plantationem),
that they vanish not away among non-existent things, but progress among those which
have an actual existence. For neither is the substance nor the essence of the creation annihilated (for faithful and true is He who has established it), but "the
fashion of the world passeth away;"(14) that is, those things among which transgression
has occurred, since man has grown old in them. And therefore this [present] fashion has been formed temporary, God foreknowing all things; as I have pointed out in
the preceding book,(15) and have also shown, as far as was possible, the cause of
the creation of this world of temporal things. But when this [present] fashion [of
things] passes away, and man has been renewed, and flourishes in an incorruptible state, so
as to preclude the possibility of becoming old, [then] there shall be the new heaven
and the new earth, in which the new man shall remain [con-
567
tinually], always holding fresh converse with God. And since (or, that) these things
shall ever continue without end, Isaiah declares, "For as the new heavens and the
new earth which I do make, continue in my sight, saith the LORD, so shall your seed
and your name remain."(1) And as the presbyters say, Then those who are deemed worthy of
an abode in heaven shall go there, others shall enjoy the delights of paradise, and
others shall possess the splendour of the city; for everywhere the Saviour(2) shall
be seen according as they who see Him shall be worthy.
2. [They say, moreover], that there is this distinction between the habitation
of those who produce an hundred-fold, and that of those who produce sixty-fold, and
that of those who produce thirty-fold: for the first will be taken up into the heavens,
the second will dwell in paradise, the last will inhabit the city; and that was on
this account the Lord declared, "In My Father's house are many mansions."(3) For
all things belong to God, who supplies all with a suitable dwelling-place; even as
His Word says, that a share is allotted to all by the Father, according as each person is or
shall be worthy. And this is the couch on which the guests shall recline, having
been invited to the wedding.(4) The presbyters, the disciples of the apostles, affirm
that this is the gradation and arrangement of those who are saved, and that they advance
through steps of this nature; also that they ascend through the Spirit to the Son,
and through the Son to the Father, and that in due time the Son will yield up His
work to the Father, even as it is said by the apostle, "For He must reign till He hath put
all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death."(5)
For in the times of the kingdom, the righteous man who is upon the earth shall then
forget to die. "But when He saith, All things shall be subdued unto Him, it is manifest that
He is excepted who did put all things under Him. And when all things shall be subdued
unto Him, then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him who put all things
under Him, that God may be all in all."(6)
3. John, therefore, did distinctly foresee the first "resurrection of the just,"(7)
and the inheritance in the kingdom of the earth; and what the prophets have prophesied
concerning it harmonize [with his vision]. For the Lord also taught these things, when He promised that He would have the mixed cup new with His disciples in the kingdom.
The apostle, too, has confessed that the creation shall be free from the bondage
of corruption, [so as to pass] into the liberty of the sons of God.(8) And in all
these things, and by them all, the same God the Father is manifested, who fashioned man,
and gave promise of the inheritance of the earth to the fathers, who brought it (the
creature) forth [from bondage] at the resurrection of the just, and fulfils the promises for the kingdom of His Son; subsequently bestowing in a paternal manner those
things which neither the eye has seen, nor the ear has heard, nor has [thought concerning
them] arisen within the heart of man,(9) For there is the one Son, who accomplished
His Father's will; and one human race also in which the mysteries of God are wrought,
"which the angels desire to look into;"(10) and they are not able to search out the
wisdom of God, by means of Which His handiwork, confirmed and incorporated with His
Son, is brought to perfection; that His offspring, the First-begotten Word, should descend
to the creature (facturam), that is, to what had been moulded (plasma), and that
it should be contained by Him; and, on the other hand, the creature should contain
the Word, and ascend to Him, passing beyond the angels, and be made after the image and
likeness of God.(11)