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| Chapter IX.—One and the same God, the Creator of heaven and earth, is He whom the prophets foretold, and who was declared by the Gospel. Proof of this, at the outset, from St. Matthew’s Gospel.
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Chapter IX.—One and the same God, the
Creator of heaven and earth, is He whom the prophets foretold, and who was
declared by the Gospel. Proof of this, at the outset, from St. Matthew’s
Gospel.
1. This,
therefore, having been clearly demonstrated here (and it shall yet be so
still more clearly), that neither the prophets, nor the apostles, nor the
Lord Christ in His own person, did acknowledge any other Lord or God, but
the God and Lord supreme: the prophets and the apostles confessing the
Father and the Son; but naming no other as God, and confessing no other
as Lord: and the Lord Himself handing down to His disciples, that He, the
Father, is the only God and Lord, who alone is God and ruler of all;
—it is incumbent on us to follow, if we are their disciples
indeed, their testimonies to this effect. For Matthew the apostle—
knowing, as one and the same God, Him who had given promise to Abraham,
that He would make his seed as the stars of heaven,3373
and Him who, by His Son Christ Jesus, has called us to the
knowledge of Himself, from the worship of stones, so that those who were
not a people were made a people, and she beloved who was not beloved3374
—declares that John, when preparing the
way for Christ, said to those who were boasting of their relationship [to
Abraham] according to the flesh, but who had their mind tinged and
stuffed with all manner of evil, preaching that repentance which should
call them back from their evil doings, said, “O generation of
vipers, who hath shown you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth
therefore fruit meet for repentance. And think not to say within
yourselves, We have Abraham [to our] father: for I say unto you, that God
is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.”3375
He preached to them, therefore, the repentance
from wickedness, but he did not declare to them another God, besides Him
who made the promise to Abraham; he, the forerunner of Christ, of whom
Matthew again says, and Luke likewise, “For this is he that was
spoken of from the Lord by the prophet, The voice of one crying in the
wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight the paths of
our God. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill
brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough into
smooth ways; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”3376
There is therefore one and the same God, the
Father of our Lord, who also promised, through the prophets, that He
would send His forerunner; and His salvation—that is, His Word
—He caused to be made visible to all flesh, [the Word] Himself
being made incarnate, that in all things their King might become
manifest. For it is necessary that those [beings] which are judged do see
the judge, and know Him from whom they receive judgment; and it is also
proper, that those which follow on to glory should know Him who bestows
upon them the gift of glory.
2. Then again Matthew, when speaking of the angel,
says, “The angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in
sleep.”3377
Of what Lord he does
himself interpret: “That it may be fulfilled which was spoken of
the Lord by the prophet, Out of Egypt have I called my son.”3378
“Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and
shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel; which is,
being interpreted, God with us.”3379
David
likewise speaks of Him who, from the virgin, is Emmanuel: “Turn not
away the face of Thine anointed. The Lord hath sworn a truth to David,
and will not turn from him. Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy
seat.”3380
And again: “In
Judea is God known; His place has been made in peace, and His dwelling in
Zion.”3381
Therefore there is one and
the same God, who was proclaimed by the prophets and announced by the
Gospel; and His Son, who was of the fruit of David’s body, that is,
of the virgin of [the house of] David, and Emmanuel; whose star also
Balaam thus prophesied: “There shall come a star out of Jacob, and
a
leader shall rise in Israel.”3382
But Matthew says that the Magi, coming from the east, exclaimed
“For we have seen His star in the east, and are come to worship
Him;”3383
and that, having been led
by the star into the house of Jacob to Emmanuel, they showed, by these
gifts which they offered, who it was that was worshipped; myrrh,
because it was He who should die and be buried for the mortal human race;
gold, because He was a King, “of whose kingdom is no
end;”3384
and frankincense,
because He was God, who also “was made known in Judea,”3385
and was “declared to those who sought Him
not.”3386
3. And then, [speaking of His] baptism, Matthew
says, “The heavens were opened, and He saw the Spirit of God, as a
dove, coming upon Him: and lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my
beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”3387
For Christ did not at that time descend upon Jesus, neither was
Christ one and Jesus another: but the Word of God—who is the
Saviour of all, and the ruler of heaven and earth, who is Jesus, as I
have already pointed out, who did also take upon Him flesh, and was
anointed by the Spirit from the Father—was made Jesus Christ, as
Esaias also says, “There shall come forth a rod from the root of
Jesse, and a flower shall rise from his root; and the Spirit of God shall
rest upon Him: the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of
counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and piety, and the spirit of
the fear of God, shall fill Him. He shall not judge according to
glory,3388
| 3388 This is after the
version of the Septuagint, οὐ κατὰ τὴν δόξαν: but the word
δόξα may have the
meaning opinio as well as gloria. If this be admitted here,
the passage would bear much the same sense as it does in the authorized
version, “He shall not judge after the sight of His
eyes.” | nor reprove after the manner of speech; but He
shall dispense judgment to the humble man, and reprove the haughty ones
of the earth.”3389
And again Esaias,
pointing out beforehand His unction, and the reason why he was anointed,
does himself say, “The Spirit of God is upon Me, because He hath
anointed Me: He hath sent Me to preach the Gospel to the lowly, to heal
the broken up in heart, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and sight to
the blind; to announce the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of
vengeance; to comfort all that mourn.”3390
For inasmuch as the Word of God was man from the root of Jesse,
and son of Abraham, in this respect did the Spirit of God rest upon Him,
and anoint Him to preach the Gospel to the lowly. But inasmuch as He was
God, He did not judge according to glory, nor reprove after the manner of
speech. For “He needed not that any should testify to Him of
man,3391
| 3391 This is according to
the Syriac Peschito version. | for He Himself knew what
was in man.”3392
For He called all men that
mourn; and granting forgiveness to those who had been led into captivity
by their sins, He loosed them from their chains, of whom Solomon says,
“Every one shall be holden with the cords of his own
sins.”3393
Therefore did the Spirit of
God descend upon Him, [the Spirit] of Him who had promised by the
prophets that He would anoint Him, so that we, receiving from the
abundance of His unction, might be saved. Such, then, [is the witness] of
Matthew.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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