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| Chapter II.—Proofs from the plain testimony of Moses, and of the other prophets, whose words are the words of Christ, that there is but one God, the founder of the world, whom Our Lord preached, and whom He called His Father.
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Chapter II.—Proofs from the plain
testimony of Moses, and of the other prophets, whose words are the words of
Christ, that there is but one God, the founder of the world, whom Our Lord
preached, and whom He called His Father.
1. Moses, the prophets and Christ" title="463" id="ix.vi.iii-p1.1"/>Moses, therefore,
making a recapitulation of the whole law, which he had received from the
Creator (Demiurge), thus speaks in Deuteronomy: “Give ear, O ye
heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my
mouth.”3808
Again, David saying that
his help came from the Lord, asserts: “My help is from the Lord, who made heaven and
earth.”3809
And Esaias confesses that
words were uttered by God, who made heaven and earth, and governs them.
He says: “Hear, O heavens; and give ear, O earth: for the Lord hath spoken.”3810
And again: “Thus saith the Lord God, who made the heaven,
and stretched it out; who established the earth, and the things in it;
and who giveth breath to the people upon it, and spirit to them who walk
therein.”3811
2. Again, our Lord Jesus Christ confesses this same
Being as His Father, where He says: “I
confess to
thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth.”3812
What Father will those men
have us to understand [by these words], those who are most perverse
sophists of Pandora? Whether shall it be Bythus, whom they have fabled of
themselves; or their Mother; or the Only-begotten? Or shall it be he whom
the Marcionites or the others have invented as god (whom I indeed have
amply demonstrated to be no god at all); or shall it be (what is really
the case) the Maker of heaven and earth, whom also the prophets
proclaimed,—whom Christ, too, confesses as His Father,—
whom also the law announces, saying: “Hear, O Israel; The Lord thy
God is one God?”3813
3. But since the writings (literæ) of Moses are
the words of Christ, He does Himself declare to the Jews, as John has
recorded in the Gospel: “If ye had believed Moses, ye would have
believed Me: for he wrote of Me. But if ye believe not his writings,
neither will ye believe My words.”3814
He thus
indicates in the clearest manner that the writings of Moses are His
words. If, then, [this be the case with regard] to Moses, so also, beyond
a doubt, the words of the other prophets are His [words], as I have
pointed out. And again, the Lord Himself exhibits Abraham as having said
to the rich man, with reference to all those who were still alive:
“If they do not obey Moses and the prophets, neither, if any one
were to rise from the dead and go to them, will they believe
him.”3815
4. Now, He has not merely related to us a story
respecting a poor man and a rich one; but He has taught us, in the first
place, that no one should lead a luxurious life, nor, living in worldly
pleasures and perpetual feastings, should be the slave of his lusts, and
forget God. “For there was,” He says, “a rich man, who
was clothed in purple and fine linen, and delighted himself with splendid
feasts.”3816
5. Of such persons, too, the Spirit has spoken by
Esaias: “They drink wine with [the accompaniment of] harps, and
tablets, and psalteries, and flutes; but they regard not the works of
God, neither do they consider the work of His hands.”3817
Lest, therefore, we should incur the same
punishment as these men, the Lord reveals [to us] their end; showing at
the same time, that if they obeyed Moses and the prophets, they would
believe in Him whom these had preached, the Son of God, who rose from the
dead, and bestows life upon us; and He shows that all are from one
essence, that is, Abraham, and Moses, and the prophets, and also the Lord
Himself, who rose from the dead, in whom many believe who are of the
circumcision, who do also hear Moses and the prophets announcing the
coming of the Son of God. But those who scoff [at the truth] assert that
these men were from another essence, and they do not know the
first-begotten from the dead; understanding Christ as a distinct being,
who continued as if He were impassible, and Jesus, who suffered, as being
altogether separate [from Him].
6. For they do not receive from the Father the
knowledge of the Son; neither do they learn who the Father is from the
Son, who teaches clearly and without parables Him who truly is God. He
says: “Swear not at all; neither by heaven, for it is God’s
throne; nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; neither by Jerusalem,
for it is the city of the great King.”3818
For these words are evidently spoken with reference to the
Creator, as also Esaias says: “Heaven is my throne, the earth is my
footstool.”3819
And besides this Being
there is no other God; otherwise He would not be termed by the Lord
either “God” or “the great King;” for a Being who
can be so described admits neither of any other being compared with nor
set above Him. For he who has any superior over him, and is under the
power of another, this being never can be called either “God”
or “the great King.”
7. But neither will these men be able to maintain that
such words were uttered in an ironical manner, since it is proved to them
by the words themselves that they were in earnest. For He who uttered
them was Truth, and did truly vindicate His own house, by driving out of
it the changers of money, who were buying and selling, saying unto them:
“It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but
ye have made it a den of thieves.”3820
And what
reason had He for thus doing and saying, and vindicating His house, if He
did preach another God? But [He did so], that He might point out the
transgressors of His Father’s law; for neither did He bring any
accusation against the house, nor did He blame the law, which He had come
to fulfil; but He reproved those who were putting His house to an
improper use, and those who were transgressing the law. And therefore the
scribes and Pharisees, too, who from the times of the law had begun to
despise God, did not receive His Word, that is, they did not believe on
Christ. Of these Esaias says: “Thy princes are rebellious,
companions of thieves, loving gifts, following after rewards, not judging
the fatherless, and negligent of the cause of the widows.”3821
And Jeremiah, in like manner:
“They,” he says, “who rule my people did not
know me; they are senseless and imprudent children; they are wise to do
evil, but to do well they have no knowledge.”3822
8. But as many as feared God, and were anxious about
His law, these ran to Christ, and were all saved. For He said to His
disciples: “Go ye to the sheep of the house of Israel,3823
which have perished.” And many more
Samaritans, it is said, when the Lord had tarried among them, two days,
“believed because of His words, and said to the woman, Now we
believe, not because of thy saying, for we ourselves have heard [Him],
and know that this man is truly the Saviour of the world.”3824
And Paul likewise declares, “And so all
Israel shall be saved;”3825
but he has
also said, that the law was our pedagogue [to bring us] to Christ
Jesus.3826
Let them not therefore ascribe to the law
the unbelief of certain [among them]. For the law never hindered them
from believing in the Son of God; nay, but it even exhorted them3827
so to do, saying3828
| 3828 This passage is quoted by Augustine, in his treatise on
original sin, written to oppose Pelagius (lib. i. c. ii.), about 400
A.D. | that men
can be saved in no other way from the old wound of the serpent than by
believing in Him who, in the likeness of sinful flesh, is lifted up from
the earth upon the tree of martyrdom, and draws all things to
Himself,3829
and
vivifies the dead.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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