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| Chapter V.—The author returns to his former argument, and shows that there was but one God announced by the law and prophets, whom Christ confesses as His Father, and who, through His word, one living God with Him, made Himself known to men in both covenants.
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Chapter V.—The author returns to his
former argument, and shows that there was but one God announced by the law and
prophets, whom Christ confesses as His Father, and who, through His word, one
living God with Him, made Himself known to men in both covenants.
1. prophets, whom Christ confesses as His Father" title="466" id="ix.vi.vi-p1.1"/>God,
therefore, is one and the same, who rolls up the heaven as a book, and
renews the face of the earth; who made the things of time for man, so
that coming to maturity in them, he may produce the fruit of immortality;
and who, through His kindness, also bestows [upon him] eternal things,
“that in the ages to come He may show the exceeding riches of His
grace;”3843
who was announced by the law
and the prophets, whom Christ confessed as His Father. Now He is the
Creator, and He it is who is God over all, as Esaias says, “I am
witness, saith the Lord
God, and my servant whom I have chosen, that ye may know, and believe,
and understand that I am.
Before me there was no other God, neither shall be after me. I am God,
and besides me there is no Saviour. I have proclaimed, and I have
saved.”3844
And again: “I
myself am the first God, and I am above things to come.”3845
For neither in an ambiguous, nor arrogant, nor
boastful manner, does He say these things; but since it was impossible,
without God, to come to a knowledge of God, He teaches men, through His
Word, to know God. To those, therefore, who are ignorant of these
matters, and on this account imagine that they have discovered another
Father, justly does one say, “Ye do err, not knowing the
Scriptures, nor the power of God.”3846
2. For
our Lord and Master, in the answer which He gave to the Sadducees, who
say that there is no resurrection, and who do therefore
dishonour God, and lower the credit of the law, did both
indicate a resurrection, and reveal God, saying to them, “Ye do
err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God.” “For,
touching the resurrection of the dead,” He says, “have ye not
read that which was spoken by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, the
God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?”3847
And He added, “He is not the God of
the dead, but of the living; for all live to Him.” By these
arguments He unquestionably made it clear, that He who spake to Moses out
of the bush, and declared Himself to be the God of the fathers, He is the
God of the living. For who is the God of the living unless He who is God,
and above whom there is no other God? Whom also Daniel the prophet, when Cyrus
king of the Persians said to him, “Why dost thou not worship
Bel?”3848
| 3848 In the
Septuagint and Vulgate versions, this story constitutes the fourteenth
chapter of the book of Daniel. It is not extant in Hebrew, and has
therefore been removed to the Apocrypha, in the Anglican canon [the Greek
and St. Jerome’s] of Scripture, under the title of “Bel and
the Dragon.” | did proclaim, saying, “Because I do
not worship idols made with hands, but the living God, who established
the heaven and the earth and has dominion over all flesh.” Again
did he say, “I will adore the Lord my God, because He is the living
God.” He, then, who was adored by the prophets as the living God,
He is the God of the living; and His Word is He who also spake to Moses,
who also put the Sadducees to silence, who also bestowed the gift of
resurrection, thus revealing [both] truths to those who are blind, that
is, the resurrection and God [in His true character]. For if He be not
the God of the dead, but of the living, yet was called the God of the
fathers who were sleeping, they do indubitably live to God, and have not
passed out of existence, since they are children of the resurrection. But
our Lord is Himself the resurrection, as He does Himself declare,
“I am the resurrection and the life.”3849
But the fathers are His children; for it is said by the prophet:
“Instead of thy fathers, thy children have been made to
thee.”3850
Christ Himself, therefore,
together with the Father, is the God of the living, who spake to Moses,
and who was also manifested to the fathers.
3. And teaching this very thing, He said to the Jews:
“Your father Abraham rejoiced that he should see my day; and he saw
it, and was glad.”3851
What is intended?
“Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for
righteousness.”3852
In the first place, [he
believed] that He was the maker of heaven and earth, the only God; and in
the next place, that He would make his seed as the stars of heaven. This
is what is meant by Paul, [when he says,] “as lights in the
world.”3853
Righteously, therefore,
having left his earthly kindred, he followed the Word of God, walking as
a pilgrim with the Word, that he might [afterwards] have his abode with
the Word.
4. Righteously also the apostles, being of the race of
Abraham, left the ship and their father, and followed the Word.
Righteously also do we, possessing the same faith as Abraham, and taking
up the cross as Isaac did the wood,3854
follow
Him. For in Abraham man had learned beforehand, and had been accustomed
to follow the Word of God. For Abraham, according to his faith, followed
the command of the Word of God, and with a ready mind delivered up, as a
sacrifice to God, his only-begotten and beloved son, in order that God
also might be pleased to offer up for all his seed His own beloved and
only-begotten Son, as a sacrifice for our redemption.
5. Since, therefore, Abraham was a prophet
and saw in the Spirit the day of the Lord’s coming, and the
dispensation of His suffering, through whom both he himself and all who,
following the example of his faith, trust in God, should be saved, he
rejoiced exceedingly. The Lord, therefore, was not unknown to Abraham,
whose day he desired to see;3855
nor,
again, was the Lord’s Father, for he had learned from the Word of
the Lord, and believed Him; wherefore it was accounted to him by the Lord
for righteousness. For faith towards God justifies a man; and therefore
he said, “I will stretch forth my hand to the most high God, who
made the heaven and the earth.”3856
All these
truths, however, do those holding perverse opinions endeavour to
overthrow, because of one passage, which they certainly do not understand
correctly.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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