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| Chapter VII.—Recapitulation of the foregoing argument, showing that Abraham, through the revelation of the Word, knew the Father, and the coming of the Son of God. For this cause, he rejoiced to see the day of Christ, when the promises made to him should be fulfilled. The fruit of this rejoicing has flowed to posterity, viz., to those who are partakers in the faith of Abraham, but not to the Jews who reject the Word of God.
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Chapter VII.—Recapitulation of the
foregoing argument, showing that Abraham, through the revelation of the Word,
knew the Father, and the coming of the Son of God. For this cause, he rejoiced
to see the day of Christ, when the promises made to him should be fulfilled.
The fruit of this rejoicing has flowed to posterity, viz., to those who are
partakers in the faith of Abraham, but not to the Jews who reject the Word of
God.
1. Therefore Abraham also, knowing the
Father through the Word, who made heaven and earth, confessed Him to be
God; and having learned, by an announcement [made to him], that the Son
of God would be a man among men, by whose advent his seed should be as
the stars of heaven, he desired to see that day, so that he might himself
also embrace Christ; and, seeing it through the spirit of prophecy, he
rejoiced.3867
Wherefore Simeon also, one of his
descendants, carried fully out the rejoicing of the patriarch, and said:
“Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace. For mine eyes
have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared
before the
face of all people: a light for the revelation of the Gentiles,3868
| 3868 The text has oculorum,
probably by mistake for populorum. | and the glory of
the people Israel.”3869
And the angels, in
like manner, announced tidings of great joy to the shepherds who were
keeping watch by night.3870
Moreover, Mary said,
“My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God
my salvation;”3871
—the rejoicing of
Abraham descending upon those who sprang from him,—those, namely,
who were watching, and who beheld Christ, and believed in Him; while, on
the other hand, there was a reciprocal rejoicing which passed backwards
from the children to Abraham, who did also desire to see the day of
Christ’s coming. Rightly, then, did our Lord bear witness to him,
saying, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day; and he saw it,
and was glad.”
2. For not alone upon Abraham’s account did He
say these things, but also that He might point out how all who have known
God from the beginning, and have foretold the advent of Christ, have
received the revelation from the Son Himself; who also in the last times
was made visible and passible, and spake with the human race, that He
might from the stones raise up children unto Abraham, and fulfil the
promise which God had given him, and that He might make his seed as the
stars of heaven,3872
as John the Baptist says:
“For God is able from these stones to raise up children unto
Abraham.”3873
Now, this Jesus did by
drawing us off from the religion of stones, and bringing us over from
hard and fruitless cogitations, and establishing in us a faith like to
Abraham. As Paul does also testify, saying that we are children of
Abraham because of the similarity of our faith, and the promise of
inheritance.3874
3. He is therefore one and the same God, who called
Abraham and gave him the promise. But He is the Creator, who does also
through Christ prepare lights in the world, [namely] those who believe
from among the Gentiles. And He says, “Ye are the light of the
world;”3875
that is, as the stars of
heaven. Him, therefore, I have rightly shown to be known by no man,
unless by the Son, and to whomsoever the Son shall reveal Him. But the
Son reveals the Father to all to whom He wills that He should be known;
and neither without the goodwill of the Father nor without the agency of
the Son, can any man know God. Wherefore did the Lord say to His
disciples, “I am the way, the truth, and the life and no man cometh
unto the Father but by Me. If ye had known Me, ye would have known My
Father also: and from henceforth ye have both known Him, and have seen
Him.”3876
From these words it is
evident, that He is known by the Son, that is, by the Word.
4. Therefore have the Jews departed from God, in not
receiving His Word, but imagining that they could know the Father [apart]
by Himself, without the Word, that is, without the Son; they being
ignorant of that God who spake in human shape to Abraham,3877
and again to Moses, saying, “I have
surely seen the affliction of My people in Egypt, and I have come down to
deliver them.”3878
For the Son, who is the
Word of God, arranged these things beforehand from the beginning, the
Father being in no want of angels, in order that He might call the
creation into being, and form man, for whom also the creation was made;
nor, again, standing in need of any instrumentality for the framing of
created things, or for the ordering of those things which had reference
to man; while, [at the same time,] He has a vast and unspeakable number
of servants. For His offspring and His similitude3879
| 3879 Massuet here observes, that
the fathers called the Holy Spirit the similitude of the Son. |
do minister to Him in every respect; that is, the Son and the Holy
Spirit, the Word and Wisdom; whom all the angels serve, and to whom they
are subject. Vain, therefore, are those who, because of that declaration,
“No man knoweth the Father, but the Son,”3880
do introduce another unknown
Father.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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