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| Jesus is All Good Things; Hence the Gospel is Manifold.
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11. Jesus is All Good
Things; Hence the Gospel is Manifold.
Let no one wonder if we have understood Jesus to be
announced in the Gospel under a plurality of names of good
things. If we look at the things by the names of which the Son of
God is called, we shall understand how many good things Jesus is, whom
those preach whose feet are beautiful. One good thing is life;
but Jesus is the life. Another good thing is the light of the
world, when it is true light, and the light of men; and all these
things the Son of God is said to be. And another good thing which
one may conceive to be in addition to life or light is the truth.
And a fourth in addition to time is the way which leads to the
truth. And all these things our Saviour teaches that He is,
when He says:4501
“I am the way and the truth and
the life.” Ah, is not that good, to shake off earth and
mortality, and to rise again, obtaining this boon from the Lord, since
He is the resurrection, as He says:4502
“I
am the resurrection.” But the door also is a good, through
which one enters into the highest blessedness. Now Christ
says:4503
“I am the door.” And
what need is there to speak of wisdom, which “the Lord
created4504
the first principle
of His ways, for His works,” in whom the father of her rejoiced,
delighting in her manifold intellectual beauty, seen by the eyes of the
mind alone, and provoking him to love who discerns her divine and
heavenly charm? A good indeed is the wisdom of God, proclaimed
along with the other good foresaid by those whose feet are
beautiful. And the power of God is the eighth good we enumerate,
which is Christ. Nor must we omit to mention the Word, who is God
after the Father of all. For this also is a good, less than no
other. Happy, then, are those who accept these goods and receive
them from those who announce the good tidings of them, those whose feet
are beautiful. Indeed even one of the Corinthians to whom Paul
declared that he knew nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified,
should he learn Him who for our sakes became man, and so receive Him,
he would become identified with the beginning of the good things we
have spoken of; by the man Jesus he would be made a man of God, and by
His death he would die to sin. For “Christ,4505
in that He died, died unto sin
once.” But from His life, since “in that He liveth,
He liveth unto God,” every one who is conformed to His
resurrection receives that living to God. But who will deny that
righteousness, essential righteousness, is a good, and essential
sanctification, and essential redemption? And these things those
preach who preach Jesus, saying4506
that He is
made to be of God righteousness and sanctification and
redemption. Hence we shall have writings about Him without
number, showing that Jesus is a multitude of goods; for from the things
which can scarcely be numbered and which have been written we may make
some conjecture of those things which actually exist in Him in
whom4507
“it pleased God that the whole fulness
of the Godhead should dwell bodily,” and which are not contained
in writings. Why should I say, “are not contained in
writings”? For John speaks of the whole world in this
connection, and says:4508
“I
suppose that not even the world itself would contain the books which
would be written.” Now to say that the Apostles preach the
Saviour is to say that they preach these good things. For this is
He who received from the good Father that He Himself should be these
good things, so that each man receiving from Jesus the thing or things
he is capable of receiving may enjoy good things. But the
Apostles, whose feet were beautiful, and those imitators of them who
sought to preach the good tidings, could not have done so had not Jesus
Himself first preached the good tidings to them, as Isaiah
says:4509
“I myself that speak am here, as
the opportunity on the mountains, as the feet of one preaching tidings
of peace, as one preaching good things; for I will make My salvation to
be heard, saying, God shall reign over thee, O Zion!” For
what are the mountains on which the speaker declares that He Himself is
present, but those who are less than none of the highest and the
greatest of the earth? And these must be sought by the able
ministers of the New Covenant, in order that they may observe the
injunction which says:4510
Go up into a
high mountain, thou that preachest good tidings to Zion; thou that
preachest good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up thy voice with
strength!” Now it is not wonderful if to those who are to
preach good tidings Jesus Himself preaches good tidings of good things,
which are no other than Himself; for the Son of God preaches the good
tidings of Himself to those who cannot come to know Him through
others. And He who goes up into the mountains and preaches good
things to them, being Himself instructed by His good Father,4511
who “makes His sun to rise on the evil
and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust,”
He does not despise those who are poor in soul. To them He
preaches good tidings, as He Himself bears witness to us when He takes
Isaiah4512
and reads:
“The spirit of the Lord is upon me, for the Lord hath anointed me
to preach good tidings to the poor, He hath sent me to proclaim liberty
to the captives, and sight to the blind. For closing the book He
handed it to the minister and sat down. And when the eyes of all
were fastened upon Him, He said, This day is this Scripture fulfilled
in your ears.”E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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