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| Summary View of the Pre-existence and Divinity of Our Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ.
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Chapter II.—Summary View of the Pre-existence and Divinity of Our
Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ.
1. Since in Christ there is a twofold nature, and the
one—in so far as he is thought of as God—resembles the head
of the body, while the other may be compared with the feet,—in so
far as he, for the sake of our salvation, put on human nature with the
same passions as our own,—the following work will be complete
only if we begin with the chief and lordliest events of all his
history. In this way will the antiquity and divinity of Christianity be
shown to those who suppose it of recent and foreign origin,21
| 21 νέαν αὐτὴν
καὶ
ἐκτετοπισμένην | and imagine that it appeared only
yesterday.22
| 22 This
was one of the principal objections raised against Christianity.
Antiquity was considered a prime requisite in a religion which claimed
to be true, and no reproach was greater than the reproach of novelty.
Hence the apologists laid great stress upon the antiquity of
Christianity, and this was one reason why they appropriated the Old
Testament as a Christian book. Compare, for instance, the apologies of
Justin Martyr, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Tertullian and Minucius
Felix, and the works of Clement of Alexandria. See Engelhardt’s
article on Eusebius, in the Zeitschrift für die hist.
Theologie, 1852, p. 652 sq.; Schaff’s Church History,
Vol. II. p. 110; and Tzschirner’s Geschichte der
Apologetik, p. 99 sq. |
2. No language is sufficient to
express the origin and the worth, the being and the nature of Christ.
Wherefore also the divine Spirit says in the prophecies, “Who
shall declare his generation?”23
For none
knoweth the Father except the Son, neither can any one know the Son
adequately except the Father alone who hath begotten him.24
3. For who beside the Father
could clearly understand the Light which was before the world, the
intellectual and essential Wisdom which existed before the ages, the
living Word which was in the beginning with the Father and which was
God, the first and only begotten of God which was before every creature
and creation visible and invisible, the commander-in-chief of the
rational and immortal host of heaven, the messenger of the great
counsel, the executor of the Father’s unspoken will, the creator,
with the Father, of all things, the second cause of the universe after
the Father, the true and only-begotten Son of God, the Lord and God and
King of all created things, the one who has received dominion and
power, with divinity itself, and with might and honor from the Father;
as it is said in regard to him in the mystical passages of Scripture
which speak of his divinity: “In the beginning was the Word, and
the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”25
“All things were made by him; and without him was not anything
made.”26
4. This, too, the great Moses
teaches, when, as the most ancient of all the prophets, he describes
under the influence of the divine Spirit the creation and arrangement
of the universe. He declares that the maker of the world and the
creator of all things yielded to Christ himself, and to none other than
his own clearly divine and first-born Word, the making of inferior
things, and communed with him respecting the creation of man.
“For,” says he, “God said, Let us make man in our
image and in our likeness.”27
5. And another of the prophets
confirms this, speaking of God in his hymns as follows: “He spake
and they were made; he commanded and they were created.”28
| 28 Ps. xxxiii. 9. There is really
nothing in this passage to imply that the Psalmist thinks, as Eusebius
supposes, of the Son as the Father’s agent in creation, who is
here addressed by the Father. As Stroth remarks, “According to
Eusebius, ‘He spake’ is equivalent to ‘He said to the
Son, Create’; and ‘They were created’ means,
according to him, not ‘They arose immediately upon this command
of God,’ but ‘The Son was immediately obedient to the
command of the Father and produced them.’ For Eusebius connects
this verse with the sixth, ‘By the word of the Lord were
the heavens made,’ where he understands Christ to be referred to.
Perhaps this verse has been omitted in the Greek through an oversight,
for it is found in Rufinus.” | He here introduces the Father and Maker as
Ruler of all, commanding with a kingly nod, and second to him the
divine Word, none other than the one who is proclaimed by us, as
carrying out the Father’s commands.
6. All that are said to have
excelled in righteousness and piety since the creation of man, the
great servant Moses and before him in the first place Abraham and his
children, and as many righteous men and prophets as afterward appeared,
have contemplated him with the pure eyes of the mind, and have
recognized him and offered to him the worship which is due him as Son
of God.
7. But he, by no means
neglectful of the reverence due to the Father, was appointed to teach
the knowledge of the Father to them all. For instance, the Lord God, it
is said, appeared as a common man to Abraham while he was sitting at
the oak of Mambre.29
And he, immediately
falling down, although he saw a man with his eyes, nevertheless
worshiped him as God, and sacrificed to him as Lord, and confessed that
he was not ignorant of his identity when he uttered the words,
“Lord, the judge of all the earth, wilt thou not execute
righteous judgment?”30
8. For if it is unreasonable to
suppose that the unbegotten and immutable essence of the almighty God
was changed into the form of man or that it deceived the eyes of the
beholders with the appearance of some created thing, and if it is
unreasonable to suppose, on the other hand, that the Scripture should
falsely invent such things, when the God and Lord who judgeth all the
earth and executeth judgment is seen in the form of a man, who else can
be called, if it be not lawful to call him the first cause of all
things, than his only pre-existent Word?31
| 31 Eusebius accepts the common view of the early Church, that the
theophanies of the Old Testament were Christophanies; that is,
appearances of the second person of the Trinity. Augustine seems to
have been the first of the Fathers to take a different view,
maintaining that such Christophanies were not consistent with the
identity of essence between Father and Son, and that the Scriptures
themselves teach that it was not the Logos, but an angel, that appeared
to the Old Testament worthies on various occasions (cf. De Trin.
III. 11). Augustine’s opinion was widely adopted, but in modern
times the earlier view, which Eusebius represents, has been the
prevailing one (see Hodge, Systematic Theology, I. p. 490, and
Lange’s article Theophany in Herzog). |
Concerning whom it is said in the Psalms, “He sent his Word and
healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.”32
9. Moses most clearly proclaims
him second Lord after the Father, when he says, “The Lord rained
upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord.”33
The divine Scripture also calls him God,
when he appeared again to Jacob in the form of a man, and said to
Jacob, “Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel shall
be thy name, because thou hast prevailed with God.”34
Wherefore also Jacob called the name of
that place “Vision of God,”35
saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and my life is
preserved.”36
10. Nor is it admissible to
suppose that the theophanies recorded were appearances of subordinate
angels and ministers of God, for whenever any of these appeared to men,
the Scripture does not conceal the fact, but calls them by name not God
nor Lord, but angels, as it is easy to prove by numberless
testimonies.
11. Joshua, also, the successor
of Moses, calls him, as leader of the heavenly angels and archangels
and of the supramundane powers, and as lieutenant of the Father,37
| 37 The
mss. differ greatly at this point. A number of
them followed by Valesius, Closs, and Crusè, read, ὡσανεὶ τοῦ
πατρὸς
ὑπ€ρχοντα
δύναμιν καὶ
σοφίαν.
Schwegler, Laemmer, Burton, and Heinichen adopt another reading which
has some ms. support, and which we have
followed in our translation: ὡσανεὶ τοῦ
πατρὸς
ὕπαρχον.
See Heinichen’s edition, Vol. 1. p. 10, note 41. | entrusted with the second rank of
sovereignty and rule over all, “captain of the host of the
Lord,” although he saw him not otherwise than again in the form
and appearance of a man. For it is written:
12. “And it came to pass
when Joshua was at Jericho38
that he looked and
saw a man standing over against him with his sword drawn in his hand,
and Joshua went unto him and said, Art thou for us or for our
adversaries? And he said unto him, As captain of the host of the Lord
am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and said unto
him, Lord, what dost thou command thy servant? and the captain of the
Lord said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy feet, for the place
whereon thou standest is holy.”39
13. You will perceive also from
the same words that this was no other than he who talked with Moses.40
| 40 Eusebius
agrees with other earlier Fathers (e.g. Justin Martyr, Origen, and
Cyprian) in identifying the one that appeared to Joshua with him that
had appeared to Moses, on the ground that the same words were used in
both cases (cf. especially Justin’s Dial. c. Trypho, chap.
62). Many later Fathers (e.g. Theodoret) regard the person that
appeared to Joshua as the archangel Michael, who is described by
Daniel (x. 21 and xii.
1) as
fighting for the people of God. See Keil’s Commentary on
Joshua, chap. 5, vv. 13–15. | For the Scripture says in the same words and
with reference to the same one, “When the Lord saw that he drew
near to see, the Lord called to him out of the bush and said, Moses,
Moses. And he said, What is it? And he said, Draw not nigh hither;
loose thy shoe from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest
is holy ground. And he said unto him, I am the God of thy fathers, the
God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”41
14. And that there is a certain
substance which lived and subsisted42
| 42 οὐσία τις
προκόσμιος
ζῶσα καὶ
ὑφεστῶσα. | before the
world, and which ministered unto the Father and God of the universe for
the formation of all created things, and which is called the Word of
God and Wisdom, we may learn, to quote other proofs in addition to
those already cited, from the mouth of Wisdom herself, who reveals most
clearly through Solomon the following mysteries concerning herself:
“I, Wisdom, have dwelt with prudence and knowledge,
and I have invoked understanding. Through me kings reign, and princes
ordain righteousness. Through me the great are magnified, and through
me sovereigns rule the earth.”43
| 43 Prov. viii. 12, 15,
16. |
15. To which she adds:
“The Lord created me in the beginning of his ways, for his works;
before the world he established me, in the beginning, before he made
the earth, before he made the depths, before the mountains were
settled, before all hills he begat me. When he prepared the heavens I
was present with him, and when he established the fountains of the
region under heaven44
| 44 τῆς ὑπ᾽
οὐρανόν,
with all the mss. and the LXX., followed by
Schwegler, Burton, Heinichen, and others. Some editors, in agreement
with the version of Rufinus (fontes sub cœlo), read
τὰς ὑπ᾽
οὐρανόν.
Closs, Stigloher, and Crusè translate in the same way. | I was with him,
disposing. I was the one in whom he delighted; daily I rejoiced before
him at all times when he was rejoicing at having completed the
world.”45
16. That the divine Word,
therefore, pre-existed and appeared to some, if not to all, has thus
been briefly shown by us.
17. But why the Gospel was not
preached in ancient times to all men and to all nations, as it is now,
will appear from the following considerations.46
| 46 Eusebius pursues much the same line of argument in his Dem.
Evang., Prœm. Bk. VIII.; and compare also Gregory of
Nyssa’s Third Oration on the birth of the Lord (at the
beginning). The objection which Eusebius undertakes to answer here was
an old one, and had been considered by Justin Martyr, by Origen in his
work against Celsus, and by others (see Tzschirner’s
Geschichte der Apologetik, p. 25 ff.). | The
life of the ancients was not of such a kind as to permit them to
receive the all-wise and all-virtuous teaching of Christ.
18. For immediately in the
beginning, after his original life of blessedness, the first man
despised the command of God, and fell into this mortal and perishable
state, and exchanged his former divinely inspired luxury for this
curse-laden earth. His descendants having filled our earth, showed
themselves much worse, with the exception of one here and there, and
entered upon a certain brutal and insupportable mode of
life.
19. They thought neither of city
nor state, neither of arts nor sciences. They were ignorant even of the
name of laws and of justice, of virtue and of philosophy. As nomads,
they passed their lives in deserts, like wild and fierce beasts,
destroying, by an excess of voluntary wickedness, the natural reason of
man, and the seeds of thought and of culture implanted in the human
soul. They gave themselves wholly over to all kinds of profanity, now
seducing one another, now slaying one another, now eating human flesh,
and now daring to wage war with the Gods and to undertake those battles
of the giants celebrated by all; now planning to fortify earth against
heaven, and in the madness of ungoverned pride to prepare an attack
upon the very God of all.47
| 47 The
reference here seems to be to the building of the tower of Babel
(Gen.
xi. 1–9), although Valesius thinks otherwise. The fact that
Eusebius refers to the battles of the giants, which were celebrated in
heathen song, does not militate against a reference in this passage to
the narrative recounted in Genesis. He illustrates the presumption of
the human race by instances familiar to his readers whether drawn from
Christian or from Pagan sources. Compare the Præp. Evang.
ix. 14. |
20. On account of these things,
when they conducted themselves thus, the all-seeing God sent down upon
them floods and conflagrations as upon a wild forest spread over the
whole earth. He cut them down with continuous famines and plagues, with
wars, and with thunderbolts from heaven, as if to check some terrible
and obstinate disease of souls with more severe punishments.
21. Then, when the excess of
wickedness had overwhelmed nearly all the race, like a deep fit of
drunkenness, beclouding and darkening the minds of men, the first-born
and first-created wisdom of God, the pre-existent Word himself, induced
by his exceeding love for man, appeared to his servants, now in the
form of angels, and again to one and another of those ancients who
enjoyed the favor of God, in his own person as the saving power of God,
not otherwise, however, than in the shape of man, because it was
impossible to appear in any other way.
22. And as by them the seeds of
piety were sown among a multitude of men and the whole nation,
descended from the Hebrews, devoted themselves persistently to the
worship of God, he imparted to them through the prophet Moses, as to
multitudes still corrupted by their ancient practices, images and
symbols of a certain mystic Sabbath and of circumcision, and elements
of other spiritual principles, but he did not grant them a complete
knowledge of the mysteries themselves.
23. But when their law became
celebrated, and, like a sweet odor, was diffused among all men, as a
result of their influence the dispositions of the majority of the
heathen were softened by the lawgivers and philosophers who arose on
every side, and their wild and savage brutality was changed into
mildness, so that they enjoyed deep peace, friendship, and social
intercourse.48
| 48 It
was the opinion of Eusebius, in common with most of the Fathers, that
the Greek philosophers, lawgivers, and poets had obtained their wisdom
from the ancient Hebrews, and this point was pressed very strongly by
many of the apologists in their effort to prove the antiquity of
Christianity. The assertion was made especially in the case of Plato
and Pythagoras, who were said to have become acquainted with the books
of the Hebrews upon their journey to Egypt. Compare among other
passages Justin’s Apol. I. 59 ff.; Clement of
Alexandria’s Cohort. ad Gentes, chap. 6; and
Tertullian’s Apol. chap. 47. Compare also Eusebius’
Præp. Evang., Bks. IX. and X. | Then, finally, at the time of the
origin of the Roman Empire, there appeared again to all men and nations
throughout the world, who had been, as it were, previously assisted,
and were now fitted to receive the knowledge of the Father, that same
teacher of
virtue, the minister of the Father in all good things, the divine and
heavenly Word of God, in a human body not at all differing in substance
from our own. He did and suffered the things which had been prophesied.
For it had been foretold that one who was at the same time man and God
should come and dwell in the world, should perform wonderful works, and
should show himself a teacher to all nations of the piety of the
Father. The marvelous nature of his birth, and his new teaching, and
his wonderful works had also been foretold; so likewise the manner of
his death, his resurrection from the dead, and, finally, his divine
ascension into heaven.
24. For instance, Daniel the
prophet, under the influence of the divine Spirit, seeing his kingdom
at the end of time,49
| 49 The
Greek has only ἐπὶ
τέλει, which can
refer, however, only to the end of time or to the end of the
world. | was inspired thus to
describe the divine vision in language fitted to human comprehension:
“For I beheld,” he says, “until thrones were placed,
and the Ancient of Days did sit, whose garment was white as snow and
the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was a flame of fire and
his wheels burning fire. A river of fire flowed before him. Thousand
thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand
stood before him. He appointed judgment, and the books were
opened.”50
25. And again, “I
saw,” says he, “and behold, one like the Son of man came
with the clouds of heaven, and he hastened unto the Ancient of Days and
was brought into his presence, and there was given him the dominion and
the glory and the kingdom; and all peoples, tribes, and tongues serve
him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom shall not be destroyed.”51
26. It is clear that these words
can refer to no one else than to our Saviour, the God Word who was in
the beginning with God, and who was called the Son of man because of
his final appearance in the flesh.
27. But since we have collected
in separate books52
| 52 Eusebius
refers here probably to his Eclogæ propheticæ, or
Prophetical Extracts, possibly to his Dem. Evang.; upon
these works see the Prolegomena, p. 34 and. 37, above. | the selections from
the prophets which relate to our Saviour Jesus Christ, and have
arranged in a more logical form those things which have been revealed
concerning him, what has been said will suffice for the
present.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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