Anf-01 ix.vi.xxxv Pg 10
Isa. ii. 3, 4; Mic. iv. 2, 3.
If therefore another law and word, going forth from Jerusalem, brought in such a [reign of] peace among the Gentiles which received it (the word), and convinced, through them, many a nation of its folly, then [only] it appears that the prophets spake of some other person. But if the law of liberty, that is, the word of God, preached by the apostles (who went forth from Jerusalem) throughout all the earth, caused such a change in the state of things, that these [nations] did form the swords and war-lances into ploughshares, and changed them into pruning-hooks for reaping the corn, [that is], into instruments used for peaceful purposes, and that they are now unaccustomed to fighting, but when smitten, offer also the other cheek,4347 4347
Anf-02 vi.ii.i Pg 6.1
1449 This sentence is entirely omitted in the Latin.
I am therefore persuaded of this, and fully convinced in my own mind, that since I began to speak among you I understand many things, because the Lord hath accompanied me in the way of righteousness. I am also on this account bound1450 1450 The Latin text is here quite different, and seems evidently corrupt. We have followed the Cod. Sin., as does Hilgenfeld.
by the strictest obligation to love you above my own soul, because great are the faith and love dwelling in you, while you hope for the life which He has promised.1451 1451 Literally, “in the hope of His life.”
Considering this, therefore, that if I should take the trouble to communicate to you some portion of what I have myself received, it will prove to me a sufficient reward that I minister to such spirits, I have hastened briefly to write unto you, in order that, along with your faith, ye might have perfect knowledge. The doctrines of the Lord, then, are three:1452 1452 The Greek is here totally unintelligible: it seems impossible either to punctuate or construe it. We may attempt to represent it as follows: “The doctrines of the Lord, then, are three: Life, Faith, and Hope, our beginning and end; and Righteousness, the beginning and the end of judgment; Love and Joy and the Testimony of gladness for works of righteousness.” We have followed the ancient Latin text, which Hilgenfeld also adopts, though Weitzäcker and others prefer the Greek.
the hope of life, the beginning and the completion of it. For the Lord hath made known to us by the prophets both the things which are past and present, giving us also the first-fruits of the knowledge1453 1453 Instead of “knowledge” (
Anf-03 iv.ix.iii Pg 14
Isa. ii. 2, 3.
—not of Esau, the former son, but of Jacob, the second; that is, of our “people,” whose “mount” is Christ, “præcised without concisors’ hands,1174 1174
Anf-03 v.iv.iv.xxi Pg 8
Isa. ii. 2, 3.
The gospel will be this “way,” of the new law and the new word in Christ, no longer in Moses. “And He shall judge among the nations,” even concerning their error. “And these shall rebuke a large nation,” that of the Jews themselves and their proselytes. “And they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears3396 3396 Sibynas, Σιβύνη· ὅπλον δόρατι παραπλήσιον. Hesychius, “Sibynam appellant Illyrii telum venabuli simile.” Paulus, ex Festo, p. 336, Müll. (Oehler.)
into pruning-hooks;” in other words, they shall change into pursuits of moderation and peace the dispositions of injurious minds, and hostile tongues, and all kinds of evil, and blasphemy. “Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,” shall not stir up discord. “Neither shall they learn war any more,”3397 3397
Anf-03 v.iv.vi.iv Pg 17
Isa. ii. 3.
and “that we might receive the adoption of sons,”5337 5337
Anf-03 iv.xi.iii Pg 14
Isa. ii. 3.
rather than from Greece. Christ made a mistake, too, in sending forth fishermen to preach, rather than the sophist. Whatever noxious vapours, accordingly, exhaled from philosophy, obscure the clear and wholesome atmosphere of truth, it will be for Christians to clear away, both by shattering to pieces the arguments which are drawn from the principles of things—I mean those of the philosophers—and by opposing to them the maxims of heavenly wisdom—that is, such as are revealed by the Lord; in order that both the pitfalls wherewith philosophy captivates the heathen may be removed, and the means employed by heresy to shake the faith of Christians may be repressed. We have already decided one point in our controversy with Hermogenes, as we said at the beginning of this treatise, when we claimed the soul to be formed by the breathing1519 1519 Flatu.
of God, and not out of matter. We relied even there on the clear direction of the inspired statement which informs us how that “the Lord God breathed on man’s face the breath of life, so that man became a living soul”1520 1520
Anf-03 v.iv.v.i Pg 17
Isa. ii. 3.
—some other law, that is, and another word. In short, says he, “He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people;”3492 3492
Anf-03 iv.ix.iii Pg 17
Isa. ii. 3, 4.
Who else, therefore, are understood but we, who, fully taught by the new law, observe these practices,—the old law being obliterated, the coming of whose abolition the action itself1177 1177 i.e., of beating swords into ploughs, etc.
demonstrates? For the wont of the old law was to avenge itself by the vengeance of the glaive, and to pluck out “eye for eye,” and to inflict retaliatory revenge for injury.1178 1178
Anf-02 vi.iv.v.vi Pg 12.3
Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge, Chapter 15
VERSE (17) - Ge 22:18; 49:10 Ps 22:26,27; 67:1-3; 72:17-19 Isa 2:2,3; 11:10
