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PARALLEL HISTORY BIBLE - Ecclesiastes 2:24


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LXX- Greek Septuagint - Ecclesiastes 2:24

ουκ 3756 εστιν 2076 5748 αγαθον 18 εν 1722 1520 ανθρωπω 444 ο 3588 3739 φαγεται 5315 5695 και 2532 ο 3588 3739 πιεται 4095 5695 και 2532 ο 3588 3739 δειξει 1166 5692 τη 3588 ψυχη 5590 αυτου 847 αγαθον 18 εν 1722 1520 μοχθω 3449 αυτου 847 και 2532 γε 1065 τουτο 5124 ειδον 1492 5627 εγω 1473 οτι 3754 απο 575 χειρος 5495 του 3588 θεου 2316 εστιν 2076 5748

Douay Rheims Bible

Is it not better to eat and drink, and to shew his soul good things of his labours? and this is from the hand of God.

King James Bible - Ecclesiastes 2:24

There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of God.

World English Bible

There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and make his soul enjoy good in his labor. This also I saw, that it is from the hand of God.

Early Church Father Links

Anf-06 iv.iv.i.ii Pg 49, Npnf-102 iv.XVII.20 Pg 14

World Wide Bible Resources


Ecclesiastes 2:24

Early Christian Commentary - (A.D. 100 - A.D. 325)

Anf-02 ii.iv.vi Pg 21.1


Anf-02 ii.iv.vi Pg 21.1


Anf-03 v.iv.vi.xi Pg 47
Ps. iv. 7 (Sept.).

Now the countenance (or person5724

5724 Persona: the πρόσωπον of the Septuagint.

) of the Lord here is Christ. Wherefore the apostle said above: “Christ, who is the image of God.”5725

5725


Anf-01 viii.iv.cxxx Pg 2
Deut. xxxii. 43.

and I added what follows of the passage: “ ‘Rejoice, O ye nations, with His people, and let all the angels of God be strengthened in Him: for the blood of His sons He avenges, and will avenge, and will recompense His enemies with vengeance, and will recompense those that hate Him; and the Lord will purify the land of His people.’ And by these words He declares that we, the nations, rejoice with His people, —to wit, Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the prophets, and, in short, all of that people who are well-pleasing to God, according to what has been already agreed on between us. But we will not receive it of all your nation; since we know from Isaiah2459

2459 Isa. lxvi. 24.

that the members of those who have transgressed shall be consumed by the worm and unquenchable fire, remaining immortal; so that they become a spectacle to all flesh. But in addition to these, I wish, sirs,” said I, “to add some other passages from the very words of Moses, from which you may understand that God has from of old dispersed all men according to their kindreds and tongues; and out of all kindreds has taken to Himself your kindred, a useless, disobedient, and faithless generation; and has shown that those who were selected out of every nation have obeyed His will through Christ,—whom He calls also Jacob, and names Israel, —and these, then, as I mentioned fully previously, must be Jacob and Israel. For when He says, ‘Rejoice, O ye nations, with His people,’ He allots the same inheritance to them, and does not call them by the same name;2460

2460 The reading is, “and calls them by the same name.” But the whole argument shows that the Jews and Gentiles are distinguished by name. [But that Gentiles are also called (Israel) by the same name is the point here.]

but when He says that they as Gentiles rejoice with His people, He calls them Gentiles to reproach you. For even as you provoked Him to anger by your idolatry, so also He has deemed those who were idolaters worthy of knowing His will, and of inheriting His inheritance.


Anf-01 viii.ii.xli Pg 2
Ps. xcvi. 1, etc. This last clause, which is not extant in our copies, either of the LXX, or of the Hebrew, Justin charged the Jews with erasing. See Dial. Tryph., c. 73. [Concerning the eighteen Jewish alterations, see Pearson on the Creed, art. iv. p. 335. Ed. London, 1824.]


Anf-01 ix.vi.x Pg 4
Ps. xcvi. 1.

and Esaias, “Sing unto the Lord a new hymn. His beginning (initium), His name is glorified from the height of the earth: they declare His powers in the isles.”3902

3902


Anf-01 viii.iv.lxxiii Pg 0


Anf-01 viii.iv.lxxiv Pg 0


Anf-02 vi.ii.i Pg 7.1
Repentance, men understand, so far as nature is able, to be an emotion of the mind arising from disgust8421

8421 “Offensa sententiæ pejoris;” or possibly, “the miscarriage of some,” etc.

at some previously cherished worse sentiment: that kind of men I mean which even we ourselves were in days gone by—blind, without the Lord’s light.  From the reason of repentance, however, they are just as far as they are from the Author of reason Himself. Reason, in fact, is a thing of God, inasmuch as there is nothing which God the Maker of all has not provided, disposed, ordained by reason—nothing which He has not willed should be handled and understood by reason. All, therefore, who are ignorant of God, must necessarily be ignorant also of a thing which is His, because no treasure-house8422

8422 Thesaurus.

at all is accessible to strangers. And thus, voyaging all the universal course of life without the rudder of reason, they know not how to shun the hurricane which is impending over the world.8423

8423 Sæculo. [Erasmus doubted the genuineness of this treatise, partly because of the comparative purity of its style. See Kaye, p. 42.]

Moreover, how irrationally they behave in the practice of repentance, it will be enough briefly to show just by this one fact, that they exercise it even in the case of their good deeds. They repent of good faith, of love, of simple-heartedness, of patience, of mercy, just in proportion as any deed prompted by these feelings has fallen on thankless soil.  They execrate their own selves for having done good; and that species chiefly of repentance which is applied to the best works they fix in their heart, making it their care to remember never again to do a good turn. On repentance for evil deeds, on the contrary, they lay lighter stress. In short, they make this same (virtue) a means of sinning more readily than a means of right-doing.


Npnf-201 iii.xvi.iv Pg 33


Npnf-201 iii.xvi.i Pg 9


Anf-01 viii.iv.lxxiii Pg 0


Anf-01 viii.iv.lxxiv Pg 0


Anf-03 v.iv.v.xv Pg 52
Jer. xvii. 5.

Whereas in Psalm cxvii. it is said: “It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man; it is better to trust in the Lord than to place hope in princes.”4032

4032


Anf-03 v.iv.v.xv Pg 52
Jer. xvii. 5.

Whereas in Psalm cxvii. it is said: “It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man; it is better to trust in the Lord than to place hope in princes.”4032

4032


Anf-01 ix.vi.vi Pg 4
Isa. xii. 4.

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

3846


Anf-01 ix.vi.v Pg 3
[Jer. vii. 4. One of the most powerful arguments in all Scripture is contained in the first twelve verses of this chapter, and it rebukes an inveterate superstition of the human heart. Comp. Rev. ii. 5, and the message to Rome, Rom. xi. 21.]

This is just as if any one should say, that if straw were a creation of God, it would never part company with the wheat; and that the vine twigs, if made by God, never would be lopped away and deprived of the clusters. But as these [vine twigs] have not been originally made for their own sake, but for that of the fruit growing upon them, which being come to maturity and taken away, they are left behind, and those which do not conduce to fructification are lopped off altogether; so also [was it with] Jerusalem, which had in herself borne the yoke of bondage (under which man was reduced, who in former times was not subject to God when death was reigning, and being subdued, became a fit subject for liberty), when the fruit of liberty had come, and reached maturity, and been reaped and stored in the barn, and when those which had the power to produce fruit had been carried away from her [i.e., from Jerusalem], and scattered throughout all the world. Even as Esaias saith, “The children of Jacob shall strike root, and Israel shall flourish, and the whole world shall be filled with his fruit.”3835

3835


Anf-01 vi.ii.xvi Pg 7
Comp. Isa. v., Jer. xxv.; but the words do not occur in Scripture.

And it so happened as the Lord had spoken. Let us inquire, then, if there still is a temple of God. There is—where He himself declared He would make and finish it. For it is written, “And it shall come to pass, when the week is completed, the temple of God shall be built in glory in the name of the Lord.”1678

1678


Anf-01 viii.iv.cxx Pg 4
Gen. xlix. 10.

And it is plain that this was spoken not of Judah, but of Christ. For all we out of all nations do expect not Judah, but Jesus, who led your fathers out of Egypt. For the prophecy referred even to the advent of Christ: ‘Till He come for whom this is laid up, and He shall be the expectation of nations.’ Jesus came, therefore, as we have shown at length, and is expected again to appear above the clouds; whose name you profane, and labour hard to get it profaned over all the earth. It were possible for me, sirs,” I continued, “to contend against you about the reading which you so interpret, saying it is written, ‘Till the things laid up for Him come;’ though the Seventy have not so explained it, but thus, ‘Till He comes for whom this is laid up.’ But since what follows indicates that the reference is to Christ (for it is, ‘and He shall be the expectation of nations’), I do not proceed to have a mere verbal controversy with you, as I have not attempted to establish proof about Christ from the passages of Scripture which are not admitted by you2409

2409 [Note this important point. He forbears to cite the New Testament.]

which I quoted from the words of Jeremiah the prophet, and Esdras, and David; but from those which are even now admitted by you, which had your teachers comprehended, be well assured they would have deleted them, as they did those about the death of Isaiah, whom you sawed asunder with a wooden saw. And this was a mysterious type of Christ being about to cut your nation in two, and to raise those worthy of the honour to the everlasting kingdom along with the holy patriarchs and prophets; but He has said that He will send others to the condemnation of the unquenchable fire along with similar disobedient and impenitent men from all the nations. ‘For they shall come,’ He said, ‘from the west and from the east, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; but the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness.’2410

2410


Anf-01 viii.ii.xxxii Pg 2
Gen. xlix. 10.

It is yours to make accurate inquiry, and ascertain up to whose time the Jews had a lawgiver and king of their own. Up to the time of Jesus Christ, who taught us, and interpreted the prophecies which were not yet understood, [they had a lawgiver] as was foretold by the holy and divine Spirit of prophecy through Moses, “that a ruler would not fail the Jews until He should come for whom the kingdom was reserved” (for Judah was the forefather of the Jews, from whom also they have their name of Jews); and after He (i.e., Christ) appeared, you began to rule the Jews, and gained possession of all their territory. And the prophecy, “He shall be the expectation of the nations,” signified that there would be some of all nations who should look for Him to come again. And this indeed you can see for yourselves, and be convinced of by fact. For of all races of men there are some who look for Him who was crucified in Judæa, and after whose crucifixion the land was straightway surrendered to you as spoil of war. And the prophecy, “binding His foal to the vine, and washing His robe in the blood of the grape,” was a significant symbol of the things that were to happen to Christ, and of what He was to do. For the foal of an ass stood bound to a vine at the entrance of a village, and He ordered His acquaintances to bring it to Him then; and when it was brought, He mounted and sat upon it, and entered Jerusalem, where was the vast temple of the Jews which was afterwards destroyed by you. And after this He was crucified, that the rest of the prophecy might be fulfilled. For this “washing His robe in the blood of the grape” was predictive of the passion He was to endure, cleansing by His blood those who believe on Him. For what is called by the Divine Spirit through the prophet “His robe,” are those men who believe in Him in whom abideth the seed1828

1828 Grabe would here read, not σπέρμα, but πνεῦμα, the spirit; but the Benedictine, Otto, and Trollope all think that no change should be made.

of God, the Word. And what is spoken of as “the blood of the grape,” signifies that He who should appear would have blood, though not of the seed of man, but of the power of God. And the first power after God the Father and Lord of all is the Word, who is also the Son; and of Him we will, in what follows, relate how He took flesh and became man. For as man did not make the blood of the vine, but God, so it was hereby intimated that the blood should not be of human seed, but of divine power, as we have said above. And Isaiah, another prophet, foretelling the same things in other words, spoke thus: “A star shall rise out of Jacob, and a flower shall spring from the root of Jesse; and His arm shall the nations trust.1829

1829


Anf-01 v.vi.ix Pg 12
Gen. xlix. 10.

have been fulfilled in the Gospel, [our Lord saying,] “Go ye and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”964

964


Anf-01 viii.ii.liv Pg 2
Gen. xlix. 10.

The devils, accordingly, when they heard these prophetic words, said that Bacchus was the son of Jupiter, and gave out that he was the discoverer of the vine, and they number wine1883

1883 In the ms. the reading is οἶνον (wine); but as Justin’s argument seems to require ὄνον (an ass), Sylburg inserted this latter word in his edition; and this reading is approved by Grabe and Thirlby, and adopted by Otto and Trollope. It may be added, that ἀναγράφουσι is much more suitable to ὄνον than to οἶνον.

[or, the ass] among his mysteries; and they taught that, having been torn in pieces, he ascended into heaven. And because in the prophecy of Moses it had not been expressly intimated whether He who was to come was the Son of God, and whether He would, riding on the foal, remain on earth or ascend into heaven, and because the name of “foal” could mean either the foal of an ass or the foal of a horse, they, not knowing whether He who was foretold would bring the foal of an ass or of a horse as the sign of His coming, nor whether He was the Son of God, as we said above, or of man, gave out that Bellerophon, a man born of man, himself ascended to heaven on his horse Pegasus. And when they heard it said by the other prophet Isaiah, that He should be born of a virgin, and by His own means ascend into heaven, they pretended that Perseus was spoken of. And when they knew what was said, as has been cited above, in the prophecies written aforetime, “Strong as a giant to run his course,”1884

1884


Anf-01 viii.iv.lii Pg 2
[Bible:Gen.49.11 Bible:Gen.49.18 Bible:Gen.49.24">Gen. xlix. 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 18, 24. These texts are frequently referred to by Justin.]

that there would be two advents of Christ, and that in the first He would suffer, and that after He came there would be neither prophet nor king in your nation (I proceeded), and that the nations who believed in the suffering Christ would look for His future appearance. And for this reason the Holy Spirit had uttered these truths in a parable, and obscurely: for,” I added, “it is said, ‘Judah, thy brethren have praised thee: thy hands [shall be] on the neck of thine enemies; the sons of thy father shall worship thee. Judah is a lion’s whelp; from the germ, my son, thou art sprung up. Reclining, he lay down like a lion, and like [a lion’s] whelp: who shall raise him up? A ruler shall not depart from Judah, or a leader from his thighs, until that which is laid up in store for him shall come; and he shall be the desire of nations, binding his foal to the vine, and the foal of his ass to the tendril of the vine. He shall wash his garments in wine, and his vesture in the blood of the grape. His eyes shall be bright with2113

2113 Or, “in comparison of.”

wine, and his teeth white like milk.’2114

2114


Anf-01 ix.vi.xi Pg 11
Gen. xlix. 10–12, LXX.

For, let those who have the reputation of investigating everything, inquire at what time a prince and leader failed out of Judah, and who is the hope of the nations, who also is the vine, what was the ass’s colt [referred to as] His, what the clothing, and what the eyes, what the teeth, and what the wine, and thus let them investigate every one of the points mentioned; and they shall find that there was none other announced than our Lord, Christ Jesus. Wherefore Moses, when chiding the ingratitude of the people, said, “Ye infatuated people, and unwise, do ye thus requite the Lord?”3925

3925


Anf-01 ix.vii.xxxvi Pg 6
Isa. lxv. 21.

For all these and other words were unquestionably spoken in reference to the resurrection of the just, which takes place after the coming of Antichrist, and the destruction of all nations under his rule; in [the times of] which [resurrection] the righteous shall reign in the earth, waxing stronger by the sight of the Lord: and through Him they shall become accustomed to partake in the glory of God the Father, and shall enjoy in the kingdom intercourse and communion with the holy angels, and union with spiritual beings; and [with respect to] those whom the Lord shall find in the flesh, awaiting Him from heaven, and who have suffered tribulation, as well as escaped the hands of the Wicked one. For it is in reference to them that the prophet says: “And those that are left shall multiply upon the earth,” And Jeremiah4770

4770


Anf-01 ix.vii.xvi Pg 6
Isa. lxv. 22.

), He is shown to be the only God who accomplishes these things, and as Himself the good Father, benevolently conferring life upon those who have not life from themselves.


Anf-02 ii.ii.i Pg 36.1


Anf-03 iv.ix.xiv Pg 19
See Zech. iii. “The mystery of His name” refers to the meaning of “Jeshua,” for which see c. ix. above.

First, He was clad in “sordid attire,” that is, in the indignity of passible and mortal flesh, when the devil, withal, was opposing himself to Him—the instigator, to wit, of Judas the traitor1462

1462


Anf-03 v.iv.iv.vii Pg 22
See Zech. iii.

If I may offer, moreover, an interpretation of the two goats which were presented on “the great day of atonement,”3200

3200


Anf-02 vi.iii.iii.xii Pg 23.1


Anf-02 vi.iii.i.ix Pg 64.1


Anf-02 vi.ii.xi Pg 19.1


Anf-02 vi.iii.ii.viii Pg 6.1


Anf-01 ii.ii.lii Pg 4
Ps. l. 14, 15.

For “the sacrifice of God is a broken spirit.”235

235


Anf-01 ix.vi.xviii Pg 8
Ps. l. 14, 15.

rejecting, indeed, those things by which sinners imagined they could propitiate God, and showing that He does Himself stand in need of nothing; but He exhorts and advises them to those things by which man is justified and draws nigh to God. This same declaration does Esaias make: “To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto Me? saith the Lord. I am full.”4014

4014


Anf-02 vi.iv.iv.xvii Pg 7.1


Anf-03 iv.ix.viii Pg 14
Or, “speech.” The reference seems to be to ver. 23, but there is no such statement in Daniel.

I make thee these answers.” Whence we are bound to compute from the first year of Darius, when Daniel saw this vision.


Anf-03 v.iv.v.xxxiv Pg 28
Mal. ii. 15.

Thus you have Christ following spontaneously the tracks of the Creator everywhere, both in permitting divorce and in forbidding it. You find Him also protecting marriage, in whatever direction you try to escape. He prohibits divorce when He will have the marriage inviolable; He permits divorce when the marriage is spotted with unfaithfulness. You should blush when you refuse to unite those whom even your Christ has united; and repeat the blush when you disunite them without the good reason why your Christ would have them separated. I have4829

4829 Debeo.

now to show whence the Lord derived this decision4830

4830 Sententiam.

of His, and to what end He directed it.  It will thus become more fully evident that His object was not the abolition of the Mosaic ordinance4831

4831 Literally, “Moses.”

by any suddenly devised proposal of divorce; because it was not suddenly proposed, but had its root in the previously mentioned John. For John reproved Herod, because he had illegally married the wife of his deceased brother, who had a daughter by her (a union which the law permitted only on the one occasion of the brother dying childless,4832

4832 Illiberis. [N.B.  He supposes Philip to have been dead.]

when it even prescribed such a marriage, in order that by his own brother, and from his own wife,4833

4833 Costa: literally, “rib” or “side.”

seed might be reckoned to the deceased husband),4834

4834


Anf-01 ix.ii.xii Pg 10
[1 Kings xviii. 27. “It came to pass that Elijah mocked them,” etc. This reductio ad absurdum of our author is singularly applicable to certain forms of what is called “Modern Thought.”]

For if it is fitting that that language which is used respecting the universe be transformed to the primary Tetrad, and if any one may assign names at his pleasure, who shall prevent us from adopting these names, as being much more credible [than the others], as well as in general use, and understood by all?


Anf-03 v.iv.v.xxxiv Pg 28
Mal. ii. 15.

Thus you have Christ following spontaneously the tracks of the Creator everywhere, both in permitting divorce and in forbidding it. You find Him also protecting marriage, in whatever direction you try to escape. He prohibits divorce when He will have the marriage inviolable; He permits divorce when the marriage is spotted with unfaithfulness. You should blush when you refuse to unite those whom even your Christ has united; and repeat the blush when you disunite them without the good reason why your Christ would have them separated. I have4829

4829 Debeo.

now to show whence the Lord derived this decision4830

4830 Sententiam.

of His, and to what end He directed it.  It will thus become more fully evident that His object was not the abolition of the Mosaic ordinance4831

4831 Literally, “Moses.”

by any suddenly devised proposal of divorce; because it was not suddenly proposed, but had its root in the previously mentioned John. For John reproved Herod, because he had illegally married the wife of his deceased brother, who had a daughter by her (a union which the law permitted only on the one occasion of the brother dying childless,4832

4832 Illiberis. [N.B.  He supposes Philip to have been dead.]

when it even prescribed such a marriage, in order that by his own brother, and from his own wife,4833

4833 Costa: literally, “rib” or “side.”

seed might be reckoned to the deceased husband),4834

4834


Anf-02 ii.iv.vi Pg 21.1


Anf-02 ii.iv.vi Pg 21.1


Anf-03 v.iv.vi.xi Pg 47
Ps. iv. 7 (Sept.).

Now the countenance (or person5724

5724 Persona: the πρόσωπον of the Septuagint.

) of the Lord here is Christ. Wherefore the apostle said above: “Christ, who is the image of God.”5725

5725


Anf-01 viii.iv.cxxx Pg 2
Deut. xxxii. 43.

and I added what follows of the passage: “ ‘Rejoice, O ye nations, with His people, and let all the angels of God be strengthened in Him: for the blood of His sons He avenges, and will avenge, and will recompense His enemies with vengeance, and will recompense those that hate Him; and the Lord will purify the land of His people.’ And by these words He declares that we, the nations, rejoice with His people, —to wit, Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the prophets, and, in short, all of that people who are well-pleasing to God, according to what has been already agreed on between us. But we will not receive it of all your nation; since we know from Isaiah2459

2459 Isa. lxvi. 24.

that the members of those who have transgressed shall be consumed by the worm and unquenchable fire, remaining immortal; so that they become a spectacle to all flesh. But in addition to these, I wish, sirs,” said I, “to add some other passages from the very words of Moses, from which you may understand that God has from of old dispersed all men according to their kindreds and tongues; and out of all kindreds has taken to Himself your kindred, a useless, disobedient, and faithless generation; and has shown that those who were selected out of every nation have obeyed His will through Christ,—whom He calls also Jacob, and names Israel, —and these, then, as I mentioned fully previously, must be Jacob and Israel. For when He says, ‘Rejoice, O ye nations, with His people,’ He allots the same inheritance to them, and does not call them by the same name;2460

2460 The reading is, “and calls them by the same name.” But the whole argument shows that the Jews and Gentiles are distinguished by name. [But that Gentiles are also called (Israel) by the same name is the point here.]

but when He says that they as Gentiles rejoice with His people, He calls them Gentiles to reproach you. For even as you provoked Him to anger by your idolatry, so also He has deemed those who were idolaters worthy of knowing His will, and of inheriting His inheritance.


Anf-01 viii.ii.xli Pg 2
Ps. xcvi. 1, etc. This last clause, which is not extant in our copies, either of the LXX, or of the Hebrew, Justin charged the Jews with erasing. See Dial. Tryph., c. 73. [Concerning the eighteen Jewish alterations, see Pearson on the Creed, art. iv. p. 335. Ed. London, 1824.]


Anf-01 ix.vi.x Pg 4
Ps. xcvi. 1.

and Esaias, “Sing unto the Lord a new hymn. His beginning (initium), His name is glorified from the height of the earth: they declare His powers in the isles.”3902

3902


Anf-01 viii.iv.lxxiii Pg 0


Anf-01 viii.iv.lxxiv Pg 0


Anf-02 vi.ii.i Pg 7.1
Repentance, men understand, so far as nature is able, to be an emotion of the mind arising from disgust8421

8421 “Offensa sententiæ pejoris;” or possibly, “the miscarriage of some,” etc.

at some previously cherished worse sentiment: that kind of men I mean which even we ourselves were in days gone by—blind, without the Lord’s light.  From the reason of repentance, however, they are just as far as they are from the Author of reason Himself. Reason, in fact, is a thing of God, inasmuch as there is nothing which God the Maker of all has not provided, disposed, ordained by reason—nothing which He has not willed should be handled and understood by reason. All, therefore, who are ignorant of God, must necessarily be ignorant also of a thing which is His, because no treasure-house8422

8422 Thesaurus.

at all is accessible to strangers. And thus, voyaging all the universal course of life without the rudder of reason, they know not how to shun the hurricane which is impending over the world.8423

8423 Sæculo. [Erasmus doubted the genuineness of this treatise, partly because of the comparative purity of its style. See Kaye, p. 42.]

Moreover, how irrationally they behave in the practice of repentance, it will be enough briefly to show just by this one fact, that they exercise it even in the case of their good deeds. They repent of good faith, of love, of simple-heartedness, of patience, of mercy, just in proportion as any deed prompted by these feelings has fallen on thankless soil.  They execrate their own selves for having done good; and that species chiefly of repentance which is applied to the best works they fix in their heart, making it their care to remember never again to do a good turn. On repentance for evil deeds, on the contrary, they lay lighter stress. In short, they make this same (virtue) a means of sinning more readily than a means of right-doing.


Npnf-201 iii.xvi.iv Pg 33


Npnf-201 iii.xvi.i Pg 9


Anf-01 viii.iv.lxxiii Pg 0


Anf-01 viii.iv.lxxiv Pg 0


Anf-03 v.iv.v.xv Pg 52
Jer. xvii. 5.

Whereas in Psalm cxvii. it is said: “It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man; it is better to trust in the Lord than to place hope in princes.”4032

4032


Anf-03 v.iv.v.xv Pg 52
Jer. xvii. 5.

Whereas in Psalm cxvii. it is said: “It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man; it is better to trust in the Lord than to place hope in princes.”4032

4032


Anf-01 ix.vi.vi Pg 4
Isa. xii. 4.

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

3846


Anf-01 ix.vi.v Pg 3
[Jer. vii. 4. One of the most powerful arguments in all Scripture is contained in the first twelve verses of this chapter, and it rebukes an inveterate superstition of the human heart. Comp. Rev. ii. 5, and the message to Rome, Rom. xi. 21.]

This is just as if any one should say, that if straw were a creation of God, it would never part company with the wheat; and that the vine twigs, if made by God, never would be lopped away and deprived of the clusters. But as these [vine twigs] have not been originally made for their own sake, but for that of the fruit growing upon them, which being come to maturity and taken away, they are left behind, and those which do not conduce to fructification are lopped off altogether; so also [was it with] Jerusalem, which had in herself borne the yoke of bondage (under which man was reduced, who in former times was not subject to God when death was reigning, and being subdued, became a fit subject for liberty), when the fruit of liberty had come, and reached maturity, and been reaped and stored in the barn, and when those which had the power to produce fruit had been carried away from her [i.e., from Jerusalem], and scattered throughout all the world. Even as Esaias saith, “The children of Jacob shall strike root, and Israel shall flourish, and the whole world shall be filled with his fruit.”3835

3835


Anf-01 vi.ii.xvi Pg 7
Comp. Isa. v., Jer. xxv.; but the words do not occur in Scripture.

And it so happened as the Lord had spoken. Let us inquire, then, if there still is a temple of God. There is—where He himself declared He would make and finish it. For it is written, “And it shall come to pass, when the week is completed, the temple of God shall be built in glory in the name of the Lord.”1678

1678


Anf-01 viii.iv.cxx Pg 4
Gen. xlix. 10.

And it is plain that this was spoken not of Judah, but of Christ. For all we out of all nations do expect not Judah, but Jesus, who led your fathers out of Egypt. For the prophecy referred even to the advent of Christ: ‘Till He come for whom this is laid up, and He shall be the expectation of nations.’ Jesus came, therefore, as we have shown at length, and is expected again to appear above the clouds; whose name you profane, and labour hard to get it profaned over all the earth. It were possible for me, sirs,” I continued, “to contend against you about the reading which you so interpret, saying it is written, ‘Till the things laid up for Him come;’ though the Seventy have not so explained it, but thus, ‘Till He comes for whom this is laid up.’ But since what follows indicates that the reference is to Christ (for it is, ‘and He shall be the expectation of nations’), I do not proceed to have a mere verbal controversy with you, as I have not attempted to establish proof about Christ from the passages of Scripture which are not admitted by you2409

2409 [Note this important point. He forbears to cite the New Testament.]

which I quoted from the words of Jeremiah the prophet, and Esdras, and David; but from those which are even now admitted by you, which had your teachers comprehended, be well assured they would have deleted them, as they did those about the death of Isaiah, whom you sawed asunder with a wooden saw. And this was a mysterious type of Christ being about to cut your nation in two, and to raise those worthy of the honour to the everlasting kingdom along with the holy patriarchs and prophets; but He has said that He will send others to the condemnation of the unquenchable fire along with similar disobedient and impenitent men from all the nations. ‘For they shall come,’ He said, ‘from the west and from the east, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; but the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness.’2410

2410


Anf-01 viii.ii.xxxii Pg 2
Gen. xlix. 10.

It is yours to make accurate inquiry, and ascertain up to whose time the Jews had a lawgiver and king of their own. Up to the time of Jesus Christ, who taught us, and interpreted the prophecies which were not yet understood, [they had a lawgiver] as was foretold by the holy and divine Spirit of prophecy through Moses, “that a ruler would not fail the Jews until He should come for whom the kingdom was reserved” (for Judah was the forefather of the Jews, from whom also they have their name of Jews); and after He (i.e., Christ) appeared, you began to rule the Jews, and gained possession of all their territory. And the prophecy, “He shall be the expectation of the nations,” signified that there would be some of all nations who should look for Him to come again. And this indeed you can see for yourselves, and be convinced of by fact. For of all races of men there are some who look for Him who was crucified in Judæa, and after whose crucifixion the land was straightway surrendered to you as spoil of war. And the prophecy, “binding His foal to the vine, and washing His robe in the blood of the grape,” was a significant symbol of the things that were to happen to Christ, and of what He was to do. For the foal of an ass stood bound to a vine at the entrance of a village, and He ordered His acquaintances to bring it to Him then; and when it was brought, He mounted and sat upon it, and entered Jerusalem, where was the vast temple of the Jews which was afterwards destroyed by you. And after this He was crucified, that the rest of the prophecy might be fulfilled. For this “washing His robe in the blood of the grape” was predictive of the passion He was to endure, cleansing by His blood those who believe on Him. For what is called by the Divine Spirit through the prophet “His robe,” are those men who believe in Him in whom abideth the seed1828

1828 Grabe would here read, not σπέρμα, but πνεῦμα, the spirit; but the Benedictine, Otto, and Trollope all think that no change should be made.

of God, the Word. And what is spoken of as “the blood of the grape,” signifies that He who should appear would have blood, though not of the seed of man, but of the power of God. And the first power after God the Father and Lord of all is the Word, who is also the Son; and of Him we will, in what follows, relate how He took flesh and became man. For as man did not make the blood of the vine, but God, so it was hereby intimated that the blood should not be of human seed, but of divine power, as we have said above. And Isaiah, another prophet, foretelling the same things in other words, spoke thus: “A star shall rise out of Jacob, and a flower shall spring from the root of Jesse; and His arm shall the nations trust.1829

1829


Anf-01 v.vi.ix Pg 12
Gen. xlix. 10.

have been fulfilled in the Gospel, [our Lord saying,] “Go ye and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”964

964


Anf-01 viii.ii.liv Pg 2
Gen. xlix. 10.

The devils, accordingly, when they heard these prophetic words, said that Bacchus was the son of Jupiter, and gave out that he was the discoverer of the vine, and they number wine1883

1883 In the ms. the reading is οἶνον (wine); but as Justin’s argument seems to require ὄνον (an ass), Sylburg inserted this latter word in his edition; and this reading is approved by Grabe and Thirlby, and adopted by Otto and Trollope. It may be added, that ἀναγράφουσι is much more suitable to ὄνον than to οἶνον.

[or, the ass] among his mysteries; and they taught that, having been torn in pieces, he ascended into heaven. And because in the prophecy of Moses it had not been expressly intimated whether He who was to come was the Son of God, and whether He would, riding on the foal, remain on earth or ascend into heaven, and because the name of “foal” could mean either the foal of an ass or the foal of a horse, they, not knowing whether He who was foretold would bring the foal of an ass or of a horse as the sign of His coming, nor whether He was the Son of God, as we said above, or of man, gave out that Bellerophon, a man born of man, himself ascended to heaven on his horse Pegasus. And when they heard it said by the other prophet Isaiah, that He should be born of a virgin, and by His own means ascend into heaven, they pretended that Perseus was spoken of. And when they knew what was said, as has been cited above, in the prophecies written aforetime, “Strong as a giant to run his course,”1884

1884


Anf-01 viii.iv.lii Pg 2
[Bible:Gen.49.11 Bible:Gen.49.18 Bible:Gen.49.24">Gen. xlix. 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 18, 24. These texts are frequently referred to by Justin.]

that there would be two advents of Christ, and that in the first He would suffer, and that after He came there would be neither prophet nor king in your nation (I proceeded), and that the nations who believed in the suffering Christ would look for His future appearance. And for this reason the Holy Spirit had uttered these truths in a parable, and obscurely: for,” I added, “it is said, ‘Judah, thy brethren have praised thee: thy hands [shall be] on the neck of thine enemies; the sons of thy father shall worship thee. Judah is a lion’s whelp; from the germ, my son, thou art sprung up. Reclining, he lay down like a lion, and like [a lion’s] whelp: who shall raise him up? A ruler shall not depart from Judah, or a leader from his thighs, until that which is laid up in store for him shall come; and he shall be the desire of nations, binding his foal to the vine, and the foal of his ass to the tendril of the vine. He shall wash his garments in wine, and his vesture in the blood of the grape. His eyes shall be bright with2113

2113 Or, “in comparison of.”

wine, and his teeth white like milk.’2114

2114


Anf-01 ix.vi.xi Pg 11
Gen. xlix. 10–12, LXX.

For, let those who have the reputation of investigating everything, inquire at what time a prince and leader failed out of Judah, and who is the hope of the nations, who also is the vine, what was the ass’s colt [referred to as] His, what the clothing, and what the eyes, what the teeth, and what the wine, and thus let them investigate every one of the points mentioned; and they shall find that there was none other announced than our Lord, Christ Jesus. Wherefore Moses, when chiding the ingratitude of the people, said, “Ye infatuated people, and unwise, do ye thus requite the Lord?”3925

3925


Anf-01 ix.vii.xxxvi Pg 6
Isa. lxv. 21.

For all these and other words were unquestionably spoken in reference to the resurrection of the just, which takes place after the coming of Antichrist, and the destruction of all nations under his rule; in [the times of] which [resurrection] the righteous shall reign in the earth, waxing stronger by the sight of the Lord: and through Him they shall become accustomed to partake in the glory of God the Father, and shall enjoy in the kingdom intercourse and communion with the holy angels, and union with spiritual beings; and [with respect to] those whom the Lord shall find in the flesh, awaiting Him from heaven, and who have suffered tribulation, as well as escaped the hands of the Wicked one. For it is in reference to them that the prophet says: “And those that are left shall multiply upon the earth,” And Jeremiah4770

4770


Anf-01 ix.vii.xvi Pg 6
Isa. lxv. 22.

), He is shown to be the only God who accomplishes these things, and as Himself the good Father, benevolently conferring life upon those who have not life from themselves.


Anf-02 ii.ii.i Pg 36.1


Anf-03 iv.ix.xiv Pg 19
See Zech. iii. “The mystery of His name” refers to the meaning of “Jeshua,” for which see c. ix. above.

First, He was clad in “sordid attire,” that is, in the indignity of passible and mortal flesh, when the devil, withal, was opposing himself to Him—the instigator, to wit, of Judas the traitor1462

1462


Anf-03 v.iv.iv.vii Pg 22
See Zech. iii.

If I may offer, moreover, an interpretation of the two goats which were presented on “the great day of atonement,”3200

3200


Anf-02 vi.iii.iii.xii Pg 23.1


Anf-02 vi.iii.i.ix Pg 64.1


Anf-02 vi.ii.xi Pg 19.1


Anf-02 vi.iii.ii.viii Pg 6.1


Anf-01 ii.ii.lii Pg 4
Ps. l. 14, 15.

For “the sacrifice of God is a broken spirit.”235

235


Anf-01 ix.vi.xviii Pg 8
Ps. l. 14, 15.

rejecting, indeed, those things by which sinners imagined they could propitiate God, and showing that He does Himself stand in need of nothing; but He exhorts and advises them to those things by which man is justified and draws nigh to God. This same declaration does Esaias make: “To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto Me? saith the Lord. I am full.”4014

4014


Anf-02 vi.iv.iv.xvii Pg 7.1


Anf-03 iv.ix.viii Pg 14
Or, “speech.” The reference seems to be to ver. 23, but there is no such statement in Daniel.

I make thee these answers.” Whence we are bound to compute from the first year of Darius, when Daniel saw this vision.


Anf-03 v.iv.v.xv Pg 29
1 Kings iii. 5–13.

But with respect to this man, since, when a choice was left to him, he preferred asking for what he knew to be well-pleasing to God—even wisdom—he further merited the attainment of the riches, which he did not prefer. The endowing of a man indeed with riches, is not an incongruity to God, for by the help of riches even rich men are comforted and assisted; moreover, by them many a work of justice and charity is carried out. But yet there are serious faults4009

4009 Vitia.

which accompany riches; and it is because of these that woes are denounced on the rich, even in the Gospel. “Ye have received,” says He, “your consolation;”4010

4010


Anf-02 ii.iv.vi Pg 21.1


Anf-02 ii.iv.vi Pg 21.1


Anf-03 v.iv.vi.xi Pg 47
Ps. iv. 7 (Sept.).

Now the countenance (or person5724

5724 Persona: the πρόσωπον of the Septuagint.

) of the Lord here is Christ. Wherefore the apostle said above: “Christ, who is the image of God.”5725

5725


Anf-01 viii.iv.cxxx Pg 2
Deut. xxxii. 43.

and I added what follows of the passage: “ ‘Rejoice, O ye nations, with His people, and let all the angels of God be strengthened in Him: for the blood of His sons He avenges, and will avenge, and will recompense His enemies with vengeance, and will recompense those that hate Him; and the Lord will purify the land of His people.’ And by these words He declares that we, the nations, rejoice with His people, —to wit, Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the prophets, and, in short, all of that people who are well-pleasing to God, according to what has been already agreed on between us. But we will not receive it of all your nation; since we know from Isaiah2459

2459 Isa. lxvi. 24.

that the members of those who have transgressed shall be consumed by the worm and unquenchable fire, remaining immortal; so that they become a spectacle to all flesh. But in addition to these, I wish, sirs,” said I, “to add some other passages from the very words of Moses, from which you may understand that God has from of old dispersed all men according to their kindreds and tongues; and out of all kindreds has taken to Himself your kindred, a useless, disobedient, and faithless generation; and has shown that those who were selected out of every nation have obeyed His will through Christ,—whom He calls also Jacob, and names Israel, —and these, then, as I mentioned fully previously, must be Jacob and Israel. For when He says, ‘Rejoice, O ye nations, with His people,’ He allots the same inheritance to them, and does not call them by the same name;2460

2460 The reading is, “and calls them by the same name.” But the whole argument shows that the Jews and Gentiles are distinguished by name. [But that Gentiles are also called (Israel) by the same name is the point here.]

but when He says that they as Gentiles rejoice with His people, He calls them Gentiles to reproach you. For even as you provoked Him to anger by your idolatry, so also He has deemed those who were idolaters worthy of knowing His will, and of inheriting His inheritance.


Anf-01 viii.ii.xli Pg 2
Ps. xcvi. 1, etc. This last clause, which is not extant in our copies, either of the LXX, or of the Hebrew, Justin charged the Jews with erasing. See Dial. Tryph., c. 73. [Concerning the eighteen Jewish alterations, see Pearson on the Creed, art. iv. p. 335. Ed. London, 1824.]


Anf-01 ix.vi.x Pg 4
Ps. xcvi. 1.

and Esaias, “Sing unto the Lord a new hymn. His beginning (initium), His name is glorified from the height of the earth: they declare His powers in the isles.”3902

3902


Anf-01 viii.iv.lxxiii Pg 0


Anf-01 viii.iv.lxxiv Pg 0


Anf-02 vi.ii.i Pg 7.1
Repentance, men understand, so far as nature is able, to be an emotion of the mind arising from disgust8421

8421 “Offensa sententiæ pejoris;” or possibly, “the miscarriage of some,” etc.

at some previously cherished worse sentiment: that kind of men I mean which even we ourselves were in days gone by—blind, without the Lord’s light.  From the reason of repentance, however, they are just as far as they are from the Author of reason Himself. Reason, in fact, is a thing of God, inasmuch as there is nothing which God the Maker of all has not provided, disposed, ordained by reason—nothing which He has not willed should be handled and understood by reason. All, therefore, who are ignorant of God, must necessarily be ignorant also of a thing which is His, because no treasure-house8422

8422 Thesaurus.

at all is accessible to strangers. And thus, voyaging all the universal course of life without the rudder of reason, they know not how to shun the hurricane which is impending over the world.8423

8423 Sæculo. [Erasmus doubted the genuineness of this treatise, partly because of the comparative purity of its style. See Kaye, p. 42.]

Moreover, how irrationally they behave in the practice of repentance, it will be enough briefly to show just by this one fact, that they exercise it even in the case of their good deeds. They repent of good faith, of love, of simple-heartedness, of patience, of mercy, just in proportion as any deed prompted by these feelings has fallen on thankless soil.  They execrate their own selves for having done good; and that species chiefly of repentance which is applied to the best works they fix in their heart, making it their care to remember never again to do a good turn. On repentance for evil deeds, on the contrary, they lay lighter stress. In short, they make this same (virtue) a means of sinning more readily than a means of right-doing.


Npnf-201 iii.xvi.iv Pg 33


Npnf-201 iii.xvi.i Pg 9


Anf-01 viii.iv.lxxiii Pg 0


Anf-01 viii.iv.lxxiv Pg 0


Anf-03 v.iv.v.xv Pg 52
Jer. xvii. 5.

Whereas in Psalm cxvii. it is said: “It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man; it is better to trust in the Lord than to place hope in princes.”4032

4032


Anf-03 v.iv.v.xv Pg 52
Jer. xvii. 5.

Whereas in Psalm cxvii. it is said: “It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man; it is better to trust in the Lord than to place hope in princes.”4032

4032


Anf-01 ix.vi.vi Pg 4
Isa. xii. 4.

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

3846


Anf-01 ix.vi.v Pg 3
[Jer. vii. 4. One of the most powerful arguments in all Scripture is contained in the first twelve verses of this chapter, and it rebukes an inveterate superstition of the human heart. Comp. Rev. ii. 5, and the message to Rome, Rom. xi. 21.]

This is just as if any one should say, that if straw were a creation of God, it would never part company with the wheat; and that the vine twigs, if made by God, never would be lopped away and deprived of the clusters. But as these [vine twigs] have not been originally made for their own sake, but for that of the fruit growing upon them, which being come to maturity and taken away, they are left behind, and those which do not conduce to fructification are lopped off altogether; so also [was it with] Jerusalem, which had in herself borne the yoke of bondage (under which man was reduced, who in former times was not subject to God when death was reigning, and being subdued, became a fit subject for liberty), when the fruit of liberty had come, and reached maturity, and been reaped and stored in the barn, and when those which had the power to produce fruit had been carried away from her [i.e., from Jerusalem], and scattered throughout all the world. Even as Esaias saith, “The children of Jacob shall strike root, and Israel shall flourish, and the whole world shall be filled with his fruit.”3835

3835


Anf-01 vi.ii.xvi Pg 7
Comp. Isa. v., Jer. xxv.; but the words do not occur in Scripture.

And it so happened as the Lord had spoken. Let us inquire, then, if there still is a temple of God. There is—where He himself declared He would make and finish it. For it is written, “And it shall come to pass, when the week is completed, the temple of God shall be built in glory in the name of the Lord.”1678

1678


Anf-01 viii.iv.cxx Pg 4
Gen. xlix. 10.

And it is plain that this was spoken not of Judah, but of Christ. For all we out of all nations do expect not Judah, but Jesus, who led your fathers out of Egypt. For the prophecy referred even to the advent of Christ: ‘Till He come for whom this is laid up, and He shall be the expectation of nations.’ Jesus came, therefore, as we have shown at length, and is expected again to appear above the clouds; whose name you profane, and labour hard to get it profaned over all the earth. It were possible for me, sirs,” I continued, “to contend against you about the reading which you so interpret, saying it is written, ‘Till the things laid up for Him come;’ though the Seventy have not so explained it, but thus, ‘Till He comes for whom this is laid up.’ But since what follows indicates that the reference is to Christ (for it is, ‘and He shall be the expectation of nations’), I do not proceed to have a mere verbal controversy with you, as I have not attempted to establish proof about Christ from the passages of Scripture which are not admitted by you2409

2409 [Note this important point. He forbears to cite the New Testament.]

which I quoted from the words of Jeremiah the prophet, and Esdras, and David; but from those which are even now admitted by you, which had your teachers comprehended, be well assured they would have deleted them, as they did those about the death of Isaiah, whom you sawed asunder with a wooden saw. And this was a mysterious type of Christ being about to cut your nation in two, and to raise those worthy of the honour to the everlasting kingdom along with the holy patriarchs and prophets; but He has said that He will send others to the condemnation of the unquenchable fire along with similar disobedient and impenitent men from all the nations. ‘For they shall come,’ He said, ‘from the west and from the east, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; but the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness.’2410

2410


Anf-01 viii.ii.xxxii Pg 2
Gen. xlix. 10.

It is yours to make accurate inquiry, and ascertain up to whose time the Jews had a lawgiver and king of their own. Up to the time of Jesus Christ, who taught us, and interpreted the prophecies which were not yet understood, [they had a lawgiver] as was foretold by the holy and divine Spirit of prophecy through Moses, “that a ruler would not fail the Jews until He should come for whom the kingdom was reserved” (for Judah was the forefather of the Jews, from whom also they have their name of Jews); and after He (i.e., Christ) appeared, you began to rule the Jews, and gained possession of all their territory. And the prophecy, “He shall be the expectation of the nations,” signified that there would be some of all nations who should look for Him to come again. And this indeed you can see for yourselves, and be convinced of by fact. For of all races of men there are some who look for Him who was crucified in Judæa, and after whose crucifixion the land was straightway surrendered to you as spoil of war. And the prophecy, “binding His foal to the vine, and washing His robe in the blood of the grape,” was a significant symbol of the things that were to happen to Christ, and of what He was to do. For the foal of an ass stood bound to a vine at the entrance of a village, and He ordered His acquaintances to bring it to Him then; and when it was brought, He mounted and sat upon it, and entered Jerusalem, where was the vast temple of the Jews which was afterwards destroyed by you. And after this He was crucified, that the rest of the prophecy might be fulfilled. For this “washing His robe in the blood of the grape” was predictive of the passion He was to endure, cleansing by His blood those who believe on Him. For what is called by the Divine Spirit through the prophet “His robe,” are those men who believe in Him in whom abideth the seed1828

1828 Grabe would here read, not σπέρμα, but πνεῦμα, the spirit; but the Benedictine, Otto, and Trollope all think that no change should be made.

of God, the Word. And what is spoken of as “the blood of the grape,” signifies that He who should appear would have blood, though not of the seed of man, but of the power of God. And the first power after God the Father and Lord of all is the Word, who is also the Son; and of Him we will, in what follows, relate how He took flesh and became man. For as man did not make the blood of the vine, but God, so it was hereby intimated that the blood should not be of human seed, but of divine power, as we have said above. And Isaiah, another prophet, foretelling the same things in other words, spoke thus: “A star shall rise out of Jacob, and a flower shall spring from the root of Jesse; and His arm shall the nations trust.1829

1829


Anf-01 v.vi.ix Pg 12
Gen. xlix. 10.

have been fulfilled in the Gospel, [our Lord saying,] “Go ye and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”964

964


Anf-01 viii.ii.liv Pg 2
Gen. xlix. 10.

The devils, accordingly, when they heard these prophetic words, said that Bacchus was the son of Jupiter, and gave out that he was the discoverer of the vine, and they number wine1883

1883 In the ms. the reading is οἶνον (wine); but as Justin’s argument seems to require ὄνον (an ass), Sylburg inserted this latter word in his edition; and this reading is approved by Grabe and Thirlby, and adopted by Otto and Trollope. It may be added, that ἀναγράφουσι is much more suitable to ὄνον than to οἶνον.

[or, the ass] among his mysteries; and they taught that, having been torn in pieces, he ascended into heaven. And because in the prophecy of Moses it had not been expressly intimated whether He who was to come was the Son of God, and whether He would, riding on the foal, remain on earth or ascend into heaven, and because the name of “foal” could mean either the foal of an ass or the foal of a horse, they, not knowing whether He who was foretold would bring the foal of an ass or of a horse as the sign of His coming, nor whether He was the Son of God, as we said above, or of man, gave out that Bellerophon, a man born of man, himself ascended to heaven on his horse Pegasus. And when they heard it said by the other prophet Isaiah, that He should be born of a virgin, and by His own means ascend into heaven, they pretended that Perseus was spoken of. And when they knew what was said, as has been cited above, in the prophecies written aforetime, “Strong as a giant to run his course,”1884

1884


Anf-01 viii.iv.lii Pg 2
[Bible:Gen.49.11 Bible:Gen.49.18 Bible:Gen.49.24">Gen. xlix. 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 18, 24. These texts are frequently referred to by Justin.]

that there would be two advents of Christ, and that in the first He would suffer, and that after He came there would be neither prophet nor king in your nation (I proceeded), and that the nations who believed in the suffering Christ would look for His future appearance. And for this reason the Holy Spirit had uttered these truths in a parable, and obscurely: for,” I added, “it is said, ‘Judah, thy brethren have praised thee: thy hands [shall be] on the neck of thine enemies; the sons of thy father shall worship thee. Judah is a lion’s whelp; from the germ, my son, thou art sprung up. Reclining, he lay down like a lion, and like [a lion’s] whelp: who shall raise him up? A ruler shall not depart from Judah, or a leader from his thighs, until that which is laid up in store for him shall come; and he shall be the desire of nations, binding his foal to the vine, and the foal of his ass to the tendril of the vine. He shall wash his garments in wine, and his vesture in the blood of the grape. His eyes shall be bright with2113

2113 Or, “in comparison of.”

wine, and his teeth white like milk.’2114

2114


Anf-01 ix.vi.xi Pg 11
Gen. xlix. 10–12, LXX.

For, let those who have the reputation of investigating everything, inquire at what time a prince and leader failed out of Judah, and who is the hope of the nations, who also is the vine, what was the ass’s colt [referred to as] His, what the clothing, and what the eyes, what the teeth, and what the wine, and thus let them investigate every one of the points mentioned; and they shall find that there was none other announced than our Lord, Christ Jesus. Wherefore Moses, when chiding the ingratitude of the people, said, “Ye infatuated people, and unwise, do ye thus requite the Lord?”3925

3925


Anf-01 ix.vii.xxxvi Pg 6
Isa. lxv. 21.

For all these and other words were unquestionably spoken in reference to the resurrection of the just, which takes place after the coming of Antichrist, and the destruction of all nations under his rule; in [the times of] which [resurrection] the righteous shall reign in the earth, waxing stronger by the sight of the Lord: and through Him they shall become accustomed to partake in the glory of God the Father, and shall enjoy in the kingdom intercourse and communion with the holy angels, and union with spiritual beings; and [with respect to] those whom the Lord shall find in the flesh, awaiting Him from heaven, and who have suffered tribulation, as well as escaped the hands of the Wicked one. For it is in reference to them that the prophet says: “And those that are left shall multiply upon the earth,” And Jeremiah4770

4770


Anf-01 ix.vii.xvi Pg 6
Isa. lxv. 22.

), He is shown to be the only God who accomplishes these things, and as Himself the good Father, benevolently conferring life upon those who have not life from themselves.


Anf-02 ii.ii.i Pg 36.1


Anf-03 iv.ix.xiv Pg 19
See Zech. iii. “The mystery of His name” refers to the meaning of “Jeshua,” for which see c. ix. above.

First, He was clad in “sordid attire,” that is, in the indignity of passible and mortal flesh, when the devil, withal, was opposing himself to Him—the instigator, to wit, of Judas the traitor1462

1462


Anf-03 v.iv.iv.vii Pg 22
See Zech. iii.

If I may offer, moreover, an interpretation of the two goats which were presented on “the great day of atonement,”3200

3200


Anf-02 vi.iii.iii.xii Pg 23.1


Anf-02 vi.iii.i.ix Pg 64.1


Anf-02 vi.ii.xi Pg 19.1


Anf-02 vi.iii.ii.viii Pg 6.1


Anf-01 ii.ii.lii Pg 4
Ps. l. 14, 15.

For “the sacrifice of God is a broken spirit.”235

235


Anf-01 ix.vi.xviii Pg 8
Ps. l. 14, 15.

rejecting, indeed, those things by which sinners imagined they could propitiate God, and showing that He does Himself stand in need of nothing; but He exhorts and advises them to those things by which man is justified and draws nigh to God. This same declaration does Esaias make: “To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto Me? saith the Lord. I am full.”4014

4014


Anf-02 vi.iv.iv.xvii Pg 7.1


Anf-03 iv.ix.viii Pg 14
Or, “speech.” The reference seems to be to ver. 23, but there is no such statement in Daniel.

I make thee these answers.” Whence we are bound to compute from the first year of Darius, when Daniel saw this vision.


Anf-03 v.iv.v.xxxiv Pg 28
Mal. ii. 15.

Thus you have Christ following spontaneously the tracks of the Creator everywhere, both in permitting divorce and in forbidding it. You find Him also protecting marriage, in whatever direction you try to escape. He prohibits divorce when He will have the marriage inviolable; He permits divorce when the marriage is spotted with unfaithfulness. You should blush when you refuse to unite those whom even your Christ has united; and repeat the blush when you disunite them without the good reason why your Christ would have them separated. I have4829

4829 Debeo.

now to show whence the Lord derived this decision4830

4830 Sententiam.

of His, and to what end He directed it.  It will thus become more fully evident that His object was not the abolition of the Mosaic ordinance4831

4831 Literally, “Moses.”

by any suddenly devised proposal of divorce; because it was not suddenly proposed, but had its root in the previously mentioned John. For John reproved Herod, because he had illegally married the wife of his deceased brother, who had a daughter by her (a union which the law permitted only on the one occasion of the brother dying childless,4832

4832 Illiberis. [N.B.  He supposes Philip to have been dead.]

when it even prescribed such a marriage, in order that by his own brother, and from his own wife,4833

4833 Costa: literally, “rib” or “side.”

seed might be reckoned to the deceased husband),4834

4834


Anf-01 ix.ii.xii Pg 10
[1 Kings xviii. 27. “It came to pass that Elijah mocked them,” etc. This reductio ad absurdum of our author is singularly applicable to certain forms of what is called “Modern Thought.”]

For if it is fitting that that language which is used respecting the universe be transformed to the primary Tetrad, and if any one may assign names at his pleasure, who shall prevent us from adopting these names, as being much more credible [than the others], as well as in general use, and understood by all?


Anf-03 v.iv.v.xxxiv Pg 28
Mal. ii. 15.

Thus you have Christ following spontaneously the tracks of the Creator everywhere, both in permitting divorce and in forbidding it. You find Him also protecting marriage, in whatever direction you try to escape. He prohibits divorce when He will have the marriage inviolable; He permits divorce when the marriage is spotted with unfaithfulness. You should blush when you refuse to unite those whom even your Christ has united; and repeat the blush when you disunite them without the good reason why your Christ would have them separated. I have4829

4829 Debeo.

now to show whence the Lord derived this decision4830

4830 Sententiam.

of His, and to what end He directed it.  It will thus become more fully evident that His object was not the abolition of the Mosaic ordinance4831

4831 Literally, “Moses.”

by any suddenly devised proposal of divorce; because it was not suddenly proposed, but had its root in the previously mentioned John. For John reproved Herod, because he had illegally married the wife of his deceased brother, who had a daughter by her (a union which the law permitted only on the one occasion of the brother dying childless,4832

4832 Illiberis. [N.B.  He supposes Philip to have been dead.]

when it even prescribed such a marriage, in order that by his own brother, and from his own wife,4833

4833 Costa: literally, “rib” or “side.”

seed might be reckoned to the deceased husband),4834

4834


Anf-01 ix.ii.xii Pg 10
[1 Kings xviii. 27. “It came to pass that Elijah mocked them,” etc. This reductio ad absurdum of our author is singularly applicable to certain forms of what is called “Modern Thought.”]

For if it is fitting that that language which is used respecting the universe be transformed to the primary Tetrad, and if any one may assign names at his pleasure, who shall prevent us from adopting these names, as being much more credible [than the others], as well as in general use, and understood by all?


Anf-01 v.xviii.v Pg 3
1 Sam. xvi.

For he himself says in a certain place, “I was small among my brethren, and the youngest in the house of my father.”1372

1372 Ps. cl. 1 (in the Septuagint; not found at all in Hebrew).


Anf-03 v.iii.iii Pg 16
Ex. xvi. 8.

No one of those has, [in fact,] remained unpunished, who rose up against their superiors. For Dathan and Abiram did not speak against the law, but against Moses,657

657


ecf09Oz16z13,

Edersheim Bible History

Lifetimes viii.xxxii Pg 38.1


Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge, Chapter 2

VERSE 	(24) - 

Ec 3:12,13,22; 5:18; 8:15; 9:7-9; 11:9,10 De 12:12,18 Ne 8:10


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