Hermeneutics and Types

Now, wherefore did Moses say, You shall not eat the swine, nor the eagle, nor the hawk, nor the raven, nor any fish which is not possessed of scales? He embraced three doctrines in his mind [in doing so]. Moreover, the Lord says to them in Deuteronomy, And I will establish my ordinances among this people. Deuteronomy 4:1 Is there then not a command of God they should not eat [these things]? There is, but Moses spoke with a spiritual reference. For this reason he named the swine, as much as to say, You shall not join yourself to men who resemble swine. For when they live in pleasure, they forget their Lord; but when they come to want, they acknowledge the Lord. And [in like manner] the swine, when it has eaten, does not recognize its master; but when hungry it cries out, and on receiving food is quiet again.

Neither shall you eat, says he the eagle, nor the hawk, nor the kite, nor the raven. You shall not join yourself, he means, to such men as know not how to procure food for themselves by labour and sweat, but seize on that of others in their iniquity, and although wearing an aspect of simplicity, are on the watch to plunder others. So these birds, while they sit idle, inquire how they may devour the flesh of others, proving themselves pests [to all] by their wickedness . And you shall not eat, he says, the lamprey, or the polypus, or the cuttlefish. He means, You shall not join yourself or be like to such men as are ungodly to the end, and are condemned to death. In like manner as those fishes, above accursed, float in the deep, not swimming [on the surface] like the rest, but make their abode in the mud which lies at the bottom.

Moreover, You shall not, he says, eat the hare. Wherefore? You shall not be a corrupter of boys, nor like such. Because the hare multiplies, year by year, the places of its conception; for as many years as it lives so many it has. Moreover, You shall not eat the hyena. He means, You shall not be an adulterer, nor a corrupter, nor be like to them that are such. Wherefore? Because that animal annually changes its sex, and is at one time male, and at another female. Moreover, he has rightly detested the weasel. For he means, You shall not be like to those whom we hear of as committing wickedness with the mouth, on account of their uncleanness; nor shall you be joined to those impure women who commit iniquity with the mouth. For this animal conceives by the mouth.

Moses then issued three doctrines concerning meats with a spiritual significance; but they received them according to fleshly desire, as if he had merely spoken of [literal] meats. David, however, comprehends the knowledge of the three doctrines, and speaks in like manner: Blessed is the man who has not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, even as the fishes [referred to] go in darkness to the depths [of the sea]; and has not stood in the way of sinners, even as those who profess to fear the Lord, but go astray like swine; and has not sat in the seat of scorners, even as those birds that lie in wait for prey. Take a full and firm grasp of this spiritual knowledge . But Moses says still further, You shall eat every animal that is cloven-footed and ruminant. What does he mean?

Let us further inquire whether the Lord took any care to foreshadow the water [of baptism ] and the cross. Concerning the water, indeed, it is written, in reference to the Israelites , that they should not receive that baptism which leads to the remission of sins , but should procure another for themselves. The prophet therefore declares, Be astonished, O heaven, and let the earth tremble at this, because this people has committed two great evils : they have forsaken Me, a living fountain, and have hewn out for themselves broken cisterns. Is my holy hill Zion a desolate rock? For you shall be as the fledglings of a bird, which fly away when the nest is removed.

Isaiah 16:1-2 And again says the prophet , I will go before you and make level the mountains, and will break the brazen gates, and bruise in pieces the iron bars; and I will give you the secret, hidden, invisible treasures, that they may know that I am the Lord God. Isaiah 45:2-3 And He shall dwell in a lofty cave of the strong rock. Furthermore, what says He in reference to the Son? His water is sure; you shall see the King in His glory , and your soul shall meditate on the fear of the Lord. Isaiah 33:16-18 And again He says in another prophet , The man who does these things shall be like a tree planted by the courses of waters, which shall yield its fruit in due season; and his leaf shall not fade, and all that he does shall prosper. Not so are the ungodly, not so, but even as chaff, which the wind sweeps away from the face of the earth.

Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in judgment, nor sinners in the counsel of the just; for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish. Mark how He has described at once both the water and the cross. For these words imply, Blessed are they who, placing their trust in the cross , have gone down into the water; for, says He, they shall receive their reward in due time: then He declares, I will recompense them. But now He says, Their leaves shall not fade. This means, that every word which proceeds out of your mouth in faith and love shall tend to bring conversion and hope to many. Again, another prophet says, And the land of Jacob shall be extolled above every land. Zephaniah 3:19 This means the vessel of His Spirit, which He shall glorify. Further, what says He?

And there was a river flowing on the right, and from it arose beautiful trees; and whosoever shall eat of them shall live forever. Ezekiel 47:12 This means, that we indeed descend into the water full of sins and defilement, but come up, bearing fruit in our heart, having the fear [of God] and trust in Jesus in our spirit. And whosoever shall eat of these shall live for ever, This means: Whosoever, He declares, shall hear you speaking, and believe , shall live forever.

In like manner He points to the cross of Christ in another prophet , who says, And when shall these things be accomplished? And the Lord says, When a tree shall be bent down, and again arise, and when blood shall flow out of wood. Here again you have an intimation concerning the cross , and Him who should be crucified. Yet again He speaks of this in Moses , when Israel was attacked by strangers. And that He might remind them, when assailed, that it was on account of their sins they were delivered to death, the Spirit speaks to the heart of Moses , that he should make a figure of the cross , and of Him about to suffer thereon; for unless they put their trust in Him, they shall be overcome forever.

Moses therefore placed one weapon above another in the midst of the hill, and standing upon it, so as to be higher than all the people, he stretched forth his hands, and thus again Israel acquired the mastery. But when again he let down his hands, they were again destroyed. For what reason? That they might know that they could not be saved unless they put their trust in Him. And in another prophet He declares, All day long I have stretched forth My hands to an unbelieving people, and one that gainsays My righteous way. Isaiah 65:2 And again Moses makes a type of Jesus , [signifying] that it was necessary for Him to suffer, [and also] that He would be the author of life [to others], whom they believed to have destroyed on the cross when Israel was failing.

For since transgression was committed by Eve through means of the serpent, [the Lord] brought it to pass that every [kind of] serpents bit them, and they died, Numbers 21:6-9 ; John 3:14-18 that He might convince them, that on account of their transgression they were given over to the straits of death. Moreover Moses , when he commanded, You shall not have any graven or molten [image] for your God , did so that he might reveal a type of Jesus . Moses then makes a brazen serpent, and places it upon a beam, and by proclamation assembles the people. When, therefore, they had come together, they besought Moses that he would offer sacrifice in their behalf, and pray for their recovery.

And Moses spoke unto them, saying, When any one of you is bitten, let him come to the serpent placed on the pole; and let him hope and believe , that even though dead, it is able to give him life, and immediately he shall be restored. Numbers 21:9 And they did so. You have in this also [an indication of] the glory of Jesus ; for in Him and to Him are all things. Colossians 1:16 What, again, says Moses to Jesus (Joshua) the son of Nave, when he gave him this name, as being a prophet , with this view only, that all the people might hear that the Father would reveal all things concerning His Son Jesus to the son of Nave?

Understand, then, you children of gladness , that the good Lord has foreshown all things to us, that we might know to whom we ought for everything to render thanksgiving and praise. If therefore the Son of God , who is Lord [of all things], and who will judge the living and the dead, suffered, that His stroke might give us life, let us believe that the Son of God could not have suffered except for our sakes. Moreover, when fixed to the cross , He had given Him to drink vinegar and gall. Hearken how the priests of the people gave previous indications of this.

His commandment having been written, the Lord enjoined, that whosoever did not keep the fast should be put to death , because He also Himself was to offer in sacrifice for our sins the vessel of the Spirit , in order that the type established in Isaac when he was offered upon the altar might be fully accomplished. What, then, says He in the prophet ? And let them eat of the goat which is offered, with fasting , for all their sins . Attend carefully: And let all the priests alone eat the inwards, unwashed with vinegar. Wherefore? Because to me, who am to offer my flesh for the sins of my new people, you are to give gall with vinegar to drink: eat alone, while the people fast and mourn in sackcloth and ashes. [These things were done] that He might show that it was necessary for Him to suffer for them. How, then, ran the commandment?

Give your attention. Take two goats of goodly aspect, and similar to each other, and offer them. And let the priest take one as a burnt-offering for sins . And what should they do with the other? Accursed, says He, is the one. Mark how the type of Jesus now comes out. And all of you spit upon it, and pierce it, and encircle its head with scarlet wool, and thus let it be driven into the wilderness. And when all this has been done, he who bears the goat brings it into the desert , and takes the wool off from it, and places that upon a shrub which is called Rachia , of which also we are accustomed to eat the fruits when we find them in the field. Of this kind of shrub alone the fruits are sweet. Why then, again, is this? Give good heed.

[You see] one upon the altar, and the other accursed; and why [do you behold] the one that is accursed crowned? Because they shall see Him then in that day having a scarlet robe about his body down to his feet; and they shall say, Is not this He whom we once despised, and pierced, and mocked, and crucified? Truly this is He who then declared Himself to be the Son of God . For how like is He to Him! With a view to this, [He required] the goats to be of goodly aspect, and similar, that, when they see Him then coming, they may be amazed by the likeness of the goat. Behold, then, the type of Jesus who was to suffer. But why is it that they place the wool in the midst of thorns? It is a type of Jesus set before the view of the Church .

Now what do you suppose this to be a type of, that a command was given to Israel , that men of the greatest wickedness should offer a heifer, and slay and burn it, and, that then boys should take the ashes, and put these into vessels, and bind round a stick purple wool along with hyssop , and that thus the boys should sprinkle the people, one by one, in order that they might be purified from their sins ? Consider how He speaks to you with simplicity. The calf is Jesus : the sinful men offering it are those who led Him to the slaughter. But now the men are no longer guilty, are no longer regarded as sinners. And the boys that sprinkle are those that have proclaimed to us the remission of sins and purification of heart. To these He gave authority to preach the Gospel , being twelve in number, corresponding to the twelve tribes of Israel .

But why are there three boys that sprinkle? To correspond to Abraham , and Isaac, and Jacob, because these were great with God . And why was the wool [placed] upon the wood? Because by wood Jesus holds His kingdom, so that [through the cross] those believing on Him shall live forever. But why was hyssop joined with the wool? Because in His kingdom the days will be evil and polluted in which we shall be saved, [and] because he who suffers in body is cured through the cleansing efficacy of hyssop . And on this account the things which stand thus are clear to us, but obscure to them because they did not hear the voice of the Lord.

He speaks moreover concerning our ears, how He has circumcised both them and our heart. The Lord says in the prophet , In the hearing of the ear they obeyed me. And again He says, By hearing, those shall hear who are afar off; they shall know what I have done. Isaiah 33:13 And, Be circumcised in your hearts, says the Lord. Jeremiah 4:4 And again He says, Hear, O Israel , for these things says the Lord your God. Jeremiah 7:2 And once more the Spirit of the Lord proclaims, Who is he that wishes to live for ever? By hearing let him hear the voice of my servant. And again He says, Hear, O heaven, and give ear, O earth, for God has spoken. Isaiah 1:2 These are in proof . And again He says, Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of this people. Isaiah 1:10 And again He says, Hear, you children, the voice of one crying in the wilderness.

Therefore He has circumcised our ears, that we might hear His word and believe , for the circumcision in which they trusted is abolished. For He declared that circumcision was not of the flesh, but they transgressed because an evil angel deluded them. He says to them, These things says the Lord your God — (here I find a new commandment) — Sow not among thorns, but circumcise yourselves to the Lord . And why speaks He thus: Circumcise the stubbornness of your heart, and harden not your neck? Deuteronomy 10:16 And again: Behold, says the Lord, all the nations are uncircumcised in the flesh, but this people are uncircumcised in heart. Jeremiah 9:25-26 But you will say, Yea, verily the people are circumcised for a seal. But so also is every Syrian and Arab, and all the priests of idols : are these then also within the bond of His covenant?

Yea, the Egyptians also practise circumcision . Learn then, my children, concerning all things richly, that Abraham , the first who enjoined circumcision , looking forward in spirit to Jesus , practised that rite, having received the mysteries of the three letters. For [the Scripture ] says, And Abraham circumcised ten, and eight, and three hundred men of his household. What, then, was the knowledge given to him in this? Learn the eighteen first, and then the three hundred. The ten and the eight are thus denoted — Ten by Ι , and Eight by Η . You have [the initials of the, name of] Jesus . And because the cross was to express the grace [of our redemption] by the letter Τ , he says also, Three Hundred. He signifies, therefore, Jesus by two letters, and the cross by one. He knows this, who has put within us the engrafted gift of His doctrine.

No one has been admitted by me to a more excellent piece of knowledge than this, but I know that you are worthy.

Justin: And that it was declared by symbol , even in the time of Moses , that there would be two advents of this Christ, as I have mentioned previously, [is manifest] from the symbol of the goats presented for sacrifice during the fast. And again, by what Moses and Joshua did, the same thing was symbolically announced and told beforehand. For the one of them, stretching out his hands, remained till evening on the hill, his hands being supported; and this reveals a type of no other thing than of the cross: and the other, whose name was altered to Jesus (Joshua), led the fight, and Israel conquered. Now this took place in the case of both those holy men and prophets of God , that you may perceive how one of them could not bear up both the mysteries : I mean, the type of the cross and the type of the name.

For this is, was, and shall be the strength of Him alone, whose name every power dreads, being very much tormented because they shall be destroyed by Him. Therefore our suffering and crucified Christ was not cursed by the law, but made it manifest that He alone would save those who do not depart from His faith . And the blood of the passover, sprinkled on each man's door-posts and lintel, delivered those who were saved in Egypt , when the first-born of the Egyptians were destroyed. For the passover was Christ, who was afterwards sacrificed , as also Isaiah said, 'He was led as a sheep to the slaughter.' Isaiah 53:7 And it is written, that on the day of the passover you seized Him, and that also during the passover you crucified Him.

And as the blood of the passover saved those who were in Egypt , so also the blood of Christ will deliver from death those who have believed . Would God , then, have been deceived if this sign had not been above the doors? I do not say that; but I affirm that He announced beforehand the future salvation for the human race through the blood of Christ . For the sign of the scarlet thread, which the spies, sent to Jericho by Joshua, son of Nave (Nun), gave to Rahab the harlot, telling her to bind it to the window through which she let them down to escape from their enemies, also manifested the symbol of the blood of Christ , by which those who were at one time harlots and unrighteous persons out of all nations are saved, receiving remission of sins , and continuing no longer in sin .

Justin: The mystery , then, of the lamb which God enjoined to be sacrificed as the passover, was a type of Christ; with whose blood, in proportion to their faith in Him, they anoint their houses, i.e., themselves, who believe in Him. For that the creation which God created — to wit, Adam — was a house for the spirit which proceeded from God , you all can understand. And that this injunction was temporary, I prove thus. God does not permit the lamb of the passover to be sacrificed in any other place than where His name was named; knowing that the days will come, after the suffering of Christ , when even the place in Jerusalem shall be given over to your enemies, and all the offerings, in short, shall cease; and that lamb which was commanded to be wholly roasted was a symbol of the suffering of the cross which Christ would undergo.

For the lamb, which is roasted, is roasted and dressed up in the form of the cross. For one spit is transfixed right through from the lower parts up to the head, and one across the back, to which are attached the legs of the lamb.

And the two goats which were ordered to be offered during the fast, of which one was sent away as the scape [goat], and the other sacrificed , were similarly declarative of the two appearances of Christ: the first, in which the elders of your people, and the priests , having laid hands on Him and put Him to death, sent Him away as the scape [goat]; and His second appearance, because in the same place in Jerusalem you shall recognise Him whom you have dishonoured, and who was an offering for all sinners willing to repent, and keeping the fast which Isaiah speaks of, loosening the terms of the violent contracts, and keeping the other precepts, likewise enumerated by him, and which I have quoted, which those believing in Jesus do.

And further, you are aware that the offering of the two goats, which were enjoined to be sacrificed at the fast, was not permitted to take place similarly anywhere else, but only in Jerusalem.

Justin: And the offering of fine flour, sirs, which was prescribed to be presented on behalf of those purified from leprosy , was a type of the bread of the Eucharist , the celebration of which our Lord Jesus Christ prescribed, in remembrance of the suffering which He endured on behalf of those who are purified in soul from all iniquity, in order that we may at the same time thank God for having created the world, with all things therein, for the sake of man , and for delivering us from the evil in which we were, and for utterly overthrowing principalities and powers by Him who suffered according to His will .

Hence God speaks by the mouth of Malachi, one of the twelve [ prophets ], as I said before, about the sacrifices at that time presented by you: 'I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord; and I will not accept your sacrifices at your hands: for, from the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same, My name has been glorified among the Gentiles , and in every place incense is offered to My name, and a pure offering: for My name is great among the Gentiles , says the Lord: but you profane it.' Malachi 1:10-12 [So] He then speaks of those Gentiles , namely us, who in every place offer sacrifices to Him, i.e., the bread of the Eucharist , and also the cup of the Eucharist , affirming both that we glorify His name, and that you profane [it].

The command of circumcision , again, bidding [them] always circumcise the children on the eighth day, was a type of the true circumcision , by which we are circumcised from deceit and iniquity through Him who rose from the dead on the first day after the Sabbath , [namely through] our Lord Jesus Christ . For the first day after the Sabbath , remaining the first of all the days, is called, however, the eighth, according to the number of all the days of the cycle, and [yet] remains the first.

Justin: And God by Moses shows in another way the force of the mystery of the cross , when He said in the blessing wherewith Joseph was blessed, 'From the blessing of the Lord is his land; for the seasons of heaven, and for the dews, and for the deep springs from beneath, and for the seasonable fruits of the sun, and for the coming together of the months, and for the heights of the everlasting mountains, and for the heights of the hills, and for the ever-flowing rivers, and for the fruits of the fatness of the earth; and let the things accepted by Him who appeared in the bush come on the head and crown of Joseph.

Let him be glorified among his brethren; his beauty is [like] the firstling of a bullock; his horns the horns of an unicorn: with these shall he push the nations from one end of the earth to another.' Deuteronomy 33:13-17 Now, no one could say or prove that the horns of an unicorn represent any other fact or figure than the type which portrays the cross. For the one beam is placed upright, from which the highest extremity is raised up into a horn, when the other beam is fitted on to it, and the ends appear on both sides as horns joined on to the one horn. And the part which is fixed in the centre, on which are suspended those who are crucified, also stands out like a horn; and it also looks like a horn conjoined and fixed with the other horns.

And the expression, 'With these shall he push as with horns the nations from one end of the earth to another,' is indicative of what is now the fact among all the nations. For some out of all the nations , through the power of this mystery , having been so pushed, that is, pricked in their hearts, have turned from vain idols and demons to serve God. But the same figure is revealed for the destruction and condemnation of the unbelievers; even as Amalek was defeated and Israel victorious when the people came out of Egypt , by means of the type of the stretching out of Moses' hands, and the name of Jesus (Joshua), by which the son of Nave (Nun) was called.

And it seems that the type and sign, which was erected to counteract the serpents which bit Israel , was intended for the salvation of those who believe that death was declared to come thereafter on the serpent through Him that would be crucified, but salvation to those who had been bitten by him and had betaken themselves to Him that sent His Son into the world to be crucified. For the Spirit of prophecy by Moses did not teach us to believe in the serpent, since it shows us that he was cursed by God from the beginning; and in Isaiah tells us that he shall be put to death as an enemy by the mighty sword, which is Christ .

We do not act as fools, O Greeks, nor utter idle tales, when we announce that God was born in the form of a man . I call on you who reproach us to compare your mythical accounts with our narrations. Athené, as they say, took the form of Deïphobus for the sake of Hector, and the unshorn Phoœbus for the sake of Admetus fed the trailing-footed oxen, and the spouse us came as an old woman to Semele. But, while you treat seriously such things, how can you deride us? Your Asclepios died, and he who ravished fifty virgins in one night at Thespiæ lost his life by delivering himself to the devouring flame. Prometheus, fastened to Caucasus, suffered punishment for his good deeds to men. According to you, Zeus is envious , and hides the dream from men, wishing their destruction.

Wherefore, looking at your own memorials, vouchsafe us your approval, though it were only as dealing in legends similar to your own. We, however, do not deal in folly, but your legends are only idle tales. If you speak of the origin of the gods, you also declare them to be mortal. For what reason is Hera now never pregnant? Has she grown old? Or is there no one to give you information? Believe me now, O Greeks, and do not resolve your myths and gods into allegory. If you attempt to do this, the divine nature as held by you is overthrown by your own selves; for, if the demons with you are such as they are said to be, they are worthless as to character; or, if regarded as symbols of the powers of nature, they are not what they are called.

But I cannot be persuaded to pay religious homage to the natural elements, nor can I undertake to persuade my neighbour. And Metrodorus of Lampsacus, in his treatise concerning Homer, has argued very foolishly, turning everything into allegory. For he says that neither Hera, nor Athené, nor Zeus are what those persons suppose who consecrate to them sacred enclosures and groves, but parts of nature and certain arrangements of the elements. Hector also, and Achilles, and Agamemnon, and all the Greeks in general, and the Barbarians with Helen and Paris, being of the same nature, you will of course say are introduced merely for the sake of the machinery of the poem, not one of these personages having really existed .

But these things we have put forth only for argument's sake; for it is not allowable even to compare our notion of God with those who are wallowing in matter and mud.

1. If, again, they declare that these things [below] are a shadow of those [above], as some of them are bold enough to maintain, so that in this respect they are images, then it will be necessary for them to allow that those things which are above are possessed of bodies. For those bodies which are above do cast a shadow, but spiritual substances do not, since they can in no degree darken others. If, however, we also grant them this point (though it is, in fact, an impossibility), that there is a shadow belonging to those essences which are spiritual and lucent, into which they declare their Mother descended; yet, since those things [which are above] are eternal , and that shadow which is cast by them endures for ever, [it follows that] these things [below] are also not transitory, but endure along with those which cast their shadow over them. If, on the other hand, these things [below] are transitory, it is a necessary consequence that those [above] also, of which these are the shadow, pass away; while; if they endure, their shadow likewise endures.

2. If, however, they maintain that the shadow spoken of does not exist as being produced by the shade of [those above], but simply in this respect, that [the things below] are far separated from those [above], they will then charge the light of their Father with weakness and insufficiency, as if it cannot extend so far as these things, but fails to fill that which is empty, and to dispel the shadow, and that when no one is offering any hindrance. For, according to them, the light of their Father will be changed into darkness and buried in obscurity, and will come to an end in those places which are characterized by emptiness, since it cannot penetrate and fill all things. Let them then no longer declare that their Bythus is the fullness of all things, if indeed he has neither filled nor illuminated that which is vacuum and shadow; or, on the other hand, let them cease talking of vacuum and shadow, if the light of their Father does in truth fill all things.

3. Beyond the primary Father, then — that is, the God who is over all — there can neither be any Pleroma into which they declare the Enthymesis of that Æon who suffered passion, descended (so that the Pleroma itself, or the primary God , should not be limited and circumscribed by that which is beyond, and should, in fact, be contained by it); nor can vacuum or shadow have any existence , since the Father exists beforehand, so that His light cannot fail, and find end in a vacuum. It is, moreover, irrational and impious to conceive of a place in which He who is, according to them, Propator, and Proarche, and Father of all, and of this Pleroma, ceases and has an end. Nor, again, is it allowable, for the reasons already stated, to allege that some other being formed so vast a creation in the bosom of the Father , either with or without His consent. For it is equally impious and infatuated to affirm that so great a creation was formed by angels , or by some particular production ignorant of the true God in that territory which is His own. Nor is it possible that those things which are earthly and material could have been formed within their Pleroma, since that is wholly spiritual. And further, it is not even possible that those things which belong to a multiform creation, and have been formed with mutually opposite qualities [could have been created] after the image of the things above, since these (i.e., the Æons ) are said to be few, and of a like formation, and homogeneous.…

1. As regards His greatness, therefore, it is not possible to know God , for it is impossible that the Father can be measured; but as regards His love (for this it is which leads us to God by His Word), when we obey Him, we do always learn that there is so great a God , and that it is He who by Himself has established, and selected, and adorned, and contains all things; and among the all things, both ourselves and this our world. We also then were made, along with those things which are contained by Him. And this is He of whom the Scripture says, And God formed man, taking clay of the earth, and breathed into his face the breath of life. Genesis 2:7 It was not angels , therefore, who made us, nor who formed us, neither had angels power to make an image of God , nor any one else, except the Word of the Lord, nor any Power remotely distant from the Father of all things. For God did not stand in need of these [beings], in order to the accomplishing of what He had Himself determined with Himself beforehand should be done, as if He did not possess His own hands. For with Him were always present the Word and Wisdom, the Son and the Spirit , by whom and in whom, freely and spontaneously, He made all things, to whom also He speaks, saying, Let Us make man after Our image and likeness; Genesis 1:26 He taking from Himself the substance of the creatures [formed], and the pattern of things made, and the type of all the adornments in the world.

2. Truly, then, the Scripture declared, which says, First of all believe that there is one God , who has established all things, and completed them, and having caused that from what had no being, all things should come into existence : He who contains all things, and is Himself contained by no one. Rightly also has Malachi said among the prophets : Is it not one God who has established us? Have we not all one Father? Malachi 2:10 In accordance with this, too, does the apostle say, There is one God , the Father , who is above all, and in us all. Ephesians 4:6 Likewise does the Lord also say: All things are delivered to Me by My Father; Matthew 11:27 manifestly by Him who made all things; for He did not deliver to Him the things of another, but His own. But in all things [it is implied that] nothing has been kept back [from Him], and for this reason the same person is the Judge of the living and the dead; having the key of David: He shall open, and no man shall shut: He shall shut, and no man shall open. Revelation 3:7 For no one was able, either in heaven or in earth, or under the earth, to open the book of the Father , or to behold Him, with the exception of the Lamb who was slain, and who redeemed us with His own blood, receiving power over all things from the same God who made all things by the Word, and adorned them by [His] Wisdom, when the Word was made flesh ; that even as the Word of God had the sovereignty in the heavens, so also might He have the sovereignty in…

3. I have also largely demonstrated, that the Word, namely the Son , was always with the Father; and that Wisdom also, which is the Spirit , was present with Him, anterior to all creation, He declares by Solomon: God by Wisdom founded the earth, and by understanding has He established the heaven. By His knowledge the depths burst forth, and the clouds dropped down the dew. Proverbs 3:19-20 And again: The Lord created me the beginning of His ways in His work: He set me up from everlasting, in the beginning, before He made the earth, before He established the depths, and before the fountains of waters gushed forth; before the mountains were made strong, and before all the hills, He brought me forth. And again: When He prepared the heaven, I was with Him, and when He established the fountains of the deep; when He made the foundations of the earth strong, I was with Him preparing [them]. I was He in whom He rejoiced, and throughout all time I was daily glad before His face, when He rejoiced at the completion of the world, and was delighted in the sons of men. Proverbs 8:27-31

4. There is therefore one God , who by the Word and Wisdom created and arranged all things; but this is the Creator ( Demiurge ) who has granted this world to the human race , and who, as regards His greatness, is indeed unknown to all who have been made by Him (for no man has searched out His height, either among the ancients who have gone to their rest, or any of those who are now alive); but as regards His love , He is always known through Him by whose means He ordained all things. Now this is His Word, our Lord Jesus Christ , who in the last times was made a man among men , that He might join the end to the beginning, that is, man to God . Wherefore the prophets , receiving the prophetic gift from the same Word, announced His advent according to the flesh, by which the blending and communion of God and man took place according to the good pleasure of the Father , the Word of God foretelling from the beginning that God should be seen by men , and hold converse with them upon earth, should confer with them, and should be present with His own creation, saving it, and becoming capable of being perceived by it, and freeing us from the hands of all that hate us, that is, from every spirit of wickedness ; and causing us to serve Him in holiness and righteousness all our days, Luke 1:71, 75 in order that man, having embraced the Spirit of God , might pass into the glory of the Father.

1. A spiritual disciple of this sort truly receiving the Spirit of God , who was from the beginning, in all the dispensations of God , present with mankind , and announced things future, revealed things present, and narrated things past — [such a man] does indeed judge all men , but is himself judged by no man. For he judges the Gentiles , who serve the creature more than the Creator, Romans 1:21 and with a reprobate mind spend all their labour on vanity. And he also judges the Jews , who do not accept of the word of liberty, nor are willing to go forth free, although they have a Deliverer present [with them]; but they pretend, at a time unsuitable [for such conduct], to serve, [with observances] beyond [those required by] the law, God who stands in need of nothing, and do not recognise the advent of Christ , which He accomplished for the salvation of men , nor are willing to understand that all the prophets announced His two advents: the one, indeed, in which He became a man subject to stripes, and knowing what it is to bear infirmity, Isaiah 53:3 and sat upon the foal of an ass, Zechariah 9:9 and was a stone rejected by the builders, and was led as a sheep to the slaughter, Isaiah 53:7 and by the stretching forth of His hands destroyed Amalek; Exodus 17:11 while He gathered from the ends of the earth into His Father's fold the children who were scattered abroad, Isaiah 11:12 and remembered His own dead ones who had formerly fallen asleep, and came down to them that He…

2. Moreover, he shall also examine the doctrine of Marcion , [inquiring] how he holds that there are two gods, separated from each other by an infinite distance. Or how can he be good who draws away men that do not belong to him from him who made them, and calls them into his own kingdom? And why is his goodness, which does not save all [thus], defective? Also, why does he, indeed, seem to be good as respects men, but most unjust with regard to him who made men, inasmuch as he deprives him of his possessions? Moreover, how could the Lord, with any justice , if He belonged to another father, have acknowledged the bread to be His body, while He took it from that creation to which we belong, and affirmed the mixed cup to be His blood? And why did He acknowledge Himself to be the Son of man , if He had not gone through that birth which belongs to a human being? How, too, could He forgive us those sins for which we are answerable to our Maker and God? And how, again, supposing that He was not flesh, but was a man merely in appearance, could He have been crucified, and could blood and water have issued from His pierced side? John 19:34 What body, moreover, was it that those who buried Him consigned to the tomb? And what was that which rose again from the dead?

3. [This spiritual man] shall also judge all the followers of Valentinus , because they do indeed confess with the tongue one God the Father , and that all things derive their existence from Him, but do at the same time maintain that He who formed all things is the fruit of an apostasy or defect. [He shall judge them, too, because] they do in like manner confess with the tongue one Lord Jesus Christ , the Son of God , but assign in their [system of] doctrine a production of his own to the Only-begotten, one of his own also to the Word, another to Christ , and yet another to the Saviour; so that, according to them, all these beings are indeed said [in Scripture to be], as it were, one; [while they maintain], notwithstanding, that each one of them should be understood [to exist] separately [from the rest], and to have [had] his own special origin, according to his peculiar conjunction. [It appears], then that their tongues alone, forsooth, have conceded the unity [of God], while their [real] opinion and their understanding (by their habit of investigating profundities) have fallen away from [this doctrine of] unity, and taken up the notion of manifold deities — [this, I say, must appear] when they shall be examined by Christ as to the points [of doctrine] which they have invented. Him, too, they affirm to have been born at a later period than the Pleroma of the Æons , and that His production took place after [the occurrence of] a degeneracy or apostasy ; and they maintain…

4. He will judge also the Ebionites ; [for] how can they be saved unless it was God who wrought out their salvation upon earth? Or how shall man pass into God , unless God has [first] passed into man? And how shall he (man) escape from the generation subject to death, if not by means of a new generation, given in a wonderful and unexpected manner (but as a sign of salvation ) by God — [I mean] that regeneration which flows from the virgin through faith ? Or how shall they receive adoption from God if they remain in this [kind of] generation, which is naturally possessed by man in this world? And how could He (Christ) have been greater than Solomon, Matthew 12:41-42 or greater than Jonah, or have been the Lord of David, Matthew 22:43 who was of the same substance as they were? How, too, could He have subdued Matthew 22:29 ; Luke 11:21-22 him who was stronger than men, who had not only overcome man, but also retained him under his power, and conquered him who had conquered, while he set free mankind who had been conquered, unless He had been greater than man who had thus been vanquished? But who else is superior to, and more eminent than, that man who was formed after the likeness of God , except the Son of God , after whose image man was created? And for this reason He did in these last days exhibit the similitude; [for] the Son of God was made man, assuming the ancient production [of His hands] into His own nature, as I have shown in the immediately preceding book.

On the fourth day the luminaries were made; because God , who possesses foreknowledge, knew the follies of the vain philosophers , that they were going to say, that the things which grow on the earth are produced from the heavenly bodies, so as to exclude God. In order, therefore, that the truth might be obvious, the plants and seeds were produced prior to the heavenly bodies, for what is posterior cannot produce that which is prior. And these contain the pattern and type of a great mystery . For the sun is a type of God , and the moon of man. And as the sun far surpasses the moon in power and glory , so far does God surpass man. And as the sun remains ever full, never becoming less, so does God always abide perfect, being full of all power, and understanding, and wisdom, and immortality , and all good.

But the moon wanes monthly, and in a manner dies, being a type of man; then it is born again, and is crescent, for a pattern of the future resurrection. In like manner also the three days which were before the luminaries, are types of the Trinity, of God , and His Word, and His wisdom. And the fourth is the type of man , who needs light, that so there may be God , the Word, wisdom, man. Wherefore also on the fourth day the lights were made. The disposition of the stars, too, contains a type of the arrangement and order of the righteous and pious , and of those who keep the law and commandments of God . For the brilliant and bright stars are an imitation of the prophets , and therefore they remain fixed, not declining, nor passing from place to place.

And those which hold the second place in brightness, are types of the people of the righteous. And those, again, which change their position, and flee from place to place, which also are called planets, they too are a type of the men who have wandered from God , abandoning His law and commandments.

That, then, Pædagogy is the training of children ( παίδων ἀγωγή ), is clear from the word itself. It remains for us to consider the children whom Scripture points to; then to give the pædagogue charge of them. We are the children. In many ways Scripture celebrates us, and describes us in manifold figures of speech, giving variety to the simplicity of the faith by diverse names. Accordingly, in the Gospel , the Lord, standing on the shore, says to the disciples — they happened to be fishing — and called aloud, Children, have you any meat? John 21:4-5 — addressing those that were already in the position of disciples as children.

And they brought to Him, it is said, children, that He might put His hands on them and bless them; and when His disciples hindered them, Jesus said, Suffer the children, and forbid them not to come to Me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven . Matthew 19:14 What the expression means the Lord Himself shall declare, saying, Unless you be converted, and become as little chidren, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven ; Matthew 18:3 not in that place speaking figuratively of regeneration, but setting before us, for our imitation, the simplicity that is in children. The prophetic spirit also distinguishes us as children. Plucking, it is said, branches of olives or palms, the children went forth to meet the Lord, and cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David!

Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord; Matthew 21:9 light, and glory , and praise, with supplication to the Lord: for this is the meaning of the expression Hosanna when rendered in Greek. And the Scripture appears to me, in allusion to the prophecy just mentioned, reproachfully to upbraid the thoughtless: Have you never read, Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings You have perfected praise? In this way the Lord in the Gospels spurs on His disciples , urging them to attend to Him, hastening as He was to the Father; rendering His hearers more eager by the intimation that after a little He was to depart, and showing them that it was requisite that they should take more unsparing advantage of the truth than ever before, as the Word was to ascend to heaven.

Again, therefore, He calls them children; for He says, Children, a little while I am with you. John 13:33 And, again, He likens the kingdom of heaven to children sitting in the market-places and saying, We have piped unto you, and you have not danced; we have mourned, and you have not lamented; and whatever else He added agreeably thereto. And it is not alone the Gospel that holds these sentiments. Prophecy also agrees with it. David accordingly says, Praise, O children, the Lord; praise the name of the Lord . It says also by Esaias, Here am I, and the children that God has given me. Isaiah 8:18 Are you amazed, then, to hear that men who belong to the nations are sons in the Lord's sight?

We have ample means of encountering those who are given to carping. For we are not termed children and infants with reference to the childish and contemptible character of our education, as those who are inflated on account of knowledge have calumniously alleged. Straightway, on our regeneration, we attained that perfection after which we aspired. For we were illuminated, which is to know God. He is not then imperfect who knows what is perfect. And do not reprehend me when I profess to know God ; for so it was deemed right to speak to the Word, and He is free. For at the moment of the Lord's baptism there sounded a voice from heaven, as a testimony to the Beloved, You are My beloved Son , today have I begotten You. Let us then ask the wise, Is Christ, begotten today, already perfect, or — what were most monstrous — imperfect?

If the latter, there is some addition He requires yet to make. But for Him to make any addition to His knowledge is absurd, since He is God . For none can be superior to the Word, or the teacher of the only Teacher. Will they not then own, though reluctant, that the perfect Word born of the perfect Father was begotten in perfection, according to œconomic fore-ordination? And if He was perfect, why was He, the perfect one, baptized ? It was necessary, they say, to fulfil the profession that pertained to humanity. Most excellent. Well, I assert, simultaneously with His baptism by John, He becomes perfect? Manifestly. He did not then learn anything more from him? Certainly not. But He is perfected by the washing — of baptism — alone, and is sanctified by the descent of the Spirit? Such is the case.

The same also takes place in our case, whose exemplar Christ became. Being baptized , we are illuminated; illuminated, we become sons; being made sons, we are made perfect; being made perfect, we are made immortal . I, says He, have said that you are gods, and all sons of the Highest. This work is variously called grace , and illumination, and perfection, and washing: washing, by which we cleanse away our sins ; grace , by which the penalties accruing to transgressions are remitted; and illumination, by which that holy light of salvation is beheld, that is, by which we see God clearly. Now we call that perfect which wants nothing. For what is yet wanting to him who knows God? For it were truly monstrous that that which is not complete should be called a gift (or act) of God's grace . Being perfect, He consequently bestows perfect gifts.

As at His command all things were made, so on His bare wishing to bestow grace , ensues the perfecting of His grace . For the future of time is anticipated by the power of His volition. Further release from evils is the beginning of salvation . We then alone, who first have touched the confines of life, are already perfect; and we already live who are separated from death. Salvation, accordingly, is the following of Christ: For that which is in Him is life. John 1:4 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that hears My words, and believes in Him that sent Me, has eternal life, and comes not into condemnation, but has passed from death to life. John 5:24 Thus believing alone, and regeneration, is perfection in life; for God is never weak.

Since, then, we have shown that all of us are by Scripture called children; and not only so, but that we who have followed Christ are figuratively called babes; and that the Father of all alone is perfect, for the Son is in Him, and the Father is in the Son; it is time for us in due course to say who our Instructor is. He is called Jesus. Sometimes He calls Himself a shepherd, and says, I am the good Shepherd. John 10:11 According to a metaphor drawn from shepherds, who lead the sheep, is hereby understood the Instructor, who leads the children — the Shepherd who tends the babes. For the babes are simple, being figuratively described as sheep. And they shall all, it is said, be one flock, and one shepherd. John 10:16 The Word, then, who leads the children to salvation , is appropriately called the Instructor (Pædagogue).

With the greatest clearness, accordingly, the Word has spoken respecting Himself by Hosea: I am your Instructor. Now piety is instruction, being the learning of the service of God , and training in the knowledge of the truth , and right guidance which leads to heaven. And the word instruction is employed variously. For there is the instruction of him who is led and learns, and that of him who leads and teaches; and there is, thirdly, the guidance itself; and fourthly, what is taught, as the commandments enjoined. Now the instruction which is of God is the right direction of truth to the contemplation of God , and the exhibition of holy deeds in everlasting perseverance.

As therefore the general directs the phalanx, consulting the safety of his soldiers, and the pilot steers the vessel, desiring to save the passengers; so also the Instructor guides the children to a saving course of conduct, through solicitude for us; and, in general, whatever we ask in accordance with reason from God to be done for us, will happen to those who believe in the Instructor.

And just as the helmsman does not always yield to the winds, but sometimes, turning the prow towards them, opposes the whole force of the hurricanes; so the Instructor never yields to the blasts that blow in this world, nor commits the child to them like a vessel to make shipwreck on a wild and licentious course of life; but, wafted on by the favouring breeze of the Spirit of truth , stoutly holds on to the child's helm — his ears, I mean — until He bring him safe to anchor in the haven of heaven. What is called by men an ancestral custom passes away in a moment, but the divine guidance is a possession which abides forever. They say that Phœnix was the instructor of Achilles, and Adrastus of the children of Crœsus; and Leonides of Alexander, and Nausithous of Philip. But Phœnix was women-mad, Adrastus was a fugitive.

Now the sacrifice which is acceptable to God is unswerving abstraction from the body and its passions . This is the really true piety . And is not, on this account, philosophy rightly called by Socrates the practice of Death? For he who neither employs his eyes in the exercise of thought, nor draws anything from his other senses, but with pure mind itself applies to objects, practices the true philosophy . This is, then, the import of the silence of five years prescribed by Pythagoras, which he enjoined on his disciples ; that, abstracting themselves from the objects of sense, they might with the mind alone contemplate the Deity. It was from Moses that the chief of the Greeks drew these philosophical tenets. For he commands holocausts to be skinned and divided into parts.

For the gnostic soul must be consecrated to the light, stript of the integuments of matter, devoid of the frivolousness of the body and of all the passions , which are acquired through vain and lying opinions, and divested of the lusts of the flesh. But the most of men , clothed with what is perishable, like cockles, and rolled all round in a ball in their excesses, like hedgehogs, entertain the same ideas of the blessed and incorruptible God as of themselves. But it has escaped their notice, though they be near us, that God has bestowed on us ten thousand things in which He does not share: birth, being Himself unborn; food, He wanting nothing; and growth, He being always equal; and long life and immortality , He being immortal and incapable of growing old.

Wherefore let no one imagine that hands, and feet, and mouth, and eyes, and going in and coming out, and resentments and threats, are said by the Hebrews to be attributes of God . By no means; but that certain of these appellations are used more sacredly in an allegorical sense, which, as the discourse proceeds, we shall explain at the proper time. Wisdom of all medicines is the Panacea, writes Callimachus in the Epigrams . And one becomes wise from another, both in past times and at present, says Bacchylides in the Pœans; for it is not very easy to find the portals of unutterable words. Beautifully, therefore, Isocrates writes in the Panathenaic , having put the question, Who, then, are well trained?

adds, First, those who manage well the things which occur each day, whose opinion jumps with opportunity, and is able for the most part to hit on what is beneficial; then those who behave becomingly and rightly to those who approach them, who take lightly and easily annoyances and molestations offered by others, but conduct themselves as far as possible, to those with whom they have intercourse, with consummate care and moderation; further, those who have the command of their pleasures, and are not too much overcome by misfortunes, but conduct themselves in the midst of them with manliness, and in a way worthy of the nature which we share; fourth — and this is the greatest — those who are not corrupted by prosperity, and are not put beside themselves, or made haughty , but continue in the class of sensible people.

Let us add in completion what follows, and exhibit now with greater clearness the plagiarism of the Greeks from the Barbarian philosophy . Now the Stoics say that God , like the soul , is essentially body and spirit. You will find all this explicitly in their writings. Do not consider at present their allegories as the gnostic truth presents them; whether they show one thing and mean another, like the dexterous athletes. Well, they say that God pervades all being; while we call Him solely Maker, and Maker by the Word. They were misled by what is said in the book of Wisdom: He pervades and passes through all by reason of His purity; Wisdom 7:24 since they did not understand that this was said of Wisdom, which was the first of the creation of God . So be it, they say.

But the philosophers , the Stoics , and Plato , and Pythagoras, nay more, Aristotle the Peripatetic, suppose the existence of matter among the first principles; and not one first principle. Let them then know that what is called matter by them, is said by them to be without quality, and without form , and more daringly said by Plato to be non- existence . And does he not say very mystically , knowing that the true and real first cause is one, in these very words: Now, then, let our opinion be so. As to the first principle or principles of the universe , or what opinion we ought to entertain about all these points, we are not now to speak, for no other cause than on account of its being difficult to explain our sentiments in accordance with the present form of discourse.

But undoubtedly that prophetic expression, Now the earth was invisible and formless, supplied them with the ground of material essence . And the introduction of chance was hence suggested to Epicurus , who misapprehended the statement, Vanity of vanities, and all is vanity. And it occurred to Aristotle to extend Providence as far as the moon from this psalm: Lord, Your mercy is in the heavens; and Your truth reaches to the clouds. For the explanation of the prophetic mysteries had not yet been revealed previous to the advent of the Lord. Punishments after death, on the other hand, and penal retribution by fire, were pilfered from the Barbarian philosophy both by all the poetic Muses and by the Hellenic philosophy .

Plato , accordingly, in the last book of the Republic , says in these express terms: Then these men fierce and fiery to look on, standing by, and hearing the sound, seized and took some aside; and binding Aridæus and the rest hand, foot, and head, and throwing them down, and flaying them, dragged them along the way, tearing their flesh with thorns. For the fiery men are meant to signify the angels , who seize and punish the wicked . Who makes, it is said, His angels spirits; His ministers flaming fire. It follows from this that the soul is immortal . For what is tortured or corrected being in a state of sensation lives, though said to suffer. Well!

The Gnostic , then, is impressed with the closest likeness, that is, with the mind of the Master; which He being possessed of, commanded and recommended to His disciples and to the prudent . Comprehending this, as He who taught wished, and receiving it in its grand sense, he teaches worthily on the housetops Matthew 10:27 ; Luke 12:3 those capable of being built to a lofty height; and begins the doing of what is spoken, in accordance with the example of life. For He enjoined what is possible. And, in truth , the kingly man and Christian ought to be ruler and leader. For we are commanded to be lords over not only the wild beasts without us, but also over the wild passions within ourselves. Through the knowledge , then, as appears, of a bad and good life is the Gnostic saved, understanding and executing more than the scribes and Pharisees .

Matthew 5:20 Exert yourself, and prosper, and reign writes David, because of truth , and meekness, and righteousness; and your right hand shall guide you marvellously, that is, the Lord. Who then is the wise? And he shall understand these things. Prudent? And he shall know them. For the ways of the Lord are right, Hosea 14:9 says the prophet , showing that the Gnostic alone is able to understand and explain the things spoken by the Spirit obscurely. And he who understands in that time shall hold his peace, Amos 5:13 says the Scripture , plainly in the way of declaring them to the unworthy. For the Lord says, He that has ears to hear, let him hear, Matthew 11:15 declaring that hearing and understanding belong not to all. To the point David writes: Dark water is in the clouds of the skies.

At the gleam before Him the clouds passed, hail and coals of fire; showing that the holy words are hidden. He intimates that transparent and resplendent to the Gnostics , like the innocuous hail, they are sent down from God ; but that they are dark to the multitude, like extinguished coals out of the fire, which, unless kindled and set on fire, will not give forth fire or light. The Lord, therefore, it is said, gives me the tongue of instruction, so as to know in season when it is requisite to speak a word; Isaiah 50:4 not in the way of testimony alone, but also in the way of question and answer. And the instruction of the Lord opens my mouth. Isaiah 50:5 It is the prerogative of the Gnostic , then, to know how to make use of speech, and when, and how, and to whom.

And already the apostle, by saying, After the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ, Colossians 2:8 makes the asseveration that the Hellenic teaching is elementary, and that of Christ perfect, as we have already intimated before. Now the wild olive is inserted into the fatness of the olive, Romans 12:17 and is indeed of the same species as the cultivated olives. For the graft uses as soil the tree in which it is engrafted. Now all the plants sprouted forth simultaneously in consequence of the divine order. Wherefore also, though the wild olive be wild, it crowns the Olympic victors. And the elm teaches the vine to be fruitful, by leading it up to a height. Now we see that wild trees attract more nutriment, because they cannot ripen. The wild trees, therefore, have less power of secretion than those that are cultivated.

Let the Decalogue be set forth cursorily by us as a specimen for gnostic exposition. The number Ten. That ten is a sacred number, it is superfluous to say now. And if the tables that were written were the work of God , they will be found to exhibit physical creation. For by the finger of God is understood the power of God , by which the creation of heaven and earth is accomplished; of both of which the tables will be understood to be symbols . For the writing and handiwork of God put on the table is the creation of the world. And the Decalogue, viewed as an image of heaven, embraces sun and moon, stars, clouds, light, wind, water, air, darkness, fire. This is the physical Decalogue of the heaven.

And the representation of the earth contains men, cattle, reptiles, wild beasts; and of the inhabitants of the water, fishes and whales; and again, of the winged tribes, those that are carnivorous, and those that use mild food; and of plants likewise, both fruit-bearing and barren. This is the physical Decalogue of the earth. And the ark which held them will then be the knowledge of divine and human things and wisdom. And perhaps the two tables themselves may be the prophecy of the two covenants. They were accordingly mystically renewed, as ignorance along with sin abounded. The commandments are written, then, doubly, as appears, for twofold spirits, the ruling and the subject. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit , and the Spirit against the flesh.

Galatians 5:17 And there is a ten in man himself: the five senses, and the power of speech, and that of reproduction; and the eighth is the spiritual principle communicated at his creation; and the ninth the ruling faculty of the soul ; and tenth, there is the distinctive characteristic of the Holy Spirit , which comes to him through faith . Besides, in addition to these ten human parts, the law appear to give its injunctions to sight, and hearing, and smell, and touch, and taste, and to the organs subservient to these, which are double — the hands and the feet. For such is the formation of man. And the soul is introduced, and previous to it the ruling faculty, by which we reason, not produced in procreation; so that without it there is made up the number ten, of the faculties by which all the activity of man is carried out.

For in order, straightway on man's entering existence , his life begins with sensations. We accordingly assert that rational and ruling power is the cause of the constitution of the living creature; also that this, the irrational part, is animated, and is a part of it. Now the vital force, in which is comprehended the power of nutrition and growth, and generally of motion, is assigned to the carnal spirit, which has great susceptibility of motion, and passes in all directions through the senses and the rest of the body, and through the body is the primary subject of sensations. But the power of choice, in which investigation, and study, and knowledge , reside, belongs to the ruling faculty. But all the faculties are placed in relation to one — the ruling faculty: it is through that man lives, and lives in a certain way.

Of the Gnostic so much has been cursorily, as it were, written. We proceed now to the sequel, and must again contemplate faith ; for there are some that draw the distinction, that faith has reference to the Son , and knowledge to the Spirit. But it has escaped their notice that, in order to believe truly in the Son , we must believe that He is the Son , and that He came, and how, and for what, and respecting His passion ; and we must know who is the Son of God . Now neither is knowledge without faith , nor faith without knowledge . Nor is the Father without the Son; for the Son is with the Father. And the Son is the true teacher respecting the Father; and that we may believe in the Son , we must know the Father , with whom also is the Son.

Again, in order that we may know the Father , we must believe in the Son , that it is the Son of God who teaches; for from faith to knowledge by the Son is the Father. And the knowledge of the Son and Father, which is according to the gnostic rule — that which in reality is gnostic — is the attainment and comprehension of the truth by the truth . We, then, are those who are believers in what is not believed , and who are Gnostics as to what is unknown; that is, Gnostics as to what is unknown and disbelieved by all, but believed and known by a few; and Gnostics , not describing actions by speech, but Gnostics in the exercise of contemplation . Happy is he who speaks in the ears of the hearing. Now faith is the ear of the soul .

And such the Lord intimates faith to be, when He says, He that has ears to hear, let him hear; Matthew 11:15 so that by believing he may comprehend what He says, as He says it. Homer, too, the oldest of the poets, using the word hear instead of perceive — the specific for the generic term — writes:— Him most they heard. For, in fine, the agreement and harmony of the faith of both contribute to one end — salvation . We have in the apostle an unerring witness : For I desire to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, in order that you may be strengthened; that is, that I may be comforted in you, by the mutual faith of you and me. Romans 1:11-12 And further on again he adds, The righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith .

Romans 1:17 The apostle, then, manifestly announces a twofold faith , or rather one which admits of growth and perfection; for the common faith lies beneath as a foundation. To those, therefore, who desire to be healed, and are moved by faith , He added, Your faith has saved you. Matthew 9:22 But that which is excellently built upon is consummated in the believer, and is again perfected by the faith which results from instruction and the word, in order to the performance of the commandments. Such were the apostles , in whose case it is said that faith removed mountains and transplanted trees.

But since they will believe neither in what is good justly nor in knowledge unto salvation , we ourselves reckoning what they claim as belonging to us, because all things are God's; and especially since what is good proceeded from us to the Greeks, let us handle those things as they are capable of hearing. For intelligence or rectitude this great crowd estimates not by truth , but by what they are delighted with. And they will be pleased not more with other things than with what is like themselves.

For he who is still blind and dumb, not having understanding, or the undazzled and keen vision of the contemplative soul , which the Saviour confers, like the uninitiated at the mysteries , or the unmusical at dances, not being yet pure and worthy of the pure truth , but still discordant and disordered and material, must stand outside of the divine choir . For we compare spiritual things with spiritual. 1 Corinthians 2:13 Wherefore, in accordance with the method of concealment, the truly sacred Word, truly divine and most necessary for us, deposited in the shrine of truth , was by the Egyptians indicated by what were called among them adyta , and by the Hebrews by the veil.

Only the consecrated — that is, those devoted to God , circumcised in the desire of the passions for the sake of love to that which is alone divine — were allowed access to them. For Plato also thought it not lawful for the impure to touch the pure. Thence the prophecies and oracles are spoken in enigmas, and the mysteries are not exhibited incontinently to all and sundry, but only after certain purifications and previous instructions. For the Muse was not then Greedy of gain or mercenary; Nor were Terpsichore's sweet, Honey-toned, silvery soft-voiced Strains made merchandise of.

Now those instructed among the Egyptians learned first of all that style of the Egyptian letters which is called Epistolographic; and second, the Hieratic, which the sacred scribes practice; and finally, and last of all, the Hieroglyphic, of which one kind which is by the first elements is literal (Kyriologic), and the other Symbolic. Of the Symbolic, one kind speaks literally by imitation, and another writes as it were figuratively; and another is quite allegorical, using certain enigmas. Wishing to express Sun in writing, they makea circle; and Moon, a figure like the Moon, like its proper shape. But in using the figurative style, by transposing and transferring, by changing and by transforming in many ways as suits them, they draw characters. In relating the praises of the kings in theological myths, they write in anaglyphs.

Accordingly, before the advent of the Lord, philosophy was necessary to the Greeks for righteousness. And now it becomes conducive to piety ; being a kind of preparatory training to those who attain to faith through demonstration. For your foot, it is said, will not stumble, if you refer what is good , whether belonging to the Greeks or to us, to Providence. Proverbs 3:23 For God is the cause of all good things; but of some primarily, as of the Old and the New Testament ; and of others by consequence, as philosophy . Perchance, too, philosophy was given to the Greeks directly and primarily, till the Lord should call the Greeks. For this was a schoolmaster to bring the Hellenic mind , as the law, the Hebrews, to Christ . Galatians 3:24 Philosophy, therefore, was a preparation, paving the way for him who is perfected in Christ .

Now, says Solomon, defend wisdom, and it will exalt you, and it will shield you with a crown of pleasure. Proverbs 4:8-9 For when you have strengthened wisdom with a cope by philosophy , and with right expenditure, you will preserve it unassailable by sophists. The way of truth is therefore one. But into it, as into a perennial river, streams flow from all sides. It has been therefore said by inspiration: Hear, my son, and receive my words; that yours may be the many ways of life. For I teach you the ways of wisdom; that the fountains fail you not, which gush forth from the earth itself. Not only did He enumerate several ways of salvation for any one righteous man, but He added many other ways of many righteous, speaking thus: The paths of the righteous shine like the light.

Proverbs 4:18 The commandments and the modes of preparatory training are to be regarded as the ways and appliances of life. Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered your children, as a hen her chickens! Matthew 23:37 ; Luke 13:34 And Jerusalem is, when interpreted, a vision of peace. He therefore shows prophetically , that those who peacefully contemplate sacred things are in manifold ways trained to their calling. What then? He would, and could not. How often, and where? Twice; by the prophets , and by the advent. The expression, then, How often, shows wisdom to be manifold; every mode of quantity and quality, it by all means saves some, both in time and in eternity . For the Spirit of the Lord fills the earth.

And if any should violently say that the reference is to the Hellenic culture, when it is said, Give not heed to an evil woman ; for honey drops from the lips of a harlot, let him hear what follows: who lubricates your throat for the time. But philosophy does not flatter. Who, then, does He allude to as having committed fornication? He adds expressly, For the feet of folly lead those who use her, after death, to Hades. But her steps are not supported. Therefore remove your way far from silly pleasure. Stand not at the doors of her house, that you yield not your life to others. And He testifies, Then shall you repent in old age, when the flesh of your body is consumed. For this is the end of foolish pleasure. Such, indeed, is the case.

The Greek preparatory culture, therefore, with philosophy itself, is shown to have come down from God to men , not with a definite direction but in the way in which showers fall down on the good land, and on the dunghill, and on the houses. And similarly both the grass and the wheat sprout; and the figs and any other reckless trees grow on sepulchres. And things that grow, appear as a type of truths. For they enjoy the same influence of the rain. But they have not the same grace as those which spring up in rich soil, inasmuch as they are withered or plucked up. And here we are aided by the parable of the sower, which the Lord interpreted. For the husbandman of the soil which is among men is one; He who from the beginning, from the foundation of the world, sowed nutritious seeds; He who in each age rained down the Lord, the Word.

But the times and places which received [such gifts], created the differences which exist. Further, the husbandman sows not only wheat (of which there are many varieties), but also other seeds — barley, and beans, and peas, and vetches, and vegetable and flower seeds. And to the same husbandry belongs both planting and the operations necessary in the nurseries, and gardens, and orchards, and the planning and rearing of all sorts of trees. In like manner, not only the care of sheep, but the care of herds, and breeding of horses, and dogs, and bee-craft, all arts, and to speak comprehensively, the care of flocks and the rearing of animals, differ from each other more or less, but are all useful for life.

And philosophy — I do not mean the Stoic, or the Platonic , or the Epicurean, or the Aristotelian, but whatever has been well said by each of those sects , which teach righteousness along with a science pervaded by piety — this eclectic whole I call philosophy . But such conclusions of human reasonings, as men have cut away and falsified, I would never call divine. And now we must look also at this, that if ever those who know not how to do well, live well; for they have lighted on well-doing. Some, too, have aimed well at the word of truth through understanding. But Abraham was not justified by works, but by faith . Romans 4 It is therefore of no advantage to them after the end of life, even if they do good works now, if they have not faith .

Wherefore also the Scriptures were translated into the language of the Greeks, in order that they might never be able to allege the excuse of ignorance , inasmuch as they are able to hear also what we have in our hands, if they only wish. One speaks in one way of the truth , in another way the truth interprets itself. The guessing at truth is one thing, and truth itself is another. Resemblance is one thing, the thing itself is another. And the one results from learning and practice, the other from power and faith . For the teaching of piety is a gift, but faith is grace . For by doing the will of God we know the will of God . John 7:17 Open, then, says the Scripture , the gates of righteousness; and I will enter in, and confess to the Lord .

But it was not only the most highly intellectual of the Egyptians , but also such of other barbarians as prosecuted philosophy , that affected the symbolic style. They say, then, that Idanthuris king of the Scythians, as Pherecydes of Syros relates, sent to Darius, on his passing the Ister in threat of war , a symbol , instead of a letter, consisting of a mouse, a frog, a bird, a javelin, a plough. And there being a doubt in reference to them, as was to be expected, Orontopagas the Chiliarch said that they were to resign the kingdom; taking dwellings to be meant by the mouse, waters by the frog, air by the bird, land by the plough, arms by the javelin.

But Xiphodres interpreted the contrary; for he said, If we do not take our flight like birds, or like mice get below the earth, or like frogs beneath the water, we shall not escape their arrows; for we are not lords of the territory. It is said that Anacharsis the Scythian, while asleep, covered the pudenda with his left hand, and his mouth with his right, to intimate that both ought to be mastered, but that it was a greater thing to master the tongue than voluptuousness. And why should I linger over the barbarians, when I can adduce the Greeks as exceedingly addicted to the use of the method of concealment? Androcydes the Pythagorean says the far-famed so-called Ephesian letters were of the class of symbols .

For he said that ἄσκιον (shadowless) meant darkness, for it has no shadow; and κατάσκιον (shadowy) light, since it casts with its rays the shadow; and λίξ if is the earth, according to an ancient' appellation; and τετράς is the year, in reference to the seasons; and δαμναμενεύς is the sun, which overpowers ( δαμάζων ); and τὰ αἴσια is the true voice. And then the symbol intimates that divine things have been arranged in harmonious order — darkness to light, the sun to the year, and the earth to nature's processes of production of every sort.

Also Dionysius Thrax, the grammarian, in his book, Respecting the Exposition of the Symbolical Signification in Circles , says expressly, Some signified actions not by words only, but also by symbols : by words, as is the case of what are called the Delphic maxims, 'Nothing in excess,' 'Know yourself,' and the like; and by symbols , as the wheel that is turned in the temples of the gods, derived from the Egyptians , and the branches that are given to the worshippers. For the Thracian Orpheus says:— Whatever works of branches are a care to men on earth, Not one has one fate in the mind , but all things Revolve around; and it is not lawful to stand at one point, But each one keeps an equal part of the race as they began.

But, as appears, I have, in my eagerness to establish my point, insensibly gone beyond what is requisite. For life would fail me to adduce the multitude of those who philosophize in a symbolic manner. For the sake, then, of memory and brevity, and of attracting to the truth , such are the Scriptures of the Barbarian philosophy . For only to those who often approach them, and have given them a trial by faith and in their whole life, will they supply the real philosophy and the true theology. They also wish us to require an interpreter and guide. For so they considered, that, receiving truth at the hands of those who knew it well, we would be more earnest and less liable to deception, and those worthy of them would profit.

Besides, all things that shine through a veil show the truth grander and more imposing; as fruits shining through water, and figures through veils, which give added reflections to them. For, in addition to the fact that things unconcealed are perceived in one way, the rays of light shining round reveal defects. Since, then, we may draw several meanings, as we do from what is expressed in veiled form, such being the case, the ignorant and unlearned man fails. But the Gnostior apprehends.

Now, then, it is not wished that all things should be exposed indiscriminately to all and sundry, or the benefits of wisdom communicated to those who have not even in a dream been purified in soul , (for it is not allowed to hand to every chance comer what has been procured with such laborious efforts); nor are the mysteries of the word to be expounded to the profane. They say, then, that Hipparchus the Pythagorean , being guilty of writing the tenets of Pythagoras in plain language, was expelled from the school, and a pillar raised for him as if he had been dead. Wherefore also in the Barbarian philosophy they call those dead who have fallen away from the dogmas , and have placed the mind in subjection to carnal passions . For what fellowship has righteousness and iniquity? according to the divine apostle.

Or what communion has light with darkness? Or what concord has Christ with Belial ? Or what portion has the believer with the unbeliever? 2 Corinthians 6:14-15 For the honours of the Olympians and of mortals lie apart. Wherefore also go forth from the midst of them, and be separated, says the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be to you for a Father, and you shall be my sons and daughters. 2 Corinthians 6:17-18 It was not only the Pythagoreans and Plato then, that concealed many things; but the Epicureans too say that they have things that may not be uttered, and do not allow all to peruse those writings. The Stoics also say that by the first Zeno things were written which they do not readily allow disciples to read, without their first giving proof whether or not they are genuine philosophers .

This interpretation of ours will derive confirmation, when, on your supposing that Christ is in any passage called a warrior, from the mention of certain arms and expressions of that sort, you weigh well the analogy of their other meanings, and draw your conclusions accordingly. Gird on Your sword, says David, upon Your thigh. But what do you read about Christ just before? You are fairer than the children of men; grace is poured forth upon Your lips. It amuses me to imagine that blandishments of fair beauty and graceful lips are ascribed to one who had to gird on His sword for war ! So likewise, when it is added, Ride on prosperously in Your majesty, the reason is subjoined: Because of truth , and meekness, and righteousness.

But who shall produce these results with the sword, and not their opposites rather — deceit, and harshness, and injury — which, it must be confessed, are the proper business of battles? Let us see, therefore, whether that is not some other sword, which has so different an action. Now the Apostle John, in the Apocalypse, describes a sword which proceeded from the mouth of God as a doubly sharp, two-edged one. Revelation 1:16 This may be understood to be the Divine Word, who is doubly edged with the two testaments of the law and the gospel — sharpened with wisdom, hostile to the devil , arming us against the spiritual enemies of all wickedness and concupiscence, and cutting us off from the dearest objects for the sake of God's holy name.

If, however, you will not acknowledge John, you have our common master Paul , who girds our loins about with truth , and puts on us the breastplate of righteousness, and shoes us with the preparation of the gospel of peace, not of war ; who bids us take the shield of faith , wherewith we may be able to quench all the fiery darts of the devil , and the helmet of salvation , and the sword of the Spirit , which (he says) is the word of God . Ephesians 6:14-17 This sword the Lord Himself came to send on earth, and not peace. Matthew 10:34 If he is your Christ, then even he is a warrior. If he is not a warrior, and the sword he brandishes is an allegorical one, then the Creator's Christ in the psalm too may have been girded with the figurative sword of the Word, without any martial gear.

The above-mentioned fairness of His beauty and grace of His lips would quite suit such a sword, girt as it even then was upon His thigh in the passage of David, and sent as it would one day be by Him on earth. For this is what He says: Ride on prosperously in Your majesty — advancing His word into every land, so as to call all nations: destined to prosper in the success of that faith which received Him, and reigning , from the fact that He conquered death by His resurrection . Your right hand, says He, shall wonderfully lead You forth, even the might of Your spiritual grace , whereby the knowledge of Christ is spread. Your arrows are sharp; everywhere Your precepts fly about, Your threatenings also, and convictions of heart, pricking and piercing each conscience . The people shall fall under You, that is, in adoration.

Now if he caught at the name Christ , just as the pickpocket clutches the dole-basket, why did he wish to be called Jesus too, by a name which was not so much looked for by the Jews ? For although we, who have by God's grace attained to the understanding of His mysteries , acknowledge that this name also was destined for Christ , yet, for all that, the fact was not known to the Jews , from whom wisdom was taken away. To this day, in short, it is Christ that they are looking for, not Jesus; and they interpret Elias to be Christ rather than Jesus. He, therefore, who came also in a name in which Christ was not expected, might have come only in that name which was solely anticipated for Him. But since he has mixed up the two, the expected one and the unexpected, his twofold project is defeated.

For if he be Christ for the very purpose of insinuating himself as the Creator's, then Jesus opposes him, because Jesus was not looked for in the Christ of the Creator; or if he be Jesus , in order that he might pass as belonging to the other (God), then Christ hinders him, because Christ was not expected to belong to any other than the Creator. I know not which one of these names may be able to hold its ground. In the Christ of the Creator, however, both will keep their place, for in Him a Jesus too is found. Do you ask, how? Learn it then here, with the Jews also who are partakers of your heresy . When Oshea the son of Nun was destined to be the successor of Moses , is not his old name then changed, and for the first time he is called Joshua? It is true , you say. This, then, we first observe, was a figure of Him who was to come.

For inasmuch as Jesus Christ was to introduce a new generation (because we are born in the wilderness of this world) into the promised land which flows with milk and honey, that is, into the possession of eternal life, than which nothing can be sweeter; inasmuch, too, as this was to be brought about not by Moses , that is to say, not by the discipline of the law, but by Joshua, by the grace of the gospel, our circumcision being effected by a knife of stone, that is, (by the circumcision ) of Christ , for Christ is a rock (or stone), therefore that great man, who was ordained as a type of this mystery , was actually consecrated with the figure of the Lord's own name, being called Joshua. This name Christ Himself even then testified to be His own, when He talked with Moses .

For who was it that talked with him, but the Spirit of the Creator, which is Christ? When He therefore spoke this commandment to the people, Behold, I send my angel before your face, to keep you in the way, and to bring you into the land which I have prepared for you; attend to him, and obey his voice and do not provoke him; for he has not shunned you, since my name is upon him, Exodus 23:20-21 He called him an angel indeed, because of the greatness of the powers which he was to exercise, and because of his prophetic office, while announcing the will of God ; but Joshua also (Jesus), because it was a type of His own future name.

On the subject of His death, I suppose, you endeavour to introduce a diversity of opinion, simply because you deny that the suffering of the cross was predicted of the Christ of the Creator, and because you contend, moreover, that it is not to be believed that the Creator would expose His Son to that kind of death on which He had Himself pronounced a curse. Cursed, says He, is every one who hangs on a tree. But what is meant by this curse, worthy as it is of the simple prediction of the cross , of which we are now mainly inquiring, I defer to consider, because in another passage we have given the reason of the thing preceded by proof . First, I shall offer a full explanation of the types.

And no doubt it was proper that this mystery should be prophetically set forth by types, and indeed chiefly by that method: for in proportion to its incredibility would it be a stumbling-block, if it were set forth in bare prophecy ; and in proportion too, to its grandeur, was the need of obscuring it in shadow, that the difficulty of understanding it might lead to prayer for the grace of God . First, then, Isaac, when he was given up by his father as an offering, himself carried the wood for his own death. By this act he even then was setting forth the death of Christ , who was destined by His Father as a sacrifice , and carried the cross whereon He suffered.

Joseph likewise was a type of Christ , not indeed on this ground (that I may not delay my course ), that he suffered persecution for the cause of God from his brethren, as Christ did from His brethren after the flesh, the Jews ; but when he is blessed by his father in these words: His glory is that of a bullock; his horns are the horns of a unicorn; with them shall he push the nations to the very ends of the earth, Deuteronomy 33:17 — he was not, of course, designated as a mere unicorn with its one horn, or a minotaur with two; but Christ was indicated in him — a bullock in respect of both His characteristics: to some as severe as a Judge, to others gentle as a Saviour, whose horns were the extremities of His cross.

For of the antenna, which is a part of a cross, the ends are called horns ; while the midway stake of the whole frame is the unicorn . By this virtue , then, of His cross, and in this manner horned, He is both now pushing all nations through faith , bearing them away from earth to heaven; and will then push them through judgment, casting them down from heaven to earth. He will also, according to another passage in the same scripture, be a bullock, when He is spiritually interpreted to be Jacob against Simeon and Levi, which means against the scribes and the Pharisees ; for it was from them that these last derived their origin. Like Simeon and Levi, they consummated their wickedness by their heresy , with which they persecuted Christ.

I am accustomed in my prescription against all heresies , to fix my compendious criterion (of truth ) in the testimony of time ; claiming priority therein as our rule, and alleging lateness to be the characteristic of every heresy . This shall now be proved even by the apostle, when he says: For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel; which has come unto you, as it is unto all the world. Colossians 1:5-6 For if, even at that time, the tradition of the gospel had spread everywhere, how much more now! Now, if it is our gospel which has spread everywhere, rather than any heretical gospel, much less Marcion's , which only dates from the reign of Antoninus , then ours will be the gospel of the apostles .

But should Marcion's gospel succeed in filling the whole world, it would not even in that case be entitled to the character of apostolic. For this quality, it will be evident, can only belong to that gospel which was the first to fill the world; in other words, to the gospel of that God who of old declared this of its promulgation: Their sound is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. He calls Christ the image of the invisible God. Colossians 1:15 We in like manner say that the Father of Christ is invisible, for we know that it was the Son who was seen in ancient times (whenever any appearance was vouchsafed to men in the name of God) as the image of (the Father) Himself.

He must not be regarded, however, as making any difference between a visible and an invisible God ; because long before he wrote this we find a description of our God to this effect: No man can see the Lord, and live. Exodus 33:20 If Christ is not the first-begotten before every creature, as that Word of God by whom all things were made, and without whom nothing was made; John 1:3 if all things were not in Him created, whether in heaven or on earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions, or principalities, or powers; if all things were not created by Him and for Him (for these truths Marcion ought not to allow concerning Him), then the apostle could not have so positively laid it down, that He is before all. For how is He before all, if He is not before all things ?

How, again, is He before all things, if He is not the first-born of every creature — if He is not the Word of the Creator? Now how will he be proved to have been before all things, who appeared after all things? Who can tell whether he had a prior existence , when he has found no proof that he had any existence at all? In what way also could it have pleased (the Father) that in Him should all fullness dwell? Colossians 1:19 For, to begin with, what fullness is that which is not comprised of the constituents which Marcion has removed from it — even those that were created in Christ , whether in heaven or on earth, whether angels or men? Which is not made of the things that are visible and invisible? Which consists not of thrones and dominions and principalities and powers?

There is nothing without a beginning but God alone. Now, inasmuch as the beginning occupies the first place in the condition of all things, so it must necessarily take precedence in the treatment of them, if a clear knowledge is to be arrived at concerning their condition; for you could not find the means of examining even the quality of anything, unless you were certain of its existence , and that after discovering its origin.

Since therefore I am brought, in the course of my little work, to this point, I require to know of Marcion the origin of his apostle even — I, who am to some degree a new disciple , the follower of no other master; who at the same time can believe nothing, except that nothing ought to be believed hastily (and that I may further say is hastily believed , which is believed without any examination of its beginning); in short, I who have the best reason possible for bringing this inquiry to a most careful solution, since a man is affirmed to me to be an apostle whom I do not find mentioned in the Gospel in the catalogue of the apostles .

Indeed, when I hear that this man was chosen by the Lord after He had attained His rest in heaven, I feel that a kind of improvidence is imputable to Christ , for not knowing before that this man was necessary to Him; and because He thought that he must be added to the apostolic body in the way of a fortuitous encounter rather than a deliberate selection; by necessity (so to speak), and not voluntary choice, although the members of the apostolate had been duly ordained, and were now dismissed to their several missions.

Wherefore, O shipmaster of Pontus , if you have never taken on board your small craft any contraband goods or smuggler's cargo, if you have never thrown overboard or tampered with a freight, you are still more careful and conscientious, I doubt not, in divine things; and so I should be glad if you would inform us under what bill of lading you admitted the Apostle Paul on board, who ticketed him, what owner forwarded him, who handed him to you, that so you may land him without any misgiving, lest he should turn out to belong to him, who can substantiate his claim to him by producing all his apostolic writings. He professes himself to be an apostle — to use his own, words — not of men , nor by man, but by Jesus Christ .

Yes, certainly, you say, I do hope from Him that which amounts in itself to a proof of the diversity (of Christs), God's kingdom in an everlasting and heavenly possession. Besides, your Christ promises to the Jews their primitive condition, with the recovery of their country; and after this life's course is over, repose in Hades in Abraham's bosom. Oh, most excellent God , when He restores in amnesty what He took away in wrath ! Oh, what a God is yours, who both wounds and heals, creates evil and makes peace! Oh, what a God , that is merciful even down to Hades! I shall have something to say about Abraham's bosom in the proper place.

As for the restoration of Judæa, however, which even the Jews themselves, induced by the names of places and countries, hope for just as it is described, it would be tedious to state at length how the figurative interpretation is spiritually applicable to Christ and His church, and to the character and fruits thereof; besides, the subject has been regularly treated in another work, which we entitle De Spe Fidelium . At present, too, it would be superfluous for this reason, that our inquiry relates to what is promised in heaven, not on earth.

But we do confess that a kingdom is promised to us upon the earth, although before heaven, only in another state of existence ; inasmuch as it will be after the resurrection for a thousand years in the divinely-built city of Jerusalem, let down from heaven, Revelation 21:2 which the apostle also calls our mother from above; Galatians 4:26 and, while declaring that our πολίτευμα , or citizenship, is in heaven, he predicates of it that it is really a city in heaven. This both Ezekiel had knowledge of Ezekiel 48:30-35 and the Apostle John beheld. Revelation 21:10-23 And the word of the new prophecy which is a part of our belief, attests how it foretold that there would be for a sign a picture of this very city exhibited to view previous to its manifestation. This prophecy , indeed, has been very lately fulfilled in an expedition to the East.

For it is evident from the testimony of even heathen witnesses, that in Judæa there was suspended in the sky a city early every morning for forty days. As the day advanced, the entire figure of its walls would wane gradually, and sometimes it would vanish instantly. We say that this city has been provided by God for receiving the saints on their resurrection, and refreshing them with the abundance of all really spiritual blessings, as a recompense for those which in the world we have either despised or lost; since it is both just and God-worthy that His servants should have their joy in the place where they have also suffered affliction for His name's sake. Of the heavenly kingdom this is the process.

But, says he, I speak after the manner of men: when we were children, we were placed in bondage under the elements of the world. This, however, was not said after the manner of men. For there is no figure here, but literal truth . For (with respect to the latter clause of this passage), what child (in the sense, that is, in which the Gentiles are children) is not in bondage to the elements of the world, which he looks up to in the light of a god? With regard, however, to the former clause, there was a figure (as the apostle wrote it); because after he had said, I speak after the manner of men , he adds), Though it be but a man's covenant, no man disannuls, or adds thereto. For by the figure of the permanency of a human covenant he was defending the divine testament. To Abraham were the promises made, and to his seed.

He said not 'to seeds,' as of many; but as of one, 'to your seed,' which is Christ . Galatians 3:16 Fie on Marcion's sponge! But indeed it is superfluous to dwell on what he has erased, when he may be more effectually confuted from that which he has retained. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son Galatians 4:4 — the God , of course, who is the Lord of that very succession of times which constitutes an age ; who also ordained, as signs of time, suns and moons and constellations and stars; who furthermore both predetermined and predicted that the revelation of His Son should be postponed to the end of the times. It shall come to pass in the last days , that the mountain (of the house) of the Lord shall be manifested ; and in the last days I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh as Joel says.

It was characteristic of Him (only) to wait patiently for the fullness of time, to whom belonged the end of time no less than the beginning. But as for that idle god, who has neither any work nor any prophecy , nor accordingly any time, to show for himself, what has he ever done to bring about the fullness of time, or to wait patiently its completion? If nothing, what an impotent state to have to wait for the Creator's time, in servility to the Creator! But for what end did He send His Son?

To redeem them that were under the law, Galatians 4:5 in other words, to make the crooked ways straight, and the rough places smooth, as Isaiah says Isaiah 40:4 — in order that old things might pass away, and a new course begin, even the new law out of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem, Isaiah 2:3 and that we might receive the adoption of sons, Galatians 4:5 that is, the Gentiles , who once were not sons. For He is to be the light of the Gentiles , and in His name shall the Gentiles trust. Isaiah 42:4, 6 That we may have, therefore the assurance that we are the children of God , He has sent forth His Spirit into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Galatians 4:6 For in the last days, says He, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh. Now, from whom comes this grace , but from Him who proclaimed the promise thereof?

These preliminary remarks I have ventured to make at this first step of the discussion and while the conflict is, as it were, from a distance. But inasmuch as I shall now from this point have to grapple with my opponent on a distinct issue and in close combat, I perceive that I must advance even here some lines, at which the battle will have to be delivered; they are the Scriptures of the Creator.

For as I shall have to prove that Christ was from the Creator, according to these (Scriptures), which were afterwards accomplished in the Creator's Christ, I find it necessary to set forth the form and, so to speak, the nature of the Scriptures themselves, that they may not distract the reader's attention by being called into controversy at the moment of their application to subjects of discussion, and by their proof being confounded with the proof of the subjects themselves. Now there are two conditions of prophetic announcement which I adduce, as requiring the assent of our adversaries in the future stages of the discussion. One, that future events are sometimes announced as if they were already passed.

For it is consistent with Deity to regard as accomplished facts whatever It has determined on, because there is no difference of time with that Being in whom eternity itself directs a uniform condition of seasons. It is indeed more natural to the prophetic divination to represent as seen and already brought to pass, even while forseeing it, that which it foresees; in other words, that which is by all means future. As for instance, in Isaiah: I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks (I exposed) to their hands. I hid not my face from shame and spitting. For whether it was Christ even then, as we hold, or the prophet , as the Jews say, who pronounced these words concerning himself, in either case, that which as yet had not happened sounded as if it had been already accomplished.

Another characteristic will be, that very many events are figuratively predicted by means of enigmas and allegories and parables , and that they must be understood in a sense different from the literal description. For we both read of the mountains dropping down new wine, Joel 3:18 but not as if one might expect must from the stones, or its decoction from the rocks; and also hear of a land flowing with milk and honey, but not as if you were to suppose that you would ever gather Samian cakes from the ground; nor does God , forsooth, offer His services as a water-bailiff or a farmer when He says, I will open rivers in a land; I will plant in the wilderness the cedar and the box-tree.

By all these statements, therefore, does he show us what God he means, when he says, We speak the wisdom of God among them that are perfect. 1 Corinthians 2:6-7 It is that God who has confounded the wisdom of the wise, who has brought to nought the understanding of the prudent , who has reduced to folly the world's wisdom, by choosing its foolish things, and disposing them to the attainment of salvation . This wisdom, he says, once lay hidden in things that were foolish, weak, and lacking in honour ; once also was latent under figures, allegories, and enigmatical types; but it was afterwards to be revealed in Christ , who was set as a light to the Gentiles , Isaiah 42:6 by the Creator who promised through the mouth of Isaiah that He would discover the hidden treasures, which eye had not seen.

Now, that that god should have ever hidden anything who had never made a cover wherein to practise concealment, is in itself a wholly incredible idea. If he existed , concealment of himself was out of the question — to say nothing of any of his religious ordinances. The Creator, on the contrary, was as well known in Himself as His ordinances were. These, we know , were publicly instituted in Israel ; but they lay overshadowed with latent meanings, in which the wisdom of God was concealed, to be brought to light by and by among the perfect, when the time should come, but pre-ordained in the counsels of God before the ages. 1 Corinthians 2:7 But whose ages, if not the Creator's?

For because ages consist of times, and times are made up of days, and months, and years; since also days, and months, and years are measured by suns, and moons, and stars, which He ordained for this purpose (for they shall be, says He, for signs of the months and the years ), it clearly follows that the ages belong to the Creator, and that nothing of what was fore-ordained before the ages can be said to be the property of any other being than Him who claims the ages also as His own. Else let Marcion show that the ages belong to his god. He must then also claim the world itself for him; for it is in it that the ages are reckoned, the vessel as it were of the times, as well as the signs thereof, or their order. But he has no such demonstration to show us.

I go back therefore to the point, and ask him this question: Why did (his god) fore-ordain our glory before the ages of the Creator? I could understand his having predetermined it before the ages, if he had revealed it at the commencement of time. But when he does this almost at the very expiration of all the ages of the Creator, his predestination before the ages, and not rather within the ages, was in vain, because he did not mean to make any revelation of his purpose until the ages had almost run out their course. For it is wholly inconsistent in him to be so forward in planning purposes, who is so backward in revealing them.

And the hidden things of darkness He will Himself bring to light, 1 Corinthians 4:5 even by Christ; for He has promised Christ to be a Light, Isaiah 42:6 and Himself He has declared to be a lamp, searching the hearts and reins. From Him also shall praise be had by every man, 1 Corinthians 4:5 from whom proceeds, as from a judge, the opposite also of praise. But here, at least, you say he interprets the world to be the God thereof, when he says: We are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels , and to men. 1 Corinthians 4:9 For if by world he had meant the people thereof, he would not have afterwards specially mentioned men . To prevent, however, your using such an argument as this, the Holy Ghost has providentially explained the meaning of the passage thus: We are made a spectacle to the world, i.e.

both to angels , who minister therein, and to men , who are the objects of their ministration. Of course, a man of the noble courage of our apostle (to say nothing of the Holy Ghost ) was afraid, when writing to the children whom he had begotten in the gospel, to speak freely of the God of the world; for against Him he could not possibly seem to have a word to say, except only in a straightforward manner! I quite admit, that, according to the Creator's law, Leviticus 18:8 the man was an offender who had his father's wife. 1 Corinthians 5:1 He followed, no doubt , the principles of natural and public law. When, however, he condemns the man to be delivered unto Satan , 1 Corinthians 5:5 he becomes the herald of an avenging God.

It does not matter that he also said, For the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord, 1 Corinthians 5:5 since both in the destruction of the flesh and in the saving of the spirit there is, on His part, judicial process; and when he bade the wicked person be put away from the midst of them, 1 Corinthians 5:13 he only mentioned what is a very frequently recurring sentence of the Creator. Purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, as you are unleavened. 1 Corinthians 5:7 The unleavened bread was therefore, in the Creator's ordinance, a figure of us ( Christians ). For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us. 1 Corinthians 5:7 But why is Christ our passover, if the passover be not a type of Christ , in the similitude of the blood which saves, and of the Lamb, which is Christ?

Exodus 12 Why does (the apostle) clothe us and Christ with symbols of the Creator's solemn rites , unless they had relation to ourselves? When, again, he warns us against fornication, he reveals the resurrection of the flesh. The body, says he, is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body, 1 Corinthians 6:13 just as the temple is for God , and God for the temple. A temple will therefore pass away with its god, and its god with the temple. You see, then, how that He who raised up the Lord will also raise us up. 1 Corinthians 6:14 In the body will He raise us, because the body is for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And suitably does he add the question: Do you not know that your bodies are the members of Christ? 1 Corinthians 6:15 What has the heretic to say?

Out of so many kinds of occupations, why indeed had He such respect for that of fishermen, as to select from it for apostles Simon and the sons of Zebedee (for it cannot seem to be the mere fact itself for which the narrative was meant to be drawn out ), saying to Peter, when he trembled at the very large draught of the fishes, Fear not; from henceforth you shall catch men? By saying this, He suggested to them the meaning of the fulfilled prophecy , that it was even He who by Jeremiah had foretold, Behold, I will send many fishers; and they shall fish them, Jeremiah 16:16 that is, men. Then at last they left their boats, and followed Him, understanding that it was He who had begun to accomplish what He had declared.

It is quite another case, when he affected to choose from the college of shipmasters, intending one day to appoint the shipmaster Marcion his apostle. We have indeed already laid it down, in opposition to his Antitheses , that the position of Marcion derives no advantage from the diversity which he supposes to exist between the Law and the Gospel , inasmuch as even this was ordained by the Creator, and indeed predicted in the promise of the new Law, and the new Word, and the new Testament.

Since, however, he quotes with special care, as a proof in his domain, a certain companion in misery ( συνταλαίπωρον ), and associate in hatred ( συμμισούμενον ), with himself, for the cure of leprosy , Luke 5:12-14 I shall not be sorry to meet him, and before anything else to point out to him the force of the law figuratively interpreted, which, in this example of a leper (who was not to be touched, but was rather to be removed from all intercourse with others), prohibited any communication with a person who was defiled with sins , with whom the apostle also forbids us even to eat food, 1 Corinthians 5:11 forasmuch as the taint of sins would be communicated as if contagious, wherever a man should mix himself with the sinner.

The Lord, therefore, wishing that the law should be more profoundly understood as signifying spiritual truths by carnal facts — and thus not destroying, but rather building up, that law which He wanted to have more earnestly acknowledged — touched the leper , by whom (even although as man He might have been defiled) He could not be defiled as God , being of course incorruptible. The prescription, therefore, could not be meant for Him, that He was bound to observe the law and not touch the unclean person, seeing that contact with the unclean would not cause defilement to Him. I thus teach that this (immunity) is consistent in my Christ, the rather when I show that it is not consistent in yours.

The world, then, as Moses says, was made in six days, that is, by six powers, which (are inherent) in the one tittle of the iota. (But) the seventh (day, which is) a rest and Sabbath , has been produced from the Hebdomad, which is over earth, and water, and fire, and air. And from these (elements) the world has been formed by the one tittle. For cubes, and octahedrons, and pyramids, and all figures similar to these, out of which consist fire, air, water, (and) earth, have arisen from numbers which are comprehended in that simple tittle of the iota. And this (tittle) constitutes a perfect son of a perfect man.

When, therefore, he says, Moses mentions that the rod was changeably brandished for the (introduction of the) plagues throughout Egypt — now these plagues, he says, are allegorically expressed symbols of the creation — he did not (as a symbol ) for more plagues than ten shape the rod. Now this (rod) constitutes one tittle of the iota, and is (both) twofold (and) various. This succession of ten plagues is, he says, the mundane creation. For all things, by being stricken, bring forth and bear fruit, just like vines. Man, he says, bursts forth, and is forcibly separated from man by being severed by a certain stroke. (And this takes place) in order that (man) may be generated, and may declare the law which Moses ordained, who received (it) from God .

Conformably with that one tittle, the law constitutes the series of the ten commandments which expresses allegorically the divine mysteries of (those) precepts. For, he says, all knowledge of the universe is contained in what relates to the succession of the ten plagues and the series of the ten commandments. And no one is acquainted with this ( knowledge ) who is (of the number) of those that are deceived concerning the offspring of the woman . If, however, you say that the Pentateuch constitutes the entire law, it is from the Pentad which is comprehended in the one tittle.

But the entire is for those who have not been altogether perfected in understanding a mystery , a new and not antiquated feast, legal, (and) everlasting, a passover of the Lord God kept unto our generations, by those who are able to discern (this mystery ), at the commencement of the fourteenth day, which is the beginning of a decade from which, he says, they reckon. For the monad , as far as fourteen, is the summary of that one (tittle) of the perfect number. For one, two, three, four, become ten; and this is the one tittle. But from fourteen until one-and-twenty, he asserts that there is an Hebdomad which inheres in the one tittle of the world, and constitutes an unleavened creature in all these.

1. Let us now briefly see what views we are to form regarding promises. It is certain that there is no living thing which can be altogether inactive and immoveable, but delights in motion of every kind, and in perpetual activity and volition; and this nature, I think it evident, is in all living things. Much more, then, must a rational animal, i.e., the nature of man , be in perpetual movement and activity. If, indeed, he is forgetful of himself, and ignorant of what becomes him, all his efforts are directed to serve the uses of the body, and in all his movements he is occupied with his own pleasures and bodily lusts ; but if he be one who studies to care or provide for the general good, then, either by consulting for the benefit of the state or by obeying the magistrates, he exerts himself for that, whatever it is, which may seem certainly to promote the public advantage. And if now any one be of such a nature as to understand that there is something better than those things which seem to be corporeal, and so bestow his labour upon wisdom and science, then he will undoubtedly direct all his attention towards pursuits of that kind, that he may, by inquiring into the truth , ascertain the causes and reason of things. As therefore, in this life, one man deems it the highest good to enjoy bodily pleasures, another to consult for the benefit of the community, a third to devote attention to study and learning; so let us inquire whether in that life which is the true one (which is…

2. Certain persons , then, refusing the labour of thinking, and adopting a superficial view of the letter of the law, and yielding rather in some measure to the indulgence of their own desires and lusts , being disciples of the letter alone, are of opinion that the fulfilment of the promises of the future are to be looked for in bodily pleasure and luxury; and therefore they especially desire to have again, after the resurrection, such bodily structures as may never be without the power of eating, and drinking, and performing all the functions of flesh and blood, not following the opinion of the Apostle Paul regarding the resurrection of a spiritual body. And consequently they say, that after the resurrection there will be marriages, and the begetting of children, imagining to themselves that the earthly city of Jerusalem is to be rebuilt, its foundations laid in precious stones, and its walls constructed of jasper, and its battlements of crystal; that it is to have a wall composed of many precious stones, as jasper, and sapphire, and chalcedony, and emerald, and sardonyx, and onyx, and chrysolite, and chrysoprase, and jacinth, and amethyst. Moreover, they think that the natives of other countries are to be given them as the ministers of their pleasures, whom they are to employ either as tillers of the field or builders of walls, and by whom their ruined and fallen city is again to be raised up; and they think that they are to receive the wealth of the nations to live on,…

3. Those, however, who receive the representations of Scripture according to the understanding of the apostles , entertain the hope that the saints will eat indeed, but that it will be the bread of life, which may nourish the soul with the food of truth and wisdom, and enlighten the mind , and cause it to drink from the cup of divine wisdom, according to the declaration of holy Scripture: Wisdom has prepared her table, she has killed her beasts, she has mingled her wine in her cup, and she cries with a loud voice, Come to me, eat the bread which I have prepared for you, and drink the wine which I have mingled. By this food of wisdom, the understanding, being nourished to an entire and perfect condition like that in which man was made at the beginning, is restored to the image and likeness of God ; so that, although an individual may depart from this life less perfectly instructed, but who has done works that are approved of, he will be capable of receiving instruction in that Jerusalem, the city of the saints , i.e., he will be educated and moulded, and made a living stone, a stone elect and precious, because he has undergone with firmness and constancy the struggles of life and the trials of piety ; and will there come to a truer and clearer knowledge of that which here has been already predicted, viz., that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word which proceeds from the mouth of God . And they also are to be understood to be the princes and rulers who both…

4. But if these views should not appear to fill the minds of those who hope for such results with a becoming desire, let us go back a little, and, irrespective of the natural and innate longing of the mind for the thing itself, let us make inquiry so that we may be able at last to describe, as it were, the very forms of the bread of life, and the quality of that wine, and the peculiar nature of the principalities, all in conformity with the spiritual view of things. Now, as in those arts which are usually performed by means of manual labour, the reason why a thing is done, or why it is of a special quality, or for a special purpose, is an object of investigation to the mind , while the actual work itself is unfolded to view by the agency of the hands; so, in those works of God which were created by Him, it is to be observed that the reason and understanding of those things which we see done by Him remains undisclosed. And as, when our eye beholds the products of an artist's labour, the mind , immediately on perceiving anything of unusual artistic excellence, burns to know of what nature it is, or how it was formed, or to what purposes it was fashioned; so, in a much greater degree, and in one that is beyond all comparison, does the mind burn with an inexpressible desire to know the reason of those things which we see done by God . This desire, this longing, we believe to be unquestionably implanted within us by God ; and as the eye naturally seeks the light and vision, and…

1. But as it is not sufficient, in the discussion of matters of such importance, to entrust the decision to the human senses and to the human understanding, and to pronounce on things invisible as if they were seen by us, we must, in order to establish the positions which we have laid down, adduce the testimony of Holy Scripture . And that this testimony may produce a sure and unhesitating belief, either with regard to what we have still to advance, or to what has been already stated, it seems necessary to show, in the first place, that the Scriptures themselves are divine, i.e., were inspired by the Spirit of God . We shall therefore with all possible brevity draw forth from the Holy Scriptures themselves, such evidence on this point as may produce upon us a suitable impression, (making our quotations) from Moses , the first legislator of the Hebrew nation, and from the words of Jesus Christ , the Author and Chief of the Christian religious system. For although there have been numerous legislators among the Greeks and Barbarians, and also countless teachers and philosophers who professed to declare the truth , we do not remember any legislator who was able to produce in the minds of foreign nations an affection and a zeal (for him) such as led them either voluntarily to adopt his laws , or to defend them with all the efforts of their mind. No one, then, has been able to introduce and make known what seemed to himself the truth , among, I do not say many foreign nations, but…

2. And we may see, moreover, how that religion itself grew up in a short time, making progress by the punishment and death of its worshippers, by the plundering of their goods, and by the tortures of every kind which they endured; and this result is the more surprising, that even the teachers of it themselves neither were men of skill, nor very numerous; and yet these words are preached throughout the whole world, so that Greeks and Barbarians, wise and foolish, adopt the doctrines of the Christian religion . From which it is no doubtful inference, that it is not by human power or might that the words of Jesus Christ come to prevail with all faith and power over the understandings and souls of all men . For, that these results were both predicted by Him, and established by divine answers proceeding from Him, is clear from His own words: You shall be brought before governors and kings for My sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles . And again: This Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached among all nations. And again: Many shall say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not eaten and drunk in Your name, and in Your name cast out devils? And I will say unto them, Depart from Me, you workers of iniquity, I never knew you. If these sayings, indeed, had been so uttered by Him, and yet if these predictions had not been fulfilled, they might perhaps appear to be untrue, and not to possess any authority. But now, when His declarations do pass into fulfilment, seeing they…

3. What, then, are we to say of this, which the prophets had beforehand foretold of Him, that princes would not cease from Judah, nor leaders from be­tween his thighs, until He should come for whom it has been reserved (viz., the kingdom), and until the expectation of the Gentiles should come? For it is most distinctly evident from the history itself, from what is clearly seen at the present day, that from the times of Christ onwards there were no kings among the Jews . Nay, even all those objects of Jewish pride , of which they vaunted so much, and in which they exulted, whether regarding the beauty of the temple or the ornaments of the altar, and all those sacerdotal fillets and robes of the high priests , were all destroyed together. For the proph­ecy was fulfilled which had declared, For the chil­dren of Israel shall abide many days without king and prince: there shall be no victim, nor altar, nor priesthood , nor answers. These testimonies, ac­cordingly, we employ against those who seem to assert that what is spoken in Genesis by Jacob refers to Judah; and who say that there still remains a prince of the race of Judah — he, viz., who is the prince of their nation, whom they style Patriarch — and that there cannot fail (a ruler) of his seed, who will re­main until the advent of that Christ whom they pic­ture to themselves. But if the prophet's words be true , when he says, The children of Israel shall abide many days without king, without prince; and there shall be no…

4. In the song of Deuteronomy, also, it is pro­phetically declared that, on account of the sins of the former people, there was to be an election of a fool­ish nation — no other, certainly, than that which was brought about by Christ; for thus the words run: They have moved Me to anger with their images, and I will stir them up to jealousy; I will arouse them to anger against a foolish nation. We may therefore evidently see how the Hebrews, who are said to have excited God's anger by means of those ( idols ), which are no gods, and to have aroused His wrath by their images, were themselves also excited to jealousy by means of a foolish nation, which God has chosen by the advent of Jesus Christ and His disciples . For the following is the language of the apostle: For you see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men among you after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble (are called): but God has chosen the foolish things of the world, and the things which are not, to destroy the things which formerly existed . Carnal Israel , therefore, should not boast; for such is the term used by the apostle: No flesh, I say, should glory in the presence of God .

1. It is now time, after this cursory notice of these points, to resume our investigation of the incarnation of our Lord and Saviour, viz., how or why He became man. Having therefore, to the best of our feeble ability, considered His divine nature from the contemplation of His own works rather than from our own feelings, and having nevertheless beheld (with the eye) His visible creation while the invisible creation is seen by faith , because human frailty can neither see all things with the bodily eye nor comprehend them by reason, seeing we men are weaker and frailer than any other rational beings (for those which are in heaven, or are supposed to exist above the heaven, are superior), it remains that we seek a being intermediate between all created things and God , i.e., a Mediator, whom the Apostle Paul styles the first-born of every creature. Seeing, moreover, those declarations regarding His majesty which are contained in holy Scripture, that He is called the image of the invisible God , and the first-born of every creature, and that in Him were all things created, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers, all things were created by Him, and in Him: and He is before all things, and by Him all things consist, who is the head of all things, alone having as head God the Father; for it is written, The head of Christ is God ; seeing clearly also that it is written, No one knows the Father , save the Son , nor does any one…

2. But of all the marvellous and mighty acts related of Him, this altogether surpasses human admiration, and is beyond the power of mortal frailness to understand or feel, how that mighty power of divine majesty, that very Word of the Father , and that very wisdom of God , in which were created all things, visible and invisible, can be believed to have existed within the limits of that man who appeared in Judea ; nay, that the Wisdom of God can have entered the womb of a woman , and have been born an infant, and have uttered wailings like the cries of little children! And that afterwards it should be related that He was greatly troubled in death, saying, as He Himself declared, My soul is sorrowful even unto death; and that at the last He was brought to that death which is accounted the most shameful among men , although He rose again on the third day. Since, then, we see in Him some things so human that they appear to differ in no respect from the common frailty of mortals, and some things so divine that they can appropriately belong to nothing else than to the primal and ineffable nature of Deity, the narrowness of human understanding can find no outlet; but, overcome with the amazement of a mighty admiration, knows not whither to withdraw, or what to take hold of, or whither to turn. If it think of a God , it sees a mortal; if it think of a man , it beholds Him returning from the grave, after overthrowing the empire of death, laden with its spoils. And therefore the…

3. The Only-begotten of God , therefore, through whom, as the previous course of the discussion has shown, all things were made, visible and invisible, according to the view of Scripture, both made all things, and loves what He made. For since He is Himself the invisible image of the invisible God , He conveyed invisibly a share in Himself to all His rational creatures, so that each one obtained a part of Him exactly proportioned to the amount of affection with which he regarded Him. But since, agreeably to the faculty of free-will , variety and diversity characterized the individual souls , so that one was attached with a warmer love to the Author of its being, and another with a feebler and weaker regard, that soul ( anima ) regarding which Jesus said, No one shall take my life ( animam ) from me, inhering, from the beginning of the creation, and afterwards, inseparably and indissolubly in Him, as being the Wisdom and Word of God , and the Truth and the true Light, and receiving Him wholly, and passing into His light and splendour, was made with Him in a pre-eminent degree one spirit, according to the promise of the apostle to those who ought to imitate it, that he who is joined in the Lord is one spirit. This substance of a soul , then, being intermediate between God and the flesh — it being impossible for the nature of God to intermingle with a body without an intermediate instrument — the God-man is born, as we have said, that substance being the intermediary to whose…

4. That the perfection of his love and the sincerity of his deserved affection formed for it this inseparable union with God , so that the assumption of that soul was not accidental, or the result of a personal preference, but was conferred as the reward of its virtues , listen to the prophet addressing it thus: You have loved righteousness, and hated wickedness : therefore God , your God , has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows. As a reward for its love , then, it is anointed with the oil of gladness ; i.e., the soul of Christ along with the Word of God is made Christ. Because to be anointed with the oil of gladness means nothing else than to be filled with the Holy Spirit . And when it is said above your fellows, it is meant that the grace of the Spirit was not given to it as to the prophets , but that the essential fullness of the Word of God Himself was in it, according to the saying of the apostle, In whom dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Finally, on this account he has not only said, You have loved righteousness; but he adds, and You have hated wickedness . For to have hated wickedness is what the Scripture says of Him, that He did no sin , neither was any guile found in His mouth, and that He was tempted in all things like as we are, without sin . Nay, the Lord Himself also said, Which of you will convince Me of sin ? And again He says with reference to Himself, Behold, the prince of this world comes, and finds nothing in Me. All…

In what follows, Celsus, assailing the Mosaic history, finds fault with those who give it a tropical and allegorical signification.

And here one might say to this great man, who inscribed upon his own work the title of a True Discourse , Why, good sir, do you make it a boast to have it recorded that the gods should engage in such adventures as are described by your learned poets and philosophers , and be guilty of abominable intrigues, and of engaging in wars against their own fathers, and of cutting off their secret parts, and should dare to commit and to suffer such enormities; while Moses , who gives no such accounts respecting God , nor even regarding the holy angels , and who relates deeds of far less atrocity regarding men (for in his writings no one ever ventured to commit such crimes as Kronos did against Uranus, or Zeus against his father, or that of the father of men and gods, who had intercourse with his own daughter), should be considered as having deceived those who were placed under his laws , and to have led them into error ?

And here Celsus seems to me to act somewhat as Thrasymachus the Platonic philosopher did, when he would not allow Socrates to answer regarding justice , as he wished, but said, Take care not to say that utility is justice , or duty, or anything of that kind. For in like manner Celsus assails (as he thinks) the Mosaic histories, and finds fault with those who understand them allegorically, at the same time bestowing also some praise upon those who do so, to the effect that they are more impartial (than those who do not); and thus, as it were, he prevents by his cavils those who are able to show the true state of the case from offering such a defense as they would wish to offer.

Celsus adds, that it was foretold to the Jews , that if they did not obey the law, they would be treated in the same way as they treated their enemies; and then he quotes from the teaching of Christ some precepts which he considers contrary to those of the law, and uses that as an argument against us. But before proceeding to this point, we must speak of that which precedes. We hold, then, that the law has a twofold sense,— the one literal, the other spiritual, — as has been shown by some before us. Of the first or literal sense it is said, not by us, but by God , speaking in one of the prophets , that the statutes are not good, and the judgments not good; whereas, taken in a spiritual sense, the same prophet makes God say that His statutes are good, and His judgments good.

Yet evidently the prophet is not saying things which are contradictory of each other. Paul in like manner says, that the letter kills, and the spirit gives life, meaning by the letter the literal sense, and by the spirit the spiritual sense of Scripture. We may therefore find in Paul , as well as in the prophet , apparent contradictions.

Indeed, if Ezekiel says in one place, I gave them commandments which were not good, and judgments whereby they should not live, and in another, I gave them good commandments and judgments, which if a man shall do, he shall live by them, Paul in like manner, when he wishes to disparage the law taken literally, says, If the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious , so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance, which glory was to be done away; how shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious ? But when in another place he wishes to praise and recommend the law, he calls it spiritual, and says, We know that the law is spiritual; and, Wherefore the law is holy , and the commandment holy , and just, and good.

He next says of us, that we ridicule those who worship Jupiter, because his tomb is pointed out in the island of Crete; and yet we worship him who rose from the tomb, although ignorant of the grounds on which the Cretans observe such a custom. Observe now that he thus undertakes the defense of the Cretans, and of Jupiter, and of his tomb, alluding obscurely to the allegorical notions, in conformity with which the myth regarding Jupiter is said to have been invented; while he assails us who acknowledge that our Jesus has been buried, indeed, but who maintain that He has also been raised from the tomb — a statement which the Cretans have not yet made regarding Jupiter.

But since he appears to admit that the tomb of Jupiter is in Crete, when he says that we are ignorant of the grounds on which the Cretans observe such a custom, we reply that Callimachus the Cyrenian, who had read innumerable poetic compositions, and nearly the whole of Greek history, was not acquainted with any allegorical meaning which was contained in the stories about Jupiter and his tomb; and accordingly he accuses the Cretans in his hymn addressed to Jupiter, in the words: — The Cretans are always liars: for your tomb, O king, The Cretans have reared; and yet you did not die, For you ever live. Now he who said, You did not die, for you ever live, in denying that Jupiter's tomb was in Crete, records nevertheless that in Jupiter there was the beginning of death. But birth upon earth is the beginning of death.

And his words run:— And Rhea bore you among the Parrhasians; — whereas he ought to have seen, after denying that the birth of Jupiter took place in Crete because of his tomb, that it was quite congruous with his birth in Arcadia that he who was born should also die. And the following is the manner in which Callimachus speaks of these things: O Jupiter, some say that you were born on the mountains of Ida, others in Arcadia. Which of them, O father, have lied? The Cretans are always liars, etc.

Now it is Celsus who made us discuss these topics, by the unfair manner in which he deals with Jesus, in giving his assent to what is related about His death and burial, but regarding as an invention His resurrection from the dead, although this was not only foretold by innumerable prophets , but many proofs also were given of His having appeared after death.

Look upon Leah, that was a type of the synagogue , which Jacob received as a sign, with eyes so weak; and yet he served again for the younger one beloved: a true mystery , and a type of our Church. Consider what was abundantly said of Rebecca from heaven; whence, imitating the alien, you may believe in Christ . Thence come to Tamar and the offspring of twins. Look to Cain, the first tiller of the earth, and Abel the shepherd, who was an unspotted offerer in the ruin of his brother, and was slain by his brother. Thus therefore perceive, that the younger are approved by Christ.

First fragment (Preface) As I wish to give an accurate account of the times of the captivity of the children of Israel in Babylon , and to discuss the prophecies contained in the visions of the blessed Daniel, (as well as) his manner of life from his boyhood in Babylon , I too shall proceed to bear my testimony to that holy and righteous man, a prophet and witness of Christ , who not only declared the visions of Nebuchadnezzar the king in those times, but also trained youths of like mind with himself, and raised up faithful witnesses in the world. He is horn, then, in the time of the prophetic ministry of the blessed Jeremiah, and in the reign of Jehoiakim or Eliakim. Along with the other captives, he is carried off a prisoner to Babylon . Now there are born to the blessed Josiah these five sons — Jehoahaz, Eliakim, Johanan, Zedekiah, or Jeconiah, and Sadum. And on his father's death, Jehoahaz is anointed as king by the people at the age of twenty-three years. Against him comes up Pharaoh -Necho, in the third month of his reign; and he takes him (Jehoahaz) prisoner, and carries him into Egypt , and imposes tribute on the land to the extent of one hundred talents of silver and ten talents of gold. And in his stead he sets up his brother Eliakim as king over the land, whose name also he changed to Jehoiakim, and who was then eleven years old. Against him came up Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon , and carries him off prisoner to Babylon , taking with him also some of the vessels…

1. In speaking of a lioness from the sea, he meant the rising of the kingdom of Babylon , and that this was the golden head of the image. And in speaking of its eagle wings, be meant that king Nebuchadnezzar was exalted and that his glory was lifted up against God. Then he says its wings were plucked off, i.e., that his glory was destroyed; for he was driven out of his kingdom. And the words, A man's heart was given it, and it was made stand upon the feet of a man , mean that he came to himself again, and recognised that he was but a man , and gave the glory to God . Then after the lioness he sees a second beast, like a bear, which signified the Persians. For after the Babylonians the Persians obtained the power. And in saying that it had three ribs in its mouth, he pointed to the three nations, Persians , Medes, and Babylonians , which were expressed in the image by the silver after the gold. Then comes the third beast, a leopard, which means the Greeks; for after the Persians , Alexander of Macedon had the power, when Darius was overthrown, which was also indicated by the brass in the image. And in saying that the beast had four wings of a fowl, and four heads, he showed most clearly how the kingdom of Alexander was parted into four divisions. For in speaking of four heads, he meant the four kings that arose out of it. For Alexander, when dying, divided his kingdom into four parts. Then he says, The fourth beast (was) dreadful and terrible: it had iron teeth, and claws of…

2. After this, then, what remains, beloved, but the toes of the feet of the image, in which part shall be of iron and part of clay mixed together? By the toes of the feet he meant, mystically , the ten kings that rise out of that kingdom. As Daniel says, I considered the beast; and, lo, (there were) ten horns behind, among which shall come up another little horn springing from them; by which none other is meant than the antichrist that is to rise; and he shall set up the kingdom of Judah. And in saying that three horns were plucked up by the roots by this one, he indicates the three kings of Egypt , Libya, and Ethiopia , whom this one will slay in the array of war . And when he has conquered all, he will prove himself a terrible and savage tyrant, and will cause tribulation and persecution to the saints , exalting himself against them. And after him, it remains that the stone shall come from heaven which smote the image and shivered it, and subverted all the kingdoms, and gave the kingdom to the saints of the Most High. This became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.

3. As these things, then, are destined to come to pass, and as the toes of the image turn out to be democracies, and the ten horns of the beast are distributed among ten kings, let us look at what is before us more carefully, and scan it, as it were, with open eye. The golden head of the image is identical with the lioness, by which the Babylonians were represented. The golden shoulders and the arms of silver are the same with the bear, by which the Persians and Medes are meant. The belly and thighs of brass are the leopard, by which the Greeks who ruled from Alexander onwards are intended. The legs of iron are the dreadful and terrible beast, by which the Romans who hold the empire now are meant. The toes of clay and iron are the ten horns which are to be. The one other little horn springing up in their midst is the antichrist. The stone that smites the image and breaks it in pieces, and that filled the whole earth, is Christ, who comes from heaven and brings judgment on the world.

Genesis 1:5 And it was evening, and it was morning, one day. HIPPOLYTUS: He did not say night and day, but one day, with reference to the name of the light. He did not say the first day; for if he had said the first day, he would also have had to say that the second day was made. But it was right to speak not of the first day, but of one day, in order that by saying one, he might show that it returns on its orbit and, while it remains one, makes up the week. Genesis 1:6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the water. HIPPOLYTUS: On the first day God made what He made out of nothing. But on the other days He did not make out of nothing, but out of what He had made on the first day, by moulding it according to His pleasure. Genesis 1:6-7 And let it divide between water and water: and it was so.

And God made the firmament; and God divided between the water which was under the firmament, and the water above the firmament: and it was so. HIPPOLYTUS: As the excessive volume of water bore along over the face of the earth, the earth was by reason thereof invisible and formless. When the Lord of all designed to make the invisible visible, He fixed then a third part of the waters in the midst; and another third part He set by itself on high, raising it together with the firmament by His own power; and the remaining third He left beneath, for the use and benefit of men. Now at this point we have an asterisk. The words are found in the Hebrew, but do not occur in the Septuagint . Genesis 3:8 And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden at even.

HIPPOLYTUS: Rather they discerned the approach of the Lord by a certain breeze. As soon, therefore, as they had sinned , God appeared to them, producing consciousness of their sin , and calling them to repentance. Genesis 49:3 Reuben, my first-born , you are my strength, and the first of my children; hard to bear with, and hard and self-willed: you have grown wanton as water; boil not over. AQUILA: Reuben, my first-born , you are my strength, and the sum of my sorrow: excelling in dignity and excelling in might: you have been insensate as water; excel not. SYMMACHUS: Reuben, my first-born , and beginning of my pain: above measure grasping, and above measure hot as water, you shall not more excel. HIPPOLYTUS: For there was a great display of strength made by God in behalf of His first-born people from Egypt .

For in very many ways was the land of the Egyptians chastised. That first people of the circumcision is meant by my strength, and the first of my children: even as God gave the promise to Abraham and to his seed. But hard to bear with, because the people hardened itself against the obedience of God . And hard, self-willed, because it was not only hard against the obedience of God , but also self-willed so as to set upon the Lord. You have grown wanton, because in the instance of our Lord Jesus Christ the people grew wanton against the Father. But boil not over, says the Spirit , by way of comfort, that it might not, by boiling utterly over, be spilled abroad — giving it hope of salvation . For what has boiled over and been spilled is lost. Genesis 49:4 For you went up to your father's bed.

First fragment From the Commentary of St. Hippolytus on Proverbs. Proverbs, therefore, are words of exhortation serviceable for the whole path of life; for to those who seek their way to God , these serve as guides and signs to revive them when wearied with the length of the road. These, moreover, are the proverbs of Solomon, that is to say, the peacemaker, who, in truth , is Christ the Saviour.

And since we understand the words of the Lord without offense, as being the words of the Lord, that no one may mislead us by likeness of name, he tells us who wrote these things, and of what people he was king, in order that the credit of the speaker may make the discourse acceptable and the hearers attentive; for they are the words of that Solomon to whom the Lord said: I will give you a wise and an understanding heart; so that there has been none like you upon the earth, and after you there shall not arise any like you, 1 Kings 3:12 and as follows in what is written of him. Now he was the wise son of a wise father; wherefore there is added the name of David, by whom Solomon was begotten.

From a child he was instructed in the sacred Scriptures, and obtained his dominion not by lot, nor by force, but by the judgment of the Spirit and the decree of God . To know wisdom and instruction. He who knows the wisdom of God , receives from Him also instruction, and learns by it the mysteries of the Word; and they who know the true heavenly wisdom will easily understand the words of these mysteries . Wherefore he says: To understand the difficulties of words; for things spoken in strange language by the Holy Spirit become intelligible to those who have their hearts right with God . These things he understands of the people of the Jews , and their guilt in the blood of Christ; for they thought that He had His conversation (citizenship) on earth only. They will not simply obtain, but inherit.

The wicked , again, even though they are exalted, are exalted only so as to have greater dishonour. For as one does not honour an ugly and mis-shapen fellow, if he exalts him, but only dishonours him the more, by making his shame manifest to a larger number; so also God exalts the wicked , in order that He may make their disgrace patent. For Pharaoh was exalted, but only to have the world as his accuser. Proverbs 4:2 It must be noted, that he names the law a good gift, on account of the man who takes gifts into his bosom unrighteously. And he forsakes the law who transgresses it; the law, namely, of which he speaks, or which he has kept. And what is meant by exalt (fortify) her? Surround her with holy thoughts; for you have need of large defense, since there are many things to imperil such a possession.

For when the iron legs that now hold the sovereignty have given place to the feet and the toes, in accordance with the representation of the terrible beast, as has also been signified in the former times, then from heaven will come the stone that smites the image, and breaks it; and it will subvert all the kingdoms, and give the kingdom to the saints of the Most High. This is the stone which becomes a great mountain, and fills the earth, and of which it is written: I saw in the night-visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days. And there was given Him dominion, and glory , and a kingdom; and all peoples, nations, and languages shall serve Him: His power is an everlasting power, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom shall not be destroyed. On the Song of the Three Children O Ananias, Azarias, and Misael, bless the Lord; O you apostles , prophets , and martyrs of the Lord, bless the Lord: praise Him, and exalt Him above all, forever. We may well marvel at the words of the three youths in the furnace, how they enumerated all created things, so that not one of them might be reckoned free and independent in itself; but, summing up and naming them all together, both things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, they showed them to be all the servants of God , who created all things by the Word, that no one should boast that any of the creatures was without birth and beginning. On Susannah…

1. Called Joacim. This Joacim, being a stranger in Babylon , obtains Susannah in marriage. And she was the daughter of Chelcias the priest , who found the book of the law in the house of the Lord, when Josiah the king commanded him to purify the holy of holies. His brother was Jeremiah the prophet , who was carried, with the remnant that was left after the deportation of the people to Babylon , into Egypt , and dwelt in Taphnae; and, while prophesying there, he was stoned to death by the people. A very fair woman , and one that feared the Lord, etc. For by the fruit produced, the tree also is easily known . For men who are pious and zealous for the law, bring into the world children worthy of God ; such as he was who became a prophet and witness of Christ , and she who was found chaste and faithful in Babylon , whose honour and chastity were the occasion of the manifestation of the blessed Daniel as a prophet .

4. Now Joacim was a great rich man, etc. We must therefore seek the explanation of this. For how could those who were captives, and had been made subject to the Babylonians , meet together in the same place, as if they were their own masters? In this matter, therefore, we should observe that Nebuchadnezzar , after their deportation, treated them kindly, and permitted them to meet together, and do all things according to the law.

7. And at noon Susannah went into (her husband's garden). Susannah prefigured the Church ; and Joacim, her husband, Christ; and the garden, the calling of the saints , who are planted like fruitful trees in the Church . And Babylon is the world; and the two elders are set forth as a figure of the two peoples that plot against the Church — the one, namely, of the circumcision , and the other of the Gentiles . For the words, were appointed rulers of the people and judges, (mean) that in this world they exercise authority and rule, judging the righteous unrighteously.

Treatise 4 (Cyprian of Carthage) Home > Fathers of the Church > Treatises (Cyprian of Carthage) > Treatise 4 Treatise 4 On the Lord's Prayer. Argument.— The Treatise of Cyprian on the Lord's Prayer Comprises Three Portions, in Which Division He Imitates Tertullian in His Book on Prayer, in the First Portion, He Points Out that the Lord's Prayer is the Most Excellent of All Prayers, Profoundly Spiritual, and Most Effectual for Obtaining Our Petitions. In the Second Part, He Undertakes an Explanation of the Lord's Prayer; And, Still Treading in the Footsteps of Tertullian , He Goes Through Its Seven Chief Clauses, Finally, in the Third Part, He Considers the Conditions of Prayer, and Tells Us What Prayer Ought to Be. —

1. The evangelical precepts, beloved brethren, are nothing else than divine teachings — foundations on which hope is to be built, supports to strengthen faith , nourishments for cheering the heart, rudders for guiding our way, guards for obtaining salvation — which, while they instruct the docile minds of believers on the earth, lead them to heavenly kingdoms. God , moreover, willed many things to be said and to be heard by means of the prophets His servants; but how much greater are those which the Son speaks, which the Word of God who was in the prophets testifies with His own voice; not now bidding to prepare the way for His coming, but Himself coming and opening and showing to us the way, so that we who have before been wandering in the darkness of death, without forethought and blind, being enlightened by the light of grace , might keep the way of life, with the Lord for our ruler and guide!

2. He, among the rest of His salutary admonitions and divine precepts wherewith He counsels His people for their salvation , Himself also gave a form of praying — Himself advised and instructed us what we should pray for. He who made us to live, taught us also to pray , with that same benignity, to wit, wherewith He has condescended to give and confer all things else; in order that while we speak to the Father in that prayer and supplication which the Son has taught us, we may be the more easily heard. Already He had foretold that the hour was coming when the true worshippers should worship the Father in spirit and in truth ; John 4:23 and He thus fulfilled what He before promised, so that we who by His sanctification have received the Spirit and truth , may also by His teaching worship truly and spiritually. For what can be a more spiritual prayer than that which was given to us by Christ, by whom also the Holy Spirit was given to us? What praying to the Father can be more truthful than that which was delivered to us by the Son who is the Truth, out of His own mouth? So that to pray otherwise than He taught is not ignorance alone, but also sin ; since He Himself has established, and said, You reject the commandments of God , that you may keep your own traditions.

3. Let us therefore, brethren beloved, pray as God our Teacher has taught us. It is a loving and friendly prayer to beseech God with His own word, to come up to His ears in the prayer of Christ . Let the Father acknowledge the words of His Son when we make our prayer , and let Him also who dwells within in our breast Himself dwell in our voice. And since we have Him as an Advocate with the Father for our sins , let us, when as sinners we petition on behalf of our sins , put forward the words of our Advocate. For since He says, that whatsoever we shall ask of the Father in His name, He will give us, John 16:23 how much more effectually do we obtain what we ask in Christ's name, if we ask for it in His own prayer !

I. From the Discourse on the Resurrection. I. Read the Book on the Resurrection by St. Methodius, Bishop and Martyr, of which that which follows is a selection, that the body is not the fetter of the soul , as Origen thought, nor are souls called by the prophet Jeremiah fettered on account of their being within bodies. For he lays down the principle that the body does not hinder the energies of the soul , but that rather the body is carried about with it, and cooperates in whatever the soul commits to it. But how are we to understand the opinion of Gregory the theologian, and many Others? II. That Origen said that the body was given to the soul as a fetter after the fall, and that previously it lived without a body; but that this body which we wear is the cause of our sins ; wherefore also he called it a fetter, as it can hinder the soul from good works. III. That if the body was given to the soul after the fall as a fetter, it must have been given as a fetter upon the evil or the good. Now it is impossible that it should be upon the good; for no physician or artificer gives to that which has gone wrong a remedy to cause further error , much less would God do so. It remains, then, that it was a fetter upon evil . But surely we see that, at the beginning, Cain, clad in this body, committed murder ; and it is evident into what wickedness those who succeeded him ran. The body is not, then, a fetter upon evil , nor indeed a fetter at all; nor was the soul clothed in it for the…

1. Read a compendious interpretation of some apostolic words from the same discourse. Let us see, then, what it is that we have endeavoured to say respecting the apostle. For this saying of his, I was alive without the law once, Romans 7:9 refers to the life which was lived in paradise before the law, not without a body, but with a body, by our first parents , as we have shown above; for we lived without concupiscence, being altogether ignorant of its assaults. For not to have a law according to which we ought to live, nor a power of establishing what manner of life we ought to adopt, so that we might justly be approved or blamed, is considered to exempt a person from accusation. Because one cannot lust after those things from which he is not restrained, and even if he lusted after them, he would not be blamed. For lust is not directed to things which are before us, and subject to our power, but to those which are before us, and not in our power. For how should one care for a thing which is neither forbidden nor necessary to him? And for this reason it is said, I had not known lust , except the law had said, You shall not covet . Romans 7:7 For when (our first parents ) heard, Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil , you shall not eat of it; for in the day you eat thereof you shall surely die, Genesis 2:17 then they conceived lust , and gathered it. Therefore was it said, I had not known lust , except the law had said, You shall not covet ; nor would they have desired…

That God Also Appeared to Jacob as an Angel; Namely, the Son of God. What if in another place also we read in like manner that God was described as an angel ? For when, to his wives Leah and Rachel, Jacob complained of the injustice of their father, and when he told them that he desired now to go and return into his own land, he moreover inter posed the authority of his dream; and at this time he says that the angel of God had said to him in a dream , Jacob, Jacob. And I said, says he, What is it? Lift up your eyes, said He, and see, the he-goats and the rams leaping upon the sheep, and the she-goats are black and white, and many-colored, and grizzled, and speckled: for I have seen all that Laban has done to you.

I am God , who appeared to you in the place of God , where you anointed for me there the standing stone, and there vowed a vow unto me: now therefore arise, and go forth from this land, and go unto the land of your nativity, and I will be with you. If the Angel of God speaks thus to Jacob, and the Angel himself mentions and says, I am God , who appeared unto you in the house of God , we see without any hesitation that this is declared to be not only an angel , but God also; because He speaks of the vow directed to Himself by Jacob in the place of God , and He does not say, in my place . It is then the place of God , and He also is God .

Moreover, it is written simply in the place of God , for it is not said in the place of the angel and God , but only of God ; and He who promises those things is manifested to be both God and Angel, so that reasonably there must be a distinction between Him who is called God only, and Him who is declared to be not God simply, but Angel also. Whence if so great an authority cannot here be regarded as belonging to any other angel , that He should also avow Himself to be God , and should bear witness that a vow was made to Him, except to Christ alone, to whom not as angel only, but as to God , a vow can be vowed; it is manifest that it is not to be received as the Father , but as the Son , God and Angel.

Moreover, if this is Christ, as it is, he is in terrible risk who says that Christ is either man or angel alone, withholding from Him the power of the divine name — an authority which He has constantly received on the faith of the heavenly Scriptures, which continually say that He is both Angel and God. To all these things, moreover, is added this, that in like manner as the divine Scripture has frequently declared Him both Angel and God , so the same divine Scripture declares Him also both man and God , expressing thereby what He should be, and depicting even then in figure what He was to be in the truth of His substance. For, it says, Jacob remained alone; and there wrestled with him a man even till daybreak.