A prophet to the nations
'I have set you as a prophet to the nations.' If you look for this in Jeremiah — 'I have set you as a prophet to the nations' — watch later on: he is commanded to prophesy 'against all the nations,' and there is a heading, 'What Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations,' against Elam, against Damascus, against Moab. And we have it that he 'prophesied against all the nations,' as regards the letter of 'I have set you as a prophet to the nations,' said to him.
If it is a matter of the higher sense: if of Jeremiah, we have already spoken; if of the Savior, what need is there even to say it? He truly prophesied to all the nations. For he is, as he is ten thousand other things, also a prophet. As he is high priest, as he is savior, as he is physician, so he is also prophet. Moses, prophesying about him, did not say only 'a prophet,' but said it with a special force: 'The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet from your brothers, like me; him you shall hear, and it shall be that whoever does not hear that prophet shall be destroyed from his people.'
This one, then, is also the prophet set 'to the nations,' and he received grace from God poured out on his lips, so that not only when he was present in the body, but also now, when he is present in power and in the Spirit, he may prophesy 'to all the nations,' so that from all the nations his prophecy may reach its end and draw men to salvation.
Greek
«προφήτην εἰς ἔθνη τέθεικά σε. ἐπὶ τοῦ Ἱερεμίου ἐὰν ἀναζητήσῃς τὸ «προφήτην εἰς ἔθνη τέθεικά σε«, τήρησον ἐν τοῖς ἑξῆς, ὅτι κελεύεται προφητεῦσαι «ἐπὶ πάντα τὰ ἔθνη«, καὶ ἔστι προγραφή· «Ἃ προεφήτευσεν Ἱερεμίας ἐπὶ πάντα τὰ ἔθνη« τῇ «Αἰλὰμ«, «τῇ Δαμασκῷ«, «τῇ Μωάβ. καὶ ἔχομεν, ὅτι «προεφήτευσεν ἐπὶ πάντα τά ἔθνη«, ὡς πρὸς τὸ ῥητὸν ὅτι «προφήτην εἰς ἔθνη τέθεικά σε« πρὸς ἐκεῖνον. ἐὰν δὲ πρὸς ἀναγωγήν , ἐὰν μὲν ἐπὶ τοῦ Ἱερεμίου, προειρήκαμεν, ἐὰν δὲ ἐπὶ τοῦ σωτῆρος, τί δεῖ καὶ λέγειν; οὑτος ἀληθῶς ἐπὶ πάντα τὰ ἔθνη προεφήτευσεν· ἔστι γὰρ ὥσπερ ἄλλα μυρία οὕτως καὶ προφήτης. ὥς ἐστιν ἀρχιερεύς, ὥς ἐστι σωτήρ, ὥς έστιν ἰατρός, οὕτως καὶ προφήτης.
Μωσῆς γοῦν προφητεύων περὶ αὐτοῦ οὐχὶ προφήτην μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐξαιρέτως εἶπεν εἰπών· «προξήτην ἐκ τῶν ἀδελφῶν ὑμῶν ἀναστήσει ὑμῖν κύριος ό θεὸς ὡς ἐμέ, αὐτοῦ καὶ ἔσται, ὃς ἂν μὴ ἀκούσῃ τοῦ προφήτου ἐκείνου ἐξολοθρευθήσεται ἐκ τοῦ λαοῦ αὐτοῦ. οὑτος οὖν έστιν ὁ καὶ προφήτης «εἰς ἔθνη« τεθειμένος καὶ ἔλαβε χάριν ἀπὸ θεοῦ ἐκχυθεῖσαν ἐν τοῖς χείλεσιν αὐτοῦ, ἴνα μὴ μόνον, ὅτε παρῆν τῷ οώματι, ἀλλὰ καὶ νῦν, ὅτε πάρεστι δυνάμει καὶ τῷ πνεύματι, προφητεύῃ «ἐπὶ πάντα τὰ ἔθνη«, ὥστε ἀπὸ πάντων τῶν Μνῶν ἀνύειν αὐτοῦ τὴν προφητείαν καὶ ἕλκειν ἀνθρώπους ἐπὶ σωτηρίαν.