Chapter 1. Occasion of Writing. Relative Position of Jews and Gentiles Illustrated.
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It happened very recently a dispute was held between a Christian and a Jewish proselyte. Alternately with contentious cable they each spun out the day until evening. By the opposing din, moreover, of some partisans of the individuals, truth began to be overcast by a sort of cloud. It was therefore our pleasure that that which, owing to the confused noise of disputation, could be less fully elucidated point by point, should be more carefully looked into, and that the pen should determine, for reading purposes, the questions handled.[/COLOR]
..................................there's more to chapter 1......................
Chapter 2. The Law Anterior to Moses.
Stand we, therefore, foot to foot, and determine we the sum and substance of the actual question within definite lists.
For why should
God, the founder of the
universe, the Governor of the whole world, the Fashioner of humanity, the Sower of universal nations be
believed to have given a law through
Moses to one people, and not be said to have assigned it to all nations? For unless He had given it to all by no means would He have
habitually permitted even proselytes out of the nations to have access to it. But as is congruous with the goodness of
God, and with His equity, as the Fashioner of
mankind He gave to all nations the selfsame law, which at definite and stated times He enjoined should be observed, when He willed, and through whom He willed, and as He willed. For in the beginning of the world He gave to
Adam himself and Eve a law, that they were not to eat of the fruit of the tree planted in the midst of paradise; but that, if they did contrariwise, by death they were to die. Which law had continued enough for them, had it been kept. For in this law given to
Adam we recognise in embryo all the precepts which afterwards sprouted forth when given through
Moses; that is, You shall
love the Lord your God from your whole heart and out of your whole
soul; You shall
love your neighbour as yourself; You shall not kill; You shall not commit
adultery; You shall not
steal; False
witness you shall not utter; Honour your father and mother; and, That which is another's, shall you not
covet. For the primordial law was given to
Adam and
Eve in paradise, as the womb of all the precepts of
God. In short, if they had loved the Lord their
God, they would not have contravened His precept; if they had
habitually loved their neighbour that is, themselves they would not have
believed the persuasion of the serpent, and thus would not have committed
murder upon themselves, by falling from
immortality, by contravening God's precept; from theft also they would have abstained, if they had not stealthily tasted of the fruit of the tree, nor had been anxious to skulk beneath a tree to escape the view of the Lord their
God; nor would they have been made partners with the falsehood-asseverating
devil, by believing him that they would be like
God; and thus they would not have offended God either, as their Father, who had fashioned them from clay of the earth, as out of the womb of a mother; if they had not
coveted another's, they would not have tasted of the unlawful fruit.
Therefore, in this general and primordial law of
God, the observance of which, in the case of the tree's fruit, He had sanctioned, we recognise
enclosed all the precepts specially of the posterior Law, which germinated when
disclosed at their proper times. For the subsequent superinduction of a law is the work of the same Being who had before premised a precept; since it is His province withal subsequently to train, who had before resolved to form, righteous creatures. For what wonder if He extends a discipline who institutes it? If He advances who begins? In short, before the
Law of Moses, written in stone-tables, I contend that there was a law unwritten, which was
habitually understood naturally, and by the fathers was
habitually kept. For whence was
Noah found righteous, if in his case the righteousness of a natural law had not preceded? Whence was
Abraham accounted a friend of
God, if not on the ground of equity and righteousness, (in the observance) of a natural law? Whence was
Melchizedek named
priest of the most high
God, if, before the
priesthood of the Levitical law, there were not levites who were wont to offer
sacrifices to God? For thus, after the above-mentioned patriarchs, was the Law given to
Moses, at that (well-known) time after their exode from
Egypt, after the interval and spaces of four hundred years. In fact, it was after
Abraham's four hundred and thirty years that the Law was given. Whence we understand that God's law was anterior even to
Moses, and was not first (given) in Horeb, nor in Sinai and in the
desert, but was more ancient; (existing) first in paradise, subsequently reformed for the patriarchs, and so again for the
Jews, at definite periods: so that we are not to give heed to
Moses' Law as to the primitive law, but as to a subsequent, which at a definite period God has set forth to the
Gentiles too and, after repeatedly promising so to do through the
prophets, has reformed for the better; and has premonished that it should come to pass that, just as the law was given through
Moses John 1:17 at a definite time, so it should be
believed to have been temporarily observed and kept. And let us not annul this power which
God has, which reforms the law's precepts answerably to the circumstances of the times, with a view to man's
salvation. In fine, let him who contends that the
Sabbath is still to be observed as a balm of
salvation, and
circumcision on the eighth day because of the threat of death, teach us that, for the time past, righteous men kept the
Sabbath, or practised
circumcision, and were thus rendered friends of
God. For if
circumcision purges a man since God made Adam uncircumcised, why did He not circumcise him, even after his sinning, if
circumcision purges? At all events, in settling him in paradise, He appointed one uncircumcised as colonist of paradise. Therefore, since God originated Adam uncircumcised, and inobservant of the
Sabbath, consequently his offspring also, Abel, offering Him
sacrifices, uncircumcised and inobservant of the
Sabbath, was by Him commended; while He accepted what he was offering in simplicity of heart, and reprobated the
sacrifice of his brother Cain, who was not rightly dividing what he was offering.
Noah also, uncircumcised yes, and inobservant of the
Sabbath God freed from the deluge. For
Enoch, too, most righteous man, uncircumcised and inobservant of the
Sabbath, He translated from this world; who did not first taste death, in order that, being a candidate for
eternal life, he might by this time show us that we also may, without the burden of the
law of Moses, please God.
Melchizedek also, the
priest of the most high
God, uncircumcised and inobservant of the
Sabbath, was chosen to the
priesthood of
God.
Lot, withal, the brother of
Abraham, proves that it was for the merits of righteousness, without observance of the law, that he was freed from the conflagration of the Sodomites.
Chapter 3. Of Circumcision and the Supercession of the Old Law.
But
Abraham, (you say,) was
circumcised. Yes, but he pleased God before his
circumcision; nor yet did he observe the
Sabbath. For he had accepted
circumcision; but such as was to be for a sign of that time, not for a prerogative title to
salvation. In fact, subsequent patriarchs were uncircumcised, like
Melchizedek, who, uncircumcised, offered to
Abraham himself, already
circumcised, on his return from battle, bread and wine. But again, (you say) the son of
Moses would upon one occasion have been choked by an
angel, if Zipporah, had not
circumcised the foreskin of the infant with a pebble; whence, there is the greatest peril if any fail to circumcise the foreskin of his flesh. Nay, but if
circumcision altogether brought
salvation, even
Moses himself, in the case of his own son, would not have omitted to circumcise him on the eighth day; whereas it is agreed that Zipporah did it on the journey, at the compulsion of the
angel. Consider we, accordingly, that one single infant's compulsory
circumcision cannot have prescribed to every people, and founded, as it were, a law for keeping this precept. For
God, foreseeing that He was about to give this
circumcision to the people of
Israel for a sign, not for
salvation, urges the
circumcision of the son of
Moses, their future leader, for this reason; that, since He had begun, through him, to give the People the precept of circumcision, the people should not despise it, from seeing this example (of neglect) already exhibited conspicuously in their leader's son. For
circumcision had to be given; but as a sign, whence
Israel in the last time would have to be distinguished, when, in accordance with their deserts, they should be prohibited from entering the
holy city, as we see through the words of the
prophets, saying, Your land is desert; your cities utterly burnt with fire; your country, in your sight, strangers shall eat up; and, deserted and subverted by strange peoples, the daughter of Zion shall be derelict, like a shed in a vineyard, and like a watchhouse in a cucumber-field, and as it were a city which is being stormed. Why so? Because the subsequent discourse of the
prophet reproaches them, saying, Sons have I begotten and upraised, but they have reprobated me; and again, And if you shall have outstretched hands, I will avert my face from you; and if you shall have multiplied
prayers, I will not hear you: for your hands are full of blood;
Isaiah 1:15 and again, Woe!
sinful nation; a people full of
sins;
wicked sons; you have quite forsaken
God, and have provoked unto indignation the Holy One of
Israel.
Isaiah 1:4 This, therefore, was God's foresight that of giving
circumcision to
Israel, for a sign whence they might be distinguished when the time should arrive wherein their above-mentioned deserts should prohibit their admission into Jerusalem: which circumstance, because it was to be, used to be announced; and, because we see it accomplished, is recognised by us. For, as the carnal
circumcision, which was temporary, was in wrought for a sign in a contumacious people, so the spiritual has been given for
salvation to an
obedient people; while the
prophet Jeremiah says, Make a renewal for you, and sow not in thorns; be
circumcised to
God, and circumcise the foreskin of your heart: and in another place he says, Behold, days shall come, says the Lord, and I will draw up, for the
house of Judah and for the house of Jacob, a new testament; not such as I once gave their fathers in the day wherein I led them out from the land of
Egypt. Whence we understand that the coming cessation of the former
circumcision then given, and the coming procession of a new law (not such as He had already given to the fathers), are announced: just as Isaiah foretold, saying that in the last days the mount of the Lord and the house of God were to be manifest above the tops of the mounts: And it shall be exalted, he says, above the hills; and there shall come over it all nations; and many shall walk, and say, Come, ascend we unto the mount of the Lord, and unto the house of the
God of
Jacob,
Isaiah 2:2-3 not of
Esau, the former son, but of
Jacob, the second; that is, of
our people, whose mount is Christ, prζcised without concisors' hands, filling every land, shown in the book of Daniel. In short, the coming procession of a new law out of this house of the
God of Jacob Isaiah in the ensuing words announces, saying, For from Zion shall go out a law, and the word of the Lord out of Jerusalem, and shall judge among the
nations, that is, among
us, who have been called out of the
nations and they shall join to beat their glaives into ploughs, and their lances into sickles; and nations shall not take up glaive against nation, and they shall no more learn to fight.
Isaiah 2:3-4 Who else, therefore, are understood but
we, who, fully taught by the new law, observe these practices the old law being obliterated, the coming of whose abolition the action itself demonstrates? For the wont of the old law was to avenge itself by the vengeance of the glaive, and to pluck out eye for eye, and to inflict retaliatory revenge for injury. But the new law's wont was to point to clemency, and to convert to tranquillity the pristine ferocity of glaives and lances, and to remodel the pristine execution of
war upon the rivals and foes of the law into the pacific actions of ploughing and tilling the land. Therefore as we have shown above that the coming cessation of the old law and of the carnal
circumcision was declared, so, too, the observance of the new law and the spiritual
circumcision has shone out into the
voluntary obediences of peace. For a people, he says, whom I
knew not has served me; in
obedience of the ear it has
obeyed me. Prophets made the announcement. But what is the people which was
ignorant of
God, but
ours, who in days bygone
knew not God? And who, in the hearing of the ear, gave heed to Him, but
we, who, forsaking
idols, have been converted to God? For
Israel who
had been
known to
God, and who had by Him been upraised in
Egypt, and was transported through the
Red Sea, and who in the
desert, fed forty years with
manna, was wrought to the semblance of
eternity, and not contaminated with
human passions, or fed on this world's meats, but fed on
angel's loaves the
manna and sufficiently bound to God by His benefits forgot his Lord and
God, saying to
Aaron: Make us gods, to go before us: for that
Moses, who ejected us from the land of
Egypt, has quite forsaken us; and what has befallen him we
know not. And accordingly we, who were not the people of God in days bygone, have been made His people, by accepting the new law above mentioned, and the new
circumcision before foretold.
Chapter 4. Of the Observance of the Sabbath.
It follows, accordingly, that, in so far as the abolition of carnal
circumcision and of the old law is demonstrated as having been consummated at its specific times, so also the observance of the
Sabbath is demonstrated to have been temporary.
For the
Jews say, that from the beginning God sanctified the seventh day, by resting on it from all His works which He made; and that thence it was, likewise, that
Moses said to the People: Remember the day of the sabbaths, to sanctify it: every servile work you shall not do therein, except what pertains unto life. Whence we (
Christians) understand that
we still more ought to observe a
sabbath from all servile work always, and not only every seventh day, but through all time. And through this arises the question for us,
what sabbath God willed us to keep? For the
Scriptures point to a
sabbath eternal and a
sabbath temporal. For Isaiah the
prophet says,
Your sabbaths my
soul hates;
Isaiah 1:13 and in another place he says,
My sabbaths you have profaned. Whence we discern that the temporal
sabbath is
human, and the
eternal sabbath is accounted divine; concerning which He predicts through Isaiah: And there shall be, He says, month after month, and day after day, and
sabbath after
sabbath; and all flesh shall come to adore in Jerusalem, says the Lord; which we understand to have been fulfilled in the times of
Christ, when all flesh that is, every nation came to adore in Jerusalem
God the
Father, through
Jesus Christ His Son, as was predicted through the
prophet: Behold, proselytes through me shall go unto You. Thus, therefore, before this temporal
sabbath, there was withal an
eternal sabbath foreshown and foretold; just as before the carnal
circumcision there was withal a spiritual
circumcision foreshown. In short, let them teach us, as we have already premised, that
Adam observed the
sabbath; or that Abel, when offering to God a
holy victim, pleased Him by a religious reverence for the
sabbath; or that
Enoch, when translated, had been a keeper of the
sabbath; or that
Noah the ark-builder observed, on account of the deluge, an immense
sabbath; or that
Abraham, in observance of the
sabbath, offered Isaac his son; or that
Melchizedek in his
priesthood received the law of the
sabbath.
But the
Jews are sure to say, that ever since this precept was given through
Moses, the observance has been binding. Manifest accordingly it is, that the precept was not
eternal nor spiritual, but temporary, which would one day cease. In short, so
true is it that it is not in the exemption from work of the
sabbath that is, of the seventh day that the celebration of this
solemnity is to consist, that
Joshua the Son of Nun, at the time that he was reducing the city
Jericho by
war, stated that he had received from God a precept to order the People that
priests should carry the ark of the testament of God seven days, making the circuit of the city; and thus, when the seventh day's circuit had been performed, the walls of the city would spontaneously fall.
Joshua 6:1-20 Which was so done; and when the space of the seventh day was finished, just as was predicted, down fell the walls of the city. Whence it is manifestly shown, that in the number of the seven days there intervened a sabbath-day. For seven days, whencesoever they may have commenced, must necessarily include within them a sabbath-day; on which day not only must the
priests have worked, but the city must have been made a prey by the edge of the sword by all the people of
Israel. Nor is it doubtful that they wrought servile work, when, in
obedience to God's precept, they drove the preys of
war. For in the times of the Maccabees, too, they did bravely in fighting on the sabbaths, and routed their foreign foes, and recalled the law of their fathers to the primitive style of life by fighting on the sabbaths. Nor should I think it was any other law which they thus vindicated, than the one in which they remembered the
existence of the prescript touching the day of the sabbaths.
Whence it is manifest that the force of such precepts was temporary, and respected the
necessity of present circumstances; and that it was not with a view to its observance in perpetuity that God formerly gave them such a law.
Chapter 5. Of Sacrifices.
So, again, we show that
sacrifices of earthly oblations and of spiritual
sacrifices were predicted; and, moreover, that from the beginning the earthly were foreshown, in the person of Cain, to be those of the elder son, that is, of
Israel; and the opposite
sacrifices demonstrated to be those of the younger son, Abel, that is, of
our people. For the elder, Cain, offered gifts to God from the fruit of the earth; but the younger son, Abel, from the fruit of his ewes.
God had respect unto Abel, and unto his gifts; but unto Cain and unto his gifts He had not respect. And God said to Cain, Why is your countenance fallen? Have you not if you offer indeed aright, but do not divide aright
sinned? Hold your peace. For unto you shall your conversion be and he shall lord it over you. And then Cain said to Abel his brother, Let us go into the field: and he went away with him there, and he slew him. And then God said to Cain, Where is Abel your brother? And he said, I
know not: am I my brother's keeper? To whom God said, The voice of the blood of your brother cries forth unto me from the earth. Wherefore cursed is the earth, which has opened her mouth to receive the blood of your brother. Groaning and trembling shall you be upon the earth, and every one who shall have found you shall slay you. From this proceeding we gather that the twofold
sacrifices of the peoples were even from the very beginning foreshown. In short, when the sacerdotal law was being drawn up, through
Moses, in Leviticus, we find it prescribed to the people of
Israel that
sacrifices should in no other place be offered to God than in the land of promise; which the Lord God was about to give to the people
Israel and to their brethren, in order that, on
Israel's introduction there, there should there be celebrated
sacrifices and
holocausts, as well for
sins as for
souls; and nowhere else but in the
holy land. Why, accordingly, does the Spirit afterwards predict, through the
prophets, that it should come to pass that in every place and in every land there should be offered
sacrifices to God? As He says through the
angel Malachi, one of the twelve
prophets: I will not receive
sacrifice from your hands; for from the rising sun unto the setting my Name has been made famous among all the
nations, says the Lord Almighty: and in every place they offer clean
sacrifices to my Name. Again, in the
Psalms, David says: Bring to
God, you countries of the nations undoubtedly because unto every land the preaching of the
apostles had to go out bring to God fame and
honour; bring to God the
sacrifices of His name: take up victims and enter into His courts. For that it is not by earthly
sacrifices, but by spiritual, that offering is to be made to
God, we thus read, as it is written, An heart contribulate and humbled is a victim for
God; and elsewhere, Sacrifice to God a
sacrifice of praise, and render to the Highest your vows. Thus, accordingly, the spiritual
sacrifices of praise are pointed to, and an heart contribulate is demonstrated an acceptable
sacrifice to
God. And thus, as carnal
sacrifices are understood to be reprobated of which Isaiah withal speaks, saying, To what end is the multitude of your
sacrifices to me? Says the Lord
Isaiah 1:11 so spiritual
sacrifices are predicted as accepted, as the
prophets announce. For, even if you shall have brought me, He says, the finest wheat flour, it is a vain supplicatory gift: a thing execrable to me; and again He says, Your
holocausts and
sacrifices, and the fat of goats, and blood of bulls, I will not, not even if you come to be seen by me: for who has required these things from your hands? for from the rising sun unto the setting, my Name has been made famous among all the
nations, says the Lord. But of the spiritual
sacrifices He adds, saying, And in every place they offer clean
sacrifices to my Name, says the Lord.
Chapter 6. Of the Abolition and the Abolisher of the Old Law.
Therefore, since it is manifest that a
sabbath temporal was shown, and a
sabbath eternal foretold; a
circumcision carnal foretold, and a
circumcision spiritual pre-indicated; a law temporal and a law
eternal formally declared;
sacrifices carnal and
sacrifices spiritual foreshown; it follows that, after all these precepts had been given carnally, in time preceding, to the people
Israel, there was to supervene a time whereat the precepts of the ancient Law and of the old ceremonies would cease, and the promise of the new law, and the recognition of spiritual
sacrifices, and the promise of the
New Testament, supervene; while the light from on high would beam upon us who were sitting in darkness, and were being detained in the shadow of death. And so there is incumbent on us a necessity
1 Corinthians 9:16 binding us, since we have premised that a new law was predicted by the
prophets, and that not such as had been already given to their fathers at the time when He led them forth from the land of
Egypt, to show and prove, on the one hand, that that old Law has ceased, and on the other, that the promised new law is now in operation.
And, indeed, first we must inquire whether there be expected a giver of the new law, and an heir of the new testament, and a
priest of the new
sacrifices, and a purger of the new
circumcision, and an observer of the
eternal sabbath, to suppress the old law, and institute the new testament, and offer the new
sacrifices, and repress the ancient ceremonies, and suppress the old
circumcision together with its own
sabbath, and announce the new kingdom which is not corruptible. Inquire, I say, we must, whether this giver of the new law, observer of the spiritual
sabbath,
priest of the
eternal sacrifices,
eternal ruler of the
eternal kingdom, be come or no: that, if he is already come, service may have to be rendered him; if he is not yet come, he may have to be awaited, until by his advent it be manifest that the old Law's precepts are suppressed, and that the beginnings of the new law ought to arise. And, primarily, we must lay it down that the ancient Law and the
prophets could not have ceased, unless He had come who was constantly announced, through the same Law and through the same
prophets, as to come.
Jesus' command concerning God's Law
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Originally Posted by dmatic
