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Preface
Chapter I: Christ Alone Is Able To Teach Divine Things, And To Redeem Us: He, The Same, Took Flesh Of The Virgin Mary, Not Merely In Appearance, But Actually, By The Operation Of The Holy Spirit, In Order To Renovate Us. Strictures On The Conceits Of Valentinus And Ebion.
Chapter II: When Christ Visited Us In His Grace, He Did Not Come To What Did Not Belong To Him: Also, By Shedding His True Blood For Us, And Exhibiting To Us His True Flesh In The Eucharist, He Conferred Upon Our Flesh The Capacity Of Salvation.
Chapter III: He Power And Glory Of God Shine Forth In The Weakness Of Human Flesh, As He Will Render Our Body A Participator Of The Resurrection And Of Immortality, Although He Has Formed It From The Dust Of The Earth; He Will Also Bestow Upon It The Enjoyment Of Immortality, Just As He Grants It This Short Life In Common With The Soul.
Chapter IV: Those Persons Are Deceived Who Feign Another God The Father Besides The Creator Of The World; For He Must Have Been Feeble And Useless, Or Else Malignant And Full Of Envy, If He Be Either Unable Or Unwilling To Extend External Life To Our Bodies.
Chapter V: The Prolonged Life Of The Ancients, The Translation Of Elijah And Of Enoch In Their Own Bodies, As Well As The Preservation Of Jonah, Of Shadrach, Meshach, And Abednego, In The Midst Of Extreme Peril, Are Clear Demonstrations That God Can Raise Up Our Bodies To Life Eternal.
Chapter VI: God Will Bestow Salvation Upon The Whole Nature Of Man, Consisting Of Body And Soul In Close Union, Since The Word Took It Upon Him, And Adorned With The Gifts Of The Holy Spirit, Of Whom Our Bodies Are, And Are Termed, The Temples.
Chapter VII: Inasmuch As Christ Did Rise In Our Flesh, It Follows That We Shall Be Also Raised In The Same; Since The Resurrection Promised To Us Should Not Be Referred To Spirits Naturally Immortal, But To Bodies In Themselves Mortal.
Chapter VIII: The Gifts Of The Holy Spirit Which We Receive Prepare Us For Incorruption, Render Us Spiritual, And Separate Us From Carnal Men. These Two Classes Are Signified By The Clean And Unclean Animals In The Legal Dispensation.
Chapter IX: Showing How That Passage Of The Apostle Which The Heretics Pervert, Should Be Understood;Viz., "Flesh And Blood Shall Not Possess The Kingdom Of God."
Chapter X: By A Comparison Drawn From The Wild Olive-Tree, Whose Quality But Not Whose Nature Is Changed By Grafting, He Proves More Important Things; He Points Out Also That Man Without The Spirit Is Not Capable Of Bringing Forth Fruit, Or Of Inheriting The Kingdom Of God.
Chapter XI: Treats Upon The Actions Of Carnal And Of Spiritual Persons; Also, That The Spiritual Cleansing Is Not To Be Referred To The Substance Of Our Bodies, But To The Manner Of Our Former Life.
Chapter XII: Of The Difference Between Life And Death; Of The Breath Of Life And The Vivifying Spirit: Also How It Is That The Substance Of Flesh Revives Which Once Was Dead.
Chapter XIII: In The Dead Who Were Raised By Christ We Possess The Highest Proof Of The Resurrection; And Our Hearts Are Shown To Be Capable Of Life Eternal, Because They Can Now Receive The Spirit Of God.
Chapter XIV: Unless The Flesh Were To Be Saved, The Word Would Not Have Taken Upon Him Flesh Of The Same Substance As Ours: From This It Would Follow That Neither Should We Have Been Reconciled By Him.
Chapter XV: Proofs Of The Resurrection From Isaiah And Ezekiel; The Same God Who Created Us Will Also Raise Us Up.
Chapter XVI: Since Our Bodies Return To The Earth, It Follows That They Have Their Substance From It; Also, By The Advent Of The Word, The Image Of God In Us Appeared In A Clearer Light.
Chapter XVII: There Is But One Lord And One God, The Father And Creator Of All Things, Who Has Loved Us In Christ, Given Us Commandments, And Remitted Our Sins; Whose Son And Word Christ Proved Himself To Be, When He Forgave Our Sins.
Chapter XVIII: God The Father And His Word Have Formed All Created Things (Which They Use) By Their Own Power And Wisdom, Not Out Of Defect Or Ignorance. The Son Of God, Who Received All Power From The Father, Would Otherwise Never Have Taken Flesh Upon Him.
Chapter XIX: A Comparison Is Instituted Between The Disobedient And Sinning Eve And The Virgin Mary, Her Patroness. Various And Discordant Heresies Are Mentioned.
Chapter XX: Those Pastors Are To Be Heard To Whom The Apostles Committed The Churches, Possessing One And The Same Doctrine Of Salvation; The Heretics, On The Other Hand, Are To Be Avoided. We Must Think Soberly With Regard To The Mysteries Of The Faith.
Chapter XXI: Christ Is The Head Of All Things Already Mentioned. It Was Fitting That He Should Be Sent By The Father, The Creator Of All Things, To Assume Human Nature, And Should Be Tempted By Satan, That He Might Fulfil The Promises, And Carry Off A Glorious And Perfect Victory.
Chapter XXII: The True Lord And The One God Is Declared By The Law, And Manifested By Christ His Son In The Gospel; Whom Alone We Should Adore, And From Him We Must Look For All Good Things, Not From Satan.
Chapter XXIII: The Devil Is Well Practised In Falsehood, By Which Adam Having Been Led Astray, Sinned On The Sixth Day Of The Creation, In Which Day Also He Has Been Renewed By Christ.
Chapter XXIV: Of The Constant Falsehood Of The Devil, And Of The Powers And Governments Of The World, Which We Ought To Obey, Inasmuch As They Are Appointed Of God, Not Of The Devil.
Chapter XXV: The Fraud, Pride, And Tyrannical Kingdom Of Antichrist, As Described By Daniel And Paul.
Chapter XXVI: John And Daniel Have Predicted The Dissolution And Desolation Of The Roman Empire, Which Shall Precede The End Of The World And The Eternal Kingdom Of Christ. The Gnostics Are Refuted, Those Tools Of Satan, Who Invent Another Father Different From The Creator.
Chapter XXVII: The Future Judgment By Christ. Communion With And Separation From The Divine Being. The Eternal Punishment Of Unbelievers.
Chapter XXVIII: The Distinction To Be Made Between The Righteous And The Wicked. The Future Apostasy In The Time Of Anti-Christ, And The End Of The World.
Chapter XXIX: All Things Have Been Created For The Service Of Man. The Deceits, Wickedness, And Apostate Power Of Antichrist. This Was Prefigured At The Deluge, As Afterwards By The Persecution Of Shadrach, Meshach, And Abednego.
Chapter XXX: Although Certain As To The Number Of The Name Of Antichrist, Yet We Should Come To No Rash Conclusions As To The Name Itself, Because This Number Is Capable Of Being Fitted To Many Names. Reasons For This Point Being Reserved By The Holy Spirit. Antichrist's Reign And Death.
Chapter XXXI: The Preservation Of Our Bodies Is Confirmed By The Resurrection And Ascension Of Christ: The Souls Of The Saints During The Intermediate Period Are In A State Of Expectation Of That Time When They Shall Receive Their Perfect And Consummated Glory.
Chapter XXXII: In That Flesh In Which The Saints Have Suffered So Many Afflictions, They Shall Receive The Fruits Of Their Labours; Especially Since All Creation Waits For This, And God Promises It To Abraham And His Seed.
Chapter XXXIII: Further Proofs Of The Same Proposition, Drawn From The Promises Made By Christ, When He Declared That He Would Drink Of The Fruit Of The Vine With His Disciples In His Father's Kingdom, While At The Same Time He Promised To Reward Them An Hundred-Fold, And To Make Them Partake Of Banquets. The Blessing Pronounced By Jacob Had Pointed Out This Already, As Papias And The Elders Have Interpreted It.
Chapter XXXIV: He Fortifies His Opinions With Regard To The Temporal And Earthly Kingdom Of The Saints After Their Resurrection, By The Various Testimonies Of Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, And Daniel; Also By The Parable Of The Servants Watching, To Whom The Lord Promised That He Would Minister.
Chapter XXXV: He Contends That These Testimonies Already Alleged Cannot Be Understood Allegorically Of Celestial Blessings, But That They Shall Have Their Fulfilment After The Coming Of Antichrist, And The Resurrection, In The Terrestrial Jerusalem. To The Former Prophecies He Subjoins Others Drawn From Isaiah, Jeremiah, And The Apocalypse Of John.
Chapter XXXVI: Men Shall Be Actually Raised: The World Shall Not Be Annihilated; But There Shall Be Various Mansions For The Saints, According To The Rank Allotted To Each Individual. All Things Shall Be Subject To God The Father, And So Shall He Be All In All.
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Chapter XIV: Unless The Flesh Were To Be Saved, The Word Would Not Have Taken Upon Him Flesh Of The Same Substance As Ours: From This It Would Follow That Neither Should We Have Been Reconciled By Him.
1. And inasmuch as the apostle has not pronounced against the very substance of flesh and blood, that it cannot inherit the kingdom of God, the same apostle has everywhere adopted the term "flesh and blood" with regard to the Lord Jesus Christ, partly indeed to establish His human nature (for He did Himself speak of Himself as the Son of man), and partly that He might confirm the salvation of our flesh. For if the flesh were not in a position to be saved, the Word of God would in no wise have become flesh. And if the blood of the righteous were not to be inquired after, the Lord would certainly not have had blood [in His composition]. But inasmuch as blood cries out (vocalis est) from the beginning [of the world], God said to Cain, when he had slain his brother, "The voice of thy brother's blood crieth to Me."4 And as their blood will be inquired after, He said to those with Noah, "For your blood of your souls will I require, [even] from the hand of all beasts;"5 and again, "Whosoever will shed man's blood,6 it shall be shed for his blood." In like manner, too, did the Lord say to those who should afterwards shed His blood, "All righteous blood shall be required which is shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zacharias the son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation."7 He thus points out the recapitulation that should take place in his own person of the effusion of blood from the beginning, of all the righteous men and of the prophets, and that by means of Himself there should be a requisition of their blood. Now this [blood] could not be required unless it also had the capability of being saved; nor would the Lord have summed up these things in Himself, unless He had Himself been made flesh and blood after the way of the original formation [of man], saving in his own person at the end that which had in the beginning perished in Adam.
2. But if the Lord became incarnate for any other order of things, and took flesh of any other substance, He has not then summed up human nature in His own person, nor in that case can He be termed flesh. For flesh has been truly made [to consist in] a transmission of that thing moulded originally from the dust. But if it had been necessary for Him to draw the material [of His body] from another substance, the Father would at the beginning have moulded the material [of flesh] from a different substance [than from what He actually did]. But now the case stands thus, that the Word has saved that which really was [created, viz.,] humanity which had perished, effecting by means of Himself that communion which should be held with it, and seeking out its salvation. But the thing which had perished possessed flesh and blood. For the Lord, taking dust from the earth, moulded man; and it was upon his behalf that all the dispensation of the Lord's advent took place. He had Himself, therefore, flesh and blood, recapitulating in Himself not a certain other, but that original handiwork of the Father, seeking out that thing which had perished. And for this cause the apostle, in the Epistle to the Colossians, says, "And though ye were formerly alienated, and enemies to His knowledge by evil works, yet now ye have been reconciled in the body of His flesh, through His death, to present yourselves holy and chaste, and without fault in His sight."8 He says, "Ye have been reconciled in the body of His flesh," because the righteous flesh has reconciled that flesh which was being kept under bondage in sin, and brought it into friendship with God.
3. If, then, any one allege that in this respect the flesh of the Lord was different from ours, because it indeed did not commit sin, neither was deceit found in His soul, while we, on the other hand, are sinners, he says what is the fact. But if he pretends that the, Lord possessed another substance of flesh, the sayings respecting reconciliation will not agree with that man. For that thing is reconciled which had formerly been in enmity. Now, if the Lord had taken flesh from another substance, He would not, by so doing, have reconciled that one to God which had become inimical through transgression. But now, by means of communion with Himself, the Lord has reconciled man to God the Father, in reconciling us to Himself by the body of His own flesh, and redeeming us by His own blood, as the apostle says to the Ephesians, "In whom we have redemption through His blood, the remission of sins;"1 and again to the same he says, "Ye who formerly were far off have been brought near in the blood of Christ;"2 and again, "Abolishing in His flesh the enmities, [even] the law of commandments [contained] in ordinances."3 And in every Epistle the apostle plainly testifies, that through the flesh of our Lord, and through His blood, we have been saved.
4. If, therefore, flesh and blood are the things which procure for us life, it has not been declared of flesh and blood, in the literal meaning (proprie) of the terms, that they cannot inherit the kingdom of God; but [these words apply] to those carnal deeds already mentioned, which, perverting man to sin, deprive him of life. And for this reason he says, in the Epistle to the Romans: "Let not sin, therefore, reign in your mortal body, to be under its control: neither yield ye your members instruments of unrighteousness unto sin; but yield yourselves to God, as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God."4 In these same members, therefore, in which we used to serve sin, and bring forth fruit unto death, does He wish us to [be obedient] unto righteousness, that we may bring forth fruit unto life. Remember, therefore, my beloved friend, that thou hast been redeemed by the flesh of our Lord, re-established5 by His blood; and "holding the Head, from which the whole body of the Church, having been fitted together, takes increase"6 — that is, acknowledging the advent in the flesh of the Son of God, and [His] divinity (deum), and looking forward with constancy to His human nature7 (hominem), availing thyself also of these proofs drawn from Scripture — thou dost easily overthrow, as I have pointed out, all those notions of the heretics which were concocted afterwards.
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