Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew
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Translated by John Patrick, D.D.
Text edited by Rev. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson and
first published by T&T Clark in Edinburgh in 1867. Additional
introductionary material and notes provided for the American
edition by A. Cleveland Coxe, 1886.
.
Book XII.
1. Concerning Those Who Asked Him to Show Them a Sign from Heaven.
"And the Sadducees and Pharisees came, and tempting Him kept asking
Him to shew them a sign from heaven." [5553]The Sadducees and
Pharisees who disagreed with each other in regard to the most
essential truths,--for the Pharisees champion the doctrine of the
resurrection of the dead, hoping that there will be a world to come,
while the Sadducees know nothing after this life in store for a man
whether he has been advancing towards virtue, or has made no effort at
all to come out from the mountains of wickedness,--these, I say, agree
that they may tempt Jesus. Now, a similar thing, as Luke has
narrated, [5554] happened in the case of Herod and Pilate, who became
friends with one another that they might kill Jesus; for, perhaps,
their hostility with one another would have prevented Herod from
asking that He should be put to death, in order to please the people,
who said, "Crucify Him, Crucify Him," [5555] and would have influenced
Pilate, who was somewhat inclined against His condemnation, his
hostility with Herod giving fresh impulse to the inclination which he
previously cherished to release Jesus. But their apparent friendship
made Herod stronger in his demand against Jesus with Pilate, who
wished, perhaps, also because of the newly-formed friendship to do
something to gratify Herod and all the nation of the Jews. And often
even now you may see in daily life those who hold the most divergent
opinions, whether in the philosophy of the Greeks or in other systems
of thought, appearing to be of one mind that they may scoff at and
attack Jesus Christ in the person of His disciples. And from these
things I think you may go on by rational argument to consider, whether
when forces join in opposition which are in disagreement with one
another, as of Pharaoh with Nebuchadnezzar, [5556] and of Tirhakah,
king of the Ethiopians, with Sennacherib, [5557] a combination then
takes place against Jesus and His people. So perhaps, also, "The
kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers were gathered
together," [5558] though not at all before at harmony with one
another, that having taken counsel against the Lord and His Christ,
they might slay the Lord of glory.
Footnotes
[5553] Matt. xvi. 1.
[5554] Luke xxiii. 12.
[5555] Luke xxiii. 21.
[5556] 2 Kings xxiv. 7.
[5557] 2 Kings xix. 9.
[5558] Ps. ii. 2.
2. Why the Pharisees Asked a Sign from Heaven.
Now, to this point we have come in our discourse, because of the
Pharisees and Sadducees coming together unto Jesus, who disagreed in
matters relating to the resurrection, but came, as it were, to an
agreement for the sake of tempting our Saviour, and asking Him to show
them a sign from heaven. For, not satisfied with the wonderful signs
shown among the people in the healing of all forms of disease and
sickness, and with the rest of the miracles which our Saviour had done
in the knowledge of many, they wished Him to show to them also a sign
from heaven. And I conjecture that they suspected that the signs upon
earth might possibly not be of God; for they did not hesitate indeed
to say, "Jesus casts out demons by Beelzebub the prince of the
demons;" [5559] and it seemed to them that a sign from heaven could
not spring from Beelzebub or any other wicked power. But they erred
in regard to both, in regard to signs upon earth as well as to signs
from heaven, not being "approved money-changers," [5560] nor knowing
how to distinguish between the spirits that are working, which kind
are from God, and which have revolted from Him. And they ought to
have known that even many of the portents wrought against Egypt in the
time of Moses, though they were not from heaven, were clearly from
God, and that the fire which fell from heaven upon the sheep of Job
was not from God; [5561] for that fire belonged to the same one as he
to whom belonged those who carried off, and made three bands of
horsemen against, the cattle of Job. I think, moreover, that in
Isaiah--as if signs could be shown both from the earth and from
heaven, the true being from God, but "with all power and signs and
lying wonders" [5562] those from the evil one--it was said to Ahaz,
"Ask for thyself a sign from the Lord thy God in the depth or in the
height." [5563]For, unless there had been some signs in the depth
or in the height which were not from the Lord God, this would not have
been said, "Ask for thyself a sign from the Lord thy God in the depth
or in the height." But I know well that such an interpretation of the
passage, "Ask for thyself a sign from the Lord thy God," will seem to
some one rather forced; but give heed to that which is said by the
Apostle about the man of sin, the son of perdition, that, "with all
power and signs and lying wonders and with all deceit of
unrighteousness," [5564] he shall be manifested to them that are
perishing, imitating all kinds of wonders, to-wit, those of truth.
And as the enchanters and magicians of the Egyptians, as being
inferior to the man of sin and the son of perdition, imitated certain
powers, both the signs and wonders of truth, doing lying wonders so
that the true might not be believed; so I think the man of sin will
imitate signs and powers. And perhaps, also, the Pharisees suspected
these things because of the prophecies concerning Him; but I inquire
whether also the Sadducees tempting Him asked Jesus to show them a
sign from heaven. For unless we say that they suspected this, how
shall we describe their relation to the portents which Jesus wrought,
who continued hard-hearted and were not put to shame by the miraculous
things that were done? But if any one supposes that we have given an
occasion of defence to the Pharisees and Sadducees, both when they say
that the demons were cast out by Jesus through Beelzebub, and when
tempting Him, they ask Jesus about a heavenly sign, let him know that
we plausibly say that they were drawn away to the end that they might
not believe in the miracles of Jesus; but not as to deserve
forgiveness; for they did not look to the words of the prophets which
were being fulfilled in the acts of Jesus, which an evil power was not
at all capable of imitating. But to bring back a soul which had gone
out, so that it came out of the grave when already stinking and
passing the fourth day, [5565] was the work of no other than Him who
heard the word of the Father, "Let us make man after our image and
likeness." [5566]But also to command the winds and to make the
violence of the sea cease at a word, was the work of no other than Him
through whom all things, both the sea itself and the winds, have come
into being. Moreover also as to the teaching which stimulates men to
the love of the Creator, in harmony with the law and the prophets, and
which checks passions and moulds morals according to piety, what else
did it indicate to such as were able to see, than that He was truly
the Son of God who wrought works so mighty? In respect of which
things He said also to the disciples of John, "Go your way and tell
John what great things ye see and hear; the blind receive their
sight," etc. [5567]
Footnotes
[5559] Matt. ix. 24, xii. 24.
[5560] The familiar saying so frequently quoted as Scripture in the
Fathers, sometimes ascribed to Jesus by them, sometimes to Paul. See
Suicer.
[5561] Job i. 16.
[5562] 2 Thess. ii. 9.
[5563] Isa. vii. 11.
[5564] 2 Thess. ii. 9, 10.
[5565] John xi. 39.
[5566] Gen. i. 26.
[5567] Matt. xi. 4, 5.
3. The Answer of Jesus to Their Request.
Next let us remark in what way, when asked in regard to one sign, that
He might show it from heaven, to the Pharisees and Sadducees who put
the question, He answers and says, "An evil and adulterous generation
seeketh after a sign, and there shall be no sign given to it, but the
sign of Jonah the prophet, " when also, "He left them and departed."
[5568]But the sign of Jonah, in truth, according to their question,
was not merely a sign but also a sign from heaven; so that even to
those who tempted Him and sought a sign from heaven He, nevertheless,
out of His own great goodness gave the sign. For if, as Jonah passed
three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so the Son of man
did in the heart of the earth, and after this rose up from it,--whence
but from heaven shall we say that the sign of the resurrection of
Christ came? And especially when, at the time of the passion, He
became a sign to the robber who obtained favour from Him to enter into
the paradise of God; after this, I think, descending into Hades to the
dead, "as free among the dead." [5569]And the Saviour seems to me
to conjoin the sign which was to come from Himself with the reason of
the sign in regard to Jonah when He says, not merely that a sign like
to that is granted by Him but that very sign; for attend to the words,
"And there shall no sign be given to it but the sign of Jonah the
prophet." [5570]Accordingly that sign was this sign, because that
became indicative of this, so that the elucidation of that sign, which
was obscure on the face of it, might be found in the fact that the
Saviour suffered, and passed three days and three nights in the heart
of the earth. At the same time also we learn the general principle
that, if the sign signifies something, each of the signs which are
recorded, whether as in actual history, or by way of precept, is
indicative of something afterwards fulfilled; as for example, the sign
of Jonah going out after three days from the whale's belly was
indicative of the resurrection of our Saviour, rising after three days
and three nights from the dead; and that which is called circumcision
is the sign of that which is indicated by Paul in the words: "We are
the circumcision." [5571]Seek you also every sign in the Old
Scriptures as indicative of some passage in the New Scripture, and
that which is named a sign in the New Covenant as indicative of
something either in the age about to be, or even in the subsequent
generations after that the sign has taken place.
Footnotes
[5568] Matt. xvi. 4.
[5569] Ps. lxxxviii. 6.
[5570] Matt. xvi. 4.
[5571] Phil. iii. 3.
4. Why Jesus Called Them an Adulterous Generation. The Law as
Husband.
And He called them, indeed, "an evil generation," because of the
quality arising from evil which had been produced in them, for
wickedness is voluntary evil-doing, but "adulterous" because that when
the Pharisees and Sadducees left that which is figuratively called
man, the word of truth or the law, they were debauched by falsehood
and the law of sin. For if there are two laws, the law in our members
warring against the law of the mind, and the law of the mind, [5572]
we must say that the law of the mind--that is, the spiritual--is man,
to whom the soul was given by God as wife, that is, to the man who is
law, according to what is written, "A wife is married to a man by
God;" [5573] but the other is a paramour of the soul which is subject
to it, which also on account of it is called an adulteress. Now that
the law is husband of the soul Paul clearly exhibits in the Epistle to
the Romans, saying, "The law hath dominion over a man for so long time
as he liveth; for the woman that hath a husband is bound to the
husband while he liveth, to the husband who is law," [5574] etc. For
consider in these things that the law hath dominion over the man so
long time as the law liveth,--as a husband over a wife. "For the
woman that hath a husband," that is, the soul under the law, "is bound
to the husband while he liveth," to the husband who is the law; but if
the husband--that is, the law die--she is discharged from the law,
which is her husband. Now the law dies to him who has gone up to the
condition of blessedness, and no longer lives under the law, but acts
like to Christ, who, though He became under law for the sake of those
under law, that He might gain those under law, [5575] did not continue
under law, nor did He leave subject to law those who had been freed by
Him; for He led them up along with Himself to the divine citizenship
which is above the law, which contains, as for the imperfect and such
as are still sinners, sacrifices for the remission of sins. He then
who is without sin, and stands no longer in need of legal sacrifices,
perhaps when he has become perfect has passed beyond even the
spiritual law, and comes to the Word beyond it, who became flesh to
those who live in the flesh, but to those who no longer at all war
after the flesh, He is perceived as being the Word, as [5576] He was
God in the beginning with God, and reveals the Father. Three things
therefore are to be thought of in connection with this place--the
woman that hath a husband, who is under a husband--the law; and the
woman who is an adulteress, to-wit, the soul, which, while her
husband, the law, liveth, has become joined to another husband,
namely, the law of the flesh; and the woman who is married to the
brother of the dead husband, to the Word who is alive and dies not,
who "being raised from the dead dieth no more, for death hath no more
dominion over Him." [5577]So far then because of the saying, "But
if the husband die she is discharged from the law, the husband," and
because of this, "so then, while her husband liveth, she shall be
called an adulteress, if she be joined to another man," and because of
this, "but if the husband die, she is free from the law, so that she
is no adulteress though she be joined to another man." [5578]But
this very saying, "So then while her husband liveth, she shall be
called an adulteress," we have brought forward, wishing clearly to
show why in answer to the Pharisees and Sadducees who were tempting
Him and asking Him to show them a sign from heaven, He said not only
"a wicked generation," but an "adulterous" generation. [5579]In a
general way, then, the law in the members which wars against the law
of the mind, [5580] as a man who is an adulterer, is an adulterer of
the soul. But now also every power that is hostile, which gains the
mastery over the human soul, and has intercourse with it, commits
adultery with her who had a bridegroom given to her by God, namely,
the Word. After these things it is written that "He left them and
departed." For how was the bridegroom--the Word--not going to leave
the adulterous generation and depart from it? But you might say that
the Word of God, leaving the synagogue of the Jews as adulterous,
departed from it, and took a wife of fornication, [5581] namely, those
from the Gentiles; since those who were "Sion, a faithful city,"
[5582] have become harlots; but these have become like the harlot
Rahab, who received the spies of Joshua, and was saved with all her
house; [5583] after this no longer playing the harlot, but coming to
the feet of Jesus, and wetting them with the tears of repentance, and
anointing them with the fragrance of the ointment of holy
conversation, on account of whom, reproaching Simon the leper,--the
former people,--He spoke those things which are written. [5584]
Footnotes
[5572] Rom. vii. 23.
[5573] Prov. xix. 14.
[5574] Rom. vii. 1, 2. ;;E gar hupandros gune to zonti andri dedetai
nomo. The reader must note that Origen takes nomo in apposition to
andri.
[5575] 1 Cor. ix. 10.
[5576] Or, who was God.
[5577] Rom. vi. 9.
[5578] Rom. vii. 2, 3.
[5579] Matt. xvi. 4.
[5580] Rom. vii. 23.
[5581] Hos. i. 2.
[5582] Isa. i. 21.
[5583] Josh. vi. 25.
[5584] Luke vii. 37-50. Cf. Matt. xxvi. 6.
5. Concerning the Leaven of the Pharisees.
"And His disciples came to the other side and forgot to take loaves."
[5585]Since the loaves which they had before they came to the other
side were no longer useful to the disciples when they came to the
other side, for they needed one kind of loaves before they crossed and
a different kind when they crossed,--on this account, being careless
of taking loaves when going to the other side, they forgot to take
loaves with them. To the other side then came the disciples of Jesus
who had passed over from things material to things spiritual, and from
things sensible to those which are intellectual. And perhaps that He
might turn back those who, by crossing to the other side, "had begun
in spirit," [5586] from running back to carnal things, Jesus said to
them when on the other side, "Take heed and beware." [5587]For
there was a certain lump of teaching and of truly ancient
leaven,--that according to the bare letter, and on this account not
freed from those things which arise from wickedness,--which the
Pharisees and Sadducees offered, of which Jesus does not wish His own
disciples any longer to eat, having made for them a new and spiritual
lump, offering Himself to those who gave up the leaven of the
Pharisees and Sadducees and had come to Him--"the living bread which
came down from heaven and gives life to the world." [5588]But
since, to him who is no longer going to use the leaven and the lump
and the teaching of the Pharisees and the Sadducees, the first thing
is to "see" and then to "beware," so that no one, by reason of not
seeing and from want of taking heed, may ever partake of their
forbidden leaven,--on this account He says to the disciples, first,
"see," and then, "beware." It is the mark of the clear-sighted and
careful to separate the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees and
every food that is not of "the unleavened-bread of sincerity and
truth" [5589] from the living bread, even that which came down from
heaven, so that no one who eats may adopt the things of the Pharisees
and the Sadducees, but by eating the living and true bread may
strengthen his soul. And we might seasonably apply the saying to
those who, along with the Christian way of life, prefer to live as the
Jews, materially, for these do not see nor beware of the leaven of the
Pharisees and Sadducees, but, contrary to the will of Jesus who
forbade it, eat the bread of the Pharisees. Yea and also all, who do
not wish to understand that the law is spiritual, and has a shadow of
the good things to come, [5590] and is a shadow of the things to come,
[5591] neither inquire of what good thing about to be each of the laws
is a shadow, nor do they see nor beware of the leaven of the
Pharisees; and they also who reject the doctrine of the resurrection
of the dead are not on their guard against the leaven of the
Sadducees. And there are many among the heterodox who, because of
their unbelief in regard to the resurrection of the dead, are imbued
with the leaven of the Sadducees. Now, while Jesus said these things,
the disciples reasoned, saying not aloud, but in their own hearts, "We
took no loaves." [5592]And something like this was what they said,
"If we had loaves we would not have had to take of the leaven of the
Pharisees and the Sadducees; but since, from want of loaves, we run
the risk of taking from their leaven, while the Saviour does not wish
us to run back to their teaching, therefore He said to us, "Take heed
and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees."" [5593]
And these things then they reasoned; Jesus, while looking to that
which was in their hearts, and hearing the reasons in them, as the
true overseer of hearts, reproves them because they did not see nor
remember the loaves which they received from Him; on account of which,
even when they appeared to be in want of loaves, they did not need the
leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.
Footnotes
[5585] Matt. xvi. 5.
[5586] Cf. Gal. iii. 3.
[5587] Matt. xvi. 6.
[5588] John vi. 33, 51.
[5589] 1 Cor. v. 8.
[5590] Heb. x. 1.
[5591] Col. ii. 17.
[5592] Matt. xvi. 7.
[5593] Matt. xvi. 6.
6. The Meaning of Leaven. Jesus' Knowledge of the Heart.
Then expounding clearly and representing to them, who were being
distracted because of the equivocal meaning of loaf and leaven, in an
undisguised fashion, that He was not speaking to them about sensible
bread but about the leaven in the teaching, He subjoins, "How is it
that ye do not perceive that I spake not you concerning bread? But
beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees." [5594]And
though He had not laid bare the interpretation, but still continued to
use metaphorical language, the disciples would have understood that
the discourse of the Saviour was about the teaching, figuratively
called leaven, which the Pharisees and Sadducees were teaching. So
long, then, as we have Jesus with us fulfilling the promise which
runs, "Lo, I am with you always unto the consummation of the age,"
[5595] we cannot fast nor be in want of food, so that, because of want
of it we should desire to take and eat the forbidden leaven, even from
the Pharisees and Sadducees. Now there may sometimes be a time, when
He is with us, that we are without food, as is spoken of in the
passage above, "They continue with me now three days and have nothing
to eat;" [5596] but, even though this should happen, being unwilling
to send us away fasting lest we faint on the way, He gives thanks over
the loaves which were with the disciples, and causes us to have the
seven baskets over from the seven loaves, as we have recorded. And
moreover this also is to be observed, in view of those who think that
the divinity of the Saviour is not at all demonstrable from the Gospel
of Matthew, that the fact that, when the disciples were reasoning
among themselves and saying, "We have no loaves," Jesus knew their
reasonings and said, "Why reason ye among yourselves, O ye of little
faith, because ye took no loaves," [5597] was beyond the power of man;
for the Lord alone, as Solomon says in the third Book of Kings, knows
the hearts of men. [5598]But since the disciples understood, when
Jesus said, "Beware of the leaven," [5599] that He did not tell them
to beware of the loaves but of the teaching of the Pharisees and
Sadducees, you will understand that whenever leaven is named it is put
figuratively for teaching, whether in the law, or in the Scriptures
which come after the law; and so perhaps leaven is not offered upon
the altar; for it is not right that prayers should take the form of
teaching, but should only be supplications of good things from God.
But one might inquire, on account of what has been said about
disciples who came to the other side, if any one who has reached the
other side can be reproached as one of little faith, and as not yet
understanding nor remembering what was done by Jesus. But it is not
difficult, I think, to say to this, that in relation to that which is
perfect, on the coming of which "that which is in part shall be done
away," [5600] all our faith here is little faith, and in regard to
that, we who know in part do not yet know nor remember; for we are not
able to obtain a memory which is sufficient and able to attain to the
magnitude of the nature of the speculations.
Footnotes
[5594] Matt. xvi. 11.
[5595] Matt. xxviii. 20.
[5596] Matt. xv. 32.
[5597] Matt. xvi. 8.
[5598] 1 Kings viii. 39.
[5599] Matt. xvi. 6.
[5600] 1 Cor. xiii. 10.
7. Relative Magnitude of Sins of the Heart and Actual Sins.
But we may also learn from this, that in respect of the reasonings
only which we reason within ourselves, we are sometimes convicted and
reproached as being of little faith. And I think that just as a man
commits adultery in his heart only, though not proceeding altogether
to the overt act, so he commits in his heart the rest of the things
which are forbidden. As then he who has committed adultery in his
heart will be punished proportionately to adultery of this kind, so
also he who has done in his heart any one of the things forbidden, for
example, who has stolen in his heart only, or borne false witness in
his heart only, will not be punished as he who has stolen in fact, or
who has completed the very act of false testimony, but only as he who
has done such things in his heart. There is also the case of the man
who while he did not arrive at the evil action, came short of it in
spite of his own will. For if, in addition to willing it, he has
attempted it, but not carried it out, he will be punished not as one
who has sinned in his heart alone but in deed. To questions of this
sort one might ask, whether any one commits adultery in his heart,
even if he does not do the deed of adultery, but lacks self-control in
heart only. And the like also you will say concerning the rest of
things which are deserving of praise. But the passage possibly
contains a plausible fallacy which must be cleared away, I think, in
this manner: adultery which takes place in the heart is a less sin,
than if one were also to add to it the act. But it is impossible that
there can be chastity in the heart, hindering the chaste
action--unless indeed one brings forward for an illustration of this
the case of the virgin who according to the law was violated in
solitude; [5601] for it may be granted that the heart of any one may
be most pure, [5602] but that force in a matter of licentiousness has
caused the corruption of the body of her who was chaste. In truth she
seems to me to be altogether chaste in secret heart, but no longer to
be pure in body such as she was before the act of violence; but though
she is not pure outwardly, is she therefore now also unchaste? I have
said these things because of the words, "They reasoned among
themselves saying, We took no loaves," to which is added, "And Jesus
perceiving it, said, O ye of little faith, why reason ye among
yourselves," [5603] etc.; for it was necessary that investigation
should be made in regard to the censure of things in secret and
correlatively to the praise of things in secret.
Footnotes
[5601] Deut. xxii. 25.
[5602] Or, violence in the licentious person.
[5603] Matt. xvi. 7, 8.
8. The Leaven Figurative Like the Water Spoken of by Jesus to the
Woman of Samaria.
But I wonder if the disciples thought, before the saying was explained
to them by Jesus, that their Teacher and Lord was forbidding them to
beware of the sensible leaven of the Pharisees or the Sadducees as
impure, and on this account forbidden, lest they might use that leaven
because they had not taken loaves. And we might make a like inquiry
in regard to other things; but by-way of illustration the narrative
about the woman of Samaria sufficeth, "Every one that drinketh of this
water shall thirst again; but whosoever drinketh of the water that I
shall give him shall never thirst." [5604]For there, also, so far
as the mere form of expression is concerned, the Samaritan woman would
seem to have thought that the Saviour was giving a promise about
sensible water, when He said, "Whosoever drinketh of the water that I
shall give him shall never thirst." And those things then must be
figuratively interpreted, and we must examine and compare the water of
the spring of Jacob from which the woman of Samaria drew water with
the water of Jesus; and here the like must be done; for perhaps the
loaves were not baked, but a kind of raw leaven solely, the teaching,
namely, of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
Footnotes
[5604] John xiv. 13, 14.
9. Concerning the Question of Jesus in Cæsarea, Who Do Men Say that I
Am? Different Conceptions of Jesus.
"Now when Jesus came into the parts of Cæsarea Philippi, He asked His
disciples." [5605]Jesus inquires of the disciples, "Who do men say
that I am," that we may learn from the answer of the Apostles the
different conceptions then held among the Jews in regard to our
Saviour; and perhaps also that the disciples of Jesus might learn to
be interested in knowing what is said by men about them; [5606]
because that will be an advantage to them who do it, by cutting off in
every way occasions of evil if anything evil is spoken of, and by
increasing the incitements to good, if anything good is spoken of.
Only, observe how, on account of the different movements of opinion
among the Jews about Jesus, some, under the influence of unsound
theories, said that He was John the Baptist, like Herod the tetrarch
who said to his servants, "This is John the Baptist, he is risen from
the dead, and therefore do the powers work in him;" [5607] but others
that He who was now called Jesus was Elijah, either having been born a
second time, or living from that time in the flesh, and appearing at
the present time. But those who said that Jesus was Jeremiah, and not
that Jeremiah was a type of the Christ, were perhaps influenced by
what is said in the beginning of Jeremiah about Christ, which was not
fulfilled in the prophet at that time, but was beginning to be
fulfilled in Jesus, whom "God set up over nations and kingdoms to root
up, and to break down, and to destroy, and to build up, and to
transplant," [5608] having made Him to be a prophet to the Gentiles to
whom He proclaimed the word. Moreover also those who said, "that he
was a certain one of the prophets," [5609] conceived this opinion
concerning Him because of those things which had been said in the
prophets as unto them, but which had not been fulfilled in their
case. But also the Jews, as worthy of the veil which was upon their
heart, held false opinions concerning Jesus; while Peter as not a
disciple "of flesh and blood," [5610] but as one fit to receive the
revelation of the Father in heaven, confessed that He was the Christ.
The saying of Peter to the Saviour, "Thou art the Christ," when the
Jews did not know that He was Christ, was indeed a great thing, but
greater that he knew Him not only to be Christ, but also "the Son of
the living God," [5611] who had also said through the prophets, "I
live," [5612] and "They have forsaken Me the spring of living water;"
[5613] --and He is life also, as from the Father the spring of life,
who said, "I am the Life;" [5614] and consider carefully, whether, as
the spring of the river is not the same thing as the river, the spring
of life is not the same as life. And these things we have added
because to the saying, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of God," was
subjoined the word "living;" [5615] for it was necessary to set forth
something noteworthy in regard to that which is said about God and the
Father of all things as living, both in relation to His absolute life,
and in relation to those things which participate in it. But since we
said that they were under the influence of unsound opinions who
declared that Jesus was John the Baptist, or any one of those named,
in saying this let us prove that if they had fallen in with Jesus as
He was going away to John for baptism, or with John when he was
baptizing Jesus, or if they had heard it from any one, they would not
have said that Jesus was John. But also if they had understood the
opinions under the influence of which Jesus said, "If ye are willing
to receive it, this is Elijah which is to come," [5616] and had heard
what was said, as men having ears, some would not have said that He
was Elijah. And if those who said that He was Jeremiah had perceived
that the most of the prophets took upon themselves certain features
that were symbolical of Him, they would not have said that He was
Jeremiah; and in like manner the others would not have said that He
was one of the prophets.
Footnotes
[5605] Matt. xvi. 13.
[5606] Or, Him.
[5607] Matt. xiv. 2.
[5608] Jer. i. 10.
[5609] Matt. xvi. 14.
[5610] Matt. xvi. 17.
[5611] Matt. xvi. 16.
[5612] Jer. xxii. 24.
[5613] Jer. ii. 13.
[5614] John xiv. 6.
[5615] Matt. xvi. 16.
[5616] Matt xi. 14.
10. The Answer of Peter.
And perhaps that which Simon Peter answered and said, "Thou art the
Christ, the Son of the living God," [5617] if we say it as Peter, not
by flesh and blood revealing it unto us, but by the light from the
Father in heaven shining in our heart, we too become as Peter, being
pronounced blessed as he was, because that the grounds on which he was
pronounced blessed apply also to us, by reason of the fact that flesh
and blood have not revealed to us with regard to Jesus that He is
Christ, the Son of the living God, but the Father in heaven, from the
very heavens, that our citizenship may be in heaven, [5618] revealing
to us the revelation which carries up to heaven those who take away
every veil from the heart, and receive "the spirit of the wisdom and
revelation" of God. [5619]And if we too have said like Peter, "Thou
art the Christ, the Son of the living God," not as if flesh and blood
had revealed it unto us, but by light from the Father in heaven having
shone in our heart, we become a Peter, and to us there might be said
by the Word, "Thou art Peter," etc. [5620]For a rock [5621] is
every disciple of Christ of whom those drank who drank of the
spiritual rock which followed them, [5622] and upon every such rock is
built every word of the church, and the polity in accordance with it;
for in each of the perfect, who have the combination of words and
deeds and thoughts which fill up the blessedness, is the church built
by God.
Footnotes
[5617] Matt. xvi. 16.
[5618] Phil. iii. 20.
[5619] Eph. i. 17.
[5620] Matt. xvi. 18.
[5621] Or, a Peter.
[5622] 1 Cor. x. 4.
11. The Promise Given to Peter Not Restricted to Him, But Applicable
to All Disciples Like Him.
But if you suppose that upon that one Peter only the whole church is
built by God, what would you say about John the son of thunder or each
one of the Apostles? Shall we otherwise dare to say, that against
Peter in particular the gates of Hades shall not prevail, but that
they shall prevail against the other Apostles and the perfect? Does
not the saying previously made, "The gates of Hades shall not prevail
against it," [5623] hold in regard to all and in the case of each of
them? And also the saying, "Upon this rock I will build My church"?
[5624]Are the keys of the kingdom of heaven given by the Lord to
Peter only, and will no other of the blessed receive them? But if
this promise, "I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of
heaven," [5625] be common to the others, how shall not all the things
previously spoken of, and the things which are subjoined as having
been addressed to Peter, be common to them? For in this place these
words seem to be addressed as to Peter only, "Whatsoever thou shalt
bind on earth shall be bound in heaven," [5626] etc.; but in the
Gospel of John the Saviour having given the Holy Spirit unto the
disciples by breathing upon them said, "Receive ye the Holy Spirit,"
[5627] etc. Many then will say to the Saviour, "Thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God;" but not all who say this will say it to
Him, as not at all having learned it by the revelation of flesh and
blood but by the Father in heaven Himself taking away the veil that
lay upon their heart, in order that after this "with unveiled face
reflecting as a mirror the glory of the Lord" [5628] they may speak
through the Spirit of God saying concerning Him, "Lord Jesus," and to
Him, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." [5629]And if
any one says this to Him, not by flesh and blood revealing it unto Him
but through the Father in heaven, he will obtain the things that were
spoken according to the letter of the Gospel to that Peter, but, as
the spirit of the Gospel teaches, to every one who becomes such as
that Peter was. For all bear the surname of "rock" who are the
imitators of Christ, that is, of the spiritual rock which followed
those who are being saved, [5630] that they may drink from it the
spiritual draught. But these bear the surname of the rock just as
Christ does. But also as members of Christ deriving their surname
from Him they are called Christians, and from the rock, Peters. And
taking occasion from these things you will say that the righteous bear
the surname of Christ who is Righteousness, and the wise of Christ who
is Wisdom. [5631]And so in regard to all His other names, you will
apply them by way of surname to the saints; and to all such the saying
of the Saviour might be spoken, "Thou art Peter," etc., down to the
words, "prevail against it." But what is the "it"? Is it the rock
upon which Christ builds the church, or is it the church? For the
phrase is ambiguous. Or is it as if the rock and the church were one
and the same? This I think to be true; for neither against the rock
on which Christ builds the church, nor against the church will the
gates of Hades prevail; just as the way of a serpent upon a rock,
according to what is written in the Proverbs, [5632] cannot be found.
Now, if the gates of Hades prevail against any one, such an one cannot
be a rock upon which Christ builds the church, nor the church built by
Jesus upon the rock; for the rock is inaccessible to the serpent, and
it is stronger than the gates of Hades which are opposing it, so that
because of its strength the gates of Hades do not prevail against it;
but the church, as a building of Christ who built His own house wisely
upon the rock, [5633] is incapable of admitting the gates of Hades
which prevail against every man who is outside the rock and the
church, but have no power against it.
Footnotes
[5623] Matt. xvi. 18.
[5624] Matt. xvi. 18.
[5625] Matt. xvi. 19.
[5626] Matt. xvi. 19.
[5627] John xx. 22.
[5628] 2 Cor. iii. 18.
[5629] Matt. xvi. 16.
[5630] 1 Cor. x. 4.
[5631] 1 Cor. i. 30.
[5632] Prov. xxx. l9.
[5633] Matt. vii. 24.
12. Every Sin--Every False Doctrine is a "Gate of Hades."
But when we have understood how each of the sins through which there
is a way to Hades [5634] is a gate of Hades, we shall apprehend that
the soul, which has "spot or wrinkle or any such thing," [5635] and
because of wickedness is neither holy nor blameless, is neither a rock
upon which Christ builds, nor a church, nor part of a church which
Christ builds upon the rock. But if any one wishes to put us [5636]
to shame in regard to these things because of the great majority of
those of the church who are thought to believe, it must be said to him
not only "Many are called, but few chosen;" [5637] but also that which
was said by the Saviour to those who come to Him, as it is recorded in
Luke in these words, "Strive to enter in by the narrow door, for many,
I say unto you, shall seek to enter in through the narrow door and
shall not be able;" [5638] and also that which is written in the
Gospel of Matthew thus, "For narrow is the gate, and strait is the way
that leadeth unto life, and few be they that find it." [5639]Now,
if you attend to the saying, "Many, I say unto you, shall seek to
enter in and shall not be able," [5640] you will understand that this
refers to those who boast that they are of the church, but live weakly
and contrary to the word. Of those, then, who seek to enter in, those
who are not able to enter will not be able to do so, because the gates
of Hades prevail against them; but in the case of those against whom
the gates of Hades will not prevail, those seeking to enter in will be
strong, being able to do all things, in Christ Jesus, who
strengtheneth them. [5641]And in like manner each one of those who
are the authors of any evil opinion has become the architect of a
certain gate of Hades; but those who co-operate with the teaching of
the architect of such things are servants and stewards, who are the
bond-servants of the evil doctrine which goes to build up impiety.
And though the gates of Hades are many and almost innumerable, no gate
of Hades will prevail against the rock or against the church which
Christ builds upon it. Notwithstanding, these gates have a certain
power by which they gain the mastery over some who do not resist and
strive against them; but they are overcome by others who, because they
do not turn aside from Him who said, "I am the door," [5642] have
rased from their soul all the gates of Hades. And this also we must
know that as the gates of cities have each their own names, in the
same way the gates of Hades might be named after the species of sins;
so that one gate of Hades is called "fornication," through which
fornicators go, and another "denial," through which the deniers of God
go down into Hades. And likewise already each of the heterodox and of
those who have begotten any "knowledge which is falsely so called,"
[5643] has built a gate of Hades--Marcion one gate, and Basilides
another, and Valentinus another.
Footnotes
[5634] Or, each of the sins on account of which Christ was about to go
to Hades. (Erasmus)
[5635] Eph. v. 27.
[5636] Or, you.
[5637] Matt. xxii. 14.
[5638] Luke xiii. 24.
[5639] Matt. vii. 14.
[5640] Luke xiii. 24.
[5641] Phil. iv. 13.
[5642] John x. 9.
[5643] 1 Tim. vi. 20.
13. The "Gates of Hades" And the "Gates of Zion" Contrasted.
In this place, then, the gates of Hades are spoken of; but in the
Psalms the prophet gives thanks saying, "He who lifteth me up from the
gates of death that I may declare all thy praises in the gates of the
daughter of Zion." [5644]And from this we learn that it is never
possible for any one to be fit to declare the praises of God, unless
he has been lifted up from the gates of death, and has come to the
gates of Zion. Now the gates of Zion may be conceived as opposed to
the gates of death, so that there is one gate of death, dissoluteness,
but a gate of Zion, self-control; and so a gate of death,
unrighteousness, but a gate of Zion, righteousness, which the prophet
shows forth saying, "This is the gate of the Lord, the righteous shall
enter into it." [5645]And again there is cowardice, a gate of
death, but manly courage, a gate of Zion; and want of prudence, a gate
of death, but its opposite, prudence, a gate of Zion. But to all the
gates of the "knowledge which is falsely so called" [5646] one gate is
opposed, the gate of knowledge which is free from falsehood. But
consider if, because of the saying , "our wrestling is not against
flesh and blood," [5647] etc., you can say that each power and
world-ruler of this darkness, and each one of the "spiritual hosts of
wickedness in the heavenly places" [5648] is a gate of Hades and a
gate of death. Let, then, the principalities and powers with which
our wrestling is, be called gates of Hades, but the "ministering
spirits" [5649] gates of righteousness. But as in the case of the
better things many gates are first spoken of, and after the gates,
one, in the passage, "Open to me the gates of righteousness, I will
enter into them, and will make full confession to the Lord," and "this
is the gate of the Lord, by it the righteous shall enter;" [5650] so
also in the case of those gates which are opposed, many are the gates
of Hades and death, each a power; but over all these the wicked one
himself. And let us take heed in regard to each sin, as if we were
descending into some gate of death if we sin; but when we are lifted
up from the gates of death let us declare all the praises of the Lord
in the gates of the daughter of Zion; as, for example, in one gate of
the daughter of Zion--that which is called self-control--we will
declare by our self-control the praises of God; and in another which
is called righteousness, by righteousness we will declare the praises
of God; and, generally, in all things whatsoever of a praiseworthy
character with which we are occupied, in these we are at some gate of
the daughter of Zion, declaring at each gate some praise of God. But
we must make inquiry whether in one of the Twelve [5651] it is said,
"They hated him that reproveth in the gates, and they loathed the holy
word." [5652]Perhaps, then, he who reproves in the gates is of the
gates of the daughter of Zion, reproving those who are in sins which
are opposed to this gate, even of the gates of Hades or death. But if
ye do not so understand the words, "They hated him that reproveth in
the gates," either the expression "in the gates" will be held to be
superfluous, or investigate how that which is said can be worthy of
the prophetic spirit.
Footnotes
[5644] Ps. ix. 13, 14.
[5645] Ps. cxviii. 20.
[5646] 1 Tim. vi. 20.
[5647] Eph. vi. 12.
[5648] Eph. vi. 12.
[5649] Heb. i. 14.
[5650] Ps. cxviii. 19, 20.
[5651] That is, the Minor Prophets.
[5652] Amos v. 10.
14. In What Sense the "Keys" Are Given to Peter, and Every Peter.
Limitations of This Power.
And after this let us see in what sense it is said to Peter, and to
every Peter, "I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of
heaven." [5653]And, in the first place, I think that the saying, "I
will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven," is spoken in
consistency with the words, "The gates of Hades shall not prevail
against it." [5654]For he is worthy to receive from the same Word
the keys of the kingdom of heaven, who is fortified against the gates
of Hades so that they do not prevail against him, receiving, as it
were, for a prize, the keys of the kingdom of heaven, because the
gates of Hades had no power against him, that he might open for
himself the gates that were closed to those who had been conquered by
the gates of Hades. And he enters in, as a temperate man, through an
opened gate--the gate of temperance--by the key which opens
temperance; and, as a righteous man, by another gate--the gate of
righteousness--which is opened by the key of righteousness; and so
with the rest of the virtues. For I think that for every virtue of
knowledge certain mysteries of wisdom corresponding to the species of
the virtue are opened up to him who has lived according to virtue; the
Saviour giving to those who are not mastered by the gates of Hades as
many keys as there are virtues, which open gates equal in number,
which correspond to each virtue according to the revelation of the
mysteries. And perhaps, also, each virtue is a kingdom of heaven, and
all together are a kingdom of the heavens; so that according to this
he is already in the kingdom of the heavens who lives according to the
virtues, so that according to this the saying, "Repent, for the
kingdom of heaven is at hand," [5655] is to be referred, not to the
time, but to deeds and dispositions; for Christ, who is all virtue,
has come, and speaks, and on account of this the kingdom of God is
within His disciples, and not here or there. [5656]But consider how
great power the rock has upon which the church is built by Christ, and
how great power every one has who says, "Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the living God," so that the judgments of this man abide sure, as
if God were judging in him, that in the very act of judging the gates
of Hades shall not prevail against him. But when one judges
unrighteously, and does not bind upon earth according to the Word of
God, nor loose upon earth according to His will, the gates of Hades
prevail against him; but, in the case of any one against whom the
gates of Hades do not prevail, this man judges righteously. Wherefore
he has the keys of the kingdom of heaven, opening to those who have
been loosed on earth that they may be also loosed in heaven, and free;
and shutting to those who by his just judgment have been bound on
earth that they also may be bound in heaven, and condemned. But when
those who maintain the function of the episcopate make use of this
word as Peter, and, having received the keys of the kingdom of heaven
from the Saviour, teach that things bound by them, that is to say,
condemned, are also bound in heaven, and that those which have
obtained remission by them are also loosed in heaven, we must say that
they speak wholesomely if they have the way of life on account of
which it was said to that Peter, "Thou art Peter;" [5657] and if they
are such that upon them the church is built by Christ, and to them
with good reason this could be referred; and the gates of Hades ought
not to prevail against him when he wishes to bind and loose. But if
he is tightly bound with the cords of his sins, [5658] to no purpose
does he bind and loose. And perhaps you can say that in the heavens
which are in the wise man--that, is the virtues,--the bad man is
bound; and again in these the virtuous man is loosed, and has received
an indemnity for the sins which he committed before his virtue. But,
as the man, who has not the cords of sins nor iniquities compared to a
"long rope or to the strap of the yoke of a heifer," [5659] not even
God could bind, in like manner, no Peter, whoever he may be; and if
any one who is not a Peter, and does not possess the things here
spoken of, imagines as a Peter that he will so bind on earth that the
things bound are bound in heaven, and will so loose on earth that the
things loosed are loosed in heaven, he is puffed up, not understanding
the meaning of the Scriptures, and, being puffed up, has fallen into
the ruin of the devil. [5660]
Footnotes
[5653] Matt. xvi. 19.
[5654] Matt. xvi. 18.
[5655] Matt. iii. 2; iv. 17.
[5656] Luke xvii. 21.
[5657] Matt. xvi. 18.
[5658] Prov. v. 22.
[5659] Isa. v. 18.
[5660] 1 Tim. iii. 10.
15. Relation of the Former Commission Given by Jesus to the
Disciples, to His Present Injunction of Silence. Belief and Knowledge
Contrasted.
"Then enjoined He His disciples that they should tell no man that He
was the Christ." [5661]It is written above that Jesus sent forth
these twelve saying unto them, "Go not into any way of the Gentiles,"
[5662] and the other words which are recorded to have been said to
them when He sent them to the apostleship. Did He then wish them when
they were already discharging the function of Apostles to proclaim
that He was the Christ? For, if He wished it, it is fitting to
inquire why He now at all commands the disciples that they should not
say that He was the Christ? Or if He did not wish it, how can the
things concerning the apostleship be safely maintained? And these
things also one may inquire at this place,--whether, when He sent away
the Twelve, He did not send them away with the understanding that He
was the Christ? But if the Twelve had such understanding, manifestly
Peter had it also; how, then, is he now pronounced blessed? For the
expression here plainly indicates that now for the first time Peter
confessed that Christ was the Son of the living God. Matthew then,
according to some of the manuscripts, has written, "Then He commanded
His disciples that they should tell no man that He was the Christ,"
but [5663] Mark says, "He charged them that they should tell no man of
Him;" [5664] and Luke, "He charged them and commanded them to tell
this to no man." [5665]But what is the "this"? Was it that also
according to him, Peter answered and said to the question, "Who say ye
that I am."--"The Christ, the Son of the living God?" [5666]You
must know, however, that some manuscripts of the Gospel according to
Matthew have, "He charged." [5667]The difficulty thus started seems
to me a very real difficulty; but let a solution which cannot be
impugned be sought out, and let the finder of it bring it forward
before all, if it be more credible than that which shall be advanced
by us as a fairly temperate view. [5668]Consider, then, if you can
say, that the belief that Jesus is the Christ is inferior to the
knowledge of that which is believed. And perhaps also there is a
difference in the knowledge of Jesus as the Christ, as every one who
knows does not know Him alike. From the words in John, "If ye abide
in My word, ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you
free," [5669] it is plain that belief without knowledge is inferior to
knowing; but that there is a difference in the knowledge of Jesus as
the Christ, as all who know Him do not know Him equally, is a fact
self-evident to any one who gives even a very little consideration to
the matter. For who would not acknowledge, for example, that Timothy,
though he knew that Jesus was the Christ, had not been enlightened to
such an extent in the knowledge of Him as the Apostle had been
enlightened? And who would not also admit this--that though many,
speaking the truth, say about God, "He has given to me a true
knowledge of things that are," yet they will not say this with equal
insight and apprehension of the things known, nor as knowing the same
number of things? But it is not only in respect of the difference of
knowing that those who know do not know alike, but also according to
that which is the source of the knowledge; so that according to this
he who knows the Son by the revelation of the Father, [5670] as Peter
is testified to have known, has the highest beatitude. Now, if these
views of ours are sound, you will consider whether the Twelve formerly
believed but did not know; but, after believing, they gained also the
rudiments of knowledge and knew a few things about Him; and afterwards
they continued to advance in knowledge so that they were able to
receive the knowledge from the Father who reveals the Son; in which
position Peter was, when he was pronounced blessed; for also he is
pronounced blessed not merely because he said, "Thou art the Christ,"
but with the addition, "the Son of the living God." Accordingly Mark
and Luke who have recorded that Peter answered and said, "Thou art the
Christ," but have not given the addition found in Matthew, have not
recorded that he was declared blessed for what had been said, nor the
blessing which followed the declaration of blessedness, "Thou art
Peter," [5671] etc.
Footnotes
[5661] Matt. xvi. 20.
[5662] Matt. x. 5.
[5663] Matt. xvi. 20.
[5664] Mark viii. 30.
[5665] Luke ix. 21.
[5666] Matt. xvi. 15, 16.
[5667] Matt. xvi. 20.
[5668] Or, which he may regard as mediocre.
[5669] John viii. 31, 32.
[5670] Matt. xvi. 16.
[5671] Matt. xvi. 18.
16. Gradual Growth in Knowledge of the Disciples.
But now we must first investigate the fact that they were declaring
other things about Him as being great and wonderful, but did not yet
proclaim that He was the Christ, lest the Saviour may not appear to
take away from them the authority to announce that He was the Christ,
which He had formerly bestowed upon them. And perhaps some one will
support an argument of this kind, saying that on their introduction
into the school of Christ the Jews were taught by the disciples
glorious things about Jesus, so that in due season there might be
built upon these as a foundation the things about Jesus being the
Christ; and perhaps many of the things which were said to them were
said to all who virtually believed; for not to the Apostles alone did
the saying apply, "Before governors and kings also shall ye be brought
for My sake for a testimony to them and to the Gentiles;" [5672] and
perhaps also not to the Apostles absolutely, but to all who were about
to believe the word, "And brother shall deliver up brother to death,"
[5673] etc.; but, "Whosoever shall confess Me," [5674] etc., is said
not specially to the Apostles, but also to all believers. According
to this, then, through that which was said to the Apostles an outline
was given beforehand of the teaching which would afterwards come to be
of service both to them and to every teacher.
Footnotes
[5672] Matt. x. 18.
[5673] Matt. x. 21.
[5674] Matt. x. 32.
17. Reasons for that Gradual Knowledge.
And likewise he who holds that the fact that He was Christ had been
formerly proclaimed by the Apostles when they heard the saying, "What
I tell you in the darkness, speak ye in the light, and what ye hear in
the ear proclaim on the housetops," [5675] will say, that He wished
first to give catechetical instruction as it were to those of the
Apostles who were to hear the name of Christ, then to permit this, so
to speak, to be digested in the minds of the hearers, that, after
there had been a period of silence in the proclamation of something of
this kind about Him, at a more seasonable time there might be built up
upon the former rudiments "Christ Jesus crucified and raised from the
dead," which at the beginning not even the Apostles knew; for it is
written in the passage now under consideration, "From that time began
Jesus to show unto His disciples that He must go unto Jerusalem"
[5676] and suffer this and that. But if now, for the first time, the
Apostles learn from Jesus the things that were about to happen unto
Him, namely, that the elders will plot against Him, and that He will
be killed, and that after these things, on the third day, He will rise
from the dead,--what necessity is there for supposing that those who
had been taught by the Apostles concerning Jesus knew them before, or
that although Christ was announced to them He was announced to them by
way of an introduction which did not clearly elucidate the things
concerning Him? For our Saviour wished, when He enjoined the
disciples to tell no man that He was the Christ, to reserve the more
perfect teaching about Him to a more fitting time, when to those who
had seen Him crucified, the disciples who had seen Him crucified and
risen could testify the things relating to His resurrection. For if
the Apostles, who were always with Him and had seen all the wonderful
things which He did, and who bore testimony to His words that they
were words of eternal life, [5677] were offended on the night on which
He was betrayed,--what do you suppose would have been the feelings of
those who had formerly learned that He was the Christ? To spare them,
I think, He gave this command.
Footnotes
[5675] Matt. x. 27.
[5676] Matt. xvi. 21.
[5677] John vi. 68.
18. Jesus Was at First Proclaimed by the Twelve as a Worker and a
Teacher Only.
But he who holds that the things spoken to the Twelve refer to the
times subsequent to this, and that the Apostles had not as yet
announced to their hearers that He was the Christ, will say that He
wished the conception of the Christ which was involved in the name of
Jesus to be reserved for that preaching which was more perfect, and
which brought salvation, such as Paul knew of when he said to the
Corinthians, "I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus
Christ and Him crucified." [5678]Wherefore, formerly they
proclaimed Jesus as the doer of certain things, and the teacher of
certain things; but now when Peter confesses that He was the Christ,
the Son of the living God, as He did not wish it to be proclaimed
already that He was the Christ, in order that He might be proclaimed
at a more suitable time, and that as crucified, He commands His
disciples that they should tell no man that He was the Christ. And
that this was His meaning, when He forbade proclamation to be made
that He was the Christ, is in a measure established by the words,
"From that time began Jesus to show unto His disciples how that He
must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders," and
what is annexed; [5679] for then, at the fitting time, He proclaims,
so to speak, to the disciples who knew that Jesus was Christ, the Son
of the living God, the Father having revealed it to them, that instead
of believing in Jesus Christ who had been crucified, they were to
believe in Jesus Christ who was about to be crucified. But also,
instead of believing in Christ Jesus and Him risen from the dead, He
teaches them to believe in Christ Jesus and Him about to be risen from
the dead. But since "having put off from Himself the principalities
and the powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over in the
cross," [5680] if any one is ashamed of the cross of Christ, he is
ashamed of the dispensation on account of which these powers were
triumphed over; and it is fitting that he, who both believes and knows
these things, should glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,
[5681] through which, when Christ was crucified, the
principalities--among which, I think, was also the prince of this
world--were made a show of and triumphed over before the believing
world. Wherefore, when His suffering was at hand he said, "Now the
prince of this world has been judged," [5682] and, "Now shall the
prince of this world be cast out," and, "I, if I be lifted from the
earth, will draw all men unto Myself;" [5683] as he no longer had
sufficient power to prevent those going to Jesus who were being drawn
by Him.
Footnotes
[5678] 1 Cor. ii. 2.
[5679] Matt. xvi. 21.
[5680] Col. ii. 15.
[5681] Gal. vi. 14.
[5682] John xvi. 11.
[5683] John xii. 31, 32.
19. Importance of the Proclamation of Jesus as the Crucified.
It is necessary, therefore, to the proclamation of Jesus as Christ,
that He should be proclaimed as crucified; and the proclamation that
Jesus was the Christ does not seem to me so defective when any of His
other miracles is passed over in silence, as when the fact of His
crucifixion is passed over. Wherefore, reserving the more perfect
proclamation of the things concerning Him by the Apostles, He
commanded His disciples that they should tell no man that He was the
Christ; and He prepared them to say that He was the Christ crucified
and risen from the dead, "when He began" not only to say, nor even to
advance to the point of teaching merely, but "to show" [5684] to His
disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, etc.; for attend to the
expression "show"; because just as sensible things are said to be
shown so the things spoken by Him to His disciples are said to be
shown by Jesus. And I do not think that each of the things seen was
shown to those who saw Him suffering many things in body from the
elders of the people, with such clearness as was the rational
demonstration about Him to the disciples.
Footnotes
[5684] Matt. xvi. 21.
20. Why Jesus Had to Go to Jerusalem.
"Then began He to show;" [5685] and probably afterwards when they were
able to receive it He shewed more clearly, no longer beginning to show
as to those who were learning the introduction, but already also
advancing in the showing; and if it is reasonable to conceive that
Jesus altogether completed what He began, then, some time, He
altogether completed that which He began to show to His disciples
about the necessity of His suffering the things which are written.
For, when any one apprehends from the Word the perfect knowledge of
these things, then it must be said that, from a rational exhibition
(the mind seeing the things which are shown,) the exhibition becomes
complete for him who has the will and the power to contemplate these
things, and does contemplate them. But since "it cannot be that a
prophet perish out of Jerusalem," [5686] --a perishing which
corresponds to the words, "He that loseth his life for My sake shall
find it," [5687] --on this account it was necessary for Him to go to
Jerusalem, that having suffered many things in that Jerusalem, He
might make "the first-fruits" [5688] of the resurrection from the dead
in the Jerusalem above, doing away with and breaking up the city upon
the earth with all the worship which was maintained in it. For so
long as Christ "had not been raised from the dead, the first-fruits of
them that are asleep," [5689] and those who become conformed to His
death and resurrection had not yet been raised along with Him, the
city of God was sought for below, and the temple, and the
purifications, and the rest; but when this took place, no longer were
the things below sought for, but the things above; and, in order that
these might be set up, it was necessary that He should go unto the
Jerusalem below, and there suffer many things from the elders in it,
and the chief priests and scribes of the people, in order that He
might be glorified by the heavenly elders who could receive his
bounties, and by diviner high-priests who are ordained under the one
High-Priest, and that He might be glorified by the scribes of the
people who are occupied with letters "not written with ink" [5690] but
made clear by the Spirit of the living God, and might be killed in the
Jerusalem below, and having risen from the dead might reign in Mount
Zion, and the city of the living God--the heavenly Jerusalem. [5691]
But on the third day He rose from the dead, [5692] in order that
having delivered them from the wicked one, and his son, [5693] in whom
was falsehood and unrighteousness and war and everything opposed to
that which Christ is, and also from the profane spirit who transforms
himself into the Holy Spirit, He might gain for those who had been
delivered the right to be baptized in spirit and soul and body, into
the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, which
represent the three days eternally present at the same time to those
who by means of them are sons of light.
Footnotes
[5685] Matt. xvi. 21.
[5686] Luke xiii. 33.
[5687] Matt. x. 39.
[5688] 1 Cor. xv. 20.
[5689] 1 Cor. xv. 20.
[5690] 2 Cor. iii. 3.
[5691] Heb. xii. 22.
[5692] Or (putting a comma after Jerusalem), but that on the third day
He might rise.
[5693] See xi. c. 6, p. 434, note 2.
21. The Rebuke of Peter and the Answer of Jesus.
"And Peter took Him and began to rebuke Him, saying, God be propitious
to Thee. Lord, this shall never be unto thee." [5694]To whom He
said, "Get thee behind Me, Satan; thou art a stumbling-block unto Me;
for thou mindest not the things of God but the things of men." [5695]
Since Jesus had begun to show unto His disciples that He must go
unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things, Peter up to this point learned
the beginnings of those things which were shown. [5696]But since he
thought that the sufferings were unworthy of Christ the Son of the
living God, and below the dignity of the Father who had revealed to
him so great things about Christ,--for the things that concerned His
coming suffering had not been revealed to him,--on this account he
took Him, and as one forgetful of the honour due to the Christ, and
that the Son of the living God neither does nor says anything worthy
of rebuke, he began to rebuke Him; and as to one who needed
propitiation,--for he did not yet know that "God had set Him forth to
be a propitiation through faith in His blood," [5697] he said, "God be
propitious to thee, O Lord." [5698]Approving his purpose, indeed,
but rebuking his ignorance, because of the purpose being right, He
says to him, "Get thee behind Me," [5699] as to one who, by reason of
the things of which he was ignorant and spake not rightly, had
abandoned the following of Jesus; but because of his ignorance, as to
one who had something antagonistic to the things of God, He said,
"Satan," which in the Hebrew means "adversary." But, if Peter had not
spoken from ignorance, nor rebuked the Son of the living God, saying
unto Him, "God be propitious to thee, Lord, this shall never be unto
Thee," Christ would not have said to him, "Get thee behind Me," as to
one who had given up being behind Him and following Him; nor would He
have said as to one who had spoken things adverse to what He had said,
"Satan." But now Satan prevailed over him who had followed Jesus and
was going behind Him, to turn aside from following Him and from being
behind the Son of God, and to make him, by reason of the words which
he spoke in ignorance, worthy of being called "Satan" and a
stumbling-block to the Son of God, and "as not minding the things of
God but the things of men." But that Peter was formerly behind the
Son of God, before he committed this sin, is manifest from the words,
"Come ye behind Me, and I will make you fishers of men." [5700]
Footnotes
[5694] Matt. xvi. 22.
[5695] Matt. xvi. 23.
[5696] These three sentences are supplied from the old Latin version,
as at this point there is a hiatus in the mss.
[5697] Rom. iii. 25.
[5698] Matt. xvi. 22.
[5699] Matt. xvi. 23.
[5700] Matt. iv. 19.
22. Importance of the Expressions "Behind" And "Turned."
But you will compare together His saying to Peter, "Get thee behind
me, Satan," [5701] with that said to the devil (who said to Him, "All
these things will I give Thee if Thou wilt fall down and worship me"),
[5702] "get thee hence," [5703] without the addition, "behind Me;" for
to be behind Jesus is a good thing. Wherefore it was said, "Come ye
behind Me and I will make you fishers of men." [5704]And to the
same effect is the saying, "He that doth not take his cross and follow
behind Me is not worthy of Me." [5705] And as a general principle
observe the expression "behind"; because it is a good thing when any
one goes behind the Lord God and is behind the Christ; but it is the
opposite when any one casts the words of God behind him, or when he
transgresses the commandment which says, "Do not walk behind thy
lusts." [5706]And Elijah also, in the third Book of Kings, says to
the people, "How long halt ye on both your knees? If God is the Lord,
go behind Him, but if Baal is the Lord, go behind him." [5707]And
Jesus says this to Peter when He "turned," and He does so by way of
conferring a favour. And if therefore you will collect more
illustrations of the "having turned," and especially those which are
ascribed to Jesus, and compare them with one another, you would find
that the expression is not superfluous. But it is sufficient at
present to bring forward this from the Gospel according to John,
"Jesus turned and beheld them"--clearly, Peter and Andrew--"following,
and saith unto them, What seek ye?" [5708]For observe that, when He
"turned," it is for the advantage of those to whom He turned.
Footnotes
[5701] Matt. xvi. 23.
[5702] Matt. iv. 9.
[5703] Matt. iv. 10.
[5704] Matt. iv. 19.
[5705] Matt. x. 38.
[5706] Ecclus. xviii. 30.
[5707] 1 Kings xviii. 21.
[5708] John i. 38.
23. Peter as a Stumbling-Block to Jesus.
Next we must inquire how He said to Peter, "Thou art a stumbling-block
unto Me," [5709] especially when David says, "Great peace have they
that love Thy law, and there is no stumbling-block to them." [5710]
For some one will say, if this is said in the prophet, because of the
steadfastness of those who have love, and are incapable of being
offended, for "love beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth
all things, endureth all things, love never faileth," [5711] how did
the Lord Himself, "who upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all
that be bowed down," [5712] say to Peter, "Thou art a stumbling-block
unto Me"? But it must be said that not only the Saviour, but also he
who is perfected in love, cannot be offended. But, so far as it
depends on himself, he who says or does such things is a
stumbling-block even to him who will not be offended; unless perhaps
Jesus calls the disciple who sinned a stumbling-block even to Himself,
as much more than Paul He would have said from love, "Who is weak, and
I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I burn not?" [5713]In
harmony with which we may put, "Who is made to stumble, and I am not
made to stumble?" But if Peter, at that time because of the saying,
"God be propitious to Thee, Lord, this shall not be unto Thee," [5714]
was called a stumbling-block by Jesus, as not minding the things of
God in what he said but the things of men, what is to be said about
all those who profess to be made disciples of Jesus, but do not mind
the things of God, and do not look to things unseen and eternal, but
mind the things of man, and look to things seen and temporal, [5715]
but that such still more would be stigmatized by Jesus as a
stumbling-block to Him, and because stumbling-blocks to Him, as
stumbling-blocks to His brethren also? As in regard to them He says,
"I was thirsty and ye gave Me no drink," [5716] etc., so also He might
say, "When I was running ye caused Me to stumble." Let us not
therefore suppose that it is a trivial sin to mind the things of men,
since we ought in everything to mind the things of God. And it will
be appropriate also to say this to every one that has fallen away from
the doctrines of God and the words of the church and a true mind; as,
for example, to him who minds as true the teaching of Basilides, or
Valentinus, or Marcion, or any one of those who teach the things of
men as the things of God.
Footnotes
[5709] Matt. xvi. 23.
[5710] Ps. cxix. 165.
[5711] 1 Cor. xiii. 7, 8.
[5712] Ps. cxlv. 14.
[5713] 2 Cor. xi. 29.
[5714] Matt. xvi. 22.
[5715] 2 Cor. iv. 18.
[5716] Matt. xxv. 42.
24. Self-Denial and Cross-Bearing.
"Then Jesus said to His disciples, If any man wills to follow after
Me," etc. [5717]He shows by these words that, to will to come after
Jesus and to follow Him, springs from no ordinary manly courage, and
that no one who has not denied himself can come after Jesus. And the
man denies himself who wipes out by a striking revolution his own
former life which had been spent in wickedness; as by way of
illustration he who was once licentious denies his licentious self,
having become self-controlled even abidingly. But it is probable that
some one may put the objection, whether as he denied himself so he
also confesses himself, when he denied himself, the unjust, and
confesses himself, the righteous one. But, if Christ is
righteousness, he who has received righteousness confesses not himself
but Christ; so also he who has found wisdom, by the very possession of
wisdom, confesses Christ. And such a one indeed as, "with the heart
believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth maketh confession unto
salvation," [5718] and bears testimony to the works of Christ, as
making confession by all these things of Christ before men, will be
confessed by Him before His Father in heaven. [5719]So also he who
has not denied himself but denied the Christ will experience the
saying, "I also will deny him." [5720]On this account let every
thought and every purpose and every word and every action become a
denial of ourselves, but a testimony about Christ and in Christ; for I
am persuaded that every action of the perfect man is a testimony to
Christ Jesus, and that abstinence from every sin is a denial of self,
leading him after Christ. And such an one is crucified with Christ,
and taking up his own cross follows Him who for our sakes bears His
own cross, according to that which is said in John: "They took Jesus
therefore and put it on Him," etc., down to the words, "Where they
crucified Him." [5721]But the Jesus according to John, so to speak,
bears the cross for Himself, and bearing it went out; but the Jesus
according to Matthew and Mark and Luke, does not bear it for Himself,
for Simon of Cyrene bears it. [5722]And perhaps this man refers to
us, who because of Jesus take up the cross of Jesus, but Jesus Himself
takes it upon Himself; for there are, as it were, two conceptions of
the cross, the one which Simon of Cyrene bears, and the other which
Jesus Himself bears for Himself.
Footnotes
[5717] Matt. xvi. 24.
[5718] Rom. x. 10.
[5719] Matt. x. 32.
[5720] Matt. x. 33.
[5721] John xix. 17, 18.
[5722] Matt. xxvii. 32; Mark xv. 21; Luke xxiii. 26.
25. Reference to the Saying of Paul About Crucifixion with Christ.
Moreover in regard to the saying, "Let him deny himself," [5723] the
following saying of Paul who denied himself seems appropriate, "Yet I
live, and yet no longer I but Christ liveth in me;" [5724] for the
expression, "I live, yet no longer I," was the voice of one denying
himself, as of one who had laid aside his own life and taken on
himself the Christ, in order that He might live in him as
Righteousness, and as Wisdom, and as Sanctification, and as our Peace,
[5725] and as the Power of God, who worketh all things in him. But
further also, attend to this, that while there are many forms of
dying, the Son of God was crucified, being hanged on a tree, in order
that all who die unto sin may die to it, in no other way than by the
way of the cross. Wherefore they will say, "I have been crucified
with Christ," and, "Far be it from me to glory save in the cross of
the Lord, through which the world has been crucified unto me and I
unto the world." [5726]For perhaps also each of those who have been
crucified with Christ puts off from himself the principalities and the
powers, and makes a show of them and triumphs over them in the cross;
[5727] or rather, Christ does these things in them.
Footnotes
[5723] Matt. xvi. 24.
[5724] Gal. ii. 20.
[5725] 1 Cor. i. 30; Eph. ii. 14.
[5726] Gal. ii. 20; vi. 14.
[5727] Col. ii. 15.
26. The Less of Life; And the Saving of It.
"For whosoever would save his own life shall lose it." [5728]The
first expression is ambiguous; for it may be understood in one way
thus. If any one as being a lover of life, and thinking that the
present life is good, tends carefully his own life with a view to
living in the flesh, being afraid to die, as through death going to
lose it, this man, by the very willing to save in this way his own
life will lose it, placing it outside of the borders of blessedness.
But if any one despising the present life because of my word, which
has persuaded him to strive in regard to eternal life even unto death
for truth, loses his own life, surrendering it for the sake of piety
to that which is commonly called death, this man, as for my sake he
has lost his life, will save it rather, and keep it in possession.
And according to a second way we might interpret the saying as
follows. If any one, who has grasped what salvation really is, wishes
to procure the salvation of his own life, let this man having taken
farewell of this life, and denied himself and taken up his own cross,
and following me, lose his own life to the world; for having lost it
for my sake and for the sake of all my teaching, he will gain the end
of loss of this kind--salvation.
Footnotes
[5728] Matt. xvi. 25.
27. Life Lost to the World is Saved.
But at the same time also observe that at the beginning it is said,
"Whosoever wills," but afterwards, "Whoso shall lose." [5729]If we
then wish it to be saved let us lose it to the world, as those who
have been crucified with Christ and have for our glorying that which
is in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world is
to be crucified unto us and we unto the world, [5730] that we may gain
our end, even the salvation of our lives, which begins from the time
when we lose it for the sake of the word. But if we think that the
salvation of our life is a blessed thing, with reference to the
salvation which is in God and the blessednesses with Him, then any
loss of life ought to be a good thing, and, for the sake of Christ
must prove to be the prelude to the blessed salvation. It seems to
me, therefore, following the analogy of self-denial, according to what
has been said, that each ought to lose his own life. Let each one
therefore lose his own sinning life, that having lost that which is
sinful, he may receive that which is saved by right actions; but a man
will in no way be profited if he shall gain the whole world. Now he
gains the world, I think, to whom the world is not crucified; and to
whom the world is not crucified, to that man shall be the loss of his
own life. But when two things are put before us, either by gaining
one's life to forfeit the world, or by gaining the world to forfeit
one's life, much more desirable is the choice, that we should forfeit
the world and gain our life by losing it on account of Christ.
Footnotes
[5729] Matt. xvi. 25.
[5730] Gal. vi. 14.
28. The Exchange for One's Life.
But the saying, "What shall a man give in exchange for his own life,"
[5731] if spoken by way of interrogation, will seem to be able to
indicate that an exchange for his own life is given by the man who
after his sins has given up his whole substance, that his property may
feed the poor, as if he were going by that to obtain salvation; but,
if spoken affirmatively, I think, to indicate that there is not
anything in man by the giving of which in exchange for his own life
which has been overcome by death, he will ransom it out of its hand.
A man, therefore, could not give anything as an exchange for his own
life, but God gave an exchange for the life of us all, "the precious
blood of Christ Jesus," [5732] according as "we were bought with a
price," [5733] "having been redeemed, not with corruptible things as
silver or gold, but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish
and without spot," even of Christ. [5734]And in Isaiah it is said
to Israel, "I gave Ethiopia in exchange for thee, and Egypt and Syene
for thee; from what time thou hast become honourable before Me thou
wast glorified." [5735]For the exchange, for example, of the
first-born of Israel was the first-born of the Egyptians, and the
exchange for Israel was the Egyptians who died in the last plagues
that came upon Egypt, and in the drowning which took place after the
plagues. But, from these things, let him who is able inquire whether
the exchange of the true Israel given by God, "who redeems Israel from
all his transgressions," [5736] is the true Ethiopia, and, so to
speak, spiritual Egypt, and Syene of Egypt; and to inquire with more
boldness, perhaps Syene is the exchange for Jerusalem, and Egypt for
Judæa, and Ethiopia for those who fear, who are different from Israel,
and the house of Levi, and the house of Aaron.
Footnotes
[5731] Matt. xvi. 26.
[5732] 1 Pet. i. 19.
[5733] 1 Cor. vi. 20.
[5734] 1 Pet. i. 18, 19.
[5735] Isa. xliii. 3, 4.
[5736] Ps. cxxx. 8.
29. The Coming of the Son of Man in Glory.
"For the Son of man shall come in the glory of His own Father with His
angels." [5737]Now, indeed, the Son of man has not come in His
glory; "for we saw Him, and He had no form nor beauty; but His form
was dishonoured and defective compared with the sons of men; He was a
man in affliction and toil, and acquainted with the enduring of
sickness, because His face was turned away, He was dishonoured and not
esteemed." [5738]And it was necessary that He should come in such
form that He might bear our sins [5739] and suffer pain for us; for it
did not become Him in glory to bear our sins and suffer pain for us.
But He also comes in glory, having prepared [5740] the disciples
through that epiphany of His which has no form nor beauty; and, having
become as they that they might become as He, "conformed to the image
of His glory," [5741] since He formerly became conformed to "the body
of our humiliation," [5742] when He "emptied Himself and took upon Him
the form of a servant," [5743] He is restored to the image of God and
also makes them conformed unto it.
Footnotes
[5737] Matt. xvi. 27.
[5738] Isa. liii. 2, 3.
[5739] Isa. liii. 4.
[5740] Reading proeutrepisos as the Vetus Inter.
[5741] Rom. viii. 29.
[5742] Phil. iii. 21.
[5743] Phil. ii. 7.
30. The Word Appears in Different Forms; The Time of His Coming in
Glory.
But if you will understand the differences of the Word which by "the
foolishness of preaching" [5744] is proclaimed to those who believe,
and spoken in wisdom to them that are perfect, you will see in what
way the Word has the form of a slave to those who are learning the
rudiments, so that they say, "We saw Him and He had no form or
beauty." [5745]But to the perfect He comes "in the glory of His own
Father," [5746] who might say, "and we beheld His glory, the glory as
of the only-begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth." [5747]
For indeed to the perfect appears the glory of the Word, and the
only-begotten of God His Father, and the fulness of grace and likewise
of truth, which that man cannot perceive who requires the "foolishness
of the preaching," in order to believe. But "the Son of man shall
come in the glory of His own Father" not alone, but "with His own
angels." And if you can conceive of all those who are fellow-helpers
in the glory of the Word, and in the revelation of the Wisdom which is
Christ, coming along with Him, you will see in what way the Son of man
comes in the glory of His own Father with His own angels. And
consider whether you can in this connection say that the prophets who
formerly suffered in virtue of their word having "no form or beauty"
had an analogous position to the Word who had "no form or beauty."
And, as the Son of man comes in the glory of His own Father, so the
angels, who are the words in the prophets, are present with Him
preserving the measure of their own glory. But when the Word comes in
such form with His own angels, He will give to each a part of His own
glory and of the brightness of His own angels, according to the action
of each. But we say these things not rejecting even the second coming
of the Son of God understood in its simpler form. But when shall
these things happen? Shall it be when that apostolic oracle is
fulfilled which says, "For we must all stand before the judgment-seat
of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body,
according to what he has done, whether it be good or bad?" [5748]
But if He will render to each according to his deed, not the good deed
only, nor the evil apart from the good, it is manifest that He will
render to each according to every evil, and according to every good,
deed. But I suppose--in this also following the Apostle, but
comparing also the sayings of Ezekiel, in which the sins of him who is
a perfect convert are wiped out, and the former uprightness of him who
has utterly fallen away is not held of account--that in the case of
him who is perfected, and has altogether laid aside wickedness, the
sins are wiped out, but that, in the case of him who has altogether
revolted from piety, if anything good was formerly done by him, it is
not taken into account. [5749]But to us, who occupy a middle
position between the perfect man and the apostate, when we stand
before the judgment-seat of Christ, [5750] there is rendered what we
have done, whether good or bad; for we have not been so pure that our
evil deeds are not at all imputed unto us, nor have we fallen away to
such an extent that our better actions are forgotten.
Footnotes
[5744] 1 Cor. i. 21.
[5745] Isa. liii. 2.
[5746] Matt. xvi. 27.
[5747] John i. 14.
[5748] 2 Cor. v. 10.
[5749] Ezek. xviii. 21-24.
[5750] 2 Cor. v. 10.
31. The Simpler Interpretation of the Promise About Not Tasting of
Death.
"Verily I say unto you there be some of them that stand here that
shall not taste of death." [5751]Some refer these things to the
going up--six days after, or, as Luke says, [5752] eight days--of the
three disciples into the high mountain with Jesus apart; and those who
adopt this interpretation say that Peter and the remaining two did not
taste of death before they saw the Son of man coming in His own
kingdom and in His own glory. For when they saw Jesus transfigured
before them so that "His face shone," etc., "they saw the kingdom of
God coming with power." [5753]For even as some spear-bearers stand
around a king, so Moses and Elijah appeared to those who had gone up
into the mountains, talking with Jesus. But it is worth while
considering whether the sitting on the right hand and on the left hand
of the Saviour in His kingdom refers to them, so that the words, "But
for whom it is prepared," were [5754] spoken because of them. Now
this interpretation about the three Apostles not tasting of death
until they have seen Jesus transfigured, is adapted to those who are
designated by Peter as "new-born babes longing for the reasonable milk
which is without guile," [5755] to whom Paul says, "I have fed you
with milk, not with meat," [5756] etc. Now, too, every interpretation
of a text which is able to build up those who cannot receive greater
truths might reasonably be called milk, flowing from the holy ground
of the Scriptures, which flows with milk and honey. But he who has
been weaned, like Isaac, [5757] worthy of the good cheer and reception
which Abraham gave at the weaning of his son, would seek here and in
every Scripture food which is different, I think, from that which is
meat, indeed, but is not solid food, and from what are figuratively
called herbs, which are food to one who has been weaned and is not yet
strong but weak, according to the saying, "He that is weak eateth
herbs." [5758]In like manner also he who has been weaned, like
Samuel, and dedicated by his mother to God, [5759] --she was Hannah,
which is, by interpretation, grace,--would be also a son of grace,
seeking, like one nurtured in the temple, flesh of God, the holy food
of those who are at once perfect and priests.
Footnotes
[5751] Matt. xvi. 28.
[5752] Luke ix. 28.
[5753] Mark ix. 1.
[5754] Matt. xx. 23.
[5755] 1 Pet. ii. 2.
[5756] 1 Cor. iii. 2.
[5757] Gen. xxi. 8.
[5758] Rom. xiv. 2.
[5759] 1 Sam. i. 23, 24.
32. Standing by the Saviour.
The reflections in regard to the passage before us that occur to us at
the present time are these: Some were standing where Jesus was,
having the footsteps of the soul firmly planted with Jesus, and the
standing of their feet was akin to the standing of which Moses said in
the passage, "And I stood on the mountain forty days and forty
nights," [5760] who was deemed worthy to have it said to him by God
who asked him to stand by Him, "But stand thou here with Me." [5761]
Those who really stand by Jesus--that is, by the Word of God--do not
all stand equally; for among those who stand by Jesus are differences
from each other. Wherefore, not all who stand by the Saviour, but
some of them as standing better, do not taste of death until they
shall have seen the Word who dwelt with men, and on that account
called Son of man, coming in His own kingdom; for Jesus does not
always come in His own kingdom when He comes, since to the newly
initiated He is such that they might say, beholding the Word Himself
not glorious nor great, but inferior to many among them, "We saw Him,
and He had no form or beauty, but His form was dishonoured, defective
compared with all the sons of men." [5762]And these things will be
said by those who beheld His glory in connection with their own former
times, when at first the Word as understood in the synagogue had no
form nor beauty to them. To the Word, therefore, who has assumed most
manifestly the power above all words, there belongs a royal dignity
which is visible to some of those who stand by Jesus, when they have
been able to follow Him as He goes before them and ascends to the
lofty mountain of His own manifestation. And of this honour some of
those who stand by Jesus are deemed worthy if they be either a Peter
against whom the gates of Hades do not prevail, or the sons of
thunder, [5763] and are begotten of the mighty voice of God who
thunders and cries aloud from heaven great things to those who have
ears and are wise. Such at least do not taste death.
Footnotes
[5760] Deut. x. 10.
[5761] Deut. v. 31.
[5762] Isa. liii. 2, 3.
[5763] Mark iii. 17.
33. Interpretation of "Tasting of Death."
But we must seek to understand what is meant by "tasting of death."
And He is life who says, "I am the life," [5764] and this life
assuredly has been hidden with Christ in God; and. "when Christ our
life shall be manifested, then along with Him" [5765] shall be
manifested those who are worthy of being manifested with Him in
glory. But the enemy of this life, who is also the last enemy of all
His enemies that shall be destroyed, is death, [5766] of which the
soul that sinneth dies, having the opposite disposition to that which
takes place in the soul that lives uprightly, and in consequence of
living uprightly lives. And when it is said in the law, "I have
placed life before thy face," [5767] the Scripture says this about Him
who said, "I am the Life," and about His enemy, death; the one or
other of which each of us by his deeds is always choosing. And when
we sin with life before our face, the curse is fulfilled against us
which says, "And thy life shall be hanging up before thee," etc., down
to the words, "and for the sights of thine eyes which thou shalt see."
[5768]As, therefore, the Life is also the living bread which came
down from heaven and gave life to the world, [5769] so His enemy death
is dead bread. Now every rational soul is fed either on living bread
or dead bread, by the opinions good or bad which it receives. As then
in the case of more common foods it is the practice at one time only
to taste them, and at another to eat of them more largely; so also, in
the case of these loaves, one eats insufficiently only tasting them,
but another is satiated,--he that is good or is on the way to being
good with the living bread which came down from heaven, but he that is
wicked with the dead bread, which is death; and some perhaps
sparingly, and sinning a little, only taste of death; but those who
have attained to virtue do not even taste of it, but are always fed on
the living bread. It naturally followed then in the case of Peter,
against whom the gates of Hades will not prevail, that he did not
taste of death, since any one tastes of death and eats death at the
time when the gates of Hades prevail against him; and one eats or
tastes of death in proportion as the gates of Hades to a greater or
less extent, more or fewer in number, prevail against him. But also
for the sons of thunder who were begotten of thunder, which is a
heavenly thing, it was impossible to taste of death, which is
extremely far removed from thunder, their mother. But these things
the Word prophesies to those who shall be perfected, and who by
standing with the Word advanced so far that they did not taste of
death, until they saw the manifestation and the glory and the kingdom
and the excellency of the Word of God in virtue of which He excels
every word, which by an appearance of truth draws away and drags about
those who are not able to break through the bonds of distraction, and
go up to the height of the excellency of the Word of truth.
Footnotes
[5764] John xiv. 6.
[5765] Col. iii. 3, 4.
[5766] 1 Cor. xv. 26.
[5767] Deut. xxx. 15.
[5768] Deut. xxviii. 66, 67.
[5769] John vi. 33, 51.
34. Meaning of "Until." No Limitation of Promise.
But since some one may think that the promise of the Saviour
prescribes a limit of time to their not tasting of death, namely, that
they will not taste of death "until" [5770] they see the Son of man
coming in His own kingdom, but after this will taste of it, let us
show that according to the scriptural usage the word "until" signifies
that the time concerning the thing signified is pressing, but is not
so defined that after the "until," that which is contrary to the thing
signified should at all take place. Now, the Saviour says to the
eleven disciples when He rose from the dead, this among other things,
"Lo, I am with you all the days, even until the consummation of the
age." [5771]When He said this, did He promise that He was going to
be with them until the consummation of the age, but that after the
consummation of the age, when another age was at hand, which is
"called the age to come," He would be no longer with them?--so that
according to this, the condition of the disciples would be better
before the consummation of the age than after the consummation of the
age? But I do not think that any one will dare to say, that after the
consummation of the age the Son of God will be no longer with the
disciples, because the expression declares that He will be with them
for so long, until the consummation of the age is at hand; for it is
clear that the matter under inquiry was, whether the Son of God was
forthwith going to be with His disciples before the age to come and
the hoped for promises of God which were given as a recompense. But
there might have been a question--it being granted that He would be
with them--whether sometimes He was present with them, and sometimes
not present. Wherefore setting us free from the suspicion that might
have arisen from doubt, He declared that now and even all the days He
would be with the disciples, and that He would not leave those who had
become His disciples until the consummation of the age; (because He
said "all the days" He did not deny that by night, when the sun set,
He would be present with them.) But if such is the force of the
words, "until the consummation of the age," plainly we shall not be
compelled to admit that those who see the Son of man coming in His own
kingdom shall taste of death, after being deemed worthy of beholding
Him in such guise. But as in the case of the passage we brought
forward, the urgent necessity was to teach us that "until the
consummation of the age" He would not leave us but be with us all the
days; so also in this case I think that it is clear to those who know
how to look at the logical coherence of things that He who has seen
once for all "the Son of man coming in His own kingdom," and seen Him
"in His own glory," and seen "the kingdom of God come with power,"
could not possibly taste of death after the contemplation of things so
good and great. But apart from the word of the promise of Jesus, we
have conjectured not without reason that we would taste of death, so
long as we were not yet held worthy to see "the kingdom of God come
with power," and "the Son of man coming in His own glory and in His
own kingdom."
Footnotes
[5770] Matt. xvi. 28.
[5771] Matt. xxviii. 20.
35. Scriptural References to Death.
But since here it is written in the three Evangelists, "They shall not
taste of death," [5772] but in other writers different things are
written concerning death, it may not be out of place to bring forward
and examine these passages along with the "taste." In the Psalms,
then, it is said, "What man is he that shall live and not see death?"
[5773]And again, in another place, "Let death come upon them and
let them go down into Hades alive;" [5774] but in one of the prophets,
"Death becoming mighty has swallowed them up;" [5775] and in the
Apocalypse, "Death and Hades follow some." [5776]Now in these
passages it appears to me that it is one thing to taste of death, but
another thing to see death, and another thing for it to come upon
some, and that a fourth thing, different from the aforesaid, is
signified by the words, "Death becoming mighty has swallowed them up,"
and a fifth thing, different from these, by the words, Death and Hades
follow them." And if you were to collect them, you would perhaps find
also other differences than those which we have mentioned, by a
comparison of which with one another and right investigation, you
would find the things signified in each place. But here I inquire
whether it is a less evil to see death, but a greater evil than seeing
to taste of it, but still worse than this that death should follow any
one, and not only follow him, but also now come upon him and seize him
whom it formerly followed; but to be swallowed up seems to be more
grievous than all the things spoken of. But giving heed to what is
said, and to the differences of sins committed, you will not I think,
be slow to admit that things of this kind were intended by the Spirit
who caused these things to be written in the oracles of God. But, if
it be necessary to give an exposition clearer than what has been said
of what is signified by seeing the Son of man coming in His own
kingdom, or in His own glory, and what is signified by seeing the
kingdom of God come with power, these things--whether those that are
made to shine in our hearts, or that are found by those who seek, or
that enter gradually into our thoughts,--let each one judge as he
wills--we will set forth. He who beholds and apprehends the
excellency of the Word, as he breaks down and refutes all the
plausible forms of things which are truly lies but profess to be
truths, sees the Son of man, (according to the word of John, "the Word
of God,") coming in His own kingdom; but if such an one were to behold
the Word, not only breaking down plausible oppositions, but also
representing His own truths with perfect clearness, he would behold
His glory in addition to His kingdom. And such an one indeed would
see in Him the kingdom of God come with power; and he would see this,
as one who is no longer now under the reign of "sin which reigns in
the mortal body of those who sin," [5777] but is ever under the orders
of the king, who is God of all, whose kingdom is indeed potentially
"within us," [5778] but actually, and, as Mark has called it, "with
power," and not at all in weakness within the perfect alone. These
things, then, Jesus promised to the disciples who were standing,
prophesying not about all of them, but about some.
Footnotes
[5772] Matt. xvi. 28; Mark ix. 1; Luke ix. 27.
[5773] Ps. lxxxix. 48.
[5774] Ps. lv. 18.
[5775] Isa. xxv. 8.
[5776] Rev. vi. 10.
[5777] Rom. vi. 12.
[5778] Luke xvii. 21.
36. Concerning the Transfiguration of the Saviour.
"Now after six days," according to Matthew and Mark, [5779] "He taketh
with him Peter and James and John his brother, and leads them up into
a high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them." Now, also,
let it be granted, before the exposition that occurs to us in relation
to these things, that this took place long ago, and according to the
letter. But it seems to me, that those who are led up by Jesus into
the high mountain, and are deemed worthy of beholding His
transfiguration apart, are not without purpose led up six days after
the discourses previously spoken. For since in six days--the perfect
number--the whole world,--this perfect work of art,--was made, on this
account I think that he who transcends all the things of the world by
beholding no longer the things which are seen, for they are temporal,
but already the things which not seen, and only the things which are
not seen, because that they are eternal, is represented in the words,
"After six days Jesus took up with Him" certain persons. If therefore
any one of us wishes to be taken by Jesus, and led up by Him into the
high mountain, and be deemed worthy of beholding His transfiguration
apart, let him pass beyond the six days, because he no longer beholds
the things which are seen, nor longer loves the world, nor the things
in the world, [5780] nor lusts after any worldly lust, which is the
lust of bodies, and of the riches of the body, and of the glory which
is after the flesh, and whatever things whose nature it is to distract
and drag away the soul from the things which are better and diviner,
and bring it down and fix it fast to the deceit of this age, in wealth
and glory, and the rest of the lusts which are the foes of truth. For
when he has passed through the six days, as we have said, he will keep
a new Sabbath, rejoicing in the lofty mountain, because he sees Jesus
transfigured before him; for the Word has different forms, as He
appears to each as is expedient for the beholder, and is manifested to
no one beyond the capacity of the beholder.
Footnotes
[5779] Matt. xvii. 1; Mark ix. 2.
[5780] 1 John ii. 15.
37. Force of the Words "Before Them."
But you will ask if, when He was transfigured before those who were
led up by Him into the lofty mountain, He appeared to them in the form
of God, in which He formerly was, so that He had to those below the
form of a servant, but to those who had followed Him after the six
days to the lofty mountain, He had not that form, but the form of
God. But hear these things, if you can, at the same time giving heed
spiritually, that it is not said simply, "He was transfigured," but
with a certain necessary addition, which Matthew and Mark have
recorded; for, according to both, "He was transfigured before them."
[5781]And according to this, indeed, you will say that it is
possible for Jesus to be transfigured before some with this
transfiguration, but before others at the same time not to be
transfigured. But if you wish to see the transfiguration of Jesus
before those who went up into the lofty mountain apart long with Him,
behold with me the Jesus in the Gospels, as more simply apprehended,
and as one might say, known "according to the flesh," by those who do
not go up, through works and words which are uplifting, to the lofty
mountain of wisdom, but known no longer after the flesh, but known in
His divinity by means of all the Gospels, and beholden in the form of
God according to their knowledge; for before them is Jesus
transfigured, and not to any one of those below. But when He is
transfigured, His face also shines as the sun, that He may be
manifested to the children of light, who have put off the works of
darkness, and put on the armour of light, [5782] and are no longer the
children of darkness or night, but have become the sons of day, and
walk honestly as in the day; [5783] and being manifested, He will
shine unto them not simply as the sun, but as demonstrated to be the
sun of righteousness.
Footnotes
[5781] Matt. xvii. 2; Mark ix. 2.
[5782] Rom. xiii. 12.
[5783] Rom. xiii. 13; 1 Thess. v. 5.
38. The Garments White as the Light.
And not only is He transfigured before such disciples, nor does He
only add to the transfiguration the shining of His face as the sun;
but further also to those who were led up by Him into the high
mountain apart, His garments appear white as the light. [5784]But
the garments of Jesus are the expressions and letters of the Gospels
with which He invested Himself. But I think that even the words in
the Apostles which indicate the truths concerning Him are garments of
Jesus, which become white to those who go up into the high mountain
along with Jesus. But since there are differences also of things
white, His garments become white as the brightest and purest of all
white things; and that is light. When therefore you see any one not
only with a thorough understanding of the theology concerning Jesus,
but also making clear every expression of the Gospels, do not hesitate
to say that to Him the garments of Jesus have become white as the
light. But when the Son of God in His transfiguration is so
understood and beheld, that His face is a sun, and His garments white
as the light, straightway there will appear to him who beholds Jesus
in such form Moses,--the law--and Elijah,--in the way of synecdoche,
not one prophet only, but all the prophets--holding converse with
Jesus; for such is the force of the words "talking with Him;" [5785]
but, according to Luke, "Moses and Elijah appeared in glory," down to
the words, "in Jerusalem." [5786]But if any one sees the glory of
Moses, having understood the spiritual law as a discourse in harmony
with Jesus, and the wisdom in the prophets which is hidden in a
mystery, [5787] he sees Moses and Elijah in glory when he sees them
with Jesus.
Footnotes
[5784] Matt. xvii. 2.
[5785] Matt. xvii. 3.
[5786] Luke ix. 30, 31.
[5787] 1 Cor. ii. 7.
39. Jesus Was Transfigured--"As He Was Praying."
Then, since it will be necessary to expound the passage as given in
Mark, "And as He was praying He was transfigured before them," [5788]
we must say that perhaps it is possible especially to see the Word
transfigured before us if we have done the things aforesaid, and gone
up into the mountain, and seen the absolute Word holding converse with
the Father, and praying to Him for such things as the true High-Priest
might pray for to the only true God. But in order that He may thus
hold fellowship with God and pray to the Father, He goes up into the
mountain; and then, according to Mark, "His garments become white and
glistening as the light, so as no fuller on earth can whiten them."
[5789]And perhaps the fullers upon the earth are the wise men of
this world who are careful about the diction which they consider to be
bright and pure, so that even their base thoughts and false dogmas
seem to be beautified by their fulling, so to speak; but He who shows
His own garments glistering to those who have ascended and brighter
than their fulling can make them, is the Word, who exhibits in the
expressions of the Scriptures which are despised by many the
glistering of the thoughts, when the raiment of Jesus, according to
Luke, becomes white and dazzling. [5790]
Footnotes
[5788] Luke (ix. 28, 29) alone mentions the praying.
[5789] Mark ix. 3.
[5790] Luke ix. 29.
40. Discussion of the Saying of Peter.
But let us next see what was the thought of Peter when he answered and
said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here; let us make three
tabernacles," [5791] etc. And on this account these words call for
very special examination, because Mark, in his own person, has added,
"For he wist not what to answer," [5792] but Luke, "not knowing," he
says, "what he spake." [5793]You will consider, therefore, if he
spake these things as in a trance, being filled with the spirit which
moved him to say these things, which could not be a Holy Spirit; for
John taught in the Gospel that, before the resurrection of the
Saviour, no one had the Holy Spirit, saying, "For the Spirit was not
yet, because Jesus was not yet glorified." [5794]But if the Spirit
was not yet, and he, not knowing what he said, spoke under the
influence of some spirit, the spirit which caused these things to be
said was some one of the spirits which had not yet been triumphed over
in the cross, nor made a show of along with them, about whom it is
written, "Having put off from Himself the principalities and the
powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in the
cross." [5795]But this spirit was perhaps that which is called a
stumbling-block by Jesus, and which is spoken of as Satan in the
passage, "Get thee behind Me, Satan; thou art a stumbling-block unto
me." [5796]But I know well that such things will offend many who
meet with them, because they think that it is opposed to sound reason
that he should be spoken ill of who a little before had been
pronounced blessed by Jesus, on the ground that the Father in heaven
had revealed to him the things concerning the Saviour, to-wit, that He
was verily Jesus, and the Christ, and the Son of the living God. But
let such an one attend more exactly to the statements about Peter and
the rest of the Apostles, how even they made requests as if they were
yet alien from Him who was to redeem them from the enemy and purchase
them with His own precious blood; or let them also, who will have it
that even before the passion of Jesus the Apostles were perfect, tell
us whence it came about that "Peter and they that were with him were
heavy with sleep." [5797]But to anticipate something else of what
follows and apply it to the subject in hand, I would raise in turn
these questions,--whether it is possible for any one to find occasion
of stumbling in Jesus apart from the working of the devil who caused
him to stumble; and whether it is possible for any one to deny Jesus,
and that in presence of a little maid and a doorkeeper and men most
worthless, unless a spirit had been with him in his denial hostile to
the Spirit which is given and the wisdom, (which is given) to those
who are assisted by God to make confession, according to a certain
desert of theirs. But he who has learned to refer the roots of sin to
the father of sin, the devil, will not say that apart from him either
the Apostles were caused to stumble, or that Peter denied Christ
thrice before that well-known cock-crowing. But if this be so,
consider whether perhaps with a view to make Jesus stumble, so far as
was in his power, and to turn Him aside from the dispensation whose
characteristic was suffering that brought salvation to men, which He
undertook with great willingness, seeking to effect these things which
seemed to contribute to this end, he himself also here wishes as it
were, by deceit, to draw away Jesus, as if calling upon Him no longer
to condescend to men, and come to them, and undergo death for them,
but to abide on the high mountain with Moses and Elijah. But he
promised also to build three tabernacles, one apart for Jesus, and one
for Moses, and one for Elijah, as if one tabernacle would not have
sufficed for the three, if it had been necessary for them to be in
tabernacles and in the high mountain. And perhaps also in this he
acted with evil intent, when he incited him "who did not know what he
said," not desiring that Jesus and Moses and Elijah should be
together, but desiring to separate them from one another, under
pretext of the three tabernacles." And likewise it was a lie, "It is
good for us to be here;" [5798] for if it had been a good thing they
would also have remained there. But if it were a lie, you will seek
to know who caused the lie to be spoken; and especially since
according to John, "When he speaketh a lie he speaketh of his own; for
he is a liar and the father thereof;" [5799] and as there is no truth
apart from the working of Him who says, "I am the Truth," [5800] so
there is no lie apart from him who is the enemy of truth. These
contrary qualities, accordingly, were still in Peter truth and
falsehood; and from truth he said, "Thou art the Christ, the son of
the living God," [5801] but from falsehood he said, "May God be
propitious to Thee, Lord, this shall not be unto Thee," [5802] and
also, "It is good for us to be here." [5803]But if any one will not
admit that Peter spoke these things from any evil inspiration, but
that his words were of his own mere choice, and it is demanded of him
how he will interpret, "not knowing what he said," and, [5804] "for he
did not know what to answer," [5805] he will say, that in the former
case Peter held it to be a shameful thing and unworthy of Jesus to
admit that the Son of the living God, the Christ, whom already the
Father had revealed to him, should be killed; and in the present case
that, as having seen the two forms of Jesus and the one at the
transfiguration which was much more excellent, being well pleased with
that, he said that it was good to make their sojourning in that
mountain, in order that he himself and those with him might rejoice as
they beheld the transfiguration of Jesus and His face shining as the
sun, and His garments white as the light, and, in addition to these
things, might always behold in glory those whom they had once seen in
glory, Moses and Elijah; and that they might rejoice at the things
which they might hear, as they talked and held intercourse with each
other, Moses and Elijah with Jesus, and Jesus with them.
Footnotes
[5791] Matt. xvii. 4; Mark ix. 5; Luke ix. 33.
[5792] Mark ix. 6.
[5793] Luke ix. 33.
[5794] John vii. 39.
[5795] Col. ii. 15.
[5796] Matt. xvi. 23.
[5797] Luke ix. 32.
[5798] Matt. xvii. 4.
[5799] John viii. 44.
[5800] John xiv. 6.
[5801] Matt. xvi. 16.
[5802] Matt. xvi. 20.
[5803] Matt. xvii. 4.
[5804] Luke ix. 33.
[5805] Mark ix. 6.
41. Figurative Interpretation of the Same.
But since we have not yet spent our energy in interpreting the things
in the place figuratively, but have said these things by way of
searching into the mere letter, let us in conformity with these
things, consider whether the aforesaid Peter and the sons of thunder
who were taken up into the mountain of the dogmas of the truth, and
who saw the transfiguration of Jesus and of Moses and Elijah, who
appeared in glory with Him, might wish to make tabernacles in
themselves for the Word of God who was going to dwell in them, and for
His law which had been beholden in glory, and for the prophecy which
spake of the decease of Jesus, which He was about to accomplish;
[5806] and Peter, as one loving the contemplative life, and having
preferred that which was delightsome in it to the life among the crowd
with its turmoil, said, with the design of benefiting those who
desired it, "It is good for us to be here." [5807]But since "love
seeketh not its own," [5808] Jesus did not do that which Peter thought
good; wherefore He descended from the mountain to those who were not
able to ascend to it and behold His transfiguration, that they might
behold Him in such form as they were able to see Him. It is,
therefore, the part of a righteous man who possesses "the love which
seeketh not its own" [5809] to be free from all, but to bring himself
under bondage to all those below that He might gain the more of them.
[5810]But some one, with reference to what we have alleged about
the trance and the working of an evil spirit in Peter, concerning the
words, "not knowing what he said," [5811] not accepting that
interpretation of ours, may say that there were certain mentioned by
Paul "desiring to be teachers of the law," [5812] who do not know
about what they speak, but who, though they do not clearly expound the
nature of what is said, nor understand their meaning, make confident
affirmations of things which they do not know. Of such a nature was
the affection of Peter also, for not apprehending what was good with
reference to the dispensation of Jesus and of those who appeared in
the mountain,--Moses and Elijah,--he says, "It is good for us to be
here," etc., "not knowing what he said," "for he wist not what to
say," for if "a wise man will understand the things from his own
mouth, and carries prudence in his lips," [5813] he who is not so does
not understand the things from his own mouth, nor comprehend the
nature of the things spoken by him.
Footnotes
[5806] Luke ix. 31.
[5807] Matt. xvii. 4.
[5808] 1 Cor. xiii. 5.
[5809] 1 Cor. xiii. 5.
[5810] 1 Cor. ix. 19.
[5811] Luke ix. 33.
[5812] 1 Tim. i. 7.
[5813] Prov. xvi. 23.
42. The Meaning of the "Bright Cloud."
Next to these come the words, "While He was yet speaking, behold,
also, a bright cloud overshadowed them," [5814] etc. Now, I think
that God, wishing to dissuade Peter from making three tabernacles,
under which so far as it depended on his choice he was going to dwell,
shows a tabernacle better, so to speak, and much more excellent, the
cloud. For since it is the function of a tabernacle to overshadow him
who is in it, and to shelter him, and the bright cloud overshadowed
them, God made, as it were, a diviner tabernacle, inasmuch as it was
bright, that it might be to them a pattern of the resurrection to
come; for a bright cloud overshadows the just, who are at once
protected and illuminated and shone upon by it. But what might the
bright cloud, which overshadows the just, be? Is it, perhaps, the
fatherly power, from which comes the voice of the Father bearing
testimony to the Son as beloved and well-pleasing, and exhorting those
who were under its shadow to hear Him and no other one? But as He
speaks of old, so also always does He speak through what He wills.
And perhaps, too, the Holy Spirit is the bright cloud which
overshadows the just, and prophesies of the things of God, who works
in it, and says, "This is My beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased;"
but I would venture also to say that our Saviour is a bright cloud.
When, therefore, Peter said, "Let us make here three tabernacles,"
[5815] ...one from the Father Himself, and from the Son, and one from
the Holy Spirit. For a bright cloud of the Father, Son and Holy
Spirit overshadows the genuine disciples of Jesus; or a cloud
overshadows the Gospel and the law and the prophets, which is bright
to him who is able to see the light of it in the Gospel, and the law,
and the prophets. But perhaps the voice from the cloud says to Moses
and Elijah, "This is My beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased, hear
Him," as they were desirous to see the Son of man, and to hear Him,
and to behold Him as He was in glory. And perhaps it teaches the
disciples that He who was, in a literal sense, the Son of God, and His
beloved in whom He was well-pleased, whom it behoved them especially
to hear, was He who was then beheld, and transfigured, and whose face
shone as the sun, and who was clothed with garments white as the
light.
Footnotes
[5814] Matt. xvii. 5.
[5815] The text is mutilated.
43. Relation of Moses and Elijah to Jesus. The Injunction of
Silence.
But after these things it is written that, when they heard the voice
from the cloud bearing testimony to the Son, the three Apostles, not
being able to bear the glory of the voice and power resting upon it,
"fell on their face," [5816] and besought God; for they were sore
afraid at the supernatural sight, and the things which were spoken
from the sight. But consider if you can also say this with reference
to the details in the passage, that the disciples, having understood
that the Son of God had been holding conference with Moses, and that
it was He who said, "A man shall not see My face and live," [5817] and
taking further the testimony of God about Him, as not being able to
endure the radiance of the Word, humbled themselves under the mighty
hand of God; [5818] but, after the touch of the Word, lifting up their
eyes they saw Jesus only and no other. [5819]Moses, the law, and
Elijah, the prophet, became one only with the Gospel of Jesus; and
not, as they were formerly three, did they so abide, but the three
became one. But consider these things with me in relation to mystical
matters; for in regard to the bare meaning of the letter, Moses and
Elijah, having appeared in glory and talked with Jesus, went away to
the place from which they had come, perhaps to communicate the words
which Jesus spake with them, to those who were to be benefited by Him,
almost immediately, namely, at the time of the passion, when many
bodies of the saints that had fallen asleep, their tombs being opened,
were to go to the city which is truly holy--not the Jerusalem which
Jesus wept over--and there appear unto many. [5820]But after the
dispensation in the mountain, when the disciples were coming down from
the mountain in order that, when they had come to the multitude, they
might serve the Son of God concerning the salvation of the people,
Jesus commanded the disciples saying, "Tell the vision to no man until
the Son of man rise from the dead." [5821]But that saying, "Tell
the vision to no man," is like that which was investigated in the
passage above, when "He enjoined the disciples to tell no man that He
was the Christ." [5822]Wherefore the things that were said at that
passage may be useful to us also for the passage before us; since
Jesus wishes also, in accordance with these, that the things of His
glory should not be spoken of, before His glory after the passion; for
those who heard, and in particular the multitudes, would have been
injured when they saw Him crucified, who had been so glorified.
Wherefore since His being glorified in the resurrection was akin to
His transfiguration, and to the vision of His face as the sun, on this
account He wishes that these things should then be spoken of by the
Apostles, when He rose from the dead.
Footnotes
[5816] Matt. xvii. 6.
[5817] Exod. xxx. 20.
[5818] 1 Pet. v. 6.
[5819] Matt. xvii. 8.
[5820] Matt. xxvii. 52, 53.
[5821] Matt. xvii. 9.
[5822] Matt. xvi. 20.
.
Book XIII.
1. Relation of the Baptist to Elijah. The Theory of Transmigration
Considered.
"The disciples asked Him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elijah
must first come?" [5823]The disciples indeed who went up with Jesus
remembered the traditions of the scribes concerning Elijah, that
before the advent of Christ, Elijah would come and prepare for Him the
souls of those who were going to receive Him. But the vision in the
mountain, at which Elijah appeared, did not seem to be in harmony with
the things which were said, since to them it seemed that Elijah had
not come before Jesus but after Him; wherefore, they say these things,
thinking that the scribes lied. But to this the Saviour answers, not
setting aside the traditions concerning Elijah, but saying that there
was another advent of Elijah before that of Christ of which the
scribes were ignorant; and, in regard to this, being ignorant of him,
they "had done unto him whatsoever they listed," [5824] as if they had
been accomplices in his having been cast into prison by Herod and
slain by him; then He says that according as they had done towards
Elijah so would He suffer at their hands. [5825]And these things
indeed as about Elijah the disciples asked and the Saviour answered,
but when they heard they understood that the words, "Elijah has
already come," and that following which was spoken by the Saviour, had
reference to John the Baptist. [5826]And let these things be said
by way of illustration of the passage before us. But now according to
our ability let us make investigation also into the things that are
stored up in it. In this place it does not appear to me that by
Elijah the soul is spoken of, lest I should fall into the dogma of
transmigration, which is foreign to the church of God, and not handed
down by the Apostles, nor anywhere set forth in the Scriptures; for it
is also in opposition to the saying that "things seen are temporal,"
[5827] and that "this age shall have a consummation," and also to the
fulfilment of the saying, "Heaven and earth shall pass away," [5828]
and "the fashion of this world passeth away," [5829] and "the heavens
shall perish," [5830] and what follows. For if, by hypothesis, in the
constitution of things which has existed from the beginning unto the
end of the world, the same soul can be twice in the body, for what
cause should it be in it? For if because of sin it should be twice in
the body, why should it not be thrice, and repeatedly in it, since
punishments, in respect of this life, and of the sins committed in it,
shall be rendered to it only by the method of transmigration? But if
this be granted as a consequence, perhaps there will never be a time
when a soul shall not undergo transmigration: for always because of
its former sins will it dwell in the body; and so there will be no
place for the corruption of the world, at which "the heaven and the
earth shall pass away." [5831]And if it be granted, on this
hypothesis, that one who is absolutely sinless shall not come into the
body by birth, after what length of time do you suppose that a soul
shall be found absolutely pure and needing no transmigration? But
nevertheless, also, if any one soul is always thus being removed from
the definite number of souls and returns no longer to the body,
sometime after infinite ages, as it were, birth shall cease; the world
being reduced to some one or two or a few more, after the perfecting
of whom the world shall perish, the supply of souls coming into the
body having failed. But this is not agreeable to the Scripture; for
it knows of a multitude of sinners at the time of the destruction of
the world. This is manifest from consideration of the saying,
"How-beit when the Son of man cometh shall He find faith on the
earth?" [5832]So we find it thus said in Matthew, "As were the days
of Noah so shall also be the coming of the Son of man; for as they
were in the days of the flood," etc. [5833]But to those who are
then in existence there shall be the exaction of a penalty for their
sins, but not by way of transmigration; for, if they are caught while
still sinning, either they will be punished after this by a different
form of punishment,--and according to this either there will be two
general forms of punishment, the one by way of transmigration, and the
other outside of a body of this kind, and