Sacred Texts Christianity Early Church Fathers Index Previous Next
When, therefore, He has fulfilled the commandment, what saith He? “Who is he that will contend with Me? let him oppose Me: or who is he that will enter into judgment with Me? let him draw near to the servant of the Lord.” 1493 “Woe unto you, for ye shall all wax old, like a garment, and the moth shall eat you up.” 1494 And again the prophet says, “Since 1495 as a mighty stone He is laid for crushing, behold I cast down for the foundations of Zion a stone, precious, elect, a corner-stone, honourable.” Next, what says He? “And he who shall trust 1496 in it shall live for ever.” Is our hope, then, upon a stone? Far from it. But [the language is used] inasmuch as He laid his flesh [as a foundation] with power; for He says, “And He placed me as a firm rock.” 1497 And the prophet says again, “The stone which the builders rejected, the same has become the head of the corner.” 1498 And again he says, “This is the great and wonderful day which the Lord hath made.” 1499 I write the more simply unto you, that ye may understand. I am the off-scouring of your love. 1500 What, then, again says the prophet? “The assembly of the wicked surrounded me; they encompassed me as bees do a honeycomb,” 1501 and “upon my garment they cast lots.” 1502 Since, therefore, He was about to be manifested and to suffer in the flesh, His suffering was foreshown. For the prophet speaks against Israel, “Woe to their soul, because they have counselled an evil counsel against themselves, 1503 saying, Let us bind the just one, because he is displeasing to us.” 1504 And Moses also says to them, 1505 “Behold these things, saith the Lord God: Enter into the good land which the Lord swore [to give] to Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and inherit ye it, a land flowing with milk and honey.” 1506 What, then, says Knowledge? 1507 Learn: “Trust,” she says, “in Him who is to be manifested to you in the flesh—that is, Jesus.” For man is earth in a suffering state, for the formation of Adam was from the face of the earth. What, then, meaneth this: “into the good land, a land flowing with milk and honey?” Blessed be our Lord, who has placed in us wisdom and understanding of secret things. For the prophet says, “Who shall understand the parable of the Lord, except him who is wise and prudent, and who loves his Lord?” 1508 Since, therefore, having renewed us by the remission of our sins, He hath made us after another pattern, [it is His purpose] that we should possess the soul of children, inasmuch as He has created us anew by His Spirit. 1509 For the Scripture says concerning us, while He speaks to the Son, “Let Us make man after Our image, and after Our likeness; and let them have dominion over the beasts of the earth, and the fowls of heaven, and the fishes of the sea.” 1510 And the Lord said, on beholding the fair creature 1511 man, “Increase, and multiply, and replenish the earth.” 1512 These things [were spoken] to the Son. Again, I will show thee how, in respect to us, 1513 He has accomplished a second fashioning in these last days. The Lord says, “Behold, I will make 1514 the last like the first.” 1515 In reference to this, then, the prophet proclaimed, “Enter ye into the land p. 141 flowing with milk and honey, and have dominion over it.” 1516 Behold, therefore, we have been refashioned, as again He says in another prophet, “Behold, saith the Lord, I will take away from these, that is, from those whom the Spirit of the Lord foresaw, their stony hearts, and I will put hearts of flesh within them,” 1517 because He 1518 was to be manifested in flesh, and to sojourn among us. For, my brethren, the habitation of our heart is a holy temple to the Lord. 1519 For again saith the Lord, “And wherewith shall I appear before the Lord my God, and be glorified?” 1520 He says, 1521 “I will confess to thee in the Church in the midst 1522 of my brethren; and I will praise thee in the midst of the assembly of the saints.” 1523 We, then, are they whom He has led into the good land. What, then, mean milk and honey? This, that as the infant is kept alive first by honey, and then by milk, so also we, being quickened and kept alive by the faith of the promise and by the word, shall live ruling over the earth. But He said above, 1524 “Let them increase, and rule over the fishes.” 1525 Who then is able to govern the beasts, or the fishes, or the fowls of heaven? For we ought to perceive that to govern implies authority, so that one should command and rule. If, therefore, this does not exist at present, yet still He has promised it to us. When? When we ourselves also have been made perfect [so as] to become heirs of the covenant of the Lord. 1526
The Latin omits “since,” but it is found in all the Greek mss.
140:1496Cod. Sin. has “believe.” Isa. viii. 14, Isa. xxviii. 16.
140:1497 140:1498 140:1499 140:1500Comp. 1 Cor. iv. 13. The meaning is, “My love to you is so great, that I am ready to be or to do all things for you.”
140:1501 140:1502 140:1503 140:1504Wisdom ii. 12. This apocryphal book is thus quoted as Scripture, and intertwined with it.
140:1505Cod. Sin. reads, “What says the other prophet Moses unto them?”
140:1506 140:1507The original word is “Gnosis,” the knowledge peculiar to advanced Christians, by which they understand the mysteries of Scripture.
140:1508Not found in Scripture. Comp. Isa. xl. 13; Prov. i. 6. Hilgenfeld, however, changes the usual punctuation, which places a colon after prophet, and reads, “For the prophet speaketh the parable of the Lord. Who shall understand,” etc.
140:1509The Greek is here very elliptical and obscure: “His Spirit” is inserted above, from the Latin.
140:1510 140:1511Cod. Sin. has “our fair formation.”
140:1512 140:1513Cod. Sin. inserts, “the Lord says.”
140:1514 140:1515Not in Scripture, but comp. Matt. xx. 16, and 2 Cor. v. 17.
141:1516 141:1517Ezek. xi. 19, Ezek. xxxvi. 26.
141:1518Cod. Sin. inserts “Himself;” comp. John i. 14.
141:1519Comp. Eph. ii. 21.
141:1520Comp. Ps. xlii. 2.
141:1521 141:1522Cod. Sin. omits “in the midst.”
141:1523 141:1524Cod. Sin. has “But we said above.”
141:1525 141:1526These are specimens of the “Gnosis,” or faculty of bringing out the hidden spiritual meaning of Scripture referred to before. Many more such interpretations follow.