Edition ausblenden
Contra Faustum Manichaeum libri triginta tres

11.

Forte etiam hinc se diceret permoveri, quod ipsi, in quorum libris haec inveniuntur esse praenuntiata, quae nunc cernuntur impleta, non nobiscum tenent eiusdem euangelii societatem. p. 390,11 Cum vero doceretur etiam hoc ab eisdem prophetis esse praedictum, quantum moveretur ad fidem, quis tam demens est, ut non videat, quis tam inpudens, ut se videre dissimulet? Quis enim dubitet hoc de Iudaeis fuisse prophetatum, cum Esaias dicat: Agnovit bos possessorem suum et asinus praesepe domini sui; Israhel autem me non cognovit et populus meus me non intellexit, aut illud, quod apostolus commemorat: Tota die expandi manus meas ad populum non credentem et contradicentem, et maxime illud: Dedit illis deus spiritum compunctionis, oculos, ut non videant, et aures, ut non audiant et non intellegant et multa huiusmodi? Quodsi diceret: Quid ergo peccaverunt Iudaei, si deus illos excaecavit, ne agnoscerent Christum?, quantum possemus, imbuendo rudi homini ostenderemus ex aliis occultis peccatis deo cognitis venire iustam poenam caecitatis; p. 390,26 quod non solum dixisse apostolum de quibusdam: Propter hoc tradidit illos deus in concupiscentiam cordis eorum vel in reprobum sensum, ut faciant, quae non conveniunt, volentem ostendere quaedam peccata manifesta ex poena venire quorundam occultorum, sed nec ipsos hoc tacuisse prophetas demonstraremus. Nam, ne pergam longius, idem Hieremias eo ipso loco, ubi ait: Et homo est, et quis agnoscit eum? ne quasi hoc ipso excusati essent Iudaei, quia non cognoverunt, - si enim cognovissent, sicut apostolus dicit, numquam dominum gloriae crucifixissent – sequitur et ostendit occulti eorum meriti fuisse, ut non cognoscerent. Ait enim: Ego dominus interrogans corda et probans renes, ut dem unicuique secundum viam eius et secundum fructum studiorum eius. p. 391,15

Übersetzung ausblenden
Reply to Faustus the Manichaean

11.

The inquirer might bring forward as a difficulty the fact that those in whose books these prophecies are found are not united with us in the gospel. But when convinced that this also is foretold, he would feel how strong the evidence is. The prophecies of the unbelief of the Jews no one can avoid seeing, no one can pretend to be blind to them. No one can doubt that Isaiah spoke of the Jews when he said, "The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib; but Israel hath not known, and my people hath not considered;" ¹ or again, in the words quoted by the apostle, "I have stretched out my hands all the day to a wicked and gainsaying people;" ² and especially where he says, "God has given them the spirit of remorse, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear, and should not understand," ³ and many similar passages. If the inquirer objected that it was not the fault of the Jews if God blinded them so that they did not know Christ, we should try in the simplest manner possible to make him understand that this blindness is the just punishment of other secret sins known to God. We should prove that the apostle recognizes this principle when he says of some persons, "God gave them up to the lusts of their own hearts, and to a reprobate mind, to do things not convenient;" ⁴ and that the prophets themselves speak of this. For, to revert to the words of Jeremiah, "He is man, and who shall know Him?" lest it should be an excuse for the Jews that they did not know,--for if they had known, as the apostle says, "they would not have crucified the Lord of glory," ⁵ --the prophet goes on to show that their ignorance was the result of secret criminality; for he says: "I the Lord search the heart and try the reins, to give to every one according to his ways, and according to the fruits of his doings."