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Contra Faustum Manichaeum libri triginta tres

23.

Iam vero illud, quod de vinea, quam plantavit, inebriatus Noe nudatus est in domo sua, cui non appareat Christus passus in gente sua? Tunc enim nudata est mortalitas carnis eius, Iudaeis scandalum, gentibus stultitia, ipsis autem vocatis Iudaeis et gentibus tamquam Sem et Iapheth, dei virtus et dei sapientia; quia quod stultum est dei, sapientius est quam homines, et quod infirmum est dei, fortius est quam homines. p. 351,6 Proinde in duobus filiis, maximo et minimo, duo populi figurati unam vestem a tergo portantes –sacramentum scilicet iam praeteritae atque transactae dominicae passionis – nuditatem patris neque intuentur, quia in Christi necem non consentiunt, et tamen honorant velamento tamquam scientes, unde sint nati. Medius autem filius, id est populus Iudaeorum – ideo medius, quia nec primatum apostolorum tenuit nec ultimus in gentibus credidit – vidit nuditatem patris, quia consensit in necem Christi et nuntiavit foras fratribus. Per eum quippe manifestatum est et quodam modo publicatum, quod erat in prophetia secretum; ideoque fit servus fratrum suorum. Quid est enim aliud hodieque gens ipsa nisi quaedam scriniaria christianorum, baiulans legem et prophetas ad testimonium assertionis ecclesiae, ut nos honoremus per sacramentum, quod nuntiat illa per litteram? p. 351,21

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Reply to Faustus the Manichaean

23.

Again, the sufferings of Christ from His own nation are evidently denoted by Noah being drunk with the wine of the vineyard he planted, and his being uncovered in his tent. For the mortality of Christ's flesh was uncovered, to the Jews a stumbling-block, and to the Greeks foolishness; but to them that are called, both Jews and Greeks, both Shem and Japhet, the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. ¹

Moreover, the two sons, the eldest and the youngest, carrying the garment backwards, are a figure of the two peoples, and the sacrament of the past and completed passions of the Lord. They do not see the nakedness of their father, because they do not consent to Christ's death; and yet they honor it with a covering, as knowing whence they were born. The middle son is the Jewish people, for they neither held the first place with the apostles, nor believed subsequently with the Gentiles. They saw the nakedness of their father, because they consented to Christ's death; and they told it to their brethren outside, for what was hidden in the prophets was disclosed by the Jews. And thus they are the servants of their brethren. For what else is this nation now but a desk for the Christians, bearing the law and the prophets, and testifying to the doctrine of the Church, so that we honor in the sacrament what they disclose in the letter?