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Reply to Faustus the Manichaean

8.

The context of the passage containing this clause of which our adversaries make such a bad use, brings out its real meaning. "The love of Christ," we read, "constrains us, because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but to Him who died for them, and rose again. Therefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh; and though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we Him no more." The words, "that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him who died for them, and rose again," show plainly that the resurrection of Christ is the ground of the apostle's statement. To live not to themselves, but to Him, must mean to live not after the flesh, in the hope of earthly and perishable goods, but after the spirit, in the hope of resurrection,--a resurrection already accomplished in Christ. Of those, then, for whom Christ died and rose again, and who live henceforth not to themselves, but to Him, the Apostle says that he knows no one after the flesh, on account of the hope of future immortality to which they were looking forward,--a hope which in Christ was already a reality. So, though he has known Christ after the flesh, before His death, now he knows Him no more; for he knows that He has risen, and that death has no more dominion over Him. And because in Christ we all are even now in hope, though not in reality, what Christ is, he adds: "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself by Christ." ¹ What the new creature--that is, the people renewed by faith--hopes for regarding itself, it has already in Christ; and the hope will also hereafter be actually realized. And, as regards this hope, old things have passed away, because we are no longer in the times of the Old Testament, expecting a temporal and carnal kingdom of God; and all things are become new, making the promise of the kingdom of heaven, where there shall be no death or corruption, the ground of our confidence. But in the resurrection of the dead it will not be as a matter of hope, but in reality, that old things shall pass away, when the last enemy, death, shall be destroyed; and all things shall become new when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality. This has already taken place in Christ, whom Paul accordingly, in reality, knew no longer after the flesh. But not yet in reality, but only in hope, did he know no one after the flesh of those for whom Christ died and rose again. For, as he says to the Ephesians, we are already saved by grace. The whole passage is to the purpose: "But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, by whose grace we have been saved." The words, "hath quickened us together with Christ," correspond to what he said to the Corinthians, "that they which live should no longer live to themselves, but to Him that died for them and rose again." And in the words, "by whose grace we have been saved," he speaks of the thing hoped for as already accomplished. So, in the passage quoted above, he says explicitly, "We have been saved by hope." And here he proceeds to specify future events as if already accomplished. "And has raised us up together," he says, "and has made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." Christ is certainly already seated in heavenly places, but we not yet. But as in an assured hope we already possess the future, he says that we sit in heavenly places, not in ourselves, but in Him. And to show that it is still future, in case it should be thought that what is spoken of as accomplished in hope has been accomplished in reality, he adds, "that He might show in the ages to come the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness towards us in Christ Jesus." ² So also we must understand the following passage: "For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death." ³ He says, "when we were in the flesh," as if they were no longer in the flesh. He means to say, when we were in the hope of fleshly things, referring to the time when the law, which can be fulfilled only by spiritual love, was in force, in order that by transgression the offence might abound, that after the revelation of the New Testament, grace and the gift by grace might much more abound. And to the same effect he says elsewhere, "They which are in the flesh cannot please God;" and then, to show that he does not mean those not yet dead, he adds, "But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit." ⁴ The meaning is, those who are in the hope of fleshly good cannot please God; but you are not in the hope of fleshly things, but in the hope of spiritual things, that is, of the kingdom of heaven, where the body itself, which now is natural, will, by the change in the resurrection, be, according to the capacity of its nature, a spiritual body. For "it is sown a natural body, it will be raised a spiritual body." If, then, the apostle knew no one after the flesh of those who were said to be not in the flesh, because they were not in the hope of fleshly things, although they still were burdened with corruptible and mortal flesh; how much more significantly could he say of Christ that he no longer knew Him after the flesh, seeing that in the body of Christ what they hoped for had already been accomplished! Surely it is better and more reverential to examine the passages of sacred Scripture so as to discover their agreement with one another, than to accept some as true, and condemn others as false, whenever any difficulty occurs beyond the power of our weak intellect to solve. As to the apostle in his childhood understanding as a child, this is said merely as an illustration. ⁵ And when he was a child he was not a spiritual man, as he was when he produced for the edification of the churches those writings which are not, as other books, merely a profitable study, but which authoritatively claim our belief as part of the ecclesiastical canon.

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Contra Faustum Manichaeum libri triginta tres

8.

Itaque ipsius loci contextionem, ubi haec sententia est, de qua isti calumniantur, consideremus, ut hoc, quod dico magis eluceat. Caritas inquit Christi conpellit nos iudicantes hoc, quoniam si unus pro omnibus mortuus est, ergo omnes mortui sunt; et pro omnibus mortuus est, ut qui vivunt, iam non sibi vivant, sed ei, qui pro ipsis mortuus est et resurrexit. Itaque nos amodo neminem novimus secundum carnem; etsi noveramus secundum carnem Christum, sed iam nunc non novimus. p. 325,21 Certe iam nunc cuivis apparet propter resurrectionem Christi hoc dixisse apostolum, quandoquidem ista verba illud praecessit: Ut qui vivunt, iam non sibi vivant, sed ei, qui pro ipsis mortuus est et resurrexit. Quid est enim aliud: Non sibi, sed illi vivant, nisi ut non secundum carnem vivant in spe terrenorum et corruptibilium bonorum, sed secundum spiritum in spe resurrectionis, quae iam ex ipsis in Christo facta est? Itaque eorum, pro quibus Christus mortuus est et resurrexit et qui iam non sibi, sed illi vivunt, neminem secundum carnem apostolus noverat propter spem futurae immortalitatis, in cuius exspectatione vivebant, quae in Christo iam non spes, sed res erat. Quem etsi noverat secundum carnem, cum adhuc moriturus esset, iam tamen non noverat, quia eum resurrexisse noverat et ultra ei mortem non dominaturam. p. 326,6 Et quia omnes in illo etsi nondum re, iam tamen spe hoc sumus, sequitur et dicit: Si qua igitur in Christo, nova creatura; vetera transierunt, ecce facta sunt omnia nova; omnia autem ex deo, qui reconciliavit nos sibi per Christum. Omnis ergo nova creatura - id est populus innovatus per fidem -, ut habeat interim in spe, quod in re postea perficiatur, in Christo habet iam quod in se sperat. Itaque nunc vetera transierunt secundum spem, quia modo iam non est tempus veteris testamenti, quo temporale atque carnale regnum exspectetur a deo, et facta sunt omnia nova secundum eandem spem, ut regnum caelorum, ubi nulla erit mors atque corruptio, promissum teneamus. In resurrectione autem mortuorum non iam secundum spem, sed secundum rem et vetera transibunt, cum inimica novissima destruetur mors; et fient omnia nova, cum corruptibile hoc induerit incorruptionem et mortale hoc induerit immortalitatem, quod iam factum est in Christo, quem secundum rem iam non noverat Paulus secundum carnem. p. 326,24 Eorum vero, pro quibus mortuus est et resurrexit, nondum secundum rem, sed secundum spem neminem noverat secundum carnem, quia illius gratia, sicut idem ad Ephesios dicit, sumus salvi facti. Nam et ipse locus huic sententiae sic attestatur: Deus autem inquit qui dives est in misericordia, propter multam dilectionem, qua dilexit nos, et cum essemus mortui peccatis, convivificavit nos Christo, cuius gratia sumus salvi facti. p. 327,2 Quod enim hic dixit: Convivificavit nos Christo, hoc dixit ad Corinthios: Ut qui vivunt, iam non sibi vivant, sed ei, qui pro ipsis mortuus est et resurrexit. Et quod hic dicit: Cuius gratia sumus salvi facti, iam velut perfectum sit loquitur, quod in spe tenet; nam quod paulo ante commemoravi, apertissime alibi dicit: Spe enim salvi facti sumus. Ideoque et hic sequitur et tamquam perfectum enumerat, quod futurum est: Et simul inquit excitavit et simul sedere fecit in caelestibus in Christo Iesu. Certe enim in caelestibus Christus iam sedet, nondum autem nos; sed quia spe certa, quod futurum est, iam tenemus, simul sedere nos dixit in caelestibus, nondum in nobis, sed iam in illo. p. 327,14 Namque ne putares iam nunc esse perfectum, quod in spe ita dicitur, tamquam perfectum sit, atque ut intellegas adhuc futurum, sequitur et dicit: Ut ostenderet in supervenientibus saeculis superabundantes divitias gratiae suae in benignitate super nos in Christo Iesu. Hinc est et illud: Cum enim essemus in carne, passiones peccatorum, quae per legem sunt, operabantur in membris nostris, ut fructum ferrent morti. Ita enim dixit: cum essemus in carne, quasi iam non essent in carne. Quod ita intellegitur: Cum essemus in spe rerum carnalium, quando lex, quae inpleri non potest nisi per caritatem spiritalem, ad hoc super eos erat, ut per praevaricationem abundaret delictum, ut postea revelato novo testamento per indulgentiam superabundaret gratia. p. 327,27 Hinc similiter alibi dicit: Qui autem in carne sunt, deo placere non possunt. Et ne putaret quisquam eos dictos, qui nondum mortui sunt, statim subiecit: Vos autem non estis in carne, sed in spiritu; id est: qui in spe carnalium bonorum sunt, deo placere non possunt; vos autem non estis in spe carnalium, sed in spe spiritalium, id est regni caelorum, ubi et ipsum corpus per illam mutationem in suo quodam genere spiritale erit, quod modo animale est. Seminatur enim corpus animale, sicut ad Corinthios idem dicit, resurget corpus spiritale. Si ergo neminem eorum iam noverat secundum carnem apostolus, qui propterea dicebantur non esse in carne, quia non erant in spe rerum carnalium, quamvis adhuc corruptibilem carnem mortalemque portarent, quanto expressius de Christo diceret, quod eum iam non noverat secundum carnem, in cuius corpore etiam re ipsa iam perfectum erat, quod illi in spe promissum tenebant! p. 328,13 Quanto ergo melius, quanto religiosius divinae scripturae ita pertractantur, ut discussis omnibus concordare inveniantur, quam deficiente homine in quaestione, quam solvere non potest, tamquam verae in parte acceptentur et tamquam falsae in parte damnentur! Quia et cum esset parvulus apostolus et ea, quae parvuli erant, saperet, quamquam hoc ad similitudinem dixerit, nondum erat tamen spiritalis, qualis iam erat, cum scriberet, quae ad ecclesiarum aedificationem non proficiendi exercitatione in studiosorum manibus versarentur, sed praecipiendi auctoritate in ecclesiastico canone legerentur.