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Contra Faustum Manichaeum libri triginta tres

9.

Proinde cum quaeris, cur iam non circumcidatur carne christianus, si Christus non venit legem solvere, sed adimplere, respondeo: Immo ideo iam non circumciditur christianus, quia id, quod eadem circumcisione prophetabatur, iam Christus implevit. Exspoliatio enim carnalis generationis, quae in illo facto figurabatur, iam Christi resurrectione adimpleta est, et quod in nostra resurrectione futurum est, sacramento baptismi commendatur. Nam neque penitus auferri debuit novae vitae sacramentum, quia restat adhuc in nobis futura resurrectio mortuorum, et in melius tamen idem succedente baptismo debuit commutari, quia iam factum est, quod numquam factum erat, ut futurae vitae aeternae in resurrectione Christi nobis praeberetur exemplum. p. 507,17 Cum quaeris, sabbati otium cur non observet christianus, si Christus non venit legem solvere, sed adimplere, respondeo: Immo id propterea non observat christianus, quia quod ea figura prophetabatur, iam Christus implevit. In illo quippe habemus sabbatum, qui dixit: Venite ad me omnes, qui laboratis et onerati estis, et ego vos reficiam; tollite iugum meum super vos et discite a me, quoniam mitis sum et humilis corde, et invenietis requiem animabus vestris.

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Reply to Faustus the Manichaean

9.

Accordingly, when you ask why a Christian is not circumcised if Christ came not to destroy the law, but to fulfill it, my reply is, that a Christian is not circumcised precisely for this reason, that what was prefigured by circumcision is fulfilled in Christ. Circumcision was the type of the removal of our fleshly nature, which was fulfilled in the resurrection of Christ, and which the sacrament of baptism teaches us to look forward to in our own resurrection. The sacrament of the new life is not wholly discontinued, for our resurrection from the dead is still to come; but this sacrament has been improved by the substitution of baptism for circumcision, because now a pattern of the eternal life which is to come is afforded us in the resurrection of Christ, whereas formerly there was nothing of the kind. So, when you ask why a Christian does not keep the Sabbath, if Christ came not to destroy the law, but to fulfill it, my reply is, that a Christian does not keep the Sabbath precisely because what was prefigured in the Sabbath is fulfilled in Christ. For we have our Sabbath in Him who said, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls." ¹