Edition Hide
Contra Faustum Manichaeum libri triginta tres

1.

Faustus dixit: Quare non credis in genealogiam Iesu? Multae quidem sunt causae, sed palmaris illa, quia nec ipse ore suo usquam se fatetur patrem habere aut genus in terra, sed e contra, quia non sit de hoc mundo, quia a patre deo processerit, quia descenderit de caelo, quia non sibi sint mater et fratres, nisi qui fecerint voluntatem patris sui, qui in caelis est. p. 303,3 Et ad haec illi ipsi, qui has ei genealogias ascribunt, non eum ante nativitatem cognovisse videntur, sed neque statim, ut natus est, quo crederentur ea scripsisse, quae erga eum oculis suis viderint gesta, sed iuveni iam et maturo coniuncti sunt ei, id est annorum ferme triginta, siquidem et aetas ascribi divinis potest sine blasphemia. Quare cum in omni testimonio veritatis hoc semper quaeri soleat, utrumne quis audierit, an viderit, isti vero nec audisse se fateantur ab ipso generationis hunc ordinem aut quia omnino sit natus, nec vidisse oculis, quia longo post tempore, id est post baptismum cognoverint eum, mihi et omni recte iudicanti tam stultum videtur hoc credere, quam si quis caecum et surdum testem in iudicium vocet. p. 303,16

Translation Hide
Reply to Faustus the Manichaean

1.

Faustus said: You ask why I do not believe in the genealogy of Jesus. There are many reasons; but the principal is, that He never declares with His own lips that He had an earthly father or descent, but on the contrary, that he is not of this world, that He came forth from God the Father, that He descended from heaven, that He has no mother or brethren except those who do the will of His Father in heaven. Besides, the framers of these genealogies do not seem to have known Jesus before His birth or soon after it, so as to have the credibility of eye-witnesses of what they narrate. They became acquainted with Jesus as a young man of about thirty years of age, if it is not blasphemy to speak of the age of a divine being. Now the question regarding a witness is always whether he has seen or heard what he testifies to. But the writers of these genealogies never assert that they heard the account from Jesus Himself, nor even the fact of His birth; nor did they see Him till they came to know Him after his baptism, many years after the time of His birth. To me, therefore, and to every sensible man, it appears as foolish to believe this account, as it would be to call into court a blind and deaf witness.