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Reply to Faustus the Manichaean

5.

Every one can see the weakness of the argument that Christ could not have said, "Think not that I am come to destroy the law and the prophets: I came not to destroy, but to fulfill," unless He had done something to create a suspicion of this kind. Of course, we grant that the unenlightened Jews may have looked upon Christ as the destroyer of the law and the prophets; but their very suspicion makes it certain that the true and truthful One, in saying that He came not to destroy the law and the prophets, referred to no other law than that of the Jews. This is proved by the words that follow: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of the least of these commandments, and shall teach men so, shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. But whosoever shall do and teach them, shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." This applied to the Pharisees, who taught the law in word, while they broke it in deed. Christ says of the Pharisees in another place, "What they say, that do; but do not after their works: for they say, and do not." ¹ So here also He adds, "For I say unto you, Except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven;" ² that is, Unless ye shall both do and teach what they teach without doing, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. This law, therefore, which the Pharisees taught without keeping it, Christ says He came not to destroy, but to fulfill; for this was the law connected with the seat of Moses in which the Pharisees sat, who because they said without doing, are to be heard, but not to be imitated.

Edition Hide
Contra Faustum Manichaeum libri triginta tres

5.

Iam illud quam sit infirmum, quis non videt, quod ait non eum dicere potuisse: Nolite putare, quia veni solvere legem aut prophetas; non veni solvere, sed adimplere, nisi aliquid tale iam fecisset, ut in hanc suspicionem posset venire? Quasi nos negemus Iudaeis non intellegentibus videri potuisse Christum destructorem legis et prophetarum. Sed hoc ipsum est, cur ille verax et veritas non potuerit de alia lege et de aliis prophetis dicere, quod eos non solveret nisi de iis, quos illi eum solvere suspicabantur. p. 488,16 Quod hinc etiam satis confirmatur, quia ibi sequitur et dicit: Amen, amen dico vobis, donec transeat caelum et terra, iota unum aut unus apex non transiet de lege, donec omnia fiant. Quicumque ergo solverit unum ex mandatis istis minimis et docuerit sic homines, minimus vocabitur in regno caelorum; quicumque autem fecerit et sic docuerit, magnus vocabitur in regno caelorum. Pharisaeos enim cogitabat, cum ista diceret, qui solvebant legem factis et docebant verbis. De quibus alio loco dicit: Quae dicunt, facite; quae autem faciunt, facere nolite; dicunt enim, et non faciunt. Propterea et hic ita sequitur: Dico enim vobis, nisi abundaverit iustitia vestra plus quam scribarum et pharisaeorum, non intrabitis in regnum caelorum, id est nisi vos feceritis et ita docueritis, quod illi non faciunt et sic docent, non intrabitis in regnum caelorum. Quam ergo legem docebant pharisaei et non faciebant, ipsam dicit Christus non se venisse solvere, sed adimplere, p. 489,6 quia ipsa pertinet ad cathedram Moysi, in qua sedentes pharisaei et dicentes nec facientes audiendi sunt, non imitandi.