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Reply to Faustus the Manichaean

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Faustus said: We are asked the reason for our denial that man is made by God. But we do not assert that man is in no sense made by God; we only ask in what sense, and when, and how. For, according to the apostle, there are two men, one of whom he calls sometimes the outer man, generally the earthy, sometimes, too, the old man: the other he calls the inner or heavenly or new man. ¹ The question is, Which of these is made by God? For there are likewise two times of our nativity; one when nature brought us forth into this light, binding us in the bonds of flesh; and the other, when the truth regenerated us on our conversion from error and our entrance into the faith. It is this second birth of which Jesus speaks in the Gospel, when He says, "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." ² Nicodemus, not knowing what Christ meant, was at a loss, and inquired how this could be, for an old man could not enter into his mother's womb and be born a second time. Jesus said in reply, "Except a man be born of water and of the Holy Spirit, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Then He adds, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." Hence, as the birth in which our bodies originate is not the only birth, but there is another in which we are born again in spirit, an important question arises from this distinction as to which of those births it is in which God makes us. The manner of birth also is twofold. In the humiliating process of ordinary generation, we spring from the heat of animal passion; but when we are brought into the faith, we are formed under good instruction in honor and purity in Jesus Christ, by the Holy Spirit. For this reason, in all religion, and especially in the Christian religion, young children are invited to membership. This is hinted at in the words of His apostle: "My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you." ³ The question, then, is not whether God makes man, but what man He makes, and when, and how. For if it is when we are fashioned in the womb that God forms us after His own image, which is the common belief of Gentiles and Jews, and which is also your belief, then God makes the old man, and produces us by means of sensual passion, which does not seem suitable to His divine nature. But if it is when we are converted and brought to a better life that we are formed by God, which is the general doctrine of Christ and His apostles, and which is also our doctrine, in this case God makes us new men, and produces us in honor and purity, which would agree perfectly with His sacred and adorable majesty. If you do not reject Paul's authority, we will prove to you from him what man God makes, and when, and how. He says to the Ephesians, "That ye put off according to your former conversation the old man, which is corrupt through deceitful lusts; and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and holiness of truth." ⁴ This shows that in the creation of man after the image of God, it is another man that is spoken of, and another birth, and another manner of birth. The putting off and putting on of which he speaks, point to the time of the reception of the truth; and the assertion that the new man is created by God implies that the old man is created neither by God nor after God. And when he adds, that this new man is made in holiness and righteousness and truth, he thus points to another manner of birth of which this is the character, and which, as I have said, differs widely from the manner in which bodily generation is effected. And as he declares that only the former is of God, it follows that the latter is not. Again, writing to the Colossians, he uses words to the same effect: "Put off the old man with his deeds, and put on the new man, which is renewed in the knowledge of God according to the image of Him who created Him in you." Here he not only shows that it is the new man that God makes, but he declares the time and manner of the formation, for the words in the knowledge of God point to the time of believing. Then he adds, according to the image of Him who created him, to make it clear that the old man is not the image of God, nor formed by God. Moreover, the following words, "Where there is neither male nor female, Jew nor Greek, Barbarian nor Scythian," ⁵ show more plainly still that the birth by which we are made male and female, Greeks and Jews, Scythians and Barbarians, is not the birth in which God effects the formation of man; but that the birth with which God has to do is that in which we lose the difference of nation and sex and condition, and become one like Him who is one, that is, Christ. So the same apostle says again, "As many as have been baptized in Christ have put on Christ: there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither male nor female, there is neither bond nor free; but all are one in Christ." ⁶ Man, then, is made by God, not when from one he is divided into many, but when from many he becomes one. The division is in the first birth, or that of the body; union comes by the second, which is immaterial and divine. This affords sufficient ground for our opinion, that the birth of the body should be ascribed to nature, and the second birth to the Supernal Majesty. So the same apostle says again to the Corinthians, "I have begotten you in Christ Jesus by the gospel;" ⁷ and, speaking of himself, to the Galatians, "When it pleased Him, who separated me from my mother's womb, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood." ⁸ It is plain that everywhere he speaks of the second or spiritual birth as that in which we are made by God, as distinct from the indecency of the first birth, in which we are on a level with other animals as regards dignity and purity, as we are conceived in the maternal womb, and are formed, and brought forth. You may observe that in this matter the dispute between us is not so much about a question of doctrine as of interpretation. For you think that it is the old or outer or earthy man that is said to have been made by God; while we apply this to the heavenly man, giving the superiority to the inner or new man. And our opinion is not rash or groundless, for we have learned it from Christ and His apostles, who are proved to have been the first in the world who thus taught.

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Contra Faustum Manichaeum libri triginta tres

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Faustus dixit: _Quid ita hominem negatis fieri a deo?_Non quidem nos omnifariam hominem a deo fieri pernegamus; sed quis et quando et quemadmodum fiat, hoc quaerimus, quoniam quidem sunt secundum apostolum homines duo, quorum alterum quidem interdum exteriorem vocat, plerumque vero terrenum, nonnumquam etiam veterem, alterum vero interiorem et caelestem dicit ac novum. p. 717,15 Horum ergo uter fiat a deo, quaerimus, quoniam quidem et nativitatis nostrae tempora duo sunt: unum illud, quo nos irretitos carnalibus vinculis in lucem hanc natura produxit, alterum vero, cum veritas nos ex errore conversos ad se regeneravit initiatos ad fidem, quod tempus secundae nativitatis in evangelio Iesus significans dicit: Nisi quis natus fuerit denuo, non potest videre regnum dei. p. 717,22 Quod cum Nicodemus parum intellegens haesitaret et qualiter id fieri posset, percunctaretur – neque enim posse hominem senem matris uterum introire et iterum nasci – Iesus ei respondens, nisi quis natus fuerit inquit ex aqua et spiritu, non potest videre regnum dei. Et sequitur: Quod nascitur de carne, caro est; et quod nascitur de spiritu, spiritus est. Quapropter si et nativitas non ea sola est, qua in corpore gignimur, sed et illa alia, qua renascimur spiritu, non minor aeque cura est et hoc ipsum quaerere, in quanam earum nos faciat deus. Modus quoque nascendi duplex est: unus ille furoris et intemperantiae proprius, quo sumus a generatoribus turpiter et per libidinem sati; alter vero honestatis et sanctimoniae, quo in Christo Iesu per spiritum sanctum sub bonorum doctrinis discipulati sumus ad fidem; unde omnis etiam religio et maxime christiana ad sacramentum rudes infantes appellat. p. 718,14 Quod ipsum significans apostolus ait: Filioli mei, quos iterum parturio, donec formetur Christus in vobis. Quare iam non quaeritur, utrum deus hominem faciat, sed quando et quem et quemadmodum faciat. Nam si cum in utero fingimur, ut fere gentibus placet et Iudaeis et ipsis vobis, tunc nos deus format ad imaginem suam et veteres nos facit et per furorem ac libidinem creat, quod haud scio utrum divinitati eius conveniat, si vero cum credimus et ad meliorem vitae convertimur statum, tunc formamur a deo, ut fere Christo placet et eius apostolis et nobis, profecto et novos nos facit deus et honeste facit ac pure. p. 718,24 Quo quid consentaneum quidve conveniens magis sanctae eius est ac venerabili maiestati? Quodsi et vos auctoritatem Pauli non spernitis, ex ipso vobis quemnam et quando et quemadmodum deus hominem faciat, ostendemus. Dicit ad Ephesios: Ut deponatis secundum priorem conversationem veterem hominem, qui corrumpitur per desideria erroris; renovamini autem spiritu mentis vestrae et induite novum hominem, qui secundum deum creatus est in iustitia et sanctitate veritatis. Vides ergo, quando creatur homo ad imaginem dei, vides hic et hominem ostendi alterum et nativitatem aliam et alium nascendi modum. Nam cum exuite vos et induite dicit, tempus utique credulitatis significat; cum vero hominem novum a deo creari testatur, tum indicat veterem nec ab ipso esse nec secundum eum formatum. p. 719,13 Et cum prosequitur dicens illum quidem fieri in sanctitate et iustitia et veritate, tunc designat atque demonstrat alterum illum nativitatis morem, quem dixi longe dissimilem huic, qui corpora nostra furiosis genitorum complexibus seminavit quemque etiam ostendit ex deo non esse, cum illum solum monstravit esse ex deo. Necnon et ad Colossenses id ipsum denuo dicit: Exspoliate veterem hominem cum actibus eius et induite novum, qui renovatur in agnitione dei secundum imaginem eius, qui creavit eum in vobis! Et hic ergo non solum hominem novum ostendit eum esse, quem deus faciat, sed quando etiam et quibus modis formetur, edocuit, id est in agnitione dei, quo significatur credulitatis tempus. Et adhuc secundum imaginem inquit eius, qui creavit eum, ut ex hoc liqueat veterem hominem nec imaginem esse dei nec ab ipso formatum. Nam illud quidem, quod sequitur dicens: Ubi non est masculus et femina, Iudaeus et Graecus, barbarus et Scytha, magis ac magis ostendit nativitatem hanc, quae nos mares fecit ac feminas, Graecos et Iudaeos, Scythas et barbaros, non eam esse, in qua deus operatur, cum hominem format, sed illam, quae nos omni exutos nationum varietate sexusque et condicionis unum reddit ad instar eius, qui unus est, id est Christus, p. 720,6 sicut idem rursum apostolus dicit: Quotquot in Christo baptizati sunt, Christum induerunt; non est Iudaeus neque Graecus, non est masculus neque femina, non est servus et liber, sed omnes in Christo unum sunt. Ergo tunc fit homo a deo, cum fit unus ex multis, non cum ex uno est divisus in multa. Divisit autem nos primus ortus, id est corporalis; secundus adunat, intellegibilis ac divinus, eoque rectissime nos hunc quidem corporis naturae ascribendum putavimus, illum vero supernae maiestati. p. 720,15 Quapropter idem rursum apostolus ad Corinthios dicit: In Christo Iesu per evangelium ego vos genui, et ad Galatas de semet ipso: Cum placuit ei, qui me segregavit de utero matris meae, ut revelaret filium suum in me, ut eum adnuntiarem in gentes, continuo non adquievi carni et sanguini. Vides ergo ubique eum in hac altera nativitate nostra, spiritali dumtaxat asseverantem nos a deo formari, non in priore illa obscaena ac propudiosa, quae nos nihilo praestantius neque mundius animalibus ceteris in utero materno et concepit et formavit et genuit. Qua de re animadvertere si volueritis, invenietis hac in parte nos non tam professione a vobis distare quam intellectu, siquidem vobis placuerit hoc veteri et exteriori homini ac terreno tribuere, ut sit a deo formatus, nos vero contra caelesti hoc dederimus et interiori ac novo homini deferamus, neque id temere aut praesumptione, sed a Christo discentes et eius apostolis, qui primi eadem in mundo docuisse monstrantur. p. 721,7