Traduction
Masquer
Against Heresies
7.
Still more manifestly is that talk of theirs concerning their seed proved to be false, and that in a way which must be evident to every one, by the fact that they declare those souls which have received seed from the Mother to be superior to all others; wherefore also they have been honoured by the Demiurge, and constituted princes, and kings, and priests. For if this were true, the high priest Caiaphas, and Annas, and the rest of the chief priests, and doctors of the law, and rulers of the people, would have been the first to believe in the Lord, agreeing as they did with respect 1 to that relationship; and even before them should have been Herod the king. But since neither he, nor the chief priests, nor the rulers, nor the eminent of the people, turned to Him [in faith], but, on the contrary, those who sat begging by the highway, the deaf, and the blind, while He was rejected and despised by others, according to what Paul declares, "For ye see your calling, brethren, that there are not many wise men among you, not many noble, not many mighty; but those things of the world which were despised hath God chosen." 2 Such souls, therefore, were not superior to others on account of the seed deposited in them, nor on this account were they honoured by the Demiurge.
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The meaning apparently is, that by the high position which all these in common occupied, they proved themselves, on the principles of the heretics, to belong to the favoured "seed," and should therefore have eagerly have welcomed the Lord. Or the meaning may be, "hurrying together to that relationship," that is, to the relationship secured by faith in Christ. ↩
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1 Cor. i. 26, 28, somewhat loosely quoted. ↩
Traduction
Masquer
Gegen die Häresien (BKV)
7.
Noch handgreiflicher und offenkundiger für jedermann zeigt sich die Falschheit ihrer Lehre vom Samen, wenn sie behaupten, daß die Seelen, welche von ihrer Mutter den Samen empfangen hätten, besser seien als die übrigen und deswegen von dem Demiurgen geehrt und zu Fürsten, Königen und Priestern bestellt seien. Wenn das wahr wäre, dann hätten zuerst doch S. 153die Hohenpriester Annas und Kaiphas und die übrigen Hohenpriester, Gesetzeslehrer und Fürsten des Volkes dem Herrn geglaubt und ihn erkannt, und vor allen auch der König Herodes. Nun aber fielen weder dieser noch diese Hohenpriester, noch die Führer und Vorsteher des Volkes ihm zu, sondern im Gegenteil die Bettler am Wege, die Tauben, die Blinden und die von den andern gestoßen und verachtet wurden, weshalb Paulus sagt: „Betrachtet, Brüder, eure Berufung; nicht viele Weise sind unter euch, noch Vornehme, noch Mächtige, sondern das vor der Welt Verächtliche hat Gott auserwählt!“1 Also waren die Seelen der Großen wegen der Abstammung des Samens nicht besser und wurden deswegen von dem Demiurgen nicht geehrt.
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1 Kor. 1,26 ff. ↩