Edition Masquer
Contra Faustum Manichaeum libri triginta tres

2.

Augustinus respondit: Temporalium quidem rerum promissiones testamento vetere contineri et ideo vetus testamentum appellari nemo nostrum ambigit, et quod aeternae vitae promissio regnumque caelorum ad novum pertinet testamentum; sed in illis temporalibus figuras fuisse futurorum, quae implerentur in nobis, in quos finis saeculorum obvenit, non suspicio mea, sed apostolicus intellectus est dicente Paulo, cum de talibus loqueretur: Haec omnia figurae nostrae fuerunt, et iterum: Haec omnia in figura contingebant illis; scripta sunt autem propter nos, in quos finis saeculorum obvenit. p. 269.10

Non ergo vetus testamentum ad consequendas illas promissiones, sed ad intellegendas in eis novi testamenti praenuntiationes accipimus; veteris quippe testificatio fidem novo conciliat.

Unde dominus posteaquam resurrexit a mortuis seque non solum intuendum discipulorum oculis sed etiam contrectandum manibus obtulit, ne quid tamen cum suis mortalibus et carnalibus sensibus fallaciter agi arbitrarentur, magis eos de veterum librorum testificatione firmavit dicens: Oportebat impleri omnia, quae scripta sunt in lege Moysi et prophetis et psalmis de me. Non itaque spes nostra in temporalium rerum promissione defixa est, quandoquidem nec ipsos illius temporis sanctos et spiritales viros, patriarchas et prophetas, his terrenis rebus fuisse deditos credimus; intellegebant enim revelante sibi spiritu dei, quid tempori illi congrueret et quibus modis deus per illas omnes res gestas et dictas futura figuranda et praenuntianda decerneret, magisque desiderium eorum de novo testamento erat. p. 269,27 Sed praesens functio corporalis ad significanda nova ventura pollicitationibus veteribus praebebatur. Ita illorum hominum non tantum lingua, sed et vita prophetica fuit. Carnalis autem populus promissis vitae praesentis inhaerebat. De quo tamen etiam populo nihilominus significabantur futura. Sed vos ista non intellegitis, quia, sicut propheta dixit nisi credideritis, non intellegetis. Non enim estis eruditi in regno caelorum, id est in ecclesia Christi vera catholica; quod si essetis, de divitiis sanctarum scripturarum non solum nova sed etiam vetera proferretis. Ipse quippe dominus dicit: Propterea omnis scriba eruditus in regno caelorum similis est homini patrifamilias proferenti de thesauro suo nova et vetera. p. 270,11 Et ideo dum sola promissa dei nova tenere vos arbitramini, remansistis in vetustate carnis et novitatem induxistis erroris.

De qua novitate apostolus dicit: Profanas autem verborum novitates evita! Multum enim proficiunt ad impietatem, et sermo eorum sicut cancer serpit. Ex quibus est Hymenaeus et Philetus, qui circa veritatem aberraverunt dicentes resurrectionem iam factam esse, et fidem quorundam subverterunt.

Ex qua vena falsitatis vos manare cognoscite, qui dicitis nunc esse resurrectionem tantummodo animarum per praedicationem veritatis, corporum autem, quam praedicaverunt apostoli, futuram negatis!

Quid autem spiritaliter secundum hominem interiorem, qui renovatur in agnitione dei, potestis cogitare, cum per vetustatem carnis et per carnalium rerum imagines, quibus totus error uester involvitur, res corporeas non possessione teneatis, sed phantasmate sapiatis? p. 270,26

Terram enim Chananaeorum, quae manifesta erat et manifeste illi populo data est, contemnere vos et fastidire gloriamini, quasi non ita terram luminis describatis ex una parte a terra gentis tenebrarum, tamquam cuneo coartato discissam, ut neque in rerum veritate inveniatur et in cogitationum vestrarum falsitate credatur, et ideo nec vitam vestram data sustineat et mentem vestram desiderata corrumpat.

Traduction Masquer
Reply to Faustus the Manichaean

2.

Augustin replied: No one doubts that promises of temporal things are contained in the Old Testament, for which reason it is called the Old Testament; or that the kingdom of heaven and the promise of eternal life belong to the New Testament. But that in these temporal things were figures of future things which should be fulfilled in us upon whom the ends of the ages are come, is not my fancy, but the judgment of the apostle, when he says of such things, "These things were our examples;" and again, "These things happened to them for an example, and they are written for us on whom the ends of the ages are come." ¹ We receive the Old Testament, therefore, not in order to obtain the fulfillment of these promises, but to see in them predictions of the New Testament; for the Old bears witness to the New. Whence the Lord, after He rose from the dead, and allowed His disciples not only to see but to handle Him, still, lest they should doubt their mortal and fleshly senses, gave them further confirmation from the testimony of the ancient books, saying, "It was necessary that all things should be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses, and in the Prophets and Psalms, concerning me." ² Our hope, therefore, rests not on the promise of temporal things. Nor do we believe that the holy and spiritual men of these times--the patriarchs and prophets--were taken up with earthly things. For they understood, by the revelation of the Spirit of God, what was suitable for that time, and how God appointed all these sayings and actions as types and predictions of the future. Their great desire was for the New Testament; but they had a personal duty to perform in those predictions, by which the new things of the future were foretold. So the life as well as the tongue of these men was prophetic. The carnal people, indeed, thought only of present blessings, though even in connection with the people there were prophecies of the future.

These things you do not understand, because, as the prophet said, "Unless you believe, you shall not understand." ³ For you are not instructed in the kingdom of heaven,--that is, in the true Catholic Church of Christ. If you were, you would bring forth from the treasure of the sacred Scriptures things old as well as new. For the Lord Himself says, "Therefore every scribe instructed in the kingdom of heaven is like an householder who brings forth from his treasure things new and old." ⁴ And so, while you profess to receive only the new promises of God, you have retained the oldness of the flesh, adding only the novelty of error; of which novelty the apostle says, "Shun profane novelties of words, for they increase unto more ungodliness, and their speech eats like a cancer. Of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus, who concerning the faith have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already, and have overthrown the faith of some." ⁵ Here you see the source of your false doctrine, in teaching that the resurrection is only of souls by the preaching of the truth, and that there will be no resurrection of the body. But how can you understand spiritual things of the inner man, who is renewed in the knowledge of God, when in the oldness of the flesh, if you do not possess temporal things, you concoct fanciful notions about them in those images of carnal things of which the whole of your false doctrine consists? You boast of despising as worthless the land of Canaan, which was an actual thing, and actually given to the Jews; and yet you tell of a land of light cut asunder on one side, as by a narrow wedge, by the land of the race of darkness,--a thing which does not exist, and which you believe from the delusion of your minds; so that your life is not supported by having it, and your mind is wasted in desiring it. ⁶