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De civitate Dei (CCSL)

Caput XXVIII: De commutatione nominum Abrahae et Sarrae, qui cum ob unius sterilitatem, ob utriusque autem senectutem generare non possent, munus fecunditatis indepti sunt.

Facta igitur promissione tam magna tamque dilucida ad Abraham, cui euidentissime dictum est: patrem multarum gentium posui te; et augeam te ualde ualde et ponam te in gentes, et reges ex te exibunt. et dabo tibi ex Sarra filium, et benedicam illum, et erit in nationes, et reges gentium ex eo erunt - quam promissionem nunc in Christo cernimus reddi - , ex illo deinceps illi coniuges non uocantur in scripturis, sicut antea uocabantur, Abram et Sara, sed sicut eos nos ab initio uocauimus, quoniam sic iam uocantur ab omnibus, Abraham et Sarra. cur autem mutatum sit nomen Abrahae, reddita est ratio: quia patrem, inquit, multarum gentium posui te. hoc ergo significare intellegendum est Abraham; Abram uero, quod ante uocabatur, interpretatur pater excelsus. de nomine autem mutato Sarrae non est reddita ratio; sed, sicut aiunt, qui scripserunt interpretationes nominum Hebraeorum, quae his sacris litteris continentur, Sara interpretatur princeps mea, Sarra autem uirtus. unde scriptum est in epistula ad Hebraeos: fide et ipsa Sarra uirtutem accepit ad emissionem seminis. ambo enim seniores erant, sicut scriptura testatur; sed illa etiam sterilis et cruore menstruo iam destituta, propter quod iam parere non posset, etiam si sterilis non fuisset. porro si femina ita sit prouectioris aetatis, ut ei solita mulierum adhuc fluant, de iuuene parere potest, de seniore non potest; quamuis adhuc possit ille senior, sed de adulescentula gignere, sicut Abraham post mortem Sarrae de Cettura potuit, quia uiuidam eius inuenit aetatem. hoc ergo est, quod mirum commendat apostolus, et ad hoc dicit Abrahae iam fuisse corpus emortuum, quoniam non ex omni femina, cui adhuc esset aliquod pariendi tempus extremum, generare ipse in illa aetate adhuc posset. ad aliquid enim emortuum corpus intellegere debemus, non ad omnia. nam si ad omnia, non iam senectus uiui, sed cadauer est mortui. quamuis etiam sic solui soleat ista quaestio, quod de Cettura postea genuit Abraham, quia donum gignendi, quod a domino accepit, etiam post obitum mansit uxoris. sed propterea mihi uidetur illa, quam secuti sumus, huius quaestionis solutio praeferenda, quia centenarius quidem senex, sed temporis nostri, de nulla potest femina gignere; non tunc, quando adhuc tam diu uiuebant, ut centum anni nondum facerent hominem decrepitae senectutis.

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The City of God

Chapter 28.--Of the Change of Name in Abraham and Sarah, Who Received the Gift of Fecundity When They Were Incapable of Regeneration Owing to the Barrenness of One, and the Old Age of Both.

Now when a promise so great and clear was made to Abraham, in which it was so plainly said to him, "I have made thee a father of many nations, and I will increase thee exceedingly, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall go forth of thee. And I will give thee a son of Sarah; and I will bless him, and he shall become nations, and kings of nations shall be of him," ¹ --a promise which we now see fulfilled in Christ,--from that time forward this couple are not called in Scripture, as formerly, Abram and Sarai, but Abraham and Sarah, as we have called them from the first, for every one does so now. The reason why the name of Abraham was changed is given: "For," He says, "I have made thee a father of many nations." This, then, is to be understood to be the meaning of Abraham; but Abram, as he was formerly called, means "exalted father." The reason of the change of Sarah's name is not given; but as those say who have written interpretations of the Hebrew names contained in these books, Sarah means "my princess," and Sarai "strength." Whence it is written in the Epistle to the Hebrews, "Through faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed." ² For both were old, as the Scripture testifies; but she was also barren, and had ceased to menstruate, so that she could no longer bear children even if she had not been barren. Further, if a woman is advanced in years, yet still retains the custom of women, she can bear children to a young man, but not to an old man, although that same old man can beget, but only of a young woman; as after Sarah's death Abraham could of Keturah, because he met with her in her lively age. This, then, is what the apostle mentions as wonderful, saying, besides, that Abraham's body was now dead; ³ because at that age he was no longer able to beget children of any woman who retained now only a small part of her natural vigor. Of course we must understand that his body was dead only to some purposes, not to all; for if it was so to all, it would no longer be the aged body of a living man, but the corpse of a dead one. Although that question, how Abraham begot children of Keturah, is usually solved in this way, that the gift of begetting which he received from the Lord, remained even after the death of his wife, yet I think that solution of the question which I have followed is preferable, because, although in our days an old man of a hundred years can beget children of no woman, it was not so then, when men still lived so long that a hundred years did not yet bring on them the decrepitude of old age.