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De civitate Dei (CCSL)

Caput XXX: Quod in libris ueteris testamenti, cum deus legitur iudicaturus, non euidenter Christi persona monstretur, sed ex quibusdam testimoniis, ubi dominus deus loquitur, appareat non dubie, quod ipse sit Christus.

Multa alia sunt scripturarum testimonia diuinarum de nouissimo iudicio dei, quae si omnia colligam, nimis longum erit. satis ergo sit, quod et nouis et ueteribus litteris sacris hoc praenuntiatum esse probauimus. sed ueteribus per Christum futurum esse iudicium, id est iudicem Christum de caelo esse uenturum, non tam, quam nouis, euidenter expressum est, propterea quia, cum ibi dicit dominus deus se esse uenturum uel dominum deum dicitur esse uenturum, non consequenter intellegitur Christus. dominus enim deus et pater est et filius et spiritus sanctus; neque hoc tamen intestatum relinquere nos oportet. primo itaque demonstrandum est, quemadmodum Iesus Christus tamquam dominus deus loquatur in propheticis libris, et tamen Iesus Christus euidenter appareat, ut et quando non sic apparet et tamen ad illud ultimum iudicium dominus deus dicitur esse uenturus, possit Iesus Christus intellegi. est locus apud Esaiam prophetam, qui hoc quod dico euidenter ostendit. deus enim per prophetam: audi me, inquit, Iacob et Israel quem ego uoco. ego sum primus et ego in sempiternum, et manus mea fundauit terram, et dextera mea firmauit caelum. uocabo eos, et stabunt simul, et congregabuntur omnes et audient. quis ei nuntiauit haec? diligens te feci uoluntatem tuam super Babylonem, ut auferrem semen Chaldaeorum. et locutus sum et ego uocaui; adduxi eum et prosperam feci uiam eius. accedite ad me et audite haec, non a principio in abscondito locutus sum; quando fiebant, ibi eram. et nunc dominus deus misit me et spiritus eius. nempe ipse est, qui loquebatur sicut dominus deus; nec tamen intellegeretur Iesus Christus, nisi addidisset: et nunc dominus deus misit me et spiritus eius. dixit hoc enim secundum formam serui, de re futura utens praeteriti temporis uerbo, quemadmodum apud eundem prophetam legitur: sicut ouis ad immolandum ductus est. non enim ait: ducetur, sed pro eo, quod futurum erat, praeteriti temporis uerbum posuit. et adsidue prophetia sic loquitur. est et alius locus apud Zachariam, qui hoc euidenter ostendit, quod omnipotentem misit omnipotens: quis quem, nisi deus pater deum filium? nam ita scriptum est: haec dicit dominus omnipotens: post gloriam misit me super gentes, quae spoliauerunt uos; quia qui tetigerit uos, quasi qui tangit pupillam oculi eius. ecce ego inferam manum meam super eos, et erunt spolia his, qui seruierant eis; et cognoscetis quia dominus omnipotens misit me. ecce dicit dominus omnipotens a domino omnipotente se missum. quis hic audeat intellegere nisi Christum loquentem, scilicet ouibus quae perierant domus Israel? ait namque in euangelio: non sum missus nisi ad oues quae perierunt domus Israel; quas hic comparauit pupillae oculi dei propter excellentissimum dilectionis adfectum; ex quo genere ouium etiam ipsi apostoli fuerunt. sed post gloriam resurrectionis utique suae, quae antequam fieret, ait euangelista: Iesus nondum erat glorificatus, etiam super gentes missus est in apostolis suis, ac sic inpletum est quod in psalmo legitur: erues me de contradictionibus populi, constitues me in caput gentium, ut, qui spoliauerant Israelitas quibusque Israelitae seruierant, quando sunt gentibus subditi, non uicissim eodem modo spoliarentur, sed ipsi spolia fierent Israelitarum - hoc enim apostolis promiserat dicens: faciam uos piscatores hominum, et uni eorum: ex hoc iam, inquit, homines eris capiens - ; spolia ergo fierent, sed in bonum, tamquam erepta uasa illi forti, sed fortius adligato. item per eundem prophetam dominus loquens: et erit, inquit, in die illa quaeram auferre omnes gentes quae ueniunt contra Hierusalem, et effundam super domum Dauid et super habitatores Hierusalem spiritum gratiae et misericordiae; et adspicient ad me pro eo quod insultauerunt, et plangent super eo planctum quasi super carissimum, et dolebunt dolore quasi super unigenitum. numquid nisi dei est auferre omnes gentes inimicas sanctae ciuitatis Hierusalem, quae ueniunt contra eam, id est contrariae sunt ei, uel, sicut alii sunt interpretati, ueniunt super eam, id est, ut eam sibi subiciant; aut effundere super domum Dauid et super habitatores eiusdem ciuitatis spiritum gratiae et misericordiae? hoc utique dei est, et ex persona dei dicitur per prophetam; et tamen hunc deum haec tam magna et tam diuina facientem se Christus ostendit adiungendo atque dicendo: et adspicient ad me pro eo quod insultauerunt, et plangent super eo planctum quasi super carissimum - siue dilectum - et dolebunt dolore quasi super unigenitum. paenitebit quippe Iudaeos in die illa, etiam eos, qui accepturi sunt spiritum gratiae et misericordiae, quod in eius passione insultauerint Christo, cum ad eum adspexerint in sua maiestate uenientem eumque esse cognouerint, quem prius humilem in suis parentibus inluserunt; quamuis et ipsi parentes eorum tantae illius inpietatis auctores resurgentes uidebunt eum, sed puniendi iam, non adhuc corrigendi. non itaque hoc loco ipsi intellegendi sunt, ubi dictum est: et effundam super domum Dauid et super habitatores Hierusalem spiritum gratiae et misericordiae; et adspicient ad me pro eo quod insultauerunt; sed tamen de illorum stirpe uenientes, qui per Heliam illo tempore credituri sunt. sed sicut dicimus Iudaeis: uos occidistis Christum, quamuis hoc parentes eorum fecerint, sic et isti se dolebunt fecisse quodammodo, quod fecerunt illi, ex quorum stirpe descendunt. quamuis ergo accepto spiritu gratiae et misericordiae iam fideles non damnabuntur cum inpiis parentibus suis, dolebunt tamen tamquam ipsi fecerint, quod ab illis factum est. non igitur dolebunt reatu criminis, sed pietatis adfectu. sane ubi dixerunt septuaginta interpretes: et adspicient ad me pro eo quod insultauerunt, sic interpretatum est ex Hebraeo: et adspicient ad me, quem confixerunt, quo quidem uerbo euidentius Christus crucifixus apparet. sed illa insultatio, quam septuaginta ponere maluerunt, eius uniuersae non defuit passioni. nam et detento et adligato et adiudicato et obprobrio ignominiosae uestis induto et spinis coronato et calamo in capite percusso et inridenter fixis genibus adorato et crucem suam portanti et in ligno iam pendenti utique insultauerunt. proinde interpretationem non sequentes unam, sed utramque iungentes, cum et insultauerunt et confixerunt legimus, plenius ueritatem dominicae passionis agnoscimus. cum ergo in propheticis litteris ad nouissimum iudicium faciendum deus legitur esse uenturus, etsi eius alia distinctio non ponatur, tantummodo propter ipsum iudicium Christus debet intellegi, quia etsi pater iudicabit, per aduentum filii hominis iudicabit. nam ipse per suae praesentiae manifestationem non iudicat quemquam, sed omne iudicium dedit filio, qui manifestabitur homo iudicaturus, sicut homo est iudicatus. quis est enim alius, de quo item deus loquitur per Esaiam sub nomine Iacob et Israel, de cuius semine corpus accepit? quod ita scriptum est: Iacob puer meus, suscipiam illum; Israel electus meus, adsumpsit eum anima mea. dedi spiritum meum in illum, iudicium gentibus proferet. non clamabit neque cessabit neque audietur foris uox eius. calamum quassatum non conteret et linum fumans non exstinguet; sed in ueritate proferet iudicium. refulgebit et non confringetur, donec ponat in terra iudicium; et in nomine eius gentes sperabunt. in Hebraeo non legitur Iacob et Israel; sed quod ibi legitur seruus meus, nimirum septuaginta interpretes uolentes admonere quatenus id accipiendum sit, quia scilicet propter formam serui dictum est, in qua se altissimus humillimum praebuit, ipsius hominis nomen ad eum significandum posuerunt, de cuius genere eadem serui forma suscepta est. datus est in eum spiritus sanctus, quod et columbae specie euangelio teste monstratum est; iudicium gentibus protulit, quia praenuntiauit futurum, quod gentibus erat occultum; mansuetudine non clamauit, nec tamen in praedicanda ueritate cessauit; sed non est audita foris uox eius nec auditur, quandoquidem ab eis, qui foris ab eius corpore praecisi sunt, non illi oboeditur; ipsosque suos persecutores Iudaeos, qui calamo quassato perdita integritate et lino fumanti amisso lumine conparati sunt, non contriuit, non exstinxit, quia pepercit eis, qui nondum uenerat eos iudicare, sed iudicari ab eis. in ueritate sane protulit iudicium praedicens eis, quando puniendi essent, si in sua malignitate persisterent. refulsit in monte facies eius, in orbe fama eius; nec confractus siue contritus est, quia neque in se neque in ecclesia sua, ut esse desisteret, persecutoribus cessit; et ideo non est factum nec fiet, quod inimici eius dixerunt uel dicunt: quando morietur et peribit nomen eius? donec ponat in terra iudicium. ecce manifestatum est quod absconditum quaerebamus; hoc enim est nouissimum iudicium, quod ponet in terra, cum uenerit ipse de caelo, de quo iam uidemus inpletum, quod hic ultimum positum est: et in nomine eius gentes sperabunt. per hoc certe quod negari non potest etiam illud credatur quod inpudenter negatur. quis enim speraret, quod etiam hi, qui nolunt adhuc credere in Christum, iam nobis cum uident et, quoniam negare non possunt, dentibus suis frendent et tabescunt? quis, inquam, speraret gentes in Christi nomine speraturas, quando tenebatur ligabatur, caedebatur inludebatur, crucifigebatur, quando et ipsi discipuli spem perdiderant, quam in illo habere iam coeperant? quod tunc uix unus latro sperauit in cruce, nunc sperant gentes longe lateque diffusae, et ne in aeternum moriantur, ipsa in qua ille mortuus est cruce signantur. nullus igitur uel negat uel dubitat per Christum Iesum tale, quale istis sacris litteris praenuntiatur, nouissimum futurum esse iudicium, nisi qui eisdem litteris nescio qua incredibili animositate seu caecitate non credit, quae iam ueritatem suam orbi demonstrauere terrarum. in illo itaque iudicio uel circa illud iudicium has res didicimus esse uenturas, Heliam Thesbiten, fidem Iudaeorum, Antichristum persecuturum, Christum iudicaturum, mortuorum resurrectionem, bonorum malorumque diremptionem, mundi conflagrationem eiusdem que renouationem. quae omnia quidem uentura esse credendum est; sed quibus modis et quo ordine ueniant, magis tunc docebit rerum experientia, quam nunc ad perfectum hominum intellegentia ualet consequi. existimo tamen eo quo a me commemorata sunt ordine esse uentura. duo nobis ad hoc opus pertinentes reliqui sunt libri, ut adiuuante domino promissa conpleamus; quorum erit unus de malorum supplicio, alius de felicitate iustorum; in quibus maxime, sicut deus donauerit, argumenta refellentur humana, quae contra praedicta ac promissa diuina sapienter sibi miseri rodere uidentur et salubris fidei nutrimenta uelut falsa et ridenda contemnunt. qui uero secundum deum sapiunt, omnia, quae incredibilia uidentur hominibus et tamen scripturis sanctis, quarum iam ueritas multis modis adserta est, continentur, maximum argumentum tenent ueracem dei omnipotentiam, quem certum habent nullo modo in eis potuisse mentiri et posse facere quod inpossibile est infideli.

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The City of God

Chapter 30.--That in the Books of the Old Testament, Where It is Said that God Shall Judge the World, the Person of Christ is Not Explicitly Indicated, But It Plainly Appears from Some Passages in Which the Lord God Speaks that Christ is Meant.

There are many other passages of Scripture bearing on the last judgment of God,--so many, indeed, that to cite them all would swell this book to an unpardonable size. Suffice it to have proved that both Old and New Testament enounce the judgment. But in the Old it is not so definitely declared as in the New that the judgment shall be administered by Christ, that is, that Christ shall descend from heaven as the Judge; for when it is therein stated by the Lord God or His prophet that the Lord God shall come, we do not necessarily understand this of Christ. For both the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost are the Lord God. We must not, however, leave this without proof. And therefore we must first show how Jesus Christ speaks in the prophetical books under the title of the Lord God, while yet there can be no doubt that it is Jesus Christ who speaks; so that in other passages where this is not at once apparent, and where nevertheless it is said that the Lord God will come to that last judgment, we may understand that Jesus Christ is meant. There is a passage in the prophet Isaiah which illustrates what I mean. For God says by the prophet, "Hear me, Jacob and Israel, whom I call. I am the first, and I am for ever: and my hand has founded the earth, and my right hand has established the heaven. I will call them, and they shall stand together, and be gathered, and hear. Who has declared to them these things? In love of thee I have done thy pleasure upon Babylon, that I might take away the seed of the Chaldeans. I have spoken, and I have called: I have brought him, and have made his way prosperous. Come ye near unto me, and hear this. I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; when they were made, there was I. And now the Lord God and His Spirit hath sent me." ¹ It was Himself who was speaking as the Lord God; and yet we should not have understood that it was Jesus Christ had He not added, "And now the Lord God and His Spirit hath sent me." For He said this with reference to the form of a servant, speaking of a future event as if it were past, as in the same prophet we read, "He was led as a sheep to the slaughter," ² not "He shall be led;" but the past tense is used to express the future. And prophecy constantly speaks in this way.

There is also another passage in Zechariah which plainly declares that the Almighty sent the Almighty; and of what persons can this be understood but of God the Father and God the Son? For it is written, "Thus saith the Lord Almighty, After the glory hath He sent me unto the nations which spoiled you; for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of His eye. Behold, I will bring mine hand upon them, and they shall be a spoil to their servants: and ye shall know that the Lord Almighty hath sent me." ³ Observe, the Lord Almighty saith that the Lord Almighty sent Him. Who can presume to understand these words of any other than Christ, who is speaking to the lost sheep of the house of Israel? For He says in the Gospel, "I am not sent save to the lost sheep of the house of Israel," ⁴ which He here compared to the pupil of God's eye, to signify the profoundest love. And to this class of sheep the apostles themselves belonged. But after the glory, to wit, of His resurrection,--for before it happened the evangelist said that "Jesus was not yet glorified," ⁵ --He was sent unto the nations in the persons of His apostles; and thus the saying of the psalm was fulfilled, "Thou wilt deliver me from the contradictions of the people; Thou wilt set me as the head of the nations," ⁶ so that those who had spoiled the Israelites, and whom the Israelites had served when they were subdued by them, were not themselves to be spoiled in the same fashion, but were in their own persons to become the spoil of the Israelites. For this had been promised to the apostles when the Lord said, "I will make you fishers of men." ⁷ And to one of them He says, "From henceforth thou shalt catch men." ⁸ They were then to become a spoil, but in a good sense, as those who are snatched from that strong one when he is bound by a stronger. ⁹

In like manner the Lord, speaking by the same prophet, says, "And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and mercy; and they shall look upon me because they have insulted me, and they shall mourn for Him as for one very dear, and shall be in bitterness as for an only-begotten." ¹⁰ To whom but to God does it belong to destroy all the nations that are hostile to the holy city Jerusalem, which "come against it," that is, are opposed to it, or, as some translate, "come upon it," as if putting it down under them; or to pour out upon the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and mercy? This belongs doubtless to God, and it is to God the prophet ascribes the words; and yet Christ shows that He is the God who does these so great and divine things, when He goes on to say, "And they shall look upon me because they have insulted me, and they shall mourn for Him as if for one very dear (or beloved), and shall be in bitterness for Him as for an only-begotten." For in that day the Jews--those of them, at least, who shall receive the spirit of grace and mercy--when they see Him coming in His majesty, and recognize that it is He whom they, in the person of their parents, insulted when He came before in His humiliation, shall repent of insulting Him in His passion: and their parents themselves, who were the perpetrators of this huge impiety, shall see Him when they rise; but this will be only for their punishment, and not for their correction. It is not of them we are to understand the words, "And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and mercy, and they shall look upon me because they have insulted me;" but we are to understand the words of their descendants, who shall at that time believe through Elias. But as we say to the Jews, You killed Christ, although it was their parents who did so, so these persons shall grieve that they in some sort did what their progenitors did. Although, therefore, those that receive the spirit of mercy and grace, and believe, shall not be condemned with their impious parents, yet they shall mourn as if they themselves had done what their parents did. Their grief shall arise not so much from guilt as from pious affection. Certainly the words which the Septuagint have translated, "They shall look upon me because they insulted me," stand in the Hebrew,"They shall look upon me whom they pierced." ¹¹ And by this word the crucifixion of Christ is certainly more plainly indicated. But the Septuagint translators preferred to allude to the insult which was involved in His whole passion. For in point of fact they insulted Him both when He was arrested and when He was bound, when He was judged, when He was mocked by the robe they put on Him and the homage they did on bended knee, when He was crowned with thorns and struck with a rod on the head, when He bore His cross, and when at last He hung upon the tree. And therefore we recognize more fully the Lord's passion when we do not confine ourselves to one interpretation, but combine both, and read both "insulted" and "pierced."

When, therefore, we read in the prophetical books that God is to come to do judgment at the last, from the mere mention of the judgment, and although there is nothing else to determine the meaning, we must gather that Christ is meant; for though the Father will judge, He will judge by the coming of the Son. For He Himself, by His own manifested presence, "judges no man, but has committed all judgment to the Son;" ¹² for as the Son was judged as a man, He shall also judge in human form. For it is none but He of whom God speaks by Isaiah under the name of Jacob and Israel, of whose seed Christ took a body, as it is written, "Jacob is my servant, I will uphold Him; Israel is mine elect, my Spirit has assumed Him: I have put my Spirit upon Him; He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor cease, neither shall His voice be heard without. A bruised reed shall He not break, and the smoking flax shall He not quench: but in truth shall He bring forth judgment. He shall shine and shall not be broken, until He sets judgment in the earth: and the nations shall hope in His name." ¹³ The Hebrew has not "Jacob" and "Israel;" but the Septuagint translators, wishing to show the significance of the expression "my servant," and that it refers to the form of a servant in which the Most High humbled Himself, inserted the name of that man from whose stock He took the form of a servant. The Holy Spirit was given to Him, and was manifested, as the evangelist testifies, in the form of a dove. ¹⁴ He brought forth judgment to the Gentiles, because He predicted what was hidden from them. In His meekness He did not cry, nor did He cease to proclaim the truth. But His voice was not heard, nor is it heard, without, because He is not obeyed by those who are outside of His body. And the Jews themselves, who persecuted Him, He did not break, though as a bruised reed they had lost their integrity, and as smoking flax their light was quenched; for He spared them, having come to be judged and not yet to judge. He brought forth judgment in truth, declaring that they should be punished did they persist in their wickedness. His face shone on the Mount, ¹⁵ His fame in the world. He is not broken nor overcome, because neither in Himself nor in His Church has persecution prevailed to annihilate Him. And therefore that has not, and shall not, be brought about which His enemies said or say, "When shall He die, and His name perish?" ¹⁶ "until He set judgment in the earth." Behold, the hidden thing which we were seeking is discovered. For this is the last judgment, which He will set in the earth when He comes from heaven. And it is in Him, too, we already see the concluding expression of the prophecy fulfilled: "In His name shall the nations hope." And by this fulfillment, which no one can deny, men are encouraged to believe in that which is most impudently denied. For who could have hoped for that which even those who do not yet believe in Christ now see fulfilled among us, and which is so undeniable that they can but gnash their teeth and pine away? Who, I say, could have hoped that the nations would hope in the name of Christ, when He was arrested, bound, scourged, mocked, crucified, when even the disciples themselves had lost the hope which they had begun to have in Him? The hope which was then entertained scarcely by the one thief on the cross, is now cherished by nations everywhere on the earth, who are marked with the sign of the cross on which He died that they may not die eternally.

That the last judgment, then, shall be administered by Jesus Christ in the manner predicted in the sacred writings is denied or doubted by no one, unless by those who, through some incredible animosity or blindness, decline to believe these writings, though already their truth is demonstrated to all the world. And at or in connection with that judgment the following events shall come to pass, as we have learned: Elias the Tishbite shall come; the Jews shall believe; Antichrist shall persecute; Christ shall judge; the dead shall rise; the good and the wicked shall be separated; the world shall be burned and renewed. All these things, we believe, shall come to pass; but how, or in what order, human understanding cannot perfectly teach us, but only the experience of the events themselves. My opinion, however, is, that they will happen in the order in which I have related them.

Two books yet remain to be written by me, in order to complete, by God's help, what I promised. One of these will explain the punishment of the wicked, the other the happiness of the righteous; and in them I shall be at special pains to refute, by God's grace, the arguments by which some unhappy creatures seem to themselves to undermine the divine promises and threatenings, and to ridicule as empty words statements which are the most salutary nutriment of faith. But they who are instructed in divine things hold the truth and omnipotence of God to be the strongest arguments in favor of those things which, however incredible they seem to men, are yet contained in the Scriptures, whose truth has already in many ways been proved; for they are sure that God can in no wise lie, and that He can do what is impossible to the unbelieving.