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Contra Faustum Manichaeum libri triginta tres

15.

Nec illud nego de Christo esse praedictum, quod tu tamquam facile refellendum elegisti, ubi deus loquitur ad Moysen dicens: Suscitabo illis prophetam de fratribus ipsorum similem tibi. p. 455,19 Nec me tua lauta et lepida antitheta, quibus luteum sermonem quasi colorare ac pingere voluisti, ullo modo ab hac fidei veritate deterrent. Comparans enim Christum atque Moysen et cupiens demonstrare dissimile, ut ob hoc non de Christo videatur intellegendum esse, quod scriptum est: Suscitabo illis prophetam similem tibi, opposuisti tibimet ex adverso multa contraria, quod ille homo, hic deus, ille peccator, hic sanctus, ille ex coitu natus, hic secundum nos ex virgine, secundum vos vero nec ex virgine, ille offenso deo occiditur in monte, hic patri perplacens patitur propria voluntate, p. 455,28 quasi vero cum simile aliquid dicitur, ex omni parte atque ex omni modo simile intellegatur. Quia non ea tantum, quae unius eiusdemque naturae sunt, dicuntur inter se esse similia, sicut gemini homines vel filii parentibus vel omnes homines omnibus hominibus, in quantum homines sunt, similes utique sunt, quod et in ceteris animalibus intueri facillimum est vel arboribus, ut olea oleae, laurus lauro similis dicitur, verum etiam naturae disparis sunt et dicuntur multa similia, ut olivae oleaster et far tritico. De rebus adhuc proximis et attingentibus loquor; nam quid tam longe distans a filio dei, per quem facta sunt omnia quam pecus et lapis? Et tamen in evangelio legitur: Ecce agnus dei et in apostolo: Petra autem erat Christus, quae nullo modo quisquam recte diceret, si eorum aliquam similitudinem nullo modo ille susciperet. p. 456,14 Quid ergo mirum, si non est dedignatus Christus fieri similis ipsi Moysi, qui similis factus est ovi, quam in eius praenuntiatione per ipsum Moysen praecepit deus manducari a populo suo eiusque sanguinem ad tutelam salutis adhiberi et pascha appellari, quod nunc in Christo esse completum nemo dissimulare permittitur? Quapropter de scripturis agnosco dissimilem, de scripturis mecum agnosce et tu similem, non inde dissimilem, unde similem, sed alia causa illud, alia illud, dum tamen utrumque demonstrem: Dissimilis homini Christus, quia deus; scriptum est enim de illo: Quia est super omnia deus benedictus in saecula; et similis homini Christus, quia homo, quia de illo itidem scriptum est: Mediator dei et hominum, homo Christus Iesus. p. 456,27 Dissimilis peccatori Christus, quia semper sanctus, et similis peccatori Christus, quia deus filium suum misit in similitudinem carnis peccati, ut de peccato damnaret peccatum in carne. Homini ex coitu nato dissimilis Christus, in quantum ex virgine natus est, sed homini nato similis Christus, in quantum et ipse ex femina natus est, cui dictum est: Quod nascetur ex te sanctum, vocabitur filius dei. Homini propter peccatum suum mortuo dissimilis Christus, in quantum sine peccato et propria potestate mortuus est, sed rursus homini mortuo similis Christus, in quantum et ipse vera morte corporis mortuus est.

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Reply to Faustus the Manichaean

15.

I still hold that there is a reference to Christ in the passage which you select for refutation, where God says to Moses, "I will raise up unto them from among their brethren a prophet like unto thee." ¹ The string of showy antitheses with which you try to ornament your dull discourse does not at all affect my belief of this truth. You attempt to prove, by a comparison of Christ and Moses, that they are unlike, and that therefore the words, "I will raise up a prophet like unto thee," cannot be understood of Christ. You specify a number of particulars in which you find a diversity: that the one is man, and the other God; that one is a sinner, the other sinless; that one is born of ordinary generation, the other, as we hold, of a virgin, and, as you hold, not even of a virgin; the one incurs God's anger, and is put to death on a mountain, the other suffers voluntarily, having throughout the approval of His Father. But surely things may be said to be like, although they are not like in every respect. Besides the resemblance between things of the same nature, as between two men, or between parents and children, or between men in general, or any species of animals, or in trees, between one olive and another, or one laurel and another, there is often a resemblance in things of a different nature, as between a wild and a tame olive, or between wheat and barley. These things are to some extent allied. But there is the greatest possible distance between the Son of God, by whom all things were made, and a beast or a stone. And yet in the Gospel we read, "Behold the Lamb of God," ² and in the apostle, "That rock was Christ." ³ This could not be said except on the supposition of some resemblance. What wonder, then, if Christ condescended to become like Moses, when He was made like the lamb which God by Moses commanded His people to eat as a type of Christ, enjoining that its blood should be used as a means of protection, and that it should be called the Passover, which every one must admit to be fulfilled in Christ? The Scripture, I acknowledge, shows points of difference; and the Scripture also, as I call on you to acknowledge, shows points of resemblance. There are points of both kinds, and one can be proved as well as the other. Christ is unlike man, for He is God; and it is written of Him that He is "over all, God blessed for ever." ⁴ Christ is also like man, for He is man; and it is likewise written of Him, that He is the "Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus." ⁵ Christ is unlike a sinner, for He is ever holy; and He is like a sinner, for "God sent His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, that by sin He might condemn sin in the flesh." ⁶ Christ is unlike a man born in ordinary generation, for He was born of a virgin; and yet He is like, for He too was born of a woman, to whom it was said, "That holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." ⁷ Christ is unlike a man, who dies on account of his own sin, for He died without sin, and of His own free-will; and again, He is like, for He too died a real death of the body.