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Contra Faustum Manichaeum libri triginta tres

13.

Miratum sane Faustus deum nostrum dixit, quod scriptum non est nec omnino est consequens, ut cum aliquis vidit, quia bonum est, etiam miratus dicatur. Multa enim bona videntes non miramur, tamquam praeter opinionem ita sint, sed tantummodo approbamus, quod ita esse debuerit. Verumtamen ostendimus eis non in vetere testamento, cui malitiose calumniantur, sed in novo, quod ut imperitos fallant accipiunt, deum esse miratum. Christum enim fatentur deum et hanc in laqueo suo velut escam dulcissimam ponunt, qua Christo deditos capiant. Deus ergo miratus est, cum Christus miratus est. Sic enim scriptum est in evangelio, quod audita fide cuiusdam centurionis miratus est et ait discipulis suis: ‘Amen dico vobis, non inveni tantam fidem in Israhel’. p. 600,16 Ecce nos ut potuimus, exposuimus vidit deus quia bonum est, et melius fortassis exponunt ista meliores; exponant et isti, quare sit miratus Iesus, quod antequam fieret, praesciebat, et antequam audiret, utique noverat. Quamquam enim plurimum intersit, utrum videat aliquis, quia bonum est, an etiam miretur, in hoc tamen est nonnulla similitudo, quia etiam Iesus lucem fidei miratus est, quam in corde illius centurionis ipse fecerat, qui est lumen verum, quod illuminat omnem hominem venientem _ (veniens ?)_in hunc mundum.

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Reply to Faustus the Manichaean

13.

Faustus speaks of our God as astonished, which is not said in Scripture; nor does it follow that one must be astonished when he sees anything to be good. There are many good things which we see without being astonished, as if they were better than we expected; we merely approve of them as being what they ought to be. We can, however, give an instance of God being astonished, not from the Old Testament, which the Manichaeans assail with undeserved reproach, but from the New Testament, which they profess to believe in order to entrap the unwary. For they acknowledge Christ as God, and use this as a bait to entice Christ's followers into their snares. God, then, was astonished when Christ was astonished. For we read in the Gospel, that when Christ heard the faith of a certain centurion, He was astonished, and said to His disciples, "Verily I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel." ¹ We have already given our explanation of the words, "God saw that it was good." Better men may give a better explanation. Meanwhile let the Manichaeans explain Christ's being astonished at what He foresaw before it happened, and knew before He heard it. For though seeing a thing to be good is quite different from being astonished at it, in this case there is some resemblance, for Jesus was astonished at the light of faith which He Himself had created in the heart of the centurion; for Jesus is the true light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into the world.