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Contra Faustum Manichaeum libri triginta tres

3.

Veritatem inquit dico in Christo, non mentior contestante mihi conscientia mea in spiritu sancto, quia tristitia est mihi magna et continuus dolor cordi meo. Optabam enim ego ipse anathema esse a Christo pro fratribus meis cognatis secundum carnem, qui sunt Israhelitae, quorum est adoptio et gloria et testamenta et legis constitutio et obsequium et promissiones; p. 331,29 quorum patres et ex quibus Christus secundum carnem, qui est super omnia deus benedictus in saecula. Quid potest abundantius dici, quid expressius declarari, quid sanctius commendari? Quae est enim adoptio Israhelitarum nisi per filium dei? Unde ad Galatas dicit: Cum autem venit plenitudo temporis, misit deus filium suum factum ex muliere, factum sub lege, ut eos, qui sub lege erant, redimeret, ut adoptionem filiorum reciperemus. p. 332,7 Et quae gloria eorum nisi praecipue illa, de qua idem Paulus ad eosdem Romanos dicit: Quid ergo amplius est Iudaeo? Aut quae utilitas circumcisionis? Multum per omnem modum. Primum quidem, quia credita sunt illis eloquia dei. Quaerant isti, quae sint eloquia dei credita Iudaeis, et ostendant nobis alia praeter Hebraeorum prophetarum! Iam vero testamenta cur dixit ad Israhelitas praecipue pertinere, nisi quia et vetus testamentum illis est datum et novum in vetere figuratum? p. 332,15 Legis autem constitutionem, quae Israhelitis data est, non intellegentes eius dispensationem, quia iam non vult nos deus esse sub lege, sed sub gratia, reprehendere isti solent imperitia furiosa. Cedant ergo auctoritati apostolicae, quae laudans atque commendans Israhelitarum excellentiam etiam hoc enumeravit, quod eorum sit legis constitutio. Quae si mala esset, non utique in eorum laude poneretur; si autem Christum non praedicaret, non ipse dominus diceret: Si crederetis Moysi, crederetis et mihi; de me enim ille scripsit, nec post resurrectionem sic ei attestaretur dicens: Oportebat impleri omnia, quae scripta sunt in lege Moysi et prophetis et psalmis de me.

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Reply to Faustus the Manichaean

3.

"I speak the truth in Christ," says the apostle, "I lie not, my conscience bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow of heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ, for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh: who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service and the promises; whose are the fathers, and of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever." ¹ Here is the most abundant and express testimony and the most solemn commendation. The adoption here spoken of is evidently through the Son of God; as the apostle says to the Galatians: "In the fullness of time, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, that He might redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." ² And the glory spoken of is chiefly that of which he says in the same Epistle to the Romans: "What advantage hath the Jew? or what profit is there in circumcision? Much every way: chiefly, because unto them were committed the oracles of God." ³ Can the Manichaeans tell us of any oracles of God committed to the Jews besides those of the Hebrew prophets? And why are the covenants said to belong especially to the Israelites, but because not only was the Old Testament given to them, but also the New was prefigured in the Old? Our opponents often display much ignorant ferocity in attacking the dispensation of the law given to the Israelites, not understanding that God wishes us to be not under the law, but under grace. They are here answered by the apostle himself, who, in speaking of the advantages of the Jews, mentions this as one, that they had the giving of the law. If the law had been bad, the apostle would not have referred to it in praise of the Jews. And if Christ had not been preached by the law, the Lord Himself would not have said, "If ye believe Moses, ye would have believed me, for he wrote of me;" ⁴ nor would He have borne the testimony He did after His resurrection, saying, "All things must needs be fulfilled that were written in the law of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning me." ⁵