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Reply to Faustus the Manichaean

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Faustus said: If you ask why we do not believe Moses, it is on account of our love and reverence for Christ. The most reckless man cannot regard with pleasure a person who has cursed his father. So we abhor Moses, not so much for his blasphemy of everything human and divine, as for the awful curse he has pronounced upon Christ the Son of God, who for our salvation hung on the tree. Whether Moses did this intentionally or not is your concern. Either way, he cannot be excused, or considered worthy of belief. His words are, "Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree." ¹ You tell me to believe this man, though, if he was inspired, he must have cursed Christ knowingly and intentionally; and if he did it in ignorance, he cannot have been divine. Take either alternative. Moses was no prophet, and while cursing in his usual manner, he fell ignorantly into the sin of blasphemy against God. Or he was indeed divine, and foresaw the future; and from ill-will to our salvation, he directs the venom of his malediction against Him who was to accomplish that salvation on a tree. He who thus injures the Son cannot surely have seen or known the Father. He who knew nothing of the final ascension of the Son, cannot surely have foretold His advent. Moreover, the extent of the injury inflicted by this curse is to be considered. For it denounces all the righteous men and martyrs, and sufferers of every kind, who have died in this way, as Peter and Andrew, and the rest. Such a cruel denunciation could never have come from Moses if he had been a prophet, unless he was a bitter enemy of these sufferers. For he pronounces them cursed not only of men but of God. What hope, then, of blessing remains to Christ, or his apostles, or to us if we happen to be crucified for Christ's sake? It indicates great thoughtlessness in Moses, and the want of all divine inspiration, that he overlooked the fact that men are hung on a tree for very different reasons, some for their crimes, and others who suffer in the cause of God and of righteousness. In this thoughtless way lie heaps all together without distinction under the same curse; whereas if he had had any sense, not to say inspiration, if he wished to single out the punishment of the cross from all others as specially detestable, he would have said, Cursed is every guilty and impious person that hangeth on a tree. This would have made a distinction between the guilty and the innocent. And yet even this would have been incorrect, for Christ took the malefactor from the cross along with himself into the Paradise of his Father. What becomes of the curse on every one that hangeth on a tree? Was Barabbas, the notorious robber, who certainly was not hung on a tree, but was set free from prison at the request of the Jews, more blessed than the thief who accompanied Christ from the cross to heaven? Again, there is a curse on the man that worships the sun or the moon. Now if under a heathen monarch I am forced to worship the sun, and if from fear of this curse I refuse, shall I incur this other curse by suffering the punishment of crucifixion? Perhaps Moses was in the habit of cursing everything good. We think no more of his denunciation than of an old wife's scolding. So we find him pronouncing a curse on all youths of both sexes, when he says: "Cursed is every one that raiseth not up a seed in Israel." ² This is aimed directly at Jesus, who, according to you, was born among the Jews, and raised up no seed to continue his family. It points too at his disciples, some of whom he took from the wives they had married, and some who were unmarried he forbade to take wives. We have good reason, you see, for expressing our abhorrence of the daring style in which Moses hurls his maledictions against Christ, against light, against chastity, against everything divine. You cannot make much of the distinction between hanging on a tree and being crucified, as you often try to do by way of apology; for Paul repudiates such a distinction when he says, "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us; as it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree." ³

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Contra Faustum Manichaeum libri triginta tres

1.

Faustus dixit:_ Quare Moysen non accipitis? _Amoris pietatisque causa, qua colimus Christum. Quis enim irreligiosus adeo est, ut eum libenter aspiciat, qui suo maledixerit patri? p. 401,15 Quapropter et nos Moysen, quamquam humanorum nulli umquam divinorumque pepercerit blasphemando, plus tamen hinc exsecramur, quod Christum filium dei, qui nostrae salutis gratia pependit in ligno, diro devotionis convicio lacessivit, utrum volens an casu videris. Neutro enim horum excusatus erit, ut commendatus debeat accipi. Ait enim maledictum esse omnem, qui pendet in ligno. Hunc ergo tu vis ut accipiam, huic ut credam, cum si divinus fuit, constet eum scientem volentemque maledixisse Christo, si vero nolens nesciensque maledixerit, constet eum non fuisse divinum. p. 402,1 Tu ergo elige utrumvis aut Moysen prophetam non fuisse et imprudentia peccasse, ut dum aliis ex more suo maledicit, nesciens blasphemaverit et deum, aut fuisse quidem divinum nec futura haec ignoravisse, sed invidentem tamen nostrae saluti, quae futura erat ex ligno, in eius auctorem maledici oris sui venena prompsisse. Et quis ergo credat hunc vidisse aut cognovisse patrem, qui sic laceraverit filium; hunc adventum filii potuisse praedicere, qui ascensionis eius ignoraverit exitum? Huc accedit, quod illud etiam considero, quam late hoc sit sparsum convicium quamque multa comprehendat et violet, ut omnes etiam tangat iustos et martyres, quotquot similis passionis exitu defuncti sunt vita, ut Petrus et Andreas ac reliqui eiusdem sortis. Quos nisi Moyses aut ut non propheta nescisset aut ut malignus odisset, si fuit propheta, non tam crudae devotionis contumelia lacerasset. p. 402,16 Neque enim vulgo saltem eos maledictos dicit, id est apud homines tantum sed maledictos deo. Quod si ita est, unde iam benedictionis relinquetur spes vel Christo vel apostolis vel ipsis nobis, si nominis eius causa crucifigi contingat? Quam denique imprudens erat et vacans inspiratione divina, ut cogitare nequiverit diversis ex causis homines in ligno suspendi alios quidem ob iniquum facinus, quosdam vero iustitiae causa et propter deum! Idcircoque confuse omnes et sine discretione ulla sub idem coniecit maledictum, cum esset dicendum, si ei prudentia inesset ulla, non dicam divinatio, etsi adeo crux offenderat eum, ut sola excepta abdicataque esset ex omni genere punitionum, maledictum esse sceleratum et impium omnem, qui pependisset in ligno, ut esset discretio aliqua inter iustos et iniustos; p. 403,3 quamquam nec sic quidem vera dixisset, cum latronem Christus de ligno secum introduxit in paradisum patris sui. Ubi est ergo maledictus omnis, qui pendet in ligno? An Barabbas latro ille insignis, qui non solum in ligno suspensus minime est, sed etiam Iudaeorum rogatu emissus e carcere, magis fuit benedictus quam ille, qui cum Christo de cruce ascendit in caelum? Quid denique quod etiam eum maledictum vocat, qui solem adoraverit aut lunam ? Si ergo sub gentili positus rege solem cogar adorare et, cum restitero maledictum hoc metuens, iubear crucifigi, in aliud eius incurram maledictum, quod adversus eum deprompsit, qui pendet in ligno. An ipsi quidem bonis omnibus maledicere consuetum est, nos vero tanti devotiones eius existimare debemus, quanti sunt stomachantium vetularum? p. 403,17 Sic enim et dei omnes pueros ac virgines pari devotione prosequitur dicens maledictum esse omnem, qui non suscitaverit semen in Israhel. Quod aeque convicium principaliter quidem Iesum tangit, qui ortus et ipse, ut dicitis, ex Iudaeis, nullam tamen inter eos servandae posteritatis causa sobolem suscitavit, deinde et discipulos eius, quorum nonnullos quidem ab uxoribus seiunxit, quos copulatos invenerat, quosdam vero et coniungi vetuit, quos deprehendit intactos. Qua de re Moyseos impunitam hanc linguam maledictorum iaculis Christum lumen, sanctimoniam, divina omnia petentem iure nos cognoveris exsecratos. An ne forte multum interesse putes inter suspensum et crucifixum – nam et hoc in praesidium vobis defensionis soletis assumere – commentis hisce vestris Paulum audias praescribentem: Christus nos redemit de maledicto legis factus pro nobis maledictum, quia scriptum est: ‛Maledictus omnis, qui pendet in ligno’. p. 404,8