Übersetzung ausblenden
Reply to Faustus the Manichaean

16.

Meanwhile it is sufficient to prove, in opposition to Faustus' ignorant cavils, how greatly they mistake who conclude, from the change in signs and sacraments, that there must be a difference in the things which were prefigured in the rites of a prophetic dispensation, and which are declared to be accomplished in the rites of the gospel; or those, on the other hand, who think that as the things are the same, the sacraments which announce their accomplishment should not differ from the sacraments which foretold that accomplishment. For if in language the form of the verb changes in the number of letters and syllables according to the tense, as done signifies the past, and to be done the future, why should not the symbols which declare Christ's death and resurrection to be accomplished, differ from those which predicted their accomplishment, as we see a difference in the form and sound of the words, past and future, suffered and to suffer, risen and to rise? For material symbols are nothing else than visible speech, which, though sacred, is changeable and transitory. For while God is eternal, the water of baptism, and all that is material in the sacrament, is transitory: the very word "God," which must be pronounced in the consecration, is a sound which passes in a moment. The actions and sounds pass away, but their efficacy remains the same, and the spiritual gift thus communicated is eternal. To say, therefore, that if Christ had not destroyed the law and the prophets, the sacraments of the law and the prophets would continue to be observed in the congregations of the Christian Church, is the same as to say that if Christ had not destroyed the law and the prophets, He would still be predicted as about to be born, to suffer, and to rise again; whereas, in fact, it is proved that He did not destroy, but fulfill those things, because the prophecies of His birth, and passion, and resurrection, which were represented in these ancient sacraments, have ceased, and the sacraments now observed by Christians contain the announcement that He has been born, has suffered, has risen. He who came not to destroy the law and the prophets, but to fulfill them, by this fulfillment did away with those things which foretold the accomplishment of what is thus shown to be now accomplished. Precisely in the same way, he might substitute for the expressions, "He is to be born, is to suffer, is to rise," which were in these times appropriate, the expressions, "He has been born, has suffered, has risen," which are appropriate now that the others are accomplished, and so done away.

Edition ausblenden
Contra Faustum Manichaeum libri triginta tres

16.

Interim adversus calumniosam imperitiam Fausti demonstrare suffecerit, quanto errore delirent, qui putant signis sacramentisque mutatis etiam res ipsas esse diversas, quas ritus propheticus praenuntiavit promissas, et quas ritus evangelicus adnuntiavit impletas, aut qui censent, cum res eaedem sint, non eas aliis sacramentis adnuntiari debuisse completas quam iis, quibus adhuc complendae praenuntiabantur. p. 512,25 Si enim soni verborum, quibus loquimur, pro tempore commutantur, eademque res aliter adnuntiatur facienda, aliter facta, sicut ista ipsa duo verba, quae dixi, facienda et facta, nec paribus morarum intervallis nec isdem vel totidem litteris syllabisve sonuerunt: quid mirum, si aliis mysteriorum signaculis passio et resurrectio Christi futura promissa est, aliis iam facta adnuntiatur, quandoquidem ipsa verba futurum et factum, passurus et passus, resurrecturus et resurrexit, nec tendi aequaliter nec similiter sonare potuerunt? Quid enim sunt aliud quaeque corporalia sacramenta nisi quaedam quasi verba visibilia, sacrosancta quidem verum tamen mutabilia et temporalia? Deus enim aeternus est, nec tamen aqua et omnis illa actio corporalis, quae agitur, cum baptizamus, et fit et transit, aeterna est; p. 513,12 ubi rursus etiam illae syllabae celeriter sonantes et transeuntes, cum dicitur deus, nisi dicantur, non consecratur. Haec omnia fiunt et transeunt, sonant et et transeunt; virtus tamen, quae per ista operatur, iugiter manet et donum spiritale, quod per ista insinuatur, aeternum est. Qui ergo dicit, si Christus legem et prophetas non solvisset, illa sacramenta legis et prophetarum in christianorum congregationibus et celebrationibus permanerent, potest dicere: Si Christus legem et prophetas non solvisset, adhuc promitteretur nasciturus, passurus et resurrecturus, cum ideo magis haec non solverit, sed adimpleverit, quia iam non promittitur nasciturus, passurus, resurrecturus, quod illa sacramenta quondam personabant, sed adnuntiatur, quod natus sit, passus sit, resurrexerit, quod haec sacramenta, quae a christianis aguntur, iam personant. p. 513,26 Qui ergo venit legem et prophetas non solvere sed adimplere, ipsa adimpletione abstulit ea, per quae adhuc promittebatur implendum, quod iam constat impletum, tamquam si verba ista tolleret nasciturus, passurus, resurrecturus, quae cum haec futura essent, recte dicebantur, et institueret dici natus est, passus est resurrexit*, quae illis completis et ob hoc ablatis recte dicuntur.