Traduction Masquer
Reply to Faustus the Manichaean

7.

That the Son of God was made man of the seed of David, is not only said in other places by Paul, but is taught elsewhere in sacred Scripture. As regards the words, "Though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we Him no more," the context shows what is the apostle's meaning. Here, or elsewhere, he views with an assured hope, as if it were already present and in actual possession, our future life, which is now fulfilled in our risen Head and Mediator, the man Christ Jesus. This life will certainly not be after the flesh, even as Christ's life is now not after the flesh. For by flesh the apostle here means not the substance of our bodies, in which sense the Lord used the word when, after His resurrection, He said, "Handle me, and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have," ¹ but the corruption and mortality of flesh, which will then not be in us, as now it is not in Christ. The apostle uses the word flesh in the sense of corruption in the passage about the resurrection quoted before: "Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither shall corruption inherit incorruption." So, after the event described in the next verse, "Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall all rise, but we shall not all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump (for the trumpet shall sound); and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality," ² --then flesh, in the sense of the substance of the body, will, after this change, no longer have flesh, in the sense of the corruption of mortality; and yet, as regards its own nature, it will be the same flesh, the same which rises and which is changed. What the Lord said after His resurrection is true, "Handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have;" and what the apostle says is true, "Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God." The first is said of the bodily substance, which exists as the subject of the change: the second is said of the corruption of the flesh, which will cease to exist, for, after its change, flesh will not be corrupted. So, "we have known Christ after the flesh," that is, after the mortality of flesh, before His resurrection; "now henceforth we know Him no more," because, as the same apostle says, "Christ being risen from the dead, dieth no more, and death hath no more dominion over Him." ³ The words, "we have known Christ after the flesh," strictly speaking, imply that Christ was after the flesh, for what never was cannot be known. And it is not "we have supposed," but "we have known." But not to insist on a word, in case some one should say that known is used in the sense of supposed, it is astonishing, if one could be surprised at want of sight in a blind man, that these blind people do not perceive that if what the apostle says about not knowing Christ after the flesh proves that Christ had not flesh, then what he says in the same place of not knowing any one henceforth after the flesh proves that all those here referred to had not flesh. For when he speaks of not knowing any one, he cannot intend to speak only of Christ; but in his realization of the future life with those who are to be changed at the resurrection, he says, "Henceforth we know no man after the flesh;" that is, we have such an assured hope of our future incorruption and immortality, that the thought of it makes us rejoice even now. So he says elsewhere: "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things that are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God. Set your affections upon things above, and not on things on the earth." ⁴ It is true we have not yet risen as Christ has, but we are said to have risen with Him on account of the hope which we have in Him. So again he says: "According to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration." ⁵ Evidently what we obtain in the washing of regeneration is not the salvation itself, but the hope of it. And yet, because this hope is certain, we are said to be saved, as if the salvation were already bestowed. Elsewhere it is said explicitly: "We groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, even the redemption of our body. For we are saved by hope. But hope which is seen is not hope; for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for what we see not, then do we with patience wait for it." ⁶ The apostle says not, "we are to be saved," but, "We are now saved," that is, in hope, though not yet in reality. And in the same way it is in hope, though not yet in reality, that we now know no man after the flesh. This hope is in Christ, in whom what we hope for as promised to us has already been fulfilled. He is risen, and death has no more dominion over Him. Though we have known Him after the flesh, before His death, when there was in His body that mortality which the apostle properly calls flesh, now henceforth know we Him no more; for that mortal of His has now put on immortality, and His flesh, in the sense of mortality, no longer exists.

Edition Masquer
Contra Faustum Manichaeum libri triginta tres

7.

Nam quod filius dei ex semine David homo factus est, nec idem apostolus uno loco dicit et aliae sanctae scripturae apertissime praedicant. p. 322,7 Quod vero dicit: Etsi noveramus Christum secundum carnem, sed iam nunc non novimus, ea ipsa circumstantia scripturae loci eius satis ostendit, quid loquatur apostolus; suo quippe more vitam nostram futuram, quae iam in ipso homine mediatore Christo Iesu capite nostro resurgente completa est, ita spe certa meditatur, tamquam iam adsit praesensque teneatur. Quae utique vita non erit secundum carnem, sicut iam Christi vita non est secundum carnem. Carnem namque hoc loco non ipsam corporis nostri substantiam, quam dominus etiam post resurrectionem suam carnem appellat dicens: Palpate et videte, quia spiritus ossa et carnem non habet, sicut me videtis habere, sed corruptionem mortalitatemque carnis vult intellegi, quae tunc non erit in nobis, sicut iam in Christo non est. p. 322,21 Hanc enim proprie carnem nominabat, etiam cum de ipsa resurrectione satis evidenter loqueretur et diceret, quod iam supra commemoravi: Caro et sanguis regnum dei possidere non possunt, neque corruptio incorruptionem possidebit. Cum ergo factum fuerit, quod ibi consequenter dicit: Ecce mysterium vobis dico: omnes quidem resurgemus, non tamen omnes immutabimur; in atomo id est in momento in ictu oculi, novissima tuba; canet enim tuba, et mortui resurgent incorrupti, et nos immutabimur; oportet enim corruptibile hoc induere incorruptionem et mortale hoc induere immortalitatem, iam secundum id, quod carnem non ipsam corporis substantiam, sed ipsam corruptionem mortalitatis appellat, non erit utique caro, quia corruptionem mortalitatis mutata non habebit, p. 323,7 secundum autem ipsius substantiae corporis[que] originem eadem caro erit, quia ipsa resurget et ipsa mutabitur, quia et illud verum est, quod ait dominus, posteaquam resurrexit: Palpate et videte, quia spiritus ossa et carnem non habet, sicut me videtis habere, et hoc verum est, quod ait apostolus: Caro et sanguis regnum dei possidere non possunt. Illud enim dictum est secundum ipsam substantiam, quae etiam tunc erit, quia ipsa mutabitur; hoc autem dictum est secundum carnalem corruptionis qualitatem, quae tunc iam non erit, quia mutata caro non corrumpetur. Noveramus ergo Christum secundum carnem, id est secundum carnis mortalitatem, antequam resurgeret, sed nunc iam non novimus, quia, sicut idem dicit apostolus, Christus resurgens a mortuis iam non moritur et mors ei ultra non dominabitur. p. 323,23 Nam si te ad verborum proprietatem teneas, mentitus est, quod ait: Noveramus Christum secundum carnem, si Christus numquam fuit secundum carnem; nemo enim noverat, quod non erat. Non autem dixit: putabamus Christum secundum carnem, sed noveramus. Verumtamen ut verbo non premam, ne quis affirmet per abusionem locutum apostolum, ut pro eo, quod est putabamus diceret noveramus, illud miror non attendere homines caecos, vel potius non miror non videre caecos, quia, si Christus ideo non habuit carnem, quia dixit apostolus nunc iam non se nosse Christum secundum carnem, nec illi habuerunt carnem, de quibus in eodem loco dicit: Itaque nos amodo neminem novimus secundum carnem. p. 324,6 Neque enim de solo Christo id volens intellegi posset dicere: Neminem novimus secundum carnem, sed quia illorum secum vitam futuram tamquam praesentem meditabatur, qui resurgentes commutabuntur: Amodo inquit neminem novimus secundum carnem, id est: tam certam spem tenemus futurae nostrae incorruptionis et immortalitatis, ut amodo iam in ipsa notitia gaudeamus. Unde alio loco dicit: Si autem resurrexistis cum Christo, quae sursum sunt quaerite, ubi Christus est ad dexteram dei sedens; quae sursum sunt sapite, non quae super terram. Nondum utique resurreximus sicut Christus, sed tamen secundum spem, quae nobis in illo est, iam nos cum illo resurrexisse testatus est. Unde etiam dicit: Secundum suam misericordiam salvos nos fecit per lavacrum regenerationis. Quis autem non intellegat in lavacro regenerationis spem nobis datam salutis futurae, non iam salutem ipsam, quae promittitur? p. 324,21 Et tamen quia certa spes est, tamquam iam data esset eadem salus, salvos nos inquit fecit. Alio quippe loco dilucidissime dicit: Nos in nobis ipsis ingemescimus adoptionem exspectantes, redemptionem corporis nostri. Spe enim salvi facti sumus, spes autem, quae videtur, non est spes; quod enim videt quis, quid sperat? Si autem quod non videmus speramus, per patientiam exspectamus. Sicut ergo hic non dixit: Salvi futuri sumus, sed: Amodo iam salvi facti sumus, nondum tamen in re, sed in spe – spe enim inquit salvi facti sumus – sic et ibi dictum [est]: Amodo neminem novimus secundum carnem, nondum in re, sed in spe intellegetur, quia (v.l. quae) spes nobis in Christo est, quia in illo iam completum est, quod nobis promissum speramus. p. 325,5 Ille quippe iam resurrexit et mors ei ultra non dominabitur. Quem etsi noveramus secundum carnem, cum adhuc moriturus esset – inerat quippe in eius corpore illa mortalitas, quam proprie carnem appellat apostolus – sed iam nunc non novimus; illud enim eius mortale iam induit immortalitatem, unde secundum pristinam mortalitatem iam caro appellari non possit.