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An Answer to the Jews

Chapter VII.--The Question Whether Christ Be Come Taken Up.

Therefore upon this issue plant we foot to foot, whether the Christ who was constantly announced as to come be already come, or whether His coming be yet a subject of hope. For proof of which question itself, the times likewise must be examined by us when the prophets announced that the Christ would come; that, if we succeed in recognising that He has come within the limits of those times, we may without doubt believe Him to be the very one whose future coming was ever the theme of prophetic song, upon whom we--the nations, to wit--were ever announced as destined to believe; and that, when it shall have been agreed that He is come, we may undoubtedly likewise believe that the new law has by Him been given, and not disavow the new testament in Him and through Him drawn up for us. For that Christ was to come we know that even the Jews do not attempt to disprove, inasmuch as it is to His advent that they are directing their hope. Nor need we inquire at more length concerning that matter, since in days bygone all the prophets have prophesied of it; as Isaiah: "Thus saith the Lord God to my Christ (the) Lord, ¹ whose right hand I have holden, that the nations may hear Him: the powers of kings will I burst asunder; I will open before Him the gates, and the cities shall not be closed to Him." Which very thing we see fulfilled. For whose right hand does God the Father hold but Christ's, His Son?--whom all nations have heard, that is, whom all nations have believed,--whose preachers, withal, the apostles, are pointed to in the Psalms of David: "Into the universal earth," says he, "is gone out their sound, and unto the ends of the earth their words."² For upon whom else have the universal nations believed, but upon the Christ who is already come? For whom have the nations believed,--Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and they who inhabit Mesopotamia, Armenia, Phrygia, Cappadocia, and they who dwell in Pontus, and Asia, and Pamphylia, tarriers in Egypt, and inhabiters of the region of Africa which is beyond Cyrene, Romans and sojourners, yes, and in Jerusalem Jews, ³ and all other nations; as, for instance, by this time, the varied races of the Gaetulians, and manifold confines of the Moors, all the limits of the Spains, and the diverse nations of the Gauls, and the haunts of the Britons--inaccessible to the Romans, but subjugated to Christ, and of the Sarmatians, and Dacians, and Germans, and Scythians, and of many remote nations, and of provinces and islands many, to us unknown, and which we can scarce enumerate? In all which places the name of the Christ who is already come reigns, as of Him before whom the gates of all cities have been opened, and to whom none are closed, before whom iron bars have been crumbled, and brazen gates ⁴ opened. Although there be withal a spiritual sense to be affixed to these expressions,--that the hearts of individuals, blockaded in various ways by the devil, are unbarred by the faith of Christ,--still they have been evidently fulfilled, inasmuch as in all these places dwells the "people" of the Name of Christ. For who could have reigned over all nations but Christ, God's Son, who was ever announced as destined to reign over all to eternity? For if Solomon "reigned," why, it was within the confines of Judea merely: "from Beersheba unto Dan" the boundaries of his kingdom are marked. ⁵ If, moreover, Darius "reigned" over the Babylonians and Parthians, he had not power over all nations; if Pharaoh, or whoever succeeded him in his hereditary kingdom, over the Egyptians, in that country merely did he possess his kingdom's dominion; if Nebuchadnezzar with his petty kings, "from India unto Ethiopia" he had his kingdom's boundaries; ⁶ if Alexander the Macedonian he did not hold more than universal Asia, and other regions, after he had quite conquered them; if the Germans, to this day they are not suffered to cross their own limits; the Britons are shut within the circuit of their own ocean; the nations of the Moors, and the barbarism of the Gaetulians, are blockaded by the Romans, lest they exceed the confines of their own regions. What shall I say of the Romans themselves, ⁷ who fortify their own empire with garrisons of their own legions, nor can extend the might of their kingdom beyond these nations? But Christ's Name is extending everywhere, believed everywhere, worshipped by all the above-enumerated nations, reigning everywhere, adored everywhere, conferred equally everywhere upon all. No king, with Him, finds greater favour, no barbarian lesser joy; no dignities or pedigrees enjoy distinctions of merit; to all He is equal, to all King, to all Judge, to all "God and Lord." ⁸ Nor would you hesitate to believe what we asseverate, since you see it taking place.

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Adversus Iudaeos

VII.

[1] Igitur in isto gradum conseramus, an qui venturus Christus adnuntiabatur iam venerit an venturus adhuc speretur. Quod ipsum ut probari possit, etiam tempora sunt nobis requirenda quando venturum Christum prophetae nuntiaverint, ut, si intra ista tempora recognoverimus venisse eum, sine dubio ipsum esse credamus quem prophetae venturum canebant, in quem nos, gentes scilicet, credituri adnuntiabamur, et cum constiterit venisse indubitate etiam legem novam ab ipso datam esse credamus et testamentum novum in ipso et per ipsum nobis dispositum non diffiteamur. [2] Venturum enim Christum et Iudaeos non refutare scimus, utpote qui in adventum eius spem suam porrigant. Nec de isto pluribus quaerendum, cum retro omnes prophetae de eo praedicaverunt, ut Esaias: Sic dicit dominus deus Christo meo domino: cuius tenui dexteram, ut exaudiant illum gentes; fortitudines regum disrumpam, aperiam ante illum portas, et civitates non cludentur illi. Quod ipsum adimpletum iam videmus. [3] Cui etenim tenet dexteram pater deus nisi Christo filio suo, quem et exaudierunt omnes gentes, id est cui omnes gentes crediderunt, cuius et praedicatores apostoli in psalmis David ostenduntur: In universam, inquit, terram exivit sonus eorum et ad terminos terrae verba eorum ? [4] In quem enim alium universae gentes crediderunt nisi in Christum qui iam venit ? Cui etenim crediderunt gentes, Parthi et Medi et Elamitae et qui habitant Mesopotamiam Armeniam Phrygiam Cappadociam, incolentes Pontum et Asiam Pamphyliam, immorantes Aegypto et regiones Africae quae est trans Cyrenen inhabitantes, Romani et incolae, tunc et in Hierusalem Iudaei et ceterae gentes, ut iam Gaetulorum varietates et Maurorum multi fines, Hispaniarum omnes termini et Galliarum diversae nationes et Britannorum inaccessa Romanis loca Christo vero subdita et Sarmatarum et Dacorum et Germanorum et Scytharum et abditarum multarum gentium et provinciarum et insularum multarum nobis ignotarum et quae enumerare minus possumus ? [5] In quibus omnibus locis Christi nomen qui iam venit regnat, utpote ante quem omnium civitatium portae sunt apertae et cui nullae sunt clausae, abante quem ferreae serae sunt comminutae et valvae aereae sunt apertae. [6] Quamquam ista et spiritaliter sint intellegenda, quod praecordia singulorum variis modis a diabolo obsessa fide Christi sint reserata, attamen etiam perspicue sunt adimpleta, utpote in quibus omnibus locis populus nominis Christi inhabitet. Quis enim omnibus gentibus regnare potuisset, nisi Christus dei filius qui omnibus regnaturus in aeternum nuntiabatur? [7] Nam si Solomon regnavit, sed in finibus Iudaeae tantum: a Bersabee usque Dan termini regni eius signantur; si vero Babyloniis et Parthis regnavit Darius, ulterius ultra fines regni sui non habuit potestatem in omnibus gentibus; si Aegyptiis Pharao vel quisque ei in hereditario regno successit, illic tantum potitus est regni sui dominium; si Nabuchodonosor cum suis regulis, ab India usque Aethiopiam habuit regni sui terminos; si Alexander Macedo, non amplius quam Asiam universam et ceteras regiones quas postea devicerat tenuit; [8] si Germani, adhuc usque limites suos transgredi non sinuntur. Britanni intra oceani sui ambitum clausi sunt, Maurorum gentes et Gaetulorum barbariae a Romanis obsidentur, ne regionum suarum fines excedant. Quid de ipsis Romanis dicam, qui legionum suarum praesidiis imperium suum muniunt nec trans istas gentes porrigere vires regni sui possunt? [9] Christi autem nomen ubique porrigitur, ubique creditur, ab omnibus gentibus supra enumeratis colitur, ubique regnat, ubique adoratur; omnibus ubique tribuitur aequaliter; non regis apud illum maior gratia, non barbari alicuius inferior laetitia; non dignitatum vel natalium cuiusquam discreta merita; omnibus aequalis, omnibus rex, omnibus iudex, omnibus deus et dominus est. Nec dubites credere quod adseveramus, cum videas fieri.