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the thirtieth year of Jesus' birth, he preaches a baptism of repentance in the desert, and Jesus is present with the others in the Jordan to be baptized by John; and indeed, observe in these things the style and sequence of a historical narrative which Matthew sets forth, a Syrian man, a tax-collector by trade, a Hebrew in language.

4. But Luke was by birth from the renowned Antioch, in which all the most learned boast of Ionian ancestors; but nevertheless, in addition to the natural Hellenism of the men, Luke possessed something more in eloquence, since he was experienced in the science of medicine. Yet such a one, beginning the writing of his Gospel, first recounts the events concerning Zacharias and Elizabeth. Then, having added the appearance of Gabriel to Mary, he places the wondrous births in sequence, mentioning no genealogy of Joseph; then recording the twelfth year of Jesus, he still does not mention a genealogy. But after the times of Augustus, when Tiberius had succeeded to the Roman rule, in his fifteenth year, he says that John preached in the desert a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins; and he sets down his teachings, and in addition to all these things, when Jesus, he says, was baptized and was praying, it happened that heaven was opened, and the Spirit descended like a dove, and a voice was brought from there: “You are my beloved Son; in you I am well pleased.” Having arrived at this point, as if waking up from sleep, he unseasonably, as one might think, makes mention of the genealogy, saying, “And Jesus himself was beginning to be about thirty years of age, being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph, of Heli, of Melchi,” and the rest.

5. Who, therefore, in these matters would not be at a loss? If Matthew appears to have composed his account knowledgeably, and to have used the genealogy at the right time, while Luke was driven to such a point of perplexity that when it was necessary to insert the genealogy in its proper place, at that time he omitted it, and having set forth so much history from the birth of Christ up to thirty years, he perceived no suitable time for his genealogy; but now when, having become thirty years old, he comes to the baptism of John, against all reason and out of season, he introduces the genealogy into the writing like some parenthesis. But if anyone blamed him for such things, the divine evangelist would not have been at a loss for an answer; and he would have said, as is likely, certain divine and wise things, worthy of the divine Spirit in him. But I think that he, wishing also to give a genealogy of the fleshly birth of Jesus, has done this now; for if he were doing this according to his own judgment, he would not have been ignorant of when it was necessary to set this forth. But since he now mentions the rebirth through the font, introducing him as Son of God, he wishes to show as in a model that indeed everyone who is reborn in God, even if he were truly thought to be a son of men on account of the flesh with which he is clothed, yet his birth does not stop at his parents according to the flesh, nor does it reach only as far as the ancestors of the body; but even if he were thought to be a son of men on account of his bodily birth, nevertheless he is not alien to the adoption as son of God. Therefore I think that he at the right time both used the genealogy, and the addition of the phrase "as was supposed". For it was consistent, that the testimony from heaven having said to Jesus, "You are my beloved Son, in you I am well pleased," to no longer proclaim him son of men in the same way, but with the addition of "as was supposed"; For he was proclaimed to be Son of God by nature, and not "as was supposed"; but of Joseph he was supposed, but was not the son by nature.

6. These things being so, it seems to me that I have also thus given the reasoning, according to which Matthew, beginning his own writing, before the conception of Mary, and before the incarnate birth of Jesus, at the right time as in a history places first the genealogy according to the flesh; for which reason he also brings down the generations, a descent from the greater ones

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τριακοστὸν ἔτος τῆς Ἰησοῦ γενέσεως, ἐπὶ τῆς ἐρήμου κηρύσσει βάπτισμα μετανοίας, πάρεισί τε μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων καὶ ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἐν τῷ Ἰορδάνῃ βαπτισθησόμενος ὑπὸ τοῦ Ἰωάννου· καὶ δὴ συνόρα ἐν τούτοις ὕφος καὶ ἀκολουθίαν ἱστορικῆς διηγήσεως ἣν ὁ Ματθαῖος ἐκτίθεται, Σύρος ἀνὴρ, τελώνης τὸν βίον, τὴν φωνὴν Ἑβραῖος.

δʹ. Ὁ δὲ Λουκᾶς τὸ μὲν γένος ἀπὸ τῆς βοωμένης Ἀντιοχείας ἦν, ἐν ᾗ δὴ οἱ πάντες λογιώτατοι τοὺς Ἴωνας προγόνους αὐχοῦσιν· οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ πρὸς τῷ κατὰ φύσιν Ἑλληνικῷ τῶν ἀνδρῶν, ἐπήγετό τι πλέον ὁ Λουκᾶς ἐν λόγοις, ἅτε ἰατρικῆς ἔμπειρος ὢν ἐπιστήμης. Ὅμως δὴ ὁ τοιοῦτος τῆς τοῦ κατ' αὐτὸν Εὐαγγελίου γραφῆς ἀρχόμενος, τὰ μὲν κατὰ τὸν Ζαχαρίαν καὶ τὴν Ἐλισάβετ ἱστορεῖ πρῶτα. Εἶτα τὴν πρὸς τὴν Μαρίαν τοῦ Γαβριὴλ ἐπιφάνειαν ἐπισυνάψας, τὰς παραδόξους γενέσεις ἑξῆς τίθησιν, οὐδεμιᾶς μνησθεὶς γενεαλογίας τοῦ Ἰωσήφ· ἔπειτα δωδέκατον ἔτος ἀναγράφων τοῦ Ἰησοῦ, οὔπω καὶ νῦν γενεαλογίας μνημονεύει. Μετὰ δὲ τοὺς Αὐγούστου χρόνους, Τιβερίου διαδεξαμένου τὴν Ῥωμαίων ἡγεμονίαν, κατὰ τὸ πεντεκαιδέκατον αὐτοῦ ἔτος, φησὶ τὸν Ἰωάννην ἐπὶ τῆς ἐρήμου κηρῦξαι μετανοίας βάπτισμα εἰς ἄφεσιν ἁμαρτιῶν· διδασκαλίας τε αὐτοῦ τίθησι, καὶ ἐπὶ τούτοις ἅπασιν, Ἰησοῦ, φησὶ, βαπτισθέντος καὶ προσευξαμένου ἐγένετο ἀνοιγῆναι τὸν οὐρανὸν, καὶ καταβῆναι τὸ Πνεῦμα ὡσεὶ περιστερὰν, καὶ φωνὴν ἐκεῖθεν ἐνεχθῆναι· «Σὺ εἶ ὁ Υἱός μου ὁ ἀγαπητὸς ἐν ᾧ εὐδόκησα.» Ἔνθα γενόμενος, ὥσπερ ἐξ ὕπνου διανήψας, τῆς γενεαλογίας ἀκαίρως, ὡς ἂν οἰηθείη τις, μνημονεύει λέγων, «Καὶ αὐτὸς ἦν ἀρχόμενος ὁ Ἰησοῦς ὡς ἐτῶν τριάκοντα, ὢν υἱὸς ὡς ἐνομίζετο τοῦ Ἰωσὴφ, τοῦ Ἡλεὶ, τοῦ Μελχὶ,» καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν.

εʹ. Τίς τοιγαροῦν ἐν τούτοις οὐκ ἂν ἀπορήσειεν; εἰ Ματθαῖος μὲν λόγου σύνταξιν ἐπιστημόνως φαίνεται πεποιημένος, κατὰ καιρόν τε χρησάμενος τῇ γενεαλογίᾳ, Λουκᾶς δὲ εἰς τοσοῦτον ἤλαυνεν ἀπορίας, ὡς ὅτε μὲν ἐχρῆν κατὰ χώραν τὴν γενεαλογίαν ἐντάξαι, τηνικαῦτα παραλιπεῖν αὐτὴν, ἱστορίαν τε τοσαύτην ἐκθέμενον τὴν ἀπὸ τῆς γενέσεως τοῦ Χριστοῦ μέχρι τριάκοντα ἐτῶν, μηδένα καιρὸν ἐπιτήδειον συνιδεῖν τῆς κατ' αὐτὸν γενεαλογίας· νῦν δὲ ὅτε τριακονταέτης γεγονὼς πάρεισιν ἐπὶ τὸ Ἰωάννου βάπτισμα, παρὰ πάντα λόγον καὶ παρὰ καιρὸν, ὥσπερ τινὰ παρενθήκην εἰσάγει τῆς γραφῆς τὴν γενεαλογίαν. Ἀλλ' εἴ τίς γε αὐτῷ τοιαῦτα ἐμέμψατο, οὐκ ἂν ἠπόρησεν ἀποκρίσεως ὁ θεῖος εὐαγγελιστής· εἶπε δ' ἂν ὡς εἰκὸς θεῖά τινα καὶ σοφὰ καὶ τοῦ ἐν αὐτῷ θείου Πνεύματος ἐπάξια. Ἐγὼ δὲ ἡγοῦμαι αὐτὸν καὶ τὴν κατὰ σάρκα γένεσιν τοῦ Ἰησοῦ γενεαλογεῖν ἐθέλοντα, νῦν τοῦτο πεποιηκέναι· τοῦτο γὰρ εἰ κατὰ γνώμην ἔπραττεν, οὐκ ἠγνόει, ὅτε ἐχρῆν ταύτην ἐκθέσθαι. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ νῦν τῆς διὰ λουτροῦ ἀναγεννήσεως μέμνηται, Υἱὸν αὐτὸν εἰσάγων Θεοῦ, βούλεται ὡς ἐν ὑποδείγματι πα 22.964 ραστῆσαι ὅτι δὴ πᾶς ὁ ἐν Θεῷ ἀναγεννώμενος, κἂν ἀληθῶς υἱὸς ἀνθρώπων εἶναι νομίζοιτο δι' ἣν περίκειται σάρκα, ἀλλ' οὐχ ἵσταταί γε αὐτῷ τὰ τῆς γενέσεως εἰς τοὺς κατὰ σάρκα γονεῖς, οὐδὲ μέχρι τῶν τοῦ σώματος προπατόρων φθάνει· ἀλλ' εἰ καὶ νομίζοιτο ἀνθρώπων εἶναι υἱὸς διὰ τὴν τοῦ σώματος γένεσιν, ὅμως δ' οὖν οὐκ ἀλλότριος τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ υἱοθεσίας καθέστηκε. ∆ιὸ ἡγοῦμαι αὐτὸν κατὰ καιρὸν καὶ τῇ γενεαλογίᾳ κεχρῆσθαι, καὶ τῇ προσθήκῃ τῆς ὡς ἐνομίζετο φωνῆς. Καὶ γὰρ ἀκόλουθον ἦν, τῆς ἐξ οὐρανῶν μαρτυρίας φησάσης πρὸς τὸν Ἰησοῦν, Σὺ ὁ υἱός μου ὁ ἀγαπητὸς, ἐν σοὶ εὐδόκησα, μηκέτι καὶ ἀνθρώπων ὁμοίως αὐτὸν ἀναγορεῦσαι υἱὸν, μετὰ δὲ τῆς ὡς ἐνομίζετο προσθήκης· Θεοῦ μὲν γὰρ ἀνεκηρύχθη υἱὸς εἶναι φύσει, ἀλλ' οὐχ ὡς ἐνομίζετο· τοῦ δὲ Ἰωσὴφ ἐνομίζετο, ἀλλ' οὐ φύσει υἱὸς ἦν.

ςʹ. Ὧν οὕτως ἐχόντων, δοκῶ μοι καὶ οὕτως τὸν λογισμὸν ἀποδεδωκέναι, καθ' ὃν ὁ μὲν Ματθαῖος ἀρχόμενος τῆς ἑαυτοῦ γραφῆς, πρὸ τῆς συλλήψεως τῆς Μαρίας, καὶ πρὸ τῆς ἐνσάρκου γενέσεως τοῦ Ἰησοῦ, κατὰ καιρὸν ὡς ἐν ἱστορίᾳ προτάττει τὴν κατὰ σάρκα γενεαλογίαν· διὸ καὶ τὰ γένη κατάγει, κάθοδον ἀπὸ τῶν κρειττόνων