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to show that everyone who is reborn in God, even if he were truly considered to be a son of men because of the flesh which he wears, yet the facts of his birth do not stop with his parents according to the flesh, nor do they extend only to the forefathers of his body; but even if he were considered to be a son of men because of his bodily birth, nevertheless, he is not a stranger to the sonship of God; Since, therefore, he did not set forth the narrative with the same intention as Matthew, he reasonably passed over 22.897 the same occasion as him, and comes to the regeneration through the washing; and here he sets forth the opposite succession of generations; at once ascending from the last to the first, and at the same time shaking off the memory of the culpable and sinful men in Matthew; since the one reborn in God becomes a stranger to the fleshly birth and to the sinful fathers according to the flesh, being shown to be a son of God, and of all those who have lived blamelessly according to God.

4. For example, let Paul the apostle have a father according to the flesh, a certain Jew who was likely an unbeliever; and let him have one also according to God, according to whose ways he lived; if, then, someone is going to trace his genealogy according to the flesh, whom would he reasonably mention, if not surely his father according to the flesh? But if, on the other hand, another wished to show his birth in Christ, whom would he reasonably mention, if not surely the one who regenerated him according to God? Thus also it was said to Abraham: "But you shall go to your fathers, being nourished in a good old age;" the word not meaning, of course, the fathers according to the flesh, unless they were said to have been God-fearing, but hinting at the fathers in God because of the similarity of their piety; so also those from Abraham, the sons of Abraham were impious according to the flesh, but in their manner, sons of Sodom and Gomorrah; wherefore it is said to them: "Hear the word of the Lord, rulers of Sodom, give ear to the law of God, people of Gomorrah;" as on the other hand those from whom sons of Abraham were to come; for those from the Gentiles who have believed in the Christ of God, though born according to the flesh of foreign fathers, we have become sons of Abraham, having become children of Christ and of Christ's disciples; so that we also inscribe a second succession of lineage, much better than that according to the flesh, because of the regeneration according to Christ. 5. Reasonably, therefore, Luke also, since he is recording the regeneration, does not travel the same path as Matthew, he has not made mention of Solomon and the wife of Uriah, nor of Tamar, nor of Ruth, nor of Jechonias and the slandered men in between, but he ascends through other blameless men, and indeed he introduces one regenerated from the prophet Nathan; and the one born according to the flesh in Matthew, was a son of Abraham, being genealogized from him, since to Abraham first was the promise given of the blessing of the nations, to come about in no other way than through the one who would come forth from his seed; but the one regenerated in God, having inscribed other fathers according to God, not even truly having them, but as he was supposed to be, because of the similarity of their characters, he ascends to the true father, after all of them being called Son of God.

IV. Of Africanus, concerning the genealogy in the holy Gospels.

1. Those, therefore, who either were ignorant of the evangelical history or were unable to understand it, have compounded their ignorance with a plausible error by saying that this different enumeration and mingling of names has justly happened, both of the priestly, as it were, and of the royal lines; so that Christ might be shown justly to have become both priest and king; as if anyone disbelieved or had another hope; that Christ is the eternal high priest of the Father, offering up our prayers to him, and a super-mundane king, distributing to the Spirit those whom he has freed, a fellow worker in the

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παραστῆσαι ὅτι δὴ πᾶς ὁ ἐν Θεῷ ἀναγεννώμενος, κἂν ἀληθῶς υἱὸς εἶναι ἀνθρώπων νομίζοιτο δι' ἢν περίκειται σάρκα, ἀλλ' οὐχ ἵσταταί γε αὐτῇ 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 γέννησιν, ὅμως δ' οὖν οὐκ ἀλλότριος τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ υἱοθεσίας ὑφέστηκεν· ἐπειδὴ δὲ οὖν οὐ κατὰ τὴν αὐτὴν τῷ Ματθαίῳ διάνοιαν ἐξετίθετο τὴν διήγησιν, εἰκότως τὸν 22.897 αὐτὸν ἐκείνῳ καιρὸν ὑπερβὰς, ἐπὶ τὴν ἀναγέννησιν τὴν διὰ λουτροῦ παραγίνεται· καὶ ἐνταῦθα τὴν ἐναντίαν ἐκτίθεται τῶν γενῶν διαδοχήν· ὁμοῦ καὶ ἀνάγων ἀπὸ τῶν ὑστάτων ἐπὶ τὰ πρῶτα, ὁμοῦ καὶ τὴν μνήμην τῶν παρὰ τῷ Ματθαίῳ ὑπαιτίων καὶ ἁμαρτωλῶν ἀνδρῶν ἀποσειόμενος· ἐπειδήπερ ὁ παρὰ τῷ Θεῷ ἀναγεγεννημένος, ἀλλότριος καθίσταται τῆς ἐνσάρκου γενέσεως καὶ τῶν κατὰ σάρκα ἁμαρτωλῶν πατέρων, υἱὸς ἀποφαινόμενος Θεοῦ, καὶ πάντων τῶν κατὰ Θεὸν ἀνεπιλήπτως βεβιωκότων.

δʹ. Οἷον, ὡς ἐπὶ παραδείγματος, Παῦλος ὁ ἀπόστολος ἐχέτω μὲν κατὰ σάρκα πατέρα Ἰουδαῖον ὅντινα ὡς εἰκὸς ἄπιστον· ἐχέτω δὲ καὶ κατὰ Θεὸν, οὗ κατὰ τοὺς τρόπους ἐβίου· εἰ δὲ οὖν μέλλει τις αὐτὸν κατὰ σάρκα γενεαλογεῖν, τίνος εἰκότως ἂν ἐμνήσθη, ἢ πάντως που τοῦ κατὰ σάρκα πατρός; Εἰ δ' αὖ πάλιν ἕτερος τὴν ἐν Χριστῷ γένεσιν αὐτοῦ δηλοῦν ἐθέλοι, τίνος ἂν τὴν μνήμην θείη ἂν εἰκότως, ἢ πάντως τοῦ κατὰ Θεὸν αὐτὸν ἀναγεννήσαντος; Οὕτω καὶ τῷ Ἀβραὰμ εἴρηται· «Σὺ δὲ ἀπελεύσῃ πρὸς τοὺς πατέρας σου τραφεὶς ἐν γήρᾳ καλῷ·» οὐ δήπου τοὺς κατὰ σάρκα πατέρας δηλοῦντος τοῦ λόγου, εἰ μὴ καὶ θεοσεβεῖς λέγοιντο γεγονέναι, τοὺς δὲ ἐν Θεῷ πατέρας διὰ τὴν τῆς εὐσεβείας ὁμοιοτροπίαν αἰνιττομένου· οὕτω καὶ οἱ ἐξ Ἀβραὰμ, ἀσεβεῖς ἦσαν μὲν κατὰ σάρκα οἱ υἱοὶ Ἀβραὰμ, κατὰ δὲ τὸν τρόπον, υἱοὶ Σοδόμων καὶ Γομόῤῥας· διὸ λέγεται πρὸς αὐτούς· «Ἀκούσατε λόγον Κυρίου, ἄρχοντες Σοδόμων, προσέχετε νόμον Θεοῦ, λαὸς Γομόῤῥας·» ὡς αὖ πάλιν ἐξ ὧν ἤμελλεν υἱοὶ Ἀβραὰμ γίγνεσθαι· οἱ γοῦν ἐξ ἐθνῶν εἰς τὸν Χριστὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ πεπιστευκότες, κατὰ σάρκα πατέρων ἀλλοφύλων φύντες, υἱοὶ γεγόναμεν Ἀβραὰμ, Χριστοῦ γενόμενοι παῖδες καὶ τῶν Χριστοῦ μαθητῶν· ὥστε καὶ δευτέραν ἡμᾶς ἐπιγράφεσθαι γένους διαδοχὴν πολὺ κρείττονα τῆς κατὰ σάρκα διὰ τὴν κατὰ Χριστὸν ἀναγέννησιν. εʹ. Εἰκότως τοιγαροῦν καὶ ὁ Λουκᾶς, ἅτε τὴν ἀναγέννησιν ἱστορῶν, οὐ τὴν αὐτὴν ὁδεύει τῷ Ματθαίῳ, οὐ τοῦ Σολομῶνος καὶ τῆς τοῦ Οὐρίου, οὐ τῆς Θάμαρ, οὐ τῆς Ῥοὺθ, οὐ τοῦ Ἰεχονίου καὶ τῶν μεταξὺ διαβεβλημένων ἀνδρῶν τὴν παράθεσιν πεποίηται, ἀλλὰ δι' ἑτέρων ἀνεπιλήπτων ἄνεισι, καὶ δὴ καὶ ἐκ τοῦ προφήτου Νάθαν ἀναγεγεννημένον εἰσάγει· καὶ ὁ μὲν παρὰ τῷ Ματθαίῳ κατὰ σάρκα γεγεννημένος, υἱὸς ἦν Ἀβραὰμ ἐντεῦθεν γενεαλογούμενος, ἐπειδήπερ τῷ Ἀβραὰμ πρώτῳ ἡ ἐπαγγελία δέδοτο τῆς τῶν ἐθνῶν εὐλογίας, οὐκ ἄλλως ἢ διὰ τοῦ ἐκ σπέρματος αὐτοῦ προελευσομένου γενησομένης· ὁ δὲ ἐν Θεῷ ἀναγεγεννημένος, ἑτέρους πατέρας τοὺς κατὰ Θεὸν ἐπιγραψάμενος, οὐδ' αὐτοὺς ἀληθῶς ἐσχηκὼς, ἀλλ' ὡς ἐνομίζετο διὰ τὴν τῶν ἠθῶν ὁμοιοτροπίαν, ἄνεισιν ἐπὶ τὸν ἀληθῆ πατέρα, μετὰ πάντας χρηματίσας Υἱὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ.

∆ʹ. Ἀφρικανοῦ περὶ τῆς ἐν τοῖς ἱεροῖς Εὐαγγελίοις γενεαλογίας.

αʹ. Οἱ μὲν οὖν ἤτοι τὴν εὐαγγελικὴν ἱστορίαν ἠγνοηκότες ἢ συνεῖναι μὴ δυνηθέντες, δοξολογούσῃ πλάνῃ τὴν ἀγνωσίαν ἐπύκνωσαν εἰπόντες ὅτι δικαίως γέγονεν ἡ διάφορος αὕτη τῶν ὀνομάτων καταρίθμησίς τε καὶ ἐπιμιξία τῶν τε ἱερατικῶν ὡς οἷόν τε καὶ τῶν βασιλικῶν· ἵνα δειχθῇ δικαίως ὁ Χριστὸς ἱερεύς τε καὶ βασιλεὺς γενόμενος· ὥσπερ τινὸς ἀπειθοῦντος ἢ ἑτέραν ἐσχηκότος ἐλπίδα· ὅτι Χριστὸς ἀΐδιος μὲν ἀρχιερεὺς Πατρὸς, τὰς ἡμετέρας πρὸς αὐτὸν εὐχὰς ἀναφέρων, βασιλεὺς δ' ὑπερκόσμιος, οὓς ἠλευθέρωσε νέμων τῷ Πνεύματι, συνεργὸς εἰς τὴν