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Therefore, since these things have been shown to be so, it is now time to see the manner of the new covenant and of the new song and law that have been proclaimed. 1.5.1 For the old covenant and the law through Moses has been shown to be suitable to the Jewish nation alone, and to it while dwelling in its own land, but not to the other nations throughout the whole world nor to the Jews who had been settled in foreign lands; but the manner of the new covenant must indeed be established as beneficial for the life of all nations, so that those who intend to live according to it may in no way from any source be hindered, neither from country nor from race nor from place nor from anything else at all. 1.5.2 And of such a kind has appeared the law and life legislated by our savior Jesus Christ, renewing the most ancient piety, older than that of Moses, according to which the God-loving Abraham and his forefathers are shown to have lived. 1.5.3 If, then, you should wish to compare both the life of Christians and the piety established by Christ for all nations with the manner of those around Abraham who have been testified to for piety and righteousness, you will find them to be one and the same. 1.5.4 For they, having withdrawn from the polytheistic error, and having turned away from the superstition concerning idols, and having looked beyond all visible creation, and deifying neither sun nor moon nor any of the parts of the universe, raised themselves up to the one God who is above all, indeed the Most High, the creator of heaven and earth. 1.5.5 This Moses himself also confirms in the historical accounts of antiquity by recording Abraham as saying: "I will stretch out my hand to the most high God, who created the heaven and the earth." 1.5.6 And before this, indeed, he introduces Melchizedek, whom he says was a "priest" "of the most high God," blessing Abraham in this way: "Blessed be Abraham by the most high God, who created the heaven and the earth." 1.5.7 And you would find both Enoch and Noah to have been justified and to have pleased God in the same manner as Abraham. But also Job, "a just man, true, blameless, God-fearing, abstaining from every evil thing," is testified to have lived before the times of Moses; who indeed, having endured a test of his piety toward the God of all through the sudden loss of his possessions, has left a very great example of a pious manner also for those after him, having uttered that philosophical saying: "Naked I came out of my mother's womb, and naked I shall depart; the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; as it seemed good to the Lord, so it has also happened. Blessed be the name of the Lord." 1.5.8 And worshipping the Lord of all he uttered these words, which he himself clarifies as he proceeds through what he says: "For he is wise in thought, and mighty and great, who shakes the earth under heaven from its foundations, and its pillars are shaken, who speaks to the sun, and it does not rise, and seals up the stars, who stretched out the heaven alone." 1.5.9 If then, therefore, the word of Christ has recently commanded all the nations to worship alone this very God of those God-loving men of old and before Moses, in like manner to them, it is clear how we have become partakers of their very same piety; and having partaken of the piety, it is clear that we will also partake of the blessing. 1.5.10 But also the Word of God, whom we are accustomed to call Christ, they too, having known him in like manner, were testified to; who indeed also in a very special way were counted worthy of his visible presence and theophany. 1.5.11 Listen, then, to how again Moses himself calls him who appeared to the God-loving men and often delivered the recorded oracles to them at one time God and Lord, and at another time also an angel of God, plainly showing that this was not the God over all, but some second one, proclaimed indeed God and Lord of the God-loving men, but an angel of the most high Father. 1.5.12 He says, therefore, in these very words: "And Jacob went to

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τοίνυν ταῦθ' οὕτως ἔχειν ἀποδέδεικται, ὥρα νῦν ἰδεῖν τὸν τρόπον τῆς καινῆς διαθήκης καὶ τοῦ προκεκηρυγμένου καινοῦ ᾄσματός τε καὶ νόμου. 1.5.1 Ἡ μὲν δὴ παλαιὰ διαθήκη καὶ ὁ διὰ Μωσέως νόμος μόνῳ τῷ Ἰουδαίων ἔθνει, καὶ τούτῳ ἐπὶ τῆς οἰκείας γῆς οἰκοῦντι, κατάλληλος ἀποδέδεικται, οὔτε δὲ τοῖς λοιποῖς ἔθνεσι τοῖς καθ' ὅλης τῆς οἰκουμένης οὔτε τοῖς ἐπὶ τῆς ἀλλοδαπῆς ἀπῳκισμένοις Ἰουδαίοις· τὸν δὲ τῆς καινῆς διαθήκης τρόπον πᾶσιν ἔθνεσιν βιωφελῆ χρῆν δήπου καταστῆναι, ὡς μηδαμῶς μηδαμόθεν παραποδίζεσθαι τοὺς κατὰ τοῦτον πολιτεύεσθαι μέλλοντας, μήτ' ἀπὸ χώρας μήτ' ἀπὸ γένους μήτ' ἀπὸ τόπου μήτε ἔκ τινος ἑτέρου τὸ σύνολον. 1.5.2 τοιοῦτος δὲ πέφηνεν ὁ πρὸς τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ νενομοθετημένος νόμος τε καὶ βίος, τὴν παλαιτάτην καὶ πρεσβυτέραν Μωσέως εὐσέβειαν ἀνανεούμενος, καθ' ἣν ὁ θεοφιλὴς Ἀβραὰμ καὶ οἱ τούτου προπάτορες δείκνυνται πεπολιτευμένοι. 1.5.3 εἰ γοῦν ἐθελήσειας τόν τε Χριστιανῶν βίον καὶ τὴν ὑπὸ τοῦ Χριστοῦ πᾶσιν ἔθνεσι καταβεβλημένην θεοσέβειαν συνεξετάσαι τῷ τρόπῳ τῶν ἀμφὶ τὸν Ἀβραὰμ ἐπ' εὐσεβείᾳ καὶ δικαιοσύνῃ μεμαρτυρημένων, ἕνα καὶ τὸν αὐτὸν εὑρήσεις. 1.5.4 ἐκεῖνοί τε γὰρ τῆς πολυθέου πλάνης ἀποχωρήσαντες, καὶ τὴν περὶ τὰ ἀγάλματα δεισιδαιμονίαν ἀποστραφέντες, ὑπερκύψαντες δὲ καὶ τὴν ὁρωμένην ἅπασαν κτίσιν, καὶ μήθ' ἥλιον μήτε σελήνην μήτε τι τῶν μερῶν τοῦ παντὸς θεοποιήσαντες, ἐφ' ἕνα τὸν ἀνωτάτω θεόν, αὐτὸν δὴ τὸν ὕψιστον τὸν οὐρανοῦ καὶ γῆς δημιουργόν, ἑαυτοὺς ἀνήγαγον. 1.5.5 ὃ καὶ συνίστησιν αὐτὸς ὁ Μωσῆς ἐν ταῖς τῆς ἀρχαιολογίας ἱστορίαις τὸν Ἀβραὰμ ἀναγράφων φάσκοντα· «ἐκτενῶ τὴν χεῖρά μου πρὸς τὸν θεὸν τὸν ὕψιστον, ὃς ἔκτισεν τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν». 1.5.6 Καὶ πρό γε τούτου εἰσάγων τὸν Μελχισεδέκ, ὃν δή φησιν «ἱερέα» γεγονέναι «τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ ὑψίστου», τὸν Ἀβραὰμ ὧδέ πως εὐλογοῦντα· «εὐλογημένος Ἀβραὰμ τῷ θεῷ τῷ ὑψίστῳ, ὃς ἔκτισεν τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν». 1.5.7 εὕροις δ' ἂν καὶ τὸν Ἐνὼχ καὶ τὸν Νῶε δικαιωθέντας καὶ εὐαρεστήσαντας τῷ θεῷ κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν τῷ Ἀβραὰμ τρόπον. ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ Ἰὼβ «ἄνθρωπος δίκαιος, ἀληθινός, ἄμεμπτος, θεοσεβής, ἀπεχόμενος ἀπὸ παντὸς πονηροῦ πράγματος» πρὸ τῶν Μωσέως χρόνων μεμαρτύρηται· ὃς δὴ καὶ πεῖραν τῆς εἰς τὸν τῶν ὅλων θεὸν εὐσεβείας δι' ἀθρόας τῆς τῶν ὑπαρχόντων ἀποβολῆς ὑποσχών, μέγιστον εὐσεβοῦς ὑπόδειγμα τρόπου καὶ τοῖς μετ' αὐτὸν ἀπολέλοιπεν, τὸν φιλόσοφον ἐκεῖνον ἐπιφωνήσας λόγον· «γυμνὸς ἐξῆλθον ἐκ κοιλίας μητρός μου, γυμνὸς καὶ ἀπελεύσομαι· ὁ κύριος ἔδωκεν, ὁ κύριος ἀφείλετο· ὡς τῷ κυρίῳ ἔδοξεν, οὕτω καὶ ἐγένετο. εἴη τὸ ὄνομα κυρίου εὐλογημένον». 1.5.8 καὶ τὸν ἁπάντων κύριον σέβων ταύτας ἠφίει τὰς φωνάς, ἃς προϊὼν ὁ αὐτὸς διασαφεῖ δι' ὧν φησι· «σοφὸς γάρ ἐστι διανοίᾳ, κραταιός τε καὶ μέγας, ὁ σείων τὴν ὑπ' οὐρανὸν ἐκ θεμελίων, οἱ δὲ στῦλοι αὐτῆς σαλεύονται, ὁ λέγων τῷ ἡλίῳ, καὶ οὐκ ἀνατέλλει, κατὰ δὲ ἄστρων κατασφραγίζει, ὁ τανύσας τὸν οὐρανὸν μόνος». 1.5.9 Εἰ δὴ οὖν τοῦτον αὐτῶν ἐκείνων τῶν πάλαι καὶ πρὸ Μωσέως θεοφιλῶν θεὸν ἔναγχος πᾶσι τοῖς ἔθνεσιν ὁ Χριστοῦ λόγος ὁμοίως ἐκείνοις μόνον εὐσεβεῖν διετάξατο, πέφηνεν ὅπως κοινωνοὶ γεγενήμεθα τῆς ἴσης αὐτῶν ἐκείνων εὐσεβείας· τῆς δὲ εὐσεβείας μετασχόντες δῆλον ὡς καὶ τῆς εὐλογίας μεταληψόμεθα. 1.5.10 Ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν τοῦ θεοῦ λόγον, ὃν δὴ Χριστὸν ἡμῖν προσαγορεύειν φίλον, ὁμοίως κἀκεῖνοι γνόντες ἐμαρτυρήθησαν· οἵ γε καὶ πολὺ διαφερόντως τῆς ἐμφανοῦς αὐτοῦ παρουσίας τε καὶ θεοφανείας ἠξιώθησαν. 1.5.11 ἐπάκουσον γοῦν ὡς πάλιν αὐτὸς ὁ Μωσῆς τὸν ἐπιφανέντα τοῖς θεοφιλέσι καὶ πολλάκις χρηματίσαντα αὐτοῖς τὰ ἀναγεγραμμένα ποτὲ μὲν θεὸν καὶ κύριον ποτὲ δὲ καὶ ἄγγελον θεοῦ προσαγορεύει, ἄντικρυς παριστὰς ὅτι μὴ ὁ ἐπὶ πάντων θεὸς οὗτος ἦν, ἀλλά τις δεύτερος, θεὸς μὲν καὶ κύριος τῶν θεοφιλῶν ἀνδρῶν ἀνηγορευμένος, ἄγγελος δὲ τοῦ ἀνωτάτου πατρός. 1.5.12 λέγει δ' οὖν αὐτοῖς ῥήμασι· «καὶ ἐπορεύθη Ἰακὼβ εἰς