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they are sent, as it is written: 'How beautiful are the feet of those who preach good news.'» Again he takes away their excuse; and he constructs this by advancing the argument through questioning, making the refutation clearer, by weaving the whole passage through objection and solution. Consider then: from the beginning, he says, the Prophet said: 'Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.' But perhaps someone might say: And how could they call on him in whom they had not believed? Then a question from him after the objection: And why did they not believe? And again an objection. Certainly someone might say: And how could they have believed without hearing? Then again the solution: And yet they did hear, he says. Then again another objection: And how could they hear without a preacher? Then again the solution: And yet they did preach, and many were sent for this very purpose; and again an objection: And how is it clear that these are the ones who were sent? And again a solution from prophetic testimony: 'How beautiful are the feet of those who preach good news.' And see how from the manner of the preaching he points out the preachers. For they went about everywhere saying nothing else but those ineffable good things, and the peace that had come from God to men; So that in disbelieving, you disbelieve not us, he says, but Isaiah. And the whole construction is this. Being saved, he says, comes from calling; and calling, from believing; and believing, from hearing; and hearing, from preaching; and preaching, from being sent. And they were sent and they did preach; and with them a prophet went about, pointing them out, and proclaiming that these are they whom we declared many years before. It is clear that not believing has become their crime alone. «But not all have believed the Gospel. For Isaiah says: Lord, who has believed our report?» Again another objection: And yet if these had been sent and dispatched from God, all should have obeyed. And the solution again is from prophetic testimony; but this too, he says, Isaiah said from the beginning, or rather, even something greater than this. For you say: Why did not all obey? But 95.528 Isaiah says more than this: For who, he says, has believed our report? «So then faith comes from hearing; and hearing through the word of Christ.» Since on every occasion the Jews were seeking signs, and the sight of the resurrection, for this reason he says: And yet the prophet did not promise these things, but that we must believe from hearing. And lest the act of hearing should seem a trivial thing, he says this very hearing is through the word of God. «But I say, did they not hear? Indeed, their voice has gone out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.» Again an objection: If those who preach were sent, he says, and preached what they were commanded, they were bound to hear. And it is resolved by hyperbole. For he says that no one has been unheard by their hearing; and this again from an ancient testimony. «But I say, did Israel not know?» Again an objection: What then, if they heard, but did not understand what was said, nor comprehend that these were the ones who had been sent? «First Moses says: I will make you jealous by that which is not a nation; by a foolish nation I will anger you.» This is the solution to the objection. From the testimony of the ancients it was possible to recognize them, he says; not only from what they disbelieved, nor from the fact that they preached those good things which they proclaimed, but also from the fact that they saw those inferior to them, those from the nations, in greater honor. And the phrase, 'I will make you jealous by that which is not a nation,' refers to the Greeks; for what is more foolish than the Greeks? And what is more worthless? «But Isaiah says: I was found by those who did not seek me, I became manifest to those who did not ask for me.» He forced himself, he says, and strove earnestly to say nothing obscurely, but to place the matters naked before your eyes, choosing rather to risk danger from speaking plainly than to obscure anything that was to be done. «But to Israel he says: All day long I have stretched out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.» Day here

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ἀποσταλῶσιν, καθὼς γέγραπται· Ὡς ὡραῖοι οἱ πόδες τῶν εὐαγγελιζομένων ἀγαθά.» Πάλιν ἀναιρεῖ τὴν συγγνώμην αὐτῶν· κατασκευάζει δὲ τοῦτο, κατ' ἐρώτησιν προάγων τὸν λόγον, σαφέστερον ποιῶν τὸν ἔλεγχον, τῷ κατ' ἀντίθεσιν καὶ λύσιν ἅπαν ὑφάναι τὸ χωρίον. Σκόπει δέ· ἄνωθεν εἶπεν, φησὶν, ὁ Προφήτης· Πᾶς ὃς ἂν ἐπικαλέσηται τὸ ὄνομα Κυρίου, σωθήσεται. Ἀλλ' ἴσως ἂν ἔχοι τις εἰπεῖν· Καὶ πῶς ἐδύναντο ἐπικαλεῖσθαι τοῦτον ὃν οὐκ ἐπίστευσαν; Εἶτα ἐρώτησις παρ' αὐτοῦ μετὰ τὴν ἀντίθεσιν· Καὶ διὰ τί οὐκ ἐπίστευσαν; Καὶ πάλιν ἀντίθεσις. Πάντως ἔχοι τις ἂν εἰπεῖν· Καὶ πῶς εἶχον πιστεῦσαι μὴ ἀκούσαντες; Εἶτα πάλιν ἡ λύσις· Καὶ μὴν ἤκουσαν, φησίν. Εἶτα ἑτέρα πάλιν ἀντίθεσις· Καὶ πῶς ἠδύναντο ἀκοῦσαι χωρὶς κηρύσσοντος; Εἶτα πάλιν ἡ λύσις· Καὶ μὴν ἐκήρυξαν, καὶ ἀπεστάλησαν εἰς αὐτὸ τοῦτο πολλοί· καὶ πάλιν ἀντίθεσις· Καὶ πόθεν δῆλον, ὅτι οὗτοί εἰσιν ἐκεῖνοι οἱ ἀποσταλέντες; Καὶ πάλιν λύσις ἐκ προφητικῆς μαρτυρίας· Ὡς ὡραῖοι οἱ πόδες τῶν εὐαγγελιζομένων ἀγαθά. Καὶ ὅρα πῶς ἀπὸ τοῦ τρόπου τοῦ κηρύγματος δείκνυσι τοὺς κήρυκας. Οὐδὲν γὰρ ἄλλο περιῄεσαν πανταχοῦ λέγοντες, ἀλλ' ἢ τὰ ἀπόῤῥητα ἐκεῖνα ἀγαθὰ, καὶ τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ πρὸς ἀνθρώπους γεγενημένην εἰρήνην· Ὥστε ἀπιστοῦντες οὐχ ἡμῖν ἀπιστεῖτε, φησὶν, ἀλλὰ τῷ Ἡσαίᾳ. Ἡ δὲ ὅλη κατασκευὴ αὕτη ἐστίν. Τὸ μὲν σωθῆναι, φησὶν, ἐκ τοῦ ἐπικαλεῖσθαι· τὸ δὲ ἐπικαλεῖσθαι, ἐκ τοῦ πιστεῦσαι· τὸ δὲ πιστεῦσαι, ἐκ τοῦ ἀκοῦσαι· τὸ δὲ ἀκοῦσαι, ἐκ τοῦ κηρύξαι· τὸ δὲ κηρύξαι, ἐκ τοῦ ἀποσταλῆναι. Ἀπεστάληναν δὲ καὶ ἐκήρυξαν· καὶ μετ' αὐτῶν προφήτης περιῄει, δεικνὺς αὐτοὺς, καὶ ἀνακηρύττων, ὅτι οὗτοί εἰσιν οὓς πρὸ πολλῶν ἐδηλοῦμεν χρόνων. Εὔδηλον ὡς τὸ μὴ πιστεῦσαι, ἐκείνων ἔγκλημα γέγονε μόνον. «Ἀλλ' οὐ πάντες ἐπίστευσαν τῷ Εὐαγγελίῳ. Ἡσαΐας γὰρ λέγει· Κύριε, τίς ἐπίστευσε τῇ ἀκοῇ ἡμῶν;» Ἑτέρα πάλιν ἀντίθεσις· Καὶ μὴν εἰ ἦσαν καὶ οὗτοι ἀπεσταλμένοι καὶ παρὰ Θεοῦ πεμφθέντες, ἔδει πάντας ὑπακοῦσαι. Ἡ δὲ λύσις πάλιν ἐκ μαρτυρίας προφητικῆς· ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦτο ἄνωθεν, φησὶν, εἶπεν Ἡσαΐας, μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ τούτου μεῖζον. Ὑμεῖς μὲν γὰρ λέγετε· ∆ιὰ τί μὴ πάντες ὑπήκουσαν; Ὁ δὲ 95.528 Ἡσαΐας πλεῖον τούτου λέγει· Τίς γὰρ, φησὶν, ἐπίστευσε τῇ ἀκοῇ ἡμῶν; «Ἄρα ἡ πίστις ἐξ ἀκοῆς· ἡ δὲ ἀκοὴ διὰ ῥήματος Χριστοῦ.» Ἐπειδὴ καθ' ἕκαστον καιρὸν σημεῖα ἐζήτουν οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι, καὶ τὴν ὄψιν τῆς ἀναστάσεως, τούτου χάριν φησίν· Καὶ μὴν ὁ προφήτης οὐ ταῦτα ἐπηγγείλατο, ἀλλ' ὅτι ἐξ ἀκοῆς δεῖ ἡμᾶς πιστεῦσαι. Καὶ ἵνα μὴ δόξῃ εὐτελὲς εἶναι τὸ τῆς ἀκοῆς, αὐτὴν ταύτην τὴν ἀκοὴν διὰ ῥήματός φησι Θεοῦ εἶναι. «Ἀλλὰ λέγω· μὴ οὐκ ἤκουσαν; Μενοῦνγε, εἰς πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν ἐξῆλθεν ὁ φθόγγος αὐτῶν, καὶ εἰς τὰ πέρατα τῆς οἰκουμένης τὰ ῥήματα αὐτῶν.» Πάλιν ἀντίθεσις· Εἰ ἀπεστάλησαν, φησὶν, οἱ κηρύττοντες, καὶ ἐκήρυξαν ἅπερ ἐκελεύσθησαν, ἔμελλον ἀκούειν. Λύεται δὲ ἐξ ὑπερβολῆς. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἀνήκοον γεγενῆσθαί φησι τῆς ἐκείνων ἀκοῆς· καὶ τοῦτο δὲ πάλιν ἐκ μαρτυρίας ἀρχαίας. «Ἀλλὰ λέγω· μὴ Ἰσραὴλ μὴ ἔγνω;» Πάλιν ἀντίθεσις· Τί οὖν, εἰ ἤκουσαν μὲν, οὐκ ἐνόησαν δὲ τὰ εἰρημένα, οὔτε συνῆκαν ὅτι οὗτοι ἐκεῖνοι ἦσαν οἱ ἀπεσταλμένοι; «Πρῶτος Μωϋσῆς λέγει· Ἐγὼ παραζηλώσω ὑμᾶς ἐπ' οὐκ ἔθνει· ἐπὶ ἔθνει ἀσυνέτῳ παροργιῶ ὑμᾶς.» Αὕτη τῆς ἀντιθέσεως λύσις. Ἀπὸ μαρτυρίας τῶν παλαιῶν ἦν γνωρίσαι, φησὶν, αὐτούς· οὐκ ἀφ' ὧν ἠπίστησαν μόνον, οὐδὲ ἀφ' ὧν ἐκήρυττον ἐκεῖνοι τὰ ἀγαθὰ ἐκεῖνα ἃ εὐηγγελίζοντο, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀφ' ὧν τοὺς καταδεεστέρους αὐτῶν τοὺς ἐξ ἐθνῶν εἶδον ἐν πλείονι τιμῇ. Τὸ δὲ, Παραζηλώσω ὑμᾶς ἐπ' οὐκ ἔθνει, τὸ τῶν Ἑλλήνων φησίν· τί γὰρ Ἑλλήνων ἀσυνετώτερον; τί δὲ εὐτελέστερον; «Ἡσαΐας δὲ λέγει· Εὑρέθην τοῖς μὴ ἐμὲ ζητοῦσιν, ἐμφανὴς ἐγενόμην τοῖς ἐμὲ μὴ ἐπερωτῶσιν.» Ἐβιάσατο, φησὶν, καὶ ἐφιλονείκησεν μηδὲν συνεσκιασμένον εἰπεῖν, ἀλλὰ γυμνὰ πρὸ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν ὑμῶν θεῖναι τὰ πράγματα, μᾶλλον δὲ ἑλόμενος κινδυνεύειν ἐκ τοῦ προφανῶς εἰπεῖν, ἢ συσκιάσαι τι τῶν μελλόντων πραχθήσεσθαι. «Πρὸς δὲ τὸν Ἰσραὴλ λέγει· ὅλην τὴν ἡμέραν ἐξεπέτασα τὰς χεῖράς μου πρὸς λαὸν ἀπειθοῦντα καὶ ἀντιλέγοντα.» Ἡμέραν ἐνταῦθα