Chapter XXXVII.—Christ and Zacchæus. The Salvation of the Body as Denied by Marcion. The Parable of the Ten Servants Entrusted with Ten Pounds.  Christ a Judge, Who is to Administer the Will of the Austere Man, I.e. The Creator.

“Salvation comes to the house” of Zacchæus even.2641    Luke xix. 9. For what reason? Was it because he also believed that Christ came by Marcion? But the blind man’s cry was still sounding in the ears of all:  “Jesus, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me.” And “all the people gave praise unto God”—not Marcion’s, but David’s. Now, although Zacchæus was probably a Gentile,2642    The older reading, which we here follow, is: “Enimvero Zacchæus etsi allophylus fortasse,” etc.  Oehler, however, points the passage thus: “Enimvero Zacchæus etsi allophylus, fortasse,” etc., removing the doubt, and making Zacchæus “of another race” than the Jewish, for certain. This is probably more than Tertullian meant to say. he yet from his intercourse with Jews had obtained a smattering2643    Aliqua notitia afflatus. of their Scriptures, and, more than this, had, without knowing it, fulfilled the precepts of Isaiah: “Deal thy bread,” said the prophet, “to the hungry, and bring the poor that are cast out into thine house.”2644    Isa. lviii. 7. This he did in the best possible way, by receiving the Lord, and entertaining Him in his house. “When thou seest the naked cover him.”2645    In the same passage. This he promised to do, in an equally satisfactory way, when he offered the half of his goods for all works of mercy.2646    For the history of Zacchæus, see Luke xix. 1–10. So also “he loosened the bands of wickedness, undid the heavy burdens, let the oppressed go free, and broke every yoke,”2647    Isa. lviii. 6. when he said, “If I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.”2648    Luke xix. 8. Therefore the Lord said, “This day is salvation come to this house.”2649    Luke xix. 9. Thus did He give His testimony, that the precepts of the Creator spoken by the prophet tended to salvation.2650    Salutaria esse. But when He adds, “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost,”2651    Luke xix. 10. my present contention is not whether He was come to save what was lost, to whom it had once belonged, and from whom what He came to save had fallen away; but I approach a different question. Man, there can be no doubt of it, is here the subject of consideration. Now, since he consists of two parts,2652    Substantiis. body and soul, the point to be inquired into is, in which of these two man would seem to have been lost? If in his body, then it is his body, not his soul, which is lost. What, however, is lost, the Son of man saves. The body,2653    Caro: “the flesh,” here a synonym with the corpus of the previous clauses. therefore, has the salvation. If, (on the other hand,) it is in his soul that man is lost, salvation is designed for the lost soul; and the body which is not lost is safe. If, (to take the only other supposition,) man is wholly lost, in both his natures, then it necessarily follows that salvation is appointed for the entire man; and then the opinion of the heretics is shivered to pieces,2654    Elisa est. who say that there is no salvation of the flesh. And this affords a confirmation that Christ belongs to the Creator, who followed the Creator in promising the salvation of the whole man. The parable also of the (ten) servants, who received their several recompenses according to the manner in which they had increased their lord’s money by trading2655    Secundum rationem feneratæ. proves Him to be a God of judgment—even a God who, in strict account,2656    Ex parte severitatis. not only bestows honour, but also takes away what a man seems to have.2657    This phrase comes not from the present passage, but from Luke viii. 18, where the words are ὅ δοκεῖ ἔχειν; here the expression is ὅ ἔχει only. Else, if it is the Creator whom He has here delineated as the “austere man,” who “takes up what he laid not down, and reaps what he did not sow,”2658    Luke xix. 22. my instructor even here is He, (whoever He may be,) to whom belongs the money He teaches me fruitfully to expend.2659    The original of this obscure sentence is as follows: “Aut si et hic Creatorem finxerit austerum…..hic quoque me ille instruit eujus pecuniam ut fenerem edocet.

CAPUT XXXVII.

Consequitur (Luc. XIX) et Zachaei domus salutem. Quo merito? Numquid vel ille crediderat Christum a Marcione venisse? Atquin adhuc in auribus erat omnium vox illa caeci, Miserere mei, Jesu fili David; et omnis populus laudes referebat Deo, non Marcionis, sed David. Enimvero Zachaeus etsi allophylus fortasse, tamen aliqua notitia Scripturarum ex commercio judaico afflatus; plus est autem , et ignoras 0451D Isaiam (Is. LVIII, 7) praecepta ejus impleverat. 0452A Confringito, inquit, panem tuum esurienti; et non habentes tectum, in domum tuam inducito; hoc cum maxime agebat, exceptum domo sua pascens Dominum. Et nudum si videris, contegito; hoc cum maxime promittebat, in omnia misericordiae opera dimidium substantiae offerens; dissolvens violentiorum contractuum obnexus , et dimittens conflictatos in laxamentum, et omnem conscriptionem iniquam dissipans, dicendo: Et si cui quid per calumniam eripui, quadruplum reddo. Itaque Dominus: Hodie, inquit, salus huic domui. Testimonium dixit, salutaria esse quae praeceperat prophetes Creatoris. Cum vero dicit: Venit enim Filius hominis salvum facere quod periit , jam non contendo eum venisse ut salvum faceret quod perierat, cujus fuerat, et cui perierat quod 0452B salvum venerat facere; sed in alterius quaestionis gradum dirigo. De homine agi nulla dubitatio est. Hic cum ex duabus substantiis constet, ex corpore et anima, quaerendum est ex qua substantiae specie periisse videatur. Si ex corpore, ergo corpus perierat, anima non. Quod perierat, salvum facit filius hominis: habet igitur et caro salutem. Si et anima perierat, animae perditio saluti destinatur: caro quae non periit, salva est. Si totus homo perierat ex utraque substantia, totus homo salvus fiat necesse est; et elisa est sententia haereticorum negantium carnis salutem. Jam et Christus Creatoris confirmatur, qui secundum Creatorem totius hominis salutem pollicebatur. Servorum quoque parabola, qui secundum rationem foeneratae pecuniae dominicae dijudicantur, 0452C judicem ostendit Deum, etiam ex parte severitatis, non tantum honorantem, verum et auferentem quod quis videatur habuisse. Aut si et hic Creatorem finxerit austerum tollentem quod non posuerit, et metentem quod non severit: hic quoque me ille instruit, cujus pecuniam ut foenerem edocet.