Chapter XI.—The Second Epistle to the Corinthians. The Creator the Father of Mercies. Shown to Be Such in the Old Testament, and Also in Christ.  The Newness of the New Testament.  The Veil of Obdurate Blindness Upon Israel, Not Reprehensible on Marcion’s Principles. The Jews Guilty in Rejecting the Christ of the Creator.  Satan, the God of This World. The Treasure in Earthen Vessels Explained Against Marcion. The Creator’s Relation to These Vessels, I.e. Our Bodies.

If, owing to the fault of human error, the word God has become a common name (since in the world there are said and believed to be “gods many”3356    1 Cor. viii. 5.), yet “the blessed God,” (who is “the Father) of our Lord Jesus Christ,”3357    2 Cor. i. 3. will be understood to be no other God than the Creator, who both blessed all things (that He had made), as you find in Genesis,3358    Gen. i. 22. and is Himself “blessed by all things,” as Daniel tells us.3359    Dan. ii. 19, 20; iii. 28, 29; iv. 34, 37. Now, if the title of Father may be claimed for (Marcion’s) sterile god, how much more for the Creator? To none other than Him is it suitable, who is also “the Father of mercies,”3360    2 Cor. i. 3. and (in the prophets) has been described as “full of compassion, and gracious, and plenteous in mercy.”3361    Ps. lxxxvi. 15; cxii. 4; cxlv. 8; Jonah iv. 2. In Jonah you find the signal act of His mercy, which He showed to the praying Ninevites.3362    Jonah iii. 8. How inflexible was He at the tears of Hezekiah!3363    2 Kings xx. 3, 5. How ready to forgive Ahab, the husband of Jezebel, the blood of Naboth, when he deprecated His anger.3364    1 Kings xxi. 27, 29. How prompt in pardoning David on his confession of his sin3365    2 Sam. xii. 13.—preferring, indeed, the sinner’s repentance to his death, of course because of His gracious attribute of mercy.3366    Ezek. xxxiii. 11. Now, if Marcion’s god has exhibited or proclaimed any such thing as this, I will allow him to be “the Father of mercies.” Since, however, he ascribes to him this title only from the time he has been revealed, as if he were the father of mercies from the time only when he began to liberate the human race, then we on our side, too,3367    Atquin et nos. adopt the same precise date of his alleged revelation; but it is that we may deny him! It is then not competent to him to ascribe any quality to his god, whom indeed he only promulged by the fact of such an ascription; for only if it were previously evident that his god had an existence, could he be permitted to ascribe an attribute to him. The ascribed attribute is only an accident; but accidents3368    The Contingent qualities in logic. are preceded by the statement of the thing itself of which they are predicated, especially when another claims the attribute which is ascribed to him who has not been previously shown to exist. Our denial of his existence will be all the more peremptory, because of the fact that the attribute which is alleged in proof of it belongs to that God who has been already revealed. Therefore “the New Testament” will appertain to none other than Him who promised it—if not “its letter, yet its spirit;”3369    2 Cor. iii. 6. and herein will lie its newness. Indeed, He who had engraved its letter in stones is the same as He who had said of its spirit, “I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh.”3370    Joel ii. 28. Even if “the letter killeth, yet the Spirit giveth life;”3371    2 Cor. iii. 6. and both belong to Him who says: “I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal.”3372    Deut. xxxii. 39. We have already made good the Creator’s claim to this twofold character of judgment and goodness3373    See above in book ii. [cap. xi. p. 306.]—“killing in the letter” through the law, and “quickening in the Spirit” through the Gospel. Now these attributes, however different they be, cannot possibly make two gods; for they have already (in the prevenient dispensation of the Old Testament) been found to meet in One.3374    Apud unum recenseri prævenerunt. He alludes to Moses’ veil, covered with which “his face could not be stedfastly seen by the children of Israel.”3375    2 Cor. iii. 7, 13. Since he did this to maintain the superiority of the glory of the New Testament, which is permanent in its glory, over that of the Old, “which was to be done away,”3376    2 Cor. iii. 7, 8. this fact gives support to my belief which exalts the Gospel above the law and you must look well to it that it does not even more than this. For only there is superiority possible where was previously the thing over which superiority can be affirmed. But then he says, “But their minds were blinded”3377    Obtunsi: “blunted,” 2 Cor. iii. 14.—of the world; certainly not the Creator’s mind, but the minds of the people which are in the world.3378    He seems to have read the clause as applying to the world, but St. Paul certainly refers only to the obdurate Jews. The text is:  “Sed obtunsi sunt sensus mundi. Of Israel he says, Even unto this day the same veil is upon their heart;”3379    2 Cor. iii. 15. showing that the veil which was on the face of Moses was a figure of the veil which is on the heart of the nation still; because even now Moses is not seen by them in heart, just as he was not then seen by them in eye. But what concern has Paul with the veil which still obscures Moses from their view, if the Christ of the Creator, whom Moses predicted, is not yet come? How are the hearts of the Jews represented as still covered and veiled, if the predictions of Moses relating to Christ, in whom it was their duty to believe through him, are as yet unfulfilled? What had the apostle of a strange Christ to complain of, if the Jews failed in understanding the mysterious announcements of their own God, unless the veil which was upon their hearts had reference to that blindness which concealed from their eyes the Christ of Moses? Then, again, the words which follow, But when it shall turn to the Lord, the evil shall be taken away,”3380    2 Cor. iii. 16. properly refer to the Jew, over whose gaze Moses’ veil is spread, to the effect that, when he is turned to the faith of Christ, he will understand how Moses spoke of Christ. But how shall the veil of the Creator be taken away by the Christ of another god, whose mysteries the Creator could not possibly have veiled—unknown mysteries, as they were of an unknown god? So he says that “we now with open face” (meaning the candour of the heart, which in the Jews had been covered with a veil), “beholding Christ, are changed into the same image, from that glory” (wherewith Moses was transfigured as by the glory of the Lord) “to another glory.”3381    2 Cor. iii. 18. By thus setting forth the glory which illumined the person of Moses from his interview with God, and the veil which concealed the same from the infirmity of the people, and by superinducing thereupon the revelation and the glory of the Spirit in the person of Christ—“even as,” to use his words, “by the Spirit of the Lord”3382    2 Cor. iii. 18, but T.’s reading is “tanquam a domino spirituum” (“even as by the Lord of the Spirits,” probably the sevenfold Spirit.). The original is, καθάπερ ἀπὸ Κυρίου Πνεύματος, “by the Lord the Spirit.”—he testifies that the whole Mosaic system3383    Moysi ordinem totum. was a figure of Christ, of whom the Jews indeed were ignorant, but who is known to us Christians. We are quite aware that some passages are open to ambiguity, from the way in which they are read, or else from their punctuation, when there is room for these two causes of ambiguity. The latter method has been adopted by Marcion, by reading the passage which follows, “in whom the God of this world,”3384    2 Cor. iv. 4. as if it described the Creator as the God of this world, in order that he may, by these words, imply that there is another God for the other world. We, however, say that the passage ought to be punctuated with a comma after God, to this effect: “In whom God hath blinded the eyes of the unbelievers of this world.”3385    He would stop off the phrase τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου from ὁ Θεὸς, and remove it to the end of the sentence as a qualification of τῶν ἀπίστων. He adds another interpretation just afterwards, which, we need not say, is both more consistent with the sense of the passage and with the consensus of Christian writers of all ages, although “it is historically curious” (as Dean Alford has remarked) “that Irenæus [Hæres. iv. 48, Origen, Tertullian (v. 11, contra Marcion)], Chrysostom, Œcumenius, Theodoret, Theophylact, all repudiate, in their zeal against the Manichæans, the grammatical rendering, and take τῶν ἀπίστων τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου together” (Greek Testament, in loc.). [I have corrected Alford’s reference to Tertullian which he makes B. iv. 11.] “In whom” means the Jewish unbelievers, from some of whom the gospel is still hidden under Moses’ veil. Now it is these whom God had threatened for “loving Him indeed with the lip, whilst their heart was far from Him,”3386    Isa. xxix. 13. in these angry words: “Ye shall hear with your ears, and not understand; and see with your eyes, but not perceive;”3387    Isa. vi. 10 (only adapted). and, “If ye will not believe, ye shall not understand;”3388    Isa. vii. 9, Sept. and again, “I will take away the wisdom of their wise men, and bring to nought3389    Sept. κρὐψω, “will hide.” the understanding of their prudent ones.”  But these words, of course, He did not pronounce against them for concealing the gospel of the unknown God.  At any rate, if there is a God of this world,3390    Said concessively, in reference to M.’s position above mentioned. He blinds the heart of the unbelievers of this world, because they have not of their own accord recognised His Christ, who ought to be understood from His Scriptures.3391    Marcion’s “God of this world” being the God of the Old Testament. Content with my advantage, I can willingly refrain from noticing to any greater length3392    Hactenus: pro non amplius (Oehler) tractasse. this point of ambiguous punctuation, so as not to give my adversary any advantage,3393    “A fuller criticism on this slight matter might give his opponent the advantage, as apparently betraying a penury of weightier and more certain arguments” (Oehler). indeed, I might have wholly omitted the discussion. A simpler answer I shall find ready to hand in interpreting “the god of this world” of the devil, who once said, as the prophet describes him: “I will be like the Most High; I will exalt my throne in the clouds.”3394    Isa. xiv. 14. The whole superstition, indeed, of this world has got into his hands,3395    Mancipata est illi. so that he blinds effectually the hearts of unbelievers, and of none more than the apostate Marcion’s. Now he did not observe how much this clause of the sentence made against him: “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to (give) the light of the knowledge (of His glory) in the face of (Jesus) Christ.”3396    2 Cor. iv. 6. Now who was it that said; “Let there be light?”3397    Gen. i. 3. And who was it that said to Christ concerning giving light to the world: “I have set Thee as a light to the Gentiles”3398    Isa. xlix. 6 (Sept. quoted in Acts xiii. 47).—to them, that is, “who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death?”3399    Isa. ix. 2 and Matt. iv. 16. (None else, surely, than He), to whom the Spirit in the Psalm answers, in His foresight of the future, saying, “The light of Thy countenance, O Lord, hath been displayed upon us.”3400    Ps. iv. 7 (Sept.). Now the countenance (or person3401    Persona: the πρόσωπον of the Septuagint.) of the Lord here is Christ. Wherefore the apostle said above: “Christ, who is the image of God.”3402    2 Cor. iv. 4. Since Christ, then, is the person of the Creator, who said, “Let there be light,” it follows that Christ and the apostles, and the gospel, and the veil, and Moses—nay, the whole of the dispensations—belong to the God who is the Creator of this world, according to the testimony of the clause (above adverted to), and certainly not to him who never said, “Let there be light.” I here pass over discussion about another epistle, which we hold to have been written to the Ephesians, but the heretics to the Laodiceans. In it he tells3403    Ait. them to remember, that at the time when they were Gentiles they were without Christ, aliens from (the commonwealth of) Israel, without intercourse, without the covenants and any hope of promise, nay, without God, even in his own world,3404    Eph. ii. 12. as the Creator thereof. Since therefore he said, that the Gentiles were without God, whilst their god was the devil, not the Creator, it is clear that he must be understood to be the lord of this world, whom the Gentiles received as their god—not the Creator, of whom they were in ignorance. But how does it happen, that “the treasure which we have in these earthen vessels of ours”3405    2 Cor. iv. 7. should not be regarded as belonging to the God who owns the vessels? Now since God’s glory is, that so great a treasure is contained in earthen vessels, and since these earthen vessels are of the Creator’s make, it follows that the glory is the Creator’s; nay, since these vessels of His smack so much of the excellency of the power of God, that power itself must be His also! Indeed, all these things have been consigned to the said “earthen vessels” for the very purpose that His excellence might be manifested forth. Henceforth, then, the rival god will have no claim to the glory, and consequently none to the power. Rather, dishonour and weakness will accrue to him, because the earthen vessels with which he had nothing to do have received all the excellency! Well, then, if it be in these very earthen vessels that he tells us we have to endure so great sufferings,3406    2 Cor. iv. 8–12. in which we bear about with us the very dying of God,3407    Oehler, after Fr. Junius, defends the reading “mortificationem dei,” instead of Domini, in reference to Marcion, who seems to have so corrupted the reading. (Marcion’s) god is really ungrateful and unjust, if he does not mean to restore this same substance of ours at the resurrection, wherein so much has been endured in loyalty to him, in which Christ’s very death is borne about, wherein too the excellency of his power is treasured.3408    2 Cor. iv. 10. For he gives prominence to the statement, “That the life also of Christ may be manifested in our body,”3409    2 Cor. iv. 10. as a contrast to the preceding, that His death is borne about in our body. Now of what life of Christ does he here speak?  Of that which we are now living?  Then how is it, that in the words which follow he exhorts us not to the things which are seen and are temporal, but to those which are not seen and are eternal3410    2 Cor. iv. 16–18.—in other words, not to the present, but to the future? But if it be of the future life of Christ that he speaks, intimating that it is to be made manifest in our body,3411    2 Cor. iv. 11. then he has clearly predicted the resurrection of the flesh.3412    2 Cor. iv. 14. He says, too, that “our outward man perishes,”3413    2 Cor. iv. 16. not meaning by an eternal perdition after death, but by labours and sufferings, in reference to which he previously said, “For which cause we will not faint.”3414    2 Cor. iv. 16. Now, when he adds of “the inward man” also, that it “is renewed day by day,” he demonstrates both issues here—the wasting away of the body by the wear and tear3415    Vexatione. of its trials, and the renewal of the soul3416    Animi. by its contemplation of the promises.

CAPUT XI.

Si Deus commune vocabulum factum est vitio erroris humani, quatenus plures dei dicuntur atque creduntur in saeculo, benedictus tamen Deus Domini nostri 0497DJesu Christi Pater non alius quam Creator intelligetur, qui et universa benedixit, habes Genesim 0498A (Gen., I); et ab universis benedicitur, habes Danielem (Dan., III). Proinde si pater potest dici sterilis Dei nullius magis nomine quam Creatoris; misericordiarum tamen pater idem erit, qui misericors, et miserator, et misericordiae plurimus est dictus: habes apud Jonam (Jon., III, IV) cum ipso misericordiae exemplo, quam Ninivitis exorantibus praestitit, facilis et Ezechiae (IV Reg., XX) fletibus flecti, et Achab marito Jezabelis deprecanti sanguinem ignoscere Nabuthae (III Reg., XXI), et David agnoscenti delictum statim indulgere (II Reg., XII); malens scilicet poenitentiam peccatoris, quam mortem, utique ex misericordiae affectu (Os., VI). Si quid tale Marcionis Deus edidit vel edixit, agnoscam patrem misericordiarum. Si vero ex eo tempore hunc titulum ei adscribit, 0498B quo revelatus, quasi exinde sit pater misericordiarum, quo liberare instituit genus humanum; atquin et nos ex eo tempore negamus illum, ex quo dicitur revelatus: non potest igitur aliquid ei adscribere, quem tunc ostendit, cum aliud ei adscribit. Si enim prius constaret eum esse, tunc et adscribi ei potest. Accidens enim est quod adscribitur: accidentia autem antecedit ipsius rei ostensio cui accidunt; maxime cum jam alterius est, quod adscribitur ei, qui prius non sit ostensus, tanto magis negabitur esse, quanto per quod affirmatur esse, ejus est, qui jam ostensus est. Sic et Testamentum Novum non alterius erit, quam qui illud repromisit; etsi non litera, at ejus spiritus, hoc erit novitas. Denique, qui literam tabulis lapideis inciderat, idem et de spiritu 0498C edixerat (Joel. III, 28): Effundam de meo spiritu in omnem carnem, Et si litera occidit, spiritus vero vivificat, ejus utrumque est qui ait (Deut. XXXII, 39): Ego occidam, et vivificabo; percutiam, et sanabo. Olim duplicem vim Creatoris vindicavimus , et judicis et boni; litera occidentis per Legem, et spiritu vivificantis per Evangelium. Non possunt duos deos facere, quae etsi diversa, apud unum recenseri praevenerunt. Commemorat et de velamine Moysi, quo faciem tegebat incontemplabilem filiis Israel. Si ideo ut claritatem majorem defenderet Novi Testamenti, quod manet in gloria, quam veteris, quod evacuari habebat; hoc et meae convenit fidei, praeponenti Evangelium legi. Et vide ne magis meae. Illic enim erit superponi quid, ubi fuerit et illud cui superponitur. At cum dicit: 0498DSed obtusi sunt sensus mundi; non utique Creatoris, sed populi qui in mundo est, De Israele enim dicit: 0499AAd hodiernum usque velamen id ipsum in corde eorum. Figuram ostendit fuisse velamen faciei in Moyse, velaminis cordis in populo, quia nec nunc apud illos perspiciatur Moyses corde, sicut nec facie tunc. Quid est ergo adhuc velatum in Moyse quod pertineat ad Paulum, si Christus Creatoris a Moyse praedicatus nondum venit? Quomodo jam operta et velata adhuc denotantur corda Judaeorum, nondum exhibitis praedicationibus Moysi, id est de Christo, in quo eum intelligere deberent? Quid ad apostolum Christi alterius, si Dei sui sacramenta Judaei non intelligebant, nisi quia velamen cordis illorum ad caecitatem, qua non perspexerant Christum, Moysi pertinebat? Denique, quod sequitur: Cum vero converterit ad Deum, auferetur velamen; hoc Judaeo proprie dicit, 0499B apud quem et est velamen Moysi: qui cum transierit in fidem Christi, intelligit Moysen de Christo praedicasse. Caeterum, quomodo auferetur velamentum Creatoris in Christo Dei alterius, cujus sacramenta velasse non potuit Creator, ignoti videlicet ignota? Dicit ergo, nos jam aperta facie, utique cordis, quod velatum est in Judaeis, contemplantes Christum, eadem imagine transfigurari a gloria (qua scilicet et Moyses transfigurabatur a gloria Domini) in gloriam: ita corporalem Moysi inluminationem de congressu Domini, et corporale velamen de infirmitate populi proponens et spiritalem claritatem in Christo superinducens, tanquam a Domino, inquit, spirituum , totum ordinem Moysi, figuram ignorati apud Judaeos, agniti vero apud nos Christi fuisse testatur. Scimus quosdam 0499C sensus ambiguitatem pati posse, de sono pronuntiationis, aut de modo distinctionis, cum duplicitas earum intercedit. Hanc Marcion captavit sic legendo, In quibusDeus aevi hujus; ut Creatorem ostendens Deum hujus aevi, alium suggerat Deum alterius aevi. Nos contra, sic distinguendum dicimus: In quibus Deus; dehinc: aevi hujus excaecavit mentes infidelium; in quibus, Judaeis infidelibus, in quibus opertum est aliquibus Evangelium adhuc sub velamine Moysi. Illis enim Deus (Is. XXIX, 13), labiis diligentibus eum, corde autem longe absistentibus ab eo, minatus fuerat (Is. VI, 10): Aure audietis, et non audietis; oculis videbitis, ut non videbitis; et (Is. VII. 9): nisi credideritis, nec intelligetis; et (Is. XXIX, 14): auferam sapientiam sapientium, et prudentiam prudentium irritam faciam. Haec 0499D autem non utique de Evangelio Dei ignoti abscondendo minabatur. Ita, non hujus aevi Deus, sed infidelium 0500Ahujus aevi excaecat cor, quod Christum ejus non ultro recognoverint de Scripturis, intelligendum. Et positum in ambiguitate distinctionis hactenus tractasse, ne adversario prodesset, contentus victoriae, nae ultro possum et in totum contentionem hanc praeterisse simpliciori responso. Prae manu erit scilicet hujus aevi dominum diabolum interpretari, qui dixerit, propheta referente (Is. XIV, 14): Ero similis Altissimi, ponam in nubibus thronum meum; sicut et tota hujus aevi superstitio illi mancipata est, qui excaecet infidelium corda, et in primis, apostatae Marcionis. Denique, non vidit occurrentem sibi clausulam sensus: Quoniam Deus, qui dixit ex tenebris lucem lucescere, reluxit in cordibus nostris ad illuminationem agnitionis suae, in persona Christi. Quis dixit: 0500BFiat lux? Et de illuminatione mundi, quis Christo ait (Is. XLII, 6): Posui te in lumen nationum, sedentium scilicet in tenebris, et in umbra mortis? Cui respondet Spiritus in psalmo, ex providentia futuri (Ps. IV, 7): Significatum est, inquit, super nos lumen personae tuae, Domine. Persona autem Dei, Christus Dominus. Unde et apostoli supra: Qui est imago, inquit, Dei. Igitur si Christus persona Creatoris dicentis, Fiat lux; et Christus, et Apostoli, et Evangelium, et velamen et Moyses, et tota series secundum testimonium clausulae Creatoris est Dei hujus aevi, certe non ejus qui nunquam dixit: Fiat lux. Praetereo hic et de alia Epistola, quam nos ad Ephesios praescriptam habemus, haeretici vero ad Laodicenos. Ait enim (Eph. II, 12) meminisse nationes, 0500C quod illo in tempore cum essent sine Christo, alieni ab Israele, sine conversatione, et testamentis, et spe promissionis, etiam sine Deoessent, in mundo utique, etsi de Creatore. Ergo si nationes sine Deo dixit esse, Deus autem illis diabolus est, non Creator, apparet dominum aevi hujus cum intelligendum, quem nationes pro Deo receperunt, non Creatorem quem ignorant. Quale est autem ut non ejusdem habeatur thesaurus in fictilibus vasis nostris, cujus et vasa sunt? Nam si gloria Dei est in fictilibus vasis tantum thesauri haberi; vasa autem fictilia Creatoris sunt; ergo et gloria Creatoris est, cujus vasa eminentiam virtutis Dei sapiunt, et virtus ipsa. Quia propterea in vasa fictilia commissa sunt, ut eminentia ejus probaretur. Caeterum, jam non erit alterius Dei gloria, ideoque 0500D nec virtus, sed magis dedecus et infirmitas, cujus eminentiam fictilia et quidem aliena ceperunt. Quod 0501A si haec sunt fictilia vasa in quibus tanta nos pati dicit, in quibus etiam mortificationem circumferimus Domini ; satis ingratus Deus et injustus, si non et hanc substantiam resuscitaturus est , in qua pro fide ejus tanta tolerantur, in qua et mors Christi circumfertur, in qua et eminentia virtutis consecratur. Sed enim proponit: Ut et vita Christi manifestetur in corpore nostro, scilicet sicut et mors ejus circumfertur in corpore. De qua ergo Christi vita dicit? Qua nunc vivimus in illo? Et quomodo in sequentibus non ad visibilia, nec ad temporalia, sed ad invisibilia et ad aeterna, id est, non ad praesentia, sed ad futura exhortatur? Quod si de futura vita dicit Christi, in corpore eam dicens apparituram, manifeste carnis resurrectionem praedicavit, exteriorem quidem hominem 0501B nostrum corrumpi dicens, et non quasi aeterno interitu post mortem, verum laboribus et incommodis, de quibus praemisit, adjiciens: Et non deficiemus. Nam et interiorem hominem nostrum renovari de die in diem dicens, hic utrumque demonstrat, et corporis corruptionem ex vexatione tentationum, et animi renovationem ex contemplatione promissionum.