Chapter LXXVIII.

The Jew continues:  “Did Jesus come into the world for this purpose, that we should not believe him?”  To which we immediately answer, that He did not come with the object of producing incredulity among the Jews; but knowing beforehand that such would be the result, He foretold it, and made use of their unbelief for the calling of the Gentiles.  For through their sin salvation came to the Gentiles, respecting whom the Christ who speaks in the prophecies says, “A people whom I did not know became subject to Me:  they were obedient to the hearing of My ear;”360    Cf. 2 Sam. xxii. 44, 45. and, “I was found of them who sought Me not; I became manifest to those who inquired not after Me.”361    Cf. Isa. lxv. 1.  It is certain, moreover, that the Jews were punished even in this present life, after treating Jesus in the manner in which they did.  And let the Jews assert what they will when we charge them with guilt, and say, “Is not the providence and goodness of God most wonderfully displayed in your punishment, and in your being deprived of Jerusalem, and of the sanctuary, and of your splendid worship?”  For whatever they may say in reply with respect to the providence of God, we shall be able more effectually to answer it by remarking, that the providence of God was wonderfully manifested in using the transgression of that people for the purpose of calling into the kingdom of God, through Jesus Christ, those from among the Gentiles who were strangers to the covenant and aliens to the promises.  And these things were foretold by the prophets, who said that, on account of the transgressions of the Hebrew nation, God would make choice, not of a nation, but of individuals chosen from all lands;362    οὐχὶ ἔθνος, ἀλλὰ λογάδας πανταχόθεν. and, having selected the foolish things of the world, would cause an ignorant nation to become acquainted with the divine teaching, the kingdom of God being taken from the one and given to the other.  And out of a larger number it is sufficient on the present occasion to adduce the prediction from the song in Deuteronomy regarding the calling of the Gentiles, which is as follows, being spoken in the person of the Lord:  “They have moved Me to jealousy with those who are not gods; they have provoked Me to anger with their idols:  and I will move them to jealousy with those who are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.”363    Cf. Deut. xxxii. 21.

Μετὰ ταῦτα λέγει ὁ Ἰουδαῖος· Ἢ ἐπὶ τοῦτο κατῆλθεν, ἵν' ἀπιστήσωμεν; Πρὸς ὃν λελέξεται· οὐκ ἐπὶ τοῦτο μὲν ἦλθεν, ἵν' ἐργάσηται τὴν ἀπιστίαν Ἰουδαίοις, προγινώσκων δ' αὐτὴν ἐσομένην προεῖπε καὶ συνεχρήσατο τῇ ἀπιστίᾳ τῶν Ἰουδαίων πρὸς τὴν κλῆσιν τῶν ἐθνῶν. Τῷ γὰρ ἐκείνων "παραπτώματι ἡ σωτηρία τοῖς ἔθνεσι" γεγένηται, περὶ ὧν ὁ ἐν τοῖς προφήταις Χριστός φησι· "Λαός, ὃν οὐκ ἔγνων, ἐδούλευσέ μοι· εἰς ἀκοὴν ὠτίου ὑπήκουσέ μου", καὶ "Εὑρέθην τοῖς ἐμὲ μὴ ζητοῦσιν, ἐμφανὴς ἐγενόμην τοῖς ἐμὲ μὴ ἐπερωτῶσι." Καὶ σαφὲς ὅτι καὶ τὴν ἐν βίῳ κόλασιν Ἰουδαῖοι μετὰ τὸ διαθεῖναι τὸν Ἰησοῦν ἃ διέθηκαν ἐκολάσθησαν. Λεγέτωσαν δ' Ἰουδαῖοι, ἐὰν οἱ ἐγκαλοῦντες φάσκωσιν· θαυμαστή γε ὑμῖν ἡ τοῦ θεοῦ πρόνοια καὶ φιλανθρωπία, κολαζομένοις καὶ στερηθεῖσι καὶ τῆς Ἱερουσαλὴμ καὶ τοῦ λεγομένου ἁγιάσματος καὶ τῆς σεμνοτάτης λατρείας· ὃ γὰρ ἐὰν εἴπωσιν ἀπολογούμενοι περὶ τῆς προνοίας τοῦ θεοῦ, ἡμεῖς μᾶλλον κατασκευάσομεν καὶ ἐπὶ τὸ βέλτιον λέγοντες θαυμαστὴν γεγονέναι πρόνοιαν τοῦ θεοῦ, συγχρησαμένην τῷ ἁμαρτήματι τοῦ λαοῦ ἐκείνου εἰς τὸ τοὺς ἀπὸ τῶν ἐθνῶν διὰ Ἰησοῦ κληθῆναι, τοὺς ξένους "τῶν διαθηκῶν" καὶ ἀλλοτρίους τῶν ἐπαγγελιῶν εἰς τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ βασιλείαν. Καὶ ταῦτα δὲ προεῖπον οἱ προφῆται, ὡς ἄρα διὰ τὰ ἁμαρτήματα τοῦ τῶν Ἑβραίων λαοῦ ἐκλέξεται ὁ θεὸς οὐχὶ ἔθνος ἀλλὰ λογάδας πανταχόθεν, καὶ "τὰ μωρὰ τοῦ κόσμου" ἐκλεξάμενος ποιήσει τὸ ἀσύνετον ἔθνος γενέσθαι ἐν τοῖς θείοις λόγοις, αἰρομένης μὲν ἀπ' ἐκείνων τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ βασιλείας τούτοις δὲ διδομένης. Ἀρκεῖ δ' ἀπὸ πλειόνων ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος παραθέσθαι τὴν ἀπὸ τῆς ᾠδῆς τοῦ ∆ευτερονομίου προφητείαν περὶ τῆς τῶν ἐθνῶν κλήσεως οὕτως ἔχουσαν, λεγομένην ἐκ προσώπου κυρίου· "Αὐτοὶ γὰρ παρεζήλωσάν με ἐπ' οὐ θεῷ, παρώρ γισάν με ἐν τοῖς εἰδώλοις αὐτῶν· καὶ ἐγὼ παραζηλώσω αὐτοὺς ἐπ' οὐκ ἔθνει, ἐπὶ ἔθνει ἀσυνέτῳ παροργιῶ αὐτούς."