Chapter CXIX.—Christians are the holy people promised to Abraham. They have been called like Abraham.

Then I said again, “Would you suppose, sirs, that we could ever have understood these matters in the Scriptures, if we had not received grace to discern by the will of Him whose pleasure it was? in order that the saying of Moses453    Literally, “in the time of Moses.” might come to pass, ‘They provoked me with strange [gods], they provoked me to anger with their abominations. They sacrificed to demons whom they knew not; new gods that came newly up, whom their fathers knew not. Thou hast forsaken God that begat thee, and forgotten God that brought thee up. And the Lord saw, and was jealous, and was provoked to anger by reason of the rage of His sons and daughters: and He said, I will turn My face away from them, and I will show what shall come on them at the last; for it is a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith. They have moved Me to jealousy with that which is not God, they have provoked Me to anger with their idols; and I will move them to jealousy with that which is not a nation, I will provoke them to anger with a foolish people. For a fire is kindled from Mine anger, and it shall burn to Hades. It shall consume the earth and her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains; I will heap mischief on them.’454    Deut. xxxii. 16–23. And after that Righteous One was put to death, we flourished as another people, and shot forth as new and prosperous corn; as the prophets said, ‘And many nations shall betake themselves to the Lord in that day for a people: and they shall dwell in the midst of all the earth.’455    Zech. ii. 11. But we are not only a people, but also a holy people, as we have shown already.456    See chap. cx. ‘And they shall call them the holy people, redeemed by the Lord.’457    Isa. lxii. 12. Therefore we are not a people to be despised, nor a barbarous race, nor such as the Carian and Phrygian nations; but God has even chosen us, and He has become manifest to those who asked not after Him. ‘Behold, I am God,’ He says, ‘to the nation which called not on My name.’458    Isa. lxv. 1. For this is that nation which God of old promised to Abraham, when He declared that He would make him a father of many nations; not meaning, however, the Arabians, or Egyptians, or Idumæans, since Ishmael became the father of a mighty nation, and so did Esau; and there is now a great multitude of Ammonites. Noah, moreover, was the father of Abraham, and in fact of all men; and others were the progenitors of others. What larger measure of grace, then, did Christ bestow on Abraham? This, namely, that He called him with His voice by the like calling, telling him to quit the land wherein he dwelt. And He has called all of us by that voice, and we have left already the way of living in which we used to spend our days, passing our time in evil after the fashions of the other inhabitants of the earth; and along with Abraham we shall inherit the holy land, when we shall receive the inheritance for an endless eternity, being children of Abraham through the like faith. For as he believed the voice of God, and it was imputed to him for righteousness, in like manner we, having believed God’s voice spoken by the apostles of Christ, and promulgated to us by the prophets, have renounced even to death all the things of the world. Accordingly, He promises to him a nation of similar faith, God-fearing, righteous, and delighting the Father; but it is not you, ‘in whom is no faith.’

[119] Ἐγώ τε αὖ εἶπον: Οἴεσθε ἂν ἡμᾶς ποτε, ὦ ἄνδρες, νενοηκέναι δυνηθῆναι ἐν ταῖς γραφαῖς ταῦτα, εἰ μὴ θελήματι τοῦ θελήσαντος αὐτὰ ἐλάβομεν χάριν τοῦ νοῆσαι; ἵνα γένηται καὶ τὸ λελεγμένον ἐπὶ Μωυσέως: Παρώξυνάν με ἐπ' ἀλλοτρίοις, ἐν βδελύγμασιν αὐτῶν ἐξεπίκρανάν με, ἔθυσαν δαιμονίοις οἷς οὐκ οἴδασι: καινοὶ καὶ πρόσφατοι ἥκασιν, οὓς οὐκ ᾔδεισαν οἱ πατέρες αὐτῶν. θεὸν τὸν γεννήσαντά σε ἐγκατέλιπες, καὶ ἐπελάθου θεοῦ τοῦ τρέφοντός σε. καὶ εἶδε κύριος, καὶ ἐζήλωσε, καὶ παρωξύνθη δι' ὀργὴν υἱῶν αὐτοῦ καὶ θυγατέρων, καὶ εἶπεν: Ἀποστρέψω τὸ πρόσωπόν μου ἀπ' αὐτῶν, καὶ δείξω τί ἔσται αὐτοῖς ἐπ' ἐσχάτων, ὅτι γενεὰ ἐξεστραμμένη ἐστίν, υἱοὶ οἷς οὐκ ἔστι πίστις ἐν αὐτοῖς. αὐτοὶ παρεζήλωσάν με ἐπ' οὐ θεῷ, παρώργισάν με ἐν τοῖς εἰδώλοις αὐτῶν: κἀγὼ παραζηλώσω αὐτοὺς ἐπ' οὐκ ἔθνει, ἐπ' ἔθνει ἀσυνέτῳ παροργιῶ αὐτούς: ὅτι πῦρ ἐκκέκαυται ἐκ τοῦ θυμοῦ μου, καὶ καυθήσεται ἕως ᾅδου: καταφάγεται τὴν γῆν καὶ τὰ γεννήματα αὐτῆς, φλέξει θεμέλια ὀρέων. συνάξω εἰς αὐτοὺς κακά. καὶ μετὰ τὸ ἀναιρεθῆναι τὸν δίκαιον ἐκεῖνον ἡμεῖς λαὸς ἕτερος ἀνεθήλαμεν, καὶ ἐβλαστήσαμεν στάχυες καινοὶ καὶ εὐθαλεῖς, ὡς ἔφασαν οἱ προφῆται: Καὶ καταφεύξονται ἔθνη πολλὰ ἐπὶ τὸν κύριον ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ εἰς λαόν, καὶ κατασκηνώσουσιν ἐν μέσῳ τῆς γῆς πάσης. ἡμεῖς δὲ οὐ μόνον λαὸς ἀλλὰ καὶ λαὸς ἅγιός ἐσμεν, ὡς ἐδείξαμεν ἤδη. Καὶ καλέσουσιν αὐτὸν λαὸν ἅγιον, λελυτρωμένον ὑπὸ κυρίου. οὐκοῦν οὐκ εὐκαταφρόνητος δῆμός ἐσμεν οὐδὲ βάρβαρον φῦλον οὐδὲ ὁποῖα Καρῶν ἢ Φρυγῶν ἔθνη, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἡμᾶς ἐξελέξατο ὁ θεὸς καὶ ἐμφανὴς ἐγενήθη τοῖς μὴ ἐπερωτῶσιν αὐτόν. Ἰδοὺ θεός εἰμι, φησί, τῷ ἔθνει, οἳ οὐκ ἐπεκαλέσαντο τὸ ὄνομά μου. τοῦτο γάρ ἐστιν ἐκεῖνο τὸ ἔθνος, ὃ πάλαι τῷ Ἀβραὰμ ὁ θεὸς ὑπέσχετο, καὶ πατέρα πολλῶν ἐθνῶν θήσειν ἐπηγγείλατο, οὐκ Ἀρράβων οὐδ' Αἰγυπτίων οὐδ' Ἰδουμαίων λέγων: ἐπεὶ καὶ Ἰσμαὴλ μεγάλου πατὴρ ἔθνους ἐγένετο καὶ Ἠσαῦ, καὶ Ἀμμανιτῶν ἐστι νῦν πολὺ πλῆθος. Νῶε δὲ καὶ αὐτοῦ Ἀβραὰμ πατὴρ ἦν καὶ ἁπλῶς παντὸς ἀνθρώπων γένους, ἄλλοι δὲ ἄλλων πρόγονοι. τί οὖν πλέον ἐνθάδε ὁ Χριστὸς χαρίζεται τῷ Ἀβραάμ; ὅτι διὰ τῆς ὁμοίας κλήσεως φωνῇ ἐκάλεσεν αὐτόν, εἰπὼν ἐξελθεῖν ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς ἐν ᾗ ᾤκει. καὶ ἡμᾶς δὲ ἅπαντας δι' ἐκείνης τῆς φωνῆς ἐκάλεσε, καὶ ἐξήλθομεν ἤδη ἀπὸ τῆς πολιτείας, ἐν ᾗ ἐζῶμεν κατὰ τὰ κοινὰ τῶν ἄλλων τῆς γῆς οἰκητόρων κακῶς ζῶντες: καὶ σὺν τῷ Ἀβραὰμ τὴν ἁγίαν κληρονομήσομεν γῆν, εἰς τὸν ἀπέραντον αἰῶνα τὴν κληρονομίαν ληψόμενοι, τέκνα τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ διὰ τὴν ὁμοίαν πίστιν ὄντες. ὃν γὰρ τρόπον ἐκεῖνος τῇ φωνῇ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐπίστευσε καὶ ἐλογίσθη αὐτῷ εἰς δικαιοσύνην, τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον καὶ ἡμεῖς τῇ φωνῇ τοῦ θεοῦ, τῇ διά τε τῶν ἀποστόλων τοῦ Χριστοῦ λαληθείσῃ πάλιν καὶ τῇ διὰ τῶν προφητῶν κηρυχθείσῃ ἡμῖν, πιστεύσαντες μέχρι τοῦ ἀποθνήσκειν πᾶσι τοῖς ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ ἀπεταξάμεθα. ὁμοιόπιστον οὖν τὸ ἔθνος καὶ θεοσεβὲς καὶ δίκαιον, εὐφραῖνον τὸν πατέρα, ὑπισχνεῖται αὐτῷ, ἀλλ' οὐχ ὑμᾶς, οἷς οὐκ ἔστι πίστις ἐν αὐτοῖς.