{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/ecf/003/0030413.htm","path":"chr/ecf/003/0030413.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/003/0030413.htm","text":"Chapter XIV.\u2014Christ\u2019s Sermon on the Mount. In Manner and Contents It So Resembles the Creator\u2019s Dispensational Words and Deeds. It Suggests Therefore the Conclusion that Jesus is the Creator\u2019s Christ. The Beatitudes.\nI now come to those ordinary precepts of His, by means of which He adapts the peculiarity 3935 of His doctrine to what I may call His official proclamation as the Christ. 3936 \u201cBlessed are the needy\u201d (for no less than this is required for interpreting the word in the Greek, 3937 \u201cbecause theirs is the kingdom of heaven.\u201d 3938 Now this very fact, that He begins with beatitudes, is characteristic of the Creator, who used no other voice than that of blessing either in the first fiat or the final dedication of the universe: for \u201cmy heart,\u201d says He, \u201chath indited a very good word.\u201d 3939 This will be that \u201cvery good word\u201d of blessing which is admitted to be the initiating principle of the New Testament, after the example of the Old. What is there, then, to wonder at, if He entered on His ministry with the very attributes 3940 of the Creator, who ever in language of the same sort loved, consoled, protected, and avenged the beggar, and the poor, and the humble, and the widow, and the orphan? So that you may believe this private bounty as it were of Christ to be a rivulet streaming from the springs of salvation. Indeed, I hardly know which way to turn amidst so vast a wealth of good words like these; as if I were in a forest, or a meadow, or an orchard of apples. I must therefore look out for such matter as chance may present to me. 3941\nIn the psalm he exclaims: \u201cDefend the fatherless and the needy; do justice to the humble and the poor; deliver the poor, and rid the needy out of the hand of the wicked.\u201d 3942 p. 366 Similarly in the seventy-first Psalm: \u201cIn righteousness shall He judge the needy amongst the people, and shall save the children of the poor.\u201d 3943 And in the following words he says of Christ: \u201cAll nations shall serve Him.\u201d 3944 Now David only reigned over the Jewish nation, so that nobody can suppose that this was spoken of David; whereas He had taken upon Himself the condition of the poor, and such as were oppressed with want, \u201cBecause He should deliver the needy out of the hand of the mighty man; He shall spare the needy and the poor, and shall deliver the souls of the poor. From usury and injustice shall He redeem their souls, and in His sight shall their name be honoured.\u201d 3945 Again: \u201cThe wicked shall be turned into hell, even all the nations that forget God; because the needy shall not alway be forgotten; the endurance of the poor shall not perish for ever.\u201d 3946 Again: \u201cWho is like unto the Lord our God, who dwelleth on high, and yet looketh on the humble things that are in heaven and on earth!\u2014who raiseth up the needy from off the ground, and out of the dunghill exalteth the poor; that He may set him with the princes of His people,\u201d 3947 that is, in His own kingdom. And likewise earlier, in the book of Kings, 3948 Hannah the mother of Samuel gives glory to God in these words: \u201cHe raiseth the poor man from the ground, and the beggar, that He may set him amongst the princes of His people (that is, in His own kingdom), and on thrones of glory\u201d (even royal ones). 3949 And by Isaiah how He inveighs against the oppressors of the needy! \u201cWhat mean ye that ye set fire to my vineyard, and that the spoil of the poor is in your houses? Wherefore do ye beat my people to pieces, and grind the face of the needy?\u201d 3950 And again: \u201cWoe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees; for in their decrees they decree wickedness, turning aside the needy from judgment, and taking away their rights from the poor of my people.\u201d 3951 These righteous judgments He requires for the fatherless also, and the widows, as well as for consolation 3952 to the very needy themselves. \u201cDo justice to the fatherless, and deal justly with the widow; and come, let us be reconciled, 3953 saith the Lord.\u201d 3954 To him, for whom in every stage of lowliness there is provided so much of the Creator\u2019s compassionate regard, shall be given that kingdom also which is promised by Christ, to whose merciful compassion belong, and for a great while have belonged, 3955 those to whom the promise is made. For even if you suppose that the promises of the Creator were earthly, but that Christ\u2019s are heavenly, it is quite clear that heaven has been as yet the property of no other God whatever, than Him who owns the earth also; quite clear that the Creator has given even the lesser promises (of earthly blessing), in order that I may more readily believe Him concerning His greater promises (of heavenly blessings) also, than (Marcion\u2019s god), who has never given proof of his liberality by any preceding bestowal of minor blessings. \u201cBlessed are they that hunger, for they shall be filled.\u201d 3956 I might connect this clause with the former one, because none but the poor and needy suffer hunger, if the Creator had not specially designed that the promise of a similar blessing should serve as a preparation for the gospel, that so men might know it to be His. 3957 For thus does He say, by Isaiah, concerning those whom He was about to call from the ends of the earth\u2014that is, the Gentiles: \u201cBehold, they shall come swiftly with speed:\u201d 3958 swiftly, because hastening towards the fulness of the times; with speed, because unclogged by the weights of the ancient law. They shall neither hunger nor thirst. Therefore they shall be filled,\u2014a promise which is made to none but those who hunger and thirst. And again He says: \u201cBehold, my servants shall be filled, but ye shall be hungry; behold, my servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty.\u201d 3959 As for these oppositions, we shall see whether they are not premonitors of Christ. 3960 Meanwhile the promise of fulness to the hungry is a provision of God the Creator. \u201cBlessed are they that weep, for they shall laugh.\u201d 3961 Turn again to the passage of Isaiah: \u201cBehold, my servants shall exult with joy, but ye shall be ashamed; behold, my servants shall be glad, but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart.\u201d 3962 And recognise these oppositions also in the dispensation of Christ. Surely gladness and joyous exultation is promised to those who are in an opposite condition\u2014to the sorrowful, and sad, and anxious. Just as it is said in the 125th Psalm: \u201cThey who sow in tears shall reap in joy.\u201d 3963 Moreover, laughter is as much an p. 367 accessory to the exulting and glad, as weeping is to the sorrowful and grieving. Therefore the Creator, in foretelling matters for laughter and tears, was the first who said that those who mourned should laugh. Accordingly, He who began (His course) with consolation for the poor, and the humble, and the hungry, and the weeping, was at once eager 3964 to represent Himself as Him whom He had pointed out by the mouth of Isaiah: \u201cThe Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the poor.\u201d 3965 \u201cBlessed are the needy, because theirs is the kingdom of heaven.\u201d 3966 \u201cHe hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted.\u201d 3967 \u201cBlessed are they that hunger, for they shall be filled.\u201d 3968 \u201cTo comfort all that mourn.\u201d 3969 \u201cBlessed are they that weep, for they shall laugh.\u201d 3970 \u201cTo give unto them that mourn in Sion, beauty (or glory) for ashes, and the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.\u201d 3971 Now since Christ, as soon as He entered on His course, 3972 fulfilled such a ministration as this, He is either, Himself, He who predicted His own coming to do all this; or else if he is not yet come who predicted this, the charge to Marcion\u2019s Christ must be a ridiculous one (although I should perhaps add a necessary 3973 one), which bade him say, \u201cBlessed shall ye be, when men shall hate you, and shall reproach you, and shall cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man\u2019s sake.\u201d 3974 In this declaration there is, no doubt, an exhortation to patience. Well, what did the Creator say otherwise by Isaiah? \u201cFear ye not the reproach of men, nor be diminished by their contempt.\u201d 3975 What reproach? what contempt? That which was to be incurred for the sake of the Son of man. What Son of man? He who (is come) according to the Creator\u2019s will. Whence shall we get our proof? From the very cutting off, which was predicted against Him; as when He says by Isaiah to the Jews, who were the instigators of hatred against Him: \u201cBecause of you, my name is blasphemed amongst the Gentiles;\u201d 3976 and in another passage: \u201cLay the penalty on 3977 Him who surrenders 3978 His own life, who is held in contempt by the Gentiles, whether servants or magistrates.\u201d 3979 Now, since hatred was predicted against that Son of man who has His mission from the Creator, whilst the Gospel testifies that the name of Christians, as derived from Christ, was to be hated for the Son of man\u2019s sake, because He is Christ, it determines the point that that was the Son of man in the matter of hatred who came according to the Creator\u2019s purpose, and against whom the hatred was predicted. And even if He had not yet come, the hatred of His name which exists at the present day could not in any case have possibly preceded Him who was to bear the name. 3980 But He has both suffered the penalty 3981 in our presence, and surrendered His life, laying it down for our sakes, and is held in contempt by the Gentiles. And He who was born (into the world) will be that very Son of man on whose account our name also is rejected.\nThe original runs thus: \u201cVenio nunc ad ordinarias sententias ejus, per quas proprietatem doctrin\u00e6 su\u00e6 inducit ad edictum, ut ita dixerim, Christi.\u201d There is here an allusion to the edict of the Roman pr\u00e6tor, that is, his public announcement, in which he states (when entering on his office) the rules by which he will be guided in the administration of the same (see White and Riddle, Latin Dict. s. v. Edictum).\n365:3937 365:3938 365:3939\nPs. xlv. 1. [And see Vol. I. p. 213, supra.]\n365:3940 365:3941 365:3942 366:3943 366:3944 366:3945 366:3946 366:3947 366:3948\nThe books of \u201cSamuel\u201d were also called the books of \u201cKings.\u201d\n366:3949 366:3950 366:3951 366:3952 366:3953\nTertullian seems to have read \u03b4\u03b9\u03b1\u03bb\u03bb\u03b1\u03c7\u03b8\u1ff6\u03bc\u03b5\u03bd instead of \u03b4\u03b9\u03b1\u03bb\u03b5\u03c7\u03b8\u1ff6\u03bc\u03b5\u03bd, let us reason together, in his LXX.\n366:3954 366:3955 366:3956 366:3957\nIn evangelii scilicet sui pr\u00e6structionem.\n366:3958 366:3959 366:3960 366:3961 366:3962\nIsa. 65:13, 14.\n366:3963 367:3964 367:3965 367:3966 367:3967 367:3968 367:3969 367:3970 367:3971 367:3972 367:3973\nSaid in irony, as if Marcion\u2019s Christ deserved the rejection.\n367:3974 367:3975\nHis reading of Isa. li. 7.\n367:3976 367:3977 367:3978 367:3979\nFamulis et magistratibus. It is uncertain what passage this quotation represents. It sounds like some of the clauses of Isa. liii.\n367:3980 367:3981","title":"Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol III: Tertullian: Part II: Christ...","type":"page"}