15. And all those other points which I have shown the prophets to have uttered by means of so long a series of Scriptures, he who is truly spiritual will interpret by pointing out, in regard to every one of the things which have been spoken, to what special point in the dispensation of the Lord is referred, and [by thus exhibiting] the entire system of the work of the Son of God, knowing always the same God, and always acknowledging the same Word of God, although He has [but] now been manifested to us; acknowledging also at all times the same Spirit of God, although He has been poured out upon us after a new fashion in these last times, [knowing that He descends] even from the creation of the world to its end upon the human race simply as such, from whom those who believe God and follow His word receive that salvation which flows from Him. Those, on the other hand, who depart from Him, and despise His precepts, and by their deeds bring dishonour on Him who made them, and by their opinions blaspheme Him who nourishes them, heap up against themselves most righteous judgment. [4338] He therefore (i.e., the spiritual man) sifts and tries them all, but he himself is tried by no man: [4339] he neither blasphemes his Father, nor sets aside His dispensations, nor inveighs against the fathers, nor dishonours the prophets, by maintaining that they were [sent] from another God [than he worships], or again, that their prophecies were derived from different sources. [4340]
[4253] 1 Cor. ii. 15. [The argument of this chapter hinges on Ps. xxv. 14, and expounds a difficult text of St. Paul. A man who has the mind of God's Spirit is the only judge of spiritual things. Worldly men are incompetent critics of Scripture and of Christian exposition.
[4254] Rom. i. 21.
[4255] Isa. liii. 3.
[4256] Zech. ix. 9.
[4257] Ps. cxviii. 22.
[4258] Isa. liii. 7.
[4259] Ex. xvii. 11.
[4260] Isa. xi. 12.
[4261] Comp. book iii. 20, 4.
[4262] Dan. vii. 13.
[4263] Mal. iv. 1.
[4264] Isa. xi. 4.
[4265] Matt. iii. 12; Luke iii. 17.
[4266] Harvey points this sentence interrogatively.
[4267] "Temperamentum calicis:" on which Harvey remarks that "the mixture of water with the wine in the holy Eucharist was the universal practice of antiquity ... the wine signifying the mystical Head of the Church, the water the body." [Whatever the significance, it harmonizes with the Paschal chalice, and with 1 John v. 6, and St. John's gospel John xix. 34, 35.]
[4268] John xix. 34.
[4269] This sentence is very obscure in the Latin text.
[4270] Iliad, ix. 312, 313.
[4271] The text is obscure, and the construction doubtful.
[4272] The Latin here is, "quæ est ex virgine per fidem regenerationem." According to Massuet, "virgine" here refers not to Mary, but to the Church. Grabe suspects that some words have been lost.
[4273] Matt. xii. 41, 42.
[4274] Matt. xxii. 43.
[4275] Matt. xxii. 29; Luke xi. 21, 22.
[4276] Literally, "who was strong against men."
[4277] In fine; lit. "in the end."
[4278] In semetipsum: lit. "unto Himself."
[4279] We here follow the reading "proferant:" the passage is difficult and obscure, but the meaning is as above.
[4280] Matt. xxiii. 24.
[4281] The Greek text here is skenobatoun (lit. "to tabernacle:" comp. eskenosen, John i. 14) kath' ekasten genean en tois anthropois: the Latin is, "Secundum quas (dispositiones) aderat generi humano." We have endeavoured to express the meaning of both.
[4282] The following section is an important one, but very difficult to translate with undoubted accuracy. The editors differ considerably both as to the construction and the interpretation. We have done our best to represent the meaning in English, but may not have been altogether successful.
[4283] The Greek is sustema: the Latin text has "status."
[4284] The Latin is, "character corporis."
[4285] The text here is, "custodita sine fictione scripturarum;" some prefer joining "scripturarum" to the following words.
[4286] We follow Harvey's text, "tractatione;" others read "tractatio." According to Harvey, the creed of the Church is denoted by "tractatione;" but Massuet renders the clause thus: ["True knowledge consists in] a very complete tractatio of the Scriptures, which has come down to us by being preserved (custoditione' being read instead of custodita') without falsification."
[4287] Comp. 2 Cor. viii. 1; 1 Cor. xiii.
[4288] i.e., the heretics.
[4289] Comp. above, xxxi. 2.
[4290] Matt. v. 12.
[4291] Comp. 1 Pet. iv. 14.
[4292] Isa. vi. 1; Ps. cx. 1.
[4293] Dan. vii. 13.
[4294] Zech. xii. 10.
[4295] Luke xviii. 8. There is nothing to correspond with "putas" in the received text.
[4296] 2 Thess. i. 6-8.
[4297] Matt. iii. 12.
[4298] Matt. xxv. 41.
[4299] 2 Thess. i. 9, 10.
[4300] Ps. xlv. 2.
[4301] Ps. xlv. 7.
[4302] Ps. xlv. 3, 4.
[4303] Jer. xvii. 9 (LXX.). Harvey here remarks: "The LXX. read 'nvs instead of 'nvs. Thus, from a text that teaches us that the heart is deceitful above all things, the Fathers extract a proof of the manhood of Christ."
[4304] Isa. viii. 3, Isa. ix. 6, Isa. vii. 14. [A confusion of texts.]
[4305] Joel iii. 16.
[4306] Ps. lxxvi. 1.
[4307] Hab. iii. 3.
[4308] See III. xx. 4.
[4309] Isa. xxxv. 5, 6.
[4310] Isa. xxxv. 3.
[4311] Isa. xxvi. 19.
[4312] Isa. liii. 4.
[4313] Isa. liii. 3.
[4314] Zech. ix. 9.
[4315] Isa. l. 6.
[4316] Isa. liii. 7.
[4317] Ps. lxix. 21.
[4318] Ps. xxxviii. 11.
[4319] Isa. lxv. 2.
[4320] Ps. xxii. 7.
[4321] Ps. xxii. 18.
[4322] Ps. xxii. 15.
[4323] Comp. book iii. cap. xx. 4 and book iv. cap xxii. 1.
[4324] Amos viii. 9, 10.
[4325] Jer. xv. 9.
[4326] Ps. iii. 5.
[4327] Ps. xxiv. 7.
[4328] Ps. xix. 6.
[4329] Ps. xcix. 1.
[4330] Matt. xxiv. 21.
[4331] Or "son."
[4332] Isa. l. 8, 9 (loosely quoted).
[4333] Isa. ii. 17.
[4334] Jer. xxxi. 31, 32.
[4335] Ezek. xxxvi. 26.
[4336] Isa. xliii. 19-21.
[4337] Matt. ix. 17.
[4338] Rom. ii. 5.
[4339] 1 Cor. ii. 15.
[4340] "Ex alia et alia substantia fuisse prophetias."