Chapter VIII.--Be on your guard against the snares of the devil.
Not that I know there is anything of this kind among you; but I put you on your guard, inasmuch as I love you greatly, and foresee the snares of the devil. Wherefore, clothing [775] yourselves with meekness, be ye renewed [776] in faith, that is the flesh of the Lord, and in love, that is the blood of Jesus Christ. Let no one of you cherish any grudge against his neighbour. Give no occasion to the Gentiles, lest by means of a few foolish men the whole multitude [of those that believe] in God be evil spoken of. For, "Woe to him by whose vanity my name is blasphemed among any." [777]
Now I write these things unto you, not that I know there are any such persons among you; nay, indeed I hope that God will never permit any such report to reach my ears, He "who spared not His Son for the sake of His holy Church." [778] But foreseeing the snares of the wicked one, I arm you beforehand by my admonitions, as my beloved and faithful children in Christ, furnishing you with the means of protection [779] against the deadly disease of unruly men, by which do ye flee from the disease [780] [referred to] by the good-will of Christ our Lord. Do ye therefore, clothing [781] yourselves with meekness, become the imitators of His sufferings, and of His love, wherewith [782] He loved us when He gave Himself a ransom [783] for us, that He might cleanse us by His blood from our old ungodliness, and bestow life on us when we were almost on the point of perishing through the depravity that was in us. Let no one of you, therefore, cherish any grudge against his neighbour. For says our Lord, "Forgive, and it shall be forgiven unto you." [784] Give no occasion to the Gentiles, lest "by means of a few foolish men the word and doctrine [of Christ] be blasphemed." [785] For says the prophet, as in the person of God, "Woe to him by whom my name is blasphemed among the Gentiles." [786]
[775] Literally, "taking up."
[776] Or, "renew yourselves."
[777] Isa. lii. 5.
[778] Rom. viii. 32.
[779] Literally, "making you drink beforehand what will preserve you."
[780] Or, "from which disease."
[781] Literally, "taking up."
[782] Comp. Eph. ii. 4.
[783] Comp. 1 Tim. ii. 6.
[784] Matt. vi. 14.
[785] 1 Tim. vi. 1; Tit. ii. 5.
[786] Isa. lii. 5.
Chapter IX.--Reference to the history of Christ.
Stop your ears, therefore, when any one speaks to you at variance with [787] Jesus Christ, who was descended from David, and was also of Mary; who was truly born, and did eat and drink. He was truly persecuted under Pontius Pilate; He was truly crucified, and [truly] died, in the sight of beings in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth. He was also truly raised from the dead, His Father quickening Him, even as after the same manner His Father will so raise up us who believe in Him by Christ Jesus, apart from whom we do not possess the true life.
Stop your ears, therefore, when any one speaks to you at variance with [788] Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was descended from David, and was also of Mary; who was truly begotten of God and of the Virgin, but not after the same manner. For indeed God and man are not the same. He truly assumed a body; for "the Word was made flesh," [789] and lived upon earth without sin. For says He, "Which of you convicteth me of sin?" [790] He did in reality both eat and drink. He was crucified and died under Pontius Pilate. He really, and not merely in appearance, was crucified, and died, in the sight of beings in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth. By those in heaven I mean such as are possessed of incorporeal natures; by those on earth, the Jews and Romans, and such persons as were present at that time when the Lord was crucified; and by those under the earth, the multitude that arose along with the Lord. For says the Scripture, "Many bodies of the saints that slept arose," [791] their graves being opened. He descended, indeed, into Hades alone, but He arose accompanied by a multitude; and rent asunder that means [792] of separation which had existed from the beginning of the world, and cast down its partition-wall. He also rose again in three days, the Father raising Him up; and after spending forty days with the apostles, He was received up to the Father, and "sat down at His right hand, expecting till His enemies are placed under His feet." [793] On the day of the preparation, then, at the third hour, He received the sentence from Pilate, the Father permitting that to happen; at the sixth hour He was crucified; at the ninth hour He gave up the ghost; and before sunset He was buried. [794] During the Sabbath He continued under the earth in the tomb in which Joseph of Arimathæa had laid Him. At the dawning of the Lord's day He arose from the dead, according to what was spoken by Himself, "As Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of man also be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." [795] The day of the preparation, then, comprises the passion; the Sabbath embraces the burial; the Lord's Day contains the resurrection.
[787] Literally, "apart from."
[788] Literally, "apart from."
[789] John i. 14.
[790] John viii. 46.
[791] Matt. xxvii. 52.
[792] Literally, "hedge," or "fence."
[793] Heb. x. 12, 13.
[794] Some read, "He was taken down from the cross, and laid in a new tomb."
[795] Matt. xii. 40.