Ante-Nicene Fathers • VOLUME 3
Tertullian — Latin Christianity
SECTION 361
Chapter LII.--From St. Paul's Analogy of the Seed We Learn that the Body Which Died Will Rise Again, Garnished with the Appliances of Eternal Life.
Chapter LII.--From St. Paul's Analogy of the Seed We Learn that the Body Which Died Will Rise Again, Garnished with the Appliances of Eternal Life. Let us now see in what body he asserts that the dead will come. And with a felicitous sally he proceeds at once to illustrate the point, as if an objector had plied him with some su…
2,422 wordsSECTION 362Chapter LIV.--Death Swallowed Up of Life. Meaning of This Phrase in Relation to the Resurrection of the Body.
What shall we say then? Has not the flesh even now (in this life) the spirit by faith? so that the question still remains to be asked, how it is that the animate (or natural) body can be said to be sown? Surely the flesh has received even here the spirit--but only its "earnest;" [7699] whereas of the soul (it has received) not t…
1,490 wordsSECTION 363Chapter LVI.--The Procedure of the Last Judgment, and Its Awards, Only Possible on the Identity of the Risen Body with Our Present Flesh.
Chapter LVI.--The Procedure of the Last Judgment, and Its Awards, Only Possible on the Identity of the Risen Body with Our Present Flesh. For how absurd, and in truth how unjust, and in both respects how unworthy of God, for one substance to do the work, and another to reap the reward: that this flesh of ours should be torn by …
1,343 wordsSECTION 364Chapter LVIII.--From This Perfection of Our Restored Bodies Will Flow the Consciousness of Undisturbed Joy and Peace.
Chapter LVIII.--From This Perfection of Our Restored Bodies Will Flow the Consciousness of Undisturbed Joy and Peace. "Everlasting joy," says Isaiah, "shall be upon their heads." [7728] Well, there is nothing eternal until after the resurrection. "And sorrow and sighing," continues he, "shall flee away." [7729] The angel echoes…
1,899 wordsSECTION 365Chapter LXI.--The Details of Our Bodily Sex, and of the Functions of Our Various Members. Apology for the Necessity Which Heresy Imposes of Hunting Up All Its Unblushing Cavils.
Chapter LXI.--The Details of Our Bodily Sex, and of the Functions of Our Various Members. Apology for the Necessity Which Heresy Imposes of Hunting Up All Its Unblushing Cavils. Now you have received your mouth, O man, for the purpose of devouring your food and imbibing your drink: why not, however, for the higher purpose of ut…
2,208 wordsSECTION 366Chapter I.--Satan's Wiles Against the Truth. How They Take the Form of the Praxean Heresy. Account of the Publication of This Heresy.
III. (Paradise, cap. xliii. p. 576.) This sentence reads, in the translation I am editing, as follows: "No one, on becoming absent from the body, is at once a dweller in the presence of the Lord, except by the prerogative of martyrdom, whereby (the saint) gets at once a lodging in Paradise, not in Hades." But the original does…
1,222 wordsSECTION 367Chapter II.--The Catholic Doctrine of the Trinity and Unity, Sometimes Called the Divine Economy, or Dispensation of the Personal Relations of the Godhead.
Chapter II.--The Catholic Doctrine of the Trinity and Unity, Sometimes Called the Divine Economy, or Dispensation of the Personal Relations of the Godhead. In the course of time, then, the Father forsooth was born, and the Father suffered, God Himself, the Lord Almighty, whom in their preaching they declare to be Jesus Christ. …
1,522 wordsSECTION 368Chapter IV.--The Unity of the Godhead and the Supremacy and Sole Government of the Divine Being. The Monarchy Not at All Impaired by the Catholic Doctrine.
Chapter IV.--The Unity of the Godhead and the Supremacy and Sole Government of the Divine Being. The Monarchy Not at All Impaired by the Catholic Doctrine. But as for me, who derive the Son from no other source but from the substance of the Father, and (represent Him) as doing nothing without the Father's will, and as having re…
1,354 wordsSECTION 369Chapter VI.--The Word of God is Also the Wisdom of God. The Going Forth of Wisdom to Create the Universe, According to the Divine Plan.
Chapter VI.--The Word of God is Also the Wisdom of God. The Going Forth of Wisdom to Create the Universe, According to the Divine Plan. This power and disposition [7818] of the Divine Intelligence [7819] is set forth also in the Scriptures under the name of Sophia, Wisdom; for what can be better entitled to the name of Wisdom […
2,214 wordsSECTION 370Chapter IX.--The Catholic Rule of Faith Expounded in Some of Its Points. Especially in the Unconfused Distinction of the Several Persons of the Blessed Trinity.
[7846] "The word probole properly means anything which proceeds or is sent forth from the substance of another, as the fruit of a tree or the rays of the sun. In Latin, it is translated by prolatio, emissio, or editio, or what we now express by the word development. In Tertullian's time, Valentinus had given the term a material …
3,062 wordsSECTION 371Chapter XII.--Other Quotations from Holy Scripture Adduced in Proof of the Plurality of Persons in the Godhead.
[7875] Distincte, non divise. [7876] For this version of Ps. xlv. 1, see our Anti-Marcion, p. 66, note 5, Edin. [7877] Ecce. [7878] Ps. ii. 7. [7879] In allusion to Ps. cx. 3 (Sept.) [7880] In allusion to Prov. viii. 22. [7881] Isa. xlii. 1. [7882] Isa. xlix. 6. [7883] Isa. lxi. 1 and Luke iv. 18. [7884] Ps. lxxi. 18. …
2,305 wordsSECTION 372Chapter XIV.--The Natural Invisibility of the Father, and the Visibility of the Son Witnessed in Many Passages of the Old Testament. Arguments of Their Distinctness, Thus Supplied.
[7906] Ps. xlv. 6, 7. [7907] Isa. xlv. 14, 15 (Sept.). [7908] John i. 1. [7909] Ps. cx. 1. [7910] Isa. liii. 1. [7911] Gen. xix. 24. [7912] Ps. lxxxii. 6. [7913] Ver. 1. [7914] Retro. [7915] Numerum. [7916] Conscientia. [7917] Rom. i. 7. [7918] Rom. ix. 5. [7919] Species. Chapter XIV.--The Natural Invisibility of t…
1,441 wordsSECTION 373Chapter XV.--New Testament Passages Quoted. They Attest the Same Truth of the Son's Visibility Contrasted with the Father's Invisibility.
Chapter XV.--New Testament Passages Quoted. They Attest the Same Truth of the Son's Visibility Contrasted with the Father's Invisibility. If I fail in resolving this article (of our faith) by passages which may admit of dispute [7937] out of the Old Testament, I will take out of the New Testament a confirmation of our view, tha…
1,265 wordsSECTION 374Chapter XVI.--Early Manifestations of the Son of God, as Recorded in the Old Testament; Rehearsals of His Subsequent Incarnation.
Chapter XVI.--Early Manifestations of the Son of God, as Recorded in the Old Testament; Rehearsals of His Subsequent Incarnation. But you must not suppose that only the works which relate to the (creation of the) world were made by the Son, but also whatsoever since that time has been done by God. For "the Father who loveth the…
1,139 wordsSECTION 375Chapter XVII.--Sundry August Titles, Descriptive of Deity, Applied to the Son, Not, as Praxeas Would Have It, Only to the Father.
Chapter XVII.--Sundry August Titles, Descriptive of Deity, Applied to the Son, Not, as Praxeas Would Have It, Only to the Father. They more readily supposed that the Father acted in the Son's name, than that the Son acted in the Father's; although the Lord says Himself, "I am come in my Father's name;" [7979] and even to the Fa…
2,061 wordsSECTION 376Chapter XX.--The Scriptures Relied on by Praxeas to Support His Heresy But Few. They are Mentioned by Tertullian.
Chapter XX.--The Scriptures Relied on by Praxeas to Support His Heresy But Few. They are Mentioned by Tertullian. But I must take some further pains to rebut their arguments, when they make selections from the Scriptures in support of their opinion, and refuse to consider the other points, which obviously maintain the rule of f…
1,882 wordsSECTION 377Chapter XX.--The Scriptures Relied on by Praxeas to Support His Heresy But Few. They are Mentioned by Tertullian.
Again, whose doctrine does He announce, at which all were astonished? [8040] Was it His own or the Father's? So, when they were in doubt among themselves whether He were the Christ (not as being the Father, of course but as the Son), He says to them "You are not ignorant whence I am; and I am not come of myself, but He that sent…
1,570 wordsSECTION 378Chapter XXIII.--More Passages from the Same Gospel in Proof of the Same Portion of the Catholic Faith. Praxeas' Taunt of Worshipping Two Gods Repudiated.
Chapter XXIII.--More Passages from the Same Gospel in Proof of the Same Portion of the Catholic Faith. Praxeas' Taunt of Worshipping Two Gods Repudiated. Again, when Martha in a later passage acknowledged Him to be the Son of God, [8070] she no more made a mistake than Peter [8071] and Nathanæl [8072] had; and yet, even if she …
1,172 wordsSECTION 379Chapter XXIV.--On St. Philip's Conversation with Christ. He that Hath Seen Me, Hath Seen the Father. This Text Explained in an Anti-Praxean Sense.
Chapter XXIV.--On St. Philip's Conversation with Christ. He that Hath Seen Me, Hath Seen the Father. This Text Explained in an Anti-Praxean Sense. But there were some who even then did not understand. For Thomas, who was so long incredulous, said: "Lord, we know not whither Thou goest; and how can we know the way? Jesus saith u…
1,824 wordsSECTION 380Chapter XXVI.--A Brief Reference to the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Luke. Their Agreement with St. John, in Respect to the Distinct Personality of the Father and the Son.
Chapter XXVI.--A Brief Reference to the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Luke. Their Agreement with St. John, in Respect to the Distinct Personality of the Father and the Son. In addition to Philip's conversation, and the Lord's reply to it, the reader will observe that we have run through John's Gospel to show that many other pa…
2,708 wordsSECTION 381[8150] Ipsæ.
[8150] Ipsæ. [8151] Luke i. 35. [8152] Matt. i. 23. [8153] His version of Ps. lxxxvii. 5. [8154] Ex. [8155] Rom. i. 3. [8156] Ver. 4. [8157] See next chapter. [8158] i.e., Christ's divine nature. [8159] John iii. 6. [8160] Luke i. 35. [8161] 1 Tim. ii. 5. Chapter XXVIII.--Christ Not the Father, as Praxeas Said. The I…
1,021 wordsSECTION 382Chapter XXIX.--It Was Christ that Died. The Father is Incapable of Suffering Either Solely or with Another. Blasphemous Conclusions Spring from Praxeas' Premises.
Chapter XXIX.--It Was Christ that Died. The Father is Incapable of Suffering Either Solely or with Another. Blasphemous Conclusions Spring from Praxeas' Premises. Silence! Silence on such blasphemy. Let us be content with saying that Christ died, the Son of the Father; and let this suffice, because the Scriptures have told us s…
1,539 wordsSECTION 383Chapter XXXI.--Retrograde Character of the Heresy of Praxeas. The Doctrine of the Blessed Trinity Constitutes the Great Difference Between Judaism and Christianity.
Chapter XXXI.--Retrograde Character of the Heresy of Praxeas. The Doctrine of the Blessed Trinity Constitutes the Great Difference Between Judaism and Christianity. But, (this doctrine of yours bears a likeness) to the Jewish faith, of which this is the substance--so to believe in One God as to refuse to reckon the Son besides …
2,279 wordsSECTION 384III.
III. (These three are one, cap. xxv. p. 621. Also p. 606.) Porson having spoken Pontifically upon the matter of the text of "the Three Witnesses," cadit quæstio, locutus est Augur Apollo. It is of more importance that Bishop Kaye in his calm wisdom, remarks as follows; [8210] "In my opinion, the passage in Tertullian, far from…
895 wordsSECTION 385Chapter I.
Chapter I. The earth brings forth, as if by suppuration, great evil from the diminutive scorpion. The poisons are as many as are the kinds of it, the disasters as many as are also the species of it, the pains as many as are also the colours of it. Nicander writes on the subject of scorpions, and depicts them. And yet to smite w…
1,282 wordsSECTION 386Chapter II.
Chapter II. But not yet about the good to be got from martyrdom must we learn, without our having first heard about the duty of suffering it; nor must we learn the usefulness of it, before we have heard about the necessity for it. The (question of the) divine warrant goes first--whether God has willed and also commanded ought o…
1,412 wordsSECTION 387Chapter III.
Chapter III. Nor should I think it needful to discuss whether God pursues a worthy course in forbidding His own name and honour to be given over to a lie, or does so in not consenting that such as He has plucked from the maze of false religion should return again to Egypt, or does so in not suffering to depart from Him them who…
1,202 wordsSECTION 388Chapter V.
Chapter V. You have therefore the will of my God. We have cured this prick. Let us give good heed to another thrust touching the character of His will. It would be tedious to show that my God is good,--a truth with which the Marcionites have now been made acquainted by us. Meanwhile it is enough that He is called God for its be…
995 wordsSECTION 389Chapter VI.
Chapter VI. But if, for the contest's sake, God had appointed martyrdoms for us, that thereby we might make trial with our opponent, in order that He may now keep bruising him by whom man chose to be bruised, here too generosity rather than harshness in God holds sway. For He wished to make man, now plucked from the devil's thr…
1,027 wordsSECTION 390Chapter VII.
Chapter VII. If the scorpion, swinging his tail in the air, still reproach us with having a murderer for our God, I shall shudder at the altogether foul breath of blasphemy which comes stinking from his heretical mouth; but I will embrace even such a God, with assurance derived from reason, by which reason even He Himself has, …
1,498 wordsSECTION 391Chapter IX.
Chapter IX. It remains for us, lest ancient times may perhaps have had the sacrament [8270] (exclusively) their own, to review the modern Christian system, as though, being also from God, it might be different from what preceded, and besides, therefore, opposed thereto in its code of rules likewise, so that its Wisdom knows not…
1,518 wordsSECTION 392Chapter X.
Chapter X. But as to those who think that not here, that is, not within this environment of earth, nor during this period of existence, nor before men possessing this nature shared by us all, has confession been appointed to be made, what a supposition is theirs, being at variance with the whole order of things of which we have…
1,791 wordsSECTION 393Chapter XI.
Chapter XI. In the same manner, therefore, we maintain that the other announcements too refer to the condition of martyrdom. "He," says Jesus, "who will value his own life also more than me, is not worthy of me," [8286] --that is, he who will rather live by denying, than die by confessing, me; and "he who findeth his life shall…
862 wordsSECTION 394Chapter XII.
Chapter XII. Who, now, should know better the marrow of the Scriptures than the school of Christ itself?--the persons whom the Lord both chose for Himself as scholars, certainly to be fully instructed in all points, and appointed to us for masters to instruct us in all points. To whom would He have rather made known the veiled …
988 wordsSECTION 395Chapter XIII.
Chapter XIII. But how Paul, an apostle, from being a persecutor, who first of all shed the blood of the church, though afterwards he exchanged the sword for the pen, and turned the dagger into a plough, being first a ravening wolf of Benjamin, then himself supplying food as did Jacob, [8306] --how he, (I say,) speaks in favour …
991 wordsSECTION 396Chapter XIV.
Chapter XIV. No doubt the apostle admonishes the Romans [8320] to be subject to all power, because there is no power but of God, and because (the ruler) does not carry the sword without reason, and is the servant of God, nay also, says he, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. For he had also previously spoken t…
1,040 wordsSECTION 397Chapter I.--Earliest Heretics: [8331] Simon Magus, Menander, Saturninus, Basilides, Nicolaus. [The Work Begins as a Fragment.]
Chapter I.--Earliest Heretics: [8331] Simon Magus, Menander, Saturninus, Basilides, Nicolaus. [The Work Begins as a Fragment.] Of which heretics I will (to pass by a good deal) summarize some few particulars. For of Judaism's heretics I am silent--Dositheus the Samaritan, I mean, who was the first who had the hardihood to repud…
1,137 wordsSECTION 398Chapter II.--Ophites, Cainites, Sethites.
Chapter II.--Ophites, Cainites, Sethites. To these are added those heretics likewise who are called Ophites: [8354] for they magnify the serpent to such a degree, that they prefer him even to Christ Himself; for it was he, they say, who gave us the origin of the knowledge of good and of evil. [8355] His power and majesty (they …
1,085 wordsSECTION 399Chapter III.--Carpocrates, Cerinthus, Ebion.
Chapter III.--Carpocrates, Cerinthus, Ebion. Carpocrates, furthermore, introduced the following sect. He affirms that there is one Virtue, the chief among the upper (regions): that out of this were produced angels and Virtues, which, being far distant from the upper Virtues, created this world [8373] in the lower regions: that …
1,435 wordsSECTION 400Chapter V.--Marcus and Colarbasus.
Chapter V.--Marcus and Colarbasus. After these there were not wanting a Marcus and a Colarbasus, composing a novel heresy out of the Greek alphabet. For they affirm that without those letters truth cannot be found; nay more, that in those letters the whole plenitude and perfection of truth is comprised; for this was why Christ …
1,094 wordsSource & rights
Historical text source: Christian Classics Ethereal Library. The downloaded text itself records Public Domain.