who taught the law in word, while they broke it in deed. Christ says of the Pharisees in an- other place, " What tiiey say, that do; but do not after their works: for they say, and do not. "5 So here also He adds, "For I say unto you. Except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven;''^ that is. Unless ye shall both do and teach what they teach without doing, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. This law, therefore, which the Pharisees taught without keeping it, Christ says He came not to destroy, but to fulfill; for this was the law connected with the seat of Moses in which the Pharisees sat, who, because they said without doing, are to be heard, but not to be imitated.
6. Faustus does not understand, or pre-, tends not to understand, what it is to fulfill the law. He supposes the expression to mean the addition of words to the law, re- garding which it is written that nothing is to be added to or taken away from the Script- ures of God. From this Faustus argues that there can be no fulfillment of what is spoken of as so perfect that nothing can be added to it or taken from it. Faustus requires to be told that the law is fulfilled by living as it en- joins. " Love is the fulfilling of the law,"^ as the apostle says. The Lord has vouch- safed both to manifest and to impart this love, by sending the Holy Spirit to His be- lieving people. So it is said by the same apostle: " The love of God is shed abroad in our heart by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us."^ And the Lord Himself says: " By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another."' The law, then, is fulfilled both by the observ- ance of its precepts and by the accomplish- ment of its prophecies. For " the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." '° The law itself, by being fulfilled, becomes grace and truth. Grace is the fulfillment of love, and truth is the. ac- i complishment of the prophecies. And as both grace and truth are by Christ, it follows that He came not to destroy the law, but to fulfill it; not by supplying any defects in the law, but by obedience to what is written in the law. ja Christ's own words declare this. For Hell does not say, One jot or one tittle shall in no. wise pass from the law till its defects are sup-i plied, but " till all be fulfilled."
i1 Book XVIII.]
REPLY TO FAUSTUS THE MANICH/EAN.
237 BOOK XVIII.
THE RELATION OF CHRIST TO PROPHECY, CONTINUED.
1. Faustus said: " I came riot to destroy ' the law, but to fulfill it." If these are Christ's words, unless they have some other meaning, ; they are as much against you as against me. 1 Your Christianity as well as mine is based on ; the belief that Christ came to destroy the law and the prophets. Your actions prove this, even though in words you deny it. It is on this ground that you disregard the precepts of the law and the prophets. It is on this i^Tound that we both acknowledge Jesus as the founder of the New Testament, in which is implied the acknowledgment that the Old Testament is destroyed. How, then, can we believe that Christ said these words without first confessing that hitherto we have been wholly in error, and without showing our re- pentance by entering on a course of obedi- ence to the law and the prophets, and of care- ful observance of their requirements, whatever they may be? This done, we may honestly believe that Jesus said that he came not to destroy the law, but to fulfill it. As it is, you accuse me of not believing what you do not believe yourself, and what therefore is false.
2. But grant that we have been in the wrong hitherto. What is to be done now? Shall we come under the law, since Christ has not destroyed, but fulfilled it? Shall we by cir- cumcision add shame to shame, and believe that God is pleased with such sacraments? Shall we observe the rest of the Sabbath, and bind ourselves in the fetters of Saturn? Shall we glut the demon of the Jews, for he is not God, with the slaughter of bulls, rams, and goats, not to say of men; and adopt, only with greater cruelty, in obedience to the law and the prophets, the practices on account of which we abandoned idolatry? Shall we, in fine, call the flesh of some animals clean, and that of others unclean, among which, accord- ing to the law and the prophets, swine's flesh ' has a particular defilement? C)f course you will allow that as Christians we must not do any of these things, for you remember that Christ says that a man when circumcised bei comes twofold a child of hell.' It is plain j also that Christ neither observed the Sabl)ath himself, nor commanded it to be observed. And regarding foods, he says expressly that I man is not defiled by anything that goes into his mouth, but rather by the things which come out of it." Regarding sacrifices, too, he often says that God desires'mercy, and not sacrifice. 3 What becomes, then, of the state- ment that he came not to destroy the law, but to fulfill it? If Christ said this, he must have meant something else, or, what is not to be thought of, he told a lie, or he never said it. No Christian will allow that Jesus spoke falsely; therefore he must either not have said this, or said it with another meaning.
3. For my part, as a Manichsean, this verse has little difficulty lor me, for at the outset I am taught to believe that many things which pass in Scripture under the name of the Sa- viour are spurious, and that they must there- fore be tested to find whether they are true, and sound, and genuine; for the enemy v»-ho comes by night has corrupted almost every passage by sowing tares among the wheat. So I am not alarmed by these words, notwith- standing the sacred name affixed to them; for I still claim the liberty to examine whether this comes from the hand of the good sower, who sows in the day-time, or of the evil one, who sows in the night. But what escape from this difficulty can there be for you, who receive everything without examination, con- demning the use of reason, which is the pre- rogative of human nature, and thinking it impiety to distinguish between truth and falsehood, and as much afraid of separating between what is good and what is not as chil- dren are of ghosts? For suppose a Jew or any one acquainted with these words should ask you why you do not keep the precepts of the law and the prophets, since Christ says that he came not to destroy but to fulfill them: you will be obliged either to join in the superstitious follies of the Jews, or to declare this verse false, or to deny that you are a follower of Christ.
4. AuGUSTiN replied: Since you continue repeating what has been so often exposed and refuted, we must be content to repeat the refutation. The things in the law and the prophets which Christians do not observe, are only the types of what they do observe. These types were figures of things to come, and are necessarily removed when the things themselves are fully revealed by Christ, that in this very removal tlie law and the prophets may be fulfilled. So it is written in the prophets that God would give a new covenant, Matt.
.\.\in 15.
"Matt. XV. II.
3 Matt. ix. 13.
238 THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Book XVIII.
" not as I gave to their fathers." ' Such was the hardness of heart of the people under the Old Testament, that many precepts were given to them, not so much because they were good, as because they suited the people. Still, in all these things the future was foretold and prefigured, although the people did not un- derstand the meaning of their own observ- ances. After the manifest appearance of the things thus signified, we are not required to observe the types; but we read them to see their meaning. So, again, it is foretold in the prophets, " I will take away their stony heart, and will give them a heart of flesh," - — that is, a sensible heart, instead of an insensi- ble one. To this the apostle alludes in the words: "Not in tables of stone, but in the fleshy tables of the heart." ^ The fleshy tables of the heart are the same as the heart of flesh. Since, then, the removal of these observances is foretold, the law and the prophets could not have been fulfilled but by this removal. Now, however, the prediction is accomplished, and the fulfillment of the law and the prophets is found in what at first sight seems the very opposite.
5. We are not afraid to meet your scoff at the Sabbath, when you call it the fetters of Saturn. It is a silly and unmeaning ex- pression, which occurred to you only because you are in the habit of worshipping the sun on what you call Sunday. What you call Sunday we call the Lord's day, and on it we do not worship the sun, but the Lord's resur- rection. And in the same way, the fathers observed the rest of the Sabbath, not because they worshipped Saturn, but because it was incumbent at that time; for it was a shadow of things to corhe, as the apostle testifies.'* The Gentiles, of whom the apostle says that they "worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator," ^ gave the names of their gods to the days of the week. And so far you do the same, except that you wor- ship only the two brightest luminaries, and notthe rest of the stars, as the Gentiles did. Besides, the Gentiles gave the names of their gods to the months. In honor of Romulus, whom they believed to be the son of Mars, they dedicated the first month to Mars, and called it March. The next month, April, is named not from any god, but from the word for opening, because the buds generally open in this month. The third month is called May, in honor of Maia the mother of Mer- cury. The fourth is called June, from Juno. The rest to December used to be named ac- cording to their number The fifth and sixth, I Jer. xxxi. 32.
4 Col. ii. 17.
2 Ezek. 5 Rom.
XI. ig.
i. 25.
3 2 Cor. ii. 3.
however, got the names of July and August from men to whom divine honors were de-j creed; while the others, from September to December, continued to be named from their number. January, again, is named from Janus, and February from the rites of the Luperci called Februae. Must we say that' you worship the god Mars in the month of March? But that is the month in which you: hold the feast you call Bema with great pomp. But if you think it allowable to observe the month of March without thinking of Mars,, why do you try to bring in the name of Saturn in connection with the rest of the seventh day enjoined in Scripture, merely because the Gentiles call the day Saturday? The Script- ure name for the day is Sabbath, which means rest. Your scoff is as unreasonable as it is profane.
6. As regards animal sacrifices, every Christian knows that they were enjoined as suitable to a perverse people, and not be- cause God had any pleasure in them. Still, i even in these sacrifices there were types of what we enjoy; for we cannot obtain purifica- tion or the propitiation of God without blood. The fulfillment of these types is in Christ, by whose blood we are purified and redeemed. In these figures of the divine oracles, the bull represents Christ, because with the horns of His cross He scatters the wicked; the lamb, from His matchless innocence; the goat, from His being made in the likeness of sinful flesh, that by sin He might condemn sin.* Whatever kind of sacrifice you choose to specify, I will show you a prophecy of Christ in it. Thus we have shown regarding circum- cision, and the Sabbath, and the distinction of food, and the sacrifice of animals, that all these things were our examples, and our prophecies, which Christ came not to destroy, but to fulfill, by fulfilling what was thus fore- told. Your opponent is the apostle, whose opinion I give in his own words: "All these things were our examples." ^ 7. If you have learned from Manichyeus the willful impiety of admitting only those parts of the Gospel which do not contradict your errors, while you reject the rest, we have learned from the apostle the pious caution of looking on everyone as accursed that preaches to us another gospel than that which we have received. Hence Catholic Christians look upon you as among the tares; for, in the Lord's exposition of the meaning of the tares, they are not falsehood mixed with truth in the Scriptures, but children of the wicked one, — that is, people who imitate the deceit- 6 Rom. viii. ■;.
7 I Cor. X. 6.
Book XIX.]
REPLY TO FAUSTUS THE MANICH^AN.
239 fulness of the devil. It is not true that Catholic Christians believe everything; for they do not believe Manichreus or any of the heretics. Nor do they condemn the use of 1 human reason; but what you call reasoning I they prove to be fallacious. Nor do they think it profane to distinguish truth from falsehood; for they distinguish between the truth of the Catholic faith and the falsehood of your doctrines. Nor do they fear to sep- arate good from evil; but they contend that evil, instead of being natural, is unnatural. They know nothing of your race of darkness, which, you say, is produced from a principle of its own. and fights against the kingdom of God, and of which your god seems really to be more frightened than children are of ghosts; for, according to you, he covered himself with a veil, that he might not see his own members taken and plundered by the assault of the enemy. To conclude, Catholic Christians are in no difficulty regarding the words of Christ, though in one sense they may be said not to observe the law and the prophets; for by the grace of Christ they keep the law by their love to God and man; and on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.' Besides, they see in Christ and the Church the fulfillment of all the prophecies of the Old Testament, whether in the form of actions, or of symbolic rites, or of figurative language. So we neither join in superstitious follies, nor declare this verse false, nor deny that we are followers of Christ; for on those principles which I have set forth to the best of my power, the law and the prophets which Christ came not to destroy, but to fulfill, are no other than those recognized by the Church.
I Matt,.x.xii. 40.
BOOK XIX.
FAUSTUS IS WILLING TO ADMIT THAT CHRIST MAY HAVE SAID THAT HE CAME NOT TO DESTROY THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS, BUT T ) FULFILL THEM; BUT IF HE DID, IT WAS TO PACIFY IHi; JEWS AND IN A MODIFIED SENSE. AUGUSTIN REPLIES, AND STILL FURTHER ELABORATES THE CATHOLIC VIEW OF PROPHECY AND ITS FULFILLMENT.
1. Faustus said: I will grant that Christ said that he came not to destroy the law and the prophets, but to fulfill them. But why did Jesus say this? Was it to pacify the Jews, who were enraged at seeing their sacred institutions trampled upon by Christ, and re- garded him as a wild blasphemer, not to be listened to, much less to be followed? Or was it for our instruction as Gentile believers, that we might learn meekly and patiently to bear the yoke of commandment laid on our necks by the law and the prophets of the Jews? You yourself can hardly suppose that Christ's words were intended to bring us under the authority of the law and the prophets of the Hebrews. So that the other explanation which I have given of the words must be the rue one. Every one knows that the Jews ere always ready to attack Christ, both with ords and with actual violence. Naturally, hen, they would be enraged at the idea that hrist was destroying their law and their rophets; and, to appease them, Christ might ery well tell them not to think that he came o destroy the law, but that he came to fulfill t. There was no falsehood or deceit in this, or he used the word law in a general sense, ot of any particular law.
2. Tliere are three laws. One is that of the Hebrews, which the apostle calls the law of sin and death.' The second is that of the Gentiles, which he calls the law of nature. "For the Gentiles," he says," do by nature the things contained in the law; and. not hav- ing the law, they are a law unto themselves; who show the work of the law written on their hearts."- The third law is the truth of which the apostle speaks when he says, " The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." ' Since, then, there are three laws, we must carefully inquire which of the three Christ spoke of when He said that He came not to destroy the law, but to fulfill it. In the same way, there are prophets of the Jews, and prophets of the Gentiles, and prophets of truth. With the prophets of the Jews, of course, every one is acquainted. If any one is in doubt about the prophets of the Gentiles, let him hear what Paul says when writing of the Cretans to Titus: "A prophet of their own has said, The Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies." •* This proves that the Gentiles also had their prophets. The truth also has its prophets, as we learn from Jesus as well as from Paul. Jesus says: ' Rom. viii. 2. 3 Rom. viii. 2.
240 THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Book XIX.
" Behold, I send unto you wise men and prophets, and some of them ye shall kill in divers places." ' And Paul says: " The Lord Himself appointed first apostles, and then prophets." "= 3. As "the law and the prophets" may have three different meanings, it is uncertain in what sense the words are used by Jesus, though we may form a conjecture from what follows. For if Jesus had gone on to speak of circumcision, and Sabbaths, and sacrifices, and the observances of the Hebrews, and had added something as a fulfillment, there could have been no doubt that it was the law and the prophets of the Jews of which He said that He came not to destroy, but to fulfill them. But Christ, without any allusion to these, speaks only of commandments which date from the earliest times: " Thou shalt not kill; Thou shalt not commit adultery; Thou shalt not bear false witness." These, it can be proved, were of old promulgated in the world by Enoch and Seth, and the other righteous men, to whom the precepts were delivered by angels of lofty rank, in order to tame the savage nature of men. From this it appears that Jesus spoke of the law and the prophets of truth. And so we find him giving a fulfill- ment of those precepts already quoted. " Ye have heard," He says, "that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; but I say unto you. Be not even angry." This is the fulfillment. Again: " Ye have heard that it was said. Thou shalt not commit adultery; but I say unto you. Do not lust even." This is the fulfillment. Again: " It has been said, Thou shalt not bear false witness; but I say unto you, Swear not." This too is the fulfill- ment. He thus both confirms the old pre- cepts and supplies their defects. Where He seems to speak of some Jewish precepts, in- stead of fulfilling them. He substitutes for them precepts of an opposite tendency. He proceeds thus: "Ye have heard that it has been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth; but I say unto you, Whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also." This is not fulfillment, but destruction. Again: " It has been said. Thou shalt love thy friend, and hate thine enemy; but I say unto you, Love your enemies, and pray for your persecutors." This too is de- struction. Again: "It has been said, Who- soever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement; but I say unto you. That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery, and is himself an adulterer if he afterwards marries another woman." 3 These precepts are evidently de- stroyed because they are the precepts of Moses; while the others are fulfilled because they are the precepts of the righteous men of antiquity. If you agree to this explanation, we may allow that Jesus said that he came not to destroy the law, but to fulfill it. If you disapprove of this explanation, give one of your own. Only beware of making Jesus a liar, and of making yourself a Jew, by bind- ing yourself to fulfill the law because Christ did not destroy it.
4. If one of the Nazareans, or Symma- chians, as they are sometimes called, were arguing with me from these words of Jesus that he came not to destroy the law, I should find some difficult}'^ in answering him. For it is undeniable that, at his coming, Jesus was both in body and mind subject to the m- fluence of the law and the prophets. Those people, moreover, whom I allude to, practise circumcision, and keep the Sabbath, and ab- stain from swine's flesh and such like things, according to the law, although they profess to be Christians. They are evidently misled, as well as you, by this verse in which Chribt says that he came not to destroy the law, but to fulfill it. It would not be easy to reply to such opponents without first getting rid of this troublesome verse. But with you I have no difficulty, for you have nothing to go upon; and instead of using arguments, you seem disposed, in mere mischief, to induce me to believe that Christ said what you evidently do not yourself believe him to have said. On I the strensth of this verse you accuse me of I Matt, xxiii. 34.
• Eph. iv. II.
dullness and evasiveness, without yourself giving any indication of keeping the law in- stead of destroying it. Do you too, like a Jew or a Nazarean, glory in the obscene dis- tinction of being circumcised? Do you pride yourself in the observance of the Sabbath? Can you congratulate yourself on being inno- cent of swine's flesh? Or can you boast of having gratified the appetite of the Deity by the blood of sacrifices and the incense of Jewish offerings? If not, why do you con- tend that Christ came not to destroy the law, but to fulfill it?
5. I give unceasing thanks to my teacher, who prevented me from falling into this error, so that I am still a Christian. For I, like you, from reading this verse without sufticient con- sideration, had almost resolved to become a Jew. And with reason; for if Christ came not to destroy the law, but to fulfill it, and as a vessel in order to be filled full must net be 3?\ratt. V. 21-44.
Book XIX.]
REPLY TO FAUSTUS THE MANICH^AN.
241 empty, but partly filled already, I concluded that no one could become a Christian but an Israelite, nearly filled already with the law and the prophets, and coming to Christ to be filled to the full extent of his capacity. I concluded, too, that in thus coming he must not destroy what he already possesses; otherwise it would be a case, not of fulfilling, but of emptying. Then it appeared that I, as a Gentile, could get nothing by coming to Christ, for I brought nothing that he could fill up by his additions. This preparatory supply is found, on inquiry, to consist of Sabbaths, circumcision, sacri- fices, new moons, baptisms, feasts of un- leavened bread, distinctions of foods, drink, and clothes, and other things, too many to specify. This, then, it appeared, was what Christ came not to destroy, but to fulfill. Naturally it must appear so: for what is a law without precepts, or prophets without predictions? Besides, there is that terrible curse pronounced upon those who abide not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them.' With the fear of this curse appearing to come from God on the one side, and with Christ on the other side, seeming, as the Son of God, to say that he came not to destroy these things, but to fulfill them, what was to prevent me from becoming a Jew? The wise instruction of Manichffius saved me from this danger.