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It is now the proper place to show that the very name Jesus and also
the name Christ were honored by the ancient prophets beloved of God.
Moses was the first to make known the name of Christ as a name
especially august and glorious. When he delivered types and symbols of
heavenly things, and mysterious images, in accordance with the oracle
which said to him, "Look that thou make all things according to the
pattern which was shown thee in the mount," he consecrated a man high
priest of God, in so far as that was possible, and him he called
Christ. And thus to this dignity of the high priesthood, which in
his opinion surpassed the most honorable position among men, he
attached for the sake of honor and glory the name of Christ.
He knew so well that in Christ was something divine. And the same
one foreseeing, under the influence of the divine Spirit, the name
Jesus, dignified it also with a certain distinguished privilege. For
the name of Jesus, which had never been uttered among men before the
time of Moses, he applied first and only to the one who he knew would
receive after his death, again as a type and symbol, the supreme
command.
His successor, therefore, who had not hitherto borne the name
Jesus, but had been called by another name, Auses, which had been
given him by his parents, he now called Jesus, bestowing the name
upon him as a gift of honor, far greater than any kingly diadem. For
Jesus himself, the son of Nave, bore a resemblance to our Saviour
in the fact that he alone, after Moses and after the completion of the
symbolical worship which had been transmitted by him, succeeded to the
government of the true and pure religion.
Thus Moses bestowed the name of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, as a
mark of the highest honor, upon the two men who in his time surpassed
all the rest of the people in virtue and glory; namely, upon the high
priest and upon his own successor in the government.
And the prophets that came after also clearly foretold Christ by
name, predicting at the same time the plots which the Jewish people
would form against him, and the calling of the nations through him.
Jeremiah, for instance, speaks as follows: "The Spirit before our
face, Christ the Lord, was taken in their destructions; of whom we
said, under his shadow we shall live among the nations." And
David, in perplexity, says, "Why did the nations rage and the
people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth set themselves in
array, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and
against his Christ"; to which he adds, in the person of Christ
himself, "The Lord said unto me, Thou art my Son, this day have
I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I will give thee the nations for
thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy
possession."
And not only those who were honored with the high priesthood, and who
for the sake of the symbol were anointed with especially prepared oil,
were adorned with the name of Christ among the Hebrews, but also the
kings whom the prophets anointed under the influence of the divine
Spirit, and thus constituted, as it were, typical Christs. For
they also bore in their own persons types of the royal and sovereign
power of the true and only Christ, the divine Word who ruleth over
all.
And we have been told also that certain of the prophets themselves
became, by the act of anointing, Christs in type, so that all these
have reference to the true Christ, the divinely inspired and heavenly
Word, who is the only high priest of all, and the only King of every
creature, and the Father's only supreme prophet of prophets.
And a proof of this is that no one of those who were of old
symbolically anointed, whether priests, or kings, or prophets,
possessed so great a power of inspired virtue as was exhibited by our
Saviour and Lord Jesus, the true and only Christ.
None of them at least, however superior in dignity and honor they may
have been for many generations among their own people, ever gave to
their followers the name of Christians from their own typical name of
Christ. Neither was divine honor ever rendered to any one of them by
their subjects; nor after their death was the disposition of their
followers such that they were ready to die for the one whom they
honored. And never did so great a commotion arise among all the
nations of the earth in respect to any one of that age; for the mere
symbol could not act with such power among them as the truth itself
which was exhibited by our Saviour.
He, although he received no symbols and types of high priesthood from
any one, although he was not born of a race of priests, although he
was not elevated to a kingdom by military guards, although he was not a
prophet like those of old, although he obtained no honor nor
pre-eminence among the Jews, nevertheless was adorned by the Father
with all, if not with the symbols, yet with the truth itself.
And therefore, although he did not possess like honors with those whom
we have mentioned, he is called Christ more than all of them. And as
himself the true and only Christ of God, he has filled the whole
earth with the truly august and sacred name of Christians, committing
to his followers no longer types and images, but the uncovered virtues
themselves, and a heavenly life in the very doctrines of truth.
And he was not anointed with oil prepared from material substances,
but, as befits divinity, with the divine Spirit himself, by
participation in the unbegotten deity of the Father. And this is
taught also again by Isaiah, who exclaims, as if in the person of
Christ himself, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; therefore
hath he anointed me. He hath sent me to preach the Gospel to the
poor, to proclaim deliverance to captives, and recovery of sight to
the blind."
And not only Isaiah, but also David addresses him, saying, "Thy
throne, O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of equity is the
scepter of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness and hast hated
iniquity. Therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil
of gladness above thy fellows." Here the Scripture calls him God in
the first verse, in the second it honors him with a royal scepter.
Then a little farther on, after the divine and royal power, it
represents him in the third place as having become Christ, being
anointed not with oil made of material substances, but with the divine
oil of gladness. It thus indicates his especial honor, far superior
to and different from that of those who, as types, were of old
anointed in a more material way.
And elsewhere the same writer speaks of him as follows: "The Lord
said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand until I make thine
enemies thy footstool"; and, "Out of the womb, before the morning
star, have I begotten thee. The Lord hath sworn and he will not
repent. Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedec."
But this Melchizedec is introduced in the Holy Scriptures as a
priest of the most high God, not consecrated by any anointing oil,
especially prepared, and not even belonging by descent to the
priesthood of the Jews. Wherefore after his order, but not after the
order of the others, who received symbols and types, was our Saviour
proclaimed, withan appeal to an oath, Christ and priest.
History, therefore, does not relate that he was anointed corporeally
by the Jews, nor that he belonged to the lineage of priests, but that
he came into existence from God himself before the morning star, that
is before the organization of the world, and that he obtained an
immortal and undecaying priesthood for eternal ages.
But it is a great and convincing proof of his incorporeal and divine
unction that he alone of all those who have ever existed is even to the
present day called Christ by all men throughout the world, and is
confessed and witnessed to under this name, and is commemorated both by
Greeks and Barbarians and even to this day is honored as a King by
his followers throughout the world, and is admired as more than a
prophet, and is glorified as the true and only high priest of God.
And besides all this, as the pre-existent Word of God, called into
being before all ages, he has received august honor from the Father,
and is worshiped as God.
But most wonderful of all is the fact that we who have consecrated
ourselves to him, honor him not only with our voices and with the sound
of words, but also with complete elevation of soul, so that we choose
to give testimony unto him rather than to preserve our own lives.
I have of necessity prefaced my history with these matters in order
that no one, judging from the date of his incarnation, may think that
our Saviour and Lord Jesus, the Christ, has but recently come into
being.
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