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But that no one may suppose that his doctrine is new and strange, as
if it were framed by a man of recent origin, differing in no respect
from other men, let us now briefly consider this point also.
It is admitted that when in recent times the appearance of our Saviour
Jesus Christ had become known to all men there immediately made its
appearance a new nation; a nation confessedly not small, and not
dwelling in some corner of the earth, but the most numerous and pious
of all nations, indestructible and unconquerable, because it always
receives assistance from God. This nation, thus suddenly appearing
at the time appointed by the inscrutable counsel of God, is the one
which has been honored by all with the name of Christ.
One of the prophets, when he saw beforehand with the eye of the
Divine Spirit that which was to be, was so astonished at it that he
cried out, "Who hath heard of such things, and who hath spoken
thus? Hath the earth brought forth in one day, and hath a nation been
born at once?" And the same prophet gives a hint also of the name by
which the nation was to be called, when he says, "Those that serve
me shall be called by a new name, which shall be blessed upon the
earth."
But although it is clear that we are new and that this new name of
Christians has really but recently been known among all nations,
nevertheless our life and our conduct, with our doctrines of religion,
have not been lately invented by us, but from the first creation of
man, so to speak, have been established by the natural understanding
of divinely favored men of old. That this is so we shall show in the
following way.
That the Hebrew nation is not new, but is universally honored on
account of its antiquity, is known to all. The books and writings of
this people contain accounts of ancient men, rare indeed and few in
number, but nevertheless distinguished for piety and righteousness and
every other virtue. Of these, some excellent men lived before the
flood, others of the sons and descendants of Noah lived after it,
among them Abraham, whom the Hebrews celebrate as their own founder
and forefather.
If any one should assert that all those who have enjoyed the testimony
of righteousness, from Abraham himself back to the first man, were
Christians in fact if not in name, he would not go beyond the truth.
For that which the name indicates, that the Christian man, through
the knowledge and the teaching of Christ, is distinguished for
temperance and righteousness, for patience in life and manly virtue,
and for a profession of piety toward the one and only God over all-all
that was zealously practiced by them not less than by us.
They did not care about circumcision of the body, neither do we.
They did not care about observing Sabbaths, nor do we. They did not
avoid certain kinds of food, neither did they regard the other
distinctions which Moses first delivered to their posterity to be
observed as symbols; nor do Christians of the present day do such
things. But they also clearly knew the very Christ of God; for it
has already been shown that he appeared unto Abraham, that he imparted
revelations to Isaac, that he talked with Jacob, that he held
converse with Moses and with the prophets that came after.
Hence you will find those divinely favored men honored with the name of
Christ, according to the passage which says of them, "Touch not my
Christs, and do my prophets no harm."
So that it is clearly necessary to consider that religion, which has
lately been preached to all nations through the teaching of Christ,
the first and most ancient of all religions, and the one discovered by
those divinely favored men in the age of Abraham.
If it is said that Abraham, a long time afterward, was given the
command of circumcision, we reply that nevertheless before this it was
declared that he had received the testimony of righteousness through
faith; as the divine word says, "Abraham believed in God, and it
was counted unto him for righteousness."
And indeed unto Abraham, who was thus before his circumcision a
justified man, there was given by God, who revealed himself unto him
(but this was Christ himself, the word of God), a prophecy in
regard to those who in coming ages should be justified in the same way
as he. The prophecy was in the following words: "And inthee shall
all the tribes of the earth be blessed." And again, "He shall
become a nation great and numerous; and in him shall all the nations of
the earth be blessed."
It is permissible to understand this as fulfilled in us. For he,
having renounced the superstition of his fathers, and the former error
of his life, and having confessed the one God over all, and having
worshiped him with deeds of virtue, and not with the service of the law
which was afterward given by Moses, was justified by faith in
Christ, the Word of God, who appeared unto him. To him, then,
who was a man of this character, it was said that all the tribes and
all the nations of the earth should be blessed in him.
But that very religion of Abraham has reappeared at the present time,
practiced in deeds, more efficacious than words, by Christians alone
throughout the world.
What then should prevent the confession that we who are of Christ
practice one and the same mode of life and have one and the same
religion as those divinely favored men of old? Whence it is evident
that the perfect religion committed to us by the teaching of Christ is
not new and strange, but, if the truth must be spoken, it is the
first and the true religion. This may suffice for this subject.
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