Latin original · 39 verses · some words can be tapped for a gloss · long chapter, split into parts; this part covers 5:3745–5:3783 (4615 verses in all)
ℹ️ This corpus has no morphological tagging. Glosses are matched by word form against a dictionary — a match does not prove it is the same word (an inflected form can coincide with another word’s lemma). Verify against the original and a specialist lexicon where precision matters.
'Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which was in uncircumcision, that he might be the father of all who believe through uncircumcision, that it might be reckoned to them also for righteousness; and that he might be the father of circumcision to those who are not only of the circumcision, but who also follow the footsteps of the faith of our father Abraham, which was in uncircumcision.' And a little later: 'Therefore,' he says, 'it is of faith, that according to grace the promise might be sure to all the seed — not to that only which is of the law, but also to that which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, as it is written, "For a father of many nations have I appointed you."' Likewise to the Galatians:
'Just as Abraham,' he says, 'believed God, and it was reckoned to him for righteousness. Understand therefore that they who are of faith, these are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God justifies the Gentiles by faith, foretold to Abraham: "In you shall all nations be blessed," so that they who are of faith may be blessed together with faithful Abraham.' Then somewhat later in the same epistle: 'Brethren,' he says, 'I speak after the manner of men: even a man's confirmed testament no one annuls or adds to. To Abraham were the promises spoken, and to his seed. He does not say, "and to seeds," as of many, but as of one, "and to your seed," which is Christ.' Likewise a little later: 'For you are all one in Christ Jesus;
and if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, heirs according to the promise.' According to this apostolic understanding, therefore, the Jews who are not Christians, although they trace their origin from the flesh of Abraham, are found not to be the sons of Abraham. For when he says, 'Understand therefore that they who are of faith, these are the sons of Abraham,' he assuredly signifies that those who are not of faith are not the sons of Abraham. And on this account, unless Abraham be a father to the Jews in the way he is to us, what does it profit them that they have sprung from his flesh and have held the name without the virtue?
But when they pass over to Christ and begin to be sons of Abraham by faith, then they will be Jews not outwardly but in secret, by circumcision of the heart, in the spirit and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men but of God. But those estranged from this faith will be reckoned among the broken branches from that olive tree,
into whose root the same apostle says the wild olive — that is, the Gentiles — is grafted; which assuredly comes about not through the flesh but through faith, nor through the law but through grace, nor through the letter but through the Spirit, nor by circumcision of the flesh but of the heart, nor outwardly but in secret, nor by praise from men but from God — so that each Christian is, just as he is a son of Abraham not carnal but spiritual, so also a Jew not carnal but spiritual, and an Israelite not carnal but spiritual. For of this name too the apostle thus speaks: 'For not all who are of Israel, these are Israel; neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all sons;
but "in Isaac shall your seed be called," that is, not they who are the children of the flesh, these are the children of God, but the children of the promise are reckoned for the seed.' Are not these great marvels, and a deep mystery, that many born of Israel are not Israel, and many are not sons, though they are the seed of Abraham? For how are they not, in the way that we are, except because they are not sons of the promise pertaining to the grace of Christ, but sons of the flesh bearing an empty name? And on this account neither are they Israel as we are, nor are we Israel as they are. For we are so according to spiritual regeneration, they according to carnal generation. It must indeed be looked into and discerned that one Israel is he
who received the name on account of the flesh, but another he who, on account of the spirit, has obtained the reality which is signified by that name. For were the Israelites born of Hagar, the handmaid of Sarah? Was not Ishmael born of her, and did he not by his seed propagate a nation not of Israelites but of Ishmaelites? But from Sarah came Israel through Isaac, who was born of Abraham by promise. Nevertheless, though according to the propagation of the flesh the matter so stands,
one comes to the spiritual understanding and finds that the carnal Israelites, who from her draw their origin of the flesh, do not pertain to Sarah, but that rather the Christians pertain to her, who are not sons of the flesh according to Ishmael, but sons of the promise according to Isaac, pertaining not to the carnal seed of Isaac himself but to the spiritual mystery. For thus the apostle speaks to the Galatians: 'Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, have you not heard the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the handmaid and one by the free woman. But he indeed who was of the handmaid was born according to the flesh; but he who was of the free woman, by promise. Which things are in an allegory.
For these are the two testaments: the one indeed from Mount Sinai, bearing children unto bondage, which is Hagar; for Sinai is a mount in Arabia, which is joined to that which now is Jerusalem, and is in bondage with her children. But that Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written: "Rejoice, you barren who bear not; break forth and cry, you who travail not; for many are the children of the desolate, more than of her who has a husband." But we, brethren, according to Isaac, are the children of promise. But as then he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the spirit, so also now. But what says the Scripture? "Cast out the handmaid and her son;
for the son of the handmaid shall not be heir with the son of the free woman."' But we, brethren, are not children of the handmaid but of the free woman — with which liberty Christ has made us free.' Behold, according to this spiritual and apostolic understanding, we rather pertain to the free Sarah, we who draw from her no propagation of flesh; but the Jews, who from her draw the propagation of flesh, are shown to pertain rather to Hagar the handmaid, from whom they do not draw the propagation of flesh. In the grandsons too of Abraham and Sarah — that is, in the sons of Isaac and Rebecca, in those twins Esau and Jacob (who was afterward called Israel) — this very great and deep mystery is found.
Speaking of which, the same apostle, when he had recalled the sons of the promise through Isaac who pertain to the grace of Christ, says: 'And not only that, but Rebecca also, having conceived by one, even by Isaac our father. For the children being not yet born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of him that calls, it was said to her, "The elder shall serve the younger," as it is written: "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated."' This assuredly apostolic and catholic teaching sufficiently and evidently indicates to us that, according to the origin of the flesh, the Jews — that is, the Israelites — pertain to Sarah, but the Ishmaelites to Hagar; but according to the mystery of the spirit, the Christians pertain to Sarah, the Jews to Hagar;
likewise, according to the origin of the flesh, to Esau (who was also called Edom) pertains the nation of the Idumaeans, and to Jacob (who was also called Israel) the nation of the Jews; but according to the mystery of the spirit, to Esau pertain the Jews, and to Israel the Christians. For thus is fulfilled what is written: 'The elder shall serve the younger' — that is, the earlier-born people of the Jews shall serve the later-born people of the Christians. Behold in what manner we are Israel, glorying in divine adoption, not in human kinship, and are Jews not outwardly but in secret, not by the letter but by the spirit, not by circumcision of the flesh but of the heart.
Since these things are so, we ought nevertheless not to confuse the usage of human speech by inept loquacity, nor, in matters that are to be distinguished, to mix up terms in common use with a disordered signification — so that, of those who, being Christians, are called by the most usual appellation 'Christians,' someone should affect to call them by the unusual term 'Jews'; or, being himself a Christian and so called, should rather delight in the name of 'Israelite'; and that which he ought always to understand in the mystery, but to bring forth in speech more sparingly, this in daily custom of speaking he should rather choose to make frequent, with inept insolence and — if it may be said — with unlearned knowledge.
For did the apostles, through whom we learned these things, not know them — how we rather are the seed of Abraham according to Isaac, heirs of the promise, and Jews in spirit not in letter, by circumcision of the heart not of the flesh, and not Israel according to the flesh but the Israel of God? They knew these things assuredly far more wisely and surely than we, and yet in the custom of speaking they called those Jews and Israelites who, coming according to the flesh from the stock of Abraham, were commonly called by this name by all. 'The Jews ask for signs,' says the apostle Paul, 'and the Greeks seek wisdom;
but we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews indeed a stumbling-block, and unto the Gentiles foolishness, but unto them who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.' Those whom he called Greeks, these he also signified by the name of Gentiles, on the ground that this tongue especially excels among the Gentiles; yet he called Jews those very ones whom all call by this name. For if the Christians themselves are the Jews, then to the Christians Christ crucified is a stumbling-block, of whom it was said, 'unto the Jews indeed a stumbling-block.' Who but a most insane person would think this? Likewise he says: 'Be without offence to Jews and Greeks and to the Church of God.' How would he distinguish these, if he ought to call the Church of God 'Jews' in the daily custom of speaking?
Likewise he says: 'Whom he also called, namely us, not only from among the Jews but also from among the Gentiles.' In what way did he call us from among the Jews, if he rather called us from among those who were not Jews, that they might become Jews? Likewise concerning the Israelites: 'What then shall we say?' he says; 'that the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have laid hold of righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith. But Israel, following after the law of righteousness, did not attain to that law. Why? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by works; for they stumbled at the stumbling-stone.' Likewise: 'But to Israel what does he say? "All the day long I stretched out my hands to a people that did not believe and that contradicted me."' And going on he added: 'I say then: Has God cast away his people? God forbid.'
'For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not cast away his people, whom he foreknew.' In what way did the Apostle here call Israel unbelieving and contradicting, if Christians are Israel, or in what way did he call himself an Israelite? Was it because he had become a Christian? By no means; rather it was because according to the flesh he had been of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin, which we are not according to the flesh, although according to faith we are the seed of Abraham and thereby also Israel. But one thing is what the understanding of a deeper mystery recognizes, and another what the everyday usage of the word demands.
Finally this Aptus, whoever he is, of whom you wrote that he teaches Christians to Judaize, calls himself—as your holiness intimated—a Jew and an Israelite in this manner: so as to forbid those foods which the Law, given through the holy servant of God Moses in accordance with the fitness of that time, used to forbid, and to persuade men that the other observances of that time, now abolished and removed among Christians, are still to be kept—those which the Apostle calls shadows of things to come, so that both prophecy may be understood in them and their observance may be shown to be already made void. From this it appears why this Aptus wishes to be called an Israelite and a Jew, not spiritually but altogether carnally.
We, however, are neither held bound by those observances which have been made void now that the New Testament has been revealed; and as for the precepts of the Law which are necessary even for this present time—such as: 'You shall not commit adultery, you shall not commit murder, you shall not covet,' and if there be any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself'—we have learned and we teach that they are to be kept, not by human strength as though establishing our own righteousness, but by the grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord, in that righteousness which is ours from him. Nor for that reason do we deny that we are the seed of Abraham, to whom the Apostle says: 'You then are Abraham's seed,' or Jews in secret, of whom the same Apostle says: 'For he is not.'
'For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit and not in the letter, whose praise is not from men but from God.' Or we do not deny that we are spiritual Israelites, belonging namely to him of whom it was foretold that the greater should serve the lesser. But these titles we assume to ourselves not unfittingly, and we hold them within the understanding of the mysteries; we do not toss them about with an insolence of words. CXCVII.
Now that your son and our fellow-presbyter Cornutus is returning to your holiness—through whom I received the letter of your reverence, in which you deigned to visit my littleness—I at last render my reply and pay the due service of a return greeting, commending myself much to your prayers, which are most acceptable to the Lord, my lord and brother. But concerning the prophetic sayings, so often foretold, about which you wished me to write something, it seemed better to me to send to your beatitude the expositions of those same words by the most learned man, holy Jerome—lest perchance you should not have them—excerpted from his little works.
But if you already had them, and they did not satisfy your inquiry, I beg you not to grudge writing back to me what you think about these matters, and in what way you yourself understand those same prophetic oracles. For my part, I think that saying about the weeks of Daniel is to be understood chiefly with reference to the time that has already passed; for concerning the coming of the Savior, which is awaited at the end, I dare not count out the times, nor do I think that any prophet has fixed beforehand the number of years about this matter; but rather that saying prevails which the Lord himself uttered: 'No one can know the times which the Father has placed in his own power.' As for what he says in another place: 'But of that day and hour no one knows,' there are some who take it thus, that they suppose they can reckon the times,
and that only the very day and the hour no one knows. Here I forbear to say in what manner the Scriptures are wont to put 'day' or 'hour' even for a period of time. But certainly that saying about the ignorance of the times was spoken most plainly. For when the Lord was questioned about this by his disciples, 'No one,' he said, 'can know the times which the Father has placed in his own power.' For he did not say 'day' or 'hour,' but 'times,' which are not usually spoken of within a short span like a day or an hour—especially if we look at the Greek speech, from which language we know that same book, where this is written, was translated into ours, though it could not be adequately expressed in Latin. For there it is read in Greek: chronous e kairous.
惟有那日子、那時辰本身沒有人知道。在此我且不說聖經如何慣以「日子」或「時辰」來指一段時候。但論到不知時候這事，那話語確實說得極其明白。因為主被門徒問及此事時，他說：「父憑著自己的權柄所定的時候（times），沒有人能知道。」因為他沒有說「日子」或「時辰」，乃說「時候」，這乃是不慣於在短短一段內、像日子或時辰那樣稱說的——尤其若我們察看希臘原文，我們知道記載此事的那卷書正是從這語言譯成我們拉丁文的，儘管拉丁文未能將其充分表達出來。因為那裏希臘文讀作 χρόνους ἢ καιρούς（chronous e kairous）。
But our people call both these words 'times,' whether chronous or kairous, although these two have between them a difference not to be neglected. For the Greeks call kairoi those times indeed, yet not such as pass by in the rolling of intervals, but such as are felt in things inconvenient or convenient for some purpose, as harvest, vintage, heat, cold, peace, war, and any like these; whereas by chronoi they name the very spans of time. And certainly the apostles themselves did not inquire in this way, as though they wished to know one very last day or hour—that is, a tiny part of a day—but whether it was now the fitting time (kairos) at which the kingdom should be restored to Israel. Then they heard:
'No one can know the times which the Father has placed in his own power,' that is, chronous e kairous. But if it were said in Latin 'tempora aut opportunitates' (times or opportune seasons), not even so would what was said be adequately expressed, because whether the times be opportune or inopportune, they are called kairoi. Therefore to reckon the times, that is the chronoi, so as to know when the end of this age or the coming of the Lord will be, seems to me nothing other than to wish to know that which he himself says no one can know. But the fitness (opportunitas) of that time surely will not come before the Gospel is preached throughout the whole world for a testimony to all nations. For most plainly one reads on this matter the sentence of the Savior who says:
「父憑著自己的權柄所定的時候，沒有人能知道」，就是 χρόνους ἢ καιρούς。但這若用拉丁文說作「時候或時機（tempora aut opportunitates）」，所說的仍不能被充分表達，因為時候無論合宜或不合宜，都稱作 kairoi。所以，計算那些時候，就是 chronoi，好知道這世代的末了或主的降臨在何時，在我看來，無非是想知道他自己所說沒有人能知道的事。但那時候的合宜（opportunitas）斷不會來到，除非福音先傳遍天下，對萬民作見證。因為論到此事，人極明白地讀到救主所說的話：
'And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached throughout the whole world for a testimony to all nations, and then the end shall come.' What is 'then shall come' but 'before that it shall not come'? When therefore it shall come afterward is uncertain to us; yet that it will not come before, we surely ought not to doubt. If then the servants of God should take up this labor, that having traversed the world, so far as they were able, they might gather what part of the nations remains where the Gospel has not yet been preached, from this we might in some measure perceive how far this present time is from the end of the age.
But if, on account of certain inaccessible and inhospitable places, it is thought impossible that the world should be traversed by the servants of God, and that it should be faithfully reported how many and how great are the nations still without the Gospel of Christ, much less do I think it can be comprehended in the Scriptures how great are the times to be until the end—seeing that in them we read: 'No one can know the times which the Father has placed in his own power.'
Hence, even if it had already been reported to us most certainly that the Gospel is being preached among all nations, not even so could we say how much time would remain until the end; but we should rightly say that it is now drawing nearer and nearer—unless perhaps someone should answer that, the Gospel having been preached with such speed, the Roman peoples and very many barbarian peoples have been won, and that thus some have been converted to the faith of Christ not gradually but suddenly, so that it is not incredible that in a few years—if not in our lifetime, we who are already grown old, then surely in the lifetime of the young who will come to old age—absolutely all the remaining nations can be filled with the Gospel. But if it shall be so, it can be proved more easily by experience when it has come to pass, than found out by reading before it comes to pass.
This the opinion of a certain man compelled me to say—one whom the presbyter Jerome also marks with a note of rashness, in that he dared to expound the weeks of Daniel of the future coming of Christ, not of the past. But if the Lord has revealed, or shall reveal, anything better to the holy humility of your heart in proportion to more excellent merits, I beg you deign to share it with us, and to receive these our writings back as those of a man who would indeed rather have knowledge than ignorance of those things which you have inquired of me; but because I have not yet been able to have it, I choose rather to confess a cautious ignorance than to profess a false knowledge. CXCVIII.
To me who longed and waited, our holy fellow-presbyter Cornutus brought the letter of your beatitude, which gladdened me, because you deigned to keep a kind remembrance of me, you who also in passing signified to me in a few words, in the proper utterance of your holy mind, concerning those things which I had asked. And you added some things from the little works of the holy fellow-presbyter Jerome, so that by reading his work on the Holy Scriptures I might be able to fulfill my inquiry. And because you deigned to ask this of us, that we should intimate by letter to your most sincere charity what we felt concerning these very questions, to those matters about which I read your writing, I have written below, so far as the slender understanding of my mediocrity was able to feel or to grasp.
Since all things are carried out by the will and power of God almighty, the Maker of the whole creation, both those things which have been done and those also which are yet to be are made known by the voices of the holy prophets, who, before those things came to pass which were to come, spoke to men by the divine will. Hence it is full enough of wonder if God has determined that those things which he willed to be foretold utterly cannot reach the understanding of men, according to that passage which the Lord spoke to the blessed apostles, saying: 'No one can know the times which the Father has placed in his own power'—first, because even in the most ancient books of the churches it is not written thus, 'no one can,' but it is written:
'It is not for you to know the times or the moments which the Father has placed in his own power.' This sense of the saying is rightly completed by the following word, when he says: 'But you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, and in Judea, and in Samaria, and even to the uttermost part of the earth.' Therefore he willed the apostles to be understood as witnesses not of the consummation of the world, but of his name and of his resurrection. But concerning the knowing of the times the Lord himself admonishes: 'Who then is the faithful and prudent servant, whom his lord has set over his household, to give them food in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his lord, when he comes, shall find so doing!'
The household of Christ is fed by the word of preaching, and he is found a faithful servant who in due season furnishes the necessary food to those who believe and await the Lord. For the wicked servant is thus reproved: 'But if that wicked servant shall say, "My lord delays his coming," his lord shall come in a day when he does not expect, and in an hour when he does not know,' and the rest. Likewise he shows why the time is not known, by saying: 'Hypocrites, you know how to discern the face of the sky; how is it that you do not recognize this time?' Likewise the Apostle: 'In the last times perilous times shall be at hand,' and the rest. Likewise the Apostle: 'But concerning the times and the moments we have no need to write to you;'
'for you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord will so come as a thief in the night. When they shall say, "Peace and safety," then sudden destruction shall come upon them, as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape.' Likewise the Apostle: 'Do you not retain in memory that, when I was with you, I told you these things? And now you know what withholds, that he may be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of iniquity is already at work; only he who now holds fast, let him hold, until he be taken out of the way, and then that wicked one shall be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus shall slay with the spirit of his mouth.' Likewise the Lord in the Gospel rebukes the Jews: 'And you, if you had known the time of your visitation, perhaps you would have remained; but now they are hidden from your eyes.'
And the Lord thus preaches to the Jews: 'Repent, the times are fulfilled, believe in the gospel.' And to the Jews indeed he rightly said 'fulfilled,' because their times came to an end after his preaching, thirty-five or forty years later. And in Daniel: 'Until the beast was slain and perished, and its body was given to be burned, and the kingdom of the other beasts was transferred, and length of life was given to them until the time,' which in Greek is called chronos and kairos. And there follows: 'Behold, one coming with the clouds of heaven, as a son of man.' The mystery of the beast and the transference of the other beasts is manifest to those who understand the Scriptures.
Accordingly the coming of the Lord is to be loved and awaited. For great is the blessedness for those who love his coming, as the blessed Apostle Paul bears witness: 'For the rest,' he says, 'there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall render to me in that day; and not to me only, but also to those who love his coming.' And the Lord in the Gospel: 'Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.' Likewise the prophet: 'For behold, darkness and gloom shall cover the earth over the nations; but in you the Lord shall appear, and his majesty shall be seen in you.' Likewise the prophet: 'But those who wait for the Lord shall exult with strength; they shall put forth wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not hunger.'
And very many such sayings are found, which pertain to the blessedness of those who love the coming of the Lord. But that no one can gather the measures of the times is manifest. The Gospel indeed says: 'Of the day and the hour no one knows.' But I, according to the incapacity of my understanding, say that neither the day nor the month nor the year of his coming can be known; but it befits me, by seeing and believing, to await the signs which are of his coming, and to render this food to those who believe, so that awaiting him they may love his coming—him who said: 'When you see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.' The signs therefore, evangelical and prophetic, which have been fulfilled in us, make manifest the coming of the Lord.
For in vain do those, whether they inquire or whether they calumniate, seek to comprehend days and years in a reckoning, since it is written: 'And unless those days had been shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the sake of the elect those days shall be shortened.' It is certain that the time is beyond reckoning which is to be shortened by the Lord, who appoints the times; and that the coming has drawn near, some signs of whose coming we have seen fulfilled from among the things that have come to pass. And again he says: 'But when these things begin to come to pass, look up and lift up your heads, for your redemption draws near.' And what signs he said were to be seen is manifest in the Gospel of holy Luke: 'And Jerusalem shall be trodden down by the nations, until the times of the nations be fulfilled.'
This has come to pass, and that it is coming to pass no one doubts. And there follows: 'And there shall be signs in the sun, in the moon, in the stars, and upon the earth distress of nations.' Those things which we suffer, even punishment compels us to confess, if perhaps our will should not care to: for it is manifest that at one and the same time both signs in heaven and distress of nations on earth are seen and endured by men. And there follows: 'Men fainting for fear and for expectation of the things which are coming upon the whole world.' It is certain that in our times no fatherland, no place is not afflicted or humbled, as it was said: 'For fear and for expectation of the things which are coming upon the whole world'; and all the signs which the Gospel above makes manifest to its readers have for the most part been fulfilled.