For it is not granted to all to perceive the long-lived seed of Christ, but only to those who have confessed and who bring to God the gifts for sins. For only the soul of these will see the long-lived seed of Christ — that is, either his eternal life after death, or his word, sown throughout the whole world, which shall be long-lived and shall endure forever.
Again, having said above, 'and we accounted him to be in trouble,' now, after his slaughter and death, he says: 'and the Lord wills to remove him from the anguish of his soul, to show him light.' Since, then, the Lord, the God of all, has willed to cleanse him of the plague and to show him light, surely, having willed it, he would in every way accomplish what he willed.
For there is nothing among the things he wills that does not come to pass; and he willed also to show him light. He therefore did these things, and having cleansed him, showed him light. And since he willed it, and having willed it removed the anguish of his soul, and showed him light, fittingly the prophet adds, saying: 'Therefore he shall inherit many, and shall divide the spoils of the mighty.'
Here, then, he already makes mention also of the inheritance of Christ, in agreement with the second psalm, in which the Word, having expressly declared the plot conspired against him, in the words, 'The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers gathered together, against the Lord and against his Christ,' goes on to add: 'The Lord said to me: You are my son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for your possession.'
These same nations, then, the prophet also hinted at when he said, 'Therefore he shall inherit many,' and adds, 'and shall divide the spoils of the mighty.' For, having rescued the souls that were subject to the opposing powers which formerly ruled the nations, he distributed them, as a kind of spoils, to his own disciples.
For this reason Isaiah says concerning them: 'And they shall rejoice before you, as those who divide spoils.' And the psalmist: 'The Lord shall give a word to those who preach good tidings, with great power. The king of the hosts of the beloved — by the beauty of the house — the spoils.'
Fittingly, then, here too he says concerning Christ: 'Therefore he shall inherit many, and shall divide the spoils of the mighty.' And for what reason, he again teaches next, saying: 'Because his soul was delivered up to death, and he was numbered among the lawless, and he himself bore the sins of many, and was delivered up because of their sins.'
For in return for these things, the Father, recompensing him for his obedience and endurance, has granted him the things laid up for him. For he became obedient to the Father unto death; wherefore also it is declared that he shall inherit many — and not before, but after his soul was delivered up to death and numbered among the lawless. For it was on this account that it was said he would inherit many and divide the spoils of the mighty.
I hold, without dispute, that the resurrection from the dead of the one prophesied is established by these words. For how could he — having been led away, and delivered to death because of the transgressions of the Jewish people, and numbered with the lawless, and delivered to burial — how could he then be cleansed by the Lord, and see light from him, and inherit many, and distribute spoils to his own? And elsewhere too, concerning his return to life after death, David somewhere prophesies, speaking in the person of Christ: 'You will not abandon my soul to Hades, nor will you allow your holy one to see corruption.'
And again: 'O Lord, you brought up my soul from Hades; you saved me from those who go down into the pit.' And again: 'He who lifts me up from the gates of death, that I may declare all your praises.'
I do not think that even the most utterly unreasonable are able to look these things in the face. Yet the conclusion of Isaiah's prophecy proclaims good tidings, in accordance with the sense of what has been said, to the soul once barren and desolate of God — or rather, to the church of the nations.
For since Christ endured all things for her sake, fittingly, after the predictions concerning him, he adds, saying: 'Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and cry out, you who are not in travail; for the children of the desolate are more than of her who has a husband.' For the Lord said: 'Enlarge the place of your tent, and fix the curtains of your dwellings; spare not; lengthen your cords, and strengthen your stakes; spread out still further to the right and to the left, and your seed shall inherit the nations.'
These things the Word proclaims as good tidings to the church of the nations, spread abroad throughout the whole inhabited world and extending from the rising of the sun to its setting, making this most plainly clear through the words 'and your seed shall inherit the nations.'
Since the matters concerning this passage require fuller elaboration, let this suffice for us, cut short, for the present; you yourself, at your leisure, could gather a great many more things concerning the subject before us, and the present treatise of the Evangelical Demonstration will, in due course, hand down and explain each particular.
For the present, then, what has been said suffices concerning the prophets' prediction and foreknowledge of our Saviour, and how he proclaimed good tidings to all men — foretelling in advance the coming of a certain prophet, and the piety of a lawgiver like unto Moses, and his race and tribe and the place from which he would come forth, and the time at which he is prophesied to come, and his birth, and his return to life, and his rule over all nations — all of which have now been set forth.
But these things have been set forth from the sacred oracles for those who believe them; but to those who disbelieve the prophetic writings we shall respond separately, conducting our examination for the time being as though concerning an ordinary man similar to the rest, so that, when he shall be shown to be far superior to, and different from, all who have ever helped mankind throughout the ages, by an incomparable excellence, we may then in due course also treat of his own nature, establishing from clear proofs that the power at work in him was not, then, of human nature; and following upon this we shall also, as far as it is possible for us to survey it, treat of the theology concerning him. Since, then, most of the unbelievers, calling him a sorcerer and a deceiver, and blaspheming him with countless other slanders, do not even now cease from doing so, come, let us answer these men too, offering nothing of our own, but drawing our citations from his own very words, and from the teaching which he handed down.
We must ask them whether any other such deceiver has ever been recorded who became, for those deceived by him, a teacher of gentleness and fairness, of self-control and every other virtue; and whether it is right to apply these names to one who did not even permit men to look upon women with unchaste desire; and whether he is a deceiver who handed down philosophy at its very height, teaching his disciples, in their education, to share with those in want, and to value diligence highly; and whether he is a deceiver who roused men away from the common, herd-like, and tumultuous crowd, teaching them to embrace only the leisure devoted to the divine oracles.
And how could he who turns men away from every falsehood, and exhorts them to honour truth above all — so much so that there is no need even of oaths, far less of perjury (for let your 'yes' be 'yes,' and your 'no,' 'no') — how could he rightly be called a deceiver? And what need is there for me to say more now, when it is possible, from what has already been said, to know what manner of life this was that was sown by him among mankind — a life from which every lover of truth would confess him to be, not a deceiver, but truly a kind of divine being, and an introducer of a divine and pious philosophy, not of the common and vulgar kind?
He alone, indeed, renewed the manner of life of those Hebrews beloved of God long ago — a life already, as it were, perished from among men — and has been shown, through the first treatise of the present work, to have spread it abroad not to a few, moderate number, but over the whole world; by which it is now possible for men gathered in communities throughout the whole inhabited world to point to countless zealots, not from the Greeks only but from the barbarians as well, of the godly polity of those men beloved of God who lived in the time of Abraham.
But such, then, are the more ethical aspects of his teaching. Come, let us examine whether perhaps his deception lay in the most essential of his doctrines.
Is it not recorded that he himself was devoted, and led his disciples, to the sole King of all, God, the maker of heaven and earth and the whole universe, and that even to this day the words of his teaching lead every Greek and barbarian to raise his mind upward toward the most high God, transcending all visible nature?
Was this, then, his deception — that he, truly exposed as a deceiver, refuses to allow the worship of a plurality of gods, in departure from the one highest and true theology? But this doctrine is not new to him, nor peculiar to him alone, but was beloved of old, long ago, by the Hebrews who were dear to God, as has indeed been shown through the Preparation; from whom, moreover, the disciples of the more recent philosophers, having derived great benefit, came to share in this doctrine. Indeed, the most learned among the Greeks themselves pride themselves on the oracles of their own gods, wherein they make mention of the Hebrews somewhat in this fashion: 'The Chaldeans alone obtained wisdom, and the Hebrews too, worshipping in purity a self-begotten king as God.'
The oracle called these same people Chaldeans because of Abraham, since he was Chaldean by race, as is recorded in history. If, then, even long ago the children of the Hebrews — who indeed have been especially attested for wisdom even by the oracles themselves — directed their worship to the sole creator God of all, why must we call a deceiver, and not rather confess as a wondrous teacher of piety, this man, who took what was long ago known only to the Hebrews beloved of God, and, by an invisible and divine power, brought it forward and spread it abroad to all men — so that no longer, as of old, do only a few, countable in number, hold right opinions concerning God, but countless multitudes of barbarians, once the most savage, as well as learned Greek men, who have been taught to be pious in the same manner as the ancient prophets and righteous men, through his power alone?
But let us examine the third point, whether perhaps this was the reason they call him a deceiver — that he did not ordain that the divine be honoured with sacrifices of oxen, nor with the slaughter of irrational animals, nor with blood and fire, nor with things burnt in offering from the earth, judging these to be lowly and earthly things, in no way proper to the immortal nature; but judging that the fulfilment of his own commandments was the most agreeable and pleasing sacrifice of all to God — commandments by which he taught men, purified in body and soul, adorned with a clear mind and pious doctrines, to imitate likeness to God, expressly saying: 'You shall be perfect, as your Father is perfect.'
If, then, any of the Greeks should find fault with these things, let him know that he does not think in accord with his own teachers, who, as is likely, having profited from us, since they came after us in time — I mean, after the teaching set forth for us by our Saviour — confessed as much in writing, as you shall hear. From Porphyry's On Abstinence from Animate Beings.
To the God who is over all, as a certain wise man said, we should offer neither burning incense nor naming aloud any of the things perceived by sense — for nothing material fails to be immediately impure to that which is immaterial; wherefore neither is speech uttered aloud proper to him, nor even inward speech, whenever it is defiled by passion of the soul — but we shall worship him through pure silence and pure thoughts concerning him. It is necessary, therefore, that we, being joined to him and made like him, should offer our own manner of life as a sacred sacrifice to God — the same being both a hymn and our salvation. It is in the soul's freedom from passion, then, and in the contemplation of God, that this sacrifice is accomplished. From the Theology of Apollonius of Tyana.
Thus, then, one would best exercise the proper care for the divine, and would from that very act obtain the divine's favour and goodwill from any man whatsoever, if to the God — that is, the one we call by this name, being one and separate from all things, after whom it is necessary that the rest be known — he should offer no sacrifice at all, nor kindle fire, nor name any perceptible thing whatsoever; for he needs nothing, not even from beings greater than ourselves, nor is there anything at all which the earth sends up as a plant, or which an animal nourishes, or the air produces, to which impurity does not attach; but let a man always use toward him alone the higher reason — I mean, the one that does not proceed through the mouth — and let him ask for good things from the fairest of beings through the fairest thing within us; and this is the mind, which needs no instrument.
If, then, these things are also acknowledged by the distinguished philosophers and theologians among the Greeks, how could he be a deceiver, who handed down to his disciples, to carry out, not merely words but — long before this — the very deeds corresponding to these words, by which, according to right reason, they were to worship the divine? And as for how, and with what reasoning, the ancient Hebrews are recorded to have sacrificed — this we have already set forth distinctly in the first treatise of the present work, and with that we shall be content.
But since, in addition to what has been examined, we have learned, having been taught by Christ, that the world is created, and that heaven itself and the sun and moon and stars are works of God, and that it is necessary to worship, not these, but their maker — we must consider whether perhaps we have been deceived in coming to think in this way, having been taught it by him.
And indeed, this was also the doctrine of the Hebrews, and the most eminent of the philosophers agreed with the same, declaring that heaven itself, and the sun, and moon, and stars, and the whole universe had come into being by the maker of all things. But he also taught us to expect that there would be an end and a change for the better of this universe — this too in accordance with the Hebrew scriptures.
What then? Does not Plato too know heaven itself, and the sun and moon and the rest of the stars, to be of a nature that is dissoluble and perishable, even though he says that they will not be dissolved, because he who framed them together does not will it?
But if indeed he willed the universe to be of such a nature — and having taught us to hold that we have an immortal soul, in no way resembling irrational animals, but bearing images of the powers of God, and having trained every barbarian and common man to be thus disposed and to think in this way — has he not thereby made those throughout the whole inhabited world who think as he taught wiser than those supercilious ones, who declared that the soul in men differs in no way, as regards its essence, from that of a gnat, a worm, or a fly — nay, that the soul even of the most philosophical among themselves differs not at all, so far as the reasoning of its nature and essence is concerned, from the soul of a serpent, a viper, a bear, a leopard, or a swine?
And moreover, in addition to these things, constantly reminding us of the divine tribunal, and of the judgment that is to come, and describing inescapable punishments and penalties for the impious, and, for the pious, God's promises of eternal life and the kingdom of the heavens and a blessed life spent with God — whom could he possibly deceive by this? Would he not rather urge them to hasten toward virtue, for the sake of the rewards awaited by the pious, and to turn away from all wickedness because of the punishments hanging over the impious?
In the doctrinal part of his teachings we have received that there exist certain powers after the most high God, incorporeal in nature and intellectual, rational and possessed of every virtue, dancing in attendance upon the King of all — many of whom, moreover, have been sent even as far as men, by the nod of the Father, for certain saving dispensations; and these we have been taught to acknowledge and honour according to the measure of their worth, while assigning the reverent honour that belongs to worship to the King of all, God, alone.
Furthermore, in addition to these things, we have come to know, having learned it from him, that certain powers hostile and inimical to the human race fly about in the air surrounding the earth, and that powers of demons and evil spirits, and their rulers among them, dwell together with the wicked — whom we have been trained to flee with all our strength, even though above all they usurp for themselves the titles and honours belonging to gods; and that, precisely because of this warfare against God and enmity toward God, they are all the more to be shunned — concerning which we have furnished proofs at great length in the Preparation. Such, then, are some of the things found among the doctrinal teachings of our Saviour — teachings plainly identical with the pious instruction of the Hebrews, those men beloved of God, and the prophets, of old.
If, then, these things are dignified, if beneficial, if philosophical, if full of virtue, on what reasonable grounds could the teacher of these things be inscribed with the name of deceiver? But let these matters, for the present, be examined as concerning a man of common nature — these being things that serve to demonstrate his dignified and life-benefiting teaching; come, then, let us also consider the more divine matters.
Let us now consider, then, how many and what kind of marvellous works he became the doer of, while spending his time among men — at one time cleansing lepers in body by divine power, at another driving out by the mere command of his word the demons that were in men, and at other times again bestowing healing without stint upon the sick and upon those afflicted with every kind of infirmity.
And to the blind, again at other times, he granted the faculty of sight. Then there was also, once, a woman with a flow of blood, worn out by her affliction over long periods of years; since she saw the countless multitude surrounding him, and that it would in no way permit her to draw near, fall at his knees, and beg for release from her affliction, she resolved instead only to touch the hem of his garment, and slipped in beneath the crowd; and having taken hold of the fringe, she at the same time laid hold of the healing of her ills, and was immediately made whole, bearing away the greatest proof of the power of our Saviour's indwelling divinity.
And a certain other man of royal rank, falling before Jesus on behalf of his son who was ill, immediately received him back sound; and another again, for his daughter — this one was a ruler of a synagogue of the Jews — but in his case she had already even died.
What need is there to say how another man, four days dead, was raised by the power of Jesus? Or how he made his way over the sea, as though upon a highway on land, while his disciples were sailing, and how, when they were caught in a storm, he rebuked the sea and the surge and the winds, and everything immediately stood still, as though cowering before the voice of its master?
And having satisfied to the full five thousand men, with a countless further multitude of women and children besides present with them, from five loaves in number — so that even the leftover fragments were enough to fill twelve baskets — whom would this not astonish? And would it not rightly call forth an inquiry into the ineffable power at work in him? But, lest my discourse should now be drawn out to great length, let his death, above all things, be set forth — a death which was not common, as that of the rest of mankind.
For he was destroyed neither by disease, nor by the noose, nor by fire, nor was he, on that very trophy of the cross, having his legs broken with iron in the manner of the other malefactors, nor did he in any way at all suffer a violent death at the hands of any of those accustomed to put men to death; but only in this way — that he willingly delivered up his body to those who plotted against him: as soon as it was raised up from the ground, he then, crying out with a loud voice upon the gibbet, and commending his spirit to the Father, saying in these very words, 'Father, into your hands I commend my spirit,' thus, of his own accord, released and free, made his own departure from the body.
Then, when his body had been taken by his acquaintances and given over to a fitting burial, on the third day he who had previously departed of his own will took it up again.
And again he showed himself, in the flesh, in the body, that very same one, such as he had also been before, to his own disciples; and having conversed with them a short while, and spent some time together with them, he ascended again to the place from which he had also come, making, before their very eyes, his journey to the heavens. And to them, moreover, having handed down instructions concerning what they must do, he appointed them teachers of the highest reverence for God to all the nations.
Such, then, were the much-celebrated wonders of the virtue of our Saviour; these are the proofs of the deity within him; these we ourselves have admired with sober reasoning, and have accepted with a judgment that has been tested and examined.
These things have been examined and tested by us also by means of other matters clearly revealing, in every case, the true account of them — matters by which our Lord himself, even now still, is accustomed to display, to those whom he may judge fit, some small tokens of his power. Yet still, there is also the more rational method, which we are accustomed to bring to bear against those who do not accept what has been said, but either disbelieve it altogether and assert that no such thing whatsoever was done by him, or admit that it happened, but attribute it otherwise to sorcery, practised for the deception of onlookers, as though wrought by a man who was a deceiver. And if it is necessary, on the present occasion also, to press briefly against those who have been described, we shall not fall short in earnestness, but shall answer them in a different manner. If they should say that our Saviour did nothing at all wonderful or marvellous, of the things his acquaintances testified to, let us consider whether their argument will be plausible, seeing that they cannot give the reason why the ones became disciples, and the other came to be called teacher. For the one who teaches makes a promise of some subject of instruction, and the disciples, in turn, desiring instruction, offer and entrust themselves to the teacher.
What cause, then, can be given for the disciples of Jesus spending their time with him, and what was the necessity of their devotion to him, and of what teachings did they inscribe him as their teacher? Or is this indeed clear? For surely they proclaimed to others the very things they had learned from him. And his instructions to them concerned a philosophical way of life, which he sketched out for them, saying: 'Do not acquire gold or silver for your belts, nor a bag for the road,' and such like things — that, having committed themselves to the providence that governs all things, they should be anxious about nothing for the sake of their needs; and he exhorted them also to think more highly than what had been commanded to the Jews by Moses.
For Moses had legislated 'not to murder' as though for men prone to homicide; and likewise, 'not to commit adultery,' as for the most lustful and most given to lechery; and again, 'not to steal,' as for men of the most slavish disposition — whereas Jesus taught that they must consider these laws as not properly applicable to themselves, and instead value highly the freedom of the soul from passion, cutting off, from the very depths of the mind, as if from the roots, the shoots of wickedness; and that they must try to master anger and every shameful desire — or rather, not even feel anger at all, because of the utmost freedom of the soul from passion — nor even look upon a woman with unchaste desire; and, as for stealing, he taught the opposite: to give freely of one's own possessions to those in need; and moreover not even to pride themselves on not defrauding one another, but rather to bear patiently, without resentment, the wrongs of those who defraud them first.
And why should I need to gather together all the things which he taught and they learned? He exhorted them, among other things, to hold so firmly to truth that they would have no need even of lawful oaths, far less of perjury; but rather so to prepare their character that it might appear more trustworthy than any oath — going only so far as 'yes' and 'no,' using words together with truth.
It must, then, be asked what reasonable account there could be for supposing that the hearers of such teachings — who moreover themselves became teachers of these very same doctrines — fabricated the things which they testified their teacher had accomplished.
What plausibility is there in supposing that they all agreed together to lie — the chosen ones being twelve in number, and the rest seventy, whom he is said to have sent out, two by two, before his face, into every place and region where he himself was about to come? But no reasoning permits us to disbelieve so great a multitude of men, who had embraced a pious and dignified way of life, who had disregarded all their own possessions, and who, in place of their dearest things — I mean wife, and children, and every kin — chose a life of poverty, and who, with one accord, as though from a single mouth, carried forth to all mankind a testimony concerning their teacher.
This, then, would be the principal, first, and true account. But let us consider also the contrary hypothesis. Let there be, then, a teacher, and disciples; then, as in a hypothesis of argument, let the one not teach what has been said above, but the opposite of it — that is, to break the law, to be impious, to act unjustly, to be covetous, to defraud, and whatever other evil might be named — and let him take pains to keep this hidden in all these things, and let him very cleverly conceal his character under the pretence of dignified teaching and the fresh profession of piety; and let the disciples pursue these same things, and things even more depraved than these, because of the impetuosity of wickedness and its being self-taught; and let them exalt their teacher to a great degree with fabricated words, sparing no false statement; and let them ascribe to him, falsely, all the marvels and wonder-workings, so that they themselves too might be admired and counted blessed, as having been deemed worthy to become disciples of such a man.
Come then, let us see whether, being such as this, the attempt could actually have succeeded for them. It is said that evil is not a friend to evil, nor even to good. Whence, then, in so great a multitude of men, was such a harmony of evil ever found? Whence such unanimous testimony concerning the same things among them all — a unanimity of mind extending even unto death? To a man who is a charlatan, teaching such things and promising such things, who would from the very outset have paid any heed at all? You might say that the others were charlatans, in nothing different from their leader. Then, did these men not witness together the end of their teacher, and what kind of death he suffered? Why then, after that most shameful end of his, did they persist, proclaiming as God one who was among the dead — or what, then, could they have desired, that they should suffer the like? And who, ever, for no reason at all, would choose so manifest a punishment beforehand?
And yet, let it be granted that they honoured him while he was still present and living among them, and, as one might say, being led astray by him through deception — what then of the fact that, after his death, and far more then than before, they made him a god? Since it is said that, while he was still living among men, they at one point even abandoned him and denied him, at the time when the plot against him was being contrived; but after he had departed from among men, they were themselves glad rather to die than to renounce their good testimony concerning him.
If, then, they knew of nothing good in their teacher — neither a manner of life, nor teaching, nor deed, nor any work worthy of praise — nor had been benefited by him in any respect at all, save only wickedness and the deception of men, how then did they die so readily, testifying to dignified and glorious things concerning him, when it was possible for each of them to live free from trouble, and, at their own hearth, together with their dearest ones, to pass a life free from danger?