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God’s power, not upon human wisdom” [<460205>
1 Corinthians 2:5 p.]
because his own preaching among them commended itself “not in
persuasive words of human wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and of might” [ch. 2:4 p.]. For truth is cleared of all doubt when, not sustained by external props, it serves as its own support.
Now this power which is peculiar to Scripture is clear from the fact that of human writings, however artfully polished, there is none capable of
affecting us at all comparably. Read Demosthenes or Cicero; read Plato, Aristotle, and others of that tribe. They will, I admit, allure you, delight you, move you, enrapture you in wonderful measure. But betake yourself from them to this sacred reading. Then, in spite of yourself, so deeply will it affect you, so penetrate your heart, so fix itself in your very marrow, that, compared with its deep impression, such vigor as the orators and philosophers have will nearly vanish. Consequently, it is easy to see that the Sacred Scriptures, which so far surpass all gifts and graces of human endeavor, breathe something divine. f279
2. NOT STYLE BUT CONTENT IS DECISIVE
eIndeed, I admit that some of the prophets had an elegant and clear, even brilliant, manner of speaking, so that their eloquence yields nothing to secular writers; f280 and by such examples the Holy Spirit wished to show that he did not lack eloquence while he elsewhere used a rude and
unrefined style. But whether you read David, Isaiah, and the like, whose speech flows sweet and pleasing, or Amos the herdsman, Jeremiah, and Zechariah, whose harsher style savors of rusticity, that majesty of the Spirit of which I have spoken will be evident everywhere. And I am not unaware that Satan is in many ways an imitator of God, in order by a false likeness to insinuate himself into the minds of simple folk. He has thus cleverly sowed, by uncultivated and even barbarous language, impious errors and by them has deceived miserable men. He has often made use of obsolete forms of speech, that under this mask he may cloak his
impostures. f281 But all men endowed with moderate sense see how empty and loathsome is this affectation. As far as Sacred Scripture is concerned, however much forward men try to gnaw at it, nevertheless it clearly is crammed with thoughts that could not be humanly conceived. Let each of the prophets be looked into: none will be found who does not far exceed
human measure. Consequently, those for whom prophetic doctrine is tasteless ought to be thought of as lacking taste buds.
3. THE GREAT ANTIQUITY OF SCRIPTURE
dOthers have dealt with this argument at length; it will therefore be enough to select for the present only a few main details that summarize the whole matter. Besides those points which I have already touched upon, the very antiquity of Scripture has no slight weight. For however much Greek writers may talk about the Egyptian theology, no monument of any religion is extant that is not far later than the age of Moses. f282 And Moses devised no new god, but rather set forth what the Israelites had accepted concerning the eternal God handed down by the patriarchs age after age.
For what else does he do but call them back to the covenant begun with Abraham [<011707>
Genesis 17:7]? Had he, however, brought forward something unheard of, it would not have been approved. But their liberation from the slavery in which they were held must have been a matter of such common knowledge that the very mention of it would immediately arouse the minds of all. Indeed, it is likely that they had been taught concerning the four-hundred-year period [<011513>
Genesis 15:13;
<021240>
Exodus 12:40; <480317>
Galatians 3:17]. Now, if Moses (who
nevertheless is so much earlier in time than all other writers) traced the transmission of his doctrine back to such a remote source, we must ponder how much Sacred Scripture outstrips all other writings in antiquity.
4. THE TRUTHFULNESS OF SCRIPTURE SHOWN BY MOSES’ EXAMPLE
eUnless, perhaps, one chooses to believe the Egyptians, who extend their antiquity to six thousand years before the creation of the world! But since their garrulity was always held in derision, even by every secular writer, there is no reason for me to toil in refuting it. Moreover, Josephus cites, in his Against Apion, testimonies out of very ancient writers worth recalling, from which one may conclude that by the agreement of all nations the doctrine set forth in the law was renowned from the remotest ages, even though it was neither read nor truly known. f283
Now to prevent any suspicion from persisting among the malicious, and to remove any occasion for the wicked to quibble, God meets both dangers
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with the best of remedies. While Moses recalls what Jacob almost three hundred years before had declared under heavenly inspiration concerning his posterity, does he in any way ennoble his tribe? No — he brands it with eternal infamy in the person of Levi! “Simeon and Levi,” says he,
“are vessels of iniquity: may my soul not enter into their counsel, nor my tongue into their secret place.” [<014905>
Genesis 49:5-6 p.] Surely he could have remained silent about that shame, not only to spare his father, but also not to besmirch himself and his whole family with part of the same ignominy. How could Moses be suspected, who first preached to the family from which he had sprung that their progenitor was utterly detestable to the oracle of the Holy Spirit, and who did not think of his own personal interests or refuse to suffer the odium of his relations for whom this was doubtless an annoyance? Also, when he recalls the wicked murmuring of his brother Aaron and his sister Miriam [<041201>
Numbers 12:1], shall we say that he speaks from the feeling of his flesh, or that he is obedient to the command of the Holy Spirit? Moreover, since his was the highest authority, why did he not at least leave the right of the high priest to his sons, but instead relegate them to the lowest place? I select only a few instances out of many; but in the law itself, here and there, we will meet many proofs that vindicate the full assurance that Moses
undoubtedly came forth like an angel of God from heaven.
(Refutation of objections regarding miracles and prophecy, 5-10)
5. MIRACLES STRENGTHEN THE AUTHORITY OF GOD’S MESSENGERS
dNow these very numerous and remarkable miracles which he relates are so many confirmations of the law that he has delivered, and of the doctrine that he has published. For — that he was borne up into the mountain in a cloud; that there he was without human fellowship for forty days
[<022418>
Exodus 24:18]; that in the very promulgation of the law his face shone like the rays of the sun [<023429>
Exodus 34:29]; that lightnings flashed round about, thunders and crashes were heard throughout the heavens, and a trumpet blown by no human mouth resounded [<021916>
Exodus 19:16]; that the entrance to the Tabernacle, covered by a cloud, was hidden from the people’s view [<024034>
Exodus 40:34]; that by the dreadful death of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, and their whole wicked faction, f284 his authority was
most marvelously vindicated [<041624>
Numbers 16:24]; that the rock struck by his rod straightway brought forth a river [<042010>
Numbers 20:10-11;
<021706>
Exodus 17:6; cf. <461004>
1 Corinthians 10:4]; that manna rained from heaven at his prayer [<041109>
Numbers 11:9; <021613>
Exodus 16:13; cf. <461003>
1 Corinthians 10:3] —by these was not God, from heaven, commending Moses as his undoubted prophet? If anyone should object that I am taking as fact what is controversial, this subtle objection is easy to answer.
Inasmuch as Moses published all these things before the congregation, among eyewitnesses of the events what opportunity was there for fraud?
Moses would, of course, have appeared before the people, rebuked them for their unfaithfulness, obstinacy, ungratefulness, and other offenses, and then would have boasted that under their very eyes his doctrine had been authenticated by miracles that they had never seen!
6. MOSES’ MIRACLES ARE INCONTESTABLE
cFor this is also worth noting: every time he tells of miracles, at the same time there are disagreeably conjoined things that could stir up the whole people to contradict loudly if the slightest occasion had presented itself.
From this it is clear that they have been led to assent solely because they were quite enough convinced by their own experience. But since the matter was too manifest for secular writers to be free to deny that Moses
performed miracles, the father of lies slanderously attributed them to magic arts [cf. <020711>
Exodus 7:11 or 9:11]. Moses shrank so much from this superstition as to order that anyone who merely consulted magicians and soothsayers should be stoned to death [<032006>
Leviticus 20:6]. By what conjecture then do they make him out to have been a magician? Surely any impostor plies his legerdemain in an effort to overwhelm the minds of the multitude to snatch renown. But what about Moses? Proclaiming that he and his brother Aaron are nothing but only following what God has laid down [<021607>
Exodus 16:7], he sufficiently wipes away every mark of reproach. Now if the events themselves be considered, what sort of incantation could cause manna daily raining from heaven to provide sufficient food for the people: if anyone had more than his due measure stored up, to teach him from its very putrefaction that his unbelief was divinely punished [<021619>
Exodus 16:19-20]? Besides, God allows his servant so to be tested by many severe proofs that the wicked may now have no success in clamoring against him. Sometimes the whole people
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rose up in their pride and insolence; sometimes certain ones among them conspired in an attempt to overthrow God’s holy servant. How, then, could Moses by legerdemain have escaped this fury of theirs? And the outcome plainly bears out that in this way his doctrine was sanctioned for all time.
7. PROPHECIES THAT ARE FULFILLED CONTRARY TO ALL HUMAN EXPECTATION
dIn addition, who can deny that the prophetic spirit, in the person of the patriarch Jacob, caused the primacy to be assigned to the tribe of Judah [<014910>
Genesis 49:10] — especially if we take the act itself into account, as its outcome has proved? Picture Moses as the first author of this
prophecy. Yet from the time that this writing was recorded, four hundred years passed during which there was no mention of a scepter in the tribe of Judah. After the consecration of Saul [<091115>
1 Samuel 11:15], the royal power seems to have resided in the tribe of Benjamin. When David was anointed by Samuel [<091613>
1 Samuel 16:13], what visible reason was there for the transference of the kingly power? Who would have anticipated that a king was to come forth from the lowly house of a herdsman? And since there were seven brothers in the family, who would have marked the youngest for the honor? How could he have any hope of the Kingdom?
Who would say that his anointing had been determined by human art or effort or prudence, and was not rather the fulfillment of heavenly
prophecy? Similarly, Moses foretells things, albeit obscurely, concerning the election of the Gentiles into God’s covenant [<014910>
Genesis 49:10], which actually took place almost two thousand years later. Is this not plain proof that he spoke by divine inspiration? I omit other predictions, which so clearly breathe the divine revelation as to convince sane men that it is God who speaks. In brief, Moses’ one song [<053201>
Deuteronomy 32] is a bright mirror in which God is manifest.
8. GOD HAS CONFIRMED THE PROPHETIC WORDS
dBut in the remaining prophets it is now discerned even more clearly. I will select only a few examples, for to gather all of them together would be too toilsome. Although in the time of Isaiah the Kingdom of Judah was at peace, and perhaps even regarded itself as somewhat under the Chaldeans’
protection, Isaiah spoke publicly of the fall of the city and the exile of the people [<233906>
Isaiah 39:6-7]. Let us grant that to predict, long before, what at the time seemed incredible but at last actually came to pass was not yet a clear enough token of divine inspiration. Yet from what source but God shall we say have come those prophecies which Isaiah at the same time utters concerning release? He names Cyrus [<234501>
Isaiah 45:1] through whom the Chaldeans had to be conquered and the people set free. More than a hundred years elapsed from the time the prophet so prophesied and the time Cyrus was born; f285 for the latter was born about a hundred years after the prophet’s death. No one could have divined then that there was to be a man named Cyrus who would wage war with the Babylonians, would subdue such a powerful monarchy, and terminate the exile of the people of Israel. Does not this bare narrative, without any verbal embellishment, plainly show the things Isaiah recounts to be undoubted oracles of God, not the conjectures of a man? Again, when Jeremiah, some time before the people were led away into exile, set the duration of the captivity at seventy years and indicated the return and liberation [<242511>
Jeremiah 25:11-12; 29:10], must not his tongue have been under the guidance of the Spirit of God? How shameless will it be to say that the authority of the prophets has not been confirmed by such proofs, and that what they boast, to claim credibility for their own words, has not so far been fulfilled! “Behold, the former things have come to pass…new things I declare; before they spring forth I point them out to you.” [<234209>
Isaiah 42:9, Comm.] I pass over the fact that Jeremiah and Ezekiel, far apart yet prophesying at the same time, in all their statements commonly agreed as if each had dictated the other’s words. What of Daniel? Did he not so clothe his prophecies of future events almost to the six hundredth year as if he were writing a history of past events generally known? If godly men take these things to heart, they will be abundantly equipped to restrain the barking of ungodly men; for this is a proof too clear to be open to any subtle objections.
9. THE TRANSMISSION OF THE LAW IS TO BE TRUSTED
dI know what certain rascals bawl out in corners in order to display the keenness of their wit in assailing God’s truth. For they ask, Who assures us that the books that we read under the names of Moses and the
prophets were written by them? f286 They even dare question whether there
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ever was a Moses. Yet if anyone were to call in doubt whether there ever was a Plato, an Aristotle, or a Cicero, who would not say that such folly ought to be chastised with the fist or the lash? The law of Moses was wonderfully preserved by heavenly providence rather than by human effort. And although by priests’ negligence the law lay buried for a short time, after godly King Josiah found it [<122208>
2 Kings 22:8; cf. <143415>
2 Chronicles 34:15], it continued to be read age after age. f287 Indeed, Josiah did not put it forward as something unknown or new, but as something that had always been of common knowledge, the memory of which was then famous. The archetypal roll was committed to the Temple; a copy was made from it and designated for the royal archives [<051718>
Deuteronomy 17:18-19]. What had happened was merely this: the priests had ceased to publish the law itself according to the solemn custom, and the people themselves also had neglected the habit of reading it. Why is it that almost no age goes by in which its sanction is not confirmed and renewed? Was Moses unknown to those who were versed in David? But, to generalize concerning all sacred authors, it is absolutely certain that their writings passed down to posterity in but one way: from hand to hand. Some had heard their actual words; others learned that they had so spoken from hearers whose memories were still fresh.
10. GOD HAS MARVELOUSLY PRESERVED THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS
aIndeed, the passage in the history of the Maccabees that they put forth in order to detract from the authenticity of Scripture is such that nothing more appropriate could be thought of to establish it. Yet first let us wipe away their pretenses; then we shall turn back upon them the siege engine they are erecting against us. Since Antiochus (they say) ordered all books to be burned [1 Maccabees 1:56-57], where did the copies that we now have come from? f288 But I, in turn, ask, In what workshop could they have been fabricated so quickly? For it is well known that directly after the persecutions had ceased, the books were extant, and were acknowledged without controversy by all the godly, who were brought up on their doctrine and knew them intimately. But even though all wicked men, as if conspiring together, have so shamelessly insulted the Jews, no one has ever dared charge them with substituting false books. For whatever, in their opinion, the Jewish religion may be, they confess Moses to be its
author. What but their own more than canine shamelessness do these babblers betray when they utter the lie that these books (whose sacred antiquity is confirmed by the agreement of all histories) are spurious? But not to expend further effort uselessly in refuting such filthy calumnies, let us rather ponder here how much care the Lord has taken to preserve his Word, when, contrary to everybody’s expectation, he snatched it away from a most cruel and savage tyrant, as from a raging fire. Let us consider how he armed godly priests and others with so great constancy that they did not hesitate to transmit to their posterity this treasure redeemed, if necessary, at the expense of their own lives; and how he frustrated the whole fierce book hunt of rulers and their minions. Who does not
recognize as a remarkable and wonderful work of God the fact that those sacred monuments, which the wicked had persuaded themselves had utterly perished, soon returned and took their former place once more, and even with enhanced dignity? For the Greek translation followed, which published them abroad throughout the world. f289
The miracle appeared not only in that God delivered the Tables of his covenant from the bloody edicts of Antiochus, but also in that the Jewish people, ground down and wasted by such manifold misfortunes, were soon almost exterminated, yet the writings remained safe and intact. The Hebrew language lay not only unesteemed, but almost unknown; and to be sure, if God had not been pleased to care for their religion, it would have perished completely, eFor after the Jews were brought back from exile, how much they departed from the true use of the mother tongue appears from the prophets of that age, a fact worth noting because from this comparison one more clearly perceives the antiquity of the Law and the Prophets. dAnd through whom did God preserve for us the doctrine of salvation embraced in the Law and the Prophets, that Christ in his own time might be made manifest [<402237>
Matthew 22:37-40]? Through the Jews, Christ’s most violent enemies, whom Augustine justly calls the
“bookmen” of the Christian church, f290 because they have furnished us with reading matter of which they themselves do not make use.
(Simplicity and heavenly character and authority of the New Testament, 2)
eNext, if one comes to the New Testament, with what solid props its truth is supported! Three Evangelists recount their history in a humble and