Chapter 25. Both Covenants, Which Were Prefigured by Abraham and Tamar, Have One and the Same God.
Chapter 25
1. Thus, then, it behooved Abraham to have sons, namely, such as God raised up from stones, and attached them to him who was the prince and the herald of faith. He had received the covenant of the circumcision, though he was uncircumcised, after justification through faith, that both covenants would be prefigured in him, and so he would become the father of all those who follow the Word of God and are on pilgrimage in this world, that is, the [father] of the believers from among the circumcised and of those among the uncircumcised. A parallel case is had in Christ the chief cornerstone, upholding the universe and gathering into one faith of Abraham those from both covenants who are fit for God’s edifice. But the faith without circumcision, inasmuch as it united the end to the beginning, has become the first and the last. To explain, it was in Abraham before circumcision, and in the other righteous who pleased God, as we have shown; again, in the last times it appeared in the human race through the Lord’s coming; circumcision, however, and the Law of the works held sway in the intermediate time.
2. This is shown by types also in many other cases; for instance, already by Tamar the daughter-in-law of Judah. For, when she had conceived twins, one put out his hand first. When the midwife thought that he was the firstborn, she tied a scarlet sign on his hand; but when that had been done and he had drawn back his hand, his brother Phares came out first, and after him Zara with the scarlet sign. Thus the Scripture clearly manifests the people with the scarlet sign, that is, the faith without circumcision, which was shown in advance in the Patriarchs, then was withdrawn, so his brother might be born; next he who was in second place was born first, and was recognized by the scarlet sign which was on him, that is the passion of the Righteous One. This was first prefigured in Abel and then represented by the Prophets but was fulfilled in the last times in God’s Son.
3. It was proper that certain things should be announced beforehand by the Patriarchs in a fatherly manner, and that others should be prefigured by the Prophets in a legal manner, while still others should be given form according to the pattern of Christ by those who have received the adoption. All things, nevertheless, are manifested in the One God. For, even though Abraham was one man, he prefigured in himself two covenants, in which some have sown and others have reaped: For here the saying holds true, says Scripture, “One sows and another reaps.” But there is one God who gives to both whatever is suitable: to the sower the seed, and to the reaper the bread to eat. Just as there is one who plants and another who waters, but one God who gives the growth. Now the Patriarchs and the Prophets sowed the word about Christ; but the Church did the reaping, that is, she got the fruit. For this reason, those [Patriarchs and Prophets] also pray that they might have a dwelling in her, as Jeremiah says, Who will give me in the wilderness a last lodging place? Then both the sower and the reaper may rejoice together in the kingdom of Christ, who is present to all with whom God was pleased from the beginning, and granted that his Word be present with them.