Chapter 36. The Patriarchs and the Prophets and Christ Are from One and the Same God the Father.
Chapter 36
1. That God, the Lord did not reject. He did not teach that the Prophets spoke on the authority of a god other than his Father, or that they are from different substances than from one and the same Father; or that someone other than his Father made the things that are in this world. He taught thus: There was a householder who planted a vineyard, and set a hedge around it, and dug a wine press in it, and built a tower, and let it out to tenants, and went into another country. When the season of fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruits; and the tenants took his servants and beat one, stoned another, and killed another. Again, he sent other servants, more than at first; and they did the same to them. Afterward he sent his son to them, saying, “They will respect my son.” But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, “This is the heir; come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.” So they took him and killed him and cast him out of the vineyard. When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants? They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and will let out they vineyard to other tenants, who will give him the fruits in their seasons.” Again the Lord said, “Have you never read in the Scriptures, ‘The very stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes.’ Therefore, I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation producing the fruits of it.”
By these things he evidently points out to his disciples that there is one and the same householder, namely, one God the Father, who made all things by himself; but that there are various farmers, some are contumelious and proud and unprofitable and murderers of the Lord; others, in full obedience, return fruit in their seasons. He also [pointed out] that this householder is the same one who sometimes sends his servants, sometimes his Son. So the servants are sent by the same Father by whom the Son was sent to the tenants who killed him. Now, the Son, coming as he did from the Father, with supreme authority, used to say, But I say to you; while the servants were sent by the Lord as servants, and so used to say, Thus says the Lord.
2. The one, therefore, whom the former [Prophets] preached to the unbelievers as Lord, him Christ handed down as Father to those who obey him. And the God who had called the former, namely, in the beginning through the Law of servitude, he received the latter by adoption later on. To explain, God planted the vineyard of the human race, first by the fashioning of Adam and the election of the Patriarchs. Then he handed it over to the tenants by the Law given by Moses and surrounded it with a hedge, that is, on all sides he determined what they were to produce; and he built a tower, chose Jerusalem, and dug a winepress, that is, he prepared a receptacle of the prophetic Spirit. And so he sent the Prophets before the exile in Babylon took place, and after the exile he sent others, even more than the first, who were looking for the fruit.
They said to them, Thus says the Lord, Amend your ways and your doings. Render true judgment, show kindness and mercy each to his brother, do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, and the poor. And, Do not recall your brother’s evil in your hearts; and love no false oath. Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; remove the evil from your hearts; learn to do good, seek justice, defend the oppressed, defend the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come, now let us reason together, says the Lord. And again, Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking deceit. Depart from evil, and do good; seek after peace, and pursue it.
In preaching that, the Prophets sought the fruit of justice. And when the former did not believe, he sent last of all his Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, whom the evil tenants, when they had killed him, threw out of the vineyard. As a result, the Lord God delivered it, no longer hedged in, but scattered throughout the world, to other tenants who would return fruits in their seasons. The beautiful tower of election was raised everywhere, for everywhere there is the illustrious Church, and everywhere the wine press is dug round about, because everywhere are those who receive the Spirit. For since they have rejected God’s Son and cast him outside the vineyard, when they had killed him, God justly rejected them and gave the production of fruit to the Gentiles who were outside the vineyard. Just as the Prophet wrote, For the Lord has rejected and forsaken the people who did this, for the sons of Judah have done evil in my sight, says the Lord. And again Jeremiah, I set watchmen over you, saying, “Give heed to the sound of the trumpet!” But they said, “We will not give heed!” Therefore the nations have given heed and those who herd the sheep among them. So there is one and the same God the Father who planted the vineyard, who led the people forth, who sent the Prophets, who sent his Son, who gave the vineyard to other tenants, to those who return fruits in their seasons.
3. And on this account the Lord, preparing us as good laborers, said to his disciples: Take heed to yourselves, and always and at all times be watchful, lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly. For it will come as a snare upon all who dwell on the face of the earth. Let your loins be girded and your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home. And as it was in the days of Noah, They ate and drank, bought and sold, married and were given in marriage, and they did not know until Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them. Or as it was in the days of Lot. They ate and drank, they bought and sold, they planted and built, until the day that Lot went out from Sodom. It rained fire from heaven and destroyed them all. So will it be at the coming of the Son of Man. Watch, therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.
He announced one and the same Lord, who in the days of Noah, on account of the disobedience of men, brought on the flood; and who in the days of Lot, on account of the multitude of sins of the Sodomites, rained fire from heaven; and who in the last days, on account of the same disobedience and similar sins, will bring on the day of Judgment, on which he said, it will be more tolerable for the Sodomites and Gomorrhites than for that town and house, which did not accept the word of the apostles. He said: And you, Capernaum, will be exalted to heaven? You shall be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. But I tell you, it shall be more tolerable on the day of judgment for Sodom than for you.
4. Because the Word of God is always one and the same, he gives to those who believe in him a fountain of water unto eternal life, but suddenly dries up the unfruitful fig tree. He justly brought on the flood in the days of Noah, in order to destroy the most wicked race of men who lived at that time, who no longer could bear fruit for God, because the angels who had transgressed had been united to them in marriage, and to put a check on their sins; on the other hand, to preserve the archetype, the handiwork of Adam. In the days of Lot he rained fire and sulphur from heaven on Sodom and Gomorrah, an example of the just judgment of God. He did these things that all might know that every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire, and that in the universal judgment he will deal with the Sodomites more tolerably than with those who saw the miracles that he performed and did not believe in him or accept his doctrine. For, as by his coming he gave greater grace to those who have believed in him and are doing his will, so he also indicated that those who did not believe in him would be given a greater punishment in the Judgment, since he is equally just to all. Of the ones to whom he gave more he will demand more—“more” not in the sense that he will manifest the knowledge of another Father, as we have shown by so many and valid arguments, but because by his coming he poured out on the human race a more abundant gift of the Father’s grace.
5. Now, if what we have already stated should not be sufficient proof for anyone to believe that the Prophets were sent by the One and same Father by whom also Our Lord was sent, let him open the ears of his heart and call upon the Lord Jesus Christ as Teacher, and listen to him saying: The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a marriage feast for his son, and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the marriage feast. But when they refused to obey, Again he sent other servants, saying, “Tell those who are invited, Behold, I have made ready my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves are killed, and everything is ready; come to the marriage feast.” But they made light of him and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his servants, some they treated shamefully, and some they killed. But when the king heard of it, he was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. Then he said to the servants, “The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the thoroughfares and invite to the marriage feast as many as you find.” And his servants went out and gathered all whom they found, bad and good, so the wedding was filled up. Now when the king went in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment; and he said to him, “Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?” And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, “Take him by hands and feet, and cast him into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth.” For many are called but few are chosen.
Now, also by his words, the Lord points out clearly all things: both that there is one King and Lord, the Father of all, of whom he said before, “Do not [swear] by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king”; and that from the beginning he made ready the nuptials for his Son, and that because of his immense goodness he invited the former people to the wedding banquet through his servants. When these refused to obey, he again sent other servants to invite them. Not even then did they obey him, but even stoned and killed those who brought the invitation. He sent his troops and destroyed them and burned their city. Then he invited people from all the roads, that is, from all the Gentiles, to the wedding banquet of his Son, as he said through Jeremiah: And I have sent to you all my servants the prophets, to say, “Turn now every one of you from his evil way, and amend your doings.” And again through the same [Jeremiah] he said: And I have sent all my servants the prophets to you, during the day and before the dawn, yet they have not listened to me, or inclined their ear. So you shall speak all these words to them, “This is the nation that did not obey the voice of the Lord,” and did not accept discipline; faith has perished from their lips.
The Lord, therefore, who invited us from everywhere through the apostles, this same one invited the people of old through the Prophets, as is shown by the Lord’s words. The Prophets were not from one god, while the apostles from another, even though they preached to various nations. But they were from one and the same God. Some announced the Lord, while others proclaimed the good news of the Father; some announced in advance the coming of God’s Son, while others heralded him in advance as already present to those who were afar off.
6. Furthermore, he revealed that it was necessary for us to be adorned with the calling and the deeds of righteousness, in order that God’s Spirit might rest upon us; for that is the wedding present about which the Apostle wrote, not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by immortality. But those who were invited to God’s supper and did not share in the Holy Spirit, because of their evil mode of living, will be cast into outer darkness, the Scripture says. He manifestly points out that the same King who invited the faithful from everywhere to the wedding of his Son and who gave to them the imperishable banquet likewise commands the one who has no wedding garment, namely, a contemptuous person, to be cast into outer darkness. For just as in the first covenant, with most of them [God] was not pleased; so now, too, many are called, but few are chosen.
The God, then, who judges is not different from the Father who invites to salvation, nor is the God who gives eternal light different from the one who commands those who do not have on the wedding garment to be cast into outer darkness. No, it is one and the same God the Father of Our Lord, by whom also the Prophets were sent out. He invited those who were unworthy out of his immense kindness. But then he inspected those who had been invited to see whether they had on the proper garment, suitable for his Son’s wedding, for nothing improper and evil pleases him. Just as the Lord said to the one who was healed, See, you are well. Sin no more, that nothing worse befall you. For he who is good and righteous and pure and spotless will not tolerate anything evil or unrighteous or abominable in his bridal chamber.
That is the Father of Our Lord, through whose providence all things are in harmony, and by whose command all things are administered. He bestows gifts gratuitously on whom he ought. On the other hand, being a most just Rewarder, he repays according to deserts in a very exacting manner to those who are ungrateful and who do not acknowledge his kindness, and so he says, He sent his troops and destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. He called them his troops because all men are God’s. For the earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof; the world and all who dwell in therein. With this in mind the Apostle Paul wrote in his Letter to the Romans: For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore he who resists the authority resists the ordinance of God; and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to the good conduct but to the bad. Would you have no fear of him who is the authority? When you do what is good, you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain; he is the servant of God to execute his wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore you must be subject, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For the same reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are the ministers of God, attending to this very thing. So both the Lord and the Apostle announced one and the same God the Father; him who made the Law, who sent the Prophets, who made all things. And so he said, he sent his troops, since everyman, inasmuch as he is man, is his handiwork, even though he should be ignorant of God. In point of fact, he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and gives to all the gift of existence, he also sends rain on the just and the unjust.
7. He taught one and the same God not only by the passages mentioned but also by the parable of the two sons, the younger of whom wasted his possessions by living luxuriously, living with harlots. For the Father allowed not even a goat for the older son, but for the sake of him who had been lost, the younger son, he ordered a fat calf to be killed and gave him the finest robe. Likewise, by the parable of the laborers who were sent into the vineyard at different times, He manifested one and the same Lord, who called some immediately from the beginning of the making of the world and others later; others at the middle of the times; others when the times had already progressed; similarly, others at the end. The purpose of this was that there might be many workers in their various epochs, but one householder who calls them. For there is one vineyard, because there is also one righteousness; and there is one steward, namely, the one Spirit of God who disposes all things; likewise, there is one wage, for all received each a denarius with the king’s image and inscription, namely, the knowledge about God’s Son, which is imperishability. For this reason he began giving the wage to the last ones, since the Lord was manifested in the last times and gave himself back again to all.
8. The publican, too, who surpassed the Pharisee in prayer received testimony from the Lord to the effect that he was justified more than the other, not because he worshipped another Father, but because he made his confession to that same God with great humility and without pride and boasting.
Likewise, the parable of the two sons who were sent into the vineyard manifests one and the same God. The one refused his father and afterward repented when repentance did him no good. The other promised to go—he promised immediately—but he did not go (Because every man is a liar.) The will is ready, but one cannot bring himself to carry it out.
Also the parable of the fig tree. The Lord said of it: Lo, these three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Thus having pointed out his coming by means of the Prophets, through whom he came a number of times in search of the fruit of righteousness from them, but found none, he clearly manifested that the fig tree would be cut down on account of the reason stated. Again, without a parable, the Lord said to Jerusalem: O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets and stoning those who are sent to you! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not. Now, what he had said by way of parable (Lo, those three years I have come seeking fruit) and what he said openly (How often would I have gathered your children together) would be a lie if we do not understand it of his coming through the Prophets, since he did come to them once, and that the first time. But that he who chose the Patriarchs is the same Word of God, both visiting them at all times through the prophetic Spirit and calling us from everywhere through his coming, besides what was said in truth, he expressed thus: Many will come from east and west, and sit at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown out into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth. So if those from the east and the west who, through the preaching of the apostles, believe in him will sit at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, partaking with them of the same banquet, one and the same God is manifested, who chose the Patriarchs, visited his people [the Jews], and called the Gentiles.