They contain some matters not consistent with the analogy of faith.
They contain some matters not consistent with the analogy of faith.
§ 235. [VI] The Books of the Maccabees include some matters not consistent with the analogy of faith. (1) In 2 Maccabees 12:43, the act of Judas Maccabeus is praised: “that he offered a sacrifice for the dead.” God, however, never prescribed such a sacrifice in the Law; therefore it was a self-chosen service [
]. Furthermore, he offered this sacrifice for those who had defiled themselves with idolatry and the crime of sacrilege. Yet the Papists themselves deny that we must pray and sacrifice for those who die in mortal sin.
Bellarmine sets Augustine against us, who argues from this passage that “it is devout to pray for the dead” (Epistle 61 ad Dulcit.; De moribus eccles., bk. 1, c. 23; and De cura pro mort., c. 1). What should be thought about this opinion of Augustine, however, we have explained in detail in our treatise On Death [Commonplace XXIX], § 280. What Bellarmine argues—that “Judas devoutly supposed that they felt grief for their sin before God and found mercy in the moment of death”—this whole thing is suspicious, for the Papists would not offer the sacrifice of the Mass for such as they saw die in flagrant crime. (See the aforementioned treatise On Death, § 224.) Whatever it may be, we urge our argument that God in His Law has prescribed nothing about a sacrifice for the dead and that no other approved example of such a sacrifice can be brought out from the Scriptures. And it is assuredly evident from this that this whole thing about a sacrifice for sins was added, because we do not read it in the Hebrew writing of Joseph ben Gorion (where the same story is told in bk. 3, c. 19) nor in the Greek of Josephus.
(2) Second Maccabees 14:42, 43, and 46 tells of the bravery of Razis, “that he laid violent hands on himself.” Yet suicide conflicts with the divine command: “You shall not kill.”
Bellarmine responds from Augustine’s Epistle 61 ad Dulcit.: “The deaths of these men are described, not praised, in Scripture. Or certainly they are not praised as if they did what they did in a holy and devout way, however bold and manly they appeared. In the judgment of men, one cannot deny that they acted bravely.” We respond. On the contrary, the author does not merely list those examples, he also praises them. He praises him for his bravery, not with the judgment of others but with his own judgment. 1 Maccabees 6:44: “Eleazar sacrificed himself to save his people and to win everlasting renown for himself.” 2 Maccabees 14:42: “Razis struck himself with his sword, preferring to die honorably than to become subject to sinners and to suffer outrages unworthy of his noble birth.” Verse 44: “He manfully hurled himself down into the crowd.” Verse 46: “Calling upon the Lord of life and spirit to give these back to him again, he died.”
(3) 1 Maccabees 2:52: “Was not Abraham found faithful when he was tried and it was counted to him for righteousness?” Canonical Scripture, however, puts it this way: “Abraham believed the Lord, and He reckoned it to him as righteousness” (Gen. 15:6), and this happened before he was found faithful in temptation.