Augustine of Hippo

"The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit on My right hand, until I make Your enemies Your footstool" [Psalm 110:1]. We ought, therefore, thoroughly to consider this question proposed to the Jews by the Lord, in the very commencement of the Psalm. For if what the .Jews answered be asked of us, whether we confess or deny it; God forbid that we should deny it. If it be said to us, Is Christ the Son of David, or not? If we reply, No, we contradict the Gospel for the Gospel of St. Matthew thus begins, "The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the Son of David." [Matthew 1:1] The Evangelist declares, that he is writing the book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the Son of David. The Jews, then, when questioned by Christ, whose Son they believed Christ to be, rightly answered, the Son of David. The Gospel agrees with their answer. Not only the suspicion of the Jews, but the faith of Christians, does declare this...."If then David in the spirit called Him Lord, how is He his son?" The Jews were silent at this question: they found no further reply: yet they did not seek Him as the Lord, for they did not acknowledge Him to be Himself that Son of David. But let us, brethren, both believe and declare: for, "with the heart we believe unto righteousness: but with the mouth confession is made unto salvation;" [Romans 10:10] let us believe, I say, and let us declare both the Son of David, and the Lord of David. Let us not be ashamed of the Son of David, lest we find the Lord of David angry with us.

And what follows? "The Lord shall send the rod of Your power out of Sion" [Psalm 110:2]. It appears, brethren, it most clearly appears, that the Prophet is not speaking of that kingdom of Christ, in which He reigns for ever with His Father, Ruler of the things which are made through Him: for when does not God the Word reign, who is in the beginning with God? [John 1:1] For it is said, "Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever." [1 Timothy 1:17] To what eternal King? To one invisible, incorruptible. For in this, that Christ is with the Father, invisible and incorruptible, because He is His Word, and His Power, and His Wisdom, and God with God, through whom all things were made; He is "King eternal;" but, nevertheless, that reign of temporal government, by which, through the mediation of His flesh, He called us into eternity, begins with Christians; but of His reign there shall be no end. His enemies therefore are made His footstool, while He is sitting on the right hand of His Father, as it is written; this is now going on, this will go on unto the end....

And unto what are You born? "The Lord has sworn, and will not repent: You are a Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedec" [Psalm 110:4]. For unto this were You born from the womb before the morning star, that You might be a Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedec. For in that character in which He was born of the Father, God with God, coeternal with Him who begot Him, He is not a Priest; but He is a Priest on account of the flesh which He assumed, on account of the victim which He was to offer for us received from us. "The Lord," then, "has sworn." What then means, the Lord has sworn? Does the Lord, who forbids men to swear, [Matthew 5:34] Himself swear? Or does He possibly forbid man to swear chiefly on this account, that he may not fall into perjury, and for this reason the Lord may swear, since He cannot be forsworn. For man, who, through a habit of swearing, may slip into perjury, is rightly forbidden to swear: for he will be farther from perjury in proportion as he is far from swearing. For the man who swears, may swear truly or falsely: but he who swears not, cannot swear falsely; for he swears not at all. Why then should not the Lord swear, since the Lord's oath is the seal of the promise? Let Him swear by all means. What then do you, when you swear? You call God to witness: this is to swear, to call God to witness; and for this reason there must be anxiety, that you may not call God to witness anything false. If therefore thou by an oath dost call God to witness, why then should not God also call Himself to witness with an oath? "I live, says the Lord," this is the Lord's oath...."The Lord swore," then, that is, confirmed: "He will not repent," He will not change. What? You are a Priest for ever. "For ever," for He will not repent. But Priest, in what sense? Will there be those victims, victims offered by the Patriarchs, altars of blood, and tabernacle, and those sacred emblems of the Old Covenant? God forbid! These things are already abolished; the temple being destroyed, that priesthood taken away, their victim and their sacrifice having alike disappeared, not even the Jews have these things. They see that the priesthood after the order of Aaron has already perished, and they do not recognise the Priesthood after the order of Melchizedec. I speak unto believers. If catechumens understand not something, let them lay aside sloth, and hasten unto knowledge. It is not therefore needful for me to disclose mysteries here: let the Scriptures intimate to you what is the Priesthood after the order of Melchizedec.

"The Lord on Your right hand" [Psalm 110:5]. The Lord had said, "Sit on My right hand;" now the Lord is on His right hand, as if they changed seats....That very Christ, the "Lord on Your right hand," unto whom You have sworn, and it will not repent You: what does He, Priest for evermore? What does He, who is at the right hand of God, and intercedes for us, [Romans 8:34] like a priest entering into the inner places, and into the holy of holies, into the mysteries of heaven, He alone being without sin, and therefore easily purifying from sins. He therefore "on Your right hand shall wound even kings in the day of His wrath." What kings, do you ask? Have you forgotten? "The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers took counsel together against the Lord, and against His Anointed." These kings He wounded by His glory, and by the weight of His Name made kings weak, so that they had not power to effect what they wished. For they strove amain to blot out the Christian name from the earth, and could not; for "Whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken." [Matthew 21:44] Kings therefore fall on this "stone of offense," and are therefore wounded, when they say, Who is Christ? I know not what Jew or what Galilean He may have been, who died, who was slain in such a manner! The stone is before your feet, lying, so to speak, mean and humble: therefore by scorning thou dost stumble, by stumbling you fall, by falling you are wounded...."But on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder." [Luke 20:18] When therefore any one falls upon it, it lies as it were low; it then wounds: but when it shall grind him to powder, then it will come from above. See how in these two words, it shall wound him and grind him to powder: he strikes upon it, and it shall come down upon him: are distinguished the two seasons, of the humiliation and the majesty of Christ, of hidden punishment and future judgment. He will not crush, when He comes, that man whom He does not wound when He lies in a contemptible appearance....

"He shall judge among the heathen: He shall fill up what has fallen" [Psalm 110:6]. Whoever you are who art obstinate against Christ, you have raised on high a tower that must fall. It is good that you should cast yourself down, become humble, throw yourself at the feet of Him who sits on the right hand of the Father, that in you a ruin may be made to be built up. For if you abide in your evil height, you shall be cast down when you can not be built up. For of such the Scripture says in another passage: "Therefore shall He break down, and not build them up." Beyond doubt he would not say this of some, unless there were some whom He broke down so as to build them up again. And this is going on at this time, while Christ is judging among the heathen in such a manner as to fill up what has fallen. "He shall smite many heads over the earth." Here upon the earth in this life He shall smite many heads. He makes them humble instead of proud; and I dare to say, my brethren, that it is more profitable to walk here humbly with the head wounded, than with the head erect to fall into the judgment of eternal death. He will smite many heads when he causes them to fall, but He will fill them up and build them up again.

"He shall drink of the brook in the way, therefore shall he lift up his head" [Psalm 110:7]. Let us consider Him drinking of the brook in the way: first of all, what is the brook? The onward flow of human mortality: for as a brook is gathered together by the rain, overflows, roars, runs, and by running runs down, that is, finishes its course; so is all this course of mortality. Men are born, they live, they die, and when some die others are born, and when they die others are born, they succeed, they flock together, they depart and will not remain. What is held fast here? What does not run? What is not on its way to the abyss as if it was gathered together from rain? For as a river suddenly drawn together from rain from the drops of showers runs into the sea, and is seen no more, nor was it seen before it was collected from the rain; so this hidden rain is collected together from hidden sources, and flows on; at death again it travels where it is hidden: this intermediate state sounds and passes away. Of this brook He drinks, He has not disdained to drink of this brook; for to drink of this brook was to Him to be born and to die. What this brook has, is birth and death; Christ assumed this, He was born, He died. "Therefore has He lifted up His head;" that is, because He was humble, and "became obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross: therefore God also has highly exalted Him, and given Him a Name which is above every name; that at the Name of Jesus every knee shall bow, of things in Heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ the Lord is in the glory of God the Father." [Philippians 2:8-11]

"I will make confession unto You, O Lord," he says, "with my whole heart" [Psalm 111:1]. Confession is not always confession of sins, but the praise of God is poured forth in the devotion of confession. The former mourns, the latter rejoices: the former shows the wound to the physician, the latter gives thanks for health. The latter confession signifies some one, not merely freed from every evil, but even separate from all the ill-disposed. And for this reason let us consider the place where he confesses unto the Lord with all his heart. "In the counsel," he says, "of the upright, and in the congregation:" I suppose, of those who shall "sit upon the twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." [Matthew 19:28] For there will be no longer an unjust man among them, the thefts of no Judas are allowed, no Simon Magus is baptized, wishing to buy the Spirit, while he designs to sell it; no coppersmith like Alexander does many evil deeds, [2 Timothy 4:14] no man covered with sheep's clothing creeps in with feigned fraternity; such as those among whom the Church must now groan, and such as she must then shut out, when all the righteous shall be gathered together.