Tertullian — Commentary on Scripture

Psalms 18:43

“A people,” he says.… But what is the “people” that was ignorant of God, but ours, who in days bygone knew not God? And who, in the hearing of the ear, gave heed to him, but we, who forsaking idols, have been converted to God?

AN ANSWER TO THE JEWS 3

Psalms 24:7

God spared not his own Son for you, letting him become a curse for us; for “cursed is he who hangs on a tree”;31 … that he might redeem us from our sins. The sun was darkened on the day of our redemption; hell lost its right to us, and we were enrolled for heaven. The eternal gates were lifted up that the King of glory, the Lord of might, might enter in, and humankind, born of the earth, destined for hell, was purchased for heaven.

ON FLIGHT IN TIME OF PERSECUTION 12:2

Psalms 24:8

Christ must be understood to be an exterminator of spiritual foes, who wields spiritual arms and fights in spiritual strife.… It is of such a war as this that the psalm may evidently have spoken: “The Lord is strong, the Lord is mighty in battle.” For with the last enemy death did he fight, and through the trophy of the cross he triumphed.

AGAINST MARCION 4.20

Psalms 45:3

I, on my part, now wish to engage with you in a discussion on the allegorical expressions of the apostle. What figures of speech could the novel god have found in the prophets (fit for himself)? "He led captivity captive," [Ephesians 4:8] says the apostle. With what arms? In what conflicts? From the devastation of what country? From the overthrow of what city? What women, what children, what princes did the Conqueror throw into chains? For when by David Christ is sung as "girded with His sword upon His thigh," [Psalm 45:3] or by Isaiah as "taking away the spoils of Samaria and the power of Damascus," [Isaiah 8:4] you make Him out to be really and truly a warrior confest to the eye. Learn then now, that His is a spiritual armour and warfare

Against Marcion, Book V, Chapter 18

Psalms 50:12

Although he had respect to the offerings of Abel and smelled a sweet savor from the whole burnt offering of Noah, yet what pleasure could he receive from the flesh of sheep or the odor of burning victims? And yet the simple and God-fearing mind of those who offered what they were receiving from God, both in the way of food and of a sweet smell, was favorably accepted before God, in the sense of respectful homage to God, who did not so much want what was offered as that which prompted the offering.

AGAINST MARCION 2.22

Psalms 59:11

So likewise that conditional threat of the sword, “If you refuse and do not listen to me, the sword shall devour you,” has proved that the sword was Christ, for rebellion against whom they have perished. In the fifty-ninth psalm he demands of the Father their dispersion: “Scatter them in your power.” By Isaiah he also says, as he finishes a prophecy of their consumption by fire: “Because of me this has happened to you; you shall lie down in sorrow.” But all this would be meaningless enough, if they suffered this retribution not on account of him who had in prophecy assigned their suffering to his own cause but for the sake of the Christ of the other god. Well, then, although you affirm that it is the Christ of the other god38 who was driven to the cross by the powers and authorities of the Creator, as it were by hostile beings, still I have to say, see how manifestly he was defended by the Creator: there were given to him both “the wicked for his burial,” even those who had strenuously maintained that his corpse had been stolen, “and the rich for his death,” even those who had redeem…

So likewise that conditional threat of the sword, “If you refuse and do not listen to me, the sword shall devour you,” has proved that the sword was Christ, for rebellion against whom they have perished. In the fifty-ninth psalm he demands of the Father their dispersion: “Scatter them in your power.” By Isaiah he also says, as he finishes a prophecy of their consumption by fire: “Because of me this has happened to you; you shall lie down in sorrow.” But all this would be meaningless enough, if they suffered this retribution not on account of him who had in prophecy assigned their suffering to his own cause but for the sake of the Christ of the other god. Well, then, although you affirm that it is the Christ of the other god38 who was driven to the cross by the powers and authorities of the Creator, as it were by hostile beings, still I have to say, see how manifestly he was defended by the Creator: there were given to him both “the wicked for his burial,” even those who had strenuously maintained that his corpse had been stolen, “and the rich for his death,” even those who had redeemed him from the treachery of Judas, as well as from the lying report of the soldiers that his body had been taken away.

AGAINST MARCION 3.23

Psalms 69:4-7

Christ did not speak deceitfully but displayed all justice and humility. He did not suffer that kind of death [crucifixion] for anything he had done but so that those things that the prophets had predicted would happen to him through you as the very Spirit of Christ already foretold in the Psalms, saying, “They repaid me evil instead of good”; “What I had not taken, I repaid”;8 “They pierced my hands and feet”; “They put gall in my drink, and they satisfied my thirst with vinegar”;10 and “They cast lots for my clothing.” The other things that you would commit against him have also been foretold. He patiently endured and suffered all those things not for anything he had done but so that the Scriptures might be fulfilled that were spoken by the prophets.

AN ANSWER TO THE JEWS 10

Psalms 69:20-29

A second time, in fact, let us show that Christ has already come, [as foretold] through the prophets, and has suffered, and has already been received back in the heavens and will come from there according to the predictions prophesied. For, after his advent, we read, according to Daniel, that the city itself had to be destroyed; and we recognize that it has indeed happened. For the Scripture says that “the city and the holy place are simultaneously destroyed together with the leader”—undoubtedly [that Leader] who was to come “from Bethlehem” and from the tribe of “Judah.” Whence, again, it is manifest that “the city must simultaneously be destroyed” at the time when its “Leader” had to suffer in it, [as foretold] through the Scriptures of the prophets, who say, “I have outstretched my hands the whole day to a rebellious people who contradict me, who walk in a way that is not good, but after their own sins.” And in the Psalms, David says, “They pierced my hands and feet: they counted all my bones; they themselves, moreover, stare and gloat over me, and for my thirst they gave me vineg…

A second time, in fact, let us show that Christ has already come, [as foretold] through the prophets, and has suffered, and has already been received back in the heavens and will come from there according to the predictions prophesied. For, after his advent, we read, according to Daniel, that the city itself had to be destroyed; and we recognize that it has indeed happened. For the Scripture says that “the city and the holy place are simultaneously destroyed together with the leader”—undoubtedly [that Leader] who was to come “from Bethlehem” and from the tribe of “Judah.” Whence, again, it is manifest that “the city must simultaneously be destroyed” at the time when its “Leader” had to suffer in it, [as foretold] through the Scriptures of the prophets, who say, “I have outstretched my hands the whole day to a rebellious people who contradict me, who walk in a way that is not good, but after their own sins.” And in the Psalms, David says, “They pierced my hands and feet: they counted all my bones; they themselves, moreover, stare and gloat over me, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.” David did not suffer these things so as to seem to have spoken properly of himself but of Christ who was crucified.

AN ANSWER TO THE JEWS 12

Psalms 69:20-29

Now, to counter all opinions of this kind, let me dispel at once the preliminary idea on which they13 rest their assertion that the prophets make all their announcements in figures of speech. Now, if this were true, the figures [of speech] themselves could not possibly have been distinguished, inasmuch as the truths would not have been declared, from which the figurative language is derived. And, indeed, if all are figures, where will that be of which they are the figures? How can you hold up a mirror to your face, if your face did not exist? But, in truth, all are not figures, but there are also literal statements; nor are all shadows, but there are bodies too, so that we even have prophecies about the Lord himself, which are clearer than daylight. For it was not figuratively that the Virgin conceived in her womb; nor in a trope did she bear Emmanuel, that is, Jesus, God with us. Even granting that he was figuratively to take the power of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria, still it was literally that he was to “enter into judgment with the elders and princes of the people.” For in…

Now, to counter all opinions of this kind, let me dispel at once the preliminary idea on which they13 rest their assertion that the prophets make all their announcements in figures of speech. Now, if this were true, the figures [of speech] themselves could not possibly have been distinguished, inasmuch as the truths would not have been declared, from which the figurative language is derived. And, indeed, if all are figures, where will that be of which they are the figures? How can you hold up a mirror to your face, if your face did not exist? But, in truth, all are not figures, but there are also literal statements; nor are all shadows, but there are bodies too, so that we even have prophecies about the Lord himself, which are clearer than daylight. For it was not figuratively that the Virgin conceived in her womb; nor in a trope did she bear Emmanuel, that is, Jesus, God with us. Even granting that he was figuratively to take the power of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria, still it was literally that he was to “enter into judgment with the elders and princes of the people.” For in the person of Pilate “the heathen raged,” and in the person of Israel “the people imagined vain things”; “the kings of the earth” in Herod, and the rulers in Annas and Caiaphas, were gathered together against the Lord and “against his anointed.” He, again, was “led as a sheep to the slaughter, and as a sheep before the shearer,” that is, Herod, “is dumb, so he opened not his mouth.” “He gave his back to scourges, and his cheek to blows, not turning his face even from the shame of spitting.” “He was numbered with the transgressors.” “He was pierced in his hands and his feet.” “They cast lots for his raiment”; “they gave him gall and made him drink vinegar”; “they shook their heads and mocked him.” “He was appraised by the traitor for thirty pieces of silver.” What figures of speech does Isaiah here give us? What tropes does David? What allegories does Jeremiah? Not even of his mighty works have they used parabolic language. Or else, were not the eyes of the blind opened? Did not the tongue of the dumb recover speech? Did not the relaxed hands and palsied knees become strong, and the lame leap as a hart? No doubt we are accustomed also to give a spiritual significance to these statements of prophecy, according to the analogy of the physical diseases that were healed by the Lord; but still they were all fulfilled literally, thus showing that the prophets foretold both senses, except that very many of their words can only be taken in a pure and simple signification and free from all allegorical obscurity, as when we hear of the downfall of nations and cities of Tyre.… Who would prefer affixing a metaphorical interpretation to all these events, instead of accepting their literal truth? The realities are involved in the words, just as the words are read in the realities. Thus, we find that the allegorical style is not used in all parts of the prophetic record, although it occasionally occurs in certain portions of it.

ON THE RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH 20

Psalms 71:18

Hear now also the Son’s statements about the Father: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor.” He speaks of himself likewise to the Father in the psalm: “Forsake me not, until I have declared the might of your arm to all the generations that are to come.” Also with the same substance in another psalm: “O Lord, how many are they that trouble me!” But almost all the psalms that prophesy of the person of Christ, represent the Son as conversing with the Father—that is, represent Christ [as speaking] to God. Observe also the Spirit speaking of the Father and the Son, in the character of a third person: “The Lord said to my Lord, Sit on my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.” Likewise in the words of Isaiah: “Thus says the Lord to the Lord my anointed.”

AGAINST PRAXEAS 11

Psalms 72:15

Besides the generally known fact that the riches of the East, that is to say, its strength and resources, usually consist of gold and spices, it is certainly true of the Creator that he makes gold the riches of the other nations also. Thus he says by Zechariah, “And Judah shall also fight at Jerusalem and shall gather together all the wealth of the nations round about, gold and silver.” Moreover, respecting that gift of gold, David also says, “And there shall be given to him of the gold of Arabia”; and again, “The kings of Arabia and Saba shall offer to him gifts.” For the East generally regarded the magi as kings; and Damascus was anciently deemed to belong to Arabia, before it was transferred to Syrophoenicia on the division of the Syrias [by Rome]. Its riches Christ then received, when he received the tokens thereof in the gold and spices; while the spoils of Samaria were the magi themselves. The magi discovered him and honored him with their gifts. On bended knee they adored him as their God and King. Through the witness of the star that led them on their way and guided them, the…

Besides the generally known fact that the riches of the East, that is to say, its strength and resources, usually consist of gold and spices, it is certainly true of the Creator that he makes gold the riches of the other nations also. Thus he says by Zechariah, “And Judah shall also fight at Jerusalem and shall gather together all the wealth of the nations round about, gold and silver.” Moreover, respecting that gift of gold, David also says, “And there shall be given to him of the gold of Arabia”; and again, “The kings of Arabia and Saba shall offer to him gifts.” For the East generally regarded the magi as kings; and Damascus was anciently deemed to belong to Arabia, before it was transferred to Syrophoenicia on the division of the Syrias [by Rome]. Its riches Christ then received, when he received the tokens thereof in the gold and spices; while the spoils of Samaria were the magi themselves. The magi discovered him and honored him with their gifts. On bended knee they adored him as their God and King. Through the witness of the star that led them on their way and guided them, they became the spoils of Samaria, that is to say, of idolatry, because, as it is easy enough to see, they believed in Christ. He designated idolatry under the name of Samaria, as that city was shameful for its idolatry, through which it had then revolted from God from the days of King Jeroboam. Nor is this an unusual manner for the Creator [in his Scriptures] figuratively to employ names of places as a metaphor derived from the analogy of their sins. Thus he calls the chief people of the Jews “rulers of Sodom,” and the nation itself “people of Gomorrah.”

AGAINST MARCION 3.13

Psalms 91:11-13

In various ways has the devil rivaled and resisted the truth. Sometimes Praxeas’s aim has been to destroy the truth by defending it. He maintains that there is only one Lord, the almighty Creator of the world, in order that out of this doctrine of the unity he may fabricate a heresy. He says that the Father himself came down into the Virgin, was himself born of her, himself suffered, indeed was himself Jesus Christ. Here the old serpent has fallen out with himself, since, when he tempted Christ after John’s baptism, he approached him as “the Son of God.” Surely he was intimating that God had a Son, even on the testimony of the very Scriptures, out of which he was at the moment forging his temptation: “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.” Again, “If you are the Son of God, cast yourself down from here; for it is written, he shall give his angels charge concerning you”—referring no doubt, to the Father—“and in their hands they shall bear you up, so that you do not hurt your foot against a stone.” Or perhaps, after all, he was only reproaching the Gospels…

In various ways has the devil rivaled and resisted the truth. Sometimes Praxeas’s aim has been to destroy the truth by defending it. He maintains that there is only one Lord, the almighty Creator of the world, in order that out of this doctrine of the unity he may fabricate a heresy. He says that the Father himself came down into the Virgin, was himself born of her, himself suffered, indeed was himself Jesus Christ. Here the old serpent has fallen out with himself, since, when he tempted Christ after John’s baptism, he approached him as “the Son of God.” Surely he was intimating that God had a Son, even on the testimony of the very Scriptures, out of which he was at the moment forging his temptation: “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.” Again, “If you are the Son of God, cast yourself down from here; for it is written, he shall give his angels charge concerning you”—referring no doubt, to the Father—“and in their hands they shall bear you up, so that you do not hurt your foot against a stone.” Or perhaps, after all, he was only reproaching the Gospels with a lie, saying in fact, “Away with Matthew. Away with Luke!”

AGAINST PRAXEAS 1

Psalms 91:11-13

This power the Creator conferred on his Christ first of all, even as the ninetieth psalm [LXX] says of him: “You shall tread on the lion and the cobra; the young lion and the serpent you shall trample under foot.” Isaiah also says, “In that day the Lord God shall draw his sacred, great and strong sword” (even his Christ) “against that dragon, that great and tortuous serpent; and he shall slay him in that day.” But when the same prophet says, “The way shall be called a clean and holy way; over it the unclean thing shall not pass, nor shall there be any unclean way; but the dispersed shall pass over it, and they shall not err therein; no lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon; it shall not be found there,” he points out the way of faith, by which we shall reach God; and then to this way of faith he promises this utter crippling and subjugation of all harmful animals.

AGAINST MARCION 4.24

Psalms 96:5

True, Scripture says, “Make no mention of the name other gods, neither let it be heard out of your mouth.” What it stipulates is that we should not call them gods. For in the first part of the law it says, “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain,” that is, apply it to an idol. So anyone who honors an idol with the name of God falls into idolatry. If I am compelled to mention gods, I must add something to show that I do not call them gods. Scripture uses the name “gods” but adds “their” or “of the pagans,” as when David, having used the name “gods,” says “but the gods of the pagans are demons.”

ON IDOLATRY 20

Psalms 96:10

Come now, when you read in the words of David that “the Lord reigns from the tree,” I want to know what you understand by it. Perhaps you think some wooden king of the Jews is meant—and not Christ, who overcame death by his suffering on the cross and thence reigned! Now, although death reigned from Adam even to Christ, why may not Christ be said to have reigned from the tree, from his having shut up the kingdom of death by dying on the tree of his cross? Likewise Isaiah also says, “For unto us a child is born.” But what is there unusual in this, unless he speaks of the Son of God? “To us is given he whose government is on his shoulder.” Now, what king is there who bears the ensign of his dominion on his shoulder, and not rather upon his head as a diadem or in his hand as a scepter, or else as a mark in some royal apparel? But the one new King of the new ages, Jesus Christ, carried on his shoulder both the power and the excellence of his new glory, even his cross; so that, according to our former prophecy, he might thenceforth reign from the tree as Lord.

AGAINST MARCION 3.19

Psalms 97:1-3

For if the earth has to suffer either joy or injury, it is simply on people’s account, that they may suffer the joy or the sorrow through the events that happen to their dwelling place, whereby they will rather have to pay the penalty that, simply on their account, even the earth must suffer. When, therefore, God even threatens the earth, I would prefer saying that he threatens the flesh. So likewise, when he makes a promise to the earth, I would rather understand him as promising the flesh; as in that passage of David: “The Lord is King, let the earth be glad,” meaning the flesh of the saints, to which appertains the enjoyment of the kingdom of God.

ON THE RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH 26

Psalms 97:1-3

If, however, those whom God has accepted and the believers shall attain salvation, it is necessary that those whom God has rejected and the unbelieving should incur the opposite issue, even the loss of salvation. Now here is a judgment, and those who hold it out before us belong to the Creator. Whom else than the God of retribution can I understand by the one who shall “beat his servants with stripes,” either “few or many,” and shall exact from them what he had committed to them? Whom is it suitable for me to obey, but him who remunerates? Your Christ proclaims, “I have come to send fire on the earth.” That most lenient being, the Lord who has no hell, not long before had restrained his disciples from demanding fire on the churlish village. Whereas he burned Sodom and Gomorrah with a tempest of fire. Of him the psalmist sang, “A fire shall go out before him and burn up his enemies round about.” By Hosea he uttered the threat, “I will send a fire on the cities of Judah”;3 and by Isaiah, “A fire has been kindled in my anger.” He cannot lie. If it is not he who spoke even out of the bur…

If, however, those whom God has accepted and the believers shall attain salvation, it is necessary that those whom God has rejected and the unbelieving should incur the opposite issue, even the loss of salvation. Now here is a judgment, and those who hold it out before us belong to the Creator. Whom else than the God of retribution can I understand by the one who shall “beat his servants with stripes,” either “few or many,” and shall exact from them what he had committed to them? Whom is it suitable for me to obey, but him who remunerates? Your Christ proclaims, “I have come to send fire on the earth.” That most lenient being, the Lord who has no hell, not long before had restrained his disciples from demanding fire on the churlish village. Whereas he burned Sodom and Gomorrah with a tempest of fire. Of him the psalmist sang, “A fire shall go out before him and burn up his enemies round about.” By Hosea he uttered the threat, “I will send a fire on the cities of Judah”;3 and by Isaiah, “A fire has been kindled in my anger.” He cannot lie. If it is not he who spoke even out of the burning bush, it can be of no importance what fire you insist on being understood.

AGAINST MARCION 4.29

Psalms 102:25-27

But it is not thus that the prophets and the apostles have told us that the world was made by God merely appearing and approaching matter. They did not even mention any matter but [said] that Wisdom was first set up, the beginning of his ways, for his works. Then that the Word was produced, “through whom all things were made, and without whom nothing was made.” Indeed, “by the Word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all their hosts by the breath of his mouth.” He is the Lord’s right hand, indeed his two hands, by which he worked and constructed the universe. “For,” he says, “the heavens are the works of your hands.” Wherewith “he has measured out the heaven, and the earth with a span.” Do not be willing so to cover God with flattery, as to contend that he produced by his mere appearance and simple approach so many vast substances, instead of rather forming them by his own energies. For this is proved by Jeremiah when he says, “God has made the earth by his power; he has established the world by his wisdom and has stretched out the heaven by his understanding.” These are the energ…

But it is not thus that the prophets and the apostles have told us that the world was made by God merely appearing and approaching matter. They did not even mention any matter but [said] that Wisdom was first set up, the beginning of his ways, for his works. Then that the Word was produced, “through whom all things were made, and without whom nothing was made.” Indeed, “by the Word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all their hosts by the breath of his mouth.” He is the Lord’s right hand, indeed his two hands, by which he worked and constructed the universe. “For,” he says, “the heavens are the works of your hands.” Wherewith “he has measured out the heaven, and the earth with a span.” Do not be willing so to cover God with flattery, as to contend that he produced by his mere appearance and simple approach so many vast substances, instead of rather forming them by his own energies. For this is proved by Jeremiah when he says, “God has made the earth by his power; he has established the world by his wisdom and has stretched out the heaven by his understanding.” These are the energies by the stress of which he made this universe. His glory is greater if he labored.

AGAINST HERMOGENES 45

Psalms 102:25-27

In like manner David says, “The heavens, the works of your hands, shall themselves perish. For even as a garment shall he change them, and they shall be changed.” Now to be changed is to fall from that primitive state that they lose while undergoing the change. “And the stars too shall fall from heaven, even as a fig tree casts its green figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind.” “The mountains shall melt like wax at the presence of the Lord”;32 that is, “when he rises to shake terribly the earth.” “But I will dry up the pools”;34 and “they shall seek water, and they shall find none.” Even “the sea shall be no more.” Now if any person should go so far as to suppose that all these passages ought to be spiritually interpreted, he will still be unable to deprive them of the true accomplishment of those issues that must come to pass just as they have been written. For all figures of speech necessarily arise out of real things, not out of chimerical ones; because nothing is capable of imparting anything of its own for a similitude, except it actually be that very thing that it imparts in t…

In like manner David says, “The heavens, the works of your hands, shall themselves perish. For even as a garment shall he change them, and they shall be changed.” Now to be changed is to fall from that primitive state that they lose while undergoing the change. “And the stars too shall fall from heaven, even as a fig tree casts its green figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind.” “The mountains shall melt like wax at the presence of the Lord”;32 that is, “when he rises to shake terribly the earth.” “But I will dry up the pools”;34 and “they shall seek water, and they shall find none.” Even “the sea shall be no more.” Now if any person should go so far as to suppose that all these passages ought to be spiritually interpreted, he will still be unable to deprive them of the true accomplishment of those issues that must come to pass just as they have been written. For all figures of speech necessarily arise out of real things, not out of chimerical ones; because nothing is capable of imparting anything of its own for a similitude, except it actually be that very thing that it imparts in the similitude. I return therefore to the principle that defines that all things that have come from nothing shall return at last to nothing.

AGAINST HERMOGENES 34

Psalms 111:10

It has also been a subject of discussion, how extremely frequent is the intercourse that heretics hold with magicians, with charlatans, with astrologers, with philosophers; and the reason is that they are people who devote themselves to curious questions. “Seek, and you shall find,” is everywhere in their minds. Thus, from the very nature of their conduct may be estimated the quality of their faith. In their discipline we have an index of their doctrine. They say that God is not to be feared; therefore all things are in their view free and unchecked. Where, however, is God not feared, except where he is not, there truth also is not. Where there is no truth, then, naturally enough, there is also such a discipline as the heretics. But where God is, there exists “the fear of God, which is the beginning of wisdom.” Where the fear of God is, there is seriousness, an honorable and yet thoughtful diligence, as well as an anxious carefulness and a well-considered admission [to the sacred ministry], a safely guarded communion, promotion after good service, a scrupulous submission [to authorit…

It has also been a subject of discussion, how extremely frequent is the intercourse that heretics hold with magicians, with charlatans, with astrologers, with philosophers; and the reason is that they are people who devote themselves to curious questions. “Seek, and you shall find,” is everywhere in their minds. Thus, from the very nature of their conduct may be estimated the quality of their faith. In their discipline we have an index of their doctrine. They say that God is not to be feared; therefore all things are in their view free and unchecked. Where, however, is God not feared, except where he is not, there truth also is not. Where there is no truth, then, naturally enough, there is also such a discipline as the heretics. But where God is, there exists “the fear of God, which is the beginning of wisdom.” Where the fear of God is, there is seriousness, an honorable and yet thoughtful diligence, as well as an anxious carefulness and a well-considered admission [to the sacred ministry], a safely guarded communion, promotion after good service, a scrupulous submission [to authority], a devout attendance, a modest gait, a united church and God in all things.

PRESCRIPTIONS AGAINST HERETICS 43