Tertullian — Commentary on Scripture

1 Peter 5:1

The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:

Exhibit therefore even now to me, apostolic sir, prophetic evidences, that I may recognise your divine virtue, and vindicate to yourself the power of remitting such sins! If, however, you have had the functions of discipline alone allotted you, and (the duty) of presiding not imperially, but ministerially; who or how great are you, that you should grant indulgence, who, by exhibiting neither the prophetic nor the apostolic character, lack that virtue whose property it is to indulge?

1 Peter 5:14

Greet ye one another with a kiss of charity. Peace be with you all that are in Christ Jesus. Amen.

But when is peace more to be concluded with brethren than when, at the time of some religious observance, our prayer ascends with more acceptability; that they may themselves participate in our observance, and thereby be mollified for transacting with their brother touching. their own peace? What prayer is complete if divorced from the "holy kiss? " Whom does peace impede when rendering service to his Lord? What kind of sacrifice is that from which men depart without peace? Whatever our prayer be, it will not be better than the observance of the precept by which we are bidden to conceal our fasts; for now, by abstinence from the kiss, we are known to be fasting.

1 Samuel 1:7-8

And as he did so year by year, when she went up to the house of the LORD, so she provoked her; therefore she wept, and did not eat.

Thus a Godward fast is a work of reverential awe. By its means also Hannah the wife of Elkanah making suit, barren as she had been beforetime, easily obtained from God the filling of her belly, empty of food, with a son, indeed, and a prophet.

1 Samuel 2:6

The LORD killeth, and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up.

Certainly his making alive is to take place after he has killed. As, therefore, it is by death that he kills, it is by the resurrection that he will make alive. Now it is the flesh which is killed by death; the flesh, therefore, will be revived by the resurrection. Surely if killing means taking away life from the flesh, and its opposite, reviving, amounts to restoring life to the flesh, it must needs be that the flesh rise again, to which the life, which has been taken away by killing, has to be restored by vivification.

1 Samuel 10:11

And it came to pass, when all that knew him beforetime saw that, behold, he prophesied among the prophets, then the people said one to another, What is this that is come unto the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?

It is possible for an evil spirit to influence a person. The spirit of God later turned Saul into another man, that is, into a prophet, when people said, “What is this that has happened to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?” But the evil spirit also turned him into another man, in other words, into a renegade. For some time Judas was numbered among the chosen [apostles], even becoming the keeper of the purse. He was then not yet a traitor, but he was dishonest. Later, the devil entered into his soul.Therefore, if neither the spirit of God nor the devil enters into the soul of man at the birth of the soul, then the soul must exist separately before the accession of either spirit. If it exists alone, then it is simple and uncompounded in substance and it breathes simply as a result of the substance which it received from God.

1 Samuel 13:14

But now thy kingdom shall not continue: the LORD hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the LORD hath commanded him to be captain over his people, because thou hast not kept that which the LORD commanded thee.

And is it surprising that a person previously of good repute should afterwards fall? Saul, though good beyond all others, was afterwards overthrown by jealousy. David, a good man after the Lord’s heart, was afterwards guilty of murder and adultery. Solomon, whom the Lord had endowed with all grace and wisdom, was led by women into idolatry. To remain without sin was reserved for the Son of God alone. If then a bishop or deacon, a widow, a virgin or a teacher, or even a martyr, has lapsed from the Rule of Faith, must we conclude that heresy possesses the truth? Do we test the faith by persons or person by the faith? No one is wise, no one is faithful, no one worthy of honor unless he is a Christian, and no one is a Christian unless he perseveres to the end.

1 Samuel 14:24-26

And the men of Israel were distressed that day: for Saul had adjured the people, saying, Cursed be the man that eateth any food until evening, that I may be avenged on mine enemies. So none of the people tasted any food.

At all events, Saul himself, when engaged in battle, clearly enjoined this duty: “Cursed (be) the man who shall have eaten bread until evening, until I am avenged against my enemy”; and his whole company did not taste (food), and (yet) the whole earth was breakfasting! So solemn a sanction, moreover, did God confer on the edict which enjoined that station, that Jonathan the son of Saul, although it had been in ignorance of the fast having been appointed till a late hour that he had allowed himself a taste of honey, was both presently convicted, by lot … and with difficulty was exempted from punishment through the prayer of the people: for he had been convicted of gluttony, although of a simple kind.

1 Samuel 15:11

It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments. And it grieved Samuel; and he cried unto the LORD all night.

Furthermore, with respect to the repentance which occurs in his conduct you interpret it with similar perverseness just as if it were with fickleness and improvidence that he repented, or on the recollection of some wrongdoing; because he actually said, “I repent that I have set up Saul to be king,” very much as if he meant that his repentance savored of an acknowledgment of some evil work or error. Well, this is not always implied. For there occurs even in good works a confession of repentance, as a reproach and condemnation of the man who has proved himself unthankful for a benefit. For instance, in this one case of Saul, the Creator, who had made no mistake in selecting him for the kingdom and endowing him with his Holy Spirit, makes a statement respecting the goodness of his person, how that he had most fitly chosen him as being at that moment the choicest man, so that (as he says) there was not one like him among the children of Israel. Neither was he ignorant how he would afterwards turn out. For no one would bear you out in imputing lack of foresight to that God whom, since yo…

Furthermore, with respect to the repentance which occurs in his conduct you interpret it with similar perverseness just as if it were with fickleness and improvidence that he repented, or on the recollection of some wrongdoing; because he actually said, “I repent that I have set up Saul to be king,” very much as if he meant that his repentance savored of an acknowledgment of some evil work or error. Well, this is not always implied. For there occurs even in good works a confession of repentance, as a reproach and condemnation of the man who has proved himself unthankful for a benefit. For instance, in this one case of Saul, the Creator, who had made no mistake in selecting him for the kingdom and endowing him with his Holy Spirit, makes a statement respecting the goodness of his person, how that he had most fitly chosen him as being at that moment the choicest man, so that (as he says) there was not one like him among the children of Israel. Neither was he ignorant how he would afterwards turn out. For no one would bear you out in imputing lack of foresight to that God whom, since you do not deny him to be divine, you allow to be also foreseeing; for this proper attribute of divinity exists in him. However, he did, as I have said, burden the guilt of Saul with the confession of his own repentance; but as there is an absence of all error and wrong in his choice of Saul, it follows that this repentance is to be understood as upbraiding another rather than as self-incriminating.

1 Samuel 16:6-7

And it came to pass, when they were come, that he looked on Eliab, and said, Surely the LORD'S anointed is before him.

You are human, and so you know other people only from the outside. You think as you see, and you see only what your eyes let you see. But “the eyes of the Lord are lofty.” “Man looks on the outward appearance, God looks on the heart.” So “the Lord knows them that are his” and roots up the plant which he has not planted. He shows the last to be first, he carries a fan in his hand to purge his floor. Let the chaff of light faith fly away as it pleases before every wind of temptation. So much the purer is the heap of wheat which the Lord will gather into his garner.

1 Samuel 16:14-15

But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him.

The devil has power that might be called his own, only over such as no longer belong to God, the heathen whom he considers once for all as a drop in a bucket, as dust on the threshing floor, as spittle in the mouth—and, as such, totally handed over to the devil as a quite useless possession.Otherwise, he may do nothing by his own right, against those who dwell in the house of God, because the cases that are noted in Scripture show us when—that is, for what reasons—he may touch them. The right to tempt a person is granted to the devil, either for the sake of a trial, as in the texts cited above, whether God or the devil initiates the plan, or for the purpose of the reprobation of a sinner, who is handed over to the devil as to an executioner. This was the case with Saul. “The spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled and stifled him.” Again, it may happen in order to humble a person, as Paul tells us that there was given him a thorn, a messenger of Satan, to buffet him, and even this sort of thing is not permitted for the humiliation of holy ones…

The devil has power that might be called his own, only over such as no longer belong to God, the heathen whom he considers once for all as a drop in a bucket, as dust on the threshing floor, as spittle in the mouth—and, as such, totally handed over to the devil as a quite useless possession.Otherwise, he may do nothing by his own right, against those who dwell in the house of God, because the cases that are noted in Scripture show us when—that is, for what reasons—he may touch them. The right to tempt a person is granted to the devil, either for the sake of a trial, as in the texts cited above, whether God or the devil initiates the plan, or for the purpose of the reprobation of a sinner, who is handed over to the devil as to an executioner. This was the case with Saul. “The spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled and stifled him.” Again, it may happen in order to humble a person, as Paul tells us that there was given him a thorn, a messenger of Satan, to buffet him, and even this sort of thing is not permitted for the humiliation of holy ones through torment of the flesh, unless it be done so that their power to resist may be perfected in weakness.

1 Samuel 18:8

And Saul was very wroth, and the saying displeased him; and he said, They have ascribed unto David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed but thousands: and what can he have more but the kingdom?

It is usual, indeed, with persons of a weaker character, to be so built up in confidence by certain individuals who are caught by heresy, as to topple over into ruin themselves. How does it come to pass, they ask, that this woman or that man, who were the most faithful, the most prudent and the most approved in the church, have gone over to the other side? Who that asks such a question does not in fact reply to it himself, to the effect that men whom heresies have been able to pervert ought never to have been esteemed prudent or faithful or approved? This again, I suppose, is an extraordinary thing, that one who has been approved should afterwards fall back? Saul, who was good beyond all others, is afterwards subverted by envy. David, a good man “after the Lord’s own heart.” is guilty afterwards of murder and adultery. Solomon, endowed by the Lord with all grace and wisdom, is led into idolatry by women. For to the Son of God alone was it reserved to persevere to the last without sin.

1 Samuel 21:3-6

Now therefore what is under thine hand? give me five loaves of bread in mine hand, or what there is present.

When the disciples had been hungry on the sabbath and had plucked some ears [of grain] and rubbed them in their hands, they violated the holy day by so preparing their food. Yet Christ excuses them and even became their accomplice in breaking the sabbath. … For from the Creator’s Scripture and from the purpose of Christ there is derived a vivid precedent from David’s example when he went into the temple on the sabbath and provided food by boldly breaking up the show bread. Even he remembered that this privilege (the dispensation from fasting) was allowed on the sabbath from the very beginning, from when the sabbath itself was instituted. For although the Creator had forbidden that the manna should be gathered for two days, he permitted it on only one occasion—the day before the sabbath—so that the previous day’s provision of food might free them from fasting on the following sabbath. Therefore the Lord had good reason for pursuing the same principle in the “annulling” of the sabbath (since that is the word which people will use). He had good reason, too, for expressing the Creator’s…

When the disciples had been hungry on the sabbath and had plucked some ears [of grain] and rubbed them in their hands, they violated the holy day by so preparing their food. Yet Christ excuses them and even became their accomplice in breaking the sabbath. … For from the Creator’s Scripture and from the purpose of Christ there is derived a vivid precedent from David’s example when he went into the temple on the sabbath and provided food by boldly breaking up the show bread. Even he remembered that this privilege (the dispensation from fasting) was allowed on the sabbath from the very beginning, from when the sabbath itself was instituted. For although the Creator had forbidden that the manna should be gathered for two days, he permitted it on only one occasion—the day before the sabbath—so that the previous day’s provision of food might free them from fasting on the following sabbath. Therefore the Lord had good reason for pursuing the same principle in the “annulling” of the sabbath (since that is the word which people will use). He had good reason, too, for expressing the Creator’s will, when he bestowed the privilege of not fasting on the sabbath. In short, might he have—right then and there—put an end not only to the sabbath but to the Creator himself if he had commanded his disciples to fast on the sabbath, as this would have been contrary to the intention of the Scripture and of the Creator’s will. But is he alien from the Creator because he did not directly defend his disciples but excuses them? Or because he interposes human need, as if deprecating censure? Or because he maintains the honor of the sabbath as a day which is to be free from gloom rather than from work? Or because he puts David and his companions on a level with his own disciples in their fault and their validation? Or because he is pleased to endorse the Creator’s indulgence? Or because he is himself good according to his example—is he therefore alien from the Creator?

1 Samuel 28:14

And he said unto her, What form is he of? And she said, An old man cometh up; and he is covered with a mantle. And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he stooped with his face to the ground, and bowed himself.

Why, even now the followers of Simon [Magus] are so confident of their art that they undertake to bring back the souls of the prophets from hell. And this, I believe, because their power lies in their ability to deceive. This power was actually granted to the witch of Endor, who brought back the soul of Samuel after Saul had consulted God in vain. Apart from that case, God forbid we should believe that any soul, much less a prophet, could be called forth by a demon. We are told that “Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light”15—and more easily into a man of light—and that at the end he will work marvelous signs and show himself as God, so much so that, “if possible, he will deceive even the elect.” He hardly hesitated to declare to Saul that he was the prophet [Samuel] in whom the devil was then dwelling.So, you must not think that the spirit which created the apparition was different from the one who made Saul believe in it; but, the same spirit was in the witch of Endor and in the apostate [Saul], and so it was easy for him to suggest the lie that he had already made Saul…

Why, even now the followers of Simon [Magus] are so confident of their art that they undertake to bring back the souls of the prophets from hell. And this, I believe, because their power lies in their ability to deceive. This power was actually granted to the witch of Endor, who brought back the soul of Samuel after Saul had consulted God in vain. Apart from that case, God forbid we should believe that any soul, much less a prophet, could be called forth by a demon. We are told that “Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light”15—and more easily into a man of light—and that at the end he will work marvelous signs and show himself as God, so much so that, “if possible, he will deceive even the elect.” He hardly hesitated to declare to Saul that he was the prophet [Samuel] in whom the devil was then dwelling.So, you must not think that the spirit which created the apparition was different from the one who made Saul believe in it; but, the same spirit was in the witch of Endor and in the apostate [Saul], and so it was easy for him to suggest the lie that he had already made Saul believe. Saul’s treasure, indeed, was then where his heart was, where God most certainly was not. Thus, he saw only the devil, through whom he believed he would see Samuel, for he believed in the spirit who showed him the apparition.

1 Thessalonians 1:9 · 2 passages

For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God;

Whence is proved that they have ever been depicted, out of the volume of the divine Scriptures, as guilty of the crime of idolatry; whereas our "less"-that is, posterior-people, quitting the idols which formerly it used slavishly to serve, has been converted to the same God from whom Israel, as we have above related, had departed. For thus has the "less"-that is, posterior-people overcome the"greater people," while it attains the grace of divine favour, from which Israel has been divorced.

For we read: "How ye turned from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus." And again: "For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord God, Jesus Christ, at His coming? " Likewise: "Before God, even our Father, at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, with the whole company of His saints.

1 Thessalonians 2:3

For our exhortation was not of deceit, nor of uncleanness, nor in guile:

Challenge me to front the apostolic line of battle; look at his Epistles: they all keep guard in defence of modesty, of chastity, of sanctity; they all aim their missiles against the interests of luxury, and lasciviousness, and lust. What, in short, does he write to the Thessalonians withal? "For our consolation (originated) not of seduction, nor of impurity: "and, "This is the will of God, your sanctification, that ye abstain from fornication; that each one know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour, not in the lust of concupiscence, as (do) the nations which are ignorant of God.

1 Thessalonians 2:12

That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory.

For it is our duty so to walk in the Lord's discipline as is "worthy," not according to the filthy concupiscences of the flesh.

1 Thessalonians 2:15

Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men:

Even in brief works there is much pungency? The Jews had slain their prophets. I may ask, What has this to do with the apostle of the rival god, one so amiable withal, who could hardly be said to condemn even the failings of his own people; and who, moreover, has himself some hand in making away with the same prophets whom he is destroying? What injury did Israel commit against him in slaying those whom he too has reprobated, since he was the first to pass a hostile sentence on them? But Israel sinned against their own God.

1 Thessalonians 2:19

For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?

And again: "For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord God, Jesus Christ, at His coming? " Likewise: "Before God, even our Father, at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, with the whole company of His saints.

1 Thessalonians 3:13

To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.

And again: "For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord God, Jesus Christ, at His coming? " Likewise: "Before God, even our Father, at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, with the whole company of His saints." He teaches them that they must "not sorrow concerning them that are asleep," and at the same time explains to them the times of the resurrection, saying, "For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus shall God bring with Him.