Lectio 4
Lecture 4
Deus caelestem patriam paravit
God prepares the heavenly country
11:13 Juxta fidem defuncti sunt omnes isti, non acceptis repromissionibus, sed a longe eas aspicientes, et salutantes, et confitentes quia peregrini et hospites sunt super terram. [n. 593]
11:13 All these died according to faith, not having received the promises but beholding them afar off and saluting them and confessing that they are pilgrims and strangers on the earth. [n. 593]
11:14 Qui enim haec dicunt, significant se patriam inquirere. [n. 597]
11:14 For those who say these things do signify that they seek a country. [n. 597]
11:15 Et si quidem ipsius meminissent de qua exierunt, habebant utique tempus revertendi: [n. 598]
11:15 And truly, if they had been mindful of that from whence they came out, they had doubtless, time to return. [n. 598]
11:16 nunc autem meliorem appetunt, id est, caelestem. Ideo non confunditur Deus vocari Deus eorum: paravit enim illis civitatem. [n. 599]
11:16 But now they desire a better, that is to say, a heavenly country. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he has prepared for them a city. [n. 599]
11:17 Fide obtulit Abraham Isaac, cum tentaretur, et unigenitum offerebat, qui susceperat repromissiones: [n. 603]
11:17 By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, [n. 603]
11:18 ad quem dictum est: quia in Isaac vocabitur tibi semen:
11:18 (To whom it was said: in Isaac shall your seed be called:)
11:19 arbitrans quia et a mortuis suscitare potens est Deus: unde eum et in parabolam accepit.
11:19 Accounting that God is able to raise up even from the dead. Whereupon also he received him for a parable.
593. Supra commendavit Apostolus fidem Abrahae quantum ad habitationem, et generationem, hic commendat ipsum quantum ad suam conversationem usque ad mortem.
593. Having commended Abraham’s faith in regard to his dwelling place and offspring, the Apostle now commends him on his way of life until death.
Et circa hoc facit tria
In regard to this he does three things:
primo enim ostendit quid per fidem fecit;
first, he shows what he did by faith;
secundo ponit unum quod pertinet ad fidem, ibi qui enim hoc dicunt;
second, he mentions one thing that pertains to faith, at for those who say these things;
tertio ostendit quid per fidem recepit, ibi ideo non confunditur Deus.
third, he shows what he received by faith, at therefore, God is not ashamed.
594. Fidem Abrahae et filiorum eius commendat ex perseverantia, quia usque ad mortem perseveraverunt in fide. Matth. X, 22 et XXIV, 13: qui autem perseveraverit usque in finem, hic salvus erit. Ideo dicit iuxta fidem omnes isti defuncti sunt, praeter Enoch. Vel omnes isti, scilicet Abraham, Isaac et Iacob. Et hoc est melius dictum, quia istis solum facta est promissio.
594. He commends the faith of Abraham and of his children on its perseverance because they persevered in the faith until death: he that shall persevere until the end, he shall be saved (Matt 24:13). Therefore, he says, all these died according to faith, except Enoch. Or, all these, namely, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And this is better, because the promise was made only to them.
595. Item commendat eos a longa promissorum dilatione. Unde dicit non acceptis repromissionibus.
595. Furthermore, he commends them on the long delay of the promise; hence, he says, not having received the promises.
Sed contra, videtur quod receperint promissionem. Ez. XXXIII, 24: unus erat Abraham, et haereditate possedit terram.
But on the other hand, it seems that they received the promise: Abraham was one and he merited the land (Ezek 33:24).
Respondeo. Dicendum est, quod possedit, id est, possidendi primus promissionem accepit, non tamen actu possedit, ut patet Act. c. VII, 5.
I answer that he possessed, i.e., was the first to receive the promise of possessing; yet he did not actually possess, as is evident: and he gave him no inheritance in it: no, not the pace of a foot. But he promised to give it him in possession, and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child (Acts 7:5).
Sequitur sed a longe eas aspicientes, quod erat per fidem, quasi dicat: intuentes visu fidei. Et forte de loco isto sumptum est illud responsorium in prima Dominica adventus: aspiciens a longe, et cetera. Is. XXX, 27: ecce nomen Domini venit de longinquo. Et salutantes, id est, venerantes. Et loquitur, secundum Chrysostomum, ad similitudinem nautarum, qui quando primo vident portum prorumpunt ad laudem, et salutant civitatem ad quam vadunt. Ita sancti patres videntes per fidem Christum venturum, et gloriam quam per ipsum consecuturi erant, salutabant, id est, venerabantur ipsum. Ps. CXVII, 26: benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini, Deus Dominus, et cetera. Io. VIII, 56: Abraham pater vester exultavit, ut videret diem meum; vidit, et gavisus est.
He continues, beholding them afar off by faith. As if to say: looking on with the vision of faith. Perhaps the response in the first Sunday of Advent is taken from this passage: behold from afar off, behold I see the power of God coming, and a cloud covering the whole earth. Behold the name of the Lord comes from afar (Isa 30:27). And saluting them, i.e., venerating. He speaks, according to Chrysostom, in the manner of sailors, who when they first see the port, break out in praise and salute the city they have reached. So the holy fathers, seeing by faith the Christ to come and the glory they were to obtain through him, saluted, i.e., venerated him: blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord. . . . He is God and has shone upon us (Ps 118:26–27); Abraham, your father, rejoiced that he might see my day: he saw it and was glad (John 8:56).
596. Item commendat fidem ipsorum ex sincera confessione; quia, ut dicitur Rom. X, v. 10: corde creditur ad iustitiam, ore autem confessio fit ad salutem. Et ideo dicit et confitentes, quia peregrini et hospites sunt super terram; isti enim tres vocaverunt se advenas et peregrinos. Nam, Gen. XXIII, 4, dicit Abraham: advena sum et peregrinus apud vos. Dicitur etiam a Domino ad Isaac, Gen. c. XXVI, 2 s.: quiesce in terra quam dixero tibi, et peregrinare in ea. Iacob etiam, XLVII, v. 9, dicit: dies peregrinationis vitae meae.
596. He also commends their faith for its sincere confession, because, as it says in Romans: with the heart we believe unto justice; but with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation (Rom 10:10). Hence, he says, and confessing that they are pilgrims and strangers on the earth: for those three called themselves strangers and pilgrims, for in Genesis, Abraham says: I am a stranger and a sojourner among you (Gen 23:4). Furthermore, the Lord says to Isaac: stay in the land that I shall tell you, and sojourn in it (Gen 26:2), and Jacob himself says: the days of my pilgrimage (Gen 47:9).
Dicitur autem peregrinus, qui est in via tendendi ad alium locum. Is. XXIII, 7: ducent eam longe pedes sui ad peregrinandum. Sed advena est ille, qui habitat in terra aliena, nec intendit ulterius ire. Isti autem non solum confitebantur se esse advenas, sed etiam peregrinos. Sic etiam sanctus vir non facit mansionem suam in mundo, sed semper satagit tendere ad caelum. Ps. XXXVIII, v. 12: advena ego sum apud te et peregrinus, sicut omnes patres mei.
Now a pilgrim is one who is on the way to some place: her feet shall carry her afar off to sojourn (Isa 23:7). But a sojourner is one who lives in a foreign land with no intention of going anywhere else. But they not only confessed themselves sojourners, but pilgrims as well. So too, a holy person does not make his home in the world, but is always busy and tending toward heaven: I am a stranger with you, and a sojourner as all my fathers were (Ps 39:13).
597. Deinde cum dicit qui enim hoc dicunt, ostendit quod ista confessio pertineat ad fidem. Nullus enim est hospes et peregrinus, nisi qui est extra patriam et tendit ad illam. Cum ergo isti confitentur se esse hospites et peregrinos super terram, significant se tendere ad patriam suam, scilicet caelestem Ierusalem. Gal. IV, 26: illa quae sursum est Ierusalem libera est. Et hoc est, quod dicit qui enim hoc dicunt, significant se patriam inquirere.
597. Then when he says for those who say these things he shows that this confession pertains to hope. For no one is a guest and a stranger unless he is outside his country and going to it. Therefore, since they confess themselves guests and strangers, they signify that they are heading toward their native land, i.e., the heavenly Jerusalem: but that Jerusalem which is above is free (Gal 4:26). And this is what he says, for those who say these things do signify that they seek a country.
598. Sed quia forte posset aliquis dicere, quod verum est, quod ipsi erant peregrini in terra Philisthaeorum et Chananaeorum, inter quos habitabant, tamen intendebant redire in terram unde exierant, hoc removet, dicens et siquidem ipsius, scilicet patriae suae, meminissent, de qua exierant, habebant utique tempus revertendi, quia prope erant. Nunc autem meliorem appetunt, id est, caelestem; unde Gen. XXIV, 6, dixit Abraham servo suo: cave ne quando filium meum reducas illuc. Ps. LXXXIII, 11: elegi abiectus esse in domo Dei mei, magis quam habitare in tabernaculis peccatorum. Item c. XXVI, 4: unam petii a Domino, hanc requiram, ut inhabitem in domo Domini omnibus diebus vitae meae. Ipsi ergo patriam istam inquirebant, non domum paternam unde exierunt. In quo significatur, quod illi qui exeunt de vanitate saeculi, non debent illuc redire mente. Ps. XLIV, 10: obliviscere populum tuum et domum patris tui. Lc. IX, 62: nemo mittens manum ad aratrum et respiciens retro, aptus est regno Dei. Phil. III, 13: quae retro sunt obliviscens, in anteriora me extendens.
598. But because someone might say that it is true that they were pilgrims in the land of the Philistines and Canaanites, among whom they dwelt, but they intended to return to the land they had left, he rejects this when he says, and truly, if they had been mindful of that from whence they came out, namely, their fatherland, they had doubtless, time to return, because it was nearby. But now they desire a better, that is to say, a heavenly country; hence in Genesis: Abraham said to his servant: beware you never bring back my sons again thither (Gen 24:6); I have chosen to be an abject in the house of my God, rather than to dwell in the tabernacles of sinners (Ps 84:11); one thing I have asked of the Lord, this will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life (Ps 27:4). Therefore, they were seeking a country, but not their father’s house, which they had left. In this is signified that those who go out from the world’s vanity should not return to it mentally: forget your people and your father’s house (Ps 45:11); no man putting his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God (Luke 9:62); forgetting the things that are behind, and stretching forth myself to those that are before (Phil 3:13).
Patet autem, quod ista eorum verbo et facto confessio, pertinet ad fidem, quia ipsi illud quod solum eis promissum fuerat nec exhibitum, firmissime crediderunt etiam usque ad mortem. Unde iuxta fidem, id est, iuxta se habentes fidem suam quasi sociam et inseparabilem, defuncti. Apoc. II, 10: esto fidelis usque ad mortem.
It is also clear that these confessions of theirs by word and deed pertain to faith, because they most firmly believed until death what was promised but never shown to them. Therefore, according to faith, i.e., having their faith next to them as an inseparable companion, all these died: be faithful until death (Rev 2:10).
599. Deinde cum dicit ideo non confunditur, ostendit quid ex fide sua meruerunt accipere, hoc autem fuit honor maximus.
599. Then when he says therefore, God is not ashamed, he shows what they merit to receive by their faith.
Reputatur autem maximus honor quando denominatur aliquis ab aliquo solemni officio, vel servitio, magni et excellentis Domini, vel principis, sicut notarius Papae, vel cancellarius regis. Maior autem honor est quando ille magnus Dominus vult nominari ab his qui serviunt ei. Sic autem est de istis tribus, Abraham, Isaac et Iacob, quorum Dominus rex magnus super omnes deos, specialiter vocat se eorum Deum, unde Ex. III, 6: ego sum Deus Abraham, Deus Isaac, et Deus Iacob; unde dicit ideo non confunditur Deus vocari Deus eorum.
It is considered a very great honor when someone is given a name derived from a solemn office or from the service of a great and excellent lord or prince, as the Pope’s notary, or the king’s chancellor. But it is a greater honor when that great lord wishes to be named after those who serve him. So it is with these three, namely, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, whose Lord, the great King over all other gods, specifically calls himself their God; hence: I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob (Exod 3:6); hence, he says, God is not ashamed to be called their God.
600. Et huius potest triplex ratio assignari. Prima, quia Deus per fidem cognoscitur. Isti autem leguntur primo separasse se per cultum specialem ab infidelibus; unde et Abraham primus accepit signaculum fidei, Rom. IV, 18: ut fieret pater multitudinis gentium. Et ideo proponuntur nobis in exemplum, sicut illi per quos Deus primo cognitus est, et per eos Deus nominatus est, ut obiectum fidei. Et idcirco ab eis voluit nominari.
600. Three reasons can be given for this: first, because God is known by faith. But they are recorded to have first separated themselves from unbelievers by a special cult; hence, too, Abraham was the first to receive the seal of faith to become the father of many nations (Rom 4:17). Therefore, they are proposed to us as an example, as the ones by whom God was first known, and by them God was named as an object of faith. Therefore, he willed to be named by them.
601. Secunda, secundum Augustinum in Glossa, quia in istis latet aliquod mysterium. In istis enim invenimus similitudinem generationis qua Deus regeneravit filios spirituales.
601. Second, according to Augustine in a Gloss, because a mystery lies hidden in them. For in them we find a likeness to the generation by which God regenerated spiritual sons.
Videmus autem in ipsis quadruplicem modum generandi. Primus modus est liberorum per liberas, sicut Abraham per Saram genuit Isaac, qui genuit per Rebeccam Iacob. Iacob autem octo patriarchas per Liam et Rachelem. Secundus modus fuit liberorum per ancillas, sicut Iacob per Balam et Zelpham genuit Dan, et Nephtalim, Gad, et Aser. Tertius modus fuit servorum per liberas, sicut Isaac genuit per Rebeccam Esau, de quo dictum est: maior serviet minori. Quartus modus fuit servorum per ancillam, sicut per Agar genuit Abraham Ismael.
But we observe in them a fourfold way of generating. The first way is of free children by free women, as Abraham by Sarah begot Isaac, who begot Jacob by Rebecca, and Jacob the eight patriarchs by Leah and Rachel. The second way was of free children through bondwomen, as Jacob begot Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher by Bilhah and Zilpah. The third way was to servants by free women, as Isaac begot Esau by Rebecca; of him it was said, the elder shall serve the younger (Gen 25:23). The fourth was of servants by bondwomen, as Abraham begot Ishmael by Hagar.
In hoc ergo designatur diversus modus, quo Dominus spirituales filios generat, quia aliquando bonos per bonos, sicut Timotheum per Paulum; aliquando bonos per malos, et ista est generatio liberorum per ancillas; aliquando malos per bonos, sicut Simonem magum per Philippum. Et ista generatio servorum per liberas. Malorum autem generatio per malos reputatur in semine. Unde Gal. IV, v. 30: eiice ancillam et filium eius.
In this, the diverse ways in which the Lord begets spiritual children is designated, because sometimes the good by the good, as Timothy by Paul; sometimes the good by the wicked, and this is the generation of free men by bondwomen; sometimes the wicked by the good, as Simon Magus by Philip, and this is the generation of servants by free women. But the generation of the wicked by the wicked is accounted in the seed; hence cast out the bondwoman and her son (Gal 4:30).
602. Tertia ratio, et videtur magis secundum intentionem Apostoli, quia consuetum est, quod rex vocatur a principali civitate, vel a patria tota, sicut rex Ierusalem, Romanorum, rex Franciae. Et ideo Deus proprie vocatur rex et Deus illorum, qui specialiter spectant ad civitatem illam Ierusalem caelestem, cuius artifex et conditor est Deus. Et quia isti verbo et facto ostendebant se ad illam civitatem pertinere, ideo dicitur Deus illorum; unde dicit paravit enim illis civitatem, id est, conditor civitatis illius, quam ipse habebat propriam.
602. The third reason, which seems to be more in keeping with the Apostle’s intention, is that it is customary for a king to be called by the chief city, or from the entire country, as king of Jerusalem, king of the Romans, king of France. Therefore, the Lord is properly called the king and God of those who specifically look at that city, the heavenly Jerusalem, whose architect and founder is God (Heb 11:10). And because they showed by word and deed that they belong to that city, he is called their God; hence he says, for he, the founder of that city, has prepared for them a city.
603. Deinde cum dicit fide obtulit, ponit unum aliud exemplum insigne circa fidem Abrahae, inquantum respicit Deum, scilicet illud maximum sacrificium eius, quando ad mandatum Domini voluit unigenitum suum immolare filium, Gen. XXII, 1 ss.
603. Then when he says by faith Abraham, another famous example of Abraham’s faith is given, inasmuch as it regards God, namely, that supreme sacrifice of his when at the Lord’s command he willed to immolate his only begotten son (Gen 22:1).
Et de hoc ostendit tria.
In regard to this he shows three things.
Primo quid fecerit;
First, what he did;
secundo quod hoc ad fidem pertinet, ibi et unigenitum;
second, that this pertains to faith, at and he that had received the promises;
tertio quid ex hoc recepit, ibi unde eum et in parabolam.
third, what he received for this, at whereupon he also received.