Deuteronomy 13:3

All the arguments, indeed, which this Jew of Celsus advances against those who believe on Jesus, may, by parity of reasoning, be urged as ground of accusation against Moses: so that there is no difference in asserting that the sorcery practised by Jesus and that by Moses were similar to each other, both of them, so far as the language of this Jew of Celsus is concerned, being liable to the same charge; as, e.g., when this Jew says of Christ, “But, O light and truth! Jesus with his own voice expressly declares, as you yourselves have recorded, that there will appear among you others also, who will perform miracles like mine, but who are wicked men and sorcerers,” some one, either Greek or Egyptian, or any other party who disbelieved the Jew, might say respecting Moses, “But, O light and truth! Moses with his own voice expressly declares, as ye also have recorded, that there will appear am …

11. Righteous men have ever possessed this endurance. The apostles maintained this discipline from the law of the Lord, not to murmur in adversity, but to accept bravely and patiently whatever things happen in the world; since the people of the Jews in this matter always offended, that they constantly murmured against God, as the Lord God bears witness in the book of Numbers, saying, “Let their murmuring cease from me, and they shall not die.” We must not murmur in adversity, beloved brethren, but we must bear with patience and courage whatever happens, since it is written, “The sacrifice to God is a broken spirit; a contrite and humbled heart God does not despise;” since also in Deuteronomy the Holy Spirit warns by Moses, and says, “The Lord thy God will vex thee, and will bring hunger upon thee; and it shall be known in thine heart if thou hast well kept His commandments or no.” And ag …

In Deuteronomy, “The Lord your God proveth you, that He may know if ye love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength.” And again, Solomon: “The furnace proveth the potter’s vessel, and righteous men the trial of tribulation.” Paul also testifies similar things, and speaks, saying: “We glory in the hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also; knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope; and hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given unto us.” And Peter, in his epistle, lays it down, and says: “Beloved, be not surprised at the fiery heat which falleth upon you, which happens for your trial; and fail not, as if some new thing were happening unto you. …

In Genesis: “And God, tempted Abraham, and said to him, Take thy only son whom thou lovest, Isaac, and go into the high land, and offer him there as a burnt-offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell thee.” Of this same thing in Deuteronomy: “The Lord your God proveth you, that He may know if ye love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul.” Of this same thing in the Wisdom of Solomon: “Although in the sight of men they suffered torments, their hope is full of immortality; and having been in few things distressed, yet in many things they shall be happily ordered, because God tried them, and found them worthy of Himself. As gold in the furnace He proved them, and as a burnt-offering He received them. …

31. When, therefore, it is said, “The Lord your God tempteth (proveth) you, that He may know if ye love Him,” the words “that He may know” are employed for what is the real state of the case, that He may make you know: just as we speak of a joyful day, because it makes us joyful; of a sluggish frost, because it makes us sluggish; and of innumerable things of the same sort, which are found either in ordinary speech, or in the discourse of learned men, or in the Holy Scriptures. …

71. Another question which it is also usual to put is this: How comes it that Matthew and Luke have stated that the Lord said to His disciples that they were not to take a staff with them, whereas Mark puts the matter in this way: “And He commanded them that they should take nothing for their journey, save a staff only;” and proceeds further in this strain, “no scrip, no bread, no money in their purse:” thereby making it quite evident that his narrative belongs to the same place and circumstances with which the narratives of those others deal who have mentioned that the staff was not to be taken? Now this question admits of being solved on the principle of understanding that the staff which, according to Mark, was to be taken, bears one sense, and that the staff which, according to Matthew and Luke, was not to be taken with them, is to be interpreted in a different sense; just in the sam …

9. “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Will this again be necessary in the life to come? “Lead us not into temptation,” will not be said, except where there can be temptation. We read in the book of holy Job, “Is not the life of man upon earth a temptation?” What then do we pray for? Hear what. The Apostle James saith, “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God.” He spoke of those evil temptations, whereby men are deceived, and brought under the yoke of the devil. This is the kind of temptation he spoke of. For there is another sort of temptation which is called a proving; of this kind of temptation it is written, “The Lord your God tempteth (proveth) you to know whether ye love Him.” What means “to know”? “To make you know,” for He knoweth already. With that kind of temptation, whereby we are deceived and seduced, God tempteth no man. …

15. For as in that it is said, “God tempteth no man,” it is not to be understood that God tempteth no man with any kind, but only not with some certain kind of temptation; lest that be false, which is written, “The Lord your God tempteth you;” and lest we deny that Christ is God, or say that the Gospel is false, when we read that He asked His disciple “tempting him; but He Himself knew what He would do.” For there is a temptation which induces to sin, with which “God tempteth no man,” and there is a temptation which only proves our faith, with which even God vouchsafes to tempt. So when we hear, “He that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost,” we must not take it of every kind of blasphemy, as neither in the other place, of every kind of temptation.

5. In order to solve this point, attend. It may be solved by [quoting] a similar mode of speaking. Thou hast it written, “God tempteth not any man;” and again thou hast it written, “The Lord your God tempteth you, to know whether you love Him.” Just the point in dispute, you see. For how does God tempt not any man , and how does the Lord your God tempt you, to know whether ye love Him? It is also written, “There is no fear in love but perfect love casteth out fear;” and in another place it is written, “The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever.” Here also is the point in dispute. For how does perfect love cast out fear, if the fear of the Lord, which is clean, endureth for ever?

4. “Because I will pray unto Thee ( ver. 3 ). O Lord, in the morning Thou wilt hear my voice.” What does that, which he said above, “Hear Thou,” mean, as if he desired to be heard immediately? But now he saith, “in the morning Thou wilt hear;” not, hear Thou: and, “I will pray unto Thee;” not, I do pray unto Thee: and, as follows, “in the morning I will stand by Thee, and will see;” not, I do stand by Thee, and do see. Unless perhaps his former prayer marks the invocation itself: but being in darkness amidst the storms of this world, he perceives that he does not see what he desires, and yet does not cease to hope, “For hope that is seen, is not hope.” Nevertheless, he understands why he does not see, because the night is not yet past, that is, the darkness which our sins have merited. …

1. “Of the eighth,” seems here obscure. For the rest of this title is more clear. Now it has seemed to some to intimate the day of judgment, that is, the time of the coming of our Lord, when He will come to judge the quick and dead. Which coming, it is believed, is to be, after reckoning the years from Adam, seven thousand years: so as that seven thousand years should pass as seven days, and afterwards that time arrive as it were the eighth day. But since it has been said by the Lord, “It is not yours to know the times, which the Father hath put in His own power:” and, “But of the day and that hour knoweth no man, no, neither angel, nor Power, neither the Son, but the Father alone:” and again, that which is written, “that the day of the Lord cometh as a thief,” shows clearly enough that no man should arrogate to himself the knowledge of that time, by any computation of years. …

7. ‘But evil-doers and sorcerers will wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.’ If therefore, like those expounders of dreams and false prophets who professed to give signs, these ignorant men being drunk, not with wine, but with their own wickedness, make a profession of priesthood, and glory in their threats, believe them not; but since we are tried, let us humble ourselves, not being drawn away by them. For so God warned His people by Moses, saying, ‘If there shall rise up among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and shall give signs and tokens, and the sign or the token shall come to pass which he spake to thee, saying, Let us go and serve strange gods, which ye have not known; ye shall not hearken unto the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. …