Demonstrations 1.17–2.12

English translation by John Gwynn (1898); the original is not shown

Also our Saviour used thus to say to every one who drew near to Him to be healed:—According to thy faith be unto thee. And when the blind man approached Him, He said to him:—Dost thou believe that I am able to heal thee? That blind man said to Him:—Yea, Lord, I believe. And his faith opened his eyes. And to him whose son was sick, He said:—Believe and thy son shall live. He said to Him:—I believe, Lord; help thou my feeble faith. And by his faith his son was healed. And also when the nobleman came near to Him, by his faith was his boy healed, when he said to our Lord:—Speak the word and my servant will be cured. And our Lord was astonished at his faith, and according to his faith it happened to him. And also when the chief of the Synagogue requested Him concerning his daughter, He said thus to him:—Only firmly believe and thy daughter shall live. So he believed and his daughter lived and arose. And when Lazarus died, our Lord said to Martha:—If thou believest, thy brother shall rise. Martha saith unto Him;—Yea, Lord, I believe. And He raised him after four days. And also Simon who was called Cephas because of his faith was called the firm rock. And again when our Lord gave the Sacrament of Baptism to His apostles, He said thus to them:—Whosoever believeth and is baptized shall live, and whosoever believeth not shall be condemned. Again He said to his Apostles:—If ye believe and doubt not, there is nothing ye shall not be able to do. For when our Lord walked on the billows of the sea, Simon also by his faith walked with Him; but when in respect of his faith he doubted, and began to sink, our Lord called him, thou of little faith. And when the Apostles asked of our Lord, they begged nothing at His hands but this, saying to Him:—Increase our faith. He said to them:—If there were in you faith, even a mountain would remove from before you. And He said to them:—Doubt ye not, lest ye sink down in the midst of the world, even as Simon when he doubted began to sink in the midst of the sea. And again He said thus;—This shall be the sign for those that believe; they shall speak with new tongues and shall cast out demons, and they shall lay their hands on the sick and they shall be made whole.

English translation by John Gwynn (1898); the original is not shown

Let us draw near then, my beloved, to faith, since its powers are so many. For faith raised up to the heavens (Enoch), and conquered the Deluge. It caused the barren to bring forth. It delivered from the sword. It raised up from the pit. It enriched the poor. It released the captives. It delivered the persecuted. It brought down the fire. It divided the sea. It cleft the rock, and gave to the thirsty water to drink. It satisfied the hungry. It raised the dead, and brought them up from Sheol. It stilled the billows. It healed the sick. It conquered hosts. It overthrew walls. It stopped the mouths of lions, and quenched the flame of fire. It humiliated the proud, and brought the humble to honour. All these mighty works were wrought by faith.

English translation by John Gwynn (1898); the original is not shown

Now thus is faith; when a man believes in God the Lord of all, Who made the heavens and the earth and the seas and all that is in them; and He made Adam in His image; and He gave the Law to Moses; He sent of His Spirit upon the prophets; He sent moreover His Christ into the world. Furthermore that a man should believe in the resurrection of the dead; and should furthermore also believe in the sacrament of baptism. This is the faith of the Church of God. And (it is necessary) that a man should separate himself from the observance of hours and Sabbaths and moons and seasons, and divinations and sorceries and Chaldæan arts and magic, from fornication and from festive music, from vain doctrines, which are instruments of the Evil One, from the blandishment of honeyed words, from blasphemy and from adultery. And that a man should not bear false witness, and that a man should not speak with double tongue. These then are the works of the faith which is based on the true Stone which is Christ, on Whom the whole building is reared up.

English translation by John Gwynn (1898); the original is not shown

Furthermore, my beloved, there is much besides in the Holy Books about faith. But these few things out of the much have I written to recall them to thy love that thou mayest know and make known and believe and also be believed. And when thou hast read and learned the works of faith, thou mayest be made like unto that tilled land upon which the good seed fell, and produced fruit a hundred-fold and sixty-fold and thirty-fold. And when thou comest to thy Lord, He may call thee a good servant and prudent and faithful, who on account of His faith, that abounded, is to enter into the Kingdom of his Lord.

Translated by Claude from Jean Parisot's Latin translation (1894) of the Syriac; neither is shown

The Second Demonstration: On Love.

1. It is certain, my beloved, that the whole law and the prophets hang on two commandments, as our Savior said. The law and the prophets cannot persuade one who resists. So the Savior says: "On these two commandments hang the law and the prophets": that a person love the Lord his God with all his soul, with all his strength, and with all his power; and further, that a person love his neighbor as himself.

Translated by Claude from Jean Parisot's Latin translation (1894) of the Syriac; neither is shown

When you go on and come to examine those two commandments on which the force of the whole law and the prophets hangs, [then you will understand that] if those two commandments, on which the strength of the whole law and the prophets hangs, were fixed in the hearts and minds of people, there would have been no need for the law and the prophets to be written down, as it is written: "The law is not laid down for the righteous but for the ungodly." So the law was laid down because of the ungodly. If righteousness had remained among people, there would have been no need of the law. On the other hand, if the law had not been laid down, the power of God would not have been known in all generations through all the wonders that he brought forth. When the house of Adam transgressed the commandment, death was decreed over the world; but the power of God was shown in this, that all people will rise at the end, at the time when the dominion of death will be taken away. Because of the sinners in the days of Noah, the power of God showed itself in the waters of the flood. Because Abraham kept the righteousness that is in the law, though the law had not yet been laid down, the power of God was shown in him through righteousness, when he brought back the spoil from Sodom by the power of his God and did not stretch out his hand to the plunder; and after that day God said to him: "Your reward is very great for your righteousness." He, on whom the law was not imposed, nevertheless practised the works of the law, and the law was not needed for his righteousness. In the same way Isaac and Jacob, his sons, had no need for a law to be laid down for their righteousness, for their father commanded them to do equity and judgment, as it is written that the Lord said of Abraham: "I know that he will command his sons after him to keep all my commandments." Joseph also kept the righteousness that is in the law when he did not give in to his mistress, for he said: "How shall I do this great evil and sin against God?" Likewise Moses kept the righteousness that is in the law when he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; for this the Lord counted him worthy to give the law to his people by his hand. All these showed the works of the law, and yet the law had not been laid down for their righteousness; they were a law to themselves.

Translated by Claude from Jean Parisot's Latin translation (1894) of the Syriac; neither is shown

But when the time of the law came, it was added because of transgression. For [Scripture] has shown that the law is an addition. And why was this addition made, if not for the sake of the calling of the nations, which had been promised before the law? The law was a guardian and tutor until that seed should come in which the nations are blessed. For the word of the oath promised to Abraham is also the covenant of the promise, namely what God said to him: "In your seed all the nations will be blessed." And this word, which is a covenant, was promised to Abraham four hundred and thirty years before the law was laid down: that the nations should be blessed in his seed, which is Christ. The law was made after those four hundred and thirty years. For when Abraham received this promise he was eighty-five years old; from that time until Jacob went down into Egypt two hundred and five years are counted; and from the time Jacob went into Egypt until the people came out by the hand of Moses there are two hundred and twenty-five years.

Translated by Claude from Jean Parisot's Latin translation (1894) of the Syriac; neither is shown

Now it is written that the time the children of Israel lived in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years. Why then, my friend, when they lived there two hundred and twenty-five years, are four hundred and thirty years ascribed to them? Only because they are counted from the time when God said to Abraham: "Know for certain that your seed will be strangers in a land not their own, and they will subdue them, and they will serve them four hundred years." For at the very time when this word was spoken to Abraham, "You will have offspring," [the word] was formed by faith in Abraham's heart, as it is written: "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness"; and at the same time the word of the servitude which his children were to serve in Egypt was conceived in Abraham's inmost heart, and he began to be anxious how his seed would come into servitude, and in his mind he was already serving in Egypt. Likewise Isaac and Jacob thought about the servitude and were serving in Egypt in their thought. So the servitude was promised to Abraham's descendants although they were not yet born; for that word preceded Isaac's birth by fifteen years, and the announcement of the servitude was made two hundred and five years before they entered Egypt; and so the promise that all the nations would be blessed in Abraham's seed was given four hundred and thirty years before the law. Nor could the law make the promise void; for the law was an addition, joined to the word of the promise, until the time of that …

Translated by Claude from Jean Parisot's Latin translation (1894) of the Syriac; neither is shown

And that word was kept one thousand seven hundred and ninety-four years, from the time it was promised to Abraham until the coming; and that word remained kept in custody one thousand three hundred and sixty-four years after the law was given. This word preceded the law by four hundred and thirty years, and when it came, it abolished the observances of the law. The law and the prophets are contained in those two commandments of which the Lord spoke; for the word is written: "All the law and the prophets prophesied until John the Baptist." The Lord also said: "I did not come to loose the law and the prophets but to fulfil them." And again it is written: "The truth of the law came through Jesus."

Translated by Claude from Jean Parisot's Latin translation (1894) of the Syriac; neither is shown

In what then were the law and the prophets lacking, so that they had to be fulfilled? Only in this: that the covenant, which is itself the word of the promise, remained hidden in them. For that covenant given to Moses was not sealed until this later covenant came, which is also the earlier one: promised before, it was sealed later, when he who had made the covenant died; and the two covenants were confirmed; he made both one and abolished the law of commandments by his commandments. For the end of the law was brought to nothing by the coming of our Life-giver, who offered himself in place of the sacrifices of the law and was led like a lamb to the slaughter in place of the lambs of atonement. A fatted bull was slain for us, so that we need no longer offer the young of the herd. He came and was lifted up on the cross, so that sacrifices and offerings are no longer required of us. He gave his blood for all people, so that the blood of animals is not demanded of us. He entered the house of the sanctuary not made with hands and became high priest and minister of the holy place. From the time he came he abolished the observances of the law. From the time they bound him, their festivals were bound in chains; because they wished to judge the Righteous One, he removed judges from them; and because they rejected his royal power, he tore the kingdom from them, for he has come to whom the kingdom belongs. He was offered for us as a living sacrifice and did away with their sacrifices, and the children of Israel sat without sacrifices and without altar, without one to wear the ephod or to offer incense. He took from them seers and prophets because they did not listen to the great Prophet. The former covenant was fulfilled in the last. The works of the law grew old and obsolete and passed away; for from the time the new was given, the old perished. Nor were the sacrifices rejected only from the Savior's coming; even before, their sacrifices did not please him, as it is written: "I do not eat the flesh of calves, nor do I drink the blood of goats; rather sacrifice praise to God and pay your vows to the Most High." Again he said: "A contrite heart God does not despise." And again he says: "I did not take pleasure in sacrifices nor in peace-offerings … bind our feasts with chains up to the horns of the altar." "The sacrifice of God is a broken spirit." Isaiah the prophet also says: "I do not seek the multitude of your sacrifices, says the Lord." And again he says to them: "I have hated and cast off your festivals, and I will not smell your solemn assemblies."

Translated by Claude from Jean Parisot's Latin translation (1894) of the Syriac; neither is shown

But this word, in which the Savior says that the law and the prophets hang, is also beautiful, good, and fitting. For thus the Lord speaks: "Not one letter yod will pass from the law and the prophets until all things come to pass." For he took the law and the prophets and made them hang on two commandments, blotting out nothing at all from them. When you look closely at this word, you will find it to be the true keeping of the law; for whatever is written in it falls under this word: "Love the Lord your God with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your heart"; and every work of the law aimed at this, that they should be led to the love of the Lord their God, and that a person should love his kinsman in the flesh as himself. Those two commandments stand above the whole law. And again, when you set your heart to consider the law, you will find written at the beginning of the whole law: "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. You shall not make for yourself, beside me, any carved image or any likeness." So whoever makes no other god beside him is subject to that word on which the law and the prophets hang. Remember too, my beloved, that I wrote to you that the law is not laid down for the righteous; for he who keeps righteousness is placed above the commandment, the law, and the prophets. And so the Lord's word stands firm: "The letter yod will not pass from the law or the prophets"; for he sealed them in two commandments and made them hang on them.

Translated by Claude from Jean Parisot's Latin translation (1894) of the Syriac; neither is shown

Hear, my friend, the explanation of that word. If perhaps it is asked why it is written that the stay of the children of Israel in the land of Egypt was four hundred and thirty years, when in the promise made to Abraham it was said that they would stay four hundred years, and why thirty more are added, I will show you, my beloved, how the matter stands. When the fullness of the four hundred years came, Moses was sent to free them. But after he killed the Egyptian, they rejected their savior, and Moses fled to Midian; and as wrath came upon them, they stayed in Egypt thirty years. For when they said to Moses, "Who made you a ruler and judge over us?", the wrath of God [kept] them thirty years in Egypt … [and Mo]ses [stayed] in Midian thirty years. When extreme affliction pressed on them, he brought them out of Egypt. God showed this long-suffering, first so that they might be chastened for rejecting Moses; second, so that the iniquities of the Amorites might be completed. He added thirty years for the people beyond the term promised to Abraham, and he showed himself long-suffering to the Amorites for seventy years, thirty [spent] in Egypt and forty in the wilderness. And when the four hundred and thirty years were finished, with [another] forty, and the iniquities of the Amorites were complete, he brought them into the land of promise.

[9] You should know, my beloved, that God is bound by no law. So at one time he adds and at another subtracts, at another lengthens what is short. In the days of Noah, because of people's sins, he promised that the days of man would be one hundred and twenty years; but they were destroyed in the six hundredth year of Noah's life. For he says: "They will be one hundred and twenty years upon the earth." Since they were destroyed in the six hundredth year of Noah's life, he subtracted these twenty years. Again, when the iniquity of the sinful kingdom of Ephraim had multiplied, under the reign of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who sinned and made Israel sin, it is written that God threatened the sinners through the prophecy of Isaiah the prophet, who said to them: "After sixty-five years Ephraim will fall away from being a people." This word was spoken in the first year of Ahaz, and in the fourth year of Hezekiah Shalmaneser king of Assyria went up against them, and after him Tiglath-pileser, who deported them from their land. Ahaz reigned over them sixteen years, and in the fourth year of Hezekiah the kings of Assyria took them, and after only twenty years Ephraim fell away from the people of Israel. So God cut off forty-five years from them; and the time he had first spoken and fixed was not completed as he himself had set it.

Translated by Claude from Jean Parisot's Latin translation (1894) of the Syriac; neither is shown

Nor did he promise them that it would happen so as one ignorant [of the future], when afterwards the years were to be lengthened or shortened; he [did so] knowing for certain. For he knew the measure these years would have, but in his mercy he granted time for grace, so that people would be without excuse. But people despised God's long-suffering, and hearing that it would be a long time before the threatened wrath came, they dared to sin before God, saying: "What the prophets say, they prophesy for a distant time." Therefore, when this thought arose in them in the days of Ezekiel the prophet, and they said, "What this man prophesies is for a distant time," [the Lord] said to Ezekiel: "As I live, says the Lord of lords, there will be no more delay to my words; for the word that I speak I will fulfil shortly." So, as he had fixed beforehand, he gave people time for repentance, that perhaps they might repent; but they despised God's long-suffering and did not repent; therefore he changed the time he had set and determined for them. Nor did he act in ignorance, but as it is written: "Woe to him who plunders! Do not you plunder, and let not the liar lie against you. For where you choose to plunder, you will be plundered, and where you choose to lie, they will lie against you." Again it is written in Jeremiah: "If I speak against a nation and against a kingdom, to uproot and destroy and overthrow and lay waste, and that people turns from its wickedness, then I will make my word false, and what I spoke against them I will take back from them." Again Jeremiah says: "If I speak concerning a nation and a kingdom to build and to plant, and that people does evil before me, then again I will show my word to be false, and I will turn from it the good that I spoke to do for it."

Translated by Claude from Jean Parisot's Latin translation (1894) of the Syriac; neither is shown

I have written all this to you, my beloved, because, after I showed you above, in the former discourse on faith, that the foundation of the covenant in which we are established can rest on faith, in this second discourse I have written to you that the whole law and the prophets hang on those two commandments, in which our Savior says all the law and the prophets are contained. Faith is contained in the law, and through faith true love is made firm, which proceeds from those two commandments: when a person has loved the Lord his God, he also loves his neighbor as himself.

Translated by Claude from Jean Parisot's Latin translation (1894) of the Syriac; neither is shown

Now then, my friend, hear the discourse on the love that proceeds from those two commandments. When our Life-giver came, he urged us to love, saying to his disciples: "This is my commandment, that you love one another." He also said to them: "A new commandment I give you, that you love one another." And again love … [Love] your [enemies], bless him who curses you, pray for those who trouble and persecute you. He also said this to them: "If you love the one who loves you, what thanks is there for you? For if you love the one who loves you, even the heathen do this: they love the one who loves them." And again our Life-giver said: "If you do good to the one who deals rightly with you, what thanks will you have? For even sinners and tax collectors do this. But you, so that you may be called sons of God who is in heaven, become like him who is merciful even to the ungrateful." The Savior said again: "Forgive and you will be forgiven; release and you will be released; give and it will be given to you." He also said, putting fear into us: "If you do not forgive people the sins by which they have sinned against you, neither will the Father forgive you." For he gave this admonition: "If your brother sins against you, forgive him; and even if he sins against you seven times in one day, forgive him."