Apologeticae sive Theologiae Fundamentalis, Tomus I: Demonstratio Christiana

That the books of the Old Testament are genuine is proved ex professo in the Introduction to Scripture. It is not, however, our concern to inquire into the genuineness of these books; it suffices to know that they already existed long before Christ. And in fact it has long since been established and conceded by all that the Hebrew canon of the Old Testament was in existence at least three centuries before Christ, and that the Greek version of the LXX was written at least by the middle of the second century before Christ, although it can easily be shown — and is universally conceded — that many books of the Old Testament are much more ancient.

That these books, moreover, treat at length of the future messianic legate of God is likewise established both by the countless testimonies of the books themselves,¹ and by the faith of the Jews, who drew their messianic hope from the sacred Scriptures of the Old Testament,² and finally by the consensus of both friends and foes of the Christian cause.

The messianic concept, however, which the books of the Old Testament contain, concerns both the person and the kingdom of the Messiah.

1. The person of the Messiah is described by the titles given to him. The Savior awaited by the whole Old Testament is called the Messiah simply, the Son of David, the Servant of God, the Son of Man, the Son of God.

a) Messiah. In itself, indeed, the messianism of the Old Testament is in no way connected with the name "Messiah" ("Christ, the Anointed One"). By this name are called everywhere in the sacred books the kings and priests upon whom the royal or priestly office was conferred by anointing. Since, however, the future Savior was awaited as a priest and king — said with emphasis — the title of Messiah was fitting for him as well. This title, however, is attributed to him only three times in the whole Old Testament.³ Finally, as the Christian era drew near, the longed-for Redeemer began to be commonly called the Messiah, the other messianic titles being nevertheless retained, of which the most frequent:

b) Son of David, or even David without any addition. For because David was a type of the Messiah, the latter himself is often called David.⁴ More often, however, he bears the title Son of David, both because the Messiah was to be descended from the family of David,⁵ and because he was to possess the throne of David forever.

For a twofold promise was made to David by God, the one conditional, the other absolute. Conditionally, a temporal, political kingdom was promised to David, to last as long as the Davidic line should not fall away from God.⁶ This condition the Davidic line and the people governed by it did not fulfill, but they fell away from God and were therefore rejected, the temporal political kingdom being overthrown.⁷

Absolutely, however, there was promised to David a son king, whose throne and kingdom should stand forever: "Once have I sworn by my holy one, if [surely] I shall lie to David: his seed shall remain forever, and his throne [immutable] as the sun before me, and as the moon perfect [it shall be perfect] forever, and a faithful witness [God] in heaven."⁸

In fact, although the political power of the house of David was taken away and its family fortunes ruined, nevertheless it is constantly promised that the Son of David will reign over Israel forever,⁹ nay, that he will rule over all nations,¹⁰ a dominion, to be sure, spiritual and religious. The Son of David will teach all the peoples of the whole world perfect ways and truths.¹¹ "In his days shall justice spring up and abundance of peace, till the moon be taken away. And he shall rule from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth. And all kings of the earth shall adore him, all nations shall serve him. And in him all the tribes of the earth shall be blessed."¹² Therefore the Messiah is said to be about to obtain the kingdom of David in this sense, that he himself will rule in a spiritual manner the people of God of the whole world, whom David governed in a temporal respect in Judea alone.

c) Servant of God. Whereas the title Son of David exhibits the Messiah as the head of a religious and universal kingdom, the Messiah is described under the title Servant of God as suffering and dying¹³ for the sins of men, and by this work of redemption meriting the glory of the messianic kingdom.¹⁴ Him God sends not only for the conversion of Israel, but that he may be "a light to the gentiles" and for salvation "to the end of the earth".¹⁵ For since he himself "committed no iniquity, neither was there guile in his mouth",¹⁶ by his vicarious passion and death he blots out our iniquity: "Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our sorrows... But he was wounded for our iniquities, he was bruised for our crimes; the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his bruise we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray, every one has turned aside into his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all."¹⁷ He expiates the sins of the whole world.¹⁸ Through him "all the ends of the earth shall be converted to the Lord, and all the kindreds of the gentiles shall adore in his sight".¹⁹ Finally, having died, he will rise again to a new life and at the right hand of God be crowned with eternal glory.²⁰

d) Son of Man. Leaving the right hand of God, the Messiah, in the form of the Son of Man, will come again on the clouds of heaven to judge the world and to take up the dominion of the messianic kingdom acquired by his passion, death, and resurrection. For this is the meaning of Daniel's prophecy concerning the Son of Man: "I beheld therefore in the vision of the night, and lo, with the clouds of heaven one like the Son of Man came [to judgment], and he came even to the Ancient of days. And they presented him before him. And he gave him power and honor and a kingdom, and all peoples, tribes, and tongues shall serve him: his power is an everlasting power, which shall not be taken away, and his kingdom, which shall not be destroyed."²¹

e) Son of God. Considering the altogether superhuman dignity and office of the Messiah, we do not wonder that he is proclaimed God. In almost innumerable places of the Old Testament God himself is promised to come to redeem his people, e. g.: "Jahve himself will come and will save you".²² "Prepare the way of the Lord [Jahve], make straight in the wilderness the paths of our God [Elohim] ... Behold your God [Elohim]; behold the Lord God [Jahve Elohim] shall come in strength."²³ In the second psalm the Messiah Redeemer is more explicitly called the Son of Jahve. For to the Messiah, sent and anointed by God,²⁴ are attributed the words: "Jahve said to me: You are my Son; today I have begotten you."²⁵

More expressly Isaiah calls the Redeemer Emmanuel, i. e., God with us: "Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel."²⁶ That Emmanuel is true God is clear from this, that he is identified with Jahve, the Lord and ruler of Israel.²⁷

Moreover, what lies hidden, as it were, enclosed in the single name of Emmanuel, the prophet openly declares thus: "To them that dwelt in the region of the shadow of death, light is risen... For a child is born to us, and a son is given to us; and the government is upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called: Wonderful, Counsellor, God the Mighty, Father of the world to come, Prince of Peace. His empire shall be multiplied, and there shall be no end of peace; he shall sit upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom, to establish it and strengthen it with judgment and with justice, from henceforth and forever."²⁸

The names given to the Messiah in the text appear to be appellatives of deity: "Wonderful" [Hebr. "miracle"], Counsellor, "Prince of Peace", but especially "Father of the world to come" and "God the Mighty". "Father of the world to come" — or, according to the Hebrew text, "Father of eternity, eternal Father" — only God can be called. A fortiori, only Jahve — and he indeed is often called "God the Mighty" [Hebr. "El gibbor"] in sacred Scripture.²⁹

With this testimony of Isaiah agrees that of Malachi: "Behold, I send my angel, and he shall prepare the way before my face. And presently [Hebr. unexpectedly] the Ruler shall come to his temple, whom you seek, and the angel of the covenant, whom you desire; behold, he comes, says the Lord of hosts."³⁰ The divinity of the Messiah is clearly declared by these words, in that 1° he is called the Ruler, by which appellation, everywhere except in our passage, nothing but Jahve, the true God, is designated;³¹ 2° he comes to his temple, although the temple of Jerusalem is God's alone; 3° it is the same to prepare the way for the Ruler and to prepare the way before the face of the Lord of hosts.

In these passages of the Old Testament the divinity of the Messiah is proclaimed so clearly that St. Justin reproaches the Jews of his time (2nd cent. A. D.): "When we bring before them those Scriptures which show in express words that Christ is passible, adorable, and God, they indeed, constrained by necessity, assent that they were spoken of Christ; but this man [Jesus of Nazareth] they dare to deny to be the Christ, while they confess that one is to come who will suffer and reign and be adored as God."³²

The person of the Messiah having been described by these titles, the messianic concept is completed by another technical term, by which the work to be accomplished by the Messiah is more precisely set forth; namely:

2. The Kingdom of the Messiah. "The kingdom of God" or "the kingdom of heaven"³³ is, according to Semitic usage, the royal dominion over the world exercised by God and acknowledged by men.³⁴ Thus the synagogal theocracy, by virtue of the covenant entered into between Jahve and the people of Israel, could have been called the kingdom of God. Nevertheless, with this name the prophets emphatically designate only the kingdom to be founded and governed by the Messiah. And indeed they so describe the nature of the messianic kingdom that it is a kingdom new, universal, and spiritual.

a) A new kingdom, the old covenant being abolished. For in place of the law, priesthood, sacrifice, and worship of the old covenant there will be substituted a new law, a new priesthood, a new sacrifice, and a new worship. The new law: "Behold the days shall come ... and I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Juda: not according to the pact which I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt: the pact which they made void, and I had dominion over them, says the Lord. But this shall be the pact which I will make with the house of Israel: I will give my law in their bowels, and I will write it in their heart: and I will be their God, and they shall be my people."³⁵

The new priesthood: For since the Mosaic priests were chosen from Israelites alone and indeed from the tribe of Levi alone, it is predicted that in messianic times priests are to be taken from all nations: "And I will take of them [the gentiles] for priests and Levites, says the Lord."³⁶

The new sacrifice and new worship: For of the sacrifices and the whole worship of the Israelites it is written: "I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord of hosts, and I will not receive a gift of your hand. For from the rising of the sun even to the going down, my name is great among the gentiles, and in every place there is sacrifice, and there is offered to my name a clean oblation: for my name is great among the gentiles, says the Lord of hosts."³⁷

Since, moreover, the new covenant extends even to the gentiles, it is clear that the kingdom of the Messiah will be:

b) A universal, not a national kingdom. The Mosaic covenant, although men of other nations could subject themselves to it, nevertheless regarded only the Israelites. The kingdom of the Messiah, however, will begin from Judea and Jerusalem, from there pass over to the gentiles, and by their continued accession grow and gradually extend even to the ends of the whole world.

"For out of Sion shall the law go forth, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem."³⁸

"And I will send of them [the Israelites] that shall be saved, to the gentiles into the sea, into Africa and Lydia ... into Italy and Greece, to the islands afar off, to them that have not heard of me and have not seen my glory. And they shall declare my glory to the gentiles; and they shall bring all your brethren out of all nations ... to my holy mountain Jerusalem."³⁹

"All the ends of the earth shall remember and be converted to the Lord; and all the kindreds of the gentiles shall adore in his sight."⁴⁰

But a universal kingdom must necessarily be:

c) A spiritual, not a material kingdom. That the Messiah will also bestow earthly and political goods, many texts of the prophets announce. It is true, indeed, that the prophets for the most part use these material things to signify immaterial things; nevertheless, at times they seem to promise goods that are strictly material too. Nay, just as the observance of the divine law had always been for the Israelites the most abundant source of earthly blessing, so the Jews, if they had received the Messiah, would also have inherited material happiness and been preserved from political ruin.⁴¹

That spiritual and religious goods, however, will be essential to the messianic kingdom is already clear from what has been said about the person of the king, the Messiah. In fact, the kingdom of the Messiah will abound in divine knowledge, grace, and pardon.

Divine knowledge. Idolatry being removed, the messianic kingdom will bring a perfect and unfailing knowledge of divine things. "And it shall come to pass in that day, says the Lord of hosts, that I will destroy the names of idols out of the earth, and they shall be remembered no more."⁴² "The earth is filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters covering the sea."⁴³ "This is my covenant with them, says the Lord: my spirit, which is in you, and my words, which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, nor out of the mouth of your seed, nor out of the mouth of your seed's seed, says the Lord, from henceforth and forever."⁴⁴

Divine grace. The kingdom of God will shine with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and with charisms. "And it shall come to pass after this: I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Moreover, upon my servants and handmaids in those days I will pour out my spirit."⁴⁵

Divine pardon. In messianic times the sins of men will be remitted and blotted out: "In that day there shall be a fountain open to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for the washing of the sinner."⁴⁶ "In those days and at that time, says the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sin of Juda, and it shall not be found: for I will be merciful to them."⁴⁷ "I will be merciful to their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more."⁴⁸ "If your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow; and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool."⁴⁹ "I have blotted out your iniquities as a cloud, and your sins as a mist; return to me, for I have redeemed you."⁵⁰

Hence the messianic concept of the Old Testament may be defined approximately thus: the Messiah, heir of the Davidic house (Son of David) and endowed with a divine nature (Son of God), will by his vicarious death redeem all men from their sins (Servant of God) and will call them into a new religious society (kingdom of God), to be governed by him and at the end of time judged by him (Son of Man).