To Quirinus: Three Books of Testimonies 2.1–2.14

That Christ is the firstborn, and that he is the Wisdom of God, through whom all things were made.

In Solomon, in Proverbs: “The Lord created me the beginning of his ways for his works; before the age he founded me. In the beginning, before he made the earth and before he established the depths, before the springs of water came forth, before the mountains were set in place, before all the hills the Lord begot me. He made the lands and the uninhabited places and the uninhabitable bounds under heaven. When he prepared the heaven, I was with him, and when he set apart his throne; when he made the clouds above strong over the winds, and when he set the springs firm under heaven, when he made strong the foundations of the earth, I was beside him, setting things in order. I was the one in whom he rejoiced; and daily I delighted before his face at all times, when he rejoiced in the completed world.” Likewise in the same, in Ecclesiasticus: “I came forth from the mouth of the Most High before every creature. I made an unfailing light to rise in the heavens, and I covered all the earth with mist. I dwelt in the heights, and my throne was in a pillar of cloud. I went round the circuit of heaven and penetrated into the depth of the abyss, and walked on the waves of the sea, and stood on all the earth, and in every people and in every nation I held the first place, and by my power I trod upon the hearts of all, the lofty and the lowly. In me is all hope of life and virtue. Come over to me, all you who desire me.” Likewise in Psalm 88: “And I will make him the firstborn, high above the kings of the earth. For ever I will keep my mercy for him, and my covenant will be faithful to him; and I will establish his seed for ever and ever, and his throne as the days of heaven. If his sons forsake my law and do not walk in my judgments, if they profane my statutes and do not keep my commandments, I will visit their iniquities with a rod and their sins with scourges; but my mercy I will not turn away from them.” Likewise according to John the Lord says: “And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ. I have glorified you on earth; I have finished the work which you gave me to do. And now glorify me with yourself, with the glory which I had with you before the world was made.” Likewise the apostle Paul to the Colossians: “Who is the image of the invisible God and the firstborn of all creation.” Likewise there: “The firstborn from the dead, that he himself might hold the first place in all things.” Likewise in the Apocalypse: “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To him who thirsts I will give from the fountain of the water of life freely.”

That the same is both the Wisdom and the Power of God. The apostle Paul in the first to the Corinthians: “For Jews desire signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to the nations foolishness, but to those who are called, Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.”

That Christ is the Wisdom of God; and on the sacrament of his incarnation and passion, and of the cup and the altar, and of the apostles who were sent and preached.

In Solomon, in Proverbs: “Wisdom has built herself a house and set under it seven pillars. She has slain her victim, mixed her wine in the bowl, and prepared her table; and she has sent her servants, calling with a lofty proclamation to the bowl, saying: Whoever is simple, let him turn aside to me. And to those who lack sense she said: Come, eat of my bread and drink the wine that I have mixed for you. Forsake folly, and seek prudence, and correct understanding with knowledge.”

That Christ is also the Word of God.

In Psalm 44: “My heart has poured forth a good word; I speak my works to the king.” Likewise in Psalm 32: “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made firm, and all their power by the breath of his mouth.” Likewise in Isaiah the prophet: “A word completing and cutting short in righteousness; for God will make a shortened word in the whole world.” Likewise in Psalm 106: “He sent his word and healed them.” Likewise in the Gospel according to John: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him nothing was made that was made. In him is life, and the life was the light of men; and the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” Likewise in the Apocalypse: “And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it was called Faithful and True; he judges fairly and justly and makes war; and he was clothed with a garment sprinkled with blood, and his name is called the Word of God.”

That Christ is also the hand and arm of God.

In Isaiah: “Is the hand of the Lord not strong to save, or will he make his ear heavy so as not to hear? But your sins separate between you and God, and because of your sins he has turned his face from you, so as not to have mercy. For your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with sins; your lips have spoken wickedness, and your tongue meditates injustice. No one speaks the truth, and there is no true judgment. They trust in vain things and speak empty things; they conceive sorrow and bring forth wickedness.” Likewise there: “Lord, who has believed our report, and to whom has the arm of God been revealed?” Likewise there: “Thus says the Lord: Heaven is my throne and the earth the footstool of my feet. What house will you build for me, or what place for my rest? For my hand has made all these things.” Likewise there: “Lord God, your arm is lifted high, and they did not know it; but when they know it, they will be confounded.” Likewise there: “God will reveal his holy arm in the sight of all the nations, and all the nations, the very ends of the earth, will see the salvation from God.” Likewise there: “Behold, I have made you like the new wheels of a threshing cart, turned like a saw; and you will thresh the mountains and grind the hills small and make them like dust, and you will winnow them, and the wind will seize them and the storm scatter them. But you will rejoice in the holy ones of Israel, and the poor and needy will exult. They will seek water, and there will be none, for their tongue will be parched with thirst. I, the Lord God, I, the God of Israel, will hear, and I will not forsake them, but I will open rivers among the mountains and springs in the midst of the plains; I will make the deserts into watered groves and the thirsty land into aqueducts. I will set in the waterless land the cedar and the box and the myrtle and the cypress and the elm and the poplar, that they may see and know and understand and believe together that the hand of the Lord has done these things and the Holy One of Israel has shown them.”

That the same is both Angel and God.

In Genesis to Abraham: “And the angel of the Lord called him from heaven and said to him: Abraham, Abraham. And he said: Here I am. And he said: Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear your God and have not spared your most beloved son for my sake.” Likewise there to Jacob: “And the angel of the Lord said to me in a dream: I am the God whom you saw in the place of God, where you anointed for me a pillar of stone and vowed a vow to me.” Likewise in Exodus: “And God went before them, by day in a pillar of cloud to show them the way, and by night in a pillar of fire.” Likewise there: “And the angel of God, who went before the army of the sons of Israel, moved.” Likewise there: “Behold, I send my angel before your face to guard you on the way, to bring you into the land that I have prepared for you. Heed him and obey him, and do not be disobedient to him; for he will not fail you; for my name is in him.” Hence he himself says in the Gospel: “I have come in my Father's name, and you have not received me; when another comes in his own name, him you will receive.” And again in Psalm 117: “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” Likewise in Malachi the prophet: “My covenant was with life and peace, and I gave him fear, to fear me, to go forth from the face of my name. The law of truth was in his mouth, and injustice was not found on his lips. In peace, correcting, he walked with us and turned many away from injustice. For the lips of the priest will keep knowledge, and they will seek the law from his mouth, for he is the angel of the Lord almighty.”

That Christ is God.

In Genesis: “And God said to Jacob: Arise and go up to the place Bethel and dwell there, and make there an altar to the God who appeared to you when you fled from the face of Esau your brother.” Likewise in Isaiah the prophet: “Thus says the Lord God of hosts: Egypt is wearied, and the merchandise of the Ethiopians, and the Sabeans, men of stature, will come over to you and will be your servants, and they will walk after you bound in fetters, and will worship you and pray in you; for God is in you, and there is no other God besides you. For you are God, and we did not know it, the God of Israel, the Savior. All who oppose you will be confounded and ashamed and will fall in confusion.” Likewise there: “A voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight the paths of our God. Every valley will be filled, and every mountain and hill brought low; and all crooked things will become straight, and rough places level ways; and the glory of the Lord will be seen, and all flesh will see the salvation of God, for the Lord has spoken.” Likewise in Jeremiah the prophet: “This is our God, and no other will be reckoned beside him, who found out every way of understanding and gave it to Jacob his servant and to Israel his beloved. Afterwards he was seen on earth and lived among men.” Likewise in Zechariah the prophet God says: “And they will pass through the narrow sea and strike the waves in the sea, and all the depths of the rivers will be dried up, and all the insolence of the Assyrians will be confounded, and the scepter of Egypt will be taken away; and I will strengthen them in the Lord their God, and in his name they will glory, says the Lord.” Likewise in Hosea the prophet God says: “I will not act according to the anger of my indignation; I will not allow Ephraim to be destroyed; for I am God, and not a man, the Holy One in you, and I will not enter the city; I will go after the Lord.” Likewise in Psalm 44: “Your throne, O God, is for ever and ever; a straight scepter is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated iniquity; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows.” Likewise in Psalm 45: “Be still and see that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, and I will be exalted in the earth.” Likewise in Psalm 81: “They have not known nor understood; they walk in darkness.” Likewise in Psalm 67: “Sing to God, sing praise to his name, make a way for him who ascends toward the west; the Lord is his name.” Likewise in the Gospel according to John: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Likewise there the Lord says to Thomas: “Put your finger here and see my hands, and do not be unbelieving but believing. And Thomas answered and said to him: My Lord and my God. Jesus says to him: Because you have seen, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and believe.” Likewise Paul to the Romans: “I myself wished to be accursed from Christ for the sake of my brothers, who are my kin according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom belong the adoption and the glory and the covenant and the giving of the law and the service and the promises; whose are the fathers, and from whom is Christ according to the flesh, who is God over all, blessed for ever.” Likewise in the Apocalypse: “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To him who thirsts I will give from the fountain of the water of life freely. He who overcomes will possess these things and their inheritance, and I will be his God, and he will be my son.” Likewise in Psalm 81: “God has stood in the assembly of gods, and in the midst he judges gods.” Likewise there: “I said: You are gods, and all sons of the Most High; but you will die like men.” But if those who have been righteous and have obeyed the divine precepts can be called gods, how much more is Christ, the Son of God, God! As he himself says in the Gospel according to John: “Is it not written in the law, I said, You are gods? If he called them gods, and it cannot be undone, do you say of him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, He blasphemes, because I said, I am the Son of God? If I do not do the works of my Father, do not believe me; but if I do them and you will not believe me, believe the works, and know that the Father is in me and I in him.” Likewise in the Gospel according to Matthew: “And you will call his name Emmanuel, which is interpreted, God with us.”

That Christ as God was to come as the enlightener and Savior of the human race.

In Isaiah the prophet: “Be strong, you weak hands and feeble knees; take courage. You who are faint-hearted, do not fear. Our God will render judgment; he himself will come and save us. Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will hear; then the lame will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb will be clear; for water has broken out in the desert and a stream in the thirsty land.” Likewise there: “Not an elder nor an angel, but the Lord himself will deliver them, because he will love them and spare them; he himself will redeem them.” Likewise there: “I, the Lord God, have called you in righteousness, that I may hold your hand; and I will strengthen you, and I have given you as a covenant of my race, as a light of the nations, to open the eyes of the blind, to bring the bound out of their chains, and those who sit in darkness out of the prison house. I am the Lord God; this is my name. My glory I will not give to another, nor my powers to carved images.” Likewise in Psalm 24: “Make your ways known to me, Lord, and teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior.” Hence in the Gospel according to John the Lord says: “I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” Likewise according to Matthew the angel Gabriel says to Joseph: “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife; for what is born of her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bear a son, and you will call his name Jesus; for he will save the people from their sins.” Likewise according to Luke: “And Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying: Blessed be the God of Israel, who has brought about redemption for his people and has raised up for us a horn of salvation in the house of David his servant.” Likewise there the angel to the shepherds: “Do not be afraid; for behold, I announce to you that there is born to you today a Savior, who is Christ Jesus, in the city of David.”

That although he had been the Son of God from the beginning, he was to be born anew according to the flesh.

In the second Psalm: “The Lord said to me: You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance and the ends of the earth as your possession.” Likewise in the Gospel: “And it came to pass, when Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the infant leaped in her womb; and she was filled with the Holy Spirit and cried out with a loud voice and said: Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” Likewise Paul to the Thessalonians, second letter: “But when the fullness of time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman.” Likewise in the letter of John: “Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God; but he who denies that he has come in the flesh is not of God, but is of the spirit of antichrist.”

That this would be the sign of his birth, that he should be born of a virgin, man and God, Son of man and of God.

In Isaiah the prophet: “And the Lord spoke again to Ahaz, saying: Ask for yourself a sign from the Lord your God, in the height above or in the depth below. And Ahaz said: I will not ask, nor will I tempt the Lord my God. And he said: Hear then, O house of David. It is no small contest for you with men, since God is putting on the contest. Therefore God himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will conceive in the womb and bear a son, and you will call his name Emmanuel. He will eat butter and honey; before he knows or brings forth evil, he will exchange it for good.” This is the seed that God had foretold would come forth from the woman, to trample the devil's head. In Genesis: “Then God said to the serpent: Because you have done this, you are cursed above all cattle and every kind of beast of the earth. On your breast and belly you will crawl, and earth will be your food all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will trample your head, and you will watch for his heel.”

That Christ is both man and God, formed of both natures, so that he might be a mediator between us and the Father.

In Jeremiah the prophet: “And he is man, and who will know him?” Likewise in Numbers: “A star will rise from Jacob, and a man will rise up from Israel.” Likewise there: “A man will come forth from his seed and will rule over many nations, and his kingdom will be exalted above Gog, and his kingdom will be increased. And God brought him out of Egypt; he has as it were the glory of the unicorn, and he will devour the nations of his enemies and suck out the marrow of their fatness and pierce the enemy with his darts. Lying down he rested like a lion and like a lion's whelp: who will rouse him? Those who bless you are blessed, and those who curse you are cursed.” Likewise in Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim release to captives and sight to the blind, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of recompense.” Hence in the Gospel Gabriel to Mary: “And the angel answered and said to her: The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the holy one who is born will be called the Son of God.” Likewise in the first letter of Paul to the Corinthians: “The first man is from the clay of the earth, the second man from heaven. As was the one from clay, so are those from clay; and as is the heavenly one, so are the heavenly. As we have borne the image of him who is from clay, let us also bear the image of him who is from heaven.”

That he was to be born of the seed of David according to the flesh.

In the second book of Kingdoms: “And the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying: Go and say to my servant David: Thus says the Lord: You shall not build me a house to dwell in; but it shall be, when your days are fulfilled and you sleep with your fathers, I will raise up your seed after you, who will be from your womb, and I will prepare his kingdom. He will build a house for my name, and I will establish his throne for ever; and I will be to him a father, and he will be to me a son; and his house will obtain faithfulness, and his kingdom for ever in my sight.” Likewise in Isaiah: “And a rod will come forth from the root of Jesse, and a flower will rise up from the root; and the Spirit of God will rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and godliness; the spirit of the fear of God will fill him.” Likewise in Psalm 131: “The Lord swore truth to David himself, and he will not disappoint him: Of the fruit of your womb I will set upon my throne.” Likewise in the Gospel according to Luke: “And the angel said to her: Do not fear, Mary, for you have found favor before God. Behold, you will conceive in the womb and bear a son, and you will call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” Likewise in the Apocalypse: “And I saw a book in the right hand of God, who sat upon the throne, written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice: Who is worthy to receive the book and open its seals? And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the book or even look at it. And I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open the book or to see it. And one of the elders said to me: Do not weep; behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has conquered, to open the book and its seven seals.”

That he would be born in Bethlehem.

In Micah: “And you, Bethlehem, house of Ephrathah, are you too small to be set among the thousands of Judah? From you will come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, and his goings forth are from the beginning, from the days of the age.” Likewise in the Gospel: “And when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, magi came from the east to Jerusalem, saying: Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east and have come to worship him.”

That he would come in humility at his first coming.

In Isaiah: “Lord, who has believed our report, and to whom has the arm of God been revealed? We announced before him like children, like a root in thirsty ground. He has no form nor glory; and we saw him, and he had no form nor beauty, but his form was without honor and failing beyond other men. A man set in affliction and knowing how to bear weakness; because his face was turned away, he was dishonored and not esteemed. He bears our sins and grieves for us, and we thought him to be in sorrow and in affliction and in torment; but he was wounded for our misdeeds and weakened for our sins. The discipline of our peace was upon him; by his bruise we are healed. We all like sheep have gone astray; man has strayed in his own way. And God delivered him up for our sins, and because he was tormented he did not open his mouth.” Likewise in the same: “I am not stubborn, nor do I speak against it. I gave my back to the scourges and my cheeks to blows, and I did not turn my face from the foulness of spitting; and the Lord was my helper.” Likewise there: “He will not cry out, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, and smoking flax he will not quench, but he will bring forth judgment in truth. He will shine and will not be shaken until he establishes judgment on the earth, and in his name the nations will believe.” Likewise in Psalm 21: “But I am a worm and no man, a reproach of men and the outcast of the people. All who saw me mocked me; they spoke with their lips and shook the head: He hoped in the Lord; let him rescue him, let him save him, since he delights in him.” Likewise there: “My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue has stuck to my throat.” Likewise in Zechariah: “And the Lord showed me Joshua, the great priest, standing before the face of the angel of the Lord, and the devil stood at his right hand to oppose him. And Joshua was clothed in filthy garments and stood before the face of the angel; and he answered and said to those who stood before his face: Take the filthy garments from him. And he said to him: Behold, I have taken away your iniquities. And clothe him with a long robe, and set a clean turban on his head.” Likewise the apostle Paul to the Philippians: “Who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, made in the likeness of man; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also exalted him and gave him a name, that it might be above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that the Lord Jesus is in the glory of God the Father.”

That he is the Righteous One whom the Jews would kill.

In the Wisdom of Solomon: “Let us lie in wait for the righteous man, for he is useless to us and opposed to our works, and he reproaches us with our sins against the law. He professes to have knowledge of God and names himself a son of God. He has become to us a reproof of our thoughts; he is burdensome to us even to look upon, for his life is unlike others', and his ways are different. We are reckoned by him as triflers; he keeps himself from our ways as from uncleanness, and he extols the end of the righteous and boasts of God as his father. Let us see, then, whether his words are true, and let us test what will happen to him. Let us examine him with insult and torment, that we may learn his reverence and prove his patience. Let us condemn him to a most shameful death. These things they thought, and they went astray; for their own malice blinded them, and they did not know the mysteries of God.” Likewise in Isaiah: “See how the righteous man perishes, and no one understands; and righteous men are taken away, and no one considers it. For the righteous is taken away from the face of injustice; his burial will be in peace.” Of this very thing it was foretold in Exodus: “You shall not kill the innocent and righteous.” Likewise in the Gospel: “Judas, led by remorse, said to the priests and elders: I have sinned in betraying righteous blood.”