Part 6 — The Unbelief of the Jews Confuted from the Scriptures
Athanasius argues from the Jewish scriptures themselves, asking which figure in them was born of a virgin alone, died upon a cross, and came when prophecy ceased — and answering that only Christ was.
Before you listen
Part six turns outward to two audiences at once, and then spends itself almost entirely on the first: this is Athanasius's argument against Jewish readings of the Jewish scriptures, addressed to readers who hold those books and do not read them as he does. He appeals to nothing outside them. Every step is made by citation, from texts he takes his hearers to accept already. The argument advances by one question asked over and over — which man in these scriptures does this description fit — so follow that question, and notice how the field of candidates narrows each time it is put.
Listen for The word "who". Who was born of a virgin alone, who reigned before he could call father or mother, who was bored through in the hands and the feet — each asking is a test he puts the named figures of Israel's history through in turn.
Open the reading · 25:29The text in hand
The passage, in full
But no other is found in the Scriptures than the common Saviour of all, the Word of God, our Lord Jesus Christ. For He it is who came forth from a virgin and appeared as man upon earth, and whose generation according to the flesh cannot be told. For there is no one who can name a father of His according to the flesh, since His body was not from a man, but from a virgin alone. Just as one can trace the fathers of David and of Moses and of all the patriarchs, so no one can recount a generation of the Saviour according to the flesh from a man.
The passage, in full
For when the thing signified had come, what further need was there of the things that signified it? And when the truth was present, what further need was there of the shadow? It was for this that the prophets went on prophesying, until Righteousness itself should come, and He who redeems the sins of all. It was for this that Jerusalem stood so long, so that there they might rehearse beforehand the figures of the truth. Now that the Holy of Holies is present, vision and prophecy have been fittingly sealed up, and the kingdom of Jerusalem has ceased.
A line to keep
The whole of Scripture is filled with the refutation of the unbelief of the Jews.
A line to keep
What, then, has not come to pass, that the Christ must do?
What this part is doing
Argued only out of the books they read
Athanasius says at the outset that the case can be made from the very Scriptures his hearers read, and he keeps to that. The virgin and the child, the stripes and the silence before the shearer, the pierced hands and feet, the blind and the lame — each is a quotation rather than a claim of his own, and when one set of citations is judged insufficient he offers another.
One question, asked until the field is empty
The middle of the part is a long enumeration. Abel from Adam, Abraham from Tharra, Samuel of Elkana, David of Jesse; David crowned at thirty, Joas at seven; Abraham dying on his bed, Esaias sawn asunder, Jeremias outraged but not sentenced. Each named figure is measured against a description and set aside, and the answer Athanasius reaches is that no one in those books answers to all of it but Christ.
The sign and the thing signified
Sections 39 and 40 answer a different objection — not that the prophecies are unfulfilled in themselves, but that their fulfilment is still to come. The reply runs through Daniel's seventy weeks and the anointing of the Holy of Holies, and then through what Athanasius says has stopped: no king, no prophet, no vision, no standing Jerusalem, on the reasoning that a shadow is needed only until the truth it stood for is present. One point of translation belongs here: the quotation at section 40 is from Genesis 49 and is given to Moses, where the familiar Robertson English prints Jacob; it is a manuscript question, and the About page sets out the detail.
Words it keeps using
Check yourself
Nothing here is marked or counted. They exist so you can notice what did not land.
Why does the argument proceed almost entirely by quotation?
Because of whom it is addressed to. Athanasius says the unbelief of the Jews can be refuted out of the very Scriptures they themselves read, from end to end, since every God-inspired book teaches these things (section 33).
What is the question he keeps returning to about the figures named in Scripture?
Which of them the descriptions actually fit. Which was born of a virgin alone, which reigned and took trophies before he had strength to call father or mother, which was bored through in the hands and the feet and hung upon wood for the salvation of all (sections 35 to 37). He goes through patriarchs, prophets and kings by name, and the answer he gives is that none of them answers to it.
What does he make of Daniel's seventy weeks?
That the one anointed there is called not simply a man but the Holy of Holies, that Jerusalem stands until his coming, and that from then on prophet and vision cease in Israel (section 39). So the reply to those still waiting is made from what he says has already stopped — no king, no prophet, no vision, no sacrifice (section 40).
Terms
the Holy of Holies
In the oracle of Daniel quoted in this part, the one who is to be anointed. Athanasius rests weight on the phrase: David, Solomon and Ezekias were anointed and were called holy, but not Holy of Holies.
the nations
The peoples outside Israel. In this part they are the ones said to forswear their ancestral custom and the idols, and to set their hope on Christ and take refuge with the God of Abraham.
the shadow
The figures rehearsed beforehand, as against the truth they stood for. Athanasius uses it to argue that once the thing signified had come, the things that signified it were no longer needed.
ransom
What is paid to discharge a debt. The Word offers His own body — His temple, the bodily instrument — as a ransom for all, and so pays in His death what was owed.