Christ and Zacchæus. The Salvation of the Body as Denied by Marcion. The Parable of the Ten Servants Entrusted with Ten Pounds. Christ a Judge, Who is to Administer the Will of the Austere Man, I.e. The Creator.
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Chapter XXXVII.—Christ and Zacchæus. The Salvation of the Body as Denied by Marcion. The Parable of the Ten Servants Entrusted with Ten Pounds. Christ a Judge, Who is to Administer the Will of the Austere Man, I.e. The Creator.
“Salvation comes to the house” of Zacp. 412 chæus even. 4962 For what reason? Was it because he also believed that Christ came by Marcion? But the blind man’s cry was still sounding in the ears of all: “Jesus, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me.” And “all the people gave praise unto God”—not Marcion’s, but David’s. Now, although Zacchæus was probably a Gentile, 4963 he yet from his intercourse with Jews had obtained a smattering 4964 of their Scriptures, and, more than this, had, without knowing it, fulfilled the precepts of Isaiah: “Deal thy bread,” said the prophet, “to the hungry, and bring the poor that are cast out into thine house.” 4965 This he did in the best possible way, by receiving the Lord, and entertaining Him in his house. “When thou seest the naked cover him.” 4966 This he promised to do, in an equally satisfactory way, when he offered the half of his goods for all works of mercy. 4967 So also “he loosened the bands of wickedness, undid the heavy burdens, let the oppressed go free, and broke every yoke,” 4968 when he said, “If I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.” 4969 Therefore the Lord said, “This day is salvation come to this house.” 4970 Thus did He give His testimony, that the precepts of the Creator spoken by the prophet tended to salvation. 4971 But when He adds, “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost,” 4972 my present contention is not whether He was come to save what was lost, to whom it had once belonged, and from whom what He came to save had fallen away; but I approach a different question. Man, there can be no doubt of it, is here the subject of consideration. Now, since he consists of two parts, 4973 body and soul, the point to be inquired into is, in which of these two man would seem to have been lost? If in his body, then it is his body, not his soul, which is lost. What, however, is lost, the Son of man saves. The body, 4974 therefore, has the salvation. If, (on the other hand,) it is in his soul that man is lost, salvation is designed for the lost soul; and the body which is not lost is safe. If, (to take the only other supposition,) man is wholly lost, in both his natures, then it necessarily follows that salvation is appointed for the entire man; and then the opinion of the heretics is shivered to pieces, 4975 who say that there is no salvation of the flesh. And this affords a confirmation that Christ belongs to the Creator, who followed the Creator in promising the salvation of the whole man. The parable also of the (ten) servants, who received their several recompenses according to the manner in which they had increased their lord’s money by trading 4976 proves Him to be a God of judgment—even a God who, in strict account, 4977 not only bestows honour, but also takes away what a man seems to have. 4978 Else, if it is the Creator whom He has here delineated as the “austere man,” who “takes up what he laid not down, and reaps what he did not sow,” 4979 my instructor even here is He, (whoever He may be,) to whom belongs the money He teaches me fruitfully to expend. 4980
Footnotes
412:4962 412:4963The older reading, which we here follow, is: “Enimvero Zacchæus etsi allophylus fortasse,” etc. Oehler, however, points the passage thus: “Enimvero Zacchæus etsi allophylus, fortasse,” etc., removing the doubt, and making Zacchæus “of another race” than the Jewish, for certain. This is probably more than Tertullian meant to say.
412:4964 412:4965 412:4966 412:4967For the history of Zacchæus, see Luke xix. 1-10.
412:4968 412:4969 412:4970 412:4971 412:4972 412:4973 412:4974Caro: “the flesh,” here a synonym with the corpus of the previous clauses.
412:4975 412:4976 412:4977 412:4978This phrase comes not from the present passage, but from Luke viii. 18, where the words are ὅ δοκεῖ ἔχειν; here the expression is ὅ ἔχει only.
412:4979 412:4980The original of this obscure sentence is as follows: “Aut si et hic Creatorem finxerit austerum…..hic quoque me ille instruit eujus pecuniam ut fenerem edocet.
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