Ante-Nicene Fathers — Volume I

Ante-Nicene Fathers — Vol. I — Section 165

HAD AN END IN CHRIST, WHO WAS BORN OF THE VIRGIN. " As, then, circumcision began with Abraham, and the Sabbath and sacrifices and offerings and feasts with Moses, and it has been proved they were enjoined on account of the hardness of your people's heart, so it was necessary, in ac- cordance with the Father's will, that they should have an end in Him who was born of a virgin, of the family of Abraham and tribe of Judah, and of David ; in Christ the Son of God, who was proclaimed as about to come to all the world, to 1)6 the everlasting law and the everlasting cove- nant, even as the forementioned prophecies show. And we, who have approached God through Him, have received not carnal, but spiritual cir- cumcision, which Enoch and those like him observed. And we have received it through baptism, since we were sinners, by God's mercy ; and all men may equally obtain it. But since the mystery of His birth now demands our attention, I shall speak of it. Isaiah then asserted in regard to the generation of Christ, that it could not be declared by man, in words already quoted : ^ ' Who shall declare His generation? for His life is taken from the earth : for the transgressions of my peoj)le was He led ^ to death.' ■♦ The Spirit of prophecy thus affirmed that the generation of Him who was to die, that we sinful men might be healed by His stripes, was such as could not be declared. Furthermore, that the men who believe in Him may possess the knowledge of the manner in which He came into the world, 5 the Spirit of prophecy by the same Isaiah fore- told how it would happen thus : ' And the Lord spoke again to Ahaz, saying. Ask for thyself a sign from the Lord thy God, in the depth, or in the height. And Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord. And Isaiah said. Hear then, O house of David ; Is it a small thing for you to contend with men, and how do you contend with the Lord? Therefore the ' Literally, " to the discourse in order." ^ Chap. xiii. 3 Or, " was I led." * Isa. liii. 8. S Literally, " He wa» in the world, being born."