ing that the "good thing" of our salvation is not from us, but from God. And again: "Wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?"[1] Then he introduces the Deliverer, [saying,] "The grace of Jesus Christ our Lord." And Isaiah declares this also, [when he says:] "Be ye strengthened, ye hands that hang down, and ye feeble knees; be ye encouraged, ye feeble-minded; be comforted, fear not: behold, our God has given judgment with retribution, and shall recompense: He will come Himself, and will save us."[2] Here we see, that not by ourselves, but by the help of God, we must be saved.
4. Again, that it should not be a mere man who should save us, nor [one] without flesh—for the angels are without flesh—[the same prophet] announced, saying: "Neither an elder,[3] nor angel, but the Lord Himself will save them, because He loves them, and will spare them: He will Himself set them free."[4] And that He should Himself become very man, visible, when He should be the Word giving salvation, Isaiah again says: "Behold, city of Zion: thine eyes shall see our salvation."[5] And that it was not a mere man who died for us, Isaiah says: "And the holy Lord remembered His dead Israel, who had slept in the land of sepulture; and He came down to preach His salvation to them, that He might save them."[6] And Amos (Micah) the prophet declares the same: "He will turn again, and will have compassion upon us: He will destroy our iniquities, and will cast our sins into the depths of the sea."[7] And
- ↑ Rom. vii. 24.
- ↑ Isa. xxv. 3.
- ↑ Grabe remarks that the word πρέσβυς, here translated "senior," seems rather to denote a mediator or messenger.
- ↑ Isa. lxiii. 9.
- ↑ Isa. xxxiii. 20.
- ↑ Irenæus quotes this as from Isaiah on the present occasion; but in book iv. 22, 1, we find him referring the same passage to Jeremiah. It is somewhat remarkable that it is to be found in neither prophet, although Justin Martyr, in his dialogue with Trypho (see vol. ii. of this series, p. 189), brings it forward as an argument against him, and directly accuses the Jews of having fraudulently removed it from the sacred text. It is, however, to be found in no ancient version or Jewish Targum, which fact may be regarded as a decisive proof of its spuriousness.
- ↑ Mic. vii. 9.
