Malachi 3

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN, THAT ALTHOUGH IT IS WRITTEN IN THE PROPHET MALACHI, “BEHOLD, I SEND MY ANGEL BEFORE YOUR FACE, WHO WILL PREPARE YOUR WAY BEFORE YOU,” THE EVANGELIST MARK CLAIMS THAT THIS IS WRITTEN IN THE PROPHET ISAIAH (Mal. 3:1; Mark 1:2)? — Mark could not have been unaware of what he was writing; for he was not lacking in learning, since from childhood he had been immersed in the divine Scriptures and trained in the Law, especially as he had followed the Apostles. Knowing that all sayings must be referred back to their original author, he attributed these words to Isaiah, who had first conveyed this meaning when he said, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight the paths of our God” (Isa. 40:3). Accordingly, after the words from Malachi, the Evangelist immediately added, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness,” so that he might unite the words of both prophets, which relate to one and the same sense, under the name of the earlier prophet.

Speaking further of Christ in the same vein, Malachi says, "Behold, I send my angel, and he shall prepare the way before my face. And presently the Lord, whom you seek, and the angel of the testament whom you desire, shall come into the temple. Behold, he comes, says the Lord of hosts. And who shall be able to think of the day of his coming? And who shall stand to see him?" In this text he foretells both comings of Christ, the first and the second—the first where he says, "And presently the Lord shall come into his temple." This refers to Christ's body, of which he himself said in the Gospel, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." His second coming is foretold in these words: " 'Behold, he comes,' says the Lord of hosts. 'And who shall be able to think of the day of his coming? And who shall stand to see him?' "

"For he whom God has sent speaks the words of God." John said this, of course, about Christ that he might diminish himself from him. Why? Did not God send John himself? And didn't John himself say, "I have been sent before him," and, "He who sent me to baptize with water," and about him it was said, "Behold, I send my messenger before you and he will prepare the way"? Does not he too speak the words of God, about whom it was said that he was more than a prophet? Therefore if God also sent John, and he speaks the words of God, how, in regard to the distinction [between himself and Christ], do we know that he said about Christ, "For he whom God has sent speaks the words of God"?

Since then it is evident that many are to judge with the Lord but that others are to be judged, not however on equality but according to their deserts, he will come with all his angels. [At the judgment] before him shall be gathered all nations, and among all the angels are to be reckoned those that have been so perfect, that sitting upon twelve thrones they judge the twelve tribes of Israel. For men are called angels; the apostle says of himself, "As an angel of God you received me." Of John the Baptist it is said, "Behold, I send my angel before your face, who shall prepare your way before you."

Behold I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before thy presence. This passage the Lord applied to himself and to John the Baptist.

Of these two comings the prophet Malachi says, "And suddenly there will come to the temple the Lord whom you seek"; that is one coming. Of the second coming he says, " 'And the messenger of the covenant whom you desire, yes, he is coming,' says the Lord of hosts. 'But who will endure the day of his coming? And who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire or like the fuller's lye. He will sit refining and purifying.' " In what immediately follows the Savior himself says, "I will draw near to you for judgment, and I will be swift to bear witness against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers." It was with this in view that Paul says in due warning: "But if anyone builds upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—the work of each will be made manifest, for the Day of the Lord will declare it, since the day is to be revealed in fire." Paul indicates these two comings also in writing to Titus in these words: "The grace of God our Savior has appeared to all men, instructing us, in order that, rejecting ungodliness and worldly lusts, we may live temperately and justly and piously in this world; looking for the blessed hope and glorious coming of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ." Do you see how he speaks of a first coming, for which he gives thanks, and of a second we are going to look for? We find the same lesson in the wording of the creed we profess, as delivered to us, that is, to believe in him who "ascended into heaven and sat down on the right of the Father, and is to come in glory to judge the living and dead, of whose kingdom there will be no end."

And that we may not have to ask, Of what God was the Word made flesh? he does himself previously teach us, saying, "There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came as a witness, that he might bear witness of that Light. He was not that Light, but [came] that he might testify of the Light." By what God, then, was John, the forerunner, who testifies of the Light, sent [into the world]? Truly it was by Him, of whom Gabriel is the angel, who also announced the glad tidings of his birth: [that God] who also had promised by the prophets that He would send His messenger before the face of His Son, who should prepare His way, that is, that he should bear witness of that Light in the spirit and power of Elias. But, again, of what God was Elias the servant and the prophet? Of Him who made heaven and earth, as he does himself confess. John, therefore, having been sent by the founder and maker of this world, how could he testify of that Light, which came down from things unspeakable and invisible? For all the heretics have decided that the Demiurge was ignorant of that Power above him, whose witness and herald John is found to be. Wherefore the Lord said that He deemed him "more than a prophet." For all the other prophets preached the advent of the paternal Light, and desired to be worthy of seeing Him whom they preached; but John did both announce [the advent] beforehand, in a like manner as did the others, and actually saw Him when He came, and pointed Him out, and persuaded many to believe on Him, so that he did himself hold the place of both prophet and apostle. For this is to be more than a prophet, because, "first apostles, secondarily prophets;" but all things from one and the same God Himself.

Behold, I send my angel, and he will prepare the way before my face; and at once the Ruler whom you seek will come to his temple, and the angel of the testament whom you desire. LXX: Behold, I will send my angel, and he will prepare the way before my face; and suddenly the Lord whom you seek will come to his temple, and the angel of justice whom you desire. The Lord in the Gospel interpreted this of John the Baptist, saying: This is he of whom it is written: Behold, I will send my angel before your face, and he will prepare your way before me; nor did he use the same words which the LXX translators rendered. Mark the evangelist also, weaving together two testimonies, of Malachi and of Isaiah, under the utterance of one prophet, began thus: The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as it is written in Isaiah the prophet: Behold, I send my angel before your face, who will prepare your way. This, though in other words, we read in Malachi. But what follows, The voice of one crying in the desert, prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight, is said by Isaiah the prophet; and at once, explaining of whom both testimonies are said: There was, he says, John in the desert, baptizing and preaching the baptism of repentance, for the remission of sins. But the evangelists too interpreted the prophecy of the prophets concerning John, and while they agree in sense, they differ in words. For whereas the LXX rendered: Make the paths of our God straight, Mark and Luke said: Make his paths straight. But John: Make straight, he says, the way of the Lord. From which it is clear that the apostles and evangelists, and the Lord Savior himself, do not follow the authority of the LXX translators, which, having knowledge of the Hebrew tongue, they do not need, but translate from the Hebrew what they had read, not caring about the syllables and points of the words, provided that the truth of the sense is carried over. That they did this in many places we have indeed shown, and especially in that book which we entitled 'On the Best Kind of Translating' it has been proved by many testimonies together. This, then, which is said, Behold, I send my angel and he will prepare the way before my face, is said in the person of Christ, because he sent John into the desert of Judea to preach the baptism of repentance, for the remission of sins. But what follows, And at once the Ruler whom you seek will come to his temple, and the angel of the testament whom you desire, he thus speaks of himself as of another, according to the custom of the Scriptures. And no one doubts that this Ruler is the Savior, who is the Creator of all things, and is called the angel of the testament and the angel of great counsel. Others, however, think that what is said, Behold, I send my angel and he will prepare the way before my face, is said in the person of the Father; and what follows, At once the Ruler whom you seek will come to his temple, and the angel of the testament whom you desire, they understand to have been said by him of the Lord Savior. Now John prepares the way and makes the paths of our God straight in the hearts of believers, in which, because of depravity and unbelief, God could not walk before. And the temple they interpret either as the Church or as each one of the believers in the Church: Be built up as spiritual houses, a holy priesthood; to offer spiritual victims, and acceptable to God through Christ Jesus. And those who have believed: Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you? The Jews understand what is said, Behold, I send my angel, as said of Elijah the prophet, and what follows, At once the Ruler whom you seek will come to his temple, and the angel of the testament whom you desire, they refer to the ἠλειμμένον, that is, their Christ, who they say will come in the last time. But I wonder how the outcome of events does not teach them the truth. For what temple of his will the Ruler find, when it has been destroyed to its foundations? Or if it is to be built by another before Christ comes, what more will their Christ do, when all things have been restored by another? Our Lord in the Gospel, interpreting Elijah the prophet as John the Baptist, says: If you wish to know, he is Elijah who is to come, of whom also this same prophet whom we are now discussing writes at the end: Behold, I send you Elijah the prophet, before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. And how John is Elijah, he has given us the way of understanding, recalling that he came in the power and spirit of Elijah.

Behold, he comes, says the Lord of hosts.

And who will be able to think of the day of his coming? And who will stand to see him? For he is like a refining fire, and like fullers' herb. And he will sit refining and cleansing as silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi, and will strain them like gold and like silver, and they will be offering sacrifices to the Lord in justice. And the sacrifice of Judah and Jerusalem will please the Lord, as the days of the age, and as the ancient years. And I will draw near to you in judgement, and I will be a swift witness against sorcerers and adulterers, and perjurers, and those who wrong the hireling over his wages, the widows and orphans, and oppress the stranger, and have not feared me, says the Lord of hosts. For I am the Lord, and I do not change. LXX: Behold, he will come, says the Lord Almighty, and who will endure the day of his entrance? Or who will be able to bear to look upon him? For he enters like the fire of a smelter and like the herb of the washers; and he will sit refining and cleansing as silver, and as gold; and he will cleanse the sons of Levi, and will pour them out like gold and like silver, and they will be offering sacrificial victims to the Lord in justice; and the sacrifice of Judah and Jerusalem will please the Lord, as in the former days, and as in the earlier years. And I will draw near to you in judgement, and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against those who swear falsely by my name. And those who defraud hirelings of their wages, and oppress widows by their power, and strike orphans, and pervert the judgement of the sojourner, and who do not fear me, says the Lord Almighty, for I am the Lord your God, and I do not change. Above we read of a question raised against the Lord by those who say: Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and such please him; or at any rate, if they displease him, where is the God of judgement? That is, where is the truth of justice? To resolve it the word of the Lord answered: I will send my angel, who will prepare my way, and the Ruler whom you seek will come to his temple, he who is the judge of truth, of whom it is said in the psalm: O God, give your judgement to the king, and your justice to the king's son. For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgement to the Son. And he is the angel of the testament whom you seek, whom evil things do not please, who does not accept persons in judgement, who is changed by no mercy and no severity: For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup of pure wine, full of mixture, and he has poured it from this into this, that is, mercy tempers justice, and justice mercy. This one, therefore, will come at once and swiftly to his temple, that is, the Church.

For this is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah, saying: The voice of one crying in the desert: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. He was preparing the souls of believers, in which the Lord was going to walk, so that he, the pure one, might walk in most pure ways, saying: I will dwell in them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Porphyry compares this passage with the beginning of the evangelist Mark, in which it is written: The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God; as it is written in the prophet Isaiah: Behold, I send my angel before your face, who shall prepare your way; the voice of one crying in the desert: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. For since the testimony is woven together from Malachi and Isaiah, he asks how we can think the example was taken as from Isaiah alone. To him churchmen have answered most fully. We, however, think either that the name of Isaiah was added through the fault of copyists, which we can prove in other places as well, or at any rate that one body has been made out of different testimonies of the Scriptures. Read Psalm 13 (14) and you will find this same thing.

And because to the prophetic privilege there was added also the Baptist's reward, that he should baptize his own Lord, he therefore brings in an αὔξησιν (increase) of his merits, producing the testimony from Malachi in which he is even proclaimed an angel. But let us not think that John is called an angel here by a sharing of nature, but by the dignity of his office, that is, a messenger, because he announced the Lord who was to come.

And what sort of connexion may this have with what was said before? Much, assuredly, and in full accordance therewith. Yea, by this topic also He proceeds to urge and press them into the faith of Himself; and at the same time likewise, He is speaking in agreement with what had been before said by John. "For if all things are fulfilled even down to John, I am "He that should come." For all the prophets," saith He, "and the law prophesied until John." For the prophets would not have ceased, unless I were come. Expect therefore nothing further, neither wait for any one else. For that I am He is manifest both from the prophets ceasing, and from those that every day "take by force" the faith that is in me. For so manifest is it and certain, that many even take it by force. Why, who hath so taken it? tell me. All who approach it with earnestness of mind. Then He states also another infallible sign, saying, "If ye will receive it, he is Elias, which was for to come." For "I will send you," it is said, "Elias the Tishbite, who shall turn the heart of the father to the children." This man then is Elias, if ye attend exactly, saith He. For "I will send," saith He, "my messenger before Thy face." And well hath He said, "If ye will receive it," to show the absence of force. For I do not constrain, saith He. And this He said, as requiring a candid mind, and showing that John is Elias, and Elias John. For both of them received one ministry, and both of them became forerunners. Wherefore neither did He simply say, "This is Elias," but, "If ye are willing to receive it, this is he," that is, if with a candid mind ye give heed to what is going on. And He did not stop even at this, but to the words, "This is Elias, which was for to come," He added, to show that understanding is needed, "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear."

And when the messengers of John were departed, he began to speak unto the people concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness for to see? A reed shaken with the wind? But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they which are gorgeously apparelled, and live delicately, are in kings' courts. But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and much more than a prophet. This is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. [Malachi 3:1] For I say unto you, Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist: but he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.

As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. [Malachi 3:1] The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. And there went out unto him all the land of Judaea, and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins. And John was clothed with camel's hair, and with a girdle of a skin about his loins; and he did eat locusts and wild honey

And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind? But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings' houses. But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet. For this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. [Malachi 3:1] Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Someone else will appeal to the text, "Let us make man according to our image and likeness," and maintain that whatever is made according to God's image and likeness is man. To support this, numberless instances are adduced to show that in Scripture "man" and "angel" are used indifferently and that the same subject is called both angel and man. This is true of the three who were entertained by Abraham and of the two who came to Sodom. In the whole course of Scripture, persons are styled sometimes men, sometimes angels. Those who hold this view will say that since persons are styled angels who are manifestly men, as when Zechariah says, "The messenger of the Lord, I am with you, says the Lord almighty," and as it is written of John the Baptist, "Behold, I send my messenger before your face," the angels (messengers) of God are so called on account of their nature. Scripture confirms this view that the names applied to higher powers are not those ofspecies of living beings but those of the orders, assigned by God to this and to that reasonable being.

John, however, as soon as he was born, passed over to the deserts, and he who "was greater among those born of women" showed himself worthy of a greater nurture. Of him the prophet speaks: "behold, I send my angel before your face". Rightly is he called an angel, who had been sent before the Lord and, as soon as he was born, was able to hear and understand his prophesying father.

I for my part shall come, he is saying, whom you look to as punisher of sins. There will be present also the angel who ministers to the agreements I have often made with you. When you seek him, you will find him punishing the transgression of your agreements with me. While the prophet said this as a consequence of what preceded, it is not surprising that the same verse was cited at the coming of blessed John the Baptist, the statement being fulfilled in actual fact by the coming of blessed John as predetermined forerunner and minister, and by the emergence of Christ the Lord, who came at the same time as he and was testified to by him and in whom the salvation of all people was destined to be achieved.

And who will be able to think of the day of his coming? If no one can think of it, because of the power of his majesty, who will be able to bear it? And who will stand to see him, that is, who will be able with bleary and half-blind eyes to look upon him in his brightness, who is the Sun of justice, and in whose wings is healing? He will come like a refining fire, and like fullers' herb. Fire for shall burn before him, and round about him a mighty tempest. Then he will call the heaven from above, and the earth, that he may judge his people; rivers of fire will flow before him, rolling along every sinner. Now the Lord is called fire, and a consuming fire, that he may burn up our wood, hay and stubble. And not only fire, but also fullers' herb, which in Hebrew is called borith, and the LXX render πόαν, that is, fullers' herb. To those who sin gravely he is a refining and consuming fire; but to those who commit light sins, fullers' herb, so as to restore cleanness to those who have been washed, according to what is written in Isaiah: The Lord will wash away the filth of the sons and daughters of Zion, and will cleanse the blood from their midst, by the spirit of judgement and by the spirit of burning. Those who have filth need the spirit of judgement, that they may be washed; those who are full of blood need the spirit of burning, that the blood which has been smeared on them from without may be taken away.

The same Christ who did all this will hereafter stand before us as our judge. Certainly the prophets did not pass over this but foretold it. Some saw him in that very form which he would stand before us; others predicted this only in words. Daniel was in the midst of the barbarians and the Babylonians when he saw Christ coming in the clouds. Listen to what he said: "I beheld, and lo! One like the Son of man was coming on the clouds. And he advanced to the ancient of days and was presented before him; and to him was given the government and the kingdom, and all the peoples, tribes and languages serve him." And Daniel hinted at God's court and judgment when he said, "The thrones were set, and the books were opened. A river of fire rolled before him. Thousands upon thousands ministered to him, and myriads waited on him." [Daniel not only revealed that, but also he showed the honor that the just would have when he said, "He gave judgment to the holy ones of the most high, and the holy ones possessed the kingdom."] And that judgment will come through fire. Malachi said, "He is coming [like the fire of a refiner's furnace, and] like the soap of the fullers." And then the just will enjoy great honor. And Daniel was speaking of the resurrection when he said, "Those lying in the dust shall arise."

But as it is in mockery that Celsus says we speak of "God coming down like a torturer bearing fire" and thus compels us unseasonably to investigate words of deeper meaning, we shall make a few remarks, sufficient to enable our hearers to form an idea of the defense which disposes of the ridicule of Celsus against us. And then we shall turn to what follows. The divine word says that our God is "a consuming fire" and that "he draws rivers of fire before him." He even enters in as "a refiner's fire and as a fuller's herb," to purify his own people. But when he is said to be a "consuming fire," we inquire what are the things that are appropriate to be consumed by God. And we assert that it is wickedness, and the works which result from it, which are being figuratively called "wood, hay, stubble," God consumes as a fire.

And he will sit refining and cleansing as silver, so that, according to Ezekiel, whatever bronze, tin, iron and lead has been mixed into our gold and silver, that is, into our sense and our speech, may be thoroughly smelted in the furnace of the Lord, so that pure gold and silver may remain. Hence the Lord also says in the Gospel: I came to send fire upon the earth, and how I wish that it may burn, and he will purify the sons of Levi. For it is time that judgement begin from the house of God. And elsewhere it is written: Begin from my holy ones. In the sons of Levi, understand the whole priestly dignity. But if the priests must be purified and strained, so that pure gold and silver may remain, what is to be said of the rest?

When they have been cleansed and strained, then they will offer just sacrifices to the Lord, and their sacrifice will please, which they offer for Judah and Jerusalem, that is, for those who confess the Lord and behold his peace with the mind, as the days of the age, and as the ancient years, so that as in the beginning they pleased God, so after sin and repentance they may begin to please, when they have been purged of every filth of sins.

And I will draw near, he says, to you in judgement, and I will be a swift witness. How great is the dread of the judgement, since he himself is both witness and judge. And he is a witness against all sorcerers and adulterers, for these crimes are committed in secret, and therefore they are brought out into the open, lest they lie hidden long. After the sorcerers are placed the adulterers, after the adulterers the perjurers, after the perjurers those who wrong the hireling over his wages and will not pay what they owe for the labor of the work. Widows also and orphans they wrong, as is understood; and they oppress the stranger and the foreigner, or at any rate the catechumen, who has not yet been made a citizen in the city of Christ. And even if they have not done all these things, the one crime that they have not feared the Lord suffices for their punishment. Let us therefore by no means think them light sins, perjury, and not paying the laborer his wages, and wronging the widow and the orphan, and oppressing the foreigner and the stranger, which are compared to sorcery, and poisonings, and adultery. These things we understand according to the history and according to tropology, so that what was said at that time to the leaders of the Jews is now said to the leaders of the churches.

That the divine being is immutable is shown thus: First, by authority, Malachi 3: I am God and I do not change: the Gloss says: "He says this lest it be thought that there is any mutability in God."

It must be said that without doubt the divine being is altogether immutable: and this indeed must be maintained, although we cannot perfectly understand it; whence all agree in maintaining it. For all who rightly understand, not only the Saints but also the philosophers, maintain that the divine being is immutable, because it is most simple, immense, and eternal. For inasmuch as it is most simple, it is immutable according to form: inasmuch as it is immense, immutable according to position: inasmuch as it is eternal, immutable according to time: but all motion and change, according to Augustine and Hugh, is reduced to one of the aforesaid differences: and therefore the divine being can in no way admit of change or motion.

He does not lack things that are of Him and through Him and in Him. The Source and Maker of all, Who contains all, Who is beyond all, does not need that which is within Him, the Creator His creatures, the Possessor His possessions. Nothing is prior to Him, nothing derived from any other than Him, nothing beyond Him. What element of fulness is still lacking in God, which time will supply to make Him all in all? Whence can He receive it, if outside Him is nothing, and while nothing is outside Him, He is eternally Himself? And if He is eternally Himself, and there is nothing outside Him, with what increase shall He be made full, by what addition shall He be made other than He is? Did He not say, I am and I change not? What possibility is there of change in Him? What scope for progress? What is prior to eternity? What more divine than God? The subjection of the Son will not therefore make God to be all in all, nor will any cause perfect Him, from Whom and through Whom and in Whom are all causes. He remains God as He ever was, and He needs nothing further, for what He is, He is eternally of Himself and for Himself.

And what follows, I am the Lord and I do not change, he sets down for this reason, because he had said above, He is like a refining fire, and like fullers' herb, lest we should think that he changes the nature of his divinity when for our sake he is named either angel, or fire, or borith.

And you, sons of Jacob, have not been consumed.

For from the days of your fathers you have departed from my ordinances, and have not kept them. LXX: And you, sons of Jacob, have not departed from the sins of your fathers; you have turned aside from my ordinances, and have not kept them. He had said above: I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers and the adulterers and the perjurers, and those who wrong the hireling over his wages, the widows and the orphans, and oppress the stranger and have not feared me, says the Lord of hosts. And saying that he is a just judge, in that he does not accept persons in judgement, he added: I am the Lord, and I do not change. And the sense is: You change every day through sorceries and adulteries and perjuries and false accusations and violence; I in judgement am changed by no difference of persons. And though I confess that I am a severe and just judge, O sons of Jacob, yet you have not been consumed by the variety of torments, according to that which is written in Jeremiah: In vain have I struck your sons; you have not received discipline; nor do you do this lately, nor once, so that you might deserve pardon for error, but you hold an inherited impiety, departing from my ordinances from the days of your fathers, and not keeping what I commanded. But the sons of Jacob according to ἀναγωγὴν (anagogy), sons of the supplanter who snatched his brother's birthright, who do not depart from the sins of their fathers, and turn aside from the ordinances, and do not keep what has been commanded, let us understand as those who, though placed in the Church, do not depart from vices, and take to themselves the false name of the Christian religion.

He is always therefore equal to himself; he never changes or transforms himself into other forms, lest through change he should appear to be also mortal. For the modification implied in change from one thing to another involves a share in the death of some sort. Therefore there is never any addition of parts or of glory in him, lest anything should seem to have ever been wanting to the perfect one. Nor can there be any question of diminution in him, for that would imply that some degree of mortality is in him. On the contrary, what he is, he always is; who he is, he always is; such as he is, he always is. For increase in growth indicates a beginning, whereas any wasting away evidences death and destruction. And therefore he says, "I am God and have not changed." He always retains his manner of being, because what is not born is not subject to change. For—whatever that being may be that is God—this must always be true of him, that he always is God, preserving himself by his own powers. And therefore he says, "I am who I am." That which is has this name because it always preserves its same manner of being. Change takes away the name "that which is"; for whatever changes at all is shown to be mortal by the very fact that it changes. It ceases to be what it was and consequently begins to be what it was not. Of necessity, then, God always retains his manner of being, because he is always like unto himself, always equal to himself without any loss arising from change. For that which is not born cannot change, since only those things undergo change which are made or which are begotten; whereas things which at one time were not experience existence by coming into being, and by coming into being they undergo change. On the contrary, things which have neither birth nor maker are exempt from change because they have not a beginning, the cause of change.

But let us look at what Celsus next with ostentation announces in the following fashion: "And again," he says, "let us resume the subject from the beginning, with a larger array of proofs. And I make no new proofs. And I make no new statement but say what has long been settled. God is good and beautiful and blessed, and that in the best and most beautiful degree. But if he comes down among humanity, he must undergo a change, and a change from good to evil, from virtue to vice, from happiness to misery, and from best to worst. Who, then, would make a choice of such a change? It is the nature of a mortal, indeed, to undergo change and remolding, but of an immortal to remain the same and unaltered. God, then, could not admit such a change." Now it appears to me that the fitting answer has been returned to these objections when I have related what I called in Scripture the "condescension" of God to human affairs. For [this] purpose he did not need to undergo a transformation, as Celsus thinks we assert, nor a change from good to evil, nor from virtue to vice, nor from happiness to misery, nor from best to worst. For, continuing unchangeable in his essence, he condescends to human affairs by the economy of his providence. We show accordingly that the holy Scripture represents God as unchangeable, both by such words as "you are the same" and "I change not." Whereas the gods of Epicurus, being composed of atoms, and, so far as their structure is concerned, capable of dissolution, endeavor to throw off the atoms which contain the elements of destruction. Even the god of the Stoics, as being corporeal, at one time has his whole essence composed of the guiding principle when the conflagration [of the world] takes place; and at another, when a rearrangement of things occurs, he again becomes partly material. For even the Stoics were unable to comprehend distinctly the natural idea of God as a being altogether incorruptible and simple and uncompounded and indivisible.

And while God is provoked with frequent and continual offenses, he softens his indignation, and in his patience waits for the day of retribution, once for all determined. And although he has revenge in his power, he prefers to keep patience for a long while. [He bears], that is to say, mercifully, and puts off, so that, if it might be possible, the long-protracted mischief may at some time be changed, and humanity, involved in the contagion of errors and crimes, may even though late be converted to God, as he himself warns and says, "I do not will the death of him that dies, so much as that he may return and live." And again, " 'Return unto me,' says the Lord."

On account of its great intensity, this reflection is sometimes mingled with wonder. For the heart of those who see the Lord will rejoice. Seek the Lord, O sinners, and be strengthened in your thoughts because of hope. And seek his face through repentance at all times, and you will be sanctified by the holiness of his presence, and you will be purified of your iniquity. Hasten to the Lord, O sinners; he remits iniquity and removes sins. For he has sworn, "I have no pleasure in the death which the sinner dies," so that the sinner may repent and live. "I have spread out my hands all day toward a quarrelsome and disobedient people." And "Why would you want to die, O house of Jacob?" "Turn to me, and I will turn to you."

We have heard the history of Ezra; now let us take up again the words of the prophet, looking more carefully whether prophecy and history agree. When it is said: Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord Almighty, it is clear that those whom he exhorts to come back had departed from the Lord. And see the mercy of the Lord: he promises like for like, that with the measure they have measured, it may be measured back to them. And just as it is written in Leviticus: If you walk perversely towards me, I too will walk against you with perverse fury, so now too he exhorts the people to return, so that he himself also may return to them. They, not understanding that they have departed from the Lord, shamelessly ask: In what shall we return? And they say: For when did we depart, that we should rightly be compelled to come back?

The Lord answered: Will a man fix God, since you fix me? The Hebrew word that is written haiecba the LXX translated 'if he supplants', in place of which Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion put 'if he defrauds', so that the sense is: Does a man defraud God, since you defraud me? And indeed, according to the order of the history, because the people were not rendering the tithes and the first fruits to the Levites, the Lord says that he himself suffers fraud, since his ministers, compelled by famine and want, had deserted the temple. For if it is he who is visited in prison through others, and taken in when sick, and receives food and is given drink when hungry and thirsty, why should he himself not receive tithes in his ministers; and, if they are not given, himself be deprived of his share? This haiecba of which we have spoken is translated in the language of the Syrians and Chaldeans as 'if he will fix'; whence we too translated it so many years ago, referring it more to the mystery of the Lord's passion, in which men crucified God, than to the tithes and first fruits that are written of. Let the prudent reader ask how our translation agrees with what follows: In tithes and in first fruits, and let him see whether we can say this: That you might fix me to the cross, that you might lay wicked hands on your God, you brought about by the premeditation of many things beforehand, by withholding the tithes and first fruits, I do not say from my priests and Levites, but from me, who commanded through Moses that they be given. Let this be said by us about a single word, as we leave the judgement of its interpretation to the reader's discretion; now let us follow the order of the prophecy.

What we have said of the tithes and first fruits, which were once given by the people to the priests and Levites, understand also of the peoples of the Church, who have been commanded not only to give tithes and first fruits, but also to sell all that they have and give to the poor and follow the Lord and Savior. But if we are unwilling to do this, let us at least imitate the beginnings of the Jews, so that we give to the poor a part of the whole, and pay due honour to the priests and Levites. Hence the Apostle too says: Honour widows who are widows indeed; and that the presbyter is to be honoured with double honour, especially he who labours in the word and in the teaching of God. Whoever does not do this is convicted of defrauding and supplanting God, and he is cursed in the want of all things, so that he who has sown sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who has sown in blessing will gather fruits abundantly in blessings. If ever famine and want and the lack of all things oppress the world, let us know that this comes down from the wrath of God, who says that he is defrauded in the poor, if they do not receive alms, and is deprived of his own possession.

Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. And you have said: In what shall we return?

Will a man fix God, since you fix me? And you have said: In what have we fixed you? In tithes and in first fruits. In want you are cursed, and you have fixed me, the whole nation. Bring every tithe into the storehouse, and let there be food in my house, and prove me in this, says the Lord: if I do not open to you the floodgates of heaven, and pour out on you a blessing even to abundance. And I will rebuke for your sake the devourer, and he will not spoil the fruit of your vine, nor will the vine in the field be barren, says the Lord of hosts. And all the nations will call you blessed; for you will be a desirable land, says the Lord of hosts. LXX: Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord Almighty. And you have said: In what shall we return? Does a man supplant God, since you have supplanted me? And you have said: In what have we supplanted you? Because the tithes and the first fruits are with you, and you, seeing, look on, and you supplant me. The year is completed, and you have brought the fruits into your treasuries, and there will be plunder in your houses. Return, therefore, in this, says the Lord Almighty. If I do not open to you the floodgates of heaven, and pour out on you my blessing until it suffices, and I will deal out food to you, and I will not destroy the fruit of your land, and your vine in the field will not be weakened, says the Lord Almighty; and all the nations will call you blessed, because you will be as a willing land, says the Lord Almighty. We also said at the beginning that by the prophet Malachi Ezra the priest ought to be understood, and that all the things that are written in his history are contained in this volume too; and now we say that in the times of him and of Nehemiah — who clearly lived at the same time — there was a most grievous famine, and because of the famine an uprising, and that the poor, compelled by the necessity of their circumstances, sold their sons and daughters, and every possession, and their whole substance. In short, they say: Our sons and our daughters are very many; let us take grain as their price, and let us eat and live. And there were those who said: Let us pledge our fields and vineyards and our houses, and let us take grain in the famine. And I was very angry, says Ezra, when I had heard their outcry according to these words, and my heart took counsel with me, and I rebuked the nobles and the magistrates, and the rest. So in the time of famine the price of grain was very dear, so much so that they were compelled to sell their own sons; and both those who had little and those who had gathered much produce into their storehouses, by necessity or by the greatness of the price, were unwilling to render the tithes to the Levites, who had no share in the inheritance of Judea, but the first fruits and the tithes were their inheritance. And lest this be thought to be our own, let us set down the testimony of Ezra: And I learned, he says, that the portions of the Levites had not been given, and each one of the Levites, and of the singers, and of those who ministered, had fled to his own country. And I pleaded the case against the magistrates, and said: Why do we forsake the house of God? And I gathered them together, and made them stand in their stations. And all Judah brought the tithes of grain, wine and oil into the storehouses. And we set over the storehouses Shelemiah the priest and Zadok the scribe, and so on.

We can also interpret the tithes and first fruits thus: If someone learned and instructed in the law of God is able to instruct others, he ought not to attribute it to his own prudence and to the talent that he possesses; but let him give thanks first to God, who bestows all things, then to his priests and teachers, by whom he was taught. For if he does not give thanks, but claims knowledge for himself, he will be cursed in want. But if, understanding God to be the giver, and giving thanks to those through whom he was instructed by God, he humbles himself and brings food into the storehouse of God, that is, ministers the nourishment of holy Scripture to the peoples in the Church, at once the floodgates of heaven will be opened over him, and spiritual rain will be poured out; and God will command his clouds to rain a shower upon him, and he will enjoy abundance of all things; and he will also rebuke for his sake the devourer, that is, the opposing powers, and his labour will bring forth fruit, and he will attain that which is written: Blessed is he who speaks into the ears of those who hear. He will also lift up his eyes and see the regions, that they are already white for the harvest; and he will gather fruits unto eternal life. Nor will the vine be barren in his field, he who says in the Gospel: I am the vine. And he who speaks through the prophet: I planted you a fruitful vine, wholly true; and such — through the confession of humility, and the giving of thanks to God and to the teachers of his Church — blessedness will he attain that all nations will call him blessed, and those who have heard him discoursing in the Church will long to dwell in his land and his teaching.

Because you have not rendered to me the tithes and first fruits, therefore you are cursed in famine and want, and you supplant me, or defraud and deprive me, the whole nation. For 'nation', which in the Hebrew is written aggoi, the Seventy translated 'year', ἔτος instead of ἔθνος. And the sense is: Behold, the year is completed, and you have carried nothing into my treasuries, but everything into your own storehouses. And for the sake of tithes and first fruits, which were small things if they had been given by you, you have lost the richness of your possessions and all abundance of produce.

Listen, then, impious one. You know that everything belongs to God; you will not give the Creator of all things something of his own? The Lord God is not in want; he does not demand recompense but honor. He does not require you to pay back something of yours. He asks the firstfruits and tithes, and do you refuse? Avaricious one, what would you do if he had taken nine-tenths for himself and left you the tithes? Surely this already happened when the meager harvest failed because rain was withdrawn or when hail struck your vintage or frost killed it. Why does this happen, greedy calculator? The nine-tenths were taken from you because you refused to pay tithes. The fact remains, of course, that you did not give, but God exacted it. This is our Lord's exceedingly just practice. If you deny him the tithes, you are brought down to it. As it is written, "Thus speaks the Lord: 'Tithes of your field and the firstfruits of your land are with you. I see you, and you think you are deceiving me. Within, in your treasure and in your house, there will be plunder.' " You will give to a wicked soldier what you are unwilling to give to the priest. " 'Be converted even now,' says the Lord almighty, 'that I may open to you the floodgates of heaven and pour out my blessing to you; and the fruits of your land shall not be spoiled, nor shall the vine in your field grow weak, and all nations shall call you blessed.' " God is always ready to do good, but the wickedness of humanity prevents it, because he wishes that everything can be given him from the Lord God but is unwilling to offer anything of what he seems to possess. Now suppose God should say, "Of course you are mine, man, for I made you. Mine is the earth that you cultivate, mine the seeds you sow. The animals that you work are mine; mine are the rain and showers, the blasts of the winds are mine, mine is the heat of the sun. Since all the elements of life are mine, you who only put your hands to them deserve merely tithes." Now, although almighty God kindly feeds us and gives an ample reward to man for his little labor, he claims only tithes for himself and gives the whole to us.

But so that you may know that this was brought about by my anger, because you defrauded me of my share, I exhort you and admonish you to bring the tithes into the storehouses, that is, into the treasuries of the temple, and let the priests and Levites who minister to me have food; and prove me, whether I do not pour out such great rains that the floodgates of heaven will be believed to have been opened. And I will pour out on you a blessing even to abundance. The word 'pouring out' shows the name of bounty.

But it can happen that, with rains watering the fields, there is indeed fertility; but either the locust comes, or the cankerworm, or blight, or the caterpillar, and the labours of men perish; therefore he joins to it and says: And I will rebuke for your sake the devourer, the locust, that is, and the rest that we have mentioned: And he will not spoil the fruit of your land. The vine also will fill the winepresses, and all the nations round about will marvel at the fertility of your land, so much so that all will long to dwell in it, and you will be an example to all nations of abundance in all things.

Those who are spiritually immature put much stock in temporal promises and serve God with an eye to such remunerations. Then, when the people of evil life prosper, they are very much upset. For their enlightenment, Malachi goes on to differentiate the eternal blessedness of the New Testament, which only the good shall win, from the purely earthly good fortune of the old that as often as not comes to the wicked. He says, " 'Your words have been insufferable to me,' says the Lord. And you have said, 'What have we spoken against you?' You have said, 'He labors in vain that serves God, and what profit is it that we have kept ordinances and that we have walked sorrowfully before the Lord of hosts?' Therefore now we call the proud people happy, for they that work wickedness are built up, and they have tempted God and prospered. Then they that feared the Lord spoke everyone with his neighbor, and the Lord gave ear and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that fear the Lord and think of his name." The book in question is, of course, again the New Testament. Now let us hear the rest. " 'And they shall be my special possession,' says the Lord of hosts, 'in the day that I do judgment; and I will spare the man as a man spares his son who serves him. And you shall return and shall see the difference between the just and the wicked, and between him that serves God and him that serves not. For behold, the day shall come kindled as a furnace, and all the proud and all that do wickedly shall be as stubble, and the day that comes shall set them on fire,' says the Lord of hosts." That day in question is, of course, the day of the last judgment, concerning which I will have a great deal more to say, God willing, when the proper time comes.

Hence the prophet, who is a spiritual physician, heals all the wounds, and solemnly declares that the words of blasphemy fall back upon the Creator, and he says in the person of God: Your words have grown strong against me, or have been made heavy; for indeed, according to Zechariah, iniquity sits upon a talent of lead, and what is said against God is weighed down by the heavy mass of blasphemies. They, not understanding their most grievous words and their blasphemy, ask, what have we spoken against you?

Your words have grown strong against me, says the Lord, and you have said: What have we spoken against you? You have said: Vain is he who serves God, and what profit is it that we have kept his commandments, and that we have walked sorrowful before the Lord of hosts? So now we call the arrogant blessed, since those who work impiety have been built up, and they have tempted God, and have been saved. LXX: You have made your words heavy against me, says the Lord. And you have said: In what have we spoken against you? And you have said: Vain is he who serves God; and what more. Because we have kept his commands, and because we have walked as suppliants before the face of the Lord Almighty? And now we call strangers blessed, and all who work iniquity are built up, and they have resisted God, and have been saved. He had said earlier: You have made the Lord labour with your words, and you have said, in what have we made him labour? In this, when you said: Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and such men please him; or else, where is the God of judgement? Now he repeats the same thing more fully. For the people that had returned from Babylon seemed to have knowledge of God, and to observe the law, and to understand its sin, and to offer victims for sin, to render tithes, to observe the sabbath, and the other things that are commanded by the law of God; seeing all the nations round about abounding in all things, while itself was placed in want and famine and misery, it was scandalized at each thing, and said: What does it profit me that I worship the one and true God, abhor idols, and, pricked by the consciousness of my offences, walk sorrowful before God? This passage, as we said above, Psalm 72 (73) pursues more fully and at greater length.

It was, in fact, of their purely material interpretation of the law and of their failure to perceive that its temporal promises were but symbols of eternal rewards that they broke into such rebellious resentfulness as to say, "He labors in vain that serves God, and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinances and that we have walked sorrowfully before the Lord of hosts? Wherefore now we call the proud people happy, for they that work wickedness are built up." It was such complaints as these that compelled the prophet to anticipate, as it were, the last judgment in which the wicked will be so far from even a pretense of happiness that their misery will be apparent to all, whereas the good, untroubled by even transitory sorrow, will enjoy a manifest and unending beatitude. Malachi has already given similar illustration of the kind of murmurings that wearied the Lord: "every one that does evil is good in the sight of the Lord and such please him." The only point I want to make is that such murmurings against God were the result of an unspiritual interpretation of the law.

To them the Lord answered: You have said: Vain is he who serves God, and what profit is it that we have kept his commandments? In the present age they demand a wage for the service of God; therefore they do not receive it. And that we have walked sorrowful before the Lord, according to that which is written in the psalms: All the day long I went about sorrowful; therefore we call the arrogant blessed, who are proud against God and hurl impious words of blasphemies. Since they have been built up, and after their crimes and blasphemies enjoy all prosperity, they have tempted God, or resisted God, and have been saved. They think that salvation is the happiness of the present age. And for that reason they are deceived by errors. This we can also understand of the heretics Marcion and Valentinus, and the others who do not receive the Old Testament and speak against the Creator of the world, that they make progress in their impiety and have many companions in crime. Scandalized at them, those who persevere in the Church, and not knowing the causes of God's judgement, weave together the words of the prophet.

Then those who feared God spoke, each one with his neighbour. LXX: These things those who fear the Lord spoke, each one to his neighbour. According to the Hebrews it is to be understood thus: while those men were blaspheming about the judgement of God, those who fear God spoke to one another, saying that the recompense of the good or the evil is not in the present and brief age, but in the future and eternal one; and that man cannot know the judgements of God, and dispute about his equity and justice, and the other things that a just man ought to speak with a just man. Nor did he say what they spoke, but from the fact that he added: Then those who feared God spoke, each one with his neighbour, we ought to understand that those who feared God spoke the things that are contained in the voices of all the Scriptures. According to the LXX, however, it is to be read εἰρωνικῶς (ironically), and with a lowered voice, so that we say: These things those who fear the Lord spoke, each one to his neighbour; that is, those who boast in vain and say, what profit is it that we have kept his commandments, and have walked sorrowful before the Lord? For if they feared the Lord, they would not say such things.

And the Lord attended and heard, and a book of remembrance was written before him for those who fear the Lord, and think upon his name.

And they shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, on the day that I make, for a special possession, and I will spare them, as a man spares his son who serves him. And you shall turn, and you shall see what difference there is between the just and the impious, and between him who serves God and him who does not serve him. LXX: And the Lord attended and heard; and he wrote a book of remembrance in his sight for those who fear the Lord, and who revere his name. And they shall be mine, says the Lord Almighty, on the day that I make, for an acquisition, and I will choose them as a man chooses his son who serves him; and you turn, and you shall see what difference there is between the just and the unjust, and between him who serves God and him who does not serve him. While the just and those who fear the Lord were saying these things, each with his neighbour, men who were willing neither to hear nor to speak words of blasphemy, the Lord attended and heard, and a book of remembrance was written before him for those who fear and think upon his name, so that when the day of judgement comes, he may render both punishments to the blasphemers and rewards to those who fear him. Now the book was written of which we read in Daniel: Thrones were set, and the books were opened.

But by us, who are servants of God, who renounce both voluptuousness and ambition, each is to be repudiated. Fleshly concupiscence claims the functions of adult age, craves after beauty's harvest, rejoices in its own shame, pleads the necessity of a husband to the female sex as a source of authority and comfort or to render it safe from evil rumors. To meet these counsels, do you apply the examples of sisters of ours whose names are with the Lord—who, when their husbands have preceded them [to glory], give to no opportunity of beauty or of age the precedence over holiness. They prefer to be wedded to God. To God their beauty, to God their youth [is dedicated].

And those who fear the Lord shall be to the Lord of hosts for a special possession, on the day when the time of judgement arrives. For 'special possession' in the Hebrew is read sgolla, which Aquila translated περιούσιον (special), and the others περιποίησιν (possession). Those, therefore, who fear the Lord, who spoke with their neighbour and answered the words of blasphemy, will be on the day of judgement for a special possession, and he will spare them, because every man is under sin. Or else he will choose them, as a man is wont to choose his son who serves him. In this there is a twofold affection, both of fatherly love toward a son and of service toward a servant.

And then you who now blaspheme and say: What profit is it that we have kept his commandments, and have walked sorrowful before the Lord? will recognize your own misery too from their election and blessedness, and, turned to repentance, you will see what difference there is between the just and the impious, and between him who serves God and him who does not serve him.