Chapter LXIX.

But we wish to show that His instantaneous bodily disappearance from the cross was not better fitted to serve the purposes of the whole economy of salvation (than His remaining upon it was).  For the mere letter and narrative of the events which happened to Jesus do not present the whole view of the truth.  For each one of them can be shown, to those who have an intelligent apprehension of Scripture, to be a symbol of something else.  Accordingly, as His crucifixion contains a truth, represented in the words, “I am crucified with Christ,” and intimated also in these, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified to me, and I unto the world;”315    Cf. Gal. vi. 14. and as His death was necessary, because of the statement, “For in that He died, He died unto sin once,”316    Rom. vi. 10. and this, “Being made conformable to His death,”317    Phil. iii. 10. and this, “For if we be dead with Him, we shall also live with Him:”318    2 Tim. ii. 11. so also His burial has an application to those who have been made conformable to His death, who have been both crucified with Him, and have died with Him; as is declared by Paul, “For we were buried with Him by baptism, and have also risen with Him.”319    Cf. Rom. vi. 4.  These matters, however, which relate to His burial, and His sepulchre, and him who buried Him, we shall expound at greater length on a more suitable occasion, when it will be our professed purpose to treat of such things.  But, for the present, it is sufficient to notice the clean linen in which the pure body of Jesus was to be enwrapped, and the new tomb which Joseph had hewn out of the rock, where “no one was yet lying,”320    Luke xxiii. 53, οὐκ ἦν οὔπω οὐδεὶς κείμενος. or, as John expresses it, “wherein was never man yet laid.”321    John xix. 41, ἐν ᾧ οὐδέπω οὐδεὶς ἐτέθη.  And observe whether the harmony of the three evangelists here is not fitted to make an impression:  for they have thought it right to describe the tomb as one that was “quarried or hewn out of the rock;” so that he who examines the words of the narrative may see something worthy of consideration, both in them and in the newness of the tomb,—a point mentioned by Matthew and John322    Cf. Matt. xxvii. 60 with John xix. 41.—and in the statement of Luke and John,323    Cf. Luke xxiii. 53 with John xix. 41. that no one had ever been interred therein before.  For it became Him, who was unlike other dead men (but who even in death manifested signs of life in the water and the blood), and who was, so to speak, a new dead man, to be laid in a new and clean tomb, in order that, as His birth was purer than any other (in consequence of His being born, not in the way of ordinary generation, but of a virgin), His burial also might have the purity symbolically indicated in His body being deposited in a sepulchre which was new, not built of stones gathered from various quarters, and having no natural unity, but quarried and hewed out of one rock, united together in all its parts.  Regarding the explanation, however, of these points, and the method of ascending from the narratives themselves to the things which they symbolized, one might treat more profoundly, and in a manner more adapted to their divine character, on a more suitable occasion, in a work expressly devoted to such subjects.  The literal narrative, however, one might thus explain, viz., that it was appropriate for Him who had resolved to endure suspension upon the cross, to maintain all the accompaniments of the character He had assumed, in order that He who as a man had been put to death, and who as a man had died, might also as a man be buried.  But even if it had been related in the Gospels, according to the view of Celsus, that Jesus had immediately disappeared from the cross, he and other unbelievers would have found fault with the narrative, and would have brought against it some such objection as this:  “Why, pray, did he disappear after he had been put upon the cross, and not disappear before he suffered?”  If, then, after learning from the Gospels that He did not at once disappear from the cross, they imagine that they can find fault with the narrative, because it did not invent, as they consider it ought to have done, any such instantaneous disappearance, but gave a true account of the matter, is it not reasonable that they should accord their faith also to His resurrection, and should believe that He, according to His pleasure, on one occasion, when the doors were shut, stood in the midst of His disciples, and on another, after distributing bread to two of His acquaintances, immediately disappeared from view, after He had spoken to them certain words?

Θέλομεν δὲ παραστῆσαι, πῶς οὐ χρησιμώτερον ἦν πρὸς τὴν οἰκονομίαν ὅλην τὸ εὐθὺς ἀπὸ τοῦ σκόλοπος αὐτὸν ἀφανῆ γενέσθαι σωματικῶς. Τὰ συμβεβηκέναι ἀναγε γραμμένα τῷ Ἰησοῦ οὐκ ἐν ψιλῇ τῇ λέξει καὶ τῇ ἱστορίᾳ τὴν πᾶσαν ἔχει θεωρίαν τῆς ἀληθείας· ἕκαστον γὰρ αὐτῶν καὶ σύμβολόν τινος εἶναι παρὰ τοῖς συνετώτερον ἐντυγχάνουσι τῇ γραφῇ ἀποδείκνυται. Ὥσπερ οὖν τὸ σταυρωθῆναι αὐτὸν ἔχει τὴν δηλουμένην ἀλήθειαν ἐν τῷ "Χριστῷ συνεσ ταύρωμαι" καὶ τῷ σημαινομένῳ ἐκ τοῦ "Ἐμοὶ δὲ μὴ γένοιτο καυχᾶσθαι εἰ μὴ ἐν τῷ σταυρῷ τοῦ κυρίου μου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, δι' οὗ ἐμοὶ κόσμος ἐσταύρωται κἀγὼ τῷ κόσμῳ", καὶ ὁ θάνατος αὐτοῦ ἀναγκαῖος διὰ τὸ "Ὃ γὰρ ἀπέθανε, τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ ἀπέθανεν ἐφάπαξ" καὶ διὰ τὸ τὸν δίκαιον λέγειν· "Συμμορφιζόμενος τῷ θανάτῳ αὐτοῦ" καὶ τὸ "Εἰ γὰρ συναπεθάνομεν, καὶ συζήσομεν" οὕτως καὶ ἡ ταφὴ αὐτοῦ φθάνει ἐπὶ τοὺς συμμόρφους τοῦ θανάτου αὐτοῦ καὶ τοὺς συσταυρωθέντας αὐτῷ καὶ συναπο θανόντας, καθὸ καὶ τῷ Παύλῳ λέλεκται τό· "Συνετάφημεν γὰρ αὐτῷ διὰ τοῦ βαπτίσματος" καὶ συνανέστημεν αὐτῷ. Ἡμεῖς δὲ καὶ τὰ περὶ τῆς ταφῆς καὶ τοῦ μνημείου καὶ τοῦ θάψαντος ἀναγεγραμμένα εὐκαιρότερον διὰ πλειόνων ἐν ἄλλοις, ἔνθα προηγουμένως ἔστι περὶ τούτων λέγειν, διηγη σόμεθα. Νυνὶ δ' αὐτάρκης ἡ καθαρὰ σινδών, ἐν ᾗ ἔδει τὸ καθαρὸν ἐντυλιχθῆναι σῶμα τοῦ Ἰησοῦ, καὶ τὸ καινὸν μνημεῖον, "ὃ ἐλατόμησεν ἐν τῇ πέτρᾳ" ὁ Ἰωσήφ, "οὗ οὐκ ἦν οὔπω οὐδεὶς κείμενος", ἤ, ὡς ὁ Ἰωάννης φησίν, "ἐν ᾧ οὐδέπω οὐδεὶς ἐτέθη". Καὶ ἐπίστησον εἰ δύναται κινῆσαί τινα ἡ συμφωνία τῶν τριῶν εὐαγγελιστῶν, φροντι σάντων ἀναγράψαι τὸ λατομητὸν ἢ λαξευτὸν τὸ μνημεῖον ἐν πέτρᾳ, ἵν' ὁ τοὺς λόγους τῶν γεγραμμένων ἐξετάζων καὶ περὶ τούτων θεάσηταί τι λόγου ἄξιον καὶ περὶ τῆς καινότητος τοῦ μνημείου, ἥντινα Ματθαῖος καὶ Ἰωάννης ἱστόρησε, καὶ περὶ τοῦ μηδένα ἐκεῖ νεκρὸν γεγονέναι κατὰ τὸν Λουκᾶν καὶ τὸν Ἰωάννην. Ἔδει γὰρ τὸν μὴ τοῖς λοιποῖς νεκροῖς ὅμοιον ἀλλὰ ζωτικὰ σημεῖα καὶ ἐν τῇ νεκρότητι δείξαντα τὸ ὕδωρ καὶ τὸ αἷμα καὶ καινόν, ἵν' οὕτως ὀνομάσω, ὄντα νεκρὸν ἐν καινῷ καὶ καθαρῷ γενέσθαι μνημείῳ· ἵν' ὥσπερ ἡ γένεσις αὐτοῦ καθαρωτέρα πάσης γενέσεως ἦν τῷ μὴ ἀπὸ μίξεως ἀλλ' ἀπὸ παρθένου γεννη θῆναι, οὕτως καὶ ἡ ταφὴ ἔχοι τὴν καθαρότητα, διὰ τοῦ συμβολικοῦ δηλουμένην ἐν τῷ ἀποτεθεῖσθαι αὐτοῦ τὸ σῶμα ἐν μνημείῳ καινῷ ὑφεστῶτι, οὐκ ἐκ λογάδων λίθων οἰκοδομηθέντι καὶ τὴν ἕνωσιν οὐ φυσικὴν ἔχοντι ἀλλ' ἐν μιᾷ καὶ δι' ὅλων ἡνωμένῃ πέτρᾳ λατομητῷ ἢ λαξευτῷ. Τὰ μὲν οὖν τῆς διηγήσεως καὶ τῆς ἀπὸ τῶν γεγονέναι ἀναγεγραμμένων ἀναβάσεως ἐπὶ τὰ πράγματα, ὧν τὰ γενόμενα ἦν σημαντικά, καὶ μειζόνως ἄν τις καὶ θειοτέρως διηγήσαιτο, εὐκαιρότερον ἐκτιθέμενος τὰ τοιαῦτα ἐν προηγου μένῃ συντάξει· τὰ δὲ τῆς λέξεως καὶ οὕτως ἄν τις ἀποδῴη, ὅτι κατὰ τὸν κρίναντα ὑπομεῖναι τὸ ἐπὶ σκόλοπος κρεμασθῆναι ἦν καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς τῇ ὑποθέσει τηρῆσαι, ἵν' ὡς ἄνθρωπος καθαιρεθεὶς τῷ ὡς ἄνθρωπος ἀποτεθνηκέναι ὡς ἄνθρωπος καὶ ταφῇ. Ἀλλὰ καὶ εἰ καθ' ὑπόθεσιν ἐγέγραπτο ἐν τοῖς εὐαγγελίοις ὅτι ἀπὸ τοῦ σκόλοπος ἀφανὴς εὐθὺς ἐγένετο, ἐκάκιζεν ἂν τὸ γεγραμμένον ὁ Κέλσος καὶ οἱ ἄπιστοι, καὶ κατηγόρησαν ἂν καὶ οὕτω λέγοντες· τί δή ποτε μετὰ τὸν σταυρὸν γέγονεν ἀφανής, οὐ πρὸ τοῦ παθεῖν δὲ τοῦτ' ἐπραγμα τεύσατο; Εἴπερ οὖν ἀπὸ τῶν εὐαγγελίων μεμαθηκότες ὅτι οὐ γέγονεν εὐθὺς ἀφανὴς ἀπὸ τοῦ σκόλοπος ἐγκαλεῖν οἴονται τῷ λόγῳ, μὴ πλασαμένῳ, ὡς ἐκεῖνοι ἠξίωσαν, τὸ εὐθὺς αὐτὸν ἀφανῆ γενέσθαι ἀπὸ τοῦ σκόλοπος ἀλλὰ τὸ ἀληθὲς ἱστορήσαντι, πῶς οὐκ εὔλογον πιστεῦσαι αὐτοὺς καὶ τῇ ἀναστάσει αὐτοῦ, καὶ ὡς βουληθεὶς ὁτὲ μὲν "τῶν θυρῶν κεκλεισμένων" "ἔστη ἐν μέσῳ" τῶν μαθητῶν, ὁτὲ δὲ δοὺς ἄρτον δυσὶ τῶν γνωρίμων εὐθὺς "ἄφαντος ἐγένετο ἀπ' αὐτῶν" μετά τινας, οὓς ἐλάλησεν αὐτοῖς, λόγους;