Cornelius a Lapide

But though we f or an angel from heaven , preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you , let him be accursed . Understand : If that can be done ; for, as a matter of fact, it is impossible, for the angels are established as in bliss so in all truth. It is an hyperbole, like that in 1 Cor. xiii. 1 : “ Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels” S. Jerome quotes here a happy remark of Tertullian directed against Apelles and his virgin Philumena, which latter was filled by some perverse angel with an evil spirit, to the effect that this was an angel who, long before Apelles was born, was described as accursed by the Holy Spirit, speaking through the Apostle. Such was the angel who taught Luther, and instructed Zwingli on the Eucharist, and about whom the latter writes, that he did not know whether it was black or white. But it is certain that it was a black angel, and that against it was directed the Apostle’s anathema, as against one introducing a new Gospel, a new faith, and new dogmas, contrary to the accepted creed. Observe how great is the certainty of the faith preached by the Apostles, confirmed by God by so many signs and miracles, and transmitted to us by the continuous tradition of so many centuries, and reflect how firm and constant in it we should be. So much so that we may better deny the evidence of our senses, of our reason, of the authority of all men and angels — even if they should work 220 THE EPISTLE TO THE miracles as proof, — impossible though this really is — than deny the teaching of faith. For faith rests on the original revelation of God, . who is the First and Incommutable Truth ; all else may deceive and be deceived. Nay, to state an impossibility, if God were to reveal a faith contrary to that which we have received, and which He originally revealed Himself, we should be bound to believe the first, and not the second. For if He should reveal one contrary, He would be changed and would cease to be God, and the First and Infallible Truth ; but since this is impossible, it follows that God cannot give a contrary revelation, and hence that those who teach contrary doctrine get it not from God but from their own heads, or else by revelation from devils. We have here, then, a canon of faith given us by the Apostle, to this effect : If a new dogma arise anywhere, let it be examined to see whether it agree with the ancient, received faith of the Catholic Church, first preached by Paul and the Apostles; if it be found discordant, let it be regarded as heretical and accursed. This is a canon followed by all the Fathers. “ If any dispute arise” says Irenseus, “ about any , even a small question , will it not be our duty to have recourse to the oldest churches , and to gather from them what is clear and certain with reference to the question in dispute ? ” (Adv. Hcer lib. iii. c. x.). So Tertullian : “ I will lay it down as a canon that what the Apostles preached , what Christ revealed , ought not to be proved except by the same churches which the Apostles themselves founded. If this is so, it is clear that all doctrine which agrees with those Apostolic churches , being the very wombs and originals of the faith , must be put down as true, and all the rest condemned as false, without further examination ” (de Frees, xxl). And again : “ What is earlier in tradition is shown by its very date to be the Lord's and to be true ; what has come in later is an importation and false p (Ibid, c. xxxi.). So Origen : “ Every one is to be counted a heretic who, while professing to believe in Christ , believes in a matter of faith otherwise than the traditional definition of the Church declares ” {Horn, in S. Afatth. 19). THE APPEAL TO ANTIQUITY 221 This same rule is supported by Vincent of Lerins in his golden treatise on Praescription, against the impious novelties of heretics : “ Antiquity is to be followed novelty spurned. When certain innovators were going throughout provinces and cities , offering their errors for sale , and had arrived among the Galatians ; and when the Galatians had given them a hearing , and were taken with a distaste for the truths so much so that they , as it were , vomited the manna of apostolic and Catholic teaching , and were delighted with the filth of heretical novelty , then the authority of the apostolic power made itself heard in these stern words : 4 Though we or an angel from heaven preach any other Gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed l What is this that he saith : 1 Though we ? ’—why not , rather , ‘ Though IV He means : 1 Though Peter, though Andrew, though John — indeed, though the whole college of Apostles preach unto you anything beside what we have preached, let them be accursed’ An awful pronouncement 1 It is but a little thing to spare neither himself nor the other Apostles, so as to secure the firm continuance of the faith first preached. But he adds : ‘ Though an angel from heaven preach any other Gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed .’ It was not enough to bind men to preserve the faith delivered them — he must also bind angels. ‘ Though we,’ he says, i or an angel from heaven. ’ JYot that the holy and heavenly angels can sin; but supposing it were possible that they should, if any one of them were to attempt to change the faith once delivered, let him be accursed” (lib, i. c. 12). So S. John Damascene, who, like a roaring lion, attacked the iconoclastic Emperor Leo the Isaurian : “ Hearken, ye peoples, tribes, tongues — men, women, boys, old men , young men, infants, the whole army of Christian saints : 4 Though any one preach unto you anything beside that which the Catholic Church has received from the Holy Apostles, from the Fathers and Councils, and has preserved to this day, hear him not, nor follow the counsel of the serpent, as Eve did, who thereby drew upon herself death. Though an angel, though a king preach unto you anything beside what you have received, stop your ear*. For I fear lest the warning of Paul be fulfilled, 4 Let him be accursed’ ” 222 THE EPISTLE TO THE ( Orat . 2 de Imagiiu ). He ends thus because he knew that it was the prerogative of Bishops, not of monks, of whom he was one, to pronounce anathema, as Baronius acutely notes ( Ann. a.d. 730, in fine). So S. Augustine : “ I do not accept what the Blessed Cyprian held on the baptism of heretics , because the Church, for whom Cyprian shed his blood, does not accept it” (., against Christianity. Accordingly, in ver. 6, he calls this another Gospel^ and in ver. 7 he 224 THE EPISTLE TO THE says that the preachers of it prevert, or, as Chrysostom styles it, overturn the Gospel of Christ. 2. It is clear and certain that not only an angel but Paul himself knew more, and consequently might have preached more truths than he did (2 Cor. xii. 1 and 6). 3. Paul constantly orders, as Christ did, the commands of Apostles and superiors to be obeyed (Acts xvi. 4 ; Heb. xiii. 17). 4. Moreover, Jerome, Augustine, Ambrose, Chrysostom, CEcumenius explain the phrase as I have done. In 1 Cor. ii. the Apostle uses Trapb. (prater) in the sense of against , when he writes : “ Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ for he would set up another Christ, just as one who makes another Pope sets up an anti-Pope, or he who invites another king into a kingdom sets up an enemy of the true king and a tyrant Similarly, in Rom xi. 24: “ Jf thou wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive-tree ” — contrary to nature is sra/xx xnv (prater naturam). Even in Latin we often use the same meiosis. For example, Terence (Anuria) says, u Prater civium morem atque legem,” i.e., against law and custom. So, too, in Greek, as, eg., Aristotle (de Calo , lib. i. c. 1) says irapb. vo-iv, beside, i.e., against nature; irapa vofxov , beside, i.e., against law. With this compare Deut iv. 2 : “ Ye shall not add unto the word svhich I command you , neither shall ye diminish aught from it” Ye shall not add to the precepts which I shall give you anything contradictory of them, especially, ye shall not add the worship of some new deity, for this the whole chapter, and indeed the whole Book of Deuteronomy, intends to forbid. Nor shall ye add, in the sense of saying that your words are mine ; for to no one is it allowed to put forth his own writings or commands, as the commands of God or as the Holy Scriptures. There is a similar phrase in Rev. xxii. 18 : “/ testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this booh” As a matter of fact, prophets and Apostles have added many things to this Scripture. Nay, Moses, THE EVERLASTING GOSPEL 225 in Deut. iv. 2, would contradict himself in Deut. xvii. 12, where he orders the words of the priest to be obeyed. Accordingly S. Augustine excellently explains this passage : “ The Apostle does not say, ‘ More than you have received} but * Beside that which you have received l For if he had used the former phrase , he would condemn himself for saying that he wished to come to the Thessalonians to supply what was wanting to their faith. But he who supplies what is lacking merely adds , he does not take away what is already there . He, however, who oversteps the rule of faith does not approach the goal in the road, but departs from the road” (Tract, in Joan . 99). You will say perhaps: “Why, then, did the Apostle not say against instead of beside ? ” Chrysostom’s answer is that he wanted to make it clear that any is accursed who even indirectly undermines the least important doctrine of the Gospel. But there is another reason, and that is, the Judaisers, against whom this passage is primarily directed, were introducing their Judaism beside the Gospel, i.e., their Jewish rites and sacraments, which by this very attempt became contrary to the Gospel and the New Law of Christ, as I said before. We preach. I.e., by word or by writing. He does not, therefore, exclude, but rather includes traditions given by word of mouth only, for these he expressly orders to be observed in 2 Thess. ii. 14. Accursed. Heb. cherem . See comment on this word under Rom. ix. 3