A Different Birth

In Isaac vocabitur tibi semen ... Promissionis enim verbum hoc est: secundum hoc tempus veniam: er erit Sarae filius. Non, ergo, inquit, per ordinem nativitatis carnalis Isaac nascitur; quippe cum jam Abraham emortui esset corporis, et mortua vulva Sarae, sed per virtutem promittentis. Merito ergo non carnis, sed Dei filius dicitur qui ex adventu et sermone Dei nascitur. Guillelmus S Theodorici Abbas, Expositio In Epistolam Ad Romanos, Liber V, Caput IX Source: Migne PG 180.646a

Through Isaac your seed shall be known ... For this was the word of His promise: at this time I shall come and Sarah shall have a son. 1 Thus He says that it is not according to the carnal order of birth that Isaac shall be born, since Abraham was already barren in his body and Sarah was barren in her womb, but through the power of the promise. Rightly then he is not called a son of the flesh but of God, he who is born from the coming and the word of God. William of St Thierry, Commentary on Saint Paul's Letter to the Romans, Book 5, Chapter 9 1 Rom 9.7-9, Gen 18.10

The Prefigurors

Notandum autem quod ipsi progenitores Christi, qui in genealogia eius adnumerati sunt, non sine grandi mysterio ab evangelista assumuntur, maxime cum Apostolus dicat: Omnia in figura contingebant illis, sed sicut humanam nativitatem Christi praecesserant tempore, ita quoque testimonium illi dabant ex praefiguratione. Nam nullus eorum est, qui non aut nomine, aut actu incarnationem Christi significet, et ipsum esse demonstret, qui in patriarchis praefiguratus, et in prophetis promissus, atque in apostolis praedicatus est. Igitur Abraham, qui interpretatur pater multorum, vel pater videns populum, quem significat hoc nomine, nisi illum de quo ipsi ita promissum est: In semine, inquit, tuo benedicentur omnes cognationes terrae? Et Isaias ait: Si posuerit pro peccato animam suam, videbit semen longaevum, et voluntas Domini in manu eius dirigetur; et item cum inquit: Domine Pater noster, et Redemptor noster, a saeculo nomen tuum. Abraham nescivit nos, et Israel ignoravit nos. Quomodo autem Abraham actu significaverit Salvatorem, testatur illud quod Domini praecepto exivit de terra sua et de cognatione sua, ut apud exteros locupletaretur, et esset in gentem magnam, quod nunc cernimus veraciter impletum, cum Christus, relicta terra et cognatione Iudaeorum, praepollet, ut videmus, in populis gentium. Et illud quod Abraham cum trecentis decem et octo vernaculis suis quatuor reges debellavit, ac Lot liberavit, quid aliud significat, quam quod nos Christus per crucem, quam exprimit tau littera, trecentenarium numerum continens, a dominatu carnalis sensus, qui nos antea variis vitiis captivatos exsuperaverat, liberavit? Isaac quoque, qui interpretatur risus, vel gaudium, significat illum de quo dixit ad pastores angelus: Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum, quod erit omni populo. Et ipsa Veritas suis discipulis ait: Iterum videbo vos, et gaudebit cor vestrum, et gaudium vestrum nemo tollet a vobis. Et item: Petite, inquit, et accipietis, ut gaudium vestrum sit plenum. Rabanus Maurus, Commentariorum In Matthaeum, Liber I Source: Migne PL 107.738b-d

It should be noted that these progenitors of Christ, who are enumerated in His genealogy are not taken by up the Evangelist without great mystery, especially when the Apostle says: 'Everything was contained in a figure for them,' 1 but as they preceded the human nativity of Christ in time, so they gave witness to Him by prefiguration. For there is nothing of them, either in name or act, which did not signify the Incarnation, and did not give demonstration of Him to be, He who was prefigured in the Patriarchs, and promised by the Prophets, and preached by the Apostles. Therefore Abraham, which is interpreted Father of many, or Father seeing the people, what does he signify by this name but Him concerning whom it was promised: 'In your seed all the peoples of the earth shall be blessed.' 2 And Isaiah says: 'If he shall give His life for sin, he shall see his seed long lived, and the will of the Lord in his hand shall prosper.' 3 And again when it is said: 'O Lord, our Father and Redeemer, from of old is your name. Abraham did not know us, and Israel was ignorant of us.' 4 For how Abraham signified the Saviour by his deeds, witness is given that by the command of the Lord he went out from his own land and from his own people 5 that he be enriched in exterior things and come to be a great people, which now we certainly see fulfilled, when Christ, forsaking the land and people of the Jews, abounds in power among the Gentile peoples. And that Abraham with three hundred and eighteen of his servants overthrew four kings and liberated Lot, 6 what does that signify, but that Christ liberated us by the cross, which the tau letter expresses, which numbers three hundred in Greek, from the domination of the carnal senses, which before by various vices ruled over us in captivity? Also Isaac, which means laughter or joy, signifies Him concerning whom the angel said to the shepherds: 'I announce to you a great joy, which shall come to all people.' 7 And the same Truth says to His disciples: 'Again I will see you, and your hearts shall rejoice, and your joy no man shall take from you.' 8 And again: 'Seek, and you will receive, and your joy will be fulfilled.' 9 Rabanus Maurus, Commentary On The Gospel of Saint Matthew, Book 1 1 1 Cor 10.11 2 Genes 22.18 3 Isaiah 53.10 4 Isaiah 63.16 5 Gen 12.1-2 6 Gen 14.14-17 7 Lk 2.10 8 Jn 16.22 9 Jn 16.24

Sign And Promise

Jam tunc propter peregrinationem futuram, ne commisceretur semen ejus inter gentres, datur ei circumcisio in signum his verbis: Circumcideter in bovis omne masculum. Infans octo dierum circumcidetur in vobis, tam vernaculus quam emptitius. Masculus autem, cujus praeputii caro circumcisa non fuerit, delebitur anima illa de populo suo, quia pactum meum irritum fecit. Sed et Sarai non vocabitur Sarai, sed Sara, et dabo tibi ex ea filium, et benedicam illum, et erit in nationes, et reges gentium ex eo erunt. Hic jam declaratur promissio de vocatione gentium in Isaac filio promissionis, quo significatur gratia, non natura, quia de sene patre et sterili matre. Et quia hoc non per generationem, quae est in Ismaele, sed per regenerationem futurum erat, ideo imperata est circumcisio, quod de Sara promittitur filius typo Ecclesiae, non quando Ismael, qui typum gerit Judaeorum. Quid enim aliud circumcisio significat, nisi renovatam naturam per baptsimum post expoliationem veteris hominis? Et quid est octavus dies, nisi Christus, qui hebdomada completa, hoc est, post Sabbatum resurrexit? Sanctus Isidorus Hispalensis,Mysticorum Expositiones Sacramentorum Seu Quaestiones In Vetus Testamentum, In Genesim, Caput XIII Source: Migne PL 83.242b-c

Then because of future wanderings, lest his mix his seed with the nations, circumcision is given to Abraham as a sign, with these words: 'Let every male be circumcised in the foreskin. Let the child be circumcised on the eighth day among you, he who is house born and he who is bought. The male who does not have his flesh circumcised wil have his soul removed from among his people, because he has violated my covenant.' 2 'But even Sarai will not called Sarai but Sarah, princess, and I shall give to you a son from her, and I shall bless him and he shall be among the nations, and the kings of the peoples shall come from him.' 2 Here is declared the promise concerning the calling of the nations in Isaac, the son of promise, by which is signified grace, not nature, because he came from an aged father and a barren mother. And because this is not through generation, which is in Ismael, but for the regeneration that is to come, therefore circumcision is commanded, that from Sarah is the promised son who is a type of the Church, and not from Ismael who bears the type of the Jews. What indeed does circumcision signify, unless the renewel of nature through baptism after the casting off of the old man? 3 And what is the eighth day, unless Christ who completes the seven days, that is, He who after the Sabbath is resurrected? Saint Isidore of Seville, Expositions of Sacred Mysteries or Questions on the Old Testament, On Genesis, Chap 13 1 Gen 17.10-12 2 Gen 17.15 3 Ephes 4.22

Two Births

Abraham autem genuit Isaac. Qui interpretatur risus. Risus autem sanctorum est, non stulta cachinnatio labiorum, sed rationabile gaudium cordis, qui fuit per omnia mysterium Christi. Sicut enim ille Isaac, desperantibus jam parentibus, in ultima senectute donatus est laetitia suis, ut cognoscatur, quis non erat filius naturae, sed gratiae: sic et noster Isaac in novissimo fine productus est a matre Judea gaudium cunctis, sicut dicit angelus ad pastores: Ecce evangelizo vobis gaudium magnum, quod erit omni plebi. Unde ait Apostolus: Postquam venit plenitudo temporis, misit Deus Filium suum natum ex muliere, natum sub lege. Sed iste per virginem, ille de anu, ambo extra spem naturae. Ille postquam mater ejus parere posse cessaverat, iste priusquam mater ejus parere posse inciperet. Sed ille de anicula ideo deficiente, iste autem de virgine incorrupta: quia ille Isaac filios fuerat generaturus in lege corrumpenda, iste autem in gratia permansura. Opus Imperfectum in Matthaeum, Homilia I Source:  Migne PG 56.742

'For Abraham sired Isaac.' 1 Which name of Isaac is interpretated laughter. And it is the laughter is of the holy, not the foolish chuckling of lips, but the rational joy of the heart, this one who was in everything a type of Christ. For as that Isaac was given for their joy to parents already despairing in final old age that it might be known that he was not a son of nature, but of grace, so even our Isaac at the end of most recent times was brought forth in Judea for the joy of all, as the angel said to the shepherds: 'Behold, I bring to you news of great joy that shall come to all people.' 2 Whence the Apostle said: 'After came the fullness of time, God sent His own Son, born from a woman, born beneath the law.' 3 But He was from a virgin, the other from an old woman, both beyond the hope of nature. One was born after his mother had ceased to be able, the other before His mother was able. One was from an old worn out woman, the other from a virgin untouched; for Isaac was born into the law that would perish, the other into grace eternal. Opus Imperfectum on Matthew, from The The First Homily 1  Mt 1.2 2. Lk 2.10 3  Gal 4.4

Child And Promise

Quod autem promittit Deus Sarae sterili filium, dicens: Circa hoc tempus veniam, non de temporibus significat, sed de qualitate adventurus sui, quando per filium repromissum fidelis erat populus nasciturus. Ista est enim Sara sterilis, cui per Prophetam Dominus dicit: Laetare, sterilis, quae non paris; erumpe et clama, quae non paturis, quoniam plures filii desertae magis quam ejus quae habet virum. Risus autem Sarae non est dubitatio, sed prophetia. Qui risus duplicem habet significantiam. Sive quod risus esset futurus incredulis Christus, sive quod omnes inimicos in judicio suo esset risurus. Unde et ipse qui natus est de Sara, risus nomen accepit. Isaac enim ex Hebraea lingua in Latinum sermonem risus interpretatur. Sanctus Isidorus Hispalensis,Mysticorum Expositiones Sacramentorum Seu Quaestiones In Vetus Testamentum, In Genesin, Caput XIV Source: Migne PL 83.244c-245a

God promised a son to Sarah in her barrenness, saying, 'Around this time I will come,' 1 and this does not signify the time but the manner of His own advent, when by the promised son He was going to birth a faithful people. For it is to this barren Sarah that the Lord speaks through the Prophet: 'Rejoice, sterile one, who has not given birth, jump and cry out, for many more are the sons of her forsaken than she who has a man.' 2 And Sarah's laughter is not on account of doubt, but prophecy. Laughter has a twofold significance; either that laughter was for the wonderous future of Christ, or that all his enemies were in His judgement laughable. Whence he who was born of Sarah received the name Laughter, For Isaac translated into our tongue from the Hebrew is laughter. Saint Isidore of Seville, Expositions of Sacred Mysteries or Questions on the Old Testament, On Genesis, Chap 14 1 Gen 18.9-10 2 Isai 54.1, Galat 4.27

Sons Of Promise

Nos autem, fratres, secundum Isaac promissionis filii sumus. Apostolum et similes ei secundum Isaac promissionis esse filios, nulla intellgentiae difficultas est. Sed quia Origenes hunc locum edisserens, ita Apostoli posuit exemplum: 'Vos autem, fratres, secundum Isaac promissionis filii estis, quaeritur quomodo Galatas, quos stultos appellarat, et incoepisse dixerat spiritu, carne finire, nunc secundum Isaac filios repromissionis vocet? Dicimus itaque Apostolum ideo eos appellare secundum Isaac filios repromissionis, quia non penitus eorum desperet salutem, et rursum eos ad spiritum quo coeperant aestimet reversuros, fiantque filii liberae. Qui si carne fuerint consummati, filii sunt ancillae. Sanctus Hieronymus, Commentariorum in Epistolam ad Galatas, Liber II, Cap IV Source: Migne PL 26.392a-b

We are, brothers, the sons of the promise, as Isaac. 1 That the Apostle and those like him are the sons of promise as Isaac is not difficult to understand. But since Origen also writes on this passage concerning the Apostle, when he says, 'You are, brothers, the sons of the promise, as Isaac,' and asks how the Galatians, whom the Apostle has called foolish, and whom he has said have begun in the spirit to end in the flesh, are now sons of promise according to Isaac, we say that the Apostle calls them sons of promise according to Isaac because he has not utterly despaired of their salvation, and again that he judges that they have begun to turn back to the spirit, and to become sons of the free woman. Those who, if they had reached the end of the flesh, would have been sons of the slave girl. Saint Jerome, Commentary on the Letter to the Galatians, Book 2 Chap 4 1 Gal 4.28

Jacob And Esau

Isaac autem genuit Esau et Jacob, in figura duorum saeculorum. Esau a capite usque ad pedes totus pilosus, saeculum primum hoc significat, quod ab initio usque ad finem totum quasi asperrimis pilis iniquitatum repletum est. Jacob autem totus speciosus et nitidus, futurum saeculum significat, quod totum pietatis decore fulgebit, et non invenietur in illo aliqua asperitas aut nigredo peccati. Et quemadmodum cum de utero matris suae exiret Esau, tenuit plantam ejus Jacob: unde Hebraice Jacob appelatus est, id est, supplantator: mox enim ut illius pedes egressi sunt, istius caput apparuit: sic et in fine saeculi istius statim illius saeculi principium apparebit. Et quemadmodum Esau persequebatur Jacob, sic filii saeculi hujus persequuntur filios saeculi illius: et sicut ipse, ita et filii ejus non resistendo sed fugiendo superant malos. Nam quamadmodum mater adivit Jacob, dicens ei: Fili, audi me et fuge in Mesopotamiam, donec quiescat ira fratris tui: sic et Ecclesia filios suos quotidie docet, cum persequutionem patiuntur, dicens: Si vos persequuti fuerint in civitate ista, fugite, in alteram; et Date locum irae. Opus Imperfectum in Matthaeum, Homilia Prima Migne PG 56.614

Isaac fathered Esau and Jacob, which is a figure of the two ages. Esau being covered in hair from his head to his feet signifies the first age, which from its beginning to its end is full of the most unsightly hairs of iniquity; Jacob all fair and shining signifies the future age, which shall shine with all the beauty of piety, and in it shall not be found any roughness or darkness of sin. And as when Esau came from the womb of his mother Jacob held his heel, from which he is named in Hebrew 'Jacob' that is 'supplanter', for as soon as the feet of the first came out, the head of the other appeared, so with the end of this age instantly will appear the beginning of the greater one. And as Esau persecuted Jacob, so the sons of this age persecute the sons of the next, and like Jacob, so even its sons do not resist but flee that they surpass evil men. For as the mother of Jacob said to him, 'Son, listen to me, fly into Mesopotamia, until the anger of your brother subsides,' 1 so even the Church teaches her sons, when they suffer persecution, saying, 'If they persecute you in one city, flee into another,' 2 and 'Give a space to anger.' 3 Opus Imperfectum on Matthew, from The First Homily 1 Gen 27. 43-44 2 Mt 10.23 3 Rom 12.19

Two Testaments, Two Mothers, Two Sons

Haec enim sunt duo testamenta, unum quidem a monte Sina, in servitutem generans, quae est Agar. Sina enim mons est in Arabia, qui conterminus est ei, quae nunc est Jerusalem, et servit cum filiis suis. Illa autem quae sursum est Jerusalem, libera est, quae est mater omnium nostrum. Pene cunctorum super hoc loco ista est explanatio, ut Agar ancillam, interpretentur in Lege, et in populo Judaeorum: Saram autem liberam, in Ecclesia, quae de gentibus congregata est, quae mater sanctorum sit, Paulo dicente: Quae est mater omnium nostrum. Haec diu non peperit, antequam Christus de Virgine nasceretur, et sterilis fuit, necdum risu mundi Isaace de electo patre cum voce sublimium dogmatum resonante: siquidem et Abraham in nostra lingua, pater electus cum sonitu refertur. Agar autem quae interpretatur παροικία, id est, incolatus, sive peregrinatio, sive mora, generat Ismael, qui tantum audiat Dei praecepta, nec faciat hominem rusticum, sanguinarium, deserta sectantem: qui universis fratribus suis de libera procreatis inimicus sit, et adversa eis fronte resistat. Nec mirum vetus Testamentum, quod in monte Sina, qui est in Arabia, et confinis est ei, quae nunc est Jerusalem, constitutum est atque conscriptum, non esse perpetuum: cum et incolatus a perpetua possessione diversus sit, et Sina montis nomen tentationem sonet: et Arabia significet occasum: et econtrario quae sursum est Jerusalem, quae est libera materque sanctorum, demonstret hanc Jerusalem, quae in praesenti est, deo sum esse, et in humili infirmoque demersam. Sunt qui duo Testamenta et aliter intelligant: ut Scripturam divinam, tam veterem quam novam, juxta diversitatem sensus eorumque sententiam qui legunt, aut ancillam interpretentur, aut liberam, et eos, qui adhuc litterae serviant, et spiritum timoris habeant in servitutem, de Agar Aegyptia velint esse generatos: eos autem qui ad superiora conscendant, et allegorice velint sentire quae scripta sunt, filios esse Sarae, quae in lingua nostra, ἄρχουσα, id est, princeps, interpretatur, genere feminino. Et hoc ob illam necessitatem se asserunt usurpare: quia iniquum sit Moysen, et cunctos prophetas de ancilla, quoslibet vero gentilium de libera intelligere procreatos. Unde melius esse, ita non solum de his qui in Ecclesia sunt, pro diversitate, ut suprae diximus intellectuum, alios servus, alios liberos arbitremur: sed etiam de uno eodemque homine quamdiu sequitur historiam, ancillae eum es e filium: cum autem aperitente Jesu Scripturas, incensum fuerit cor ejus, et in fractione panis inspexerit eum quem antea non videbat: tunc et ipsum Sarae filium nominari.  Sanctus Hieronymus, Commentariorum in Epistolam ad Galatas, Liber II, Cap IV

For there are two testaments, one from Mount Sinai, birthing in servitude, which is Hagar. For Sinai is a mountain in Arabia, and it borders upon that which is now Jerusalem. and she serves with her sons. The latter is the Jerusalem which is above, free she is, and the mother of all of us. 1  Nearly everything about this passage has been explained, that Hagar is a slave girl, understood in the law and in the people of the Jews, and the free woman Sarah is the Church from which the Gentiles are gathered, she who is the mother of the saints, with Paul saying that she is the mother of all of us. 2 She did not give birth before Christ was born from the Virgin, sterile she was, not yet was the smile of Isaac in the world from the chosen father with voice resounding with sublime teaching; Abraham in our tongue meaning chosen father with a cry. And Hagar is translated as alien, or wanderer, or delayer, she who birthed Ismael, who may only hear the commandments of God, who cannot become a farming man, but he is a killer, cut off in the desert, an enemy to every brother  born free, and against them he thrusts his head. 3 It is not to be wondered that the Old Testament which was given and written on Mount Sinai which is in Arabia, bordering on that which is now Jerusalem, is not forever, when it was far from the perpetual possession. And Mount Sinai resounds with the name of temptation, and Arabia signifies murder, and on the contrary that which is the Jerusalem above, which is the free mother of the saints,  this Jerusalem declares which is in the present, with God I am, and amid the humble and lowest. But there are those who understand the two Testaments in a different manner, that the Divine Scripture, the old and the new, on account of the differing understanding of those who read, may be interpreted as the slave or the free woman, and those who are still servants of the letter and have the spirit of fear in servitude, they would have as children of Egyptian Hagar, and those who rise to the things above and wish in allegory to grasp what is written, they are the sons of Sarah, which in our tongue is princess, that is prince of the feminine class. And on account of this they must assert themselves superior, that Moses was inferior and all the Prophets were from the slave woman, and the children of the gentiles are from the free woman. Whence better it is, I think, that not only concerning those who are in the Church is there difference, as we have given the understanding above, with some slaves and some free, but that even the same man while he alone follows the narrative is the son of the slave woman, but when he does so with Jesus there is an opening of the Scriptures, his heart is on fire, and in the breaking of bread, he looks on him whom he did not see, 4 and then the same man is named a son of Sarah. Saint Jerome, Commentary on St Paul's Letter to the Galatians, Book 2 Chap 4 1 Gal 4. 24-26 2 Gal 4. 26  3 cf Gen 16. 11-12 3 Lk 24.30-32

Hell and Advent

Ποιῆσαι ἔλεος μετὰ τῶν πατέρων ἡμῶν καὶ μνησθῆναι διαθήκης ἁγίας αὐτοῦ Ὡς οἶμαι καὶ οἱ πατέρες ἡμων Ἀβραὰμ, καὶ Ἰσαὰκ καὶ Ἰακὼβ καὶ ὅλος ὁ χορὸς τῶν ἁγίων αὐτοῦ προφητῶν καὶ δικαίων, ἀπήλαυσσαν τῆς παρουσίας τοῦ Χριστοῦ. Εἰ γὰρ εἰρηνοποίησε διὰ τοῦ αἵματος τοῦ σταυροῦ αὐτοῦ τά τε ἐν γῇ καὶ τὰ ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ κατὰ τὸν θεϊον Ἀποστολον τί ὀκνεῖς παραδέξασθαι, ὅτι καὶ πρὸς τοὺς πατέρας ἡ επισκοπὴ, καὶ τοῦτο ἡ εἰς τὸν ᾄδην αὐτοῦ ἄφιξις ἑπραγματεύσατο διὰ τὸ ἀνεξιχνίαστον αὐτοῦ ἔλεος; Τοῦτο δὲ, εἰ καὶ νῦν γέγονεν, ἀλλ' ἔκπαλαι προανεφωνήθη· καὶ ἀδύνατον ἧν μὴ ἐκβῆναι αὐτοὺς λόγους εἰς ἔργον. Ὄρκῳ γὰρ ἐβεβαίωσε τὰς ἐπαγγελίας διὰ τὸ ἀπαράνατον, ὅτι πάντως ἔσται. Καὶ νῦν οἱ πιστοὶ ἀφόβως ἐκ χειρὸς τῶν νοητῶν ἐχθρῶν ῥύονται. Ὠριγένης, Εἰς Το Κατα Λουκαν Εὐαγγελιον, Κεφ Α'

So He would be merciful to our fathers and remember His holy covenant. 1 I think that even our fathers Abraham and Issac and Jacob and all the host of holy Prophets and righteous men profited by the advent of Christ. For if ' He brought peace through the blood of His cross  to things in earth and heaven, 2 as the holy Apostle says, why delay to admit that by our fathers he was seen, and that He had His coming to hell, on account of His incomprehensible mercy? And this, if now it has happened, from of old was proclaimed, and that it was impossible does not harmonise with the intent of these words. He swore his promise, and it is unalterable, and certainly it shall come to pass. 3 And now the faithful, without fear, from the hand of the spiritual enemies are freed. 4 Origen, Commentary On Luke, Chap 1, Fragment 1 Lk 1.72 2 Col 1.20 3 cf Heb 6. 16, 17 4 Lk 1.74

The Promised Land and Creation

τί λέγει ὁ ἄλλος προφήτης Μωϋσῆς αὐτοῖς; Ἰδού, τάδε λέγει κύριος ὁ θεός· Ἐισέλθατε εἰς τὴν γῆν τὴν ἀγαθήν, ἣν ὤμοσεν κύριος τῷ Ἀβραὰμ καὶ Ἰσαὰκ καὶ Ἰακώβ, καὶ κατακληρονομήσατε αὐτήν, γῆν ῥέουσαν γάλα καὶ μέλι.  τί δὲ λέγει ἡ γνῶσις; μάθετε. ἐλπίσατε, φησίν, ἐπὶ τὸν ἐν σαρκὶ μέλλοντα φανεροῦσθαι ὑμῖν Ἰησοῦν. ἄνθρωπος γὰρ γῆς ἐστιν πάσχοῦσα· ἀπὸ προσώπου γὰρ τῆς γ͂ς ἡ πλάσις τοῦ Ἀδὰμ ἐγένετο. τί οὖν λέγει Εἰς τὴν γῆν τὴν ἀγαθήν, γῆν ῥέουσαν γάλα καὶ μέλι; εὐλογητὸς ὁ κύριος ἡμῶν, ἀδελφοί, ὁ σοφίαν καὶ νοῦν θέμενος ἐν ἡμῖν τῶν κρυφίων αὐτοῦ· λέγει γὰρ ὁ προφήτης παραβολὴν κυρίου· τίς νοήσει, εἰ μὴ σοφὸς καὶ ἐπιστήμων καὶ ἀγαπῶν τὸν κύριον αὐτοῦ; ἐπεὶ οὖν ἀνακαινίσας ἡμᾶς ἄλλον τύπον, ὡς παιδίων ἔχειν τὴν ψυχήν, ὡς ἂν δὴ ἀναπλάσσοντος αὐτοῦ ἡμᾶς. λέγει γὰρ ἡ γραφὴ περί ἡμῶν, ὡς λέγει τῷ υἱῷ· Ποιήσωμεν κατ’ εἰκόνα καὶ καθ’ ὁμοίσιν ἡμῶν τὸν ἄνθρωπον, καὶ ἀρχέτωσαν τῶν θηρίων τῆς γῆς καὶ τῶν πετεινῶν τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ τῶν ἰχθύων τῆς θαλάσσης. καὶ εἶπεν κύριος, ἰδὼν τὸ καλὸν πλάσμα ἡμῶν· Αὐξάνεσθε καὶ πληθυνέσθε καὶ πληρώσατε τὴν γῆν. ταῦτα πρὸς τὸν υἱόν. πάλιν σοι ἐπιδειξω, πῶς πρὸς ἡμᾶς λέγει. δευτέραν πλάσιν ἐπ’ ἐσχάτων ἐποίησεν. λέγει δὲ κύριος· Ἰδού, ποιῶ τὰ ἔσχατα ὡς τὰ πρῶτα. εἰς τοῦτο οὖν ἐκήρυξεν ὁ προφήτης· Εἰσέλθατε εἰς γῆν ῥέουσαν γάλα καὶ μέλι καὶ κατακυριεύσατε αὐτῆς. ἴδε οὖν, ἡμεῖς ἀναπεπλάσμεθα, καθὼς πάλιν ἐν ἑτέρῳ προφήτῃ λέγει· Ἰδού, λέγει κύριος, ἐξελῶ τούτων, τουτέστιν ὧν προέβλεπεν τὸ πνεῦμα κυρίου, τὰς λιθίνας καρδίας καὶ ἐμβαλῶ σαρκίνας· ὅτι αὐτὸς ἐν σαρκὶ ἔμελλεν φανεροῦσθαι καὶ ἐν ἡμῖν κατοικεῖν. ναὸς γὰρ ἅγιος, ἀδελφοί μου, τῷ κυρίῳ τὸ κατοικητήριον ἡμῶν τῆς καρδίας. βαρναβα Ἐπιστολή

What does the other prophet Moses say to them? 'Behold, this is what the Lord God says, Enter into the good land, which the Lord vowed to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and take your inheritance, a land flowing with milk and honey.' And what does knowledge say? Learn. Put your hope, it says, in the Jesus who shall be shown to you in the flesh. For the suffering man is the land, Adam being shaped from the face of the earth. What then is the good land, the land flowing with milk and honey? Blessed be our Lord, brothers, for granting us wisdom and mind for hidden things. For the prophet speaks a parable of the Lord, but who would know it unless he were a wise and learned lover of his Lord? He renewed us, turning us into a different type, as ones having the souls of children as if we were refashioned. He says in Scripture, as he says to his Son, 'Let us make man in our own image and likeness and let him rule over the beasts of the earth and the birds of heaven and the fish of the sea.' And the Lord says, seeing the beauty of our fashioning, 'Increase and multiply and fill the earth.' These things he says to his Son and again I shall show you how he speaks it to us. A second creation he has made in these last times. The Lord says, 'Behold, I make the last things as the first.' About this then the prophet was speaking when he said, 'Enter a land flowing with milk and honey and take your inheritance.' See, then, that you have been refashioned, as again he says in another prophet: ' Behold, says the Lord, I will take from them,' that is those foreseen by the Spirit, 'hearts of stone and put in them hearts of flesh'. For he was to appear in the flesh and dwell among us. For it is now a holy temple, my brothers, these lowly dwelling places of our hearts. The Letter of Barnabas

Directing The Soul

Non ille secundum imaginem Dei homo vanitatis est: sed qui illud amisit, et in peccatum decidit, et in materialia ista dilapsus est, iste homo est vanitatis. Anima igitur secundum sui naturam optima est: sed plerumque per irrationabile sui obnoxia fit corruptioni, ut inclinetur ad voluptates corporis, et ad petulantiam, dum mensuram rerum non tenet, aut fallitur opinione, atque inclinata ad materiam agglutinatur corpori. Sic invisibile ejus impeditur, et malitia repletur; quia dum intendit malitiae, ejus se vitiis replet, et fit defectu bonitatis intemperantior. Perfecta autem anima aversatur materiam: omne immoderatum, mobile, malignum refugit ac respuit; nec videt, nec appropinquat ad ullius terrenae labis corruptionem: divinis intendit, terrenam autem materiam fugit. Fuga autem est, non terras relinquere, sed esse in terris, justitiam et sobrietatem tenere, renuntiare vitiis, non usibus elementorum. Fugiebat David sanctus a facie Saul; non utique, ut terras relinqueret, sed ut immitis, et inobservantis, et perfidi declinaret contagium. Fugiebat autem adhaerens Deo, sicut et ipse ait: Adhaesit anima mea post te'. Abducebat se, et ablevabat vitiis saeculi hujus, elevabat animam suam sicut Isaac in campo, vel abalienabat, vel (ut alii habent) deambulabat. Nam hoc quoque ostendit cum virtutibus familiare habere consortium, ut deambulet unusquisque in innocentia cordis sui, nullo usu terrenis vitiis misceatur, atque irreprehensibilem viam inoffenso mentis carpat vestigio, nec ullum locum in se aperiat corruptioni. Sanctus Ambrosius Mediolanensis, De Isaac et Anima

Man according to the image of God is not a vanity, but he who has lost the image and who has fallen into sin and has descended into material things, that man is a vanity. The soul, therefore, according to its own nature is excellent but through irrationality it is made subservient to corruption, so that it inclines to corporeal pleasures and to petulance and does not hold to moderation in things, or it is deceived by opinion and inclines to matter and is fastened to the body. So unseen it is impeded and it is filled with evil, for while intent on wickedness it fills itself with vices and becomes more intemperate through a lack of the good. The perfect soul turns from material things, everything immoderate, mutable, or wicked it flees and rejects, nor does it see nor come near any corruption of worldly faults, on the Divine it is intent, and earthly matter it flees. Yet its flight is not to abandon the world but to hold to it in righteousness and sobriety, renouncing the vices, not making use of their elements. Blessed David fled from the face of Saul, not that he leave the earth but that he avoid the contagion of one cruel, disobedient and treacherous. He fled that he adhere to God, as it is said 'My soul adheres to you.' He withdrew himself and lifted himself from the vices of this world, he lifted up his soul like Isaac who had withdrawn to the field, or as some have it, had walked about in the field. For this also shows familiar association with the virtues, that one walks in the innocence of one's heart, in no way mixed with worldly vices, and with blameless way of mind one takes the path without offence and in oneself there does not open any place of corruption. Saint Ambrose, On Isaac and the Soul