Книга пророка Иеремии, Глава 4, стих 4. Толкования стиха

CIRCUMCISION OF THE HEART. DIDASCALIA: Circumcision of the heart is sufficient for the faithful. It is spiritual, as he said by Jeremiah; light a lamp and “sow not among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to the Lord. Remove the foreskin of your hearts, O men of Judah.” DIDASCALIA 24. 6.12.

Обрежитеся Богу вашему и обрежите жестосердие ваше, мужие Иудины и обитающие во Иерусалиме.

Разве говорит об этом обрезании? Нет, а об обрезании в душе, так как то не есть обрезание Богу, (почему) не сказал бы: обрежитеся Богу. И иной сказал бы, что мы обрезываемся, — как же нет его (αὐτοῦ) *? Не хочу обрезания, совершаемого другим, а такого, которое совершается нами самими, которого каждый сам господин. То производится другим, производится над телом; а это не таково. Видишь ли, что древнее (обрезание) (установлено) было по снисхождению? Не сказал бы: Богу вашему, если бы не хотел показать, что то было не для Бога, так как какая от него польза для добродетели? Что скажет здесь иудей? Видишь ли, что закон дает разуметь нечто иное? Достаточен ли он для спасения, если таково обрезание? Как только новый (завет) начал мало-помалу открывать двери, ветхий сам собою утрачивал значение. Не Павел сказал об этом, иудей, не Петр издал закон. Сказал (это) Иеремия, которого почитаешь и ныне. Не из наших книг привожу это тебе; (впрочем), скорее из наших, чем твоих; и новозаветные (книги) не более наши, чем твои, и ветхозаветные не менее чужды .тебе: как тем не веришь, так и этим. Так отпал иудей от тех и других, а мы держимся тех и других, так как в обоих (Писаниях) — Дух (Божий).

Потом научает, какое обрезание угодно Богу. И обрежите жестосердие ваше; (говоря это) ясно показал, что видимое обрезание служит образом сокровенного и что при внутреннем обрезании телесное излишне. Имея в виду это, божественный апостол писал Римлянам: не бо иже яве Иудей есть, ни еже яве во плоти обрезание: но иже в тайне, Иудейки обрезание сердца духом, (а) не писанием: ему же похвала не от человек, но от Бога. Слышал повеление Бога, говорящего чрез пророка: обрежитеся Богу вашему, мужие Иудины и обитающий во Иерусалиме.

Да не изыдет яко огнь ярость моя, и возгорится, и не будет угашаяй, ради лукавства начинаний ваших.

Говорит по-человечески, желая их вразумить. Поэтому многократно наводит на них страх и (употребляет выражение), что не будет угашающего это бедствие. Так как они неоднократно возлагали надежды на Его человеколюбие, то поэтому уничтожает такую надежду. А непослушным делает угрозу. Да не изыдет яко огнь ярость моя. Вы одни своим раскаянием можете погасить (этот огонь); а если вы не раскаетесь, то никто не в силах избавить от наказания.

*Это αὐτοῦ может отмоется только к обрезанию (κεριτομὴ), почему вместо αὐτοῦ нужно, очевидно, читать: αὐτῆς.

CIRCUMCISION OF THE HEART. CYPRIAN: The first circumcision of the flesh is made void, and the second circumcision of the spirit is promised instead. In Jeremiah, “Thus says the Lord to the men of Judah, and to them who inhabit Jerusalem, ‘Renew newness among you, and do not sow among thorns. Circumcise the foreskin of your heart lest my anger go forth like fire, and burn you up, and there be none to extinguish it.’” TO QUIRINUS: TESTIMONIES AGAINST THE JEWS 1.8.

CHRISTIANS ARE CIRCUMCISED IN CHRIST BY BAPTISM. CYRIL OF JERUSALEM: Let us see, then, how Abraham is the father of many nations. We confess that he is the father of Jews, through descent according to the flesh. But if we hold to the descent according to the flesh, we are forced to say that the prophecy was false. For he is no longer father of us all according to the flesh. Yet the example of his faith makes us all children of Abraham. How and in what manner? With people it is unbelievable that one should rise from the dead. In the same way, it is also unbelievable that there should be offspring from aged persons as good as dead. Yet when Christ is preached as having been crucified on the tree, as having died and risen again, we believe it. By the likeness of our faith, therefore, we become the adopted children of Abraham. And consequently by our faith, like him, we receive the spiritual seal, being circumcised by the Holy Spirit through the font of baptism, not in the foreskin of the body, but in the heart, according to the words of Jeremiah: “For the sake of the Lord, be circumcised, remove the foreskins of your hearts.” And according to the apostle: In the “circumcision that is of Christ, buried together with him in baptism,” and so forth. CATECHETICAL LECTURES 5.6.

THE CHRISTIAN HAS A CIRCUMCISED HEART. EPISTLE OF BARNABAS: God circumcised our ears that we might hear the word and believe. But the circumcision in which they trust has also been abolished. For God said that circumcision was not of the flesh. But they were mistaken because an evil angel was teaching them vain cleverness. He says to them, “Thus says the Lord your God.” Here I find a commandment, “sow not among thorns. Be circumcised to your Lord.” And what does he say? “Circumcise the hardness of your heart, and do not stiffen your neck.” Take this again: “Behold, says the Lord, all the Gentiles are uncircumcised in the foreskin, but this people is uncircumcised in their heart.” EPISTLE OF BARNABAS 9.1-5.

MARCION WRONGLY INSISTS ON CIRCUMCISION. TERTULLIAN: Paul mentioned “certain false brethren as having crept in secretly,” who wished to turn the Galatians to another gospel. He shows that that adulteration of the gospel was not meant to transfer them to the faith of another god and christ, but rather to perpetuate the teaching of the law. He blames them for maintaining circumcision and observing times, and days, and months and years, according to those Jewish ceremonies that they ought to have known were now abolished, according to the new dispensation willed by the Creator, who foretold in ancient times this very thing by his prophets. Thus he says by Isaiah: “Old things have passed away. Behold, I will do a new thing.” And in another passage: “I will make a new covenant, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt.” In the same he said by Jeremiah: Make to yourselves a new covenant, “circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and take away the foreskins of your heart.” It is this circumcision, therefore, and this renewal, that the apostle insisted on when he forbade those ancient ceremonies concerning which their very founder announced that they were one day to cease. AGAINST MARCION 1.20.

SPIRITUAL CIRCUMCISION COMES WITH CHRIST. TERTULLIAN: This was God’s forethought: He gave circumcision to Israel, as a sign by which they might be identified when the time should arrive that their above-mentioned reward should prevent them from entering Jerusalem. This situation, because it would come to be, was announced. Because we see it accomplished, we recognize it. Just as the physical circumcision, which was temporary, was made to be “a sign” in a rebellious people, so spiritual circumcision has been given for salvation to an obedient people.

The prophet Jeremiah says, “Renew yourselves, and do not sow among thorns. Be cir-cumcised to God, and circumcise the foreskin of your heart,” and in another place he says, “Behold, days shall come, the Lord says, when I will draw up for the house of Judah and for the house of Jacob a new testament; not such as I once gave their fathers in the day that I led them out from the land of Egypt.” AN ANSWER TO THE JEWS 3.