Prescrição contra os Hereges 7

1Chego agora ao ponto invocado tanto por nossos irmãos como pelos hereges. Os irmãos o apresentam como pretexto para empreender investigações curiosas; os hereges insistem nele para introduzir os escrúpulos de sua incredulidade. Está escrito, dizem eles: ‘Buscai e encontrareis.’ Recordemos quando o Senhor disse isso. Penso que foi bem no início de seu ensinamento, quando todos ainda duvidavam de que ele fosse o Cristo, Pedro ainda não o declarara Filho de Deus e até João Batista deixara de estar seguro a seu respeito. Portanto, com razão se disse então: ‘Buscai e encontrareis’, quando ainda era preciso investigar aquele que não era conhecido. Além disso, tais palavras foram dirigidas aos judeus.

1I come now to the point which (is urged both by our own brethren and by the heretics). Our brethren adduce it as a pretext for entering on curious inquiries, and the heretics insist on it for importing the scrupulosity (of their unbelief). It is written, they say, "Seek, and ye shall find." Let us remember at what time the Lord said this. I think it was at the very outset of His teaching, when there was still a doubt felt by all whether He were the Christ, and when even Peter had not yet declared Him to be the Son of God, and John (Baptist) had actually ceased to feel assurance about Him. With good reason, therefore, was it then said, "Seek, and ye shall find," when inquiry was still be to made of Him who was not yet become known. Besides, this was said in respect of the Jews.

2Pois a eles diz respeito toda a matéria dessa censura, visto que possuíam uma revelação na qual podiam buscar Cristo.

2For it is to them that the whole matter of this reproof pertains, seeing that they had (a revelation) where they might seek Christ.

3‘Eles têm’, diz ele, ‘Moisés e Elias’, isto é, a Lei e os Profetas que anunciam Cristo; assim também diz claramente em outro lugar: ‘Examinai as Escrituras, nas quais esperais encontrar a salvação; elas dão testemunho de mim.’ Esse é o sentido de ‘Buscai e encontrareis’. É evidente que as palavras seguintes também se aplicam aos judeus: ‘Batei e vos será aberto.’ Os judeus outrora estiveram em aliança com Deus, mas, rejeitados depois por causa de seus pecados, passaram a estar sem Deus. Os gentios, ao contrário, jamais estiveram em aliança com Deus; eram apenas ‘uma gota de um balde’ e ‘pó da eira’, e sempre permaneceram do lado de fora da porta. Ora, como poderá bater à porta aquele que sempre esteve fora, onde nunca se encontrou? Que porta conhece quem jamais passou por ela, seja para entrar, seja para ser expulso?

3"They have," says He, "Moses and Elias,"--in other words, the law and the prophets, which preach Christ; as also in another place He says plainly, "Search the Scriptures, in which ye expect (to find) salvation; for they testify of me;" which will be the meaning of "Seek, and ye shall find." For it is clear that the next words also apply to the Jews: "Knock, and it shall be opened unto you." The Jews had formerly been in covenant with God; but being afterwards cast off on account of their sins, they began to be without God. The Gentiles, on the contrary, had never been in covenant with God; they were only as "a drop from a bucket," and "as dust from the threshing floor, and were ever outside the door. Now, how shall he who was always outside knock at the place where he never was? What door does he know of, when he has passed through none, either by entrance or ejection?

4Não será antes aquele que sabe ter morado dentro e ter sido lançado fora quem provavelmente encontrará a porta e baterá nela? Do mesmo modo, ‘Pedi e recebereis’ é dito com propriedade a quem sabia a quem devia pedir, e por quem lhe fora feita uma promessa: ‘o Deus de Abraão, de Isaac e de Jacó’. Os gentios, porém, nada sabiam dele nem de suas promessas.

4Is it not rather he who is aware that he once lived within and was thrust out, that (probably) found the door and knocked thereat? In like manner, "Ask, and ye shall receive," is suitably said to one who was aware from whom he ought to ask,--by whom also some promise had been given; that is to say, "the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob." Now, the Gentiles knew nothing either of Him, or of any of His promises.

5Foi, portanto, a Israel que ele falou ao dizer: ‘Não fui enviado senão às ovelhas perdidas da casa de Israel.’ Ainda não havia ‘lançado aos cães o pão dos filhos’; ainda não lhes ordenara ‘ir pelo caminho dos gentios’. Só no fim lhes ensina a ‘ir e instruir todas as nações e batizá-las’, quando logo receberiam ‘o Espírito Santo, o Consolador, que os guiaria a toda a verdade’. Isso também conduz à mesma conclusão.

5Therefore it was to Israel that he spake when He said, "I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." Not yet had He "cast to the dogs the children's bread;" not yet did He charge them to "go into the way of the Gentiles." It is only at the last that He instructs them to "go and teach all nations, and baptize them," when they were so soon to receive "the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, who should guide them into all the truth." And this, too, makes towards the the same conclusion.

6Se os apóstolos, destinados a ensinar os gentios, teriam o próprio Consolador por mestre, menos necessário ainda seria dizer-nos ‘Buscai e encontrareis’, pois receberíamos, sem investigação, nossa instrução dos apóstolos, e estes a receberiam do Espírito Santo. Todas as palavras do Senhor, na verdade, foram expostas a todos os homens; chegaram até nós pelos ouvidos dos judeus. Contudo, a maior parte foi dirigida a pessoas judias e, portanto, não constitui instrução propriamente destinada a nós, mas antes um exemplo.

6If the apostles, who were ordained to be teachers to the Gentiles, were themselves to have the Comforter for their teacher, far more needless was it to say to us, "Seek, and ye shall find," to whom was to come, without research, our instruction by the apostles, and to the apostles themselves by the Holy Ghost. All the Lord's sayings, indeed, are set forth for all men; through the ears of the Jews have they passed on to us. Still most of them were addressed to Jewish persons; they therefore did not constitute instruction properly designed for ourselves, but rather an example.