ACC ~ John 5 v46 - 47

IN EVERY WAY CHRIST FULFILLS MOSES’ PROPHECY

CHRYSOSTOM: Someone might say, “What do you have to do with Moses when you broke the very sabbath that he ordained we should keep? How then does Moses accuse us? And why should we believe on someone else who comes in his own name? All these assertions you make have no evidence to back them up.” Now in truth all these points are proved above. “For,” [Christ would reply] “since it is acknowledged that I came from God by my works, by the voice of John and the testimony of the Father, it is certain that Moses too would condemn you.” For Moses had said that if any one shall come doing miracles, leading people to God and foretelling the future with certainty, [1] you must obey him. Now Christ had done all this. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 41.2. [2]

[1] See Deut 13:1, although there they were commanded to put the prophet to death if he was a false prophet.

[2] NPNF 1 14:149*.

CHRIST’S WORDS

IRENAEUS: Christ here indicates in the clearest possible way that the writings of Moses are his words. If, then, this is the case with Moses, then it is also beyond doubt that the words of the other prophets are his words as well. AGAINST HERESIES 4.2.3. [1]

[1] ANF 1:464**.

THE MEDIATOR GAVE THE LAW TO MOSES

HILARY OF POITIERS: Moses, indeed, will refute you with the whole volume of the law, ordained through angels, which he received by the hand of the Mediator. Enquire whether he who gave the law was not true God, for the Mediator was the Giver. And was it not to meet God that Moses led the people out to the mountain? Was it not God who came down onto the mountain? Or was it, perhaps, only by a fiction or an adoption, and not by right of nature, that he who did all this bore the name of God?… In your eyes is he not God just because he addressed you through the weak faculties of a man so that you might hear and live? ON THE TRINITY 5.23. [1]

[1] NPNF 2 9:91-92*.

THE KERNEL IS HIDDEN IN THE HUSK

AUGUSTINE: But just as in barley the kernel is hidden in the husk, so Christ is hidden under the wraps of the mysteries of the law. Like bread, those mysteries are expounded and expanded. SERMON 130.1. [1]

[1] WSA 3 4:310.