Against Heresies: Book IV

MOREOVER: the prophets clearly indicate that God did not need their slavish obedience, but that certain observances in the law were commanded for their own benefit. Similarly, God did not need their offerings, but required them for the sake of the people who offered them, as the Lord distinctly taught. When He saw them neglecting righteousness and the love of God, and thinking that God could be appeased by sacrifices and other rituals, Samuel spoke to them: “God does not desire burnt offerings and sacrifices, but He wants His voice to be heard.

Behold, obedience is better than sacrifice, and to listen is better than the fat of rams.” David also says: “You did not desire sacrifice and offering, but you opened my ears; burnt offerings for sin You did not require.” He thus teaches them that God desires obedience, which keeps them secure, rather than sacrifices, which do nothing for righteousness; and he also prophesies the new covenant at the same time. He speaks even more clearly in Psalm 50: “For if You had desired sacrifice, I would have given it: You do not delight in burnt offerings.

The true sacrifice to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart You, God, will not despise.” Since God needs nothing, He says in the previous Psalm: “I will take no calves from your house, nor goats from your folds. For all the animals of the forest are Mine, the herds and the oxen on the mountains: I know all the birds of the skies, and the creatures of the field are Mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell you: for the world is Mine, and all its fullness.

Shall I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?” Then, to avoid any assumption that He rejects these things out of anger, He continues, advising man: “Offer to God the sacrifice of praise, and fulfill your vows to the Most High; and call upon Me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me;” rejecting those things sinners thought could appease God, and showing that He needs nothing; but He advises them towards things that justify man and draw him close to God.

The same declaration is made by Isaiah: “To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me? says the Lord. I am full.” After rejecting burnt offerings, sacrifices, and the new moons, sabbaths, festivals, and all associated rituals, He continues exhorting them towards what pertains to salvation: “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean, take away wickedness from your hearts before My eyes: cease your evil ways, learn to do good, seek justice, relieve the oppressed, defend the fatherless, plead for the widow; and come, let us reason together, says the Lord.”

IT WAS NOT BECAUSE HE WAS ANGRY: like a human, as many dare to say, that He rejected their sacrifices. Instead, it was out of compassion for their blindness and to guide them towards the true sacrifice, by which they can appease God and receive life from Him. As He declares elsewhere, "The sacrifice to God is a troubled heart; a heart glorifying Him who formed it is a sweet aroma to God." For if He had rejected their sacrifices in anger, as if they were unworthy of His compassion, He certainly would not have recommended the very things that could save them. But since God is merciful, He did not withhold good advice from them. After saying through Jeremiah, "What is the use of bringing Me incense from Saba, and cinnamon from a far country? Your burnt-offerings and sacrifices are not acceptable to Me," He continues: "Listen to the word of the Lord, all Judah. These are the words of the God of Israel: Straighten your ways and deeds, and I will establish you in this place. Do not trust in deceitful words, for they are of no benefit, saying, 'The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, it is [here].'"

3. Again, when He points out that it was not for sacrifices that He led them out of Egypt, but so they could forget the Egyptians' idolatry and hear the Lord's voice, which was their salvation and glory, He declares through Jeremiah: "Thus says the Lord: Gather your burnt offerings with your sacrifices and eat the meat. For I did not speak to your ancestors or command them concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices on the day I brought them out of Egypt. Instead, I commanded them, saying, Listen to My voice, and I will be your God, and you will be My people; and walk in all the ways I have commanded you, that it may be well with you. But they did not obey or listen; instead, they followed their own evil hearts and went backward, not forward."

AGAIN: He declares through the same man, "But let the one who boasts, boast in this: that they understand and know that I am the Lord, who exercises loving-kindness, righteousness, and judgment on the earth;" He adds, "For in these things I delight, says the Lord," but not in sacrifices or burnt offerings, or oblations. For the people did not receive these commandments as primary, but as secondary, and for the previously mentioned reason, as Isaiah again says: "You have not brought Me the sheep of your burnt offerings, nor have you glorified Me with your sacrifices. You have not served Me with sacrifices, nor have you troubled yourself with incense for Me. You have not bought Me incense with money, nor have I desired the fat of your sacrifices; but you have stood before Me in your sins and iniquities." Therefore, He says, "I will look upon the one who is humble, meek, and trembles at My words." "For the fat and rich flesh will not take away your unrighteousness." "This is the fast I have chosen, says the Lord: Break every chain of wickedness, undo the ties of oppressive agreements, give relief to those who are shaken, and cancel every unjust document. Share your bread willingly with the hungry, and bring the homeless stranger into your house. If you see the naked, cover them, and do not turn away from your own flesh and blood. Then your light will break forth like the morning, and your healing will spring up quickly; and your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will surround you: and while you are speaking, I will say, Here I am."

Zechariah also, among the twelve prophets, points out the will of God to the people, saying: "These things the Omnipotent declares: Execute true judgment, and show mercy and compassion to each one to his brother. Do not oppress the widow, the orphan, the foreigner, or the poor; and let none imagine evil against your brother in his heart." And again, he says: "These are the words you shall speak. Speak the truth, each one to your neighbor, and execute peaceful judgment in your gates, and let none of you imagine evil in his heart against his brother, and do not love false oaths: for all these things I hate, says the Almighty." Moreover, David also says similarly: "Who is the person that desires life and longs to see good days? Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking deceit. Turn away from evil, and do good: seek peace, and pursue it."

FROM ALL THIS: it is clear that God did not seek sacrifices and burnt offerings from them, but rather faith, obedience, and righteousness, because of their salvation. As God, when teaching them His will through Hosea the prophet, said, “I desire mercy rather than sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.” Moreover, our Lord also encouraged them with the same message when He said, "But if you had known what this means, 'I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the guiltless." In this way, He testifies to the prophets, affirming that they preached the truth, while criticizing these people (His listeners) for being foolish by their own fault.

AGAIN: instructing His disciples to present to God the first-fruits of His own created things—not because He needs them, but so they might not be unfruitful or ungrateful—He took that created thing, bread, and gave thanks, and said, “This is My body.” And the cup likewise, which is part of that creation to which we belong, He declared to be His blood, and taught the new offering of the new covenant. The Church, receiving this from the apostles, offers it to God throughout the world, to Him who provides us, in the New Testament, with the means of subsistence—the first-fruits of His gifts—about which Malachi, among the twelve prophets, spoke beforehand: “I have no pleasure in you, says the Omnipotent, and I will not accept sacrifice from your hands. For from the rising of the sun to its setting, My name is glorified among the Gentiles, and in every place incense and a pure sacrifice are offered to My name; for great is My name among the Gentiles, says the Omnipotent.” By these words, he clearly indicates that the former people [the Jews] will indeed cease to make offerings to God, but that in every place sacrifice and a pure one will be offered to Him, and His name is glorified among the Gentiles.

BUT WHAT OTHER NAME IS HONORED AMONG THE GENTILES THAN THAT OF OUR LORD: by whom the Father is honored, and humanity also? And because it is the name of His own Son, who was made man by Him, He calls it His own. Just as a king, if he himself paints a portrait of his son, is right to call this portrait his own, for both these reasons: because it is the portrait of his son, and because it is his own creation. In the same way, the Father acknowledges the name of Jesus Christ, which is glorified throughout all the world in the Church, to be His own, both because it is that of His Son, and because He who thus describes it gave Him for the salvation of humanity. Therefore, since the name of the Son belongs to the Father, and since the Church makes offerings through Jesus Christ to the omnipotent God, He rightly says on both these grounds, “And in every place, incense is offered to My name, and a pure sacrifice.” Now John, in the Apocalypse, declares that the “incense” is “the prayers of the saints.”