Against Heresies: Book IV

FOR THIS REASON: the Lord declared to the disciples: "Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the regions, for they are already white for harvest. The harvest-man receives wages and gathers fruit for eternal life, so that both the one who sows and the one who reaps may rejoice together. This saying is true, that one sows and another reaps. I have sent you forward to reap what you did not labor for; others have labored, and you have entered into their labor." Who, then, are those who have labored and helped advance God's plans? It is clear that they are the patriarchs and prophets, who prefigured our faith and spread the coming of the Son of God throughout the earth, revealing who and what He should be.

This was so that future generations, having the fear of God, might easily accept the coming of Christ, having been instructed by the prophets. And for this reason, when Joseph learned that Mary was with child and considered putting her away privately, the angel said to him in a dream: "Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for what is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. She shall bring forth a son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins." Encouraging him in this, he added: "All this has been done to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a son, and His name shall be called Emmanuel," thus influencing him with the prophet's words and clearing any blame from Mary, showing that she was the virgin mentioned by Isaiah, who would give birth to Emmanuel.

When Joseph was fully convinced, he took Mary and joyfully obeyed regarding all the rest of Christ's upbringing, undertaking a journey to Egypt and back, followed by a move to Nazareth. For this reason, those who did not know the Scriptures or God's promise, or the plan of Christ, eventually called him the child's father. For this reason, too, the Lord Himself read the prophecies of Isaiah in Capernaum: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me; He has sent Me to preach the Gospel to the poor, to heal the broken-hearted, to proclaim freedom to the captives, and sight to the blind." Showing that He Himself was the one foretold by Isaiah, He said to them: "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your ears."

FOR THIS REASON: Philip, when he found the eunuch of the Ethiopian queen reading these words: “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter; and as a lamb is silent before the shearer, so He did not open His mouth: in His humiliation His justice was taken away;” and all the rest that the prophet described about His suffering and His coming in the flesh, and how He was dishonored by those who did not believe Him, easily convinced him to believe that He was Christ Jesus, who was crucified under Pontius Pilate, suffered as the prophet predicted, and that He was the Son of God who gives eternal life to people.

And immediately after Philip baptized him, he left him. For baptism was the only thing he lacked, having already been taught by the prophets; he was not ignorant of God the Father or of the rules of proper living, but only unaware of the coming of the Son of God, which, once he had learned of it, he continued on his way rejoicing, to become the herald of Christ’s coming in Ethiopia. Therefore Philip did not have much effort to make with this man because he was already prepared with the fear of God by the prophets.

For this reason, too, the apostles, gathering the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and speaking to them from the Scriptures, proved that this crucified Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God; and they persuaded a great multitude who already had the fear of God. And in one day, three, four, and five thousand men were baptized.