Against Heresies: Book IV

GOD THE LORD DOES NOT REJECT THIS: nor does He claim that the prophets spoke from a different god than His Father; nor from any other essence, but from one and the same Father. He does not assert that anyone other than His own Father made the things in the world, as He explains in His teachings: “There was a certain householder, who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a winepress, built a tower, rented it to tenants, and went to another country.

When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his share of the fruit. The tenants seized his servants: they beat one, stoned another, and killed another. He sent more servants than the first time, and they treated them the same way.

Finally, he sent his only son to them, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir; let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.

When the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” They answered, “He will bring those wicked men to a miserable end and rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.” The Lord further said, “Have you never read, 'The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes?' Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.” Through these words, He clearly indicates to His disciples that there is one and the same Householder—that is, one God the Father, who made all things by Himself.

He shows that there are different tenants: some are stubborn, proud, worthless, and killers of the Lord, while others render Him obedience and the fruits in their seasons. It is the same Householder who sends His servants at one time and at another time His Son. From that Father, from whom the Son was sent to the tenants who killed Him, also came the servants.

But the Son, coming from the Father with supreme authority, used to say, “But I say to you.” The servants, coming as messengers from their Lord, spoke as servants and would say, “Thus says the Lord.”

THESE MEN PREACHED TO THE UNBELIEVERS AS THE LORD: Christ taught to those who obey Him; the God who called those of the former dispensation is the same as He who has received those of the latter. In other words, He who first used that law which involves bondage is also He who later called His people through adoption. For God planted the vineyard of the human race when He first formed Adam and chose the ancestors; then He leased it to farmers when He established the Mosaic dispensation: He hedged it around, meaning He gave specific instructions about their worship: He built a tower, meaning He chose Jerusalem: He dug a winepress, meaning He prepared a place for the prophetic Spirit.

He sent prophets before the Babylonian exile, and after that event, even more than before, to seek the fruits, saying to them (the Jews): “Thus says the Lord, Cleanse your ways and your deeds, execute just judgment, and look with pity and compassion on your brother: do not oppress the widow or the orphan, the foreigner or the poor, and let none of you store up evil against his brother in your hearts, and love not false swearing. Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean, remove evil from your hearts, learn to do well, seek judgment, protect the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow; and come, let us reason together, says the Lord.” And again: “Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking deceit; turn away from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.” In preaching these things, the prophets sought the fruits of righteousness.

But lastly, He sent to those unbelievers His own Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, whom the wicked farmers cast out of the vineyard after they killed Him.

Therefore, the Lord God gave it up (no longer hedged but open to all the world) to other farmers, who yield the fruits in their seasons,—the beautiful elect tower raised everywhere. For the illustrious Church is now everywhere, and everywhere is the winepress dug: because those who receive the Spirit are everywhere.

Since the former rejected the Son of God and cast Him out of the vineyard after they killed Him, God justly rejected them and gave to the Gentiles outside the vineyard the fruits of its cultivation. This aligns with what Jeremiah says, “The Lord has rejected and cast off the nation that does these things; for the children of Judah have done evil in my sight, says the Lord.” And again, Jeremiah similarly states: “I set watchmen over you; listen to the sound of the trumpet; and they said, We will not listen.

Therefore have the Gentiles heard, and they who feed the flocks among them.” It is therefore the same Father who planted the vineyard, led forth the people, sent the prophets, sent His own Son, and who gave the vineyard to other farmers that yield the fruits in their season.

AND THEREFORE THE LORD SAID TO HIS DISCIPLES: to make us become good workers: “Be careful, and constantly be alert in every situation, so that your hearts are not burdened with excessive eating, drinking, and the worries of this life, and that day will come upon you unexpectedly; for like a trap, it will come upon everyone living on the earth.” “Therefore, keep your loins girded and your lamps burning, and be like servants waiting for their master to return from the wedding.” “For as it was in the days of Noah, they ate and drank, they bought and sold, they married and were given in marriage, and they didn’t know until Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all; likewise, in the days of Lot, they ate and drank, they bought and sold, they planted and built, until Lot left Sodom; it rained fire from heaven and destroyed them all: so shall it be at the coming of the Son of man.” “Therefore, watch, for you don’t know on what day your Lord will come.” In these passages, He declares the same Lord, who in the times of Noah brought the flood because of man’s disobedience, and who also in the days of Lot rained fire from heaven because of the multitude of sinners among the Sodomites, and who, due to this same disobedience and similar sins, will bring the day of judgment at the end of time; on which day, He declares, it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah than for that city and house which does not receive the word of His apostles. “And you, Capernaum,” He said, “will you be exalted to heaven? You will go down to hell.

For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. Truly I say to you, that it will be more tolerable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.”

SINCE THE SON OF GOD REMAINS ALWAYS THE SAME: He gives eternal life to those who believe in Him, like a well of water springing up, but causes the unfruitful fig tree to immediately dry up. In the days of Noah, He justly brought the flood to destroy the wicked race of men who could not bear fruit for God because the angels that sinned had mixed with them. He did this to limit the sins of these men while preserving the archetype, the formation of Adam.

It was He who rained fire and brimstone from heaven on Sodom and Gomorrah in the time of Lot, “an example of the righteous judgment of God,” so that all may know, “that every tree that does not produce good fruit shall be cut down and thrown into the fire.” He also warned that it will be more bearable for Sodom in the general judgment than for those who witnessed His wonders and did not believe in Him or accept His teachings.

For as He gave a greater privilege to those who believed in Him and did His will through His coming, He also made it clear that those who did not believe in Him would face harsher punishment in judgment, ensuring equal justice for all. He expects more from those to whom He gives more; not because He reveals the knowledge of another Father, as I have shown thoroughly, but because through His coming, He has granted the human race the greater gift of paternal grace.

IF: however, what I have said isn't enough to convince anyone that the prophets were sent by the same Father who also sent our Lord, let that person open their heart and call upon the Master, Christ Jesus the Lord, and listen to Him when He says, “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding for his son and sent out his servants to invite those who were called to the wedding.” And when they didn't obey, He continues by saying, “He sent other servants, saying, Tell those who are invited, Come, I have prepared my banquet; my oxen and all the fattened cattle are killed, and everything is ready; come to the wedding.

But they ignored it and went their way, some to their farm, and others to their business; but the rest seized his servants, mistreated them, and killed them. When the king heard this, he was furious and sent his armies to destroy those murderers and burn their city, and said to his servants, The wedding is ready, but the ones who were invited were not worthy. Go into the highways, and invite as many as you find to the wedding.

So the servants went out, gathered all they found, both bad and good, and the wedding was filled with guests.

But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there without a wedding garment; and he said to him, Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment? But he was speechless. Then the king said to the servants, Bind him hand and foot and throw him into outer darkness: there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

For many are called, but few are chosen.” By these words, the Lord clearly shows that there is one King and Lord, the Father of all, about whom He previously said, “Do not swear by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King;” and that He prepared the wedding for His Son from the beginning and kindly called, through His servants, the people of the former covenant to the feast; and when they wouldn't obey, He still invited them by sending other servants.

Yet even then they didn't obey Him but instead stoned and killed those who brought the invitation. He then sent out His armies to destroy them and burn their city; but He called together guests from all highways, that is, from all nations, to the marriage feast of His Son, as He says through Jeremiah: “I have also sent my servants the prophets to say, Turn now, everyone, from his evil way, and amend your doings.” And again He says through the same prophet: “I have also sent my servants the prophets early and continually; yet they did not obey me or listen to me.

And you shall say to them: This is a people that does not listen to the voice of the Lord, nor receives correction; faith has perished from their mouth.” Therefore, the Lord who has called us everywhere through the apostles is the same one who called people of old through the prophets, as evident by the Lord's words; and although they preached to various nations, the prophets and apostles were not from different gods but from the same one. Some announced the Lord, others preached the Father, and others foretold the coming of the Son of God, while still others declared Him as already present to those who were then afar off.

HE FURTHER SHOWED THAT WE SHOULD BE ADORNED WITH WORKS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS AFTER OUR CALLING: so the Spirit of God may rest upon us; for this is the wedding garment, as the apostle speaks, “Not that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up by immortality.” Those called to God’s supper who haven’t received the Holy Spirit due to their wicked behavior, He says, "will be cast into outer darkness." This makes clear that the same King who gathered the faithful from all directions to the marriage of His Son and offers them the incorruptible banquet also commands that anyone without a wedding garment, one who disrespects it, be cast into outer darkness.

Just as in the former covenant, “He was not well pleased with many of them;” so it is here, “many are called, but few chosen.” It is not that one God judges and another Father calls us to salvation; nor that one grants eternal light and another sends those without the wedding garment into outer darkness. It is the same God, the Father of our Lord, from whom the prophets received their mission, who calls the unworthy through His infinite grace but examines those called to see if they wear the garment suitable for the marriage of His Son because nothing improper or evil pleases Him.

This aligns with the Lord's words to the man who was healed: “Behold, you are made whole; sin no more, lest something worse come to you.” For He who is good, righteous, pure, and spotless will not tolerate anything evil, unjust, or detestable in His wedding chamber. This is the Father of our Lord, whose providence sustains everything, and all is managed by His command; He bestows His free gifts on those who should receive them while justly meting out punishment according to their deserts, deservedly, to the ungrateful and those oblivious to His grace; thus, He says, “He sent His armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city.” He says “His armies” because all people belong to God. “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it; the world, and all who dwell therein.” Therefore, the Apostle Paul says in the Epistle to the Romans, “For there is no power but from God; the powers that exist are ordained by God.

Whoever resists the power resists God’s ordinance, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. Rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Will you not be afraid of the power? Do good, and you will receive praise, for he is God’s minister to you for good.

But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain: he is God's minister, the avenger for wrath upon the one who does evil.

Therefore, you must be subject, not only for wrath but for conscience's sake. For this reason, you also pay taxes; for they are God’s ministers, attending continually to this very task.” Thus, both the Lord and the apostles proclaim God the Father as the one who gave the law, sent the prophets, and made all things; hence He says, “He sent His armies,” for every person, as a person, is His creation, even if they do not know their God.

He gives existence to all; He “makes His sun rise upon the evil and the good and sends rain upon the just and unjust.”

AND NOT ONLY BY WHAT HAS BEEN STATED: but also through the parable of the two sons, where the younger son wasted his inheritance by living lavishly with harlots, did the Lord teach about the one and same Father. This Father did not even permit a goat for his elder son, but for the younger son who was lost, he ordered the fatted calf to be killed and gave him the best robe. Also, in the parable of the workers who were sent into the vineyard at different times of the day, it is shown that one and the same God called some at the beginning when the world was first created; others later, some during the in-between times, some after a long period, and others at the end of time. This shows that there are many workers throughout different generations, but only one master who calls them together. There is only one vineyard, just as there is only one righteousness and one custodian, for there is one Spirit of God who arranges all things; similarly, there is one reward, as each person received a penny stamped with the royal image and inscription, the knowledge of the Son of God, which is immortality. Therefore, He began by giving the reward to those who were hired last, because in the last times, when the Lord was revealed, He presented Himself to all as their reward.

IN THE CASE OF THE TAX COLLECTOR: who surpassed the Pharisee in prayer, we see that it wasn't because he worshipped a different Father that the Lord testified he was justified more than the other. It was because he humbly confessed to the same God without boasting or pride. The parable of the two sons is similar: those sent into the vineyard, where one initially refused his father but later repented, which was of no benefit to him; the other immediately promised to go but did not (for "every man is a liar;" "to will is present with him, but he finds no way to perform"),—this parable also points to the same Father.

This truth is also clearly shown by the parable of the fig tree, where the Lord says, “Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, but I find none.” This refers to His coming, announced by the prophets, seeking righteousness which He did not find, and because of this, the fig tree was to be cut down.

Without using a parable, the Lord addressed Jerusalem: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you; how often I have wanted to gather your children as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing! Behold, your house is left to you desolate." The parable saying, “Look, for three years I come seeking fruit,” and He who said, “How often would I have gathered your children,” would seem false if we don't understand His coming announced by the prophets—if He visited them only once for the first time. Yet, as the same Word of God who visited the patriarchs and through the prophetic Spirit both them and us, called together from all over by His coming, He truly declared, “Many will come from the east and west, and sit with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom will be thrown into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Therefore, if those who believe through the apostles’ preaching will sit with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, sharing the heavenly banquet, it's clear that the same God who chose the patriarchs also visited the people and called the Gentiles.