The First Apology

When you hear the words of the prophets spoken as if directly, you must not think that they are spoken by the inspired individuals themselves, but by the Divine Word who moves them. Sometimes He declares future events, as one who predicts the future; sometimes He speaks as if from the voice of God, the Lord and Father of all; sometimes as from the perspective of Christ; sometimes as from the perspective of the people responding to the Lord or His Father, much like you can see in your own writers, where one person is the author of the whole, but introduces different characters who speak. The Jews who had the books of the prophets did not understand this, and therefore did not recognize Christ even when He came. They even hate us who say that He has come and who prove that, as was foretold, He was crucified by them.