Prescription against Heretics 26
Summary: Christ commanded the apostles to preach openly, and they feared no one; they did not keep a secret rule of faith for a few that differed from what they taught all.
Latin text · Oehler 2:24–25
Porro consequens erat, ut cui demandabat evangelii administrationem non passim nec inconsiderate administrandam, adiceret secundum dominicam vocem, ne margaritam porcis et sanctum canibus iactaret. Dominus palam edixit, sine ulla significatione alicuius tecti sacramenti. Ipse praeceperat, si quid in tenebris et in abscondito audissent, in luce et in tectis praedicarent. Ipse per similitudinem praefiguraverat, ne unam mnam, id est unum verbum eius, sine fructu in abdito reservarent. Ipse docebat lucernam non sub modium abstrudi solere, sed in candelabrum constitui, ut luceat omnibus qui in domo sunt. Haec apostoli aut neglexerunt aut minime intellexerunt, si non adimpleverunt, abscondentes aliquid de Lumine, id est de dei verbo et Christi sacramento. Neminem, quod scio, verebantur, non Iudaeorum vim, non ethnicorum; quo magis utique in ecclesia libere praedicabant qui in synagogis et in locis publicis non tacebant. Immo neque Iudaeos convertere neque ethnicos inducere potuissent, nisi quod credi ab eis volebant ordine exponerent. Multo magis iam credentibus ecclesiis nihil subtraxissent quod aliis paucis seorsum demandarent. Quamquam, etsi quaedam inter domesticos, ut ita dixerim, disserebant, non tamen ea fuisse credendum est quae aliam regulam fidei superducerent, diversam et contrariam illi quam catholice in medium proferebant, ut alium deum in ecclesia dicerent, alium in hospitio, aliam Christi substantiam designarent in aperto, aliam in secreto, aliam spem resurrectionis apud omnes annuntiarent, aliam apud paucos, cum ipsi obsecrarent in epistulis suis, ut id ipsum et unum loquerentur omnes, et non essent schismata et dissensiones in ecclesia, quia sive Paulus sive alii eadem praedicarent. Alioquin meminerant, Sit sermo vester: est, est, non, non, nam quod amplius, hoc a malo est, ne evangelium in diversitate tractarent.
English · Claude translation
Further, it followed naturally that when he entrusted to Timothy the administration of the gospel, not to be administered indiscriminately or thoughtlessly, he should add, according to the Lord's saying, that he should not throw a pearl to swine or what is holy to dogs. The Lord spoke openly, without any hint of a hidden mystery. He himself had commanded that whatever they had heard in darkness and in secret they should preach in the light and on the housetops. He himself had prefigured by a parable that they should not keep a single mina, that is, a single word of his, hidden away without fruit. He himself taught that a lamp is not usually hidden under a bushel but set on a lampstand, to give light to all who are in the house. These things the apostles either neglected or did not understand at all, if they did not fulfill them by hiding something of the Light, that is, of the word of God and the mystery of Christ. They feared no one, as far as I know, neither the violence of the Jews nor of the heathen; all the more, then, did they preach freely in the church, who did not keep silent in synagogues and public places. Indeed they could neither have converted Jews nor brought in heathen unless they set out in order what they wanted them to believe. Much less would they have withheld anything from churches that already believed, to entrust it privately to a few others. Even if they discussed certain things among intimates, so to speak, it is still not to be believed that these were things that would bring in another rule of faith, different from and contrary to the one they set forth publicly to all, so that they spoke of one God in the church and another at home, described one substance of Christ in the open and another in secret, announced one hope of resurrection before all and another before a few; since they themselves implored in their letters that all should speak one and the same thing, and that there should be no schisms and dissensions in the church, because whether Paul or others, they preached the same things. Besides, they remembered, “Let your word be: yes, yes; no, no; for whatever is more than this is from the evil one,” so that they should not handle the gospel in contradictions.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations and allusions are Matt 7:6, 10:27, Luke 19:20-24, Matt 5:15, 1 Cor 1:10, 1 Cor 15:11, and Matt 5:37. Sacramentum is rendered “mystery.” “Publicly to all” renders catholice.
Cite this passage
Tertullian, Praescr. 26 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-praescriptione/26/).
Plain text
Tertullian, Praescr. 26 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-praescriptione/26/).
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