Tertullian, Against Marcion 24

He also adduces the other seventy apostles alongside the twelve. Why would the twelve correspond to the seventy-two springs in Elim, if not the seventy to the seventy palm trees? The antithesis created a great diversity of causes, not of powers; but whoever ignored the difference in causes easily concluded it was a difference in powers. 'The Creator brought the departure of the sons of Israel out of Egypt, loaded even with the spoils of golden and silver vessels and garments, in addition to the burdens of sprinkled dough' (Exodus 12:35–36), 'but Christ prescribed that the disciples should not even carry a staff on the journey' (Luke 9:3). The former were led into solitude; the latter were sent into cities. Consider the circumstances, and you will see it is one and the same power, which arranged the expedition of its own according to scarcity and abundance—so that it would abound through cities, having been circumcised, just as it was led through solitude. He also forbade them to carry sandals; for he was the one under whom the people did not wear out their sandals in the wilderness for so many years (Deuteronomy 29:5). 'You will greet no one on the road' (Luke 10:4). O Christ, destroyer of the prophets, from whom he received this very command! When Elisha sent his servant Gehazi on the road to the Shunammite's son to raise him from death, I think he commanded him thus: 'Gird your loins, take my staff in your hand, and go. Whomever you meet on the road, do not bless him—that is, do not greet him—and whoever blesses you, do not answer him—that is, do not return the greeting' (2 Kings 4:29). What is a blessing on the road except a mutual greeting upon meeting? So also the Lord's command: 'Into whatever house you enter, first say, "Peace to this house"' (Luke 10:5) follows the same pattern. For Elisha also commanded: 'When you enter the Shunammite's house, say to her, "Peace to your husband, peace to your son"' (2 Kings 4:29). These will be our antitheses—antitheses that compare, not separate, Christ. Who will pronounce a worker worthy of his wage more authoritatively than God the judge? For to judge is itself to make the worker worthy of his wage. No retribution exists without judgment. Even now the law of the Creator is sealed, judging even working oxen worthy of their wage: 'You shall not muzzle the ox that treads out the grain' (Deuteronomy 25:4). Who is so generous to humans, unless it is the one who is also generous to beasts? If Christ also pronounces workers worthy of their wage, he has vindicated the Creator's command about taking the gold and silver vessels of the Egyptians. Those Egyptians had worked the estates and cities for Israel; they were indeed worthy workers, not driven to fraud but to compensation they could not otherwise extract from their rulers (Exodus 3:21–22). The kingdom of God is neither new nor unheard of, which he confirmed by commanding it to be announced as having drawn near. What was once far off can be said to have drawn near. But if it was never far off before it drew near, it could not be said to have drawn near, because it was never far off. Everything new and unknown is sudden. Everything sudden, when announced, then for the first time takes on an appearance and then for the first time receives its time. Moreover, it could not have delayed before it was announced, nor, from the moment it began to be announced, did it draw near. He also adds that they should say to those who did not receive them: 'Know that the kingdom of God has drawn near' (Luke 10:11). If he does not command this also for the sake of a threat, he commands it in vain. What does it matter to them if the kingdom draws near, unless it draws near with judgment? Surely for the salvation of those who received its announcement. How, if a threat cannot exist without execution, do you have God the executor in the threatener and the judge in both? So also he commands them to shake off the dust against them as a testimony of the rejection even of their land, let alone the rest of their communion (Luke 10:11). For if inhumanity and inhospitality bring no vengeance from him, to what does he send a testimony—one that portends threats? Furthermore, when the Creator also prohibits Ammonites and Moabites from being admitted into the assembly in Deuteronomy, because they treated the people departing from Egypt inhumanely and inhospitably, defrauding them of supplies (Deuteronomy 23:3–4), therefore it will stand established that the ban on communion comes from Christ, where it has its form. 'He who rejects you rejects me' (Luke 10:16). The Creator said this to Moses as well: 'They have not rejected you, but me' (Numbers 16:30 LXX / 1 Samuel 8:7). For Moses is as much an apostle as the prophets are apostles. The authority of both offices had to be equal from one and the same Lord of apostles and prophets. Who now will give the power to tread on serpents and scorpions? The Lord of all animals, or not even the God of one lizard? But it is well that the Creator also promised this power to little children through Isaiah: to put a hand into the den of asps and the nest of adders without being harmed at all (Isaiah 11:8). And we certainly know—preserving the simplicity of Scripture, for not even the beasts can harm where there is faith—that scorpions and serpents figuratively portend spiritual evils, whose prince is also designated by the Creator under the name of serpent, dragon, and every prominent beast. He gave this power to his prior Christ, as the ninetieth psalm says to him: 'You will tread on the asp and the basilisk; you will trample the lion and the dragon' (Psalms 91:13), just as Isaiah also says: 'On that day the Lord God will bring his holy, great, and strong sword, namely Christ, against that great and tortuous serpent, and he will kill it on that day' (Isaiah 27:1). But also when the same prophet says: 'A pure and holy way will be called, and the unclean will not pass through it, and there will be no unclean way in it; those who are dispersed will go in it and will not err, and there will be no lion, nor any of the worst beasts that will ascend into it, nor will it be found in it' (Isaiah 35:8–9), since 'way' demonstrates faith, through which we come to God, then already to this way—that is, to faith—he promises this evacuation and subjection of beasts. Finally, you will also find that the times of the promise agree, if you read what precedes: 'Be strong, you with hands diminished and knees relaxed; then the eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the deaf will hear; then the lame will leap like a deer and the tongue of the mute will be clear' (Isaiah 35:3–6). Therefore, where he has bestowed the benefits of medicines, then also he has subjected scorpions and serpents to his saints—namely, he who received this power first from the Father, that he might also bestow it on others, and exhibited it according to the order of preaching.