Christ, Covenant and Light of the Nations
Logos 1.
He who is God and Lord has appeared among us, according to the Scriptures (Psalm 118:27), and through Him the flock of those who were wandering has been gathered in, as in a net, to the grace that comes through faith. For He was the expectation of the nations (Genesis 49:10), and through Him God the Father called those in mist and darkness to the light of the truth. And He made this plain to us a little earlier, saying: “I, the Lord God, have called You in righteousness, and I will hold Your hand and strengthen You; and I have given You as a covenant of the race, as a light of the nations, to open the eyes of the blind, to bring out of bonds those who are bound, and out of the prison house those who sit in deep darkness” (Isaiah 42:6-7).
For our Lord Jesus Christ has been appointed by God the Father as a covenant for the race according to the flesh, I mean those of Israel, to whom God promised long ago through one of the prophets, saying: “Behold, days are coming, says the Lord, and I will accomplish for the house of Israel and for the house of Judah a new covenant, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers” (Jeremiah 31:31-32). For the divine Moses was a minister of shadow and type, standing in the rank of a suppliant; but Christ, as Son and Lord, became the arbiter of a new covenant. I call it new because it reshapes man into the newness of a holy life, and through the Gospel way of life shows him to be an approved and true worshipper; for “God is Spirit,” it says, “and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:24).
So He has been appointed as a covenant of the race and as a light of the nations, to open the eyes of the blind and to bring out of bonds those who are bound. For Satan, the author of evil, darkened the hearts of the nations; for “they became futile in their reasonings, and claiming to be wise they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds, and of four-footed beasts, and of creeping things” (Romans 1:21-23).
But the true light (John 1:9), that is, Christ, rose for us as a spiritual morning star and as the sun of righteousness (Malachi 4:2); spreading the ray of the true knowledge of God, He scattered the darkness that the devil's deceit had brought down on those upon the earth, and He set free from their bonds those who were held fast, beyond escape, by the chains of their own sins. So, since those who of old served the creation rather than the Creator (Romans 1:25), who had darkness in their minds, who … the works of their own hands …
Greek
ΛΟΓΟΣ Αʹ.}1 Ἐπέφανεν ἐν ἡμῖν Θεὸς ὢν Κύριος, κατὰ τὰς Γραφὰς, καὶ σεσαγήνευται δι' αὐτοῦ πρὸς τὴν διὰ πίστεως χάριν ἡ τῶν πλανωμένων ἀγέλη. Προσδο- κία γὰρ ἦν ἐθνῶν, καὶ τοὺς ἐν ὀμίχλῃ καὶ σκότῳ πρὸς τὸ τῆς ἀληθείας ἐκάλεσε φῶς ὁ Θεὸς καὶ Πα- τὴρ δι' αὐτοῦ. Καὶ τοῦτο ἡμῖν κατέστησεν ἐναργὲς διὰ τῶν ὀπίσω, βραχὺ λέγων· "6Ἐγὼ Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς ἐκάλεσά σε ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ, καὶ κρατήσω τῆς χειρός σου, καὶ ἐνισχύσω σε, καὶ δέδωκά σε εἰς διαθήκην γένους, εἰς φῶς ἐθνῶν, ἀνοῖξαι ὀφθαλμοὺς τυφλῶν, ἐξαγαγεῖν ἐκ δεσμῶν δεδεμένους, καὶ ἐξ οἴκου φυ- λακῆς καθημένους ἐν σκότῳ βαθεῖ."6 Τέθειται γὰρ ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Πατρὸς εἰς διαθήκην μὲν τοῦ κατὰ σάρκα γένους, φημὶ δὴ τῶν ἐξ Ἰσραὴλ, οἷς καὶ πάλαι Θεὸς ἐπηγγέλλετο δι' ἑνὸς προφήτου λέγων· "6Ἰδοὺ ἡμέραι ἔρχονται, λέ- γει Κύριος, καὶ συντελέσω ἐπὶ τὸν οἶκον Ἰσραὴλ, καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν οἶκον Ἰούδα διαθήκην καινὴν, οὐ κατὰ τὴν διαθήκην ἣν διεθέμην τοῖς πατράσιν αὐτῶν."6 Μω- σῆς μὲν γὰρ ὁ θεσπέσιος, σκιᾶς καὶ τύπου διάκονος ἦν, ἐν μέτροις ὑπάρχων τοῖς ἱκετικοῖς. Χριστός γε μὴν ὡς Υἱὸς καὶ Κύριος διαθήκης καινῆς γέγονε βραβευτής. Καινῆς δέ φημι, τῆς εἰς καινότητα ζωῆς ἁγίας ἀναμορφούσης τὸν ἄνθρωπον, καὶ διὰ πολι- τείας εὐαγγελικῆς εὐδόκιμον, καὶ ἀληθινὸν ἀποφαι- νούσης προσκυνητήν· "6Πνεῦμα γὰρ, φησὶν, ὁ Θεὸς, καὶ τοὺς προσκυνοῦντας αὐτὸν ἐν πνεύματι καὶ ἀλη- θείᾳ δεῖ προσκυνεῖν."6 Οὐκοῦν τέθειται εἰς διαθήκην γένους, καὶ εἰς φῶς ἐθνῶν, τοῦ ἀνοῖξαι ὀφθαλμοὺς τυφλῶν, καὶ ἐξαγαγεῖν ἐκ δεσμῶν δεδεμένους. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ ἀρχέκακος Σατανᾶς κατεσκότισε τῶν ἐθνῶν τὰς καρδίας· "6Ἐματαιώθησαν γὰρ ἐν τοῖς διαλογισμοῖς αὐτῶν, καὶ φάσκοντες εἶναι σοφοὶ ἐμωράνθησαν, καὶ ἤλλαξαν τὴν δόξαν τοῦ ἀφθάρτου Θεοῦ ἐν ὁμοιώματι εἰκόνος φθαρτοῦ ἀνθρώπου, καὶ πετεινῶν, καὶ τετρα- πόδων, καὶ ἑρπετῶν."6 Τὸ δέ γε φῶς τὸ ἀληθινὸν, τοῦτ' ἔστι, Χριστὸς, ὡς νοητὸς ἡμῖν ἀνέτειλεν ἑωσφό- ρος, καὶ ὡς τῆς δικαιοσύνης ἥλιος, τὴν τῆς ἀληθοῦς θεογνωσίας ἁπλώσας ἀκτῖνα, τὸν ἐκ 315 διαβολικῆς ἀπά- ‹70.860› της ἐπισκήψαντα τοῖς ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς κατεσκέδασε σκό- τον· ἠλευθέρωσεν ἐκ δεσμῶν τοὺς ταῖς τῶν οἰκείων πλημμελημάτων σειραῖς ἐν ἀφύκτοις εἰλημμένους. Ὅτι τοίνυν οἱ πάλαι τῇ κτίσει παρὰ τὸν Κτίστην λατρεύοντες, οἱ σκότον ἔχοντες εἰς νοῦν, οἱ τοῖς ἔργοις τῶν ἰδίων χειρ