Job as the trophy of patience

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Tertullian is giving examples of bodily patience, moving from Isaiah and Stephen to Job, whom the devil attacked in every way but could not move from patience.

Isaiah is sawn in two by the powers of patience, and he does not stop speaking about the Lord. Stephen is stoned, and he asks forgiveness for his enemies. Oh, how blessed was that man too, who worked out every form of patience against every force of the devil! His flocks were driven away, his wealth in livestock was taken, his children were snatched from him in a single crashing blow, and then his own body was tortured with wounds—yet none of this shut him out from the patience he had given to God in faith. The devil struck him with all his strength and accomplished nothing. He was not called away from looking to God by so many sorrows; instead, he stood as an example and witness for us, showing that patience must be carried through in spirit and flesh, in mind and body alike, so that we do not collapse under losses of worldly goods, or the loss of those we love most, or even the afflictions of the body itself. What a bier God built from the devil in that man! What a standard he raised from the enemy of his glory, when that man, at every bitter message, let nothing come from his mouth except thanks to God (Job 1:21), and when he cursed his wife, already worn out by evils and urging him toward wicked remedies (Job 2:9-10)! How God laughed, how the evil one was cut to pieces, when Job scraped off the foul overflow of his ulcer with great composure, and when he calmly called the little creatures bursting out of it back into the same hollows and feeding places of his reopened flesh! And so that workman of God's victory, having blunted every dart of temptation with the breastplate and shield of patience, soon recovered the wholeness of his body from God, and possessed double what he had lost (Job 42:10). And if he had wished his children also to be restored, he could have been called father again. But he preferred to have them returned to him on that day; he postponed such great joy, confident in the Lord. He endured a voluntary childlessness for a time, so that he would not live without some patience.

Latin

His patientiae uiribus secatur Esaias et de domino non tacet, lapidatur Stephanus et ueniam hostibus suis postulat. o felicissimum illum quoque, qui omnem patientiae speciem aduersus omnem diaboli uim expunxit! quem non abactae greges, non] illae in pecore diuitiae, non filii uno ruinae impetu adempti, non ipsius denique corporis in uulnere crucia. tus a patientia fide domino dedita exclusit, quem diabolus totis uiribus frustra cecidit. neque enim a respectu dei tot doloribus auocatus ille est, sed constitit nobis in exemplum et testimonium tam spiritu quam carne tam animo quam corpore patientiae perpetrandae, ut neque damnis saecularium nec amissionibus carissimorum nec corporis quidem conflictationibus succidamus. quale in illo uiro feretrum deus de diabolo extruxit, quale uexillum de inimico gloriae suae extulit, cum ille homo ad omnem acerbum nuntium nihil' ex ore promeret nisi deo gratias, cum uxorem iam malis: delassatam et ad praua remedia suadentem execraretur! quid ridebat deus, quid dissecabatur malus, cum Iob inmundum ulceris sui redundantiam magna aequanimitate destringeret, cum erumpentes bestiolas inde in eosdem specus et pastus refossae carnis ludendo reuocaret! itaque operarius ille uictoriae dei retusis omnibus iaculis temptationum lorica clipeoque patientiae et integritatem mox corporis a deo recuperauit et quae amiserat conduplicata possedit et si filios quoque restitui uoluisset, pater iterum uocaretur. sed maluit in illo die reddi sibi: tantum gaudii, securus de domino, distulit: sustinuit iam uoluntariam orbitatem, ne sine aliqua patientia uiueret.

About this text

Tertullian, who admits he is short of patience himself, praises it as the virtue every Christian duty needs, after the pattern of God and Christ.

Tertullian (c. 155–c. 220) was a Christian writer from Carthage in North Africa, and one of the earliest Christian authors to write in Latin. He wrote this treatise for fellow Christians, though he names no particular person or church. He opens by confessing that he himself is weak in patience, and says he writes because no command of God or work pleasing to him can be performed without it.

The work presents patience as the central discipline of Christian life. Tertullian argues that patience is God's own nature, shown in his forbearance toward the wicked and supremely in Christ's passion. Its opposite, impatience, began with the devil and is the root of every sin, from the fall of Adam and Eve to the crimes of Cain and Israel. A reader will meet God and Christ as the supreme examples of patience, the devil as the origin of impatience, and figures such as Adam, Eve, Cain, Abraham, Moses, Aaron, Job, Isaiah, Stephen, Elijah, and Malchus. The words of Christ, the apostle Paul, and God in scripture are quoted and argued from.

The treatise contrasts true Christian patience with the false patience taught by the devil to his own followers. Patience governs every Christian duty: bearing loss, enduring wrong, accepting death, renouncing revenge, forgiving others, and practicing bodily self-denial. The translation renders patientia as patience and impatientia as impatience throughout. Old Latin Bible names are given in their familiar English forms, so Esaias is Isaiah, Helias is Elijah, Moyses is Moses, Iob is Job, Stephanus is Stephen, and Eua is Eve. Malchus is the high priest's servant whose ear was cut off at Jesus' arrest and healed by him.

New English from the Latin base text; no published English used as wording.

Printed text used

Translated from CSEL 47 (1900) (Latin)
Also checked Quinti Septimii Florentis Tertulliani Quae Supersunt Omnia Tertullian Franz Oehler T. O. Weigel Leipzig 1853 (Latin · comparison witness (not aligned to the sections))

This work has passed this project's source check. This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Latin on each section (or the Latin source witness link) for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.