Christ’s Death and Resurrection
Novatian, On the Trinity 9
The same rule of truth teaches us to believe in the Son of God, Christ Jesus, our Lord God, after the Father — yet as God's Son, the Son of the one God who alone is the Creator of all things, as I have already stated above.
We read in the Old Testament and see fulfilled in the New that this Jesus Christ, whom I name again as this God's Son, is the one promised and now revealed, filling the shadows and figures of every sacrament with the bodily presence of truth.
Abraham and David bear witness to him, and no less so the ancient prophecies and the Gospels.
Genesis itself points to him: when it says, "I will give to your seed" (Genesis 12:7); when it depicts a man wrestling with Jacob (Genesis 32:24); when it declares, "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs, and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples" (Genesis 49:10).
Moses points to him: when he pleads, "Send someone else" (Exodus 4:13); when he testifies, "The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers — listen to him" (Deuteronomy 18:15); when he warns, "Your life shall hang in doubt before you; night and day you shall be in dread, with no assurance of life" (Deuteronomy 28:66).
Isaiah points to him: "A shoot shall come forth from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit" (Isaiah 11:1); "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son" (Isaiah 7:14); when he foretells the healings that will come from him: "Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy" (Isaiah 35:5-6); when he portrays his patience: "He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench" (Isaiah 42:2-3); when he describes his Gospel: "I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David" (Isaiah 55:3); when he prophesies that the nations will believe in him: "Behold, I have given him as a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples. Nations that you do not know shall run to you" (Isaiah 55:4-5); when he cries out concerning his passion: "Like a lamb led to the slaughter, and like a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth" (Isaiah 53:7); when he describes the wounds of his scourging: "By his stripes we are healed" (Isaiah 53:5); or his humility: "We saw him, and he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief" (Isaiah 53:2-3); or that the people would not believe: "I spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people" (Isaiah 65:2); or that he will rise from the dead: "In that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal for the peoples; of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious" (Isaiah 11:10); or when the time of resurrection: "He will be found ready like the dawn" (Isaiah 58:8, paraphrased); or that he will sit at the right hand of the Father: "The Lord says to my Lord: 'Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool'" (Psalm 110:1); or when he is placed as the possessor of all: "Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession" (Psalm 2:8); or that he is shown as the judge of all: "Give the king your justice, O God, and your righteousness to the royal son" (Psalm 72:1).
I will not pursue further testimonies here, for what has been announced about Christ is already well known both to all heretics and to those who hold the truth.
Latin
Eadem regula ueritatis docet nos credere post patrem etiam in filium dei, Christum Iesum, dominum deum nostrum, sed dei filium; huius dei qui et unus et solus est, conditor scilicet rerum omnium, ut iam et superius expressum est. hunc enim Iesum Christum, iterum dicam huius dei filium, et in ueteri testamento legimus esse repromissum et in nouo testamento animaduertimus exhibitum, omnium sacramentorum umbras et figuras de praesentia corporatae ueritatis implentem. hunc enim Abrahae filium, hunc Dauid, non minus et uetera praedicta et euangelia testantur. ipsa Genesis, cum dicit: dabo et semini tuo; hunc quando luctatum ostendit hominem cum iacob; hunc, quando dicit: on deficiet princeps de Iuda, neque dux de Femoribus eius, donec ueniat is cui repromissum est, et ipse erit exspectatio gentium. hunc Moyses, cum dicit: prouide alium quem mittas; hunc idem, quando testatur, prophetam uobis, dicendo, suscitabit deus ex fratribus uestris: eum quasi me audite; hunc, quando dicit: videbitis uitam uestram pendentem nocte ac die, et non credetis ei. hunc Esaias: prodiet uirga de radice Iesse, et flos de radice etus ascendet; hunc eundem, quando dicit: ecce uirgo concipiet et pariet filium,; hunc, quando sanitates ab eo futuras collocat dicens: tunc aperientur oculi caecorum, et aures surdorum audient: tunc saliet claudus ut ceruus, et Diserta erit lingua mutorum; hunc, quando patientiae uirtutes expromit dicens: non audietur in plateis uox eius; harundinem quassatam non conteret, et linum fumigans non exstinguet; hunc, quando eius euangelia descripsit: e dzsponam uobis testamentum aeternum, sancta Daud fidelia; hunc, quando gentes in ipsum credituras prophetat: ecce posui eum in principium et praecipientem gentibus. gentes quae te non nouerunt inuocabunt te, et populi qui te nesciunt ad te confugient; hunc eundem, quando ad passionem eius exclamat dicens: sicut ouis ad occisionem ductus est, et sicut agnus coram tondente se sine uoce, sic non aperuit os suum in humilitate; hanc quando flagrorum eius ictus plagasque descripsit: liuore eius nos sanati sumus; aut humilitatem: et uidimus eum, et non erat ei species neque honor. homo in plaga et sciens ferre infirmitatem; aut quod populus non erat crediturus: tota die expandi manus meas ad populum non credentem; aut quod resurrecturus a mortuis: e erit in illa die radix Iesse, et qui surget imperare gentibus, in eum gentes sperabunt, et erit requies eius honor; aut cum tempus resurrectionis: quasi diluculo paratum inueniemus eum; aut quod sessurus ad dextram patris: dixit dominus domino meo: sede ad dexteram meam, donec ponam inimicos tuos scabellum pedum tuorum; aut cum possessor omnium collocatur: postula a me, et dabo tibi gentes hereditatem tuam, et possessionem tuam terminos terrae; aut quod iudex omnium ostenditur: deus iudicium tuum regi da, et iustitiam tuam filio regis. nec hoc in loco plura persequar, quae annuntiata de Christo omnibus haereticis sed et ipsis ueritatem tenentibus magis nota sunt.