Tertullian, An Answer to the Jews 2
Let us move forward and lay out the core question clearly. Why would anyone claim that God—the founder of the universe, governor of the whole world, shaper of man, sower of all nations—gave the Law through Moses to a single people instead of to all nations? If He had not given it to all, He would never have allowed proselytes from the nations access to it. But, consistent with the goodness and equity of the shaper of the human race, He gave the same Law to every nation, commanding it to be kept at set times, when He willed, through whom He willed, and as He willed. In the beginning of the world He gave Adam and Eve themselves a law: not to eat from the fruit of the tree planted in the middle of paradise, on pain of death (Gen 2:16–17); that law would have sufficed had it been kept. In this law given to Adam we recognize every commandment that later sprouted through Moses: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul," "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," "You shall not kill, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness," "Honor your father and your mother," "You shall not covet what belongs to another." This primordial law, given in paradise, is the matrix of all God's commandments. If they had loved the Lord their God, they would not have broken His command; if they had loved their neighbor—that is, themselves—they would not have believed the serpent, and so would not have committed suicide by cutting themselves off from immortality through disobedience; they would have abstained from theft, since they would not have secretly tasted the fruit; they would not have hidden from the sight of the Lord their God under the tree; they would not have become accomplices in the devil's lie by believing they would become like God; they would not have offended God as Father, who formed them from the clay of the earth as from a mother's womb; if they had not coveted what belonged to another, they would not have tasted the forbidden fruit. Therefore, in this general and primordial law of God, sanctioned to be observed in the fruit of the tree, we recognize that all the commandments of the later Law were specially implanted and published in their own times. It is the same God who later teaches the Law who previously sent forth the commandment, since it belongs to Him to instruct later those He previously formed as just. What is surprising if He who instituted increases discipline, if He who began perfects? I contend that before the written Law of Moses on stone tablets there existed an unwritten law, naturally understood and kept by the fathers. Whence was Noah found just, if not preceded by the justice of natural law? Whence was Abraham called the friend of God, if not from the equity and justice of natural law? Whence was Melchizedek named priest of the Most High God, if not before the Levitical priesthood and Levi's sacrifices? The Law was given to Moses after they left Egypt, after an interval of many times and spaces—finally, after four hundred and thirty years from Abraham. From this we understand that God's Law existed also before Moses, not only at Horeb, Sinai, or the desert, but earlier: first in paradise, then to the patriarchs, and thus also to the Jews, reformed at certain times. So we must not treat Moses' Law as the primary Law, but as a subsequent one, which God exhibited to the nations at a set time, reformed for the better through the prophets, and foretold would be observed temporarily—just as the Law was given through Moses at a certain time, so it is believed to have been kept temporarily. We must not strip God of this power to reform the Law's commandments according to the condition of the times for man's salvation. Finally, anyone who insists that the Sabbath must still be kept as a remedy for salvation, and circumcision on the eighth day because of the death threat (Gen 17:10–14), let him prove that the just of the past kept the Sabbath or were circumcised and so became friends of God. If circumcision purifies man, why did God not circumcise Adam when He made him, or later after he sinned? In paradise God established uncircumcised Adam as steward of paradise. Since God did not institute Adam as circumcised or Sabbath-keeping, He likewise praised Abel—uncircumcised, not keeping the Sabbath—accepting his sacrifice offered in simplicity of heart, while rejecting Cain's, who did not offer rightly. God also freed Noah from the flood, uncircumcised and not keeping the Sabbath. He also translated Enoch, the most just, uncircumcised and not keeping the Sabbath, from this world before he tasted death, to show us that we too can please God without the burden of Moses' Law. Melchizedek, priest of the Most High God, was also uncircumcised and not keeping the Sabbath, yet called to God's priesthood. And Lot, Abraham's brother, proves he was rescued from the burning of Sodom by the merits of his justice, without observing the Law.
Latin
Igitur gradum conferamus, et summam quaestionis ipsius certis lineis determinemus. Cur etenim Deus, universitatis conditor, mundi totius gubernator, hominis plasmator, universarum gentium sator, legem per Moysen uni populo dedisse credatur, et non omnibus gentibus attribuisse dicatur? Nisi enim omnibus eam dedisset, nullo pacto ad eam etiam proselytos ex gentibus accessum habere permitteret: sed, ut congruit bonitati Dei et aequitati ipsius, utpote plasmatoris generis humani, omnibus gentibus eamdem legem dedit: quam certis et statutis temporibus observari praecepit, quando voluit, et per quos voluit, et sicut voluit. Namque in principio mundi, ipsi Adae et Evae legem dedit, ne de fructu arboris plantatae in medio paradisi ederent; quod si contra fecissent, morte morerentur: quae lex eis sufficeret, si esset custodita. In hac enim lege Adae data, omnia praecepta condita recognoscimus quae postea pullulaverunt data per Moysen, id est, Diliges Dominum Deum tuum de toto corde tuo, et ex tota anima tua; et, Diliges proximum tibi tanquam te; et, Non occides, non moechaberis, non furaberis, falsum testimonium non dices. Honora patrem tuum et matrem: et, Alienum non concupisces. Primordialis lex est enim data Adae et Evae in paradiso, quasi matrix omnium praeceptorum Dei. Denique, si Dominum Deum suum dilexissent, contra praeceptum ejus non fecissent: si proximum diligerent, id est semetipsos, persuasioni serpentis non credidissent; atque ita in semetipsos homicidium non commisissent, excidendo de immortalitate, faciendo contra Dei praeceptum; a furto quoque abstinuissent, si de fructu arboris clam non degustassent, nec a conspectu Domini Dei sui sub arbore delitescere gestissent: nec falsum asseveranti diabolo participes efficerentur, credendo ei quod similes Dei essent futuri: atque ita nec Deum offendissent, ut patrem, qui eos de limo terrae quasi ex utero matris figuraverat: si alienum non concupissent, de fructu illicito non gustassent. Igitur in hac generali et primordiali Dei lege, quam in arboris fructu observari Deus sanxerat, omnia praecepta legis posterioris specialiter indita fuisse cognoscimus, quae suis temporibus edita germinaverunt Ejusdem est enim postea subdocere legem, qui ante praemiserat praeceptum, quoniam et ipsius est erudire postea qui ante justos formare instituerat. Quid enim mirum, si is auget disciplinam qui instituit? si is perfecit qui coepit? Denique ante legem Moysi scriptam in tabulis lapideis legem fuisse contendo non scriptam, quae naturaliter intelligebatur, et a patribus custodiebatur. Nam unde Noe justus inventus, si non illum naturalis legis justitia praecedebat? unde Abraham amicus Dei deputatus, si non de aequitate et justitiae legis naturalis? unde Melchisedech sacerdos Dei summi nuncupatus, si non ante Leviticae legis sacerdotium Levitae fuerunt, qui sacrificia Deo offerebant? Sic enim post supra scriptos patriarchas data lex est Moysi eo tempore posteaquam ab Aegypto excesserunt, post intervallum multorum temporum et spatia Denique, post quadringentos et triginta annos Abrahae data est lex. Unde intelligimus Dei legem etiam ante Moysen, nec in Horeb tantum, aut in Sina et in cremo, sed antiquiorem primum in paradiso, post patriarchis, atque ita et Judaeis certis temporibus reformatam; ut non jam ad Moysi legem ita attendamus, quasi ad principalem legem, sed ad subsequentem, quam certo tempore Deus et gentibus exhibuit, et repromissam per prophetas in melius reformavit, et praemonuit futurum ut, sicuti certo tempore data est lex per Moysen, ita temporaliter observata et custodita credatur: nec adimamus hanc Dei potestatem, pro temporum conditione legis praecepta reformantem in hominis salutem. Denique, qui contendit et sabbatum adhuc observandum quasi salutis medelam, circumcisionem octavi diei propter mortis comminationem, doceat in praeteritum justos sabbatizasse aut circumcidisse, et sic amicos Dei effectos. Nam, si circumcisio purgat hominem, Deus Adam incircumcisum cum faceret, cur eum non circumcidit, vel posteaquam deliquit, si purgat circumcisio? Certe in paradiso constituens eum incircumcisum, colonum paradisi praefecit. Igitur, cum neque circumcisum neque sabbatizantem Deus Adam instituerit, consequenter quoque sobolem ejus Abel offerentem sibi sacrificia, incircumcisum nec sabbatizantem laudavit, accepto ferens quae offerebat in simplicitate cordis, et reprobans sacrificium fratris ejus Cain, qui non offerebat, non recte dividebat. Noe quoque incircumcisum Deus, sed et non sabbatizantem, de diluvio liberavit. Nam et Enoch justissimum non circumcisum, nec sabbatizantem, de hoc mundo transtulit; qui necdum mortem gustavit, ut aeternitatis candidatus, jam nobis ostenderet nos quoque sine legis onere Moysi, Deo posse placere. Melchisedech quoque summi Dei sacerdos incircumcisus, et non sabbatizans, ad sacerdotium Dei allectus est. Probat et Loth frater Abrahae, quod pro meritis justitiae suae sine legis observatione de Sodomitarum incendio sit liberatus.