Tertullian, Antidote for the Scorpion's Sting 10

What colossal presumption against the whole order of things on this earth, in this life, and under these human powers—things meant to be experienced—drives anyone who thinks confession is not established here, within this circle of the earth, nor through this journey of life, nor among men of this common nature? For when souls have left their bodies and begun to be examined by command through the successive levels of the heavens, and to be interrogated about those secret heretical sacraments, then confession must be made before the true powers and the true men—namely Theletos, Abascantos, and Acinetos of Valentinus. They claim our people were not even consistently proven true men by the Demiurge himself, who assigned them to be the dripping of a bucket, the dust of a threshing floor, spittle, and locusts, and even equated them with irrational beasts. True, it is written that way. Yet that is no reason to understand another kind of man besides us—men whose existence is agreed upon, and whom comparison could have fitted out while preserving both the property of the kind and its singularity. For if life is corrupted, so that it is judged contemptible by comparison with the contemptible, nature is not instantly abolished so that another might be substituted in its name. But nature is preserved even if life is corrupted, and Christ knows no other men than those about whom he says, 'Who do men say that I am?' (Matt. 16:13) and 'Whatever you wish that men would do to you, do so to them' (Matt. 7:12). See whether he preserved the kind from whom he also expects testimony about himself and in whom he commands the duty of justice. If I were to demand that those heavenly men be shown to me, Aratus would more easily trace Perseus, Cepheus, Erigone, and Ariadne among the stars. Who, after all, prevented the Lord from determining right there that a confession of men should be made manifest, where he openly proclaimed that his own future confession would be? So that it might be put: 'Whoever confesses me before men on earth, I also will confess before my Father who is in heaven' (Matt. 10:32). He ought to have rescued me from this error of earthly confession, which he refused to accept, if he had commanded a heavenly one—since I knew no other men except the inhabitants of the earth; not even the man in heaven had yet been seen by me. What faith is there in things, that after I pass away and am lifted up to the heights I might be approved there—approved, that is, before I can even be introduced? There I would be examined by command, to which I could not arrive unless already admitted. For the Christian, heaven lies open before the way; because there is no way to heaven unless heaven lies open, and whoever touches it will enter. What powers do you affirm to me as doorkeepers, according to Roman superstition—a certain Janus, Forculus, and Limentinus? What powers do you station at the gates? If you have ever read in David, 'Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in' (Ps. 24:7,9). If you have also heard in Amos, 'Who builds his upper chambers in the heavens and founds his vault upon the earth' (Amos 9:6), know that the ascent from there is leveled by the footsteps of the Lord, and the entrance from there is opened by the powers of Christ, and no delay or questioning will meet Christians at the threshold—those who are not to be distinguished there, but recognized; not to be interrogated, but admitted. For even if you still think heaven is closed, remember the Lord left its keys here to Peter, and through him to the Church, which each one, having been questioned and confessed, will carry with him. But the devil asserts that confession must be made there, so that he may persuade us to deny it here. Lovely credentials I would present in advance, fine keys I would bring with me—the fear of those who kill only the body but can do nothing to the soul (Matt. 10:28); I would be commended for abandoning this command; I would stand honorably in the heavenly places, I who could not stand on earth; I would endure greater powers, I who yielded to lesser ones; I would finally deserve to be admitted, now that I am excluded. One can still say: if confession is to be made in heaven and denial here, for where one is, the other is also, since rival things run together. Persecution would also have to be stirred up in heaven, which is the material of confession or denial. So why do you hesitate, most audacious heretic, to transfer the entire order of Christian upheaval to the heavenly realms—and first of all to plant the hatred of the name there, where Christ presides at the right hand of the Father? There you will set up the synagogues of the Jews, the fountains of persecutions, among whom the apostles suffered beatings, and the nations' peoples with their own circus, where they easily shout, 'How long until the third kind?' But you must also exhibit our brothers and fathers and sons and mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law and our household members there, through whom tradition is handed down; likewise kings and governors and armed powers, before whom the case is to be cleared. There will certainly be a prison in heaven too, lacking the sun or shining with ungrateful light, and chains perhaps made of straps, and a rack which is the very axis that twists; then if a Christian is to be stoned, hailstones will be at hand; if to be burned, lightning will be ready; if to be slaughtered, the armed hands of Orion will do the work; if to be finished off by beasts, the Great Bear will send forth bears, the zodiac bulls and lions. He who endures these to the end, this one will be saved (Matt. 10:22; 24:13; Mark 13:13). So the end is in heaven too, and passion, and killing, and first confession? And where is the flesh, necessary for all these? Where is the body, which alone can be killed by men? This reasoning has commanded us, as it were in sport, and no one will shove aside the objection of this prescription, so that we are not forced to transfer the whole order of persecution, the whole firm preparation of its case, to the place where we have given confession a forum. For confession is derived from persecution, and persecution ends in confession; they cannot but follow each other, since they arrange both the entrance and the exit, that is, the beginning and the end. Moreover, the hatred of the name will be here, and persecution will break out here, and tradition will produce here, and questioning will compel here, and carnage will rage here, and the whole order of confession or denial will be wiped out on earth. Therefore, if the other things are here, confession is not elsewhere; if confession is elsewhere, the other things are not here. But the other things are not elsewhere; therefore confession is not in heaven. Or if they want a different rationale for heavenly interrogation and confession, they will certainly have to construct another order for it, far different from this arrangement which is marked in the Scriptures, and we can say, 'Let them see to it,' while the order of earthly interrogation and confession, flowing from the material of persecution and public discord in the name, remains secure in its faith—so that it is to be believed as it is written, and understood as it is heard. I sustain the whole order here, the Lord himself not designating another region of the world. For what does he add after the terminus of confession and denial? 'Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword, certainly on earth' (Matt. 10:34). 'For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man's enemies will be those of his own household' (Matt. 10:35–36). 'And so it happens that a brother will deliver his brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death' (Matt. 10:21). 'And he who endures to the end, this one will be saved' (Matt. 10:22; 24:13; Mark 13:13). Such is the whole order of the Lord's sword, not sent into heaven but into earth, which also establishes confession there, where it will suffer death by enduring to the end.