1465 That is, in the sound only, and phantom of the word; an allusion to the Docetic absurdity of Marcion.
1466 That is, that He was "Son of David," etc.
1467 Censum: that is, must believe Him born of her.
1468 This, perhaps, is the meaning in a clause which is itself more antithetical than clear: "Ruens in antithesim, ruentem et ipsam antithesim."
1469 In book iii. chap. vii. (At the beginning), occurs the same proverb of Marcion and the Jews. See p. 327.
1473 Fidei equidem pravae: see preceding page, note 3.
1475 Et hoc filius David: i.e., praestitit, "showed Himself good," perhaps.
1476 De suo retundendam. Instead of contrast, he shows the similarity of the cases.
1477 Ejusdem carnis: i.e., infirmae (Oehler).
1480 The older reading, which we here follow, is: "Enimvery Zacchaeus etsi allophylus fortasse," etc. Oehler, however, points the passage thus: "Enimvero Zacchaeus etsi allophylus, fortasse," etc., removing the doubt, and making Zacchaeus "of another race" than the Jewish, for certain. This is probably more than Tertullian meant to say.
1484 For the history of Zacchaeus, see Luke xix. 1-10.
1491 Caro: "the flesh," here a synonym with the corpus of the previous clauses.
1493 Secundum rationem feneratae.
1495 This phrase comes not from the present passage, but from Luke viii. 18, where the words are o# dokei= e!xein; here the expression is o# e!xei only.
1497 The original of this obscure sentence is as follows: "Aut si et hic Creatorem finxerit austerum... . . hic quoque me ille instruit eujus pecuniam ut fenerem edocet.
1502 "Of knowledge of good and evil." The "law" thereof occurs in Gen. iii. 3.
1505 Certe. [The word sacrament not technical here.]
1511 Quo magis absit a Christo.
1517 Surely Oehler's responsio ought to be responsionis, as the older books have it.
1520 We have translated here, post praescriptionem, according to the more frequent sense of the word, praescriptio. But there is another meaning of the word, which is not unknown to our author, equivalent to our objection or demurrer, or (to quote Oehler's definition) "clausula qua reus adversarii intentionem oppugnat- the form by which the defendant rebuts the plaintiff's charge." According to this sense, we read: "I shall now proceed . . . and after putting in a demurrer (or taking exception) against the tactics of my opponent."
1522 Decucurrerunt in legendo: or, "they ran through it, by thus reading."
1523 We have adapted, rather than translated, Tertullian's words in this parenthesis. His words of course suit the order of the Latin, which differs from the English. The sentence in Latin is, "Quos autem dignatus est Deus illius aevi possessione et resurrectione a mortuis." The phrase in question is illius aevi. Where shall it stand? The Marcionites placed it after "Deus" in government, but Tertullian (following the undoubted meaning of the sentence) says it depends on "possessione et resurrectione," i.e., "worthy of the possession, etc., of that world." To effect this construction, he says, "Ut facta hic distinctione post deum ad sequentia pertineat illius aevi:" i.e., he requests that a stop be placed after the word "deus," whereby the phrase "illius aevi" will belong to the words which follow-"possessione et resurrectione a mortuis."
1526 Formam: "its conditions" or "process."
1532 See above: book iii. chap. xv. and xvi. pp. 333, 334.
1533 The illam here refers to the nominum proprietas, i.e., His title Christ and His name Jesus.
1537 Consimilem: of course Marcion's Christ; the Marcionite being challenged in the "You."
1539 Compare, in Luke xxi., verses 9, 22, 28, 31-33, 35, and 36.
1541 Omnipotens: prntokra/twr (Sept.); of hosts-A.V.