The Jews reject Him, but not all.  The saints receive Him, and not the carnal-minded.  And so far is this from being against His glory, that it is the last touch which crowns it.  For their argument, the only one found in all their writings, in the Talmud and in the Rabbinical writings, amounts only to this, that Jesus Christ has not subdued the nations with sword in hand, gladiumt uum, potentissime.[283] (Is this all they have to say?  Jesus Christ has been slain, say they.  He has failed.  He has not subdued the heathen with His might.  He has not bestowed upon us their spoil.  He does not give riches.  Is this all they have to say?  It is in this respect that He is lovable to me.  I would not desire Him whom they fancy.) It is evident that it is only His life which has prevented them from accepting Him; and through this rejection they are irreproachable witnesses, and, what is more, they thereby accomplish the prophecies.

[By means of the fact that this people have not accepted Him, this miracle here has happened.  The prophecies were the only lasting miracles which could be wrought, but they were liable to be denied.]

760

The Jews, in slaying Him in order not to receive Him as the Messiah, have given Him the final proof of being the Messiah.

And in continuing not to recognise Him, they made themselves irreproachable witnesses.  Both in slaying Him, and in continuing to deny Him, they have fulfilled the prophecies (Isa. lx; Ps. lxxi).

761

What could the Jews, His enemies, do?  If they receive Him, they give proof of Him by their reception; for then the guardians of the expectation of the Messiah receive Him.  If they reject Him, they give proof of Him by their rejection.

762

The Jews, in testing if He were God, have shown that He was man.

763

The Church has had as much difficulty in showing that Jesus Christ was man, against those who denied it, as in showing that he was God; and the probabilities were equally great.

764

Source of contradictions.—­A God humiliated, even to the death on the cross; a Messiah triumphing over death by his own death.  Two natures in Jesus Christ, two advents, two states of man’s nature.

765

Types.—­Saviour, father, sacrificer, offering, food, king, wise, law-giver, afflicted, poor, having to create a people whom He must lead and nourish, and bring into His land....

Jesus Christ.  Offices.—­He alone had to create a great people, elect, holy, and chosen; to lead, nourish, and bring it into the place of rest and holiness; to make it holy to God; to make it the temple of God; to reconcile it to, and save it from, the wrath of God; to free it from the slavery of sin, which visibly reigns in man; to give laws to this people, and engrave these laws on their heart; to offer Himself to God for them, and sacrifice Himself for them; to be a victim without blemish, and Himself the sacrificer, having to offer Himself, His body, and His blood, and yet to offer bread and wine to God ...