Replies

The Prince of Peace

[2] The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,
on them has light shined.
[3] Thou has multiplied the nation,
thou hast increased its joy;
they rejoice before thee
as with joy at the harvest,
as men rejoice when they divide the spoil.
[4] For the yoke of his burden,
and the staff for his shoulder,
the rod of his oppressor,
thou hast broken as on the day of Midian.
[6] For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government will be upon his shoulder,
and his name will be called
“Wonderful Counsellor, Might God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
[7] Of the increase of his government and of peace
there will be no end,
upon the throne of David, and over his kingdom,
to establish it, and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and for evermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:

9:1-7. At this point, though not yet very clearly, we begin to see the figure of
King Hezekiah, who, unlike his father Ahaz, was a pious man who put all his
trust in the Lord. After Galilee was laid waste by Tiglath-pileser III of Assyria,
and its population subsequently deported (cf. 8:21-22), Hezekiah of Judah would
reconquer that region, which would recover its splendour for a period. All this
gave grounds for hope again.

This oracle may have a connexion with the Immanuel prophecy (7:1-17), and the
child with messianic prerogatives that has been born (cf. 9:6-7) could be the child
that Isaiah prophesied about (cf. 7:14). For this reason, 9:1-7 is seen as the se-
cond oracle of the Immanuel cycle. This “child” that is born, the son given to us,
is a gift from God (9:6), because it is a sign that God is present among his peo-
ple. The Hebrew text attributes four qualities to the child which seem to embrace
all the typical features of Israel’s illustrious forebears — the wisdom of Solomon
(cf. 1 Kings 3: “Wonderful Counsellor”), the prowess of David (cf. 1 Sam 7: “Migh-
ty God”), the administrative skills of Moses (cf. Ex 18:13-26) as liberator, guide
and father of the people (cf. Deut 34:10-12), (”Everlasting Father”), and the virtues
of the early patriarchs, who made peace pacts (cf. Gen 21:22-34; 26:15-35; 23:
6), (”Prince of peace”). In the old Latin Vulgate, the translation gave six features
(”Admirabilis, Consiliarius, Deus, Fortis, Pater future saeculi, Princeps pacis”);
these have found their way into the liturgy. The New Vulgate has reverted to the
Hebrew text. Either way, what we have here are titles that Semite nations ap-
plied to the reigning monarch; but, taken together, they go far beyond what be-
fitted Hezekiah or any other king of Judah. Therefore, Christian tradition has in-
terpreted them as being appropriate only for Jesus. St Bernard, for example, ex-
plains the justification for these names as follows: “He is Wonderful in his birth,
Counsellor in his preaching, God in his works, Mighty in the Passion, Everlas-
ting Father in the resurrection, and Prince of Peace in eternal happiness” (Ser-
mones de diversis, 53, 1).

Because these names are applied to Jesus, the short-term conquest of Galilee
by Hezekiah is seen as being only an announcement of the definitive salvation
brought about by Christ. In the Gospels we find echoes of this oracle in a num-
ber of passages that refer to Jesus. When Luke narrates the Annunciation by
the angel to Mary (Lk 1:31-33) we hear that the son that she will conceive and
give birth to will receive “the throne of his father David and he will reign over the
house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end” (Lk 1:32b-33;
cf. Is 9:7). And in the account about the shepherds of Bethlehem, they are told
that “to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord
…” (Lk 2:11-12; cf. Is 9:6). St Matthew sees the beginning of Jesus’ ministry in
Galilee (Mt 4:12-17) as the fulfillment of this Isaian oracle (cf. Is 9:1): the lands
that in the prophet’s time were laid waste and saw ethnic cleansing and trans-
plantation were the first to receive the light of salvation from the Messiah.

*********************************************************************************************
Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

From: Titus 2:11-14

The Incarnation, the Basis of Christian Ethics and Piety

[11] For the grace of God has appeared for the salvation of all men, [12] training
us to renounce irreligion and worldly passions, and to live sober, upright, and
godly lives in this world, [13] awaiting our blessed hope, the appearing of the
glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, [14] who gave himself for us to
redeem us from all iniquity and to purify for himself a people of his own who are
zealous for good deeds.

*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:

11-14. This section is almost like a hymn in praise of saving grace and God’s
loving kindness as manifested in Christ. The terse, sober style, with phrases
piled on one another, and very few verbs, is typical of St. Paul. The duties just
described (2:1-10) — of older men, women, young people and slaves — all point
to Christians’ having a common lifestyle, which is the fruit of grace. God is the
source of that grace, and salvation its goal, and it is given to us through Jesus
Christ.

Thus, divine grace manifested in the Incarnation is actively at work to redeem us;
it brings salvation; it sanctifies us, enabling us to live godly lives; and it is the ba-
sis of our hope in the second coming of the Lord. All these dimensions of the ac-
tion of grace summarize revealed doctrine on righteousness (justification) in Je-
sus Christ. Thus, in the Incarnation, God’s salvific will, embracing all men, is ma-
nifested in a special way (cf. 1 Tim 2:4); in the Redemption, Christ, the only Me-
diator and Savior (cf. 1 Tim 2:5) obtains for us the gift of grace, whereby man be-
comes a sharer in the good things of salvation. Jesus is our model; by means of
grace he instructs the Christian on how to control his defects and grow in virtue.
The instruction we receive is not only an external one: God inwardly moves us to
seek holiness (cf. Rom 5:1-5 and note). Grace also channels our hope, for Chris-
tians are motivated not only by the memory of a past event (our Lord’s life on
earth) but also, and especially, by the fact that Jesus is in the glory of heaven
even now and that we are invited to share his inheritance (cf. 2 Pet 3:12-13).

13. “The glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ”: an explicit confession
of faith in the divinity of Jesus Christ, who is stated at one and at the same time
(with only one article in the original Greek) to be God and Savior. This expres-
sion is the hinge on which the entire hymn turns: Jesus Christ our God is the
one who came at the Incarnation, who will manifest himself fully at his second
coming, and who through his work of redemption has made it possible for man
to live a live pleasing to God.

This verse is reminiscent of Romans 9:5, where St. Paul wrote: “to them belong
the patriarchs, and of their race according to the flesh is the Christ, who is God
over all, blessed for ever. Amen.”

14. The mention of Jesus Christ at the end of the previous verse leads St. Paul
to summarize the doctrine of the Redemption in this lovely passage. Four essen-
tial elements in redemption are listed: Christ’s self-giving; redemption from all ini-
quity; purification; and Christ’s establishment of a people of his own dedicated to
good deeds. The reference to Christ’s self-giving clearly means whereby we are
set free from the slavery of sin; Christ’s sacrifice is the cause of the freedom of
the children of God (analogously, God’s action during the Exodus liberated the
people of Israel). Purification, a consequence of redemption, enables a man to
become part of God’s own people (cf. Ezek 37-23). The expression “a people of
his own” is a clear allusion to Exodus 19:5: through the covenant of Sinai God
made Israel his own people, different from other nations; through the New Cove-
nant of his blood Jesus forms his own people, the Church, which is open to all
nations: “As Israel according to the flesh which wandered in the desert was al-
ready called the Church of God, so, too, the new Israel, which advances in this
present era in search of a future and permanent city, is called also the Church of
Christ. It is Christ indeed who has purchased it with his own blood; he has filled
it with his Spirit; he has provided means adapted to its visible and social union
[...]. Destined to extend to all regions of the earth, it enters into human history,
though it transcends at once all times and all racial boundaries” (”Lumen Gen-
tium”, 9).

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.