In Psalm 104 [LXX],^[1] David, when referring to the stories of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the very men who were his godly ancestors, who lived before Moses’ day, calls them Christs, only because they all received the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. And when he tells how they were hospitably received by foreigners, and how they learned that God was their Savior when plots were devised against them, following Moses’ account, he names them prophets also and Christs, before Moses had been born and before he had laid down the rule that such men should be anointed with oil.

But after Moses had made his appearance, and had given the law to the children of Israel, and had made them aware of all the requirements of the law and everything that it required people to observe and to do, and when he declared that only those who should transgress the law would die, then death no longer reigned over all people. For death then reigned only over sinners, as the law said, Do not touch those who keep my precepts. Moses therefore served the ministration of this word on death, while he delivered up to destruction all others who were transgressors of the law. For Moses did not come so that death would not reign anywhere at all, since multitudes were definitely held under the power of death even after Moses. The law was called a ministration of death from the fact that then only transgressors of the law were punished, and not those who kept it and who obeyed and observed the things that the law requires, as Abel did, whom Cain, who was made a vessel of the wicked one, killed. However, even after these things death wanted to break the covenant that had been made through the instrumentality of Moses and to reign again over the righteous—and in keeping with this intent it did indeed assail the prophets, killing and stoning those who had been sent by God, down to Zacharias. But my Lord Jesus, maintaining the righteousness of the law of Moses, was angry with death for its transgression of the covenant and of that whole ministration, and he condescended to appear in a human body, for the purpose of avenging not himself but Moses and those who in a continuous succession after him had been oppressed by the violence of death.

You^[1] are right to conclude that he [Jesus] is called Christ only because of the anointing, just as an apostle is so called because of his apostolic function and an angel from his office as messenger. Names like these clearly indicate certain functions rather than individual realities or specific persons. Even the prophets are called Christs, as it is sung in the Psalms: Do not touch my Christs, and do not harm my prophets The prophet Habbakuk also said, You came forth for the salvation of your people, to save your Christs.^[2] But tell me this: Is it not true that even they would admit that there is only one Christ and Son, who is the Lord made man, the Only Begotten of God made flesh?

Not nature but foolishness makes the slave. Not manumission but learning makes a person free. Esau was born free, but he became a slave; Joseph was sold into slavery,^[1] but he was raised to power^[2] so that he might rule those who had purchased him. Yet he did not slight his obligation to work zealously; he clung to the heights of virtue; he preserved the liberty of innocence, the stronghold of blamelessness. So the psalmist beautifully says, Joseph had been sold into slavery. They had bound his feet with fetters. He had been sold into slavery, he says; he did not become a slave. They had bound his feet, but not his soul.

How is his soul bound when he says, The iron pierced his soul? Although the souls of others were pierced with sin (iron is sin, because it pierces within), the soul of blessed Joseph did not lie open to sin but pierced through sin. He was not swayed by the beauty of his mistress’s charms, and so he did not experience the flames of passion, for he was aflame with the greater flame of divine grace. Thus, it is said very aptly of him, Because the word of the Lord burned him, and with this he quenched the fiery darts of the devil.

And when Moses had gone up, a cloud covered the mountain.^[1] Just as the mountain on which Moses received the law designates the height of the perfection that was written down in that law, so does the cloud that covered the mountain suggest the grace of divine protection, which is enjoyed more and more the higher one ascends in order to search out the wonders of God’s law, as the eyes of one’s heart are opened. For surely the cloud covered not only the mountain on which Moses went up, but also the people who were traveling through the wilderness. They were by no means able to ascend to the higher regions, but the cloud sent from heaven overshadowed them nevertheless.^[2] Hence it is written that he spread out a cloud for their protection, since the Lord surely protects with heavenly benediction all those who fear him, both small and great.^[3]