Testimonia — Early Christian Bible Commentary

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Isaiah 61

1The Lord GOD’s Spirit is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the humble. He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to those who are bound,

2to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn,

3to provide for those who mourn in Zion, to give to them a garland for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified.

4They will rebuild the old ruins. They will raise up the former devastated places. They will repair the ruined cities that have been devastated for many generations.

5Strangers will stand and feed your flocks. Foreigners will work your fields and your vineyards.

6But you will be called the LORD’s priests. Men will call you the servants of our God. You will eat the wealth of the nations. You will boast in their glory.

7Instead of your shame you will have double. Instead of dishonor, they will rejoice in their portion. Therefore in their land they will possess double. Everlasting joy will be to them.

8“For I, the LORD, love justice. I hate robbery and iniquity. I will give them their reward in truth and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.

9Their offspring will be known among the nations, and their offspring among the peoples. All who see them will acknowledge them, that they are the offspring which the LORD has blessed.”

10I will greatly rejoice in the LORD! My soul will be joyful in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation. He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

11For as the earth produces its bud, and as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring up, so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.

Early Christian commentary

c. 190 AD | Irenaeus of Lyons

53. And that this Christ, who was with the Father, being the Word of the Father, was thereafter to be made flesh and become man and undergo the process of birth and be born of a virgin and dwell among men, the Father of all bringing about His incarnation----Isaiah says thus: Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign: behold, the virgin shall conceive and shall bring forth a son, and ye shall call him Emmanuel: butter and honey shall he eat; before he knoweth or selecteth the evil, he chooseth the good: for, before the child knoiveth good or evil, he rejecteth wickedness to choose the good. So he proclaimed His birth from a virgin; and that He was truly man he declared beforehand by His eating; and also because he called Him the child; and further by giving Him a name; for this is the custom also for one that is born. And His name is two-fold: in the Hebrew tongue Messiah Jesus, and in ours Christ Saviour. And the two names are names of works actually wrought. For He was named Christ, because through Him the Father anointed and adorned all things; and because on His coming as man He was anointed with the Spirit of God and His Father. As also by Isaiah He says of Himself: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me: wherefore he hath anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor. And (He was named) Saviour for this, that He became the cause of salvation to those who at that time were delivered by Him from all sicknesses and from death, and to those who afterwards believed on Him the author of salvation in the future and for evermore.

Commentary · The Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching, Section 53 · Original source