Tertullian
(160-225), Adversus Judaeus. Chapter IX
Begin we, therefore, to prove that the birth of Christ
was announced by
prophets; as Isaiah (e.g.,) foretells, "Hear ye,
house of David; no petty
contest have ye with men, since God is proposing a
struggle. Therefore
God Himself will give you a sign; Behold, the virgin
shall conceive, and
bear a son, and ye shall call his name Emmanuel"
(which is, interpreted,
"God with us"): "butter and honey shall
he eat;" "since, ere the child
learn to call father or mother, he shall receive the
power of Damascus and
the spoils of Samaria, in opposition to the king of the
Assyrians." . . .
But a sign from God, unless it had consisted in some
portentous novelty,
would not have appeared a sign. In a word, if, when you
are anxious to cast
any down from (a belief in) this divine prediction, or
to convert whoever are
simple, you have the audacity to lie, as if the
Scripture contained (the
announcement), that not "a virgin," but
"a young female," was to conceive
and bring forth; you are refuted even by this fact,
that a daily occurrence-
-the pregnancy and parturition of a young female,
namely--cannot possibly
seem anything of a sign. ~
.
169-225