Altarpiece - Visual Art Module by Renee D Matilla

All over the Earth, and across time, humankind has struggled to find meaning and purpose in life. For many seekers the answers can be found in religious texts such as the Talmud and the Holy Bible. The philosopher Pico della Mirandola examined both religious and philosophical texts in search of common truths. In his composition entitled the “Heptaplus” Pico combines knowledge that he gained from the Hebrews, the Greeks, the Romans and the Christians to develop seven interpretations of the book of “Genesis”. The Heptaplus includes seven expositions for the seven interpretations that Pico puts forward. Each exposition is divided into seven chapters, which represent each of the six days of the creation as well as the seventh day when God rested. Pico asserts that since each exposition ends with a seventh chapter that represents the seventh day, the Sabbath, it is fitting that the seventh chapter of each exposition focuses on Jesus Christ “who is the end of law and is our Sabbath, our rest, and our felicity” (Mirandola, 84). Throughout the “Heptaplus” Pico reveals that Jesus is not only the end of the law and the only source of true felicity but he is also the beginning and end of all things.

Jesus can be called the end of the law for two reasons. Firstly, Jesus is the end of the law because he is the beginning, end and perfection of all things. Secondly, Jesus represents the end of the law because through his blood sacrifice he revealed the grace of God, by which all men are perfected and thus released from the just punishment of the law and rewarded with everlasting life. Under the law the only just punishment for sin is death. Since all men are sinners it follows that all men deserve death. In the fifth exposition Pico reminds men to “dread the penalties and torments which await the transgressors of divine law” (136). Christ was created to save man from the just punishment of divine law. As a sign of God’s grace, Jesus was made into man to serve as a blood sacrifice so that men may be “reformed by grace and regenerated, not as men but as adopted sons of God” (126). During the creation humankind was made in the image of God but was flawed and committed transgressions against the law. Before man can receive the gift of eternal life in the kingdom of heaven he must be remade in the image of God. This is achieved through Christ since “Christ is the absolute perfection of all men” (92). In his seventh exposition Pico states that through baptism man is “remade in the image of God” and can then receive the gift of eternal life with great happiness (169). Pico also emphasizes the uniqueness of Jesus’ position as the Christ throughout the Heptaplus, beginning in the first exposition where Jesus is called the perfection of man, all the way through to the final exposition when Jesus is called the “incarnate Word”. The importance of Christ is most clearly expounded in the sixth exposition when Pico states that the two extremes, manhood and God, can only be united through the mean, that is Christ. “It is through Christ alone that the flesh can ascend to the Word” (146). Only Jesus Christ is the end of the law and the perfection of humankind. It is through God’s grace and the perfecting powers of Christ that humankind “can be raised to an honour above that of angels” (116).

Through this perfecting process man is granted “the true felicity of eternal life” (105). The topic of true felicity is so important that the entire seventh exposition is devoted to it. Pico makes a very clear distinction between natural felicity and supernatural felicity. Natural felicity is defined as that happiness that can be gained by the individual and is thus limited by the individual’s natural capabilities. In the seventh chapter of the second exposition Pico emphasizes the importance of worshipping God and not his earthly creations in search of felicity. He asserts that although the creations of God are indeed magnificent they cannot provide true happiness. Earthly things, corruptible things, can only provide finite happiness while everlasting life in the heavenly Jerusalem promises infinite happiness. Although humankind exceeds all other earthly creatures in natural felicity, union with God is still the only way to achieve supernatural felicity. In the seventh chapter of the sixth exposition he repeats his message that Christ is the only path to God and that men are wrong to believe that true felicity can be gained through any other means (146). In the seventh exposition Pico goes on to say that the attainment of God “ is the highest felicity” and that Christ “is felicity itself” (150-151). His final words in the seventh exposition restate his belief that through love of God we can be joined with Him and “Receive our felicity” (174). In the fifth exposition Pico powerfully summarized the importance of Christ as the source of humankind’s felicity:
“It [is] fitting that He who is the image of the invisible God, the first born
of all creation, and on whom all things were founded, should be joined in
ineffable union to him who was made in the image of God, who is the link
of all creation, and in whom all things are encompassed” (137)
Pico goes on to discuss Jesus’ unique position in the creation of the world in a final composition entitled “Exposition of the First Phrase: In the Beginning”.

Christ is not only the end but he is also the beginning. Pico repeatedly refers to Jesus as the beginning and the end in his Sabbath chapters. He makes numerous references to Christ being the “incarnate Word”. Such references are directly linked to the opening chapter of the gospel of John, which says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1) Pico asserts that Jesus was part of God at the time of creation. Following this theme Pico concludes his seven interpretations of Genesis with an exposition devoted to the first phrase “In the beginning”. Through a complicated process Pico reassembles the Hebrew phrase and translates it into a Latin phrase that can be read as “The father, in the son and through the son, the beginning and end or rest, created the head, the fire, and the foundation of the great man with a good pact” (Mirandola, 172). What he is suggesting is truly wonderful, incredible and unheard of (171). Pico is suggesting a code that would require God to have foreknowledge of both the Hebrew and Latin language, as well as knowledge of how His message would be passed on by Moses and eventually written down. This code suggests that God, and therefore Jesus, is indeed the beginning and the end and has full knowledge of all things across time and space. In the seventh chapter of the second exposition Pico refers to the writings of Plato when he states “man is not this weak and earthbound thing we see, but a soul, an intelligence, which transcends all boundaries of heaven and all the passages of time” (104). Pico concludes his exploration of Genesis by reminding man that just as God is the beginning and the end and creates and is part of all things so too is man known by God from the beginning to the end since he is a part of and connected to God, and through the grace of God, he can be raised above the angels and unified with the creator who possesses all the good and perfection of man.

Through Pico’s several complicated interpretations of “Genesis” he reveals that Jesus is not only the end of the law and the only source of true felicity but he is also the beginning and end of all things. Although the seventh chapter of each exposition focuses on Christ as the end of the law and felicity of humankind, the entire text is infused with love and praise for God’s grace and Christ’s sacrifice. Pico confidently displays his interpretations of Genesis and justifies his assertions with reference to common theology and philosophy. Pico does acknowledge that many scholars before him have laboured to harvest the bountiful knowledge available in the Holy Scriptures. Just as many people before him sought out answers to the mysteries of creation, many people continued to search after him, and still others continue the search today. As long as humankind endures so will the search for meaning and purpose.

Works Cited

Holy Bible. King James Version. London: Thomas Nelson Publishing, 1977

Mirandola, Pico della. “Heptaplus” On the Dignity of Man. Trans. Douglas Carmichael.
Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company Inc., 1998