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The Christian theologian Cyprian, in his treatises, quotes Tobit’s call to turn back to God with all your heart so that mercy may be shown, showing how he used the book as an authoritative source for guiding Christian life and practice.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE

Tobit 13:6

Deuterocanon
4 And there he has shown you his greatness; And extol him before all the living. Because he is our Lord, and he our God, and he our Father, Yes, he is God to all the ages: 5 He will chastise you for your iniquities, And will show mercy to you all. 6 When you turn to him out of all the nations Wherever you shall be scattered, With your whole heart and with your whole soul, to do truth before him, Then he will turn to you, and will no longer hide his face from you. And now see what he has done with you, And give him thanks with your whole mouth, And bless the Lord of righteousness, And exalt the everlasting King. I, in the land of my captivity, give him thanks, And show his strength and majesty to nations of sinners.) Turn, you sinners, and do righteousness before him. Who can tell if he will accept you and have mercy on you? 7 I exalt my God, and my soul shall rejoice in the King of heaven; 8 Of his greatness let all men tell, And let them give him thanks in Jerusalem.
Date: 225–175 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)

Cyprian, Treatises 11:15

Early Christian
For the God whom we serve is able to deliver us out of the furnace of burning fire; and He will deliver us from your hands, O king. And if not, be it known unto you, that we do not serve your gods, and we do not adore the golden image which you have set up. And Daniel, devoted to God, and filled with the Holy Spirit, exclaims and says: I worship nothing but the Lord my God, who founded the heaven and the earth. Tobias also, although under a royal and tyrannical slavery, yet in feeling and spirit free, maintains his confession to God, and sublimely announces both the divine power and majesty, saying: In the land of my captivity I confess to Him, and I show forth His power in a sinful nation. What, indeed, do we find in the Maccabees of seven brethren, equals alike in their lot of birth and virtues, filling up the number seven in the sacrament of a perfected completion? Seven brethren were thus associating in martyrdom.
Date: 245–260 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References

#1398
"... Cyprian of Carthage’s (bishop of Carthage 248/49–258 CE) use of Tobit is even broader; Gamberoni speaks of more than a dozen quotations in Cyprian’s oeuvre. Cyprian uses the book, alongside other scriptural passages as a scriptural fundus of arguments regarding the “benefits of good works and mercy.” Cyprian thus treats Tobit clearly as scripture. He even introduces it as scriptura divina in his treatise on the Lord’s prayer. Tobit, however, is not just a source for general aspects of Christian piety: Tobit 4:11 and its claim for mercy becomes an important argument in the discussion regarding the treatment of the so-called lapsi, that is Christians who negated their belief during the persecution under Emperor Decius (249–251 ce). Cyprian is also the first author who is interested in the figure of Tobit as an example of the righteous sufferer and patience. De Mortalitate (Mort. 10) and De Bono Patientiae (Ptient. 18) put Tobit, his justice and mercy, his suffering, and his final fate alongside the figure of Job. Even if he does not make extensive use of Tobit, Origen describes the book of Tobit (alongside Esther, Judith, and the Wisdom of Solomon) as being an appropriate text for beginners (Homily in Numbers 27:1) and understands it as part of the canon (Or. 14,4: ἐνδιάθηκος) while his Jewish partners in discussion do not acknowledge it. He uses the book, for example, in his discussion of proper prayer and for his teaching about angels. The later aspect plays also an important role in the apocryphal Testament of Solomon (fourth century), according to which Solomon castigates the demon Asmodaeus in a way which is heavily influenced by the book of Tobit ..."
Tobias Nicklas, “The Apocrypha in the History of Early Christianity,” in The Oxford Handbook of the Apocrypha, ed. Gerbern S. Oegema (New York: Oxford University Press, 2021), 52–73.

* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.

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